Shrimp Scampi

Halloween is almost here and I hope you all have wonderful plans for the weekend. We're looking forward to romping around the city with family and do a little trick or treating for Chelsea's first Halloween. For her first she will be a little chocolate cupcake and Jen and I will be dressing up as bakers. I love this time of year with the cool crisp nip in the air and the smell of cider at local harvest fests. I hope to have some fun warm Autumn recipes for you in a couple of weeks. For now one last tribute to the summer with a simple, succulent shrimp scampi.

This past week my Director and I were in engaged in a conversation about Shrimp Scampi. Rather than explain how I do it I figure it might make more sense to show you how I do it. This is for you Jorge hope your scampi comes out slamming. Please note the simpler the recipe such as ones like this the greater the importance on quality ingredients. Get the best fresh shrimp, and the highest quality olive oil and cheese. If you can fresh pasta would even be better for this. Use my Linguine Vongole recipe for fresh pasta. Fresh herbs are a must as well.

Software:
1 1/2 pound jumbo shrimp, shelled and deveined

SnP

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 teaspoons of minced garlic

1/4 cup dry white wine, sherry or vermouth

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

3 teaspoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

1 Tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 Tablespoons of chopped parsley

Optional: Grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese

1 Pound of dry pasta Fettuccine, linguine, angel hair or spaghetti. Fresh if possible.

Hardware:

Pan to SnP Shrimp

Pasta Pot 

Skillet with High walls

Chef's knife

Spatula

Shrimp Deveiner

Start by getting your pasta cooked to slightly under Al dente in a full pot of boiling water with plenty of salt and extra virgin olive oil. Once cooked drain and set aside as your shrimp will only take minutes to prepare.

Take the shrimp and patting them dry in a casserole dish. SnP and drizzle some lemon juice on them.

*Note if you are deveining your own shrimp which I highly suggest be sure to make great use of the shrimp deveiner and place all of the shells into a freezer bag and toss into the freezer. You can make some delicious seafood stock with it and any left over herbs you have at the end of the week.

In a skillet or pan preheat to high and melt the butter and olive olive. Once you see slights whisks of smoke from the pan place all of your shrimp in at once. Flip the shrimp only once it will take approximately 1-2 minutes per side. After the first side place in the minced garlic. The shrimp is done once it begins to turn opaque and whitish pink.

Once the shrimp are done set aside in a bowl to rest. In the same pan turn down the heat to medium and throw in the wine, sherry or vermouth.

Cook the alcohol out about 2-5 minutes and toss the cooked pasta in. Coat evenly with the garlicky oil. turn the place off and mix your shrimp in. Drizzle with the lemon juice and a bit of olive oil and top with the chopped parsley and cheese if you prefer. Enjoy your alla shrimp scampi who needs Red Lobster.

Garlic Chicken Thighs in Red Pepper Sauce

  I was looking for a chicken dish to make and saw this recipe.  Looked straight forward and easy and prep time was minimal (i'm all about saving time these days.    Also, how can one go wrong with roasted red peppers, garlic and chicken?    Total time, about an hour.  15 minutes prep, 45 minutes cooking.

Software:

• Chicken thighs (~ 3 pounds), Empire Kosher chicken if available
• 3 roasted red peppers (from jar, cut into 1" thick pieces)
• 1 medium potatoe (cut into 1/4" cubes)
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 6 garlic cloves smashed
• 2 tsp thyme.
• 1 tbs sherry
• 2 tbs olive oil
• ...and of course, salt and pepper.

I mention once again Empire Kosher chicken because I really believe it's the best tasting chicken.  Alas, the store I went to didn't have it in chicken thighs, so I went with the next best thing which was the organically raised store brand.

Turn the oven on to 425, next add salt and pepper to both sides of the chicken.  Leave those and in a large pan (make sure it's oven proof), heat up the olive oil.  When it just begins to smoke, add the chicken, skin side down for about 3 minutes.  You want to have the skin get a good browning on it.

Flip the chicken over and cook the other side for about a minute.  Once that's done, remove the chicken from the pan and onto a plate.

In the remaining oil, add the garlic and thyme and cook until the garlic is lightly browned, about 3 minutes.

Add the potatoes, red peppers, and chicken broth and sherry vinegar to the pan and heat until it starts to boil. 

Turn off the heat, add the chicken skin side up then transfer to the oven uncovered for about 35 minutes.  The potatoes should be tender.  Serve with some nice crusty french bread and you have a great meal.

If Wolverine were a baker he'd bake a Streusal Cake.

If Wolverine was a baker he'd have one of these funky kitchen gadgets attached to his Adamantium skeleton, a pastry blender. It cuts butter and other fats into the dough and sugar. It's so cool it allows you to mix your ingredients without warming up the chilled butter in with your body heat. One of the key things about making flaky types of dough is using a very cold fat like butter and the necessity to mix it often comes at a price with body heat melting the butter and all hopes of a flaky crust.

That's where these bad boys comes in, they sorta look like miniature rib racks attached to a handle. Don't knock them they will do miraculous things with biscuit dough and case streusal.

As the first few weeks of Fall set in there's nothing that's more seasonal in New York/Jersey other than Apple picking. Some of our favorite haunts are Masker and Terhune. This year we went back to Masker and picked us up a stuffed back of Jonas Golds and Macs. Not without a nice nap under an apple tree of course with my two ladies. It was a wonderful and only part of the fun as the upcoming weeks allow me to think of what wonderful confection to cook up with the Fall Jewels that are freshly picked.

Inspired by a Facebook post from the Joy of Baking this especially delicious cake was a first for me but a wonderful first and I think my colleagues can attest since they gobbled it all up like Fall gnomes the next day.

Here's what you'll need...

Streusel Software:

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup toasted and coarsely chopped Macadamia Nuts

Cake Software:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon
pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk
2 large Granny Smith Apples or any tart firm Apple, peeled, cored, and cut into thin (1/8 inch) slices

Hardware:
8 Inch Spring Form Pan
1 Sheet of Parchment Paper
Pastry blender
Mixing Bowls
Offset Spatula
Stand Mixer

Kick off by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F. Since it will take a good 20 minutes to get your ingredients together you might get the oven nice and toasty in preparation. Butter an 8 inch spring form pan and line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Just in case you were wondering the difference between Parchment paper and wax paper is that parchment using a thin coat of silicone versus Wax paper. I think you can use them box pretty interchangeably but parchment holds up better in my opinon.

Streusel Topping: In a large bowl, mix together the flour and ground cinnamon. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or fork until it resembles coarse crumbs now work with purpose here since you really don't want the butter to begin to melt. Stir in the brown sugar and chopped macadamia. Set aside in the fridge while you make the cake batter.

Cake Batter: In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until creamy and smooth (I can hear a "that's what she said joke" coming on). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat just until mixed anymore than that will cause your cake to be dry and tough. Add the flour mixture, alternately with the milk, and beat only until combined. Word of advice slow down or stop the paddle when you mix or else you will be wearing a fair amount of the dry ingredients on you. Spread the batter into the bottom of the prepared pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula.

Evenly arrange the apple slices on top of the cake batter and then sprinkle with the streusel topping.

Bake for about 45 - 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool slightly.

I want tacos....I want pasta....

SPAGHETTI TACOS

I have 2 daughters who prefer different meals.  My oldest loves tacos and can't get enough of them.  My youngest loves any type of pasta with cheese.  She could have every meal be pasta and she would be in heaven.

For the past week, there have been a torrent of articles on spaghetti tacos and you know it really hit the main stream with the nytimes has an article on it.  Originally it was from the television show iCarly.  My oldest is still a bit young for it, but we let her watch season one.  Spaghetti Tacos appeared in season 2, episode 3.  I really don't know much about the show and I didn't have any luck finding it on the web, but there were plenty of recipe's and suggestions.

The entire concept isn't that hard to execute, boil pasta, fill taco shells with pasta.  A bit messy to eat, but easy enough for a youngster to make on their own (if they're old enough to use the stove)......

Good ol El Paso Taco shells, they even have combo kits now where they have both soft and hard tacos, plus the ever classic Ronzoni spaghetti.  I had made a batch of ragu earlier in the week which I would use as the topping. 

I had frozen it in batches, so 3 minutes in the microwave took care of that.

Boil the pasta for about 12 minutes for al dente, drain in colander then add some butter to keep it from sticking.

Prepare some cheese for the topping of the pasta after you stuff it in the taco.

Layer some sauce on the pasta then cover with cheese.

And there you have the finished product!

EPILOGUE:

the kids weren't really that thrilled with it, maybe because they didn't see the episode or read the nytimes article.... so I won't be making this again.  And it does taste exactly how you would expect.....pasta with a tortilla shell....not much imagination there.