Shrimp: My darling daughter, Marissa, made dinner for the family last night.  I’m guessing she did this for two reasons. First, she misses making “roomie dinners” for her college roommates now that they’ve all graduated. And second, she feels sorry for me, her sad exhausted mother.

Hoarding: Yes, hoarding is the reason for both my sadness and my complete and utter emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion. No, I am not the hoarder. Someone very close to me, who shall remain nameless, is though. When said person goes out of town for more than a week, (which only happens once, maybe twice, a year) I go over and clean up the disgusting mess that this person calls home. I won’t go into the gory details, but trust me, it’s awful! During this particular cleaning and tossing session, I went deep, deeper than I have in many years. I began on Saturday and have been working on it every single day, every waking hour, since. Hence, cooking and taking care of myself, my family, and this blog have been on the back burner (pun intended) and that burner has been turned off! I’ve missed a couple days of posting and will miss a few more. But the next few days will be due to something much more fun and happy. I’ll be in Laguna Beach this weekend for the wedding of a dear friend’s beautiful daughter. I’ll me back on Monday.

Contest: No, as you’ve probably figured out by now, this is not an actual “Shrimp Hoarding Contest”, although that doesn’t sound all bad. The contest I am referring to is the one that ends at 11:59 PM Mountain Time on August 22, 2010. That is Sunday night, so get on the stick and ENTER HERE! I don’t want any of you to miss out. The winner will be named when I return to blogging on Monday morning, it’ll be here before you know it.

Now for Marissa’s dinner. A wonderful cookbook for novice or experienced cooks alike is Homemade in a Hurry by Andrew Schloss. In fact it is on my list of “must have cookbooks” which you can view HERE. Marissa adapted the recipe a bit to match her taste and it was delicious! Thank you sweetheart, not only did you make dinner – you made my day! xoxox [Read more →]

Chimichurri is a thick vinegar and oil herb sauce made with garlic, parsley, and oregano, and served with grilled meat in Argentina. As for its origins, the story goes that it comes from an Irishman named Jimmy McCurry, who first prepared the sauce. He was marching with the troops of General Jasson Ospina in the 19th century, sympathetic to the cause of Argentine independence. The sauce was popular with the Argentine people and the recipe was passed on. However, ‘Jimmy McCurry’ was difficult for the native people to say. Some sources claim the name of Jimmy’s sauce was altered to ‘chimichurri’, while others say it was changed in his honor.

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This is the typical sort of dinner you’ll get at our house on a day when I don’t want to venture out in the 110 degree suffocating heat just to get groceries! I will do anything to avoid leaving the air-conditioned loveliness that is my house! First I look in the refrigerator – not much there. More smoked pork, but we’ve had that 2 days in a row, so that will not fly with my guys. Produce drawers – bell peppers, wilting green onions, romaine that has about 24 hours before decisions must be made, and a surprisingly good looking bunch of cilantro. Next stop – garden – ugg! Everything is looking sad, drought ridden, and parched! Snip off the last bit of tarragon and get back into the A/C! What about the pantry – nothing at all inspiring. There is pasta, but that’s always sitting there…. Why in God’s name do these people need to eat every darn day – don’t they know how hot it is?!?!  OK, compose thyself. Last stop the freezer – oh the glorious coldness that flows from the freeze finally gives me the inspiration I have been so very desperate for! What miracles do I find there? Nothing all that much really – shrimp, edamame, and peas – but it is enough.

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If you are wondering -Yes, blue was the required apparel color

Graduation was wonderful! We stayed at the Marriott Starr Pass Resort in Tucson, which was beautiful. Had a celebratory dinner at J Bar after the big event, which was beyond delicious. After dinner we went back to the girls’ house for a dessert party, which was the perfect way to end the night. Then the next day, we were able to spend a relaxing morning with our graduate at the resort pool and then had a fun lunch at Frog & Firkin (a University of Arizona hang-out) before heading back to Phoenix.  All in all – a momentous and memorable weekend!  To keep with the theme of relaxation and ease, here’s an “easy-breezy” and versatile dish that can be used as an impressive appetizer or a quick dinner. To make it a meal, just toss with cooked linguini or spaghetti and add garlic bread.

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Easter is quickly approaching which means Lent is nearly over… and I have only posted one fish recipe… sorry! I’m not actually into frying fish at home… we’ll leave that to the church social halls.  But with two Friday’s left – including Good Friday, it’s not too late to get a fish recipe posted, so how about a little mahi-mahi and shrimp?

Contrary to popular belief the mahi-mahi is not related to the dolphin family of mammals. They are one of the fastest-growing fish and are carnivorous- feeding on crabs, squid, and mackerel. Mahi-mahi’s sweet taste and firm flesh makes it perfect for poaching; along with halibut, swordfish, and salmon- just in case you are looking for a good substitute.

If you eat a lot of fish, a fish poacher is a great pan to have in your kitchen. Often thought of for cooking whole fish, it works wonderfully with fillets as well. If you are in the market for a poacher, you can check out this link or visit your local kitchen store. If you don’t have and are not interested in a poacher, no problem, a larger skillet with a tight fitting lid will work just fine. And please don’t be intimidated or turned off by the long list of ingredients… the majority are either spices or items just dropped into the poaching liquid.

As a vegetable side, I made sautéed fennel and red peppers with capers and olives. I then used the fennel stalks in the poaching liquid and the fronds as garnish. I’ll be posting that recipe tomorrow, but in case you want to do your grocery shopping today here is the ingredient list: 1 fennel bulb, 1 small onion, 1 red bell pepper, capers, and Kalamata olives. And if you decide against this side dish, leave the fennel out of the poaching liquid – it is listed as optional.

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What is it about shrimp on an appetizer buffet that draws people like flies? First of all, it is the quintessential party food. Shrimp are the world’s most popular shellfish. Low in calories and saturated fat; high in protein, vitamins D and B12, iron, and omega 3. Plus they have anti-inflammatory qualities. But something tells me that none of that matters to the guy who is also known as “the shrimp hoarder”. He will block your path to the bowl of shrimp because he is worried that if you get even a couple of the tasty morsels, he won’t “get his”. Or how about the woman, who in April 2009, called 911 to report that she didn’t get as much shrimp as she wanted in her fried rice at a Texas restaurant? Now that’s harsh!

As Pvt Benjamin Buford ‘Bubba’ Blue said. “Anyway, like I was sayin’, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey’s uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that’s about it.” – 1994 Forrest Gump.

These Jamaican shrimp fit into Bubba’s description – they are boiled…

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Two of the most “frequently asked questions” I get when I’m entertaining or teaching a cooking class, “Do you eat like this every night!?”… and… “What kind of things do you make for weeknight dinners?”  The answers: “No, I only eat like this when I’m entertaining or teaching a class.” and “The sort of things I make for weeknight dinners are dishes that come together without having to make a special trip to the grocery store!”

This pasta is exactly that sort of dish. If you were to drop by my house and look in my fridge, you’d always find things like fresh spinach, romaine or mixed greens, basil, citrus, and bell peppers. And my freezer is never without IQF (individually quick frozen) shrimp, scallops, and chicken breasts. The pantry is stocked to the brim; a variety of pastas, jars of olives, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, and the list goes on. When your kitchen is stocked in this way, the possibilities are endless and you’re always able to make a meal without the trip to the store.

I know exactly what you’re saying to yourself now…”Sure, the possibilities are endless… for you, because you can just ‘make up a recipe’ without a cookbook.” And that is true, but I’m going to turn you on to a website where you can just plug in the one or the ten ingredients you have on hand and magically dozens of recipes will appear so that you can make with what you have!  In fact, I went there and put in all the ingredients from this pasta recipe and it came up with 88 different recipes for me!  Sounds awesome, doesn’t it!?! CLICK HERE for that link. Next, be ready to cook that way, by going to my Basic Pantry  (just CLICK HERE) and stock up, so you can create something new “at the drop of a dime” too.

P.S. This pasta is a great vegetarian dish, just leave out the shrimp!

P.S.S. The live TV shoot yesterday went swimmingly, if you would like to view it, go to the “In The News” page up at the top-left of this page and choose the Valley Dish - Ravioli Lasagna post.

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My husband, Dave, made me dinner last night. And it was not one of the two things he knows how to make well -which would be; grilled filet mignon, garlic bread, along with his mom’s caesar salad recipe… or the Male Chauvinist Pig Chili recipe that he cut out of our local newspaper’s food section some 26 years ago! No, he made jambalaya! I’m sure there are many of you reading this right now, who have never made jambalaya… so as you might imagine, this was really something. I believe it was the New Orleans’ Saints victory over our Arizona Cardinals on Saturday, that inspired him. Although we are both sad that the Cards didn’t go all they way, we are proud they took the NFC West title for the second year in a row and congratulate them on their great season. Now we’re going to put our hopes on the Saints to get to the Super Bowl. Dave, thank you for the night off and for the truly delicious dinner! xoxo

To make jambalaya, you begin with the Cajun/Creole “trinity”; a mixture of onion, bell pepper and celery. Most cuisines have their own “trinity”, here are a few: French= carrots, celery, onion; Italian = tomato, garlic, basil; Chinese = garlic, ginger, scallions; Greek = lemon juice, olive oil, oregano; and Mexican = corn, chilies, beans.

I do not care for the flavor of green bell peppers (too much of a “green vegetable” taste for me), you may have noticed that the majority of my recipes use red, yellow or orange bells (sweeter and not green tasting). You, of course, can use green bells instead. There are a wide variety of proteins used in jambalaya; from chicken and sausage, to shrimp and ham, to duck or even alligator. The roots of Creole jambalaya are in the French Quarter of New Orleans, it is a close relative to Spanish paella. It began as an attempt by the Spanish to make their beloved paella in the New World, but the key ingredient, saffron, was not available, so tomatoes were used instead. Next came the French influence on the dish and the spices from the Caribbean changed it into the dish it is today.
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mise en place ingredients

Mise en place (pronounced miz ahn plas) literally “putting in place” is a French phrase defined as “everything in place.” As in, set up and ready to go. I can’t imagine relaxing and enjoying cooking without using this important technique, whether with entertaining or everyday meals. For instance, with this dish, I peeled, chopped, and measured everything in the morning, then later when it’s time to make dinner, I pull it out of the refrigerator (on a plate covered with plastic wrap) and just “throw it together.”  For a large party or holiday, I prep everything and place the items in snack and sandwich size zip-lock bags a day or two ahead. If there are several dishes with many different components, just clip them together with either office clips or bag clips and label what dish the ingredients are for.

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