Seafood laksa with wild limes and lemon myrtle linguini

Serves: 4

Difficulty:
Ingredients

4 cloves garlic, peeled
50g minced ginger
4 shallots
4 small red chillies (or as hot as you choose)
1 teaspoon peanut oil for frying
1 teaspoon of shrimp paste
500ml coconut milk or 300ml coconut cream
300ml chicken stock
400g snapper fillets cut into 8 pieces
8 – 12 scallops in the half shell
8 king prawns
2 squid tubes
½ teaspoon Lemon Myrtle
10g Wild Lime Confit
60ml Lemon Aspen Syrup
300g lemon myrtle linguini
a generous tablespoon of salt
a dash of sesame seed oil

Method

1. Mince the garlic, ginger, shallots and chilli together using a sharp knife and a levered chopping action; then, in a hot pot with a little oil, quickly fry the minced ingredients allowing the aromatics to be released; add in the shrimp paste and continue frying for half a minute longer
2. add the chicken stock, boil and begin reducing, after a few minutes add the coconut milk, lower the heat a little (keeping at a simmer) and continue reducing, the aim is to reduce the volume to a thick soupy consistency – if you are in a hurry, use coconut cream and you won’t have to reduce it so much
3. in another pot, boil some salted water for the lemon myrtle linguini, put in the pasta and make sure it doesn’t stick together by gently stirring once the pasta has softened (about 2 minutes) – stirring before this time tends to break the pasta up as it can still be hard and brittle on the inside
4. while the flavour base in the pot is reducing down to around ¼ of its original volume, begin to prepare the seafood; peel and de-vein the de-headed prawns (I keep prawn heads and freeze them until I have the time to roast them and then cook them down in seasoned water to make a rich shell-fish stock which I also freeze in ice cube trays for later use), cut the squid tubes into bite sized pieces and score these with diagonal, parallel cross cuts; finally, remove any bones from the snapper fillets.
5. when the lemon myrtle linguini is cooked, drain it, add a dash of sesame seed oil to stop it sticking (and for flavour, of course) and set aside
6. add the squid, snapper, prawns and finally the scallops, wild limes and lemon aspen syrup to the coconut stock reduction and keep the laksa at a gentle boil until the seafood is cooked

Styling

Place a little lemon myrtle linguini into either a bowl, then spoon out the seafood, fishing for 2 pieces of the seafood and two wild limes per serve. Ladle in the laksa sauce, sprinkle on the extra flavour with a little lemon myrtle and top the lot with a sprig of coriander and chervil.

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Dining Downunder Cookbook
This Australian recipe of Seafood laksa with wild limes and lemon myrtle linguini are included in the Dining Downunder Cookbook which can be purchased online at the Dining Downunder Online Shop. Also available online is a wide range of native Australian herbs and spices, sauces, syrups, infused oils and bush tucker ingredients such as wattleseed and paperbark rolls.

Episode: Crowne Plaza Newcastle

Recipe By: Benjamin Christie

In my early days as a chef, I spent some time in South East Asia exploring the different tastes and cuisines of the region. One region which I particularly enjoyed was Georgetown, Penang, the home of the world famous laksa. I learnt their standard recipe from a well known, local chef, who, let me tell you, loves his Laksa super-spicy. I have adapted his recipe here and added in a native twist to have the taste buds going wild. From time to time, I also add straw mushrooms, English spinach or baby beetroot leaves, snow peas, asparagus or even zucchini. It’s also great with chicken breast strips or deep-fried tofu instead of the seafood.

Seafood laksa with wild limes and lemon myrtle linguini

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