Spicy Tartar(heel) Sauce

I decided to have a "cheat" day from my good eating, and Rick and I had some fried flounder last night.  He likes to cut the fish into nuggets so we did that.  I breaded them with the awesome House Autry breading.  It makes for perfect fried seafood whether it be fish or shrimp.  Rick did the frying because he's better at it than I am.  I'm way too impatient to get them all as crispy and golden brown the way that he likes it.  While he was cooking, I made a tartar sauce to go with the flounder.  I used a recipe from epicurious.com for a Cajun tartar sauce, made some changes, and cut it in half.  Sadly, I forgot to put it up when I went to bed last night (our cole slaw met the same fate, too :( ).  The tartar sauce turned out really well!  I'll definitely do it again!  Here's what I did...

Cajun Tartar Sauce

Ingredients 

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup sweet pickle relish

1 tablespoon capers, rinsed, drained, and chopped

Juice of half a lemon

1/2 tablespoon prepared horseradish

2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning (I used Emeril's Bayou Blast)

Directions

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and chill in the refrigerator (covered) before serving.

Enjoy!

Another Katie Classic: Spicy Shrimp Pasta

This recipe is one of the first ones that came into my cooking repertoire. The first time that I ever made it was back in 1998. I found it in the Southern Living 1997 Annual Recipes Cookbook, and it is super easy which was perfect for me back then. I've made a couple of changes from the original recipe, but I still love it to this day. I've made it for quite a few people and shared it with several of them. I also like it because it provides two nice size servings. I hope that you enjoy it, too!


Spicy Shrimp Pasta
Ingredients
8 oz of linguine
3/4 pound peeled, deveined shrimp
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup cooking wine with lemon
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (sometimes, I sub the Parmesan-Romano blend)
2 teaspoons dried crushed red pepper
5 teaspoons dried parsley

Directions
Cook linguine per box directions in water that has been salted and seasoned with garlic powder. Drain, return to pot, and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet and add green onions and garlic. Saute until tender. Add Cajun seasoning and stir for one minute

Stir in shrimp and whipping cream. Reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes, stirring often. Stir in wine and simmer for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add sauce, Parmesan cheese, and red pepper to the pot with linguine and heat over low heat, stirring gently. Stir in parsley and serve immediately.

Emeril to the Rescue

My original plan for dinner last night was to do this pork tenderloin recipe that I had found in my new Vera Bradley Cooking with Friends cookbook. Unfortunately, I hadn't paid close attention to the recipe, or I would have realized that I needed to let the pork tenderloin marinate for 24 hours before grilling. Rick and I decided that it would be the perfect meal for this weekend which left me wondering what I was going to do for dinner that night.

After several of the recipes that I wanted to do from the cookbook required long (ie 3 + hours) of marinating, I decided to go on foodnetwork.com to see if I could find something to do. I guess I had pork on the brain because I started looking for pork chop recipes. Rick is a big fan of pork chops, but we so rarely have them that I decided to make them for a change. The recipe that I found had a side dish of Cheese Potatoes Au Gratin which would kill two birds with one stone. I was drawn to the pork chop one because it allowed me to expand my pantry purchasing liquid crab and shrimp boil and Emeril's Bayou Blast. I've never purchased Emeril's Essence before, and I was out of Cajun seasoning so I thought I'd give it a try. It's a little bit more expensive than the larger containers of it, but I liked it. The pork chops did require some marinating time, but I shortened it to just shy of 2 hours, and they were still great! They were definitely a hit!

Emeril's Shake 'Em Up Pork Chops

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup plus 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 teaspoons liquid concentrate crab and shrimp boil (recommended: Zatarain's)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 bone-in center-cut pork loin chops, about 12 ounces each
• 1 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup masa harina
• 1 1/2 cups finely grated Parmesan
• 1 tablespoon Essence Bayou Blast
• 1/3 cup olive oil

Directions

In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the wine, 1/4 cup of the oil, the crab boil, pepper, cayenne, garlic, and bay leaf. Add the pork chops and marinate, refrigerated, turning occasionally, for 2 to 4 hours.

In a clean, large plastic bag, combine the bread crumbs, masa harina, Parmesan, and Essence. Shake to mix.

Remove the pork chops from the marinade and shake to remove any excess. One at a time, add the chops to the dry mixture and shake until evenly coated. Remove, place on a large plate, and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

In a large skillet or saute pan, heat the remaining 1/3 cup of oil over medium-high heat. Add the chops and cook until golden brown and cooked through, 5 to 6 minutes per side.

Remove from the pan and serve immediately on top of portions of the Cheesy Potatoes au Gratin

Cheesy Potatoes au Gratin

Ingredients
2 pounds Idaho potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
8 ounces Cheddar, grated
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease a medium gratin dish with butter.

Cover the bottom of the pan with an overlapping layer of potatoes. Lightly season with salt and pepper and top with a sprinkling of cheese (about 2 tablespoons). Continue layering potatoes, seasoning, and cheese, ending with the remaining cheese on top. Pour the cream over the potatoes, pressing lightly with your hands to cover the potatoes with cream.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake until the cheese is absorbed into the potatoes and the potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife, about 50 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until the mixture is bubbly and the top is golden brown, about 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let rest 10 minutes before cutting into portions.

Another yummy chicken orzo dish

With two clinical days in a row, I was looking for a recipe that I could make and eat on several occasions (mainly for lunch at the hospital). I had this recipe for Cajun chicken with capers and lemon in my epicurious.com recipe box, and while reading over the reviews, I read one in which the cook had served it over orzo....perfect!!!! I knew that it was going to need a little bit more than just the sauce if I were going to stretch it over a couple of meals. I chopped half of a sweet onion and sauteed that with probably about 1/3 of a package of mushrooms that I had in the refrigerator and 2 cloves of garlic. Since Rick wasn't here, it was the perfect opportunity to get rid of the mushrooms! I also added a little bit of white cooking wine to the sauce. Once again, a winner!!! Here's the recipe that I came up with...

Cajun Chicken Orzo with a Lemon-Caper Sauce

Ingredients
1 package of skinless, boneless chicken breasts
2 gloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons of capers
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 package of mushrooms
1/2 cup flour
2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon paprika
Juice of 1/2 lemon
3/4 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons white wine
1/2 box orzo
Olive oil

Directions
Mix flour, Cajun seasoning, and paprika together in a shallow bowl.

Cook orzo according to directions on box. Drain and return to the pot.

While orzo is cooking, cut chicken breasts in half and dip in flour mixture. Be sure to cover the chicken completely. Heat olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until cooked (turning with tongs). When the chicken is cooked and no longer pink in the center, cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and mix with the orzo.

Add a little bit more olive oil, mushrooms, garlic, and onion to the same skillet. Once the onions become soft, add broth, capers, lemon juice, and white wine to skillet. Bring to boil and let the sauce thicken a little bit. Add to the pot with the orzo and chicken and stir. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!