The Pragmatic Epicurean

Picnic Balls

2011-08-23T17:26:03Z

We went over to East Bay to picnic with new friends from our baby class. It’s nice to get-together with people who have babies similar in age to Oliver. We can compare experiences and share our learned lessons.

While everyone was bringing their own food and it was a potluck per se I wanted something that was easy to share, well, because I like the feelings that sharing engender. I was searching for something familiar but more refined than what people would have around everyday. I decided to make herbed goat cheese balls, which go great on bread.

I like the way the herbs flavor the oil as well as the cheese. When I lift a ball out to spread on a piece of bread I try to get as much olive oil to come along as possible so that when the cheese is spread the oil streaks and mixes in. When the cheese is all eaten I save the herb infused oil and use it to saute fish or chicken or put it on a salad.

In the end the the recipe wasn’t a hit. Not because it didn’t taste good, but because of dairy allergies (a common issue with nursing moms). But I was happy with the outcome.

The recipe couldn’t be easier. Buy the cheese, buy the herb mixture, roll the balls and cover with olive oil. Then wait a couple of days.

I used an Herbs de Provence herb mixture which I like because it contains slightly exotic by very Californian lavender. Other dried herbs in the mixture are thyme, rosemary, basil and fennel – but you could use whatever herb mixture appeals to you. I think an all dried tarragon coating would be fantastic.

: Herbed Marinated Cheese Balls

8oz. Fresh Goat Cheese
4 Tbs. Herbs de Provence or other Herb Mixture
1 Cup Olive Oil (or more to cover)
2 Bay Leaves
Pinch Red Pepper
Black Pepper

Roll goat cheese into half inch balls. Roll in the herb mixture and stack in a container. Add bay leaves, black pepper and cover with olive oil. Let sit at least 2 days. Keeps at least a week.

Preparation time: 10 min

Number of servings (yield): 12

Addendum: We put them in an arugula salad with strawberries, tomatoes, basalmic vinegar and walnut oil. Fantastic!

The Once and Future Carrot Soup

2011-08-09T17:24:12Z

When I was 14, my Mom bought me a Le Creuset dutch oven and “The Way to Cook” by Julia Child. It was the official start of my being a cook and I took a systematic approach to the book starting from Chapter 1: Soups. The first recipe I made, on page 11, was the carrot soup. Carrot soup has everything going for it: it’s fast to cook, simple to make, has inexpensive ingredients, is elegant in presentation, and can be made with food that I always almost have on hand.

Then in college after my freshmen year, my girlfriend (now wife) was coming to visit me at home. I had talked about food but didn’t have a kitchen in college to prove that I could cook. She was vegetarian and the carrot soup was perfect.

I joined a vegetarian co-op and again cooked the carrot soup on a regular basis. The perfect dinner for a student in a rush and cooking for 25.

Last weekend I saw these great looking Nantes carrots at the farmer’s market and decided it was time to revive a household classic. Shorter than many carrots but much sweeter then my normal supermarket variety. For the first time in years I had to dig out the “Way to Cook” because I wanted to be sure I made the original recipe and not my version. To be honest, the carrots were much higher quality then the ones I would normally use – but perfect for the soup since carrots are the key ingredient.

Happy for having revived this household classic I look forward to making it for my infant son, Oliver, once he starts eating in a few months.

I basically follow Julia’s recipe except that I add extra pepper. This time I had a special “flower pepper” mix of black pepper, rose, calendula, lavendar and cornflower petals. The floral aroma went well with the sweetness of the carrots.

: Carrot Soup

: Based on Julia Child’s “The Way to Cook”

2 Tbs. Butter
2 Onions
8 Carrots
4 cups Chicken Broth
1/2 cup White Rice
3 cups Salted Water or a combination of Milk, Broth and Water. Your choice.
Black Pepper
1/2 cup Cream, Half and Half, Buttermilk or Sour Cream

Coarsly chop the onions and carrots. Melt the butter in a 4 qt. pan and saute the onions until soft. Add the chopped carrots and continue cooking a minute or two longer.
Add the chicken broth and white rice. Cover and cook until the rice is soft and carrots are cooked. 20-25 minutes.
Puree with a hand blender. Add the salted water and bring to a simmer. Turn off heat and stir in the dairy.
Finish with plenty of black pepper stirred into the pot with some on each bowl.

Preparation time: 15 minute(s)

Cooking time: 25 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 4

An American in California

2011-07-29T05:46:43Z

Several weeks ago I saw a recipe for Adobo chicken – the national dish of the Philippines – in the New York Times recipe section.

Reading the recipe, I had to double check the amount of vinegar. One and a half cups?! Are they sure? That seems like a lot. I did a google search and found many other Adobo recipes – each with a totally different set of ingredients and spicing. In fact, the only thing they all agreed on was the amount of vinegar. Ok, I guess that’s right then.

Perusing the other recipes I also got a sense of what makes the New York Times recipe different. The first is that it includes coconut milk, most do not, but I liked the addition of coconut. It includes the inconvenient amount of one cup – inconvenient because coconut milk comes in 13 oz. cans. I decided to up the amount to 13 oz. just so that I wouldn’t have leftover coconut milk floating around the back of my refrigerator. The extra coconut milk also mellows the vinegar just a bit and adds sweetness.

As for the bay leaves, I matched some of the other recipes I’d seen online. I’d never used 12 bay leaves in a dish before. But why not? If one tastes good why not 12? I guess I was feeling pretty cavalier. Oh, and more pepper too.

Adobo, Latin in linguistic roots but not culinary ones, got me thinking about Latin recipes. I decided a Mexican-ish rice with cumin, coriander and pumpkin would go quite nicely with the flavors of the adobe. The sweetness of the pumpkin would contrast with the acidic bite of the adobo sauce.

Being orange season we’ve been going blood orange crazy around here – juicing them, eating them raw, buying blood orange serbet from our local ice cream shop. I’d been eyeing a Sicilian recipe from Saveur – Sicily being to place of origin for the blood orange. I liked that it took something we normally think of as a fruit for breakfast or dessert and combined it with salt, pepper, onions and olive oil to turn it into a savory side dish.

The meal was a success. So much so that I’ve made it twice in a month.

What could be more in the spirit of a sunny winter day in California then some culinary eclecticism?

Recipe: Adobo Chicken

Summary: Adobo chicken recipe adapted from the New York Times

Ingredients

4 lb. Chicken legs and thighs
1 1/2 cup Rice Vinegar
12 oz. Coconut Milk
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
14 Cloves Garlic, peeled and squashed with a knife.
3 Thai Bird or other very spicy Chilies.
12 Bay Leaves
3 tsp. Black Pepper

Instructions

Start the marinade the night before. Mix all the ingredients in a ziplock bag add the chicken and remove air as best you can. Refrigerate overnight.
Put chicken and marinade in a pot. Bring to a boil and cook 30 minutes. Remove the chicken and set aside. Turn up heat and reduce the mixture until thick and creamy.
Preheat the broiler. Put the chicken ontop of oiled aluminum foil and put under the broiler on high. Cook until browned. Flip chicken over with tongs and cook again until browned underneath the broiler.
Use tong to transfer chicken back into the sauce. Stir and serve.

Cooking time (duration): 45

Number of servings (yield): 4

Meal type: dinner

Mexicanish Pumpkin Rice

1 Large Onion
1 tbs. Butter
1 tbs. Olive oil
5 cloves Garlic
2 tsp. Whole Cumin
1 tsp. whole Corriander
1 1/2 cup Rice
1 medium Kobucha or other Winter Squash
1/2 bunch Cilantro
Salt

(1) Peel, seed and chop the winter squash into 1/2 inch cubes. Finely chop the onions. Melt butter and olive oil in the pan over medium heat, stir in onions and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Use a mortar and pestle to lightly break the cumin and corriander. When the onions are translucent and the cumin and corriander. Continue to cook and stir until the onions are lightly browned. Stir in garlic and cook another 30 seconds or so.

(2) Add the rice and stir to coat with oil. Continue to fry stiring occaisionally until some of the kernels just begin to brown. Add 2 3/4 cup water quickly stir and adjust salt. Put pumpkin on top and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and cover. Cook 20 minutes until the rice is done and the pumpkin is soft.

(3) Remove from heat, coarsly chop the cilantro and mix in. Serve while still hot.

Blood Orange Salad

5 Blood Oranges
1 Tbs. Olive Oil
1 small Red Onion
Large Grained Sea Salt
Black Pepper

(1) peel the blood oranges with a sharp knife being sure to remove as much of the white pith as possible while leaving the flesh behind. Slice into rounds and arrange on the serving plate.

(2) Thinly slice or dice the onions. Briefly soak in cold water, drain and dry. Arrange on top of the blood oranges. Scatter pepper and olive oil over the oranges. You can refrigerate the salad at this point and just before serving sprinkle with coarse grained sea salt.

Edit: Clarified some wording so that it’s clear that the chicken should marinate overnight in the rest of the ingredients.

Hoppin’ John

2011-07-29T05:46:21Z

Hoppin John is a traditional southern New Years day dish that’s spread across the country to become an american tradition. Said to bring luck and fortune with the new year it’s a hearty way to start the new year.

I made a version titled “southern collards” in my Pow! Sauce post. Give it a try and report back if you got lucky in the New Year.

Chicken-Chicken Soup with Herb Dumplings

2011-03-04T21:37:16Z

It’s cold and dark out there, even in sunny California. Yes it’s true, we get rain and it’s almost freezing here. Needing to warm up our attic kitchen I was hunting for something to bubble away on the stove for an afternoon. As soon as I read this chicken soup with dumplings recipe I would be making it soon.

One remarkable thing about the recipe is the simplicity of the broth. Rather then mix vegetables, herbs and spices with leftover chicken parts you start with bone-in skin-on chicken thighs and just boil them in salted water. The broth is intensely chicken flavored and utterly delicious – and what could be simpler than chicken and salt in water?

I made a couple of small changes to the recipe. I added salt to the initial boiling water so that it could flavor the meat as the meat flavored the broth. I doubled the herbs in the dumplings and I added dill to the herb mixture.

The dumplings are a basically a biscuit recipe with herbs added. Although tasty, I was not happy with how quickly they absorbed the soup broth turning quite soggy after just a couple of minutes in the pot. If I make this recipe again I will probably add one or two eggs to the batter and remove some or all of the milk.

That’s not to say that it didn’t turn out great though. As Alison finished the soup the next morning for breakfast she told me that I could make the soup again anytime I wanted, hopefully soon.

– Broth –

2 lbs. Chicken Thighs with Skin and Bones
8 cups Water
Salt

(1) Mix the water into the salt until it tastes about how salty you’d like the soup to taste. Add chicken thighs and bring to a boil. Simmer 20 minutes until chicken is barely cooked through. Remove from broth and cool slightly. Pick the chicken off the bones and return bones, skin and catlidge pieces to the broth. Continue to cook an hour more on a light simmer. Break chicken meat into bite sized pieces and set aside.

(2) Remove bones and chicken skin from the broth. Add chicken skin (which has now been defatted) to the set aside meat. Degrease the broth if desired and return to pot.

– Soup –

4 Ribs Celery
2 Carrots
1 medium Onion
6 Green Onions

(1) Chop the vegetables into bite sized pieces. Add celery, carrot and onions to the broth. Simmer while you prepare the dumplings. Set aside greens onions to add just as the soup is finished.

– Dumplings –

1 cup Flour
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
2 Tbs. cold Butter
1/4 cup minced fresh Herbs such as parsley, green onions and dill.
1/2 cup milk (or two eggs, or 1 egg and 1/4 cup milk)

(1) Mix the flour, baking soda and salt. Work in the butter with your fingers to get a coarse butter flour mixture with some small pea sized pieces of butter remaining. Mix in the fresh herbs and then the milk, bringing all the ingredients together to form a soft dough.

(2) Form dough into 1 inch balls and drop into the gently simmering soup. Cook 5 minutes, then flip over balls and continue to cook 10 more minutes. Mix in green onions and ladle into warmed bowls.

Walking Geary, Part 1: The Headwaters

2010-12-31T21:45:58Z

Since we returned “home” to San Francisco over a year ago, we’ve found ourselves exploring new neighborhoods. Some of these places are unchartered territory for our older selves, who are less compelled by the hike-till-you-drop glory of cliff faces and late nights in dark bars. What can I say, these days we’re just in a more family friendly mood.

We’ve felt particularly pulled towards Geary Street, a six mile stretch of traffic clogged roadway that traverses San Francisco from ocean to bay. We used to stay away from Geary, with its ticky-tack buildings, a gazillion mattress stores, and roaring traffic. In some stretches of it, it’s so difficult to cross that a pedestrian overpass is needed, in other parts a section of road drops down into a limited access highway to speed up traffic on its way to and from downtown. Why would anyone want to spend time on this hellhole?

That’s what we always thought. But then we started taking a closer look. These days we’re so excited about Geary that we fantasize about moving to the Outer Richmond neighborhood, a landscape most of the young and hip have shunned for the trendier Mission.

This series, Walking Geary, will follow our rambling journey on foot from end to end. We aim to catalogue Geary’s progression as a quiet, residential beachfront to a major thoroughfare, as it passes through some of the most diverse neighborhoods of the city. One of the reasons we love Geary is that block-by-block the community changes so dramatically and cuts through some of the city’s most culturally rich neighborhoods, including Japantown, the Fillmore, the Tenderloin, and the Asian-Eastern European hodgepodge of the Richmond.

It seems to us that to know Geary is, in no small way, to know San Francisco.

Geary Street was named after John W. Geary, a ’49er who came West with “gold fever” but had the good luck in advance to win a commission as postmaster of San Francisco. He went on to become the last alcalde, a traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, under the old government system, made a fortune as such by selling plots of land that didn’t belong to him, and then ditched our fair city for Pennsylvania in 1852. He was a carpet-bagger, a description that applies to many of us in this city of transplants, including those who’ve traveled across the world to find themselves making Geary Street their home.

—-

Part 1: The Headwaters

At its far western end, Geary perches on a cliff at the edge of the continent. It starts — or ends, depending on the way you look at it — at Sutro Heights Park. It’s a quiet, low-key spot and seems to be mostly a local scene, despite one of the most fantastic overlooks in the city.

Sutro Heights Park wasn’t always this way. Back in the late 1800s, it was a major destination for the Victorian elite, who splashed in Sutro Baths below and came up to the cliff to frolic around its huge greenhouse with exotic plants, a photo gallery, and elaborately designed gardens known as “carpet beds,” all of which were to instill some version of European culture into these West Coast American heathens.

Almost all that’s gone now except for The Parapet, a raised promontory encircled by a stone wall that serves as viewing platform above Ocean Beach and Seal Rock. Visiting for the first time, the view took our breath away, and we found ourselves, tummies rumbling, wishing we had brought a picnic.

Instead, we ventured around the neighborhood, and since the end of Geary has no food to speak of, we decided to cross off the list of famous San Francisco eateries, the diner just down Point Lobos Ave. called Louis’.

It’s a classic diner with eggs and hamburgers and milkshakes, but the rather mediocre food is not the reason to go there. Customers arrive in droves to experience the comfort of a charming 73-year-old family owned business combined with a million dollar view of the sea. While its richer, more touristy cousin down the road, the Cliff House, attracts seekers of fine dining, Louis’ is the place you bring your weary-legged family after a morning hike on the nearby Coastal Trail.

I ordered from the menu my typical diner litmus test, two eggs with hash browns, and found the potatoes woefully undercooked and gummy. Tony saddled up to a hamburger and fries and pronounced them perfectly acceptable and nothing extraordinary. We left imagining there would be similar occasions when we might return.

From there we began our first steps along Geary at 48th Street, a block so far from the city’s downtown that the

Point Lobos Road, now Geary Boulevard, 1900. Photo: SF Public Library

house numbers begin with 8,344. Back in the day when Sutro Baths were hopping, Geary was practically a desert. These days it’s a quiet street bordered by well-kept and spacious homes, some with white picket fences and the occasional entryway oddly guarded by white lions.

We found almost no street life in this entirely residential zone, which seems to pulse instead to the regular blare of a distant foghorn. Unlike the Outer Sunset, the Outer Richmond has some elevation and the lift above the city makes for some picturesque views looking down side streets.

We eventually reached 34th Ave. where the commercial district slowly starts to come alive. We’ll pick up there with Geary’s first cafe on the western edge and a Quickly waffle next time.

Pow! Sauce

2011-01-01T17:49:02Z

The end of the summer is a great time for peppers and this year, as last, I made a bottles of hot pepper sauce. It’s so easy and fast that you should do it too if there are still chili peppers in the market in your area.

I was tempted to make siracha, or maybe add some garlic but in the end simplicity won out because of it’s multi-cuisine flexibility. I’ve used this in everything from Sichuan tofu to honey-red pepper vodka drinks. It’s great on eggs, on buffalo style wings, in a homemade taco or just to brighten up some soup. I included a recipe for southern style greens – we used up the dregs of last year’s sauce loosened with a bit of the fresh crop to spice up the dish. Traditionally a dish eaten down South on New Year’s Day for good luck, we decided to re-purpose it to welcome in the new year pepper crop instead.

After I bought the chilies at the farmer’s market I waited several weeks (!) before making the sauce. Not on purpose, but just for a lack of time. In the back of my mind I wasn’t too worried though since tabasco sauce can be aged for up to three years before bottling. A little pre-fermentation of my peppers would be fine.

Whatever you do be sure to wear plastic gloves. A year ago I did it with my bare hands and they continued to burn for two days!

Around here we call it “Jan’s Pow! Sauce”, frequently shortened to just “Pow Sauce”, after my brother in law who impressed us with his liberal use of hot sauce on everything from breakfast rolls to German sausages.

– Jan’s Pow! Sauce –

2 lb. Mixed Hot Peppers
Salt
White Vinegar

(1) Wash the peppers and cut off the stem. Optionally remove seeds if you want to temper the heat. Put peppers into a blender and barely cover with vinegar. Blend for several minutes until smooth. You may need to do several batches.

(2) Add a handful of salt and bring the hot pepper mixture to a boil. Do not under any circumstances put your head into the column of hot pepper-vinegar fumes. Simmer 5 minutes or so.

(3) Pour into sterilized containers. Let sit on the counter for three days to ferment slightly. Refrigerate. It should keep at least 6 months, I’ve had mine for as long as a year without problems.

– Southern Style Collards –

1 cup dried Black Eyed Peas (also called Cow Peas) or 2 cups fresh
2 large Onions, chopped
1 smoked Ham Hock
1 smoked Pork Chop
3 cloves Garlic, minced
Salt
Pepper
2 bunches collards
Pow Sauce
Red Wine Vinegar (optional)

(1) Soak the black eyed peas in 3 cups well salted water overnight.

(2) Add the peas and their water to a 3 quart pot. Mix in onions, ham hock and the pork chop, garlic in a pot. Add water if necessary to cover the ingredients and taste for salt. Add plenty of black pepper and bring to a boil.

(3) Clean and chop the collards. Mix into the soup and simmer until well cooked. Traditionally these are cooked until they almost disolve.

(4) Add hot sauce to taste, balance with vinegar if necessary.

Pork Chops with an Apple-Mustard Chutney

2010-11-15T01:02:57Z

Alison and I are taking a break from our meat CSA. Although we enjoyed the quality of the meat, we were on the cheapest plan available and were overwhelmed with ground red meat. As a sendoff I ordered a 10lb. “premium” box along with our last delivery.

Unpacking the box I was disappointed with the quantity of pork chops – 6 pork chops and just a couple of steaks. Was this really a premium box? I decided to cook up two of the chops for dinner.

After thawing, I cut the package open in the sink to let them drain. The raw meat had strong and distinct sweet-nutty scent reminding me of both dry aged beef and iberico ham. I swear I could smell northern California acorns, wild fennel and grass coming from the meat. I was tempted to slice off some of the fat and eat it raw.

We had some nice organic apples on hand and I decided to make a sweet-tart but still quite savory apple-mustard sauce.

This is by far the best pork I have ever eaten.

According to our CSA it comes from a small farm in sonoma county and is a hampshire-york cross. I will be looking for more from this farm as soon as we clear out some freezer space.

– Pork Chops with Mustard Apple Sauce –

2 pork chops (with bone)
2 Tbs. olive oil
salt
pepper

1 onion, cut in slices
1 apple, thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic

2 Tbs. apple cider vinegar
2 Tbs. Dijon mustard
2/3 cup white wine
1.5 tsp. honey
1/4 tsp. thyme

2 Tbs. parsley
1 Tbs. butter
salt
pepper

(1) Salt and pepper the pork chops (Can be done ahead and stored in the refrigerator). Prepare/chop the other ingredients. Heat a saute pan and add olive oil. Put in pork chops and cook until brown. Flip and cook until browned again. If there is an edge of fat hold the porkchops edge down with tongs to brown and render. Remove from pan and set aside.

(2) Add onions to the pan with a pinch of salt and some pepper and saute until browned. You may need to lower the heat to keep the fond from burning. When the onions have started to brown add the garlic and briefly saute. Mix in wine and apple cider vinegar to deglaze. Mix in mustard, thyme, honey and apples. cover and cook until apples are soft.

(3) Taste for salt and pepper. Balance the sweet and sour elements. Turn off heat and wisk in butter. Toss with parsley.

To serve, plate a pork chop and cover with apple chutney.

Malaysian Beef Rendang

2010-11-06T21:08:52Z

Heading out for our regular evening walk the wind had the smell of fall. In northern California it doesn’t have the cold bite that you find in the Northeast as fall approaches, but you could tell that this wasn’t a summer wind. In the evening the fog came in so thick that it left behind puddles on the sidewalk in the morning.

That kind of weather got me thinking of thicker things to cook — of stews and beans and long cooked pots. But it’s not quite winter yet, and there are still some warm days left. So in that spirit here is a tropical long cooked stew.

I looked at several recipes and then struck out on my own trying to capture the spirit of each. The recipe is slow cooked and by the time I finished it was dark outside. The end product is dense and has a yellow tint from the tumeric.

The stew takes hours to cook and comes out quite tasty. I added extra coconut than the recipes I consulted, which provided a sticky sauce around the meat and brought more richness to the dish. In the end the thick sweetness of the dish reminded me of pulled pork with its sweet-sour tomato sauce.

The curry is quite heavy and needs something refreshing on the side. I’ve included a recipe for peas with mint and cilantro that goes well with the other flavors. Serve alongside a plain starch like rice or naan.

– Malaysian Beef Rendang –

1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 Star Anise
2 tsp. red pepper
1/5 nutmeg
5 pieces coriander
6 Kefir Lime leaves

1 onion
1 head garlic
1.5 inches Galangal
1 in ginger
1 lemon grass stalk

2 Tbs. Coconut Oil
1.5 lb. Stew Beef
2 cans coconut milk
salt

2 limes
2 Tbs. Palm Sugar (to taste)

2 scallions
1/4 cup cilantro

Preheat oven to 350F.

Puree the onion, garlic, galangal, ginger and lemon grass in a food processor until smooth. Set aside.

Put the coconut flakes into a dry pan over medium heat and stir until they are browned. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Measure out all the remaining dry spices into a bowl and set aside. Heat a heavy dutch oven and add coconut oil. Add meat and brown on two sides. Remove and add the puree. Cook, scraping the brown bits off the bottom of the pot. Add spices and continue to cook until they begin to toast and are aromatic.

Pour in coconut milk and bring to a boil. Add limes, sugar and salt to taste. Mix in beef and toasted coconut. Cover and cook 45 minutes. Remove cover and continue to cook to evaporate the liquid. Stir occasionally to scape the brown bits off the bottom and sides of the pot. Taste for salt and add some as necessary. The oil will separate out but continue to cook nonetheless. It should be fairly dry when done. 1.5-3 hours.

Remove from the oven. Chop green onions and cilantro coarsely and mix into the curry.

Serve over rice.

– Peas with Mint & Cilantro –

1 lb. English Peas
1/4 cup minced cilantro
1/4 cup minced mint
1 Tbs. coconut oil
salt.

(1) Steam the peas and salt them. Briefly run under cold water to stop the cooking. Mix with herbs and coconut oil. Adjust salt.

Cold-Hot Sichuan Shrimp

2010-10-09T02:29:53Z

Another recipe using the sichuan oil. For some reason I really like the contrast of the spicy-hot oil with a cold salad. This time around the flavor of the browned green onions come through quite strongly.

The rest of the ingredients in the sauce are put together just like a vinaigrette.

Hot-Cold Shrimp Salad

1 lb. shrimp
1 bunch scallions
1/2 cup Cilantro
2 Tbs. Sichuan Oil
1 Tbs. Vinegar (in order of preference Chongqing, rice wine or even the juice from a lime)
Salt
Pepper

(2) Wash the scallions and remove the roots. Cut into very thin slices. Coaresly chop cilantro and mix with oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.

(1) Cook the shrimp in any method you choose. Toss with the dressing and refrigerate until cool.