Creamy Shrimp Pasta

It's rare that I don't "tweak" or change a recipe. But this unadulterated shrimp recipe by Dave Lieberman is superb as is. And it's pretty simple, too. Unlike an "Alfredo sauce," it doesn't use cheese, just cream. The only thing I do differently is to sprinkle each plateful with freshly-grated Parmesan cheese. For 2-3 people, I usually half the recipe but use 3 cloves of the garlic.

Beef is now so expensive, it's actually cheaper for me to purchase one-half pound fresh shrimp in-the-shell from the seafood counter at my grocery store than to buy a New York strip steak. Look for shrimp that is already "deveined" and "cut" so all you have to do is peel off the shell. It's important not to overcook shrimp. As soon as it turns a bright coral color, it's done. 

• 1 pound dried fettuccine (I've also used spaghetti)
• Olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 5 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 20 grinds fresh black pepper
• 1 pound peeled, de-veined shrimp*
• 2 tablespoons finely-chopped parsley
• Fresh Parmesan cheese, grated

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water until "al dente," about 7 minutes. Drain. Toss with a bit of olive oil to prevent it from sticking while preparing the sauce.

In a large skillet, combine the cream, wine, garlic, and black pepper and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce to medium heat and simmer for about 10 minutes until the sauce thickens. Now add the shrimp and cook, about 3-5 minutes, depending on size of shrimp, just until they turn color. Toss the sauce with the pasta and the chopped parsley. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and, for garnish, a lemon wedge. (Purists would never add cheese to fish.)

Now, how easy was that!?

Notes: I usually begin on the sauce before I begin the pasta. Sometimes it takes longer than 10 minutes to thicken up. And sometimes I just make it real real slow adding a bit of extra cream and wine now and then to get it nice and thick. If it gets too thick, you can just add a bit of the hot pasta water after you make the pasta. Sometimes I add just a bit more garlic right before I add the shrimp. This is quite versatile. When you add the shrimp, go ahead and add some halved grape tomatoes and cut up fresh basil instead of the parsley.


If you like this recipe and for more tips about making the sauce, check out the following recipe:  Kitchen Bounty: salmon with shrimp sauce over pasta

*If the shrimp are unusually large, slice down the center. It keeps the shape intact but makes it easier to eat.

Authentic Lemon Meringue Pie (Made from Scratch)

Lemon meringue pie is refreshingly tart yet sweet. It is the perfect summer dessert, especially when paired with fish, such as salmon, or light leafy and pasta salads. And a chilled white wine. And it is the perfect way to finish off a heavy dinner of roast lamb.

This recipe is from the vintage and classic Antoinette Pope School Cookbook, from Chicago, Illinois. I've made it many times and I especially enjoy its small size. I am not a believer in oversized pies. They are often underdone, especially in the center. And a large pie has a miscalculated mathematical and geometrical mismatch ratio of filling to crust. I like the crust. We all love the crust! That is why we like pie!

Look for small pie plates while at second-hand stores. They are usually inexpensive. I especially like those that carry the "Fire King" brand and are embossed with a design.

I once made this for a fellow artist and friend in Michigan. He absolutely loved it. One week, his mother visited and she made her version of lemon pie... LOL ... It was not the same. She used JELL-O pudding as the base. It did not even begin to compare (but her turkey and dumplings were to die for!).

Prepare a pastry crust recipe of your choice or buy the pre-rolled ones from the dairy section of your market (read carefuly and you will see they use LARD!), or prepare recipe that follows. Line a seven-inch pie plate and pre-bake according to instructions. Never mind all that nonsense about ceramic beans and tin foil, etc. Allow to cool. Then, move on ....

Or, you prepare a graham-cracker crust. It's your call.

If you can find it, use "super-fine sugar." And, if you can access them, use eggs that have almost orange yolks for a deep yellow color. Once, I did not have enough lemon juice, so I added some fresh-squeezed orange juice. It was delicious. My big sister still talks about that pie!

Filling:
Makes one seven-inch pie. (A double recipe will make a ten-inch pie--if you must.)

• 1 cup sifted granulated sugar
• 2 egg yolks (save the whites [no politics intended])
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup sifted cornstarch combined with 1/4 cup cool water
• 1 and 1/3 cup very hot tap water
• 1/3 cup lemon juice ( see notes below)
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 good heaping tablespoon real dark yellow unsalted butter from grass-fed cows)

In a heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan, combine all ingredients except lemon juice, lemon zest, and your authentic butter. Stir until smooth after each addition. Cook until thick and smooth over medium heat, stirring continuously. You don't want the bottom to scorch or thicken too quickly.

NOW, add lemon juice and rind, and simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add butter; stir until melted, cover tightly* and let stand while preparing Meringue Topping*

Meringue Topping for one 7-Inch Pie (for a 10-inch pie, double ingredients and bake 20-22 minutes)

• 1/3 cup fresh egg whites (about 2 eggs)
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon your favorite and incredible vanilla
• 1/3 cup fine-sifted granulated sugar --- YES ... sift it!

Be sure egg whites are at room temperature. Place in a 7-inch bowl and, just before beginning to beat them, add cream of tartar, salt, and vanilla. Beat until they form a very soft meringue that still slides out of the bowl. If using a powerful mixer, use medium speed otherwise use high speed. This may take about one minute. Now start adding sugar, about 1 teaspoon at a time beat after each addition for a few seconds. After all sugar has been added, beat about 2 more minutes with a hand-operated beater or, one minute with an electrical beater, until peaks are fairly stiff and tips are only rounded. Do do overbeat. At this point, they should NOT SLIDE OUT OF THE BOWL.

Pour the hot lemon filling into the cooled, baked pie-shell and, at once without cooling filling, cover about 1/4 inch of outer crust with meringue to form a kind of glue, using a spoon or small spatula and pulling it inward towards center of the pie.  This will prevent the meringue from sliding off the center of the pie when cutting.

Note the soft peaks on meringue.

Heap rest of meringue onto pie filling, a spoonful at a time and, with the back of a spoon, make very slight indentations pulling up points slightly, keeping meringue a little higher in the center.

Place pie on bottom rack of a preheated 400-degree oven and bake about 15-18 minutes, or until meringue is golden brown (not tan). Keep a close eye on it. Now is NOT the time to check on laundry or water the plants. Remove from oven; place pie on a cake rack away from drafts until the bottom of plate feels cool. This may take several hours.

Then, store pie in refrigerator for at least two hours, preferably under a glass dome of some kind or a large bow. Do Not Skip this STEP! This will prevent filling from spreading when cut.

When cutting, dip a knife into hot water to prevent meringue from sticking to it.

Notes: I've had much success freezing individual slices placed on small pepper plates then placed in zip-lock bags. SimplybBring to room temperature to serve.

* Fresh whipped cream is a dream with this pie. NO baking. Cool the filling for several hours when added to crust.  Prepare whipped cream. Top and swirl. NO NO to Cool Whip**

Pie Crust

• (Makes one open-faced 10-in crust or one two-crust for a 7 or 8-inch pie)
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch or two of salt
• 6 tablespoons chilled fat (butter, lard, shortening or a combo)
• 1/4 cup cold water

Place flour, baking powder and salt in a small food processor. Pulse to combine. Add cold fat and pulse just until combined and large lumps begin to form. Dribble water through top, pulsing as you go, until the dough masses into one lump and leaves the sides of the machine.

Remove. Knead just slightly with a bit of flour, if necessary. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

To bake the crust for lemon meringue pie: line plate with crust and flute. Prick crust with tines of a fork along the bottom and on the sides. Bake in a 400-degree oven for about 15 minutes or,  just until golden. Check after five minutes and, if any bubbles appear, puncture with a fork to allow steam to escape. When cool, sprinkle with a bit of plain bread crumbs to fill in any "holes" from the fork tines.

Notes: I use a combination of butter/lard.

Long Island Iced Tea

This recipe lessens the "sour" aspect of this drink and emphasizes the Cola mixture with the alcohol.


One summer while nursing a poorly-made Long Island Iced Tea, my father and I bemoaned the fact it was getting more and more difficult to order a good one. Somewhere along a bartender's guideline, they morphed more into a tart, even sour, lemonade as less and less cola was added. Our solutions was to order a cola and then to add to it. 


My version below uses lots of ice and cola. I've always prepared it with cola sweetened from Splenda, but only because I normally don't drink sugared soft drinks. It will make a good 3-4 glasses and is perfect on a hot, summer's day. Or a festive winter's one . . . CHEERS!


Note: 1 1/2  ounce is equal to one "jigger." A "shot" equals one ounce.

• 4 cups ice, preferably store-bought, crystal ice and more for serving
• 1 jigger rum
• 1 jigger vodka
• 1 jigger gin
• 2 jiggers Triple Sec
• 1/2 jigger Tequila
• Juice from 1/2 lemon, save the lemon itself
• 1 cup Coke or Diet Coke, preferably Diet Coke made from Splenda

Mix all of the above ingredients in a large pitcher. To a large, tall glass, add one ounce of Coke or Diet Coke and ice. Add one lemon wedge and fill with above mixture.

As ice melts in the pitcher, add more ice.

Oysters a la Rockefeller

First, a bit of history . . .

Way before there was a Julia Child, there was Francois and Antoinette Pope; she was French, he was Italian. And they both hailed from Chicago, home to my grandparents and mother.

The Popes were the "foodie" celebrities of their day and opened their first cooking school in the Windy City in 1930 where, quite literally, they taught generations of Chicagoans how to cook. Their first cookbook appeared in 1948. Their first cooking show, "Creative Cookery," appeared on the tube in 1951 and enjoyed an incredible 13-year run. "The French Chef" didn't appear until 1963! Think about that!

The Pope cookbooks had one underlying theme: class. But without being pretentious. Entire sections were devoted to "chafing dish" recipes; "party-style" molds, including a host of "chaud-froid" variations; tons of appetizers; cake decorating and vegetable "carving"; and entire menus for cocktail parties. Still, they included many recipes for simple dishes, such as hot dogs. Long before Jeff Smith's incredible cookbook "The Frugal Gourmet" appeared, their cookbook had already included chapters on both Italian and Cantonese cooking. 

Even today, their recipes hold up remarkably well. 

Francois and Antoinette Pope. Their recipes were as well-dressed
and groomed as they were.

When my grandmother retired from Sears Roebuck in downtown Chicago, (she was one of the first women to use what was then considered a computer), she attended cooking classes from the Pope school, including candy making (I have that cookbook, too). When her cooking skills waned, she gifted me her autographed copy of "The New Antoinette Pope School Cookbook." I've since learned that signed copies fetch a couple-hundred dollars. Alas, sadly or happily, mine is in poor condition from constant use. But my grandmother's inscription to me is priceless.

And, yes, I still make a pretty good loaf of bread . . .

"To my Grandson Gary. From Grandma
Dason. Love You & Love your bread."

My mother also had the Pope cookbook. When she died, I grabbed it. You would think two of the same cookbooks would be enough. Nope. Recently, I spotted an edition "in good shape" on the Internet and ordered it. If you have a favorite family cookbook, I suggest you do the same. Order a "working copy" to better preserve your family copy. Mine is held together with rubber bands and memories.

Now, on to those oysters!

My father hailed from Long Island, New York, so oysters were nothing new to him. But, for a  Midwestern family on the shores of Lake Michigan, their appearance at holidays was intrigue. My father aptly demonstrated how to "shuck" them, complete with East-Coast stories of his younger years and my by-gone, distant relatives. Oysters Rockefeller have now been a Thanksgiving and Christmas tradition at our house for several decades. This year, my mother has told me she ordered 60. We served them with ice-cold Spumante.

This year, I won't be home for Christmas. Instead, I will be at my sister's home and we have decided to introduce the tradition to her children. We are fond of saying that people who don't like oysters will change their minds when they try these . . . thanks... to... Francois and Antoinette Pope... a woman from Chicago... and a man from Long Island!

GREEN BUTTER for 16 - 18 OYSTERS:

• 1/2 cup finely-chopped curly parsley*
• 1/2 cup finely-chopped, fresh, uncooked spinach
• 1/2 cup finely-chopped green onion tops
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 6 drops Tabasco sauce (or to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic salt
• 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup toasted bread crumbs

Put parsley, green onion tops, and spinach through a fine food chopper or chop fine with a heavy knife or cleaver. Put Tabasco sauce into melted butter. Taste. If you want it hotter, add more (we usually do). Mix bread crumbs, garlic  salt, salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese. Mix/sprinkle over vegetables and incorporate using two forks. Pour butter over top and mix well.

This dressing may be prepared several days in advance and kept in refrigerator until ready to be used; then let it stand in room temperature until soft enough to spread, or beat until of spreading consistency.

(NOTES: One 10-oz. box of frozen, chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry is about 1/2 cup. The most tedious part of this recipe is chopping the parsley. One large bunch is about 1/2 cup. Do not use the stems. I place in a mini-prep to do most of the work and then transfer to a cutting board to finish mincing. I cut the onions by hand; putting them in a mini-prep only makes them gelatinous. I use garlic powder instead of garlic salt. I just about double the amount of cheese. After adding the Tabasco to the melted butter, taste and add more to suit your preference. I make my own bread crumbs in the mini prep and then toast them in the oven.)

Scrub oysters well with a brush under cool-running water and keep cold until ready to shuck.

Shuck oysters and place on half shells in a baking sheet that is filled to top with rock salt (ice-cream salt). This stabilizes oysters to keep them from tipping. Bake in a 450 degree oven for about five minutes or until edges of oysters begin to curl. Remove from oven and quickly spread 1 tablespoon Green Butter Dressing over entire surface of each oyster. Return to oven and bake about 5 minutes longer.

For genuine Oysters Rockefeller, the oysters should not be allowed to brown; they should be served rare. However, they are more palatable to many people if placed under the broiler for a few minutes to become crisp.

*This is probably the most difficult part of the recipe. My grandmother grew her own curly parsley in borders around her house. We just stuck to it. Parsley is NOT easy to chop finely. It makes a mess, so be prepared. A food processor really does not work very well. Years ago at an antique market I picked up a Flintstone-version of a food processor made in France. It is called a "Mouli." If you ever see one, grab it. Nothing grinds herbs or parsley like this little wonder. Some countries are now reproducing them. But I never found one that comes close to the original.

This adjusts for right or left-handed people. 
It was so ahead of its time . . .

Notes: If oysters are particularly difficult to open, place them for several minutes in tepid water. They may be opened a few hours before cooking. Keep covered with tin foil in refrigerator (we keep them in the cold garage).