A "foreigner" old Taipei family dinner table - Thai-style toxic-free shrimp with organic vegetable pasta
It was through Maimai-shi's ”Diary of Quitting a Career” that I discovered the chemical-free aquaculture of Dream-Building Lake. While I set the book down and went online to search for related information, the image that kept drifting through my head (my own imagination, that is) was of Master A-Lin, whom Maimai-shi described as ”a rugged version of Winnie the Pooh with his underwear stuck up his backside.” I found the website, and I also found the Facebook fan page. Looking at photos of Master A-Lin, no matter how hard I tried, I simply could not switch off that scrolling-marquee description of his appearance running through my head…
After forcing myself to snap back to seriousness and sharing the story of Master A-Lin and Mrs. A-Lin with the ”Old Taipei” foreign gentleman, we ”painfully” placed an order for shrimp. I say ”painfully” because the shrimp cost more than what you can buy at a regular market or hypermarket, and when it arrived by home delivery it was not lively and jumping like the shrimp from the market, but frozen… For some reason, I had always held a stereotyped impression that shrimp had to be lively and jumping to be fresh. Only later did I learn that lively, jumping shrimp at the market are actually not good, and I had already stopped buying shrimp at the market for quite a while.
Mrs. A-Lin was very much like a professional online seller: she replied quickly and warmly online, and was kind enough to remind me that if I entered the passcode from ”Diary of Quitting a Career,” I would get extra shrimp!
As I recall, the shrimp arrived in about two or three days. Because Maimai-shi had mentioned that Master A-Lin told Mrs. A-Lin that when bagging the shrimp, she should deliberately weigh out a little extra, and that the customer should only ever get more, never less, I even seriously took out a scale to weigh the unopened bag of shrimp. Sure enough, there was only more, never less! More than three jin of white shrimp was plenty for a small family like ours, enough to eat for quite a while. The peeled-off shrimp heads and shells, once we had collected a certain amount, we would boil down into a concentrated stock; freezing the shrimp stock into cubes, bagging them and keeping them in the freezer, these frozen shrimp stock cubes are very useful whenever a dish needs a bit of savoriness! And because Master A-Lin never uses medication when farming shrimp, there is no need to worry that eating such a concentrated stock is like taking a concentrated biochemical pill!
The table dish I am sharing with you here: Thai-style chemical-free shrimp with organic vegetable pasta
*A home table dish; please adjust the quantities of ingredients according to the number of people dining in your household!
Ingredients:
*Several chemical-free shrimp from Dream-Building Lake, heads and shells removed, tails left on
*Organic spinach, about one pack, washed and cut into sections (spinach shrinks a lot when cooked, so those who love vegetables should remember to add more)
*Organic bell peppers, half a yellow one and half a red one, washed, seeded and diced
*Fish sauce, about one and a half to two tablespoons
*Freshly ground peppercorns (coarsely ground red, green and black peppercorns)
*About 5-8 peeled garlic cloves, minced
*One to two red chilies, cut open, seeded and minced
*Several sprigs of fresh herbs: Thai basil, basil, thyme, washed, dried and chopped (I grow them on my own balcony and pick them fresh when cooking, and the flavor is especially good! If you do not have fresh herbs, you can substitute a mixed dried herb blend)
*A pinch of salt
*Extra virgin olive oil, about one and a half to two tablespoons
*Cooking olive oil, about two and a half tablespoons
*Dried Italian pasta (about one third of a pack of No. 6 SPAGHETTI, or depending on how many people are eating)
Method:
Score the back of each chemical-free shrimp (heads and shells removed, tails left on) with a cut about deep enough to reach the middle layer of the shrimp's body (or you can cut along the belly instead). Put the fish sauce, freshly ground peppercorns, minced garlic, minced red chili and half of the chopped herbs, together with about one tablespoon of cooking olive oil and the prepared chemical-free shrimp, into a large bowl. Mix well, cover with plastic wrap, and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least half an hour to one hour.
When you are ready to start cooking, first put water on to boil for the pasta. While waiting for the water to boil, start heating a pan on the other side of the gas stove; pour the remaining one tablespoon of cooking olive oil into the pan, add the prepared spinach (washed and cut into sections or diced) and bell peppers, stir-fry, and season with an appropriate amount of salt. Once cooked, transfer to a bowl and set aside.
By now the water should be boiling. Add a little salt to the water and put in the pasta (the most delicious pasta texture is one that is springy and chewy; for commercially sold dried pasta, the package usually indicates the suggested boiling time according to the thickness and shape of the pasta (No. 6 SPAGHETTI usually has a boiling time of 6-8 minutes; my habit is to taste one strand at the five- or six-minute mark, both to check the texture and to remind myself that there is still pasta cooking!); freshly made pasta cooks quickly, reaching a springy, chewy texture in about three minutes, at which point it can be removed from the heat and drained).
Right after putting in the pasta, quickly heat a flat-bottomed pan, pour in the remaining half tablespoon of cooking olive oil, and lay the pre-marinated shrimp flat in the pan to sear. At the same time, remember to check the boiling pasta; if it has reached five minutes (you can set a timer to remind yourself), taste it first to check the texture (and remind yourself that it may need to be removed from the heat and drained in another two or three minutes!). Shrimp should not be cooked for long; overcooking gives a poor texture, and you should not keep flipping them back and forth repeatedly; my own habit is that once the side of the shrimp touching the pan has turned fully red with a bit of ”golden-brown coloring,” it is ready to be flipped to sear the other side.
After flipping the shrimp, remember to taste and adjust the seasoning. By now the pasta should be cooked; turn off the heat, remove from the heat and drain, put it into a large pot, and toss in the extra virgin olive oil, the remaining chopped herbs or mixed dried herbs, and the stir-fried spinach and bell peppers. Taste and adjust the seasoning again as needed. By now the shrimp should be cooked; turn off the heat, then add the just-tossed pasta and vegetables, mix well (this way the pasta also picks up the shrimp juices and so on, giving a better flavor), and plate.
This dish tastes very refreshing and is well suited to hot weather, but because, apart from the olive oil used, it is almost zero fat, you also get hungry again quickly after eating it, so you can also pan-fry some fish or chicken thigh meat to go with it!