Shrimp, Shrimp, and more Shrimp

1 I have been eating ridiculous amounts of shrimp lately.  And I couldn’t tell you why… other than that it just sounds *good* all of the time, all of a sudden.  Although, in defense of my food-rut/obsession, each dish has been very different.  I mean, does this dish look anything like the shrimp dish below?

Tempura Shrimp with Soy-Ginger Dipping Sauce

Nope, no, sir.  Didn’t think so.  And, really, would it even matter, with a recipe for Tempura Shrimp this good?  Just a hint, the secret is booze.  Of course.

Tempura Shrimp with Soy-Ginger Dipping Sauce, adapted from the May/June Cook’s Illustrated, serves 2

• 1 quart canola oil
• 3/4 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails on
• 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 egg, yes, seriously
• 1/2 cup vodka
• 1/2 cup seltzer water
• kosher salt
• 1/8 cup soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons mirin
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
• 1 scallion, finely chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 200°.  At the same time, place the canola oil in a large pot, and heat it to 385º.
2. While the oil and oven heat, prepare the tempura batter.  In one bowl, mix the flour and cornstarch together.  In a second bowl, whisk the vodka and egg together, and then add the seltzer water.  Don’t mix the two halves of the batter together until the oil is heated.  Also, at this time, make two small cuts on the underbelly of the shrimp, so that they lay flatter, and don’t curl up as much.
3. Another step when the oil and oven are heating is to make the ginger-soy dipping sauce.  In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, mirin, sugar, toasted sesame oil, garlic, fresh ginger, and the scallion.  Stir to combine, and set aside for serving.
4. Once the oil is to 385°, combine the two halves of the tempura batter; whisking lightly.  It’s fine if some lumps remain.  Then, add the shrimp to the tempura batter, tossing to coat each piece.  Using tongs to remove shrimp one at a time, and allowing the excess batter to drip off, add them carefully to the oil (the oil should now be at 400°).  Fry, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, 2-3 minutes, or until golden brown.  Once done, remove from oil, and place on a paper towel lined plate, and sprinkle with salt.  After the paper towels absorb the excess oil, place the shrimp on a wire rack set in a baking sheet, and place in the oven to keep warm and crisp.  Once the oil gets back up to temperature, repeat the process with the remaining shrimp. 
5.  If there is any excess batter, you can fry up vegetables of any sort, as well.  I used some snow peas, and they were delicious.  Once all finished, serve the tempura shrimp and vegetables with the ginger-soy dipping sauce.  On the side, I added peanut soba noodles.  Enjoy!

Weekend baking…

After working all week, I can’t think of anything more relaxing (and fun!) than spending the weekend in the kitchen, mixing up something delicious.  Unfortunately, though, sometimes life interferes.   Like, say, life in the form of throwing a final four watching party, volunteering at your CSA’s farm stand at the year’s first farm market, running innumerable errands, and weeding and composting the whole garden.  Which means that your relaxing cooking time, while never given up entirely, is squeezed into a smaller window.

Lemon-Sugar Crusted Blueberry Muffins

Say, early Saturday and Sunday mornings.  Before the rest of the craziness descends.  But it can still yield deliciousness.  Especially when you’ve just received your latest issue of Cook’s Illustrated.  And even more so when said issue includes recipes for what it terms the *best* Blueberry Muffins and the *perfect* Chocolate Chip Cookie.

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Browned Butter

Yum.

Attempting Gravlax…

Lent. Otherwise known as the 40-day push for expanding your fish horizons, right? Why else would I think it perfectly reasonable to make gravlax, just for an appetizer, just for one night, just for two people? But, I am glad that Lent pushed me to attempt it.

Gravlax, ready to cure

After the first night, I found myself having this for breakfast with eggs, as a snack on crackers with a horseradish-dill sour cream sauce, on buttered toast anytime, and, well, serving it with just about anything and everything. And it worked!

Coriander-Dill Gravlax, adapted from Fish Without a Doubt.

• 1/2 cup coarse salt
• 3/8 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup packed chopped fresh dill
• 2 tablespoons toasted coriander seeds, ground in a spice grinder
• 1 (1.5-pound) piece wild salmon fillet, skin on, pinbones removed

First, mix the salt, sugar, dill and coriander in a bowl. Next, cut a strip of plastic wrap a little more than twice the length of the salmon and set it on a baking dish. Cut a second strip, this time a little more than twice the width of the salmon, and set it cross-wise on the center of the first piece. After the plastic wrap is ready, spread about 1/3 of the salt cure across the center of the plastic and set the salmon on top of it. Then, cover the salmon with the remainder of the cure and wrap the plastic tightly around the fish. Set a second baking dish/sheet on top of the salmon package, placing weights on top. I used a few cans of tomatoes, which seemed to work perfectly fine. At this point, the baking dish contraption should go into the refrigerator; it should refrigerate for 36 hours. The salmon will give off a lot of liquid, and it can be poured off halfway through the cure if desired. Once cured, after 36 hours, scrape off the solids and rinse the salmon, drying it well with paper towels. It can be served immediately, or wrapped tightly with plastic wrap and kept for about a week. Enjoy!

Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes

You’d think that anyone who loves cupcakes as much as I do would have made them at least once. Right? RIGHT?! Yet, thinking about it earlier this week, as I walked by yet another tempting cupcake store (and bravely resisted the temptation to buy one), I realized that I never have! Not. One. Single. Time.

Which, really, is scandalous. And a situation that I felt the need to rectify at once. Or as soon as possible. Like today. And, since I had some dark chocolate covered espresso beans, which would make a delicious topping, Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes it was.

As I clearly am a novice at cupcake making (first time!), I decided to hunt the interwebs for a delicious cupcake recipe to try…

I found one here, from A Baked Creation. Since I basically followed their recipe/instructions exactly on this first effort (minus adding some salt and ground coffee to the frosting), I’ll just link to their recipe. Of course, their frosting looks *much* prettier than my semi-falling apart and separating version… Still delicious, though!

And, soon enough, there will only be this many left….

Oops.

Garlicky Shrimp Pasta

Weeknight dinners are always a challenge.  I don’t generally get home until after 6:30 and I am already *starving* when I do!  So, I am trying to learn to create delicious, but quick, meals for me to rely on, and that won’t necessitate a trip to the grocery store to make.  Because, you know, that just pushes back dinner!  Of course, yes, I could plan my meals in advance, and I could buy everything I need during the weekend, but really!  Creativity just goes out the door at that point.  Plus, I’m indecisive and making decisions that far in advance?  Oh, my.  Just.  Not.  Happening.

Last night’s dinner definitely fit these criteria, and I’ll definitely by making it again.  So flavorful, and it took a mere 30 minutes to get on the table!  And only ten minutes for me to figure out.  Since some frozen (uncooked) shrimp were the only protein the boyfriend and I had in the house, I started from there.  I then realized that I also had a fairly large supply of garlic, and that that went perfectly with shrimp.  So, I started searching for a garlic shrimp recipe, and came across a perfect one on Cook’s Illustrated.   Using that as a base for modification, this was the end product…

Garlicky Shrimp Pasta, serves 2

• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 5 pieces
• 2 small shallots, minced
• 3 oz. micro greens
• 6 oz. of capellini (angel hair) pasta
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 14 large uncooked shrimp, tails and shells removed and reserved
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 medium cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup vermouth
• 1/2 lemon, juice
• salt
• pepper 

1. On one back burner, begin heating a large pot of salted water to cook the pasta.  Watch the water while preparing the rest of the dish, and when boiling add pasta and cook for the recommended time (5-6 minutes for capellini), or until al dente.  Drain, and set aside.
2. On the other back burner, place the 1/2 cups water and shrimp tails/shells in a small pot and heat over medium-high heat.  Checking periodically, cook until mixture has reduced to 1/2 cup, then strain out the shrimp tails/shells and set the shrimp stock aside.
3. On a front burner, melt one tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  While the butter is melting, mix the bread crumbs with the shallots, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper.  Once the butter is melted, add the bread crumb mixture to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 7-10 minutes.  Transfer to plate to cool, and mix in the micro greens.  Wipe out the skillet with paper towels.
4. Meanwhile, dry shrimp thoroughly and toss with sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper.  Return your front skillet to medium high heat, and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and heat until shimmering.  Add the shrimp and and cook until spotty brown and edges turn pink, about 3 minutes (do not flip shrimp).  Remove skillet from heat, and transfer the shrimp to a waiting plate.  Again, wipe out the skillet with paper towels.
5. Return skillet to medium heat and add 1 tablespoon butter.  When the butter is melted, add the minced garlic and red pepper flakes.  Cook, stirring frequently, until the garlic just begins to turn golden, about 1 minute.  Add the flour and cook, stirring frequently, for a few minutes.  Increase the heat to medium-high and slowly whisk in the vermouth and shrimp stock. Bring to simmer and cook until mixture reduces to 3/4 cup, about 3 to 4 minutes.  Whisk in the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter, 1 tablespoon at a time.  Lastly, stir in the lemon juice.
6. Reduce heat to medium-low, return the shrimp to the pan, and toss to combine.  Cook until shrimp are pink and cooked through, about 2 to 3 minutes.  Toss the shrimp and sauce with the drained pasta, then add the breadcrumb and micro-green mix.  Once combined, serve on plates with additional lemon wedges if so desired.