Greek-Spiced Baked Shrimp

I am addicted to Gourmet magazine's Gourmet Everyday section. Every month I eagerly await the arrival of the mag, set myself down with whatever tasty beverage-of-the-minute I'm craving, and pore over that baby like it's fine literature. I subscribe to Bon Appetit as well, I just haven't quite developed the appreciation for it that I feel with Gourmet. I've found so many great recipes in Gourmet that I'm pretty sure at this point I'll be a subscriber for life.

This month's luscious find was Greek-Spiced Baked Shrimp. It has an unusual (for American cuisine at least) combination of spices, cinnamon, allspice, and red pepper flakes with a sprinkle of dill over the top. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it, but figured it was worth a shot. I shouldn't have hesitated, because it is most definitely one of our favorite new meals. Mr. Totally Awesome and I downed nearly the whole recipe in one evening, sopping up the juices with some herbed-butter bread. The interplay of piquant tomato sauce, salty feta, and the fresh shrimp was just right.

I did switch a couple things up, I used tinned diced tomatoes instead of chopping up whole tinned tomatoes - that seemed like a useless extra step - and I was all out of fresh dill, so I just sprinkled some dried over the top after baking. With the dried it was tasty, I can only imagine how much better it is with the fresh. I'm a sucker for fresh dill.

For a quick and easy weeknight meal, Gourmet hit a home-run on this one. I urge you to try it out with some nice big 15 count shrimp. I used little bitty 25 count guys and they were nice, but I bet some big-ass prawns would seal the deal like no other.



Greek-Spice Baked Shrimp

1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon hot red-pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes in juice, drained, reserving juice, and chopped
Pinch of sugar
1 1/4 pound large peeled and deveined shrimp
1/4 pound feta, crumbled (2/3 cup)
2 tablespoons chopped dill

Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle.

Cook onion and garlic in oil with 1/4 teaspoon salt in a 4-quart heavy saucepan over medium heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in spices and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. Add chopped tomatoes with juice and sugar and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

Season shrimp with 1/8 teaspoon salt, then stir into tomato sauce. Transfer to a 2-quart shallow baking dish and top with feta. Bake until just cooked through, 18 to 20 minutes. Serve sprinkled with dill.

Spaghetti & Meatballs

Who doesn't love spaghetti and meatballs? Well, other than communists. That's right, nobody. It's as American as...everything else we stole and bastardized from other nations?

This definitely went much better than last time I made meatballs. These ones turned out perfectly. Pretty much the only way I'll eat spaghetti is if I've made the sauce myself. Sure, I'll use bottled when I'm feeling totally lazy for lasagna or to mix with other stuff, but if it's just getting heated and then put in my mouth? No thank you, sir. I'll pass on the flavorless, artificial colorings, preservative enhanced blech. Of course, unless I'm feeling lazy. Seriously, folks. When I'm tuckered out I'll throw my principles out the window faster than that lady with the baby and the bathwater. I'm easy like that, what can I say?

Want to know the secret to fantastic spaghetti and meatballs? Don't top with grated parmesan - top with grated Roncal. It's a sheeps milk cheese and makes all the difference. MiL introduced me to Roncal and I can't thank her enough. It's superb and really adds an additional nuance of flavor.

Spaghetti & Meatballs

Sauce:

3 tablespoons butter
1/2 yellow onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (28 oz) tin petite diced tomatoes
1 (10 oz) tin tomato sauce
1 (6 oz) tin tomato paste
2 tablespoons champagne vinegar ( If you're not using champagne vinegar, just omit it. Do NOT substitute white or cider vinegar.)
1/4 cup chicken stock (optional)

In a large deep skillet melt butter over medium heat. Cook garlic until fragrant, add onion and cook till softened and nearly translucent. Add basil, oregano, tomato sauce and tomato paste. Mix thoroughly. Add tin of petite diced tomatoes and incorporate completely. Allow to come to a steady simmer. Add a nice glug of champagne vinegar, approx. 2 tablespoons. Simmer over med-low heat for 45 min-1 hour. If the sauce becomes too thick add chicken stock if desired to thin. Do not shorten cooking time, it's needed to slowly deepen the flavor of the tomatoes and meld the flavors together.

Meatballs

olive oil
1/4 yellow onion, minced very finely
1 lb. ground beef
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
6 saltines, crushed to crumbs
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 400 F

In a small skillet cook onion over medium heat until softened and translucent. Remove from skillet and cool to room temperature. In a mixing bowl combine ground beef and cooked onion with rest of ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Grease baking sheet with olive oil and shape meat mixture into balls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Cook for 12-15 minutes or until internal temp reaches 160 F. Serve with cooked spaghetti noodles and sauce.

Curry!

Hello curry! Hi there. I'm tasty curry paste all the way from Alaska! Don't you want to eat me? Oh yes Curry! I do! I do!

So, in addition to my way awesome mom in WA, the coolest mom EVAR, way awesome MiL and GMiL in MD, and way awesome sMiL in TX, I have my way awesome Other-Mother in AK - my mom's best friend. She's not only way awesome, but equally as into all the crazy tasty bits I like to put in my mouth. You want some sushi - she's your go-to lady. By the way, her husband probably just caught that sushi off the bow of their way awesome sailboat. That they live on. In ALASKA. What's that you say? They're crazy? Perhaps yes, but crazy like cool foxes! You want some curry? She's got the perfect paste. You want a sourdough starter? She's got plenty. Need a recipe for some crazy (Insert Odd Random Country Name Here) native dish? Seriously. She's probably got it.

You may be thinking - Whoah! That's a lot of awesome ladies in one person's life. And you, my friend, would be correct. I'm one lucky bird.

This installment is all about tasty curry though. My OM in AK makes curry all the time, one day we were on the phone chatting about all different types of curry we like and she mentioned her favorite curry paste. I looked and looked for it, but much to my dismay, it could not be found. So, being the awesome OM that she is, she mailed me some. Because she's awesome. Have I said awesome enough yet?

Mae Ploy Thai curry is surely one to brag about. A problem that I frequently have is curry powder is borderline tasteless, or mainly composed of turmeric. Now, turmeric is all well and good, and especially good for you, but it doesn't taste the greatest. I've used powdered, which taste like crap, whole combos that never get ground quite fine enough so it tastes gritty, but this is my first paste. And I don't think I'll ever go back. The yellow curry I tried had strong notes of lemongrass, galangal, and coriander backlit by cinnamon, cardamom, and cumin. The ideal combo for Thai curry. Even better is there's no preservatives and no colorants of any kind added. That rates up there in my book. I do a lot of shopping at Asian markets and it seems like most everything is loaded with MSG, artificial color, and preservatives. No thank you, kind sir, I'll take my cancer-free body elsewhere. I didn't quit smoking for nothing.

I highly recommend this, just as my OM did. She's a pretty smart lady. You better listen.



Mae Ploy Chicken Curry

4 tablespoons butter
1 lb. chicken, preferably thighs, cubed
1 yellow onion, slivered very thinly
1 clove garlic, smashed with the flat of your knife
2 cups coconut milk, divided
65 grams Mae Ploy Thai Yellow Curry Paste
1 (28 oz) can tinned, petite diced tomatoes, drained of all juices through fine mesh strainer
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Jasmine Rice to serve over

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. When hot add butter and melt. Sear the chicken meat and cook about half way through. Remove to a bowl and add onion and smashed garlic clove. Cook onion until softened, about 5 minutes. When garlic clove begins to brown, fish out and discard. Add 1 cup coconut milk curry paste. Cook, stirring, until mixture is uniform in color and paste has been completely mixed in. Add remaining cup of coconut milk. Mix thoroughly. Add chicken and tinned tomatoes. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes, uncovered, stirring every ten minutes, until curry has reduced and thickened. Just before serving mix in chopped cilantro and serve over jasmine rice.