By nando, on September 6th, 2011%
There is a special place in my heart (and stomach!) for Rosa Mexicano. As I’ve written in previous posts, my first date with my wife was at Rosa Mexicano, and we try to go on our anniversary whenever possible. I even have the Rosa Mexicano cookbook, an anniversary gift from my wife a few years ago. I was looking for some inspiration because I haven’t been cooking as much as I used to, so I turned to this cookbook and found this great recipe. I did change a few things, but the spirit of the recipe is mostly intact. The changes: I used shallots instead of red onion, added roasted corn, and used only one jalapeño pepper, instead of the two that the recipe called for (thought it would be too spicy for my wife but it ended up being too mild).
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: I served this dish with white rice and refried beans, but I didn’t take pictures of the sides.
Ingredients:
1.5 pounds peeled/de-vained shrimp (I used large, 21-25 shrimp)
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup corn (about one large ear)
1 large shallot, sliced thin
2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and minced
2 cloves . . . → Read More: Shrimp in Cilantro Cream Sauce
By nando, on January 11th, 2011%
Most people think of crab cakes as either too expensive to order when eating out or too difficult to make at home (or both!). Truth be told, they’re quite easy to make at home, but they can be a bit messy, so I suggest wearing rubber gloves when forming the patties. Few other dishes make my wife as happy as a good crab cake meal; the only shame is that we don’t get to eat them as often as she’d like. Hopefully, this recipe will prove simple enough that most readers will want to give it a try this weekend. Just make sure you use Ritz crackers, as they are the “secret” ingredient that make a world of difference (compared to regular bread crumbs).
As for which crab meat to buy, I suggest going with a brand that sells local Blue Crab if you’re on the East coast or a nice Dungeness crab if you’re on the West coast. Just read the label and it will tell you where it’s from. As for Phillips (the most well-known brand), most of their crab is from Thailand, so consider yourself warned keep that in mind. Edit: If you can get . . . → Read More: Crab Cakes
By nando, on November 9th, 2010%
The title isn’t a literal translation. I opted to not call it a shrimp stew because the shrimp don’t actually stew; rather, they cook quickly in the tomato sauce. It’s prepared as many other Puerto Rican stews would be, and with basically the same ingredients (though I opt to trade bell peppers for celery and add carrots for sweetness) and is probably best when served over white rice with some amarillos or maduros (fried ripe plantain).
This recipe calls for red wine to be added. You can skip it, but keep in mind that it won’t taste the same. Tomatoes have quite a few alcohol-soluble flavor compounds and you just won’t get the same depth of flavor if you do not use the wine.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35-40 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: I use No Sodium Added tomatoes in my recipes. If you buy tomatoes that have sodium added, make sure to adjust the amount of salt in the recipe accordingly.
Ingredients:
1 lb raw medium shrimp (21-30 will do), peeled and deveined.
1 small onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 Serrano chile, diced
1 large or 2 small garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp honey
10-12 pimento-stuffed olives
15-20 capers (about 1.5 tbsp)
1 tbsp . . . → Read More: Shrimp in Red Sauce (Camarones Guisados)
By nando, on August 20th, 2010%
I’ve seen my share of tuna burgers on restaurant menus for years now. I’ve never ordered one because I’m not a huge fan of seared tuna steaks and I was afraid that the non-steak burgers were made from canned tuna (which I don’t really care for, either). I’ve also seen cooking shows where they use either tuna steaks or canned tuna to make burgers but I usually change the channel as it’s something I never thought I’d be interested in. However, I was inspired to do something different after watching an old episode of Iron Chef America where Morimoto took a large piece of tuna and chopped it up with two knives into very small pieces and than created a beautiful tuna tartar out of it. My thought process was as follows: “Why can’t I take small pieces of tuna and mix them as I would a crab cake, then make a burger/slider out if it?”
It’s been a few weeks since I saw that episode and had almost forgot about it until I was looking through the sale items in my local Harris Teeter and saw that sashimi-grade Tuna was on sale for $7 a pound. I usually try to stick . . . → Read More: Ahi Tuna Sliders
By nando, on July 26th, 2010%
I recently discovered a farm stand about one mile south of my house. I drive past this location every day, twice a day, on my way to and from work (though they’re only there in the afternoons) and finally decided to stop by and see what they had for sale.
It turns out that all the produce is grown by a lady that lives right up the driveway from where the stand sits. She has a green house and so she sells everything she grows at very reasonable prices. She also bakes her own bread and sells it at the stand. Very nice and you can’t really get much more local than a mile down the street and your own back yard.
I found her grape and cherry tomatoes to be absolutely beautiful so I gathered a hand full (about 1 lb) of yellow cherry and red grape tomatoes and placed them on the scale. Total cost: $1.50. What a bargain! So, I went home, tomatoes in hand, trying to think of a way to incorporate them into dinner that night (a full 2 1/2 hours before I usually serve dinner!). I was immersed in feelings of summer and thought about all the . . . → Read More: Summer Spaghetti with Shrimp
By nando, on July 14th, 2010%
My wife and I went to New Orleans in March (for her spring break). As usual, I made a list of restaurants that I wanted to try. Most people make lists of attractions such as an aquarium, a pier, a museum, or a park, but the first thing I look for when traveling is what local cuisine I want to try (and what restaurants I want to visit).
Any trip to New Orleans wouldn’t be complete without Po’ Boys, oysters, and Beignets (from Cafe du Monde, of course). We found Johnny’s Po’ Boys to have the best po’ boy (the shrimp/crawfish combo was good, but the roast beef was to die for!). We only had beignets at Cafe du Monde, so I can’t really give you any recommendations there. We did find that, while Acme Oyster House is the better-known establishment, the oysters at Felix’s Restaurant and Oyster Bar were bigger, fresher, and significantly tastier. We’d highly recommend the char-grilled oysters at Felix’s, but the red beans and rice at Acme was the best I had in NOLA.
We had also planned on a fancy dinner. We had narrowed it down to two restaurants: The Bon Ton Cafe (chef John Besh‘s “Best Thing . . . → Read More: Recipe: Nawlins Crab au Gratin
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