Spicy Shrimp and Spaghetti Aglio Olio (Garlic and Oil)

Spicy Shrimp:
1 pound jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley (a couple of handfuls)
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
4 cloves garlic, crushed and peeled
Coarse salt, about 1 teaspoon
2 tablespoons (a couple of generous drizzles) extra-virgin olive oil

Aglio Olio:
1/4 cup (4 turns around the pan in a light stream) extra-virgin olive oil
1 (2-ounce) tin anchovy fillets
6 to 8 large cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley, a couple of handfuls
Coarse salt
1 pound spaghetti, cooked to al dente

Combine shrimp with next 6 ingredients and toss to coat shrimp evenly. Heat a large, nonstick skillet over medium high heat, then add half of the shrimp. Cook shrimp 3 minutes until pink and just firm. Remove shrimp to a warm platter and repeat process with remaining shrimp.
Return pan to heat and reduce heat to medium low. Add 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil. Add anchovies, garlic, and pepper flakes to oil. Break up anchovies with a wooden spoon until they melt away into the oil and garlic mixture.
Toss spaghetti in the pan with parsley and the garlic oil, then season with a little coarse salt, to your taste. Top servings of garlic and oil spaghetti with spicy shrimp.

My thoughts: This is THE recipe that made me love Rachel Ray's cooking. It is super easy, super quick, inexpensive (especially when shrimp is on sale!), and extremely tasty. It is probably my husband's favorite meal that I cook for him. The red pepper flakes give the dish a nice amount of heat and the garlic gives it an intense flavor = a very yummy meal!

Apple Charlotte with Cinnamon Sabayon

For the filling:
1/2 stick unsalted butter
4 medium Granny Smith apples
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the batter:
2 large eggs
1/4 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, for greasing ramekins
2 tablespoons sugar, for ramekins, plus extra for top
20 slices brioche bread, crust removed

Cinnamon sabayon, recipe follows

Begin by making the filling. Set a large saute pan or roasting pan over medium heat and add butter. Peel and cut cheeks off apples then cut into 1/2-inch chunks. Once butter has melted and just starting to foam, add apples, scraped vanilla bean and pod, lemon juice, and brown sugar and cinnamon. Toss to coat well and cook for 20 to 25 minutes until apples are just tender and liquid has evaporated. The sauce will caramelize slightly and should be a nice, rich dark color.
In a shallow dish, make the batter by combining eggs, milk, sugar, and cinnamon. Stir with a whisk until fully combined. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and generously butter and sugar 4 (1-cup) ramekins. Invert a ramekin, or use a round cutter, on half of the bread slices to use as a guide to cut out circles. These will be the bases and top of the charlottes - you should have 8 in total. Cut the other slices of bread in half lengthwise. Working with the circles. lightly coat in the batter and place in the bottom of each ramekin. Lightly dip the other rectangles of bread in batter as well, then use them to line the walls of each ramekin - standing them upright around the perimeter leaving an overhang that you will later use to fold over and seal the charlotte. It should take about 6 strips per ramekin. Fill each mold with apples and some of the caramel from the pan. Fold over the edges to seal it up completely and sprinkle the tops with a little sugar. Bake in the center of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes. If the tops brown too quickly, cover loosely with foil. When done, the bread will have puffed up slightly, the edges will be brown and the sugar on top will have caramelized. Allow to cool slightly, then run a knife around the edges and invert onto individual plates. Serve with cinnamon sabayon.

Cinnamon Sabayon:
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup calvados or apple liqueur
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
Splash water

To make sabayon, combine ingredients in a large mixing bowl and set over a pot of boiling water on low heat, i.e. a double boiler. Whisk (you can use an electric whisk to make it easier) until the mixture becomes light and fluffy and the volume almost doubles.

The filling . . .


The batter . . .


Fresh out of the oven . . .


My thoughts: We substituted apple liqueur with an equal amount of rum, but the rum was a tab bit too strong. Also be sure you use clear apple liqueur and not sour apple schnapps which is green and will affect the color of the sabayon. Be sure to butter the ramekins thoroughly as we had difficulty removing them from the ramekins. Very tasty dessert and easy to make. Like an apple pie with a twist.

Weekend update . . .

Lots going on this past weekend.  Met up with Sharona at Sonoma for Restaurant Week.  I love going to Sonoma for Restaurant Week cause I truly believe that they offer the best deal in town for this semi annual event.  Unlike most participating restaurants, Sonoma allows diners to select anything from their menu rather than one or two pre-selected items and serves full portions.  For the first course, diners are allowed to select one item from the charcuterie, starters and salads, or firsts section of the menu.  For the second course, diners are allowed to select a pizza, a doubled first, or a second.  The third course is either two cheeses or a dessert.  This time around I started with the risotto truffle (divine!), then I had the pork porterhouse (yummy!), and I finished my meal with the chocolate trifle and sabayon (heavenly!).  To go with my meal, I had the Alexander Valley Vineyards “Temptation” Zinfandel.  Sharona and I had a great time catching up while Mike took care of Noah.  We talked for 3.5 hours straight!  Good time with an old friend!

Saturday was all about the taxes (ugh) sprinkled in with plenty of play time with Noah (hooray).  The day ended with a fabulous steak with blue cheese butter and frites dinner courtesy of Mike – another yummy meal!

On Sunday we got to meet up with Randy and Daphne for dim sum at Fortune.  Again SO yummy!  We got a chance to catch up on what everyone’s been up to since the holidays and started planning our trip to Napa – can’t wait!  Then we headed over to Alexandria for my friend’s kid’s 2^nd birthday party.  There was a play room filled with mats and a ball pit.  Noah was too young to play with any of the other kids, but he had fun playing with me and Mike doing some tummy time and standing exercises.  Several people thought he was a girl (and this wasn’t the first time) despite his outfit.  Is it time to cut the hair?!  He was pretty cranky the rest of the day but I wasn’t sure if it was cause of the busy morning/early afternoon or cause he is teething or both.  Either way, he woke up at 1AM again.  After three weeks of decent sleep, am I in for another round of sleepless nights?!

Valentine's Day

Mike gave me these . . .

Noah having a good time in his exersaucer (thanks Lola Lorna and Lolo Tom!) . . .

We went over to Mae's and Dennis's for Valentine's Day Dinner and made Apple Charlotte (recipe to follow) . . .

Chocolate Raspberry Tart

14 ounce(s) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
6 tablespoon(s) Unsweetened Cocoa
12 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
6 tablespoon(s) sugar
1 1/2 cup(s) cake flour
1 cup(s) heavy cream
3 cup(s) fresh raspberries
1 pinch of salt

In mixing bowl, mix butter, sugar and salt until creamy. Add cocoa; mix until smooth. Add flour; mix until crumbly. Shape into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Roll out into circle between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. If dough gets too soft, refrigerate until firm before continuing. Remove top sheet of plastic wrap; invert dough circle over a nonstick tart pan with removable bottom. Keeping plastic wrap on top side, press dough into bottom and sides of pan. Trim excess dough; carefully peel off plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Heat oven to 375ºF. Prick bottom of tart shell all over with fork. Bake about 15 minutes or until dough looks dry. Cool completely in pan.

In saucepan over medium heat, bring cream to simmer. Remove from heat; add chocolate. Let sit until chocolate melts; whisk gently to combine. Cool to room temperature; pour chocolate mixture into tart shell. Refrigerate tart at least 1 hour or until filling is firm. Carefully remove tart from pan. Arrange raspberries decoratively on top of filling.

Making the dough . . .

Rolling out the dough . . .

Making the shell . . .

The shell . . .

Adding the filling and some raspberries . . .

The finished product sprinkled with confectioners sugar . . .

My thoughts: Very easy and inexpensive (depending on the chocolate used - I used Ghirardelli)recipe. Very rich flavor and must try for chocoholics. The shell is more of a crunchy cookie/wafer consistency instead of a chewy graham cracker crust consistency. Be sure the chocolate is firm before adding the raspberries. It tasted even better the day after.

More updates . . .

Video of Noah laughing when we went downtown. LOVE his little giggle . . .

Time Flies By . . .

Wow, Noah just turned 6 months old. Crazy how quickly time seems to be flying by. It’s going by so quickly it seems like I am always playing catch up. I think part of the reason for this is cause of information overload. It seems like I am constantly checking all the latest updates on blogspot, fb, myspace, friendster, etc. to see what everyone is up to as well as updating my own status. Even something as simple as uploading pics seems to take up more time than necessary. Once a picture is taken, I have to download it to my computer, and then upload it to shutterfly. While on shutterfly, I have to email it to my family and update my annual photobook (for an event this means selecting just the right set of pics out of many and cropping if necessary). In addition I also have to upload it to blogspot if mentioned in a post as well as upload it to multiple online social networks if I feel like sharing them that way. Hmmm . . . what used to be an enjoyable experience now eats away at precious minutes I could be doting on Noah or spending time with the hubby and friends. I think it is time to simplify my life.

In other news, since I haven’t had time to blog in about a month, here’s what I’ve been up to. Mike’s cousin Cathy came down for a visit and got to meet Noah . . .

Had a blast watching the Super Bowl at Mae and Dennis’s and made Ghirardelli chocolate truffles dusted with cocoa powder and pecans . . .

Started planning a trip out to Napa with our friends Randy, Daphne, Abby, and Kris (Mom and Dad are going to watch Noah). Can’t wait! Two weekends ago, it was unseasonably warm and so spent the day with the family down in Capitol Hill. Noah used his full sized stroller for the first time and loved it (Thanks Aim!!!). It was a perfect day.

I’ve been making desserts in my spare time. Two weeks ago made a Ghirardelli Chocolate Raspberry Tart which apparently was a hit with my neighbors and Mae’s co-workers. Then for Valentine’s Day made Apple Charlotte with Sabayon (Tyler Florence’s recipe) with Mike. Very yummy! For Valentine’s Day, had dinner with Mae, Dee, Melvin, Lisette, and the kids. Mike got me a beautiful arrangement of flowers. I guess that’s all for now.

Noah's 6 Months Old . . .

Holy Inflation!

Went to Wendy's today after 12:00 mass to grab a quick, cheap snack on the way home and was surprised to find out that they no longer have a $.99 menu!  A small chili is now $1.59.  A crispy chicken sandwich and the chicken nuggets are $1.39 a piece.  That is a 40-60% mark up!  RIDICULOUS!!!  This economy is going down the tubes.

Noah at 5 Months

OK, pics are now working on the Mac.  Here's pics of Noah in January on his 5 Month birthday.  he faux-hawk is evolving!

Cathy visits . . .

Last weekend Cathy was in town for work so she stopped by for a visit . . .

Let it snow! . . .

Pics from Noah's first snowfall . . .

Sorry haven't blogged in a while cause I'm having problems uploading pictures for one reason or another. Will try to figure out what the issue is this weekend.