Low Country Boil

Nothing says summer in Savannah like a low country boil with fresh shrimp! I decided that I would make some for my Dad’s birthday. It is really fool-proof! You need a big pot – depending on how many you are serving of course. Fill the pot about 2/3 full with water and add about a cup of old bay seasoning (per serving of 6). Set the water to boil and add red potatoes. Let boil for about 10 minutes and then add kielbasa sausage cut into 2 inch pieces. Let boil for another 10 minutes and then add 1/2 ears of sweet corn (you can use yellow corn but the sweet is so much better). Let boil another 10 minutes and then add 2 1/2 lbs of shrimp (per 6 servings) and cook just until pink. Strain all through colander and sprinkle with more old bay. Serve and eat. I also make a cocktail sauce to accompany. Mix about 1 cup of ketchup with 2 tablespoons of fresh horseradish (more or less to taste) and about a tablespoon of old bay.

 Voila! Enjoy.

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Tuna Steak with Fig Sauce

I made this not long ago with chicken and it was delicious. It was even better on the Tuna Steak!

I simply salted and lightly peppered the tuna steak. I lit the grill to medium high heat and placed pre-soaked rosemary sprigs on the grill and put the tuna steaks on top of the rosemary. When the steaks were done I removed them and served with grilled asparagus and topped the steaks with the fig sauce found in the previous post.  Delicious! I can’t wait until fig season next year.

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Chicken with Fig

For the fig topping I halved about a dozen fresh figs and put to simmer in a pot with about a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar and the same of olive oil. When the figs got to a hard simmer I smashed the figs and let the liquid absorb. I then added about 1/2 cup of white wine and let that liquid absorb. I turned off the heat and then set to cook the chicken.

I simply salted and peppered chicken breast cooked in about a tablespoon of olive oil. I set some broccoli to steam and when it was all done I topped the chicken with the figs. It was a lovely somewhat sweet somewhat earthy flavor. I loved it. Too bad fig season is so short! I think I will get in one more batch of this before the figs are done for the year and it is definitely something I will keep in mind for next year when the figs come again.

On a side note – I have seen many recipes for dried fig glazes so don’t sweat it if you don’t have fresh ones.

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Salmon with Ginger Marinade

I blogged earlier about the Ginger dressing recipe I got from Mimi. I used it as a marinade for a couple of wild caught Salmon filets. These are hard to get – we seem to get a lot of farm-raised color added salmon – I just won’t eat this anymore – I hold out for the wild caught, but it would certainly work on any salmon or tuna for that matter.

I marinated the salmon for about an hour then used the same dressing for the salad. It is a wonderfully flavorful marinade/dressing…and I have since used it on chicken and on tuna steaks!

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Ginger Dressing/Marinade/whatever you want to use it for

Mimi sent me the link for this Asian Ginger Dressing from allrecipes.com – I made a couple of slight changes

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger (I used the gourmet garden prepared ginger)

I added 2 tablespoons of gourmet garden lemongrass

3/4 cup of olive oil

1/3 cup of rice vinegar

1/2 cup soy sauce

3 tablespoons honey

1/4 cup of water

This is a terrific dressing or marinade. I used it as a dressing, as a marinade for salmon (will post later) and as a marinade for chicken – you can’t go wrong!)

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Key Lime Pie

Made key lime pie for Fourth of July dinner, am just getting around to blogging several food joys..this is always a crowd pleaser especially when I can get fresh key limes.

I don’t think too much about the proportions anymore. The key limes come in a bag with just enough key limes to make one pie. I juiced them, added on can of sweetened condensed milk, mixed thoroughly and poured into a graham cracker pie crust. No need to bake – just pop in in the refrigerator until chilled and serve.

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Sweet Potato Hash

I made turkey burgers for dinner last night.  I can’t eat turkey burgers without sweet potato fries.
When I was making dinner last night, my eyes were bigger than my stomach, because I made way too many sweet potato fries.  So I popped them into a container and stashed them in my icebox.

Fast forward to this morning, when I was rummaging around looking for something to make for breakfast.

I saw the container of sad little sweet potato fries on the shelf.  I started thinking about what I could do with them… what about some kind of hashbrowns?  I had about 1/8th of a bag of regular frozen hashbrowns in the freezer… an idea began to take shape.

Here’s what I did….

Sweet Potato Hash

2 tablespoons bacon grease or olive oil or butter
A handful of leftover sweet potato fries, chopped up (any kind of pre-cooked sweet potato will do)
A handful of grated frozen hashbrowns (any kind will do)
Half a small onion, chopped
6 small mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon butter
s/p

In an 8inch cast iron skillet (or non-stick if that’s what you’ve got), melt the bacon grease over medium high heat. Add the chopped onion and let it cook for a few minutes.  Then add the sliced mushrooms, and again, let it cook for a few minutes.  When the veggies have cooked down a bit, throw in the cut up sweet potato fries and the shredded hashbrowns.  Stir it around, then let it sit for a few minutes.  Add salt and pepper.  Don’t over do it, as you can taste it along the way for seasoning.  I don’t use much salt because the bacon grease has some already.  You want some color on the potatoes and veggies.  After 5 minutes or so, make a well in the center of the mixture and put in the extra tablespoon of butter.  Stir things around, and let it continue to cook until the other stuff you’re having for breakfast is done.

I served this to my husband with a couple of scrambled eggs.  The picture you see was my portion, which I topped with a fried egg.

This was really good.  I think from now on I’ll make too many sweet potato fries on purpose, just as an excuse to have this for breakfast again!

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Blackened Tuna with Mango, Pineapple salsa

This was dinner tonight. Tuna Steaks with Pineapple, Mango Salsa. So good. this was one of those flavor profiles that was in my head and came out just as I had hoped.

I coated the tuna steaks in salt, pepper, chili powder, and old bay seasoning – seared both sides in the skillet until medium rare. As that was cooking I diced mango, pineapple, tomato and cilantro. When the tuna was done I deglazed the pan with pineapple juice in the pan with the salsa mix until just warmed through and then topped the blackened steaks. I served this alongside some simple steamed broccoli – delicious!

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Cherry Vanilla Breakfast Smoothie

So this was my breakfast this morning.  It’s a cherry vanilla smoothie.  I made it because we have a cherry tree in our back yard and this is the first time in 4 years it actually produced fruit!  I didn’t show a picture of the finished product because it was less than photogenic.  Honestly, it looked awful.  Instead of telling you what I did this morning, I’m going to tell you what I will do next time to make this 1000% better.

Cherry Vanilla Breakfast Smoothie:

1 cup washed, stemmed and pitted cherries (honestly, you can use however many you want)

1 banana (preferably frozen, so you don’t have to add ice to water down the flavor)

1/2 cup plain yogurt (you can use more than this, or even use a flavored yogurt if you want)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I actually used vanilla bean paste)

1 cup unsweetened almond, soy or regular milk (I used almond because that’s what I had)

Throw everything in a blender and blend until smooth.

The version I used this morning also had honey, which made it WAY too sweet.  I almost couldn’t finish it.  I also only used half of a banana, which wasn’t enough to keep it thick or cold.  In my opinion, most breakfast smoothies benefit from more frozen bananas!

I drink smoothies for breakfast during the school year because they are quick and easy.  I don’t make them as often during the summer, because my schedule is much less crowded, and I generally feel like cooking.  I drank this one this morning because I had cherries I needed to use, and I had to be at school to interview new teachers.

I’ll post my stand by smoothie recipe later this week.

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Avocado Pasta

It has been a while since my last post and that isn’t because I haven’t been cooking, I have just been in a recipe rut…making stuff I already know how to make…you know the story. I came across this recipe on a facebook post and it sounded good so I thought I would try it. It was easy and delicious. I will definitely make it again though I think next time I will eliminate the corn and add feta. The corn was good but it didn’t really add anything to the dish. Nonetheless, the avocado sauce was delicious.

Avocado Pasta

Ingredients:
12 ounces spaghetti
2 ripe avocados, halved, seeded and peeled
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup canned corn kernels, drained and rinsed

Directions:
In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
To make the avocado sauce, combine avocados, basil, garlic and lemon juice in the bowl of a food processor; season with salt and pepper, to taste. With the motor running, add olive oil in a slow stream until emulsified; set aside.
In a large bowl, combine pasta, avocado sauce, cherry tomatoes and corn.
Serve immediately.

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