Martha Plans My Dinner-Curry Shrimp!

Martha. Domestic God. She is completely nuts, and I love her for it. I am a big fan of her magazine...it is inspiring in so many different areas. One regular feature is the "What's For Dinner" recipe section, in which there are 4 recipes to make up one entire menu, main course, side dishes and dessert.


I have always wanted to cook all 4 recipes, so, when faced with dinner guests the other night, I turned to Martha and the January issue of Living to guide me. The 4-course menu that month included Shrimp Tikka Masala, Toasted Coconut Rice, Honey Roasted Eggplant with Chiles, and Pistachio Brittle with Ice Cream. This menu called to me, as it is the middle of dreary old, cold, snowy winter. This menu screams warm climate, sunshine, HEAT.

I started with the pistachio brittle. This was my first time making candy... ever. I was nervous, and I had not armed myself with a candy thermometer or even a "wet pastry brush." But I followed the recipe, and, even lacking the pastry brush to wet down the sides and avoid crystallization, the brittle turned out!! It was much easier than I ever expected, and now I find myself thinking about all the brittle possibilities. Endless!

I made the coconut rice next. Ohhhhh mercy me, the smell of toasted coconut. The recipe calls for unsweetened coconut. You will find this in the Indian section of your grocery store... The bag I have is called "coconut powder."

The eggplant was the easiest. Olive oil, chiles and honey to coat eggplant cubes which you then roast.

The shrimp was sooo tasty. I did not shell the shrimp. Yes, my guests had to get a little messy and do a little work at dinner... but who doesn't love a good sticky-finger meal? I also left out the tomato paste and replaced it with Mango chutney, as my Sis-in-law cannot eat tomatoes. I recommend this change. the sweetness was quite nice. I also used curry powder instead of the garam masala, and a mixture of spices in place of chili powder.

I also doubled all the recipes, except for the brittle. Here are all the recipes as I made them, with links to the originals from the magazine.

Pistachio Brittle
From Martha Stewart Living

-Vegetable oil cooking spray, for baking sheet
-1/2 cup shelled raw unsalted pistachios, coarsely chopped
-1 cup sugar
-1/4 cup water
-Mango or vanilla ice cream

1. Coat a 13-by-17-inch rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Sift pistachios using a fine sieve to remove dust and fine pieces. Heat sugar and water in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon and washing sides of pan often with a wet pastry brush to prevent crystals from forming, until dark golden, about 9 minutes.

2. Stir in pistachios, and immediately pour mixture onto baking sheet. Distribute pistachios evenly using a rubber spatula. Let stand until hardened, about 15 minutes.

3. Lightly bang baking sheet on a counter to break brittle into pieces. Serve with ice cream.


Toasted Coconut Rice
From this recipe in Living

-1.5 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
-1 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut
-2 cups basmati rice
-4 cups water
-3/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook coconut, stirring, until golden brown, about 6 minutes.

2. Set aside 2 tablespoons coconut. Stir rice into pan with remaining coconut. Add water and salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, covered, until water is absorbed and rice is tender, about 20 minutes.

3. Garnish with reserved coconut.



Honey Roasted Eggplant with Chiles
adapted from this Martha recipe

-4 regular eggplants, peeled and cut into 2-inch cubes
-3 green chiles, chopped fine
-1/2 cup honey
-4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
-Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss eggplants with chiles, honey, and oil to coat.

2. Roast eggplants and chiles on a rimmed baking sheet until eggplant is golden, about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so. Season with salt and pepper.


Shrimp Tikka Masala
adapted from this recipe

-3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
-2 large onions, thinly sliced
-5-6 tablespoons grated peeled fresh ginger
-5 cloves of garlic, grated
-2 Tablespoons sweet mango chutney
-2 Tablespoons curry powder
-2 teaspoons cumin
-1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
-1/4 teaspoon cardamom
-1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
-2 cups water
-2 lbs. large (20-30 ct.; about 40 total) shrimp, shells on
-1/2 cup plain yogurt
-Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Heat oil in a Dutch oven or a stockpot over medium heat. Cook onion until golden, about 20 minutes. Add ginger, garlic, chutney and spices, and cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes.

2. Add water and shrimp. Cook until shrimp are opaque and cooked through, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in yogurt. Season with salt and pepper.

Winter Salsa

Last night I had Nachos and margaritas for dinner. I wanted to make salsa from scratch to go on said nachos, but it's wintertime! There are no good tomatoes for making fresh salsa! So I used jarred salsa, and while good (it's hard to make BAD nachos), I kept thinking about how I could make a decent salsa in the dead of winter. I knew chipotles would be involved... I just always seem to have them on hand.

For the tomatoes, I had planned to used some good canned ones, but while in the produce department I spotted the tiny grape and cherry tomatoes. While big tomatoes in the winter are inedible, tiny tomatoes tend to be pretty good all year round. And whatever flaws they may have, I would discount by roasting them. Yes! roasted vegetables! Perfect for winter!

I also decided this salsa needed to be colorful, to chase away the cold gray weather blues. So I used 4 different colors of bell peppers. I have seen orange and chipotle paired up in other recipes, so I thought I'd give it a try here. Orange=sunshine,after all. The result is a smokey, spicy, bright and slightly sweet salsa. Take that, winter!

Winter Salsa

-1 pint cherry tomatoes
-4 small bell peppers ( I had 1 red, 1 yellow, 1 orange, 1 green)
-5 cloves of garlic, peeled
-1 medium red onion, finely shopped
-1 large shallot, finely chopped
-1 orange
-2-3 canned chipotles in adobo + adobo sauce
-cilantro
-olive oil
-salt & pepper

1. Cut 2 of the bell peppers into large chunks. Toss those, the tomatoes and the garlic cloves in a couple Tablespoons of olive oil and some salt and pepper and spread out on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Roast in a pre-heated 400ºF oven for about 40 minutes, stirring gently halfway through, until the vegetables have some nice brown and black spots. remove from oven and let cool.

2. Chop the other 2 bell peppers up finely. Saute in about 1 Tablespoon of olive oil along with the onion and shallot for about a minute. Finely chop the chipotles and add them to the pan, along with 1-2 Tablespoons of the adobo sauce. Let cook until the vegetables just start to soften. Zest the orange and put zest aside. Slice the orange in half and squeeze it's juice into the chipotle mixture. Stir then remove from heat. Stir in the orange zest.

3. Chop up the roasted vegetables. Add them and their juices to the chipotle mixture. Combine well, taste for seasoning, and add a handful of finely chopped cilantro. Let cool completely and serve.

Huh, this would be great for the upcoming Superbowl! For more awesome recipes for the big game, check out the post I did for Food Blog Mafia on party foods.

Speaking of FBM, We got our photos taken!! My friend Corey Woodruff is an AWESOME photographer. We had lots of fun on the shoot. Here is Corey's blog post about it, and here are all the resulting pics.

More Iron Stef Salsas:
Rick Bayless's Tomatillo salsa
Violet Verde Salsa
Salsamole
White Bean Salsa

Iron Stef Loves Chipotle:
Chipotle Black Beans with Masa Gnocchi
Sweet Potato Chipotle Enchiladas
Barbecued Beef Potpie with Chipotle Masa Crust