It's Tuesday night, after yet another weekend of overindulging in some sheer tom-foodery around LA with my buddy Daniel, which included: splitting a Father's Office (Santa Monica) burger and a Pliney the Elder; splitting a Let's Be Frank "Hot" dog - this is an awesome hot dog trailer parked outside of Father's Office in Culver City (yes, we patronized both F.O.'s on Saturday) the Hot Dog is a delicious spicey dog with onions and a special sauce (harissa?) on a great chewy toasted bun; sharing a plate of potato hash from The Grill on the Alley in 90210 (not heart friendly); LIVE, still squirming baby octopus at Ma San in Koreatown - the tentacle parts crawl up your chopsticks and suck on your cheeks as you chew 'em; and finally, Animal on Fairfax - for desert. Well, it was supposed to be desert (some great maple bacon biscuit they have) but turned out to be oxtail fries, and about 4 other Animal-istic dishes that put us all down for the count.
So tonight, after a just totally awesome 2 mile run into the sunset along Belmont Beach and a quick shower, I needed something a little cleaner. And although shrimp isn't necessarily a cholesterol blocker, it's gotta be better than oxtail fries.
I found myself wandering the isles of Whole Foods feeling kinda like Abbey. Abbey who? Abbey ehhh Normal. (!!) Shrimp was on the brain, but prepared with ... hmmm. Risotto? Don't think so (not yet). Linguini? Nahhh, too much. After a few strange picks that eventually went back to the bins they came from (cauliflower, brussel sprouts), I recalled my new rice cooker that I've been wanting to break in (a take-away gift from going to see the Ellen DeGeneres show a few months back - that's right dude, Ellen - a friend had free tix, whaddyagonnado). Sooooo.. . Thai Jasmine rice.... asparagus...shiitake mushrooms... here we go!
Home.
Half a pound of peeled shrimp, marinating in oil, vinegar, dijon, garlic powder, salt pepper. Put the rice in the rice cooker, one cup of rice to one cup of water, hit the "on" button - dun't git much simpler than that. Boiled some asparagus, al dente. Sauteed some garlic and onion til soft.. added some chopped shiitakes, cooked em all down... added the shrimp, cooked that for about 90 seconds until they were cooked. Chopped up the asparagus and diced a tomato - used a spoon to turn them in with the rice..plated the rice/asparagus/tomato, dished the shrimp/shiitake saute on top... a little salt/pepper/lemon..voila! REALLY tasty and clean dish.
By the time I actually got to eating I was pretty hungry, and since it was so good, I just devoured it, barely giving myself time to really enjoy, but ohhh I still enjoyed it, a lot. I would've finished the whole thing, but I was determined to have some left over for lunch tomorrow.
Tomorrow's Lunch - It ain't Subway:
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