June 15th--Red Wine Shrimp and Cointreau Cupcakes

Dave: Lauren thinks this post should be subtitled "Boozy Tuesday" and I can't say that I blame her. We have two dishes with boozy components. For our main course, we have red wine shrimp on polenta. This is a modification of the City Grocery Shrimp N' Grits recipe (not that the City Grocery recipe needed to be modified as it is quite tasty.)

Right now I have the shrimp marinating in the fridge, and I'm enjoying a glass of the wine we're using for the recipe. We're using Chariot '08 which is bottled by Jim Neal Wines ($4.99, Trader Joe's). It's a California table wine with a nice fruity body with back notes of pepper.



Lauren: I'm always good with a wine that lives at the corner of Tasty and Inexpensive, and Chariot more than fits the bill. It also imparts its friendly flavor to food nicely.

Since desserts are kind of a culinary blind spot for us (or at least, something for which we lack a stockpile of tried-and-true recipes), I decided to try my hand at dark chocolate cupcakes with Cointreau frosting. Originally, I was going to try to make fondant from scratch, but it seemed a little labor-intensive to simply jump into tonight.

Dave: Plus, we were having trouble finding a fondant recipe that didn't call for gelatin, which is kind of a "won't" for both of us (horse bone slime, anyone?). Anyway, it seems like Cointreau Buttercream Frosting is in the cards tonight...very exciting.

Lauren: Finally, I get to use that frosting set I picked up at Ikea! Also, things I learned today: buttercream frosting? Outside of a few additions, the name is also pretty much the recipe.

Dave: I'm really excited with how the shrimp came out. I increased the amount of citrus I usually put in the marinade to 1/2 part and used a little salt to help it find its way into the shrimp... all I can say is YUM! Also, I made a little lightly processed tomato chutney, and it is complementing the shrimp like it is its job (which it is).

On a whim, we bought some bell peppers at the Garden Fresh because they were an unprecedented 99 cents a pound. I decided to make a tri-color pepper salad to go with the the shrimp. I decided to go with chili powder instead of the traditional black pepper, and frankly, I don't think I'll ever go back. The chili powder made the bell peppers sweat perfectly, so I didn't need to add any extra liquid except for some white wine vinegar for taste.

Tomato Chutney Recipe:
Three Roma tomatoes
1 Tsp Hungarian hot paprika
1 Tsp balsamic vinaigrette
1/2 Tsp Himalayan pink salt, finely ground

Dice the tomatoes. I like to cut a "grid" into the tomatoes and then slice off the diced bits like so:




Put the tomato into a small saucepan and add all other ingredients.
Cook on low heat until the tomatoes have absorbed the vinegar.

Shrimp Recipe:
Polenta:
1 Tube polenta

Marinade:
1 Cup wine
1/2 Cup lemon juice
1 Tsp olive oil
1 Tsp kosher salt

Shrimp:
3/4 LB veined and peeled shrimp
1/2 Cup red wine

Procedure:
Marinate the shrimp one hour in the wine and lemon juice mixture.

Drain the shrimp. Put the shrimp in a high-walled frying pan and add 1/2 cup wine to cover the base of the pan. Sautee uncovered until the shrimp begin to curl and shrink. Cut the polenta into 1/2 inch sections and fry on a well-seasoned cast iron griddle.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place to polenta circles evenly over the surface of the baking sheet. Place a dollop of chutney on each ring and top it with a shrimp. Put the baking sheet under a broiler for 7 minutes.




Pepper Salad Recipe:
3 Bell Peppers (Green, Red, Yellow) Finely Diced
2 Tsps White Wine Vinegar
1 Tsp Chili Powder

Put the diced peppers in a bowl with a tight lid (in the absence of a lidded bowl, saran wrap can cover the bowl.) Add the vinegar and the chili powder to the peppers and shake well.

Cupcake Recipe:

(Modified from http://qafma.org/2009/08/23/chef-demo-recipe-lorna-yee/)

3 ounces good-quality bittersweet chocolate (at least 70% cacao), finely chopped or grated

1 cup strong, hot brewed coffee

2 large eggs

2/3 cup vegetable oil (I used safflower oil)

1 cup buttermilk (Don't feel like buying a whole thing of buttermilk just for cupcakes? Keep reading!)

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour (No whole-wheat pastry flour this time - my baked goods always end up with a "healthy" taste when I try to substitute it)

1 cup good-quality unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp kosher salt

DIY Buttermilk

With cow's milk or soy milk:

Add 1 tbsp lemon juice to 1 cup milk . Mix completely.

With rice milk:

A few more steps are involved in this method, but still doable. In a covered container, mix one cup rice milk, 1 tbsp lemon juice, and 1 1/2 tbsp corn starch. Shake vigorously until corn starch is incorporated into the rice milk. Coat the base of a sauteeing pan with margarine (Earth Balance works best) and heat on medium until margarine bubbles. Add milk mixture and stir constantly with a deglazing whisk until mixture bubbles. Reduce heat immediately and move mixture to another container; place in refrigerator until cool.

Preheat oven to 350F. In a small bowl, mix together the chocolate and hot coffee until the chocolate dissolves. Set aside until the coffee mixture cools.

In a separate large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the eggs for 4 to 5 minutes, until pale in color and almost doubled in volume. It should look something like this:

Turn the mixer speed down to medium and add the vegetable oil, buttermilk, and vanilla, and beat until combined. Add the coffee and chocolate mixture, and again beat until combined.

Add the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt, and mix just until the batter comes together and no white streaks of flour are visible. As with many baked goods, overmixing toughens the finished product.

Divide the batter into lined cupcake tins, filling them three-quarters full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops of the cupcakes spring back when lightly pressed, or if they pass the toothpick test. (Note: mini-cupcakes take half the baking time.)

The frosting I would do differently in the future; I was a little lazy and used the recipe on the back of the powdered milk bag:

1 cup powdered milk

1 stick (1/4 lb.) unsalted butter

1/4 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp water

1 tbsp Cointreau

Mix all ingredients except Cointreau together in a bowl with an electric mixer. Add Cointreau; mix until smooth. Optional: To give frosting more of an orange color to match the orange flavor, add one drop red and one drop yellow food coloring.

Finished Products: