Shrimp Ceviche with Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho

This is a great meal to make when it's too hot to cook. The shared ingredients in the ceviche and soup bring them together nicely. If you don't want to use the stove at all, you can make the toasts in a toaster, but they're better fried in olive oil. The combination of ceviche, soup, and toasts is surprisingly substantial.

You'll need (serves 2):

for the gazpacho:

2lbs heirloom tomatoes

1 cucumber

2 cloves garlic

1 jalapeno pepper

small handful cilantro

1t worcesterchire sauce

1t red wine vinegar

a few dashes hot sauce

1 lime

for the ceviche:

1/2lb shrimp, preferably fresh

1 avocado

a dozen or so cherry tomatoes

1 jalapeno

small handful cilantro

2 limes

toasts:

a loaf of bread (we used Rosemary Pugliese)

2 cloves garlic

1/4 olive oil

In a food processor or blender, combine all gazpacho ingredients and blend until smooth. Season generously with salt and pepper. Refrigerate.

Clean shrimp and chop roughly. Place in a small dish and cover with lime juice, salt, pepper and chopped jalapeno. Stir and let sit until shrimp turns opaque. Add tomatoes, avocado and chopped cilantro. Cover and refrigerate.

Heat olive oil in a heavy skillet. Crush garlic and saute in oil until fragrant. Remove cloves when brown. Fry bread until golden on each side.

Serve gazpacho with a dollop of ceviche in center and toasts (and extra ceviche!) on the side.

Smoky Shrimp Fettucine

This dish is inspired by Spanish-style shrimp of the kind you get at tapas bars, swimming in garlic and oil and, if you're lucky, pimenton. I didn't have any pimenton on hand-- and I'm trying not to buy new stuff before leaving for a year-- so I used a combination of Hungarian Paprika and smoked Turkish pepper, to tasty results. Another nice thing is that this is ready in under 30 minutes and can probably be made from ingredients on hand (I always keep some frozen shrimp in the freezer). I brined the shrimp, based on Alton Brown's shrimp brining technique, but I'm not sure it's entirely necessary.

You'll need (serves 2):

12 oz shrimp (the cheaper small ones are fine here), shells removed

1/2 head (10-12 cloves) garlic

1t kosher salt

2 heaping tablespoons Hungarian paprika

1 T smoked Turkish pepper

1/4c olive oil

1/2lb spinach fettucine

for brine (optional):

1/4c sugar

1/4c kosher salt

3c water

Set a large pot of salted water to boil.

Dissolve salt and sugar in 1/2c water over medium heat. Add 2 1/2c cold water and stir until cold. Pour over shrimp and let sit about 10-15 minutes.

Mince garlic with salt; you should have about 3-4T.

When water boils, add pasta. Remove shrimp from brine and dry well.

Heat olive oil in a heavy (preferably cast-iron) skillet. Add garlic and saute until fragrant, about 20 seconds. Add paprika and smoked pepper; stir until well combined. Add shrimp and stir until just cooked, about 3 minutes.

Drain pasta, reserving 1/4c cooking liquid. Toss pasta with shrimp in pan. Add cooking liquid if sauce is too dry. Top with a drizzle of olive oil.

Serve with parmesan cheese and red wine. We drank a Domaine de Fontenille 2003 Cotes du Luberon.

Spicy Shrimp Curry

This is very easy to throw together, and you can add any veggies you have around. You can, of course, adjust the spices. Be sure to only add the shrimp at the very end so it doesn't overcook, and if you reheat the leftovers, don't heat the shrimp (heat everything else and stir in the shrimp at the end; it'll warm through).

You'll need (serves 3-4):

1lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 can light coconut milk
1T tamarind paste
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 heaping tablespoon curry paste (I used panang)
1 3-inch piece ginger, peeled and minced
5 large cloves garlic, peeled, crushed and sliced
2 serrano chilies, sliced lengthwise
1T lemongrass (chopped in a food processor)
1 head broccoli, cut into florets
2 carrots, sliced
1/2T cumin, 1T coriander, 1/2T turmeric
to garnish: chopped mint, chopped thai chilies, crushed peanuts, fish sauce


Saute onion until golden brown. Add curry paste and stir to coat onion; continue cooking about 5 minutes.

Add garlic, ginger, lemongrass and serrano chilies. Stir, being careful not to burn, until garlic is fragrant and chilies are soft.

Add cumin, coriander and turmeric. Add tamarind paste. Add coconut milk and bring to a boil. Lower to barely a simmer and let cook while you devein the shrimp.

If the shrimp are deveined, let the curry cook about 30 minutes, until thick and flavorful.

Add broccoli and carrots and cook about 5 minutes, covered if necessary, until broccoli is just done. Add shrimp, cook 1 minute until just opaque, and turn off heat. Stir and let sit 1 more minute; shrimp should then be perfectly cooked.

Add fish sauce to taste. Serve with more fish sauce, peanuts, mint and red chilies.

Sweet & Spicy Shrimp

This is a pretty good approximation of what honey-walnut shrimp taste like after I doctor them up (read: douse with chili sauce). What's particularly awesome about these shrimp, though, is the texture. They're sauteed until crisp and then glazed in their marinade.


You'll need (per person):

1/2 lb shrimp (about 15 pieces), peeled & deveined (remove the tail bit too)
2T fish sauce
2T honey
1-2T chili garlic sauce (or chili sauce, + 1T minced garlic)
1/2c cornstarch
1T grapeseed oil
lime, to serve

Combine fish sauce, honey, and chili garlic sauce in a bowl. Marinate shrimp for about 30 minutes if you have time.

Drain shrimp, reserving marinade, and coat in cornstarch. The cornstarch will do an ooblecky thing with the marinade and turn the shrimp stiff and brown.

Heat oil in a (non stick or cast iron) skillet and fry shrimp on medium heat about 2 minutes per side. Remove.

Pour leftover marinade in the pan that had the shrimp (don't clean it out). Turn up heat if necessary so marinade bubbles and reduces by half.

Return shrimp to pan and toss to coat.

Serve with lime (and a sprinkle of cilantro if you want-- I meant to do this but forgot).

Fresh Pea and Shrimp Risotto with Gremolata Carrots

... from The Green Kitchen, next door

Shrimp Pouches with Papaya Salad

This makes a good light lunch, and can be prepared, if you have all the ingredients, in about 30 minutes. I know "pouches" sounds weird, but they're not exactly potstickers or wontons-- they come out soft and delicate but retain their shape.

For the papaya salad: using a mandoline, julienne a green papaya and toss with lime juice, chopped chiles or sriracha hot sauce, brown sugar, and fish sauce.

For the potstickers: chop raw, shelled & deveined shrimp as finely or roughly as you like. Toss with minced ginger and scallion (white part only), a tablespoon each of soy sauce and rice wine, and a teaspoon each of rice vinegar and sesame oil. Add 1T frothy egg white (separate the white and beat about 5 minutes until just frothy) and stir to combine. Using a fork, place a small mound of shrimp mixture in the center of a wonton wrapper, and seal the wrapper using leftover egg white (this will stick better than water).

Brown the potstickers in hot oil (I use grapeseed) on both sides; add 1/2c water, cover, and steam 5-6 minutes. Uncover and let water evaporate; serve with papaya salad and hoisin & sriracha sauces.

Summer Feast

We began at the Downtown Berkeley Saturday Farmers' Market, where we bought what looked good. Then we hit up the Cheeseboard, Andronico's, and Vintage Berkeley, an excellent wine store on Vine where they helped us make wine pairings with our menu. A full day of cooking later, this was our meal:

First Course

Heirloom tomato salad caprese with Basil and fresh Burrata (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burrata)

Second Course

Fatted Calf Rabbit Rillettes with Toasts and Daikon Radish Sprout salad, served with Dijon and Stoneground mustards

Baby Yukon Gold potatoes sauteed in rabbit fat, fresh thyme and rosemary, and roasted, served with garlic aioli

Third Course

Grilled pizzetta with eggplant caviar pissalidiere, served with sweet red peppers


Slow cooked okra in Heirloom tomato garlic reduction

Fourth Course

Thai-style grilled white prawns on kale, avocado, and mango salad

Fifth Course

Prosciutto-wrapped Black Mission figs stuffed with Manviso drizzled with Tan Oak honey

Wine

We drank an Uvaggio Vermentino 2006 from Lodi, CA with the first two courses, and a Gargola Tempranillo Blend 2003 from Merida, Spain with the rest of the meal.

a cookbook recipe so successful it deserves a mention...

Seafood Gratin from Barefoot Contessa at Home: shrimp, halibut, and lobster layered with julienned leeks and carrots in a thick sauce of seafood stock, cream, wine, and saffron; topped with a mix of panko, parmesan, parsley, tarragon, and garlic, and baked until golden.

served with quinoa and squash the farmer's market lady called "asian" (it was large, round, and very close to a pumpkin), cubed and roasted; browned in the broiler with some parmesan right before serving.

chardonnay.