A Give Away! with Shrimp Ceviche and a fresh salad dressing

 One of the best parts of being a home cook is not having to buy foods that have lots of additives and artificial ingredients in them. I know that when I cook I am only using fresh vegetables and herbs with high quality ingredients. But even I will admit that sometimes its easy to fall into using convenience foods when you are in a rush or just not in the mood to make everything from scratch. One place where I try to always go fresh but sometimes fail is salad dressing. Its so easy to make and you can work with so many different fresh ingredients to make the perfect mix but grabbing a bottle is just so temptingly easy at times.

This is especially true when it comes to bringing dressing to work for lunch. If you put dressing on the salad in advance it can get soggy and no one wants to eat a limp salad but if you keep it on the side it tends to leak and get all over the place. I was really excited when OXO asked me to try these new mini lock top containers. They make some of my favorite tools and I just knew that these containers would be the perfect solution for storing messy liquids and dips. I even was able to use the medium size one to make a few quick servings of dressing - shaking it up right in the container. What could be easier?

 
I love it when kitchen tools make dinner run smoother. The larger container was the perfect size for marinading my ceviche. Last time, I tried ceviche it was with a salmon filet and I was scared that it wouldn't be done and everyone would get sick! Shrimp turn a tell tale pink when they are done as an easy signal that the citrus fruit has done its job. Just give it a shake every 30 minutes or so to keep all the citrus mixed with the shrimp. Its fast and is perfect for a warm spring day or as a contrast to a barbeque filled with hearty meats.You can also serve it on a bed of greens for a lunchtime treat - just don't leave the shrimp in the citrus too long! After a few hours the fish can start to get overdone so try not to let it sit around more than six hours.

Check out my recipes for Tres Citrus Shrimp Ceviche and Garlic Cilantro dressing below and enter the giveaway to get your own set of OXO Good Grips Lock Top containers!

Coconut Shrimp

I love seafood and I am always trying to come up with ways to get "haters" to try it. It seems that many people refuse to eat seafood even though they have never really tasted it (or at least any of MY cooking).  Sometimes they even go as far to fake allergies in order to avoid offending the cook! While I can't guarantee that this recipe will get everyone to love seafood it is a wonderful and easy to make ahead dish that works as a main or appetizers. Most recipes for coconut shrimp include a quick dip in the deep frier but these are made in the oven so you can have a few extra with out all the guilt!

I recently made 4 lbs of shrimp using this recipe to use as appetizers for a party I hosted it actually gets really easy and mindless after the first few batches! I loved being able to bake them ahead of time and then just quickly crisping them up in the over right before serving. We actually had lots of left overs so I saved a bag full (once cooked stick in freezer to individually freeze then stick in a zip top bag till you are ready to reheat) and have been using them as a fun little appetizers when the girls come over for our after work glass of wine...they are better for you than breaking out some cheese and crackers! I used a store bought Mandarin Orange and Ginger Vinaigrette dressing for dipping sauce (and it was delicious - Shop Rite brand if you would like to try and find it)  but if you want to go homemade just look for something asian and citrus flavored.

Clams in Red sauce with Bacon

There is really nothing easier than a clams in a broth. You can use almost any liquid with herbs to give it more flavor. I love garlic and bacon and couldn't resist clams steamed in this delightful duo. So rich and fragrant - I am not sure if there is a more tempting aroma to great you from the bottom of the staircase as you are entering the kitchen.You could also use a white wine in this dish with some additional caramelized onion to make a whole new combo. I love easy, versatile cooking. Its fun to follow recipes sometimes but whats even better is being able to adjust and work with what you have on hand.

One of the most important parts of this dish happens long before the sauce come together - completely cleaning and removing sand before steaming the clams. The last thing you want is to have a gritty, sandy broth. Take a few extra minutes to make sure that you completely scrub each shell with a small brush.

White Wine Steamed Clams

I grew up in New England, where summer time is synonymous with clam bakes. Even now that I have lived away for over 5 years, I still get an urge when fresh clams start showing up in the store. However when you live in a small apartment, sometimes having a steaming kettle full of fresh seafood (and the stinky trash that goes along with it) is less than appealing. That doesn't mean you have to forget those summer time memories - just scale things back to apartment size! The traditional clam boil includes clams, lobsters, steamers, mussels, corn and potatoes boiled up in a beer and water mix (cooked in a giant sand pit if you have one but more often just in a big pot on a gas burner). But for us, since clams were on sale at the market, it was an easy decision to just grab a few dozen little necks and get cooking.

For our clam bake we are going to do things a little different though.... no surprise for those who read this blog often. I do enjoy a nice beer I was thinking more along the lines of white wine and garlic flavors. This recipe is a bit more of a French style than a New England one but I suppose when you have deliciously fresh clams on hand, its hard to go wrong! Instead of using a large stock pot to steam my clams I used a large saute pan with under an inch of brother in the bottom - just enough to steam but not boil.

Cinco de Mayo Swordfish Taco

This year it seemed that more and more people were complaining that Cinco de Mayo has turn into a holiday much like St.Patrick's Day - a day of drinking that really has less to do with its roots and more with its alcohol brand sponsorship. However, I love "taco stand" style tacos and I can't pass up a fresh taco with some delicious ingredients so why skip over a good excuse to eat and drink. Traditionally you see often pork carnitas tacos and fish tacos in this style with just a bit of cabbage slaw, some salsa, cilantro, lime and usually a radish slice. These tacos are different than the tacos that are found at tex-mex type places which often are filled with sour cream and guacamole. This makes them a bit lighter so you really don't need an excuse to make them.

I decided to skip the radish slice and went with a "meaty" slice of grilled swordfish instead of a fried fish. This meal was fresh and so fast! I mean from fridge to table in about 15 min total...and anyone can make this.

click through for the recipes!

Shrimp Po'Boy

Its just about time for the Annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival but with so much to do this summer, a trip down just wasn't in the cards. However we had to find a way to celebrate. New Orleans is know for a few things but Good food and Great music are two of the things that really speak to me. I decided that even though it was a rainy afternoon we didn't have to settle for the same - old lunch, shrimp po'boys are fast to make and since shrimp keep so well in the freeze its easy to keep most of the ingredients on hand.

Without the friend shrimp (or some other seafood), you wouldn't have a po'boy but don't underestimate the power of the bread in this sandwich. For us, we were lucky enough to hit the local store as a fresh delivery of brioche rolls were just being unloaded from the cart. I couldn't resist the soft buttery, flaky pillows of bread even though they are not traditional for a po'boy (a crusty french baguette seems to be favored down in NOLA). When toasted and smeared with a healthy dose of remoulade, pickles and lettuce, the crisp bread is the perfect contrast to the shrimp.

Use the same recipe as the Soft Shell Crab Po'Boy here

Over All Soup Swap Winner: Indian- Style Seafood Stew

We had so many wonderful options in the soup swap but there can be only one winner. Matt's Indian-Style Seafood Stew won not only in his category (seafood and meat) but took in the most votes overall! He agreed to write up a little guest post about his experience cooking this winning dish and share it with us.....

I had this recipe in my possession for a while now however, since it feeds six, and I'm a single guy who's doesn't generally have dinner parties, finding the right opportunity to make this eluded me until this event. I picked up all the fish from my favorite local fish market, Two Cousins Fish Market on the Nautical Mile in Freeport (once you find a good local fish market you'll never buy fish at the supermarket again). I doubled the recipe to make sure I had enough stew for both the swap and the contest. It took me longer to clean the shrimp and marinate the fish than it did to cook. This couldn't have been an easier recipe to follow. When I first tasted it after it was done I was worried I had used a bit too much cayenne, but the jasmine rice balanced out the heat perfectly. I was blown away by how everybody enjoyed this! Seemed like I everyone was going back for seconds (and some for thirds). There wasn't a drop left in the crock pot by the end of the night. I look forward to the next time I can make this for friends.
read on for Matt's recipe

Crab stuffed Portobella mushroom cap

Every year my uncle makes a wonderful appetizer for family holidays, it is actually a spin off of something that my grandfather started making.... crab stuffed mushrooms. I decided to take this from an appetizer to main course by increasing the size of the mushroom! Portobello caps make the perfect single serving dinner, you can dress them down with sauce and cheese and make it into a "pizza" or class it up with ingredients like crab. The hearty texture makes it a great substitute for meat, no matter if you are a true vegetarian or just celebrating meatless Mondays. I love mushrooms in just about any form. We are lucky enough to have a great mushroom "farmer" (perhaps cultivator is a better word?) that visits the Union Square Farmer's Market regularly, Bulich Mushroom Farms.

This recipe is quite simple and really no different that many of the crab cakes that I have made before. Since the mushroom cab provides some of the structure I felt that I could leave out the breadcrumbs and make this pure crab-tastic indulgence. I did however make a few "true" crab cakes by adding about 1/2 c of breadcrumbs to the leftovers (I unfortunately only had 2 mushroom caps on hand and the pound of crabmeat quickly dominated them!)

click through for the recipe!

Crab Cake Lettuce Wrap

Crab Cakes are so simple to make but they are always a hit. These easy appetizers can be fried in advance and just heated in the oven before being served to guests. Or you can only skip the frying and just bake them however, I love the crunchy crusty layer that forms when you give them a pan frying. I like to use a lot of meat and a handful of breadcrumbs in my crabcakes however it is possible to make one with no breadcrumbs at all. For an even crunchier shell you can always roll your crabcakes in a second layer of breadcrumbs.

 

The lettuce wrap is a fun way to serve and present a crabcake along with a spicy remoulade sauce to top it and give it a little kick.

Crab Fra Diavolo?

Shrimp Fra Diavalo is an easy dish that is found on countless "red sauce" Italian restaurants all over America - though most people say that it is not something normally found in Italy. Either way the combo of seafood with spicy crushed red pepper in a fast and easy tomato sauce makes this a perfect weeknight meal as it can be made quickly and after work those minutes count! I decided to skip the shrimp tonight and go with lump crabmeat.

I used a can of  pre-cleaned crab meat however if you are feeling adventurous you can always get your own crab and clean out the meat yourself. Or class the dish up with the addition of lobster or scallops instead of the crab.  The sauce takes about as long as it does for the pasta to cook so get your water starting to boil and then begin to assemble the sauce. The next question is to cheese or not to cheese. Traditionally fish pasta dishes do not take the usual sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese however I can't resist the unami taste and usually go light but need a little something!

Phabulous Phish Pheast! a seafood extravaganza v.2

A while back we visited a friend out in Freeport, NY (Long Island) for the Seafood Festival and it was so much fun. It seems that seafood is one of those things that you love it or hate it... And we absolutely love it! After that adventure I kept making excuses to travel out to Long Island with a cooler stashed in the backseat to visit the fish market out on the pier, Two Cousins. Then we decided to kill two birds with one stone, he would come visit....with the cooler full of fish so we could have a fun visit and some delicious seafood! Seafood Extravaganza v.1 included some red snapper, fried calamari and fried soft shell crabs.

This time we had even more friends over and more seafood options including our first Iron Chef style showdown with a mystery ingredient! We decided that every guest would attempt a seafood dish and we would all have fun cooking together. And I have to say it actually did work out for the most part! But as always I decided to make about 3 dishes and so we decided to split dinner into two parts with a short rest in the middle were I finished my prep. The one big note for the evening was to get your mise en place all set and ready to go- while each recipe is easy in itself when you have 3 or 4 things to prep in a short time doing each little step takes time!

 

Cajun Shrimp Lettuce Wraps & Salmon Ceviche

As part of the seafood extravaganza, I made quite a few dishes but these two stood out as the favorites of what I made! My original thoughts for the night included a fried shrimp po'boy but concerns over my ever expanding waist line and wanting something a bit fresher tasting over a heavy fried shrimp I kept the main idea but changed my execution. I kept the cajun spice flavors on the shrimp and the all-important creamy remoulade sauce but dropped the roll in favor of a leaf of Boston lettuce.   For my recipe, follow the link at the bottom of the post.

The salmon ceviche was my first attempt at this South American classic. While versions are served in many countries south of the border, I think that Peru is probably the most famous for it. I think that one of my first encounters with ceviche is at a restaurant in NYC called Sushi Samba which blends traditional sushi dishes with South American flavors for an exciting fusion cuisine. I took a look online to see if there was anything that matched up to what I had eaten there and serious eats had posted a recipe! I followed this recipe pretty closely but instead of making lox-like slices with the salmon I cubed it to make it easier for eating and added avocado as suggested in the comments.

Better Late than Never: Fresh Caught Tuna

While I work for a large company with a few thousand employees, my division is quite small - just 4 of us in the USA! Like most small offices we have our share of office chit chat and as is probably no surprise to my readers - I like to talk food! My coworkers are often subjected to pictures of my latest creation but I figure its just about even as they get to show off their children to me.

Over the summer, Mike was getting ready for a big fishing trip and I made my feelings know on fresh fish....YES PLEASE and MORE! Well monday morning came and as I strolled into the office Mile took me aside very seriously and said he needed to speak to me in private.... uh oh? Um it wasn't me? Luckily instead of a lecture I was gifted 2 lovely tuna steaks...so fresh and beautiful I almost hesitated to cook them. In the end a quick sear  and some salt & pepper was all I could manage on these beauties with a simple side of steamed broccoli. Just another check in the delicious, local, fresh food doesn't need all that crap or a complicated prep to make it mouth watering column!

*FYI these pictures went missing for a while but some fall email cleaning unearthed them and this dinner was too delicious not to share - the fishing trip actually took place around the end of July*

8/18/10 - Fish Simply Two Ways

The summer is the best time to eat simply. When its cold, I love spending hours in the kitchen coming up with some exotic combination. But when farms all over the state of New Jersey are working hard to provide me exquisitely ripe and juicy produce, I go with it. In my last post, I took a look at one of my favorite parts of the summer months - fresh tomatoes. Growing up my whole life, I was lucky to have grandfathers who kept amazing gardens. Summer was always filled with zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, arugala (long before I knew anything about rocket or fancy mixed baby greens) and tons of basil - everything a good Italian kitchen could need.

The top dish pictured is a fresh salsa served over pan seared swordfish with a cajun rub. I accompanied the dish with a side of wilted swiss chard and red onion.
The dish below was a one skillet meal. While I usually make this dish in the oven, the temperatures outside had me looking for another option. First, I sauteed the vegetables (peppers, onions, mushrooms, broccoli)  and then removed them from the pan. I added the haddock and once it was ready to flip (3-5 min), I returned the vegetables to the pan. I topped the fish with the tomatoes and covered the pan to allow it to heat through (5 min).

8/13/10 - Seafood Extravaganza

A few weeks ago, I was talking with a friend who lives near a great seafood market. He is so lucky to have delicious fish straight off the boat at a great market with helpful service. We decided to have a fun little dinner where he would bring some thing fresh from the market and I would see what I could come up with. He was kind enough to call when he was at the store so I had a little advance notice - we were having a red snapper that he bought whole but had them fillet and some calamari. I was tempted by the idea of soft-shell crab earlier in the week so I had to stop by the store to grab a few of those as well.

I was really excited to cook with the red snapper since it was new to me and I have seen so many great recipes with the whole fish (though a check of the Seafoood Watch list made me feel bad! yikes...now I know why I have never used it). We weren't really ready for a whole fish just yet but the fillets worked out perfectly. I decided to go for a marinade with lime, cilantro and garlic and then I baked it. Before marinading the fillet, I attempted to remove some of the bones but it was pretty difficult and was a bit messy so I abandoned that quickly - any tips besides just going at them with pliers should I get this or another similar fish? 

Keep reading for more info and the recipe!

7/21/10 - Fresh Cod

This dish reminds me of something that I would eat when I was living alone. More vegetables than anything especially lots of zucchini...which is my favorite summer veggie! Unfortunately he doesn't feel that way and instead hates zucchini more than most veggies (with eggplant being most hated and only eaten when roasted and covered in cheese and sauce!). Luckily most vegetables are welcome to our dinner table so I try get my zucchini fix when he isn't around. This is a fast dish that is perfect with really any flaky white fish - from thick and meaty haddock and cod to slender tilapia and swai fillets (reduce cooking til to 2-3 min per side). I decided to make this on the stove top however if you are looking for a hands off approach try using making this dish in a foil packed in the oven or on the grill (or even in a fire for you campers!) I served the green beans on the side but feel free to toss any quickly cooking veggie or herb into the mix here.

6/19/10 - Lux Camping: Lobster Salad Roll

Our past few music festival trips have been brief and one of the places where we scale down in our meals. With only two of us needing a day's worth of food its tempting to just rely on vendors and forget about dealing with a grill all of the accessories that go along with cooking. However sometimes, especially at some of the smaller festivals, it can be risky to depend on the vendors alone, since they are not always open and sometimes run out of food. One way to deal with this is by sticking to cold food. From sandwiches to salads, cold dishes are a natural for a picnic.

There are some classic sandwiches that are easy but a little more time and effort can make a simple sandwich into a finer meal. This recipe works not only for lobster meat but also crab, salmon and tuna (which can all easily be found in the canned meats section). Make sure you have a nice roll to put this on since the bread is a big part of this dish. I used a Country White Deli Roll from Nature's Pride which was sent to me from FoodBuzz's Tastemaker program. This roll was the perfect match for my sandwich... especially when it was buttered and toasted a bit to give it a little crisp!

6/18/10 - Softshell Crab Po'boy

A few weeks ago I went out to Long Island for the Nautical Mile Seafood Festival and had some delicious seafood. I was very impressed by the fish market and when I was recently back in the area I stopped into Two Cousins Fish Market in Freeport, NY. As I pulled up I noticed the special - soft shell crabs...Sold! I was soon thinking of all the ways to enjoy this delicacy. However, once I found this Mark Bittman clip I quickly made up my mind.

I made my own version of a remoulade sauce for the crab giving it a bit more of a bite. The fried crab is served on a fresh roll. I was excited to try the Nature's Pride that was sent to me as a part of the Tastemaker's Program on Foodbuzz. For this sandwich I used the Country White Bakery Buns which were delicious.This basic two-step cornmeal batter is a perfect for a nice crisp fried crab.

Keep reading for the recipe!

6/16/10 - Garlic Ginger Seafood Stir-Fry

I know this recipe might seem familiar, but with so many veggies living in my fridge I wanted to get some of them used up before anything went bad. So here is a spin on the Garlic Chili Scallop Noodles that I made a few weeks back. However, I made a few key changes - I upped the veggies and removed the noodles making this perfect for anyone who might be looking for a low-carb options. With all the delicious and ripe vegetables (and fruits) available its easy to eat less carbs during the summer months for me.

There are some carbs that are just too good to give up....for me giving up fruit (which I snack on daily) crosses the line! What do you think? Are you a carb lover? What does it for you? Steamy hot mashed potatoes, Fresh crusty French loaf or just bowl of Grandma's pasta? Drool

Keep reading for the recipe!

6/2/10 - Black Sea Bass over Grilled Asparagus

With the weather heating up its getting harder and harder to cook dinner inside each night! Especially with my kitchen on the 3rd floor...yikes! We have been using the air conditioner for quite some time now - our Living/Dining/ Kitchen area just gets too hot. And forget the oven - its just not an option (I had to wait for a rainy day last week to make the 2 racks of baby back ribs I bought a month ago!) This dinner was fast and easy to cook up however there is one tool that needs to become part of my utensil draw (which is already out of control! but sometimes you just need one more!). Today's Daily Special on Foodbuzz is a Slotted Fish Spatula.....nice and flexible and long! Perfect for flipping a beautiful fillet like this Black Sea Bass which was simply seasoned with salt & pepper and placed on top of a bed of grilled asparagus. As you can see from my picture....my fillet wasn't so delicately turned and is a bit broken looking. Luckily looks doesn't matter as much when you food is mouth-watering and delicious.