Shrimp with Orzo

At some point, I fully expect the reader(s) of this blog to turn on me and insist I cook something that was not initially from an Ina Garten/Barefoot Contessa cookbook. I sincerely hope that you can bear with me for at least one more recipe though, because this is so delicious, and despite its use of the oven, is pretty quick and painless to make even in the hot summer. You can make it ahead, so if you live somewhere that has cooler mornings, just whip it up and pop it in the fridge until dinner. Roasting gives the shrimp a great flavor, the lemon and olive oil dressing is refreshing and the creamy feta works so well with the crunch of the cucumbers. This recipe does use raw red onion, which I know not everyone can eat. If someone you know is anti-raw onion, just saute red onion in a smidge of olive oil until it's lost its bite. The recipe won't suffer that much.


SHRIMP WITH ORZO
modified slightly from Barefoot Contessa at home (really wonderful cookbook, you should buy it).

INGREDIENTS
1 lb shrimp (peeled and deveined)
1/2 lb orzo
1/4 c red onion minced
1 small cucumber, seeded and chopped
1/4 c extra virgin olive oil (plus more for drizzling)
1/4 c lemon juice
1/4 c dill
4-5 oz feta crumbled
salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Put a pot of water on the stove, on high. Bring it to a boil. Cook the orzo according to the package (mine said 8 minutes). When done, remove and drain. Put in a large bowl. Whisk together the lemon juice and olive oil, add 2 t salt and 1 t pepper and set aside so the orzo can absorb the dressing.

Spread your shrimp out in a single layer on a cookie sheet (one with an edge helps because they'll give off juices). Drizzle your shrimp with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put in the oven. Roast for 6 minutes, flipping them when they're half way through.

While the shrimp are cooking prepare your onion, cucumber and dill. Add the onion, cucumber and dill to the orzo and mix. When the shrimp are done, add them too. Crumble the feta over the pasta and then mix again until everything is incorporated. Set aside to allow the flavors to blend. Ina says at least an hour, but I don't usually have that kind of time. Of course, you can always make it the day before, pop it in the fridge and take it out before you're ready to serve. Let it get back to room temperature though, don't serve it freezing cold.

Salmon with Asian Noodles

True confession time - I don't love eating fish. I love mussels, clams, crab, lobster, all manner of shrimp, crawfish and langoustine, but fish is not my favorite. Ryan loves fish, and so sometimes because I love him, and I know it's good for me, I'll make fish. This salmon is so good, that the first time I made it, I wanted to make it again almost immediately. A very good sign indeed.

SALMON WITH ASIAN NOODLES
Ingredients:
6 T tamari
1 inch piece of ginger, grated
2 dried thai chilis
juice of 1 lime
1 lb salmon (make an effort to get a piece that is as even in thickness as possible, it will make it easier to cook)
snap peas
shitake mushrooms
1-2 carrots julienned
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 t brown sugar
1/4 c white wine or vermouth
1 T mirin
lo mein noodles (I used between 1/4 and 1/3 of the package)
2-3 T oil (peanut is good, veggie is fine)

DIRECTIONS:
Warning, this is not the easiest recipe, partially due to my own half-ass recipe writing. It would help if you know how to cook fish and vegetables. Okay let's get started.
1. Marinade - Mix 6 T tamari, grated ginger, chili and lime juice in a baking dish or pie plate large enough to accomodate your salmon. Marinate the salmon for 5 minutes on each size.
2. Veggies for the noodles - feel free to use any kind you like! I used snap peas, carrots and shitakes. Just trim the snap peas and slice the shitakes. The carrots you could grate with a mandolin or julienne if you're up to the knife work. The snap peas you'll want to steam quickly either in your microwave or in a small pot, using a steamer for 2-3 minutes. Set aside the cooked snap peas and the cut carrots and mushrooms.
3. Put on the water for your noodles, it will take a while to boil.
4. While waiting for the water to boil, cook your salmon. RESERVE THE MARINADE! In a frying pan, add a T of the oil and swirl so the bottom is covered. Put the salmon on skin side up. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side depending on the thickness of the fish. The fish should no longer be as glossy, it should be more opaque. Just keep an eye on it. When it's done, set it aside.
5. Wipe out the fish pan and throw in another T of oil and maybe 2 T of water. Add your garlic, shitakes, carrots. Cook, covered, on low to medium for 3-4 minutes.
6. About the same time as you start your veggies, start your lo mein noodles. They'll only take about 3 minutes, read your package.
7. When the noodles are cooked, drain and set aside.
8. When your mushrooms have given off their liquid and the carrots are tender, add the cooked snap peas. Add 2 t brown sugar and 1 T of mirin to the marinade you used for the salmon. Mix it up and then add to your veggies. Then add the 1/4 C of white wine or vermouth and raise to a boil. Boil for 1-2 minutes. Add your lo mein noodles to your veggies and sauce. If they are sticking together, gently use a pair of tongs and sort of swirl them around in a circular motion, this should loosen them a bit as they take in the sauce. When the noodles are fully coated, you're ready to serve.
9. Plate the noodles and top with a portion of salmon.

Lobstah

There's something about the word lobster that calls for a Boston accent. There are words like that, some phrases, that I just prefer in Bostonese - lobster, beer here - they just sound better in Boston. But this post is NOT another "I wish I still lived in Boston" rant. Oh no. This is a tribute to the drive. If I lived in Boston, I would not have a reason to be driving the Connecticut coastline. And if I did not have a seemingly endless stretch of Connecticut coastline in between the hell that is the Jersey turnpike, the crazy winding parkways of New York and the relief of reentry into Rhode Island toward points north, I would not know, that hidden in a teensy-tinesy town called Noank is the best Lobstah sandwich ever at a place called Abbott's.
Abbott's is for serious people. Getting there involves following a veritable scavenger hunt of signs, the word Abbott's plus an arrow written in on poles and the backs of stop signs. Each year they hold a contest to see who is the first to line up when they open for the season. This year the winning party arrived at 2am!! I arrived right at opening for the day, on a cloudy weekday, and was rewarded with no line between me and my lobster.When you only get to visit a restaurant once a year, there is no room for error or experimentation. You go directly to the best - the hot lobster roll, butter on the side. Do you think you could handle a close-up without trying to nibble your monitor?

Just a quarter pound of fresh lobster meat, no filler, no mayonnaise, no work, just all the lobstery goodness you could imagine in one package. And yes, I had one for lunch and ordered two to go so that Ryan and I could have them for dinner.

Know Thy Enemy

I know, it looks harmless enough. Welcoming teakettle, sweet strawberry plaque, glossy black surface. Oh how my grandmother adores that sleek, glossy, easy to wipe down surface.

DO NOT BE TAKEN IN.

This stove is the enemy. I hate that when you turn off the heat, it's still really hot on the burner, so that you actually have to completely remove your pot or pan from the burner. I hate that raising or lowering the temperature does not produce immediate results. I hate that you have to rely on an indicator light to know if the stove is on. I like to know if my stove is on. Oh this stove is pretty and shiny and new. But I am truly devoted to a gas stove. I love watching the flame flicker and lick the bottom of a pot waiting to boil, the way the flame just barely glows blue on the lowest setting. Knowing that I can see as well as feel what my stove is doing. And yes, an ancient model like the one in my tiny apartment kitchen may require some extra care. There's the constant relighting of the pilot light for one. And it certainly does not have an easy to wipe down surface. As I reach between the pan and the hot burner grates to retrieve an errant pasta shell or runaway mushroom, I am reminded of the game operation, where you carefully remove the patient's insides without setting off an alarm; although the stakes are somewhat higher when I play with a hot burner. But cooking is a hands on business, a messy business, and I'd rather my stove were with me on this.

Vacation and Local Flavor

Happy Almost 4th of July!! I will not be cooking this year. Just relaxing on the deck with my feet up. Believe it or not, this incredible view is from my in-law's place in Rhode Island. Tomorrow, we'll go out on their boat, Ragtime. Then Sunday I head to Cape Cod for a few more days to visit my grandmother.

Ragtime

Although it's not likely I'll find myself in the kitchen while I'm away, I'll try to bring you some food related goodness. Today, our grocery trip turned up a New England treat, a roll of all chocolate Necco wafers. Standard Necco wafers come in a variety of fruit related flavors. Chocolate Neccos are far more rare.

Necco wafers have a fascinating slightly chalky texture and chocolate Neccos are far closer in flavor to some type of chocolate malted product (like Whoppers) than anything actually chocolate. In many ways, Neccos are something I like more for the sheer New Englandness of their existance than for their actual taste. But you'd have to try for yourself.

Like Socks in a Dryer

On the left are the two measuring spoons I have been using for the past several years. The tablespoon and the 1/2 teaspoon. They were once part of a beautiful set, but alas, over the years, the rest of the set has wandered to parts unknown. For my birthday, I have a brand-new set, which I refuse to liberate from their ring, lest they, like their predecessors drift off. You may find the recipes to be just a smidge more accurate going forward as estimating is no longer required.

Birthday Cake

Truth: I have had the same birthday cake every year since my very first birthday.
I have never made this cake myself. My mother does it, with love, as she always has.

It is delicious.

Just as a great birthday cake should be, it is moist. It is not so chocolatey as to coat your mouth (just the cheeks of a one year old). It can be iced with chocolate or as I request now, mocha. It's simple, basic, tasty - what storebought cake mixes are trying so desperately to replicate.
Also, it's incredibly easy.

I'm simply going to pass along my mother's recipe and her comments, unedited, because really, mother knows best.

BIRTHDAY CAKE AND FROSTING
Ultimate Chocolate Cake -
This came from one of those hippie parenting books. It is made in one pan, with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of taste. It was a great book with all sorts of crafts and activities for having fun with kids.

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 C evaporated milk (no, it is not the whole can; you are just going to have to make two cakes!)
1 t vinegar
4 squares chocolate (1 square = 1 oz) I use a combo of semi-sweetened and unsweetened or whatever I have on had. Who knows what it was meant to be?
1/2 C butter, cut into pieces
1 C boiling water
2 C flour
2 C sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 t baking SODA
1/2 t vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

In a bowl, combine 1/2 C evaporated milk, 1 t vinegar. In a sauce pan, combine 4 squares chocolate, 1/2 C butter, 1 C boiling water. Stir until melted. Add the canned milk/vinegar. Stir again. Add 2 C flour, 2 eggs, 1 1/2 t baking SODA, 1/2 t vanilla. Beat well with a wooden spoon. Pour into two greased and floured cake pans. Bake 35-40 min at 375 degrees.

Mocha Icing

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 C sweet butter (I use regular butter; sweet butter is w/out salt)
2 1/2 C confectioner's sugar
2 T cocoa
2 T hot coffee
1/2 t vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

Cream butter. Add sugar gradually, beating well between additions. As it becomes thick, add cocoa. Add hot coffee and vanilla. Continue to beat until light and fluffy and thick enough to spread. Use for filling and to frost top and sides of cold cake.

Do not eat it or there will not be enough to cover the cake.

Butter Frosting (CHOCOLATE!)
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 C butter
3 C confectioner's sugar
4 T evaporated milk
3 T cocoa
1 T vanilla

DIRECTIONS: Cream butter. Add remaining ingredients and beat til fluffy.

These (frosting recipes) are from The Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedia Cookbook- the new revised deluxe edition. I think you already have a picture of it on your blog. My mother's was bound neatly.Published 1950. Apparently, as in the case of Nana, it was available earlier in segmented sections, including Your Leftovers; Your Canning, Freezing and Preserving; Your Lunch Box; Your Quick Dinners for the Woman in a Hurry. I think the segments were in the supermarket and you could buy one a week or month or whatever and then they sold a wire apparatus so you could clip them into a neat little binder. It was my mother's bible, but then again, she didn't really like to cook!

Christmas in June

One of my absolute favorite Christmas movies is the hard to find Remember the Night. It's rarely shown due to the lack of a pure Hollywood ending and the embarrassing presence of a butler character, Rufus, that by today's standards is pretty offensive.

But still, how can I resist Barbara Stanwyck playing a bad girl to Fred MacMurray's wholesome Indiana farm boy who made good as a big city lawyer? So every single year (I'm not using hyberbole, I'm sorry to say) on Christmas Eve I make my family watch this movie with me.

The movie has two major food moments, one involving sandwiches made by the aforementioned Rufus and the other where Barbara Stanwyck learns to make popovers. I cannot tell you the cravings induced by watching, year after year, as she pops them out of the pan and onto a plate.

At some point, I insisted on getting a popover pan of my own. It's not Christmas, and I'm not trying to win a man's heart by way of his stomach, but I am well prepared should either occaision arise.

popovers shown with baked eggs

POPOVERS
(ingredients courtesy of Epicurious)

INGREDIENTS:
2 large eggs
3/4 C milk
1/4 C water
1 T unsalted butter, melted
1 C minus 2 T flour
1/2 t salt

DIRECTIONS:
Put your EMPTY popover pan in your oven. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees (with the pan in it). Mix together the flour and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and water. Melt the butter and allow to cool slightly. Add to the liquid ingredients while whisking. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix. There will be small lumps, this is okay. Take the HOT pan out of the oven and butter the the pan. I do this by unwrapping a stick of butter, holding it by the wrapper at one end and just wiping inside each popover holder place. After buttering, divide the mixture evenly between the six popover wells. Return to oven for 20-25 minutes. Remove and poke a sharp knife once in each popover's center. They will deflate slightly and some steam with escape. Return to the oven for 10 more minutes. They will reinflate and have a nice crust. You should be able to turn them out of the pan easily with a knife when they're done. Popovers are a bit like a souffle in that they will deflate if you open and close that oven door, so NO peeking.

Obsession

"I could cry salty tears;
Where have I been all these years?
Little wow, tell me now:
How long has this been going on?...

Oh I feel I could melt;
Into Heaven I'm hurled!
I know how Columbus felt,
finding another world."
-George Gershwin

If you've spoken to me anytime in the past month, it's probable that you've heard me waxing rhapsodic about the monte cristo sandwich. Maybe I haven't actually quoted Gershwin to you, but yes, I am enraptured.

I think about this monte cristo all the time. How is it possible, that I have never before had one? I was practically raised on grilled cheese. I have more than a passing fancy for croque monsieur (even croque madame, which seriously, if you're ever in New York, you must go to Pastis and order because it is completely sensational.) So why has the monte cristo eluded me so? I do not know, but I will not allow others to suffer. Behold:

MONTE CRISTO SANDWICH
makes 2, from epicurious
traditionally monte cristos involve either turkey or ham deli meat. This has neither and does not suffer a bit for the loss.

INGREDIENTS:
4 slices good crusty bread (slightly stale is okay)
Swiss cheese (regular swiss, or emmentaler, or gruyere would all be delightful)
approximately 2 large eggs or equivalent in eggbeaters (depending on how thick and stale your bread, you may need more)
1 T water
1.5 t mustard PER Sandwich
1 large tomato - sliced
salt and pepper
2-4 T butter

DIRECTIONS:
Whisk together your egg with the water and some salt and pepper. Carefully dip each slice of bread in the egg mixture until it absorbs the egg. Place on a plate. Smear mustard on one side of each sandwich. Layer on the swiss cheese and tomato and top with other slice of bread. In a large pan, melt the butter on medium high heat. When you flip a drop of water in the pan and it sizzles, it's ready. Place the sandwiches in the pan, and weight the top down with a flat lid, plate or bottom of another pan. Cook for 4 minutes, reduce heat if it starts to smoke. Flip carefully, and cook for more minutes (weight the top of the sandwiches again) then remove, cut in half and serve.

Inheritance

When I was about 13, my parents took me to France. We spent much time driving in order to see the sights, which in my teenaged opinion included far too many walled cities. We saw St. Malo, Avignon, Aigue Mortes, Eze, so many more, from the impressive Carcassonne to tiny little towns; it seemed that every where we went was enclosed in medieval fortifications. I complained (possibly loudly and bitterly) about how incredibly sick I was of walled cities. But there was something I did not complain about. Not at all. That inside each walled city, there was inenvitably a patisserie. And my father had a personal mission, which required my personal expertise: to try every available tarte citron (lemon tart) in the search for the very best, most lemony tart in all of France. You see, I come by my love of lemon completely honestly. I live a relatively tart deprived existance these days, but for a real lemon fix, I turn to the source, where my father probably developed his taste for lemon in the first place, my nana's lemon bars.

Nana's Lemon Bars

Ingredients:
Base -
1/3 C powdered sugar
1 1/2 C flour
3/4 C butter (although my nana uses margarine, and I had a slight problem with the base being too crumbly and she does not)

Lemony Top -
3 eggs
1 C sugar
1/2 C lemon juice
3 T flour

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Mix together the powdered sugar, flour and butter as though you were making a pie crust. It will be very crumbly, sort of like sand. Take a 9x13 pan and line it well with tin foil. Grease it well. Do not skim. Make sure your foil comes up high on the sides, because later, if you get any of the lemon mixture between the foil and pan, it will act as glue, and you will not be happy. Press the crust down into the pan, trying to make sure it is level. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 F.

Beat together the 3 eggs until lemony. Mix the sugar and flour together and add to the eggs. Add the lemon juice. Mix well and when the crust is done, pour on top. Return to the oven for 25 minutes. Cool. Sprinkle with more confectioner's sugar.