Shrimp, chorizo and grits

Here's an original dish. The taste was so remarkable that, even though our portions were fairly large, Peter said when he was about 2/3 finished, "If you think I'm not going to eat all of this, think again!" I, too, managed to polish it all off. It was one of those meals where a couple of hours later you are still savoring it in your taste buds and in your warm tummy.

For the shrimp/chorizo:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
½ medium onion, chopped fine
1 large clove garlic, minced or pressed
¼ cup Spanish chorizo, diced fine
1 heaping tbsp tomato paste
1 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp clam juice
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 springs each, fresh thyme, basil and oregano
10-12 oz. shrimp, peeled and deveined
pinch paprika
pinch black pepper

For the grits:
1 cup dry grits
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

Bring the broth to a boil over medium-high heat. Whisk in the grits, salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to a low simmer and cook, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes or until slightly al dente but not gritty (no pun intended).

For the shrimp/chorizo:
Melt the butter in olive oil over medium heat in a large sauté pan. When melted, add onion and cook 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds

Make a space in the middle of the pan and add the chorizo and tomato paste. Stir a few seconds then incorporate with the onion and garlic. Add the broth, clam juice and fish sauce and the herbs. Simmer 10 minutes over medium low heat.

Stir in the shrimp and when simmer resumes, cook only 2 minutes for 41-50’s, longer for larger shrimp.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in paprika and pepper. Serve at once over the grits.

Observations on "Cooking Dirty" by Jason Sheehan

By the time you finish reading the prologue of Jason Sheehan’s book, “Cooking Dirty,” you will be breathless, horrified, amused, and maybe even frightened: as in what could be next? In a self-deprecating torrent of super-heated prose, Jason charts the events during dinner service in a fantastically hot, chaotic and frantic kitchen in a restaurant in Florida.

Deeper into the book the pace slows and aspects of Jason’s persona begin to reveal themselves, or rather I should say Jason reveals them – in almost painful detail.

I should point out that Jason is a friend and we share lunch regularly with a foodie group I created 3-plus years ago. I began reading “Cooking Dirty” with every hope that I would love it…and I do. I have wondered for some time how he came by his way with words. Early on in the book he states that he wanted to be a writer and kept journals on a regular basis.

I wonder if, assuming he still has any of those journals, the addition of some quotes from them would have added another dimension to what is already from another dimension.

My partner, Peter, once sat next to Anthony Bourdain’s mother at a performance at the Metropolitan Opera. When Peter mentioned her son’s book, “Kitchen Confidential,” her comment (delivered in a marked New York accent) was, “The language!”

As a former sailor who could swear like one years before boot camp, I love it when a writer can use the words “pork” and “pussy” in same sentence, as Jason once did in a Westword review. In his writing, the “f” word appears with some regularity, always causing me great amusement.

I am writing these paragraphs in between reading snatches of “Cooking Dirty, “ always with great anticipation for what will come next.

I suppose I could have been mildly offended by his description of how he felt about what was on the kitchen radio at the pizza joint where he worked when he was 15: “the kitchen radio…was forever tuned to a station that…played only one song that was twelve hours long, sung by a gay Italian man who’d recently been punched in the mouth, and prominently featured an accordion being played by a spastic and tone-deaf monkey.” You know what though, I majored in political incorrectness in both high school and college and that marvelous turn of phrase made me roar. I had to read it to Peter before starting the car to head home from the gym. He too roared.

Is the prose purple? Don’t know, but it is extraordinarily colorful, and not the speech I’m used to from the rather mild-mannered, polite fellow Jason seems to be today. But then I’m only around him in mixed company.

“Poor life choices,” seems to be a recurring theme for Jason. But few of us (and certainly not moi mème) make all the right choices. “Always do the right thing,” an iconic line from Spike Lee’s similarly named movie sometimes just means have another drink, another cig, another snort of something.

Do I suspect some embroidering of this life story? Sure I do. Especially when I read, “These stories tend to grow in the telling.” I tell stories about myself that have grown in the telling just because you need a story to be a good one, even a great one. As long as the core of the idea bears a solid kernel of truth I say go for it.

Jason “borrowed” his parents car in the middle of the night. I would take my parents’ car in the middle of the day, pick up my best friend, and drive 95 mph to and from a swimming hole when he and I were supposed to be tutoring (me tutor, he Jane) for his GED.

Jason takes well-deserved pride in his leadership in the diner kitchen where he works for a while. As I write this, I’m about 1/3 into “Cooking Dirty,” and still enjoying every page. How does he continue to come up with wry, witty, hilarious (and sometimes filthy) turns of phrase?

Oh shit, he’s crashed and burned at the diner. When Jason hits bottom he doesn’t really bounce back up. Rather, he bounces along the bottom. When I read to my partner, Peter, the part when he goes back to Rochester and knocks on his parents door to be taken in, I got all choked up. I’m reminded of the Robert Frost line that has stuck with me for decades: "Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in."

Lord, this tale is unrelenting. It appears that some form of redemption is at hand as his relationship with Laura develops. I’m really interested to know about how he transitions into a writer. I know it’s coming, but he hasn’t mentioned writing since his high school days I think.

I want to meet Laura. The saga of the developing relationship between Jason and his wife-to-be is as convoluted as Jason’s life between 15 and 25, the point I’m at in the story. His life seems more settled, though that is a relative term. He’s productively employed, more or less healthy, but obviously not at an arrival point yet; rather, the departures are slightly fewer, the destructive behavior somewhat more moderated, the story telling still bold and brash.

Well, we’ve finally gotten to the part where Jason becomes a writer, not entirely about restaurant reviews at first. After an epic episode of cat-fighting with Laura, she seemed to have gotten his attention about the writing idea and he gets his first job. It appears that Jason’s life may be about to take a turn in an upward direction.

I am so near the end of the book and yet I can’t sort out the kaleidoscope of emotions, fear, loathing, horror he’s exposed me to. I know that I’d have to stretch to imagine my own life, not entirely uncheckered, being so chaotic and mercurial. I find myself wondering how Jason can remember so much detail, much experienced in drug and alcohol induced near stupors. He seems at this point near to waking up from a lengthy (nearly 15-year) nightmare.

The moves (devious) into a writing career are cool. I’m so glad Jason got away with what he did to get one of his first writing jobs. I won’t spoil the story for anyone by telling it.

Turns out even after coming to Denver to assume his post at Westword, Jason still got whacked out on occasion. But he did come here with Laura as his wife and they acquired a daughter whom Jason clearly adores. Peter, after hearing me read him another portion of the book this morning, asked if I thought there was a movie possibility here. Jesus, I would think so. We’re debating who would play Jason.

Am I reading something into his story if I suspect there will always be a longing for the kitchen inside of Jason. What I hope there is is a long string of writings in his future so that they’ll be in my future as well. Keep drinking the snake wine, Sanjo.

Slumdog wings

Does that look good or what? The recipe below serves 2 for big appetites as an entree, or 4-6 as appetizers. The perspective of the photo is misleading. These wingettes weren't large, quite small actually, but in the pic they look like legs!

I revisited my previous tandoori-style chicken recipe. There were wings left from my birthday party in April. So I modified the whole thing and prepared them as follows. It’s not essential that you brine it, but I nearly always brine chicken before cooking. Note that after brining no salt is added. If you choose not to brine, add 1 tsp table salt to the dry mix.

Slumdog wings

10 chicken wings, tips removed
2 tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 cups water
1 tbsp garam masala2 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp powdered garlic2 tsp chili powder
lime juice

Cut apart the two sections of the chicken wings. Dissolve the salt and sugar in the water. Put the wing pieces and brine mix into a freezer bag. Refrigerate for 1-4 hours.

In a bowl, mix together all the remaining ingredients except the lime. Put this into a shaker bottle (an empty spice container is perfect).

Remove the chicken from the fridge, rinse and dry with paper towels. With a sharp knife, make a slit in the meatiest part of each wing piece.

Sprinkle the chicken liberally with the spice mix on both sides. Place them on a wire rack over a large plate and refrigerate uncovered for 1-3 hours.

Preheat the oven to 250°. Put the wire rack with the chicken on it onto a baking pan with at least 1” sides. Pour 1 cup water into the pan. Cover tightly with foil. Bake for 2 - 2 ½ hours.

Remove from the oven and turn the heat to “broil.” Leave the oven door ajar so that the heating element does not cycle off. Remove the foil from the chicken. Sprinkle with more of the spice mix on the top side. Broil for 3-5 minutes until the chicken starts to get nice and brown. Turn the pieces over, add spice mix again, and broil for another 3-5 minutes until sizzling and browned.

Remove from oven, tent with foil and allow the chicken to rest for 5-10 minutes. Sprinkle with lime juice and serve.

Shrimp/catfish burgers with Asian slaw

On January 31 I posted a shrimp/catfish burger recipe. This one is new - and better!

This makes for a very inexpensive meal (with a vegetable and some rice to accompany), especially if you find shrimp on sale. It makes no difference what size the shrimp are since you're going to cut them into pieces anyhow.

We scored a huge shopping victory yesterday at Sunflower Market when we found a 2 lb. bag of frozen "easy peel" shrimp for $7.84. That's the least I've paid for shrimp in memory.

We keep an eclectic mix of ingredients on hand, so making these Asian-style burgers didn't require buying anything. Substitutions: a splash of red wine vinegar for the Chinese vinegar; any hot sauce and some minced garlic in place of chili/garlic sauce; some toasted sesame seeds and some vegetable oil in place of sesame oil; shallot in place of scallion; lemon juice in place of lime.

Shrimp/catfish burgers with Asian slaw

1 8 oz. catfish filet
8 oz. shrimp, peeled and de-veined
2-3 tsp sesame oil (to taste)
1 tbsp chile/garlic paste
1 egg white
½ tsp kosher salt (1/3 tsp if table salt)
½ tsp white pepper

Asian slaw
¼ head cabbage sliced thin
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 shallot, green and white parts cut in 2” julienne
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp Chinese black vinegar
juice of ½ a lime

Cut the catfish into ½” pieces. Do the same with the shrimp.

Place the fish, shrimp, and all other ingredients into a food processor. Pulse to a rough puree.

Put 1 tsp of the mixture into a small bowl and microwave for 20-30 seconds. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.

Form the mixture into 2 large burgers. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before cooking.

In the meantime, assemble the slaw. Put the cabbage in a large bowl. Whisk together all remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Pour over the cabbage and toss to coat.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. When hot, add the burgers. Cook for about 5 minutes per side. The way to tell when they are done is to press your index finger on the top of one of them. The cooking is finishing if there is little or no “give.”

Serve on your favorite burger rolls topped with slaw.

Fun with sand dabs (or, a little dab’ll do ya)

I’m not posting a recipe today, just a report on our exposure to a new variety of fish, the sand dab. The pictures make them look larger than they are. When trimmed of spines, head and tail, they weigh in at 5-7 oz. The skin is thin and dissolved off them when sautéed.

I need to mention that the sand dab is a flounder-like fish, flat, dark on one side and white on the other. Like flounder they swim on their sides. The white side is down, making it difficult to see them from underneath. The brown side is the top, making them difficult to see from above.

Bruce, my fish monger, gave me two of them to try a couple days ago. I sautéed them in butter and olive oil and pulled the meat off the central skeleton. Unfortunately there are some pin bones in what I’ll call the shoulder. When the dabs are cooked, they aren’t much more annoying than eating the bones in a canned sardine. I let the meat cool and turned it into a fish salad, much like the one I’ve posted about in the past. It was delicious.

When I went back to Bruce’s store the next day he had a fresh batch available. I bought 4, made a shrimp stock using shells I had in the freezer and chicken stock, poached the dabs and removed the meat from the bones. I got the peculiar inspiration to make a one-dish meal with wheat berries (simmered for 2 hours in broth), sautéed artichoke hearts (from frozen, perfectly viable), and some seasonings and lemon juice. It was swell.

Today we cobbled together lunch with the leftovers, serving it up on toast with some crispy bacon and a poached egg.

End of lecture. Just bear in mind that this is another example of how to use disparate ingredients that have been languishing in the larder or the freezer.

Lasagna roll-ups

I take a substantial amount of credit for tweaking this idea I got from somebody on Food Network (don't remember who).

This was incredibly good, if I do say so myself. I used the odd amount of 8 noodles just because that's what we had left in the lasagna box. If you make it with more noodles, just proportionately increase the quantity of each of the ingredients.

Lasagna rollups
8 lasagna noodles
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or pressed
½ tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste
10 oz. sausage (any kind, removed from casing)
20 oz. tomato sauce
3 oz. tomato paste
1 stalk Fresh sage
1 stalk Fresh thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
red pepper flakes, to taste
salt and pepper to taste
½ cup warm water
4 oz. baby arugula
6 oz.Ricotta cheese
6 oz. Provolone cheese, grated
1/8 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Cook the noodles according to package directions, leaving them al dente. Drain, rinse and set aside.

In a saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes until softened but not colored. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook 1 minute more.

Add the sausage, another pinch of salt and pepper, and cook until browned, breaking it up with a wooden spoon. Add the tomato sauce and tomato paste and stir to combine. Add the sage, thyme and oregano. Add the water. Bring to a simmer and check for seasonings adding salt and pepper as needed. Simmer for 20-30 minutes or until slightly thickened.

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Grease a 9x12 lasagna pan. Spread a thin layer of the sauce on the bottom.

Lay the noodles out on a flat surface. Leaving a 1” area at one end of each noodle clear, spread about 1 tbsp of the sauce on each one. Lay arugula leaves on the sauce. Top that with a bit of ricotta and provolone (using no more than half). Roll the noodles up toward the clean end. Place the rollups in the baking pan with the seam side down.

Spread the rest of the sauce over the top of them along with the remaining ricotta and provolone. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes, Remove the foil and top with parmesan. Continue baking 10 minutes ot until the top begins to brown. Remove from the oven, tent with the foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Garlic gravy

For several months I have contemplated making a dish that is garlic, garlic, and more garlic. Finally last night I did it. The idea of so much of the pungent little heads of goodness may be appalling to some. In the end, it was exactly what I had hoped for.

Garlic gravy
3 heads garlic
olive oil, as needed
1 tbsp butter
1 cup chicken broth
1 stalk fresh thyme
1 serrano chile, halved but not seeded
1 cup corn kernels, thawed if previously frozen
¼ cup heavy cream
salt, to taste
white pepper, to taste
1 tsp corn starch
2 tbsp parsley, chopped

Preheat oven to 350.

Cut one garlic head in half across the middle drizzle with olive oil, wrap in foil and roast in the oven for 1 hour.

Peel 8 cloves from another head of garlic. Set aside.

Peel 3 more large cloves from another head of garlic. Slice them across to about 1/16”.

In a sauté pan, heat 1 tsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter over medium heat. Place the garlic slices in the oil and cook until golden but not brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel. Save the remaining butter and oil in the pan to saute a piece of meat or something else.

Put the chicken broth, thyme, serrano pepper and peeled whole cloves in the sauté pan and bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer until the cloves are very tender, about 30-40 minutes.

Remove the garlic to a small bowl with a slotted spoon. Discard the serrano pepper.

Add the corn to the broth and simmer until very tender, about 10 minutes. Remove to a food processor. Add the cream and puree thoroughtly.. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, pressing with a wooden spoon. Discard solids.

Return this liquid to the processor, add the roasted garlic (squeeze it) and puree. Put this back in the saute pan. Add the whole peeled garlic cloves, corn starch (dissolve it in a little water first), season with salt and pepper, and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve over your favorite kind of rice.