Author: Brian

Grilled Garlic-Herb Shrimp

The recipe below came from Milk Street Magazine. I forgot to follow their tip of patting the shrimp dry before applying the sauce, but it didn’t seem to cause any problems. I will definitely make this recipe again, though I’ll reduce or omit the extra salt they said to add in step 4.

A simple puree of fresh herbs, garlic and olive oil does double duty in this recipe. It first coats the uncooked shrimp as a quick marinade. Then, with a splash of lemon juice stirred in, it’s drizzled on as a sauce after cooking. One large bunch or “clamshell” container of tarragon should yield the amount of tarragon leaves needed for this recipe. You can serve the shrimp on the skewers with crusty bread and a vegetable side, or slide them off the skewers and add them to grain or leafy green salads.
Ingredients
  • 1½ pounds jumbo shrimp (21/25 per pound), peeled, deveined and patted dry
  • 1 cup lightly packed fresh basil
  • ⅓ cup lightly packed fresh tarragon
  • 3 medium garlic cloves
  • 1½ teaspoons grated lemon zest, plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • Kosher salt and ground black pepper
  • ¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Directions
  1. Thread the shrimp onto eight 8- to 10-inch metal skewers, dividing them evenly; skewer each shrimp in a C shape, piercing through 2 points. Place the skewers on a rimmed baking sheet or in a large baking dish.
  2. In a blender, combine the basil, tarragon, garlic, lemon zest and ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Pulse until chopped. Scrape down the sides, add the oil and puree until bright green and almost smooth, about 30 seconds. Transfer to a small bowl.
  3. Prepare a charcoal or gas grill. For a charcoal grill, ignite a large chimney filled ¾ full of coals, let burn until lightly ashed over, then distribute the coals evenly over the grill bed; open the bottom grill vents and the lid vent. Heat the grill, covered, for 5 minutes, then clean and oil the cooking grate. For a gas grill, turn all burners to high and heat, covered, for 15 minutes, then clean and oil the cooking grate.
  4. In another small bowl, stir together ½ cup of the herb puree, 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper, then slather onto the shrimp, coating both sides. Grill the skewers until the shrimp turn opaque and are lightly charred, 2 to 3 minutes. Flip and continue to cook until the shrimp are just opaque, about another 2 to 3 minutes.
  5. Transfer the skewers to a serving platter. Stir the lemon juice into the remaining herb puree and drizzle over the shrimp.

Tip: Don’t forget to pat the shrimp dry before coating them with the herb puree; too much moisture will prevent it from clinging to them.

Spaghetti Puttanesca

I mostly followed this recipe, though I used about a teaspoon of green peppercorns instead of the 1/4 cup of capers the recipe called for (I accidentally grabbed the wrong jar at the store). I also used a mix of kalamata and large green olives. My instinct was to use more than the four anchovy fillets specified, but I decided to not stray from the recipe in that area. In retrospect, I think the sauce could have benefited from more. Jesse, Travis, and I did not let the surplus anchovies go to waste, however, eating them on delicious rye crackers.

Ingredients
  • 1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil
  • 4 cloves garlic, smashed
  • 4 anchovy fillets, chopped
  • 1 (28-oz.) diced tomatoes
  • 1/2 c. kalamata olives, pitted
  • 1/4 c. capers
  • 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 lb. spaghetti
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly grated Parmesan, for serving
Directions

In a large skillet or pot over medium heat, heat oil. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Add anchovies and cook until fragrant, another minute. Add tomatoes, olives, capers, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer, 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add spaghetti and cook according to package directions, until al dente; drain. Toss spaghetti in sauce and serve with Parmesan.

Smoked Tuna and Roasted Vegetable Baked Mac & Cheese

I’m finally getting around to writing this post several months after I actually made the dish, so my recollection of the details is a bit fuzzy.

  1. I roasted up a couple sheet pans of veggies – mushrooms, summer squash, broccoli, purple carrots, and butternut squash.
  2. I made a cheese sauce with way too much cheese.
  3. I boiled some pasta, your standard elbow macaroni noodle.
  4. I mixed the paste, veggies, and smoked tuna into the cheese sauce, which was difficult since I used too much cheese and the sauce was very thick.
  5. I baked the resulting mixture in the oven for a while at some temperature.
  6. We ate it, and it was good.

I loosely followed this recipe (scroll down past the author’s life’s story and you’ll find the ingredients and directions):

Roasted Vegetable Macaroni and Cheese

Salsa Romesco with Grilled Vegetables

I looked at several romesco sauce recipes, and no two were the same. I finally settled on this recipe with some minor adjustments.

  • 1 1-inch thick slice of crusty bread, crust removed and cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 1 large tomato
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 1/2 cup almonds
  • 2 medium red bell peppers
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking pan with aluminum foil. Place almond, garlic, bread and tomato on baking sheet and place in the oven. Roast almonds until fragrant and bread is crusty and just starting to brown, about 10 minutes. Remove almonds and bread and continue roasting garlic until soft and tomato until tender, about 20 minutes more. Remove from oven, let cool slightly and remove skin from tomato and peel garlic.
  2. While other ingredients are roasting in the oven, roast peppers over an open flame on a gas stove or grill until the skins are blackened. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let sit until cool enough to handle, about 20 minutes. Remove charred skin, seeds, and cores.
  3. Place bread, tomato, almonds, peppers, olive oil, vinegar, paprika, salt, and pepper in the bowl of a food processor. Purée until smooth. Taste and season with additional salt and cayenne pepper as needed.
  4. Place in and airtight container and place in the refrigerator until cool. Store refrigerated up to 5 days

I used three roma tomatoes instead of the one large tomato called for in the Serious Eats recipe. I also used lemon juice in place of the vinegar (because vinegar is the devil), and chipotle chili powder instead of cayenne. I couldn’t see the sense in buying crusty bread, cutting the crust off, and toasting it so it basically has a crust again, so I just left the crust on.

I toasted/roasted everything on the gas grill instead of in the oven, and grilled up some carrots, zucchini, and romanesco broccoli to serve with the sauce. It ended up a little thicker than I wanted, so I added a bit more olive oil and a little water to thin it down. The romesco was smoky and delicious, and the leftovers were used up quickly as a spread for sandwiches and a dip for chips and crackers.

Eggnog Ice Cream

This one was pretty simple and unimaginative. I poured a carton of store-bought egg \nog into our Kitchenaid ice cream maker and let it run.

The ice cream turned out a bit on the hard side, which made it difficult to scoop, and it wasn’t very creamy. It also wasn’t quite sweet enough; some added sugar would have helped. If I try this again, I would probably make a batch of eggnog from scratch, going heavy on the nutmeg and adding extra sugar.

Massaman Curry Chicken Pot Pie

I’ve never made a pot pie before, but I’ve been wanting to for quite a while. Not to make it too easy on myself, I decided to make up my own recipe for the filling. So this recipe was two experiments in one.

Pastry

I used the all-butter Pâte Brisée recipe from this site. I cut the butter into about 1/4″ cubes – much smaller chunks than shown in the recipe, and probably more work than was necessary. I stored the butter chunks in the freezer while I was preparing everything else. The dough came together quickly in the food processor, though at the time I was worried that I’d added a bit too much water. In the end, it turned out very buttery, crisp, and flaky.

Filling

  • about 2 cups each of carrots and potatoes, 1/2 inch dice
  • about 1 cup of frozen peas
  • 3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into small chunks
  • 14 ounce can of coconut milk
  • 4 ounce can of massaman curry paste

I cooked the curry paste in half the coconut milk for about 5 minutes, then added the chicken and the rest of the coconut milk. After cooking for a couple more minutes I added the carrots and potatoes and cooked until the vegetables were tender. I then added the frozen peas and continued to cook until they were hot.

Eggnog Pumpkin Bread with Orange Bourbon Glaze

My plan for this dish evolved a bit. Initially I was thinking of just making a pumpkin bread and somehow infusing it with bourbon, and having it accompany some eggnog ice cream. I had this idea that I should be able to pour some eggnog into an ice cream maker, and end up with eggnog ice cream. I didn’t get to test that theory, though, because our Kitchenaid ice cream maker wasn’t cold enough to actually freeze anything.

I decided instead to incorporate egg nog in the pumpkin bread itself. I used a recipe from my old Joy of Cooking book and made a few minor adjustments:

  • Reduced the amount of ground cinnamon by 1/4 teaspoon and added 1/4 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg
  • Used ground allspice instead of ground cloves
  • Substituted 1/3 cup of eggnog for the 1/3 cup of water or milk called for in the recipe
  • Reduced the sugar by 1/3 cup

The recipe was for a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan, but 10″ x 5″ was the closest I had. It worked fine, though the loaf ended up a little shorter than intended. I baked the bread for an hour, as called for in the recipe. It turned out a little dry, so in the future I would decrease the baking time a little.

After the baked bread had cooled for a while, I poked a bunch of holes in the top with a bamboo skewer and poured an orange bourbon powdered sugar glaze over the top, making sure that plenty of it made it down all those perforations.

Orange Bourbon Glaze
  • 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
  • 4 ounces of bourbon (I used Bulleit)
  • 2 teaspoons of  freshly squeezed orange juice

The end result was quite tasty, if a little on the sweet side. If I were to do it again, I’d reduce the amount of sugar in the pumpkin bread recipe a bit more, maybe reduce the amount of powdered sugar in the glaze a bit (or increase the bourbon), and let the glaze soak into the bread longer before serving.

Posole

This recipe is from Southwest: The Beautiful Cookbook.

Ingredients
  • 1-1/2 cups (8 oz/250 g) dried hominy, soaked overnight in water and drained, or two 16-oz/500-g cans hominy, rinsed and drained (about 3 cups)
  • 1-1/2 lb (750g) lean boneless pork, cut into 1/2-in (5-cm) cubes
  • 2 dried New Mexico red chilies, stems and seeds removed, torn into pieces
  • 2 cups (10 oz/315 g) finely chopped onions
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 teaspoons minced fresh oregano, or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seed, crushed
  • 6 cups (48 fl oz/1.5 L) water or more as needed
  • salt to taste
  • Red Chili Sauce (recipe on page 195) or cored, seeded, and minced jalapeño chilies for garnish
Instructions

In a large pot, combine all the ingredients except the salt and the red chili sauce or jalapeños. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; lower heat and simmer, uncovered, for 2-3 hours, or until the meat is tender and the hominy kernels have burst and are swelled and tender. The stew should have plenty of liquid, so add more water if necessary throughout the cooking time.