Recipe #37 - Shrimp Fried Rice

Fried rice is something we've all enjoyed at Chinese restaurants, but not everyone has had success at preparing it at home. We've found that the key to getting a good batch of fried rice out of the wok is cooking and pre-chilling the rice well ahead of time.

Regarding the various ingredients you add to the rice, it's entirely up to your taste buds and what you have on hand. As with many of the recipes we post here, fried rice is something that can absorb a number of things you may have sitting around the kitchen.

This recipe is enough to serve about six. We had it recently along with Indonesian Salad Rolls with Coconut Peanut Sauce (click here for recipe), and some salad greens dressed with a light lime-ginger-soy-sesame dressing.

1.5 cups long grain white rice
3 cups water
1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup frozen peas, cooked and drained

2 Tbsp. peanut oil
1 red onion, peeled and diced
12 green onions, cleaned, trimmed and thinly sliced
2 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

2 stalks celery, trimmed and diced
1 cup broccoli florets, cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 red bell pepper, cored and diced

3 eggs, scrambled

1 Tbsp. peanut oil
1/2 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

3 Tbsp. low sodium soy sauce

Pour the rice into a fine-mesh strainer and rinse with water. Repeat this several times until the water that drains off is relatively clear. Bring the water and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan, add the rice and lower the heat. Cover the pan and allow to simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes undisturbed. When it's cooked through and all water has been absorbed, remove from heat and allow to cool. After it's cooled down to near room temperature, transfer the pan to a refrigerator and chill for several hours.

Heat the peanut oil in a large wok and add the diced onion. Stir-fry for about a minute, then add the green onions, garlic and ginger. Stir-fry for a couple of minute until fragrant.

Add the celery, broccoli and bell peppers and stir-fry for a few minutes, until softened slightly.

Shove the veggies to one side of the wok and move the empty side directly over the heat. Pour in the scrambled eggs and cook until set, stirring often. Chop up the eggs, then stir them into the veggies. (If you're uncomfortable doing the eggs this way, you can always cook them in a separate non-stick skillet, cut into small pieces, then add to the rice.)

Meanwhile, take the chilled cooked rice and break it up by hand into a large bowl, so that you have generally individualized grains. Pour the rice into the wok and stir-fry until cooked through.

Heat the remaining oil in a separate saute pan and add the shrimp. Saute just until cooked through and opaque. Stir the cooked shrimp into the fried rice. If you have anyone in your group who can't eat shellfish or doesn't like shrimp, you can serve the shrimp on the side and everyone can add shrimp to their fried rice at serving time.

Sprinkle the fried rice with the soy sauce, stir and serve immediately.

A final note: Fried rice is a lot of work. If you want your fried rice "easy" then Google the nearest Chinese restaurant and go for the "take-out" option.

Recipe #36 - Baked Potato Bar

Here's another one ideally suited to feeding a crowd. We were recently at a family get-together in Las Vegas and faced with the task of feeding a large group of folks. Like the fish taco feast we published previously here, this works well when you need to prepare a nourishing hot meal for a whole bunch of people.


This recipe assumes a dozen people; you can alter the ingredients based on how many you're feeding.

6 extra large russet baking potatoes (or 12 small)

1 large bunch broccoli, cut into bite-size florets
1 Tbsp. olive oil

6 strips bacon

2 cups cheese sauce (recipe below)

2 cups prepared chili

2 cups grated monterey jack cheese

1 cup sour cream

1 stick unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake the potatoes for 45 minutes to one hour, depending on size, until cooked well. If using large spuds, cut each in half and put on a serving platter.

While the potatoes are baking, heat the butter in a skillet, add the broccoli florets and saute until cooked through. Chop up the bacon into small dice and cook in a saute pan until crisp.

Put all the condiments and toppings into bowls and invite your hungry guests to grab a spud and work their way through the topping line.

Serve this with a big bowl of green salad.

NOTE: This recipe can also be found on the DuMond Brothers site here.

CHEESE SAUCE

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 Tbsp. unbleached white flour
1 cup low-fat milk
3/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
Salt to taste

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the flour and whisk for a few minutes to create a roux. Add the milk and continue to heat over low heat, whisking often. After the sauce begins to thicken, add the grated cheese. Continue heating and whisking until it's hot and bubbly. If it's too thick, add more milk, a bit at a time, until it's the consistency you want. Add cayenne pepper and salt, and serve hot.

Recipe #35 - Walnut Cheddar Loaf with Cheese Sauce

Credit where credit is due: This recipe is adapted from one of the first vegetarian cookbooks Mark DuMond ever owned. "Diet For a Small Planet" by Frances Moore Lappe dates back to the 1970's, and that's how long this recipe has been "in the family" so to speak.

If you do a Google search for the title of this recipe, you'll find variations of it all over the Internet, so we're by no means the only ones trumpeting it as a reliable choice.

At the most recent Thanksgiving dinner we hosted at our house, we cooked this to go along with all the other traditional food items. We served it with a mushroom ragout gravy (recipe here), but it's even better with a nice cheese sauce.

Makes about eight servings.

2 Tbsp. saffron or canola oil
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup coarsely ground walnuts (use a processor)
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 eggs, beaten
salt to taste
1.5 cups cooked brown rice (3/4 cup uncooked)

Cheese sauce (recipe follows).

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat oil and saute onions until translucent. Mix with remaining ingredients and put in an oiled loaf pan. Bake for 30 minutes until cooked through and browned on top.

CHEESE SAUCE

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 Tbsp. unbleached white flour
1 cup low-fat milk
3/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
Salt to taste

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the flour and whisk for a few minutes to create a roux. Add the milk and continue to heat over low heat, whisking often. After the sauce begins to thicken, add the grated cheese. Continue heating and whisking until it's hot and bubbly. If it's too thick, add more milk, a bit at a time, until it's the consistency you want. Add cayenne pepper and salt, and serve hot.

Recipe #34 - Rock Shrimp-Spinach-Dill-Tomato Pizza

We try to make sure all the recipes we publish here are original "DuMond" creations, even if some of them are inspired by others. This pizza, however, is a definite knockoff. (The recipe can also be found on the Ace & Mark DuMond blog here.)

We used to live in southern Oregon and one of our favorite places to get pizza was a popular restaurant in the little town of Jacksonville called Bella Union. This place has been around for decades and has the feel of an old-time saloon. This pizza is a real favorite and our recipe is our best-effort at recreating what's known on the Bella menu as "Spencer's Supreme."

We're presenting this as an easy thing to make on a Friday night after a tough week, and so are using a premade pizza crust. If you prefer to make your own crust from scratch, feel free to do so.

1 premade pizza crust
Olive oil

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 lb. rock shrimp
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 Tbsp. dry white wine
1/2 lb. spinach, washed, stemmed and coarsely chopped
2 ripe tomatoes, sliced
1 Tbsp. fresh dill, chopped
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1 cup goat cheese, shredded
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Brush the pizza crust with olive oil and prebake for about five minutes.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet and saute the garlic for a minute or so. Add the wine and shrimp and saute for a couple of minutes until the shrimp cooks through and becomes opaque. Remove from heat immediately.

Add the spinach to the pan and saute until just wilted (add a touch more olive oil if need be).

Spread the spinach across the pizza crust. Scatter the rock shrimp and dill across the crust. Spread the cheeses and pine nuts around the pizza.

Bake the pizza in the oven for about 10 minutes, until heated through and the cheeses are melted and bubbly. Top with fresh tomato slices, cut into wedges and serve.

This goes great with a caesar salad and a glass of pinot grigio, or whatever white wine you prefer, such as chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, viognier, chenin blanc, etc.