Shark And Waves Giant Watermelon Bowl Recipes

BUN BOWL

Steps:

• Place the unground portion of the pork shoulder in the freezer for 30 minutes so it is easier to cut thinly.
• In a large pot of boiling water, cook the vermicelli for 8 minutes, then rinse thoroughly in cold water. Take a handful of the noodles and set aside. Drain and place into 6 piles on a tray to dry out a little.
• Cut the reserved handful rice noodles with scissor tips into 1-inch lengths and place in a mixing bowl. Add the ground pork, shrimp, half the shallots, minced garlic, minced carrot, 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, 3 tablespoons fish sauce, 2 tablespoons sugar and freshly ground pepper and mix all together very well.
• Dip a rice paper into very hot water briefly and place on a cutting board to soften for 1 minute. Place 3 ounces of the shrimp and meat mixture into the middle of the rice paper to form a sausage shape 1 inch in diameter, then fold the ends in and roll into a tight roll. Set aside for later on a plastic wrap-lined sheet pan, making sure the rolls are not touching, or they will stick together. Continue with the remaining rice paper and filling to make 6 to 10 rolls. (These can be made in advance and frozen, then cooked from frozen.)
• Remove the pork shoulder from the freezer and cut as thinly as possible into 1/8-inch-thick pieces. Place on a quarter-sheet tray or large platter. Top with 3 tablespoons fish sauce and 3 tablespoons sugar and let marinate for 30 minutes.
• Combine the remaining 5 tablespoons fish sauce with 1 1/4 cups water, the lime juice, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, the Thai chiles, the remaining whole garlic clove and remaining diced shallots, then mix well and set aside until ready to serve.
• In 6 large individual bowls, arrange in equal portions the cold rice noodles, julienned cucumber, remaining carrot, scallion, mint, remaining cilantro leaves and romaine. Set aside the bowls until the rolls are fried and pork is grilled.
• To assemble: Place the vegetable oil in a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven and heat to 350 degrees F.
• Fry the imperial rolls two to three at a time, making sure they don't touch, until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. (If frying from frozen, they will take a little longer.)
• Place on a paper towel-lined tray to drain. Cut each roll into 4 pieces.
• Heat a grill to 400 degrees F or a broiler to high. Cook the pork until well caramelized on each side, about 4 minutes per side. Cut into 1-inch pieces.
• Place equal portions of the grilled pork and an imperial roll on each noodle bowl. Remove the garlic clove from the sauce and pour about 2 ounces sauce into each bowl. Place the remaining sauce on the table and have the sriracha sauce available as well. Guests should mix the noodles and vegetables together with the sauce and add additional sauce as needed. Sprinkle on the fried shallots.

BARLEY BISTRO BOWL

Steps:

• Make the barley: Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Add the barley, and cook until tender, 35 to 40 minutes. Drain well, transfer to a medium bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon of the butter and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Serve warm or at room temperature. (The barley can be made and refrigerated up to 2 days ahead. Microwave just enough to take the chill off, about 2 minutes, stirring about halfway through.)
• Make the tomato-pepper sauce: While the barley cooks, blend the tomatoes, peppers, mayonnaise, tarragon, garlic and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a blender until creamy and smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use. (The sauce can be made and refrigerated up to 2 days ahead.)
• Make the bacon and breadcrumbs: Put the bacon in a large nonstick skillet, and set over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until golden and crispy, about 5 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat, and transfer the bacon to a paper-towel-lined plate with a slotted spoon. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of bacon drippings, and return the skillet to medium-high heat. Add the breadcrumbs, and stir constantly until golden and crunchy, about 2 minutes. Transfer the breadcrumbs to a small bowl.
• Fry the eggs: Wipe out the skillet, and melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter over medium-high heat. Once the butter begins to foam, crack all 4 eggs into the skillet, and sprinkle each with some salt. Cook the eggs until the whites have set and the yolks are still runny, about 4 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat.
• Build the bowls: Divide the barley evenly among 4 bowls. Top each with neat rows or piles of bacon, frisee, goat cheese, olives and sauce (leave room for the egg). Top each with an egg, some sauce and a sprinkling of toasted breadcrumbs.

WATERMELON SHARK BOWL

Steps:

• Make diagonal cut at one end of watermelon to cut off bottom fourth of melon. Stand watermelon, cut side down, on work surface. Use marker to draw the shark's mouth on watermelon as shown in photo. Use paring knife to cut along lines. Remove watermelon cutout and reserve for making the shark's fin.
• Scoop pulp from large watermelon piece into large bowl, reaching into mouth to scoop out the flesh and leaving a 1-inch-thick shell on bottom and sides. Blend removed pulp, in batches, in blender until smooth. Pour watermelon purée through strainer into separate bowl, pressing strained solids with back of spoon to remove as much juice as possible. (You should have about 6 cups watermelon juice.) Discard any remaining watermelon pulp or reserve for another use.
• Pour 2 cups watermelon juice into saucepan; bring to boil. Remove from heat. Add dry gelatin mixes; stir 2 min. until completely dissolved. Add to remaining watermelon juice in bowl; mix well.
• Refrigerate 1 hour or until thickened, stirring every 15 min.
• Meanwhile, invert watermelon shell to drain juices from shell. Use tip of vegetable peeler to cut shallow outline 1/2 inch around mouth opening, piercing the green rind but not going through the white rind of the watermelon. Use paring knife to cut out triangles for the teeth. Cut pulp from reserved watermelon mouth piece; discard removed pulp or reserve for another use. Cut trimmed watermelon rind into fin shape; secure to back of watermelon shell with toothpicks. Use melon baller or paring knife to scoop out 2 small rounds for the eyes; fill with blueberries, securing each berry to watermelon with additional toothpick.
• Pour thickened gelatin mixture into watermelon shell. Refrigerate 4 hours or until firm.
• Decorate with gummy candies as shown in photo just before serving.

OMBRE WAVE SHARK CAKE

Steps:

• For the cake layers: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat five 6-inch round cake pans with flour-based baking spray.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the flour, granulated sugar, cake mixes and salt. Whisk on low speed until combined. Add the sour cream, eggs and 2 cups water. Mix on medium speed until just combined. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl; add the vanilla extract. Mix again until no streaks of the dry ingredients remain.
• Divide 1 cup of batter between two small bowls (1/2 cup in each); tint one bowl of batter with the blue food color and tint the other with the teal food color. Stir to combine. Add the food color a little at a time until a bright hue is achieved.
• Divide the remaining white cake batter among the prepared pans. Spoon a little blue and teal batter into each pan and swirl the colors together with a skewer or butter knife. Bake the cakes until they are lightly browned and a toothpick tester inserted near the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let the cakes cool completely. Level each cake layer using a serrated knife or a wire cake leveler.
• For the Swiss meringue buttercream: Set a saucepan filled one-third full of water over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer.
• Whisk together the egg whites, granulated sugar and salt in a large heatproof bowl. Set over the simmering water and whisk until the mixture is hot to the touch and the sugar has dissolved.
• Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer filled with the whisk attachment. Beat on low speed for 2 minutes. Increase to medium high and beat until stiff peaks are formed. Continue beating at medium-high speed until the mixture is fluffy and has cooled, about 5 minutes (the mixing bowl should feel cool to the touch).
• Turn the mixer off and switch from the whisk to the paddle attachment. Turn the mixer on medium low and add the butter a few cubes at a time, beating until well incorporated before the next addition. Add the vanilla extract. Beat until the frosting is thick and completely smooth.
• Remove about 1/2 cup of the frosting to each of 6 bowls. Tint one bowl navy blue using the navy blue food color, tint another bowl dark blue with the blue food color, tint another bowl dark teal using the teal food color, tint another bowl light teal using the teal food color and tint the fifth bowl light blue using the blue food color. The last bowl should remain untinted. Transfer each of the colors to separate piping bags, each fitted with a #104 decorator piping tip.
• For the marshmallow fondant shark fins: Place the marshmallows and 1 tablespoon water in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 1 minute at 100% power, or until the marshmallows puff out of shape. Stir the mixture until the marshmallows deflate.
• Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, kneading the mixture well with your hands (kitchen gloves make this job less messy). Keep adding the powdered sugar until the mixture is thick, smooth and pliable. You may not have to use all of the powdered sugar.
• Add a drop of black food color and a drop of blue food color to the fondant and knead until a dark blue-grey color is achieved.
• Roll the fondant flat on a work surface lightly dusted with powdered sugar. Stamp two 3.5-inch circles from the fondant using a pastry ring or cookie cutter. Cut each circle into quarters. Use a 2-inch round cookie cutter to trim away 1/8 inch from a flat side of each piece, creating a shark fin shape. Transfer the shark fins to a baking sheet and let dry until firm and rigid and the fins can stand upright, 1 to 2 hours.
• For the frosting and assembling: Use the remaining untinted frosting to fill the cake layers. Apply a thin even layer of buttercream to the cake's exterior and insert a 9-inch dowel through the top center of the cake to anchor the layers together. Chill until firm, about 20 minutes.
• Use the back of a butter knife to score lines around the cake to divide it into 6 sections (2 1/2- to 3-inch sections). Begin piping frosting at the bottom of the cake using the navy blue buttercream. Hold the piping bag so that the smaller end of the decorator tip is positioned away from the cake. Pipe lines of buttercream close together, traveling towards the top of the cake to the first score line. Repeat the process using the remaining colors in this order: dark blue, dark teal, light teal, light blue, white (untinted).
• Using the leftover navy buttercream in the piping bag, pipe enough frosting on top of the cake to cover it; use an offset spatula to create swirls resembling choppy ocean water. Place the set fondant shark fins around the top edge of the cake in a circle. Sprinkle on white nonpareil "bubbles" and place white sugar pearls at random on top of the cake and around the fins. Serve tall slices of cake at room temperature on large plates.

WATERMELON SHARK

Steps:

• Cut off the stem end of the watermelon at an angle slightly less than 45 degrees. Reserve the piece. Set the watermelon cut-side down on a work surface.
• To make the jaws and teeth: Find the brown dot that grows at the top center of the watermelon. Measure about 1 inch down and cut a large wedge from the side to make the gaping jaws of the shark. Reserve the wedge.
• Cut a 1-inch-wide strip of paper. Use the paper as a guide to lightly draw a 1-inch line at the top and bottom of the shark's jaws with a pen or marker. Use a Y-shaped vegetable peeler and a paring knife to trim away the green and make 2 bands of white, taking care not to poke all the way through. Cut and scoop out the watermelon flesh, keeping the pieces as large as possible. Leave about an inch or so of flesh in the bottom of the mouth to act as a bowl to hold the fruit. Use a paring knife to cut triangles out of the white bands along the jaw to make teeth.
• To make the fin: Cut out a 3 1/2-inch-high fin from the reserved bottom piece of watermelon. Cut off the flesh so one side is white and the other is green. Attach the fin with 2 toothpicks about 2 to 3 inches up from the bottom of the watermelon. (Tip: Use a small meat mallet to gently hammer in the toothpicks if the watermelon is very hard.)
• To make the eyes: Cut 2 eye-shaped ovals, about 3 inches long and 2 inches high, out of paper. Toothpick them to the shark about 2 inches up from the fin and about 3 inches apart. Lightly trace around the outside of the paper with a pen or marker, then remove the paper. Use a paring knife to cut out the rind on the inside of the eyes, taking care to cut only into the white of the rind without exposing the flesh. Cut 2 strips of the rind to create menacing eyebrows. Attach a blueberry with a toothpick towards the front of each eye. Stick a second toothpick above each eye to attach the eyebrow.
• Cut any large pieces of reserved watermelon flesh into planks and use the cutters to make fish. Peel the cantaloupe and honeydew and slice down the sides of the melon until you get to the seeds to make planks. Cut into more fish. Save any melon scraps for another use.
• Set the shark on a large serving platter. Pour the remaining berries into his mouth. Add fish to the mouth and spilling onto the platter around the shark. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

WATERMELON SHARK

Steps:

• Using a large sharp knife, cut off one end of the watermelon so that watermelon stands at an angle. Using a razor blade or small knife, score an opening for the mouth. With knife, cut out and remove mouth. Cut out triangles for teeth; remove rind from teeth., For shark fin, cut a triangle from removed rind; attach to shark with toothpicks. For eyes, attach two grapes with toothpicks. , Remove fruit from inside watermelon; cut into cubes. In a large bowl, combine watermelon, cantaloupe, blueberries and remaining grapes. Finely grate peel from oranges and squeeze juice. In a small bowl, mix preserves, orange juice and peel; add to fruit and toss gently., Stand shark on a platter. Fill opening with some of the fruit mixture; add a few Swedish Fish if desired. Serve with remaining fruit.