Chinese Fried Shrimp

 

The origin of this recipe is a curious one.

 

I always wondered where my grandmother got a recipe for Chinese Fried Shrimp. I was sure it wasn't something passed down from our non-Asian ancestors and it certainly didn't go with most of the recipes made in the Martorana household.

 

In preparation for this blog, I put out a request to my Aunts and Uncle for any family recipes they had. My Uncle Frank declared that he had my grandmother's cookbook which actually turned out to be Mrs. Rasmussen's Book of One-armed Cookery.

 

 

 

Published in 1946, Mary Lasswell's cookbook is a collection of recipes referenced in her novel Suds in Your Eyes about a group of woman who band together to deal with the hard times associated with WWII. One of them, Mrs. Rasmussen, uses her love of cooking to pass the time, whipping up delicious meals with the ingredients that they are able to scrape together.

(BTW-One-armed cookery refers to the act of stirring the pot with one hand and holding a beer in the other so apparently they did more than just cook to pass the time)

In the cookbook's foreword, Ms. Lasswell dedicates the book to those who served:

"Our Fightin' Men all over the globe has wrote us letters askin' for the recipes to some of our dishes at Noah's Ark...So this book was wrote for all those who served in the Armed Forces."

My own grandfather served in the war, spending his time in Burma as part of the Pacific War.

Here he is with his fellow Wildcat Squadron brothers in 1944.

 

At some point, after his safe return, my grandmother acquired a copy of the cookbook and used it to whip up some new recipes for her favorite soldier.

Virginia Martorana

 



 

Chinese Fried Shrimp became a favorite in the Martorana household and was a unanimous request for our cooking weekend this summer.

 

 

Ingredients:

 

2 lb raw shrimp, tail on, drained

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

3 eggs, yolks and whites beaten separately

cold water

 

 

Sift together flour, salt, baking powder.

 

Add egg yolks and beat well, adding enough cold water to make a smooth, but not thin, batter.

 

Add egg whites and fold in carefully.



 

My Uncle Frank whipping up the batter...

 

 

Dip shrimp in flour, then batter and deep fry.

 

 

 

...and on fryer duty.

 

 

 

 

Serve with soy sauce.

 

 

 





Stuffed Clams

 

 

The Martorana siblings were not the only ones who did some cooking up at Cape Cod this summer. After my aunts and uncle left and the house quieted down a little I spent a few more days with my parents doing are usual Cape Cod summer rituals like shopping, going to the beach, biking, waterside dining and of course, eating some clams.

 

We always get steamers at Cape Cod in the summer and this year I added a special request for my father's stuffed clams.

 

My father and his family spent their summers in Breezy Point, NY. In the late 1940's, the water in Jamaica Bay had not yet become polluted as it is today. My father and his sisters would walk along the tidal flats at low tide looking for little air holes and then dig up the unsuspecting clams below with their shovels, bringing home a pail full of them for my grandfather to steam.

 

Breezy Point, 1940's
(Mary, Ann Marie, Edward and Margaret Schmitt)

 

Cape Cod, 1970's
(Me and my brother, Ed)

 

 

We still eat them the same way they did back in their bungalow, rinsed in clam broth to remove any sand, dipped in butter and then eaten with a bite of buttered toast.

 

 

 

 

Stuffed clams are made with the larger, hard-shelled cherrystones. Though any hard-shelled clam will work, you probably don't want to try stuffing those little guys on the right.

 

 

 

 

My dad's family often made the recipe that follows, reminiscent of the baked clams they would get as takeout from Lundy's in Sheepshead Bay. My father enjoyed making the trip with his dad and sitting at the bar waiting for their order to be ready, a beer for grandpa, a ginger ale with a cherry for dad. Likewise, I enjoyed making and eating these with him.

 

 

That's not Opie, it's my Dad!
(and my grandfather, Henry Schmitt)

 

 

Ingredients:

24 Cherrystone Clams

1/2 cup onions, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup green pepper, diced

1/4 cup pimentos, chopped

1 stack Ritz crackers

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup butter, melted

bacon, cooked halfway (optional)

 

 

Steam clams in a large pot until the shells pop open. Remove from shells and chop. Reserve the shells and some of the residual clam water.

 

 

 

 

Pulse the Ritz crackers in a food processor to turn them into crumbs.

 

 

 

 

 

Mix with the clams and the other remaining ingredients and enough of the clam juice to moisten.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spoon the mixture into the clam shells and top with a bacon strip.

 

 

 

 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

 

 

 

 

Enjoy on the back deck with a nice cold beer (or a Ginger Ale and cherry).

 







Captain Ed's Boat Salad

My father is a great dad and almost as good of a sailor.

 

Water was a constant theme when we were growing up - whether playing in the brook behind our house or trips to the Jersey Shore and Cape Cod. We have all re-located from our home town of Glen Rock but one thing is consistent: we all still live near the water. From Maine down to Virginia and points all over the globe, we play in it, eat from it and in my sister Catherine's case, write about it.

 

I have a quote hanging in my office written by "Anonymous" that I reference often:

 

"The point is, to be in the water, by the water, or on a bar stool with the water splashing gently at your feet"

 

One of my fondest memories is going out on my Dad's sailboat 

 on the Long Island Sound and Buzzard's Bay.

 

 

You could never predict how the winds would be on any particular day but you could always count on 3 things: good company, great tunes and my Dad's famous "boat salad".

 

Inspired by a lunchtime favorite when my Dad worked in Midtown, Manhattan, Boat Salad was always a staple aboard "About Time". My dad said  "Most people who have joined me on the boat will say that they are not sure about the sailing but the "Boat Salad" was great". I disagree.

 

Passengers were always put to work: steering, tacking, anchoring. But the pleasure of being on the water, the peacefulness and the time spent with family and good friends made it a pleasure. And The Captain made it so. Boat Salad was merely the delicious side dish.

 

 

Ingredients:

1/2 lb of pasta mini shells or rotini

8 oz frozen peas

8 oz imitation crab, flaked

4 tbsp. mayonnaise

fresh cracked black pepper

 

 

Cook the pasta al dente and mix with the remaining ingredients.

 

 

 

Set sail.

 

Relax.

 

And let the wind carry your sails.

 

(Happy Father's Day!)

 

 



Eddie's Super Shrimp Scampi

On March 22, 1993 Intel shipped its first Pentium chips, World Water Day was established and my father perfected his recipe for Shrimp Scampi.

This dish is easy and delicious and is as good, if not better, than anything you would get in a restaurant.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp butter

3 tbsp margarine

1 tbsp chopped green onion

2 tbsp olive oil

6 cloves pressed garlic

4 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

4 tsp white wine

1 tsp oregano

1 lb peeled, deveined shrimp

1 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp water

2 tbsp chopped parsley

1/2 lb cooked linguine

Melt the margarine and butter in a skillet. Add the next 8 ingredients and cook until bubbly.

Add the shrimp and cook for 5-6 minutes, turning halfway through.

Dissolve the cornstarch in the tsp of water and add to pan, giving it a good stir.

Turn off the heat and add the parsley and linguine.

Toss to coat.

Alternatively, this could be served over rice.

Definitely, it should be enjoyed with a nice glass of white wine.



Shrimp Ring

 

 

Both of my grandmother's were connoisseurs of the jello mold. Jello salads and aspics were so popular in the 1950s that Jello even introduced special flavors to support the trend such as 'celery' and 'tomato'. I imagine that Betty Draper from the popular show "Mad Men" made a jello mold or two. Perhaps when the ladies came over to play cards or when entertaining Don's business partners. (Megan Draper on the other hand, probably never made a jello mold as the only thing I'm sure she ever made was spaghetti.)

 

 

Virginia Martorana

Margaret Schmitt

 

 

 

Betty Draper



My own mother continued the jello mold tradition into the 70s and 80s. I personally abhorred these concoctions of jello and fruit that made their way to the picnic table. Sure, they looked pretty but to me, fruit had no place sitting next to the sausage and peppers (nor a place did pineapple or cherry sauce have on ham).

 

This savory shrimp and tomato mold, however, is delightful. It's like a shrimp cocktail in one soft, creamy bite.



 

 

 

Ingredients:

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup water

1 can tomato soup
8 oz. cream cheese
1 cup mayonnaise
2 cans tiny shrimp, drained and roughly chopped
1 cup celery, finely chopped
1/2 cup green or yellow onion, finely chopped

 

 

Heat soup in a small saucepan or in a microwave oven.

In a medium bowl, stir gelatin into cold water. Mix hot tomato soup into the gelatin liquid.

 

In a medium size mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and mayonnaise together. Mix soup mixture into the mayonnaise and cream cheese mixture. Mix well.

 

 

 

Add shrimp, celery, and green onions.

 

 

Spoon the mixture into a 1 quart mold and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

 

 

 

To unmold, soak the mold in hot water being careful not to get any water in the shrimp mixture. Place a plate on top of the ring and invert...carefully! Place back in the fridge for a few minutes to firm up.

 

Serve with Ritz crackers.

 

 

 

Oh, and one final note.....beware of hungry cats !