A Spicy Sunday

I'm standing in Shaws today, wondering what to make for dinner tonight. I give a longing look at the seafood counter, pretending I was ordering fish. Out of nowhere I hear, "you wanna get shrimp." I was snapped back from my daydream. It was Noel saying this. I knew I had to jump quickly before she changed her mind. I ordered a pound of uncooked shrimp immediately jumped on my phone to find a recipe she would like.

Noel said right away she would like some of the Sriracha she loves used in the meal. While looking up a recipe I came across shrimprecipes.org and found Broiled Cajun Shrimp. I was sold right away, both the shrimp ad the sauce asked for hot sauce. Noel was going to get her meal with her Sriracha. It's a real easy recipe. Marinade the shrimp in olive oil, tablespoon of hot sauce and three cloves garlic for 15 minutes. The broil them for three minutes. While that's cooking in a sauce pan melt two tablespoons of butter with tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, tablespoon of lemon juice, teaspoon oregano and two teaspoons chili pepper. I added a tablespoon of Sriracha to kick it up a notch. It brought it up more than a notch but boy was it good. I served it with Zatarain's Long Grain and Wild Rice. The rice is cooked in an awesome blend of spices and really helped bring the meal to the next level. I roasted broccoli, with olive oil, garlic and sea salt for 20 minutes. This was a great meal and everything went really well together.

Right down to the wine. The website suggested a Riesling, Pinot Grigio or sparkling wine. Any of these wines would have been great with the meal. I didn't have any of them in the house. I did have a Viura from Lagrimas De Maria. Viura is grown in Rioja, outside of Rioja it is better known as Macabeo and is one of the three grapes in Cava. It's light and fruity and often inexpensive. Perfect for seafood, especially spicy seafood. Lagrimas is a great wine. It's medium bodied, with aromas of tropical and fresh fruits that follow on the palate. Perfect wine for a great meal!!  

Arrrrr Matey

Over the weekend Noel and I cleaned the apartment and I found a cook book that I totally forgot we even had, Seduced by Bacon by Joanna Pruess,thank you Mikey. If you read my first post you would know that I LOVE BACON!! So I went through the book and found a few recipes I wanted to try. The first one that caught my eye was on page 105; Jamaican Jerk Shrimp, Mushrooms and Tomatoes. I couldn't wait to try this out. Just a few weeks ago I bought some really nice Jamaican Jerk seasoning rub; Busha Browne's I think I only paid about $5 for it at my favorite store ever, Russo's Market in Watertown, MA. When I got it I knew I needed it but I wasn't sure what I needed it for. Well obviously it was for page 105 in this book!!

So this recipe is wicked easy to do. Cut up about half pound of BACON in half inch strips. I used the double smoked bacon that Noel and I get every week at Russo's. It's so good but a little pricey, I am sure that regular thick cut bacon would work. Dice a large yellow onion, four ounces of shiitake mushrooms destemmed and thickly sliced. So need a side note and there will be a lot of these in posts to come cause Noel does not like mushrooms, Noel doesn't like a lot of things, she is a WICKED PICKY EATER! So I used less than four ounces of mushrooms and it still came out fine. Back to the meal you are going to need two large garlic cloves, minced, two pounds jumbo shrimp. Now I used pre-cooked from Shaws but that was because they didn't have raw jumbo shrimp. I hate the store in Lower Allston but it's close to my apartment and most of the time it's adequate. Now the next ingredient is Rum, that's right I know this is "the love of wine and cooking" but sometimes and, I can't believe I am saying this, but sometimes you don't need to cook with wine. Noel had seen the Kraken black spiced rum in a store looked it up had ever since wanted to try it out so we went to a few of our local liquor stores and finally found it at the Wine Emporium on Columbus Street in the South End. It's actually reasonably priced rum and tastes pretty damn good, plus it has an octopus on the bottle and looks like the kind of bottle Black Beard would have drank from. Again, back to the recipe. Finish up with a 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes 3 teaspoons of Jamaican jerk paste, one teaspoon fennel seed (this recipe was great it allowed me to buy yet another spice for my kitchen. I LOVE when that happens) salt and fresh ground pepper and last quarter cup of fresh chopped cilantro. Oh how I LOVE the smell of fresh cut cilantro!!

Now time to cook. First take a shot of rum. Why not, it's been a long day hasn't it? You deserve a quick shot of rum. Take the bacon put it in a heavy casserole (I used my new favorite thing ever, my dutch oven) and over medium heat render half the fat. In words of Homer Simpson "agagagagaga bacon fat". After you have drooled over the bacon fat, add the onion, mushrooms, and garlic and saute until onion is slightly colored and make sure to stir this so nothing burns. By this time your kitchen smells great!!  Add the shrimp over med-high heat and cook until pink on both sides turning over often. Now take another shoot of rum..... come on, why not? This is why we cook isn't it? Pour the 1/3 cup of rum and scrape the browned bits. Cook for about a minute or two just long enough to slightly reduce the liquid. Stir in the tomatoes, jerk paste, fennel seeds, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Add in the cilantro and simmer for five minuets. Now your whole house should smell amazing!!

I served this with rice noodles to give it a more interesting look, and a quick brussel sprout/bacon mash. This is so easy to make. Cut up bacon in small pieces, render some fat off, add diced carrots and let cook for two maybe three minuets just enough to soften the carrots a little. Add the diced onions, diced celery and a little minced garlic and cook just until you can start to smell goodness. Now add the diced brussel sprouts. Cook for about five minuets and just before you think they are done I like to cover and let them steam for another minuet or two. This is an awesome side dish that I like to put with everything.

Since I cooked with Rum this time and not wine, I made a rum drink to go with our meal. This one was not only easy but quite tasty. Two ounces rum, one ounce amaretto and a splash of coke. When it comes to mixed drinks, I eye ball everything. An ounce is about a two second pour.

Serve the Jerk Shrimp and sauce over the noodles and plate the mash. Viola a meal that pirates and land lovers can both enjoy.