My freezers are almost overflowing
with meats bought on sale
and Mr. Hawthorne continues to buy more.
It's gotten to the point where
I can't find stuff anymore
because there's TOO MUCH STUFF.
(Mr. Hawthorne is a sucker for sales.)
So the other night,
I told him we had to use up
what's in the freezers.
No more buying until
I clear out some of this meat.
For our dinner last Tuesday,
he followed my caveat.
We found a couple bags of shrimp
and some
stuffed jalapeno poppers
left over from way back when.
Here's a peak at what's to come:
fried shrimp,
coconut fried shrimp,
and fried jalapeno poppers,
served with a ketchup/horseradish cocktail sauce
and my special dipping sauce I made up.
First, my beer batter for the shrimp.
My mise en place for the batter:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 1/4 cups beer
salt and pepper
I mixed the flour, salt, and pepper,
and added in the buttermilk.
Added in the beer ...
... and the egg.
Stir until smooth.
Oh ...
But wait.
What shrimp batter couldn't
benefit from a bit of lemon zest?
I used the zest of 1 whole lemon.
Shrimp, jalapeno poppers,
beer batter, and coconut.
Everything's ready to go,
but first I want a dipping sauce for the shrimp.
My main ingredients:
orange marmalade
honey
Tamari soy sauce
I used a tablespoon of each,
but you could adjust according to your own tastes.
I tasted this and it needed something else ...
... another layer of flavors.
Large garlic clove
and a piece of ginger a little bigger than the garlic.
I minced the garlic
and added that to my dipping sauce.
As for the ginger,
here's a
Rosie Tip #229:
Always keep ginger root in your freezer.
That way, you'll always have it on hand.
And it never goes bad.
I hated going to the fridge
to cut off a ginger chunk
and finding nothing but a sad, rotting, shriveled up
piece of unfortunance.
Another great thing about keeping ginger in the freeze
is that you're able to juice it.
When I take the frozen ginger out,
I nuke it for about 20-30 seconds
depending on the size.
The texture totally changes upon nuking,
and you can squeeze the juice out with your fingers.
I added the ginger joos to my dipping sauce,
then minced the leftover pulp and added that.
Another taste test.
And I decided to slice a scallion
and add that.
Another layer of flavor.
Another taste test
and a final layer.
A little maraschino cherry joos.
Mission accomplished.
One of the main problems in frying
is that people don't get their oil hot enough
or they put too much food in, crowding the meat,
and lowering the temperature of the oil,
and ending up with a
not crispy, grease-laden product.
One of the ways to tell if your oil is hot enough
if you don't have a thermometer
(350-375 degrees)
is to stick a wooden handle
into the hot oil.
If bubbles come vigorously out of the wood,
then the oil is hot enough.
Drop the battered shrimp in the hot oil
one by one.
About 45 - 60 seconds and the shrimp are ready.
This next batch I dipped in the batter,
then dredged in the coconut.
Jalapenos went into the batter.
Fry until nicely browned.
And drain on paper towels.
Here's our dinner.
Cocktail sauce at bottom left:
ketchup
horseradish, to taste
(I like it to clear out my sinuses
and bring tears to my eyes.)
lemon juice
Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
Mix to your own tastes.
Fried shrimp,
fried coconut shrimp,
fried jalapeno poppers,
lemon.
My "layered" dipping sauce.
I loved this.
My batter was a fusion of flavors -
the malty, yeasty, earthiness of the beer,
the tartness of the buttermilk,
the brightness of the lemon zest.
Top that with the sweetness of the coconut.
And add to that the flavors
of the dipping sauce.
The sweetness of the marmalade, honey, and cherry juice,
combined with the pungency of the garlic and ginger,
and the umami of the Tamari
all combined to create
a wonderfully flavorful sauce
that complemented the fried shrimp,
especially the coconut shrimp,
perfectly.
