I never tried shrimp and grits until I moved to North Carolina. It sounds like such a strange combination, but it's oh so good. This recipe was for Shrimp and Grits with Tasso Cream Sauce. I also made the Celery and Pear Bisque (another strange-sounding combination) and Chocolate-Caramel Sandwich Cookies (a very normal combination).
If you need some comfort food, this recipe should be in the running. Saute raw, peeled shrimp in butter for a minute. Then, saute peppers, andouille sausage, and garlic. Later, add wine, cream, parsley, thyme, and the cooked shrimp. Meanwhile, cook the grits. Be careful not to overcook. A little bit of butter and cream gives that all-important edge of unhealthiness necessary for comfort food. Top with the shrimp mixture. I'm glad I chose to use the sausage rather than the other option of ham. It had a nice little hint of spice.
Yumminess: 9 out of 10
Cost: Approx. $10 for 3 servings.
Time: Bon Appetit said 45 minutes for prep and total. It took me about 10 minutes of prep and 30 minutes total.
Was it worth it?: Yes, great comfort food.
Celery and Pear Bisque
This is another combination that doesn't sound right. Celery and pear, really? However, the pear adds just a little sweetness and celery is a great soup flavor. Just saute a lot of celery, pears, leek tops (I've never had a use for these before!), bay leaves, and thyme. Then, add broth and simmer for 20 minutes.Once everything softens you can puree in the food processor. When it's served add a little diced pear and celery leaves. Surprisingly good.
Yumminess: 8 out of 10
Cost: Approx. $7.50 for 4 servings.
Time: Bon Appetit said 30 minutes for prep and 50 minutes total. It took me about 15 minutes of prep and 40 minutes total.
Was it worth it?: Yes, this is a good Fall soup.
Cost: Approx. $7.50 for 4 servings.
Time: Bon Appetit said 30 minutes for prep and 50 minutes total. It took me about 15 minutes of prep and 40 minutes total.
Was it worth it?: Yes, this is a good Fall soup.
Chocolate-Caramel Sandwich Cookies
Ugh, the dreaded caramel. Caramel is my nemesis in this cooking challenge and I'm determined to master it in the next year. There is no picture in the magazine, but I'm pretty sure the caramel isn't supposed to run out the sides of the cookie. I had high hopes for this recipe. The cookie part is great, just a plain chocolate cookie, soft with just a little bit of a crunch. It gets rolled out and cut into 1.5-inch rounds. The caramel is made with sugar, cream, honey, corn syrup, vanilla, and butter. I think my problem was that I couldn't get it to the right temperature when it was cooking. I usually burn it, so I went the opposite way this time. After it's cooked it goes into a baking dish to solidify. Unfortunately, this caramel never really solidified. I was supposed to be able to use a 1-inch cookie cutter to cut it out, but all it did was ooze. I just smeared some on and sandwiched the cookies together. At least it tasted alright.
Yumminess: 7 out of 10Cost: Approx. $7.50 for 30 cookies.
Time: Bon Appetit said 1:20 hours for prep and 6 hours total. It took me about an hour for prep and 5:30 hours total, including cooling time.
Was it worth it?: It was nice to try, but I'll attempt my caramel again elsewhere.
As for your caramel...you're probably right about the temperature thing...but my gut feeling after looking at the recipe is that this is a really odd way to make caramel.
ReplyDeleteIf nothing else, the honey and cream makes it so you can't tell when it's done by the color, and that makes everything a little wonky.
To me, it seems like you'd be better off cooking the sugar + corn syrup until it turns the right color (probably something copper/bronze-ish), then take if off the heat and add butter, then the cream and vanilla, all at room temp. It will bubble a lot, but there should be enough heat to melt the butter as long as it's cut into smallish pieces and nothing is super cold. Plus, the liquids will stop the caramel from continuing to cook, which could make it burn. You can always pop everything back on the heat to re-melt anything that solidifies. Maybe ignore the honey...it's there for flavor but you probably wouldn't miss it because caramel has lots of complexity anyways.
No guarantees that it will work, but sugar is cheap so it might be worth a shot!
ALSO: to clean your pan, fill it with water and let it boil for a while until everything comes off...it will save you so much work and you don't need to do the whole parchment bit that the recipe describes (which I suspect doesn't work amazingly anyways).