Eat, Drink + Be Merry. Food, Travel, Photography, Design + Music in Los Angeles and Other Parts of the Earth.

One of my favorite restaurants in Los Angeles, for the last few years is still Animal, run by ex-caterers Chef Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo. Their style of food to me is unpretentious, real and personal on my many levels, and I’m sure many people would agree. A lot of the food ranges from motherly to late-night, stoner grub and there’s always an interesting take on American classics. When I heard about their seafood concept, Son of A Gun, I followed the big Angeleno crowds during the opening week. The problem is, the restaurant is just way too small with about 40 seats – half of which are given to walk-ins at their communal table. After about an hour wait, thankfully with delicious classic cocktails, we were seated. If you’ve been to Animal at least a dozen times like we have, you’ll start to recognize the similarities in the Son of A Gun menu with maybe three or four non-seafood items. From talking to others that have been, it’s clear which are the stars: the lobster roll, the fried chicken sandwich and the scrumptious shrimp toast. Considering I could make a meal out of three orders of the shrimp toast, $11 each for each tiny sandwich is just way too much to spend. Maybe I can show you how to make 8 generously-filled shrimp toasts for under $15? Here’s my take on Son of A Gun’s amazing shrimp toast.

Ingredients for 8 Shrimp Toasts
1 lb. of large shrimp (16-20 per pound size; peeled and de-veined)
Loaf of white bread (softer the better)
Mayonnaise
Sriracha
Hoisin sauce
Thai basil
Cilantro
1 tablespoon of bottled fish sauce
One egg (whites only)
1 tablespoon of lemongrass stalks (grated)
2 pieces of sliced ginger (grated)
1 clove garlic (grated)
1/2 tablespoon of corn starch
Salt & pepper
Sugar
Vegetable/Canola oil
Butter (optional)

Making the Shrimp Paste
(1) After you peel and de-vein your shrimp, toss a generous amount of kosher salt on the shrimp and wash it off in water to remove the shrimp cologne and also refresh the shrimp. Roughly chop the shrimp to make it easier for your food processor. Before you make the paste, have a small fry pan on low heat so you can test the shrimp paste out.

(2) Toss the shrimp in the food processor with the egg white, corn starch, fish sauce, a few pinches of lemongrass, 1/2 teaspoon of grated garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of grated ginger, a few pinches of sugar, 2 teaspoons of oil and S&P.  The corn starch is used to make the shrimp stick together and the oil gives the shrimp a nice sheen. PULSE the shrimp, do not turn the food processor fully on. About 7-8 pulses should be good.

(3) Now take a small spoonful and fry it up.  Does it need more fish sauce? More S&P?  The final taste should have a nice balance of fish sauce, sweetness from the sugar and hints of garlic/ginger/lemongrass.  And the paste should stick together from the corn starch – if not, add a little more and mix it in by hand. Just make sure the paste isn’t salty!

Making the Sriracha Hoisin Mayo
Start with about 3-4 tablespoons of mayonnaise. I used the Japanese Kewpie mayo because it has a nice sweetness to it versus Miracle Whip. Now add Sriracha in and find your desired level of spiciness. Then add hoisin sauce in to taste. It should be dark brown and sweet. Be careful – too much hoisin sauce will make it taste too nutty. Use mayonnaise to balance it out. I added a tiny bit of lemon juice to give it a subtle tang.

Preparing the Bread
Son of A Gun finishes off their shrimp toast with a little butter and pan fries it to give it a nice buttery, crispiness. For me, it’s a bit too greasy. Get two pieces of white bread and neatly cut off the crusts, resulting in two nice rectangular cuts of white bread.

Option 1
Turn on the broiler. Lightly brush olive oil or butter on the bread and broil for one minute. After one minute check it every 15 seconds to see that you’ve got the perfect amount of toasting. Take out.

Option 2
After you’ve fried the shrimp toast, shrimp side down, you can flip the toast over and pan fry it till it’s crispy. Done, but oily.

Making the Shrimp Toast
(1) Spread a 1/4″ to 3/8″ layer of shrimp paste over the bread. SOAG gives you a 1/4″ if you’re lucky. In a skillet over medium heat, add vegetable or Canola oil and once it starts smoking, add the shrimp toast – shrimp side down. Pan fry for about 3-4 minutes and check to see that the shrimp is about 90% orange which means it’ll be done. You don’t want to overcook the shrimp.

(2) While you are frying the shrimp, get the other piece of toasted bread ready. Add generous amount of the Sriracha Hoisin mayo, considering how thick the bread and shrimp combined will be. Add about 4-5 pieces of Thai basil (smack it in your hands to wake it up) and 7-8 pieces of cilantro – less if it’s too herby for you.

(3) Optional, if you want to, lightly butter the sandwich and pan fry for about 15-20 seconds on each sideo. Cut the sandwich in half or thirds lengthwise and serve.

This turned out really tasty. I love Vietnamese food and went heavier on the fish sauce in the shrimp paste and basil/cilantro herbs. Enjoy and thanks for reading.

Son of a Gun Restaurant
8370 W. 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(323) 782-9033
www.sonofagunrestaurant.com

In the spirit of one our favorite cookbooks by Suzanne Goin, Sunday Suppers at Lucques, we’ve decided to start cooking at home on Sundays. With access to so many good purveyors of food, such as McCall’s Meat & Fish Company, Spice Station, Cookbook, Silver Lake Cheese Store and farmer’s markets (Hollywood and Atwater Village), there’s no limit to the things we can cook at home.  A few days ago, I paid Nathan McCall a visit and with much excitement, he pulled out a giant pink snapper fresh from Fiji. The skin was a gorgeous neon pink and well over 20 lbs.  I’ve only had snapper in ceviche, sushi and deep-fried form, but never pan-seared. I snagged two fillets and the collarbone/cheek right away.

I love seafood and my favorite dish is cooked fish served on a bed of veggies in some sort of tasty broth. Before I had picked up the fillets, I was thinking about how I would prepare it while we sat at Pho So 1 in Reseda.  My mother-in-law and I both ordered bun dishes which are served with a small bowl of Vietnamese dipping sauce (nuoc cham), which has a sweet and sour taste.  I didn’t use that much of it and thought what a waste it was to not use it all.  But then I thought about the pink snapper fillets I would cook and decided to take the sauce home to marinade them in it for the hell of it.  At home I threw, the fillets in a Ziplock bag with all of the nuoc cham and added a few pieces of minced garlic and lemongrass stems that took a ride through the food processor.  After about an hour, I took the fillets out, seared them in my trusty Lodge skillet and served it over ginger bok choy and a lemongrass and kaffir lime broth.  It was delicious and light, with a slight sweetness/spiciness from the nuoc cham.  The meat from the fish was moist and had more of a shredded “meat” texture versus your standard flaky fish. It was nice to taste something different.  The fish, when eaten with the subtly “bacon-y” bok choy and broth rounds out quite nicely.  I used Nueske bacon because I didn’t have any Chinese sausages in my fridge. Thanks for reading.

Ingredients (for 2-4 servings)
pink or red snapper fillets; skin-on
4-6 medium bok choy
Chopped Chinese sausage or 4-5 slices of Nueske Bacon
2 slices of ginger slivers (for sauté only)
4 cloves of minced garlic
3-4 tablespoons of shredded lemongrass stems
1 large leek
Salt & pepper

For Lemongrass & Kaffir Lime Broth
4 cups of water
4-5 soup spoons of Vietnamese fish sauce
2 small lumps of yellow rock sugar
3 cloves of whole garlic
2 slices of ginger
15 – 2″ pieces of lemongrass stalks (more if you’re a lemongrass enthusiast)
Kaffir lime leaves (shredded lime leaves work faster)
Bunch of Thai basil leaves
1-2 thai chilis or 2 red jalapeños
Salt

Instructions:

(1) I suggest marinating the fish in olive oil, salt & pepper, garlic and the shredded lemongrass stems. The nuoc cham marinade wasn’t strong enough, but if you’d like to try it, go for it. I’d add a bit more fish sauce depending on how thick your fillets are. Marinate for at least 2 hours, no more than a day.

(2) Start making the lemongrass and kaffir lime broth. Add the water, garlic, ginger and lemongrass stalks into a pot and bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, lower the heat so you can start doing the taste-testing. Add fish sauce and dissolve 1 small lump of rock sugar first, adding the other lump if needed. Once you have a nice balance of fish sauce, sweetness and aroma from the lemongrass, it’s time to add the kaffir lime leaves to achieve a flavor that resembles a very mild tom yum soup. I used 4 pinches of shredded lime leaves (3-4 leaves) to taste. Then you want to add a few Thai basil leaves at a time to extract the aroma. It is up to you what you ultimately want it to taste like. I found a balance from the lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and Thai basil. Add chopped Thai chiles or red jalapeno slices for a little spice kick. Once the broth is complete, turn the heat on low and remove the Thai basil leaves – they will make the soup bitter if you leave it in.

(3) Prepare bok choy by cleaning them properly and cutting off the stem so that the leaves are detached. On high heat, sauté the garlic, ginger slivers and Nueske bacon (for flavor) and salt & pepper to taste. Make sure these are sautéed 50% through as you’ll want them to have some crunch upon service. They will also be sitting in broth and will eventually soften. Set these aside or begin plating as in the photo above.

(4) Optional. Cut 1/8″ diagonal “coins” from the leek stem. I’d cut as many coins out from the leek as some of these are bound to be burnt or fall apart. Pan fry these on medium heat in oil till they are nice and brown on both sides. It should have a nice crispness to it. Set aside when finished.

(4) Turn oven to 450 degrees. Add salt & pepper on all sides of the snapper fillet.  Sear the snapper fillets skin-side down on medium heat with your oil of choice for about 4-5 mintues. Make sure that you get a nice crust on the skin as the snapper skin is a bit more rubbery like chicken skin. Carefully flip the fillets over without ruining the skin and put the skillet in the oven for another 5-7 minutes, depending on your cuts. Take fillets out and set aside.

(5) Bring the lemongrass and kaffir lime broth to a boil and make sure the broth is seasoned well and has not become salty from water loss.  Place fish on top of the bed of bok choy and add the broth around the fish, careful not to get the fillets wet. Garnish with leek “coins” and thinly-sliced red jalapeños or Thai chiles. I like to put the whole plated dish back into the oven for a good 5 minutes to ensure a super hot plate – it tastes better that way.  Enjoy.