Chickpea Cakes with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce

I am not a vegetarian, nor will I probably ever be one. But over the last two years, I have been cutting down on my meat consumption (reasons: health, money, the negative societal and environmental impacts of the meat industry, etc.) and in that time, I’ve discovered that canned chickpeas are amazingly versatile and tasty in just about everything I’ve made with them. This recipe is no exception — these chickpea cakes have the consistency of a crab cake (not as dense as a burger) and have a nice Indian spice flavor which pairs well with the cucumber sauce.

This is again an adapted recipe from Test Kitchens’ The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook. In this case, I think their recipe is really a ‘cooking for one’ serving size.

Shrimp and Grits

This recipe is brought to you by me finishing my first year of grad school and finally A) having free time to cook real things and B) remembering that this blog is run by more than just my brother. One of my goals for year 2 is to try to be better about posting recipes, so without further ado, Shrimps and Grits from Test Kitchen’s ‘Complete Cooking for Two’ (which is a godsend cookbook for anyone living on their own who’s tired of having to figure out how to resize recipes meant for 8 people. 1/4 of a egg is real hard to measure.) These were legitimately delicious grits, though I am admittedly a Yankee and not qualified to comment on how authentic Southern they are.

Shrimp and Grits

Makes 2 Servings
Ingredients

8 oz. medium or large shrimp, peeled and de-tailed
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
Pinch of cayenne pepper (Can sub chile powder)
Salt and pepper
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
1 1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup whole milk (original recipe calls for cream)
1/2 tsp hot sauce
1/2 cup grits/polenta
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 green onion/scallion, chopped

How to make:

1. Set oven to 375 degrees. Toss shrimp with oil, garlic, cayenne, salt and pepper in a bowl and the refrigerate while you cook the grits.
2. Melt butter in a large oven safe pan (I used cast iron). Cook minced onions over medium heat until soft (about 5 minutes).
3. Stir in water, milk or cream, hot sauce, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and bring to a boil. Note: I used sriracha as the hot sauce since that’s what I had in the house and I don’t think it changed the flavor much not to use classic hot sauce.
4. Whisk in grits, reduce the heat to low and cook until creamy, for about 5-7 minutes. Stir frequently.
5. Remove from heat and fold in the cheese.
6. Lay the shrimp on top of the grits, spiralling out from the center of the pan. Place in the oven and cook until the shrimp are pink and opaque, about 5 minutes.
7. Sprinkle witb scallions and serve.