Shrimp Curry

Tonight I made a shrimp curry. I like curries with the blend of warm, savory spices. You can blend your own or cheat like I do and buy it ready made. I like the pastes better than the dry unless you buy the dry blends fresh. Curries are good served over rice or noodles. You can make them hot or savory. Having a variety of condiments on the side, sweet, salty, sour even bitter can make the meal more interesting.

Shrimp Curry
2 tbs. - olive oil
5 - Onions,Medium, sliced...
3 - garlic cloves, minced
8 oz. - sweet peas, can
15 oz. - coconut milk, can
1 tbs - black bean garlic paste
1/2 tsp. - red pepper flake
1 c. - chicken stock or broth
2 oz. - Thai curry paste, green
16 oz. - Shrimp, 20-30 count, peeled and deveined.
1/2 - lime, juice

Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add onions and S&P. Cook until translucent and lightly colored. Mix in the garlic and peas. Add the coconut milk, black bean paste, red pepper flake, and chicken stock. Add curry paste. green is more mild and the red is hotter. Reduce the heat to simmer. Stirring occasionally allow sauce to reduce and thicken, about 10 minutes. Add the shrimp to the pan and cook till done about 5 minutes. Squeeze the lime juice on right befor serving. Serve with sweet, savory, and salty sides. I made mine with a readymade couscous, chutney, dried dates, and cashews.

 Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat.

  Add onions

 Add Salt and Pepper

 Cook until translucent and lightly colored

 Mix in the garlic and peas.

 Add the coconut milk,

Stir in the chicken stock

 Stir in black bean paste, red pepper flake, curry paste.

 Add the peeled and deveined shrimp

Ready for a squeeze of lime juice, then plate and serve.

Sous Vide Tuna Steak and Grilled Asparagus with a Roasted Yellow Pepper Sauce.

 

Made a sous vide tuna steak and grilled asparagus with a roasted yellow pepper sauce.  First the tuna is liberally sprinkled with S&P and thyme. Next place in a zip-top bag, add a little olive oil to the bag. Now let it chill in the fridge for at least 30min while the water temp is stabilized to 114°F.

While waiting on the tuna, I roasted yellow bell peppers on a very hot skillet. If you have a gas range, you can place the pepper directly over the flame. I suggest wrapping the peppers in foil to make cleanup easier.   Char the pepper thoroughly.  This is smoky!  When well blackened place in a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap to let it steam.

 Now place the tuna in the water bath for 40 min. Remember to remove the air from the bag. About 20 minutes before the tuna is done remove the now cooled peppers and remove the now loosened skin. Cut the top from the pepper and remove the seeds. Puree the pepper in a blender adding a pinch of salt and drizzle in about a teaspoon of olive oil.

Grill asparagus tossed in a little olive oil till the color intensifies and they soften a little. Sprinkle with a little salt.

Remove the tuna from the bath sprinkled with sesame seeds and placed on the hot skillet in about a table spoon of olive oil for about 10-15 seconds per side. Plated with the asparagus topped with the pepper sauce and sliced tomatoes.

Salt, pepper and thyme on both sides

Allow to blacken more than this.

Let steam under wraps.

Grill the asparagaus

Ready to serve.

Smokey Eggplant Parmesan with Gouda

1         Eggplant, medium
2 c.     Panko Bread Crumbs
1 Tbs. Italian Seasoning
1 c.     Parmesan Cheese, shredded
2         Eggs
1/4 c.  Milk
2 c.     Tomato Sauce
           Gouda Cheese, smoked, sliced


Preheat oven to 350°F.

Eggplant is a flexible fruit substituting for meat in many dishes.  Select an eggplant that is firm and heavy for its size and like most produce you want to select one that has bright, intense color in its body and stem and is free from cuts, bruises and blemishes. A ripe eggplant will spring back when pressed lightly.  The skin can be eaten but if it is too thick it can be a little tough. If desired it can be peeled.  Eggplant has a slightly bitter taste, this can be greatly reduced by choosing smaller eggplants and by sweating.  To sweat your eggplant; first slice eggplant to 1/2 inch. Then liberally salt both sides and place in a colander over a bowl cover with a towel for 30-60 minutes.  The water extracted will carry away much of the bitterness.  The sex of the eggplant can also have an affect on the bitterness. (Eggplants reproduce asexually so the fruits are not really male or female but for the sake of description we pretend there are.) Male eggplants are smaller and can have fewer seeds, which makes them less bitter than female eggplants. How do you sex an eggplant?  Look at the bottom indentation. If it is deep and shaped like a dash, it's a female. If it's shallow and round, it's a male.

While the eggplant sweats.Setup your dredging station, in a wide shallow bowl mix together the panko bread crumbs,  Italian seasoning and shredded Parmesan cheese. Set aside. In another bowl, wisk two eggs and 1/4c milk.

Thoroughly rinse the eggplant and pat dry. Coat the bottom of a baking dish with olive oil. Pour some of your favorite tomato sauce on the bottom of the pan. NOTE- You do not need to cover the whole pan, just where you are placing the eggplant slices. Dip the eggplant in the egg wash and let the excess drip off.  Place the eggplant into the panko mixture and coat. Tip- Use one hand or tongs for the wet bowl and the other hand for the dry bowl.

Place breaded eggplant slices on the sauce and top with a slice of smoked Gouda cheese. Layer more breaded eggplant slices on top and place in the oven for 30-40 minutes. When top is toasted and the eggplant softened, remove from oven and top with more sauce and shredded Parmesan. Bake an additional 5 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown. 

  Served with a tomato, onion, and basil salad and mashed oven roasted parsnips.

Thoroughly salt both sides.

Dip in egg wash then panko.

Layer in pan

These need to brown a bit more.

Hawaiian Tuna Steak

Tuna steak steamed in foil with tequila, lemon, fresh grated ginger and pineapple. Brine and red wine vinegar cucumber, cherry tomato & onion salad with a raisin and almond rice pilaf.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Happy St. Patrick's Day! What else? I made Crockpot Corned Beef and Cabbage with fingerling potatoes. Served with a big piece of warm buttered Sourdough bread.

1 lb       Potatoes, baby or fingerling

1           Onion, med, chopped

1 c.       Carrots, baby

3 lb.      Corned beef, brisket w/ seasoning packet.

15 oz.   Guinness Beer, (Stout)

1            Cabbage, medium

One of my favorites  Corned Beef & Cabbage.  Corned beef is a salt-cured beef brisket. It’s called corned beef because of the large grains of rock salt called "salt corns", that are used to preserve it. Frequently nitrates or nitrites are also used in the cure to provide additional flavor and that pink color. 

Put baby potatoes in the slow-cooker with a rough chopped medium onion and baby carrots. Almost cover with water then place corned beef brisket on top, fat side up. Added a bottle of stout beer and the seasoning packet. Put the lid on the pot and set to high and cook 8 hours til meat is fork tender. After 7 hours, add rough chopped medium cabbage, a heavy pinch of Kosher salt, cover and allow to cook the remaining hour.  Remove the meat from the broth and let it rest for 10 min while loosely covered with tin foil. Slice it thin across the grain .  Serve it with a thick slice of homemade bread with butter.

Coconut Chicken Curry

Made a coconut curry for dinner with onions, sweet peppers, chicken and snap peas. Mixed with noodles and served with cheese, apples, yogurt and peanut butter as condiments. Dressed it up with prickly pear.

Spicey Glazed Pork Chops

Orange, Ginger, Clove, Honey, and Habanero glazed Pork Chops with mashed Parsnips and a mixed green salad with heirloom cherry Tomatoes drizzled with a Balsamic vinegar reduction and olive oil.