Yellow Curry Shrimp, and Musings on the Weather in New England

We know that sometimes it seems we make a big deal of the so-called "changing of the seasons." Our readers in, say, Florida or, perhaps, California, may wonder why we make such a big to-do about our "crocus forests" or the fact that it has finally, on April 8th, reached 70 degrees. We suppose it has to do with the wide range of weather that we experience in New England on any given year. Let's take this particular school year for example (we are teachers in "real" life after all): we were hit with a hurricane (you read that right) in October. A hurricane which, according to Wikipedia (yes, we know it's not the most reliable, but admit it - you use it all the time), was  "the deadliest and most destructive tropical cyclone of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, as well as the second-costliest hurricane in United States history." Once we got over that mess, we faced one of the snowiest years we can remember, which included a blizzard that dropped close to 3 feet of snow mid-February (see Nemo Gras). And seeing as the two of us (both in our 40's) can't really remember 3 feet of snow in our snow-measuring history? Well, that'something! While the uber-winter mix seemed to dissipate after that, it was cold, gray and rainy for so long that people were starting to mutiny against that crazy groundhog Punxatawny Phil who predicted an early spring: That damn TV rodent. He really must be taken care of, if you know what we mean...

Fast forward to today. We are tired. We are sun- and, hence, vitamin-D-deprived and we just want to enjoy some warm rays and non-blisteringly-cold winds. Is it really so much to ask? Sure we're a little excited about our crocus. Yeah, we are posting pictures of our spring onions. So sue us. We just can't help it. And when we texted each other about dinner today - something along the lines of, "let's do something lite (sic)" - "okay how bout (sic) yellow curry shrimp n veggies," a plan was quickly hatched. We even used a tool from our fancy garnishing kit (thank you, Turners!) to cut our carrots so they'd be prettier than usual. And, really, aren't they????

This recipe may not be the typical Californian's or Floridian's version of "light" but it was perfect for us New Englanders. Bright, colorful, cheery, and most importantly (for this time of year), quick and easy, we are adding this to our weeknight repertoire because we loved it's cheery springiness and the way it made us feel about the change of seasons. We enjoyed this served over basmati rice - and we even cheated a little bit by using Success Rice Boil-in-a-Bag, which takes 10 minutes, not-coincidentally about the time it takes to make the shrimp. How perfect is that?

Yellow Curry Shrimp

Ingredients:

1 15-ounce can light coconut milk

3 tablespoons yellow curry sauce (we like Trader Joe's)

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

1/2 pound green beans, chopped

1 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon fish sauce 

2-3 leaves basil, chopped

1 teaspoon sugar

In a large skillet, bring coconut milk to a simmer. Stir in curry sauce and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add carrots and green beans and simmer about five minutes until vegetables begin to soften. Add shrimp and cook until shrimp turn pink, about 2 minutes. Add lime juice, fish sauce, basil and sugar, and stir to combine. Simmer an additional minute to incorporate all ingredients. Serve over prepared rice, pasta, or simply with crusty bread for dipping.

Our First Paella (Secret Recipe Club)

Happy Secret Recipe Club Reveal Day! This is the club in which we are assigned a food blog and we make and post a recipe from it. Our assignment for April was the blog Foodness Gracious by Gerry Speirs. Gerry is a stay-at-home-dad who loves to cook and bake and has tons of amazing recipes on his blog - from crackers to caramels and curries to cookies. His photos are drool-worthy and his recent 3-in-a-row series of macaron recipes made us crave those little French bites of deliciousness. But you know when you have a gift certificate to Williams-Sonoma and you just have to buy a paella pan even though you have never made paella? Yeah? So do we. So when we saw Gerry's recipe for seafood paella, we grabbed our shiny new pan and got to work.

Seafood stock...we didn't make our own.

Trader Joe's Saffron - a great product at a great price.

Our paella pan. It's not 17 inches wide.

Gerry's recipe can be found here. Note that he mentions that it makes "a lot of paella." Note that while he admits that it's okay with paella to be a little loose with the measuring, he also mentions that his paella pan is 17 inches wide, a fact we overlooked when we decided to follow his recipe with little to no tweaks. In our 15 inch paella pan. Yeah. The convo went something like, "Honey, are you sure it says four cups of rice? That seems like a lot." "Yes, for the third time, it says 4 cups of rice. He used arborio, but it should be fine." Well, there were some moments when things were overflowing onto the stove. And we ended up calling in not one, not two, but three of the neighbors to help us eat dinner (which they didn't mind at all!).

The Evolution of Our Paella (in pictures):

Everyone (and in the end, that was about seven people total) loved the flavors in this dish. We used shrimp, clams and chorizo because we love that spicy meatiness paired with the seafood. It was really delicious and in the end every bit of rice was eaten. However, our lack of attention to the size of our pan vs. Gerry's resulted in a very crowded pan which then resulted in a consistency more like risotto than traditional paella. (Which isn't horrible!) What follows is the recipe we actually made, based on Gerry's. But next time, we will use half the amount of rice because of the size of our pan, and otherwise follow Gerry's recipe for yumminess.

Ingredients:

8 cups seafood broth

1 teaspoon saffron

1/2 cup olive oil

2 medium onions, diced

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, with juice

6 cloves garlic, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

4 cups medium grain rice *(depending on the size of your paella pan!)

1/2 pound chorizo

1 pound littleneck clams

1/2 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

Heat the seafood stock with the saffron in a large pot. In a large paella pan heat 1/2 cup of olive oil. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the bell pepper and continue to cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring often. Add the diced tomatoes and garlic and simmer for another 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour in 4 cups of rice and stir until it's all been covered by the tomato mixture. Slowly add the stock, stirring gently so that the rice gets coated and sits in the stock.***(See note below)

Continue to cook until rice begins to become tender. Add the chorizo and continue to cook 5 minutes. Add the clams by stuffing each one into the rice, making sure they are mostly covered by the paella. After about another 25-30 minutes, once nearly all of the stock has been absorbed, add the shrimp and cook another five minutes until shrimp turn pink. Then take the pan off the heat, cover with some foil, and allow to rest for 7-10 minutes.

Note: ***(this part took some time because all the stock wouldn't fit in the pan, so we added as much as could fit, stirred until it was absorbed, added more and continued to do this until all the stock was gone, obviously leading to our risotto-like consistency).

Holy Smoke(r)!

We are known for celebrating things late. We once enjoyed a rockin' "Seis de Mayo" with tequila and hot wings at Hooters (no comment...) with one of Chris's friends. It was the best Cinco de Mayo I never had. This year, we're having a Fifth of July cookout with our neighbors D and J. It started with good intentions...a new smoker, some marinated chicken, you know, normal plans...until we realized (around 4 p.m. on the 4th of July) the smoker needed to be cured before we could cook with it. Which takes 3 hours on top of the 4 hours needed for smoking the actual dinner. Which meant dinner would be around midnight, and D and J have jobs that, unfortunately, make them not free all summer long (unlike us).

And so today, being a brand new day, brought similar plans (and the wonderful scent!) of applewood smoked jerk chicken along with a couple of intriguing side dishes, in our one-day-late-celebration of our nation's Independence Day.

First, the chicken. We marinated several chicken pieces in a store-bought jerk seasoning. We set up the smoker with applewood chips and allowed the chicken to smoke for four hours. Without even lifting the lid (which was a huge temptation to resist, btw!)!!!

Second, the rice. We almost always make our rice (except our risotto) in a rice cooker because it comes out perfectly cooked and fluffy, the way rice should be. Tonight, we used basmati rice, but instead of plain old water, we substituted coconut water for a little bit of cool tropical flavor.

Finally, to round out the meal, Chris chopped up a whole pineapple and tossed it with fresh lavender and some vanilla sugar for a tasty side dish.

So,tonight's meal is: Applewood-Smoked Jerk Chicken with Coconut Rice and Pineapple-Lavender Salad. It may not be as patriotic as burgers and dogs, but it works for us.

Now, we don't really have any "recipes," for this meal, but to recap: we used Walkerswood Jerk Seasoning to marinate the chicken, substituted coconut water for water to cook our rice, and tossed chopped pineapple with some lavender and sugar infused with vanilla bean. D did a fabulous job grilling up corn on the cob too. If you have specific questions, don't hesitate to email us! And Happy 5th of July!!!

Sumac-Seasoned Game Hens with Carrot-Pistachio Rice

Sumac (not the poisonous tree!) is a spice often found in Middle-Eastern cooking. It was, according to The Spice House, used for its tart, citrusy flavor before the Romans introduced the lemon to the region.

We used ground sumac to season a couple of Cornish game hens the other night for dinner (we just love having our own individual chickens!). A bit of white wine, salt, pepper, and two small lemons were the only other ingredients needed to roast the delicious hens which we served with a side of steamed white rice mixed with shredded carrots and chopped pistachios. Exotically delicious!

Ingredients:

2 Cornish game hens

1/4 cup ground sumac

salt and pepper to taste

2 small lemons, halved

1 cup white wine

Sprinkle the hens with sumac, salt and pepper. Insert the halved lemons into the cavity of the hens and place in a roasting pan. Pour the wine into the bottom of the roasting pan. Roast at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, then increase heat to 400. Continue to roast another 15 minutes at 400 to brown the skin. Sprinkle with a pinch of additional sumac if desired.