Aga Kitchen - agakitchen.com

Entries in aga ranges (6)

Saturday

Feb062010

Maine Shrimp Salad for Valentine's Day

Saturday, February 6, 2010 at 6:35PM

There are not really too many finites in cooking. I think that's one of the things that keeps me interested. Hard to believe, but I like being wrong. It means I learned something. I think a therapist would call it "growth". Here is a finite I can sink my teeth into. Write it down and commit to memory. Never cook a special meal that is so laden with fat and calories that you and your mate are too stuffed to "get busy". Makes the dinner date not so special anymore. "We ate and drank so much the only reason we unbuttoned our pants was to keep them from splitting apart" sounds more like something to forget.

Back to the shrimp. Love it when the fresh Maine shrimp come into season. I picked up some at my not so local (50 minutes away) fancy food store. Cucumbers and shellfish always taste good together. The textures play well off each other and respond similarly to seasoning. Both ingredients are delicate and can be overpowered by assertive type of seasonings like raw onion or garlic.

Let's see how this went down in the Agakitchen.

Cook the shrimp

3/4 lb of fresh Maine shrimp. Drop into simmering salted water for 90 seconds. Overcooking makes the shrimp mushy. No wine or lemon, the acid has a tendency to denature these small crustaceans. Drain and layout on a flat plate to cool. No need to rinse them under cold water. On a plate and in the fridge. Takes about 30 minutes to cool.

Make the dressing mix everything together in bowl big enough to add the shrimp and a cucumber

3 Tablespoons of mayo. Homemade is really much better and crazy easy. I'll give you a recipe at the end of the post.
3 teaspoons of Heinz Chili Sauce. This not some Asian offshoot of Americas best loved condiment. It's ketchup for big boys, a little less sweet with a little more kick. Beats ketchup anyday.
1 teaspoon dry sherry
1 teaspoon of prepared horseradish. Be sure to squeeze the liquid out of it first.
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, picks up the smoky notes in the sherry

Put it all together

peel and quarter your cucumber, remove seeds with your knife tip, dice into medium size uniform pieces. About the same size as the shrimp. Salt the cukes
toss cukes and shrimp in bowl with dressing, add a little chopped dill or parsley if you have some
place some fancy greens (I use the herb blend in the winter) tossed with a little oil and vinegar on the plate
mound the shrimp salad in the center
D-U-N spells done, rhymes with fun!

As promised, mayonnaise

1 egg and 1 egg yolk
1T mustard
1T cider vinegar
squeeze from 1/4 of a lemon
1 cup olive oil, not EVOO
salt to taste
pepper, white if you have it, again to taste
1 Tablespoon of hot hot water

Mix everything but the oil and water in a food processor. With the motor running slowly add the oil. After the oil add the hot water. Taste, season and taste again.

Appetizers,

Dinner,

Lunch,

Salads,

Sauce,

Seafood

Gerry Nooney

Print Article

Bagel Chips Aga Style

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 2:28PM

What do bagels, olives and cigars have in common? Bad ones are really bad and good ones are oh so good. I didn't like olives, I thought they tasted like a can. Metallic, bitter with a rubbery texture. Then I tasted oil cured olives with a salty bite and soft leather touch. I love good olives, hate bad olives. I know hate is a strong word but I'll use it anyway.

When I do score some really good bagels I eat them fast but sometimes supply exceeds demand. I could freeze them but then I'm back to bad bagels. When that happens I just leave them on the counter a day or two to remind me of what I missed out on. Like a picture of an old girlfriend you keep for a while. Then I turn them into bagel chips. It's pretty simple if you've kept up with your knife skills. The bagel chef already added seasoning you just need to slice them pretty thin and toast nice and slow so they dry out and crisp up.

If you have an Aga you're golden, the Simmer Oven is perfect. Mortal oven owners will need to put away a few more dollars into their Aga Fund and then preheat their oven to 250. A few healthy glugs of olive oil and fine sea salt and we are ready to go. Here is how it went down in the Aga Kitchen

Bagel Chips pre heat oven to 250

old bagels, as many as you have, sliced very thin, about the width dime but no bigger than the width of a nickel. Cut the bagel into a smiley face (in half) and put the cut side down for easier slicing. I get about 10 slices out of a half bagel
a sheet pan with a nice coating of olive oil sprinkled liberally with sea salt. I use a brush to reach every corner

Lay the sliced bagels on the pan pressing down a bit so they get as much contact with the oil as possible. Fit as many on the pan as possible, use as many pans as needed

Drizzle a little more oil over the top of the chips.

Bake at 250 for 30 minutes. Check after 20 minutes to see how they are doing. Every oven is different. If they are curling a little thats OK. After the 30 minutes flip over and bake an addtional 10 minutes.

Aga Owners bake in Simmer Oven for 30 minutes on lowest rung, flip over and into Roasting Oven for 2 minutes near the top.

Remove and let cool completly than into an airtight container, these will keep for a few weeks. Bagel chips from the store:expensive. Homemade bagels chips: ? If you know the answer let me know and I'll send you a shiny nickel.

Cook like you mean it, Peace, Gerry

Vegan,

Cranberry Bean Salad

Saturday, October 17, 2009 at 6:27PM

either it was real good or these are members of the Clean Plate ClubI had no plans to use tonites meal as a post. My lack of photos is a testament to my poor planning. I had a pretty simple game plan for dinner and already knew what my next post was going to be. No need to document and keep notes on this meal, or was there? I'll make a warm bean salad using some Cranberry Beans I picked up at a new co-op near here. A risotto with shrimp. Easy breezy.

Here is where the wheels went off. The dried cranberry beans are from a farm in Maine and known for their creamy texture. I added aromatics that sweat in a little olive oil. I used leeks, onions, and carrots from my CSA and a touch of garlic and parsley. Again nothing earth shattering here. The key to this salad was a few heaping forks full of pickled peppers I put up this summer. Banana, jalapeno and cherry peppers sliced very thin in a tart cider vinegar brine. These added the right touch of heat and acidity, smooth it all out with a little grapeseed oil, adjust seasoning and I had it.

I made a basic risotto with a very rich chicken stock and shrimp with a little spice rub and basil. Just before the risotto is finished I add the shrimp split in half. Right before serving I fold in some butter and fresh spinach.

Rich shrimp and rice topped with a heaping spoonful of creamy cranberry beans. I wish you were here.

best photo I could get, sorry

Here's what I did, best I can remember

1 cup dried cranberry beans or bean of your choice picked soaked and cooked
1 onion small dice
1 leek white part mostly small dice washed well
2 carrots, medium dice
parsley
1 clove garlic, smashed
a 2 count of grapeseed oil
3 big forks full of pickled peppers. You can buy them. I suggest you mix a few kinds together.
salt n' peppa

sweat the aromatics in a little oil and mix with beans

add everything else, taste and adjust

if you find it too cloying for your taste you can thin out the salad with a few tablespoons of hot water

I will make the leftovers into a bean sandwich for lunch, photos, promise

Cook like you mean it, G

homemade chorizo patty and bean sandwich aka pork & beans