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Popham Shrimp Casserole

06.01.2015 by J. Doe // 4 Comments

An old school friend posted a brief rant on Facebook last week. He’s been in the midst of a divorce for a while, but also in the midst of an on-again-off-again transitional relationship with another former classmate, one who is also given to public displays of self-pity that I mercifully don’t see anymore – not since she unfriended me.

I was never really sure what prompted her to friend me, since we were never friends in the first place, but I am pretty sure of the reason she unfriended me:  every time their relationship hit a bump, I reached out to him. It’s one of those things you do for people who are actual friends: The ones who walked to elementary school with you, played Risk with you in middle school, are in your high school graduation photos. The ones you see when you’re in their neck of the woods, and vice versa.

The Old School Friend and I chat for a bit and, as usual, he politely leaves out the details, and though he’s frustrated, he also seems to be mentally moving forward: Enough already. Enough with the bumps, the drama, the on-again-off-again.

I mention I’ve been on Jdate, but stop short of actually suggesting he sign up. Though it hardly seems possible that any person could have worse luck than mine on that site, the fact that he lives in a small midwestern college town means the possibility is very real. It doesn’t matter, though. He shudders at the idea of online dating: It didn’t even exist the last time I was single, he despairs. I don’t want to have to learn it.

I feel helpless, and begin searching for something I can do. Would you like some cookies or jam?

Actually, he says, some cookies would be really nice.

I would have preferred he requested jam, since I made a little bit too much Meyer Lemon Marmalade when it was Meyer lemon season.  Still, any reason to make cookies is a good reason, and I have a folder full of recipes I’ve saved for just such an occasion. I choose the most promising one, the one I’ve been looking forward to trying since I found it in the Ovenly cookbook: Cinnamon-Chile Brownies.

Sounds amazing, right?

There is something horribly wrong with a brownie that a child won’t eat, and strangely enough, it wasn’t the flavor of cinnamon or ancho chile that she objected to. How could she? They were barely noticeable. What was noticeable, though, was the texture of the brownies, which was all wrong: Dry in a way that suggested the brownies were stale, even though they emerged from the oven not five minutes before we sampled them.

They did not improve overnight, and although there was more flavor of cinnamon and chile the next day, it was still no more than a vague aftertaste – not enough to overcome the awfulness of the texture. The brownies sat around for a couple of days, and every so often I tasted a tiny piece, hoping that this time, they would taste better. Perhaps it was something I ate right before the brownies that was throwing off the flavors, or maybe they just needed to sit a bit longer for the flavors to meld or become pronounced or something.

And then I had my own epiphany: Enough already. Enough imaginative recipes from groundbreaking and/or experimental and/or creative bakeries. I had an hour to make cookies for a friend and ended up wasting both my time and some perfectly good chocolate.

The universe seemed to agree with me. A day or so later, I stopped at the local thrift shop to hunt for a men’s shirt for a costume event, but since I had to pass the cookbook section on the way to the men’s department, I glanced at the books, and what should catch my eye but a hardcover copy of Beard On Bread, on sale for a dollar. I wonder who on earth would get rid of that; perhaps its the same people who like their brownies to be powder-textured. Whoever they are, they didn’t think much of James Beard at all: I found two more of his cookbooks (The New James Beard and James Beard’s New Fish Cookery), each for a dollar.

None of them seemed to have ever been used.

A day after that, the library emailed that a book on which I’d placed a hold some time ago was finally available: A reissue of the 1960 classic How America Eats, now retitled The Great American Cookbook, by Clementine Paddleford.

Who? you ask.

In the 1930’s, Clementine Paddleford set out to chronicle regional American cooking, traveling the country to find the best local cooks and talk them into sharing their recipes – at times, even piloting her own plane. The massive book includes recipes from all fifty states, set in the context of the people who shared them and the communities and cultures in which they lived. It’s a wonderful, engaging tome, and reading it feels a bit like having dinner with your favorite neighbor.

Most days, at the end of the day, I don’t really want a voyage of culinary discovery, I just want dinner. A good dinner, tasty and satisfying. Some days, it is bread and cheese and maybe some berries. Other days, a nice, simple casserole will work.

The first recipe I tried from Paddleford’s book was Popham Shrimp Casserole, a dish that originated in Charleston, a beautiful old city that, many years ago, I spent a week in, feasting on shrimp. I have fond memories of Charleston and its food: You cannot go wrong with Charleston shrimp.

And I didn’t.

The casserole’s ingredient list offers a hint as to why it is likely to be beloved by all: It’s loaded with butter, then topped with bacon and, yes, the rice does a lovely job of absorbing it all. The shrimp emerge from the oven in a mellow, buttery bath of sauce with just the right amount of kick from the red pepper.

I divided the original recipe in half, since it serves eight. It’s just enough for 3-4 people, especially if it was served with a salad and some good bread alongside. You could serve butter with the bread, if you like, though you’ll likely find your dinner is buttery enough.

There are a couple of things I will do differently, the next time I make this: I will get some standard-cut bacon, rather than the thick-cut I normally use in my cooking, which didn’t crisp up (and probably added more fat than needed, though I’m not complaining). Also, I used diced tomatoes, rather than crushed, as called for in the original recipe, but I think the final casserole would be saucier with crushed. I came up a bit short on tomatoes, too, since can sizes have gotten smaller since the recipe was originally published (the amount would be sixteen ounces if you’re feeling precise).

Still, I’d be completely happy to make this recipe again and again, exactly as I did the first time – it’s very forgiving, easy to make, and completely delicious. We’ll just forget about the calorie count, or maybe skip dessert.

I’m still hunting for the perfect cookie to make, worthy of sending to an old friend, so dessert will have to wait.

 

PophamShrimp2

Popham Shrimp Casserole
 
Print
Author: Clementine Paddleford, The Great American Cookbook
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
  • ¼ lb onions (about one medium), finely chopped
  • 1 15 ounce can crushed or finely diced tomatoes
  • 1 lb shrimp, peeled
  • ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • ¼ tsp paprika
  • pinch red pepper flakes
  • pinch mace
  • salt
  • 2 cups cooked white rice
  • 3-4 strips bacon
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch square baking dish and set aside.
  2. Melt the butter in a large heavy skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onions, tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, paprika, red pepper flakes, mace, and salt, and simmer for a bit; then add the shrimp. Simmer until the shrimp is cooked through and sauce is reduced somewhat, about 15 minutes. Stir in the rice.
  3. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish and arrange bacon strips on top. Bake about 25 minutes, until the rice mixture is bubbly and the bacon is crispy. Serve immediately, if not sooner.
Notes
The original recipe calls for "paprika" and since I have smoked paprika, that's what I used. Use whatever type you have handy. The original recipe also calls for simmering the shrimp in the pan for 30 minutes before baking it in the cassrole for another 25 minutes. This struck me as an inordinately long time to cook shrimp, so I reduced the simmering time to about 15 minutes; you may wish to reduce it further. Finally, I tend to keep very thick-sliced bacon around the house as I find it cooks better and adds better flavor to long-simmered dishes. In this case, it did not crisp up well and I'd recommend going with a regular thin-sliced bacon.
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and a recipe

 

 

Categories // The Joy of Cooking Tags // fish, shrimp

Hominy Grill Shrimp Burgers

11.27.2013 by J. Doe // 1 Comment

Not long after the Lodge meeting, I spend a day volunteering with my own club at an all-day genealogy fair; I help run a table for my lineage group,  meeting and greeting prospective members, and talking about genealogy. The Older Fellow stops by, appreciatively taking a list of prospective members we’ve collected for his club.

The weather outside is windy – so windy that one bridge is closed, and large numbers of homes lose power – but inside the exhibit hall it’s warm and friendly and there’s plenty of electricity to power everyone’s laptops and iPads. The ladies and I stay later than we should, but they have no power at home, so we find excuses to keep talking. It seems like business if there are laptops involved.

We pore over websites with lists of lineage societies and discuss which ones we are all eligible for. We agree we can all join a lot of them, but what’s the point of that? We search for the most unique one we can each join.

One of the ladies proudly proclaims her descent from a colonial witch, and shows us that society’s site. I make a mental note not to cross her.

I discover there’s a society for descendents of colonial tavernkeepers; you have to be 21 to join, because all their meetings take place in New England pubs. I’m eligible for this one, and we all agree their meetings are probably worth flying across the country to attend.

There’s a society for descendants of Royal Bastards, and we’re all eligible for this one.  What are the odds? I ask.

We discuss the odds. We wonder if there’s been a study about this. We google, and agree more research – and probably some math – is needed.

Eventually, we realize we’re among the last ones there, and The Child is texting me: Are you coming home soon? I’m hungry.

Driving home is a bit of a challenge –  branches and trees litter the roads, and many stoplights aren’t functioning. But when I get home, there’s power, and just exactly enough in the freezer to make dinner: Half a Costco bag of frozen shrimp, some cornbread, an egg. I found this recipe in the Washington Post Cookbook, and it seemed easy enough – just chop a few things, mix, and fry the resulting patties. I took a chance that The Child might eat these, because she does eat shrimp as well as crabcakes, and this seemed like a nice cross between the two. It turned out to be exactly that, and I liked how the slight sweetness of the cornbread complemented the shrimp. We served them with cornbread and honey on the side, but they’d be nice on a roll with some aioli. Or on top of a salad. Or as an appetizer. Or anything.

The Child helped herself to seconds, and I added the recipe to my permanent file.

 

Hominy Grill Shrimp Burgers

Hominy Grill Shrimp Burgers
 
Print
Author: Washington Post Cookbook
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 3 tbsp finely diced celery
  • 2 tbsp finely diced scallions
  • 1½ tsp minced lemon zest
  • 1 lb cooked, peeled shrimp
  • 3 tbsp mayonnaise
  • 1 cup cornbread crumbs
  • salt
  • pepper
  • Tabasco sauce
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
Instructions
  1. Finely chop the shrimp, and add to a large mixing bowl with the celery, scallions, and lemon zest.
  2. Add the mayonnaise and cornbread crumbs, stirring to combine.
  3. Season with salt, pepper, and tabasco to taste; mix well.
  4. Add the egg and stir until well incorporated; the mixture should just barely hold together. Form 8 4-inch burgers.
  5. Cook the burgers in the oil, in a large skillet over medium-high heat, about 3-4 minutes on each side, or until lightly browned.
Notes
I chopped the shrimp by hand and the burgers were a bit chunky and fell apart more than I wanted. The recipe suggests pulsing half the shrimp in a food processor to vary the texture, and I think this might help them hold together.
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Categories // The Joy of Cooking Tags // fish, shrimp

Orange Grilled Salmon

05.01.2013 by J. Doe // 1 Comment

The Child is away this week on a school trip. She packed herself, working from a packing list that she printed herself from her school’s website; she did her own laundry as needed. She put up a to-do list on her bedroom wall, for everything she needed to get done the day before the trip:

•Pack for trip
•Do math homework!
•Clean room
•Relax a little!

I dropped her off at school on Monday, where she unloaded her bag from the car herself and headed straight for the bus without so much as a backward glance. It’s what she did on her first day of first grade, too: the only picture I have of her first day of school is of her backpack as she boarded the bus.

I always thought those parents who call their kids back to get a goodbye hug or kiss were a bit, well,  needy, but on Monday, I unhesitatingly became one of them.

I’m enjoying the time to myself, and I’m getting all kinds of little things done that I don’t usually have time for. Still, there’s a strange emptiness hanging around me all week.

On Tuesday, I went to the library to pick up another cookbook  (Bouchon Bakery – because all the baking books are suddenly available now that I’m on a diet). Driving there, I saw a North Carolina license plate, and had nobody to pinch because I saw it first. Driving home, I was able to play my own music, which never happens two drives in a row and felt so strange that I finally just switched the radio to one of her stations and listened to some song I know the words to yet can’t stand.

I had the idea that while she was gone, I’d spend the week making things for dinner that I can’t usually make because she won’t eat. You know: meat. Instead, I stared into the freezer for a while and finally yielded to the impulse to make something that she likes, something would make it feel more like she was here.

This recipe for Orange Grilled Salmon originally came from Cooking Light magazine, and it’s decidedly easy: It’s just a rub that you put on the salmon right before tossing it on the grill for a few minutes. It’s got a nice orange flavor from the zest, sweetness from the sugar, and a spicy kick to it that isn’t overwhelming. It’s supposed to make enough for six salmon filets, but I like to put a lot on, so I find it’s enough for four. The nice thing is that you can make the rub ahead of time and just put it on when you’re ready to go – or you can make it, use it on one or two pieces of salmon, and store the rest for another day.

 

Orange Grilled Salmon

 

Orange Grilled Salmon
 
Print
Author: from Cooking Light
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 2 Tbs brown sugar
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • ½ tsp grated orange rind
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • ½ tsp paprika
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp ground coriander
  • ⅛ tsp black pepper
  • 6 salmon fillets
Instructions
  1. Rub mixture over fillets. Grill for about 8 minutes, turning halfway through.
Notes
If you are cooking for fewer people, you can make the rub, and store the leftover rub in an airtight container to use later.
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Categories // The Joy of Cooking Tags // fish, orange, salmon

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