Older Bolder Life

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the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Spicy Thai-Inspired Shrimp Stir-fry

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Growing up years ago, both my wife and I had grandparents who lived, at least part of the time, a stone’s throw from the Texas Gulf coast. We have common memories of beach-combing, big bonfires, hot and steamy summer days, and eating lots of stunningly fresh seafood.

Later living in the northern Rockies (small town Montana) for years made accessing fresh seafood (from anywhere) a surmountable but expensive challenge, though being back down in Texas for a spell has made the seafood game much easier, something we’ve thoroughly enjoyed given the amazing benefits – flavor and health – that seafood brings to the table.

My wife loves good shrimp, and while it’s hard to turn down a big platter of iced and spiced boiled shrimp, I personally probably lean to cold-water fish as being my absolute favorite seafood.

That said, this Spicy Thai-Inspired Shrimp Stir-Fry recipe, recently shared by our friend Chef Libby in Austin, and I believe originally sourced from one similar published in the past several years in Bon Appetit, might just have rolled to the very top of our seafood favorites list.

It’s packed with great flavors, including the herbal heat from the jalapeños (or Fresnos), a hefty handful of garlic, and with lemongrass and fish sauce thrown in to ensure you’ve hit all the taste senses and flavor notes. The wilted basil takes this one over the top, and don’t forget the spritz of lime at the end.

Of note, there’s a little bit of sugar in the marinade to aid in caramelization, leave it out if you wish, but as you’re not cooking the marinade in the final dish, you’ll have minuscule amounts of actual sugar clinging to the shrimp as they’re cooked.

4 red jalapeños (or Fresnos in a pinch), stemmed, seeded, chopped
7-8 garlic cloves, smashed
3 and 1/2 tbsp avocado oil or EVOO
2 tbsp good fish sauce
1 tbsp minced lemongrass or lemongrass puree
1 and 1/2 tsp good salt
1-2 tbsp sugar (see note above, optional)

1 and 1/2 pounds large shrimp, peeled, deveined
1-2 tbsp avocado oil or EVOO
2-3 cups fresh basil leaves
1 or 2 limes, quartered

Prep the shrimp and set aside.

Into your trusty blender go the peppers, garlic cloves, 3.5 tbsp of your oil of choice, fish sauce, lemongrass, salt, and sugar if using. Blend until smooth, then pour over the shrimp, mixing well (use your hands) to ensure the shrimp are well coated.

Marinate for a minimum of 20 minutes; can cover and throw in the fridge for up to an hour if desired.

When ready to cook, heat a tbsp of oil in a fairly large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, then add 1/3 to 1/2 of the shrimp (use a slotted spoon to leave the marinade behind) to the skillet in a single layer. Cook undisturbed for a couple of minutes, checking one or two make sure they’re developing some color or char around the edges; then turn and cook for another minute or so.

Remove the first batch to a plate, then repeat with the remaining shrimp. When the second batch is done, remove the pan from the heat, dump the first batch of shrimp back into the pan along with the basil, and stir/toss until the basil begins to wilt.

Plate and serve with lime wedges; if you have a crowd, this is a very attractive dish presented on a large platter.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Bookshelf: Franklin Steak

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In Texas, the Southwest, and the greater barbecue world, then name Aaron Franklin is often uttered in hushed and revered tones.

He’s the pitmaster at his iconic Austin joint Franklin Barbecue, he’s co-founded a nifty fusion Asian smokehouse – Loro, written another culinary best seller Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto, and taught thousands via his PBS show BBQ with Franklin.

I’d known, via barbecue and cooking circles we follow, that another steak-focused cookbook was coming this past spring, and being a long-time fan of Franklin’s impressive skills, his bent to teach and share knowledge freely, and his understated, oft-acerbic wit, I’ve had the book on my short list for a year or so – it was worth the wait.

Others have noted that his Franklin Steak (released this past April) doesn’t read like a typical cookbook; sitting down and paging through you might think you’d picked up a culinary school textbook.

The book is divided roughly into three sections: sourcing great steaks and meat (you’ll be led to do some out of the box thinking here), prepping meat and fire (including grills, fuels, etc) to get the best results, and then of course he dives deep on cooking great proteins, with a variety of approaches presented, a look at classic steak side dishes, and even libations to pair with your steaks for those so inclined.

Around our camp, and metaphorical camp fire, we’ve been having extraordinary results with sous vide techniques for steaks of late, though Franklin’s book has prompted several new, and very tasty, approaches to prepping and finishing steaks here at home.

The book is well illustrated, beautifully photographed, damned instructive, and a worthy addition to the cookbook shelf of any steak, and cooking, fanatic.

By the way, this isn’t a paid review, I bought my personal copy a few weeks back in Austin.

The Older Bolder Life Vegetable Wednesday: Chile Peanut Cauliflower Rice

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Like many of you, we’ve been enjoying a variety of spiced-up, tasty and delicious cauliflower rice (or riced cauliflower if you prefer) dishes on our ancestral food journey.

I have to be brutally honest, I’ve been a big fan of rice of all shapes and sizes since a young child, perhaps related to my parents growing in rice country along the Texas coast, and missed rice dearly in the first months of transitioning away from grains.

We were in fact somewhat late to jump on the cauliflower rice bandwagon – it made me miss the “real thing” at first – though with the wonderful preps we’ve been cooking of late, honestly we find cauliflower rice dishes to be as good or better than actual rice these days. Right now our favorites include these recipes: Asian Fried Cauliflower Rice, Crispy Verde Cauliflower Rice, and this Ginger Pecan Cauliflower Rice.

That said, when this version of the traditional Indian recipe for this dish showed up in Bon Appetit’s feed, I set out to adapt it to a cauliflower rice version. Of note, we’ve done it with both the traditional curry leaves as well as substituting fresh basil and lime zest for the curry leaves and like the basil/lime zest version better. By the way, if you enjoy food and cooking videos, the video of Priya Krishna cooking the traditional version at the Bon Appetit link above is very well done, and she is simply a delight.

And like all recipes, sometimes you simply have to change things up to fit what’s in the fridge or pantry; you’ll note in the pictures there aren’t any serranos, but instead half ring slices of green jalapeños (they were delicious by the way), as that’s all I had in the fridge last week.

This one is easy-peasy with a great tasting, high-presentation value result.

1 pound bag frozen cauliflower rice (about 5 cups)
1 tbsp ghee, butter, or oil of choice

4 tbsp fresh lime juice (2 limes)
2 tsp good salt
1/2 cup ghee, divided
1 and 1/2 tbsp black mustard seeds
14 fresh curry leaves OR
Zest of one lime + 10-12 basil leaves, chopped
1 cup roasted peanuts
1 large onion, sliced into strips
3 serrano chiles, halved lengthwise
3-4 tbsp chopped cilantro (w/ tender stems)

Heat the frozen cauliflower rice until dried and it just begins to caramelize at the edges a little; remove to a bowl.

Heat 1/4 cup ghee, then sauté mustard seeds until they begin to pop, remove from heat and stir in curry leaves until they’re coated with ghee (leaves will pop and crisp); if using the basil and lime zest instead of the curry leaves, don’t add them yet.

Return pan to medium-low heat and add peanuts; cook until medium brown and fragrant, stirring frequently (6-8 minutes), then pour over the cauliflower rice in the bowl. Add the lime zest and basil to the bowl if using to replace the curry leaves. Add the lime juice.

In same pan heat the remaining ghee, add the sliced onions and chiles, and cook for 5-8 minutes, stirring now and again, until the onions begin to caramelize. Stir onions and peppers into the cauliflower rice mixture, taste and adjust for for salt, lime, and basil (if using).

Top with chopped cilantro just before serving.

Enjoy.

My Newest Travel Workout: The Three Card Flip (or Deal Me Three) Workout

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About a month ago a friend, who happens to travel what seems like endlessly for his work, shared with me a workout hack his wife had stumbled across at her gym – the Three Card Flip Workout, though my buddy and his wife called it the Deal Me 3 Workout.

That said, low and behold the same concept surfaced last week in GQ’s Level Up email newsletter (worth a subscribe if you don’t read it already); from the newsletter –

…I’ve been thinking about that idea in a different context recently: exercise. Specifically in reference to my favorite workout hack, something I’ve (very creatively) coined the Three-Card Flip. Pull three playing cards from a deck—the first is the number of push-ups that you’ll do; the second card is the number of bodyweight squats (or lunges, for variety); the third is the number of leg lifts. (Jack, queen, king = 11, 12, 13; Ace = 1…or 14, if you’re a hardo.) Do it all the way through the deck—17 times, in total—and about 20 minutes later you’ll have done 360-plus push-ups, bodyweight squats/lunges, and leg lifts in total. The Three-Card Flip is my go-to on days when I don’t have time to do a longer workout—and it usually leaves me with a similar post-exercise high. (Highly recommend if you’re traveling and you don’t know what your schedule might look like, or if you’ll have access to a gym.)…

I’ve used this a few times now on the road, and even on a day when I need a shorter, intense, HIIT additional workout to meet my targets during a lighter day when weather or schedule intervened.

I’ve been incorporating simple body weight movements for each of the three, typically some combination of pushups, pull-ups, squats, lunges, toe raises, or squat-toe raise combo moves and trying to get through the “deck of exercise” in something close to 20-minutes or less.

Customize to suit your fitness level and capacity, and keep on dealing…

the Older Bolder Life Sauce Monday: Garam Masala and Cucumber Dip

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I don’t know what it’s been like around your neighborhood this summer, but after a short break from the summer heat here in North Texas, we’re back to typical scorching summer days this week.

Summer is prime time grilling season of course (though thinking about it, when is it not grilling season?) and we’re always looking for a nifty sauce, salsa, slather, or dip to make things more interesting.

Here’s a great one – Garam Masala and Cucumber Dip, a kissin’-cousin to my wife’s favorite tzatziki and my personal go-to in this flavor arena, Bebe’s Curry Mayo and Dip. This one couldn’t be easier to stir together, and with a few simple options you can fancy up this very simple prep to suit any occasion.

By the way, the crispy shallots are a nice touch our friend Chef Libby in Austin uses; she’s always reminding us how easy they are to make at home, and what an amazing vinaigrette the shallot oil makes when you’re done sautéing the shallots. If you’ve not done this before to garnish salads or Thai dishes at home, try it using this technique.

Of course this one is for the daily tolerant, and I’d encourage you to track down some sheep’s milk yogurt as my lovely wife did last week….

1 cup unflavored whole milk yogurt
1 large garlic clove, finely grated
1/2 to 1 tbsp garam masala
1/2 to 1 tsp good salt
1 4-to-5 inch cucumber (Persian if you can), small dice or grated

Optional
Crispy shallots, see note above
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

Add the yogurt to a small bowl, grate in the garlic, and add the garam masala and salt. Stir to combine well, then fold in the grated or diced cucumber. Taste for seasoning, remembering that the curry/masala flavors will intensify a little over time; I almost always end up using a full tablespoon of the garam masala.

Top with the optional goodies, grab the crudite platter, and go to it.

Enjoy.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Older Bolder Links, Reads, Recipes, and More 27 July 2019

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An Eclectic Collection of Fitness Reads for the Week

Resistance training without weights works just as well?
Training to failure: load and rep count really don’t matter.
Exercise (8,900 steps per day?) offers some form of protection against Alzheimer’s.

Geoffrey Miller on Sexual Fitness and the Paleo Movement. You likely won’t agree with everything he says, but interesting…
6-year old nails push-up records.
Does foam rolling help sports soft tissue injuries? (Free MedScape account required)
Why did we wait so long for the bicycle?

From the Halls of Conventional Medicine…

Should you stop taking aspirin for heart health? A lay article recently published and the American College of Cardiology’s 2019 Guidelines.

Laminotomy beats laminectomy for lumbar spinal stenosis. (Free MedScape account required).

No added benefit for half of drugs introduced in Germany? A lay article recently published, based on a study published in the BMJ (see this and this).

Food, Glorious Food

The health writers at Vox have been busy taking on an overview of fiber here and the Keto diet here.
A saturated fat tax? Bollux.
Global meat consumption over the past 50 years.

Spicy Hanger Steak Lettuce Wraps
Grilled Leeks and Zucchini with Pecans
Simple Salsa Criola

The Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Spicy Hanger Steak Lettuce Wraps

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Having grown up in Texas and spent much of our adult lives wandering around the Southwest and West, my lovely wife and I have have devoured our fair share of great tacos and wraps over the years.

After becoming adamantly Primally-aligned food-wise now almost four years ago, we very rarely enjoy the occasional corn tortilla (much more often than other traditional versions of the veritable tortilla), preferring to use lettuce instead of tortillas or taco shells to transport great proteins from plate to palate.

Living in Texas again, we’re of course smack dab in the middle of fajita and carne asada country, and love our skirt steak dishes and recipes, though of late I’ve been looking for and cooking hanger steak (as in this amazing Hanger Steak Korean Bulgogi Bowl).

Hanger steak comes from the diaphragm of a steer, as does the skirt, though the hanger is the more tender, inner portion of the diaphragm, the skirt the outer portion. Hanger steaks are also known as the “butcher’s cut”, as they historically have been kept by the butcher for their own enjoyment. Ask your butcher or meat-cutter; they should have some of these around…

Pre-freezing the meat for a short time before slicing makes it a breeze to thinly slice, and as I’ve said many times before, after experimenting for years with a variety of alternative sweeteners, in the big picture considering health and nutrition impacts, I still argue that a bit of sugar in a marinade isn’t harmful and sometimes simply cannot be replicated by alternatives in terms of the chemistry of cooking. Substitute as you wish, or leave it out all together.

Bottom line, this is a nifty prep for your taco (lettuce wrap) night, and you have a chance to let your creativity shine as you build your wraps with your toppings / fixin’s.

2-3 red jalapeño or Fresno chiles
3-inch piece of fresh ginger
5 garlic cloves
Juice of two limes
1 tbsp brown sugar, optional (see above)
1 tbsp + 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp good salt

1 and 1/2 pounds hanger steak (skirt or boneless beef short ribs work well too)
2 tbsp avocado oil for cooking

Your favorite lettuce and fixings for lettuce wraps (or tacos), perhaps including:
Chopped cucumbers
Chopped cilantro, parsley, or even basil
Chopped roasted, salted peanuts
Pickled red onions
Thinly sliced radishes
A batch of your favorite house guacamole
Crumbled cotija
2 or 3 quartered limes
Maybe even a recipe of a tasty cauliflower rice (like this one, or this one)

Throw the meat in the freezer while you’re preparing the marinade.

Grate the peppers (yep, seeds and all), ginger, and garlic into a medium bowl; add the lime juice, brown sugar if using, sesame oil, and good salt.

Now slice the meat thinly (I mean thin, not more than 1/4-inch) across the grain; throwing it in the freezer beforehand for a short time makes this much easier. Now add the meat to the marinade bowl and mix thoroughly, your hands are best here, to make sure the meat is well coated. Let it marinate for at least 30 minutes at room temp, or even better, overnight in the fridge (covered of course).

When ready to cook, remove from the fridge and let warm slightly while preparing your lettuce wraps and your chosen fixin’s (use the list above as a starting point).

Preheat your favorite large skillet of medium-high heat, add a tbsp of avocado oil, and half the meat in a single layer. Cook without moving it around for about 3 minutes, or until nice and caramelized. Turn, and cook for another 1-2 minutes until the second side matches the first. Remove the first batch of meat, and repeat with the second.

Set out the meat on a platter and let everyone build their lettuce wrap as they wish; you’ll wish for leftovers but there won’t be any…

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Bookshelf: Cordain’s The Paleo Diet

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For those among us who like to read, as my family does, we’re going to be posting quick recommendations and reviews of books that we’ve read, studied, and enjoyed along our own health and wellness journey.

We’ll be looking at newer publications as well as come of the classics in this particular health space, as well as some of my personal favorite cookbooks interspersed here and there.

The Paleo Diet was written by one of the longtime thought leaders in the paleo world, Loren Cordain, PhD, now Professor Emeritus at Colorado State University’s Department of Health and Exercise Science in their College of Applied Human Sciences. The book was originally published in 2002 (revised in 2011), making it almost an historical text given how rapidly the science related to ancestrally-focused nutrition plans has evolved over the intervening two decades, though when I stumbled across a used copy at my favorite second-hand book store a few weeks back I couldn’t pass it by.

Cordain’s work in this seminal paleo book was one of the first presentations to the lay public of what we’ve all come to recognize as core paleo principles, and he laid out a very logical and thoughtful presentation of the key historical presumptions upon which the movement was built. You’ll note in reading that further research has refined and modified many of the principles “around the edges”, for example tweaking protein requirements and targets pending specific metabolic conditions, though his framework presented in this book still informs the eating habits of hundreds of thousands of people today.

The Paleo Diet isn’t the final word on eating, and living, ancestrally today, but is a fascinating and informative read, particularly for those interested in taking a deep dive into ancestrally-guided health and wellness. Though it’s not a very popular principle these days, it’s critical to understand history to interpret our world today, and this is book is unquestionably part of the ancestral health movement’s history.