Squeeeee Take 2...An evening with Trevor Corson

Last night I got yet another chance to meet an author of a favorite food book. Yet another chance to act like a spaz, not unlike my experience meeting Micheal Ruhlman. But, hey is it my fault that the writers of these very interesting and informative and fun-to-read books also happen to be handsome men with adorable hair? Can you blame me?

Last night Trevor Corson was in town, doing a sort of sit-down/reading/talk at the Kitchen Conservatory. Trevor (yeah, we're totally on a first name basis now) is the author of The Zen of Fish, a fantastic book all about sushi, which I wrote about as part of my Summer Reading series here. He also wrote a book called The Secret Life of Lobsters, which I will be reading soon...because who can resist lobster erotica, really?


Pardon my haircut...I knew it was bad, but good lord! Oh, and as another aside, I have to admit something. All the way up until Sunday mroning, when I decided to watch some of the videos on his website (you must check out the lobster porn stand-up), I thought Trevor was Australian. I have no idea where I go that notion. Perhaps because one of the main stars of his book is an intense aussi named Zoran? Or was it because he just looks Australian (whatever that means)? And his name...Trevor Corson...seems that it should be pronounced with an Australian accent? No? So anyway, he's from D.C. I R SMRT.

It was a neat little gathering...a small group of about 15 people gathered around a table with Trevor, eating some yummy seafood dishes and talking sushi! He told us all about the very fascinating history of sushi. It was all stuff he covered in the book, for the most part, but I still found myself learning a lot. The book is almost a reference book, it is so packed with info, but somehow, it reads like a fun novel. That describes the evening well, too. There is so much to know about sushi...the history, the techniques, the fish, the rice, the etiquette...and Trevor was funny and engaging and relaxed talking about all of it. I wish I would have taken notes or something, so I could better list some of the fun things we talked about...vomit rice, the Japanese word for orgasm, how a ban of fire helped the rise of sushi, the very unfortunate sex life of the eel, drunk monks, non-Japanese sushi chefs, omakase, gaining your sushi chef's respect....and much much more.

I guess you'll just have to read the book.

SRSLY. you should read it. How can you say no to those smiling faces?

More info on my new buddy Trevor:
On NPR
Interview on Serious Eats
Essay on how he came to write a book on Sushi
The Scrawling Claw, Trevor's blog
Lisa Hall, a friend of Trevor's from his lobster days who designs and makes jsewelry from seaglass. She made the bling you always see him wearing in photos. Pretty!

EDITED TO ADD: Trevor blogged about his trip to the STL and the honor of meeting me here!

Shrimp & Polenta vs. Shrimp and Polenta

I had a roll of store-bought. I had some shrimp. I wanted them to unite, but I wasn't exactly sure what direction to go. Jack suggested a Shrimp Polenta Battle! We've done something similar with shrimp before, but not for the same night! Sounded fun to me.

Allez Cuisine!

Ironstef's dish:

Pepperoncini Shrimp with Pancetta and
a Balsamic Reduction over Polenta

-1/4 olive oil
-3 tablespoons minced pepperoncini
-4 cloves garlic-minced

-1/2 bag frozen shrimp (medium), thawed.

-4 slices pancetta.

-2 1/2 inch slices of polenta from a pre-made roll.

-Reduced balsamic vinegar: heat 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar and 1 tsp. honey in sauce pan over med/high heat until reduced by more than half. It should be a syrup consistency.

1. Cook pepperoncini and garlic in olive oil for about 6 or 7 minutes. Taste and adjust flavor using salt and pepper. Set aside while you cook polenta and pancetta, to let the flavors infuse into the oil a bit more.

2. Cook Pancetta in a skillet until crispy. Remove pancetta and add the slices of polenta to the skillet (add some oilve oil to the pan if the drippings from the pancetta don't seem like enough to cook the polenta). Cook until well browned on both sides.

3. Add shrimp to pepperoncini oil and just heat through. Spoon shrimp and sauce over fried polenta disc, drizzle with balsamic reduction and garnish with the pancetta.

Challenger Jack's dish:

Honey Chipotle Shrimp
over Polenta
-2 tbsp minced garlic
-2 tbsp minced shallot
-1/3 cup red bell pepper, diced fine
-1/3 cup green bell pepper, diced fine
-2 tbsp olive oil
-1/2 chipotle pepper, seeds removed, minced
-1 tbsp adobo sauce
-Honey to taste (a teaspoon or 2)
-1/2 package frozen shrimp (medium)
-Salt

Sautee garlic and shallots in olive oil with a pinch of salt for 30-45 seconds. Add the chipotle pepper and adobo sauce. Add honey until you reach desired sweetness. Stir until heated through. Add frozen shrimp and cook until heated through. Remove shrimp and reduce remaining liquid until slightly thick. Return shrimp to heat and toss with the diced bell peppers. Heat through and serve on 1/2 inch polenta slices that have been fried in skillet with butter.

So who's cuisine reigned supreme? Well, we didn't actually score them or pick a winner. It was all in fun, and both were really really tasty. Next time, though, I'm springing for better shrimp. Frozen medium cooked shrimp are cheap for a REASON!

What would you do with the secret ingredients?

battle shrimp

Thursday I picked up some baby bok choy and Chinese eggplant while I was out and about. I new I wanted yo make a stir fry of some sort. Then I found some shrimp on sale! Perfect. This was a fairly simple dinner. As the raw, peeled shrimp marinated in some fresh chopped garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil and red chili flakes, I sauteed 2 sliced onions in garlic, oil, and hot chili oil. Once the onions started to get soft I added the bite-size sliced eggplant, some sesame oil, powdered ginger, white pepper sand soy sauce. I cooked those until everything was softened, then added the bok choy and shrimp with marinade. Then I just cooked everything until the shrimp was pink and opaque. I served it over brown rice. Healthy, easy and yummy.


After eating mine, Jack decided he wanted to make a shrimp dish, too, so Friday night he took over the kitchen and went a more Italian route with the shrimp. He made a cream sauce by adding a puree of roasted garlic and heavy cream to a roux (butter and flour cooked together), then adding fat free half & half and salt and pepper. Once the cream sauce was nice and thick, he set that aside and cooked the shrimp in lots of butter and garlic with chopped parsley added at the end. The sauce was tossed with whole wheat cavetelli pasta and some toasted pine nuts, then the shrimp and it's butter sauce was spooned on top and it was garnished with more fresh chopped parsley.


I don't know if there was a clear winner. the styles were so different and they were both yummy. It's a shrimp draw!

Scallops with leftover corn soup & cottage cheese ice cream

Welp, Jack was right! That corn soup made a fan-tabulous sauce for some seared scallops. He also seared some shark, because it looked good. The scallops were the stars, though. Creamy, sweet leftover corn soup, salty, crispy bacon and the scallops made for some serious good eats. Yay for re-working leftovers!!



For dessert, I made some cottage cheese ice cream. I saw the idea on Su Good Eats' blog, via Slashfood. I thought it was brilliant! I had a recipe for ricotta ice cream somewhere, but cottage cheese is so much cheaper and healthier, so I rushed right out and got some.


I used 2% low fat cottage cheese, and didn't bother searching for a no-salt variety. I only added about a teaspoon of oil, rather than Su's tablespoon and a half, because she was using 1% cottage cheese. I also happened to have Absolut Vanill vodka, so I used that as my vodka addition. The result was very very rich and creamy! I put some fresh pears on mine. I think it would have been almost too rich without some kind of fruit. Amazing for something low fat! This will make a perfect base for the strawberry & balsamic vinegar ice cream I've been wanting to make.

calamari chain restaraunt style

Last week I was out of town for work. We were in the Bloomington/Normal Illinois area, and based on nothing but a hotel magazine advertisement, we chose a place called Biaggi's for dinner. It's a small chain Italian place, but I had never heard of it, as there are none located anywhere near the STL. I was quite pleasantly surprised by how good the food was! For an appetizer we had the Calamari Alla Griglia, "Tender marinated calamari, lightly grilled and served over arugula with extra virgin olive oil, tomatoes and balsamic vinegar" and it was probably the best calamari I've had anywhere. It was grilled, which was a first for me, and I loved the slight smokiness.

So I had a bag of frozen calamari waiting for me in the freezer, and decided to pull it out to try and replicate Biaggi's for a quick and easy Monday night meal. Well, it wasn't quite so easy because I was apparently being far from smart that night...I ended up ruining the seasoning on our cast iron skillet that Jack had worked for about a year to get to where it was. Yeah Balsamic vinegar AND frozen seafood liquid are big no-nos...I just wasn't thinking. Oh well, I salvaged the meal using another pan, and now I get to learn how to season cast iron!



The calamari was pretty good. I cooked some garlic in olive oil, then added balsamic vinegar, liquid smoke (to try and get that grilled flavor...our grill is out of gas) and salt and pepper and then the calamari. I cooked it probably about7 minutes? Somehow I managed to NOT overcook it. Yay! Then I served it over a bed of Arugula. I'm beginning to love arugula more and more. Its peppery bitterness compliments so many things. In this case the sweetness of the calamari and vinegar. It was good, although next time I'll thaw the calamari fully first, and rinse it and dry it. I had to pour a lot of liquid out during cooking, and there was absolutely no carmelization. Also, the calamari was a little fishy tasting...I think rinsing might have helped that...or marinating it for an hour or so...



My favorite part of the meal, and something I'll probably be making a lot, was the improvised side dish of cannellini beans and roasted red pepper. I sautéed some garlic in olive oil, added a can of the beans, salt and pepper and a roasted red pepper from a jar, which I chopped up. I'm always looking for new, easy side dishes.




The next day I had the leftovers for lunch...I added the beans to leftover calamari and arugula and ate it cold, like a salad. Like a really good salad.