G

Shrimp and Grits (with extra Garlic)

We were low on inspiration this past week, so we only had a single G-inspired dish.  But what a dish it was.

My extended family comes from South Carolina, a place I shun for almost everything except its beaches and cuisine.  Grits is definitely a southern dish, and shrimp and grits even moreso.  I know someone is bound to say, "North Carolina is still The South."  That's all well and good, but I first encountered this dish in SC, and I think it's more highly celebrated down there.  A lot of places can claim ownership of barbeque, for instance.  But I think SC can claim shrimp and grits.

Also, we got the recipe from a small book entitled "A Taste of the South Carolina Coast : Restaurant Recipes."  By Phyllis C. Myers.  This was salvaged from some family member's house, and its cover was completely missing.  There's nothing quite like an arcane concoction from a musty tome.

Now, you can use any old grits and be satisfied, but we were lucky enough to have some from a mountain backwoods mill.  I believe it made the dish heartier than the bleached white grits you get at the grocery store these days.

Here's the recipe:
11th St. Dockside Restaurant
1699 11th Street West
Port Royal

Cook two servings of grits according to box directions, let stand until thick and set aside.  Peel and clean 12 large shrimp, wash in cold water and dry on a paper towel.  Heat 4 tbsp of butter in a large skillet.  Sautee1/2 tsp. fresh garlic, 2 oz. chopped green onions, 2 oz. chopped Tasso ham and 2 oz. of fresh tomatoes.  Add a pinch of chopped fresh basil and 1 tbsp. of chopped parsley.  Add shrimp and cook until pink, then add 2 oz. flour and stir for 1 minute.  Slowly stir in 1 cup milk using a wisk to blend.  Cook slowly on low heat for 2 minutes.  Serve over grits.  Makes two servings.

We made a couple of adjustments.  First, I'm lactose intolerant, so the butter was replaced with ghee.  Second, we didn't have any Tasso ham (which does not come from the ham portion of a pig, by the way), so we used some andouille sausage.  Third, we used more garlic than was orignally called for.  And fourth, the shrimp was anything but fresh - we used frozen shrimp.  De-tailed and de-veined already.

But the end result was awesome.  Shrimp and grits is a great comfort food, and we made it on Saturday after a brief snowfall the night before.  The perfect meal for a cold day.  We complimented it with a cheap white wine.  Let me explain.  There is more than one recipe for shrimp and grits in the little cookbook we used, and Mary had gotten some cheap white wine as an ingredient for one of them.  Who wants to use expensive wine for cooking?  But it was the wrong recipe.  We had already uncorked the wine before we started cooking, so there was really only one option - to drink it.

As an epilogue to this tale, we ate the leftovers the next morning for breakfast.  Yum!

F

Shrimp and Frijole Fajitas on Flour Torillas, with Fig Bon-Bons



Starchy food wrappers have grabbed our attention recently, first with the dumpling/wonton incident, and now with our fajita/burrito meal. If blobs of meat mixture are wrapped in wonton wrappers and steamed, can they be called dumplings? And how are fajitas and burritos any different if they are both meat and bean mixtures wrapped in a soft flour tortilla? We solved the dilemma by declaring indifference in the face of flavor.

The shrimp were quickly sauteed with a very spicy chipotle adobo mixture, and then thrown into a tortilla with a cold frijole negro salad containing awesome amounts of cilantro and green onion. Spicy shrip burritos! I mean... ah screw it... nom nom nom.



The fig bon-bons were a nice jump from central america to the mediterranean. Toasted almond pieces were embedded throughout the morsel of fig, and everything was rolled in granulated sugar. Crunchy, figgy, almondy goodness.

Pan-Seared Chipotle-Shrimp Fajitas with Frijoles negros

adapted from Sheila Lukins USA Cookbook (1997)

1 can chipotle peppers in adobo
1 pound shrimp peeled and deveined
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon cumin
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 recipe Black Bean Salad (below)
flour tortillas

Place the chipotles in a food processor and puree until smooth. Combine shrimp with 3 tablespoons of chipotle puree, olive oil, lime juice, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper. Toss and marinate for 15 minutes.
Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until it is hot. Add half the shrimp and saute until cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Repeat with the remaining shrimp.
Wrap tortillas in damp paper towels and microwave for 30-45 seconds. Fill tortillas with shrimp and black bean salad.

Black Bean Salad (Frijoles negros)

adapted from Sheila Lukins USA Cookbook (1997)

DRESSING
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/4 teaspoon cuminSalt and Pepper to taste
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
SALAD
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon olive olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced
2 scallions, sliced1 teaspoon garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing except for the cilantro. When everything is mixed well add in the cilantro.Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until it is hot. Add the olive oil and saute the garlic, onion, and parsley. Add the black beans. When they are warmed transfer to a bowl and toss with dressing. Shortly before serving add the red bell pepper, scallions, garlic, and cilantro. Stir well.

Fig Bonbons

adapted from The Good Cook Candy Time-Life Books (1981)

1/2 lb soft dried figs, finely ground in a food processor, operated in shorts spurts
1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted
about 1/2 cup of sugar

Mix the ground figs and the almonds. Shape into walnut-sized balls. Roll in the sugar to coat them. Let them stand until the sugar is partly absorbed, about 10-15 minutes. Roll in sugar again.

E

Evil Jungle Prince, Egg Fried Rice, and Tea Eggs



We love our Thai cookbook. Flipping through it, Mary came across a recipe called "Evil Jungle Prince." It was apparently a famous dish at Keo's restaurant in Hawaii not too long ago, so we decided to give it a go. We had fresh thai peppers from the asian market, and some preserved lemongrass and keffir lime. This should have been ground up into a paste, but we ended up just finely chopping it in an underpowered food processor. This worked fairly well, but I can't help but think it would have been better if it had been fulled pureed or mashed in our mortar.

Sufficed to say, the dish was pleasantly spicy. We added some zucchini, which also proved to be a bit of a mistake. Not for the zucchini itself, but for the cooking time. The chicken was only supposed to cook for five minutes, but it ended up in there longer. Once the chicken was done, I added the zuch slices and left 'em there for a few more minutes. As a result, the chicken wasn't as tender as it could have been. It was still pretty darned good, but I know it could have been better.

Instead of putting the EJP over cabbage or even thai rice noodles, we opted for a heavier rice dish. I stumbled across a fried rice recipe at some point, I can't even remember where, and it's been a standby dish ever since. Ginger and garlic powder, oil, onions, eggs, and slightly dry, old rice. It's easy to make, and super-tasty. We even had fresh ginger root left over from last week, which enhanced the flavor quite a bit.

Putting the Thai food over the fried rice was a bit rich, but it was still tasty. I separated them for seconds, and put sweet (and thick!) soy sauce over the fried rice that time around. Good stuff.



The tea eggs came from some old 70's cookbooks, I believe. Hard-boiled eggs, shells intentionally cracked, simmered for two hours in an infusion of cinnamon, orange peel, and black tea. It made the house smell wonderful, and the flavor was subtle and pleasant. But in the end, they were still hard boiled eggs. Fancy, yes. But it's questionable whether it was worth all of the effort. I'd probably rather put sweet soy sauce over a regular hard-boiled egg, and it'd be a lot easier to make.

I ate leftovers of the Evil Jungle Prince, and the chicken had become nice and tender again after marinating in the spicy sauce for a couple of days. Good stuff!

Evil Jungle Prince with Chicken and Vegetables

adapted from Keo's Thai Cuisine Revised by Keo Sananikone (1999)

1/2 pound of boneless chicken cut into small pieces
1/4 pound of zucchini, sliced thin
1 can sliced water chestnuts
6 small red chile peppers
2 kaffir lime leaves
1/2 stalk fresh lemongrass
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 can coconut milk
1 tablespoon fish sauce
15 sweet basil leaves

Grind together chile peppers, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves in a food processor. Heat oil to medium-high and saute peppers mixture for 3 minutes. Stir in coconut milk and cook for 2 minuntes. Add chicken and vegetables and cook for 5 minutes, or until cooked. Reduce heat to medium-low. Stir in fish sauce and basil.
Tea Eggs

adapted from The Everything Chinese Book by Rhonda Lauret Parkinson (2003)

2 hard-boiled eggs
1/2 cup brewed black tea
peel of two blood oranges (1-2 days old)
2 cinnamon sticks
3 1/2 cups water

Tap each egg very gently with the back of a spoon, until tiny lines form. Try not to actually crack the eggs.

Add eggs, black tea, orange peel, and cinnamon sticks to 3 1/2 cups water to bring to a boil. Simmer, covered, for 2 hours. Turn off the heat, and let the eggs sit in the liquid for a few more hours before serving.

D

Dumplings, Daikon Radish pickles, and Date Bars

I think our first thought for a D-themed meal was roasted duck.  We didn't want to roast the duck ourselves, mind you.  That would be a lot of work.  We knew that the Grand Asia Market had nice roasted ducks hanging up in their restaurant area, and were sorely tempted.

We decided that we needed to cook the meal ourselves, however.  At least this time around.  Our mind was still on asian food, and dumplings sprang to mind pretty quickly.  Daikon radishes soon followed.  We thought about deer, but decided that it was really venison, which will almost certainly be used in the V-themed meal later this year.  Dates were a no-brainer.  And then we stalled.  What else starts with D?  So we stopped our brainstorming session in its tracks and went with what we had.

Mary found a nice nepalese curried pork dumpling recipe that looked pretty easy.  I couldn't help wondering if the people in Nepal had pigs.  But no matter - we made them anyway.  Instead of dumpling dough, we used wonton wrappers.  So perhaps we're on really shaky ground here.  Did we make dumplings or wontons?  I'm still not sure.  But they were tasty.

What we discovered is that steamed dumplings are an industrial process.  It doesn't seem to be worth the effort to make them unless you're going to make a LOT of them.  The recipe called for a pound of ground pork, plus almost that same volume of onions and cilantro*.  We made about two dozen dumplings before we ran out of steaming space, and there was about two-thirds of the meat mixture left over.

What to do with all of that seasoned meat?  We put it into a 8x8 pyrex dish and covered and baked it at 350 for an hour.  We ended up with a sort of curried meatloaf Wellington.  Or something like that.  It tasted just fine, though the dough was a little tough.

Mary made the Daikon radish pickles ahead of time, so I don't know exactly what went into them.  I'll let the recipe do the talking here.  Daikon radish doesn't taste like much, really, but their crispness lent some good contrast to the meal.

There was a dipping sauce for the dumplings that was pretty good, and spicy.  But the spiciness overshadowed subtle flavors of the dumplings themselves.  I had two dumplings with the sauce, and then ate the rest plain.  I did, however, start dipping the daikon radish into the sauce.  So everything worked out.

Mary made the date bars in advance too, so I don't have much commentary on their manufacture.  I do know, however, that we were short one egg for the recipe, but it turned out fine anyway.

* Chinese Parsley is the same thing as Cilantro, according to something Mary read online.  Interesting!

Here are the recipes!
North Indian Nepali Curry Dumplings

adapted from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/North-Indian-Nepali-Curry-Dumplings/Detail.aspx

1 pound ground pork
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 teaspoon curry powder
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon ginger paste
salt and black pepper to taste
square won-ton wrappers

Combine the ground pork, 1 bunch of cilantro, chopped onion, green onions, garam masala, curry powder, 3 cloves of garlic, ginger paste, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Place a heaping teaspoon of the pork mixture in the center of a dumpling wrapper. Moisten the edge of the wrapper with a few drops of water. Fold the dumpling in half and fold into nurses hats. Repeat with the remaining dumplings.

Place a steamer insert into a saucepan, and fill with water to just below the bottom of the steamer. Cover, and bring the water to a boil over high heat. Add the dumplings, recover, and steam until cooked through, about 15 minutes. Serve with the dipping sauce.


Sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, sliced
1 tomato, diced
salt and black pepper to taste
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper, or to taste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

To make the dipping sauce, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the garlic and the chopped onion; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Cover and reduce heat to low and continue cooking for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1 tablespoon cilantro. Pour sauce into the food processor and carefully blend until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.


Overnight Chinese Daikon Radish Pickles

adapted from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Overnight-Chinese-Daikon-Radish-Pickles/Detail.aspx
1 1/2 cups chopped peeled Daikon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

In a mixing bowl, toss daikon with salt. Cover, and refrigerate until 1 to 2 tablespoons of water is released, about 30 minutes.

Drain and rinse daikon, removing as much salt as possible. Pat dry with a paper towel, and return to bowl. Stir in rice vinegar, black pepper and, if desired, sesame oil. Cover, and refrigerate at least 8 hours.


Date Nut Bars

adapted from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Date-Nut-Bars/Detail.aspx

2 cups sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups chopped Dates
2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons of water (had to add this because we were short an egg and the batter was dry.)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, dates and nuts. Add the eggs, butter and vanilla; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened (batter will be very stiff).

Spread in a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool bars on a wire rack.