Sous Vide Lobster Tail Beurre Monte with Angel Hair Squash Pasta [Zack]

I just got an Anova sous vide immersion circulator.  Sous vide means "under vacuum" in French.  To cook sous vide, seal the food with a vacuum sealer, and then immerse it in a temperature-controlled water bath.  It allows you to precisely control temperature and time to get a perfect outcome each time!  For a steak or other foods that require browning, you can quickly sear it after you've finished cooking in the water bath.

I've been interested in learning how to cook food sous vide because many fancy restaurants use the method.  If you've ever had an impossibly tender steak with the inside perfectly pink from top to bottom, there's a chance it's been cooked sous vide.

I decided to try to cook a lobster tail as my first try with my Anova.  Since seafood gets tough and rubbery if you overcook it, cooking sous vide becomes a cheat-code.

This recipe is for lobster tail Beurre Monte.  The traditional recipe calls for poaching the lobster tails in a pot of butter.  Since I'm using a vacuum sealer, I can use a lot less butter because the lobster tails will still have full contact to the butter inside the bag.  Serve the lobster tails straight out of the bag over a bed of fresh pasta.

Process:

Defrost the lobster tails if frozen.

Start up your sous vide circulator at 54C to get your water up to temperature.

The first step is to remove the tail meat from the shells.  This is apparently much easier if you quickly blanch the tails in salted boiling water for 45 seconds.  So, do that.

Cut shell down the middle with kitchen shears and carefully separate the meat from the shell.  This will take a few minutes and is the hardest part of the recipe.

Place the tail meat in a vacuum sealed bag.  Make sure that the bag has enough area around the tail(s) so you get a proper seal.  Add in 5 pads of butter and 1 sprig of thyme per tail and vacuum seal it.

Submerge the sealed tails into the water bath and cook at 54C for 30 minutes.

If they float, make sure to put a plate on top of them so they are totally under the water.

While this is going, you can cook your pasta dish.  Get your water boiling.  Slice the squash, and dice the onions and garlic.  Heat up a pan over medium heat and add butter and olive oil to the pan.  Saute squash, yellow onion, and garlic for about 5 minutes.

Cook the pasta when you're ready to serve the lobster.  Toss the pasta with some grated parmesan cheese and the veggies.

Remove the lobster bags from the water.

Slice open the bag and slice the tails.  Serve over the pasta.  If some lobster-flavored butter from the bag happens to make it on the noodles, keep it a secret.

Ingredients:
1 lobster tail per serving
5 pads of salted butter per tail
1 sprig of thyme per tail

1/2 lb of angel hair pasta (serves 4)
1 green squash
1 yellow squash
1 white or yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup grated parmesan reggiano
freshly-cracked black peppercorns

Song:  Stromae - Quand C'est

Panko Crusted Shrimp with Honey Garlic Szechuan Glaze [Zack]

You can’t beat bang bang shrimp, but this recipe is close!  If you’re not in the mood for the savory/spicy mayonnaise flavor of bang bang, this sweet alternative is akin to the sauce for General Tso’s Chicken.  You’ll crisp up some shrimp with a combination of corn starch and panko.  Then you lightly toss the shrimp in a honey szechuan sauce.  Coat with sesame seeds and some cilantro, and wow your guests!  These would be a welcome addition to a salad, on top of rice, or on a party platter with tooth pics in them. 

Process:

Defrost your shrimp – I am lazy and buy the de-veined and de-shelled shrimp.  Pour the water off of them and place them on a towel.

Crush your szechuan peppers.  

Mince the garlic.  Add 1T of sesame oil to a sauce pot over medium heat.  Saute the minced garlic in the oil and then add the ground szechuan pepper for 1 minute.  

Spoon honey into the pot, and add the fish sauce and soy sauce.  It should bubble as the water cooks out. 

In a bowl, combine about 50% corn starch and 50% panko.  The corn starch will create a crust and the panko will give the shrimp more texture.

Heat up a frying pan over medium heat and coat the bottom in a light layer of non-flavored oil.  Toss the shrimp in the corn starch and panko mixture.  The crusting will stick to the shrimp because they are a little bit damp.  Cook in the frying pan on both sides until light golden-brown and cooked through.

Check on your honey szechuan sauce.  After 10 minutes, it should stop bubbling so much and the viscosity should return back to the original honey thickness.  

Be careful not to cook the sauce too long, or else you’ll be left with a hard caramel.  If this happens, add a touch of water to return it back to the honey consistency.  Also note, as the sauce cools off, it will noticeably thicken.

Toss the shrimp lightly in the honey sauce.

  

Top with sesame seeds and cilantro and serve hot.

Ingredients (for about 30 medium shrimp):
4 heaping T of honey
2 cloves garlic
3 dried Szechuan peppers
1T sesame oil
1/4 tsp fish sauce
1T soy sauce

30 medium shrimp
panko and corn starch in equal quantities to coat the shrimp
vegetable or canola oil
sesame seeds
cilantro

Song:  Mar - Man x Woman

Spinach Fettuccine w/ Seared Scallops [Matt]

I've never attempted to measure my ingredients for making pasta. Half the fun comes from getting your hands into the dough and adding pinches of things as you go along. Here's my best attempt at the process of making fettuccine (supplement with YouTube videos if you're more of a visual learner).

Fettuccine Ingredients:

4 Whole Eggs

3 Additional Egg Yolks

3 Cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1/3 Cup Half-&-Half

1 Teaspoon Sea Salt

(For Spinach variation, food process 2 cups spinach into a minced consistency and add to the bowl)

Since I have no one to impress with fancy cooking antics, I mix my dough in a large mixing bowl. This saves me from dealing with the mess of yolks ingrained into my counter top and keeps flour from going in every direction.

Dump the 3~ cups flour into the large mixing bowl. Make a divot in the center of the flour to put your eggs. Add in the 4 whole eggs and 3 additional yolks (please, do yourself a favor and splurge on the 'cage-free organic'. It REALLY does make a difference with end pasta texture). Add the olive oil, half-&-half, sea salt and spinach (if you're swinging that way).

I use a solid-state whisk to slowly start blending the eggs together. You want to gradually start pulling in flour until it clumps to the point where you wonder why I told you to use a whisk in the first place. Scrape the dough off the whisk with your fingers. Start mashing the dough together in the bowl with your hands until it doesn't really seem like any more flour is getting added to your ball. 

Remove the semi-dough ball from the bowl, flour your counter, and pretend your dough ball is a Bop-It (twist-it, turn-it, mash-it, press-it, etc?). Once your dough ball has reached the strange state of firming up, yet a bit smooth when pulled, put the ball aside under a damp dish towel. Let it rest while you set up your pasta crank.

Once your pasta crank is together, make sure you have some place to rack your pasta. I use pasta rack trees. They're dope.

Take a pinch of dough, you'll really have to eyeball it, and run through the crank in descending numerical order. Fold the dough over a few times when putting it through the initial notch 8, eventually progressing down to notch 2 (second to last as far as thickness).

I recommend dusting your counter / the bottom of the rolled pasta sheet with flour. This will help prevent the pasta sheet from sticking as it slides through the machine.

Run the sheet of dough through the fettuccine crank attachment. Take the shaped pasta and hang it on your drying rack(s). Do this until you're out of dough. 

Scallop Ingredients: 

1 lb Large Bay Scallops

Butter

Salt

Pepper 

Get a big pot of water boiling - add in a splash of olive oil and pinch of salt. This helps the pasta from sticking to itself and raises boiling point. 

Take out your favorite large searing pan. Lightly coat the bottom with melted butter as you bring the heat up to med-high. Lightly dust both sides of the scallops with salt and pepper, then plop them onto the pan. It's key not to shift their position or turn them over until the bottom of scallops have a proper light brown sear, otherwise the meat will tear. The sear will take around 2 - 3 minutes on each side pending heat. The key is to get that golden brown without over cooking the scallops. 

When you are about to turn your scallops over, add your pasta to the boiling water. The pasta, since it's fresh, should only take 2 - 4 minutes to cook (depends on thickness of pasta vs. water temp). Pull out a strand or two and be sure to try it before dumping it into the sieve. 

Time to multi-task. Flip your scallop, then start to heat up a third pan. Add in a splash of olive oil on medium heat to the fresh pan. When your pasta finishes boiling, sieve it, then shake it to get any remaining water out. Dump the pasta into the heated oil. Sauté the pasta for about a minute and a half, then plate. Your scallops will probably finish cooking before the pasta, so put them to the side to rest.

To go next-level, like the dish below, you can sauté onion, asparagus and prosciutto before adding in you pasta. This will take a bit more planning and should be started right around when you dump you pasta in to begin boiling.

Finish with some fresh grated lemon zest and parmesan reggiano.

Best of luck and feel free to experiment once you get the hang of it!

Fiery Sriracha Shrimp [Rhonda]

The flavors are vivid. The visual is pretty.
And the time it takes to execute is next to nothing.

Adjust the sriracha for the babies in your group...this ratio is potent and terrific.

Fiery Sriracha Shrimp
Degree of difficulty: super easy
Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 4 to 6 as an appetizer

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons Sriracha
3 cloves minced garlic
1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons minced fresh mint
2 tablespoons minced fresh basil
OR 2 tablespoons cilantro without the mint and basil

Preparation: Melt butter in skillet. Add Sriracha.



Sauté minced garlic in it and toss in shrimp.
 
Just before they're done, add lemon zest and mint and basil and let them wilt.
Serve on a platter with toothpicks or thread onto decorative skewers.

Suggested soundtrack: Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30--Allegro ma non tanto

Cinematic Risotto with Shrimp [Rhonda]

Degree of difficulty: medium (risotto requires that you stir fairly frequently, so you have to pay attention)
Time: 30 minutes to prep and cook
Serves: 4

Back in 1996, shortly after we had moved to Columbus, this town went nuts over a movie at one of our arts theaters, the Drexel Grandview. The film was Big Night, written by and starring Stanley Tucci. Stanley is one of our South Salem, NY buddies--we'd see him frequently at the kids' soccer games, and occasionally, he'd mention this screenplay he was writing. Big Night turned out to be not only a big hit, but the true start of an amazing film career for him.

Anyway, the local newspaper here in Columbus contacted Stanley's mom, Joan, and she offered up their family risotto recipe like the one in the movie. It's fabulous, and you can short-cut it with no loss of flavor by using chicken stock instead of the shellfish stock the Tuccis make. Either way works.

Shortly after the movie, Joan and Stanley produced a cookbook, Cucina & Famiglia, with another acquaintance friend of mine, Mimi Taft. The shrimp risotto recipe is included in it, one of many good ones from a family well-versed in solid Italian cooking.

Ingredients:
1 lb. medium shrimp, cleaned and deveined, shells reserved
1 medium onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
Few sprigs fresh parsley
Salt
5 cups water

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
Freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup arborio rice
1 small ripe tomato, diced
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Shellfish stock: Place shrimp shells in a large saucepan. Add whole chopped onion, carrot, celery, parsley and salt to taste. Add water. Simmer gently 25 minutes. Strain and discard shells and vegetables. Set broth aside and keep warm.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet. Add shrimp and freshly ground pepper to taste. Saute just until shrimp are pink. Set aside.

In a large pot or skillet, place 1 tablespoon unsalted butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Over medium heat, saute 1/4 cup chopped onion and the minced garlic. Do not brown. Add rice and stir to coat evenly. Add 1 cup shellfish stock (or chicken broth, if you are substituting), and cook, stirring frequently until rice has absorbed broth. Add wine, more broth, 1 cup at a time, stirring. Add tomato. Stir until rice is creamy and tender but still al dente, about 18 minutes.

Add a little more broth if necessary, add the parmesan, check to see if additional salt is needed, and add freshly ground black pepper to taste. Add 1 tablespoon butter at the very end for extra creaminess. Serve immediately.

Suggested soundtrack: Luciano Pavarotti's "Libiamo" from Verdi's "La Traviata"

Clams with Chiles and Lemongrass [Rhonda]

Degree of difficulty: easy
Time: 15 minutes prep (easy), 3 minutes to steam the clams
Serves: 2 as an appetizer, 1 as an entree

Clipped from a magazine some time ago--Elle Decor? Martha Stewart Living?--this is such a clean, yet bracing and spicy way to serve littleneck clams. The hardest part is finding tender, fresh-caught clams--Whole Foods comes through regularly, as well as reputable fish markets. Paired with a chilled pinot grigio, some bread and a salad, it makes a late summer dinner on the terrace delightful.

Ingredients:
Coarse salt
1 dozen small clams (littlenecks are fabulous), rinsed well
1 stalk lemongrass, hard outer leaves removed and reserved, bottom four inches of stalks thinly sliced crosswise
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 or 2 small fresh green chiles (jalapeno, serrano or Thai chiles), thinly sliced crosswise
1 or 2 small fresh red chiles (Holland chiles or cherry peppers)
Juice of 1 lime, plus a few lime wedges
1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce
Several sprigs fresh cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped

Dissolve 2 tablespoons salt in a large bowl of cold water. Add clams. Let soak at room temperature 10 minutes. Drain. Scrub clams under cold running water. Transfer to a large bowl of fresh cold water. Repeat, scrubbing clams and rinsing. Drain.

Put reserved lemongrass leaves in a large pot with 1/2 inch of water. Bring to a boil. Add clams. Steam, covered, until clams open, three minutes or so. Drain and reserve clams in separate dish. Discard any unopened clams and the leaves.

To the pot add oil, sliced lemongrass, shallots, garlic and chiles. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until lemongrass and shallots turn golden, about a minute. Remove from heat. Add clams back to pot, gently stir to coat.

Stir together lime juice and fish sauce in small bowl, expanding the amounts if you need to, and pour over clams. Transfer clams to a large serving bowl, sprinkle with cilantro. Garnish with lime wedges.

Suggested soundtrack: Don Omar Tego Calderon "Bandolero"

World's Easiest Summer Lunch [Rhonda]

World's Easiest Summer Lunch

Degree of difficulty: what did I just say? Easiest!
Time: 5 minutes, if.
Serves: one very hungry dancer or two politely sharing.

Columbus was enjoying almost-record heat, and after going hard for an hour-plus at a Michael Nicholson hip hop event in a large gym with 150 sweaty others, no AC, no fans, I came back home obviously hot, but famished, needing something filling but cool, and right now. And maybe mayonnaise wouldn't immediately spring to mind, but when you mix it with two ingredients and gently coat cooled steamed shrimp or (splurge!) crab meat, it makes one amazing summer salad.

Magic Mayo:
1 big dollop any brand real mayo
1 small splash ponzu
1 slightly bigger splash good soy sauce (I like Yamasa brand)
Mix and serve, baby, mix and serve.

Suggested soundtrack: Big Sean's "Early in the Morning" (not responsible for the content of this message)

California Crab Salad [Rhonda]

Degree of difficulty: easy
Time: 10 to 15 minutes
Serves: 2

The first night of a recent visit to LA, Matt took us to Froma on Melrose, a hip little wine and cheese shop with a few scattered tables and a surprisingly deep menu of crostinis, salads, pizzas and paninis.

I just wanted something fresh. And light, after a day of bad airplane food (purchased, no less!) and unsatisfying snacks.

Their crab salad, paired with a glass of sparkling wine, was the exact balance of bitter, sweet and tang that I craved. It makes for a sunny departure from the heartier soups and stews of February, and screams California from the get-go.

California Crab Salad
Ingredients:
1 8-ounce container jumbo lump crabmeat
Baby arugula
1 pink grapefruit, peeled and sectioned
1 avocado, peeled and sliced into super-thin strips
1 endive, sliced into thin strips
1/2 jalapeno, diced into tiny bits
1 tablespoon fresh chives, chopped fine
Citrus vinaigrette to taste

Citrus Vinaigrette:
1/2 cup orange juice (I used blood oranges for their beautiful red color and sliced a few for the plate)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon mustard
1 tablespoon ponzu (Optional. Can just use little more soy sauce if you don't have ponzu. [Wait. You don't have ponzu? What's wrong with you?])
Soy sauce to taste
1 tablespoon mayo



Whisk the mustard and soy sauce into the orange juice. Slowly add the olive oil. Then add the mayo. Whisk to combine. Gently mix a small amount into the crab meat (don't break up those gorgeous lumps of crab!!) and drizzle a little over the rest of the plated salad.

Suggested soundtrack: Diana Krall's "Look of Love"

Shrimp Scampi [Rhonda]

Degree of difficulty: simple, with minimal prep
Time: 20 minutes or less
Serves: 2

"For deese ee-va-ning, we have-a de shreemp scompeee..."

I must've ordered this a thousand times at decent-to-great Italian restaurants, and in 99 percent of the cases, it's been wonderful. Because it's pretty simple to execute and pretty hard to screw up.

I know being the good cook you are, you've got a one-pound pack of large shrimp in your freezer (because, as you've learned, it comes in handy for last-minute things like prosciutto-wrapped shrimp on the grill with balsamic reduction drizzle).

And even though they aren't the most flavorful form of tomato, you probably have some grape tomatoes sitting in a lovely bowl on the kitchen counter. Fresh garlic, a pour of white wine, squeeze of lemon and you're just about good to go. Scampi is good over orzo (seen here), or rice or angel hair pasta (make plenty of sauce mmmmm) or on crostini.

Mangia! Mangia!

Shrimp Scampi
Ingredients:
1 pound frozen shrimp, defrosted, veins and tails removed
6 to 8 cloves garlic (or more if you want to stink all day), minced
1 large handfull grape tomatoes, diced
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lemon, juiced, more if you want to use as garnish
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 or 3 chicken frozen homemade stock cubes (optional)
1 tablespoon (or less)oregano
Generous sprinkle of red pepper flakes
Sprinkle of chopped fresh parsley, if you have it, or dried parsley
1 tablespoon Italian bread crumbs

Pat the shrimp dry. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in pan and saute shrimp.


Sprinkle the oregano and some red pepper flakes over them while they're cooking.

Remove shrimp to a bowl. Put the butter in the pan, melt, then add garlic. Saute briefly, add white wine and stock cubes, if using, and reduce. Add tomatoes, stir.



Add some of the lemon juice, stir. (You can always add more at the end if you like it super-tangy...) Adjust seasonings (salt, pepper), sprinkle Italian bread crumbs in to thicken slightly, add the shrimp back in, warm briefly and serve.

Suggested soundtrack: Pavarotti's "Caruso"

Creamy Lobster Risotto [Zack]

Valentine's day is too hectic for Lauren and me to go out to dinner.  Restaurants charge a lot more for the meal and they are always over-crowded.  We prefer to cook at home instead.  It's more fun and romantic!

Valentine's day is an opportunity for you to show your loved one that you will do anything for them - even fearlessly kill a lobster!  Making a risotto is pretty simple, but it's also considered fancy, so it's the perfect Lover's Holiday dish.  Our chef friend Philippe at Particolare showed us a method that you can cook it in 18 minutes flat.

A favorite website of mine used to talk about making risotto for the ladies.  He said "it's great because you look like you are cooking your ass off when you are really just stirring rice."  He's right :)

Because this particular recipe uses a lobster stock, it takes a good amount of prep before the big show.  If you make the stock and pick the meat the day before, this recipe is manageable and will make the risotto heavenly.

Process:

Step 1:  Preparing the lobster meat and stock.  (If you want to skip doing this recipe the long way, buy 2 pre-steamed lobster tails either fresh or frozen, extract the meat and make a quick stock using the shells.)

Get a large, lidded pot of boiling salted water going and plunge your unlucky lobster friend into it head-first.  Replace the lid and leave the room if you need to.  You can keep the rubber bands on the claws.

If they are about 1.5 lbs like mine, cook them for 6-7 minutes.  They are finished when they are a bright crimson color.  I guess the restaurant Red Lobster = dead lobster.

Take it out of the pot and let it cool down before de-shelling.  First, twist the tail until it separates from the body.  Clean out any tamale (the green stuff) by using some water from the sink.

The tail meat is the best part of the lobster.  Straighten the tail out and cut down the inside of it until you can peel back the shell.

Twist the claws so they separate from the carapace.  Open up the claw until the smaller part separates and you can extract the meat.  Bash the larger part of the claw with the bottom of a wine bottle until the shell cracks and you can take the meat out.  Then cut along the upper arms on both sides longways until you can peel the shell away.  Take the legs and roll over them with a wine bottle until the meat pops out.  Save all of the shells for your lobster stock!!

If you need visual directions on how to extract the meat, refer to this youtube link.

Take the shells and put them into a large pot and cover with water.  Add 1 sliced onion, 1 medium sliced carrot, 2 bay leaves and simmer for 30 mins.

After 30 minutes, strain the stock to extract the shells.  Your lobster stock will be a nice deep orange color from the fat of the lobster.

Step 2:  Making the risotto:

Prepare your ingredient for your mise en place.  Dice the onions, put your 5 cups of stock and wine into a small pot over low heat, and have your grated parmesan reggiano and lobster meat right next to the stove.

Put on some nice slow jams and invite your significant other into the kitchen to watch the show.  Light some candles and explain in a smooth Italian accent that you are preparing the finest risotto they will ever have had.  If you use good ingredients and cook it to al dente, I promise it will be as good or better than a restaurant's.

Put a large lidded pot over medium heat, add some olive oil and your diced onions.  Cook them until they sizzle a bit and become translucent.  Then add your Arborio rice and give it a stir.  Pour in 2 ladle-fulls of the stock and give it a stir.

Cover the pot and then either swirl the whole pot around or stir the risotto every 30 seconds to keep it from sticking to the bottom.

When you see the liquid has been absorbed, add 2 more ladles of liquid, stir and recover the pot.  Repeat this process until the risotto is creamy and has a little bit of a bite to it.  It should take 18 minutes.  If you need, you can add a touch more water or stock to achieve the results you want with your rice.

Take the pot off of the heat, add in the 1 1/2 cups of your parmesan cheese.  The cheese will combine with the starch from the rice and make it very creamy.

Stir in your lobster meat and serve immediately.

You can accompany it with a fresh salad or some nice roasted winter vegetables with lemon squeezed over them.

If this doesn't get you some brownie points, you are in trouble.

Ingredients:

1 medium-sized lobster (or 2 tails if you can't bear killing one)
1/2 carrot
1/2 onion
2 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves

1 1/2 cups / 200g grated parmesan cheese
2 cups Arborio rice
2 cups dry white wine
3 cups lobster stock (or chicken stock)

1 cup lobster meat (from the above lobster)

1 small diced red or white onion
2 T olive oil

If you're trying to impress in the kitchen, turn on Maxwell's album Urban Hang Suite 

Bang Bang Shrimp "Better than sex!" blurts Justin. [Rhonda]

Degree of difficulty: easy
Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 6 to 10 as an appetizer

"Oh man," groans Justin, a tall, sandy-haired twenty-six-year-old, as he grabs a third Bang Bang Shrimp from the tray. "This is better than sex."

Conversation peters away as others crowd around, quickly skewering a shrimp, then another.

Party time in New Jersey last year with Zack's friends and work associates. Having made Bang Bang Shrimp as a quick appetizer, Zack was walking the tray through the packed room. (Don't worry, Justin is not the dude's real name. Wouldn't want to cause trouble with the girlfriend...)

But Bang Bang hasn't been an attention-getter in New Jersey alone. It's made its mark throughout Ohio, and in Tennessee, South Carolina, New York, and many points in between as people have asked for the recipe. Yeah, this might need to be filed in the Life-Changing section of the blog.

So where'd this crazy thing come from anyway? Several years back I had the Bonefish Grill restaurant version of Bang Bang Shrimp during a girls' night out. Not even looking for anything revolutionary, just something decent to eat. But it was wonderful.

In trying to replicate it, I combined my little bit of foodie knowledge with online suggestions to get this basic iteration. And you can add in the stuff you like: some jalapenos, extra lime, maybe a sprinkle of cilantro. But the basic notes should remain: heat (go big or go home!), a touch of sweet, the salty undercurrent of soy, the light creaminess of mayo and the crunch of the crispy-fried shrimp.

Now, as fab as this sauce is, don't--don't!--get all excited and pour the whole bowl of sauce over the shrimp. Start with a little and go easy. Too much makes it gloppy and heavy.

Not that Justin would have a problem with that.

Bang Bang Shrimp
Ingredients:
1 lb. uncooked shrimp, tails and shells removed, de-veined
1 beer
1/2 to 1 cup corn starch
Canola oil for frying




Soak shrimp for 10 minutes or so in beer.
Roll in corn starch, saute in canola oil until crispy, drain on paper towels.







Sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I use Kewpie mayo from Japanese market, can do with regular)
Sriracha to taste (approx 1 to 2 T)
Sweet chili sauce to taste (approx 1T)
1 T soy sauce




Sprinkle finished dish with:
Red pepper flakes
1 to 2 scallions, minced
Black sesame seeds (optional)
Lime wedges (optional)

The sauce is done to taste--keep mixing until you hit upon the combo that's not too sweet but not too mayo-y. Then just before serving, toss shrimp in sauce, coating evenly.
Serve on platter with shredded lettuce underneath, red pepper flakes, sesame seeds, and minced scallions sprinkled on top. Lime wedges are also good for added flavor.




Suggested soundtrack: Ciara's "Gimmie Dat"

Lobster Bisque [Rhonda]

Degree of difficulty: medium (it involves live lobster...)
Time: 20 minutes prep, 1 hour total cook time, many steps in between
Serves: 6 to 8

For some reason (expense!), this bisque tends to surface only on my holiday menus at Thanksgiving and Christmas. But if you sub in shrimp (and the shells) for lobster, it can go year-round.

This lobster bisque is from the Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins cookbook, The New Basics. They were the owners of the Silver Palate gourmet shop in NYC years ago and authors of several Silver Palate cookbooks. The soup recipes in The New Basics are wonderful, and I've scribbled notes of exclamation in the margins of just about all of them.

Lobster Bisque
Ingredients:
2 fresh lobsters (1 1/2 pounds each), split and cleaned
5 tablespoons butter
1 diced peeled carrot
1 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup chopped shallots
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
6 tablespoons brandy
2 1/2 cups chicken stock, canned or homemade
2/3 cup dry white wine
6 tablespoons sherry
1/2 cup flour
3 cups milk
3 cups half-and-half
2 ripe plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt, to taste

Right from the get-go, I have to depart from the recipe. I don't do well having to knife the lobster between the eyes. So I boil the little dudes for maybe five minutes, drain and cool.



And since lobster was pricey when I shopped, I split the difference and used just one lobster and some large prawns that were on special.




Remove the lobster meat, pour 3 tablespoons sherry over it, mix, and reserve.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in large saucepan over medium heat, add carrots, bay leaf, onions and shallots and cook until the onions wilt, 5 to 7 minutes. Do not let them brown.



Put tarragon, parsley and lobster shells (break them up a bit) in saucepan, pour brandy over and ignite.



When flame goes out, add 1 cup of the chicken stock and the white wine. Simmer over low heat, partially covered, for 15 minutes.

In separate saucepan, melt the remaining butter (4 tablespoons). Add the flour and blend with a wire whisk over low heat for one minute.

Bring the milk and half-and-half to a boil in another saucepan. Add this to the flour, a little at a time, whisking constantly. Add this to the reserved broth and lobster shells.



Tired yet? No? Good.

Stir in the tomatoes and cayenne. Cover and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes. Add the remaining stock and simmer another 45 minutes.



Taste and season with salt if necessary.

Pour soup through a fine strainer, pressing down on the shells and vegetables with the back of a spoon.




Return soup to the saucepan and heat through. Stir in the reserved lobster meat. Serve immediately.



Suggested soundtrack: Ledisi's "Pieces of Me"