Valentine's Day - Dinner for Two

Good guess! We'll be making this.

It's the evening of Valentine's Day. If you have kids, they're in bed by now and you're focusing your attention on your sweetie. If you don't have kids, you're focusing your attention on your better half already. Finally, if you have no kids, no significant other, AND you're reading this blog - just make the food for yourself, lock the door and put on cartoons. No reason to share the yummies. 

Now, before evening rolls around, you're going to want to do some shopping. Let's keep the ingredients simple and relatively inexpensive. This exercise is mostly about method of preparation. The most difficult item tonight is a Risotto, and I'll walk you through it. The point here is not to run out and buy the biggest lobster and most expensive bottle of champagne you can find. Any random jackass can do that. This is making something that shows you have some class and are willing to put in effort to show that you care. Making something with your own hands that is pleasing to all of the senses. Invoking feelings of trust and closeness,  compassion and understanding.

Then maybe parlaying those feelings into some after-hours bouncy bouncy. Let's begin.

Valentine’s Day Dinner For Two:

Tomato Fresco Bruschetta & Sauteed Shrimp over Mushroom Risotto

-recommended to be served with a sweet Moscato or even an auslese Riesling.

Mise en Place

Here's what you need:

For the Bruschetta

Roma Tomatoes – 4

Garlic, Minced – 1 tbsp

Olive Oil – 1 oz

Basil, fresh, chiffonade – 2 tbsp

Kosher Salt – TT

Italian Bread, bias sliced 

For the Risotto

Arborio Rice – 1 cup

Chicken Stock – 4 cups

Mushrooms, sliced – 1 cup (I prefer crimini, but button works fine)

Shallots, diced – 2
Garlic, minced - 2 tsp
White Wine – 1/3 cup

Olive Oil – 2 tbsp

Green Onion, thinly sliced – 2 tbsp

Kosher Salt – TT 
 Asiago, grated – to top

For the Shrimp 

Shrimp, large (shelled and deveined) – 12

White Wine – to deglaze

Salt & Pepper – TT

Wooden Skewers, 6 in. – 4

Olive Oil (for sauteeing)

And here's what you do:

For the Bruschetta

Prepare this first to give it some rest time while the other preparations are underway. Do not top the bread until service.

-Dice your Romas. Be careful; too large and it won't fit on the bread well, too small and it'll turn to mush quickly.
-Combine all other ingredients (except bread) in a bowl. Cover and set aside.

Bias cut bread for Bruschetta

-Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. 
-Slice the bread on a bias. Brush with Olive Oil. If you prefer, sprinkle a little Garlic Powder over it all, but not much.
-Place all of your bread slices on a sheet pan and toast in the oven for 5 - 10 minutes. Keep an eye on them. They tend to burn easily.

To serve: Place a spoonful of the tomato mixture onto each bread slice, arrange on a plate, and let the yumminess commence.

For the Risotto

A Risotto is a relatively simple thing to create. Unfortunately, it's also a very easy thing to screw up. If this is your first time making a Risotto, give it your undivided attention until it's done.

-Oil a saucepan with 1 tbsp of the Olive Oil. Turn on medium heat. Do not let the oil smoke.
-When the oil is hot, add your diced Shallots. Cook until slightly tender.
-Add your Garlic and Mushrooms, continue to cook until 'Shrooms shrink slightly and get floppy.
-Pour in your rice. All of it. Stir it around until every grain is coated with vegetable essence and Olive Oil. Cook until the rice changes color slightly. (If needed, you may use the other tbsp of Olive Oil at this stage, but it might not be necessary.)
-Deglaze with White Wine. Continue stirring until almost all of the wine is cooked off/absorbed into the rice.

Risotto in progress

-Pour in about 1/3 of your chicken stock. Cook,stirring constantly, until stock is almost fully absorbed.
-Pour in another 1/3 of your stock. Continue cooking, continue stirring, until stock is almost fully absorbed.
-Pour in last 1/3 of stock. Add the green Onion and Salt. Continue with the cooking and stirring. When everything is almost fully incorporated, cover and remove from heat. Let rest for 5 - 10 minutes before service.

A note about this: Risotto, when prepared properly, should be very starchy and creamy while still having a bit of "bite" to the individual grains of rice. Not a lot, mind you. Just enough that you don't feel compelled to swallow it immediately. I cannot stress enough that this is a stand-alone dish or a side, never a soup.

Shrimpy Goodness

For the Shrimp

-Splash a small amount of oil in a saute pan. Get it going nice and hot.
-Add your Shrimp. Hit it lightly with Salt/Pepper.
-Toss lightly until Shrimp is almost done, maybe a minute.
-Deglaze the pan with a small amount of White Wine. Toss to coat Shrimp and cook for a few seconds more.
-Remove from heat and put your Shrimp onto skewers, three each.

Putting It All Together

-On your plate, place about 6 oz. of Risotto at a 10 o'clock center position. Garnish with a few long strips of grated Asiago.

-Position two of your Shrimp Skewers over the Risotto at an angle, pointing from the 4 o'clock position.  Garnish with your remaining Green Onion.

-Place the toast rounds, three or four per plate, around the Risotto, and top with your Tomato mixture, careful to strain away any excess liquid. 

-Enjoy!

One good point about this meal is that it is filling on the short term but allows you to enjoy a glass or two of wine without feeling bloated. Maybe even have room for dessert if you so choose and still be of use to your beau concerning various mid-coital activities.

I would recommend garnishing this particular meal with a dozen roses and a coupon for a free backrub with lots of Xs and Os. 

Tomato Fresco Bruschetta, Sauteed Shrimp Skewers & Mushroom Risotto

Happy Valentine's Day!

Albondigas de Camaron (Shrimp Meatball Soup)

 Albondigas de Camaron

Every so often, I'm delighted to note that I can be surprised. Culinarily speaking, I mean. One of my darling children can still hide behind the bathroom door as I pass by and leap out like an ambush predator screaming bloody murder in the middle of the night, causing me to shriek in a very undignified manner and consider the possibility of grounding them from OXYGEN indefinitely. But food - different story. Especially living where I do, finding food that makes me sit up and take notice is a nigh-Herculean task.

I got the opportunity to sit up and take notice just yesterday. I was having a very pleasant day out with my wife and our youngest running household errands,  groceries, purchasing kitchen wares, etc. when we decide to stop in someplace for lunch. After a short discussion, we decide upon Inca Mexican Restaurant here in sunny Moses Lake, WA.

Upon casual examination, Inca is everything you expect from a Mexican eatery in a small to mid-sized town. Parking was adequate, we had shown up just after they opened at 11 a.m. so there was no shortage of available spaces. We were met by a colorful (if basic) sign perpendicular to the door identifying the downtown building. The interior was likewise similar to the cultural paradigm of the American Mexican restaurant, decorated with archways, red-brown tile, and artwork depicting important scenes from Mexican history.

(Odd side note, upon arriving I excused myself to make use of the facilities. At the second I flushed, they turned on the canned music, prompting me to think (if just for a moment) that I had done something horribly incorrect with and/or to the toilet.  Common sense arrived a touch late, and when it did I felt very foolish.)

Where Inca stands apart from the average burrito joint is their menu. It has the standardized sections for dinner combinations and the like. (Example:  #3. 2 Enchiladas, 1 Taco, includes Mexican rice, refried beans and cole slaw. You may substitute whole black beans for the refried beans.) These types of items are staples for the American consumer, and are cheerfully kept tucked away toward the back of the main menu. The lion's share of the menu is filled with a selection of what Inca is known for locally: Traditional fare prepared simply and to order. The Shrimp Fajitas are excellent, as my wife can attest.

I decided to try something away from my usual requests. Having become jaded by the food in the area, I usually stick to things that are industry standard and therefore difficult to screw up. For some reason, I felt  adventurous that day and let my eyes hover over a menu item that had SHRIMP MEATBALLS in the description. Sounds interesting. Being that my Spanish is in dire need of some Rosetta Stone polishing, I wasn't sure how to properly pronounce it; further I did not want to insult our waiter's culture by mangling his language with my coarse grammar, so I smiled, pointed, and said I wanted it with the corn tortillas.

The dish:  Albondigas de Camaron

It is a soup traditionally served with beef or sometimes pork meatballs. The guy in charge here apparently thought that such a thing was awfully pedestrian, so changed it out for shrimp. In essence, it is a soup comprised of a rich vegetable stock with large chunks of potato, carrot, and chayote squash. When the broth is nice and simmering, dallops of minced shrimp, onion, egg, and fresh cilantro are dropped into the mix and poached until firm. (There's more to it, but it's their recipe not mine and I think they'd be a little miffed if I gave away trade secrets.)

The soup was served with a saucer containing lime wedges, finely chopped onion, jalapeno, and a chiffonade of more fresh cilantro. Also, a handful of corn tortillas. Being unfamiliar with this dish, I asked our waiter, Ismael, the proper etiquette for eating it. he cheerfully explains that there are a number of methods. I decided to try a few different ones.

Option One: Use the chopped veggies on the side to season your soup to taste and eat as you commonly would any other soup. Tortillas are used as the bread component to the meal.

Option Two: Smash a single meatball into a tortilla, garnish with the side vegetables and eat fajita style. drink the broth at leisure.

Option Three: Break up the meatballs in the soup and num away.

According to our waiter, 90% of Mexicans who eat this dish, regardless of method, squeeze lime over it before anything else. It's just custom.

Suffice it to say, I greatly enjoyed this meal. Our waiter was very helpful and informative, to the point that he divulged ingredients and method of preparation. Now I have a decided interest in making this dish for myself, and have proposed some tweaks to bring it more into the realm of Cajun/Creole cuisine.  

Concerning the kitchen staff who prepared our meal: I do speak a little Spanish. Just enough to get me in trouble, mind you. We could hear them conversing about our order, and I was able to pick out enough to guess that they weren't particularly happy about having to make it. I may agree with them, it's a bit of a procedure getting poached meatballs from shrimp together for a customer first thing in the workday.

Some of the back-and-forth between the wait and cook staff, even in Spanish, was a delightful reminder of my own days working a hot line in a colorful local kitchen (That's local in Georgia, mind you. Very different accents). Ismael, our waiter, apologized for how long it took to get it to our table and informed me that it was made, like the majority of their menu, from scratch the moment I ordered it. It was a polite gesture, but somewhat unnecessary.

The flavor of the Albondigas de Camaron was rich, well developed, and a welcome change from the norm. It was simply prepared and presented, with fresh ingredients and polite staff. My lunch at Inca was indeed memorable.

For those of you who are fond of links:
 
 Inca Mexican Restaurant