Spicy Sesame Sake Shrimp with Asian Inspired Rice Pilaf

Ah the deep freeze... always an adventure to find what's been buried at the bottom! Tonight I unearthed a half-full bag of frozen shrimp. Yes yes, I know... frozen shrimp... but when you live in the Midwest, frozen seafood is sometimes the best you can get! I have a plethora of Asian-inspired marinade ingredients from a recipe I tried out a while back, so I figured what the heck, let's rescue these shrimp in style!

I suppose you could skewer these and grill them and they'd be delicious, but the shrimp I had on hand were pretty puny, and the idea of threading tiny shrimp onto skewers on a work night just didn't appeal. Lazy way out ftw!

A few words on chilies: pick the kind you like, for the heat level you can tolerate. I used a cayenne because I like a little heat and I had some dried ones from my garden, but you can go with a milder variety if you like, or even go with a Thai Bird's Eye or habanero if you're adventurous! (or leave the chili out altogether if you think the chili sauce is enough heat for you)

If you can't find broccoli slaw, or don't like it, use whatever veggies you want... you could toss in a can of drained chopped water chestnuts, some drained bamboo shoots, green onions, fresh or frozen broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, whatever tickles your fancy.

Spicy Sesame Sake Shrimp with Asian Inspired Rice Pilaf:

Marinade Ingredients:

1/4c. soy sauce (use low sodium if you prefer)
1/4c. sake
1/4c. mirin (can find in the asian food isle at your local grocery)
1 Tbsp. chili sauce (use whatever kind you prefer, I used a spicy ketchup-like one)
1 Tbsp. sesame oil (taste the marinade, if you want more sesame flavor, add 2 Tbsp. instead)
1 dried cayenne pepper, or other dried or fresh chile, broken or sliced into pieces)

Rice Pilaf Ingredients:

1c. uncooked parboiled rice (I used Uncle Ben's)
1-2 handfulls of broccoli-slaw (comes in a plastic bag by the bagged salad)
2c. seafood stock (or just use chicken stock if you don't like/can't find seafood stock)
1/4c. sake
1Tbsp. Asian seasoning blend (I used Emeril's, but there are several out there)
1Tbsp. oil
salt and pepper to taste

1/2 bag of frozen shrimp, thawed, deveined and peeled, tails left on or off is your choice.
dribble of oil for the pan

Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a bowl, and place into a shallow dish with the shrimp. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours... for a lot more flavor you can marinate overnight, but I left the shells on when I did this and took them off before cooking.

Place all the rice pilaf ingredients in either a pan or a microwave rice cooker, and cook according to the package directions for 4 servings of parboiled rice.

Remove the shrimp from the marinade and pat dry with paper towels. Heat a dribble of oil in a pan on medium-high heat, and saute the shrimp until just opaque and pink.

Serve shrimp over the rice pilaf, perhaps with a nice side of steamed asparagus or broccoli.

Bing Cherry Ginger and Cinnamon Ice Cream

Remember making homemade ice cream as a kid? That old contraption with the wooden bucket... the rock salt on the ice... sitting on the sidewalk and turning the crank for 30 minutes... opening the lid to scoop out the ice cream, and dripping the rock-salty water into it accidentally... it still tasted so good!

Nowadays there are several new, easier types of ice cream makers. At our house, we recently acquired the ice cream maker attachment for our Kitchenaid mixer, and it's inspired me to try out some new flavors! If we could eat the ice cream quicker I'd come up with a new recipe every week, but so far it's about once every two weeks lol. The first ice cream recipe I tried was the cinnamon ice cream recipe on www.simplyrecipes.com. Toss some halved and pitted fresh plums and peaches in a big foil packet, dot them with a tiny bit of butter, sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon and ginger, wrap them up and grill them for 15 minutes and you've got an amazing dessert, made even better by the addition of this delicious cinnamon ice cream!

This inspired me to make my own ice cream concoction... hopefully the first of many! I hope you like it, tell me what you think!

Bing Cherry Ginger and Cinnamon Ice Cream

Ingredients

1 lb. fresh bing cherries, stemmed, pitted and halved
1 Tbsp. peeled fresh ginger, grated
1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon

1 cup of whole milk
1/2 cup of sugar + 3/4c. sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 cups of heavy cream
6 egg yolks

Directions

Place the cherries, cinnamon, ginger, and 1/2 cup of the sugar into a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium high heat, and continue to cook for 8-10 minutes. (You may want to add a tiny bit of water at the beginning of the cooking process so the sugar doesn't burn). Cool slightly, transfer to a bowl, and refrigerate until cold.

Meanwhile, heat the milk, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and 1 cup of the cream in another medium saucepan over medium heat. While the mixture is warming, set a metal bowl into a larger bowl half full of ice and water. Pour the remaining cup of cream into the chilling bowl and place a strainer on top.

In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks and then slowly add the warmed milk mixture to the egg yolks one ladlefull at a time, all the while whisking the egg yolks, until about half the heated milk mixture is incorporated. Pour the rest of the heated mixture out of the pan into the eggs, then transfer everything back into the pan. Heat the yolk and milk mixture in the saucepan stirring constantly and scraping the sides and bottom of the pan, until it thickens to a custard consistency. You will know you have reached this stage when the mixture coats the back of a spoon and you can run your finger through it and the liquid stays in place, and the mixture reaches 170-175 degrees F.

Pour the heated custard through the strainer into the chilling bowl of cream to strain out any eggy bits that might remain, remove the strainer and whisk the mixture to combine. Stir occasionally until the mixture chills somewhat, then refrigerate until completely cold, at least an hour. When both the cherry mixture and the custard mixture are chilled, strain the juice from the cherries into the custard mix and stir to combine, reserving the cherries in a separate bowl. Freeze the custard/cherry juice mixture according to your ice cream maker's manufacturer's instructions. Once frozen, stir in the cherries. Transfer ice cream to a sealed container, freeze and enjoy!

Let's Talk Cookbooks...

Cookbooks... probably one of my favorite types of literature. I've been known to buy a new cookbook and read it from cover to cover like any other book. I've got enough cookbooks to take up at least 1.5 bookshelves on a book case, and I'm slowly adding to my collection. Here's a condensed list of some of my favorites

Cookbooks I consider "required" for any kitchen, good for basic references:

Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook
















If you're not lucky enough to own the original 1968 ring-bound edition, the newest edition is still worth getting!

Betty Crocker's Cookbook

















Again, get the old one if you can, otherwise I'm sure the new one is good too... lots of basic recipes and helpful hints.

Cookbooks I use all the time:

300 Comfort Food Recipes

















Recommended to me by a co-worker, and I've found some very nice recpies in here. Apparently she's releasing a new edition in August, 500 Comfort Food Recipes. I've already ordered a copy!

Mexican Everyday

















Outstanding authentic Mexican food, and none of the recipes have tons of ingredients or are very complex. Lots of things that are easy to shop for and make on a weeknight (a big plus for me!)

Cookbooks that I think are beautiful and entertaining to read (and occasionally cook out of):

Mexico One Plate at a Time

















Great recipes, a tad more involved than I'd choose to cook on a weeknight, primarily weekend cooking.

Fiesta at Rick's: Fabulous Food for Great Times with Friends
















Again great recipes, but more involved... probably more appropriate for special occasions or weekends.

Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life

















An absolutely beautiful read, gorgeous pictures, great inventive recipes, and the book is broken up into sections by what ingredients are in season... and each section also has a blurb with tips about growing the ingredients in question in your own garden/pots.

The New Moosewood Cookbook

















A great vegetarian cookbook with superb recipes that make you not miss the meat... hand-illustrated and hand-lettered, beautiful to look at as well.

The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest

















The companion to The Moosewood Cookbook, also hand-illustrated and hand-lettered.


I admit I'm also a bit of a Top Chef fangirl, so I own Top Chef the Cookbook, Top Chef: The Quickfire Cookbook, and How to Cook Like a Top Chef. The photos are gorgeous, the recipes make me drool, and they also contain helpful hints and behind-the-scenes info on the show. :)

I also have found that a lot of my favorite go-to cookbooks are rather unconventional... a free Jello cookbook pamphlet, a small paperback cookbook of nothing but curries... and don't ever overlook fundraiser cookbooks! I have one that my high school marching band sold as a fundraiser and one that my grandmother's church sold as a fundraiser, and I use them all the time... They're sure to be filled with tried and true family recipes!























Also keep an eye out for vendors at farmer's markets, county fairs, and local farms who sell their own cookbooks. These people know what they're doing! I have an asparagus and rhubarb cookbook from Pendleton's Country Market that's awesome!





What are some of your favorite cookbooks?