Saturday, November 19, 2022

Rosie Makes Fried Shrimp

 

 

  I loves me some fried shrimp and this "recipe" is ideal for succulent, sweet, full-flavored shrimp with a crisp, crunchy coating.  The coating does not overpower the shrimp.  And my accompaniments complement the shrimp perfectly.

 

This is another one of those times when I don't really measure and it all comes out good.  Perfect your technique and don't get bogged down in details.  In frying, it's all about the temperature of the oil.  I always use an instant read laser thermometer to take out all the guesswork.  You want your oil around 375° and you do NOT crowd the pan.  Instead of deep frying today, I used a 10-inch skillet with about 1/3 inch of oil in it. 

To prepare the shrimp, I set up a 3-stage dipping process.  Batter the shrimp while the oil is coming to temperature.
#1  Equal parts flour and cornstarch with some onion powder, garlic powder, and Old Bay seasoning stirred in.
#2  Beaten eggs.
#3  Panko bread crumbs.
 
Combine the flour mixture in a small tupperware container.  Drop in 4-5 shrimp at a time, cover, and shakeshakeshake.
 
Next coat the shrimp in the beaten egg, letting any excess drip off.
 
Finally dredge the shrimp in the Panko.
 
Place each shrimp on a large plate so you can simply tong the shrimp into the hot oil.
 
 Place the shrimp, one at a time, in the hot oil.  I fried in batches of 8 shrimp at a time.  Turn them over after one minute, then cook another 30 seconds.  They'll be a lovely golden brown color.  These fring times are for large shrimp.  About thumb size.  If you have smaller shrimp, adjust fry times accordingly.  Remove from oil and drain on paper towels.
 
 
I'm going for simple here, so I'm using only two dipping sauces.  The Thai Style Sweet Chili Sauce from the Asian section of the supermarket works quite nicely here.  
My other sauce is  soy sauce based:
2 TB soy sauce
1 TB sugar
1 TB mirin
1 TB rice vinegar
Mix until well combined.  Taste test.  You might want to adjust for your own palate.  And if you want to swirl some of the Thai Sauce into the soy mixture, go right ahead.
 
 
Enjoy.
 






 


Sunday, November 6, 2022

Rosie Cooks Blacktip Shark.

 


  Oh, now this was a tasty meal.
Rosie is lucky enough to have her own personal fisherman. He supplies the Hawthornes with tuna, mahi, mako shark, blacktip shark, flounder, tile fish, and some others I can't think of right now, but let's just say Rosie is happy.  I try to reciprocate with cheesecake.  It's a very happy symbiotic relationship we share, mutually advantageous, although I think I'm getting the better deal here.  
 
Today's meal is blacktip shark. Shark that was swimming in the ocean less than 24 hours ago.  I'm marinating the meat, then blackening the steaks in a cast iron pan, cooking down the marinade, and serving it with cole slaw (but not just your regular mayo-based cole slaw), and giving it some crunch with fried wonton strips.

First I sliced the shark fillet into 3/4-inch thick steaks and let them marinate while I prepared the coleslaw and made the wonton strips.
 
 
 
Here's the marinade:
 juice of 3 oranges
juice of 1 lemon
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 TB balsamic vinegar
2 TB chopped parsley
Combine all ingredients, pour into zip-lock bag, and add shark steaks.  Give it a rub and turn the bag over every now and then while marinating.

Prepare the coleslaw:
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 apple, peeled and sliced into julienne strips
1 small carrot, peeled and julienned
1 small red pepper, julienned
2 handfuls dried cranberries
 
Peel the apple and cut into julienne strips, dropping into the lemon juice to prevent discoloration.
Add in the carrot, pepper, and cranberries.  Amounts aren't that exact, so don't worry.  I would say I had 2 parts apple:1part carrot:1 part pepper.

Next, thinly slice the cabbage.  Enough cabbage to equal the volume of the apple, carrot, and pepper.  So maybe 4 parts sliced cabbage.  Combine all together.
 
Toss ingredients.
 
Make the dressing:
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 TB sugar
1 TB rice vinegar
1 tsp poppy seed
kosher salt and Lawry's seasoned pepper, to taste
Combine ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Pour dressing over salad ingredients and toss to coat.  Cover and refrigerate for about 30 minutes before serving.
 

For the wontons:
Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat to 350°.  Slice wonton squares into strips about 1/4 inch wide.  Fry until golden brown then drain on paper towels.  Sprinkle with kosher salt.

For the shark steaks:
Heat a cast iron skillet (medium high heat) with just a film of peanut oil in it to 425° - 450°.  Drop in a tablespoon of butter and when it sizzles and melts, remove steaks from marinade letting the excess drip off, and place in the pan, one at a time.  Do not overcrowd the skillet.  I used a small skillet, so two steaks at a time for me.  Cook 2 minutes each side and remove from pan.  Let temperature come back up and continue cooking the rest of the steaks.  

After the shark steaks finished cooking, I lowered the temperature and deglazed the pan with the marinade.  Simply pour the marinade into the pan and scrape up the goodie bits. That's where all the flavor is.  Let the marinade boil for about a minute.  Spoon some of the cooked marinade onto your serving plates and place a shark steak on it.  Serve with coleslaw and fried wontons on the side.

Enjoy.