When I read this week’s ingredients for round 2 of the Virtual Kitchen II contest, I was so excited. I had been anxiously waiting for their arrival all week. When I read ground pork and camembert I was in heaven, the third ingredient (haricots verts) created a little hesitation, but I decided to move forward with what I knew I wanted to do with the pork and cheese and let the beans just kind of happen.

Being from the south and married to an Italian, I have fun marrying the two traditional cuisines to create my own interpretation of “Southern Italian”, so imagine how excited I am to take that and add my own third dimension of French undertones. And this week I’ve used a VERY local ingredient, a marinade which is also available on-line, but created and made by a friend who is also a Tampa resident, Intensity Academy Chai Thai Teriyaki. For my other local flavor I chose Key West Pink shrimp, always fresh and scrumptious here on the west coast of Florida.

The Ingredients for the Marinade

Having grown up in the Deep South, grits were a major staple at our table, and need I mention how northern Italians enjoy their corn meal…hello….polenta. I’ve been making my version of polenta for ages making it creamy by adding goat cheese and cream, so when I read camembert, it was a given that I had to do my creamy, herbed polenta. Now, how am I going to incorporate the ground pork? Well, I’ve always loved shrimp wrapped in bacon, hello, pork….so that got me thinking about the stuffed shrimp. As I mentioned before, I love this line of sauces made here locally, and one in particular works great with pork because of its teriyaki profile. This particular day brought to mind tropical fruit so while in the produce department I eyed some great mango, so yes had to have it and add it to the marinade with some hot peppers.

Now for the beans, well, there seemed to be a pork theme going, so I thought of one of our favorite ways to enjoy asparagus, wrapped in proscuitto I substituted the beans for the asparagus, and voila!. So without further ado, here are my entries for this week’s contest.

Buon Appetito Y’all….

Pork Stuffed Shrimp
12 Each Colossal Shrimp, de-veined and butterflied w/tails on
12 Each Thin Slices Bacon
1 Pound Pork Roast or Center Cut Chop
4 Each Hot Red Peppers, seeded and quartered
2 Each Pablano Peppers, seeded and roughly chopped
1 Ripe Mango, peeled and roughly chopped
1 Bottle of Chai Thai Teriyaki, or other type of teriyaki marinade
1 Cup Béarnaise Sauce
1 Cup Tomato Puree Reduced (measures 1 cup after reduction)
2-3 Tablespoons of Vegetable Oil

Chop the pork into large chunks and place into a bowl and add the peppers, mango and marinade and allow to marinade for a minimum of 2 hours, overnight is better. After the meat has marinated, grind through a meat grinder and drain the excess liquid and then brown in a sauté pan and place in the refrigerator while preparing the béarnaise sauce. Reduce the tomato puree and once the béarnaise sauce is prepared, incorporate the tomato puree.

Preheat the oven on a high broil.

Take the ground pork from the refrigerator and take about a tablespoon and form a tight log shape and place on top of the shrimp and carefully wrap with a strip of bacon and secure with a toothpick.

Heat the vegetable oil in a sauté pan on a medium high heat. Place a piece of foil on a shallow baking pan that will accommodate a baking rack and place a baking rack in the pan for broiling the shrimp.

Once the oil is hot, place the shrimp, seam side down, in the oil and brown the shrimp. Once it is brown, remove and place on the prepared rack and then place in the center of the preheated oven. Broil for approximately 12 minutes or until bacon is browned.

While the shrimp is in the oven prepare the polenta.

Herbed Creamy Polenta

3 Tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves chopped very fine
2 shallots chopped very fine
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup dry vermouth
1 cup polenta
1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces camembert
2 Tablespoons butter
5 twigs of thyme
1 tablespoon of parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottom pot and sauté the garlic and shallots for about 1 minute then add the chicken broth and vermouth and bring to a boil. Once the liquid is boiling, start adding the polenta in a slow, steady stream while constantly whisking preventing lumps from forming, once all the polenta is incorporated, add the cream and camembert and stir to completely incorporate. In a separate pot melt the butter and add the thyme and parsley and sauté for about a minute and then add to the polenta and add salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, blanche the beans in salted water for 3-4 minutes, drain, and make bundles and wrap with proscuitto, drizzle with olive oil and place on a baking tray on the bottom rack of the oven (under the shrimp) for 10 minutes.

Plate all three on top of the tomato béarnaise.

Dolce Debbie Shopping for Shrimp