Thai Bamboo Rice Salad

Strolling through a Whole Foods last year, I found a curious jar of green rice that I had never seen before.  Smelling faintly of jasmine rice but more earthy and perfumed, this curious infusion was known as bamboo rice.  This rice is apparently infused with the juice from young bamboo plants, giving it the vegetal notes as well as the green color.  We would have strolled on had we not found this recipe accompanying the rice, as we fortunately picked some up to try this out.

I highly recommend this rice salad, which was amazing as a side but could almost stand on its own if you were really avoiding protein for some reason.  Interestingly, I couldn't find this recipe on the Whole Foods website - it's some kind of mystery recipe that never appeared after I found the small card, so I'd like to post it here for all to see.

Thai Bamboo Rice Salad
Whole Foods

• 1 cup bamboo rice
• 1.5 cups coconut water
• Sea salt, to taste
• ¼ cup toasted unsweetened coconut
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
• ¼ cup peanut oil
• 4 green onions, sliced
• ¼ cup freshly torn mint
• ¼ cup freshly torn basil
• 1-2 tsp serrano chile, small dice
• Freshly ground black pepper
• ¼ cup chopped roasted peanuts
• 1 large cucumber, sliced into thin rounds

Combine rice with coconut water and a pinch of salt in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.  Bring to a boil over high heat, cover, reduce to a simmer and cook for 11-12 minutes.  Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes.  Fluff with a fork.  Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate to cool.

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Spread coconut on a baking sheet and bake for 4-5 minutes, stirring after 2 minutes, making sure it doesn’t burn.  Combine lime juice and vinegar in a bowl.  Whish in peanut oil.  When rice has cooled, combine with green onions, mint, basil and chile pepper.  Top with coconut and peanuts.  Serve on cucumber rounds, with a piece of fish if desired.

Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemons and Olives

The only time in my life that I tried preserved lemons was in an iced fermented lemon drink at a Vietnamese restaurant, and it was one of the worst experiences of my life.  So when I saw this, I thought: let's spend a month making these and eat them again!  Well, when you go to the culture that invented the stuff, it turns out they are used in much more pleasant ways, such as this delicious chicken tagine.

Tagines, known by their namesake ceramic or cast iron conic cooking devices famous in Moroccan culture, are nothing more than a stew of protein and vegetables or fruit, often featuring goat, lamb, or kid, but in some cases using chicken, or even chickpeas.  This one features preserved lemon, which is an interesting way of keeping lemons for long periods that involves packing them in salt.  The flavor is extra tart, slightly sour from the fermentation, and only good in small doses.  But man, do they add an interesting flavor to complex sauces like what is created in this dish.

We modified the recipe ordering slightly to be more practical, and I may go back and revise this to use chicken quarters instead of a whole chicken, which we think would be faster and better.  Regardless, this dish was well worth the effort, and had so much going on that we were completely floored by how unique it was.  Highly recommended if you have some time to make preserved lemons on your own, which are actually very easy.

Preserved lemons are incredible in sauces, and not to be eaten out of the jar as a condiment

Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemons and Olives

Modified from Morocco, by Jeff Koehler

• 3-4 cups cooked white long-grain rice
• 1 cup plain greek yogurt
• 3 tbsp milk
• Salt
• 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh mint or 1 tsp dried
• 4.25 lb chicken
• 1 preserved lemon
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 3 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp turmeric
• Generous pinch saffron threads, dry-toasted and ground
• Salt and freshly ground white pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 medium red onions, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp butter or smen
• 1 cup green olives, pitted

Scrape the pulp out and preserve the peel for making garnishelater

Quarter the preserved lemon lengthwise, rinse, and remove the seeds.  Without breaking the ppel, scrape away the pulp with a spoon, reserving the peel.  Finely chop the pulp.  In a small mixing bowl, add the lemon pulp and any juices, garlic, parsley, cilantro, ginger, turmeric, saffron, salt and white pepper, olive oil, lemon juice, and 2 tbsp water.  Blend well.

Clip off the chicken wing tips and the tail, and trim any excess fat.  Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels.  In a large pot that will comfortably hold the chicken, create a bed of the red onions.  Set the chicken breast-side up on top of the onions and rub with the saffron mixture, pushing some of the mix under the skin without tearing it.  Add butter to the onions and pour 1 cup of water down the sides of the pot, avoiding the chicken.  Cover and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes.

Turn the chicken breast-side down, cover, and reduce heat to low, and cook for another 20 minutes.  Then add 1 more cup water, loosely cover, and simmer until chicken is very tender, about 50 minutes.  Stir in water as necessary to keep sauce from drying.

While chicken cooks, preheat oven to 350 F.  Prepare the yogurt sauce by whisking together yogurt, milk, a pinch of salt, and the mint in a small bowl.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.  Trim preserved lemon peel segments into cool shapes.

After chicken is tender, remove to a plate for a few minutes, pouring juices back into pot / tagine.  Rub chicken with remaining ½ tbsp. butter, place on a baking sheet, and bake in oven for 10 minutes, until crispy.  At same time, heat pot to high, add olives, and cook sauce uncovered until thickened slightly.

Transfer chicken to serving dish and lay cut lemon peel pieces on breast.  Spoon sauce and olives around chicken.  Serve with rice in one bowl and yogurt sauce in another on the side.

Thai Rice Porridge with Pork (Jok Moo)

Two months ago, we went to Thailand.  On our second day, we were introduced to jok (pronounced like "joke"), which is basically the Thai version of congee, which is the Chinese version of rice that has been cooked into oblivion.  Jok may have been one of our favorite hidden gems of Thai cooking - a hearty, savory, salty, warming bowl of deliciousness with a variety of ingredients that were all delicious when paired together.  In Chiang Mai we found a vendor selling huge bowls of this for about a dollar, with a freshly poached egg and some fried noodles in it.

A cheerful jok vendor in Chiang Mai

I start here with a fairly basic recipe - rice porridge with pork meatballs.  I adapted a number of recipes to get what we thought was the right blend of flavors, and really like this process, which I think I will stick with as my basic method and adapt some of the ratios and times in the future.  It is probably the fastest way to get this done from start to finish, and adds layers of flavor at the right times.  Hopefully you will enjoy this Thai treat, and spread it further around the globe.  Make sure you get the two or three crucial ingredients for this - broken rice, white pepper, and Maggi seasoning.

Thai Rice Congee with Pork (Jok Moo)

Modified heavily from Thaifoodstyle by my recollections of Thailand

Serves 4

• 1 cup broken jasmine rice
• 2 cubes chicken bouillon, or 1 quart pork stock
• 2 quarts water, or 1 quart if using pork stock
• 2 cilantro roots, or 10-15 stems
• ½ lb ground pork
• 1 tbsp cilantro leaves, chopped finely
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 3 tbsp fish sauce, divided
• 2.5 tbsp soy sauce, divided
• 1 tsp ground white pepper
• 2 tbsp Thai cilantro, finely sliced (optional)
• 2 spring onions, green part only, finely julienned
• 1/2 cup ginger, julienned, or baby ginger strips in brine
• 1 medium shallot
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 4 eggs (optional)
• White pepper, for plating
• Maggi sauce or Bragg's Liquid Amino, for plating

Start by bringing 1 quart of water to boil with 1 chicken bouillon cube, or 1 quart pork stock, with 1 cup of broken rice.  Reduce heat to a simmer and allow to cook for 30 minutes, stirring periodically.

Once the rice is boiling, make the meatball mixture: season ground pork with chopped cilantro leaf, 1 tbsp fish sauce, ½ tbsp. soy sauce, cornstarch, and ground white pepper and mix well.  Allow to marinate for at least a few minutes, then form into small meatballs appx 0.75 - 1” in diameter.

To cook the meatballs, boil 1 quart water on medium-high heat and add coriander root.  When the water is boiling, add 1 cube chicken bouillon, allow to fully dissolve, and boil meatballs until they float, appx 2 minutes.  Remove with a slotted spoon to a plate, and add remaining 2 tbsp soy sauce and 2 tbsp fish sauce.  Let boil for 5 minutes, then keep on a bare simmer.

 

At this point, the rice in the other pot should have absorbed most of the liquid.  Add 2-3 cups of the boiled pork cooking liquid and stir to incorporate.  Allow rice to cook to a soupy consistency, appx 60-75 minutes.  If rice mixture isn’t thin enough, add more of remaining meatball cooking liquid. If including, fry the shallots in hot canola oil until crispy, 1-2 minutes, and allow to drain on a paper towel.

If including eggs, crack them into the boiling rice mixture towards the end and let them sit, undisturbed, for up to 8 minutes.  A runny egg will only take 4 minutes. Alternatively, use my new favorite trick of soft cooking the eggs in a sous vide setup. I'm still dialing in the numbers, but so far it's landing on 145 deg F for 45-60 minutes.

To serve, ladle into bowls sprinkled with spring onion (finely sliced), shredded ginger, and ground white pepper.  Plate with Maggi sauce or Bragg's Liquid Amino tableside.

If you want to get more exotic with this, go ahead and add the some fried shallots, crispy fried noodles, and cilantro leaves (regular or Thai variety).  These are all nice additions.  And for some reason, they like to eat this with fried bread alongside, so consider either some Navajo fry bread or just some plain donuts.  There, don't you feel multicultural now?

The current build as of June, 2016 - sous vide poached egg, fried shallots hiding behind the cilantro somewhere.

Moroccan Lamb and Chickpea Stew

I've been on a chickpea (garbanzo) kick recently, since they're high in protein and flavor, and low in fat and cost.  But I can't quite kick the habit of including a delicious meat with the chickpeas yet, so those tasty legumes are still more of an additive than a replacement.  But whether you're on the garbanzo wagon or not, this stew was incredibly hearty and delicious despite being a fairly low-fat dish, and it came together easily.

Invest in a good dutch oven to make this, and definitely start with dried chickpeas, not canned.  There's a huge difference in flavor.  And read the directions thoroughly before you start - you need to soak the chickpeas overnight and then boil them for an hour, and since the rest of the dish comes together very quickly, that needs to be done pretty much first thing.

Moroccan-Style Lamb and Chickpeas
Cooking Light, December 2011

Yield: Serves 4 (serving size: 1 1/4 cups)

• 1 pound lean ground lamb
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cups vertically sliced onion
• 1/2 cup (1/4-inch) diagonally cut carrot
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 2 cups fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 1/2 tablespoons grated lemon rind
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight OR 1 (15 1/2-ounce can) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• plain yogurt, to garnish

The day before, soak your chickpeas in a bowl of water and cover.  Approximately 1/2 cup of dried chickpeas will swell up to the same amount you'd find in a 15-oz can.  Before cooking, drain and rinse the chickpeas, and place in a pot of boiling, lightly salted water for an hour.  Drain, rinse, and have at the ready while you're getting the rest of this together.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add lamb to pan and cook for 6 minutes, stirring to crumble.  Remove the lamb from pan with a slotted spoon, and discard the drippings. Add the olive oil to the pan and swirl to coat.  Add onion and carrot to pan and sauté 4 minutes.  Add cumin, cinnamon, coriander, and pepper; sauté 30 seconds, stirring constantly.  Add reserved lamb, broth, and next 5 ingredients (through chickpeas); bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, and simmer 4 minutes or until mixture thickens.  Remove from heat.

Saute the meat, then add the vegetables, then aromatics for 30 seconds, then everything else.  Pretty easy.

You don't cook this for very long - it's not a full braise, since the meat starts off ground and doesn't benefit from long cooking times.  Start to finish is less than 20 minutes after the chickpeas are ready.

Just before serving, stir in cilantro and lemon juice.  Garnish with a spoon of plain yogurt, and serve over long-grain rice.  In the picture we used a saffron-infused rice, which was delicious here, but you could probably manage basmati or just plain ol' white rice.

Wild Mushroom, Barley, and Spicy Sausage Stew

After a bit of a pause, I am back to start posting again.  Wanted to start with a real winner - one of those that everyone who has tried it has had rave reviews on.  A soup that caters to the gluten-free without sacrificing anything.  It's spicy, rich, filling, somewhat simple, and just plain delicious.

I adapted the recipe from Cooking Light: Soups, a book I highly recommend that is a collection of their most popular soup recipes.  Everything in there is golden.  The main changes are the mushroom type and the grain, for which I present an alternative (brown rice) for dietary restrictions.  Barley is slightly preferred for a bit more bite, but only slightly.  Some pictures are for the barley version, and some for the brown rice, but only because they follow almost an identical cooking process, and I have made this multiple times with progressively better photography skills.

A forgiving recipe packed with flavor, great for a cold night

Wild Mushroom, Barley, and Spicy Sausage Stew
adapted slightly from Cooking Light

• 2 tbsp olive oil 
• 2 cups thinly sliced onion
• 8 ounces spicy Italian sausage (turkey or pork)
• 1 cup chopped celery, about 2 stalks
• 1 cup sliced carrot
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 cups dried wild mushrooms, or 5 cups fresh
• 1 1/2 cups chopped portobello mushroom
• 3/4 cup uncooked brown rice, or 1/2 cup uncooked pearl barley
• 42 ounces low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons brandy
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley

Quite a few ingredients to prep, but the cooking is completely linear and almost idiot proof.

Prep the ingredients.  If using dried mushrooms, reconstitute in boiling water for up to 20 minutes.  Drain, and chop into coarse bits.  Slice onions thinly, remove sausage from casings.

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add onion, and cook for 5 minutes or until slightly soft.  Add sausage to the pan, cooking 8 minutes or until sausage is browned and stirring to crumble.  Break up with the edge of a spoon, but don't break up too finely or you'll destroy some of the body from large pieces of cooked sausage.  Add celery, carrot, garlic, and bay leaf; cook 10 minutes or until onions are golden brown, stirring frequently.  Stir in the mushrooms and cook 10 minutes or until mushrooms release moisture.

Make sure to brown the sausage, but you have a healthy error margin on this recipe.  Just keep cooking until things start to develop caramel flavors, then add broth and cook for an hour.

Once all vegetables and fungi are incorporated, stir in the barley or brown rice, chicken broth, brandy, salt, and pepper.  Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour or until barley is tender, or 40 minutes for the brown rice version.

Discard the bay leaf.  Sprinkle with chopped parsley, and serve immediately with crusty bread and a salad.

Tomato Sausage Risotto in Portobello Caps

Coming off of my last successful risotto experience, I wanted to try another flavorful risotto recipe.  While I love the consistency, I have the same problem with risotto that I do with pizza - too much starch, not enough diversity of flavor.  So rather than making one of the essential risottos - mushroom, or cheese, or lemon - I went with a slightly different take - a tomato-based risotto, promising a somewhat unconventional experience.

Your average risotto is made by slowly cooking the rice in hot broth as it is stirred, unfolding the starchy web on the outer layer of the rice so that it can dissolve into the cooking liquid.  Chicken broth is very commonly used for this.  But I was intrigued by the idea of using canned tomatoes instead of broth, just for the variety.  It turns out that this is an amazing twist on your average risotto, transforming a meaty, savoury dish into a lighter, more aromatic dish.  The meat still finds its way in by way of some Italian sausage, but it's a different backbone that was eye-opening and delicious.

Tomato and Sausage Risotto
Modified from Martha Stewart Everyday Food

• 1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes in juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3/4 pound sweet or hot Italian sausage, casings removed
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 cup Arborio or Carnaroli rice
• 1/2 cup dry white wine, or dry Vermouth
• 10 leaves basil, chiffonaded
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving (optional)
• 2 tablespoons butter

In a small saucepan, combine tomatoes (with their juice) and 3 cups water. Bring just to a simmer; keep warm over low heat.

In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium. Add sausage and onion; season with salt and pepper. Cook, breaking up sausage with a spoon, until sausage is opaque and onion has softened, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add rice; cook, stirring until well coated, 1 to 2 minutes. Add wine; cook, stirring until absorbed, about 1 minute.

Add about 2 cups hot tomato mixture to rice; simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until absorbed, 4 to 5 minutes. Continue adding tomato mixture, 1 cup at a time, waiting for one cup to be absorbed before adding the next, stirring occasionally, until rice is creamy and just tender, about 25 minutes total (you may not have to use all the liquid).

Here's the process of risotto, armed with a fancy risotto spoon.  Observe how the rice swells and the liquid becomes thicker in these time history photos, taken at the 3 minute mark, the 20 minute mark, and the 26 minute mark.

Remove pan from heat. Stir in basil, Parmesan, and butter; season with salt and pepper. Why the butter?  Because you're "mounting" your sauce.  You heard me.  It's from the French monter au beurre, meaning "build with butter" and pronounced "mount" by the less classy Americans who heard the phrase.  It's the process of adding a cold fat to a hot liquid and getting it to emulsify at temperatures above where it usually breaks down into milk solids, fat, and water.  Restaurants tend to do this to develop a more velvety, bodied sauce, which you have probably simply called "delicious", "rich", or "OMG".  Also, they tend to put in way too much - websites I scanned just called for 1 tbsp butter per 1/2 cup of sauce, so don't get crazy mopping that stuff up with your bread.

These are the finishing ingredients - they only go in at the very end

Now, stand over your dish... and mount it!

Serve immediately, and sprinkle with additional Parmesan, if desired.  For a classy presentation, grill portobello caps and use them as small serving bowls on your plate, as shown above.  A recipe follows.


Grilled Portobello Caps
by me

• 2 medium portobello caps
• 1 tsp coarse dijon mustard
• 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Stir together last four ingredients, and brush onto both sides of mushroom caps.  Cook on a hot grill for 5-6 minutes per side.

Kimchi Fried Rice (Bokkeumbap)

What happens when it's dinnertime, and you find the following random things in your fridge:

• Awesome mild kimchi you've been meaning to use
• Roasted chicken (or some spare pork)
• Old, dried up white rice in a takeout container

Answer: you make kimchi fried rice, one of my favorites.  An amazing addition to rice which I was skeptical about until a Korean friend made it for me, this is a pungent twist on the Chinese fried rice, and brings a bit of heat to the party as well.  It's pretty easy - you stir-fry some aromatics with the chopped kimchi, throw in some meat, toss the rice with some soy sauce, and serve with a fried egg.  I gather that this is very traditional, although Wikipedia says it more commonly uses spam than chicken, which just isn't happening in my house.  So this took care of all kinds of foods waiting in my fridge to be made into something awesome, and I didn't even have to get creative to do it.  Here's a simple diagram to explain the bulk of this dish:

Kimchi Fried Rice

• 1 cup kimchi, drained, chopped
• 1/2 cup cooked or uncooked animal protein - chicken, beef, ham, spam (if this counts), even tuna is used in Korea
• 2 cups stale, cooked white rice
• 1 tbsp canola oil
• 1 spring / green onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp butter

Chop and separate the spring onion into the white and green parts.  Now, as with my pineapple fried rice recipe, do my favorite trick of putting the old rice in a bowl, squishing it apart, and tossing with 1/2 tbsp of the oil to coat all of the grains.  This prevents a mushy nightmare once you add it to the wok.

Heat the remaining 1/2 tbsp oil in a wok over its highest heat setting and add the white parts of the green onion, and stir-fry for 30 seconds.  After this, you have to figure out what protein you're using.  If it's already cooked, add it with the rice.  If it's not, throw it in first, and cook until done, then continue.

Now add the kimchi and garlic, and stir-fry for another 30-60 seconds.  If you haven't added the meat, do so now, and add the rice, tossing everything to mix evenly.  Sprinkle on the soy sauce, toss again, and allow to crisp up a little bit (2-3 minutes) to get a nice crunchy crust, if desired.

Meanwhile, fry up a single egg in the butter in another pan.  To serve, kill the heat on the rice, add the tops of the green onions, toss, and plate with the fried egg on top.  Serve with gochujang, if desired, or eat on its own.

Chipotle Shrimp Tacos with Spanish Rice

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, a holiday celebrated mostly by Americans to celebrate a battle against the French, I'm presenting a recipe served with Spanish rice, and I'm posting it on May 6.  Why?  Because in life, nothing's perfect.  One day, you will come to accept this, and all will be well.

Perhaps a short backstory is in order on this.  I will attempt to guess at your day yesterday.  It's May 5.  It's getting late.  At some point in the day you've had this conversation:

You: "what the heck is Cinco de Mayo all about?"
Anyone who will listen: "I have no idea."
You: "well I think we should probably have a margarita somewhere, just to be sure."

Needless to say, I was no exception.  A quick Wikipedia search turned up the fact that this is not Mexican independence day, and that Cinco de Mayo is hardly celebrated in Mexico at all, unless you're from Puebla, where a fairly spectacular battle was fought against the French in 1862.  But it is celebrated in Mexican restaurants north of the border, and that's good enough for me.  So we settled on making some tacos, which soon gave way to burritos, as we had consumed overly strong margaritas following a 3-2-1 recipe and weren't quite in the mood for portion control.  Also an artifact of the margaritas was our inclusion of tequila in the shrimp recipe, which was invented last night.  And finally, the ingredients of the rice, which started off as plain brown rice but quickly became "whatever you feel like should be in there" rice, and which turned out to be one of the best parts of the meal.

But we'll get to the rice in a bit.  Let's start with these tacos, which were deemed so good that they arguably shouldn't be put on the blog.  After a lengthy discussion and more margaritas, it was decided that the world had to know, so here we are.  Some of the better shrimp I've ever eaten, let alone made.  Let's do this!

Burritos and Spanish rice, the results of a successful night of invention at the hands of a bottle of Herradura

Tequila-Fired Shrimp Tacos-Turned-Burritos
by me, entirely me, and nobody but me

• 1/2 pound large (21-25 count) shrimp, peeled, deveined
• 1/2 tsp cumin, freshly ground
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 1 chipotle, chopped fine
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp dried chile powder
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1.5 oz tequila
• 1/4 head cabbage, shredded fine
• 1/2 avocado
• Cilantro leaves as desired
• Tortillas
• Sour cream

In a medium bowl, toss the shrimp with the next 8 ingredients.  Try to work the lime juice into the shrimp.  Allow to sit for a few minutes, but not enough to accidentally cure the shrimp in the acidic solution.  While marinating, begin heating a large cast-iron skillet over high heat.

Season the shrimp in lime juice and a whole bunch of awesome.

Once smoking hot, add the oil and immediately add the shrimp so you don't burn the oil.  It may splatter if you just dump everything in, so individually add the shrimp, leaving behind the liquid.  Cook the shrimp for 2 minutes, then flip and cook another 2 minutes.

Not too much shrimp!  If you overcrowd, you'll end up with steamed nastiness, not seared crustacean magic.

At this point, a rational person would stop.  But someone 2 margaritas deep will instead forge on, and try to light the kitchen on fire.  By this I mean you will add 1 shot of tequila, and apply fire to it to get it to catch.  I had some difficulty with the flame part, but you can try to tip the pan or use a fireplace starter to get that thing to blow up like the Godfather.  Do it immediately, because it will evaporate quickly.  Once done having fun, remove shrimp to a bowl.

My alcohol-fueled tequila-fired shrimp.  Actual fire is optional.

To serve, assemble burritos/tacos with sour cream, cabbage, sliced avocado, the shrimp, and cilantro if you don't think it tastes like soap (I don't).  Serve with escabeche (pickled vegetables) if you have them, Spanish rice (recipe follows), or whatever you like.  More margaritas, for example.  ¡Olé!

Spanish Rice

• 1 jalapeno, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
• 2 green onions, white parts only, sliced finely
• 1/2 lime
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 cup brown medium- or short-grain rice
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt

Begin by cooking the rice, which takes a while given that it is brown rice.  While rice is cooking, prepare your other ingredients.  In a pot, bring 2 cups water to a boil, then add 1 tsp of the oil and the brown rice.  Once boiling, add the brown rice, cover, reduce to a simmer, and cook for about 30-40 minutes, until rice is chewy and cooked through.  Drain rice in a colander or large strainer, and set aside.

Get your ingredients ready to go while the rice cooks

In a large skillet over medium heat, add remaining oil, and then add garlic, peppers, and green onion.  Saute for 3-4 minutes until soft and just starting to brown.  Now add the rice and toss to coat.  Stir in tomato paste and salt, and cook for 1-2 minutes.  Just before removing from heat, pour in juice from 1/2 lime.  Serve immediately.

Using brown rice gives a healthy kick, plus a delicious chewy bite to the rice that I thought was a huge improvement over standard long-grain white rice

Come on, work that lime!

Risotto with Shiitake, Asparagus, and Artichoke

Here's a dish that commemorates springtime - a risotto showcasing asparagus, among other things.  Risotto is that classic Italian dish using a short-grain, high starch rice that is stirred continuously during cooking to loosen the starch and create a thick, flavorful sauce that envelops the whole dish.  The dish is almost always made with Arborio rice, although these days you can find arguably better rice to use, such as Carnaroli.  The process also generally follows a formula - saute some aromatics, coat the rice in some oil, add a liquid while stirring, and then add the remainder of the ingredients once cooked, usually including a cheese of some kind. You can't phone this dish in - you have to stir for all you're worth for the 15-20 minutes that the rice cooks, and you have to pay attention to the doneness level so you don't ruin anything.  Be on your guard, and this will be well worth the effort.

Springtime Risotto of Shiitake, Asparagus, and Artichokes
expanded on from Gourmet, May 2003

• 5 cups chicken broth (40 fl ounces)
• 1 cup water
• 1 pound thin to medium asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices, leaving tips 1 1/2 inches long
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
• 3/4 pound fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded and caps cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
• 2 artichoke hearts, fresh if available, jarred if not
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups Carnaroli or Arborio rice (10 ounces)
• 1/2 cup dry vermouth
• 2 ounces finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1 cup)

Shiitakes add a great earthy flavor and meaty consistency to this otherwise meat-free (except the broth) dish

Shallots.  Only way this dish would get better is if I put in flakes of gold.

First, we have to blanch the asparagus - boil to partially cook, then stop the cooking process in ice water.  Usually you just use water to boil, but we can do double duty and start heating up the broth here, which saves a pot.  So bring the broth and water to a boil in a large pot, then add asparagus and cook, uncovered, until crisp-tender, 3 to 4 minutes.  Immediately transfer the asparagus with a slotted spoon to a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking, reserving the hot broth which you should keep at a simmer.  Drain the asparagus and set aside.

Digitize your asparagus.  Anybody ever see that movie Tron?

Blanch in the broth - cook 3-4 minutes, then shock in ice water.  Now the asparagus is ready to add at the last step, cooked and ready to go.

In another large heavy pot or pan, heat the oil with 1 tablespoon butter over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then saute mushrooms.  You want them nicely browned, so I recommend doing this in two batches, using half of the fat each time.  Don't overcrowd the pan or you will get squishy grey mushrooms!  Stir occasionally, until browned, about 4 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper, then transfer to a bowl.

Brown the mushrooms.  You don't want to see moisture coming out - do this in two batches

The mushrooms came out great, but are easily ruined

In that same pan, cook onion in 2 tablespoons butter over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes.  Add the rice and cook, stirring, 1 minute.  This will coat the rice grains in oil and begin frying them, which adds flavor.  Add the wine to deglaze and start infusing flavor into the rice, and cook, stirring, until absorbed, about 1 minute.

Add the rice and toss to coat in the oil

Now the fun part - start cooking the rice with the broth.  Ladle in 1 cup of the simmering broth and cook at a strong simmer, stirring, until absorbed, about 2 minutes.  Continue simmering and adding broth, about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring frequently and letting each addition be absorbed before adding next, until rice is just tender and looks creamy, 18 to 20 minutes.  There's going to be a lot of stirring involved.  Now here's the most important point: it's done when the rice is cooked through, not when the broth is gone.  Keep tasting periodically as you get towards the end, and when the rice has just a bit of bite left (called al dente or "to the tooth", like a pasta), you're done.  Save any leftover broth for thinning as needed.

Stir the rice while adding broth

Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup cheese, remaining tablespoon butter, and salt and pepper to taste. Gently fold in asparagus, artichokes and mushrooms, then cover pan and let stand for 1 minute.  If desired, thin risotto with some of remaining broth.  Serve immediately with remaining cheese on the side.