THE Dish: Chef Norman Van Aken's shrimp anato with cumin-lime butter

(CBS News) Renowned Chef Norman Van Aken is known internationally as "the founding father of new world cuisine" for his celebration of Latin, Caribbean, Asian, African and American flavors. 

He also introduced the concept of "fusion" to the culinary world. He is the chef and director of restaurants at the Miami Culinary Institute (including Tuyo), and chef-owner of the fine dining restaurant Norman's at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando in Grande Lakes, Fla.

In 2006 at Madrid Fusion, Spain's annual international gastronomy summit, Van Aken was honored with Alice Waters, Paul Prudhomme and Mark Miller as a "founder of the new American cuisine." Van Aken has written four books: "Feast of Sunlight," "The Exotic Fruit Book," "Norman's New World Cuisine," and "New World Kitchen." His fifth, "My Key West Kitchen," was published in 2012.

He stopped by "CBS This Morning: Saturday" to serve up several recipes, including his ultimate dish: shrimp anato.

Special section: Food and Wine

Shrimp anato with cumin-lime butter

Serves 4

Annatto oil

1 teaspoon annatto seeds

1/2 cup pure olive oil

Cumin-lime butter

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon toasted and ground cumin seeds

1 shallot, sliced

4 black peppercorns, bruised

1 bay leaf, broken

1/4 cup heavy cream

5 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, cold

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Shrimp

2 tablespoons annatto oil (above)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 shallot, thinly sliced

1/2 to 1 serrano chile, stemmed, seeded and minced

1 clove garlic, thinly sliced

24 shrimp (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled and deveined

3/4 cup fresh orange juice

1 1/2 cups smokey oven-roasted tomatoes

Directions:

1. Place the annatto seeds in a clean, dry saucepan and toast over medium-high heat until the seeds are quite warm.

2. Add the olive oil, and when it starts to simmer, remove the pan from the heat and let the oil cool.

3. Pour through a fine-mesh sieve and set the oil aside until needed. It can also be made a week in advance and stored in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.

4. In a heavy-bottomed nonreactive saucepan, combine the orange juice, lime juice, cumin seeds, shallot, peppercorns and bay leaf and reduce over medium-high heat until the mixture becomes light and syrupy, 8 to 10 minutes.

5. Stir in the cream and bring to a boil, letting it reduce just a bit.

6. Whisk in the butter and season with salt and pepper. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve and keep warm until needed.

7. Heat a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat.

8. Add the annatto oil and butter and swirl.

9. Stir in the shallot, serrano chile and garlic.

10. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the shallots are softened and lightly golden.

11. Add the shrimp and stir, season with salt and pepper, and cook, turning from time to time to cook evenly. When the shrimp are cooked through, add the orange juice.

12. Using tongs transfer the shrimp one by one to a large bowl and keep warm. Reduce the juice to a syrupy consistency. Pour the reduced liquid through a fine strainer and drizzle it over the finished plate when ready to serve.

13. Dice the smokey tomatoes and place them on a platter in a 350 degrees oven to warm them up.

14. Spoon the warm cumin-lime butter onto 4 warm plates.

15. Distribute the shrimp on top of that and drizzle the warm annatto oil on top of the shrimp for added flavor.

16. Scatter the smoked tomatoes around the shrimp and serve immediately.

Smokey oven-roasted tomatoes

Makes 3 cups

2 1/2 pounds ripe, in-season tomatoes, sliced in half and deseeded

1 tablespoon smoked pimentón

1/2 tablespoon kosher salt

1/2 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

3 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

2 1/2 tablespoons sherry wine vinegar, for drizzling

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

2. Arrange the tomato slices, cut side up, on the prepared pan.

3. In a small bowl, stir together the pimentón, salt and pepper.

4. Season the cut sides of the tomatoes evenly with the spice rub. '

5. Drizzle with the oil and vinegar and roast in the oven until the tomato skins begin to pull away from the tomatoes, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove the tomatoes from the oven and let cool.

6. When cool enough to handle, peel away the tomato skins and discard.

7. Smokey tomatoes can be chopped or blended, depending on how you intend to use them. Use immediately or transfer to several airtight containers or zip-tight plastic bags and refrigerate for up to two week or freeze up to three months

Spinach salad

Serves 4 to 6

Piquant dressing

2 cups ketchup

2 cups pure olive oil

1 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup tarragon vinegar

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon Dijon or Creole mustard

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 tablespoon paprika

1/2 sweet Vidalia onion, diced

6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

Spiced pecans

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon hot paprika

1 teaspoon chile molido or pure red chile powder

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/4 cup sugar

1 large egg white

1/4 cup sorghum (or maple) syrup

1 pound raw pecan halves

Spinach salad

6 cups spinach leaves, washed and stems trimmed

1 cup fresh basil leaves

1/2 cup blue cheese, crumbled

1 cup croutons

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 315 degrees.

2. Make the dressing: in a medium bowl, whisk together all of the dressing ingredients except the eggs. Fold in the eggs and set aside. You'll have more than enough for this salad so save some in the refrigerator for another day.

3. Make the spiced pecans: in a small bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients for the spiced pecans in a bowl.

4. In a large bowl, whisk the egg white and maple syrup to loosen the egg white. Toss the pecans in the mixture. Add the dry ingredients and toss until all of the pecans are evenly coated.

5. Spread the pecans out on a sheet pan and roast them, stirring and turning intermittently, until toasted and somewhat dry, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool for 1 to 2 hours, until they become crunchy.

6. Make the spinach salad: in a large bowl, toss the spinach leaves with the dressing, as desired. Toss with the spiced pecans, basil, blue cheese and croutons and serve.

Ingredient note: look for Maytag blue cheese out of Iowa or Asher Blue from sweet grass dairy in Thomasville, Georgia.

They are not salty and appeal to a broad range of tastes.

Cheesy corn grits

Serves 4

3 cups whole milk

1 cup water

1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning

1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper plus more for seasoning

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter cut into small pieces

1 cup fine grits or polenta flour

1/2 cup grilled or sautéed corn kernels

2 to 3 jalapeño peppers, stemmed, seeded and minced

1 cup shredded queso blanco

Directions:

1. In a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the milk with the water, salt, pepper and butter and bring just to a boil.

2. Whisk in the grits and stir constantly. After about 3 minutes, when the grits start to bubble and "splat," lower the heat to medium-low and mix in the corn and jalapeños. Stir often to prevent sticking.

3. When the grits are thick and cooked through, about 25 minutes, add the cheese and whisk vigorously for 1 minute.

4. Turn off the heat and continue to whisk for 1 more minute. Season to taste and keep warm until needed.

Blistered corn (creamed corn)

Serves 4

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 cups corn kernels (from 6 to 7 ears of corn)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Heat a saute pan over medium-high heat.

2. Add the oil and butter, then swirl to melt.

3. Add the corn, season with salt and pepper, and toss.

4. Saute the corn, stirring after 2 to 3 minutes so that some initial caramelizing can take place.

5. Stir once or twice more until nicely colored, about 5 minutes total.

6. Season again with salt and pepper.

Cayo hueso cornbread

Serves 6 to 8

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, plus more for greasing

1 cup diced sweet onion

3 to 4 jalapeno peppers, stemmed, seeded and minced (about 1/2 cup)

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups yellow cornmeal

2 tablespoons baking powder

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 large eggs, well beaten

2 cups milk

1/2 cup vegetable shortening, melted

8 ounces grated pepper jack or cheddar cheese (about 2 cups)

1 cup blistered corn

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in a small saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion and jalapenos and cook until the onion is just soft, about 3 minutes. Set aside.

2. Sift the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar and salt into a large bowl.

3. In another bowl, beat the eggs, milk and shortening together. Add to the dry ingredients and stir just until the flour is moistened (the batter will be lumpy).

4. Stir in the cheese, blistered corn and onion-jalapeno mixture.

5. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with butter.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean. Let cool before serving.

Sunshine's key lime pies

Yield: 2 pies

Crust

3/4 cup sliced almonds, lightly pan-toasted

One 4.8-ounce package graham crackers, crushed in the bag

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

Two 14-ounce cans sweetened condensed milk

One 12-ounce bottle key lime juice

10 extra-large egg yolks (reserve the clean whites for the meringue)

Swiss meringue

2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup egg whites

Pinch kosher salt

Directions:

1. Place the almonds in a food processor and pulse a few times.

2. Add the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.

3. Pulse until well ground, but not quite dust. The mixture can be kept in the refrigerator for up to a week if not using right away.

4.Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and add the melted butter to combine.

5. Divide evenly between 2 pie pans.

6. Press the crust firmly onto the bottoms and up the sides of the pans, making a small rim.

7. Bake the crusts until bubbling and turning from shiny to matte, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool in the pans on a wire rack.

8. Pour the condensed milk into a large bowl and stir in the key lime juice.

9. In another large bowl, whisk the egg yolks until pale yellow. Add the key lime mixture, stir well and pour into the pie crusts.

10. Tap the pans on the countertop to remove any air bubbles and bake for about 15 minutes, rotating halfway through the baking time.

11. Let the pies cool to room temperature, then wrap and refrigerate for up to 10 hours.

When you are ready to serve the pies, make the meringue.

12. Set a pan of water large enough to fit the bowl of your mixer to a simmer.

13. Add the sugar, egg whites and salt to the bowl and whisk gently by hand over the simmering water until the mixture is room temperature and you can't feel any sugar granules when you roll the mixture around in your fingertips.

14. Transfer the bowl to its mixer and whip on high speed until the meringue turns bright white and holds medium peaks.

15. Apply the finished meringue to the chilled pies.

16. Torch at will.

"Woman gone crazy" Bloody Mary

Serves 1

1 1/2 ounces vodka

4 ounces tomato juice or 1 large, ripe tomato, blended

3 to 4 shakes tabasco sauce

1/2 teaspoon pickapeppa sauce

1 dash celery salt

1/4 ounce fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon sherry wine vinegar

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 lemon wedge

1 celery stalk

Directions:

1. Place a few ice cubes in a cocktail shaker.

2. Add the vodka, tomato juice, Tabasco and pickapeppa sauces, celery salt, lemon juice, vinegar, a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper and shake well.

3. Strain into a pint glass filled halfway or more with ice cubes.

4. Garnish with the lemon wedge and celery stalk.