The word ‘scampi’ means shrimp, so this dish is called shrimp shrimp.
Fun Fact: There are more than 2000 species of shrimp.
This is a pretty simple dish but it really comes together as more than just the few simple ingredients that are used. I think one of the great parts of the recipe is using the shrimp shells to make the stock that forms the base of the sauce. Its a great lesson on not wasting any part of the ingredient and making fresh shrimp stock is so much better than what you might find in a store so its a win-win. I’d also say feel free to experiment with the type of noodle. I like rigatoni since its about the same size as the shrimp for easy eating.
This recipe is from Not Another Cooking Show (click here) and while I stayed close to the recipe, I did use Argentinian Red Shrimp which actually gave my sauce that more deep orange/red color compared to his recipe which I actually think I preferred. I also served it with some homemade bread which I think is non-negotiable since you’ll want to mop up that super delicious sauce (don’t you dare waste it). This was a super fun and easy recipe to make and the dish was fantastic, definitely recommend and I’ll be making this again in the future.
If you put two types of salsa then it counts as multiple servings of vegetables.
Fun Fact: Tortillas are preferred over bread by NASA for use in outer space since they don’t create crumbs the same way. So technically making this dish is scientific research.
I’m not a huge user of pressure cookers but when you don’t own a dutch oven it becomes the next best option to cook tough meats. This was one of the few times I’ve tried using the instant pot and it turned out great! The beef was super-duper tender and the flavor of the spices and sauce came through in the final dish. This makes a great dish for hosting since it requires no constant attention, you can just set it and when it finishes, can keep it warm in the same pot. The beef can be made into any type of dish you can think of; burritos, nachos, burrito bowls (unlike Chipotle, guac isn’t extra here) but I decided to make tacos with a salsa and toppings bar.
The barbacoa recipe is a mashup of a few recipes I scoped out online from Brian Lagerstrom, Sam the Cooking Guy, and Joshua Weissman. I mixed a few elements from each and I think it turned out great. This is a recipe you can tinker with a bit to suit your taste buds.
For toppings, I decided to go with a salsa bar sort of vibe. I made a tomatillo salsa, a roasted tomato salsa, and included diced onion, cilantro, pickled onions, radish, avocado (of course) and queso fresco. This is great if you have guests since everyone can decide what to put on their own taco.
Side note – of course it’d be best to make homemade tortillas, but I found a refridgerated tortilla brand that is uncooked. Its soooooo much better than the normal pantry tortillas (cough *mission* cough) and actually gives some good chewy-ness and flavor without tasting like white bread. Def recommended if you can find it. The brand I used is called ‘Tortillaland’ and its in the refrigerating section near the cheeses or other Mexican items.
Tips and tricks:
Adjust the types of chiles you use to get different flavor profiles. I used guajillo and Anaheim because that’s what I could find but Ancho and Chile Negro would be great as well.
Get creative with the toppings, this is great for hosting since everyone can customize their own dish.
Don’t charge extra for guac. Then again, it’d be weird if you charged people to eat at your house after inviting them over.
This can also for sure be made in a dutch oven by braising the meat. My guess is to add more liquid initially and cover with a parchment paper as well as the lid to trap in more moisture.
Put the salsas in little squeeze bottles for the full taqueria style vibes.
Ingredients
Barbacoa:
3.5 – 4 lb beef chuck roast (use beef cheek if you can find it)
2 c. beef stock
Juice of 1 orange
1 onion
6-8 garlic cloves, peeled
1.5 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp dried oregano
4-5 dried chiles with seeds removed. (I used guajillo and Anaheim but use what you have available)
2 chipotles in adobo with 1-3 Tbsp of the sauce
salt and pepper
Tomatillo Salsa:
~1.5 lb. tomatillos
1 medium onion
3-5 garlic cloves
2-4 jalapeños
1 poblano pepper
1/2 bunch cilantro
lime juice
salt and pepper
Roasted Tomato Salsa:
3-5 roma or tomatoes on the vine
2-3 tomatillos (optional)
2 jalapenos
1 poblano pepper
1/2 bunch cilantro
lime juice
salt pepper
Garnishes:
Queso Fresco
Avocado
Radish, thinly sliced
Lime wedges
Diced onion
Chopped cilantro
Get Cooking
Prepare the salas: this can be done a day ahead and allowing the salsas to sit in the fridge for a day makes it even better tasting.
Tomatillo Salsa: This is meant to be a more mellow salsa to accent the spicy barbacoa. Peel the tomatillos and rinse them under water, chop into quarters. Rough chop the onion, poblano, jalapeños, and peel the garlic. Place in a pot, cover with water and boil for 5-8 minutes. Place all in a blender with the cilantro and lime juice and blend until smooth. Season to taste with salt/pepper and adjust the lime juice as needed
Roasted Tomato Salsa: Halve the tomatoes, tomatillos (optional), and rough chop the onions, jalapeños, poblanos, peel the garlic. Place on a sheet tray and toss with oil and salt. Place under the broiler for 5-10 minutes until some char is seen. Place into a blender with the cilantro and lime juice. Blend until smooth and adjust seasoning as needed.
Prepare the beef cooking liquid. Deseed the dried chiles and tear into pieces. Put in a pot with the boiling beef stock and turn the heat to medium low and let steep for 10-15 minutes until soft. Place the dried peppers, liquid, onion, chipotle peppers, orange juice, and garlic in the blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.
Prepare the beef by cutting it into 2-3 inch chunks and trimming the silver skin and most of the fat, but leave some for cooking. In the instant pot or a skillet, sear at least 1/2 to 3/4 of the beef on all sides until golden brown. Place the browned beef and the cooking liquid in the pressure cooker and cook on high pressure for 60 minutes. ** Its important to allow the pressure to naturally release for 10-20 minutes once the cooking is done. Do NOT do a quick release as it will dry out the meet and the texture will not be as good.
Pull the meat out with tongs and place in a preheated skillet and sear a little while smushing the meat to break it into shreds, it should be very tender. Add a little of the cooking liquid to glaze the meat.
Serve with heated tortillas and any toppings you want!
Fun Fact: According to the USDA, Americans eat about 3.4 lbs. of fresh strawberries every year.
This is a pretty simple dish but with proper presentation can look stunning and be a great desert for Mother’s Day or really any other day you want to eat a pie. You do you. It would be cool to mix this up and use different berries as toppings as well to add some extra flavor and color to the dish.
This recipe is from Binging with Babish (click here) and I stayed pretty closely to the recipe. He makes his own crust, but to save on time or simplify things you can even use a store-made graham cracker crust. I used one for the pictures you see above. Don’t worry, I won’t tell if you do.
If you bake this in a mini cast iron dish it makes it fancier.
Fun Fact: One of the earliest versions of French toast can be traced back to the Roman Empire.
This dish was created during one of those mornings when I woke up and decided I wanted to eat dessert for breakfast – and because I’m an adult, no one could tell me not to. Also me being lazy played a big role in this so I used whatever I had laying around, including some stale brioche buns, which actually helped absorb the custard mixture so lets just pretend I did it on purpose. Also because I put berries on this, this counts as a healthy fruit dish.
I made this in a mini 3″ cast iron pan, so that’s what the measurements are based on. If you have a larger pan, feel free to scale up the recipe. Remember to scale up by pan area, not just diameter. Yeah, sorry, you have to do some math to make this dish. Additionally, I think a lot of different flavor combinations would be great to try so feel free to experiment.
Tips and tricks:
Stale bread is great to use as it will soak up the custard better and maintain some structure. Its a great way to use up some bread that might be too hard to eat normally.
The toppings are pretty open – feel free to use whatever you have around. Lemon + blueberries is a good combo but any fresh or frozen fruit would work great.
Ingredients
2 buns (brioche, kaiser, etc.) or equivalent amount of bread
Milk
Eggs
Sugar
Salt
Nutmeg or cinnamon (optional)
Lemon- Blueberry Compote:
Blueberries (fresh or frozen, thawed and drained)
Lemon juice
Lemon Zest
Sugar or Honey
Nutmeg
Topping:
Greek Yogurt
Honey
Lemon Zest
Mint
Get Cooking
This recipe is what I used to bake in a 3″ cast iron skillet. Preheat the oven to 375F.
Mix the ingredients for your fruit compote. Adjust to taste and let sit while you prepare the rest of the dish.
Whisk the milk, eggs, sugar, and a small pinch of salt. Add nutmeg or cinnamon (optional). Cut the bread into small cubes and mix into the custard. Let it soak for a few minutes and make sure all the bread is saturated, make additional custard if needed.
In your small cast iron or cooking dish, heat it up on the stove over medium heat. Place in a knob of butter and let it melt. Put in the bread-custard mixture and let it brown slightly on the bottom, about 5ish minutes.
Place a few blueberries and small pats of butter on top and place in the oven for 25-35 minutes or until browned on top and cooked through.
Pull the pan out of the oven, place 1/3 of the blueberry compote on top, and then put back in the oven for ~ 5 minutes.
Remove the French toast bake and top with the remaining compote and the greek yogurt topping. Additionally (optionally) top with lemon zest, honey drizzle, or mint.
Tacos = Good. Short ribs = good. This dish = good.
Fun Fact: The word taco comes from the Nahuatl word ‘tlahco’ which means “half or in the middle”, referring to the way it is formed.
I love grilling whenever I can (b/c fire is cool) because of some caveman instinct probably. The fire gives a great flavor you can’t replicate inside, plus you get to click the tongs and legally people have to call you chief if you are running the grill. Note: other acceptable names are boss, big chief, grill master. This recipe uses ‘flanken’ cut short ribs which are longer strips with multiple bones. This is similar to what might be used for Korean barbecue a they cook very quickly and are well suited for grilling/searing on the stove.
The marinade I used was asian inspired (think Korean barbeque-esque) and then I topped it with a grilled salsa, quest fresco, and avocado. Feel free to experiment with the topping and marinade and try different combos. Last time I made these it was about 40F outside so I can say this is an anytime of year dish to grill outside if you are brave enough.
Tips and tricks:
You can make the salsa a day ahead to make it even more flavorful or make it the day of if you are planning to grill them first.
For extra flavor, grill the tortillas to get a nice char on them.
I served them with grilled scallions on the side for a nice quick side dish
Ingredients
Flanken cut short ribs (~ 1 rib per taco)
Flour or corn tortillas
Marinade: (for ~3 lbs. short ribs)
2/3 C. soy sauce
3 Tb sesame oil
1 medium pear or apple, cored and chopped
2-3 Tb. Honey or brown sugar
6 cloves garlic, peeled
1 Tb. knob of ginger
1/2 C. diced green onion
1/4 C. rice vinegar
Grilled Salsa:
3-4 Roma tomatoes
1-2 small onion
1/2 bunch cilantro, rough chopped
1-2 small jalapenos
Lime juice
Toppings:
Sliced avocado
Queso fresco
Diced onion/cilantro
Limes
Radish, thin sliced
Get Cooking
Marinade the ribs 4-8 hours before cooking if possible: Combine all the marinade ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Add the short ribs to a large ziplock bag and pour in the marinade. Mix and smoosh around to coat the ribs and place the bag in the fridge on a plate or tray. Flip the bag every 1-2 hours to make sure the marinade is even.
Prepare salsa: If grilling/ roasting the vegetables first, coat the tomato, onion (halved), and jalapeno and season with salt. Either A) grill vegetables over the coals until soft and the outside is charred or B) place on a sheet tray and under the broiler for 5-10 minutes per side until soft and charred. Another option is to keep this as a very fresh salsa and use the raw vegetables.
Place the vegetables into a food processor along with the cilantro and some lime juice (I usually start with 1/2 a lime). Blend the salsa until your desired chunkiness is achieved. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.
Cook the ribs: Remove the ribs from the fridge and carefully wipe off the excess marinade before cooking. Extra marinade may burn due to the sugar so be careful.
Grilling: If grilling, cook the ribs for 3-5 minutes per side or until your desired level of doneness is achieved. The correct answer is medium/ medium-rare. Please don’t tell me if you like your steaks well done. Be sure to keep the ribs moving to prevent too much burning, but some char is good to provide some bitter flavor.
Stovetop: On a stove, preheat a cast-iron skillet over medium high heat. Add a small amount of oil and place the ribs in the pan and leave for 3-5 minutes until a good crust has formed. Flip and cook the ribs until your desired level of doneness.
After cooking the ribs, optionally grill or sautée some green onions seasoned with salt for 1-2 minutes or until slightly soft. In either case, rest the ribs for 10-15 minutes before cutting.
Heat the tortillas – my preferred method is grilling or over the stove. Its important to flip it with your hand like your abuela would but use tongs if you must (please don’t burn yourself). You can also wrap in foil and heat in the oven, or even microwave them.
Cut the ribs into small chunks and assemble the tacos! Top with whatever you want, some suggestions are quest fresco, avocado, cilantro, and be sure to give a big squeeze of lime juice!
I think the pea puree and micro greens qualify this as a salad…
Fun Fact: Scallops are the only bivalve mollusk that can jump and swim.
This is one of the first ‘chef-y’ dishes I came up with including thinking about the presentation, plating, and the colors of the dish. I’ve gone through a few iterations and designs but this is really just a technique style recipe for you to be creative with. Scallops are one of my favorite seafood items to make and can be incredible when prepared correctly. I think peas + scallops are a great match and the toppings and garnishes can help bring some brightness and a punch of spice. This recipe is a great way to experiment with scallops and I have a few more variations I can’t wait to share.
This recipe is pretty loosely defined and is meant to leave room for you to adjust to your preferences, especially for the garnishes. This is meant to allow you to taste, adjust and really get a feel for cooking with intuition and adjusting on the fly. Feel free to experiment with the plating and I’d love to see what you come up with!
Tips and tricks:
Use the recipe as a guide but be sure to taste and adjust as you see fit. This is after all, your dish to eat (unless you want to invite me over and let me try it).
For the garnish/ salsa, this is a good time to practice your knife work. its really visually appealing to get a very small dice on the vegetables and make a great topping to sprinkle on.
Make sure to fully drain the peas before blending, and add liquid sparingly to thin it out. Can always add but not remove to control the thickness.
To make the puree extra smooth, pass it through a strainer or sieve for pro chef-y points. Gold star for you.
The pea puree will make a lot more than needed for a single serving (in picture above) so feel free to adjust the amount. Can also be used as a dip or a soup if you thin it out more!
Ingredients
3 scallops, thawed and patted dry (per serving)
1 Tb. butter
Pea Puree:
2 c. peas, thawed or fresh
Stock or water
Butter
1-2 tsp. Lemon juice (to taste) and lemon zest
1-2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped and sautéed
Mint leaves, 1/4 c. chopped or to taste (optional)
Mango Salsa:
Mango, small dice
Shallots, small dice
Fresno Chile or Habanero pepper, small dice
Red/Orange sweet pepper, small dice
Garnish:
Pomegranate Seeds
Microgreens
Fresno Chile, thinly sliced
Snow Peas
Blood orange segments
Pickled lemon rind
Thin sliced radish, cucumber
Get Cooking
Prepare mango salsa: Small dice the mango, shallots, Fresno Chile, and sweet pepper. Combine and set aside to let the flavors develop. Wait to season with salt (as needed) just before plating to avoid drawing out water.
Additionally, prepare any other garnishes such as charred pea pods, blood orange segments, pickled lemon rinds, etc. Go crazy!
Pea Puree: Boil the peas in the chicken stock or water until fully tender, 2-3 minutes. Be sure not to over cook them as they will lose their vibrant green color.
Fully drain the peas and add to a blender or food processor. Add in the garlic (optional), chopped mint (optional), lemon zest, salt, and pepper to taste and blend until smooth. Add in small chunks of butter and keep blending to emulsify.
At this point, adjust the taste of the puree as you see fit, and adjust the viscosity with small additions of lemon juice or stock/water. Optionally, pass through a mesh sieve until smooth. Set aside until ready to plate, keep warm.
Pat the scallops completely dry and preheat a skillet on high heat until very hot. Add a small amount of high smoke point oil (vegetable, canola, avocado, etc.). Season with salt and pepper on both sides. PRO TIP: Whichever side you sear first will usually have the better/more even sear so pick that as the presentation side. Make sure to pick the larger/flat side for this.
Place the scallops in the pan and press slightly to ensure good contact. Season the other side with salt and pepper. Sear for 2-5 minutes or until golden brown on the first side.
Gently flip the scallops and add the butter, reducing the heat to medium. Once the butter is melted, baste the tops of the scallops. Cook for another ~3 minutes or so or until fully cooked.
Plate! Go crazy with plating and feel free to get creative.
Because Apple Galette sounds much fancier than Apple Pie.
Fun Fact: According to common consensus, Apple Pie was actually invented in England over 600 years ago.
I’ve recently started to make an effort to bake more and this works great especially around the holidays since baked goods is basically its own food group. While looking for something new I decided to make this galette as an alternative to pie and now I am on the galette bandwagon.
Compared to a traditional pie, this has a much better crust to filling ratio and is light enough to not overload you after a great meal. Plus saying that you ‘made a galette’ sounds much fancier than making a boring ol’ apple pie.
I used Alison Roman’s recipe for both the crust (click here) and the filling (click here) and it was super easy to make in the morning before the other main dishes. To help save time, feel free to make the dough the day before and keep in the fridge. I think the next time I make this, I may try to whip up a simple oat crumble on top to give some extra texture.
I took high school Spanish so I know how to pronounce this dish.
Fun Fact: Paella has origins in Valencia and the first documented recipes date back to the 18th century.
Since Christmas has far less rules about what to make (compared to Thanksgiving) I decided to make this as a way to pretend I was in a much more exotic place for the holiday (results may vary based on imagination).
I had never made paella before so I found this recipe from tastesbetterfromscratch.com (click here) to use as a baseline, but did make some changes to adapt to what I had on hand. It is a simple recipe but very easy to follow and the results turned out great! I think this recipe has a lot of room to experiment with in terms of fillings so feel free to get creative!
For my version, I used a mix of seafood including calamari rings, octopus, baby scallops, and muscles. Additionally, I decided to get some U13/15 shrimp to arrange on top and I think they really brought the dish together. I used a 12 inch diameter pan which worked well so I would be careful to adjust things if your pan size is different.
Fun Fact: Chocolate is made from cacao which is the seed of a fruit tree so this counts for your daily fruit serving (first part true, second part questionable).
This brownie recipe is my ideal brownie – fudg-ey, chewy, chocolatey. Cake-y brownies are not invited to this party. This is one of the first recipes I developed on my own and its taken a few iterations to get to the current state and I’m always looking to improve.
Some of the key things I like about this is the ability to control the type of chocolate; I like to use a mix of dark and milk to add more depth to the flavor profile. Additionally, chopping the chocolate gives a non-uniform size and adds variety to each bite – you might get a huge pocket of melted chocolate or a few small pieces mixed together.
Tips and tricks:
USE parchment paper if you want your life to be easy and to make removing these brownies not a terrible time. Using parchment paper + nonstick spray is extra credit.
Feel free to experiment with the types and bitterness of chocolate. I always end up changing my mixes depending on how I feel and what I find. This is the one ingredient I usually splurge on (if you can) since its the dominant flavor profile. The dark chocolate (70% cocoa) really helps bring depth and avoid too much sweetness.
Don’t overtake these. All ovens are a bit different, and I would err on the side of under-baking than overtaking to make sure they remain chewy and fudge. The CDC says it’s okay to eat a little raw batter during mixing. (Disclosure: not actual CDC advice)
Ingredients
5oz chocolate, chopped for mix-in (I use a mix of 70% cocoa and 40% cocoa)
3oz chocolate, chopped (for topping)
1 1/8 c. butter
3/4 c. cocoa powder
1.5 c. granulated sugar
3/4 c. light brown sugar
4 eggs + 1 egg yolk
3 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/8 c. AP flour
1 tsp. kosher salt
1.5 c. chocolate chips or chopped chocolate for melting
1.5 tsp espresso powder
2 tsp molases (optional)
Get Cooking
Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 13×9 metal baking dish with parchment paper and some baking spray for good luck.
Heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat until the milk solids have browned and turned a golden color. It should smell nutty, butterscotch-y, and all around really good. Once the butter is melted, remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Set aside to let cool slightly.
Combine the granulated and brown sugar in a bowl and whisk to combine. When the butter has cooled slightly, whisk into the sugar mixture until fully combined. I use an electric mixer because I’m lazy but don’t beat too much air into it.
In a bowl, melt ~4 oz of the chocolate chips and add that to the butter-sugar mixture. Additionally, whisk in the eggs + yolk one at a time until fully incorporated. Add in the vanilla extract, espresso powder, and molasses and beat to combine.
Mix in the flour in small batches and stir with a spatula/ wooden spoon. At this point, add in the remainder of the chocolate chips and the 5 oz. of chopped chocolate. The batter should be thiccc (with at least 2-4 c’s).
Pour the batter into the baking dish and spread evenly. Top the batter with the remaining 3-4 oz. chopped chocolate.
Bake 30-35 minutes or until just done or slightly under-baked. (All ovens are a bit different so just keep an eye on it). To test- use a toothpick into the center that comes out without too many crumbs. There may be melted chocolate so poke a few places.
Pull the pan out and let cool on a wire rack for 20-30 minutes until about room temp. (hardest part). At this point, use the parchment paper (you used it right??) to remove the brownie sheet and let cool even more to allow to solidify. Make sure its completely cool before cutting.
The Red Apron Cook 