Cooking Class At The Aquarium.

I had to start off with this picture of Beau, just because he's cute as a button.

Yesterday morning, Dixie and I took a walk around the block.
When we got back home, her boy friend, Buster, who lives next door, happily greeted her.

Now, on to my cooking class at the North Carolina Aquarium.


I think this class was probably my favorite so far. It was presented by Gwen Hart and Brian Marti of Culinary Magick.

They took shrimp and offered us four different variations.

The first was Szechuan Shrimp with Cashews.


1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
sesame oil
1/2 cup cashews
1/3 cup orange jiuce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup Ponzu Sauce
1 TB garlic, minced
1 small sweet onion, julienned
1 jar roasted red peppers, julienned
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
3 TB Siracha sauce (chili and garlic sauce)
1/2 bunch scallions, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
crushed red pepper or Thai chilies to taste

1 cup Jasmine rice
2 cups water
1/4 cup toasted Sesame seeds

Cook rice. While rice is cooking, heat sesame oil in pan. Add shrimp and saute for about 3 minutes. Set aside. Add cashews to pan and saute for 1 minute. Add orange juice, soy sauce, Ponzu, garlic, onions, and roasted red peppers.
Deglaze with rice wine vinegar and reduce for 5 minutes.
Add shrimp back to sauce and add Siracha, scallions, and crushed red pepper or chilies.
Serve over rice topped with toasted sesame seeds.

Ponzu Sauce
2 cups soy sauce
1 cup orange juice
1 TB garlic
1/4 cup honey
1 raw chicken breast

Boil all ingredients until reduced and thick, skimming foam off of top.
Sauce is done when no more foam is present.
Discard chicken breast. (It will be very salty and dark and not a good texture for eating.)

The Ponzu Sauce was a new one for me. Learned something else yesterday.
And you thought I knew everything already.

Verdict: A very nice, spicy shrimp dish. Delicious. I will be making this.

Next, Key Lime Shrimp.

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
12 Key Limes, juiced
1 stick butter, cut into 6 cubes
1 14 oz. can evaporated milk
2 TB honey

1 small jar seedless red raspberry preserves
1/8 cup orange juice (no pulp - pulp can burn)
kosher salt, to taste

Whisk raspberry preserves and orange juice until well blended.
Set aside.

Zest lime rinds, then juice limes.
Marinate shrimp in half of the lime juice and Kosher salt for 20 minutes.
Melt four cubes of butter in pan over medium heat.
When butter is hot, add and saute shrimp until almost done. Set shrimp aside.
Add honey and evaporated milk and cook until small bubbles form.
Add remaining lime juice and reduce for 3 minutes.
Turn off heat and add last two cubes of butter.
Top with lime zest.

This was a rich, almost sweet, buttery sauce. The raspberry/orange addition gave it a nice kick.

Coconut Shrimp with Mandarin Orange Sauce

I shot an extra picture just because I liked the squiggly mustard squirted in the orange sauce.

1 pound shrimp, peeled, deveined, and butterflied
1 bag sweeted coconut
1 1/4 cup self-rising flour, seasoned with Adobo Seasoning
3 eggs
1 can lite coconut milk
1 large can Mandarin oranges drianed
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup orange juice
2 TB soy sauce
1/3 cup corn starch slurry (cornstarch and cold water)

1 TB Siracha

Canola oil for frying.

Blend oranges, orange juice, Siracha, and honey in a blender until smooth.
Put in pan and heat until boiling. Add slurry until thick as marmalade consistency. Set aside.

Peel, devein, and butterfly shrimp. In one bowl, marinate shrimp in coconut milk.
Heat oil to 350 degrees.
In second bowl, beat eggs with a small amount of coconut milk.
In a third bowl, add 1/4 cup flour to coconut.
First dredge shrimp in flour, then dip in egg mixture, then dredge in coconut/flour mixture.
Fry until golden brown (5-7 minutes).
Drain on paper towels.
Plate and serve immediately with Mandarin orange sauce.

For the mustard drizzle, the chef used 1/2 bottle of Gulden spicy brown mustard mixed with heavy cream in the bottle.

This was really good. I have a recipe for coconut shrimp that I serve with a pineapple salsa.
I'm thinking about making this shrimp with the orange sauce AND the pineapple.

Finally, we have Tandoori Shrimp with Curried Yogurt Sauce.

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 TB garlic
4 TB Tandoori spice (equal amounts of black sesame seeds, coriander, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, black pepper, and salt, ground up)
1 TB red curry paste of 1/2 TB yellow curry spice
10 oz. plain yogurt
1 tsp chicken base or 1 cube chicken bouillon
1/4 cup honey
skewers
cracked black pepper to taste

Whisk curry paste, yogurt, chicken base, and honey together. Set aside aside in refrigerator.

Marinate peeled and deveined shrimp in lemon juice and garlic for 20 minutes, then drain.
Toss shrimp in Tandoori spice mixture. Skewer shrimp and grill until done. Add black pepper to taste. Serve over sauce and drizzle sauce over shrimp.

All right. This was my least favorite of the four.
It was good, but I thought the others were better.
Or maybe I've just been in Indian flavor over load.

This was a most enjoyable class today.

Aquarium employees, Beth and Buster.
Buster kept trying to get a picture of me and when I'd see him composing the picture, I'd conveniently drop my pen and bend down to pick it up, or I'd bring up the recipe folder in front of my face. I finally explained to him that I couldn't be photographed since I was in the witness protection program.

Glowria and I got into a bit of a pickle at the aquarium yesterday when we ventured a little too close to the shark tanks. Thankfully, Mr. Hawthorne was there to pull us out of danger.

We got home to find Middle Hawthorne and Beau sound asleep.
Cute.