Shrimp and Pasta with Tomatoes and Peppers

A friend was telling me about a dish he had with fettuccine and a buttered wine sauce. I had some shrimp on hand, and some frozen pasta dough, so I made my own version of it!

1 pound cooked fettuccine noodles

1 1/2 pounds fully peeled shrimp

3 small orange peppers, sliced thin

1 cup diced tomatoes

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

2 Tbsp olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1-2 Tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Start by melting the butter in a large deep pan over medium heat. Once melted, add the oil and allow it to warm for a few moments. Add the garlic and cook until it has softened, then add the peppers and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper, and cook the until they have softened. Add the shrimp and cook until they are pink and firmed. Remove the pan from the heat, add the basil, and toss some to combine.

To plate, place some of the pasta on your plate, and top with some of the shrimp, peppers, and tomatoes. Top with some fresh grated parmesan if you wish, and eat!! Hope you enjoy!!

Cherry Limeade-rita

I'm not going to try to hide it. I enjoy tequila, and I especially like the combination of lime juice and tequila, better known as a margarita. I've tried various ready to drink mixes, and order one on occasion when we go out (the most recent experience resulted in a *clear* margarita, and was about 90% tequila...), but I have yet to find one that rivals my own!

I'm always looking for a new twist to something old, and while making tequila lime chicken tacos, I saw a jar of cherries in the fridge. Wheels: start turnin'!

3oz sour mix
1 lime, juiced, save one empty half
1/2oz maraschino cherry juice
1/2oz Cointreau
1-2oz tequila
1Tbsp granulated sugar

Select your glass, and rub the empty rind around the edge of the glass. Pour the sugar in a ring in a flat plate, then dip the wet edge of the glass into the sugar until well coated. If you wish, zest the lime into the sugar prior to coating the glass. In a bar shaker, combine ice, sour mix, Cointreau, and tequila, and shake to combine well. Add ice to your glass, then nearly fill it with the margarita. Pour in the cherry juice, which will mostly settle to the bottom, and serve! Stir before drinking of course. Hope you enjoy!

Arctic Char with sautéed White Swiss Chard and Mashed Potatoes

It's always fun to try new things, and even more so when you've never cooked the item before! Enter Arctic Char. Publix had several beautiful fillets recently, so I grabbed a couple!

Fish
2 6-8 oz fillets Arctic char
1 Tbsp shallots, minced
1 tsp fresh dill
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 Tbsp white wine
2 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups cream, or more if you prefer it to be more thin
Salt and pepper to taste

Potatoes
2 Lbs potatoes, quartered and boiled
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 Tbsp milk or cream
4 cloves garlic, roasted (peel garlic, place on foil, drizzle with olive oil, enclose in foil, bake at 350 until soft)
Salt and pepper to taste

Chard
1 bunch white Swiss chard, chopped to bite size chunks
1 clove garlic, sliced very thin
1 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Start by checking the fish for loose scales, bones, or any bits from the butchering. I steamed the fish in my new favorite bamboo steamer, but frankly and way you prefer to prepare it here is fine, short of drowning it in seasoning. To prepare the sauce, melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium low heat. Once melted, whisk in the flour and cook for a minute or two. Stir in the cream. Once thickened, add the lemon juice, dill, shallots, and wine, and combine well. Add more cream if you feel the sauce is still too thick. Allow to simmer for a few more minutes, taking care not to allow it to burn.

Meanwhile, place the boiled potatoes in a large bowl. Add the cream, butter, salt, pepper, and roasted garlic, then mash well with a potato masher. Don't over mash though, or they will become paste-like. No one likes pasty potatoes! Cover, and set aside.

The chard takes a short time. Start by heating the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook very briefly to warm them, then add the chard. Toss often and cook until wilted and soft.

To plate, start with a bed of the Swiss chard, and place a fillet on top. Top with a helping of the wine sauce. Add a serving of potatoes (several options: piped, scooped, plopped... Piped looks prettiest.), and serve! Hope you enjoy!

Tomato Soup and Grown Up Grilled Cheese

I bought a bunch of cheese for snacking before Christmas dinner, but we ended up not eating it. Any of it. I had Swiss, white cheddar, and chipotle Gouda BEGGING for a tummy to call home, but I wasn't sure just how I wanted to make that happen. Well, after a little cold snap, and passing a picture of a sandwich made with white mountain bread made a Publix, it hit me: grilled cheese.

Tomato Soup:
8 Medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped.
2 Cloves of garlic, minced
4 Leaves fresh basil, chiffonaded
1-2 tsp sugar, depending on how acidic the tomatoes are
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp AP flour
2 Cups chicken or vegetable broth

Melt the butter in a stock pot over medium heat. Once melted, mix in the flour and allow to cook until it turns golden in color. Add in the broth and combine well. Add in the tomatoes, garlic, basil, salt, and sugar, and reduce the heat to low to medium low. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until the tomatoes have broken down well. Adjust the salt and/or sugar as needed. Blend the soup either with a blender or (my new favorite kitchen toy) a wand blender to your desired smoothness. Top with a little more basil, or cheese, or crackers, or whatever you prefer!

For the sandwiches:
4 thick slices of bread
6 slices Swiss
6 slices white cheddar
6 slices chipotle Gouda
2 Tbsp unsalted butter

In a large pan, melt the butter over medium to medium low heat. Mop up the butter with one side of each slice of bread. Or butter the bread directly. I prefer the first. Place two slices of the bread butter side down in the pan. Layer three slices of each cheese on the bread, and top with the remaining bread. Cover with a lid, and cook until golden brown. Flip, and again cook until golden brown. If the cheese isn't fully melted, lower the heat, and continue to cook for a few moments longer. Remove from the pan, and rest for a few minutes to allow the cheese to congeal some. Cut in half, and eat!

Hope you enjoy!

Eggplant Parmesan

I've taken to shopping at the local stand for our produce. Between the variety and freshness, our options for meals seem almost limitless! Last visit, they had some beautiful eggplant that I just couldn't pass up!

2 large eggplant, sliced 1/4" to 1/2" thick
2 cups milk
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
3 cups bread crumbs
2 Tbsp died oregano
2 Tbsp dried basil
Salt and pepper to taste
1-2 baseball sized balls of fresh mozzarella
1 cup fresh grated/shredded/peeled parmesan

Heat your oven to 350f. Place the flour in a shallow dish, whisk together the milk and eggs in another shallow dish, and mix the bread crumbs and seasonings in another shallow dish. Coat the eggplant slices in flour, then the egg mixture, then the bread crumbs, and place in the oven. Flip all the slices after about 10 minutes, or until they've begun to brown some. Continue baking until both sides are golden brown. Be mindful of the thickness of your slices, and adjust your cooking time as needed.

While the eggplant cooks, boil your favorite pasta, and ready your favorite pasta sauce.

Once cooked, remove the eggplant, and allow it to rest a moment. To plate, place some pasta in the center of your plate, top with a few slices of eggplant, top that with some sauce, then sprinkle on some of the fresh Parmesan, and a bit of fresh basil. Hope you enjoy!

(BOTH my kids ate this! Depending on who you ask, either it was chicken, or eggplant! Either way, they liked it!)

Grilled Chicken Pasta

 

I'm all about quick and easy when it comes to meals for the whole family. I have a very picky eater, and a slightly eater, so finding something we can all sit down to can be a challenge! This pasta is a sure thing, every time. It has things both the kids like, and it's not fried or drowned in a cream sauce!


1 box bow tie pasta, cooked
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, grilled
2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, diced (Or use canned)
8oz semi-firm mozzarella cheese,cubed
5-6 large leaves fresh basil, chiffonaded
1Tbsp olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste


Start by boiling the pasta to al dente. While it cooks, salt and pepper the chicken, and grill. Once the chicken is fully cooked, remove and allow it to rest. Drain the pasta, and place in a large bowl. Chop up your tomatoes, mozzarella, garlic, and basil, and set aside. Slice the chicken into strips, or chunks, whichever you prefer, and place on top on the pasta. Add the rest of the ingredients, and toss well to combine! The heat from the pasta and chicken will slightly melt the cheese, and warm the garlic, making the pasta creamy and smell incredible! Hope you enjoy!

Fried Green Tamaytahs!

Down here in the south, fried green tomatoes is more than just a movie, it's a southern eye opener!! Now I know they are about the worst thing to eat, but I rationalize it by the fact that it's a vegetable (or a fruit)! How can that be bad??

3 medium GREEN tomatoes, not unripe red tomatoes. True GREEN tomatoes
2cups all purpose flour
1cup milk
1/2cup mayo
2Tbsp lemon juice
1Tbsp paprika
1tsp cayenne
1tsp garlic powder
1/2tsp onion powder
1/4tsp mustard powder
Salt & pepper to taste

Start heating 2" of vegetable oil in a large, deep, heavy skillet or pan. The oil will need to be 350f, which you can test by dropping a small piece of bread in. At the right temperature, it will brown in about 1 minute.

While the oil heats, wash, then slice the tomatoes. Make the slices about 1/4 inch thick. Combine the flour and a little salt and pepper in a bowl, and pour the mill in a separate bowl. Dredge the slices in the flour, then the milk, then the flour again.

Once the oil has reached temperature, carefully place a few slices in, but don't crowd them in! The temperature drops slightly for each slice you put in, and cold oil means soggy results, and no one likes soggy fried green tomatoes! Fry the tomatoes for 3-5 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove, and place on a wine rack with plenty of paper towels underneath it to catch the drippings.

While the tomatoes cool, combine the mayo, lemon juice, paprika, cayenne, mustard, and salt and pepper to taste. Put the sauce in a small ramekin or little bowl, and serve with a plate of the crispy tomatoes! Hope you enjoy!