Not your regular St. Patrick's Day meal: (AVOCADO & SHRIMP SUSHI SALAD)

It's been nearly a month since I last posted anything and I'm feeling pretty lousy about it. It's not as though I haven't traveled anywhere, eaten anything, or fixed a meal because I'm guilty of all those things. I've been to Mexico, eaten at a GREAT restaurant with AWESOME hamburgers, and fixed a few meals that I'm proud of. Since I'm still lucky enough (haha) to still have a souvenir from Mexico, namely some gastro-enteritis, I didn't feel any love for corned beef and cabbage yesterday to "celebrate" St. Patrick's Day. It's not that true Irish folks really eat that anyway. I hear lamb stews are pretty popular instead but I'm detouring a little.

I was messing around with some recipe ideas from various cookbooks in storage that I pilfered from the attic. I had forgotten that I had Moosewood restaurant new classics and what a great resource it was for "different" recipes. One recipe had everything, almost, that I had in stock at the house without running out to the store. Sushi salad on an Irish holiday? What the hell!

Due to supplies on hand I substituted grated zucchini for the radish/daikon, omitted the scallions, and used chopped romaine lettuce for the salad greens that were called for in the original recipe. I also only used one half of a toasted nori sheet due to personal taste. In my opinion that's an ingredient that can be completely omitted if desired. I also added a dash of dark sesame oil to the wasabi dressing too for added flavor.

Avocado & shrimp sushi salad (based on the Moosewood restaurant new classics cookbook)

Ingredients:

Wasabi dressing:

1 Tbsp. wasabi powder

2 Tbsp. water

1/4 cup rice vinegar or lime juice (I used the vinegar)

Salad:

2-3 cups cooked white rice, preferably sushi rice

1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp

1/4 cup rice vinegar

2 tsp. sugar (I used 1 packet of Splenda)

3/4 tsp. salt

2/3 cup peeled and grated carrots

1/4 cup minced scallions

1/4 cup grated radish or daikon

1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds

1 sheet nori, toasted and crumbled

1 ripe avocado, preferably Hass

4-5 cups mixed salad greens or spinach leaves

lemon or lime wedges

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together all of the wasabi dressing ingredients until smooth, and set aside.

2. Cook the shrimp as desired either by boiling for 2 minutes until pink and firm OR grill, after tossing with a little vegetable oil, over a hot fire.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the rice vinegar, sugar or Splenda, and salt until the sugar dissolves. Add the mixture to the cooked rice and combine.

4. Add the carrots, scallions, radish or diakon, sesame seeds, and 1/2 of the crumbled nori to the cool rice mixture and toss well. Peel, pit, and slice the avocado but do not add.

5. To assemble the salad, line a large platter with the greens. Mound the rice mixture in the middle and arrange the shrimp and avocado slices around the perimeter. Drizzle the wasabi dressing over the entire platter and sprinkle the rest of the crumbled nori, if desired. Garnish with the citrus wedges.

6. Enjoy St. Patrick's day!

Perfection: (SHRIMP WITH FETA)

I can NOT ever remember Recipezaar letting me down. It is, hands down, my favorite recipe site. I had a two pound bag of frozen shrimp and needed a solution for dinner. I found this and could literally taste the damn thing before I even cooked it just by reading the recipe! Oh, and my guys.....well, my guys LOVED it! Yay! I love it when I hit one out of the park (seriously I'm not really THAT conceited even though I sound it here). I just get tickled when they really like something that I've made for the first time. So without further ado (and heavily borrowed from Recipezaar) here's a real delicious and easy summer dinner for three (if you're piggy like us) but more than likely for four:

Grilled Shrimp With Feta and Tomatoes (Recipezaar # 180223):

Ingredients:

Vinaigrette:
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 lemon, zest of
salt and pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Salad:
3 lbs large shrimp, peeled, deveined, rinsed and patted dry
1 large lemon, juice and zest of
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons dried oregano
salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 head radicchio (I used an Italian blend bag of lettuce instead)
2 lbs ripe plum tomatoes, cut into 8 pieces each
8 ounces feta cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 cup mint leaf, coarsely chopped (DON'T SKIP THIS!!!)

Directions:

Prepare vinaigrette:
1. Whisk the vinegar, mustard, lemon zest, salt and pepper in a small bowl.
2. Whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in the oil until thickened.
3. Set aside.

Prepare shrimp:
1. Toss together the shrimp, lemon zest and juice, olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
2. Let rest for 15 minutes, tossing once.
3. Thread the shrimp on 12 metal skewers.
4. Grill the shrimp over high heat for no more that 2 minutes per side, turning carefully.
5. Remove shrimp to a large bowl.

Prepare salad (final step):
1. If using radicchio: Trim the tough white bottom section off each leaf then add the leaves to the shrimp. *I used spinach which worked REAL well*
2. If using bag lettuce just place into large serving bowl.
3. Add shrimp along with tomatoes, cheese and mint.
4. Toss with vinaigrette.

I made pita chips on the side and this made a great summer meal for the three of us. I've said before Bob and I are big fans of the large one plate meal so this was perfect. I used spinach instead of mixed greens or radicchio (not a fan) and used the full amount of fresh mint that was called for. I INSIST that the mint be used here. What a lovely flavor (and a surprise!). Besides, it gave me great feeling to go out into the garden and use some of the ever-growing mint and harvest my heirloom tomatoes for this. I feel like a complete woman now.....just thinking about it now makes me wish I had a good bottle of wine (ummmm...Bogle Cabernet comes to mind) and a nude beach to eat this on (not with the son of course). I can dream.

Liquid love: (SUMMER ROMANCE ON A PLATE)

So far this has been what's keeping me going this morning. I really didn't wake up well and it sorta pisses me off but, I made a deal with myself that I quit being angry. I forget sometimes but I keep trying. A lot. The neighbor dog (pick from one of the various selections) was barking before 6am this morning. And, as stated previously, I have been waging a war against high electric bill's and have the house opened up. It really is quite tolerable and pleasant but the side effect is that you can hear everything that goes on outside. I wake up if a flea farts so it wasn't a very pleasant "wake up" for me today. But, I quit being pissed right?

I had a great egg concoction this morning with green peppers from the garden, fresh spinach (not mine), 2% cheese, and crumbled sausage. I know it will wreck havoc later on but DAMN it was good. It made me think of one of my favorite recent dinners with Bob earlier this Summer. Actually, what really is the lowdown is that I saw a couple walking earlier on the Kent Island Cross Island Trail and got a little teary for the better half. Then THAT lead to missing him real bad and then, THAT made me think of the great two weeks we had together in July and then, THAT made me think of the great dinner date we had at home one beautiful evening. Shesh I'm bummed out right now. Okay. Back to my orignal point which was talking about a great dinner Bob and I had one evening with sliced beef and fresh farm stand tomatoes. That evening, I had stopped by Perkins produce outside of town and picked up some yummy tomatoes. Earlier I had procured a London Broil, arugula, and Maytag blue cheese at the grocery store. Bob and I are great fans of the one plate meal that we can just dig our forks into and drink a great glass of wine with. Here's how we pigged out that night (it's real simple):

Summer Romance on a plate

Ingredients:

1 London Broil, grilled med-rare

2 or 3 Fresh farm stand tomatoes, sliced

Arugula

Maytag Blue Cheese

Balsamic vinegar

Olive oil

Fresh cracked pepper

Sea salt (I used my Oak-smoked Chardonnay Sea Salt...YUM)

Bogle cabernet Sauvignon 2005

Directions:

1. Open Bogle to breathe

2. Slice London Broil thin, after resting 20

minutes. Slice tomatoes into thick slices.

3. Sprinkle arugula onto a large platter. Spread the tomato slices on top of arugula and season with cracked pepper and sea salt to taste. Arrange the London Broil on top of the seasoned tomatoes and sprinkle bleu cheese over the beef.

4. Season with balsamic vinegar and olive oil over entire platter to taste. Add more cracked pepper if you prefer.

5. Pour a glass of Bogle for you and your sweetie.

6. Eat and drink like a hedonist. Retire from the porch to the bedroom.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood: (BLEU EGG SALAD & BACON SANDWICH)

What a gorgeous day here on the Eastern Shore. I have considered it a success against Delmarva Power yet again by opening the house up and shutting off the window units. Yay! In a span of just three months the electric bill went up $100.00. I'd sure like to have that in my checkbook right now. Summer vacation and a sailboat sorta have dwindled the funds. I REALLY use coupons at the grocery store now!

Not too much time to be wasted (no offense) here. It literally feels like April, well, maybe May around here. The garden needs to be watered and I haven't been the best parent sometimes. I didn't water yesterday and now I feel terrible. Everybody out there looks good though and I should get marching soon to water or they might change their minds(being the plants that is) and revolt (meaning: die).

I didn't get a chance to eat breakfast this morning, which is my favorite meal. I wake up starving and if I don't eat I can get cranky. I feel like Nicole Ritchie looks. Hungry. I went to the grocery store this morning and stocked up as much as I could without getting too crazy. Never. I repeat, never go grocery shopping when you're hungry. All of a sudden even Maraschino cherries look good (and I hate cherries...well those kind). So, I brought home two dozen eggs. Two dozen eggs because I'm trying the South Beach diet. That's a lot of eggs you may say but that's the main "go to" food for me right now. No excuses here, but, really, I've had a heck of a time since really quitting smoking with an ever expanding "spare tire". Ugh. And I hate my arms too but that's another time. So anyway, South Beach seemed nicer than Adkins to me. So, I've just boiled six eggs and am looking for a good egg salad recipe. For lunch, now. Crap I'm hungry. Here's what I came up with from Recipezaar:

Bleu Egg Salad and Bacon Sandwich (Recipe #33821)

Ingredients:

6 eggs, hard boiled,cooled and peeled
1/4 cup celery, diced
4 1/2 tablespoons crumbled bacon
1 tablespoon diced scallion
2 fluid ounces bleu cheese salad dressing

Directions:

1. Coarsely chop the eggs and combine them with the celery, bacon, scallion and bleu cheese dressing in a mixing bowl; stir well.
2. Keep chilled until just before serving.
3. Spread the salad evenly, topped with lettuce and tomato, on your choice of rolls or bread.

I won't use bread of course and based on the user's comments I think I'll use an additional tablespoon of real crumbled bleu cheese too. I have reduced fat bleu cheese dressing and I dithered whether to use that (as called for in the recipe) or, maybe, just add two tablespoons of my treasured Hellman's Light mayo instead with the bleu cheese crumbles. Decisions decisions. I bought turkey bacon this morning so I'll use that too in place of real bacon. It's just two weeks of induction people! I can and will survive. Besides, if I'm hungry enough I'll eat just about anything, except maraschino cherries.

Post Script
I tweeked the above recipe and used:

6 hard-boiled eggs
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1/4 tsp. onion powder (I had no scallion)
3 turkey bacon strips, crumbled
3 Tbsp. Light mayo (Hellman's)
2 Tbsp. crumbled bleu cheese
1/4 tsp. lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste