Tropical Flavors in Sub Tropical Town

It is not a well known fact but New York City is considered sub tropical in the summer time and if any of you have ever been here at that time you would most definitely agree. In order to honor the pending tropical heat wave that will soon be upon us I made some ribs and some big fat prawns.

The ribs were slathered in a garlic and ginger with pineapple and vegetable oil emulsion (I put everything in the blender and it got thick like a mayonnaise) then wrapped up the coated ribs in banana leaves and then in foil and cooked until tender and delicious. The prawns were tossed with a little seasoned salt and thrown directly on the grill near the end of the cooking time for the ribs. 

There is something about the banana leaf that both adds flavor and helps tenderize the meat - its awesome because it feels like super secret trick.

Lets Call This Dish The Marco Polo - When East Meets West

Most of us know the story of Marco Polo - gone 24 years discovering Asia only to return to become imprisoned then released and became a wealthy merchant - but I don't think most knew he was a Virgo. Lets be clear that he was not the first to discover Asia but he was the one to leave the most detailed chronicles. I don't think anywhere in his writings will you find this delicious wild mushroom risotto with garlic shrimp and snow peas.

I went out to Chinatown today with one thing in mind - get what looks fresh and come home and make a nice lunch for a rainy New York Saturday. 

These big fat shrimp caught my eye and snow peas for a 67 cents a pound is always a nice price. I didn't want to just go the traditional route with steamed rice and I knew I had some dehydrated wild mushrooms and some Arborio rice so a meal was born.

A couple of pounds or so of snow crab can't hurt either. A dozen raw oysters were also knocked back but after I jabbed myself with the oyster knife I didn't feel like glamorizing those mollusks not one little bit.

So there you have it - just think of me as a modern day Marco Polo.