IHCC: Rick Bayless August Potluck~

The I Heart Cooking Clubs prompt for the week is: Rick Bayless-Potluck…perfect!  I totally missed the concept the first couple weeks I dabbled in IHCC, so this is a great time to play catch-up!  When I started here, I only had 1 Rick Bayless cookbook, and I wasn’t overly impressed with it…mostly because my favorite Mexican cookbook bar none, comes from a different region of Mexico, and the recipes are slightly different.  However, visiting the other cook-bloggers each week, I started seeing a different side of Mr. Bayless, and had to go “in search of” some of his other books.  I’m so glad I did!!  Delivered to us with impeccable timing, Mexico…One Plate at a Time showed up Friday morning, I found a perfect recipe for dinner that night, and here we are, within the time limits, with not one, but TWO Rick Bayless recipes!!

For my submission, I chose Rick’s “Quick-Fried Shrimp with Sweet Toasty Garlic” (Camarones al Mojo de Ajo).  I made one third of the recipe, and fell totally in love.  Even though I messed up the order of some of the steps and didn’t quite make the mojo the right way, it was to die for.  That’s it.  Nothing more to be said!!    To accompany the shrimp, we had Rick’s “Classic Mexican White Rice” (Arroz Blanco).  It was a really good accompaniment with the spicy shrimp, and it helped catch the wonderful extra mojo in the plate!  I’m really sorry, but I do my best to respect copyright law, so I don’t publish recipes from cookbooks.  You may be able to find these recipes on line, but you can certainly find them in Rick’s book, Mexico…One Plate At a Time.

The Quick-Fried Shrimp with Sweet Toasty Garlic were pronounced an instant keeper.  Oh my.  Shrimp, quickly fried in a smoky garlicky oil…with a hint of lime and a sprinkle of cilantro, what could be easier?  It is a bit time consuming, as the garlic needs to simmer in hot oil for about half an hour…just slightly longer than the rice needed to cook.  Serve with a lightly dressed salad on the side, or better yet…avocado halves, and you’ve got a perfectly wonderful supper with little work.  What a find for a Friday evening, after a full week at work!  I found I needed to cook the rice just slightly longer than the recipe recommends initially.  I suppose that all depends on how old the rice is!  The other ingredients are things you normally have around the kitchen…broth, onions and garlic.  The secret is all in how it’s put together.  Oooh…I wonder how rice would taste after being toasted in the toasted garlic oil left from the mojo de ajo…  And don’t make the mistake I did…  If you’re making the mojo…make the whole batch no matter how many shrimp you plan to cook.  You’re going to simmer garlic for half an hour no matter what.  The mojo is so good you’ll want the remainder for other reasons, so do the whole recipe from the start.  My kitchen smells heavenly and I’m heading in to make my second (full recipe this time) batch.  We love garlic, and this mojo is right up our alley!!