New Orleans-Style Shrimp

Last Year's Post: Shrimp and Chorizo Paella
Two Years Ago:   Vietnamese Shrimp Baguette

To my surprise, Mardi Gras is next Tuesday, February 13th.  For some reason I thought it was in March; maybe it's one of those holidays that float around the calendar.  If you want to get in the Mardi Gras spirit or if you just like shrimp, this is a delicious, fast and easy recipe.  It's not spicy but it has a lot of flavor.  An Italian friend had a "feast of 7 fishes" Christmas Eve dinner and this dish was universally acclaimed the hit of the night, if that tells you anything.

The sauce is the best part, so be sure to serve the shrimp with white rice or a slightly messier but more fun version, with crusty bread - just put the shrimp and sauce in a big dish in the middle of the table and let people have at it.  You might even want to double the sauce.

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New Orleans-Style Shrimp

Serves 4

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 shallots, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 lemon, sliced crosswise into ¼”-thick rounds

1 ½ lb peeled and deveined large (26/30 count) shrimp

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

¼ teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled or ground in a mortar and pestle

½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

½ teaspoon kosher salt

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

3 tablespoons water

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into small cubes

Crusty bread or cooked white rice, for serving

Heat a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the olive oil, shallot and garlic and cook, stirring often, for about 2 minutes.  Add the lemon slices and push them to the bottom of the pan.  Cook for one minute to release their juices, then add the paprika, thyme, black pepper and salt.  Add the Worcestershire sauce and 3 tablespoons water and bring the liquid to a simmer.

Add the shrimp and cook, stirring often, about 90 seconds per side until they curl and are translucent.  (Do not overcook.) Add the butter cubes and stir to combine with the sauce, another minute or two.

Serve immediately with crusty bread or white rice on the side to soak up the sauce.

Pesto for the Freezer

 Last Year's Post: Watermelon Gazpacho
Two Years Ago:    Apple, Bacon and Fontina Stuffed Acorn Squash

Pesto is one of the best ways to preserve a little sliver of summer to be brought out in the middle of winter - bright and aromatic basil with garlic, pine nuts, cheeses, olive oil and butter, it's one of my favorite ways to eat pasta.  Even if you don't have an herb garden, it's worth going to the farmers market to pick up a big bunch of basil at the end of summer so you can freeze several small jars.  Pesto is very versatile and can be used in sandwiches, on roast chicken or fish, and of course tossed with pasta.  Today we tossed it with spaghetti and served it with grilled shrimp, which was perfectly complemented by the bright garlicky pesto flavors.

I found this recipe many years ago in the "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" by Marcella Hazan.  Although there are lots of pesto recipes out there, I particularly like this one for freezing because it tells you to leave out the cheeses and butter until after you thaw the pesto.  Adding them at that point makes the pesto taste much fresher.  Also, she tells you to beat the cheeses and butter in by hand rather than in the blender, which gives the pesto a more interesting texture.  Two really good tips.  I'm actually surprised that I haven't shared this recipe before - it's one of two essentials I make every fall to freeze, along with this roasted tomato salsa that I think is the best salsa ever.

The recipe is very easy to prepare so you can make multiple batches if you have a lot of basil (highly recommended).  I would freeze the pesto in small jars because a little goes a long way - the 1/3 cup or so in one of my jars will make plenty of pesto (when the cheeses and butter are added) to top four pieces of chicken or fish, or to toss with enough pasta to feed 2-3 people.

The beautiful green color, fragrance and fresh taste will be a huge reward for you in the middle of winter for just a little effort at this time of the year.

printable recipe

Pesto for Freezing

Makes approximately 2/3 – 3/4 cup of pesto, enough for 6 servings of pasta.  The recipe may be doubled or tripled.

2 cups tightly packed fresh basil leaves, rinsed and patted dry (or use a salad spinner)

½ cup good olive oil

2 tablespoons pine nuts (plus more, toasted, for garnish, optional)

2 -3 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed

1 teaspoon kosher salt

½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese*

2 tablespoons freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese*

3 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature*

16 - 20 ounces of pasta, cooked and drained*

Coarse salt and pepper*

Put the basil, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic cloves, and salt in a blender and mix at high speed, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed with a rubber spatula, until evenly blended.

To Serve Immediately:

 Pour the pesto into a bowl and beat in the two cheeses by hand (this results in a more interesting texture and better flavor than if added to the blender).  When evenly incorporated, beat in the softened butter.  Before adding the pasta, add a tablespoon of pasta water if the pesto seems thick.

Add the hot pasta to the pesto and toss to coat evenly.  Serve at once, garnished with additional toasted pine nuts (optional) and a sprinkling of coarse salt and coarse pepper.

To Freeze for Later:

Pour the pesto (without cheeses and butter) from the blender into small jars, cover tightly, and freeze.  Before using, thaw overnight in the refrigerator.  When completely thawed, beat in the cheeses and butter as described above.  Adding the cheeses and butter at this time rather than before freezing gives the sauce a much fresher flavor.  Frozen pesto will keep for up to 6 months.

  

* Not needed until later if you’re planning on freezing all the pesto.

Lobster with Pasta and White Wine-Butter Sauce

Last Year's Post: Tuxedo Strawberries

Time for a special dinner - Valentine's Day is coming up!  I think nothing is more romantic or special than an elegant and intimate dinner for two that you took the time and effort to prepare yourself.  And when I think about a special dinner, I usually think of lobster.  That good news is that although lobster is expensive in a nice restaurant, it's affordable when you prepare it at home.  You don't even need to buy really big lobster tails for this dish (although you certainly could if you wanted) because the lobster meat is combined with pasta and a delicious white wine-butter sauce.  A small-ish lobster tail per person is plenty (that's what I used in the picture above) and is often on sale at your local store around New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day for a very reasonable price.  I bought two 8-ounce tails for $8.99 each.  Including the rest of the ingredients, a loaf of french bread, and a very nice bottle of wine, I spent about $50 for this meal.  Think about what a bottle of wine and two lobster dinners would cost at a restaurant!

I've always liked the idea of lobster with pasta and spent many years searching for a great recipe.  I noticed that most lobster pasta recipes have either a heavy tomato sauce or a heavy cream sauce.  Either way, they tend to smother the lobster.  What's the point if you can't taste the lobster?    Plus, I love the taste of lobster and butter, so I knew I found the perfect recipe when I found this one and switched out olive oil for butter instead.  The sauce is light but very flavorful, and complements the lobster flavor rather than smothering it. The arugula adds a bit of color and flavor as well. The net result is truly a restaurant-quality dish.  As if that wasn't enough, it's really easy to make and isn't as messy as most lobster recipes because you simply take the raw meat out of the shell and saute it in the sauce.


Butter, wine, garlic, a little tomato puree, and lobster...yum yum

It's also easier to eat lobster this way rather than trying to get it out of a shell after it's cooked.  The Lawyer and I enjoy cooking together and we had fun preparing this meal, which is a great idea if you and your partner both like to cook.  (Not so great if you don't.)


Because the sauce isn't thick and heavy, it's important to add the cooked pasta to the sauce and toss it over the heat for a couple of minutes to allow the sauce to thoroughly coat the pasta and infuse it with flavor.  The entire meal only takes about a half hour to prepare.  Set a pretty table with some candles and flowers and you're all set!

click here for a printable recipe

Lobster with Pasta and White Wine-Butter Sauce

serves 2

2 small to medium lobster tails (7-10 ounces each), thawed

2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons butter
½ cup white wine
2 tablespoons tomato puree
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
6 ounces uncooked spaghetti (slightly less than half of a 1 lb package)
1 cup fresh arugula or baby spinach, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Using a sturdy scissors, cut down the middle of the lobster shells without cutting into the meat.  Pull the shells open and carefully remove the meat.  Cut into 1 inch pieces and set aside.

In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-low heat.  Sauté the garlic in the butter for 1 minute, watching so the butter doesn’t brown.  Add the wine, tomato puree, salt and pepper.  Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then add the lobster and lower the heat to maintain a low simmer uncovered for 5-6 minutes or until the lobster is firm and opaque.

Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain the pasta; add to the lobster mixture and toss to coat.  Stir in the arugula, lemon juice and peel; cook for 1-2 minutes or until the arugula is wilted.  Serve immediately.

Rum Cake

It's Holiday Treat Day at The Lawyer's office today.  He always gets requests from his co-workers to bring rum cake, one of his signature recipes.  He also gets requests from relatives and friends for rum cake at this time of the year, which tells you just how good it is.  We found this recipe many years ago, and I remember that it was posted by flight attendant who collected plates from everywhere she traveled to use in giving rum cakes as gifts at holiday time.  The reason I remember the story is that her final warning was to bake only one cake at a time in the oven or you risk an explosion due to the alcohol.  It sounded impressive but I was doubtful that it would ever actually happen until a certain Gourmet Club incident involving peaches and brandy that produced a pretty healthy ka-bang.  Luckily the oven survived (although it did blow the door open) and it makes for a great story.

Anyway, back to rum cake.  Think about this for your office party, book club get-together, Christmas Eve dinner, or holiday open house where you've been requested to bring something.  It will make you famous.

It's really easy but you do need a 12 cup tube pan, the simpler the better since the pecans would hide an intricate design anyway.  Did you know that Bundt cakes have become trendy again?  I attended a cooking demonstration at our state fair last summer that was all about Bundt cakes.  (Yes it was the state fair but the demo was given by professional bakers.) And be sure to use dark rum rather than light rum - that's what gives it the distinctive flavor.

Glazing the cake is the most interesting part of the process, since it takes place in stages to allow the cake to absorb the glaze gradually.  Don't dump all of the glaze on right away or most of it will just run off.  Put a light layer on and allow it to absorb, then apply more layers over time until all the glaze is used up.

click here for a printable recipe

Rum Cake

Makes 1 large cake

1 cup chopped toasted pecans

1 (18.5 oz) package yellow cake mix (Duncan Hines recommended)
1 (3.4 oz) package vanilla or French vanilla instant pudding
½ cup cold water
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup dark rum, divided
4 eggs

Glaze:

½ cup butter
¼ cup water
1 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 325d.  Grease and flour a 12 cup tube pan.  Sprinkle pecans over the bottom of the pan and set aside.

To make the cake, in a large mixing bowl combine cake mix, instant pudding, eggs, the ½ cup cold water, oil, and ½ cup rum.  Beat at medium speed 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl after 1 ½ minutes.

Pour batter over pecans in pan.  Bake cake until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes.  Remove cake from the oven and let cool in the pan 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the glaze:  in a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter.  Stir in the ¼ cup water and sugar; bring to boil.  Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove saucepan from heat and stir in remaining ½ cup rum.

Invert the cake onto serving plate.  Poke all over with a wooden skewer or toothpick, being careful not to dislodge the pecans.  Spoon hot glaze over the pecans and use a pastry brush to apply the glaze evenly to the rest of the cake.  Allow cake to absorb the glaze for 5 minutes.  Repeat spooning and brushing glaze and letting cake absorb the glaze until all the glaze has been brushed onto the cake; this takes about 40 minutes.

Wipe the edges of the serving plate before serving.