This was really, really good. I half remembered making something with shrimp and orzo and feta before but I’m pretty sure I baked that in the oven. So, I kind of threw this together based on other recipes I’ve seen before and what I had on hand. The garlicky, lemony wine sauce is amazing tasty! jwa brought the leftovers to work for lunch Thursday and I almost tried to steal them from him, as I really liked this dish. But, I didn’t — I am too nice.

Spicy Lemon Garlic Shrimp with Orzo:
1 1/2 cups uncooked orzo
1 tbsp olive oil
6 cloves garlic
1/2 onion, sliced
1 yellow pepper, julienned
3/4 of a pound raw shrimp, cleaned and deveined (the first time I typed this out I wrote “3/4 of a pond” and I almost left it because it was pretty funny)
juice and zest of 1 lemon
1 cup dry white wine
a pinch of red pepper flakes
3 tbsp unsalted butter
8 basil leaves, cut in long strips
1/3 cup feta
salt
lemon pepper

Cook orzo according to package. Drain, toss with olive oil, and add salt and pepper (lemon pepper works well if you have some) to taste.

Cover and keep warm with foil. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet. Add onion and pepper — cook until soft.

Remove and place atop cooked orzo. Recover with foil. Add garlic and shrimp to pan. If the pan is very dry, add a bit more olive oil. Sprinkle shrimp with salt. Cook for two minutes, turn shrimp over and put the lid on pan. Cook for 2-3 more minutes, until shrimp opaque.

Remove shrimp from pan and keep warm on top of veggies and orzo.

There should be all kinds of tasty brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Return it to heat and add the lemon juice and wine. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and reduce by half, about 4 minutes. Stir in butter, red pepper flakes and lemon zest. Adjust salt & pepper if needed.

Pour lemon butter sauce over shrimp and orzo. Top with feta crumbles and basil. We had this with some sautéed green beans and it was excellent!

***

Je Mange la Ville is going on holiday hiatus until 1/1/06. I will be out of town in California, no doubt eating at tasty places and taking pictures of it all. It’s possible I could post while gone but let’s not hold our collective breath.

I hope everyone has a happy holiday and eats all kinds of wonderful meals!

This is from what is quickly becoming my favorite baking book, Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook. It’s the one batch of cookies I’ll have time to make before leaving for California on Friday. Oh, they are good! I decided to bring them into work today. I followed the recipe exactly, except (and of course there’s an except), I added 1/2 teaspoon of instant espresso to the granulated sugar — making these Cinnamon Chocolate Espresso Shortbread!

Cinnamon Chocolate Espresso Shortbread:
3 sticks butter, room temperature
2 1/3 cups + 2 tbsp AP flour
4 1/2 tbsp Dutch process cocoa powder
1/2 heaping tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 cup superfine (baking) sugar

For sprinkling:
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp instant espresso

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Leave a 1-inch overhang on the long sides — set aside. Ina medium bol, whisk together flour, cocoa, cinnamon, salt and baking soda.

Beat the butter and sugar in an electric mixer (or hand-held) until light and fluffy (3-4 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple of times. Add flour and beat on low speed until combined. The mixture will be crumbly, like a pastry crust dough.

Evenly spread and press dough onto baking sheet. My batch didn’t go all the way to the ends. I just pressed it into a rectangular shape on the sheet. Chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Prick the surface all over with a fork. Bake until just firm to touch, about 20 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack and cut into 4-inch x 1-inch rectangles while still hot.

Mix instant espresso and granulated sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle on warm cookies — use as much as you want. I ended up having a little leftover. I’m thinking it’ll go in my coffee this morning! Shortbread can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.

For Slash Food’s Spirited Cooking Day!

Here’s a recipe that I saw on the Food Network on the show, Calling All Cooks (do they even still make that show?) a few years ago. Since I’ve been making it, I’ve modified the amount and type of pepper used quite a bit and it’s still pretty spicy. Originally, the amount of pepper (cayenne, black pepper, lemon pepper white pepper, & red pepper flakes) was insane. This version is still moderately crazy but in a good, it’s-still-spicy-but-my-face-is-not-on-fire way.

Funny story: I made this on Sunday night and all I had was vanilla vodka. I forgot that liquor stores in Portland (all of Oregon?) are not open on Sunday. In fact, I got into a discussion at the Wild Oats on Division with an employee and a guy who was looking for somewhere to buy vodka for a bloody mary party. She was telling him there was supposedly a liquor store at 52nd and Powell that was open on Sunday. Ha! I had just driven by there before going to Wild Oats. Not open. I shared my news and we all stood around trying to think of a place to buy vodka on a Sunday afternoon in Portland. The people behind me in line thought maybe some place in Gresham. I said maybe the one on Hawthorne and 12th was open Sundays but I hadn’t checked yet.

After briefly contemplating making Peppery Gin Chicken, and not feeling like driving down Hawthorne, I went ahead and used the vanilla vodka. It seemed to work fine but if you have plain vodka, you’ll probably want to use that.

Peppery Vodka Chicken:
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tbsp lemon pepper
1 tbsp garlic pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tbsp shallot pepper
Zest of one orange or 1 tsp dried orange peel
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup vodka
1 (16-ounce can) diced tomatoes with juice
1 small can sliced black olives, drained
1 can artichoke hearts in water, drained and quartered
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 cup feta cheese
handful of basil leaves, cut into thin strips

Mix peppers and orange zest in a shallow bowl. I’ll also add that you can use whatever pepper blends that you have. I’ve found it works well with some fresh, ground pepper and then 2-3 pepper blends (lemon pepper, garlic pepper, etc.) that you may have on hand. Rinse chicken with water and while still slightly wet, coat in the pepper mixture.

Heat oil in a large skillet and add garlic, onions and chicken. Brown the chicken on both sides. Some of the pepper will stick to the pan or fall off the chicken — that’s fine. It will just blend into the sauce! Turn off the flame. Add the vodka. Scrape down anything stuck to bottom of pan and turn flame back on. Cover and cook about six minutes over medium heat.

Add tomatoes, olives, artichoke hearts, Worcestershire, and oregano to the pan and let simmer, with the lid on, for about 20 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Stir and flip chicken over periodically during this cooking time.

Serve with extra-creamy mashed potatoes — this seems to go well with the spicy heat of the chicken dish!

Extra-Creamy Mashed Potatoes:
3 large Russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3-inch chunks
1/3 cup sour cream or yogurt
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
4 tbsp fresh chopped chives
4 cloves garlic, minced
Milk for desired creaminess
Salt & pepper to taste

Place the cut potatoes in a large stockpot, cover with cold water, and add some salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer until tender when pierced with a fork, approximately 20 minutes.

Drain well in a colander; return to hot pan and set over low heat for a minute or two to dry out potatoes. Mash the potatoes with a potato masher and add sour cream or yogurt, ricotta cheese, chives, and garlic; mix well. Add as much (or as little) milk to achieve the level of creaminess that you want.

To assemble:
Place a heap of mashed potatoes on a plate. Arrange a chicken breast and sauce on top of the potatoes. Sprinkle artfully with fresh basil strips and feta cheese crumbles.

This works well with sweet wine like a Riesling or a Gewürztraminer — or a big glass of milk is good too!

Oh, look, it’s more bubbling, baked things! Isn’t that what Winter is for? Why yes, yes it is. I really love moussaka. This, too, I would get at Greek Islands. I don’t know, there’s just something about lamb, red wine and cinnamon…

While I was a vegetarian, the one meat I think I thought back fondly about the most was probably lamb. Not that I ate it that often, because I didn’t, but because it was so interesting tasting. Nowadays, I probably have lamb a few times a year and moussaka is a great way to do that.

For these — instead of making a big lasagne-sized casserole — I made individual moussakas in oven-safe bowls. So cute!

If you had one cup or a bit bigger ramekins, you could easily make four moussakas with this recipe. If you had bigger soup bowls and were starving, you could make two big moussakas (and possibly have leftovers).

Eggplant Component:
2 small eggplants
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil

Lamb Component:
1 tsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 onion, chopped
1 pound ground lamb
1/4 cup red wine
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 tomato, chopped
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Sprinkle of cinnamon

Béchamel Sauce:
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
Pinch nutmeg
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp grated parmesan + 1 more tbsp (or so)

Incidentals:
1 more tomato, sliced
1/4 cup crumbled feta
1/2 tsp dried oregano

For the Eggplant:
Wash eggplant and cut off both ends. Peel the purple skin off (I used a knife, but a potato peeler might work too) and slice it across into about 1/2 inch thick circles. Salt both sides of eggplant pieces and let stand for 30 minutes in a colander. Rinse and pat dry. Heat the oil in a large sauté pan, and fry the eggplant on both sides, until golden brown. Drain well on paper towels.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For the Meat Filling:
Heat the teaspoon of oil in a large skillet. Add the onions and garlic and cook until onions are tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the lamb and cook until brown, about 6 more minutes. Drain out excess grease, then add the wine to the lamb mixture and cook for for about 5 minutes. Add in tomato paste, tomato, water, parsley, salt, pepper, and cinnamon. Simmer for 30 minutes more, then remove from heat and cool.

For the Béchamel:
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Blend in the flour, and gradually stir in the milk. Cook, stirring, until thick and smooth. Add in the nutmeg, salt and pepper. Cool. Add 2-3 tablespoons of parmesan and blend well.

For the Assembly:
Here, I used individual, oven-safe bowls. As mentioned earlier, you can certainly also do this in a casserole dish. Start off by layering tomato slices in the bottom of each bowl.

Then, place some eggplant circles, followed by lamb mixture. Repeat eggplant and lamb mixture layers until both are used up. Top with the Béchamel and sprinkle with the extra one tablespoon of parmesan, then a little feta cheese (just a few crumbles on top to make it look pretty). Complete the masterpieces with a sprinkle of dried oregano on top of each.

Place in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, until bubbly and golden on top. Remove to a rack and let cool for 10 minutes.

For the Eating:
Serve with a salad of spinach leaves, kalamata olives, tomato and feta. Oh, and red wine. There must be red wine.

Then, open the box of Baklava you might have gotten for a holiday present. How convenient! Mmm!

Tomorrow: Spirited Cooking.

***

On a different, non-lamb casserole note, congratulations to Christy & Dave. Yay!

Yeah, I’ve been out of school since 1995 — so? I used to make this both as an undergrad and a grad student. It’s cheap, it’s quick, it’s easy and it’s Mexican food and yet it’s a pizza. It’s awesome. And really, you can fancy-pants it up as much as you want. You could make your own pizza dough, make your own enchilada-type sauce, roast peppers, shred chicken, etc., or you could use the 99 cent Jiffy Pizza dough mix, buy jarred sauce and eat dinner for two+ days for around $10.

For old times sake, I usually go the pizza dough in a box, sauce in a jar, veggies-only route but that’s just me — for I am both sentimental and lazy.

Cheap & Tasty Deep Dish Mexican Pizza:
2 boxes pizza dough mix
water
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 can refried beans
1 jar/can enchilada sauce (you can freeze the remaining sauce in 1/2 cup servings for future use)
1 - 2 cups grated cheddar cheese (I’ll say one cup, but we all know it’s more like 2 cups)
1 small can chopped black olives, drained
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, sliced
2 bell peppers (any colors will work), cleaned and sliced into strips
1 tomato, sliced thinly

Optional Garnishes:
fresh cilantro, chopped
1 jalapeno, diced
Sour cream
Salsa
chopped green onion

Heat one teaspoon of vegetable oil in a pan. Sauté the onions and bell peppers (sprinkled with a little salt) until caramelized and a bit darkened in color. Set aside.

Make the pizza dough but add the cumin and chile powder. Press it into a lightly olive oiled, lasgane-sized baking dish (the 15-inch by 12-inch or so variety). I usually go up the sides about a 1/2 inch. Brush top of dough with about 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil.

Bake crust at 425 degrees (or the temperature the box says) for about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven.

Spread refried beans on top. Cover with a layer of enchilada sauce. Add the sautéed veggies. Next comes the shredded cheese, followed by a sprinkle of black olives and the tomato slices.

Return to the oven and bake until all bubbly and the cheese starts to get golden — about 20 minutes. Remove and let sit for at least five minutes so it’s easier to cut into pieces.

Serve with the garnishes on the side and be happy you don’t have to study for anything.