Spicy Garlic Shrimp Scampi, a la' Marina del Rey

I entered a recipe contest once. It was back in the early 1990's. Marina del Rey, CA was holding a food festival (the first and only) and had a contest asking for recipes that encapsulate the Marina lifestyle. There may have been categories, I don't even remember. I do remember that I had been toying with a simple shrimp scampi dish at home and decided that I could fiddle with it and make it into an entree by serving it over pasta.

I won first prize for my Spicy Shrimp Scampi dish which the contest organizers renamed as: "Festival Shrimp Scampi". It was published in the free local paper and I believe I won two or three dinners for two at local restaurants. I've never entered another such contest. I figured I'd quit while I'm ahead.

The shrimp in this dish, made without the cheese, pasta or breadcrumbs, but all the spices, makes a fabulously simple first course or party appetizer. The trick to make succulent and juicy shrimp instead of dried out and rubberized seafood lies in not overcooking them. While tossing them in the hot pan, be ready to take the pan off the heat as soon as the last few shrimp are turning from grey to pink. They will finish cooking if you let them rest after seasoning them one last time and squeezing a little lemon juice over them. Lovely.

Festival Shrimp Scampi

1 lb medium size Shrimp (I used peeled, some may preferred unpeeled)

3 T butter
3 T olive oil (best quality you have)
3 cloves garlic, minced (more if preferred :)
1/2t ground white pepper
1/2t red pepper flakes
1/4t Cayenne pepper
1/4t dried oregano (or 1/2 t fresh minced)
1/2 lemon - juice of
1/2C Parmesan cheese
5 T Italian bread crumbs (or bread crumbs with a little salt, pepper,
oregano and basil added).
1/4C parsley - minced
salt - to taste
1 lb cooked fettuccine or linguine

Melt butter with the olive oil in a saute pan that is large enough to hold the shrimp in a thin
layer.

When mixture is hot, add the garlic. Toss about and don't let it burn. While it cooks, add the white pepper, red pepper flakes, oregano and Cayenne pepper, stir well. When garlic looks cooked but not brown (2 minutes), add the shrimp. Toss the shrimp about in the pan, coating with the spiced oil. Add the lemon juice and keep tossing over the heat. Quickly add the parsley, bread crumbs and Parmesan. Toss to coat completely. The shrimp should now be bright
pink and cooked through.

Place the pan under the broiler until cheese looks melted and the smell infuses your kitchen (1-2 minutes). Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary (will probably need a bit of salt).

Serve over the cooked pasta, with additional Parmesan sprinkled over the top.


Enjoy!

The Simple Joys of Mirepoix

I'm teaching my husband how to cook. He helps me with my mise en place on big recipes, stirs and flips, and keeps an eye on slow braises and stews. It's a great thing to have an extra set of hands in the kitchen.


In teaching him, I've tried to follow the guidelines I learned in cooking school so long ago. We've started with knife skills and are moving on to stocks and soups. He's a slow prep cook and I give him a hard time about it. I don't know if it's just that I'm quick or if he truly is as slow as the culinary sloth I think he is.


I haven't really been strict about teaching the fundamental cuts for vegetables (brunoise, baton, small, medium, and large dice). It's now become a priority. If I don't specify right up front the exact size I want the vegetables, they are likely to become very small dice. He really likes to cut things small, he thinks it takes more skill and he's anxious to please. But most of the time these little bits are too small. I can sometimes turn them into a good thing, pureeing them into a sauce as a final step. But, most of the time, they turn to mush before the dish has finished cooking.


One of Bruce's most favorite lessons in cooking has been the basic mirepoix (onion, carrots and celery). The novice cook may not appreciate these three basic ingredients. But the knowledgeable chef knows the value of this first step in most any classic dish. Mirepoix is the first set of ingredients for almost all stocks, soups, stews, braises, and roasts in French cooking. Whether vegetarian or meat filled, all dishes are enhanced by starting with these three vegetables cooked slowly (sweated) in a little olive oil or butter. These simple ingredients become magically fragrant and add an amazing richness to home cooked foods. They fill the kitchen and the house with the warm savory fragrance of ... home, of food lovingly prepared, of something good, simmering slowly.


We love garlic and often add a few cloves in after the vegetables has been sweating over a nice low heat to add a distinct piquant richness that only garlic can. There are a few different varieties of mirepoix with other such additions or subtractions. Here are a few I find useful:



Cajun or Southern Mirepoix: Onions, Celery and Green Peppers

Southwest or Mexican Mirepoix: White Onion, Garlic, Chile Peppers

Indian Basic Aromatics: Onion, Chiles, Garlic, Ginger cooked in Ghee (clarified butter)

Italian: add a few cloves of garlic; use olive oil instead of butter or a combination of both

White Mirepoix: Onions, Celery and Parsnips (leeks and mushrooms often added)

Bruce's Chile and Spice Rub

Last summer when grilling season was in full swing I pulled out my Bobbie Flay cookbooks and used them as inspiration for quite a few meals. I was impressed by the bold flavors and spice combinations. We used his recipes as a starting point for our own creations.
Yes, I said, OUR. As always when grilling is involved, the man of the house becomes quickly interested in dinner preparation, as he is the expret on the proper execution of a barbecued meal.
When the holidays rolled around I was looking for a simple but fabulous food gift for friends and family. A spice rub came to mind and I began my research to create something tasty and inspired. I pulled out an article from 1995 that I had clipped from Bon Appetit. It had a few different spice mixtures I thought were interesting 13 years ago. But now they seemed tired and had no WOW factor.
So Bobby Flay's books came out again and we revisited his Ancho chile and coffee rubbed steaks recipe. I went to Penzey's spice store and bought a whole bunch of corriander seed, cumin seeds, ancho chile powder, chipotle chile powder and a few other interesting bits.
I came home with my treasures and Bruce and I went to work mixing up a huge batch of spice mix. We toasted all the spices that were whole seeds, which quickly filled the house with a
pungent, acrid spice smell and put us in the mood to create. We ground them finely using my old coffee grinder that had been sacrificed to the exotic aromas of spices years ago.
I found some whole cane sugar which had a wonderful earthiness to it. We pulled out my Illy ground espresso beans. Now we were ready to mix.
The ingredients are listed below from most to least used, but the amounts should be adjusted according to your own taste.
Like it spicy? Add more ancho chile powder.
Love garlic? Pour the garlic powder freely!
Need some smokiness? Use a little more ground chipotle chile.
If sweet is your thing, be heavy handed with the sugar.

The intensity of the flavors as well as the smoky / coffee flavor lend themselves to beef, but pork could handle it too! Just be sure to rub a crushed clove of garlic all over your meat before liberally coating it with the rub.

Enjoy!

Bruce's Chile and Spice Rub

Ingredients:
Coriander Seed
Cumin Seed
Whole Cane Sugar
Espresso Beans
Ground Chipotle Chile
Ancho Chile Powder
Sea Salt
Granulated Garlic
Ground Black Pepper