The Sun Burns Cold

So, if you’re new to this blog let me give you a little backstory on my cooking posts. I work at a fine dining  joint-I’m not a chef or cook or anything, I bust suds and do some food prep. But I’m in the kitchen all the time with a chef who’s been cooking professionally for thirty five years, and his sons the line cooks who both possess some serious skillet skills. I’ve been working at this place for close to three years now, and by sheer osmosis and a few questions I’ve learned to cook some fuckin tasty dishes.

My mother was a cook by trade, so I grew up making stuff in the kitchen at home with her. I’ve always enjoyed cooking, and usually on my day off work I make a big event of it. The nights when I work I get fed at the restaurant and I would seriously just work for the meals. They’re that fucking good.

Anyways, weekends are always busy at the restaurant. And usually on Saturday nights we get fed pizza since the kitchen crew just wants to get the fuck home. Who can blame them, I try and finish up so I can bail as fast as I can too. Tonight though, I just wasn’t feeling the pizza thing. I mean, it’s killer pizza-I live in the “pizza capital of the world” after all (I shit you not, Google it) where even the fanciest joints in town rock pizza kitchens in the buildings. But I had some shrimp in my freezer upstairs (I live above the restaurant in what used to be the managers apartment for about 60 years) since I usually buy a big bag every month at the market across the way. So I figured I’d whip up some Shrimp Francese for dinner.

It’s ridiculous easy to make, at least the way I do it, and it comes out tasting like it’s on the gourmet tip. It’s fairly idiot proof too, any cooking stuff I post here is like that because I’m into cooking simple and tasty. Not to mention, I’m a fucking dishwasher not Emeril Lagasse.

First you’ll need the following: Shrimp, obviously. Flour. Butter, about a quarter to a third of a stick. I always err on the side of more butter, but it’s up to you. White wine. I use salted cooking wine, but if you use regular Chablis or whatever you can add a little salt if you want. It’s not going to make or break the dish, I just like it with a touch of salt. A lemon, one lemon (depending on how many servings you’re making, generally one per serving). Eggs. Depending on how many shrimp you’re doing, but you won’t need too many eggs. I usually go with two or three. Olive oil. Just plain olive oil for sautéing, it doesn’t need to be super extra mega virgin olive oil or anything. I’m always extolling the virtues of cooking with olive oil in these cooking posts, but it’s true-the stuff just makes your grub taste better.

Oh, and you’ll need to whip up a bed of your favorite pasta for the shrimp and sauce to go over. Tonight I used whole wheat penne, but use whatever flips your twinkie. I may work in an Italian restaurant, but I’m Polish and to me pasta is just fucking pasta.

First, hook up a pan and put some olive oil in it. Heat that bitch up good. This is important. You want that pan and oil real fuckin hot. While it’s all heating, flour up your shrimp (for those who don’t follow, put some flour in a pan or big bowl and toss the shrimp in and flip them and shit until they’re coated with flour) real good. Crack your eggs in a bowl, beat them up real good. Go wash your hands or somethin, by the time you get back the pan should be hot as fuck. Then take your shrimp, dip them in the egg batter till they’re nice and egged up, and pop them in the skillet. I do ‘em one at a time, cause that’s how Chef B. does it at work.

You wont have to cook them long-your pan should already be on high heat, and that egg batter will cook up real quick along with the shrimp. Once the egg batter crusts up, this doesn’t take long at all, knock the heat back to about medium high. Give it a couple of minutes, literally, not a long time or you’ll fuck your shit up, then drain the excess oil off.

Now you’re ready to sauce it up. Throw your butter in, let it melt, and ease up a little on the heat so it doesn’t go all brownage. Add wine. A fair amount. I always eyeball it, but I figure probably a half to three quarters of a cup. You have to remember, you’re not using stock as the liquid base of the sauce here-it’s all wine and butter. And lemon juice-which you should now add. Cut the lemon in half, squeeze both halves in. Stir everything up real nice, then add a good four finger pinch of flour to make it coagulate real nice. Make sure you add the flour in increments, and while stirring, otherwize you’ll get mega clump action.

If the sauce is too runny, add more flour. If it’s too thick, toss some more vino in there. Let everything cook up and simmer on low heat for a good few minutes so the flavor gets in those shrimp. Put your pasta on your plate, cover with sauce and shrimp, presto,” jus’ like-a mama used to make.”

Oh, I should add-this could also be made and put over the top of sautéed spinach, with or without pasta. That way is really good too. I just didn’t have any spinach at home tonight.

I would suggest making this while listening to Lana Del Rey. I know, right? What the fuck has gotten into me? I dunno, I just like her voice. It’s soothing and better for cooking than cranking up some Agnostic Front, burning some shit, and then sending my pan through the front window of my apartment and into the windshield of some unlucky half drunk motorist on Main street at one in the morning-which would then cause the poor bastard to drive into the burger joint across the street whereby they would meet their demise in a shower of broken glass and twisted metal. All because I decided to cook while listening to NYHC.

Also, I use this Zemanta thing with WordPress and it generates related articles that I can insert or something. I don’t know how it works or what it does, I usually just use it for tagging and links, but I’m going to see what happens when I insert some of my previous cooking posts in here. Hopefully it wont come out fucked up.

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