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Abalone with Sweet Thai Chili Sauce in a Pastry Basket

The problem with abalone is keeping it from getting tough. The only was to avoid it is to cook it fast and serve it immediately because the more heat it is exposed to the tougher it gets. Believe me it can become entirely inedible if not attended to like a baby in bath water.

The other option is to use a meat tenderizer and hammer the abalone before you cook it. Once you tenderize you can be more certain that the abalone won't get tough while it's cooking. Use a very heavy hammer style meat tenderizer to pound the meat repeatedly. Be careful no to tear through the meat but you do want to give it several good wacks to break the muscle fiber.

Youc an easily substitute lobster for the abalone in this recipe. I recommend using the claw meat, as oppossed to the tail meat, as the claw meat has a stronger flavor.

Ingredients

Conversions to European measurements can be found here!

8 small farmed Red California abalone
4 tablespoons butter
24 sheets of phylo dough in 4inch by 4 inch squares
4 tablespoons butter melted
6 oz thin Vietnamese rice vermicelli noodles

Sweet Thai Chili Sauce

½ cup water
6 tablespoons sugar
4 hot red Thai chilies
2 garlic cloves minced
1 nickel of ginger graded
5 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon fish sauce
4 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Procedure

Preheat the oven to 350

Coat each sheet of phylo dough with a small amount of the melted butter before pressing them one layer at a time into a muffin pan. A soft kitchen brush works well to evenly coat the dough with butter. Layer 8 muffin pan cups with 4 sheets of phylo dough coating each layer with butter. If you have pie crust weights (or dried beans that you want to volunteer for this purpose) weight each cup. Bake the empty shells for 15 minutes or until toasted and light brown. Watch the dough carefully to make sure it does not burn.

Getting the cooked pastry dough out of the muffin pan without breaking the golden, delicious edges can be tricky. I have found that by making a landing pad out of crumpled paper towels I can dump out the pastry weights and have the pastry cups land safely.

Make the sweet chili sauce by adding the water and sugar to a medium sauce pan. Bring the liquid to a boil and allow it to boil rapidly for about 5 minutes. Then add the garlic, ginger, vinegar, fish sauce, and chilies. Boil for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add the cilantro.

Meanwhile place the dry vermicelli noodles in a large bowl of hot water. Once the noodles are soft (about 5 minutes) drain completely. Spread the noodles out on a baking sheet covered with paper towels.

Remove the phylo dough shells to a serving dish and place a small portion of the noodles inside each one.

In a large skillet melt the butter over medium high heat. As soon as all the bubbles from the butter dissipate add the abalone. Cook quickly only about 1 minute per side. Remove the abalone to the phylo cups immediately. Drizzle a few spoonfuls of the chili sauce over each and serve while still very hot.

Notes

Finding farmed abalone is really difficult. I have had the best luck in Asian markets around the Bay Area. The best source I know of is the Kukje Market in Daly City. 2350 Junipero Serra Boulevard, Daly City, CA 94015 (650) 992-0333