Speedy Spring Onion and Seafood Stir Fry.
A 20-minute supper packed with sweet spring onions and punchy aromatics.
This month on ingredient we’re focusing on Spring Onions: the light, fresh spring salad allium that's so much more than just a garnish.
You can already find the recipe for my Barbecued Continental Salad Onions with Charred Romesco Sauce here, and my recipe for Citrus Salmon Crudo with Capers, Cucumber & Spring Onions here.
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As spring onion month here on ingredient draws to a close, I’ve got a recipe for you all that not only ticks all the boxes for most of the recipes I love to share both here on the newsletter and on my blog, that it’s an easy weeknight dinner that manages to be both familiar and a bit different, but it also showcases the humble spring onion not as a garnish, as it appears in most stir fries, but as the key vegetable.
Usually when spring onions take centre stage, for example as in my recipe for Barbecued Spring Onions with Charred Romesco Sauce, or served alongside a rhubarb sauce-heavy pork chop as I was for lunch at The Plough yesterday, they’ve usually been charred over direct fire, which gives them a nice charr and coaxes that sweet soft flavour of their middles out into the open whilst dampening their bite.
This approach is always to be welcomed, but today we’re thinking past that, cutting the spring onions into short but still considerable lengths for a quick blitz in the pan for yes, a little colour but mostly to slightly soften before the rest of the stir fry is finished around them. Here their mellow sweetness allows them to be very much present, but without any of the astringent qualities that would make them unwelcome.
I’ve still kept plenty of spring onion’s usual aromatic partners in a stir fry: fresh ginger, garlic and chilli, and I’ve used them with a very heavy hand, all finished with a quick sauce of soy, shaoxing, honey and sriracha for a little sweetness and warmth.
It feels somewhat like I’ve buried the lead here leaving the proteins to last, but really, this stir fry is all about those beautiful spring onions. A mixture of squid and prawn provide the requisite lightness and both chewy and tender textures here, and because they’re both from the freezer they also add to this being a last minute speedy supper. And if cooking squid at home intimidates? This recipe will work just as well with double the prawns instead. But don’t be concerned: I’m going to walk you through it, and it really is stupidly easy. Honestly, all this recipe really requires is a bit of chopping and the slightest flash of a hot pan.
Speedy Spring Onion and Seafood Stir Fry
Serves: 1-2 (depending on side dishes), Preparation time: 10 minutes, Cooking time: 10 minutes
A few things are key to success with this stir fry: first, get everything prepped ahead, that means all the chopping, and the mixing of the sauce. I like to portion off my prepped stir fry ingredients together in bowls as to when I’m adding them to the pan so I just need to add them in order. For example here, prep the garlic, ginger and fresh chilli together into one dish. Second, is to make sure your seafood, but especially the squid is as dry as possible as otherwise it will release too much water in the pan and turn rubbery: kitchen paper is your friend here!