Cooking: Shrimp and Grits

During my stint at Arrowmont in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, I ate shrimp and grits for the first time.  I love Southern food and remember my first time eating an oyster po'boy, but that'll be for another post.  And so I found Bobby Flay's recipe.  It's awfully rich.  The key to cooking for me is the mise en place, and so I prepped all the ingredients beforehand:  peeled and de-veined shrimp, minced garlic and chopped scallions and bacon, grated cheddar cheese, butter and stone ground grits or polenta.  I forgot to have the 4 teaspoons of lemon juice ready, and such unctuousness really needs that hit of acid.

First, I sauteed the chopped bacon until crisp and drained off the fat except for a tablespoon.

Next I boiled 4 cups of water, poured in the grits, and kept whisking until the water was absorbed about 20 to 25 minutes.

Next I added the butter and grated cheddar cheese, still whisking furiously.

Once the butter and cheese are incorporated into the grits, I set it aside.

In the reserved bacon grease, I added the garlic and shrimp and cook for 3 minutes.  Not only did I forget to have lemon juice ready, I should have also added the white parts of the scallions at this stage too.

I had poured the cooked grits into a casserole dish already and then topped it with the cooked shrimp, which I probably should have cooked for a minute less longer because the shrimp continues to cook in the residual heat of the pan and the grits.

I then topped the shrimp and grits with the crisped bacon and chopped scallions.  We squeezed lemon on the prepared dish, and next time I'll cook the whites of the scallion with the shrimp as well as the forgotten lemon juice and reserve the chopped green tops for the final dish to serve with additional lemon.  I'll make it again for sure, but shrimp and grits is one of those dishes I think we'll only eat once or twice a year because it's so decadent.  However, I'm now a fan of polenta and want to try it with braised short ribs in wine.

Cooking: Chile Rellenos

As if attempting to cook my husband's pot roast dinner of his youth for a Sunday supper weren't enough (which turned out just okay), I also cooked Chile Rellenos for Mexican Monday.  Very labor intensive.  First I roasted two Anaheim and two Pasilla chile peppers and fried tortillas to make chips to embellish my dish.

After I roasted the peppers, I peeled off their black papery skins and removed the seeds and membranes after slitting them open.  I took out a block of Monterey Jack cheese, frijoles, red enchilada sauce, and chorizo leftover from huevos ranchero the week before.

I then layered the beans and salsa roja in the glass baking dish on which to lay the stuffed peppers on.  I also took two eggs out and separated the whites from the yolks.

I cut the cheese into smaller blocks and then stuffed them into the peppers along with leftover chorizo.  I used 3 toothpicks to skewer the peppers over the cheese and chorizo.  I had also turned my oven on to preheat it to 350 degrees.

Next I whipped the egg whites as stiff as I could get them and then folded in the yolks.  I then submerged the stuffed pepper into the beaten eggs.

And then the frying.  I heated a half an inch of vegetable oil in my cast iron pan and kept it at medium high heat.  The oil needed to be hot enough to hear a sizzle when I slid the stuffed pepper in, but not so hot that the egg batter golden browned too soon to burnt.  It's especially tricky turning the peppers over to its other side--a spoon helps and you can spoon hot oil over the egg batter to help it along.

We were pretty happy with how tasty the chile rellenos were, so happy that we ate them before I could take a picture of the completed dish though here's a shot before I submerged the tortilla chips in the sauce around the peppers and before they went in for 30 minutes in the oven to melt the cheese and crisps the tortilla chips some more.

Weekend Cooking or....Unblocking My Creative Rut

I've been depressed and in a midlife crisis for the past year and half that I haven't wanted to quilt, hand build, weave or embroider.  I have crafted a little, but not my usual extensive whirlwind of making with clay and textiles.  However, those creative muscles are slowly getting flexed, and I've been getting back into crafting, especially with the help of cooking.  This weekend, I marinated chicken thighs in buttermilk, salt and hot sauce...

 ...simmered legumes and beans, roasted an eggplant, squeezed lemons, decanted jars of tahini, mixed and sipped a lime rickey...

 ...which turned into a tasty lunch of bread, dolmas and hummus until I had a hangry and menopausal temper flare up...

 ...but then calmed down enough to finish lunch and make the baba ghanoush and the 5-bean salad and then go do ceramics the next day with a friend to later return home to start supper by making a simple tomato salad with just heirlooms, salt, balsamic and basil...

 ...and dredging the buttermilk-brined chicken thighs in a flour mixture of chopped fresh rosemary, thyme, poultry seasoning for the sage, a little salt and lots of coarse ground black pepper before frying it...

...and while the fried chicken finished cooking in the oven, I peeled potatoes and boiled them with garlic before mashing them with heavy whipping cream, butter and lots of chopped scallions because I make mashed allium potatoes...

...and it was a very pleasing dinner because of a super crispy fried chicken skin which the hubs also complimented me on...

...however, I was still fervently wanting to create culinarily and while drinking my wine with a neighbor, mentioned an overwhelming wish to cook a fish stew but didn't think I could the next evening because I had a late afternoon meeting to which she suggested that I prep the ingredients the night before--genius--and so I chopped fennel, celery, and leeks and mentally planned a trip to the gourmet grocery shop for seafood broth before going to bed...

...but like an idiot, while grocery shopping before my meeting, I didn't sensibly look for the box of seafood broth at the seafood counter and instead was in the canned fish aisle, grabbing bottles of clam broth.  No matter, I got to caramelizing the aromatics in butter and olive oil and pureeing tomatoes and garlic in my blender before combining with the clam broth and the wine I was sipping and letting it simmer on my stove for a good hour and a half before adding a combination of frozen shellfish (mussels, shrimp, octopus, calamari) and Pacific rockfish...

 ...which made for a beautiful tasting dinner of bouillabaisse, lavishly buttered artichoke bread and lots more glasses of Albariño.  Of course, I shared my seafood meal with my neighbor who proclaimed it "so good."

Ceramics: Kimono Commercial-Decal Mug

I made this mug from reclaimed dark clay and am infatuated with the color of this clay body.  I had painted with white underglaze a dot on which I knew I wanted to affix a decal.  I've also been playing with different handles and made this one to resemble brass knuckles....there's text on the other side saying, Oh I fancy!

Ceramics: Chevron-stenciled mug

Another pot from the kiln yesterday is this mug on which I used a mylar stencil to pounce underglaze in a chevron pattern on a Bmix clay body slab, which I later constructed into the mug.  I was so pleased with this piece that I stencil under glazed red polka dots onto another Bmix clay slab.  

Ceramics: Butter Dish

I finally made a butter dish to hold the blocks of Kerrygold butter I love so much.  It's a teeny bit wonky, and I wish I had gotten bolder with the glazing.  However, it'll do until I make that better butter dish.  What I love most is the ease of a handle to remove the cover.

For shits and giggle I had glazed the interior of the butter lid in Stormy Blue and Jim Bob blue on the exterior.  My husband said it would've been more visually interesting to see more interaction between the two glazes, and I agree.  Next time.

Salade Niçoise

Salade niçoise is such a great way to use up the bounty of a garden in summer.  Start with a can of beautiful Italian tuna, preferably packed in olive oil.

Then emulsify anchovies, Dijon mustard, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, shallots, fresh thyme, fresh basil, sherry vinegar, red wine vinegar, a little balsamic, and some lemon juice to taste.

 Boil up some red new potatoes.

 Hard boil eggs.

 Chop up tomatoes, in this case, Martha Washington.

Find Niçoise olives in the deli aisle of the supermarket.  I also keep Kalamata olives in the pantry when I want a salty bite.

Blanch some green beans or haricot vert (these beans turned from purple to green).

Lastly compose all the vegetables and protein onto a plate, drizzle with dressing and pour a glass of a chilled white wine.  I also added the remains of a carton of spring greens, but I would've preferred Bibb lettuce.