SRIRACHA SHRIMP TOAST

Oh man, hello to my new everything. I grew up eating shrimp toast, an Aussie favorite, and rediscovered it as it as it had a bit of a renaissance in the restaurant scene. I love it because it takes like zero time to whip up, and you can keep it warm in the oven until you serve it for friends, or if you're trying to consume it all by yourself in shifts. You might need a shrimp toast spotter, because you WILL eat them all. Amanda, my sister, is a terrible shrimp toast spotter. She totally enabled me. So, yeah...

Luckily shrimp toast is easy to make, so I just made more. Problem solved.

Anyway: spicy, herbaceous, a little sweet, and crunchy toasty crispy shrimp. Done and done.













Ingredients for 8 Shrimp Toasts


Loaf of soft white bread, crusts cut off

1/4 cup Mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Hoisin sauce

Sriracha
Toasted sesame seeds
Vegetable/Canola oil

For shrimp paste
1 lb. of large shrimp (16-20 per pound size; peeled and de-veined, roughly chopped)

1 tablespoon basil

1 tablespoon Cilantro, plus more for garnish

1 tablespoon of bottled fish sauce
1 tablespoon of lemongrass stalks
2 tbl shallots, finely chopped

1 inch of fresh ginger, peeled

1 clove garlic
1/2 tablespoon of corn starch

large pinch Salt & pepper
2 tsp veg oil



Toss the ingredients except for the shrimp and corn starch into the food processor and pulse until everything is finely chopped and intergrated. Add the shrimp and corn starch and PULSE, you don't want to turn the food processor fully on. About 5-10 pulses should be good.


In a large sauce pan, coat heavily with oil and heat up. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, and put shrimp side down. Cook for a minute or two, until golden brown. Flip and cook for about 30 seconds, until the bread is brown. Set aside on a paper towel.

To serve, combine the mayo and hoisin. Drizzle the shrimp toast with the hoisin mayo, a bit of sriracha, and a couple leaves of cilantro. Slice in half on the diagonal. Enjoy!

HENRY'S DRUMMETTES

Henry's Drummettes used to be my drummettes. But once you find a hand written recipe by your dad with "HENRY'S" scrawled across the top, the torch has most definitely been passed. To be fair, Henry has probably eaten his weight in drummettes several times over, opposed to my once or twice over, as they're his go to, a close fourth to Chipotle, Domino's Pizza, and Reddi Chick.

I know my mom has made these sticky, crusty little legs for me in the past, but for some reason they read as such a "dad" meal. One dirty dish, little fuss, and entirely satisfying in that finger licking, five napkin way. So the boys have officially taken over this Thomas recipe, and I'm very ok with that. It means I'll have something decent to eat when I visit Henry in the dorms next year, and it gives me another excuse to post one of my dad's hand written recipes, left behind for someone else to make.

Random aside: how great is his handwriting? His a's and f's are my favorite.









"Henry's Drummettes"
For 1 Henry, or 3 people

12 chicken drummetes (wings too if you like)
1 bottle favorite teriyaki sauce
1 1/2 cups Short Grain Japanese rice (Cal Rose is our favorite)

Pre heat oven to 425 F

Wash the rice thoroughly and leave in a bowl of cold water for about 20 minutes. Strain the rice and rinse. This makes the rice clump together nicely and have a finer texture. Cook with 2 cups of water in your rice cooker, or if you're doing it on the stove, heat in a pan with 2 cups of water over medium high heat, until boiling. Immediately turn to simmer and cover, cooking for about 15-20 minutes, or until the rice is fully cooked. Take off the heat and leave covered for 10 minutes. Fluff and serve.

For the chicken, put the drummettes in a glass 9 x 13 dish and cover with teriyaki sauce. Coat the drummettes thoroughly (the entire dish should be covered in sauce as well). we usually use at least half a bottle. Pop it in the center of the oven and bake for 45 minutes, turning every 15 minutes. We like ours VERY crispy, so at the end, turn the oven up to broil for a minute or two, until the skin crisps up. Serve on top of rice with soy sauce and sriracha. Enjoy!

YOUR "WELL D'UH!" MOMENT: PROSCIUTTO AND MELON

Prosciutto with melon is a classic Northern Italian dish, pairing earthy, melt-in-your-mouth, and mysteriously musty and sweet dry-cured ham with peak of the season melon. It's a dynamite combination and the perfect no-brainer appetizer. I'm just here to post this friendly reminder.

But if you really want to knock people off their socks, here's how you do it:

Choose a prosciutto from the Emilia-Romagna region, where the pigs are fed the whey (the protein rich run off) from Parmigiano-Reggiano production. Which, I mean, just sounds amazing, right? What you end up getting is flavor all the way down to the cellular level, plus a lovely example of how regional cuisine works at its most symbiotic.

Then, go on a melon tasting binge at your grocery or farmer's market. My current favorite are the Cavaillon melons from Weiser Family Farms at the Santa Monica farmer's market. These small, super sweet, cantaloupe-style melons are straight out of Yoshi Story. Delicious!

Yet another reason to love summer...