Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Cicada Recipes from the Univ of Maryland


The 2nd edition of Cicada-Licious: Cooking and Enjoying Periodical Cicadas was written by Jenna Jadin and published in 2004 by University of Maryland. Sorry I couldn't find a photo of a cooked Cicada dish, you'll have to be happy with the cookbook cover art.

According to the author, it's best to use newly hatched cicadas, because their shells have not hardened. You must blanch the cicadas for 4-5 minutes right after you've collected them to kill any soil bacteria it may carry.

Shanghai Cicadas (4 appetizer-sized servings)
30 newly-emerged cicadas
2 tbps anise seeds
1 tsp salt
2 cups sherry
1 tbsp soy sauce
additional water and sherry or rice wine
10 cloves mashed garlic
celery to garnish
turnip greens to garnish

Directions: 1. Boil the cicadas and anise in salted sherry for five minutes, then remove the cicadas.
2. Saute the mashed garlic and soy sauce, adding enough of equal parts water and sherry to make a thick paste.
3. Deep-fry the cicadas, then skewer them with bamboo picks. Arrange them on a plate with the turnip greens, celery, and garlic paste to look like cicadas climbing out of a mud pie into green foliage.

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