If you're unfamiliar with ceviche... it's basically a Latin American dish of raw seafood of one sort or another cured (which basically cooks it without any heat application) in citrus juice, usually like a salsa with seafood. It's different from region to region, you'll never get the same one twice! Crab, white fish, lobster, shrimp, octopus, squid, whatever!
This is a Chicago kind of post! We were watching chef Rick Bayless' show on PBS - he has several restaurants in Chicago and while I never had the opportunity to try one while I lived there, he's a name I've known well for a long time. Bayless did a green ceviche with shrimp that looked amazing and it's been a while since Justin and I made a ceviche, so one day I texted Justin at work with a list of ingredients, and a deal - if he stopped at the store on the way home, I'd make him ceviche. We ended up doing it together anyway (because he's a nice guy like that). I pretty much followed Rick Bayless' recipe, but I made a few alterations to the sauce and I quite liked it the way it came out, so I wanted to share. Definitely can't take credit for this recipe... it's really all Rick Bayless, but here's the way I made it. I'm not actually sure how we have never used a Rise Against song on our blog, because they're also from Chicago and I love them! I was actually just listening to some the other day thinking surely I used at least one, if not several, of my favourite songs on the blog. But nothin'! Disgraceful. So here is Rise Against with "Black Masks and Gasoline". -jen
CEVICHE VERDE CON CAMARONES (altered version of Rick Bayless recipe) Time: 35 minutes Difficulty: Too easy Serves: 4-6
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
6 ounces fresh tomatillos, husked, rinsed and roughly
chopped, 4-5 medium
1 cup (loosely packed) fresh cilantro plus some 1/4 cup chopped
1 medium-sized jalapeño (seeded for mild heat, include seeds for medium heat)
2 medium cloves garlic, peeled
3 medium-sized green onions, rough chopped plus 2 medium green onions diced
1.5 tsp salt
a few cranks of fresh ground black pepper
1 pound very fresh uncooked, medium shrimp,
peeled and deveined, chopped into bite size
2 medium avocados, cut into 1/2" cubes
tortilla chips
In a food processor or blender, combine lime juice, chopped tomatillos, 1 cup cilantro, jalapeño, garlic, 3 green onions, salt and pepper. Blend until slushy consistency. Combine shrimp and sauce into bowl, making sure shrimp is fully covered and refrigerate for 30 minutes. After refrigeration, stir in 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, 2 green onions diced and avocado. Give it a taste and add more salt and pepper if needed. Serve with tortilla chips.
My grandma and your grandma we're sitting by the fire... So, lately, I've been wanting to do some southern-style cooking and the other day something reminded me of a commercial that was running on TV right after hurricane Katrina. Jen and I always loved it because the one we had seen locally actually used the words, "All up in your etouffeé." The video I found online is a bit shorter and says, "Right there in your etoufeé" instead but the point is that it inspired me to do some Cajun cookin and I decided on shrimp etouffeé. I used a pearled barley in place of the rice, as Jen and I prefer it, but you could use anything you want since etouffeé is just a French word that means "smothered". Smother whatever you wish!
Since the dish was inspired by wild American shrimpers, I figured it would only be apropos to accompany the dish with some Dead Kennedy's "Holiday in Cambodia". Why, you might ask? Because of some connective process by which one has to be aware that the biggest competition for wild American shrimpers is Southeast Asian shrimpers. And Holiday in Cambodia seemed fitting. If you read the next recipe post, I'll show you how to get from The Dead Kennedy's to Kevin Bacon in under three moves. - justin
Shrimp Etouffee
3 cups water
3 tbsp salt
2 cups pearled barley
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dried sweet basil leaves
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup chopped celery
1/3 cup chopped fresh pepper (Bell, Anaheim, Poblano) - I used poblano
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup flour
3 cups seafood stock
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 lbs peeled, de-veined shrimp
1 cup finely chopped scallions
Bring the water and 3 tbsp of salt to a boil over high heat in a saucepan and add the pearled barley. When it returns to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and let cook for 30 minutes. No lifting the lid! After 30 minutes, set aside to cool. This can be made far in advance if desired.
Thoroughly mix the salt, cayenne, white and black peppers, sweet basil and thyme and set aside. In a separate bowl combine the onion, celery, and fresh peppers.
In a large skillet (preferably cast iron), heat the oil over high heat until it just stars to smoke, around 4 minutes or so. Mix in the flour gradually, stirring with a whisk until the mixture is smooth and continue cooking over high heat, whisking constantly, until the roux is a dark reddish-brown color, about 3-5 minutes.
Remove from heat as soon as you are at the desired color and immediately add the chopped vegetables and 1 tbsp of the seasoning mix. Stir in with a wooden spoon and continue stirring until the roux has cooled, approximately 5 minutes or so. The idea is to stop it from cooking or the residual heat will carry it far beyond where you intend, even burning your roux after it's been removed from the heat.
In a 3 quart saucepan bring 2 cups of the seafood stock to a boil over high heat. Add the roux in increments, making sure to completely dissolve it before adding the next bit. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 2 minutes while continuing to whisk. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a large saucepan or stockpot, melt 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup), over medium heat. Stir in the shrimp and green onions. Sauté for a minute or two, stirring constantly. Add the remaining stick of butter, the last cup of seafood stock, and the stock/roux mixture. Cook until the butter melts into the sauce, about 5 minutes, constantly shaking the pan in a circular motion over the heat, rather than stirring*. Add at least 1 tbsp of the remaining seasoning mix and stir it in. There should be 3 tbsp left and I used 2 for some spicy zip!
Serve over rice, or barley, and enjoy with a tall glass of iced tea or a cold, dark beer.
*A note on shaking the pot as opposed to stirring. There are scientific reasons as to why this is a better way to combine butter in a sauce over medium heat instead of stirring but I don't know them. What I do know is that it helps the oils released from the melting butter to better incorporate in the sauce than stirring does. It works. It just does. If your sauce comes out looking oily or separated, add 2 more tbsp of stock or water and shake the pot for a couple minutes and the sauce will blend.
Song Title: Arrested In Shanghai Album: Indestructible (2003) Lyrics: "In my cell there is no sky, when I was arrested in Shanghai"
Good mellow song. Cursed with an overactive imagination, I end up thinking of horrifying images of what prison in Shanghai might be like. Makes me think of the movie "Midnight Express". Chilling. But back to the food! I haven't had a lot of experience with making Chinese food, only a few different dishes over the last few years. I came up with a few recipes tonight and wasn't feeling so confident about how it was turning out. However, I'm glad to say that the dinner was a delicious success - fantastic Chinese food without a delivery fee! -jen
SHANGHAI FRIED NOODLES WITH CHICKEN STIR-FRY
2-3 medium sized boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup soy sauce, divided (1/4 cup, 1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 cup green onions, chopped + 1 cup green onion, sliced in 1" strips
Cut raw chicken breasts into thin slices. In a Ziplock bag, combine sliced chicken, 1/4 cup soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, 1/4 cup chopped green onions, cilantro, 2 tablespoons minced garlic, and chili paste. Refrigerate and let marinade for at least an hour.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet or wok on high heat. Stir-fry chicken in two or three batches, adding oil for each batch as needed (remember to give the oil a minute to get hot in between batches.) Set chicken aside. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and in small batches, stir-fry broccoli, carrot, cabbage, mushrooms, and bean sprouts, 2 tablespoons of minced garlic, and 1/4 cup of the remaining soy sauce, setting cooked veggies aside in a bowl after each batch. When final batch is finished, toss with the chopped basil.
In the hot skillet, add 1 tablespoon minced garlic and 1-1/2 cups of the chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Combine the remaining 1/2 cup broth and corn starch in a small dish. Mix until smooth. When the broth comes to a boil, add the corn starch mix, and whisk until the liquid returns to a boil. Broth should begin to thicken into a gravy. Once gravy has begun boiling again, quickly add chicken and vegetables. Cook for a couple more minutes until chicken is rewarmed and remove from heat.
Serve over pan-fried noodles.
PAN-FRIED NOODLES
1/2 pound Shanghai noodles or Chinese egg noodles
1 tablespoon sesame oil
olive oil
Cook noodles until al dente. Drain. Rinse with cold water and let drain again. Toss with sesame oil. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet or wok. Add 1/4 of the noodles to the pan, spreading out to the edge of the pan. Cook on high for 5-8 minutes - do not stir! When noodle-patty is golden brown, carefully flip the patty and cook the other side until golden brown. Repeat three more times to make a total of 4 patties.
This was my first attempt at flipping a noodle patty without using a spatula... I wouldn't recommend it unless you know what you're doing... and I didn't. But I've flipped a lot of crepes this way. I didn't do too bad for my first noodle flip.
PORK AND SHRIMP EGG ROLLS
1/2 pound ground pork
1/4 cup shredded carrot
2 cups shredded Napa cabbage
1 cup bean sprouts
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
1 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoons ground ginger
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon chili paste
3-4 cranks of fresh black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup bay shrimp (tiny shrimp)
2-3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
egg roll wrappers
1 egg white, beaten
In a large bowl, mix pork, carrot, cabbage, bean sprouts, green onions, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, chili paste, and black pepper. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork mixture and cook until pork is cooked through. Add shrimp and cilantro, toss, and remove from heat. Let cool. Lay egg roll wrapper out with a corner pointed at you. Add 3 tablespoons of meat mixture about 1/3 of the way up from the corner pointed at you. Brush a little egg white on the top two edges of the wrapper. Roll the lower corner over the filling and roll tightly until the halfway point. Tuck the left and right sides in and continue wrapping until the top egg-washed sides seal the wrapper.
Heat oil in deep fryer or large pan to 350 degrees. Deep fry 3-4 egg rolls at a time for 5-7 minutes, until golden brown. Turn egg rolls half-way through to cook evenly.
EGG DROP SOUP
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon minced ginger
1 quart chicken broth
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 eggs
1/4 cup corn starch
salt and pepper
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
In a 3 quart pan, heat sesame oil on medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and let them sweat for 2-3 minutes. Set 1 cup of the chicken broth aside and add the remainder of the chicken broth, as well as the soy sauce, to the ginger and garlic. Bring to a boil. In a separate bowl, mix the corn starch and 1 cup of chicken broth until smooth. In a different bowl, whisk two eggs (like you were making scrambled eggs) and set aside. When the broth has come to a boil, whisk in corn starch mixture and continue whisking until it comes back to a boil. When it has begun boiling again, slowly drizzle in the eggs, breaking them up in the soup with a fork as you drizzle. Remove from heat and serve topped with a few green onions as garnish.
