Self Care: Shrimp and Chorizo Rice Bowls

Today, when I made this delicious bowl for lunch, was cold and rainy.  We haven't had much winter weather here in Georgia, but it's been a gray winter and I know most of the country has been buried in snow.  This recipe is a bright taste of summer to help you get through the last dregs of a rough winter.  Shrimp is a special treat I cook every once in a while and that combined with these bright flavors are just the ticket to perk up a winter day.

You can use whatever size of peeled and deveined shrimp you can find, and frozen is just fine!  You can also peel and devein the shrimp yourself, but I usually take the timesaving shortcut.  Chorizo proved to be a challenging hunt in Athens.  I was looking for Spanish style chorizo, a small link of cured sausage, rather than the loose, uncured Mexican style chorizo.    I was surprised to find that neither were available at my usual stores and eventually found thinly sliced chorizo at Publix - made by the Italian brand Fiorucci.  It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but it turned out to be a nice crispy addition to the dish.  If any Athenians know where I could find the links of cured chorizo please let me know!

Start by marinating the shrimp.  This is not the type of marinade that you want to do far in advance.  The lime juice will begin to cook the shrimp, and while that is great for making ceviche it's not what we're going for here.  Mix together two tablespoons of chopped cilantro with the juice of one lime, one tablespoon of honey, a clove of crushed garlic, chili powder, salt, and pepper.  Refrigerate while you prepare the rest of the ingredients, about 20 minutes.

While the shrimp marinates, prepare the rice.  Bring one cup of salted water to a boil with half a tablespoon of butter or oil.  When the water boils add half a cup of white rice, stir, and reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 22 minutes.  Once the rice is simmering dice the chorizo - if it's hard to cut put it in the freezer for a few minutes.  Add the chorizo to a pan over medium heat with a scant drizzle of oil.  The chorizo has a lot of fat that will render out, so you don't need to add much oil.  While the chorizo crisps dice the red onion and jalapeño.  Remove the seeds and stems of the jalapeño to moderate the heat in the final dish.  When the chorizo is crisp remove to a paper towel lined plate and set aside.

While the onions and jalapeños soften in the same pan and oil from the chorizo dice the tomato and cube the avocado.  Season the tomato with a little salt and pepper on the cutting board.  When the onion mixture has softened add the shrimp without the extra marinade liquid.  The shrimp will cook quickly, about two minutes per side.

When the shrimp and rice are both done add all of the ingredients to a large mixing bowl with the juice of one lime and the remainder of the cilantro.  Serve immediately. 


Shrimp and Chorizo Rice Bowls

Ingredients

• 10 oz. peeled and deveined shrimp (large, extra large, or jumbo)
• 1/2 cup diced chorizo
• 1/2 cup uncooked white rice
• 1/2 large red onion
• 1 small jalapeño pepper
• 2 plum tomatoes
• 1 large avocado 
• 3/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 2 limes
• 1 clove garlic
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. honey
• 1/4 tsp. chilli powder

Instructions

1. Chop about 3/4 cup of cilantro and set aside in a bowl.
2. Marinade shrimp in the juice of one lime, olive oil, honey, crushed garlic, chili powder, salt, and pepper.  Place in the refrigerator while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.  Do not marinate for more than 20 or 30 minutes!
3. Bring 1 cup of salted water and 1 tbsp. butter or oil to a boil. Add 1/2 cup of white rice, reduce to a simmer, cover, and set timer for 22 minutes.
4. Dice chorizo and brown in a pan on medium heat with a scant drizzle of oil.  Allow the fat to render and the chorizo to crisp.
5. Remove chorizo from pan and drain on a paper towel.
6. Dice onion and jalapeño, removing the seeds and ribs.  Sauté in the same pan used for the chorizo and allow to soften.
7. Seed and dice the tomato and cube the avocado while the onions and jalapeño cook.  Season the tomatoes with some salt and pepper on the cutting board.
8. Add the shrimp to the pan (do not pour the remaining marinade in the pan) and cook about two minute son each side.
9. When the rice is done fluff with a fork and transfer to a large mixing bowl.
10. Add the shrimp and onion mixture, the tomatoes, avocado, juice of one lime, and the remaining cilantro to the bowl and stir to combine.

Roasted Sweet Potato Hashbrowns

In a recent staff meeting our icebreaker question was "What is your favorite time of the day?" My answer was breakfast.  While breakfast isn't the same time every day, I am definitely a morning person and a breakfast person.  During the week it is usually something quick like a scrambled egg quesadilla, an easy omelette, or avocado toast.  The weekend are a great time to get just a little more elaborate in breakfast and to use up the week's leftovers.  I had no intention of writing this recipe or blog post until I realized I had too much diced sweet potato for a recipe I made earlier in the week.  I put some of it in a container for the weekend and took stock of some of my other leftovers: half a jar of roasted red peppers, some fresh thyme, and half an onion.  You can certainly replicate this recipe and intentionally purchase these ingredients, but try to be creative with the vegetables and herbs you have in your refrigerator at the end of the week!

This recipe basically just implements the principles of roasting that I wrote about a few months ago.  I like roasting hashbrowns because it require no active cooking time so you can scramble up some eggs, have a cup of coffee, and read the paper while it cooks away.  I had about one diced sweet potato which is enough to share with someone else, but you'll need more than that for brunch guests.

Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray to keep the potatoes from sticking (I use olive oil in a Misto aerator).  Put the diced sweet potato, roasted red pepper, and onion on the sheet pan with one clove of crushed garlic.  Season with salt, pepper, and quarter teaspoon each of ground sage, coriander, and cayenne pepper.  Place a few sprigs of thyme on top and coat with olive oil, tossing to combine.  Place on the bottom rack of a 450 degree oven and set a time for ten minutes.  After ten minutes toss the hashbrowns and  cook for an additional ten minutes.  The high heat and the bottom rack will make sure the hashbrowns are crispy and delicious.  When they are done cooking remove the thyme stems (most of the leaves should have fallen off), toss with a little bit more salt, and serve.

Roasted Sweet Potato Hashbrowns

Ingredients

• 1 diced sweet potato
• 1/4 cup diced roasted red peppers
• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 5-7 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1/4 tsp. ground sage
• 1/4 tsp. coriander
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• salt and black pepper, to taste
• 2 tbsp. olive pol

Instructions

1. Preheat over to 450 degrees
2. Dice potatoes, red peppers, onion, or other vegetables
3. Place vegetables on a greased sheet pan and season with herbs and spices.  Add olive oil and toss to combine
4. Roast on the bottom rack of the over for ten minutes, toss vegetables, and cook for an additional ten minutes

Quick Dinner: Farro, Arugula, and Grilled Fennel Salad

I am not in the least it ashamed to admit that I devoured this salad in heaping, sloppy, arugula-falling-out-of-my-mouth gulps.  The only change I would make is doubling the recipe so I could have more leftovers (this yields about two servings).  This all started with a delicious, but unsatisfying salad recipe I tried in the fall semester.  It was arugula, orange segments, thinly sliced red onion, and shaved raw fennel. The flavor was incredible, but even copious amounts left me still feeling hungry.  This salad takes those delicious salad elements and makes them something much more satisfying.  All of that plus it's done in about thirty minutes and is a great protein packed meal to make when "just a few more emails" becomes two extra hours in the office.

Start by cooking the farro.  Farro is a grain that is both delicious and super high in protein, which is part of the reason it doesn't leave you feeling hungry.  I use Trader Joe's Ten-Minute Farro because it cooks in fifteen minutes.  I don't understand the name either.  Bring one cup of farro and two cups of broth or salted water to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the water is mostly absorbed.

While the farro is cooking make the dressing.  I like to make dressing in a mason jar because it is easy to seal and shake up instead of having to wash a whisk and you can store leftover dressing in it.  Squeeze half of an orange into the mason jar and add 1/4 cup of chives, one crushed garlic clove, a tablespoon of dijon mustard, half a cup of olive oil and salt and pepper.  Seal the jar and shake it vigorously until the dressing is completely combined.  Taste for seasoning and add additional salt and pepper if necessary.

Finely dice about a quarter of a large red onion and slice half a head of fennel.  Heat your grill or grill pan to high.  The goal is to have a short and quick cooking time for the fennel so it is nicely charred and caramelized, but not cooked through entirely.  If you don't have a grill pan cook the fennel quickly under the broiler in your oven.  Coat the grill in olive oil and season the fennel with salt and pepper before grilling until nicely charred, about four minutes.

When the farro is done (it should be al dente - softened, but with some bite) drain and additional liquid and put in a bowl.  Add about half of the dressing and stir to combine.  Place in the refrigerator to cool slightly - the farro should not be so hot that it wilts the arugula.  While the farro cools (about ten minutes) chop the grilled fennel into half-inch cubes.  When the farro has cooled add the red onion, fennel, and two or three handfulls of arugula (about two cups).  Add a little bit more dressing to coat the vegetables and toss to combine.

Farro, Arugula, and Grilled Fennel Salad

Ingredients

For the Dressing

• 1/4 cup of orange juice (about half an orange)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1/4 cup chopped chives
• 1 tb. dijon mustard
• salt and pepper

For the Salad

• 1 cup of farro, uncooked
• 2 cups of broth, or water
• 2 cups arugula
• 1/2 bulb of fennel
• 1/4 large red onion

Instructions

1. Bring 1 cup of farro and 2 cups of water to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes
2. While fennel cooks combine all dressing ingredients and whisk together (or shake vigorously in a mason jar)
3. Slice fennel and finely dice red onion
4. Heat an oiled grill pan and season fennel with salt and pepper.  Grill fennel until charred, but not cooked through, about four minutes
5. Chop fennel into 1/2 inch cubes
6. Combine cooked farro with half of dressing and cool for 10 minutes in the refrigerator 
7. When farro has cooled add arugula,  fennel, and red onion with a few more tablespoons of dressing and toss to combine.

Lentil Soup

The end of the semester, winter break, and my comprehensive exams threw me for a bit of a loop regarding the blog, but I'm happy to say I'm back on a regular posting schedule with recipes planned for the next three weeks!  I'm so excited to start off with my mother's recipe for lentil soup.  When I told my roommate I had bought lentils to make this she said, "Why did you buy lentils? You have some already!" It's true, I did have red lentils in the cupboard, but I needed green lentils for this dish.  We're pretty serious about our lentil love in this apartment.  That love is incredibly justified - lentils are one of the most protein packed legumes and a great source of fiber in addition to being delicious and texturally interesting.  This soup is my version of winter comfort food and brings back a lot of strong memories from my childhood.  While this isn't necessarily a quick cooking dish, the active prep time is minimal, so it's great to make when you need to do some chores around the house for the hour that it simmers away.

Start by sautéing half a large onion and grating one medium sized carrot.  Season the vegetables liberally with salt and pepper, and season again when you add the lentils to the pot.  This soup gets its flavor from the vegetables, so be generous with salt to make sure it is a well seasoned soup.  Add the lentils to the pan and stir for a few moments until the lentils are shiny and coated in oil.  Then add four cups of water and one beef bullion cube to the pot and bring to a boil.  Let the lentils simmer partially covered for one hour, stirring occasionally.

My personal favorite way to eat lentils is spooned over elbow macaroni with a little drizzle of olive oil and grated parmesan cheese.  This soup is also great over rice (my mom's favorite) or by itself.

Lentil Soup

Ingredients

• 1 cup green lentils
• 1/2 large yellow onion
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 beef bullion cube
• 4 cups of water
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Dice onion and shred carrot on the small holes of your box grater
2. Coat the bottom of a pot with olive oil and bring to medium heat
3. Saute vegetables until cooked through and add one cup of lentils, stir to combine
4. Add four cups of water and one beef bullion cube and bring to a boil
5. Lower heat to a simmer and cook partially covered for one hour, stirring occasionally
6. Serve alone, or with small pasta or rice

Foundations Series: Roasting Part II

You probably won't be surprised to learn that I really love Ina Garten.  My love for her is so deep that the students I worked with over the summer included "You don't know who Ina Garten is?!?!?!?" on a list of funny Michael quotes from the summer.  Here's a quick primer on why I feel so strongly about the Barefoot Contessa.  If you're also a fan you know that Ina makes chicken for her husband Jeffrey when he comes home to the Hamptons from the city each Friday and is truly the Queen of the Roast Chicken.  This recipe is based off a few of her own recipes, primarily her "perfect roast chicken."  Which is, of course, perfect as it is, but is improved by her "kicking it up a notch" trick of adding compound butter underneath the skin.

We should acknowledge from the start that dealing with a whole, raw chicken can be intimidating.  Ina's refrain of "How easy is that?" might not be the most encouraging when you're staring down the back (front?) end of a chicken.  It's messy, and a little icky, but ultimately a roast chicken is a foundational kitchen skill and can be mastered with practice.  Until you master the recipe, chicken can be really forgiving.  In a finals week haze I accidentally roasted this chicken upside down.  It was still delicious and wonderful, and yours will be too!  This recipe is also great for your student affairs schedule; it is a little more time consuming than one of my quick dinners, but the yield from a whole chicken can feed you for the rest of the week.  Repurpose it by making chicken enchiladas, chicken salad, soups, and pastas with the leftover meat.

Let's start with the prep work.  A compound butter is just butter that has been flavored with herbs, fruit, or aromatics.  For this chicken we will mix salt, pepper, rosemary, sage, and thyme with half a stick of room temperature butter.  I like to use a fork to throughly combine the butter and herbs.  Place the butter to the side while you prepare the rest of the chicken.  If you don't have a roasting pan with a rack simply make a spiral with some tin foil and place it at the bottom of a baking dish.  You can also use diced root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, turnips, fennel, etc.) to elevate the chicken.

Remove the giblets from the cavity and save them for gravy.  Pat the chicken dry inside and out to ensure a delicious crispy skin.  Season the inside of the cavity with salt and pepper and stuff it with two halves of a lemon, a quartered yellow onion, eight whole cloves of garlic, and a bunch of thyme and rosemary.  Make sure you do not completely fill the cavity with the aromatics, they should rest inside but not crowd the cavity which would throw off the cooking time.  Next pull the skin on the breast up, and massage the breasts with the compound butter so it is evenly distributed underneath the skin.  Any extra butter can be rubbed on top of the skin.  Place the chicken in a 425 degree oven and roast for 1 and a half hours, or until the juices run clear.

Remove from the oven and let rest for 20-30 minutes.  This resting period is crucial to ensure a juicy bird.  Use this time to make gravy and to sauté some green beans and garlic until they are just cooked and remain crisp.  Avoid the temptation to bring the bird to the table whole - it may be a nice presentation, but carving table side is unwieldy.  I'll defer to the wonderful step by step photography in this Serious Eats article  for carving advice.  This carving method is the best way to ensure everyone gets a piece of what they want.

Roast Chicken

Adapted from Ina Garten

Ingredients

• 1 5-6 pound whole chicken
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 lemon
• 8 cloves of garlic
• 1 bunch of thyme
• 4 tbsp. butter
• 2 sage leaves, chopped
• 1/2 tbsp. chopped fresh thyme
• 1/2 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary

Instructions

1. Use a fork to combine chopped herbs, salt, and pepper with room temperature butter and set aside.
2. Halve lemon, chop onion into quarters, and peel garlic.
3. Remove chicken from packaging and pat dry.  Stuff cavity with lemons, onion, and garlic, and additional bunch of thyme.
4. Use your fingers to open space between the skin and breast, massage butter mixture into the space between the skin and breast, rub any leftover butter on the outside of the skin.
5. Roast at 425 degrees for 1.5 hours, or until juices run clear.
6. Allow to rest for 20-30 minutes before carving.

Foundations Series: Traditional Gravy

Since the idea for this series first came about I knew that sauces were going to be on the list.  I was unsure what kind of sauce would be first, but with Thanksgiving next week a traditional gravy came right to the top of the list.  Gravy, like salad dressing, is one of those things I refuse to buy from the store.  You probably already have all the ingredients to make gravy in your home already and making it homemade means you're cutting out all of the preservatives and extra sodium that you don't need.  Besides that the taste of homemade gravy will outshine the canned any day!  The other great thing about gravy is that you can cook it in the time your meat needs to rest, and cutting into it before it rests is the real reason your turkey is dry.

Making gravy is not complicated, but it should be done with care.  The gravy I'm making here is the most basic gravy, and I will discuss variations along the way.  In it's purest form gravy is roux + stock and drippings.  I will offer that your gravy can be enhanced by bookending those two components with additional flavor.

In this case we will start by sautéing half of a very finely diced onion over medium-low heat until the begin to turn golden with some thyme, which is both my favorite herb and an excellent compliment to poultry like your Thanksgiving turkey.  Variations: chopped mushrooms are a wonderful addition to gravy (especially beef) celery and carrot (in extreme moderation) could also be added to the onions in this stage.

Once the onions start to become golden we will build a the roux.  A roux is a thickening agent made from equal parts fat and flour.  In this case we will use two tablespoons of butter (one of which is already in the pan with the onions, the second you will add now) and two tablespoons of flour.  Sprinkle the flour in one tablespoon at a time while you whisk.  You can use fat from the meat you've roasted instead of butter for a truly delicious roux as well.  Vigorously whisk the roux and cook it until it begins to take a golden color - be very careful not to let the roux burn.

Slowly add two cups of (warm, but not boiling) stock and drippings to the pan - whisking constantly and maybe taking a bad photo of it.  Whisk constantly until the mixture comes to a low boil and reduce to a simmer while gravy thickens.  Stir periodically as it simmers.  You can use whatever stock accompanies your meat.  Chicken stock will work perfectly fine with turkey, though you can sometimes find turkey stock this time of year.  I would also argue that a well made vegetable broth will heighten the flavor of a gravy.  I particularly like the organic vegetable broth from Trader Joe's because it has a wonderful leek flavor.  To use pan drippings simple drain the roasting pan into a clear, heat-proof container and wait for the fat to rise to the top.  Skim off the fat and combine drippings with stock.

At this point you have a fully fledged gravy, but you can take the opportunity to add some additional flavor to the gravy.  A tablespoon of alcohol (brandy, cognac, sherry, white wine, etc.) would be a lovely addition, likewise a tablespoon of cream.  Fresh herbs like parsley can also come into play here.  In researching this post I discovered that a chopped hard boiled egg is a popular (Southern?) addition to gravy, and while I can't say I'm planning on trying this I can see where they're coming from.  In beef gravy I'm partial to sour cream and dijon mustard stirred in at this point.  This would also be the time to add cooked and finely chopped giblets - a contentious ingredient to be sure.  I'm a fan of giblets because even though they look gross and are stuffed in a bird cavity they are full of flavor and are actually super vitamin rich.  To cook, cover them in water and boil away.  Pull the neck meat from the bone and chop everything finely to add to gravy.  

Special thanks to Pattie for answering the frantic GroupMe message and lending me her gravy boat.  May you all enjoy this gravy with those you care about this Thanksgiving!

Traditional Gravy

Ingredients

• 1/2 yellow onion
• 1 tsp. fresh thyme
• 2 1/2 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. flour
• 2 cups chicken (or appropriate meat) stock

Instructions

1. Finely dice half of a yellow onion
2. Sautee onion in 1.5 tablespoons of butter over medium-low heat
3. When onion begins to brown add 1 teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves
4. Add 1 tablespoon of butter, allow to melt and sprinkle in 2 tablespoons of flour, whisking vigorously
5. When roux has begun to color, add 2 cups of warm chicken stock, and whisk continuously until mixture comes to a low boil
6. Reduce to a simmer, season with black pepper, and add any additional flavor components.

Foundations Series: Roasting Part I

I'm excited to be kicking off my Foundations Series with a technique that I use almost weekly - roasting!  This edition will focus on roasting vegetables and Part II will be about roasting a chicken.  I used asparagus as an example, but potatoes would be a classic application of this technique.  I also love to roast squash, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, and fennel.  Roasting is a great way to add flavor to your vegetables because they become brown, carmelized  and full of flavor.  And as our friend Anne Burrell would remind us - brown food is tasty food.

The method is quite simple.  Crank your oven up to 450 degrees while you prep the vegetables.  All of the vegetables should be approximately the same size.  Asparagus can remain whole, but vegetables like mushrooms and potatoes should be halved, quartered, or largely chopped to be about the same size.  When roasting potatoes I particularly enjoy using new or fingerling potatoes since they are already small and have a deliciously tender skin.  For most things I like a larger size for roasting, but I will sometimes roast a small dice of sweet potatoes for a lovely sweet potato hash brown.

Let's discuss seasoning for a moment.  At the most basic level roasting necessitates olive oil, salt, and pepper.  I like to use a flakey sea salt for the flavor of larger crystals when I roast, but plain table salt will work just fine.  Other seasoning can work too.  I like to add cumin, chili powder, and cinnamon to sweet potatoes.  Garlic and herbs are often appropriate for potatoes and mushrooms.  Woody herbs like thyme are rosemary are fine to roast in the oven but more delicate herbs like basil should be tossed with the hot vegetables after roasting.  Lemon zest is also a great ingredient to toss in after roasting - especially with asparagus.  

Once consideration for seasoning have been made toss the vegetable with seasoning, salt, pepper, and olive oil.  Take care to coat the the vegetables with olive oil, but don't put too much on.  You want the pan to be dry enough get a good brown on the vegetables.  Put the foil lined pan of vegetables on the bottom rack of the oven so it is closest to the heating element and cook for 25-30 minutes, flipping halfway through for even browning. (Asparagus might take closer to 20 minutes - keep an eye on them!)