Asian Shrimp Noodle Soup with Homemade Shrimp Stock

Much to my family's chagrin, I've been saving all my shrimp shells for over a month now waiting for the day when I had enough shells to make my very own shrimp stock.  Along with the shrimp shells, my freezer was packed with corn cobs, chicken carcasses, and other various things that seem like waste to those who "just don't get it."

Thankfully I don't have to explain myself to you.  I know you understand all my kitchen shenanigans and what's even better is that I also know that you're up to some kitchen shenanigans of your own.  It's these things that make me love you that much more!  Well, that and the fact that I don't have to explain myself to you, which, let's face it....I quit explaining myself several years ago when I turned thirty.  After all, there should be some rewards in getting another year older every year.

Speaking of rewards, shrimp stock smells like heaven and is ultimately rewarding.  I couldn't wait to use it in a recipe and wanted to put it to use right away for fear of forgetting about it in the vast confines of my freezer.  When I saw Jamie Oliver's recipe for Asian Chicken Noodle Broth in his Food Revolution book, I immediately knew I wanted to make a shrimp variation using my homemade shrimp stock.  Here it is in all it's glory....and I will say that it was pretty glorious.

  Asian Shrimp Noodle Soup

Adapted from Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution/Asian Chicken Noodle Broth

Serves 2

1 quart shrimp stock (*recipe below)

1 cup of shrimp (peeled & deveined)

2 teaspoons five-spice powder

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger root

1/2 - 1 fresh red or green chile, to your taste

4 ounces rice sticks or vermicelli

a handful of snow peas

1 -2 radishes, sliced thinly

6 fresh baby corn or 1/2 cup fresh corn kernels

2 tablespoons soy sauce, plus more for serving

juice of 1 lime

a small handful of spinach leaves

cilantro, for garnish

Put a large saucepan on high heat.  Fill the saucepan with the shrimp stock, heat until very hot, and put a lid on it.  While this is happening, season your shrimp with the five-spice powder and a good pinch of salt and pepper and stir.  Add a little olive oil to a saute pan and saute the shrimp until cooked through, tossing every now and again.

While the shrimp is cooking, peel and finely slice your ginger and slice your chile.  Take the lid off the pan with the shrimp stock and add half the chile, all the ginger, your rice sticks (or vermicilli), snow peas, asapargus, and corn with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce.  Bring it to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring.  Halve the lime and squeeze in the juice.  By the time the rice sticks (or vermicelli) and veggies are done, the shrimp will be cooked.  To serve, divide the spinach leaves between your bowls and pour over the broth, rice sticks, and vegetables.  Divide the shrimp over the soup and scatter with remaining chile and cilantro. 

Michael Symon's Homemade Shrimp Stock

Adapted from Live To Cook

Makes About 1 quart

Shells from 1 pound of shrimp

1 onion, quartered

1 Two inch piece of peeled fresh ginger, sliced

1 carrot, thickly sliced

1 tablespoon coriander seeds, toasted

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon kosher salt

Combine the shrimp shells, onion, ginger, carrot, coriander seeds, bay leaf, salt, and 2 quarts cold water in a pot.  Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat, skimming away any impurities that rise to the surface.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 2 hours, continuing to skim impurities as necessary.  Strain through a fine-mesh strainer, discarding the solids.

Notes/Results:  I am a huge fan of any Asian-inspired noodle soup and this one was one of my favorites.  Spicy, vegetable-packed, full of noodles, and with wonderful flavor from both the shrimp and the shrimp stock, it was a truly wonderful and fragrant meal.  You can bet that I will continue to save all of my shrimp shells from now on and I urge you to do the same.

Theme: Something's Fishy

@ Kahakai Kitchen

Summer Corn Fettucine

My friend, Brenda of Brenda's Canadian Kitchen, and I have been happily serving up Rachel Ray's recipes from Look + Cook for more than a couple of months now.  One thing that I have learned during this time is that Rachel's recipes really deliver in the flavor department.  I also love that while none of them are 30 minute recipes, they are in fact easy and simple, which is right up my alley.  I loved the last recipe, Creole Meat Loaves with Trinity Sauce, so much that I got a jump start on this month's recipe right away.  For this month I chose Rachel's Summer Corn Fettucine, which is in every sense, a true summertime pasta.

Rachel's recipe for corn fettucine begins by making a corn cream, a mixture of cream and fresh corn kernels blended into a very thick pale yellow cream.  Bacon is cooked until crisp and mixed with sauteed peppers, shallots, more corn, herbs, hot sauce, and cheese and then blended with the corn cream and tossed with pasta.  It is rich from the cream, flavorful from the bacon and veggies, spicy from the hot sauce, and herbaceous with the parsley and basil.  I loved this unique blend of ingredients combined with pasta and definitely think it's worth a try when fresh corn is in season this summer.

 

 Summer Corn Fettucine

Adapted from Rachel Ray's Look + Cook

Serves 4-6

Salt

1 pound fettucine

EVOO (extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling)

6 slices smoky bacon, chopped

6 ears corn on the cob, shucked

3 shallots, finely chopped

1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped (I used a green pepper)

Black pepper

1 cup half and half or cream 

2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves (I omitted)

1/2 cup chicken stock or dry white wine

A few dashes of hot sauce or a pinch or two of cayenne pepper

A couple handfuls of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1/2 cup chopped fresh sweet basil leaves, or chopped tarragon

Heat a large pot of water to boil for the pasta.  Salt the water and cook the pasta to al dente.  Meanwhile, heat a large skillet with a drizzle of EVOO over medium to medium-high heat.  Add the bacon to the pan and cook for a few minutes to crisp the bacon and render its fat.  Place a small bowl inverted in a large bowl, steady the corn cobs on the smaller bowl, and scrape the kernels off the ears.  Add three quarters of the kernels and the liquids to the bacon.  Add the shallots and bell pepper to the corn mixture and season liberally with salt and pepper.  Cook until tender, 5-6 minutes.  Add the remaining corn to the food processor and puree with the cream.  Stir in the thyme and the stock or wine into the corn mixture in the skillet, reduce for a minute, then stir in the corn-cream mixture.  Reduce the heat to a simmer.  Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring frequently, to thicken.  Add the hot sauce or cayenne pepper and adjust the salt and pepper.  Drain the pasta, then toss with the sauce, parsley, and a couple handfuls of cheese, about 1/2 cup.  Top with basil or tarragon and pass the remaining cheese at the table.

Notes/Results:  I've seen so many recipes combining corn and pasta and was curious to try it for myself.  I really liked Rachel's idea of blending the corn kernels into the cream sauce and thought it was a super tasty and veggie-packed pasta with a slight kick from the hot sauce.  Another great pasta dish!

You can find more Rachel Ray dishes over on Deborah's site every Saturday for her Saturdays with Rachel Ray feature.  

April & May French Fridays with Dorie Roundup

The months of April and May are extremely busy for me and I didn't manage to make all of the FFwD recipes, but I did manage to squeeze in 5 of the 8 or 9 recipes planned.  Lately I have been finding it increasingly harder to fit in the FFwD recipes, but I really don't want to give up on the project because I've been so pleased with the recipes and I've learned quite a bit along the way.  The following recipes are no exception.

 Bistrot Paul Bert Pepper Steak

Okay, first up is this gorgeous Bistrot Paul Bert Pepper Steak and let me tell you, I made this over a month ago and I can still remember taking every luscious bite of it.  I didn't even know that a supermarket fillet could be this good.  Wow!  Dorie's recipe uses a fillet cut which is pressed into cracked pepper, pan-seared, and covered in a sauce of Cognac and cream.  Worth every calorie.....

Garlicky Crumb-Coated Broccoli

On the side I served this wonderful side dish, which I could totally make into a meal by the way, Dorie's Garlicky Crumb-Coated Broccoli.  Holy cow...I think I inhaled this.  I really did!  I absolutely adore broccoli and Dorie's recipe left the broccoli perfectly cooked with a good bite to it.  Of course, it was those amazing garlicky breadcrumbs that had me going back for more and more.  The recipe indicated that this dish didn't keep, or reheat well, and I needn't have worried about that.  We devoured it!  This recipe was probably my favorite of all the recipes I tried in April and May and I will definitely make broccoli this way from now on.

Quinoa, Fruit, and Nut Salad

I keep trying and trying to like quinoa.  Really I do.  This is the third time I've tried quinoa and I was really hoping that Dorie's recipe for Quinoa, Fruit and Nut Salad would make me a believer.  It didn't.  The recipe came together well and I really loved the idea of adding all the dried fruit and nuts,  but I guess I don't like quinoa and most likely never will.  I should point out that plenty of others tried this recipe and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Spinach and Bacon Quiche

I love my greens, so there was no way I was skipping Dorie's Spinach and Bacon Quiche.  Didn't matter to me if no one else in house was interested in eating this or not, I was definitely making it and I'm so thrilled I did.  Dorie's tart dough comes together so easily and bakes up so buttery and flaky.  A beautiful filling of sauteed spinach, crisp bacon, onions, garlic, egg, and cream is topped off with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese to create an amazing breakfast or brunch treat.  I had no problem eating a slice every day until it was gone. 

Cardamom Rice Pilaf

The last dish I made was Dorie's Cardamom Rice Pilaf.  Cardamom pods are bruised in order to release the tiny seeds inside which contribute both flavor and aroma to the plain white rice.  I made half of the recipe, which called for 1/2 cup rice and about 3 cardamom pods.  I think the flavor of the cardamom was subtle, yet recognizable.   I really enjoyed this rice with Dorie's Spiced and Buttered Glazed Carrots (which also have cardamom) and thought both of these dishes paired wonderfully together.  I will definitely pair both the cardamom rice and the buttery spiced carrots together again!

Baby Farfalle with a Creamy Smoked Bacon and Pea Sauce

This is one of those meals that tastes so miraculous, yet it all comes together with leftovers. Half a box of pasta, half a pack of bacon, some leftover peas from dinner the other night, mint from the garden, and just the right amount of Parmesan cheese.  It's a creamy, cheesy, comforting and pleasing meal that was heaven sent. Plus, it all comes together in the time it takes to boil the pasta.

Pasta with a Creamy Smoked Bacon and Pea Sauce

Adapted from Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

Serves 4-6 (I halved the recipe)

10 slices smoked bacon or pancetta

a small bunch of fresh mint

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 pound dried mini shell or other type of pasta

olive oil

a pat of butter

2 cups frozen peas

2 tablespoons heavy cream

1 lemon

6 ounces Parmesan cheese

To prepare your pasta:

Finely slice the bacon.  Pick the mint leaves and discard the stalks. Finely grate the Parmesan.

To cook your pasta:

Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil.  Add the mini pasta and cook according to the package instructions.  Get a large frying pan over a medium heat and add a good lug of olive oil and the butter.  Add the bacon to the pan, sprinkle a little pepper over and fry until golden and crisp.  Meanwhile, finely chop your mint leaves.  As soon as the bacon is golden, add your frozen peas and give the pan a good shake.  After a minute or so, add the heavy cream and chopped mint to the bacon and peas.  Drain the pasta in a colander over a large bowl, reserving some of the cooking water.  Add the pasta to the frying pan.  Halve your lemon and squeeze the juice over the pasta.  When it's all bubbling away nicely, remove from the heat.  It's really important that the sauce is creamy, silky, and delicious but if it's too thick for you, add a splash of the reserved cooking water to thin it out a bit.  Add the grated Parmesan and give the pan a shake to mix it in.

To serve your pasta:

Divide your pasta between plates or bowls, or put it on the table in a large serving dish and let everyone help themselves.  Lovely with a simply dressed green salad.

Notes/Results:  I absolutely loved this recipe!  Creamy, cheesy, bacony...delicious.  I do want to note that I needed to use a touch more cream to bring it all together, but otherwise it was perfect!

If you're celebrating the Memorial Day holiday have a great weekend!!

Under The Tuscan Sun with Garlic and Greens Spaghetti

In my mind I've run away to Tuscany so many times that I've lost count.  I've taken leisurely rides through the gorgeous countryside, strolled through the Uffizi, got drunk on wine and limoncello, and ate everything that crossed my path.  I've made pasta from scratch in a gorgeous rustic kitchen and even picnicked with a strikingly handsome Italian man.  Naturally in these dreams I'm in my twenties, single, several pounds lighter and without children.  Sometimes one can only dream.

In reality I'm very far from Tuscany.  Here in rural Kentucky it is raining for about the 100th day in a row.  My 4 year old son is wearing cheese puffs all over his face like it's his job and my 10 year old daughter is nagging me that she's hungry even though she just ate.  I can't even remember the last time I had a good stiff drink, saw fine art, or went on a picnic, and my poor husband is working about ten hours a day.  What's more is that I'm no where near my twenties, in fact this year I'll be closer to 40 than 30.  Yikes, where does the time go?

So, the only consolation prize I could think of was to make a huge pot of spaghetti, with no less than 18 cloves of garlic, and watch Under The Tuscan Sun.  Because if you can't go to Italy in person, then you might as well go there in the movies. 

Garlic and Greens Spaghetti

Adapted from the new Food Network Great Easy Meals

Serves 4

18 cloves garlic, thinly sliced (about 2 heads)

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 medium onions, halved and sliced

1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more to taste

Kosher salt

12 cups torn winter greens, such as kale, chard, escarole or mustard greens (about 2-1/2lbs.)

12 ounces spaghetti

1/4 cup grated pecorino romano cheese

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Meanwhile, cook the garlic in the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and crispy, about 3 minutes.  (Be careful not to overbrown the garlic or it will taste bitter.) Using a slotted spoon, transfer the garlic chips to a paper-towel-lined-plate.  Pour off all but 2 tablespoons oil into a small bowl to use as a dip for crusty bread, if desired.  Add the onions and red pepper flakes to the oil in the pan; cook, stirring, until the onions are light brown, about 10 minutes.  Season with 1-1/2 teaspoons salt.

When the onions are almost done, add the greens to the boiling water and cook, uncovered, until just tender, about 2 minutes.  Using tongs, remove the greens, shaking off the excess water; add them to the skillet with the onions (set the pot of water aside).  Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes.

Return the cooking water to a boil.  Add the spaghetti and cook until al dente, 8-10 minutes.  Remove and reserve about 1 cup cooking water; drain the pasta and transfer to a serving bowl.  Add the cheese and toss.  Add the greens and some of the reserved pasta water and toss, adding more water as necessary to keep the pasta from clumping.  Top with the garlic chips.

Per serving: calories 565; fat 16g (sat 4g); cholesterol 8 mg; sodium 940mg; carbs 28g; fiber 4g; protein 28g

Yummy slivers of fried garlic.....

Notes/Results:  Warning....I LOVE garlic, but this may very well be the most garlicky thing I've ever ate in my life.  I did love this meal, but I will warn you that if you chose to make this then you should be prepared to smell like garlic and taste like garlic for a good day or more.  That being said, this is a delicious meal, exactly right up my alley.  Eighteen cloves of garlic are sliced and toasted in olive oil until just golden brown.  Note:  Toasted garlic is not mellow like roasted garlic, it is quite potent still.  The pasta is tossed with sauteed onions, kale, a little bit of pasta water, pecorino, and then topped with the garlic chips.  An added bonus with this recipe is that the oil the garlic has been toasted in can be saved and used for dipping crusty bread into.  Garlicky pasta, garlicky oil for bread dipping, and a good movie..how can you beat that?  Now, if only I looked like Diane Lane....

 Head on over to Food 'n Flix to see what's playing!

Kicked-Up Snickerdoodles

Okay, so I let Emeril into my kitchen again and do you know what he told me to do?  He told me to add cayenne pepper to my snickerdoodles!  Leave it to Emeril to take something like a snickerdoodle and kick it up a notch.  The idea of spicy snickerdoodles really piqued my curiosity and I had to give these a try.  

 Kicked-Up Snickerdoodles

Adapted from Emeril's 20-40-60 Fresh Food Fast

Makes about 30 cookies

2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening, at room temp

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter at room temp

1-1/2 cups plus 5 tablespoons sugar

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350F. 

Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together into a bowl and set aside.  

In a separate medium mixing bowl, using a handheld or standing electric mixer, combine the shortening and butter and beat until smooth.  Add 1-1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons of the sugar, and continue beating until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add the sifted flour mixture and mix until the dough just comes together.

Combine the remaining 3 tablespoons sugar with the cinnamon and cayenne in a small bowl.

Divide the dough into 1-1/2 tablespoon portions and roll them between your hands to form 1-1/2 inch balls.  Rolls the balls in the spiced sugar.  Then divide them evenly among two unlined cookie sheets, spacing them about 1 inch apart.  Flatten the balls into 1/2 inch thick disks.

Bake, rotating the sheets back to front midway, until the edges of the cookies are golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes.  Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets on wire racks.

Notes/Results:  Emeril's recipe produced a rather thin and somewhat crispy snickerdoodle.  While I prefer a thick and chewy cookie I really did enjoy the flavor of the cinnamon, sugar, and cayenne pepper in this recipe.  You could really feel the heat from the cayenne on the back of your tongue. I can't say that I enjoyed this cayenne version better than the original cinnamon and sugar version, but I'm really glad I finally gave these a try.  I think they're definitely worth a try if you like the combination of spicy and sweet.

I also wanted to thank all of you for your supportive comments regarding my last post! 

Jamie Oliver's Ground Beef Wellington

This week was an emotionally draining week for me.  I hosted a bake sale, for a group my daughter belongs to, in hopes of raising money for a sick child.  The bake sale was wonderful and the community was extremely generous.  We raised over $1000! The problem was that no one expected to raise that much money hosting a bake sale and that money, that was meant to do good, ended up causing lots of conflict in the days to come. Money.....it does things to people, makes them say and do things they wouldn't normally do, like take money from a sick child with a fatal disease.

Throughout the week my temper flared as I listened to people contemplate what to do with "all that money."  The original plan was that 100% of the bake sale proceeds would go to the child and his family.  So imagine how floored I was when alternate plans were made.  I listened as different ideas were tossed around about how to spend he money, including ideas about taking almost half of the money and using it for something else entirely.  I can honestly tell you that I don't think I've ever been as upset as I was this week.  Something about taking money away from a sick child with a fatal disease really had me feeling quite fierce.  Needless to say, things got pretty ugly.  In the end I was able to achieve my goal, which was that the child and his family received 100% of the proceeds.  It's a damn shame how I had to go about it though. 


I want to give a big thank you to my pals Deb of Kahakai Kitchen, Heather of Girlichef, and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies.  Thank you for letting me share my story with you and for all of your kind words and support throughout this week.  Also, a big thanks to Heather who knew that I was feeling down and cheered me up with a sweet and thoughtful surprise...a new header for my blog!  She chose the pictures and put it together all on her own and it totally made my day.  It puts a smile on my face every time I look at it, thanks Heather!

To celebrate the end of a horrible week and put everything behind me, I wanted to make something fun.  I ended up choosing Jamie's Ground Beef Wellington.  I love the idea of using humble ground beef in place of beef tenderloin - genius!  The only problem was that I couldn't find the puff pastry anywhere, can you believe that?  I'm almost convinced that puff pastry doesn't exist here in Kentucky.  I was feeling stubborn (ha ha...imagine that) and I was really stuck on the idea of Ground Beef Wellington, so I decided to go for it anyway and subbed pie crust.  While pie crust and puff pastry are two different things it worked brilliantly and was a huge hit.

 Ground Beef Wellington

Adapted from Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

Serves 4

1 medium onion

1 carrot

1 celery stalk

1 potato

2 cloves of garlic (I used 5)

2 portobello mushrooms

olive oil

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary

a big handful of frozen peas

1 large egg

1 pound good-quality ground beef (I used 95% lean)

salt and freshly ground black pepper

all purpose flour, for dusting

2 sheets puff pastry, defrosted (I used 2 frozen and defrosted pie shells)

To prepare your ground beef:

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Peel and chop the onion, carrot, celery, and potato into 1/4-inc-sized dice.  Finely grate the garlic.  Clean and roughly chop the mushrooms so they're about the same size as your other veggies.  Place all the veggies into a large frying pan on a medium low heat with 2 lugs of olive oil.  Pick the rosemary leaves off the woody stalks, finely chop them, and add to the pan.  Fry and stir another minute.  Put the veggie mixture into a large bowl to cool completely.  Crack the egg into a cup and beat it up.  Add the ground beef to the bowl with a good pinch of salt and pepper and half the beaten egg.  With clean hands, scrunch and mix up well.

To roll and fill your pastry:

Lightly dust your clean work surface and rolling pin with flour and lay the puff pastry (or pie crust) one of top of the other.  Roll out the puff pastry so it is roughly a rectangle 12x16 inches.  Dust with flour as you go. Turn your pastry so you have a long edge in front of you and place the ground beef mixture along this edge.  Mold it into an even, long sausage shape.  Brush the edges of the pastry with a little of the beaten egg.  Roll the ground beef up in the pastry until it's covered completely.  Squeeze the ends together - it will look like a big Christmas cracker! Dust a large cookie pan with flour and place your Wellington on top.  Brush all over with the rest of the beaten egg.  Bake in the preheated oven for an hour until golden.

To serve your Wellington:

Slice the Wellington up into portions at the table.  Lovely served with some lightly boiled or steamed greens, cabbage tossed in a little butter, or mashed potatoes.

Notes/Results: This was good comfort food that the family really enjoyed. It was both fun to make and also to present on the table.  I also think this is a kid-friendly meal because my ten year old daughter gobbled it up and asked for more (and she usually doesn't do that). I do have some notes to share though.  Since I couldn't find the puff pastry, I used two frozen and defrosted pie shells, which I rolled out to accommodate the beef filling.  I did have some leftover beef filling, only using about 3/4ths of the beef for the Wellington.  I think I can manage finding other uses for the beef filling though:)  I also think that if you make this recipe then you need to use a lean ground beef, otherwise the grease might cause the bottom of the puff pastry/pie dough to become soggy, etc.  I used a 95% lean ground beef and it worked perfect in this recipe.  Another great idea would be to place the Wellington on a rack on top of the cookie sheet so that the air can circulate and crisp the bottom of the crust.  I wouldn't hesitate to make this again.