We Americans love hamburgers. We love crab cakes. Our love affair with ground proteins, though, pretty much stops there. Oh, some amongst us pretend to love turkey burgers – which is not quite as bad as pretending to love turkey bacon – and a few earnestly urge their affection for garden burgers, but those are the exceptions rather than the rule.
But go abroad and there are a lot of compelling examples of the use of ground meats. There are the keftas of the Middle East, the fish and beef balls of the Far East, Latin American empanadas and albondigas, the pies of Britain and some of its former colonies and Eastern European stuffed vegetables, and that is just a short list. There is a whole world of different and exciting ground protein models upon which a cook can riff.
For this dish – a small plate or Baja-style tapa – I started with the fresh shrimp that comes into San Felipe daily. I “ground” some of it in the food processor, chopping the rest for textural interest. I paired this with a poblano Crema and a fresh, lightly dressed salad of micro arugula and garnished it with Korean chili threads.
Shrimp and Corn Cakes | Poblano Crema | Arugula Salad | Korean Chili Threads
Ingredients:
For the Shrimp and Corn Cakes:
- 1 pound extremely fresh shrimp, shelled and deveined
- ½ cup bread crumbs
- 1 egg
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 ear corn kernels, off the cob
- 2-4 tablespoons grapeseed (or other neutral) oil
For the Poblano Crema:
- 1 fresh poblano chile pepper
- 1 cup Mexican crema (not “crema agria”)
- Kosher salt
For the Arugula Salad:
- 1 tablespoon sherry (or balsamic, red wine or red wine) vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Maggi sauce (or 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, 2 tablespoons light soy sauce)
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup micro arugula (or other micro green or fresh arugula)
For the garnish:
- Korean chili threads
- Prepare the Shrimp and Corn Cakes. Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Place 2/3 of the shrimp, the bread crumbs and the eggs in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the “S” blade and process to a loose paste. Turn the mixture out into a bowl. Chop the remaining shrimp in ¼ inch chunks and, together with the corn, fold into the mixture. Form the mixture into 1 ½ by 1/3 inch cakes, placing them on a hotel pan covered in wax paper. Refrigerate for at least half an hour.
- Make the Poblano Crema. Place the poblano chile directly on the stove’s flame (or over an open or charcoal fire or blacken it using a blowtorch) and roast until the skin of the chile is fully blackened. Place the blackened chile in a ziplock bag to steam the skin free from the flesh for about five minutes. Peel the skin from the chile using as little water as possible. Add the poblano flesh and the crema along with a teaspoon of salt to the (cleaned) food processor and purée the sauce.
- Make the Dressing. Whisk together the vinegar, Maggi sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle in the extra virgin olive oil.
- Cook the Shrimp and Corn Cakes. Remove the cakes from the refrigerator and bring to room temperature. In 1-2 tablespoons of the oil sear four to six of the cakes (leaving plenty of room around each cake in the pan) until caramelized on both sides (about 2-3 minutes per side) and transfer the cakes to the pre-heated oven on a hotel pan. Repeat with the remaining batches. Roast until the cakes are just cooked through. There is no better way to tell than to sacrifice one for the cause.
- Make the Salad. Lightly dress the micro arugula with one to two tablespoons of the dressing. Add more if necessary but the salad should not be remotely soggy.
- Plate the Dish. Ladle about two tablespoons of the poblano crema at the left side of the middle third of the plate. Using the back of a spoon swipe from left to right to attractively spread the sauce across the plate. Place one cake on each side of the sauce (above and below). Top each cake with some of the arugula salad and garnish with several Korean chili threads.
