Baja BBQ Shrimp Bowl With Corn Rice

In the name of “write what you know,” one of the first stories I did for Saveur was about fish tacos. During summer vacations when I was in high school, my friends and I used to drive from San Diego, where I grew up, south into Mexico, where we would stay at a friend’s parents’ house in one of the beach towns near Ensenada. For days on end, we would lather our bodies in coconut oil and fry under the hot summer sun, indulge in the underage consumption of mini Corona beers, and eat tempura-battered fish and shrimp tacos sold from roadside stands. In researching the story, I discovered that Baja-style fish tacos are the invention of Japanese fishermen living in Ensenada, which allows me to justify putting soy sauce in these shrimp and still use the word “Baja” to describe them.Don’t tell any of my food snob friends, but I keep a pound of frozen shrimp in the freezer at all times. Since I am never without a can of chipotle chiles (which are available in most supermarkets), this bowl is always within reach. It’s also gluten-free. ¡Que suerte! Recipe excerpted from Bowls of Plenty: Recipes for Healthy and Delicious Whole Grain Meals by Carolynn Carreño. Click here to purchase your own copy.A note about the Corn Rice: I learned to make stock from corn cobs when I did an internship at Chez Panisse, the birthplace of the American farm-to-table movement, in Berkeley. Every morning, the chefs and interns would sit around a table while the chef planned the day’s menu and we did any prep that could be done sitting down, which, because it was late summer, meant shucking corn. One day, the chefs decided to turn the corn into soup, and my job would be to make the corn stock. Thankfully one of the chefs walked me through the process, which went like this: Put the shucked corn cobs in a big stockpot, add enough water to cover the cobs, and simmer for about an hour. The resulting soup tasted like corn to the tenth degree, and the same, I’ve discovered, goes for rice and quinoa cooked in corn stock. Since then, I’ve rarely let a raw corn cob go into the trash without first boiling out all it has to give.Warning: I tried making this with ordinary supermarket corn, as opposed to farmers’ market or Chino Ranch corn, and the grains had almost no corn flavor. If you don’t want to go to a farmers’ market, or corn isn’t in season, don’t waste your time boiling flavorless cobs. Just make another grain instead. The addition of grated cotija cheese and Chipotle Cashew Crema turns corn rice into a rich and delicious side dish. A note about the Chiptole Cashew Crema: Chipotle chiles are smoked jalapeño peppers. Chipotle chiles en adobo, which is what is called for here, come in a can; the “en adobo” refers to the marinade the peppers are packed in. Open up the can (which you can find these days at any ol’ grocery store) and dump the entire contents into a blender or mini food processor. Swish out the can with a tablespoon or two of water and throw that water in the blender, too. Give it a whirl, and you now have the most delicious, spicy, smoky paste you’ve ever dreamed of. Put your precious paste into an old jam jar or other container and keep it in the fridge; it’ll last for months. Spoon it into barbecue sauce, mayonnaise, marinades, chicken soup, black beans, chili, salsa, or sour cream. You’ll never look at Sriracha the same way again.