All Of It with Alison Stewart

We present the full conversation from the most recent edition of our "Full Bio" series about First Lady Lady Bird Johnson. Julia Sweig joins us to discuss Johnson's life and legacy and is author of the book, Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight, and host of the podcast, In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson. Sweig's podcast draws on over 123 hours of Johnson’s audio diaries, many of them unheard until now.

Tommy Pico, a rising queer poet and Kumeyaay Indian joins to discuss Feed, his 2019 book-length poem, about what it means to hunger and to be nourished as a colonized person in America. Feed is the fourth and final book in his "Teebs Cycle," which uses scenes from the poet's life in New York City as gateways into deeper explorations of authenticity, heritage, love and striving. 

We air our interview and a performance from the most recent installment of “Get Lit with All Of It” with Grammy winner and MacArthur Genius Rhiannon Giddens. Her latest album, They're Calling Me Home, is a collection of folk songs exploring the ideas of home and mortality.

Missed the event? Watch it in full here.

To find out more about our Get Lit with All Of It book club, and our partnership with the New York Public Library, click here, and follow us on Instagram at @allofitwnyc.

We air highlights from our virtual book club series, “Get Lit with All Of It,” with Nobel Prize Laureate Kazuo Ishiguro. His New York Times bestselling novel, Klara and the Sun, follows the story of an 'Artificial Friend' named Klara. Klara is a highly intelligent AI purchased by a teenager named Josie, whose mother ultimately has unusual plans for Klara's role in the family.

Missed the event? Watch it in full here.

To find out more about our Get Lit with All Of It book club, and our partnership with the New York Public Library, click here, and follow us on Instagram at @allofitwnyc.

WNYC arts and culture editor Jennifer Vanasco gives suggestions for what to do this weekend, while safely social distancing.

On the last day of National Poetry Month, we speak with incumbent United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo about the anthology, When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry, as well as her latest album, I Pray for My Enemies.

Peter Marks, theater critic at the Washington Post, joins us to discuss allegations against Broadway producer Scott Rudin and what they mean for the theater community going forward. His most recent article is titled "Broadway producer Scott Rudin steps aside amid accusations of abusive behavior going back decades, apologizes for pain he caused."

For the final installment in this edition of our "Full Bio" series, Julia Sweig discusses the Johnsons' final years in office and Lady Bird Johnson's legacy. Sweig is author of the book Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight and host of the podcastIn Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson.

Two-time Grammy Award-winner Rickie Lee Jones has been called “the premiere song-stylist and songwriter of her generation" by The New Yorker. She joins us to discuss her new memoir, Last Chance Texaco: Chronicles of an American Troubadour.

Chef Sheldon Simeon joins us to discuss his new book, Cook Real Hawai'i. While he's best known for competing in two seasons of "Top Chef," Simeon is also the owner of Maui's Tin Roof Restaurant and a third-generation Hawaiian. In the words of one Eater review, the book covers "the islands’ painful colonial history and exploitative plantation systems, as well as the people — including Simeon’s grandparents — who survived both and created Hawai'i’s extraordinary food culture."

COCONUT SHRIMP

SERVES 4 TO 6

I know what you’re going to say. This doesn’t look like the coconut shrimp we had on Maui???!!! And you’re right, it doesn’t. Nobody knows better than me what that kind of coconut shrimp looks like, since during my years cooking at Aloha Mixed Plate, I fried up thousands upon thousands of those suckers. Yes, shredded coconut and fried shrimp is delicious, but to this day I won’t order it just on principle. I’m still traumatized. And if you think I had it bad, spare a thought for Auntie Lovey, who was our veteran prep cook: Every day, she’d have to bread two thousand shrimp in under three hours.

But beyond my culinary PTSD, there is another reason why I’m jaded. For the most part, locals don’t eat coconut shrimp. It’s pure haole bait. Going to Hawai‘i to eat coconut shrimp would be like bragging about all the California rolls you ate in Tokyo.

But rather than be a hater, I try to be constructive with such opinions. So I thought back to the shrimp dishes that, to me, symbolized celebration and indulgence. My mind went back to special occasions, when my family would go to Sun Sun Lau, a bygone Chinese restaurant in Hilo, and order honey-walnut shrimp. The shrimp were flash-fried in cornstarch, and then covered in a sweet, condensed-milk-and-mayonnaise-based sauce and served with crunchy honey walnuts. Broke. The. Mouth.

So that’s how we got here: coconut shrimp reimagined as honey-walnut shrimp. Instead of sweetened condensed milk, I reduce coconut milk down to a creamy sauce, and rather than candied walnuts I use oven-baked candied coconut chips, a crispy snack that you’ll find sold in local gift shops (easy to make it yourself, though). Even better than Leung’s, I daresay. Let’s get coconut shrimp 2.0 trending and maybe, just maybe, unseat the original.

1⁄3 cup mayonnaise

¼ cup Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk (recipe follows)

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Kosher salt

Ground white pepper

2 egg whites

¾ cup chilled club soda or seltzer water

2 cups mochiko (sweet rice flour)

¼ cup cornstarch or tapioca starch

1 ½ pounds peeled and deveined large shrimp, rinsed

Neutral oil, for deep-frying

2 tablespoons Coconut Candy

2 teaspoons Fried Garlic

1 tablespoon thinly sliced scallions

Cooked rice or Fried Garlic Noodles, for serving

In a small bowl, whisk together the mayo, condensed coconut milk, lemon juice, and salt and white pepper to taste. Set the sauce aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg whites, club soda, 1 cup of the mochiko, the cornstarch, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon white pepper. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes so the flour can hydrate. Place the shrimp on a baking sheet and pat dry with paper towels.

Meanwhile, prepare a wire rack or line a baking sheet with paper towels. Fill a large, heavy-bottomed pot or deep skillet with at least 2 inches of oil, making sure to leave a few inches of clearance from the pot’s rim. Heat over high heat until the oil reaches 350°F (use a thermometer), adjusting the heat as needed to maintain temperature.

Place the remaining 1 cup mochiko in a shallow dish or pan and coat the shrimp, shaking off any excess, then dip into the batter, letting the excess drip off. Once the oil is ready, fry the shrimp in batches until they turn pink and the coating is golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer to the wire rack or paper towels and let cool slightly.

In a medium bowl, toss the warm shrimp with ½ cup of the reserved sauce, adding more if needed to evenly coat (but not drown) the shrimp. Spoon any remaining sauce onto a plate and top with the shrimp. Garnish with the coconut candy, fried garlic, and scallions. Serve with rice or garlic noodles.

SWEETENED CONDENSED COCONUT MILK

MAKES ABOUT ¾ CUP

1 (13.5-ounce) can full-fat coconut milk

½ cup sugar

In a small saucepan, bring the coconut milk to a boil over medium-high heat and whisk in the sugar. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook, stirring often, until the mixture is thickened and reduced by half, 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool before using. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Reprinted with permission from Cook Real Hawai’i by Sheldon Simeon and Garrett Snyder, copyright © 2021. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House.