Flashback Friday - Scallops with Lavender Honey Brown Butter

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on November 21, 2012.

Scallop dishes at restaurants don't seem quite as astronomically priced these days as back then, but they're still not cheap.
-----------------------------------------

Remember when I complained last month that scallops are the restaurant world's biggest rip-off? Here's some proof. I paid $15.95 per pound for U-10 drypack scallops at the local Giant. U-10 means there are fewer than ten scallops per pound - these three babies weighed .37 lb. ("Drypack" means they were packed and shipped on ice without the use of preservatives. They sear quite nicely and don't leach a lot of moisture into the pan.)

I seared the scallops in a bit of olive oil, removed them from the pan, and turned off the heat. To the still hot pan, I added a tablespoon of butter, a tablespoon of honey, about a teaspoon of dried, food-grade, lavender buds, and a teaspoon of chopped preserved lemon. The honey caramelized almost instantly, creating a rich, lightly sweet sauce for the scallops, which were also garnished with a sprinkle of green onion and a few more lavender buds.

Had I ordered this in a restaurant, it would have cost $35. Cost me around $6 to make at home. And they were damn fine.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Kung Pao Cauliflower

Kung Pao chicken is Mr Minx's favorite Chinese dish. He also uses it to measure the worthiness of a Chinese restaurant--if their kung pao is to his liking, we'll most likely eat there again. So when I saw this recipe for kung pao cauliflower in Bon Appetit, I bookmarked it for future use. Mr Minx isn't the biggest fan of cauliflower, but I thought the kung pao-ness of it would sway him.

Cauliflower is becoming the new Brussels sprout. Not all that long ago, the lowly miniature cabbage was relegated to horror stories about hated childhood foods of the 60s and 70s, now they're on trendy restaurant menus everywhere. Or at least they were. Nowadays, cauliflower is popping up instead, usually in some sort of preparation with East Asian origins. Though East Asian cuisines celebrate most members of the brassica family, cauliflower isn't especially popular. However, cauliflower is sturdy and meaty and has a fairly neutral flavor, as far as cruciferous vegetables go, and can be adapted to many types of cooking methods and flavorings. Why not kung pao?

We had a somewhat large cauliflower in the fridge, so I decided it was time to try the Bon Appetit recipe I had bookmarked last year. I changed the method and the ingredients a tad. I felt there was not enough sauce, nor was it going to be sweet enough for our tastes, so I added a bit more sugar and hoisin. The recipe called for sherry vinegar, but we always have a bottle of Chinese black vinegar in the cupbard, so I used that instead. More authentic, as if authenticity matters here. The original recipe also calls for a serrano chile in the stir fry, but rather than buy additional types of chiles (we had the dried japones chiles on hand), I simply added some sambal to the sauce.

If you like the idea of kung pao but are not into the heat of it, you can omit the dried chiles. They aren't just for show--cooking them in the hot oil imparts heat to the oil. Leave out the sambal too, if you're wimpy like that. Not everyone has the same tolerance to chiles and you shouldn't be judged on it.

The dish was a huge success. The kung pao sauce is so good, I think I'll use it on a protein next time, perhaps chicken thighs or tofu. It would probably be work on other vegetables such as broccoli, or hey, even brussels sprouts.

Kung Pao Cauliflower (adapted from Bon Appetit)

For marinade:
2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon soy sauce

For sauce:
1 tablespoon Chinese black vinegar (sherry vinegar may be substituted)
4 teaspoons hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons sambal oelek
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
2 teaspoons soy sauce

For cauliflower:
1 medium head of cauliflower (about 1¾ pounds)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
6 dried japones chiles, chiles de árbol, or other red chiles
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns or ½ teaspoon cracked black peppercorns
3 scallions, dark-green and white parts separated, thinly sliced
1 1-inch piece ginger, peeled, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup unsalted, roasted peanuts

Steamed white rice

To make marinade: Stir wine, cornstarch, and soy sauce in a large bowl and set aside.

To make sauce: Stir vinegar, hoisin sauce, sugar, sambal, sesame oil, and soy sauce in a small bowl and set aside.

To make cauliflower: Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with foil.

Remove leaves and cut cauliflower into medium florets. Toss with 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil and arrange in a single layer on the baking sheet. Roast for 15 minutes, turning once, until cauliflower is browning in spots. Stir the marinade with a fork to reincorporate the corn starch and add the cauliflower to the bowl. Toss to combine and set aside.

In a large saute pan, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil. Add the dried chiles and peppercorns, stirring regularly, until fragrant. Remove the chiles and peppercorns to a plate and set aside. Add the marinated cauliflower to the oil in the pan, discarding excess marinade. Cook the cauliflower for a few minutes to rewarm. Add the white part of the scallions, the ginger, garlic, and peanuts and toss. Pour in the sauce and toss again. Cook until the sauce is fragrant and the cauliflower is coated.

Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with the scallion greens.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Dining in NY - Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen

Mr Minx and I were in NY recently to celebrate our 15th anniversary and my impending birthday. We ate at a number of interesting and less-expensive-than-usual places, just about all of them of some ethnic persuasion. We also saw a terrific Broadway show, An American in Paris. While looking for a place to have lunch before our matinee, I found Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen.

While restaurants in the Theater District/Times Square are not particularly known for their haute cuisine (think Olive Garden), this little restaurant with the big name was awarded a Bib Gourmand by Michelin for 2016. The Bib Gourmand is defined as serving "two courses and a glass of wine or dessert for $40 or less." Basically cheap eats. But there are some notable restaurants on the 2016 list, including both Momofuku Noodle Bar and Ssam Bar, Frankies 457 Spuntino, Kesté Pizza & Vino, Prune, and Tertulia. I figured a restaurant in such good company can't be bad. And it wasn't.

Service is prompt and efficient in Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen's no-frills dining room. There is barely need for a menu, as the restaurant's name pretty much sums it up, but it was nice to receive one with photos of every dish, so we knew what we were getting into. The bulk of the choices are for dim sum-type snacks, with bigger dishes involving ramen or hand cut noodles in soup or stir fries. We had eaten ramen the day before (and several times in the week before our trip), so opted for dim sum in the form of pan-fried Peking duck buns, scallion pancakes with beef, pork and crab-filled soup dumplings, and a cold dish of sliced beef and tripe in chili oil.

It was all good. The meat in both the buns and scallion pancakes was slightly sweet, which balanced the spice of the beef and tripe. The tripe was cut a bit more thickly than we are used to in similar dishes served at Grace Garden and Hunan Taste, which made it a bit more chewy, but the lightly peanutty chili sauce with the distinct piney-citrus-floral flavor of Sichuan peppercorns had the perfect amount of ma-la (spicy and numbing) heat.

After having scalded myself at my first attempt at eating soup dumplings, I was very aware of the proper method of consuming these heat bombs: using the tongs provided, place a dumpling on the soup spoon; take a tiny nibble of the dumpling skin; suck out the broth before consuming the rest of the dumpling. These dumplings weren't as incendiary as those at Joe's Shanghai, so we emerged unscathed.

I think I liked the scallion pancakes most, for their crisp flaky exterior and the sweet bite of tender beef inside. It was a nice textural contrast. But everything else was quite tasty as well. It would be nice to have these slightly different options available at dim sum here in Baltimore, but who am I kidding? We're lucky to have any dim sum options at all.

Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen
811 8th Ave
New York, NY 10019



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Okra Etouffee

Who doesn't like okra? So delicious! I know, right?

Wait. You say you don't like okra? What? And neither do you, or you, or you?

Poor okra doesn't seem to have many friends. But I love it, and so does Mr Minx. Yeah yeah, I can hear you whining now, "it's slimy! ewwww!" Shut up. It's not slimy at all if you cook it correctly. And it tastes great, a little like green beans, I think.

So we had this huge bag of okra from the CSA, and it was going to go bad if we didn't use it up pronto. I decided we should make an okra etouffee, so consulted teh Innernets for a recipe. Just about every one I found involved dumping okra in a casserole, covering it with tomatoes, and then baking it. No, no, no...I wanted an etouffee recipe, like crawfish etouffee or shrimp etouffee. Stuff smothered in a roux-based sauce. Not just stuff smothered with other stuff. So I threw one together based on an old crawfish etouffee recipe I've used in the past. Roux + trinity + stock and seasonings. Add okra, simmer for a while et voila! Okra Etouffee.

Okra Etouffee

3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
1 cup diced onion
1 bell pepper, diced
3 ribs celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning (we like Emeril's Essence)
2 cups chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1 lb okra, sliced
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Steamed white rice for serving
Chopped scallions for garnish

Melt butter in a large pot. Add the flour and open the windows. Stir flour and butter together over medium-high heat until the mixture is medium-dark brown, a bit darker than peanut butter. It will smoke, but as long as you are stirring constantly and watching it like a hawk, it should not burn. Once the roux reaches a nice brown shade, dump in the onion, bell pepper, and celery. Inhale deeply, for the scent of trinity cooking in roux is one of the best cooking scents there is. Stir the vegetables and roux until veg are completely coated. Turn the heat down to medium, add a big pinch of salt, and cover the pot. Allow the vegetables to soften, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.

Add the garlic, Cajun seasoning, chicken stock, and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Stir in the okra. Cook over medium heat for 25-30 minutes, until okra is tender. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper, more Cajun seasoning, a bit of hot sauce, whatever floats your boat.

Serve over white rice and garnish with chopped scallions.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Veggie Pancakes with Asian Flavors

A while back, I found myself with a bunch of vegetables--a fennel bulb, a bag of broccoli slaw, sugar snap peas, lots of green onions, roasted tomatoes--and not a lot of ideas. Well, there were ideas, but nothing particularly cohesive. Because we had eaten a bunch of meat recently, I wanted to make a primarily vegetarian meal. But what to do with that motley crew of produce? The tomatoes were really throwing me off, so I decided they could wait for another meal. The rest I would use in vegetable fritters.

There was also a bunch of Thai basil in our container garden. The plant was going a bit wild and needed serious trimming, so basil became part of the meal plan. And as I had just opened a new jar of pad kapao sauce, some of that would go in, too. I really love that stuff. It's spicy, aromatic, basil-y, and garlick-y, and it's good on just about everything. Mix it with mayonnaise and put it on a turkey burger. Put it in the turkey burger, too. Mix it with softened cream cheese and spread it on a bagel. Yes, for breakfast. (Hey, "everything" bagels have garlic and onion on them, so why not?) Mix it with softened butter and stuff it under the skin of a chicken before roasting. Put a tablespoon of it in plain tomato soup to eat with that grilled cheese sandwich. Pad kapao sauce is my sriracha. I've gotten my brother hooked on it, too, and the last time we hit an Asian supermarket together, we each bought several jars.

Eventually, I ditched the fritter idea and went with okonomiyaki-style pancakes. Okonomiyaki uses dashi, which isn't vegetarian, but you can certainly substitute some veg stock or just plain water in the batter. Me, I like the vague fishy flavor of the dashi.

Okonomiyaki are commonly served with Kewpie mayonnaise and unsweetened pickled ginger. Instead, I added some of my favorite chilli basil paste to a little Duke's mayo.

Veggie Pancake with Asian Flavors

For pancakes:
1 cup water
2 teaspoons dashi powder
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt
3 eggs
1 tablespoon Maesri Thai chilli paste with basil leaves(pad kapao)
1 bunch scallions, chopped
3-4 cups mixed raw vegetables (I used sliced sugar snap peas, fennel, okra (because we had only 3 pods), and broccoli slaw mix)
1/4 cup roughly chopped Thai basil

For sauce:
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Maesri Thai basil and chilli sauce

Put the dashi powder and water in a microwave safe bowl. Heat long enough to warm the water and dissolve the dashi, 45 seconds to 1 minute. Let cool.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add the cooled dashi to the flour mixture, stirring to make a batter. Add the eggs and chilli sauce. Cover and refrigerate batter for at least an hour and up to three hours.

After the batter has rested, add the scallions, vegetables, and basil to the batter; it will be very thick.

Add a tablespoon of canola oil to an 12" nonstick frying pan and heat until it shimmers. Make 3 approximately 5" pancakes with the vegetable batter. Cook until bottoms are golden brown. Flip with a spatula and cook other side until brown. Remove pancakes to a paper towel-lined plate. Cover with foil to keep warm. Repeat until all batter is used.

Make a sauce with the mayo and chilli sauce. Serve with the pancakes.

Makes 9 pancakes.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Kitchen Sink Chicken

Ever look in the fridge and find jars with half a roasted red pepper or three olives or a teaspoon of capers? How about finding half an onion and three wilting stalks of celery in the crisper? This happens all the time at Casa Minx. Every once in a while, I have to concoct something that uses these odd bits and bobs. I empty the fridge while filling the recycle bin.

The fridge isn't the only storehouse of partially-full packages. The cupboard revealed a bag with three dried apricots in it and another with a handful of sundried tomatoes. There was also approximately 1/2 of a home-made preserved lemon in the fridge. Thus armed with a selection of fruits and vegetables, I set to work, basically chopping everything and tossing it into a pot with a bit of olive oil. Hey - no matter what the fancy French chefs would have you believe, saucemaking isn't rocket science.

A couple of the items - the olives, the lemons - were salty and tangy, so I added a bit of brown sugar for balance. But if you have a couple of tablespoons of hot pepper or even raspberry jelly languishing in the fridge, that would work just as well.

I popped some chicken thighs into the sauce, because I always have some in the freezer, but you can cook the sauce separately and serve it over fish (swordfish would be terrific). Or replace the chicken stock with veg stock and use it as a vegetarian sauce over some chunky, frilly pasta like campanelle or farfalle. The sweet and sour + celery flavors are very reminiscent of caponata, a Sicilian eggplant dish with a distinct celery flavor, so if you cooked the sauce down enough (or add less stock), you could even serve it as a side dish.

Mediterranean Chicken

1 cup sliced onion
1/4 cup chopped celery
olive oil
salt
2 cloves minced garlic
2 cups roughly chopped tomato
1/2 preserved lemon, diced, or zest of 1 lemon
1 roasted red bell pepper, diced, or 1 fresh pepper, diced
6 sundried tomatoes, sliced
1/4 chopped black and green olives
3 tablespoons finely chopped dried apricot (prunes or cherries work, too)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
4-6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
salt and pepper to taste (if you use a lot of olives and preserved lemon, you won't need salt)
chopped parsley or green onions for garnish

Put onion and celery in a large skillet with about a tablespoon of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Cook over medium heat until onion is translucent. Stir in the garlic and cook for about a minute before adding the tomato, lemon, sundried tomatoes, olives, and apricots. Mix well, then stir in the tomato paste, chicken stock, brown sugar, and paprika. Bring mixture to a boil, then add the chicken thighs. Lower heat to a simmer and cover pan. Simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, until sauce has reduced and thickened and chicken is very tender.

Serve with your favorite starch. (I used black rice.)

Serves 3-6

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Tomato Tart with Olive Oil Crust

Sometimes Facebook is really handy. I subscribe to (or "like") the news feeds of various and sundry bloggers, news agencies, and chefs, and every once in a while, something interesting comes down the pike. Like the other day, when America's Test Kitchen's feed included a recipe for a tart crust made with olive oil. Ordinarily, I would have scrolled past, but an image of the dough being dumped unceremoniously into the tart pan--without rolling--stopped me. That looked easy, and it certainly had to be tastier than an all-ready pie crust.

Ok, so it was mostly easy, but there were still several steps. First I had to drag out the food processor to blend the crust ingredients. Then they were pressed into the tart pan - the easy part. But then the pan had to go into the freezer before blind baking, and then the crust had to cool before filling. After filling, there was a second baking. By this point, hours later, I thought maybe I should have just tackled bread-making.

But the end result was pretty tasty, if not as flaky as the recipe's intro would suggest. The crust was more cookie-like, but not sweet. The recipe called for whole wheat flour, which I didn't have, but it was only 1/4 cup, so I didn't think it would matter. After tasting it, I think oatmeal might be an interesting addition, especially since the crust reminded me of a cookie anyway.

The original filling called for zucchini, but I used all tomatoes. They look a little dark in the photos because I used the greenish-brown Kumato tomatoes, which are the only grocery store tomatoes that actually taste like, well, tomatoes. All year 'round (my unsolicited opinion).

Tomato Tart (adapted from America's Test Kitchen)

Tart Crust
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4–6 tablespoons ice water

Filling
3 or 4 Kumato or other medium-sized tomatoes, cored and sliced into 1/4 thick rounds
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil (divided use)
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
salt and pepper
chopped scallions

Place the flour, sugar, salt, and cheese into a food processor and pulse until combined. Drizzle in the olive oil and pulse about a dozen times. Add 4 tablespoons of the ice water and process until dough starts to form a ball. If the dough doesn't form a ball, or if there is still unincorporated flour in the bowl, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of water and pulse until it comes together.

Put the dough into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom and pat into an even layer on the bottom and up the sides of the pan. The dough will be very soft. Place the tart pan on a large plate or cookie sheet and freeze until firm, about half an hour.

Preheat oven to 375F. Set the frozen tart on a baking sheet and press a double layer of foil into the shell. Fill the shell with pie weights (I use raw rice, which I save and reuse for the same purpose) and bake until shell is golden brown and set, about 30-40 minutes. Slide the tart shell onto a wire rack and gently remove weights and foil. Allow tart shell to cool completely before filling.

While the shell is cooling, place the tomatoes on several layers of paper towels to absorb some of their moisture. Sprinkle with about half a teaspoon of salt and let sit for half an hour or so.

Cook the onion in 2 teaspoons of the olive oil over medium heat until golden brown.

Once tart shell has cooled and tomatoes have rested, adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix the remaining teaspoon of oil and ricotta together and season with salt and pepper to taste. Spread the ricotta mixture evenly over the bottom of the cooled tart shell. Arrange the onions on the ricotta and top with the tomatoes.

Bake the tart on a baking sheet until the cheese is bubbling and the tomatoes are wilted, 20 to 25 minutes. Let the tart cool on the baking sheet for 20 minutes.

To serve, remove the outer metal ring of the tart pan before slicing. Garnish with chopped scallions.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Scallops with Lavender Honey Brown Butter

Remember when I complained last month that scallops are the restaurant world's biggest rip-off? Here's some proof. I paid $15.95 per pound for U-10 drypack scallops at the local Giant. U-10 means there are fewer than ten scallops per pound - these three babies weighed .37 lb. ("Drypack" means they were packed and shipped on ice without the use of preservatives. They sear quite nicely and don't leach a lot of moisture into the pan.)

I seared the scallops in a bit of olive oil, removed them from the pan, and turned off the heat. To the still hot pan, I added a tablespoon of butter, a tablespoon of honey, about a teaspoon of dried, food-grade, lavender buds, and a teaspoon of chopped preserved lemon. The honey caramelized almost instantly, creating a rich, lightly sweet sauce for the scallops, which were also garnished with a sprinkle of green onion and a few more lavender buds.

Had I ordered this in a restaurant, it would have cost $35. Cost me around $6 to make at home. And they were damn fine.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

"Tartar" Sauce

While in a recent Indian food mindset, I thought I'd play around with adding Indian flavors to a local specialty - the crab cake. I've had varying success with adding non-traditional flavorings to a mound of fried crab meat but ultimately I think I prefer the tried and true - Old Bay. So rather than noodle around with the main event, I thought I could come up with an alternative to the ubiquitous tartar sauce.

Is tartar sauce a speciality of the Tartar people? Is it related to steak tartare in any way? Who knows?  Who cares? Whatever the origin, I think it's mayonnaise-y quality works well with fried seafood. For my Indian-esque version, I added sour cream to mayo and stirred in odds and ends gleaned from the rather large condiment collection in my fridge. The result - a bit spicy, a bit sweet, and very creamy - was a perfect accompaniment to even a classic Old Bay-spiced crab cake.

Indian-esque "Tartar" Sauce

3 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 tablespoon mango chutney
2 teaspoons garlic relish
1 teaspoon chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon chopped scallion
1 teaspoon fresh lemon or lime juice
salt to taste

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. Chill for at least an hour to blend flavors. Serve with crabcakes or fried fish.

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

Chowdah

What should one do if one has about 3/4 cup of leftover white clam sauce, four small red potatoes, and some cooked leeks and mushrooms in the fridge? Make chowdah, of course! I also threw in some corn, scallions, and parsley.

Chowdah

2 leeks, thoroughly rinsed and chopped
4 oz white mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups clam juice
2 cups water
1 Knorr's fish bouillon cube
4 small red potatoes, cut into large dice
3 cans chopped clams
1/2 cup corn kernels
1 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper
chopped scallions
fresh parsley

In a stock pot, sauté leeks and mushrooms in butter and oil over medium heat until leeks are very soft, about 20 minutes. Stir in chopped garlic. Raise heat and add clam juice, water, and bouillon cube. Bring to a simmer and add potatoes; cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Turn down the heat and stir in clams, corn, and cream, plus salt and pepper to taste. Cook until clams and corn are heated through.

Ladle into bowls and garnish with scallions and parsley.

Shrimp and Corn Three Ways

Most weekends, when I do the cooking Chez Minx, my menu has been planned and ingredients purchased in advance. Except last weekend. The week before I had worked on recipes for three separate recipe contests, and that didn't leave me with much mental energy to put toward the next batch of cookery. So I went to the grocery store on Friday afternoon and nosed around the meat cases.

Oh how I miss Siemek's, purveyor of fresh meats and sundry groceries to the greater Fells Point area! It was practically across the street from our house, and my mother shopped there at least twice a week to pick up plump pork chops or freshly ground meat, chicken for frying, or fresh sausages.

Instead, I have the Giant. Their meat selection is pathetic. After a lot of hemming and hawing, I selected a package of country-style ribs with which to experiment for the cookbook I've finally started writing and wandered over to the hopefully-better seafood department. The extra large shrimp looked good, so I invested in a pound, with no real plan in mind.

Once home, I decided to make shrimp and grits. A look in the pantry revealed no grits, but once I get an idea in my head it's hard to shake. Why not make a similar dish with what was on hand? I had a can of golden hominy, bought because I had never seen anything other than white hominy, and a box of Cope's Dried Sweet Corn, bought because it was a novelty. There was also corn in the freezer. I had corn meal too, but figured a dish with three kinds of corn would be corny enough.

I've eaten several variations of shrimp and grits; one of my favorites is served at Louisiana, in Fells Point. There, the shrimp comes blackened and accompanied by a puddle of corn-flavored cream. I borrowed those two elements and replaced the pile of grits with a bed of reconstituted sweet corn topped with hominy cooked with onions. I also added a sauté of andouille, to add a contrasting flavor.

The sweet corn is interesting. It's indeed sweet, almost dessert-like, with molasses-y undertones. Like Indian pudding (which is where the rest of it might end up). The hominy tasted, well, like hominy - a dry, earthy, corn flavor, like that of tamales and tortillas. The shrimp were fantastic, full of that iodine quality we Minxes love, with a decent amount of spice.

Mr Minx thought that this dish would cost quite a pretty penny in a restaurant. I concur.

Blackened Shrimp with Corn Three Ways

1 lb extra large shrimp (16/20)
2 tablespoons blackening spice (I like Spices Etc.)
1 andouille sausage, casing removed, meat diced
2 tablespoons chopped onion
2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
chopped green onion
Sweet Corn (recipe follows)
Corn Puree (recipe follows)
Hominy (recipe follows)

Peel and devein shrimp. Toss with blackening spice and set aside.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a saute pan over medium heat. Add onion and sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion has wilted and browned and the sausage has darkened and started to crisp up. Add minced garlic, stir to mix well, and remove from heat.

Remove sausage mix from pan, wipe clean, and place over medium-high heat. Add remaining tablespoon of butter. When butter melts, add shrimp in one layer. Cook for a minute or two until bottoms start to turn opaque. Turn shrimp and add sausage mixture back to pan. Cook an additional 2 minutes.

To plate:

Place 3-4 tablespoons of corn puree on a plate, spreading into a 6-7" circle with the back of a spoon. Place a ring mold in the center of the sauce. Add 2-3 tablespoons of sweet corn, tamping into an even layer with back of spoon. Add 2-3 tablespoons of hominy, tamping down with back of spoon. Remove ring mold.

Arrange cooked shrimp around edge of hominy stack. Sprinkle on some of the sausage and onion mixture. Garnish generously with chopped scallion.

Hominy

1 15 oz can golden hominy
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 cup chicken stock

in a 2 quart saucepan, saute onion in vegetable oil over medium heat until it starts to soften and sweat. Add hominy and chicken stock; bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer on medium-low heat, 45-60 minutes, until much of the broth has evaporated and hominy is tender.

Corn Purée

1 cup corn kernels
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup or so half and half
dash salt

Sauté corn in butter until warmed through. Transfer to the bowl of a food processor. Add about half of the 1/2 and 1/2 and pulse into a pureé. Strain into a bowl, discarding solids. Add remainder of half and half and salt and put aside until ready to use.

Sweet Corn

1 7.5 oz box Cope's Dried Sweet Corn
2 cups water
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter
3 teaspoons sugar

Place dried corn in a 2 quart microwave safe bowl. Stir in water, milk, and sugar. Cover with waxed paper and place in microwave. Cook for 10 minutes at high power. Stir and allow to rest for 15 minutes. Cook an additional 10-15 minutes on high power, until the water is absorbed and the corn has plumped up somewhat. Set aside until ready to use.

Rhubarb

So my friend Dave sends me an e-mail with rhubarb recipes a couple of weeks back. I figure he had a batch of it in his CSA basket, but no, he just wanted to share. One recipe was for a sweet pudding dish, but two were of the savory variety. I thought the Rhubarb salsa verde sounded interesting. And I had capers and cornichons on hand already. Plus, one stand at the farmer's market at UMB had scallions, green garlic, and rhubarb, so it seemed I was fated to make the stuff.

I prepped the salsa one evening after work. I used more rhubarb and less onion/garlic than called for (actually, I reduced the whole recipe significantly); the result was decidedly not green. More barf-colored, actually. And the flavor, after cooking, was sour, sour, and more sour. Oh, and a little salty. I added some honey to cut the sour and set the batch to cool in the fridge, where it remained for a few days.

One evening, Mr Minx whipped up some flank steak, mashed potatoes,and sauteed Brussels sprouts to go with the salsa verde/rosa.

I know...the salsa looks grotesque.

After hanging around in the fridge for a few days, the salsa tasted far less salty and more fruity than it did immediately post-cooking. It actually did nothing for the meat, sad to say.

A few days later, we had the leftover flank steak in sandwiches, for which I made a rhubarb salsa mayo. Now, that worked. The tart/creamy thing went nicely with the garlicky meat. I dare say it would make an interesting addition to chicken salad, as well.

Green Garlic and Rhubarb Salsa Verde

2 bunches green garlic or scallions (white parts only), finely chopped
4 ribs freshly picked rhubarb, greens removed, finely chopped
3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 teaspoons roughly chopped capers (with about 1/4 teaspoon liquid)
1/2 cup roughly chopped cornichons (with about 1 teaspoon juice)
1-1/2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat, cook garlic and rhubarb in olive oil until tender, about 5 minutes. Raise the heat and add capers and liquid, cornichons and juice, parsley, onion, and lemon juice, scraping the pan to release any browned bits. Add stock and simmer about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Rhubarb Salsa "Verde" Mayo

Add a couple of spoons of salsa to a couple of spoons of mayo. Stir. Slather on something. Eat.