Rum Glazed Pan Sautéed Shrimp

Rum glazed shrimp on a bed of lettuce with nectarines

I have no idea why I decided that I had to have rum glazed shrimp. I know why it was pan sauteed and not grilled-- it is unbelievably hot outside. I probably could have cooked dinner on the sidewalk. Grilling was out of the question. I think I will grill this winter in the snow (truly-- be ready for the grilling recipes this winter when I am whining about the lack of summer tomatoes).  Note: You could use the same amount of glaze for a pound (.45 kg) of shrimp. Also the sugar is important- it helps the shrimp caramelize.

Rum Glaze

1/4 Cup (60 ml) of Rum (I used dark rum)
1/4 Cup (60 ml) of Lime Juice
2 Tbsp of Honey
1/2 Tsp of Ancho Chile, Chipotle, or Cayenne Pepper

Whisk the rum glaze ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

Shrimp

2 Tbsp of Oil
1/2 Tsp of Sugar
Salt and Pepper, to Taste
1/2 lb (225 g) of Shrimp (Peeled)

Everything is ready to go

In the largest skillet you have, heat oil over high heat. Toss the shrimp with the sugar, salt, and pepper. Add the shrimp (you may have to make this in batches because if you crowd the shrimp they will steam). Saute the shrimp for one minute.

Sauteing shrimp

Remove from the heat and turn and saute for one more minute. If you are making in batches remove shrimp from pan and saute next batch. Return shrimp to pan and add rum glaze. Cover and cook until done (a couple of minutes depending on the size of the shrimp.

Almost ready for the glaze

Oh! I served them on a bed of lettuce with nectarine slices. Excellent!

The bottom line: will I make this again? Yes- I am ready to make this again the next night. This winter, I will try grilling the shrimp while basting with the glaze.

Langostinos

Langostinos pasta

I rarely post recipes with hard to find ingredients. Why? Because I have trouble getting them too. On my trek into the "big city" I went to Trader Joes. In the frozen foods  I found langostinos. I haven't had langostinos in over a decade (ok it has probably been two decades). Giddy with food excitement I quickly put the bag of frozen goodness in my cart. Steven asked "what's a langostino?" I channeled my inner food geek and answered: "a langostino is a member of the lobster family; they are caught off of the coast of Chile. Langostinos are about the size of a shrimp and look and taste like a cross between a shrimp and a lobster. I think they taste more like a lobster than a shrimp. They can be substituted for crawfish or shrimp in recipes." Yep, I am a walking encyclopedia of food knowledge.
I have a bag of langostinos that are fully cooked and then frozen. The question is what to do with them. I decided to recreate the dish I had oh so many years ago- langostinos with lots of garlic and olive oil served over pasta. My mouth is already watering.

Langostinos in a Garlic Butter Sauce
3 Tbsp of Butter
3 Tbsp of Olive Oil
5 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
1 Shallot, Thinly Sliced
Pinch of Salt
Couple of Turns of the Pepper Mill
12 oz. (340 g) of Langostinos, Thawed, Rinsed, and Drained
1/2 Cup (120 ml) of Dry White Wine
1/4 Cup (5 g) of Fresh Parsley
Parmesan Cheese

Important Note: Depending on the cooking time of your pasta: either have the water boiling and wait to add the pasta or once the water for the pasta is boiling and you are making the pasta start this recipe. Otherwise your sauce could be finished long before your pasta is cooked.

Add the butter and olive oil to a medium size saucepan. Melt the butter over medium-low heat.

Butter melting in oil; this is not going to be a healthy dish

Add the garlic, shallot, and salt and pepper. Sauté until the shallot is translucent.

Time to add the garlic and shallot

Add the langostinos and the wine and cook until heated through about 3 minutes. Do not overcook the langostinos they will turn rubbery.

Adding the langostinos

Add the parsley.

Adding the parsley

Taste and adjust the salt and pepper. Serve over pasta (sprinkle with Parmesan cheese).

The finished dish. Beautiful!

The bottom line: will I make this again? Oh my goodness yes! It was incredible, amazing, delicious ...

Spicy Japanese Style Crab Salad

Crab salad

 It is December. It's cold outside and I am already wishing it was spring. Winter is beautiful in its own way, but I love spring. I love watching the world turn green again. Maybe because I am thinking about planting our garden,  I decided we were having a salad for lunch. This salad would be prefect for a spring day. Strangely, it was also perfect for a cold December day. The crab salad surrounded by veggies was a bit of spring. My only regret was I could not find sesame seeds. I searched everywhere for them; I am sure I will find them after we have eaten the salad. So I used panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) instead.

Dressing
1/2 Cup (120 g) of Mayonnaise
1 Tbsp of Rice Wine Vinegar
1/2 Tsp of Sugar
1/2 Tsp Sriracha
1/4 Tsp of Grated Fresh Ginger

In a medium sized bowl whisk ingredients together until well combined. Taste and add more Sriracha if needed. (I would prefer this with a teaspoon of hot sauce but that would be too spicy for Katie).

Dressing

Crab Salad

8 oz (227 g) Crab or Fake Crab
1 Tsp of Sesame Seeds or Panko
One Cucumber, Thinly Sliced
A Couple of Handfuls of Baby Carrots
Several Ribs of Celery, Chopped in Pieces

To assemble the salad, mix the crab with the dressing and surround with the veggies.

The bottom line: will I make this again? Yes. It is wonderful. I will change out the veggies for what is in season.

Lemon Pepper, Udon, and Bacon Meal Madness!

An excellent meal

I spun the Food Wonk Meal Madness iPhone App, and I decided to create a dish with the omnivore spin: lemon pepper, udon noodles, and bacon.
My daughter's favorite noodle is udon. Not surprisingly, I was out of udon noodles, and I was seriously thinking of making my own. After much thought, I decided to make a trip to the Asian market. As long as I was going to the Asian market, a side trip to the farmer's market made sense. A couple of hours and many purchases later, I had an enormous amount of fresh produce and seafood.  It was time to create.

The difficult ingredient for me was the lemon pepper. I had trouble imaging how it was going to work with the udon and the bacon. I decided to take a risk and try something completely different (at least for me). It was Saturday and I had plenty of time. If the dish was awful I could come up with something else on Sunday.

I decided on sauteed shrimp sprinkled with lemon pepper in a coconut milk based broth over udon. I topped the dish with crumbled bacon. I ran my idea past several people and received several "that's interesting" responses. Katie made sure I had enough udon noodles for a different dish for her "just in case."

Was it good? I loved it. I was in foodie heaven. The different tastes worked together perfectly. The bacon, which I really worried about clashing with the rest of the dish, added that extra bit of yum. The lemon pepper worked great with the shrimp, and the coconut milk sauce was out of this world good. The only thing I would change is to add a bit of crushed red pepper to the sauce. I added it to the final version of the recipe. I also made roasted vegetables sprinkled with lemon pepper as a side. It was a bit chaotic, and I used a lot of pots. But I had fun making this dish. 

Roasted veggies; I love these

Bacon

4 Pieces of Bacon

Fry bacon until crisp. Crumble and set aside.

Coconut Milk Broth

2 Tbsp of Canola or Vegetable Oil
3 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
3 Green Onions, Thinly Sliced
1 Hot Pepper, Finely Chopped (I used a hot lemon pepper)
13.5 oz. (400 ml) of Coconut Milk
1/3 Cup (7 g) of Cilantro, Finely Chopped
1 1/2 Tsp of Sugar
2 Tbsp of Fresh Lime Juice
1/4 Tsp of Lemon Pepper
1/4 Tsp of Crushed Red Pepper (Optional)

In  a large saucepan heat oil and sauté garlic, onions, and hot pepper until tender.

I love the  smell of sautéing garlic, onions, and peppers

Add the remaining ingredients and warm on low heat.

Warming over low heat

Udon Noodles

19.89 oz. (564 g) of Udon Noodles

Cook the udon noodles according to package directions.

Cooking udon

Lemon Pepper Shrimp

2 Tbsp of Canola or Vegetable Oil
1 Tsp of Lemon Pepper
1 1/2 lbs (.7 kg) of Shrimp, Peeled and Deveined

A fresh shrimp

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle shrimp with lemon pepper. Sauté shrimp until pink about three minutes.

Beautiful sautéed shrimp

The Assembly

Place udon noodles on a plate and top with shrimp. Pour coconut milk broth over the shrimp and noodles. Finally top with bacon. I also placed the roasted vegetables around the udon noodles. I thought they went great with the dish.

The bottom line: Will I make this again? Yes, I loved this. I made the roasted vegetables again the next day. I had some leftover coconut milk broth and poured it over salmon for dinner the following night.

Grilled Garlic Shrimp with Herbs

Grilled garlic shrimp with fresh herbs

Today I came across some beautiful wild caught gulf shrimp.  They were screaming "Grill me!" So I brought them and the pondering began. What to do with them. First, of course I deveined them with a pair of my kitchen shears. Next I went to the garden and selected some fresh herbs. The rest is dinner history....

1.5 lbs (.7 kg) Large (21/25 Count) Wild Caught Shrimp
1 Cup (60 g) of Fresh Parsley
1/4 Cup (11 g) of Fresh Basil
1 Tbsp of Fresh Rosemary
5 Cloves of Garlic
2 Tbsp of Olive Oil
1/8 Tsp of Ground Black Pepper

Herbs fresh from our garden

Combine the parsley leaves, basil leaves, rosemary leaves and garlic in a food processor and process until finely chopped.  Add the olive oil and pepper and process until a paste is formed.

Herb and garlic paste for the shrimp

Devein shrimp with kitchen shears while leaving the shells on.

Deveining the shrimp

Stuff the mixture under the shells of the shrimp, leaving the shells intact.

Placing the herb mixture under the shrimp shells

Grill 3-5 minutes each side. (We used a piece of foil as our grill basket.)

Shrimp ready for the grill

 The bottom line: Will I make these again? Yes, I will. These were great. The flavors really combined well with the shrimp. Next time I think I will change the herbs I use. Maybe I will use some dill or cilantro.

Noodle Bowls

Noodle bowl

Our family loves noodles bowls. Everyone gets to choose what goes in their bowl. Once again this is a flexible meal; if we have leftover roast, steak, or chicken we use leftovers instead of shrimp.  The one thing we don't change is the noodles; we all agree that rice vermicelli must be used. There is a fair bit of prep work but once the chopping is done, it is a quick, easy and healthy dinner. I usually make two different fish sauces - one with fish sauce and lots of spice (for Steven and me) and one with soy sauce and no spice (for Katie).


Fish Sauce

3 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
1 Tsp Chile Paste (or more to taste)
2/3 C of Hot Water
1/4 C of Granulated Sugar
2-3 Tbsp of Fish Sauce (or Soy Sauce)
2 Tbsp of Lime Juice

Whisk ingredients together and set aside. (Or put all ingredients in a salad cruet and shake).

Noodles

Make rice vermicelli according to package directions and set aside.

Shrimp

2 Tbsp of Vegetable or Canola Oil
3 Green Onions, Thinly Sliced
2 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
3/4 Lbs (340 g) of Shrimp, Peeled and Deveined
1 Tbsp of Lemon Grass, Minced

Heat oil in a large skillet or wok and add green onions and garlic. Stir fry for 2 minutes and add shrimp and lemon grass and cook for 4 minutes until shrimp are done and no longer pink. Put in a bowl.

Stir fried shrimp

Garnishes

Bean Sprouts
Cucumbers, Peeled, Seeded, and Diced
Tomatoes, Seeded and Diced
Fresh Mint
Fresh Cilantro
Carrots, Peeled and Cut into Matchsticks
Peanuts, Finely Chopped

To Assemble

Place the noodles in a serving bowl and add shrimp, garnishes, and top with fish sauce.

Coconut Shrimp

Coconut shrimp

 I created this recipe back in 2000 and wrote the ingredients I used on a scrap of paper. That's it -- no amounts or directions. I had forgotten about the "recipe" until I had a craving for coconut shrimp. I went through my seafood recipe folder and found the oil stained scrap of paper. I think this is as close as I am going to get to the original recipe.

This is an easy stir fry with a bit of spice and a lot of sweetness (from the coconut). You can adjust the heat and the sweetness in this recipe by increasing or decreasing the coconut and red pepper. Make sure you have all of the prep work done before you heat up your wok because it goes fast.

Coconut Shrimp

1 Tbsp of Peanut Oil
2-3 Tbsp of Vegetable or Canola Oil
1 1/2 Inch (1/4 oz; 5 g) Piece of Ginger, Cut Up in Small Pieces
1 Red Bell Pepper, Thinly Sliced
4 Cloves of Garlic, Sliced
1 Tsp of Crushed Red Pepper
1/2 Cup (40 g) of Flaked Coconut
1/2 Cup (75 g) of Onions, Diced
3.5 oz. (100 g) Chinese Pea Pods
1 Pound (454 g) of of Shrimp, Peeled and Deveined
2 Green Onions, Thinly Sliced

Everything is ready to stir fry

Put the oil in a wok (or large skillet) over medium-high heat. Once the oil is heated, add the ginger, red bell pepper, garlic, red pepper, coconut, and onions.

Stir fry until onions are translucent. Add shrimp and pea pods. (You may need to add an extra
tablespoon of oil).

Stir fry until shrimp are done (approximately 4 minutes).

The finished dish

Garnish with green onions. Serve over rice.

The bottom line: Will I make this again? Yes. I am so happy I found the old "recipe" and recreated it.

Feast of the Seven Fishes

Clay pot clam bake

This Christmas Eve we decided to attempt the feast of the seven fishes (festa dei sette pesci), a traditional Sicilian meal. It is based on the Catholic tradition of the La Vigilia di Natale, the Vigil of the Holy Night, where some Catholics abstain from eating meat. 

I think the seven fishes correlates to the seven Sacraments in the Catholic Church.[i] However, seven is an important number in other contexts--- the seven virtues[ii]; the seven hills of Rome; seven gifts of the Holy Spirit[iii]; and the seven utterance on the cross. Some Italian-American families have 9, 12, or 13 different seafood/fishes.

The meal consists of whatever is fresh where you live and your means. The "traditional" items I came across were:  eel, smelts, salted cod (baccalà), linguine with clams (Linguine con le Vongole-- one of my favorite all time dishes), calamari, and anchovies.

I am quite excited about the meal. I am also slightly anxious-- it is a lot of work and several of the recipes I have not made before. Thankfully, I am making three of my favorites dishes (Caesar salad, clam bake, and cheesecake).

Here is what we have planned:

• Cheese antipasti (to snack on all day long); 
• Caesar salad (with anchovies) (recipe below)
• Clam bake with clams, scallops, and shrimp cooked in a clay pot (recipe below- adapted from The Clay Pot Cookbook by Georgia MacLeod Sales and Grover Sales); 
• Salt cod in tomato caper sauce[iv];
•  Lobster tail (see preparation below); 
• Crab ravioli in a lemon butter caper sauce[v];  
•  Italian cheese cake; and 
•  to top it all off we plan to have a mint (it's wafer thin....).

Caesar Salad

Steven usually makes the Caesar salad which frees me up to stress over last minute details. Here is the recipe---

Mash together one tablespoon of anchovy paste, 3 cloves of garlic (minced), and two teaspoons of champagne mustard. Then add the juice of one third of a lemon and salt and pepper and mix; slowly add two tablespoons of olive oil. Toss cut up romaine lettuce with the dressing-- adjust salt and pepper and then add shredded Parmesan cheese to taste. Prior to serving add croutons.

Caesar salad

Clam Bake

The first crisis was no clams. I went to Whole Foods yesterday to check that they would have clams today. I was assured that they would. This morning-- bright and early--- I went to Whole Foods to buy the seafood and no clams. Whole Foods did some wonderful service recovery and gave me mussels as a substitute (for free). So I guess this is a mussels bake??? 


The mussel bake is really easy- first soak your clay pot for 20 minutes and then put the following into the pot (in order)---

Clay pot clam bake

Sliced onion (one onion thinly sliced); mussels (8 oz/227 g), shrimp (1 lb/454 g shells on), scallops (8 oz/ 227 g), squeeze the juice of one lemon over the seafood and then either zest the lemon and add the zest or slice the lemon and add it, 1/4 cup (125 ml) white wine, 5 cloves of garlic (whole), fresh parsley, fresh thyme, and red pepper (we used a hot lemon pepper instead of red pepper), salt, and pepper to taste. Place in a cold oven and set oven to 450 F/ 232 C. Cook for 40 minutes. Serve with bread.  Note-- sometimes I add a piece of study fish to the mixture, clams, clam juice, lobster and/or crab. Also I add whatever fresh herbs I have-- oregano, basil, thyme, ect.... Also don't forget to rinse and dry your seafood before you put it in the pot.

Mussel bake

Lobster Tail

We had frozen lobster tails and thawed them in the refrigerator overnight. We cut the shell down the middle and added butter, garlic, parsley, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. We baked the lobster tails in a 350 F/ 177C/ Gas Mark 4 oven for 8 to 10 minutes.

Baking lobster tails

Crab Ravioli

The stuffed ravioli- much easier using wonton wrappers

I cheated with the crab ravioli- not only did I make them in the morning and put them in the refrigerator-- I also used fresh wonton wrappers. It wasn't as good as fresh pasta-- but it was quick and easy (I was really worried about the timing). I  also rinsed and drained the capers (to get rid of the brine taste). I thought the lemon butter caper sauce was wonderful and complimented the crab.

Finished raviolis

 Baccalà

Baccalà

I made the tomato sauce in the morning so it would be ready and I could just heat it up and cook the fish when the dinner was almost ready. We grow hot pepper each summer and dry them-- so we used a combination of hot pepper for the sauce. I think it makes a difference. I really liked the sauce-- the combination of slightly sweet onions with the capers and hot pepper is addictive and we will be making it again.
 

Dried peppers ready to be ground

Freshly ground and ready to add to the sauce!

---

[i] They are: Baptism, Holy Communion, Confirmation, Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Marriage.

[ii] They are: faith, hope, charity, temperance, prudence, fortitude and justice.

[iii] They are: counsel, fortitude, knowledge, understanding, piety, wisdom, and fear of the Lord.

[iv] Recipe available at http://wwwepicurious.com/articlesguides/holidays/christmas/batalisevenfishes/recipes/food/views/Salt-Cod-with-Tomatoes-and-Capers-em-Baccala-alla-Vesuviana-em-350700)

[v] Recipe available at http://www.food.com/recipe/crab-ravioli-filling-with-lemon-caper-butter-356589)