Shrimp and Grits

So my local Southern Belle failed me at work ( in the nicest way possible, bless her heart) and had no recipe for Shrimp and Grits and forced me to look at several recipes and pick the best features of all of them. So I did, with great success. Definitely not a Lenten dish but it’s Hannah’s birthday family dinner and here we are. Not all that hard to make but a lot of steps.

Here they are:

Shrimp and Grits, my own Southern tradition

1 1/2 raw peeled deveined large shrimp, shells reserved
Cajun seasoning about 2 tbs. I made my own*
1/4 cup flour, reserved
Season the raw shrimp, toss to coat and set aside. Use the flour later just before frying to coat.


In a saucepan,  add
Reserved shells
Whole medium onion, unpeeled halved
2 Celery stalks
1 teaspoon of  Thyme
Salt and pepper to taste.
Simmer for 45 minutes verify seasoning.
Strain and reserve broth. About 3 cups.

For the Shrimps
2 tbs oil
2 tbs butter
1 medium onion chopped fine
2 Celery stalks chopped fine
1/2 red pepper, diced. I used a 1/2 jar roasted red peppers diced.
2-3 cloves of garlic chopped fine.
1/2 c white wine
3/4 c cream
Wondra flour for thickening
1-2 tablespoons of Franks Hot Sauce to taste
Salt and pepper as needed
3 green onions sliced thin, white and green

In a large fry pan, heat 2 tbs oil till shimmering. Toss the seasoned shrimps in a few tbs of flour till coated. Add the seasoned shrimp in batches to the hot oil till pink through then set aside.

In the same pan add the butter, celery, onion, red pepper  and garlic. Sauté till softened then add the white wine and allow it to reduce by half, scraping up the browned bits. Add about 2-3 cups of the seafood stock and the cream. Allow to come to a light boil. Thicken with Wondra if needed. Verify seasoning.  Add the shrimps back till heated through and spoon over grits.  Top with green onion. Pass the hot sauce.

Grits
1 1/2 cups quick cook grits
6 cups water/ milk or more if needed
2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces of white shredded sharp cheddar  cheese
1/2 cup cream
3 tbls butter

 Boil the salted water, add grits slowly and whisk the entire time. When the consistency of thick porridge, add the cheese and combine till the cheese melts then stir in the cream and butter.

* Cajun seasoning
5T paprika
4T garlic powder
2T onion powder
2T black pepper
2T cayenne
2T oregano
2T thyme
1T salt.

A Lenten Dinner Party...of sorts

Last night our great friends Randy and Rhonda came to say goodbye. They are moving closer to their kids in Arizona. They got a great deal on a house and are in the process of packing up. They wanted to go out but being lent and limited in what we can eat plus my diabetes and pasta are enemies I offered to cook. Not many folks will turn down a meal at our house and they graciously accepted. Originally Randy wanted to head out to Spaghetti Works for their red clam sauce but I use a high fiber low calories pasta so I made the sauce here instead. As a matter of fact, I made 3 sauces as Rhonda does not eat anything from the sea and Brenda preferred white clam sauce rather than red.

A nice fresh French loaf and cop cat Olive Garden salad rounded out the menu with a Lenten chocolate cake for dessert.

For the sauce I used the 4 ingredient method

1 28 ounce can of San Marzano peeled tomatoes
1 small onion peeled and halved
1 t salt or more as needed
4 tbls butter or margarine.

Heat all the ingredients in a sauce pan the simmer for 45 minutes. Break up the tomatoes as it’s cooking. Discard the onion. One basic red sauce that is surprisingly fresh tasting and delicious.

For the White Clam Sauce

1 can of Bumblebee Baby Clams, drained juice reserved
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 shallot chopped
2 tbls olive oil
1/2 c white wine
3 tbls butter or margarine

In a medium skillet heat the olive oil and then add the garlic and shallot. Sauté gently to avoid burning the garlic then add the clams. Heat through, add the wine the the clam juice. (At this point I divided the red sauce in half and added 1/3 of the clams to the red sauce.)
Bring the white sauce to a low boil and add the butter, one pat at a time and whisking to incorporate before adding the next. Sauce should thicken and become glossy. Add a handful of parsley.

Lenten Meals are us...

Tonight’s fare besides a nice fresh prosfora is a Cilantro Lime and Shrimp casserole with black beans and rice. 

I needed a little something in case pickings are slim. Last weeks Mediterranean Seafood salad was a big hit. This week a Mexican palate was in order. Here’s how I made it:

1 1/2 pound peeled deveined medium raw shrimp
2 tbls oil
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 t baking soda
2 tbls hot sauce
1 tbls chipotle powder
Garlic powder
1/2 c red onion

4 cups water
2 cups rice
2 cans drained black beans rinsed
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Juice and zest of 2 limes
Salt and pepper

Rinse and drain shrimp and toss with baking soda then Franks Hot Sauce, chipotle powder and garlic powder. Prepare rice with water and 1 tbls salt and bring to boil, cover and simmer 15 minutes till cooked. Combine with beans, lime juice and zest and cilantro. Set aside.

Sauté garlic and onion in the oil carefully till soft and the garlic does not burn, then add shrimp and cook till just pink through. Add to rice mixture with juices and toss. Check seasoning adding salt and pepper as needed.

Eating Omaha....Timber Wood Fire Bistro

I am currently reading reviews for this Omaha establishment and trying to wrap my head around the ratings. I don't get it. Yes the food is good, not exceptional and the service is 5 star. The rest is...meh.

Last night was my third or forth visit to Timber and I was, as was the rest of my party, surprised at the dinky portions and terrible dessert.

As part of a large party where I was a guest,  I partook of  the prix fixe menu offered. Tenderloin Medallions, Prohibition Black Chicken  and Cedar Planked Steelhead Salmon were the three main choices. In the past, I have had the mac and cheese,  'Timber Mac' and the Lamb Burger. All delicious dishes and the generous portion of the mac and cheese led me to take half home for lunch the next day. The small burger, however,  left me wanting. The ladies 'loved' the pizza at $16 each, just 10 inches or so...

Last night illustrated a point. I choose the salmon while my buddies choose the filet medallions. Our plates arrived with excellent service, so that's not an issue, with a 1/2 cup portion of creamed potatoes, 6 grilled asparagus spears and in the case of the beef, two 3 ounce medallions of filet.  My salmon was identical except for a nicely grilled piece of salmon just 1-1 1/2 inches wide. About 4 ounces if I were to guess. The menu price was $26 for both entrees. If I had to pay for this I would have been mighty unhappy to be honest. I got a text from one of my friends after I got home that said "I'm still hungry". Yes, I would have to agree, it simply was not enough food. we joked about stopping at Arby's on the way home. No joke,  really.

This is not about the quality of the meal although dessert left something to be desired, or the service, which was excellent. Its about value and leaving a dinner with enough to eat. That did not happen.
Oh yes...and about dessert. German Chocolate cake, one of my favorites but here...a dry hockey puck of a molten lava cake, topped with the typical coconut frosting as well as whipped cream and dark cherries? Which is it? Black Forrest or German Chocolate? All the guests at our table left most of the dessert behind.

I would have a tough time giving this place 5 stars for sure.

The Insurance Game

In this game we are all losers. I have spent the last few months dealing with my deductible status being gone since the surgery and New Year. Meds, products I need for my Urostomy and my diabetes sensor went up exponentially. I found out I don’t need a prescription for my appliances that I need to catch urine from my stoma. I found various on line sites that offer the supplies way cheaper than I could get locally or from medical supply companies.

I am insured by UMR and my personal deductible is $2700 per year. Everything till that total is met is a cash transaction.  The UMR insurer said to use Byram Healthcare for my sensors. Under the plan last year, I paid about $90 per month. After the first of the year I paid $180 per month. I started calling around and found a wide range of cash prices for the sensors. CVS pharmacy nestled in Target store just charged me $74 for a month supply. I had her check again. Is it possible to pay less in cash than insurance? Yes, Virginia, it is.

American healthcare is in trouble. What do people do that can not navigate the nonsense? How do you get a CT scan if you don’t have $850 up front to pay? I have a nice HSA but it’s still my money. My own facility where I work charges me to sit in their exam room. $74 after the negotiated rate down from $210 full fee. To sit in their exam room on top of the full cash price of the physicians visit that can range from $200 to $500. Crazy.

Cold Days for Warm Soup

So today is about in-laws coming to stay a few days and food to serve for the week. I started the day dragging my frozen collection of wing tips and veggie trimmings from the freezer to stock the InstaPot for a bit of broth making.
Since the weather was so bad and the roads a nightmare I made a bunch of egg noodles too and voila! Chicken Soup that would rival any Jewish Grandma's.

So starting with the Pot:

1 pound chicken wing tips
1 pound shaken thighs, bone in and skin on, browned if you like
Celery bottoms, halved unpeeled onion, a few halved garlic cloves, and some carrots.
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons of salt, a few peppercorns
Cover with fresh cold water
Process for 30-40 minutes and natural release. Strain broth into a stock pot and pick over thighs to remove meat, set aside and discard veggies. Shred the meat.
I added a tablespoon of Chicken flavored Better Than Bullion, about a cup of diced carrots and celery and the shredded thigh meat. Check the seasoning adding a few grinds of pepper and  a teaspoon of turmeric to enhance the color and bring to a boil before adding the noodles, either homemade or frozen. 

Egg Noodles
2 cups AP flour
2 eggs beaten with 1/3 cup milk
1 tbls soft butter of olive oil
1 tsp salt
Process in the food processor till the dough pulls from the sides. Turn out on a well floured board and knead smooth. Roll out to 1/8 thick and cut into 1/2 strips. Toss with flour to keep from sticking and drop into boiling soup, cook for 3 minutes.

Pizza! Pizza!

Its a pizza kind of day. I saw this post from Cook'sIllustrated on Instagram claiming a 60 minute pizza. It probably is where temps hover at 70 but in our cool house it took a bit longer. I was intrigued by the ingredient list and had all the fixins.
The dough was entirely a food processor affair as was the sauce. Pretty easy but more ingredients han expected.

One Hour Pizza (or thereabouts)

Dough

7 1/3 oz (1 1/3 cups) bread flour
3 ounces (1/3 cup) semolina flour
2 t instant yeast
2 t sugar
1/2 cup warm water (115 degrees)
1/4 cup mild lager
2 t white vinegar
1 1/2 t olive oil
1 t salt
AP flour

Sauce

1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes (Glen Muir) The original called for 28 ounces but that's a lot of sauce.
1 T olive oil
3 anchovies (optional) I used anchovy paste cause I always have it on hand
1 t salt
1 t dried oregano
1/2 t sugar
1/4 t pepper
1/8 t red pepper

For the dough:  Place the pizza stone on a rack 4-5 inches under the broiler element and heat to 500 degrees. A clean oven is a must or its  smoky affair. Now I use a scale when I make any bread these days.

While the oven heats up, process the flour, semolina, yeast, and sugar and pulse for 2 seconds to combine.  With the processor running pour in the warm water, lager, vinegar and oil and run till combined and no dry ingredients remain. Let rest for 10 minutes.
Add the salt to the dough and process till the dough forms a satiny sticky ball that clears the sides of the bowl. Remove to a floured counter and knead gently till smooth about 15 secs. Divide dough into 2  and form into smooth balls.
Spray a 11 inch circle in the center of a large sheet of parchment paper with cooking spray. Place one dough ball in the center and spray the top of the dough. Roll the dough into a 10 inch circle then cover with a second sheet of parchment and roll out to 11 1/2 inches. Set aside and do the same to the second dough ball. Let stand at room temperature till puffy, about 30 minutes, Our house was much too cool and I had to proof in the oven at 105 degrees to get any rise at all.

During the wait for the dough to rise, make the sauce. I just threw all the ingredients in the dirty food processor and blended till smooth. Taste and season accordingly. I thought the sauce was just right and was easy and quite tasty.

When the dough is almost ready, heat the broiler for 10 minutes to heat the stone further. Remove the top parchment and dust the dough lightly with AP flour. Liberally dust the peel and turn the disk onto the peel. Remove the parchment.

Spread the dough with 1/2 cup of the sauce leaving a 3/4 inch border. Top with cheese of choice. I use mozzarella, freshly grated and some parmesan.  Slide the pizza on the stone and bake at 500 for 8- 12 minutes till bubbly and browned.  Transfer to a wire rack and cool a few minutes before slicing.

I really liked this easy sauce. Might have to make it a permanent part of the repertoire. The pizza was really good. The oven simply does not get hot enough to really crisp the crust but it was very nice.

Ok, so Pizza in an Hour was more like pizza in 2 hours but worth the wait and the mess.

Winter's here....Spicy Posole Soup

My fellow cook and all time great gal, Deb Whitman posted a soup to heal her hurting soul. A nice Mexican Posole with a red sauce and spicy that cooked for hours. Sounded tasty but I needed to use ...the Pot.
So as not to Xerox my friend completely, I chose a green version of the dish with a little different flavor profile. Tomatillos and jalapeno fit the bill, plus a 28 ounce can of Las Palmas Green Chili sauce. Perfect on a cold winter day here in the Big O. We are still thawing out from the hockey game last night.

Posole Verde

1-2 pounds of pork in the form of country style ribs or shoulder cubed
1 tbls olive oil
1 pound tomatillos,  husk removed, washed, split in halve and roasted
1 large jalapeno charred and skin removed, stemmed. Seeded if heat is not your thing.
1 medium onion, quartered
1 28 ounce can of Las Palmas Green chili enchilada sauce
Chicken broth, about 2 cups or more to fill the Pot.
2 cans of hominy, drained
1 tsp oregano
1-2 tsp cumin
Salt and pepper to taste  
Shredded cabbage or slaw mix
Thinly sliced radishes
Chopped cilantro

Brown the pork well in the oil on saute mode in the Pot. Process the roasted tomatillos, jalapeno and onion with a bit of broth in a blender till smooth. (Remove the pepper seeds if you don't want it spicy). Add this mixture and the enchilada sauce with the chicken broth, hominy, spices and salt to the pot. Secure the cover and process for 35 minutes, allow natural pressure release. Add  a tablespoon chopped cilantro and I threw a hand full of slaw in there too. Check the seasoning and adjust as needed.
Serve hot with the radishes, slaw and cilantro as garnish.

Just The Filling, Please

We made homemade Runza for Christmas eve this year with our usual Sausage Tortellini soup. Of course I had a bit more filling than bread so it went into the fridge.

Now Runza is a great idea but not so much at the local shop these days. They have amazing burgers but the Runza sandwich seems a little mushy and less than fresh these days especially when compared to these homemade beauties.

I made this filling and used Rhodes Texas Size frozen rolls for the bread component. They make perfect mini sandwiches but drives my blood sugar skyward due to the carby bread. Tonight I had just small bowl of leftover filling with a slice of American Cheese melted over the top for a really tasty, low carb dinner. It was so good.

Here is how I make my Runza filling:

1 to 1 1/2 pound ground beef 85%
1 package of coleslaw mix
1 medium onion, diced
1 tbls butter
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper.
Saute the onion in butter till translucent, add the ground beef and cook till no longer pink. drain if need but leave some fat to wilt the slaw you add next along with the garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Cook till the cabage slaw is tender crisp, sample to adjust seasoning, then set aside to cool.

After the rolls rise, flatten them out into oblongs, fill with a heaping tablespoon of filling and a 1/4 to 1/2 slice of  American Cheese. I especially like Kroeger brand as its thick and tasty. Seal the roll and place seam side down on parchment. Bake at 350 till golden brown. 

Lasagna Bolognese

Big big family gatherings demand big food and this fits the bill. A giant pan of Lasagna Bolognese. If I found this recipe on another blogger’s site and made the sauce right way with the left over ground beef I had from making Runzas. Another delicious endeavor that were devoured on Christmas Eve. 

An ambitious undertaking, making the pasta, doubling the recipe to fit the 12 by 18  pan and handling the hot pasta right out of the boiling water. You definitely need asbestos hands for this. Assembled in 5 grand layers, there is no ricotta here, just pasta and layers of Bolognese sauce and bechamel. I used every bit of all with about a pound of freshly grated Parmesan and a Romano. 

It baked in about an hour at 400 and did not disappoint. Lighter than regular with super thin pasta and lacking the heavy filling, I tried to get a post cut glamour shot but it did not hold its shape well unless I waited for it to cool completely. No chance of that. 

Here’s the recipe from Smitten Kitchen’s blog

https://smittenkitchen.com/2012/02/lasagna-bolognese/

Bolognese sauce
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped (1-inch pieces are fine)
1 large or 2 slim carrots, coarsely chopped
2 ribs celery, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds ground chuck, brisket or round or combination
1 1/4 cups tomato paste (from 2 6-ounce cans)
2 cups red wine, preferably hearty but really, anything you like to drink
Water as needed
2 bay leaves
A few sprigs thyme, tied in a bundle

Pasta
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 to 2 tablespoons water, if needed

Béchamel sauce
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon table salt
1 clove minced garlic
Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper

To assemble
1 2/3 cups grated Parmesan cheese

Day 1: Make the bolognese sauce: In a food processor, pulse onion, carrots, celery, and garlic until finely chopped. Heat a moderate-sized Dutch oven (4 to 5 quarts) over medium-high heat. Once hot, coat the bottom of the pan with two to three tablespoons of oil. Once it is hot, add the chopped vegetables and season them generously with salt and pepper. Cook the vegetables until they are evenly brown, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes.

I’m going to insert my favorite Burrell-ism here: Brown food tastes good! Don’t skimp on the cooking times as this creates the big flavors the will carry right through to your plated lasagna. And now I’m going to insert my own-ism: Don’t worry about sticking bits of food or uneven pieces or anything. It’s all going to work out in the end.

Add the ground beef and seasoning again with salt and pepper. Brown the beef well and again, don’t rush this step. Cook for another 15 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the red wine, using it to scrape up any stuck bits in the pan. Cook the wine until it has reduced by half, about 5 more minutes. Add water to the pan until the water is about 1 inch above the meat. Toss in the bay leaves and the bundle of thyme and stir to combine everything, bringing it to a low simmer.

Here’s how the next 3 to 4 hours will go: You’ll keep a pitcher of water near the stove. You’ll stir the sauce from time to time. As the water in the sauce cooks off, you’ll want to add more but you don’t want to add more than 1 to 2 cups at a time or you’ll have boiled meat sauce (bleh) rather than something thick and robust with flavor. Taste it from time to time and add more seasoning if needed. Simmer for 3 to 4 hours.

You’ll have about 8 to 8 1/2 cups of sauce but will only need 4 for the lasagna. Discard the thyme and bay leaves and put half in the fridge for lasagna assembly tomorrow and the other half in the freezer for up to a couple months. Ours was still as good as day one after 6 weeks.

Day 2: Make your pasta: Combine all of the pasta ingredients in a food processor. Run the machine until the mixture begins to form a ball. You’re looking for a dough that is firm but not sticky. If needed, add water a drop at a time until it comes together. Place ball of dough on a lightly floured surface and invert a bowl over it. Let it rest for an hour. (You’ll have about 10 ounces or a little less than 2/3 pound of fresh pasta dough.)

Get your work area ready; I like to line a large tray with waxed paper. Dust the waxed paper with flour. Keep more waxed paper and flour nearby.

Working with a quarter of the dough at a time, run in through your pasta roller on the widest setting (usually “0”), then repeat this process with the roller set increasingly smaller (1, 2, 3) until the pasta is very thin. My Atlas machine goes to 9 but I almost always stop at 8 because this setting makes for thin, delicate pasta that’s not so fragile that I’m pulling my hair out with frustration trying to move it around.

If you find your dough sticking, lightly flour it. If it gets too big to handle, cut it in half. If the piece gets too wide for the machine or becomes annoyingly irregularly shaped, I re-“fold” the dough by folding the sides of the dough into the middle, like an envelope, and press it flat. Then, run the piece back through the machine with the open sides up and down on the widest setting again (0) working your way thinner. This allows the machine to “press” any trapped air out.

Lay your pasta on the floured waxed paper in a single layer, trying to keep the pieces from touching. Flour the tops of them and place another sheet of floured wax paper on top. Repeat this process with the remaining dough and as many layers of pasta you need.

Next, cook your pasta: Cut your pasta lengths into square-ish shapes. The fun thing about making fresh pasta for lasagna is that the shape doesn’t much matter; you’re going to tile together whatever you have and nobody will care if it took 9 or 16 bits to patch the layer together. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Have ready a skimmer, a large bowl of ice water and a large tray or platter that you’ve drizzled or spritzed with oil. Boil several of squares of noodle at a time for 1 to 2 minutes each (1 minute if you, indeed, went to the thinnest setting on your machine; 2 if you, like me, stopped one shy of thinnest). Scoop them out with your skimmer, swish them in the ice water and lay them out (still wet is fine) on the oiled platter. Repeat with remaining pasta. It’s okay to have your noodles touch; they shouldn’t stick together in the short period of time until you begin assembling but if you’re nervous, you can drizzle or spritz each layer very lightly with more oil.

Make your béchamel: Melt your butter in the bottom of a medium-to-large saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, add your flour and stir it into the butter until smooth. Cook the mixture together for a minute, stirring constantly. Pour in a small drizzle of your milk*, whisking constantly into the butter-flour mixture until smooth. Continue to drizzle a very small amount at a time, whisking constantly. Once you’ve added a little over half of your milk, you’ll find that you have more of a thick sauce or batter, and you can start adding the milk in larger splashes, being sure to keep mixing. Once all of the milk is added, add the salt, garlic, nutmeg (if using) and few grinds of black pepper, and bring the mixture to a lower simmer and cook it, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.

* Yes, cold is fine. I divert from the proper béchamel method here as I’ve found that as long as you add your milk slowly, you do not need to heat it separately first. Hooray for fewer steps and pots!

At last, you may assemble your dish: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a 9×13-inch or equivalent rectangular baking dish, spread a generous 1/4 cup of the béchamel. I mostly use this to keep the noodles from sticking. Add your first layer of cooked noodles, patching and slightly overlapping them however is needed to form a single layer. Ladle 1 cup bolognese sauce over the noodles, spreading it evenly. Drizzle 1/2 cup béchamel over the bolognese; don’t worry about getting it perfectly smooth or even. Sprinkle the layer with 1/3 cup parmesan cheese. Repeat this process — pasta + 1 cup bolognese + 1/2 cup béchamel + 1/3 cup parmesan — three more times, then add one more layer of pasta. You’ll use 5 layers of pasta total.

There are two ways to finish the dish. You can simply sprinkle the top layer of pasta with your remaining parmesan before baking. This makes the crunchiest lid. I like a semi-crunchy lid and first spread 1/4 cup béchamel over the top layer of pasta before sprinkling it with the remaining cheese. It still gets crunchy — and has corners that are worth fighting over — but never unpleasantly so.

Bake your lasagna for 30 to 45 minutes, until bubbly all over and browned on top. You should do absolutely nothing but put your feet up and drink a glass of wine while you do; you’ve earned it. When it comes out of the oven, I like to let it rest for 10 minutes before serving it.

Do ahead: Lasagna can be prepared right up until the baking point a day in advance, and kept wrapped in plastic in the fridge. Theoretically, you could also freeze it at this point but I haven’t tried this. I’ll update this to say “go for it” if many people respond in the comments that they’ve done so successfully. Lasagna will also reheat well for up to three days, possibly longer but in my apartment, we’ve never had the chance to find out.