Blackened Shrimp with Tomato Tarragon Pasta

slightly adapted from here

for shrimp:
shelled, deveined raw shrimp
butter

1 tsp ground basil
1 tsp ground thyme
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsps chipotle pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika

for pasta:

1/2 lb angel hair pasta, cooked and drained
1 cup roughly chopped tomatoes
2 tbls roughly chopped fresh tarragon
olive oil

Combine the spices and dredge the shrimp in them. Heat up a cast iron skillet very hot and melt the butter in it. Put the shrimp in the skillet and reduce heat to medium. Cook for ~4-5 minutes per side, they should still be slightly translucent in the middle. For the pasta, heat up a pan on medium-high with some oil, put in the tarragon and tomatoes and stir around for a minute or so. Add the pasta and toss to combine. Serve the shrimp on the pasta, the shrimp should have enough salt for both, but you can add some to the pasta if you feel like it.

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I like shrimp now. Who knew? Maybe it's my changing tastes, maybe I had just needed my culinary school graduate buddy to make it for me so it was done correctly. Either way, this was wicked good. So let's get in it, shall we?

My previously mentioned buddy came down for a visit recently and we decided to challenge my previously mentioned tastes. And we did it thusly.

Spice mix. So good. Spicy without being overwhelming, strong flavors without overpowering the other stuff. I think it would be good on chicken, too. Anyway the whole process is pretty easy (especially when you're watching someone else do it so you can take pictures...), just dredge up the shrimp. Melt a touch of butter in a hot cast iron pan. Heh. My buddy actually only used the butter for the first batch, he didn't like the way they came out when cooked like that quite as much as in a mostly dry pan. Although the butter did do something amazing. We'll get back to that. But now that your butter is melted and the pan is hot lay those shrimp down. Oooh yeah. Buttery. Now while this is going on there is water boiling for pasta. I took a whole bunch of shots of my buddy making that too, but it was so steamed up in the kitchen that none came out. Unfortunate. But everything else worked out awesome. I was surprised that my buddy didn't salt or pepper the pasta, but he assured me the shrimp would add plenty and he was right. Adding more would have been overwhelming. Oh and that butter he cooked the first batch of shrimp in? Yeah we kept it. For dipping. Unbelievable. Seriously, so good.

And there you have it, my first although certainly not last, shrimp post. Definitely not going to be a common thing though, fricking expensive. I kept the shells, gonna make stock with them. Hmm, maybe for jambalaya. That would be appropriate. Well, looks like I'm off to go do some research on my next shrimp dish. Heh.

Irish Macaroni and Cheese

1 tbl butter
1 tbl flour
1/2 cup warm milk
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar
1/4 cup Guinness
4 cups cooked macaroni
1/2 cup shredded corned beef*
1/2 cup chopped cabbage*
1 cup lightly smashed, cooked potato*
pinch of cayenne
salt and pepper

*leftovers from a boiled dinner are perfect

Preheat the oven to 375. Heat a little oil in a medium sauce pan to medium-hot. Add the cabbage and corned beef, lightly brown them and set aside. Reduce heat to medium, add the butter and let it melt. Once it's melted add the flour and cook for about 2 minutes, constantly stirring, don't let it get too brown. Slowly add the warm milk, still stirring and let it come to a simmer. Add the Guinness, cheese, black pepper and cayenne. Turn off the heat and stir until the cheese is melted. Taste it and see if it needs more seasoning, add some if it does. Add the macaroni and fold until it's well combined. Spread the mixture in an 8x8 pan. Toss the potato with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and sprinkle it over the top of the pasta. Put it in the oven until browned, about 20 minutes.

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First, a disclaimer: that recipe up top is approximate. I had a detailed plan, I swear, but it went out the window as soon as the stove was turned on. I was wicked tired, I couldn't find the recipe I was using as a base, my brain kind of exploded and all that was left was the desire for macaroni and cheese with corned beef, cabbage and Guinness in it. So I just winged it.

It came out wicked good. The pieces of browned cabbage and corned beef added awesome bits of texture and bursts of flavor. It formed a decent crust, which is important to me, and had tons of cheese. All good things. But. Next time I will definitely make more sauce, plus I might butter the pan to make more crispy crust. I love that. The Guinness was much more subtle than I thought it would be, it probably wouldn't hurt to add some more of that too. But that's really more a to taste thing. All in all this was really good and I must say I'm pleased with it. Plus since my girlfriend doesn't like mac and cheese when it's homemade all the leftovers are for me! Ha!
I'm submitting this to Regional Recipes: Ireland over at Eats Well with Others. Have you made something Irish or at least Irishish this month? If so you should send it over to Joanne! Unless, of course, you already have. Heh.

I'm also submitting it to Presto Pasta Nights for additional excitement.

Simple and Easy: Sausage Cart Spaghetti

-1 lb Italian sausage
-1 lb spaghetti, mostly cooked
-1 bell pepper, sliced
-1 onion, sliced
-2 cups chicken stock
-2 cloves of garlic, minced
-2 1/2 tbls good mustard
-pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
-salt and pepper

You can either slice the sausage or crumble it. Either way, brown it in a skillet over medium-high heat, then remove it and set it aside. If you want you can put it on a paper towel lined plate to absorb some of the fat. Saute the garlic, onions and peppers in some of the fat remaining in the pan and set them aside. Deglaze with the chicken stock, add the mustard and red pepper flakes and let it reduce to 1 cup. Taste for seasoning and add more mustard, salt and pepper, if needed. Add everything back in to the sauce and stir gently until all the liquid is absorbed by the pasta, about 1-2 minutes. Serve.

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It's sad to admit, but I'm not a very well traveled guy. I've only lived in Boston and Providence, RI (which is an awful lot like Boston, only smaller) and despite the fact that I've been all across the country on road trips, I was always young and never really payed much attention to what was going on. So I don't know if Italian sausage carts are as ubiquitous in the rest of the country as they are in the cities of New England, but here you can't go to any kind of event or even just outside when it gets above 40 degrees without smelling onions and peppers sauteing in sausage fat.I remember when I was living in Providence there was a guy who was a die hard cart vendor. He would be out there year round in the center of the city, morning, noon and night. I would walk past him on my way to and from work, wending through groups of people waiting for the bus, smoking cigarettes and carrying on loud conversations. The smells of tobacco, city and frying sausage mixed together to form a heady perfume that I swear you could get high off of. And every time I saw that cart I thought "damn, those smell wicked good. I should buy one". But I never did. I'm not sure why, since I love Italian sausage, but I just didn't. It's on my short list of regrets, although getting one probably would have wound up on it too. Heh.

Fast forward ten years (and half a page of semi pointless setup) and I have a craving for sausage, peppers and onions wicked bad. Now, I could just brown everything in my skillet and stuff it in a roll. I could even ask one of my neighbors to stand near me smoking cigarettes while I eat it on the sidewalk, watching traffic and occasionally yelling at people so I could get the whole sausage-cart-in-the-city experience. But I wanted to do something different. I decided to try to make pasta that tasted like one of those cart sausages. So I did. And it worked. I love it when that happens.

This is one of those simple dishes with a short list of ingredients that turns out just awesome. The sauce gets pretty much completely absorbed into the pasta, giving it lots of flavor and just a slight coating of smooth, rich liquid. And let's face it, that liquid is fat. I mean, we're eating sausage here, that's why it's so good. You can cut down on the fat by draining the cooked sausage on a paper towel lined plate and pouring off the fat from the pan (although you would have to replace it with some olive oil to properly saute the veggies). But you only live once and just so long as you don't eat like this every day then you're fine.

I didn't specify what kind of mustard you should use, other than good, since that's really a personal choice. And I suppose you could use crappy mustard if you want, each to their own, you know? I happen to like Dijon. But whichever one you would put on an Italian sausage, that's the right kind to use. Next time I make this, and there will be a next time, I'm going to toss some toasted bread crumbs in at the end, I think that would add some nice texture and flavor.

So tell me, where are you and do you have Italian sausage carts? If you don't have them (or even if you do), you should make this pasta, it's pretty close to the flavor but different enough to be, well, different. And if you want the whole experience, let me know. I'll come stand next to you with a smoldering cigarette and yell things at passersby.

And I'm going to send this in to Presto Pasta Nights. Excitement!

Spaghetti al Amatriciana For One

1/4 lb spaghetti, cooked al dente
2-3 slices of bacon (or more)
3 tbls diced onion
1/2 tsp red wine vinegar
1 8oz can plain tomato sauce
1 tbls grated romano cheese
1 tbl chopped fresh basil
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes or to taste
black pepper to taste

Cut the bacon into 1/2" pieces and brown it to your liking over medium heat. Move it to a paper towel lined plate and pour off most of the grease, leaving a tbl or so. Brown the onion in the skillet then add the vinegar, tomato sauce and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine, then add the cheese. Let it simmer for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the basil and black pepper, stir, then add the pasta and stir to combine. Serve with more cheese.

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So, I'm afraid I'm not going to be doing step by step pictures anymore, at least not for the foreseeable future. I just don't have the space in my kitchen to get set up to do it right. It sucks because I enjoyed that a lot, but I have a total of three feet of counter space and it's broken up into one foot lengths. One foot by the stove and a foot on either side of the sink. It's simply inadequate for the job. But I'm hardly going to stop blogging altogether, I'm just going to simplify a bit.

In fact, not only am I not stopping blogging but I even have a new blog. Well, sort of new. I've been sitting on it for a while, waiting for the time and motivation to do something with it. But being currently unemployed I now have plenty of time. Heh. It's about houseplants, mostly ficuses. So, if you're into that, feel free to stop by. There's not much there as of now, but there will be more soon, I assure you.

And speaking of unemployment, want to show a dude some love? Make his stuff a little more visible? You could go to my page at Foodie Views and vote for my pictures. You don't have to register to vote there. If you really wanted to you could always favorite any of my pictures you like over at Foodgawker and Tastespotting. If you wanted. Heh. But anyway, that's all the self promotion I'm going to subject you to, here's the deal with the pasta.

This is my standard amatriciana, but pared down for one person. No, my girlfriend hasn't stopped putting up with my crap or dumped me because I'm a jobless bum, she just doesn't like this dish the same way I do. You know, spicy. So I usually wind up making it when I'm just cooking for myself. After a little trial and error I've gotten it just right. At least for my tastes. It's funny, when I started making this for just myself I never thought to do the math and cut the original by three quarters. And it's a good thing too, since this isn't a quarter of the original and it's really good as it is.

I've found you can use that canned pre-grated Parmesan instead of romano and it works ok. It's not as good, clearly, but it's totally fine. Same with dried basil instead of fresh. You could even use diced dehydrated onion, although I'd open the can of tomato sauce, dump in the dried onion and let it soak for a while before you started cooking. This is a great pantry meal, assuming bacon is one of your pantry staples. I know it is for me.

Spicy Corn and Beef Ramen, Plus a Giveaway

First, the ramen. You may have noticed a theme here, when I have a cold I eat spicy ramen. It's just how I get down. This one is pretty similar to the last one I made, although more pantry friendly since it doesn't use homemade stock. Well, it could and it would be awesome, but I didn't have any beef stock, so I just used broth. Real broth too, not the packet of "beef" seasoning that comes with the noodles. I just toss those, unless I'm feeling really lazy. Heh.

I didn't take any measurements so I'm not even going to try to list the ingredients. But I know it had a decent chunk of crystallized ginger and red pepper flakes. Lots of red pepper flakes. There's also some garlic in there, frozen corn, black pepper... I think that might be it other than the steak.

That was actually a chunk of leftovers from one of the rare dinners out me and my girlfriend had recently. It was teriyaki so it seemed appropriate. I just sliced it thin and semi-artfully arranged a few of the slices on top. Then I took pictures, dumped the rest in, mixed it up and ate it. Heh. One little tip, if you're doing something like this with cold, leftover meats, slice them thin and dump them into the ramen after you've taken it off the heat but it's still too hot to eat. This heats up the meat without cooking it much more and cools down the broth a bit, too. Good times.

Now, I had mentioned a giveaway. The good folks over at Deans Dips have offered to send one of my readers a couple of vouchers for free dip and another reader a couple vouchers and a dip tray. Maybe even in time for the Super Bowl, how do you like that? They sent me some, but I haven't had a chance to redeem them yet since my crappy local grocery store doesn't seem to carry it. They sound good though and I'll be writing a review when I manage to get some. So, want to try it? Hmm? Maybe get a dip tray? Well, just tell me what your favorite dip is and you're entered. Never had dip or just don't care for it but you just want a dip tray? Leave a comment and you're entered anyway, I'm easy going. I'm only going to run it until Sunday to increase the chances of everything arriving by the Super Bowl.

Steak Tips, Bow Ties with White Sauce and Peas

1 1/2 cups warm 2% milk
2 tbls butter
2 tbls flour
1 lb steak tips
2 tsps chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tbls minced onion
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 lb mostly cooked bow tie pasta
salt and pepper


Cut steak tips into 1" chunks and season them with salt and pepper. Brown them well in a skillet, then set them aside on a ceramic plate tented with foil. Deglaze the skillet with the chicken stock and once all the brown bits are up and it's reduced by at least 1/2, pour it off and set it aside. Turn the heat in the skillet down to medium-low and melt the butter in it. Add the onion and garlic and saute for a minute or so, until the garlic is fragrant. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes. Slowly add the milk while still stirring, keep stirring until the sauce is thickened, about 3-5 minutes. Let simmer, stirring frequently, until it's reduced to around a cup then add the deglazing liquid. Season with salt and pepper as needed. Let simmer for another minute or so, stirring frequently, then add juices from the rested steak tips, the peas and pasta (and tips, if you want it all combined). Toss it all together and let it simmer for another minute or two, stirring occasionally, until the pasta has absorbed some of the sauce. Add the basil, stir to combine and serve.

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The other day my girlfriend came up to me and said, "I want steak tips. And bowties with peas."

I said, "Ok". And made this. She sat across the blue plastic tv tray we've been using as a table, eating it with a little smile on her face.

"Is it good?" I asked.

"Oh yes" she said, "it's exactly what I wanted."

That, kids, is my personal favorite response. Sure "I love it! ", "it's even better than I thought it would be" or an enthusiastic thumbs up because their mouth is too busy to talk are all great. But really, there's nothing better than craving something and getting just what it was you wanted. Well, when it comes to food anyway. Heh.

The icing on the whole deal here is that this is a surprisingly low fat dish considering how rich it is. I used homemade stock which makes a big impact with texture and richness, but was almost completely fat free. The sauce didn't taste chickeny at all, but you got the smooth, rich mouth-feel from all the collagen in the stock so I could use 2% milk and still have it be really creamy. Other than that it was just the two tablespoons of butter, perfectly reasonable for something that serves 4-6 people, and the tips. The tips weren't too fatty, although I did cook them in bacon grease. Because I could. I didn't get many pictures, but fortunately it's nice and simple. I don't see why you couldn't do this with something other than steak. You would just want something that leaves good fond since that's where most of the flavor for the sauce comes from. Next time I'm going to add a tablespoon or two of sour cream to it to brighten up the flavor a bit.

Speaking of the sauce, does anyone know if it's still a white sauce? Does adding the broth, fond and meat juices change it? I think it might, technically, be gravy. Not that I'd mind, of course. In fact if that were so I'd probably change the title of the post to reflect it. Heh.

Garlic Pan Fried Noodles, Take Two

Folks playing along at home might remember my previous excursion into garlic pan fried noodles, but for those just tuning in here's the short of it: I like them. The first time I made them was alright, but nothing really exciting. This time I tried doing it with garlic infused olive oil, thinking it would coat everything with a nice, even garlic flavor. It would also mean that I could brown up the noodles as much as I wanted without worrying about burnt garlic flavor, which is right up there with burnt eggs for nasty. I made the oil and it tastes great. I fried up the noodles, getting much better color and texture this time, and what do I get? Nothing. All the garlic flavor was completely gone. I've used garlic infused oils for cooking and I've never had this happen before. Although I'm sure it happens to a lot of guys...

But, now I'm in a bind. I got much better flavor with the minced garlic, but I couldn't brown up the noodles really well or else the garlic flavor turned burnt. But with the oil there was no flavor at all, so it clearly isn't the way to go. I wound up sprinkling some Szechuan peppercorns on it at the end just so it would taste like something more than plain ramen.

So what should I do? Maybe a mix of the two methods? Sprinkle the oil over the noodles after cooking them? Do I need to buy some of that spray bottle garlic juice and just spray the fried noodles with it? I don't even live near the restaurant I used to get them from, so I can't even get their less than satisfactory ones anymore. I need advice!

Garlic Pan Fried Noodles

There is a Chinese place around the corner from me that has garlic pan fried noodles on the menu. I've ordered them several times, the first they were spectacular, garlicky and rich (but not greasy) with some bits of noodle crispy and some still soft. Every other time they have been greasy and tasted like burnt garlic. This angered me. So I decided I would try to make them myself, as I have a wont to do. I'm not going to post a recipe since I don't have one yet as this is really a work in progress. But it's a sound concept and makes a good side dish, so I figured I'd share the idea with you folks.

First I cooked up a package of ramen, no seasonings. I love this stuff. Then I heated up some olive oil (next time I'm going to use my garlic/ginger infused stir fry oil) over medium high heat and pressed a clove of garlic in there. I also love my garlic press. Heh. I let it cook for just a minute and then tossed in the noodles. I added a pinch of salt and a twist of fresh black pepper and gave it a good stir. I tasted it and it didn't have as much garlic flavor as I wanted so I minced up another clove real fast (I had already put my garlic press in the dirty sink, of course, and really didn't feel like washing it) and tossed it in there. This wasn't the best choice. Even though I added it off to the side and gave it a quick saute it still added some raw garlic flavor. It also needed more oil so there was enough to lightly coat the noodles so I added a bit. The noodles got some nice texture and the end product was good, if not great. I also wound up tearing that basil I used as a garnish into bits and adding that in. That was a nice touch. Maybe next time I'll do a total Chinese/Italian fusion thing. One thing I think I'm going to do is make a quick garlic infused oil to use instead of pieces of garlic. That way I won't have to worry about burning it. And I'm going to sprinkle some sesame oil over it at the last. Because it smells awesome.

And I'm submitting it to Presto Pasta Nights! Hosted by Girlichef

Ja Jian Mein, Pantry Style

for the sauce:
1-2 tbls hoisin sauce
1-2 tbls soy sauce
pinch of ground ginger
pinch of garlic powder
pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tsp dried minced onion
splash of rice wine vinegar

everything else:
1 package of ramen noodles
1/2 cup of chopped roast pork
1-2 tbls of boiling water from the ramen

Any fresh vegetables you happen to have, thinly sliced and blanched if appropriate. Don't blanch cucumber or lettuce, clearly.

recommended toppings: carrots, cucumber, bean sprouts, peanuts, bell pepper, lettuce, radish, red onion, black beans, edamame, cabbage, egg, green onion, sliced water chestnuts, anything else you can think of

Put a pot of water on for the ramen. Mix the sauce ingredients together and set it aside. Heat a couple tbls of oil (I like garlic/ginger infused canola oil) in a small sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add the pork and stir fry till lightly browned. Add the sauce, reduce the heat to low. Put the ramen in the boiling water and let the sauce simmer while the noodles cook. When they are done add a 1-2 tbls of the noodle water to the sauce and stir it. Drain the pasta and put it in a bowl. Top with the sauce and any vegetables you have.

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I saw Ming Tsai make this (well, something like this) on his show a while ago and was intrigued. I wanted to make it but I didn't have much in the way of fresh stuff and going to the grocery store wasn't happening. So I had to do what I could with what I had on hand. I didn't have any fresh onion or garlic (I know, it's pretty bad), but I did have dried onion and garlic powder. Adequate. I always have ground ginger, hoisin sauce, soy sauce and usually at least one fresh vegetable on hand. I also often have a package or two of ramen and while they aren't really the authentic choice, I wasn't too worried about authenticity. I thought to myself, "Self, you can do this." So I did.

I happened to have some baby carrots, I quartered them the long way and set them aside. Meat was a bit of a problem. I didn't have ground pork on hand. Then I remembered that I had a simple pan seared pork chop in the freezer. So I pulled it out and defrosted it. I also think leftover roast pork, the kind you get as an appetizer from Chinese-American restaurants, would work great in this. I chopped it up pretty small and then tossed it into a medium-hot nonstick pan that had some garlic/ginger canola oil in it. Browned it up a little bit, then turned the heat down a bit and added the hoisin and soy sauce. I know this isn't how I have it up top but that's because that is the better version that I came up with after doing it this way. Added a splash of rice wine vinegar, ground ginger and garlic powder, and then the minced onion. And the pepper flakes, although there isn't a picture of that. Mixed it all together and turned it down to low while I cooked the ramen. Ah ramen. At this point I realized there wasn't a lot of sauce going on so I thought I'd try adding some pasta water, like you do in some Italian dishes. It didn't work quite how I wanted, but I think that's partly because I let it sit a bit too long and too much evaporated. Anyway, I dished the whole thing up. It was good. Sure it wanted more sauce, but all in all it was a good time. Sweet and a bit spicy with great texture contrast. I'm going to make it again, but planned out this time so I have proper ingredients. I don't think I've ever seen it on a menu, has anyone had it at a restaurant? It's also known as zha jiang mian and probably a couple other things too...

What's Your Go-To Dish?

This is mine. Pasta with whatever vegetables I have on hand (frozen corn and peppers here), some kind of sausage (since it makes a great, flavorful fond. This is kielbasa.) some herbs (Daregals Original Blend) and a wine/broth sauce that gets almost completely absorbed into the noodles. I've posted about it here, here... uhm, here... Ok, I've gone over this method before, clearly. So I'm not going to do another post about it. Even though it had a different pasta so that makes it a different dish. Heh. But what I'm curious about is what your go-to dish is. What do you do when there's a half hour and you don't have any ingredients that you don't always have?