shrimp & oysters w/ fettuccine in tomato cream

something i never did until i met my mentor chef ted, was to use classic marinara sauce as a base and add almost anything to it. if there is one thing i learned form him that i do more often than any other, it is that.

this dish, once all the ingredients are assembled is actually a quite simple one that yields fantastic results and ooooh's and aahhhhh's form who ever eats it. on this particular afternoon i was cooking for someone who had expressed to me that they were extremely hungry, so i used X-treme measures. if you look at the picture of the finished dish you will see what i am referring to. the dish is actually a serving platter that is 44 cm wide, which is only one centimeter shy of a foot and a half across. this should give yo a bit of scale for reference. the shrimps were fresh from the emporium's 5th floor market and each one after cooking was 6 cm in diameter. if i remember correctly they were about $6.50 USD a piece and weighed in at 325 grams each with the shell on. and those beautiful little feta stuffed peperoncini peppers (#2 in the image) were about 1.00 USD a piece. add the endangered species pine nuts to that and some pernod liquor, and this dish, although simple, is a costly one. however, value for money, it can't be beat. makes a great christmas dinner appetizer (serve one to each guest on a small nest of pasta with one pepper and a very thin slice of garlic bread) or maybe show someone special how much you really care and cook this for valentine's, the coloring is perfect for that.

like everything else i post here, the ingredient portions are not specific, use your best judgment and refer to the colors in the photos to achieve the desired results.

you will need: 

• shrimp, fresh, as large as you can find, the bigger, the moister, the more flavorful, but fresh!
• oysters, fresh shucked, in their own liquor (juice - if not available you could substitute mussels or hard shell clams i guess - or leave them out)
• marinara sauce, homemade (or store bought tomato sauce amplified with diced canned tomatoes and anchovies, basil and capers added)
• leek, minced
• shallot, fresh, minced
• olive oil, extra virgin, light, no matter, just a good one
• olive oil margarine (is there such a thing? i bet that's a misnomer, better to just call it spread)
• fresh italian basil, do not chop if small leaves, or only chop a little bit
• parsley - italian preferred, curly ok, whole and chopped
• pernod, portion some into a small glass or dish. DO NOT POUR STRAIGHT FORM THE BOTTLE INTO THE PAN UNLESS YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH OR WANT TO BE CALLED LEATHER FACE FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.
• feta stuffed peperoncini marinated in olive oil 
• pine nuts, toasted (follow the link and check out the part titled: ecology and status)
• sun-dried tomato pesto, you will only be using the oil so do not stir it up, and if necessary,add some olive oil to the jar to provide you with enough.
• capers (if you do not have home made marinara sauce)
• anchovies (if you do not have home made marinara sauce)
• black pepper, fresh, rough ground
• paprika, a good one, not the stuff used to decorate deviled eggs 
• parmigiano cheese, grated not ground if possible (fresh is best, ground tastes like sand, especially if it is the kind from a box or jar. this type of cheese usually won't behave as you would want it too, and won't incorporate/melt into the sauce. thus leaving it with a gritty texture that will lay on the tongue. YUCK! FAILURE!)
• fettuccine, fresh if you can find it (spinach flavored is ok too and adds some more color, especially for a christmas dish) dried if not available (the link to the fett is an awesome blog i just discovered.)
• baguette, fresh (or a similar style bread, but fresh is imperative, isn't it?)
• garlic butter that has been prepared days or weeks in advance (sure you can make it right then and there, but time will show you the difference with this basic ingredient. i think i will have to do a post on this stalwart of my frig, as well as marinara)

a picture is worth a bazillion words (you can always click the pic for a larger image):

btw, i be listening to sade's soldier of love as i write this post, great mood music for just about anything. nice back on sade, isn't it? (some people and things never get older, just better!)

how its done, the method, techniques and assembly:

1. get everything you will need ready. 
2. if using dry pasta, cook it to the desired bite, i prefer al dente, shock in water and coat with a small amount of olive oil (or anchovy or sun-dried tomato pesto oil). toss with a small amount of chopped parsley, and set aside.
3. prepare the tomato sauce if you do not have marinara. simply take the best jar of tomato sauce you can find (basic tomato or flavored, with olives added is great), the canned diced tomatoes, a small spoon of capers, 2 or 3 anchovies and a bit of the oil from the jar/can and heat through. (before you put the 'chovies away, top the jar off with some good olive oil. its great for sauteing and salads too. if canned, place in a little-teenie-tiny jar or crock and fill with oil.)
4. toast the pine nuts in a toaster oven or simply in a heated, heavy bottomed pan. be very careful, good fresh pine nuts have a bit of oil in them and they will burn or scorch in a matter of a few seconds once they come up to temperature. remove them from the pan or tray and place them on a plate to avoid them cooking any longer - and getting too much color. this will also enhance their flavor 1,000,000%.
5. clean and de-vein the shrimp leaving the very last tail section on for added flavor, color and a stunning presentation. pat dry with a towel, this helps them to develop their color better when you cook them. (do this with all meat, fish and veggies and you will see a distinct difference in the taste and appearance of all your meals.) season both sides with freshly ground pepper. press the pepper into the flesh a bit with your hand to assure the pepper makes it into the pan.
6. mince the shallots and leeks. chop the parsley, and stem the basil.
7. cut the bread and shmear with the garlic butter.
8. open the cream, pesto, etc, and have the spoons for portioning ready too. this will make the assembly go much smoother, and if anyone is watching, you will look like a pro who actually knows what they are doing. a bit of performance always makes a meal taste better to your guests.
9. cook the shrimp until about 85% done and set aside in the pan or dish that you cooked them in. they will continue to cook while you prepare the sauce. (searing is best, sear all 3 sides. broiling is ok, but for me, not fast enough and you loose so much of the precious juice. if yo do broil, be certain to add the pan juices form the shrimp to your sauce.)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
    just to give you some perspective, this pan is 24 cm across.
   
   
10. toast or bake the garlic bread. keep an eye on it, you do not want to burn it, but then you do not want to be having the entire dish getting cold because you neglected to start the bread.
11. moderately heat some olive oil and some olive oil spread in a pan large enough to accommodate the amount of sauce you will be preparing. use enough to moisten the amount of veggies you will be sauteing. Note: you will want to end up with about 1 cup of finished sauce per serving.
12. add the shallots and leeks and cook until clear. the proper terminology is to sweat.
13. CAREFULLY flame with some pernod, 1 to 2 tablespoons per serving. do not move the pan violently, let the alcohol burn off, do not drown it by moving the pan, this leaves a bitter taste. but, do not cook it to death either.
14. add the marinara, some of the liquor (juice) from the oysters and a bit of good paprika. shake the paprika do not spoon it in otherwise it could lump up, not tastey at all. (if no oyster juice, use a bit of clam juice), and simmer for just a few minutes.
15. add enough heavy cream to achieve the color of pink you see in the picture below, or to taste.
16. add the shucked oysters, chopped basil and parsley. simmer for 1 or 2 minutes longer, just long enough to poach the oysters and not reduce them to pencil erasers.
17. turn off the pan and remove from the heat if you are using that archaic device known as an electric stove. (the only people who like these contraptions are insurance companies.)
18. re-heat the pasta in your microwave. BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO USE TOO MUCH POWER OR LEAVE IT FOR TOO LONG. YOU ARE HEATING IT, NOT COOKING IT.
19. line up the warm (not hot), pre-heated plates you will use for serving and put 2/3 of each sauce portion onto the plate.
20. arrange the pasta as shown in the picture below and top with the remaining 1/3 of each sauce portion. leave some sauce showing for the presentation FX.
21. press one edge of each cooked shrimp gently into some of the chopped parsley, and place on top of the pasta and sauce. again, presentation.
22. sprinkle some of the toasted pine nuts over the dish, as well as a very small amount of the cheese, arrange the feta stuffed peppers, garlic bread and garnish to accent the pasta and shrimps.
23. drizzle some of the oil from the sun-dried tomato pesto over the dish, the bread and around the plate. do this sparingly as you only need a bit and you do not want the balance to become up-set.
24. serve, bath in the glory, tell them there was nothing to it. accept donations, remember, this is a pricey dish.
25. boot up your computer and show them my blog. i know, shameless pandering.

needless to say, its all in the preparation, like most things in life. sure, once you start to cook it a bit of spontaneity adds to the dish, but just have it all ready. especially if you are preparing this for a large group.

further, you may think there are a lot of ingredients here, but not really. so the better the quality of each, the better your final dish will be. 

VARIATIONS: of course i am not done ranting about this dish, we can do all sorts of things to it. setting some fresh blanched asparagus on the plate so it is sticking out from under the pasta would be great. or possibly adding a bit of sliced fresh okra, or diced eggplant to the pan when you are sauteing the shallots and leeks. possibly sprinkle a few bright green peas over the dish, or a little bit of slivered sun-dried tomato. if these stuffed peppers are not available you could use some very nice greek olives on the side instead. toss them with some crumbled feta! or, spread some feta on the garlic bread and garnish that with some chopped olives. the idea is to add some accents, not to adulterate the dish with too many other flavors.

most importantly, HAVE SOME FUN, SHARE!

ps - it took me over three hours to format the pics and write this post. it should only take about 20 minutes to cook the dish. - tlg

shopping in a store when the power goes is not my idea of fun ...

i had to go to the grocery store today to stock up a kitchen that had nothing in it, something that can actually be fun, but today ... not!

my market of choice was the one on the 5th floor of the emporium mall, 622 sukhumvit rd. phromphong station on the bts skytrain. it is actually the smaller and older sister to the paragon i wrote about yesterday.


when i arrived the power was out for a few square block radius, seems egat (the electric generating authority of thailand) was having a major problem in the area. i spoke to the staff hanging around and they said it had already been an hour so i figured it would probably be not too long before the power came back on ... not! but not knowing this at the time i trekked up the 5 long flights of escalator to where the grocery was. one thing about the 5ht floor when this happens, there is so much refrigeration that they dedicate a good percentage of their back-up emergency power to that area, not the concessions - their area :-)

so i started to pick-up all the things that any kitchen would need, and i also got everything i would need for lunch. today's menu was going to be chicken thighs and livers in a mushroom and sherry sauce, mashed potatoes, and the all-time-stand-by-favorite, green peas.

simplicity is elegance! lmao

so as i was touring around the aisles, and picking out all that i needed from my lists ,i started to get a bit anxious. no power coming back on. not too bad for the actual shopping, but a real bummer when i want to leave and go the 5 flights back down to the street level. normally no big deal, but today i will have more than usual in order to set up this new kitchen and its larder.

i know they have a "luuk-nawng" ลูกน้อง, helper/assistant who can take some of the load, but still, i am not relishing the thought. just as i am about to ask the kid at checkout to assist, the power came back up, a cheer was heard 'round the store, air-con units started to hum and we all thought it was gonna be ok ... not! i figure so many appliances and machines were still set to on that they instantly had a localized brown out in the store. groans and grunts were now emanating from the aisles. 2 more minutes went by, up came the power, and it remained on at least until i was able to get my ass into the elevator and down to the street where i caught a taxi back home.

one funny thing, when we got into the lift there was no light in the cab. as the doors shut all the thai girls that were in there started to get all spooky like they do. so me, being the arse that i am, did what my older brothers used to do to me when they would babysit me as a youngster - i started to make creepy sounds like it was a halloween house of horrors. one girl truly freaked! so i stopped. all the others laughed and gave her a hard time. boy i love it here, so much fun everyday :o)

so i arrive at home, trek up-stairs, settle down to work, and also start the prep for lunch. now i am jumping back-and-forth between the kitchen and my office doing computer work and cooking all at the same time. so please pardon the fact that i did not get a full compliment of pictures, but i do have a few good ones of the stages i was able to snap.

i am cooking for 4 adults, 3 of whom will almost always consume as much food as i will put in front of them, regardless of the portion size. i chopped up 2 medium spanish onions, one bermuda onion (they be in season and i am loving these things everyday), one stalk of a good sized japanese leek (whites with a bit of the green thrown in for good measure), 6 huge cloves of garlic, sliced, some fresh straw mushrooms, "het fang" เห็ดฟาง (if you can not get fresh - never use the canned ones, use button mushrooms instead - canned straw mushrooms are a scam and they suck big time). these are the shrooms that you also see in "thom yum goong", ต้มยำ, spicy and piquant thai shrimp soup and some "het nang lom" เห็ดหนังลม or oyster mushrooms.

i then take the very nice and good sized boneless chicken thighs and cut them in half, season them with some delicatesse paprika, not the shite that most stores have and you sprinkle on deviled eggs thinking you have decorated them, some dried thyme leaf and some fresh ground seasalt and black pepper. i toss the pieces into a recycled plastic grocery bag, add in some all purpose flour, close the bag and do the ol' shake and bake maneuver, remove the pieces from the bag and lay them out on a plate to let the coating set and congeal with the moisture from the chicken.

i am going to garnish this dish with some sauteed chicken livers, so i take those from their bag and put them int a plastic strainer that is more like a basket with large holes. this allows the blood to drain off, the livers to dry ever so slightly, and that way the will sear well when i cook them.

next my good sturdy 12" fry pan, add some good olive oil, bring it up to high temp and add the prepped veggies. as the veggies are sweating, i prepare the quick and easy knorr brand demi-glace mix, a half liter, by putting it directly into the water bottle, replacing the cap, and shaking the living sh*t out of it. when the onions and leek are translucent i pour in about a half cup of majesty thai sherry (i have said this before - do not drink it, only cook with it!), and then add the demi-glace mix (be sure there are no large lumps in it, really feks up the sauce). i let that all come up to temp, throw in some very nice fresh sage leaves i have cut not to small, and a half cup or so of the always-required-chopped-parsley and simmer it all for about 5 minutes. i see it is a bit too thick so i add another cup +/- of water.

notes:

1. typically paprika in grocery stores is dry, old and not flavorless, but skanky smelling, avoid it at all costs. pay a bit more for good paprika and savor the aroma and taste, and you do not have to use so much. any paprika from hungary is tops!
   
2. dry thyme, leaf only, never powder. make sure it is not to old for the same reason you avoid the paprika. when it gets old, it smells like month old laundry.
3. be aware that any knorr product, or similar, contains salt and food additives so be careful not to over salt your food as you will be adding salt with these mixes. also, if you are to simmer or braise the food in such a product, never add salt until you are done, and always add more water than the directions call for. this way you will not have hard meats from the salt, too much salt taste and not to thick a finished gravy.
4. i use the sherry to help cut the packaged taste of the sauce mix and to also impart a wine flavor.
5. fresh herbs can improve, or save almost any dish, or help any pre-packaged convenience additive (like the demi-galce mix) to mellow out. sage is one of my favorites, but do not use too much, or that is all you will taste. it is really good with calves liver and bacon that you de-glaze with balsamic vinegar. (did you know the american indians smoke sage in their "peace" pipes? hmmmmmmm :-p )
   

i only have a one burner contrivance so i must now put the sauce to the side and sear the chicken pieces. the pot that i have, the only one large enough for the finished batch, is a very basic, very thin, very alu-min-i-um thai pot that's 30 cm in diameter. if you ever leave these things unattended you will regret it. anything (even water) will stick in a minute, burn in to 2. i put about a cup of good olive oil and bring it up to a high temp and then i very careful, with thongs, place - not throw, not drop, not put - but place the pieces into the pot skin side down.

i start the process by placing one of the pieces on the far outer edge and continue around and circle into the center. that way the first pieces will not be burning by the time i get the last ones in, and the temperature will have balanced out nicely across the surface of the pots bottom. i let them sear - untouched, do not poke, do not nudge - until they release themselves from the bottom of the pot.

then i gently grab them with the tongs and turn them, once again placing them carefully so as not to spatter the oil and burn myself. notice that they have contracted and shrunk a bit in sieze and they now fit perfectly across the bottom which allows for every piece to evenly brown and crust up. this will make a very big difference in your final product and the final texture, which we all know affects the final taste.

• note: when turning with tongs remember these are boneless chicken thighs and if you handle them nonchalantly, they will break up int small pieces. this will not effect the taste, but it sure does effect the final serving and presentation of the dish.

when the chicken is properly seared on both sides i then carefully pour the sauce over the chicken pieces. i do not stir it, poke or shake it, i wait. i have not removed the olive oil or any of the rendered chicken fat either, to do so would be sacrilege and diminish the final taste immensely.

when i see that the sauce has come back up to temp i turn the flame down to a simmer, and after a minute or 2, i then carefully grab both handles of the pot using protection (i love using folded dry washcloths for this) and gently with a swirling motion, move the pot until i see that the chicken is no longer cleaved to the bottom and the sauce is mixing in and under. i place the lid on top and let it ride for about 5 or 10 minutes, no more. i then remove the lid and check the product. all looks good so i put it aside, grab a small saute pan, add some olive oil, and bring it up to temp.

i then carefully add the livers to that pan, let them sit while they sear, and then carefully start to swirl the pan so they will get cooked on all sides. i like my liver medium rare to medium, so this only takes about 4 to 5 minutes. when the livers are done at most, i set the pan to the side and make sure it is canted on an angle. this way any blood will collect to the side. when i see the yare drained i remove them from the pan and set them aside in a dish.

during all of this i have been running back and forth to my office, doing my daily work load, and peeling potatoes and defrosting the peas. i cut the potatoes and boil them in - water with a good amount of the sea salt, drain them when they are done - leaving a few tablespoons of water in the bottom. i have 6 large russets, so i add about 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter and about 2 tablespoons of olive oil margarine, fresh ground black pepper and i begin to mash. when that is complete i taste and correct with a tad more sea salt, and put them aside. i have had the peas steeping in hot water so they do not even need to be put to the fire.

i am now ready to deliver upstairs and plate on site as it were.

i first place the tates on the plate, make a small well for some sauce, arrange the chicken and livers as i like them, and then i carefully ladle sauce onto them. the final step is to add the peas to the plate (they are naked, they need nothing) and i we are ready to eat.

yes? no? maybe?
just like mama never made?