Herdez Spicy Cornmeal Crepes with Baja Shrimp Filling

Herdez is teaming up with Foodbuzz to host a recipe contest. The prize is a little cash and a basket of Herdez products. I would love to win because Herdez has a nice variety of salsas, good to eat with chips or to use in recipes.

To be eligible, the recipe has to feature a Herdez product. I chose the Salsa Taquera, a smoky tomatillo salsa with red peppers. It's a little different than other salsas I've had in terms of flavor and packs a spicy punch. My recipe is a formal take on Baja fish tacos, using cornmeal crepes in place of corn tortillas. The crepe is filled with a jicama-zucchini coleslaw dressed with a spicy and tangy sauce, and shrimp.

Using the salsa in the crepes, sauce, and shrimp makes the dish spicy. The spiciness compliments the flavors without overwhelming the other tastes, though.

The silky savory crepes, made with cornmeal, lend a nice textural contrast to the crunch of the slaw. I found a recipe online for the crepes, subbing in some salsa for the liquid.
Don't be afraid to try your hand out at making crepes. It's one of those recipes that seem more difficult to make than they actually are. The batter is easy to work with, and you just need to make sure that crepe is set before you try to flip it, otherwise it might tear. A nonstick skillet makes the job much easier.

For the slaw, I used julinned jicama and grated zucchini. I left out cabbage, a traditional slaw ingredient, because I felt it would have been too prominent of a taste and texture. The slaw was tossed with a simple sauce of mayonnaise, salsa, fresh lime juice, cilantro, and garlic.

I chose shrimp instead of a white fish because I like shrimp the best. Usually I cook with raw shrimp, but this time I got precooked shrimp and heated it in a skillet with some of the salsa. I didn't chop it this time, though I would next time because it makes it easier to slice once inside the crepes.

This recipe would be perfect for a weekday brunch or a dinner party. The crepes can be made ahead of time and warmed in a skillet before using. I guarantee that this is a meal that will be talked about long after it's over.

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Herdez Spicy Cornmeal Crepes with Baja Shrimp Filling
Crepe recipe adapted from Epicurious

Makes 4-6 servings

ingredients -

Crepes -

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons Herdez Salsa Taquera
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Cooking spray

Filling -

2 3/4 cups jicama, julienned
2 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
3/4 cup mayonnaise
4-5 tablespoons Herdez Salsa Taquera
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 pound cooked shrimp, coarsely chopped, skins and tails removed
2 tablespoons Herdez Salsa Taquera

Directions -

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, and salt. Whisk milk, Herdez salsa, eggs, and butter together in another bowl; pour into dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Let batter rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.


2. To prepare filling, mix jicama and zucchini together. In a small bowl, blend together mayonnaise, salsa, lime juice, cilantro, garlic, and salt until smooth. Add 2/3 of the sauce to the vegetables and toss to coat. Set aside.


3. In a skillet over medium heat, add shrimp and 2 tablespoons salsa to heat shrimp. Remove from heat and cover until ready to use.


4. Heat a 9-10 inch nonstick skillet over medium high heat; spray with cooking spray. Lower to medium. Pour 1/3 cup of batter onto top half of skillet, immediately tilting and rotating skillet to coat bottom. Cook for 15-20 seconds, or until top of crepe is just set. Slide a spatula underneath and flip; cook for an additional 15-20 seconds. Transfer to a plate. Repeat process with remaining batter. Spray bottom of skillet with cooking spray if needed.


5. To form crepes, place a crepe on a flat surface. Spread a few tablespoons of coleslaw onto the center, topping with 1-2 tablespoons of chopped shrimp. Fold in sides, then fold crepe up from the bottom. Fold once more, making a tight rectangular package. Slice in half on a bias. Spread sauce onto bottom of a plate in a zigzag. Place about 4 crepe halves on each plate. Garnish with additional cilantro if desired, and serve with extra salsa.

Split Green Pea Crab Rangoons with Sticky Ginger-Garlic Dipping Sauce

My sixth and final recipe for the Recipe Rivalry is finally here! It's been quite the experience, and I hope I've given you new and unique ways to cook with lentils and split peas that will please every palate.

Today, I present you with Split Pea Crab Rangoons. You know those awesome crunchy wontons filled with a gooey cheese filling at Chinese buffets? Now you can make them yourself, and a little healthier. The filling consists of neufchatel cream cheese, crab meat, green onions, garlic, and split peas that are cooked until tender and mashed. I went with traditional Chinese flavorings here of oyster sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, and white pepper.

It took a bit to finally figure out the petal pattern to form the rangoons. I was sort of able to figure it out from the pictures here, though I never got the hang of the one hand forming technique. Also, I decided not to brush all the edges with egg white, but dab just the middle edges where the wrapper connects in the middle to make assembly easier.

Here's a picture tutorial of how I formed the rangoons, starting with the upper left picture. Make sure you press the center firmly so the wrapper adheres together. Don't worry if the petals droop because they'll spring back up after being dropped in the oil. It's magical! I seriously had quite a bit of fun frying these edible cuties up.

Out of all the filling, I got 38 rangoons. The amount might differ based on how much filling you use. I used a tablespoon measuring spoon, but I didn't fill it all the way, aiming for about 1/2 a tablespoon to 2 teaspoons of filling. Wonton wrappers usually come 60 to a package, so you'll be set for however much you end up making.

The tray was given a quick chill in the fridge while I made the dipping sauce and heated the oil. The sauce is a super simple sticky sauce based of the sauce my mom has been making for a long time to accompany chicken. Featuring soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, and fresh ginger and garlic for flavor, the sauce is boiled until reduced and thickened. The taste is incredible and goes great with the rangoons.

Frying food can be fun! When you first drop the rangoons into the hot oil, there's a bit of sizzling and bubbling going on as the petals "bloom". After 20 seconds, the rangoons begin to rise to the surface somewhat.

I opted to use a wok for the frying so the surface area would be wider and easier to remove the rangoons. Since I couldn't really keep a thermometer in to gauge the temperature of the oil, I kept an eye on the level of browning that occurred within the 50 second cooking time and adjusted the heat accordingly.

The split peas gave the filling a nice flavor without being easy to detect. Their relative neutralness gives the different ingredients a chance to come out, but they still worked together. Biting into a the crunchy outtards to the smooth filling is a treat you simply cannot deny.

Thanks for reading along during the many recipes featuring lentils! Come back tomorrow for a giveaway, and start thinking about which recipe from the six I blogged about is your favorite.

Recipe after the jump.

This recipe was created as part of my involvement with the USA Dried Peas & Lentils Recipe Rivalry. I've been blogging about recipes over the past week and a half, and now I need your help to decide which recipe I should enter into the contest! Tomorrow I'll be hosting a giveaway, courtesy of the USA Dried Pea & Lentil Council, so come back and enter. Voting begins on Thursday, June 17th. Please mark your calenders and spread the word to vote for She Runs, She Eats!

1. Lentils with Jalapeno, Cilantro, and Queso Fresco
2. Lentil Olive Salad with Fresh Mozzarella
3. Lentil Enchiladas with Homemade Ancho Chile Sauce
4. Lentil Sprout Spring Rolls with Shrimp
5. Roasted Garlic and Lentil Bechamel Sauce with Roasted Tomatoes

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Print this recipe

Split Pea Crab Rangoons with Sticky Ginger-Garlic Dipping Sauce
Recipe by Christina Provo

Makes 30-45 rangoons

Split pea ingredients ~

1/4 cup dried split green peas
1 1/4 cup water

Crab filling ingredients ~

6 oz neufchatel cheese, room temperature
6 oz can crab meat, drained
1/4 cup finely chopped green onion
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1/2-1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 tsp coarse salt
pinch white pepper

For rangoon assembly ~

1 egg white
30-45 wonton wrappers

Dipping sauce ingredients ~

1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
2 garlic cloves, smashed

For frying ~

1 quart vegetable (4 cups)

Directions ~

1. Rinse split peas and place in a small pot. Add water, and bring to just a boil. Reduce heat to maintain a constant simmer and cover partially with a lid. Cook for 30-35 minutes or until tender. If water hasn't completely evaporated, drain. Smash into a smooth paste. Let cool.


2. Meanwhile, mix together cream cheese, drained crab meat, green onions, and garlic until blended. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Blend in cooled split pea paste; cover and set aside for 15 minutes to allow the flavors to meld.


3. Have a baking sheet ready nearby to place formed wontons. Onto the center edges on all four sides, dab lightly with egg white (this will help the wrapper stick to itself, sealing in the filling). Dollop 1 1/2-2 teaspoons split pea and crab filling onto center of wrapper. Fold sides to create a blossom, or fold diagonally and press to adhere. Place on baking sheet and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap or a slightly damp cotton towel (this keeps the wrappers from drying out -- you don't want the towel to be wet enough to made the wrappers soggy). Repeat process until filling is used up. Place baking sheet in fridge to chill for 20 minutes.


4. In a deep pot or a wok, heat oil until it registers 350 degrees.


5. While wontons are chilling and oil is heating, place vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, ginger, and garlic in a small pot and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Once sauce reaches a boil, lower to medium heat (still maintaining a rolling boil, but mixture shouldn't come close to boiling over) and continue to cook for 15 minutes to reduce sauce. Remove from heat and cover to keep warm.


6. Remove baking sheet from fridge. Place a cooling wrack on a different baking sheet and line with paper towels; position near pot of oil.


7. Once oil registers 350 degrees, carefully drop in 3 rangoons at a time. Fry for 40-50 seconds, or until edges are golden brown and the rangoons lose their raw look. The overall tone will be a light-medium golden brown except for the edges. Remove using a slotted spoon and place on prepared baking sheet. (I placed the rangoons on their sides, held up in a line by another rangoon, to keep the bottoms from getting soggy.) Repeat with remaining rangoons, cooking just 3 at a time. Pay attention to how the rangoons fry, and adjust heat accordingly if they're browning too fast or too slow.

Serve with dipping sauce.

lentil sprout spring rolls with shrimp

In thinking of creative, unique applications for lentils, I thought of using lentil sprouts in some form. As I was walking through Martin's I was debating between purchasing egg roll wrappers, though finally I settled on spring roll wrappers because I've never made them before, and I figured it would showcase the lentil sprouts the best.

The lentil sprouts obviously have to be made ahead of time. I used the method here, though I used just 1 cup of lentils. The stuff really expands, so make sure your jar is large enough. To reach maximum sproutage, I let mine sit for 4 days. They tasted pretty amazing raw, somewhat nutty and sweet, but I decided to give them a quick steam for this recipe.

Martin's had a great deal for fresh, wild caught shrimp, and since shrimp is my most favorite crustacean in the world there was no way I was passing it up.

The flavoring for the majority of the springs rolls came from the jalapeno and garlic salsa. Finely chopped jalapeno, garlic, a bit of red onion, cilantro, and olive oil are mixed together for a most delicious and quick salsa. You use part of it for the shrimp marinade and as a topping for the lentil sprout and Napa cabbage salad, along with a squeeze of fresh lime juice. The rest is used for a dipping sauce along with an avocado-yogurt dip.

Working with spring roll wrappers was easier than I had thought, much like my experience making sushi, though a bit more challenging. You need to briefly wet the wrappers in water and let them stand for at least thirty seconds for it to be pliable enough to roll. What makes it a challenge is if you wet it too much, it's more difficult to roll since the wrapper is floppy. I found that brushing the wrappers lightly on either side with a pastry brush dipped briefly in water was even simpler, and less of a chance of dipping the wrappers in water for too long. I used spring roll wrappers with both tapioca and rice starches. The tapioca is supposed to keep it from tearing as much.

For a step-by-step guide, click here. I followed their "tuck and roll" method, which will take me a bit more practice time to perfect. I was told by a friend to give the rolls one roll before folding the sides over, so I'll do that next time, too. It would give the moistened wrappers something to stick to, which I think is why I had trouble getting the sides to stay folded.

I was very pleased with the flavors, which remained light and summery. The lentil sprout salad was incredible, and since there will be extra you can serve it with the spring rolls along with the salsa and avocado dip.

There are a few steps involved for this recipe, but it would make the perfect dinner party solution if you assemble all the ingredients and let your guests roll their own spring rolls. You can give awards for the most perfectly formed rolls if you wanted to make it a contest, even!

Kidding.

Recipe after the jump.

This recipe was created as part of my involvement with the USA Dried Peas & Lentils Recipe Rivalry. I'll be blogging about lentil recipes over the next two weeks.

1. Lentils with Jalapeno, Cilantro, and Queso Fresco
2. Lentil Olive Salad with Fresh Mozzarella
3. Lentil Enchiladas with Homemade Ancho Chile Sauce

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Print this recipe

lentil sprout spring rolls with shrimp
Recipe by Christina Provo

Serves about 6

salsa ingredients ~

1 1/2 cup finely chopped jalapeno (seeded and deveined -- seeds can be added depending on level of heat preference)
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
7 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 cup slightly packed cilantro, finely chopped
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup olive oil

avocado dip ingredients ~

2 avocados
3/4 cup plain yogurt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

shrimp ingredients ~

1 pound shrimp, peeled (about 3 shrimp per spring roll)
1 tsp chili powder

lentil-cabbage salad ~

9 cups lentil sprouts (sprouted from 1 cup brown lentils)
4 cups thinly sliced napa cabbage
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp salt

Additional filling ingredients ~

1/2 English cucumber, julienned
1/2 a bell pepper, seeded and cored, julienned into 26-28 thin strips
12-15 spring roll wrappers (the ingredients should include both tapioca and rice starches, preferably)

directions ~

1. Mix salsa ingredients together; set aside.


2. Process avocados, yogurt, and garlic together in the bowl of a food processor until smooth. Scrape into bowl and stir in lime juice and salt. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.


3. Mix shrimp with chili powder. Stir in 1/4 cup salsa and marinate for 15-20 minutes. Heat skillet to medium hot. When skillet has heated, reduce heat to medium and add shrimp. Cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Remove to bowl to cool. (You won't need to grease the skillet since there's oil in the salsa).


4. While shrimp marinates, heat 2-3 inches of water in a large pot fitted with a steamer tray. When water reaches a rapid simmer, place lentil sprouts on top of tray and cover with a lid. Steam for five minutes. Remove to a bowl and let cool for a few minutes before tossing with the cabbage, 2/3 cup salsa, lime juice, and salt. Set aside.


5. Fill a small bowl with warm water. Assemble ingredients in an assembly line fashion on your work space -- you want everything within reach. Place a large cutting board on the counter for wrapping up spring rolls, and a platter to place them on once rolled.


6. Place a spring roll wrapper on the cutting board. Using a pastry brush, brush both sides lightly with water -- you want to just barely moisten the wrapper. Let sit for 30 seconds to 1 minute to allow the wrapper to soak in the moisture, making it pliable enough to roll.


7. On the bottom 1/3 edge (nearest you), line wrapper with 3 shrimp, no more than 1/4 cup lentil sprout salad, about 5 strips of cucumber and 2 strips of red bell pepper. Fold the bottom up and over filling, tucking it in tightly, then fold the sides over. Continue to roll and tuck until it's completely wrapped. Place on platter and repeat process until the remaining shrimp is used.

Serve with avocado yogurt dip, and remaining salsa and lentil sprout salad.

grilled beer battered shrimp

Holidays and some birthdays around here usually mean grilling stuff, like fish, chicken, or other grillables. We've been playing around with battered fish for a while, though after this we've decided that grilling food with a battered coating wasn't the best method. (I still say the grills needed to be greased. *cough cough*)

Last time we used a tempura-ish batter with beer and it didn't quite stick to the shrimp. After reading around, we realized it we weren't patting the shrimp dry enough for the batter to stick. Also, some methods tossed the fish with either corn starch or flour, further ensuring the fish to be thoroughly coated with bater. We used cornstarch.

This beer batter was one of the better recipes I've tried, and coming from Alton Brown, it all makes sense. The batter includes baking powder for lightness, I'm guessing, and the carbonation from the beer would definitely aid in that aspect along with giving the batter flavor. There's also a bit of cayenne pepper that lends a noticeable spicy note, and I also added a teaspoon of fish seasoning I have. (He uses Old Bay, and this is probably the equivalent, though he only uses a "dash".) The batter then gets a brief rest of 15 minutes in the fridge before being used, though the recipe states that it can rest for up to an hour.

The shrimp skewers were then placed on the grill and left for a few minutes until the batter set.

So far, everything seemed good. My dad was concerned that the batter would rip off like a scab and stick to the grills instead of the shrimp. (He didn't use those exact words.) The first few skewers didn't stick to the grill, which wasn't oiled.

Then some of the coating just wouldn't stick to the shrimp. I think this could have been because the outside cooked quicker than the inside, so it didn't have a chance to stick to the shrimp. However, nothing went to waste as I scraped off the coating that stuck to the grills. Gotta get my daily dose of carcinogen in! The batter was incredibly tasty, and years of purposely burning marshmallows enables me to enjoy the flavor of overly charred food. It adds an interesting aspect.

So, for the most part, it wasn't a failure, though it wasn't necessarily easy. The sad part is that you don't get the flavor of charcoal when you fry food.

P.S. I left out the obvious joke of "shrimp on the barbie", which I will mention now that this post is over.

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Alton Brown's Beer Batter for Fish
From Alton's Chips and Fish recipe

ingredients ~

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Dash Old Bay Seasoning
1 bottle brown beer, cold
1 1/2 pounds firm-fleshed whitefish (tilapia, pollock, cod), cut into 1-ounce strips
Cornstarch, for dredging

directions ~

1. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cayenne pepper, and Old Bay seasoning. Whisk in the beer until the batter is completely smooth and free of any lumps. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Note: The batter can be made up to 1 hour ahead of time.


2. Lightly dredge fish strips in cornstarch. In small batches, dip fish in batter and cook as desired.

Full cooking methods are described if you click on the link above. Instead of deep frying, you could probably pan fry the fish in a cast iron skillet with a decent amount of oil in it.