Food!

First off, my most recent cooking endeavor... I wanted honey walnut shrimp, like Panda Express makes. Minus the walnuts. Not because I'm opposed to walnuts at all... I was just too cheap and too lazy to actually go buy any.

I looked up a few recipes, and the first thing I noticed was how all of them seemed to agree on the general ingredients, but nothing beyond that. The second thing was that I didn't really like the look of any of the recipes anyway. So... I took the ingredients under advisement and went about doing my own thing.

First off, pet peeve- I understand that it's supposed to look pretty and all, but I hate it when people bread and fry shrimp with the tails on. So, even though my shrimp came pre-cooked, shelled and de-veined, I took the extra step of taking off the tails. (I think I did about twelve to fifteen shrimp, as this was just an experiment)

Start the sauce first- it does best if it gets to cook down just a little.
For the small amount I was making, I put about (in a small pot)
1/4 cup water
~ 1 Tablespoon (maybe a bit more) of honey,
~ 2 Tablespoons brown sugar,
a dash of orange juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
(Later you will also need:
1 egg yolk (keep the white for frying)
1 1/2 Tablespoon mayo,
allspice,
more salt,
black pepper,
lemon juice)


Let that boil for several minutes while you fry the shrimp (stirring occasionally), which you do thus:

Heat a pan with about a quarter to a third inch of oil, for frying
Separate out an egg white (save the yolk, you'll need that later)
prepare your shrimp (rinsed and patted dry)
a plate with a generous sprinkling of CORN STARCH

Now, I thought the corn starch thing pretty odd, as I've never heard of such a thing before, but it's one of the few things all the recipes agreed on. And it works, surprisingly.

Toss the shrimp in the egg white so it's completely coated, then roll it in the corn starch as best you can. Fry the shrimp till they're just turning light gold, or the crust has a nice crispy texture.

One thing to be very aware of here is not having the oil too cool. The longer the shrimp sit in that oil, the tougher they will be.

Now, back to the sauce. Take that yolk you saved from earlier, and beat it together with about an equal portion of mayonnaise. Turn down the heat under the sauce and stir the mayo-egg mixture in vigorously so that it mixes before it has a chance to cook and congeal.
At this point, you season to taste. Sorry, I didn't keep any tabs on my measurements here. I used a pinch of allspice, a slightly more generous pinch of fresh-ground black pepper, more salt, and about half a teaspoon of lemon juice. I also found that I had let the sauce cook down a bit too much and it was approaching the consistency of caramel sauce, so I stirred in water until it was closer to a syrup. I then put all the shrimp in a bowl, poured the sauce over top, and tossed it till they were pretty evenly covered.

Mine looked something like this:

They kind of went so fast between Andrea and I that I didn't really get to plate them or take any thought-out photos. But it's pretty nonetheless, no?


Also, a visit from The Doctor XD

 

Apparently this kid was driving by on his way to his birthday party, saw the lovely Police Box on my friend's door, and decided to stop by. My roommates and I had been vegging on the couch and, once we'd seen him, it took very little convincing to get us all out for a pic XD

Tomorrow's post: epic pizza!!

Also, Dark Knite Rises. I am there. Probably right now, waiting for them to open those stinkin' doors and let us in. :D