Besotted Gourmet » Asian Food

Crispy Shrimp with Spicy Green Dipping Sauce

Jessica — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:47:39 +0000

One of my favorite things to do is hop on the treadmill at my gym, getting pumped for a nice 5-6 mile run, complete with elevations and surges, and pop on the Food Network (yes, I go to one of those fancy-shmancy gyms with TVs on every treadmill) to watch Ina smear some innocent bird with 10 pounds of butter, or Giada daintily mix three pounds of cheese into a casserole.

A tad incongruous, yes, but there is nothing I like better than working up a VERY big appetite (mine is quite substantial without the long run), whilst watching cooking shows and gathering ideas for that night’s supper.

And, Giada recently gave me an excellent one with her Polenta Crusted Shrimp. While I understand her predilection for an Italian breading, I couldn’t help but feel that panko breadcrumbs would have been a far superior selection, and, as it turned out, they make these baked shrimp as crispy as any fried variety.

Giada recommends an herbed mayo dip, but I decided that the spicy dipping sauce from my Grilled Bok Choy recipe would complement the weight of the shrimp and its breading perfectly – not to mention the fact that its Asian influence would pair nicely with a panko-breaded dish.

Terribly easy to prepare and fun to eat, this is the perfect casual group dinner – add a few beers, some football, and you have a party!

Enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of the recipe

Crispy Shrimp with Spicy Green Dipping Sauce, Serves 3-4

Adapted from Giada DeLaurentis, Everyday Italian

Prep Time: 30-40 Minutes

Total Time: 30-40 Minutes

Ingredients:

For the Shrimp

1lb. Large (16-20 ct.) Shrimp, peeled and de-veined

1/3 Cup Flour

½ Tsp. Salt

¼ Tsp. Pepper

1 Egg

1-1 ½ Cup Panko Bread Crumbs

2 Tsp. Dried Thyme

1 Tsp. Cayenne Pepper

Olive Oil, for drizzling

For the Spicy Green Dipping Sauce

4 Scallions (or green onions), chopped

½ Cup Vegetable Oil

2 Tbls. White Wine Vinegar

1 Tsp. Soy Sauce

1 Tsp. Sesame Oil

1 Garlic Clove, peeled

1 Tsp. Ginger, chopped

¼ Tsp. Red Pepper Flakes

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 475°. Cover a large baking sheet with tin foil.

Remove any excess moisture from your shrimp by wrapping them in paper towels.

To prepare the shrimp, lay out three separate bowls; in the first, combine the flour, salt, and pepper and mix well with a fork; in the second, beat your egg, and in the third, combine the panko breadcrumbs, thyme, and cayenne pepper.

Holding the shrimp by the tail, dredge first in the flour, shaking off any excess, cover in the beaten egg, and, finally, cover in the panko mixture until thoroughly coated, and lay on the baking sheet. Repeat with all of the remaining shrimp.

Drizzle olive oil over the shrimp and pop into the oven for 12-14 minutes.

Little shrimpies ready for a VERY hot oven!

Meanwhile, get on with the spicy green dipping sauce.

Put all of the ingredients in a mini-food processor, chopper, or blender. Blitz until smooth (20 seconds). Set aside.

Once the shrimp are out of the oven, serve them on a plate with the dipping sauce on the side, or, as I did in the picture, spoon the dipping sauce onto a plate and arrange the shrimp over it.

Golden, crispy shrimp (and no frying!)

Enjoy!

Asian Veggie Ravioli in Spicy Coconut Broth

Jessica — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:50:16 +0000

There are certain kitchen tasks that, no matter how simple, always reduce my ego and perception of my own mental capacity to the size of a child. For example, basting a turkey…. It’s quite simple, really. You just dip the tip into some of the juice, squeeze the little rubber-thingy, and distribute the juice over the turkey. Simple, right? But, somehow, I always end up choking on the heat of the oven, bump my head tellingly against the oven door, can’t quite get the juice into the baster (at which point it makes that hideous slurp-slurp noise), jab at the turkey senselessly, causing it to lose far more moisture than I ever intended to put in, and usually give myself a nasty burn.

I also will not cut a cake, for reasons that are too inane and embarrassing to expound upon here.

However, the bright side is that there are also those tasks which are ludicrously easy, but make you feel incredibly accomplished and just a little sad that your now-obvious talents have gone unnoticed for so long. This was exactly my experience when making these Asian Veggie Raviolis, as I was certain that making raviolis (nearly) from scratch was a task best left to professionals, but I dove into the task with the back-up plan of eating the filling with a spoon and looking at the pictures from the cookbook in the back of my mind.

Needless to say, the raviolis could not have been easier to make, made quite an impressive presentation, and were a very inexpensive dish. These raviolis would make a spectacular dish to serve to guest (particularly if you have vegetarians in your midst), but is easy and quick enough to make on a week-night (as long as you get home at a reasonable hour).

One other thing before the recipe… it’s ok to make the filling and the sauce in advance, and then just construct and cook the raviolis just before serving, as old-ish raviolis can get a bit dingy.

Enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of the recipe

Asian Veggie Raviolis in Spicy Coconut Broth, Serves 4

Adapted from Caprial’s Bistro-Style Cuisine

Prep Time: 50 Minutes

Cooling Time: 1 Hour

Total Time: 1 Hour 50 Minutes

Ingredients:

For the Filling:

1 Tbls. Ginger, peeled and rough chopped

2 Cloves Garlic

½ Cup Scallions, rough chopped

1 Carrot, rough chopped

6 Snow Peas

1 Red Bell Pepper, de-seeded and rough-chopped

½ Cup Shiitake Mushrooms, rough-chopped

2 Tsp. Vegetable Oil

1 Tsp. Sesame Oil

1 Tsp. Chile Paste

2 Tbls. Soy Sauce

48 Wonton Wrappers

For the Broth:

2 Tsp. Vegetable Oil

2 Cloves Garlic, chopped

2 Tsp. Ginger, peeled and chopped

¾ Cup Stock, either chicken or vegetable

1 ½ Cup Reduced Fat Coconut Milk*

2 Tsp. Honey

1 Tbls. Five-Spice Powder

1 Tsp. Chili Paste

Preparation:

Heat the vegetable oil in a saute pan over medium heat while you prepare the filling.

Put the garlic, ginger, and all of the vegetables for the filling into the bowl of a food processor and pulse into very finely minced and well-blended.

Turn the veggie mush out into the saute pan and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the sesame oil, chili sauce, and soy sauce and stir well. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 1 hour.

Just before the hour is up, put a pot of water on the stove top to boil over medium-high heat and start in on making the broth.

Heat the oil in a sauce pan over medium heat until hot. Add the garlic and ginger and saute for 1 minute, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Add the stock, coconut milk, and honey and bring to a boil. Add the five-spice powder and chili paste, and turn the heat down to low and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.

While you’re waiting for the stock to boil and simmer, you can get on making the raviolis. Lay your wonton wrappers out on a flat surface. Drop just under a rounded teaspoon onto the middle of them, brush the sides with water using a pastry brush, and place another wrapper on top, pinching down the sides. Be careful to not over-fill them.

Once prepared, cook your raviolis in the GENTLY boiling water (it should be over medium-high heat) for 2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and allow to drain in a colander.

Plate the raviolis, ladle some of the spicy coconut broth over them, and garnish with dried cilantro or parsley. Enjoy!

*I almost never go for the reduced-fat version of items, but coconut milk is extremely heavy, and I prefer the reduced-fat version.