Spicy Cajun Shrimp on Sauteed Kale and Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Chorizo Cream Sauce

Cajun spices and Mexican chorizo? Yep. They go together. They even compliment each other.

The contrasts in this dish are remarkable. I love the spiciness and succulence of the shrimp mingled with the sweetness of the potatoes and the earthiness of the kale and when it's finished with a healthy drizzle of the   chorizo sausage cream sauce, the flavor is knocked out of the park. Make no mistake, this is a spicy dish, but worth the heat.

Although there are several components, the dish comes together nicely since the kale and cream sauce can be made while potatoes are baking. The shrimp is done at the last minute.

Although the recipe uses kale, which I used, I think you could use any kind of greens you like, such as spinach, turnip or beet greens.

I started with the recipe Kevin posted at his blog, Closet Cooking, but I changed it up a bit and substituted Mexican chorizo for the Andouille sausage Kevin used.



Cajun Shrimp on Kale and Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Chorizo Cream Sauce

For the mashed sweet potatoes:

• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

For the shrimp:

• 1 pound shrimp, shelled and deveined
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning

For the Chorizo Cream Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/3 to 1/2 of a 10-ounce tube of chorizo (not smoked) - depends on how much spice you like
• 1/4 cup onion, finely diced
• 1/4 cup celery, finely diced
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 cup white wine or low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon butter

For the kale:

• 1 bunch kale, stems removed and coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons butter
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400⁰F

Wash and dry the sweet potatoes and bake until tender, about one hour.

While the potatoes are baking, heat a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the chorizo and break up with a fork as it cooks. Saute the chorizo until cooked all the way through, about 4 or 5 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high, add the onion and celery and saute until translucent, another 4 or 5 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme and saute another minute. Add the wine or broth, scraping all the bits from the sides and bottom of the pan. Cook until the liquid is reduced by about half. Add the cream and simmer until it is reduced again by about half. Whisk in the butter, then remove the pan from the heat, set aside and keep warm.

Remove the sweet potatoes from the oven, cut them in half and scoop out into a bowl. Mash well with a fork, then mix in the butter and cinnamon. Cover to keep warm and set aside.

In a medium frying pan, melt the 2 tablespoons of butter for the kale. Add the kale and saute until tender, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

In a bowl, toss the shrimp, olive oil and Cajun seasoning together until the shrimp is evenly coated.

Melt the butter in another frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp to the pan and cook about 1-1/2 to 2 minutes on each side. Remove the pan from the heat.

To serve, divide the mashed sweet potatoes between four plates, top with a portion of kale, a portion of shrimp and drizzle with the chorizo cream sauce.

My Top Five Favorites of 2011

Let me start out by saying 2011 was an incredible year for me.

My blog traffic has more than tripled. The photo of my S'more Chocolate Chip Cookies was selected to be featured in Feast Your Eyes on by NBC's Today.com. BonAppetit.com featured my goat meat adaptation of their Lamb Tagine with Chickpeas and Apricots recipe in their What People Are Cooking column. My recipe for Linguine with Chorizo, Clams, Shrimp and Calamari was featured as Winner of Editor's Pick on Food52.com. And, as I mentioned in yesterday's post, those simple little Caprese Skewers were featured all over the web.

I would have never thought when I started to blog about food the summer of 2007, I would have touched so many hungry eyes and stomachs.

I was touched, too, by so many of my fellow bloggers. Two of my top five come from the blogs I read religiously.

I love to try new recipes and new foods from different cultures, in addition to creating new copycat recipes from foods I've tasted at restaurants. With that in mind, my top five favorites of 2011 are as follows:

Number 5: Spaetzle

Believe it or not, I had never made spaetzle until this year. I saw Elly's recipe back in September, quickly saved it to my recipe file and ordered this spaetzle maker. I haven't looked back. It is the perfect accompaniment to stews or soups and it's faster to make than boiling noodles.

Number 4: Chicken Scaloppini ala Macaroni Grill



I've been making this dish for several years, but just posted it last March. I have modified it significantly from the "original" recipe you can find online, cutting down on the fat just a little bit. It remains one of our favorite pasta dishes.

Number 3: Goat Tagine with Chickpeas and Apricots



This is the dish featured on BonAppetit.com and "Tagine" is the traditional Moroccan stoneware cooker used to prepare stews and other traditional dishes, but I made this dish in my electric roaster. We loved this Moroccan stew and I will make it again and again, with either lamb or goat.

Number 4: Pork Banh Mi Burgers with Vietnamese Slaw



When I can find daikon radish, I always buy quite a large one and make the Vietnamese slaw, even if we're not having the Banh Mi Burgers. Tom is addicted to the slaw. He will eat it for lunch with his sandwich or as a snack. We've even had it as a side with Bang Bang Shrimp or even barbecued ribs. But those burgers topped with a nice big spoonful of the slaw and a side of sweet potato fries....irresistible.

Number 1: Bang Bang Shrimp



Yes. What was number 5 on my readers' list, was number one on ours. I made the dish for the first time last October and I'd guess I've made it no less than another half a dozen times since then, including over the Christmas holiday at our son's house.

The method of preparing the shrimp with milk, cornstarch and panko bread crumbs renders the crunchiest, perfectly cooked fried shrimp I've eaten anywhere.

So, what's in store for this year? Stick around for the adventure.

Top Five Readers Choice for 2011

I know that I have been absent for quite some time....almost a month. But I do have a good excuse. I've been sick since the day after Thanksgiving and I'm still not fully recovered.

It hasn't been anything life threatening...only that horrible cold/flu/crud that has been sweeping the country with a vengeance...but at my age, recovery is a slow, tough process.

I am ashamed to admit that I didn't bake one holiday goodie. No cookies. No breads. No cakes. Nothing. It was all I could do to get myself ready for our trip to Reno to visit our oldest son and his family for Christmas.

But, I'm happy to say it feels like I am on the mend and ready to start posting again.

I'm going to start the year with a resolution: take better photos. Tom gave me a tripod for Christmas and I'm going to purchase some good lights. I'm looking forward to sharing much better photos with you in the future.

But this post will include old photos because this post is about last year, specifically the top five posts you liked, according the the number of hits the post received. Then tomorrow, I will post my top five favorite recipes for 2011.

Let's start with your top five:

Number 5: BANG BANG SHRIMP

I posted this recipe back in October 2011 and it instantly became one of the most downloaded recipes. It's a simple, but delicious dish: shrimp dipped in panko bread crumbs and fried and served with a spicy, sweet mayonnaise based sauce.

Number 4: TIMPANO

Posted back in March 2008, this recipe has topped the list every year since then. It is a traditional Italian dish that requires a lot of prep work, but is worth every second.

Layers of homemade meatballs, Genoa salami, hard cooked eggs, chunks of provolone cheese, cooked ziti and a rich Italian meat and tomato sauce baked in a homemade crust!



Number 3: GRANDMOTHER BREAD

I started making this bread last January after I scoured the inter-webs for what to do with the leftover whey from making ricotta cheese. Now, every time I make ricotta... a simple 30-minute process... I save the whey in plastic zip-lock bags in 3-cup measurements and store it in the freezer to use for making this bread. It makes two beautiful, delicious loaves.



Number 2: ASIAN TURKEY MEATBALLS WITH SESAME DIPPING SAUCE

Since posting this recipe back in 2010, it has been consistently popular with all of you, as well as the guests at my dinner table.

I've made the meatballs as a main dish and served them with steamed or fried rice and sauteed cabbage, and also made smaller, bite-sized meatballs for appetizers. They are a low-cal, low-fat delicious dish.



And finally......

Are you ready????

You are not going to believe this!!

Taaa Daaaa!!!

Numero Uno!!: CAPRESE SKEWERS

These skewers were part of a post that contained ideas for five separate appetizers. So how do I know it was the Caprese Skewers that were popular? Because this photo....

....has been "pinned" on Pinterest several thousand times, as well as featured in the Health and Fitness Blog on GlamourMagazine.com and in Food Served Best on a Stick at TheKitchn.com, in addition to being linked back from several other individual blogs.

Who knew that putting Caprese Salad on skewers in bite sized morsels would be such a hit? I sure didn't. But a hit they were....and I thank all of you for spreading the word!

Tomorrow, I will post my top five choices for 2011. Stay tuned.

Bang Bang Shrimp

In the spirit of full disclosure, I've never been to Bonefish Grill, which is apparently where this recipe originated.

I've seen the restaurant many times because it is across the parking lot from Fresh Market, my favorite grocery store/butcher/deli (if they ever opened one in Conway, I'd never shop at Kroger or WalMart again). But I make my trips to Little Rock in the morning. I like to get my grocery shopping out of the way early and, sadly, Bonefish Grill isn't open at 8:30am.

Many people I know have extolled the virtues of "Bang Bang Shrimp," so when I Googled the name, I got back a list of recipes. Some of them recommended using Dinni's Spicy Shrimp Sauce, while other recipes listed ingredients for the sauce. At five bucks a bottle plus shipping, I wasn't about to purchase the sauce when I could make it myself with what I have in the refrigerator: mayo, sriracha and Thai sweet chili sauce.

Of course, all the measurements for the ingredients in the sauce were different in each recipe, and since I didn't have any preconceived idea about what it should taste like because I'd never tasted the dish, I pretty much just measured to suit my own taste.

I don't know if this tastes exactly like Bonefish Grill's Bang Bang Shrimp, but it was delicious. Instead of serving it over cabbage as an appetizer, I served it as an entree for dinner with some Coconut Rice. It was really good and left us wanting more. The sauce was sweet and spicy, the shrimp was crispy on the outside and succulent on the inside. I may even make it again...as an appetizer...this weekend.

I cook a lot, probably 28 out of 30 days a month, so (as I'm sure I've mentioned before) I buy a lot of my products online in larger sizes. I've only seen a couple of brands of Sriracha sauce, but this one appears to be the most prevalent. I purchase Mae Ploy Thai sweet chili sauce here in the 32-ounce size. When I first purchased this brand a year ago, I had a little bit left of a bottle of another brand and when I tasted them both, I threw the other bottle away. Mae Ploy chili sauce tastes like fresh ingredients. The other brand I purchased in a much smaller bottle at Kroger tasted like spicy paste in comparison. And there you have an unsolicited testimonial.




My Bang Bang Shrimp

• 18 medium sized shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons Thai sweet chili sauce
• 1 tablespoon Sriracha (or more, according to your taste)
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• Enough milk to cover the shrimp (I used 2%)
• 1-1/4 cups Panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup corn starch
• oil for frying
• green onions, sliced for garnish
• shredded cabbage for serving

Put the peeled shrimp in a bowl and add enough milk to cover. Set aside and allow to soak while making the sauce.

In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, Thai sweet chili sauce, Sriracha and rice vinegar. Whisk until completely combined and set aside.

Preheat oven to 200°.

Measure the Panko bread crumbs and corn starch on to two separate plates or in two shallow bowls.

In a medium sized skillet, add about an inch of canola, peanut or vegetable oil, enough to cover the shrimp when frying and bring the oil to about 325°.

Remove a shrimp from the milk, dredge it in the cornstarch, then back into the milk, then dredge in the Panko bread crumbs. Set aside on a plate until you have 4 or 5, then add them to the hot oil. Fry until golden brown, about 2-1/2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the hot oil and place on paper towels on a heat proof dish to drain. Keep warm in the oven. Repeat with remaining shrimp.

When all of the shrimp are cooked, transfer to a large bowl, add the sauce and toss gently until all of the shrimp are evenly coated. Serve on top of a mound of cabbage (or rice, as I did) and sprinkle with sliced green onions.

Feast Your Eyes

This morning while I was reading online newspapers, I came across a headline on MSNBC.com titled "Feast Your Eyes: Photos of Your Homemade Dishes." Since I am a sucker for food porn, I clicked the link.

As I scrolled through...and drooled...I came across an open invitation for anyone to submit their own photos of homemade goodies. So, I did it. I stuck my neck out and submitted 6 photos for a feature on TODAY.com called Feast Your Eyes.

These are the six photos I submitted:

Carnitas Enchiladas and Mango-Jicama Slaw
Enchiladas stuffed with spicy slow roasted pork and cheese, topped with a sour cream green chili enchilada sauce and a side of spicy sweet slaw


S'more Chocolate Chip Cookies
Served with Vanilla Ice Cream and Chocolate Syrup Drizzle


Linguini with Chorizo, Shrimp, Clams and Calamari
Selected as Editor's Pick on Food52.com in the Your Best Seafood Pasta Recipe category


Seafood Risotto
Risotto with Peas and Shrimp infused with a Seafood Broth


Ricotta Bruschetta
Homemade ricotta cheese spread on a crostini and topped with fresh chopped tomatoes and basil drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar


Caprese Skewers
This is my most 'pinned' photograph ever on Pinterest

Wouldn't it be awesome if one of them was selected as a featured photo? Well, yeah.

Okay, back to painting Adirondack chairs...

Spicy Grilled Shrimp, Garlic Scallion Noodles and a Cake to Die For

I think easy, simple dishes are the best.

A few spices can make a plain shrimp explode with flavor. A couple of common ingredients can make plain ole pasta almost addictive.

We've been making this shrimp for years. Generally we grill it, but it is equally good quickly sautéed in a frying pan.

I found the noodles from a post by Jaden @ Steamy Kitchen. Jaden describes this dish as "crack in noodle form." Yes, they are that good.

I've changed her recipe a bit. Jaden's original recipe uses Chinese egg noodles, but I simplified it by using angel hair pasta. I also added some julienned carrot and celery to the dish for a more flavor dimension and texture.

Then there is dessert. This doctored up store-bought yellow cake will make you want to hide it from your kids so you can eat the whole thing yourself.

So let's get started with dinner, shall we?

Spicy Grilled Shrimp with Asian Dipping Sauce

• 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger root
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1-1/4 pound jumbo shrimp (21-25 per pound), shells removed but tails left on
• 5 -6 bamboo skewers

Place the bamboo skewers in a baking dish, cover with water and allow to sit until you are ready to skewer the shrimp.

In a small bowl, combine the red pepper flakes, garlic, ginger, oil, salt & pepper and mix well.

Put the shrimp in a medium bowl, pour the marinade over the shrimp and mix well to coat the shrimp. Cover and refrigerate for 1/2 hour.

After 1/2 hour, remove the shrimp from the refrigerator and put 4 to 5 shrimp on each skewer. Set aside.

Heat your grill to high. When it’s hot, oil the grill with several layers of paper towel saturated with vegetable oil. Turn the grill down to about 350 degrees, and place the skewered shrimp on the grill, cooking no more than 2 minutes on each side.

When done, remove from grill and serve immediately with Asian Dipping Sauce.

Asian Dipping Sauce:

• 4 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 green onion, finely minced

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate until ready to serve.

PRINT THE RECIPE: Spicy Grilled Shrimp with Asian Dipping Sauce



Garlic Scallion Noodles
Inspired by Jaden @ Steamy Kitchen

• 1/2 package of angel hair pasta
• 1/4 cup julienned carrots (about 1-inch long) or pre-packaged matchstick carrots
• 1/4 cup julienned celery (about 1-inch long)
• 1/4 cup scallions (green onions), chopped fine
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce (or, if you don't have it, you can substitute soy sauce)
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 3 tablespoons butter (I use Smart Balance)

Cook the angel hair pasta in boiling water until just about a minute from doneness. Drain and set aside.

Over medium heat, melt the butter in a large saute pan, then add the carrot and celery and saute for about a minute. Reduce the heat to low and add the scallions and garlic and saute until fragrant. Add the brown sugar, fish sauce (or soy sauce) and oyster sauce to the pan and mix well until the brown sugar is melted and combined with the other ingredients.

Add the pasta to the pan and cook about two minutes, mixing well with the sauce until the noodles are completely covered.

Serve hot.

PRINT RECIPE HERE: Garlic Scallion Noodles



This cake calls for a can of cream of coconut. It looks like this...



Coconut Tres Leches Cake
Adapted from My Kitchen Cafe (www.melskitchencafe.com)

For the cake:

• 1 boxed yellow cake mix

For the milk syrup:

• 1 can (15 oz.) cream of coconut
• 1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Garnishes:

• 2 medium ripe bananas
• Whipped cream
• 1 cup sweetened flake coconut, toasted (spread on a rimmed baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, about 7 minutes)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly spray a 9X13-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Mix the cake mix and bake according to the box directions.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool completely, about 1 hour.

While cake is cooling, make the syrup. In a blender, combine the cream of coconut, evaporated milk, cream and vanilla and process until smooth.

Pierce the top of cooled cake all over with the tines of a fork or a wooden skewer. Be generous. The more holes, the more the syrup will soak into the cake. With a spoon, started ladling the syrup over the cake. When the syrup begins to puddle, stop and allow the syrup to soak into the cake. Continue in this fashion until you have used all the syrup. You may still have some puddling on top of the cake. That's okay.

Cover the cake and refrigerate until all the syrup is completely absorbed, about 2 hours.

To serve, cut the cake in squares and top with whipped cream, banana slices and toasted coconut.

PRINT THE RECIPE HERE: Coconut Tres Leche Cake

Breakfast from Leftovers

First off, some housekeeping. Lately, my posts have been inundated with spam. Not just any ole 'try this site, increase your readership, buy this, blah, blah, blah. P*rn spam. So...I'm back to moderating comments for awhile until the spam subsides.

Okay, with that out of the way...I hate throwing good food away. It's almost an obsession.

As a general rule, we always have leftovers. I try very hard to cook for just the two of us, but even though our kids have been gone and out on their own for 20-plus years, I still have difficulty paring down my old recipes into two or three servings. Who can make soup or a casserole for two?

If there is enough left for another meal, I let the food cool or sometimes pre-freeze, then vacuum seal it for another time (I love my Foodsaver!).

Of course, there are those times when there's just a little bit left, maybe one manicotti or a single piece of chicken, so that becomes lunch the next day.

At other times, there's a little bit more leftover than I can eat for lunch and I have to eat just a small portion of it and (cringe) throw the rest away. That's what happened last weekend.

Friday night I made Shrimp & Grits. We didn't have any leftover shrimp, but we had a nice portion of grits, about a cup of gravy and a handful of sauteed ham cubes leftover. Sounded like a yummy lunch to me.

But we weren't home for lunch on Saturday, so I decided to use the leftovers for breakfast Sunday morning....

When we were clearing the table and putting the leftovers in storage containers, I used a rectangular container to store the grits. When I took them out Sunday morning, they had solidified nicely, so I turned the molded grits onto my cutting board and cut the slab in half from corner to opposite corner, making two triangles.

In a small pan, I mixed the leftover gravy and ham together and warmed them over low heat.

I heated about a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a small frying pan over medium-high heat, fried the grits triangles until they were golden brown on both sides and removed them to two serving plates.

I poured about 3/4 cup of Eggbeaters into the frying pan, turned the heat to medium low and cooked them until they were just barely done through (obviously you could use eggs, scrambled or over easy). I divided the cooked Eggbeaters in half, placed them on top of the grits and topped that with a spoonful or two of gravy.

I sliced up a half of an avocado that I had in the refrigerator and topped the grits, eggs and gravy with it.

My, my, my. That was a tasty breakfast.

What do you have lurking in your refrigerator that could become a delicious meal?

Super Bowl Munchies

I posted this entry on my blog for our local newspaper, but I thought I would share it here, too.

I'm working on a menu of munchies to serve Super Bowl Sunday. No chili. No soup. No pots of anything. Just munchies.

I like to have several things to choose from that will agree with several different tastes and palates. So far, these are what I have on my list:

• Mini Kielbasa Ruebens - An appetizer Tom created several years ago. He toasts cocktail rye bread in the oven and tops it with a dollop of horseradish sauce (we generally use one made by Kraft), a little Bavarian sauerkraut, a slice of kielbasa and a piece of swiss cheese, then he bakes them in a 400 degree oven until they are hot and the cheese is melted.

• Sushi Cups - We had something similar to this at a very elegant Christmas party about 8 years ago. For the cup, I just use prebaked phyllo cups from the frozen food section at the grocery store. I make a small batch of plain white rice and allow it to cool. I dice about a 1/2 pound of sushi grade tuna and add some minced green onion, a 2 to 3 tablespoons of low-sodium soy sauce and a teaspoon or so of toasted sesame oil and mix well. Then I merely fill the cups, starting with a little rice at the bottom, then some of the seasoned raw tuna mix, topped with a small bit of wasabi mayonnaise and a piece of pickled ginger. This is one of my very favorite appetizers.

• Roasted Tomato/Cheese/Basil Crostini - I used to watch Paula Deen's program on the Food Network. During one of her shows, she made a Tomato Pie. I thought the ingredients sounded wonderful, but my results were awful. The pie was soggy and flavorless. So I modified the recipe to make appetizers. I slice a French baguette (or even easier, use a small loaf of pre-sliced French bread), brush both sides of each slice with olive oil and bake in a 400 degree oven until toasted, but not crisp. For the tomatoes, I cut Roma tomatoes in half (each half will be used for one appetizer, so cut as many as you need for the number of servings you want. Place the halves on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper (so much easier to clean the pan afterward), drizzle with olive and sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper and roast in the oven at 400 degrees until they are soft and caramelized. From the ingredients in Paula's recipe, I mix the cheeses, chopped green onion and chopped basil with just enough mayonnaise to bind the mixture together, then spread a little of mixture on to each piece of toasted bread, top with a roasted tomato and bake in a 400 degree oven until the cheese mixture is melted and hot.

• Mike's Buffalo Wings with Blue Cheese Dressing - I will share that recipe in another post, but my son's Buffalo Wings are the very best I've ever eaten.

• Steamed Shrimp with Remoulade - The Remoulade is made from a recipe from the old PBS "Great Chefs" series. I will also share that recipe next time, but I couldn't find a photo.

Provided I make enough of each appetizer, I don't think anyone will go hungry.

But I still have to decide what to have for dessert. Yesterday afternoon I tried a new recipe for Oreo Cream Cheese Cupcakes. They turned out really good and I will share that recipe and photo at another time.

What are you having Super Bowl Sunday?

Buffalo Shrimp Salad with Spicy Blue Cheese Dressing

I did it. I deleted a food blogger from my Google reader. Actually, I've deleted more than one.

I don't cook every single recipe I read from every post I receive. I couldn't. There are far too many. I think I subscribe to just under 90 blogs, most of them food related. When I do try the recipes, I attempt to post the results and give credit to the blog from which I "borrowed" the recipe.

I deleted the first blogger because credit was rarely given where credit was due. I attempt to skim through the posts in my reader on a daily basis, so I have a good idea of who is posting what sort of dishes. When I see some of my very favorite bloggers posting wonderful original recipes and photos, then two or three days later see this one blogger posting the same recipe with no credit to the original blogger, and I see this blogger doing it repeatedly, it just ticks me off. Delete!

Another blogger writes really well, gives credit where it is due, but even though the photos make the food look wonderful, the food sucks. I tried three of this blogger's recipes and all three were really just horrible, throw-in-the-trash-don't-eat-it bad. Sorry, but delete.

Yet another blogger posts recipes almost daily of the food cooked from the night before and only occasionally posts a recipe for something for which I could have already guessed the ingredients, and the rest of the time doesn't bother to give a recipe. Delete.

I'm getting much more selective with my subscriptions. Perhaps it will slow down the accumulation of posts I receive on a daily basis.

So with the general housekeeping out of the way, I want to share with you a dish I cooked (sort of) last night that was not my idea.

I have been craving salad. Big salads, with lots of stuff in them, but I'm tired of Caesar Salad (does anyone really get tired of it?), Mexican Chef's Salad, Cobb Salad...the whole lot. I wanted something different. Then I opened my Google reader to this post @ Beariatric and started salivating immediately. While I didn't use Tom's recipe, it was definitely his post that inspired me to put this salad together.

I've been using my son, Mike's, Buffalo Chicken Wings recipe for years. I think it is the best I've EVER eaten. And, I make an adaptation of Chef Paul Prudhomme's recipe for Blue Cheese Dressing from his Louisiana Kitchen cookbook. Mike's wings are flavorful and as spicy as you want to make them and Chef Paul's Blue Cheese is cool, but a little spicy with definite onion-y undertone.

For this dish, I adapted Mike's recipe to shrimp and halved Chef Paul's recipe for the dressing. This salad was cool, flavorful, spicy and satisfying.

Buffalo Shrimp Salad with Spicy Blue Cheese Dressing
Buffalo Shrimp recipe adapted from Mike Powers
Blue Cheese Dressing adapted from Chef Paul Prudhomme Louisiana Kitchen

For the Blue Cheese Dressing:

1 egg
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 cups vegetable oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons white pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (I used crushed red pepper)
1/2 pound blue cheese, coarsely crumbled

In a food processor or blender, combine the egg, onions and garlic; process a few seconds until well mixed. With the machine running, add the oil in a thin, steady stream; then add the buttermilk and seasonings and process a few seconds more until well mixed, stopping once to push the sides down with a rubber spatula. Add half of the blue cheese and pulse the mixture until the cheese is broken up into smaller pieces and combined with the dressing. Add the remaining cheese and just pulse a couple of times to mix, but leave the cheese somewhat lumpy. Remove to a jar or bowl and refrigerate until ready to use. Makes about 1 quart of dressing.

For the Buffalo Shrimp Salad:

20 large shrimp, shells removed and cleaned and deveined
Buffalo Seasoning Mix (see recipe at bottom of page)
5 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons hot sauce (Tobasco or Louisiana ~ I used Louisiana
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 bag of mixed greens
1/2 head of iceberg lettuce, cut into bite sized pieces
1 tomato, cut into wedges
1 avocado, cut into chunks

Place the greens, iceberg lettuce, tomato and avocado in a large salad bowl. Keep cool.

To Make the Buffalo Shrimp:

Put the shrimp in a bowl and sprinkle with 1-1/2 tablespoons of the seasoning mix and the flour. Mix until evenly covered. Set aside while you get the sauce ready.

In a small frying pan, melt the butter with the hot sauce. Add the remaining seasoning mix and cook one minute. Keep warm.

In another pan, pour in enough oil so that the oil is about 2 inches deep. Heat the oil on medium high until it reaches 350 degrees. Add the shrimp a few at a time (do not overcrowd) and fry for about 1 minute until just done and golden brown. Remove from oil and put in frying pan with sauce to keep warm. Continue this process until all of your shrimp have been cooked.



When all of the shrimp have been added to the sauce, dumped the shrimp and sauce into a bowl and mix well.

To serve, toss greens and lettuce well and pile on a plate. Top with shrimp. Pour Blue Cheese Dressing over all.


Seasoning Mix:

2 tsp paprika
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne (depending on how spicy you like it)
3/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon celery salt

Use a fork or very small whisk to thoroughly mix the seasonings together and set aside.

Greek Orzo Salad with Shrimp

Can you hear me smacking my lips? Can you see me drooling? This salad was fantastic! What made it so different from any other summer salad? The vinaigrette - simple and fresh tasting.

We were taking a trip to the lake this past weekend to spend some time on the boat and, of course, I was thinking about what to pack in the cooler for our lunch. As I sat making a list for my trip to the grocery store, I was also wading through the posts in my Google reader when I came across a post for this salad on Stacey Snacks. I don't know what prompted me to use the link to her original post, but I did. When I scrolled down the page, I saw that Marie @ Proud Italian Cook (one of my absolute favorite food bloggers) was the first person to leave a comment on Stacey's post. Marie raved about the salad. Well, I am, too.

This salad was a perfect lunch on the boat. But, next time, I taking a bottle of wine to go with it.

This recipe made a lot, so we decided to have it the next day with dinner. To freshen it up a little, I made half the vinaigrette recipe and tossed it with the leftover salad and we had it with more grilled shrimp! It was just as fresh tasting Sunday as it was Saturday.



This salad will become a summer staple at our house.

Greek Orzo Salad with Shrimp
Adapted from Stacey Snacks

1 box of orzo (cooked per package directions)
1 lb. cooked shrimp (Stacey grills hers; I used a grilling pan)
1/2 red onion, diced
handful of green onions, chopped
handful of kalamata pitted olives, chopped
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, quartered
handful of fresh dill, chopped
handful of fresh parsley, chopped
1 hot house cucumber, sliced
7 oz. container of chopped feta cheese

Vinaigrette Dressing:

juice of 2 lemons
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
1/2 cup of good olive oil
kosher salt and pepper to taste

Cook and drain the orzo pasta. While it is still warm, mix with a little of the vinaigrette. Set the pasta aside to cool while you prepare the other ingredients.

I had a little over a pound of shrimp, 16-20 count. I cleaned them, sprinkled them with Cavender's Greek Seasoning and cooked them in a grilling pan for about 90 seconds on each side. They were pretty big for a salad so I cut them in half.

I mixed the rest of the ingredients with the pasta, adding the feta cheese last, then tossed the salad with the remaining vinaigrette.

Shrimp & Grits

I was born and raised in central California where barbecue is spelled BBQ and means anything cooked outside on a gas or charcoal grill; where seafood means fish from the ocean; and where there are restaurants that serve nothing but soup and salad.

But, I have lived in the south since 1993. I've tasted a lot of southern cooking, from barbecue to crawfish to fried catfish, and refused to taste some, boiled chitterlings ("chitlins" for the uninitiated) being one of those. I have never been able to convince myself that anything that looks like this in it's raw state...

...could taste good if it looks like this in it's cooked state...



But this post is not about chitlins. It's about shrimp and grits. Even after sixteen years residence in the Natural State, I had never had shrimp and grits.

A couple of weeks ago, my son, Mike, posted an entry on his Myspace that said he was going to make Tyler Florence's Shrimp and Grits. Now, since Mike has an almost neurotic aversion to anything remotely southern, I knew this dish had to be phenomenal for him to make it. Shrimp and Grits must be awesome if Mikey likes it.

And, wouldn't you know it, after I saw Mike's entry, there was a Shrimp and Grits challenge on an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay. I printed all three recipes: Tyler Florence, Bobby Flay and BF's challenger, Joe Barnett. In the end, I chose Joe Barnett's recipe because I just liked all the components and I wasn't disappointed. This was one of the best dishes I've ever made....really!!



I followed the recipe almost exactly, except for these few things:

• No Wild Georgia Shrimp where I live. I used Thai shrimp instead.


• The grits recipe calls for a tablespoon of tomato paste. I left that out.


• I had some leftover spiral cut ham in the freezer and used that instead of the sugar-cured country ham.

Shrimp and Grits
by Joe Barnett via the Foodnetwork.com

Shrimp
1-1/2 pounds (26-30 count) Wild Georgia Shrimp
2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning (recommend Tone's Louisiana Cajun seasoning)
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning
Freshly ground black pepper

Grits
2 cups water
2 chicken bouillon cubes (recommend Knorr)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 cup quick grits (recommend Quaker)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
3-1/2 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar cheese

Sauce
2 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce (recommend Texas Pete)
1 slice sugar-cured country ham

First, peel and devein the shrimp. In a small bowl, combine Cajun seasoning, paprika, Italian seasoning and salt and pepper, to taste. Sprinkle the spice mixture over the shrimp to coat well and set the shrimp aside.

Next, make your grits. In a medium saucepan, bring water, chicken bouillon cubes and 2 tablespoons butter to a boil. Slowly add the grits, whisking often with wire whisk for 5 minutes. Add tomato paste, cream, and cheese. Keep whisking for another 2 or 3 minutes until the grits become creamy. Don't skimp on the butter and the cream, folks.

Now saute the shrimp. In a large saute pan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add minced garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Add in the spice-coated shrimp, and cook only until they're just done and tender. Don't overcook. Remove the shrimp from the saute pan and set them aside in a bowl. You can taste 1 or 2, to see if they're okay.


The roux is next. With all those wonderful drippings from the shrimp in the saute pan, add 3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour and stir with a wooden spatula to make a roux. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes until roux reaches a medium-tan color, then slowly add the chicken stock and heavy whipping cream. Whisk together and cook for 2 minutes, then whisk in Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce. Set aside.

And last, a little country ham. Cook 1 center slice of cured country ham in a saute pan, and cut into cubes.



To serve, and this is the best part...place a few heaping spoonfuls of steaming cheese grits onto a plate...



...top with several sizzling shrimp...



...Drizzle that wonderful roux sauce over top of the shrimp, and sprinkle on a few cubes of country ham...



Enjoy.

After dinner, Tom packed up all the leftovers carefully in separate containers and the following night we had leftovers for dinner. Tom had Ceviche and chips. My sister, Karen, had tacos from two night before and I had the leftover Shrimp and Grits. I opted for warming the grits in a pan and mixing the shrimp, ham and roux gravy together in another small frying pan. It was just as good, although not as pretty...



Mmmmmm. I can't wait to make this again!