Shrimp Fried Rice

I do seem to be in a shrimpy mood this week! So to further our fishy friends, here's a recipe for Shrimp Fried Rice to elevate as well as celebrate the Chinese New Year, courtesy of Jo's in Nolita delivered by chef Andrew Pressler--where else would you wish to be?

Shrimp Fried Rice

Serves Four

Ingredients:

4 cups Jasmine rice, cooked

4 oz vegetable oil

2 Tbsp ginger, minced

2 Tbsp garlic, minced

½ Tbsp Thai chili, sliced thin

2 Tbsp scallion whites, sliced thin

¼ cup carrots, finely shredded

1/8 cup red Chinese finger chilies

¼ cup Chinese long beans, sliced thin

2 oz sweet soy

2 oz dark soy

8 oz medium shrimp, chopped

2 whole eggs, beaten

Salt

Procedure:

1. Lay cooked rice to dry on a cookie sheet the day before. Leave uncovered in refrigerator overnight.

2. Remove dried rice from refrigerator and crumble between your hands to break up the larger chunks.

3. Heat wok on high heat and add vegetable oil. When the oil smokes, add minced ginger, garlic, scallion whites and Thai chili.

4. Stir and cook the aromatics until fragrant.

5. Add the Chinese finger chilies, carrots and long bean. Cook until they just begin to soften and add your rice and shrimp.

6. Toss wok repeatedly to heat the rice and cook the shrimp.

7. Add the egg by drizzling on the upper sides of the wok and then stirring into the rice.

8. Add the two soy sauces and salt if needed. Scoop into bowls and garnish with scallion greens. Now eat!

Jo’s is located at 264 Elizabeth St (btwn Prince/Houston Sts). Visit JosNYC.com for more info. 

First published in part in Next magazine.

Brussels Sprouts!

SADLY, JO'S HAS CLOSED. BUT THESE BRUSSELS SPROUTS ARE FOREVER!

The boys at Jo’s have got it going on. Their menu is consistently delicious and recently they introduced the cutting edge Punk Rock and higher-end Rockstar concepts, featuring wines all considerably lower priced than their competitors (who are surely gnashing their teeth). We settled in on a recent evening and flipped over the Brussels Sprouts. Forget notions of suffering foods you had to endure growing up—not only will you devour these plucky sprouts, you’ll ask for seconds! A visit to Jo’s is definitely in order but owners Jim Chu and Johnny Santiago were kind enough to send us their recipe to make at home.

Sautéed Brussels Sprouts Leaves with Shallots and Toasted Macadamia Nuts
Adapted from Jo’s
Serves 4

Ingredients
3 pints Brussels sprouts, stems cut and leaves taken off with a paring knife
2 shallots
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 handfuls Macadamia nuts, toasted and crushed (preferably by a wine bottle or rolling pin)

Heat pan on medium/high heat for one minute. Melt butter until slightly brown. Add shallots and quickly sauté. Add Brussels sprouts leaves and toss to coat until slightly wilted. Add salt and pepper to taste. Take pan off heat, add nuts and toss.

Next Magazine Online Exclusive - Fall For Pancakes

This October, IHOP is celebrating the fall season by serving pumpkin pancakes! Lucky for us, there are several IHOPs in the Greater Metropolitan Area—three of them, in fact: one way uptown on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., another in Brooklyn, and one more in Jackson Heights.

Now although the famous restaurant chain guards its gourd recipe closely, they did share a few general tips with Next magazine (which we’ve adapted) on how everyone can make their own perfectly good pumpkin pancakes—but first, what about actually the making the batter? Well, as Jo’s on the Lower East Side recently hosted their 1^st Annual Labor Day Delicious Pancake Contest, we tapped them for their fabulous Ricotta Buttermilk Pancake recipe that we really flip for.

-Start with your favorite pancake batter recipe (see below) and add canned pumpkin and a few appropriate spices such as nutmeg and cinnamon into the proceedings.

-Don’t be afraid of a few lumps! And don’t overmix—small-ish lumps of flour make pancake stacks so magnificently fluffy.

-Use an evenly heated 350-degree frying pan or griddle as random hot or cold spots can affect cooking time.

-Do judge a pancake by its looks! When dropping the pancake batter, watch for bubbles to form and for the batter to have a dull appearance, about 2 ½ minutes. After flipping, cook approximately 2 minutes more.

Jo’s Delicious Ricotta Buttermilk Pancake Recipe

Yields about 14 4-oz pancakes

Wet Ingredients
6 cups buttermilk
4 cups ricotta cheese
8 tbsp light brown sugar
4 large beaten eggs
6 tbsp melted butter

Dry Ingredients
4 cups all-purpose flour
4 tbsp baking powder
4 tbsp baking soda
2 tsp salt

Cherry Maple Syrup
1 kilo bag of sour Morello cherries
10 oz grade a maple syrup
1 piece cinnamon
1 piece star anise

In a large bowl, mix wet ingredients; in a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and lightly stir until combined. Butter a large nonstick frying pan (or griddle). When well-heated, drop a ½ cup of batter at a time—watch for those bubbles to form and continue to cook as previously suggested. Do not overcrowd.

To make syrup, combine ingredients and reduce over low heat until thickened. Remove cinnamon and star anise.

Pour Jo’s Cherry Maple Syrup over your flapjack stack and top with whipped cream!

For more information or to find an exact IHOP location, please visit ihop.com; Jo’s is located at 264 Elizabeth St, 212 966 9640, josnyc.com.

First published for Next magazine.