the arugula files

New Orleans BBQ Shrimp

I started making this dish after I tried it at Jazzfest in New Orleans.  It's quick, easy, and mouthwatering.

Ingredients

12 jumbo shrimp (the biggest you can find); shells on
1 tablespoon of sherry
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons of Cajun spice
1 stick of unsalted butter
1/4 cup of water
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon of black ground pepper

Directions

1. Heat a stainless steel pan; high heat
2. Add 2 knobs of butter
3. Add garlic, Worcestershire, Cajun spice, 1/2 lemon juice, sherry, and water, two lemon rind pieces,pepper
4. Add shrimp with shells on (that is where you get the flavor!)
5. Add 2 knobs of butter and swirl around
6. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side (do not overcook!)
7. Take shrimp out when done.  You can taste the largest one to check
8. Add the rest of the butter by the knob, stirring as you go along

You may need to add more Cajun spice right at the end.  Give it a taste.

Pour sauce over shrimp and serve.

Serve with a crunchy baguette for dipping.

This recipe was adapted from Ralph Brennan's New Orleans Seafood Cookbook.

I HEART Gordon Ramsay

Chef Ramsay makes feta, chickpea, and flat bread salad. 

Ratatouille Topped with Goat Cheese and Pesto Vinaigrette

Adapted from Chef Phillipe Piel, Ici Urban Bistro

Ingredients

Ratatouille

1 onion
1 tbsp virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves
2 red bell peppers
2 zucchini
2 yellow zucchini
3 heirloom tomatoes, seedless
1 bay leaf
4 thyme stems
handful of fresh chopped basil
Salt and pepper to taste

Pesto Vinaigrette

1 cup of fresh basil
1 garlic clove
1 tbsp of parmesan cheese
1 tbsp of pine nuts
3 tbsp of red wine vinegar (original calls for 1 1/2 tbsp)
1/2 cup of virgin olive oil

Garnish
1 cup  of baby arugula
1 Rosemary bread

For the ratatouille:

1. Dice all vegetables to about the same size. 
2. Heat olive oil in stainless steel pan
3. Add eggplant, brown
4. Add onions and bell peppers, brown
5. Add diced tomatoes
6. Add thyme and bay leaf
7. Reduce heat, let simmer for about 30 minutes
8. Add zucchini and chopped basil
9. Cook for a few more minutes
10. Add salt and pepper to taste

For pesto vinaigrette:

Blend all ingredients in a food processor.
Salt and pepper to taste (I had to play with this a little to get it to my liking.  You should feel free to add and subtract based on your liking.)

Toast bread; serve ratatouille on top with fresh goat cheese. I bought the Allegheny Chevre from a Maryland farm called, Firefly Farms.  Check out the goats.  They are the cutest!

Farmer's Market

Today I made a trip to the Dupont Farmer’s Market.  I walked around in circles, a little lost and lacking inspiration.  It was hot and crowded.  I bought a few peaches and was about to leave when I came across free samples from Chef Piel of Ici Urban Bistro, who was cooking with ingredients from the market. The dish looked good enough to wait in line with a few people. The frantic energy of the small crowd was palpable.  Free samples.  Free, free, free.  Why do people act so crazy when something is free? 

Food expediters carrying around trays were serving the little dish.  The whole scene was a little disorganized, and while most people were trying to be polite, I felt like someone was going to trample me.  I was trying hard to avoid being obnoxious, but it seemed that aggression was the name of the game.  So I stepped on some guy’s toe and scooped up the dish he was about to grab. 

No you didn’t. 

Of course not.  Actually, the expediter saw that I was waiting patiently and she served me off the next tray she brought out, giving me a wink.

I took one bite and found my Muse.  I would make ratatouille for dinner.

Arugula Pasta Salad (Hold the Mayo!)

I’m not a big fan of mayonnaise.  Unfortunately, a lot of pasta salad recipes call for mayo.  Yuck.  I make my pasta salad with arugula, feta, lemon, garlic, garbanzo beans, and olive oil. It’s so easy you don’t even need directions.  But just in case…

Ingredients
1 bag of arugula
1 box of rotini
2 lemons
4 garlic cloves
1 cup of garbanzo beans (cooking your own beans is better than canned, but canned will do)
1/2 block of feta
a knob of butter
1/4 cup of olive oil
Dash of rice vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Chop garlic into small pieces
2. Heat butter and olive oil over low heat – add garlic
3. Add juice of 2 lemons
4. Add dash of rice vinegar
5. Let simmer for a few minutes (do not burn the garlic)
6. Boil pasta
7. Strain pasta and save a few tablespoons of pasta water
8. Mix pasta water with lemony oil mixture
9. Pour 1/2 of lemony oil mixture over hot pasta
10. Add half of the arugula bag to hot pasta and stir around until it wilts
11. Add garbanzo beans
12. Add remaining arugula
13. Add the rest of the lemony oil mixture
14. Add feta
15. Toss
16. Add salt and pepper to taste

Cheap Eats: Zorba's

Trying every restaurant on Washingtonian’s Cheap Eats list requires a car and an elliptical machine.  Many of the restaurants on the list are in the suburbs and a lot are greasy spoons.  Today I wanted to avoid fried foods and getting in a car.  This is what led me to Zorba's in Dupont Circle. Zorba’s is a perfect lunch spot, or, since they sell alcohol, a good place for a casual dinner.

Forget about the hommus, which is a little bland, and get the baba ghanoush. The garlicky smoky eggplant is a perfect match with warm pita or slathered on a falafel (whoops, falafel is fried!).  The dolmas are also good.  If you are looking for meat, Zorba's is the right place.  The Souvláki packs juicy chicken with lettuce, tomato, onion, feta cheese and tzatziki into a warm pita. 

Today I noticed Zorba's has Greek style pizza.  I will definitely go back to try it. 

Toaster Oven Madness!