Just keep those seafood cakes coming to the table, Maestro

I've posted this before, but this is a new version, a better version, cakes to be copied. The secret ingredient: corn tortillas pulverized in the food processor. They aren't dried, rather, fresh and soft. I guarantee you have never had anything quite like this before.

Four seafood cakes
6 oz swai or other delicate white filets
6 oz shrimp (size doesn't matter, dear)
4 corn tortillas, reduced to crumbs in a food processor
1 tsp chili garlic sauce
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
salt and pepper to taste

Cut the fish and shrimp into 1/2 inch pieces. Place them in the food processor and add 1/4 cup tortilla crumbs, chili garlic sauce, thyme, and salt and pepper. Process until well combined but not totally turned into a paste. Do it with pulses. Form into 4 "burgers."

Coat the outsides with more of the crumbs. Heat oil and butter in a skillet and saute over medium for absolutely no more than 3 minutes per side. 2 minutes on the second side is very likely enough.

Gumbo, the movie

Okay, it isn't a movie. But I did movie around the kitchen a fair amount making this. I am no longer a gumbo virgin. This was a gumbo three-way (me, and two versions of the dish). My one current personal chef client wants seafood once a week. It's a challenge to prepare in advance any fish dish and have it be fresh and tasty when re-assembled at home. I've learned a lot by doing this.




Version 1: the real thing
Make a roux (two tablespoons chicken fat and two tablespoons flour). Separately saute the "trinity", celery, onion and green bell pepper. Add broth (in my case 2 1/2 cups). Add andouille sausage (in my case 4 oz.). Add frozen cut okra. Add 6 oz crushed tomatoes. Cook 10 minutes. Cook rice separately. When you're ready to eat, add 10 oz. shrimp and let it bubble for 3 minutes. Serve over white rice or stir it in (as per the photo). My seasoning was one thing: Cajun seasoning from the market. It has cayenne and salt. This is not a very detailed plan, but do what I did and go to Google where you'll find a thousand variations on the theme.

Version 2: not the real thing
My client didn't want okra, so I pureed zucchini as a substitute. My client didn't want andouille, so I added liquid smoke. Result: a very good, if slightly different, flavor. She did want shrimp. And I gave her some shredded chicken into the mix. Tomatoes and rice as before. Can you spell swell?

Seafood dumplings

I met a nice fish in Hawaii,
An often farmed brand known as Swai.
Light, tender, and white;
Quite often at night
It's heard singing through "Bali Hai."

"A picture is worth a thousand words" is a wholly inadequate quote for this picture. It's worth a free blog site, which is, as we all know, what this is. Aided by my camera phone. Anyhow, I experimented today with an idea I will sell to a client for a dinner to be prepared for her for Monday. These are moist and delicate little pillows.


Contents:
6 oz shrimp
6 oz flounder
3 scallions
1/4 cup egg white
pinch each of salt, pepper, and cayenne

All gets buzzed in the food processor and results in a pretty wet pudding. It will hold together when molded with wet hands. To prepare for eating I boiled some broth, slipped the dumplings in and let them poach at a very low simmer for 3 minutes, flipped them and let them go for 3 more. They are served here over ramen noodles, but for my client it will be Jamaican rice and peas.

No gnocchi jokes today (maybe)

Gnocchi, gnocchi!
"Who's there?"
 Okay, I'm not going there, wherever that is!!! I heard it said there's no "there" there.

Yours truly drove for 8 hours yesterday, most of it in driving rain, heavy wind and increasingly lowered visibility. When I finally got in the door of our house it was to discover a serious plumbing problem that arose while we weren't even home. I am not full of the milk of human kindness this morning (as the plumber in the basement has his meter running full tilt), but I am determined to have a tasty one-dish dinner. Yes, the gnocchi are the shelf-stable kind found near the pasta at the supermarket, but they are pretty good. The shrimp are one of my specialties. I should be called "Iron Chef Shrimp." (Okay, okay, I'm bragging. But as my grandma used to say, "If you don't blow your own horn, no one's going to blow it for you.) So I've spent much of the day so far in my van, tooting to the heavens. Only consequence is the summons I got for disturbing the peace. Just cook the shrimp however you like them, wilt the arugula and/or spinach (I used both), and boil the gnocchi according to the package directions. Dress with some butter and olive oil (and maybe garlic and parsley?) and have another martini.

Fish cakes redux

No dux were hurt during the preparation of this dish.

I've made a bunch of fish cakes since my last post of them. Never, I mean never folks, have they been this good. Food process 8 oz shrimp and 10-12 oz white fish (I had swai) along with 2 egg whites, and a few chopped scallions. With wet hands, form 6 patties and coat them with the most special bread crumbs you can come up with (I made some from leftover Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits). Salt and pepper them to taste and fry in 1/4 inch oil about 2 minutes per side. They were crispy on the out ... soft and delicate at the in.

One of the things I've discovered is that I like my cakes to be less shrimp than white fish (flounder, catfish - both are good - swai is better).

Shrimp with curry and coconut milk

A little bit ago I posted one of my "soup storm" inspirations. This morning I didn't even remember having done that. Instead, my 5-watt brain was fixated on doing shrimp in coconut milk to be served with lime rice. So I started from scratch.

The shrimp were the easy part. I got a really good deal on a pound of 21-30's earlier this week. Frozen, but who cares, they thaw very quickly. It was the base in which the shrimp would be cooked that needed my undivided attention. One of the things I love about cooking is how you can change, add, or subtract something while in mid-stream (so to speak). Just don't change horses while you're there. LOL

Shrimp with curry and coconut milk (2 servings)
1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs butter
2 scallions, finely chopped (white and green parts)
1/2 medium jalapeno, seeded
pinch red pepper flakes
1/2 cup white mushrooms, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 tsp curry powder, or to taste
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 15 oz can coconut milk
1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and de-veined

Melt the butter in the olive oil and add the scallions, jalapeno, red pepper flakes, mushrooms, curry powder and salt and pepper. Saute for 6-8 minutes until the mushrooms are cooked through. Add the coconut milk and bring to a simmer. Add the shrimp and bring back to a simmer. Cover the pan and remove it from the heat. Let it stand 4 minutes and then serve the shrimp over rice with as much of the cooking liquid as you wish.

Shrimp and grits

I've had a lot to say about grits recently since Bo (of bosbowl) sent me two packages of them a month ago. It was with great sadness that I learned via his post this morning that he was in the middle of the terrible tornado devastation this week. Apparently he and his loved ones are ok. It's ironic in a way that I started this post before I knew about this. In any case, Bo, all of your many followers send you best wishes and hopes.

Peter and I collaborated on this dish last night. He tended to the stone-ground grits and I to the shrimp. I cooked the shrimp earlier in the day by poaching them in a flavored broth (3 minutes only). I thought most of the afternoon about what else to do. Then it hit me - we had a small can of plain tomato sauce which I heated up with a large dash of hot sauce and some finely chopped fresh rosemary. When the grits were ready (these were the 30 minute kind) I stirred the cooked shrimp into the sauce off the heat. Along with some roasted broccoli this was a very comforting meal. Again, thank you Bo. Be well.

Shrimp and "real" grits

Still camera-less, the photo above is from a recipe I posted nearly tw0 years ago. Nobody read any of my stuff in those days, so I don't feel bad about plagiarizing myself. Bo (http://bos-bowl.com/) sent me real grits last week. I was in the camp of idiots who think that grits and polenta are essentially the same thing. Nothing could be further from the truth (unless you're Sarah Palin pontificating on something she knows nothing about, which pretty much covers every topic in the universe). I'm sorry. This is supposed to be about food, not politics. Well, too late now, this cat's out of the bag.

So anyhow - I went in well-armed and determined. I cooked some of the rough-ground hominy grits Bo sent me. What a revelation! A texture I haven't experienced in decades (since on concert tours throughout the south in the 60's and 70's). Do yourself a favor and go to Wikipedia for a tutorial on hominy. I won't presume to impart much knowledge about it here. I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid. Leave facts to those who know what they are (not you Sarah).

Peter did the quick grits for lunch today and I did the more ambitious stone ground ones for dinner. They are both good, but the stone ground are creamier, gentler, every -er you can think of.

Shrimp and grits

Cook 1 cup hominy grits according to package directions.

Cook 12 oz. shrimp in whatever fashion you like (I prefer poaching for 3 minutes, or sauteing for about 4 minutes). In this case, however, I sauteed 1/4 of an onion and then the shrimp, generously dousing them in cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Garnish them with a generous amount of chopped cilantro. On top of the grits, they were worth committing adultery for.

Spoon the grits out into a hot bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Drop in a generous dollop of butter. Top with shrimp and just try to speak without a southern accent!

Poached fish balls

Ok, this ain't my fish balls. It's a shareware image. I won't bore you with my camera situation. For the moment though, those things up there actually are fish balls.

We last visited fish balls on the day that the dog, Frida (I misspelled it before), ate them before I could cook them. The trauma of that event has passed and I'm ready to “roll” again. I had a debate with myself for most of a day as to what method I would use to cook them: bake, steam, poach, or wok-smoke. In the end poaching won out, simply because it seemed to me the be the simplest choice. There was also to choice of fish to consider. I think my previous version was catfish and shrimp. This one was tilapia and shrimp. Side dishes included sauteed baby spinach and a turnip puree.

Fish balls

¼ lb. shrimp, peeled and de-veined

1/2 lb. tilapia filet

1 tbsp flour

2 scallions, white and green parts finely chopped

1-2 tbsp Shiaoxing cooking wine (optional)

1 tbsp mayonnaise

½ tsp onion powder

½ tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

½ tsp sesame oil

2 cups chicken stock

Cut the shrimp and tilapia into 1” pieces and place them in the bowl of the food processor. Add the remaining ingredients except the chicken stock. Pulse to chop the fish and combine everything. Don't puree the fish completely, stop short of that. With wet hands, form the mixture into 12 balls.

Bring the chicken stock to a boil. Carefully drop in the fish balls. When the stock comes back to a simmer, turn the balls, cover the pan and let it sit for 5-6 more minutes before serving with rice, orzo, or some other favorite thing of yours.

Frieda goes fishing (and makes a catch)

I was supposed to be cooking for 5 last night, but the extra guest cancelled during the afternoon, completely screwing up the proportions of ingredients I had bought in the morning. Some quick adjustments got everything under control.

Safeway advertised wild haddock at a cheap price, but when I got there there was none, even though they were just starting to fill up the fish display case. Bummer. So I bought catfish to go with the shrimp in what were to be steamed fish balls.

Two sides: Jenn's mustard roasted potatoes and a tray of roasted green beans. That Jenn is one heck of a cook. I suspect many of you follow her already but, if not, you should. I'd marry her if we were both single and I weren't gay. LOL. Okay, okay, TMI.

But here's what actually happened. I formed the fish balls, 12 of them - nearly 2 pounds of catfish and shrimp. I made a miso broth for steaming. We put the potatoes in the oven 40 minutes before dinner time, then the green beans 15 minutes before. At 10 minutes before I went to the kitchen to get the fish balls in. THEY WERE GONE!

Frieda, Jack and Leslie's dog (big girl, lovely animal), had eaten them ALL right off the steamer basket which was sitting on the counter.

I did what any football fan would do - dropped back and punted. The broth was boiling and I had more frozen shrimp. Dumped them right into the broth for several minutes and did peel-and-eat shrimp with the taters and beans.

Needless to say, I was a bit traumatized. We should have learned our lesson a few days ago when Frieda got onto the dining room table and ate a bowl of freshly grated Romano cheese - then got into a second bowl Peter hastily got ready. C'est la vie!

Shrimp and scallop "muffins"

It was time for an Asian-inspired dinner. I love making seafood burgers. I’ve done them many times with shrimp and catfish. This time it was shrimp and scallops. Two sides dishes: rice flavored with scallion and Chinese sausage; and homemade kimchi.

The challenge with these types of fish cakes is getting a texture that will hold together well in the sauté pan. Usually chopping the fish in a food processor gets you a pretty sticky result and no egg is necessary as a binder. I didn’t want to use egg and instead baked these cakes in a muffin pan. They came out light a fluffy. With a dipping sauce of some soy sauce, Shiaoxing wine, and some wasabi, there were lovely.

If you’re interested in my kimchi, you’ll find it in this blog. As for the rice, it was simply a matter of chopping up scallion and the Chinese sausage, sautéing the rice with them in the pan in just a bit of oil for a couple of minutes, adding the liquid (half chicken stock and half water) and letting the rice cook in the normal fashion. That’s all there is to it.

So, on to the fish cakes:

Shrimp and scallop "muffins" (makes 4)
8 oz. shrimp, peeled and de-veined
8 oz. scallops
1 or 2 scallions, white and green parts chopped fine
2 tbsp unseasoned breadcrumbs
2 tbsp mayonnaise
Shiaoxing cooking wine
Soy sauce
Wasabi (to taste)

Cut the shrimp and scallops into equal-size pieces, about ½” each. Put them in the food processor with the scallions and pulse to combine. You don’t want a puree. Think of it as a fine chop along with the two elements coming together.

Put the mixture into a bowl and stir together with breadcrumbs and mayonnaise.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a muffin pan with Pam.

Divide the mixture into 4 “muffins”. Bake for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, mix together soy, wine and wasabi. Put it into a small dipping bowl.

Redux: Grits with shrimp and chorizo

This is Tuesday. I’ve been adrift lately, and even though I have an idea for an interesting dish, we’ve got too many leftovers in the fridge. Tomorrow is our foodie group’s monthly lunch which means no fancy dishes for supper. Maybe Thursday I can get back in gear, which means nothing to post ‘til Friday. You know what? I’m going to go into my blog archive. There are lots and lots of recipes that no one ever saw (I didn’t have any regular followers in those days). I’m gonna go get one right now and send it your way.

Here goes:

April 2010
We had to drag ourselves kicking and screaming away from the red meat last night. Fortunately we had a 2-lb. bag of shrimp in the freezer that we had gotten at Sunflower at a really great price.A little Mexican chorizo could sub for the Spanish (fully cooked), you’d just need to cook it as the first step before getting to the shrimp.

The ketchup and horseradish garnish is certainly optional – I just got a jones for it at the last minute.

Grits with shrimp and chorizo

1 14 oz. can chicken stock

½ cup water

1 cup medium grind corn meal

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp butter, divided

1/3 cup frozen peas

2 tbsp finely chopped Spanish chorizo

10 oz. peeled and de-veined shrimp

salt and pepper to taste

2 scallions, white and green parts chopped

¼ cup ketchup

2 tbsp prepared horseradish

In a deep sauce pot (because of potentail splatters) heat the stock to a boil. Whisk in the corn meal and adjust the heat to a lower setting so that the grits bubble, but slowly. Stir frequently. It will take about 20 minutes for the grits to finish cooking. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Near the end, stir in 1 tbsp butter and the peas.When the grits are about 10 minutes along, heat the olive oil and the other tbsp butter in a saute pan. When the butter has melted and the foam subsided, add chorizo and the shrimp. (I should point out here that this timing was based on large, 16-20 per lb., shrimp. Adjust your timing to suit the size of the shrimp.)Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Turn the shrimp when the bottom half has turned opaque. As soon as the second side is opaque, remove the shrimp from the pan to a plate or bowl until ready to serve atop the grits.To serve: put grits in the bottom of heated bowls and top with shrimp, chorizo, scallions, and some mix of ketchup and horseradish, if using.

Bean and basil pesto pasta with prawns

Gosh, that picture came out pretty well if I do say so myself. I am always in a hurry to get to the table – I snap and run. Basil pesto is easy to make (if you want a recipe, see “Guest Peter makes pesto with gusto” on this site from 8/23/10). Our garden basil has come through in bumper crop fashion and we’ve got multiple tubs of pesto in the freezer (it freezes very well).

So – last night we wanted an easy, inexpensive, all in one bowl meal. If you look closely you’ll see some yellow and green beans in and among the pasta and shrimp. We’re fond of using ramen noodles in various dishes and mostly save the flavor packets to use, for example, in a poaching liquid for shrimp.

Various pasta shapes lend themselves well to various concoctions. In this case, the farfalle (bow-tie) were perfect in size so that we could eat the whole dish with large spoons. Farfalle actually means “butterflies”. Curiously enough, “farfallino” is Italian for bow-tie. Lesson over.

A word about the shrimp: these are 31-35’s, just because I got a 2-pound bag of them (frozen) for a really good price. Two pounds of shrimp will give us four meals generally. Cook your shrimp in whatever way you prefer. As mentioned above, I simply boiled 2 cups of water, stirred in a packet of chicken flavoring from a ramen package, dropped in the shrimp, took them off the heat and let them steep for 2 minutes or so.

Ok, ok, they aren’t actual prawns, but they lend an alliterative quality to the recipe title. Indulge me.

Bean and basil pesto pasta with prawns
1 box farfalle pasta, cooked according to package directions
2 cups mixed green and yellow beans, cut into 2” pieces
1 batch basil pesto
8 oz. cooked shrimp

Peter tossed the beans in with the pasta and cooked them simultaneously. Convenient, huh? Loosen the pesto with some pasta water, toss the pasta and beans in the pesto. Put in bowls and top with shrimp. (And you call THIS a recipe?)

My brand of brandade

This concoction is one of the more astounding things I’ve discovered recently. Given that there is potato involved, we expected something kind of dense. These cakes were like clouds, approaching cotton candy in their airiness. As I understand it, brandade is a combination of salt cod and potato, and can be a dip, a fritter, or, as in my case, a cake (a la crab cake).

I saw brandade cakes (potato with salt cod) being made on Cooking Channel recently. I’d been wondering what to do with the last of the frozen shrimp in the freezer. There wasn’t quite enough to stand alone for dinner, but I make “cakes” with shrimp and catfish from time to time. However, a recent great experience with frozen cod led me to the idea of a sort of brandade with potato, shrimp and cod.

As the TV cook said, I don’t think the exact proportions are terribly important – the cakes just need to hold together. So, below is what I threw together. I use frozen cod because I’ve had so many bad experiences with fresh cod. It seems to get a little stinky awfully quickly and once I’ve gotten that scent in my head it kind of spoils the whole thing for me. Frozen cod isn’t all that great if you treat it like fresh, i.e. sautéing or steaming, but for frying it works and I knew it would work in the brandade. The amounts of potato, shrimp and cod below are pretty arbitrary, but the cakes held together and that was the goal.

Brandade of potato, cod, and shrimp with onion and pepper strips

½ onion, cut into strips
½ red or green bell pepper, cut into strips
¼ tsp smoked paprika
8 oz. russet potato
¼ cup heavy cream
3 tbsp butter, divided
1 tbsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp white vinegar
2 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly smashed
6 oz. frozen shrimp (31-40’s), thawed and peeled
7 oz. frozen cod, thawed, rinsed and dried
salt and pepper to taste
½ tsp paprika
bread crumbs – Panko is great; homemade is better; Italian seasoned is bad
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp unsalted butter
lemon wedges for garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put the onion and bell pepper strips on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Bake for 20 minutes. Set aside.

Slice the potatoes into 1/2” slices. Put the potatoes into a pot with 4 cups water. Bring to a boil and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes. Remove to a sieve with a slotted spoon, reserving the cooking water, mash with ¼ cup heavy cream and 1 tbsp butter and set aside.

Make a court bouillon: To the potato water add 1 tbsp salt, 2 tbsp white vinegar and the 2 garlic cloves. Bring back to a boil. Reduce heat and allow to simmer covered for 15 minutes.

While the court bouillon heats, cut the cod into 2” pieces. (If using larger shrimp, cut them in half) After simmering the court bouillon, add the cod and shrimp to it and remove the pan from the heat. After 2 minutes, remove the shrimp and put them in a food processor. After 5 minutes, remove the cod and add to food processor. Save ½ cup of the court bouillon and discard the rest. Add the garlic to the food processor too if you wish. I did.

Pulse until roughly chopped and combined. Don’t puree it. Transfer fish to the bowl with the potatoes, add some salt and pepper, and mix together with your hands (wet them with cold water first). Form into cakes. These amounts of ingredients made 7 cakes. If needed, add a bit of the reserved court bouillon. The cakes should hold together well if you handle them with care. Sprinkle them on both sides with a bit of salt, pepper and paprika. Dredge in breadcrumbs.

Heat a large skillet over medium high (6 on my 1-10 dial). Add the cakes and sauté until golden brown, turning once – about 3 minutes per side. Be very careful when turning them and they won’t break.
While the cakes sauté, microwave the pepper and onion strips to re-warm them. Serve the cakes over a pile of these strips. Squeeze a little lemon juice over the cakes and serve.

Pasta with cottage cheese and arugula

I’m not posting a recipe today, but had to share this picture of a dish Peter pulled out of his … um, … imagination (yeah, that’s it) yesterday. We pulled up all the arugula from the garden. It was starting to go to seed. After washing and trimming it of thick stems we have a huge quantity leftover.

I can tell you this much: it’s bow tie pasta tossed with spices, pureed cottage cheese, parmesan. The arugula wilted when we tossed the hot pasta into the sauce. My contribution was to poach some shrimp which, as you can see, we scattered on the top along with lemon juice.

It was SO beautiful! Just thought I’d share.

Tortillitas with shrimp

This picture is less than satisfactory, but I was hungry.

Mark Bittman wrote this recipe for this week’s Dining section of the NY Times. It sounded really good and we have chickpea flour in the pantry. He must have intended it to be a small serving course, as he said “4 or more servings.” We ate it all as our main dinner dish along with a salad of baby greens from our garden.

He also directed you to make the pancakes one at a time. I didn’t like that idea and used two pans and made them both at the same time. He nonchalantly says to flip them over after 3 minutes. Holy crap, he didn’t say how hard that could be. I managed it by sliding them one by one onto a plate, inverting the pan and flipping it over – I’m sure you know the technique.

Tortillitas with shrimp
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup chopped onion or scallions
Up to 1 cup raw shrimp, chopped, or scallops or other shellfish or fish
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped chives, parsley, thyme or cilantro
Olive oil.

1. In a bowl, combine flours and baking powder with salt and pepper. Add a little more than a cup of water and stir to combine; consistency should resemble pancake batter (if batter is too thick, add more water, a little at a time). Stir in the onions, chopped seafood and herbs.

2. Put a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and film its bottom generously with olive oil. When oil is hot, pour in half the batter until it fills center of pan; spread gently with a spoon to form a large pancake.

3. Cook about 3 minutes, or until pancake is set around edges; flip pancake and continue cooking for another 3 minutes, then flip it again and cook for another 30 seconds or so, until it is crisp on outside but still moist inside. Remove from pan and serve immediately, while remaining batter cooks.

Yield: 2 servings.

Philly cheesesteak and shrimp with tasso

A lunch posting to go with a dinner posting (so much to cook, so little time.) We had ribeye steak leftover from Wed’s dinner and some cute little ciabatta rolls (from King Soopers). So it didn’t take a lot to make these lovely ‘wiches.

I made a quicky creamed spinach too. Nothing elaborate, just a bag of IQF (individually quick frozen) spinach, a bit of left over mascarpone, a bit of leftover heavy cream, some salt and pepper - a nice and easy side dish (and enough for another meal).

Philly cheesesteak sandwiches (2 servings)
Leftover ribeye or other steak
½ medium onion, sliced
cheese (we used a combo of pepper jack and gruyere)
2 sandwich rolls

Slice the steak into thin pieces. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a skillet. Add the onions, sprinkle with salt, and sauté until caramelized.

Push the onions to the side of the skillet and toss in the steak. Toss with tongs for 1 minute, then top with cheese and tent with foil until the cheese melts. That’s all there is to it!

Last night we decided to have shrimp with leftover potatoes and some creamed spinach. There was a little piece of tasso ham left and that would flavor the shrimp. I went with a very simple, minimal ingredient prep for the shrimp. Served the shrimp over some re-crisped hash browns from the other day.

On Food Network, a lot of folks like to cook shrimp with shell on or at least tail shell on. For a messy, eat with your hands meal that’s fine, but I like to use a fork.

Shrimp with tasso (2 servings)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter

1 oz. tasso, finely diced (substitute chorizo)
1 small shallot, sliced thin
Splash of chicken stock or water
12 oz. shrimp, peeled
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil and butter in a large sauté pan (the shrimp must fit in one layer) over medium heat. Add shallot and saute 3 minutes. Add tasso and cook 1 minute, stirring once or twice. Lay in the shrimp. Sprinkle with a little salt and black pepper. Cook until the bottom half of the shrimp have become opaque. Turn them and cook until the second side turns opaque. Remove from the pan immediately and serve right away.

My only regret about yesterday’s foodie lunch is that I couldn’t interrupt my progress by taking pictures. Everything on the menu is something I will make again. However, in the meantime, I’ll relate my journey to shrimp mac and cheese.

When I started on it yesterday morning I knew what I wanted it to be but had no clear concept of how to get there. I wanted it to be loose, as opposed to a more traditional dense mac and cheese. It needed to be just so cheesy and no more. After all cheese and seafood are tricky to balance.

And I was cooking for 10! The timing of getting it ready at just the right moment (so as not to keep my guests waiting, but also having it come to them fresh off the stove) was tricky. The pasta I knew would take 7 minutes. The sauce I was comfortable making ahead. Then there was the problem of the shrimp which would take 3 minutes max to poach. I threw the pasta in right after serving the course that preceded the mac and cheese. And hit on an inventive way to do the shrimp.

Behold:

Shrimp mac and cheese (10 servings)
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 oz. tasso or chorizo, diced fine
2 tbsp flour
4 cups chicken broth
4 oz. mascarpone cheese
¾ cup gruyere cheese, grated
40 shrimp (31-40 count), shelled and cleaned
1 tbsp grill seasoning for seafood
16 oz. mini shell pasta

Using a large skillet, heat the butter and oil. Add the tasso or chorizo to the pan. Saute 1 minute. Whisk in the flour. Cook 1 minute. Add chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Add mascarpone and stir to melt it. Cover and remove from the heat. Reheat over low flame while the pasta cooks. It may form a skin on the top, but energetic whisking will make that go away.

Put the shrimp in a heat-proof bowl and toss with the grill seasoning (or use salt and pepper if you prefer). Put a teakettle full of water on to boil.

Drop the pasta into a large pot of well-salted boiling water. Just before the pasta is done pour the boiling water from the teakettle over the shrimp. They will poach in it in just 2-3 minutes, at which point you should drain in a colander.

Use a spider and transfer the pasta to the pan with the sauce. Stir to combine.

Put a ladle full of pasta and sauce on each of 10 heated plates. Top with 4 shrimp each, sprinkle with a pinch of gruyere and serve.

Vindaloo shrimp with couscous and caramelized broccoli

Vindaloo…who knew? An Indian spice, it can pack a punch depending on the amount of curry you incorporate. We have Savory Spice Shop here in Denver, a source for practically anything you can imagine. They make dozens of custom blends, including vindaloo. It has 13 ingredients – all contributing in the end to a warm and fuzzy flavor. It was a little hot when made into a paste, but I didn’t use all that much and on the shrimp it was fabulous.

I bought a packaged “instant” couscous at Whole Foods yesterday. Sounded like a good idea – so so in the end. There doesn’t seem to be any reason to give a recipe, I just followed what the box said.

Vindaloo shrimp with couscous and caramelized broccoli
vindaloo paste*
10 oz. shrimp, peeled and de-veined
small crown of broccoli, trimmed and cut into smallish pieces.
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
salt and pepper

*Combine equal amounts vindaloo powder, water and oil. Stir into a paste. For this amount of shrimp I found that 1 ½ tsp of each was perfect.

Heat 2 saute pans with 1 tbsp each of butter and oil. The one for the broccoli should be on medium high heat, for the shrimp, medium heat.

A word about the broccoli: I always use the stem; cut off the outside skin and cut the core into ½” pieces.
When the pan is hot drop in the broccoli. Sprinkle with some salt and pepper (to taste). Toss often with tongs until the broccoli begins to brown. Reduce heat to medium and cook for a couple of minutes. Take the pan off the heat and set aside.

Cook the shrimp simultaneously with the broccoli. Sprinkle them with a little salt and pepper right when you put them in the pan. When the bottom half has turned opaque, turn the shrimp and stir in the vindaloo paste. When the second side is near complete opacity, remove the shrimp from the heat. The length of time it takes to cook shrimp is entirely dependent on their size. Just eyeball them, turn them promptly when the time comes, and snatch them off the stove the instant the second side is done.

Grits with shrimp and chorizo

We had to drag ourselves kicking and screaming away from the red meat last night. Fortunately we had a 2-lb. bag of shrimp in the freezer that we had gotten at Sunflower at a really great price.

A little Mexican chorizo could sub for the Spanish (fully cooked), you’d just need to cook it as the first step before getting to the shrimp. The ketchup and horseradish garnish is certainly optional – I just got a jones for it at the last minute.

Grits with shrimp and chorizo
1 14 oz. can chicken stock
½ cup water
1 cup medium grind corn meal
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter, divided
1/3 cup frozen peas
2 tbsp finely chopped Spanish chorizo
10 oz. peeled and de-veined shrimp
salt and pepper to taste
2 scallions, white and green parts chopped
¼ cup ketchup
2 tbsp prepared horseradish

In a deep sauce pot (because of potentail splatters) heat the stock to a boil. Whisk in the corn meal and adjust the heat to a lower setting so that the grits bubble, but slowly. Stir frequently. It will take about 20 minutes for the grits to finish cooking. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Near the end, stir in 1 tbsp butter and the peas.

When the grits are about 10 minutes along, heat the olive oil and the other tbsp butter in a saute pan. When the butter has melted and the foam subsided, add chorizo and the shrimp. (I should point out here that this timing was based on large, 16-20 per lb., shrimp. Adjust your timing to suit the size of the shrimp.)

Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Turn the shrimp when the bottom half has turned opaque. As soon as the second side is opaque, remove the shrimp from the pan to a plate or bowl until ready to serve atop the grits.

To serve: put grits in the bottom of heated bowls and top with shrimp, chorizo, scallions, and some mix of ketchup and horseradish, if using.