Ginger & Toasted Sesame

Summer

Spicy Grilled Shrimp

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I recently moved to New York City. It was a sudden and unexpected move but a very exciting one. I feel very fortunate that we found a great apartment in a neighborhood we love. I’d have to say my favorite thing about my apartment is its patio out back. It’s big enough to grow a modest garden in containers, to have a table and chairs, an area with a little sectional, and a grill. My summer cooking centers around the grill, especially when it’s too hot to turn on the oven.

Our favorite thing to do for dinner after a long day of work is to quickly throw something on the grill. This is an easy shrimp recipe made spicy by a seemingly small half teaspoon of fiery cayenne pepper and flavored with bright lemon zest and juice and minced garlic. I like to let the shrimp marinate for a half hour, skewer and salt them, and throw them on the grill for a few minutes on each side until pink and a little bit charred. For a completely grilled meal serve this with grilled summer vegetables like tomatoes and zucchini (olive oil, salt and pepper, and any herbs you have on hand). These spicy shrimp pair really well with a wine like Cavit Moscato. Its refreshing sweetness pairs well with shrimp and plays off the spiciness of the cayenne. It’s a perfect way to wind down after a long day of work and commuting in the summer heat.

A big thanks to Cavit Wines for sponsoring this post!

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Spicy Grilled Shrimp
Prep Time
35 mins
Cook Time
6 mins
Total Time
41 mins
 
You will need about 6-8 skewers for this recipe if you use two skewers through each shrimp. Using two skewers make it easier to flip on the grill.
Servings: 4
Author: Sonja Bradfield
Ingredients
  • 1 pound of shrimp shelled and deveined
  • 3 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 3 garlic cloves minced
  • 1 teaspoon of paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • juice of half a lemon
  • salt
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl mix all the ingredients except the salt. Let the shrimp marinate in the fridge for about half an hour.
  2. When the shrimp is ready, turn on the grill to high and let it preheat.
  3. Thread the shrimp onto skewers and season them with salt on both sides.
  4. Grill about 3 minutes per side until pink and opaque.

 

Steak Salad with Salsa Verde

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The gentle art of gastronomy is a friendly one. It hurdles the language barrier, makes friends among civilized people, and warms the heart.

–Samuel Chamberlain


A lot has happened since I last blogged in October. I likely don’t need to review current events for you, and I’m not really interested in getting overtly political here. But something would be amiss if I just blogged as if something hasn’t shifted for me personally.

The whole point of me starting this blog was to share experiences and memories through food. And of course, food can be quite political, as anything can be. But I want to use this space to emphasize something that I think is very important and seems to be getting lost these days – gathering and sharing a meal together, and seeing the faces of your family, friends, and neighbors without the noise of the news and social media drowning out real connections you have with folks who may or may not have voted the same way you did.

That’s not to say that you shouldn’t stay informed or get involved. If you feel uneasy, upset, disoriented – take action. I know it’s really helped me a lot to channel these feelings into something productive. But you need to take care of yourself and spend quality time with people without a smartphone or the TV on. My fiancé (a story for another post!) and I have been sitting down to a home cooked dinners every night we are both at home, unplugging, and just talking about our day and what’s going on around us. It’s a small act, but it helps. And as the weather gets warmer, we plan to get together with friends more often to do this very thing.


This meal is quick and easy and perfect for a weeknight dinner. But it’s also a bit different and nice enough to share with dinner guests. The sauce comes together in a blender or food processor in a few seconds and the steak cooks to a medium rare in about ten minutes, either in a cast iron skillet or on the grill. While the steak rests, use a vegetable peeler to create shavings of parmesan and simply dress the greens with lemon juice and olive oil.

A quickly seared steak sliced on peppery arugula with parmesan shavings and topped with a fresh Italian style salsa verde is the perfect dinner to eat outdoors on a warm night (or inside by an open window).

Print
Steak Salad with Salsa Verde
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
10 mins
Total Time
20 mins
 
I've had great success using NY strip steaks, ribeyes, and sirloin for this salad, but you could also use flank or skirt steak cooked medium rare and cut against the grain.
Servings: 4
Author: Sonja Bradfield
Ingredients
Salsa Verde
  • 1 cup Italian parsley leaves
  • 2 cloves garlic roughly chopped
  • 2 anchovy fillets rinsed
  • 1 tablespoons capers rinsed
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts or walnuts
  • A few pinches Red pepper flakes
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Steak & Salad
  • 20 oz New York strip steaks ribeye steaks, or sirloin
  • vegetable oil and butter or ghee if cooking on stovetop rather than grill
  • kosher salt & coarsely ground black pepper
  • fresh lemon juice from zested lemon
  • baby arugula
  • extra-virgin olive oil
  • parmesan
Instructions
  1. Pat both sides of the steak dry and season with salt and pepper.
  2. If using a skillet on a stovetop (preferably a cast iron skillet with vents going and windows open!), place over high heat with a mixture of oil and butter or use ghee (clarified butter). OR, if using a gas grill, turn to high to preheat.
  3. Put all the ingredients for the salsa verde in a food processor or blender and pulse until well combined, scraping down the sides a few times.
  4. Place steak in skillet and cook for about ten minutes, flipping every 30 seconds. OR place steak on the grill, cooking for about 5 minutes on each side. Steak should reach 130-135 degrees for medium rare.
  5. When finished, rest the steak for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, toss the arugula with fresh lemon juice, then with a drizzle of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Divide evenly between plates.
  6. Slice the steak and place on top of the arugula. Top the steak with the salsa verde. Use a vegetable peeler to shave parmesan on top.

 

Arnold Palmer with Lavender Lemonade

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Arnold Palmer with Lavender Lemonade-9

The last time I updated this blog was December. I can’t say that I have a good excuse other than I got lazy and a bit burned out on the whole thing. I stopped carrying my DSLR camera around and stopped taking so many photos of my meals to post on Instagram. I was tired of experiencing everything through a screen. From stepping away from everything I’ve gotten a lot of inspiration in the past half year. Since my last post I’ve traveled to Europe four times, did a round of Whole30 much to my surprise, and got a promotion at work (yay!).

It seems like an extreme to go from a very Spartan diet such as Whole30 to eating croissants in France and pasta in Italy, but I think that occasionally you need to experience both ends of a spectrum to re-calibrate somehow. These different regimes also inspired in different ways. Whole30 forced me to cook for myself constantly and made me think of food in a new and creative way. The meals get repetitive and you need to think of new, “healthy” ways to jazz them up.

With my trips to France and Italy, I really got to experience the pleasure of a slow, leisurely meal, something I think Americans don’t really know how to do well. I think both confirmed to me that when you start with high quality, well sourced ingredients you usually end up with something delicious, even if it’s something quite simple. I’m looking forward to sharing these experiences on this blog through some recipes in the near future!

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Tomato, Charred Corn, and Burrata Salad

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Tomato, Charred Corn and Burrata Salad-11

I think the best part of traveling to Italy this spring, besides watching our two friends get married, was the food. Of course, I’m not the first person to write about the experience of eating in Italy and I certainly won’t be the last. But there’s a reason so many people leave with the impression that they experienced something special and worth sharing. Simple ingredients, at their peak, are expertly prepared to make them shine, rather than obscuring them under heavy sauces, novel assembly, or complicated technique.
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Blackberry Peach Margarita with Spicy Salt

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Blackberry Peach Margarita-6

Blogging can be a lonely endeavor. A lot of it is done in the privacy of your home- experimenting in your kitchen, making a mess trying to get something to drip just so in the name of food styling, editing photos that after a while all start looking the same, and wracking your brain trying to think of something clever to say. By the time you hit publish you may have spent 5-6 hours on your own working on a post that may take a reader 30 seconds to scan. It can be lonely but we do it because we love it.

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Tomato and Corn Galette

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Tomato and Corn Galette-4

It’s August and I keep seeing mentions of summer being over but the 90+ degree days tell me otherwise. The evenings hint of an impending change. While I still get painful mosquito bites whenever I dare to bare my legs, I can feel a coolness in the air at night. I try to ignore the signs for pumpkin spice treats and the back to school signs, but I know that many changes are coming quickly.

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