Part II of surf & turf...the surf

Shrimp are quite possibly my favorite food! If cooked correctly, it can be the most delicious meal. I have to give credit to Tyler Florence, this recipe is adapted from his "Ultimate Grilled Shrimp." It is sooooo good (enough to warrant exta "o's").

For basil butter...place one stick of softened unsalted butter in food processor, along with the zest of a lemon, the juice of one lemon, a big bunch of fresh basil, salt and pepper. Blend into a smooth mixture.

For shrimp...using a knife, slice the shrimp down the back (almost butterflied...but not slice all the way through), keeping the shell on. With a butter knife or small spoon, spread basil butter into sliced shrimp. Place on hot grill and cook for about 3-5 minutes of each side until shrimp is pink throughout (be careful not to overcook it...overcooked shrimp taste like rubber). Grab a handful of napkins and enjoy shrimp!!

(pictures include grill, shrimp before and after cooking)

Part I of surf & turf...The Turf

On occasion, we'll cook separate dinners...tonight was one of those nights. The Fresh Market had absolutely gorgeous Florida shrimp (16-20 count) on sale for $7.99/lb so I splurged and got some, and since Ryan is not a shrimp fan, we got an Angus strip steak (like I said, we don't eat red meat very often...so we go all out when we do!).

For the steak: About 30-45 minutes before grilling, take the steak out of the fridge and place on a plate. Drizzle with olive oil on both sides. Add cracked pepper and a lot of kosher salt (enough so it can form a nice crust). Heat a grill on high and place steak on a well-heated part of the grill. The time it takes is so inconsistent, that you really have to use the "press" method. I learned a neat trick in Esquire about doneness...make an "ok" symbol with your thumb...for a rare steak, it should feel like the "base" of your thumb when it's connected with your first finger (medium rare with middle finger, and so on). Once steak is cooked, let rest for 10 minutes, and then slice.

For sauce: slice baby portabello mushrooms and saute in a small frying pan on medium heat with olive oil for 20 minutes, or until completely softened and carmelized. Add 1 tablespoon of flour and stir until flour has coated the mushrooms. Add wine of choice (we used marsala tonight) and cook at medium heat stirring for about 5 minutes. Thin out with a little beef broth until you get desired thickness. Serve sauce over sliced steak and enjoy! (I am not a mushroom fan, but this sauce has such a good flavor, I eat it and pick out the mushrooms to give to my husband!)

(pictures show the sauce cooking...along with the garlic sauteed spinach, and the steak before grilling)

Sunset in Florida

This has nothing to do with food, but check out the gorgeous sunset from our house. We are lucky enough to live in west coast Florida, so we frequently get beautiful sunsets. Unfortunately, like many Floridians, we hardly get to the beach to view them. Maybe next weekend...

If I was a vegetarian

Ryan and I were vegetarians for about 3 weeks, but then relented and started eating chicken once again (and every now and then pork or beef). With dinner tonight I made side dishes that would be good enough for a meal. (see pictures)

For spinach...on low heat, saute minced garlic in 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. After garlic is browned (careful not to burn them!), add in a couple of big handfuls of baby spinach. Stir on low heat until all spinach is wilted.

For potatoes...parboil fingerling or baby yukon gold potatoes in salted water. Drain and let cool. Slice in half lengthwise. Put in a bowl and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Then place potatoes, skin side up, on a hot grill for about 15 minutes. After they have nice grill marks in them, put back in the same bowl with the oil and salt and pepper.

For bread...put olive oil on bread with garlic salt (or chopped garlic if you're feeling more ambitious than I). Place bread on a grill (or under a broiler) for about 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Sunday is for cooking!

Like any other ideallic Sunday, I've spent the day so far grocery shopping at The Fresh Market, catching up on the previous week's DVR'd shows, reading "chic-lit", and of course cooking! For lunch I made an easier version of a croque monsieur (skipping the time consuming bechamel sauce). It was quick and tasted almost as good as any Parisian bistro.

French ham and cheese sandwich:

We used mini baguette, but any crusty bread will do. Combine 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise (we use the olive oil based one) and 1 tablespoon mustard (dijon or grainy), and spread on both sides of slice bread. Place two thin slices of deli ham and shredded cheese of choice (we used emmental...it's like swiss; but gruyere would be good too). On top of the sandwiches, spread some softened butter (I cheated and melted it partially in the microwave) and a little bit more shredded cheese. Place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes until the cheese melted. (The pictures are the before and after).

More later with cooking stories. I hope everyone is having a terrific weekend, can't believe it's the end of February already!

Mall food?

Normally I avoid eating at malls at all costs, but there is one major exception: Cosimo's Brick Oven. It's been at Sarasota Southgate Mall since I was in high school and the quality hasn't changed. Ryan and I were doing some shopping and treating ourselves for lunch at Cosimo's. Granted, it's a little pricier than most of our lunch bills, but hey we were teachers who had a very long week! I get hardcore cravings for Cosimo's. Of the 100 times I've gone, 98 of those times I've gotten the same thing: spicy chicken fusili. It is so good. I'm tempted to write into a food magazine and see if they can snag their recipe for this. It is seriously yummy. The best part is that they give you so much, I got to have part two for breakfast on Sunday (weird I know, but we had yet to go grocery shopping, so it worked). When I was going through my month-long vegetarian kick, I got it without the chicken, and it was nearly as good (with enough grated parmesan, who could miss the sliced chicken breast?? Speaking of which, does anybody else ever feel guilty when the waiter is grating cheese over your meal? Secretly I want them to keep going and add more, but my guilty conscience always says "that's good" way before I have my prefered cheesy-ness...but I digress). Ryan is the adventurous one and tries different things, usually the daily specials. On Saturday he got the eggplant parmesan lunch entree with the portobello chowder. Both were yummy. The chicken blt sandwich is always really delicious. So take my advice, if you can handle braving the hoardes of old people, give Cosimo's a try (I know my mom is in charge of tourism in Sarasota so it's good news for her that all the snow birds are in town, but I think it's seriously annoying!). The service is a little to be desired, but the food makes up for it!

Busy week=takeout please!

So I have to admit...this week is probably a bad example to write about recipes because we are so insanely busy we had to get some takeout. After our middle school's volleyball game Monday night, we got takeout from Pei Wei (owned by PF Chang's). I have to say, it's one of the best chinese takeout I've ever had! Although, one downside is they always give me a hard time about ordering the way I do. I get the pad thai without peanuts, tofu, or bean sprouts. They make it seem like I'm trying to order some crazy thing, but oh well...their demeaning looks are worth it. The food's good, and it's cheap! So there you have it, less than a week into my blog, and I'm already straying away from cooking! Whoops. There's always tonight...

(the picture is the pad thai...but not mine...yucky peanuts!)