Steamed Shrimp

This is a dish that reminds me of summers in Maryland.  Any dish with plenty of Old Bay and shrimp is redolent of a summer in Maryland.  The only thing missing is a few blue crabs.  But when I was growing up we ate steamed shrimp far more than we ever ate crabs.  So when I picked up some nice shell on wild shrimp I decided that it was past time to make myself some steamed shrimp like my mom used to make.  I took a page from Louisiana-style shrimp boils and threw the potatoes and the corn in with the shrimp.  When we ate this growing up my mom would steam the corn and roast the potatoes separately, but if I can cut down on the number of pots and pans we use I am all about it.  Plus if you put in a base layer of potatoes and corn you don't even need to use a steamer basket because the shrimp is on top of the base and out of the liquid!  It's pure genius.  And it results in perfectly cooked corn and shrimp.  Yum.  The only thing that could make this dish better or more summery is eating it outside on a deck at sundown on a table covered in newspaper.  Somehow eating it inside a NYC apartment on a dining table just didn't have the same feel to it.

Recipe after the jump!

Country French Omelet

What do you do when you have a dozen incredibly fresh extra large eggs from Knoll Crest Farms and D'Artagnan Uncured Applewood Smoked Bacon?  I was originally planning on making plain old bacon and eggs, or a homemade bacon, egg and cheese biscuit, but when I saw this recipe for a Country French Omelet in my Barefoot Contessa cookbook I decided to make that instead.  Making homemade biscuits the night after making homemade flatbread just seemed overly ambitious.  I also had some really nice spring greens from the farmer's market, so I figured an omelet and a salad would be a great weeknight meal.  Alex was shocked when I said that the potatoes in the omelet were perfectly cooked and kind of yummy.  I think that might have been the first time I have ever complimented a potato.  But they were nice and tender without being mushy or mealy.  They also gave the omelet some heft and substance without making the dish feel super heavy.  Cooking the potatoes in the bacon fat gave them an extra layer of flavor that I appreciated.  This is one of the more labor intensive omelets that I have ever made, but I think it was worth it.  And I really appreciated it that I didn't have to attempt to flip the omelet (because I tear my omelets 50% of the time) and could just throw it in the oven like a frittata and let it rip.  I might actually adopt this method for all future omelets because it really is that much easier.

Recipe after the jump!

Roast Purple Fingerling Potatoes with King Oyster Mushrooms

The other day at the Greenmarket I came across some beautiful purple Peruvian fingerling potatoes.  These things were the craziest, most gorgeous purple inside and out.  So I bought a pound.  And then I brought them home and realized I didn't know what to do with my little potatoes.  We don't eat a ton of potatoes in our apartment because I am just not that into them.  Alex, being the good little Polish-Irish boy that he is, loves potatoes.  I'm fairly indifferent.  But when we were on vacation with my family, my mother made us Jalapeno-Roasted Potatoes for dinner one night and they were actually pretty good.  So when I saw the pretty purple potatoes at the Greenmarket I decided that I should give fingerling potatoes another try. 

I have to admit that I still just don't get the roast potato - fingerling or otherwise.  Potatoes (without a ton of salt and other seasonings) are just so heavy and bland.  We tossed these potatoes in shallots, garlic, rosemary, evoo and s&p.  And then we roasted them to get them nice and crispy.  I accidentally set the temperature on the oven to 475 instead of 450 so we roasted the potatoes a little too long and they were a little dry.  They were dry enough that we topped them with some fresh ricotta cheese from Eataly to give the dish some moisture.  I had originally planned to top the potatoes with some poached or fried eggs (kind of like a hash), so that the egg yolk could ooze down over the potatoes and form a sort of sauce.  But in the end I decided against the eggs - mostly because I got lazy.  And in the end I think the eggs would just have made the dish feel heavier.  If we had cooked the potatoes correctly it would have been a much better dish.  However, I still think it would have been a bit bland.  I think that if you roasted the potato mixture alongside a whole chicken the drippings from the chicken would give the potatoes and mushrooms some much needed moisture and flavor.  Without what Alex and I like to call the "chicken juju" the potatoes were just missing something.  But they remained a very pretty purple color, so at least they were nice to look at?

Recipe (and a picture of the potatoes right after we cleaned them and halved them) after the jump!

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Potatoes with Bacon

So Alex felt the need to point out to me today that that brussels sprouts are spelled like the city of Brussels, with an "s," and not brussel sprouts.  And I of course responded that I knew that and that I always spelled them "B-R-U-S-S-E-L-S" sprouts, to which he pointed out about a zillion instances in which I called them "brussels sprouts" and "brussel sprouts" interchangably in the same post.  Oops.  Apparently I am terribly inconsistent.  But I will do my best to be more consistent in this post.  And I am creating this post with a caveat - I made these brussels sprouts two weeks ago before work got absolutely crazy (and by crazy I mean I haven't been able to leave the office before 10 pm to midnight in over a week and therefore have not eaten a single meal at home since last Sunday, let alone cooked one) and am only getting around to posting about them now because I have a brief moment of calm and sanity.

If you can't tell, I love brussels sprouts.  They are fantastic.  This might not be my favorite variation on brussels sprouts, but it was a good one.  Who can resist bacon and crispy roasted potatoes served with nutty roasted brussels sprouts?  By itself the dish makes a perfectly hearty meal for two people, or would be a nice side for a family of four. 

Recipe after the jump!

Potato Frittata

While I do love making complicated meals, there are some nights when all I want to do is throw something together quickly and eat dinner with a minimum of fuss.  This frittata is perfect for one of those nights where the absolute last thing you want to do is spend hours slaving away in the kitchen.  Served with a nice arugula salad, it makes a perfect meal for lunch or dinner.  The eggs are nice and fluffy, which is a nice textural contrast from the potatoes (which we sauteed until they were softened, but still retained a hint of firmness) and the chives provide lovely oniony flavor.  I don't usually find frittatas to be super filling (and I rarely order them at restaurants because they often come out so dry and flavorless), but the potatoes make the dish heartier and makes it all feel that much more dinner-appropriate.  Because as much as I love breakfast for dinner, sometimes you just need dinner for dinner!

Recipe after the jump!