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!

Anniversary at home: (BEARNAISE SAUCE)

Kevin had Younglife this past Monday night so it was a "Score!" for an evening alone for an Anniversary dinner (our 18th). I had thought I would grill lobster tail but ended up substituting with grilled shelled shrimp that I had marinated in olive oil, Old bay, and Lemon Pepper for thirty minutes in the fridge. I was going to make homemade Bearnaise sauce from my antique store find cookbook, The Cordon Bleu Cookbook, for the Filet Mignon but had limited resources, namely, tarragon vinegar. I've saved a neat glass bottle, washed it in hot soapy water, and am making my own tarragon vinegar tomorrow from my own herb supply. The baked potatoes were twice baked and the filling was comprised of wasabi, chedder cheese, real bacon, and sour cream. The veggies were roasted in the oven at 375 degress until most of the juices sloshing around at the bottom of the pan were cooked off. An enjoyable and relatively easy dinner for two. There were ample leftovers and I was able to fix a plate for Kevin later. A few days later I diced up the remaining filet mignon (minus the bacon), 6 or so shrimp, the roasted veggies and tossed them together in a medium bowl. I found a recipe for spinach pancakes and thought that the mixture would be good served over them and covered in a parmesan-chedder sauce. It worked out great. Two meals out of one.

I'm anxious to make homemade bearnaise sauce so when the tarragon vinegar is ready I'm making it. Here's a version from The Cordon Bleu Cookbook (page 137):

Bearnaise Sauce:

Ingredients:

2 egg yolks

1 tablespoon tarragon vinegar

2 tablespoons cream

salt, to taste

cayenne pepper, to taste

4 tablespoons fat (butter)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs

1 tablespoon chopped fresh garlic (I'm subbing shallot instead which is more traditional)

Directions:

1. Put in a bowl egg yolks, vinegar, cream, salt, and cayenne pepper.

2. Put the bowl in a pan of hot water over a slow fire; beat until the sauce begins to thicken.

3. Add, bit by bit, the butter, herbs, and garlic. Whisk well to incorporate. Season to taste and serve warm.

I've researched different bearnaise recipes for the "chopped herbs" portion of the recipe. I'm assuming it would be some chopped fresh tarragon. It's going to be what I'll use. On the other hand I found some more different ways to prepare the sauce as well. I'll probably try this one too.

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.