ASIAN SHRIMP AND BROCCOLI RABE

For the honeymoon Mr. Cook and I traveled to Vietnam. Although Mr. was already quite good at cooking with Asian flavors, this trip helped him to absolutely master the craft. Last night in our kitchen Mr. Cook whipped up this delicious shrimp dinner using Asian inspiration. It is not a tradional Vietnamese shrimp dish, but it has the flavor profile and freshness of Vietnamese cuisine.

Night ten: Asian Shrimp and broccolini over sticky rice.

Rice

Sushi/Short Grain rice into rice cooker with the appropriate amount of water, tsp lime zest, a few cilantro stems.
Cook till done and finish with a little Rice Vinegar.

Shrimp

Marinade-
Rice vinegar, fresh lime juice, soy sauce, a dash of fish Sauce, sesame oil, agave nectar, green onion.
Toss clean and de-vained shrimp into a ziplock with seasoning for around an hour.
Cook red onions and ginger in a medium stainless steel pan until transparent.
deglaze with 1/2 cup chicken broth and splash of soy sauce, remove.
Sear Shrimp in the sauce.
Toss back in the onions, ginger and pre-cooked broccoli rabe.
Pour over rice, garnish with cilantro and in a small bowl mix juice of 1/2 a lime, tsp black pepper and tsp ground chicken boullion granules for dipping.

This last bit seems odd, I know. While we were in Vietnam we brought back what we describe as Phu Quoc Chicken Pepper (the box is not in English, so we had to get creative). The Pepper trees in Phu Quoc are extraordinary, and they serve this pepper mixed with some kind of chicken bullion granule with lime wedges on the side of many dishes. What I have described above is as best as one can do when they don’t have access to the red box we have in our kitchen. Take your lime, bullion granules and pepper and mix them in a small bowl. Give it a try on beef, chicken, shrimp… anything!

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