September 22, 2019

We gathered at Angelica's house for our monthly, cooking extravaganza!  

Mary started us off with the most beautiful appetizer, blackberry basil ricotta pizza.  This is like summer on a plate.  She used Caulipower plain pizza crusts and the thin crust was perfect for this dish.  Plus, #lowercarbsyall.  Mary finished the pizza with some dashes of balsamic vinegar to bring out the sweetness of the berries.  

Our main dish was out of a Chrissy Teigen cookbook.  Garlic Honey Shrimp served over rice is sauteed shrimp tossed in a sweet, spicy and citrus sauce.  Mary showed us her trick to heat the oranges in the microwave for 10-20 seconds to release more juice.

Garlic-Honey Shrimp

2 medium oranges
3 tbs honey
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs rice vinegar
1 tbs cornstarch
1 pound large shrimp (we used EZ peeled and de-veined)
salt and pepper
3 tbs canola oil, divided
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbs finely minced fresh garlic
2 scallions, white thinly sliced, greens in 2 inch lengths
1 tsp red pepper flakes
cooked rice for serving

Using a vegetable peeler, pull off a 1-inch wide strip of zest from 1 orange.  Zest half an orange with fine zester.  Juice both oranges to achieve 1/2 cup of juice.  Whisk the honey, soy sauce and vinegar into the juice.

In a small bowl combine the cornstarch with 1 tbs of the orange juice mixture to form a paste.  Stir this back into the rest of the orange juice mixture.

Pat the cleaned shrimp with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.  In a large skillet heat 1.5 tbs oil until hot and add shrimp.  DFWI (google it, this is a family blog) and cook until underside is bright pink, about 1 minute.  Flip and cook another minute and transfer to a plate.

Add the remaining 1.5 tbs oil to the skillet.  Add the garlic, ginger, scallion whites and red pepper flakes (caution, 1 tsp is pretty spicy) and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add the orange juice mixture and strip of zest and cook until thickened, about 1-2 minutes. Return shrimp, add green onion tops and toss to coat in the sauce.  Serve over rice and garish with grated orange zest.

On the side was an Asian Chopped Salad by Tonya.  She omitted the chicken and added some honey to the dressing.   Tonya added cashews too and I love nuts in salad.  They add crunch and flavor. 

This was a great salad that would keep well in the refrigerator for days (sans chow mien noodles and dressing) and make for great sack lunches.  Add back in the chicken or shrimp and you have a main dish.

For our dessert I baked S'mores Pie from a Cast Iron magazine that I found at my happy place, Sprouts.  I paid for a subscription to the magazine so there will be more cast iron recipes to come!  The 2 bottom layers of the pie are nothing special yet they are essential beds for the melty chocolate and gooey marshmallows. 

S'mores Pie

Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2/3 cup flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp salt
6 tbs unsalted butter (duh), melted
1 large egg

Filing:
4 oz semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup unsalted butter (duh)
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt

Topping:
1 1/2 cups marshmallows (I used the whole bag)
Hershey's milk chocolate bars (I used 2-3 bars)
coarsely chopped graham crackers (I used crumbs)

Preheat oven to 375.  Spray and flour (or use spray WITH flour) a 9-inch cast iron skillet.

For the crust:  in a large bowl combine crumbs, flour, sugar and salt.  Add melted butter and egg, stirring to combine.  Let stand 5 minutes.  Press into bottom of pan and up sides (mine didn't make it up the sides).

For the filing:  microwave butter and chocolate (broken into pieces) in 30 second intervals to melt, stirring between intervals, for a total of about 2.5 minutes. Whisk in brown sugar and eggs.  Add cocoa, vanilla and salt, whisking until smooth.  Pour into crust.  Using a knife, fold some crust over filing (it will crack).  (Again, I didn't do that part because maybe my pan was bigger.)

Bake until crust is brown (I couldn't see it) and filing is set, about 27 to 30 minutes.  DO NOT go outside to yell at barking dogs during this time.  I think a little under cooked is best.  Let cool 30 minutes (or 5 hours like I did).  

For topping, top pie with chocolate bar then marshmallows and some sprinkling of crumbs and bake at 350 until marshmallows are lightly browned, about 3 minutes.  Remove from oven and add a couple of chocolate pieces for presentation.