Older Bolder Life

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friday feast

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Texican Skirt Steak Stir Fry

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This past week I’ve been chatting now and again with new friend Lucia about some of the great fusion cuisine we’ve both enjoyed lately down here in Texas.

Lucia hails originally from the Northeast, though recently lived in Houston while attending Rice University and she grew to love the amazing food culture in Houston during her years there. Her stories of enjoying some of the hole in the wall places serving up Korean and Tex Mex fusion dishes particularly resonated with my wife and I, as we’ve spent time in Houston as well enjoying some of the same foods. To be perfectly honest, my wife and I have enjoyed the Asian influence on Texas cuisine for years now, including the Vietnamese and Thai influences that have been simmering under the Long Star for decades.

That said, we’re big fans of skirt steak, given its deep beefy flavor, quick cook whether grilled or sautéed, attractive price point, and the fact it is most often used to make the classic fajita / taco of choice in these parts.

We’ve been playing around with several quick stir fries using skirt, and have finally settled this one, weaving together an Asian-inspired spice and seasoning array with classic Texas-styled fajitas, including sweet onions (1015s in these parts), poblanos, and a couple of red jalapeños for pop and color.

Slicing the skirt (against the grain of course) thinly makes for a quick cook; use high heat, cook quickly, and get a nice sear on the skirt before removing it to give the vegetables time to soften and gain some color.

As always, consider this a base recipe to work from, and throw in whatever suits you – red bells or Mediterraneo Dulce peppers for instance – and there’s plenty of room to adjust the spices as well, though the combination below is amazingly tasty.

1 and 1/2 lb. skirt steak, trimmed, sliced across the grain into 1/4-inch (or less) thick strips
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 and 1/2 tsp + 1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
1 and 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 and 1/2 tsp granulated sugar (optional)

2 medium sweet onions, trimmed, sliced into 1/2-inch thick rounds
1-2 medium poblanos, stemmed, seeded, sliced into 1/2-inch thick rounds
1-2 jalapeños, stemmed, seeded, sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds (optional)
3-inch piece of ginger, peeled, sliced into thin rounds

1 tbsp avocado oil (perhaps just a bit more)
2-4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
3 tbsp grass-fed unsalted butter (in several pieces
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Combine the sliced skirt steak with the sesame oil, 1.5 tsp tamari or soy sauce, salt, and sugar; stir to combine well, cover and set aside for 30 minutes or so (if longer, throw it in the fridge).

Meanwhile, prep the vegetables and gather (mise en place) the rest of the ingredients.

Heat your large skillet over high heat, add the oil, then spread the marinated meat in a single layer and sauté undisturbed (DON’T turn the meat!) for 2-3 minutes until it begins to brown around the edges. Now stir the steak, turning to brown the uncooked side for another minutes. Now remove the steak to a plate.

Reduce the heat to medium-high and add the sliced onions and poblanos, tossing now and again until they being to soften (5-6 minutes or more); add the sliced jalapeños and ginger and cook another 2 minutes.

Now return the meat to the pan, add 1/3 cup water and the fresh ground pepper, stir well, and cook another 2-3 minutes until the vegetables are as soft as you’d like and the ingredients have a glossy coating.

Remove from the heat, stir in the butter pieces, lemon juice, and remaining tamari or soy sauce until all ingredients are well-coated. Taste and adjust for salt, then serve hot and go to it.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Coconut Yogurt Chicken Stew

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After a number of particularly hot weeks during the first half of what most of the country calls the “fall season”, cooler weather, complete with fog, rain, and some blustery winds, has finally arrived in our neck of the woods.

We have a number of soups and stews that we’ve always enjoyed in our late fall – early winter rotation, though lately we’ve been leaning toward Indonesian and Indian flavors and recipes, often using coconut milk and a number of warming spices like curry, cumin, and cloves.

This Coconut Yogurt Chicken Stew is a prime example; it’s modeled after a Somali recipe recently reviewed on Bon Appetite and suggested by our friend Chef Libby down in Austin. After tinkering with it a bit, we upped the heat with more peppers, adjusted the spices to a bolder profile, and subbed in healthier sweet potato (purple sweet potatoes winning the prize here).

The original recipe called for chicken thighs, which are unquestionably delicious, but we think it’s even better with shrimp or an assortment of meaty mushrooms.

This is one of those recipes that looks complicated but really isn’t; you’ll be much more efficient if you mise en place your ingredients as you cook through. And, by the way, this recipe is probably even better after sitting for a day or two, so cook the full recipe as shown and enjoy it again a few days down the road.

And finally, a note for the keto police – yep, that’s steamed rice in the images above. Both my wife and I have increased our daily activity volumes fairly dramatically over the past several months, and have added a bit more carb occasionally – like the scoop of steamed riced in the images here.

3 medium tomatoes, cored, rough chop
1 large red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, rough chop
2-3 jalapeño peppers, stemmed, seeded, rough chop
1 large serrano pepper, stemmed, seeded, rough chop

1/2 cup EVOO or avocado oil
2 large onions, large dice
2-3 large garlic cloves, minced or finely chopped
1.5 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled, finely chopped (might want more)
1 and 1/2 tbsp good, fresh curry powder (see note above)
1 and 1/2 tbsp fresh ground cumin
1 and 1/2 tsp fresh ground turmeric
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/8 tsp ground cloves
Kosher salt, see below

1 cup plain, full-fat yogurt
2 tbsp organic tomato paste
1 large sweet potato, scrubbed, peeled, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
1 large carrot, peeled, cut into 1/4-inch slices
2 pounds boneless chicken thighs, breasts, mushrooms, or shrimp, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 can (14-ounces) full fat coconut milk
1 cup cilantro, rough chop, including small tender stems

To serve
Additional chopped cilantro
Cauliflower rice (or steamed rice)
Fresh spinach

To get started, mise en place at least the first 14 ingredients (down through the spice list). Now blend together the chopped tomatoes, red bell, and the two spicy peppers; we like to leave a bit of texture here; set aside.

Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven or pot, then sauté the onion and garlic until they begin to soften, note you’re really not trying to add any color to the mixture at this point. Now quickly stir in the ginger, curry powder, turmeric, cardamom, cloves, and a generous pinch or two of salt; stir until well combined and fragrant (wow, this smells so good) for another couple of minutes.

Now stir in the tomato paste and then the yogurt; cover and simmer for 1o-12 minutes. Add the prepped sweet potato and carrot, cover again and simmer for another 16-18 minutes.

Finally stir in the coconut milk, chicken (or mushrooms or shrimp), and the roughly chopped cup of cilantro and simmer uncovered for 20-25 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and sauce has reduced a bit.

We typically enjoy this one over riced cauliflower (or the occasional “real” rice) or a bed of fresh baby spinach, topped with more cilantro and a dash of the hot sauce of the week.

Enjoy.

The Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Creamy Mushroom Sauté

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A couple of weekends ago, a new friend who happens to be the executive chef of an up and coming restaurant group here in the DFW metro chatted me up about the simplicity of what is in reality a culinary masterpiece – fresh mushrooms sautéed until they’re crispy over fairly high heat in a carbon steel (or cast iron pan).

That conversation set me off hunting down some of the bounty of fresh mushrooms coming in this time of year, and fiddling around with several different approaches to the mushroom game.

My wife’s favorite has been simply mushrooms sautéed in avocado oil over high heat until they’ve developed a brown, crispy edge, then finished with a simple garlic-herb butter (use your imagination – and what’s on hand in terms of fresh herbs – to quickly pull one together to suit you).

One the other hand, my absolute favorite has been this Creamy Mushroom Sauté that Chef Libby in Austin sent me; she noted it was probably crafted initially to be served over pasta, and you can certainly venture down that pathway with your favorite gluten free or alternative grain pasta, though I think this one is damned tasty over cauliflower rice (I used this one for the images).

The lemon is essential, as is deglazing the pan with white wine or cognac, and using a good Parmesan really adds too.

See what fresh mushrooms you can dig up at your favorite higher end grocer and give this one a spin.

1 pound (or a little more) mixed fresh mushrooms, torn or cut into bite-size pieces
5 tbsp avocado oil or EVOO, divided
1 tbsp good salt (approximate)

2 shallots, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup white wine (or cognac)
1 cup heavy cream
Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp grass fed butter, cut into pieces
3/4 cup grated Parmesan, plus more at service
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley

Heat 2 tbsp of your oil of choice in a skillet over medium-high heat; cook half the mushrooms in a single layer until the edges begin to crisp and brown – don’t move them for 3 minutes or so, then toss gently and brown all sides. Remove to a plate and repeat with the remaining mushrooms and 2 tbsp of oil, salting them lightly when removed from the pan.

Reduce the heat to medium, add the final tbsp of oil to the pan, then sauté the shallots until they begin to soften. Add the minced garlic and cook another two minutes.

Deglaze the pan with the white wine or cognac, simmer to reduce by at least half. Add the cream, bring to a low boil, and simmer for a few minutes until it thickens slightly.

Now remove from the heat and immediately add the lemon juice and zest, butter, Parmesan, and plenty of pepper (to taste). Finally stir in the parsley and the crisped mushrooms and adjust for salt and pepper.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Sweet Potato and Chorizo Hash with Spicy Aioli

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Last weekend our kids in Montana (Livingston and Missoula, though the Missoula-based daughter was working a gig in Australia at the time) saw the first genuine snow-storm of the season roll down from Canada.

Our son and his wife in Livingston, at least during the cooler months of fall and spring and during the heart of winter, often make a “throw everything in” hash for brunch on their carb-refeed weekend day.

It’s still much more like summer than fall here in North Texas, but I’ve broken out some of our favorite hash recipes lately too, including this new favorite Sweet Potato and Chorizo Hash with Aioli.

Our friend Chef Libby sent a Bon Appetite link for a recipe very similar to this one recently, along with a list of the modifications she’s made to align the recipe more to the Texas-biased catering clientele she serves down in Austin. Libby has an amazing palate, and is immersed in the eclectic, Tex-Mex fusion food world that’s been simmering in Austin for some time now.

Using the drained chorizo (or sausage) drippings to flavor up a quick aioli is sheer genius; she favors the immersion blender method for making up a quick aioli (as do we); she most often blends in some chopped cilantro (perhaps some lime juice as well) when making a big batch, and said this dish, topped with a poached egg or two, with an interesting yet simple salad on the side is one of the most popular requests in her entire fall menu lineup.

2 pounds sweet potatoes, cut into 1 inch slices
Kosher salt

1/4 C + 1/2 C avocado oil (olive oil works well here, see note above)
1 pound fresh ground chorizo (or spicy Italian sausage)
1 medium onion (your choice, I like red here)
1 pepper of your choice (poblano, red bell, several jalapeños, etc), diced
1-3 tsp ancho chile powder
1 tsp cumin

For the aioli
1 large egg yolk
1 garlic clove, finely grated
2 tsp fresh lemon juice (ACV in a pinch)
Reserved chorizo oil mixture
Salt to taste
Optional: 1-3 tbsp chopped cilantro

To serve
3-4 green onions, sliced on a steep diagonal
More ancho chile powder to sprinkle
Your favorite table salsa or hot sauce
Consider topping with a poached egg or two as well

Prep and slice the sweet potatoes, then parboil for 10-12 minutes until relatively easily pierced with a fork, drain, set aside to cool. When cool, cut the slices in half or quarters pending size.

While the sweet potatoes are cooling, heat 1/4 cup of avocado oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat; now sauté the onion and pepper of choice for 3-4 minutes until they being to soften. Add the chorizo (or sausage), the ancho chile powder, and the cumin, then cook until browned and cooked through.

Now, for an unusual step – remove the skillet contents to a metal fine-mesh sieve set over a measuring cup; drain the chorizo thoroughly. You’re looking to harvest roughly a 1/4 cup of chorizo oil; when that much has collected, add another 1/2 cup to make 3/4 cup total.

Now it’s time to make the chorizo (or sausage) aioli. I’ll always use this technique to make aioli (or mayo); you can also do this by hand drizzling in the oil slowly. Otherwise, throw all the aioli ingredients into a tall, narrow container (yep, including the oil), and use your trusty immersion blender to stir up a smooth, beautiful chorizo aioli in seconds.

Now reheat the original skillet you used previously (add a tsp or two more oil if needed) and toss the chopped sweet potato pieces in, cooking with an occasional shake and turn until they’re beginning to crisp and brown.

Remove from the heat, quickly stir in the chorizo mixture and roughly half the aioli; mix well. Plate, top with the chopped green onions and what ever else you wish, drizzle with the remaining aioli and go to it.

Enjoy.

The Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: 1015 Onion Marinated Skirt Steak

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Having had the pleasure of living in several different regions of the country during the past two decades, we’ve witnessed first hand the regional battles to claim the title of the Nation’s (if not the world’s) sweetest sweet onion.

Texas has its 1015’s, Washington the Walla Walla, Georgia and the South tout their Vidalias, New Mexico offers Nu-Mex and Carzalias, California the Sweet Imperial, and even Chilean farms grow the Oso Sweet.

They’re all delicious, and we happen to think the very best one is the one we can grab fresh at at hand; everyone has their favorite, probably driven as much by regional tradition and seasonal availability than anything else…

Onions and other alliums bring so much in terms of taste to the flavor table entire books could be written on the subject, and I’m sure there are “onion experts” roaming the culinary plain today, trying to aid we mere mortals in the kitchen as we strive to up our onion game.

Being good Texicans, we’re fond of skirt steak recipes, and this 1015 Onion Marinated Skirt Steak has become one of our favorites of late. Skirt steak, or its kissing cousin the hanger steak, cooked medium-rare very quickly over high heat then sliced thinly across the grain is a treat that every good carnivore should savor at least once a month.

The sweet onion here, grated into submission and combined with a little acid works miracles to flavor this humble cut of meat; all you need otherwise is some good salt and fresh ground pepper before and after the grill and you’ll be in carnivore heaven.

Lately I’ve been slicing a red jalapeño or Fresno chile into the marinade, and note that some folks feel this prep needs a little additional sweetness – we don’t add any brown sugar or honey to this marinade given the sweetness of the 1015s, but you certainly can. And finally, swapping the vinegar for fresh lime juice (grate some lime zest in too) swings this one a little more toward Tex-Mex and is damned tasty too.

See you at the grill tomorrow.

2 pounds trimmed skirt steak, cut into 4 to 5-inch pieces
1 medium sweet onion, 1015s here in Texas
2 tbsp (scant) distilled white vinegar
2 tbsp (scant) avocado oil
1 tbsp (or more) good salt
1 tbsp (or more) fresh ground pepper

Optional
1 sliced red jalapeño or Fresno chile
1 tbsp brown sugar or honey
Lime zest and fresh lime juice for the vinegar

Grate the onion, then combine with the vinegar, avocado oil, and optional pepper slices and sweetener if using; pour into a large resealable bag or your favorite marinating container.

Season the trimmed skirt steak generously with salt and pepper, then add to the bag and turn/squish around to coat the steak well. Throw in the fridge for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.

When ready to cook, fire the grill (medium-high), drain the meat and pat dry. Grill, turning once, until well-marked and medium rare – note this won’t take long with skirt. Pull the meat, let it rest 8-10 minutes, then thinly slice against the grain.

Serve with a sprinkling of really good salt, a spritz of lime juice, and maybe a few chopped chives chives, parsley, or cilantro.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Ancho Coffee Pork Tenderloin

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Back a few weeks ago when I posted this Crispy Ancho Coffee Chicken recipe I had a hunch that this particular rub would work wonders on a grass-fed/pastured pork tenderloin. I have to admit, and again readily confess I didn’t develop that recipe (see the prior post) – this spice mixture is just damn good (if not great).

In fact I wrote this about it over on our fly fishing blog ChiWulff several weeks ago –

The flavor of ancho chiles has always kinda reminded me of a sorta sweet, sorta smokey raisin, with a little bit of heat added for interest; combined here with the cumin and just a bit of a dark, freshly ground coffee and good salt, the ancho anchors this very interesting, and tasty, crust.

Over the grill these need to watched carefully and managed over indirect heat or the spices will burn; we think the best way to cook a batch of these up is to sauté them in a skillet in EVOO or avocado oil, taking care to give them time to develop a crispy crust before turning.

Amazing in a taco with all the fixin’s, or topping a tostada or a big-assed salad, these were awesome a few days back on a bed of shredded lettuce and a great guacamole. What a great boat lunch on a hot summer day these would make too…

Well, the rub works amazingly well on pork tenderloin as well, and speaking of pork tenderloin, have you tried cooking it medium rare using a sous vide technique? Sous vide is a wonderful tool to use to produce great proteins (and more), and pork tenderloin, along with a great steak (ribeye around our house), might just be the crown jewel of sous vide meats in terms of bang for your buck and return on your (rather modest) efforts.

By all means you don’t have to sous vide these, a careful grill or roast in the oven would work just fine, but if you’re waffling on sous vide, find a friend with a machine and cook this recipe together – you’ll be hooked for life.

And finally, you can serve pork tenderloin any number of ways, but consider a New Mexico-inspired “red and green” plate (as in the image above) using our Easy Romesco Sauce and either this Columbian Aji or this Columbian Guacamole. Wow, was that delicious.

4 parts fresh ancho chile powder
4 parts ground cumin
1 part (scant) good salt
1/2 to 1 part finely ground fresh dark roast coffee

2 pastured pork tenderloins, silver skin removed

Combine the ancho powder, cumin, salt, and finely ground coffee in a small bowl, stir to mix well.

While not really necessary, I like to paint the pork tenderloins with a bit of apple cider vinegar, then rub with the spice mixture. Cover tightly and throw in the fridge for 2-4 hours.

If cooking sous vide, heat your water bath to 130-135 (F), and cook using routine methods for an hour. Remove, drain, and let rest for 15-30 minutes at room temperature before searing quickly in butter and avocado oil on the stove top or on the grill (my preferred). Don’t sweat it when the rub/spice mixture darkens significantly when seared/grilled – it’s the spices and you’re not burning the outer layer. Don’t forget to be quick about this process to preserve that delightful medium rare cook you’ve just done perfectly in the sous vide bath.

If grilling, cook over medium-high indirect heat per routine, until done to your liking (though I’d personally never cook these past medium…). Let rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing.

Serve as desired, and enjoy.

The Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Sweet Potato Hashbrown Cheeseburger Pie

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Several weeks ago a friend approached me and asked for help adapting a video recipe she’d seen recently for an upcoming backyard party she was hosting for a group of her daughter’s teen friends.

Apparently they’d discussed doing something “different than the usual burgers and dogs” and wanted a tasty dish that would appeal to teenage palates and yet reasonably accommodate their own recently-adopted paleo/primal food plan.

The video was a fairly uninspired version of this recipe, with store-bought, industrial seed oil-prepared string potato crisps as the bottom layer, devoid of any spice, yet it offered some promise.

We set to experimenting a bit, playing with different versions of sweet potato for the foundation – including crisped up oven fries, sautéed crispy home-style fries (medium dice), though for taste, texture, and interest, finally settling (somewhat to my surprise, I first guessed that homemade oven fries would win out) on this hashbrown version where we essentially made a large sweet potato rosti for the base and then built the cheeseburger “pie” on top of that.

We’ve even served this recently for an informal dinner with friends, where it was a big hit. And as with any burger you can dream up – add whatever tickles your fancy to the stack, like sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions, your favorite quick guacamole, pickled onions or jalapeños, and so on…

Don’t be intimidated by making a giant rosti, just pat the grated hash browns out into your largest skillet (preheated with a bit of avocado oil) and cook over medium heat until browned and crispy. Slide the rosti out onto a large cutting board or platter, place another cutting board or platter over and invert, then slide the rosti – uncooked side down – back into the pan to finish. My big skillet is large enough that I needed to cut the rosti in half to fit it onto a sheet pan without overlapping the sides. Easy peasy, and well worth the effort.

2 large organic sweet potatoes, trimmed and grated
1 tsp good salt
2-3 tbsp avocado oil

1/3 pound bacon in 1/4-inch dice
1 medium onion, diced
1 pound grass fed ground beef
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp chile powder
1 tsp good salt

1/3 cup avocado oil mayo (homemade is best!)
1/3 cup homemade Primal ketchup
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup dill pickle chips, finely diced
2-3 tbsp dill pickle brine

1/2 to 1 cup grated cheese of choice
Handful of grape or cherry tomatoes
Small head iceberg lettuce, shredded

Clean and trim the sweet potatoes, then grate. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, add half the avocado oil, and then spread the grated sweet potatoes in the pan, patting into a firm, even layer. Cook for 5-7 minutes until the bottom begins to brown; lift an edge to peek. You may need to turn the heat down if getting too crispy. When browned, turn the rosti as per the last paragraph above. Cook for another 6-8 minutes until browned, then slide onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet (you may need to cut it in half if you have a big skillet as we do).

Now sauté the diced bacon until crispy, remove to drain, leaving the drippings in the pan. Sauté the onions until softened (6-7 minutes over medium heat), then add the ground beef, cumin, chile powder, and salt. Cook until the meat is browned and crisp, breaking it up as you go; set aside when done.

While the meat is browning, to make the sauce combine the mayo, ketchup, sour cream, pickle chips, and brine; set aside when well mixed. Grate the cheese, rinse and halve the tomatoes, and shred the lettuce.

When ready to assemble, fire the oven broiler, then spread the hamburger mixture over the potato cake, top with the grated cheese, and then the bacon. Slide under the broiler until the cheese has melted. Drizzle with the sauce, top with the shredded lettuce and tomatoes, and go to it.

Enjoy.

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.