Bang Bang Shrimp

Bang Bang Shrimp is originally a Sichuan street food that is more often prepared with chicken. It has been popularized by the Bonefish Grill chain of restaurants. The restaurant version (an appetizer) is Bang Bang Shrimp but it's deep-fried. I've never been in a Bonefish Grill but I discovered the dish through Blue Apron and it's cooked in a skillet instead of deep-frying. I've adapted the Blue Apron version which uses a similar (and healthier) approach to make a tasty, weeknight meal for two (double the recipe for 4 servings). 

I also like it because it contains the spicy Sambal oelek that I use with stir frys. Sambal oelek is a tart Indonesian condiment made from chili peppers, vinegar, and salt. It's got a good amount of heat, so start with the single teaspoon and you can ramp it up next time if you want more spice. Sriracha can also easily be substituted. 

The magic is the spicy mayo sauce that finishes the dish. It is creamy, spicy and makes a great counterpoint to the crispy shrimp. It's pretty quick and easy to make. If you get a bag of frozen shrimp that is already peeled and deveined, you save even more time. Serve the spicy, creamy shrimp over a bed of rice and you've got an easy and delicious one pan dinner.

Serves 2.

Bang Bang Shrimp

Ingredients:

• Shrimp - 12-16 oz. frozen, deveined and tail-off
• White rice - 1/2 cup
• Broccoli - enough for a side, cut into florets
• Garlic - 2 cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
• Sweet Chili Sauce - 3 tablespoons
• Sambal Oelek - 1 teaspoon
• Mayonnaise - 2 tablespoons
• Rice flour - 2 tablespoons
• Panko bread crumbs - 2 tablespoons
• Furikake - 1 teaspoon

Instructions:

1. Defrost the shrimp overnight in the refrigerator. Then prep the shrimp by rinsing it off in a colander (and taking off the shells or tails if on). Let the rinsed shrimp stay in the colander for a bit then transfer to a paper towel-lined bowl to dry the shrimp.
2. Prepare the final sauce by mixing the mayonnaise, Sambal oelek, and the sweet chili sauce in a bowl until they are incorporated. Use a large enough bowl to add the cooked shrimp in the end. Taste and adjust the heat. 
   
   
   
   
   
3. Wash and dry the broccoli and cut enough florets for the side dish.
4. Roughly chop two cloves of garlic. 
5. In a pot, combine the rice, water, and a big pinch of salt. Heat to bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook, without stirring, for 11-13 minutes, until the water has been absorbed. Remove from heat when done.
6. To prepare the broccoli, heat some olive oil in a skillet. Add the broccoli florets along with some salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, 3 to 4 minutes until lightly browned. Add the garlic and a 1/4 cup of water. Loosely cover the pan with aluminum foil and cook until the water has cooked off. Transfer the broccoli to a bowl and cover with the foil to keep warm. Wipe the skillet clean with paper towels.
7. In a bowl, add the shrimp and add some salt and pepper. Add the rice flour and panko bread crumbs. Stir to mix and coat each shrimp with the flour mixture. 
8. In the same skillet, heat some oil on medium high. Once the oil is hot, add the coated shrimp in an even layer. Cook without stirring 2-3 minutes, until lightly browned. Flip the shrimp and brown the other side then turn off the heat. 
9. Add the cooked shrimp to the creamy mayo sauce and stir to coat. 
10. Serve the shrimp on a bed of cooked rice. Add the broccoli to the side. Sprinkle Furikake on the shrimp and serve. 

Serve with a chilled white wine with some acidity like a Chenin Blanc, Dry Riesling, or a Sancerre. 

"Seacuterie" Christmas Wreath

We had some friends over for Christmas dinner and we made this impressive appetizer that was well received. It's a seafood-based variation of a charcuterie. But because of the holidays, it's also intended to mimic a Christmas wreath. 

The recipe comes from the Cornish Sea Salt company. We were buying some Cornish salt for a close friend whose recent DNA results showed that his ancestors were Cornish. As we explored the website, we found this recipe a few months before Christmas and we decided to try it as a part of our Christmas dinner.

There is one ingredient that needs to be addressed: Caper berries. We all know capers--the small, round, brined berries used in picatta recipes and more. The capers we mostly know are the flower buds of Mediterranean caper bush. The caper berries are the fruit that grows from flower of the caper bush. Each one is about the size of an elongated olive. There are many of the same salty and briny flavors but the inside of the caper berries contains seeds and they are way larger. Eating them is a different experience. Caper berries may not be available at your local supermarket but you can find them on Amazon (and, by extension, Whole Foods).

Ingredients:

Cream Cheese Dip:

• Chives - 1/8 cup, finely chopped
• Parsley - 1/8 cup, finely chopped
• Dill - 1/8 cup, finely chopped
• Cream cheese - 6 oz., brought to room temperature
• Lemon zest - zest from 1/2 lemon
• Lemon juice - from 1 or more lemons (mostly used for flavor but also to thin the thickness of the cream cheese)
• Salt - 1/2 - 1 tsp. 

This can be made up to three days ahead of time.

Shrimp:

• Shrimp - 1/2 lb., peeled and deveined
• Olive oil - 2 tbsp.
• Lemon zest - zest from the other half of the lemon
• Salt - 1/2 - 1 tsp. 

Main Ingredients:

• Smoked salmon - 1/3 lb. 
• Radishes - 2-4, thinly sliced
• Cucumber - thinly sliced using a vegetable peeler and rolled into a spiral
• Caper Berries - 3 oz. 

Instructions:

Here are the original directions (with some of my edits):

1. Finely chop the herbs and then combine in a bowl with the cream cheese and the lemon zest of 1/2 of a lemon and the juice of 1-2 lemons. Season with salt.  (Can be made a few days ahead)
2. Heat the oil in a skillet. When hot and shimmering, add the shrimp. Cook for 3-5 minutes until pink, curled, and cooked through (Let sit for  3-5 mins. and then stir occasionally until shrimp are cooked through.) Add the lemon zest,  and lemon juice
3. To assemble the wreath get a large round 12" platter. Use the back of a teaspoon to spread some of the cream mixture around the edge of the platter. Then build a "wreath" out of the cooked prawns, smoked salmon, sliced radishes, cucumber ribbons, and caper berries.
4. Serve with optional lemon wedges, bread, or crackers (optional)

Spiced Shrimp with Orzo

This is a recipe that nicely blends spicy, salty, briny, and creamy all in one. Orzo is the great pasta base which absorbs some of the competing flavors. Spicy shrimp makes a nice contrast to the briny capers and the tart lemon juice. Parmesan and Mascarpone cheeses finish out the creaminess. 

For the spicy shrimp, the original recipe called for Calabrian chili paste. I tend to favor harissa as the best substitute. One could also use Sriracha, Sambal Oelek, or Gochujang.

Ingredients:

• Shrimp - 20 oz., tails off and deveined 
• Garlic - 2-3 cloves, minced
• Chili paste - 1 Tbsp.
• Orzo - 1 cup
• Capers - 4 Tbsp. rinsed
• Parmesan - 3/4 cup, grated
• Zucchini - 2, sliced
• Lemon - 1, juiced
• Mascarpone - 1/4 cup

Directions:

1. Fill medium pot 3/4 way up with salted water. Turn on high heat and bring to a boil.
2. Grate the Parmesan.
3. Halve the zucchini lengthwise then thinly slice crosswise.
4. Quarter and deseed the lemon. Squeeze all sections into a small bowl removing any seeds. 
5. Dry the defrosted shrimp with paper towels and place them in a large bowl. Mince the garlic into the bowl and add the chili paste. Drizzle with olive oil (about 1 Tbsp) and stir to mix. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside
6. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook 9 minutes. When done, drain pasta in a colander.
7. 
   In a 12" skillet, heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil over medium high heat. Add the sliced zucchini in a single layer and cook, without stirring, for 3 minutes (until lightly browned). Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for another 3 minutes. Transfer cooked zucchini to a bowl and cover with foil.
8. Wipe the skillet with a paper towel. Reheat the skillet with olive oil. Add the spiced shrimp and cook, without stirring, 3 minutes per side. 
   
9. While shrimp cook, return orzo to the pot and stir to mix. Add the mascarpone, capers, Parmesan cheese, and lemon juice. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Turn on a low heat to help melt the mascarpone and get it to mix with the pasta. 
10. Serve the pasta mixture in a pasta bowl and top with the finished shrimp. Sprinkle some dried parsley on top for color. 

Stir Fry Shrimp and Vegetables with Chinese Chili Sauce

The second half of my college years was a formative time in my cooking life. My roommate and I lived off campus in a rented condo and we really got into cooking Chinese stir-fry. This cookbook became our bible and we spent lots of time making stir-fry sauces and chopping vegetables.

The main spicy stir-fry sauce stayed with me in the years after college. I shared it with others who loved it and they even named the sauce after me. It was fun to know that coast to coast people were cooking a recipe with my name on it.

For the past few years, I've been making the sauce again and doing some tweaks on the recipe. After a few years of trials, I'm ready to reveal the 2.0 version.

Let's start with Chinese Chili Sauce:

For the red chili paste, you should start with a bottle of Huy Fong Foods' Chili Garlic Sauce. But there are other options. With the current Sriracha sauce craze, you likely have a bottle of that which you can use. For a twist, I've sometimes added a Thai element by using Thai Kitchen's Red Curry Paste.

In a large bowl mix together the ingredients in the recipe below and set aside.

Chinese Chili Sauce

• red chili paste - 3/4 - 1 teaspoon (adjust to your taste)
• soy sauce - 2 tablespoons
• sherry - 1 tablespoon
• sugar - 1/2 - 1 teaspoon
• cornstarch -1 teaspoon 
• fish sauce - 1 tablespoon (optional)
• sesame oil - a few drops (optional)
• water - 1/3 cup

Stir Fry Shrimp and Vegetables

Frozen shrimp can be tricky to work with. Because each shrimp is coated with ice, it's easy to create a runny, tasteless stir-fry. So take the shrimp out of freezer early and allow it to defrost in its bag at room temperature until you can see the ice separating from the shrimp. When that happens, open the bag and pour the shrimp into a colander and rinse with hot water while shaking the colander. I also like to wrap the shrimp in paper towels to draw out any more water.

I cook the shrimp ahead of time to make sure they are done well. I also use a little butter in order get some browning on the outside.

In a wok or large skillet, heat a high-smoke oil (peanut, grape seed, canola, etc.) and an equal amount of butter. Add some minced garlic and then add the shrimp. Season with salt and pepper. Squeeze in some lemon juice. Cook shrimp until done with some browning on the outside. Set aside.

The vegetables are next and you should prepare them well ahead of time. You can use any vegetables of your choice. But the following are some of the basics:

• celery - sliced on the diagonal
• carrots - sliced
• broccoli - florets
• mushrooms - sliced
• bell pepper - sliced
• bok choy - quartered

On this particular evening I was using up some Brussels sprouts and broccoli.

Add your prepared vegetables to a hot skillet or wok and stir constantly over high heat. As they approach being done, add back in the cooked shrimp and stir to mix. 

Give the sauce another stir because the cornstarch has likely resettled to the bottom. Break up the gooey base by stirring to mix. 

Add the sauce to the stir fry and mix constantly spreading the sauce to allow it to coat everything. 

Feel free to add some peanuts or cashews at this point. 

As you stir, the sauce should add a glisten to everything once it has coated the stir fry. If it seems too gummy, add a bit of water and mix it in. 

Serve as is or over rice.

Shrimp and White Bean Salad with Harissa Dressing

As I find recipes in magazines and newspapers I cut them out and tape them into a spiral notebook. I have three or four such notebooks full of taped recipes. There are way more recipes that I've never tried than ones I've done. Sometimes I go through one of the notebooks and tear out some of the recipes that I know I will never get to freeing up space for newer recipes.

It was during one of these reviews that I stumbled upon a Sunset recipe that I had I cut out and taped into a notebook. As I skimmed it, I knew that I had most of the ingredients on hand and I could substitute the rest.

This turned out to to be a great starting point for a quick and tasty weeknight meal with lot of substitution options.

Let's start with the dressing for the salad. There will be leftover dressing so figure out another use for it.

Harissa Dressing:

• 2-4 Tbsp. Harissa - I had some Harissa in the pantry but if you don't, you could use Rooster sauce or Chili Garlic Sauce from Huy Yong Foods (I keep both of these always stocked in my fridge)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Mix together in a bowl and set aside to let the flavors marry.


Salad:

• 1-2 cups of greens - the original recipe called for an arugula and parsley mix. I used half of a bag of Trader Joe's mixed baby greens which featured baby kale, chard, and spinach. Be creative and use your favorite greens.
• 1 can of Cannellini beans. Drained and rinsed.
• 1 celery stalk, sliced on the 45 degree angle
• 1 thawed 12 oz bag of shrimp, deveined with shells and tails off. Safeway has a new brand of American farmed shrimp under the Open Nature label.

Cook the shrimp in a hot skillet with butter and olive oil mix until done. Toss in cracked pepper and a few pinches of salt. Lower heat when shrimp are done and add drained beans.

Make a bed of greens and add the sliced celery. Top with the shrimp and bean mixture. Spoon the harissa dressing over the top.

This is a super easy and tasty weeknight dinner. This recipe feeds two people. If you need to feed more, double the salad recipe but not the dressing.

Why You Should Buy US Shrimp

If you look on the back of a bag of frozen shrimp you're likely to see that it comes from Thailand or Vietnam. The shrimp is good and cheap. However, someone is paying a price: children and workers.
Domestic shrimp is sometimes harder to find and more expensive than imported shrimp but I hope you will consider going the extra mile and paying the additional money after reading this article.

http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Thai-shrimp-industry-exploits-workers-3882500.php

Bok Choy Stir Fry

When you have a CSA box there are times when the objective is to just blast through a certain ingredient because you have an overabundance of it. That was the case this weekend with the bok choy. As I went through the latest delivery on Friday evening I found 5 heads of bok choy. There were still 3 from last week's box! What to do with 8 heads of bok choy?

The solution: A bok choy stir fry with shrimp, carrots, and garlic.

I sliced up 5 of the bok choy heads. You need to carefully clean them since they can be gritty. I also sliced up the last 3 carrots from the box. Took out some frozen shrimp from the freezer. Stir fried the shrimp first along with some minced garlic in a wok with canola oil. Then added everything else and topped it with my go to sauce which I adapted from a LA Times recipe saved from years ago.

Chinese Chili Sauce

• 3/4 tablespoon of Chinese red chili paste or Sriracha ("rooster sauce")
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sherry
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 4-6 tablespoons of water

You can vary the amount of chili paste depending on your tolerance for spiciness. I find that 3/4 tablespoon is medium. One tablespoon for very spicy. Stir the sauce well to blend the ingredients.

As the stir-fry nears completion, add the sauce and stir to mix. If the sauce is too gummy add more water. Keep stirring until the sauce is coating all of the ingredients.

Serve immediately as is or over a bed of Jasmine or white rice.

Asian Dinner: Marinated Shrimp Skewers over Watermelon Salad

This was another course in the meal. Bold shrimp skewers contrast nicely with a cool salad of fruit and vegetables. It's a great refreshing summer meal. I combined a couple of different recipes.

It begins by marinating raw shrimp in a marinade I adapted from the Bobby Flay cookbook "Boy Gets Grill."

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon ginger, grated
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon Vietnamese hot sauce

Soak wooden skewers in water for at least an hour.

Make a salad by combining:

• 1 shallot, sliced
• 1 small watermelon, cubed
• 1/2 English cucumber, peeled, halved, cleaned, and sliced
• chiffonade of fresh mint leaves
• 1 small jalapeno pepper, finely chopped

Make a dressing that pulls it all together:

• 2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• dash or more kosher salt

Mix all ingredients together. You can make this a day ahead to save time.

Put 4-5 shrimp on each skewer and fire up the barbecue. Cook the shrimp until done and place skewers on top of the watermelon salad.