This Shrimp is Back in the Kitchen!

The long anticipated (by me) Holiday edition is here...this shrimp is back in the kitchen. We started the week at our dear friends' house in Long Island for the annual Italian Christmas Eve to remember. The two beautiful little girls, Sarah, 4, and Julianna, 2, ate 12 pieces of shrimp cocktail each. Year after year, they inhale the shrimp and handle it like real women, I am impressed. We had courses and courses of unbelievable food. The broiled lobster tails were to die for & I am getting the recipe for Braude's Bites.

Yesterday, I leafed through my giant recipe binder in search of a new recipe to try. I've been out of the kitchen for weeks and needed a serious comeback from my hiatus. I found some recipes from our dinner at David Paul's Lahaina Grill in Maui. After our favorite dinner on our honeymoon in Hawaii, I asked the waiter if I could have the recipe for their ahi tuna. In New York, I wouldn't have even asked. In the true spirit of Hawaii, he came out with 6 recipes for all of their classic dishes, all typed up on letterhead for patrons! Truth is you have to adapt the recipes for your home kitchen, unless you're into spending hours in the kitchen making tequila butter to put in the tequila beurre blanc to pour on the tequila shrimp- who are we kidding?

Tequila Shrimp and Vanilla Bean Rice from David Paul's
Serves 4 people

Maui Tequila Shrimp

1 1/2 lbs deveined shrimp
1/2 oil (I used olive, they used corn oil)
1 1/2 tsp chili paste
1 1/2 tsp cilantro
1 1/2 tsp lime juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp bown sugar
1/2 tsp cumin
1/8 cup tequila
1/2 tsp worcestershire
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Peel and wash the shrimp.Combine all ingredients & marinate the shrimp in a container for at least 1 hour. Take the shrimp out of the marinade & place it in a single layer on a saute pan over medium heat until shrimp are cooked through. Do not overcook,once the shrimps are all pink, take them off.

This easy shrimp recipe boasts spicy flavor and is complimented with a vanilla bean rice. Use this for a weekday meal. It wouldn't be ideal for company cause it's tough not to overcook the shrimp if they sit for a bit and you can't shock them in ice water with their marinade. You could steam them for 30 seconds.

Vanilla Bean Rice

1 Tbsp shallots, finely chopped
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup Jasmine Rice
3 cups clam or fish broth
1 split vanilla bean

Vanilla beans are expensive, but they are worth it. Cook rice over medium heat with vanilla bean, shallots, butter and clam broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover. Simmer until all liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and fluff. This recipe has some strengths in that the rice was a Thai sticky rice and tasted of vanilla, but I found the clam broth a bit overpowering. Any suggestions from fellow chefs?

On the 2nd day of Chanukah

This year, my mom & dad were in for Chanukah and we hosted a small party here for Lee's mom's b-day and Chanukah. My mom outdid herself with her annual potato latkas and a classic cake from our childhood.
The kids and adults ran for seconds on the once a year delicacy!

Easy Potato Latkas
Norene Gilletz's "Pleasures of Your Processor"
(yields 2 dozen)

4 medium potatoes, pared (she recommended Yukon gold or yellow flesh)
1 onion
2 eggs
1/3 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper
oil for frying

Cut potatoes in chunks and onion in half. Place in a processor (with a steel knife) with eggs and process until pureed- 20 to 30 seconds. Add remaining ingredients except oil and process a few seconds longer to blend into a smooth mixture. Pour oil to about 1/8" depth in a large skillet. When hot, drop in potato mixture by large spoonfuls to form pancakes. Brown well on both sides. Drain well on paper towels.

*These can be frozen. To reheat, place them on a ungreased foil lined cookie sheet in a single layer. Bake uncovered at 450 degrees for 7 to 8 minutes, until crisp & hot. Serve with apple sauce. These would make great party appetizers, you can make 5 dozen mini latkas and place a dollop of creme fraiche on top.

Every year at our birthday parties, we would have a vanilla cake with a creamy icing. I always preferred white cake to chocolate cake and always will. She updated the "Betty Crocker's Silver White cake" with Magnolia bakery icing...it was luscious. On our wedding day, my mom gave this recipe to the baker and our wedding cake tasted like my old bday cakes...YUM.

Betty Crocker's Silver White Cake

TIME: Bake layers 30 to 35 minutes, square or oblong 35 to 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

INSTRUCIONS FOR LARGE CAKE (TWO 9" LAYER CAKE PANS OR ONE 13" X 9" PAN)

Grease and generously flour pan.
Sift together:
2 7/8 cups sifted Softasilk Flour or 2 2/3 cups sifted Gold Medal flour
1 7/8 cups sifted sugar
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Add:
2/3 cups soft shortening
1 1/4 cups milk
2 teaspoons flavoring
Beat 2 minutes.
Add 5 egg whites.
Beat 2 minutes. Pour into prepared pans. Bake until cake tests done. Cool. Finish with desired filling and frosting. When this cake is iced, it looks like a cake that could have been in a 1950s style bakery front, especially in a pretty pastel color.
Advice from mom: Place a round 9 inch parchment paper round, buttered on both sides, at the bottom of the pans. She also learned how to ice a cake from watching Martha...so watch her :)

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SMALL CAKE(TWO 8" LAYER CAKE PANS OR 9" SQUARE PAN)

Follow all the instructions above, but change the quantities to the following:
2 1/4 cups sifted Softasilk flour or 2 1/8 cups Gold Medal flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup soft shortening
1 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons flavoring
4 egg whites

Ricetta Salsa Verde from Firenze

A Real Italian Cookbook

Ricetta Salsa Verde
Homemade tarts with pastry cream & cognac glazed pears served with ginger ice cream

Thanks to the man in Todd (pictured above on the right), Braude's Bites is being published from bed today as I enjoy the new benefits of being wireless. I feel free in so many ways :) About a week ago, Lee and I were invited to a stranger's for dinner. All I knew about Gioia was that we shared a personal trainer, a love for cooking and a friendship with Karina & Todd. These nuggets, along with the fact that she is from Florence and adores entertaining, convinced me that her dinner would be worth traipsing to Brooklyn for in the middle of the week. I like Brooklyn, don't get me wrong, but Lee and I are known to stay home or within a 10 block radius from our apartment during the week. Not only did I make a new friend, we also ate a dinner to remember. Move out of the way, Giada DeLaurentis! Gioia is the real deal. Before we arrived, Karina & Todd scared her letting her know I do not eat cheese. Gioia called me to better understand my hatred for cheese and told me she had a cousin that hated cheese, but if you hid it, she wouldn't know. I explained her that if cheese came within a foot of any of my senses, I would know. The Italian goddess was thrilled to take on the no cheese challenge and delivered a meal that fell from heaven (and I appreciate it!). Her kitchen was so eclectic, full of authentic Italian cookbooks, rare spices and top of the line kitchen gadgets. Her mandalin was taller than me. When we got there, there were pears boiling in cognac, tarts shells coming out of the oven and a succulent tenderloin roasting. We started with a fettucini with salsa verde that was smooth & nutty. It tasted like it was from an Italian restaurant, which could be called Buon Gioia (I don't take credit for inventing the name of this "would be" hotspot). Moved on to my tuna tartare for a Hawaiian course in the middle of an Italian meal. For the main course,we had a wonderful salad with fennel, jicama (pronounced by Gioia as GI-CA-MA) and pears with a juicy medium rare beef tenderloin and crispy roasted new potatoes. For dessert, we enjoyed home made pear tarts with ginger ice cream. The crust, the pastry cream and the cognac glazed pears were delightful....so delightful, I ate Jorge's uneaten half as well. Who says I have class?

Gioia's Ricetta Salsa Verde

30 grams flat leaf (Italian) parsley

1 large garlic clove

2 filets of anchovy in olive oil (drained)

1 tsp dijon mustard

15 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice

45 ml best olive oil you can get

salt and pepper

Put garlic, parsley, anchovies and salt in the blender and mix. Add lemon juice and mustard - blend again. At low speed, pour the olive oil in a bit at a time. Add pepper last.

This salsa verde would be great with pasta, the way Gioia served it, or on beef tenderloin and/or roast beef sandwiches.

Buon Appetito from Buon Gioia!

Going butternuts!

I discovered butternut squash soup at Corryn's apartment a few years back. I loved it & asked for the recipe. Since then, I have passed the recipe on to my mom who makes it all the time. Last year when my grandmother, parents and Jean came to our apartment for dinner for the first time, I made this soup. It's a perfect fall soup with a luscious velvety texture, perfect for a fall or winter dinner and will allow you to keep your girlish figure. Cutting the squash will require a good chef's knife and a workout....make it easier, spare the effort and buy it pre-cut if you can.

Butternut Squash Soup - Serves 6
Bonnie Stern

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 baking potato, peeled & diced
1 lb butternut squash, peeled and diced
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
kosher salt & freshly ground pepper

Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven. Add onions and garlic. Cook gently until very fragrant and tender. Add potatoes and squash. Cook a few minutes until lightly browned. Stir well. Add stock and bring to a boil. Cook 20 minutes or until very tender. Season with salt & pepper & red pepper flakes. Puree soup in a blender, food processor or an immersion blender. Add more stock or water if soup is too thick. Return to heat and keep warm.

Optional: Bonnie Stern suggested taking 1/2 cup of tomato sauce, adding some water and making a tomato paint for each serving of the soup (swirls, polk-a-dots). Many restaurants serve the soup with a dollop of creme fraiche.

A Coincidence: Allison's Spicy Peanut Noodles & Shrimp

A while back, I clipped a recipe out of Cooking Light magazine for spicy peanut noodles with shrimp. At the time I clipped it, I paid no attention to who had created the recipe.

As months would pass, we would be watching tv and Lee would exclaim: "Hey, that's Allison Fishman!". She would keep popping up in commercials for ICE and on Dave Lieberman's show. Since then, I have become e-mail buddies with Allison, an old friend of Lee's from high school, who is a cooking teacher, food stylist and recipe developer from Brooklyn. Check out her yummy recipes, cooking classes and blog at The Wooden Spoon.

The other night, I was flipping through my recipe binder, landed on the spicy peanut noodles with shrimp and realized it was created by Allison. So, I made it....and it was yummy without tasting "light"!

Enjoy!

Spicy Peanut Noodles with Shrimp
"Cooking Light" Magazine, Allison Fishman
serves 4 people

Peanut Sauce

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter (I used reduced fat)

1/4 to 1/3 cup of water

2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce

1 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar

1 to 2 tsp chile paste with garlic (I used 1.5, we like it spicy!)

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt, divided

Shrimp

1 lb medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

Cooking spray

Pasta

4 cups cooked thick udon noodles or linguini (8 oz uncooked)

1 red bell pepper, julienned

3/4 cup chopped, seeded cucumber

1/4 cup diagonally cut green onions

3 tbsp chopped roasted peanuts

2 tbsp cilantro leaves

4 lime wedges (optional)

1. To prepare sauce, combine the first 6 ingredients and 1/4 tsp salt and stir with a whisk.

2. To prepare the shrimp, toss with 1/4 tsp salt. Saute in a nonstick skillet coated with Pam over medium high heat for 3 minutes on each side or until done.

3. To prepare pasta, combine peanut sauce, shrimp, noodles, bell pepper, cucumbers and onions in a large bowl, toss well. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts and cilantro. Serve with lime wedges, if desired.

The meal is less than 425 calories and tastes great. Go Allison go!

Note: I used soba noodles instead.