Grilled Shrimp with Crushed Fresh Tomatoes and Lots of Lime by Alison Roman

Shrimp just doesn’t do it for me. That’s what I decided after making this recipe. Don’t get me wrong - the flavors were awesome, and the whole thing was very simple to make. If you like shrimp, you’ll love this dish. But no matter the flavors, shrimp’s chewy texture and less than appealing shape will always be roadblocks for me. I just had to put that out there. 

new Chicago kitchen!

But let’s move on to the recipe itself. Because again, shrimp lovers should definitely make this one. 

It starts with the crushing of a large tomato in your hands. Enjoy it -- this may be the only truly playful moment of your day. Let your hands squeeze every last bit of tomato pulp until no large chunks are left. Then mix in four grated garlic cloves, salt, and pepper. 

Next, shrimp in their shells (my first time buying shelled shrimp!) spend time in a large skillet. Only a few minutes, though. Shrimp cooks quickly! The recipe gives options for a grill and a skillet, but I am sadly grill-less once more. Piping hot and opaque, the cooked shrimp get tossed with crushed tomatoes, and doused with lime juice. And don’t forget, 2 tablespoons of butter get added, too. The steam from the shrimp melt the butter, adding a necessary richness to offset the thinness of the tomato juices. 

I served the shrimp over rice with roasted carrots. It was a lovely meal, but with Jordan and I not loving shrimp, we didn’t finish it, and sadly, chose not to save the leftovers. I hate few things more than wasting food. And I also know myself. I know that that leftover shrimp will never get eaten. So we let it go right away. 

Ultimately, butter, tomato, garlic, and lime juice are good friends. Let them dress your shrimp, your squid, your fish, your tortilla chips. Trust in their friendship, no matter what you pair them with. 

136 recipes cooked, 94 to go.

Sungold Pasta with Lemony Shellfish, Garlic, and Pistachios by Alison Roman

Since starting this project, I tend to think about food in terms “Before Alison” or “After Alison.” Before Alison, seafood pasta wasn’t on my radar at all. After Alison, I crave it all the time. I look for it on restaurant menus. I approached this recipe with great anticipation. And it mostly lived up to my expectations. 

This recipe requires a lot of multitasking, so the more you can prepare ahead of time, the less stressful the cooking process will be. I suggest slicing the garlic and fennel, and scrubbing and soaking the clams ahead of time. If you don’t already have toasted pistachios on hand, toast those first, too. The last thing you’ll want to do is wait for them to toast while your pasta is getting cold. 

In a large skillet, I first sauteed the fennel bulb and garlic, letting them become tender. Then came the spices, toasted briefly, and a pound of tomatoes. No Sungold’s at the grocery store, but I did find Sungold look-alikes which did the job well. (Yes, even vegetables have doppelgangers!) The tomatoes needed time to heat through and break down into a jammy sauce. At around the eight-minute mark, I started gently breaking them down with the back of my wooden spoon. Next, I added white wine and let it simmer and reduce. That’s four different steps, and we’re only halfway through the recipe! 

The clams need to steam in the sauce for a few minutes until they’re only slightly opened before the shrimp can join. The clams continue to open while their shrimpy partners cook and turn opaque. I’m always surprised at how little effort this seafood takes to cook! 

Instead of adding the pasta to the skillet (I used TJ’s GF brown rice spaghetti), Alison recommends coating the noodles with sauce in a giant serving bowl instead. Heed her advice! I chose to dump the pasta into my saucy skillet, only to quickly realize that there was absolutely no room to toss everything together. I quickly poured the meal into a wide serving bowl and proceeded to mix it from there. The final step involves a good sprinkling of toasted, chopped pistachios for a nutty finish. 

I really enjoyed this pasta. Jordan, not as much. He told me afterward that he could take or leave the seafood, and would enjoy the pasta with just the fennel and tomato sauce. I personally liked the added protein, but I see what he means. The seafood didn’t feel instrumental to the dish. More of an afterthought. If push came to shove, I think I’d prefer Alison’s other seafood pasta from Dining In, Clam Pasta with Chorizo and Walnuts. And that’s surprising, given my affinity for tomatoes. 

131 recipes cooked, 94 to go.

The Best Baked Beans by Alison Roman

According to my taste buds and preferences, these are the best baked beans. But they’re not your typical ketchup-y or brown sugar-y baked beans, and Southerners/Bostonians may have some serious qualms. Note: On my only trip to Boston in 2018, Bostonians were quite snooty to me and I didn’t appreciate their air of superiority. So I don’t particularly care what they have to say about these beans. (I’m speaking, of course, about a certain class of Bostonians, knowing that not all Bostonians fit into this class.) Southerners, you may speak freely about the matter. 

I like all kinds of baked beans, because I love beans, but I like these baked beans the best because they can go with any kind of meal during any season. They’re not barbeque specific, or only perfect for the Superbowl. They can be eaten just as well on a Thursday in August as a Monday in January. They're baked beans for any time of life. For example, I originally planned to save this recipe for the late Fall. But upon returning from vacation in late August, the weather outside being in the high 80’s, I found myself craving warm, baked beans. No sweater-weather needed. These beans were exactly what I had hoped for and scratched all my appetite itches. 

Here’s how I made ‘em. The first step requires cooking the bacon on a skillet over medium heat. You’re looking for fat to render, which takes a while – give or take eight minutes. Thinly sliced onions join the party soon thereafter and become caramelized in the fat over fifteen minutes or so. Garlic and thyme or oregano (I used oregano) jump in to release their fragrance, followed by 3 cans of cannellini beans, a cup of broth (or bean cooking liquid if you’re going the fancy dry bean route) and parmesan. Once seasoned with salt and pepper, the beans are baked with fresh bread crumbs on top until nice and bubbly. The whole process takes little prep, but a good 30 minutes at the stove. 

I ate these beans on their own, with Cholula, with bbq sauce, and with kale and lemon juice. There were enough beans to enjoy for multiple meals, and they made perfectly flexible and flavorful leftovers. The dish is totally customizable, too. Variations I might try in the future include: 

• Use pancetta instead of bacon

• Add red pepper flakes

• Use red onion instead of white onion

• Try a sharper cheese like pecorino

• Top with crumbled Cheeze-its instead of breadcrumbs

129 recipes cooked, 96 to go.

Crispy-Skinned Salmon with Spicy Radishes and Green Romesco by Alison Roman

There are two noteworthy X-factors in this recipe that make it stand out from other salmon. And since cooking this recipe a few weeks ago, I can’t seem to get these X-factors out of my head. Jordan is having the same issue. I know this because he’s asked me no less than three times if I can make it again. And when recently asked about his favorite meal from the project, he mentioned this salmon, and his reasons were these two X-factors: 

• Green Romesco

  • What is romesco? A quick trip down Wikipedia Lane tells me: “Romesco is a tomato-based sauce that originated from Valls, Tarragona, Catalonia. The fishermen in this area made this sauce to be eaten with fish. It is typically made from any mixture of roasted tomatoes and garlic, toasted almonds, pine nuts, and/or hazelnuts, olive or sunflower oil, and nyora peppers.”

  • What is Alison’s Green Romesco? Rather than roasted tomatoes, this sauce, made in a food processor, consists of parsley, olive oil, toasted almonds, garlic, jalapeno, red wine vinegar, and smoked paprika. It still maintains the nuttiness and pepperiness of a regular romesco, but boasts more herbal and spicy notes. Leftovers of this romesco make wonderful sandwich additions and salad dressing. 

• Crispy Skin

  • Just a tablespoon of vegetable oil, some salt, and pepper is all it takes to make an irresistibly crispy filet of salmon. I seared each piece of fish, skin side down, for roughly 6 minutes before flipping it over to briefly warm through on the other side. 

  • Warning: Someone please call the Splatter Patrol! Who knew only a tablespoon of oil could make such a mess! I had oily splatters across my entire kitchen floor, I kid you not. If you have one of those splatter guards, now would be the time to use it. If you, like me, don’t own a splatter guard because you don’t like the idea of cleaning one, then prepare thyself. 

  • If you thought you didn’t like to eat the skin on salmon, think again. Crispy skin rules!

The final element to this dish consists of spicy, marinated radishes with vinegar, shallot, and red pepper flakes. They added a nice, bright crunch to everything, and while I enjoyed them, I still would have loved the dish equally as much without them. 

Given that this crispy-skinned salmon is the fourth and final salmon recipe from Alison Roman on this blog, I find it necessary to provide you with a power ranking. You may be wondering what sort of criteria were considered to determine the power rankings. Well, reader, mostly my taste buds. Which salmon did I enjoy eating the most. They are all on the more low maintenance side of cooking – fish doesn’t take long as a general matter. So it comes down to which did I enjoy most. And for me, the answer is pretty clear… 

ALISON ROMAN SALMON POWER RANKINGS

1. Crispy-Skinned Salmon with Spicy Radishes and Green Romesco

2. Slow Salmon with Citrus and Herbs

3. Buttered Salmon with Red Onion and Dill

4. Salmon with Soy and Citrusy Charred Scallions

126 recipes cooked, 99 to go.

Impostor al Pastor by Alison Roman

I’m from Southern California, and I’ve experienced the true delight of the same L.A. street tacos that Alison is trying to replicate in this recipe. Alison’s right: no one can perfectly recreate the crispy yet tender al pastor tacos of L.A. Those street vendors know pork better than anyone. But dang, Alison’s impostor al pastor tacos get pretty darn close. Taco bout a good taco! 

Heads up – this recipe isn’t a-whip-it-up-in-an-hour type. The meat really benefits from a few hours of marinating, and the marinade itself is somewhat labor intensive. But if you have the time, it’ll be well spent on this recipe. 

I prepared the marinade in the morning before the work day started. Notice my coffee next to the pineapple :). The marinade also serves as a fabulous sauce to drizzle over the tacos, chips, romaine lettuce, etc. The sauce is a blend of white onion, pineapple, spices, guajillo peppers and pepper water. The pepper prep includes toasting the peppers in a skillet until they look charred and puffed up by the heat. Then they need to have their seeds removed and cut into thick rings. The rings of peppers sit in hot water for 10 or so minutes to soften. Then the peppers are transferred to a blender with the other aforementioned ingredients, along with a cup of the pepper water. The whole process took about 20 minutes, with another 10 minutes of cleaning up. I cut the pork into 1-inch thick slabs and placed them in a large bowl to marinate with two-thirds of the sauce. 

After work ended, it came time to cook the pork! This took a little while. Alison recommends cooking the pork through once, cutting it into smaller pieces, and then doing a second round of cooking to get a slightly crispy exterior. I was not able to achieve the level of crisp like in L.A., but the flavor was pretty darn close! FYI – the pork did a number on my cast iron skillet. It was very hard to clean. I might try a non-stick skillet next time. 

Now, for the fixings. I followed Alison’s recommendations almost to the letter, including chopped tomatillos, cilantro, limes, cotija, and pineapple salsa. The marinade only calls for half of the pineapple, and Alison includes a recipe to combine the other half with onion, cilantro and lime juice for a salty-sweet taco topping. I received rave reviews from Madeline, Sam, and Jordan. All of them openly admitted that this one falls in their top meals from the project – and they’ve had a lot of them! 

123 recipes cooked, 102 to go.