Bacon Beer Shrimp with Beer Cheese Grits

 Every few months I find myself here.

In a brewery, doing my best to learn how to turn what some see as an ugly industrial space with bad lighting into beautiful photos. Mostly, I’m a self-taught photographer. I took classes, read books, watched a decades worth of YouTube videos, sat in online workshops, and even joined an online photo mentorship group. But I always feel behind, always feel like I’m not quite there.

I’ve often wondered if I’ll ever be where I want, if “arriving” in a creative sense even exists. I’ve worried that I’ll never be able to give people the images I want to shoot. But I’ve never once thought about giving up. Not once.

It’s easy to get pulled into the undertow of comparison. It’s easy to see more clearly how far we have to go rather than the long road we’ve already traveled. In those moments I tell myself, “Keep your head down and keep going.” It works. It moves me forward. I get closer all the time to the place I want to be.

At the end of the day, that’s all we have. We have the ability to move forward, to drive closer to the life we want and the people we want to be. Perfection is a dangerous myth that robs us of contentment. Let’s just be able to sit here, in the gratitude that we are moving forward.

Let’s take a few minutes each week, grab a beer, grab some food, and just be content. Harder than it sounds, but we can do. Even if we need a few beers first.

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Yum

Bacon Beer Shrimp with Beer Cheese Grits

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

For the grits:
• 12 ounces wheat beer
• 2 cups water (plus additional)
• 1 cup yellow grits (not instant)
• 1 ½ cups grated sharp cheddar
• 2 tbs unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
For the shrimp:
• 4 strips thick cut bacon, chopped
• 2 tbs unsalted butter
• 1 lbs raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• ¼ tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp chili powder
• ¼ cup wheat beer
• 2 tbs chopped chives

Instructions

1. In a large pot over medium heat add the beer and 2 cups of warm water. Bring to a simmer and slowly add the grits. Cook over a low simmer, stirring occasionally, until thick and tender. Add water ¼ cup at a time when the grits begin to dry out.
2. Once the grits are cooked stir in the cheddar, butter, cream, salt and pepper.
3. Cook the bacon in a skillet over medium heat (don’t turn the heat too high, medium heat will render more fat than high heat) until the bacon is crispy. Remove the bacon, set aside. Pour off all the bacon fat except about 1 tablespoon. Return pan to heat, melt the butter in the skillet.
4. Add the shrimp and spices, toss to coat. Pour in the beer, cooking until shrimp are cooked through, about 5 minutes.
5. Add the grits to serving bowls, top with shrimp, bacon and chives.

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This, in one form or another, is my go-to dinner. It’s a pantry recipe and one of the main reasons I always have coconut milk on hand. I’ve made it with every imaginable protein, and even mushrooms when I’m the mood to only consume plants. I’ve replaced the chard with spinach, arugula, basil and even cilantro and it holds up. It’s reliable and filling. It’s a way to make dinner when I don’t have the energy to think. I can double the shallots or the curry paste and it still gives me what I want. I can add tomatoes or jalapeños and I still love it. I can make a triple batch and have it for next three days and It’s still a favorite.

Sometimes, in the midst of trying to give you a recipe that will be clink-inducing-share-worthy I forget that you also need the solid standby recipes that won’t let you down. The culinary equivalent of the faded Levis that you’ve been wearing since high school and that friend that always drives you to the airport even if it’s 5 am. So here it is, my faded-Levis-airport-guy recipe.

I hope you love it as much as I do.

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Yum

Coconut Pale Ale Curry Cod

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 shallot, chopped (1/4 cup)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup pale ale
• 1 (15 wt oz) can coconut milk (full fat)
• 1 tsp red curry paste
• 1 teaspoons fish sauce
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 Thai green chile, chopped (optional)
• 1 to 2 lbs black cod, cut into 4 fillets
• 1 cups Swiss chard, rough chopped
• rice for serving

Instructions

1. In a large, deep skillet with a lid heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the shallots,
2. cooking until softened and slightly browned, about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds, stir in the beer.
4. Add coconut milk, curry paste, fish sauce, salt, pepper, and chile (if using) simmer until slightly reduced, about 10 minutes.
5. Add the Cod fillets into the pan, reduce heat to low, cover tightly with a lid and simmer until
6. cooked through and fish flakes easily with a fork, about 10 minutes. Stir in the chard until wilted, about 1 minute.
7. Serve in bowls over rice.

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Beer Battered Fish Tacos with Pomegranate Guacamole

The first time I had fish tacos I was somewhere off the coast of Mexico. I was 17, sunburned and a little confused. After a few crumbled pesos changed hands I was hastily pushed onto a boat, clung to an orange vest for about twenty minutes and gratefully exited the floating death trap onto the beach of what looked like an uninhabited country.

A small woman with sun-leathered featured stood watch near a metal grate set over a hole in the ground. From the beach I could see the flames jumping up to lick the shrimp she was tending. I didn’t say a word, hunger pushing towards the wooden bench in the designated eating area. The other castaways that had ended up on the boat with me followed suit.

The “tour” guide shoved a Corona into one of my hands, not bothering to inquire if I wanted it, and motioned to a bowl of pickled radishes and carrots on the table. A few minutes later a wooden plated piled high with grilled shrimp was set in the middle of the rickety plastic table, along with a stack of homemade corn tortillas, a bowl of diced onions, a bit of cilantro and modified ketchup bottled that had been reused as a homemade hot sauce dispenser.

I didn’t care that the health department in the US would have had a heart attack looking at this place, I didn’t care that there was clearly no running water, gloves or hand washing options. I didn’t care that I had no idea where the shrimp came from. I was starving.

I chugged my sub-par beer, and ate my weight in beer battered fish tacos.. They were amazing. The hot sauce was the best I’ve ever had, and the tortillas were perfect. Since then, I want my tacos simple. Homemade tortillas, some diced onions, maybe some hot sauce or guacamole. No lettuce. No cheese. No sour cream. No ground beef.

But I’ll put pomegranate on anything and beer, beer is always a must.

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Yum

Beer Battered Fish Tacos with Pomegranate Guacamole

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

For the tortillas:
• 2 cup masa harina (corn flour)
• ½ tsp salt
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 cup room temperature beer
For the Guacamole:
• 2 large avocados
• juice from one lime
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp chili powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1/3 cup pomegranate seeds
• ¼ cup cilantro, chopped (plus additional for tacos)
• ¼ cup red onion, chopped (plus additional for tacos)
For the fish:
• 1 cup flour
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup pale ale
• Oil for frying
• 1 pound cod, cut into 3 inch strips

Instructions

Make the tortillas:
1. In a large bowl, add the masa and the salt, stir to combine.
2. Add the beer and oil, stir to combine. If the dough is too dry to hold together, add additional beer or water. If it is too wet, add more Masa. (It should be the consistency of soft Play-Doh)
3. Form into balls a bit larger than golf balls.
4. Prepare a tortillas press by wrapping in plastic wrap or covering with parchment paper (you can place tortilla ball between two sheets of parchment and use a rolling pin). Place one ball in the center.
5. Press, rotate and press again until thin.
6. Heat a griddle (or cast iron skillet) to a medium high heat (about 350 for electric griddles).
7. Cook until slightly brown on the bottom (about 30 seconds to a minute) flip and cook on the other side. Don’t overcook.
Make the guacamole:
8. Add the flesh of the avocado, lime juice, garlic powder, chili powder and salt to a bowl, smash until well combined. Stir in the pomegranate seeds, cilantro and red onions.
Make the fish:
9. In a medium bowl add the flour and salt. Make a well in the center, add the egg and beer. Stir with a fork until just combined.
10. Heat about 2 to 3inches of oil in a pot over medium high heat. Bring to 350 degrees using a deep fry thermometer, adjust heat to maintain that temperature.
11. One at a time dip the fish strips into the batter until well coated. Add to the oil, fry until golden brown on all sides.
12. Fill the tortillas with fish, guacamole and sprinkle with onions and cilantro.

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Garlic Beer Butter Cod with Pale Ale Romesco. So easy and SO good. The Romesco is insanely amazing. 

Cod needs to be made with butter. It needs the beautiful richness to pull itself up through the firm flesh of this gorgeous fish and have it’s way with the flavors. Cod needs to be seduced by the warm golden pool that’s melted beneath it. Cod’s underrated, overlooked as people reach past these thick white filets to grab a brilliantly pink salmon. The texture is just as good and the flavor is better, it’s more accessible, it makes you want another helping, even when you’ve finished the entire pan. A flavor mellow enough to tease you into begging for more, but strong enough to stand up to a bold romesco. Romesco is the touch that runs the perfect line between rough and gentle. It’s bold, warms, spicy, delicious and demands to be remembered in an effortless-cool sort of way. These two make the perfect partners, add in a beer and some good company and you never know where the night will take you.