Romantic Dinners for Two | Epicurious.com.
With Valentine’s Day this weekend, you might be looking for some ideas to make a nice, romantic meal at home instead of spending time at a noisy restaurant perhaps not getting as a good of a meal as you can make on your own. Epicurious has some great ideas for a romantic dinner for two followed by some nice chocolate dessert ideas as well to cover everything you need. Get yourself a nice bottle of wine and cook at home to enjoy some quiet time with your sweetie. Check it out!
39 Delicious Things You Can Make In A Skillet.
Skillet cooking is a great way to make use of that cast-iron skillet or stainless steel skillet and make a whole meal right in one pan on many occasions. Buzz Feed has put together 39 great skillet recipes to cover everything that you like and more to make delicious, easy meals. Check it out!
21 Sandwiches for Your Game Day Spread | Serious Eats.
I have been really busy work and stuff around the house this week with Michelle leaving on a business trip so I haven’t had much time for blogging the last few days. I should be able to get back into a rhythm next week, but for now here are some more great Super bowl party ideas. If you are looking to try some great sandwiches for the big game, Serious Eats has put together 21 sandwich recipes to wow your crowd. Try them on game day or any time, because a good sandwich is always a great option. Check it out!
Super Bowl Food Ideas and Party Recipes – Bon Appetit.
As we deal with a snowstorm here in my area of New York and then a family party later today, you can have a chance to look over some more great Super Bowl snack, appetizers and recipes for your party, to bring to a party or just to have for your own while you watch the game. Bon Appetit has all kinds of great ideas for your Super Bowl party guide for all of your favorite game-time snacks. Check it out!
Best New Year’s Eve Recipes : Food Network.
New Year’s Eve is just two days away and if you are planning a party, big or small, Food Network has some great recipe ideas for you for appetizers, snacks, main courses, cocktails and more so you can ring in the New Year. Check it out!
I will be back with more of my own recipes once the holidays are are all over with so stay tuned for some great, exciting new things to try for the New Year. Thanks for following!
It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t like bacon, and it can be a very versatile ingredient, fitting into every course of a meal and breakfast, lunch and dinner to boot. You can also cook it in a variety of ways – in the microwave, on the stovetop, on the grill or in the oven. In the New York Times, Mark Bittman has put together 25 easy and fantastic ways that you can use bacon in various dishes and ways. Check it out!
Any time that I get some shrimp Sean is always asking me to make fried shrimp. Not that I don’t like fried shrimp, I love it myself; the problem is that I hate cooking with all of that oil from a health standpoint and clean up standpoint and there are other ways to cook shrimp that I love as well. He however, has a hang up on fried shrimp so when Michelle is traveling, I very often will get some shrimp and make something for dinner (Michelle likes shrimp, but they are not a favorite of hers, so she would just as soon not have them anyway). I had seen some recipes for oven fried shrimp before but none of them ever really looked like the breading or coating held up that well or cooked well so you got a good coating on them until I saw this recipe from Williams-Sonoma for oven fried shrimp. The picture looked pretty good and the recipe seemed simple enough, so I thought I would give it a try.
Oven Fried Shrimp
1 cup ketchup-style chili sauce or ketchup
2 tablespoons drained prepared horseradish
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Hot pepper sauce
1 1/4 cups panko or other dried breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined
To make the cocktail sauce, stir together the chili sauce or ketchup, the horseradish and the melon zest and lemon juice in a small bowl. Season the sauce with hot pepper sauce to taste. Set the cocktail sauce aside.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil a large rimmed baking sheet. In a medium bowl, stir together the bread crumbs, paprika, oregano, basil, thyme, garlic, salt and cayenne pepper. In another bowl, mix together the melted butter and the olive oil. Working in batches, toss the shrimp in the butter mixture to coat it well and then coat the shrimp with the bread crumb mixture, shaking off any excess. Spread the shrimp in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake the shrimp until the coating is golden brown and the shrimp are opaque throughout when they are pierced with the tip of a knife, about 10 minutes.
Transfer the cocktail sauce to individual small bowls for dipping. Serve the shrimp with the sauce on the side.
This is very simple and turns out a pretty good coating for the shrimp. I used basic bread crumbs, but I think the coating would be even better with panko and will try it that way next time to see how it is. If you wanted to jazz things up a bit and make these coconut shrimp, you could try mixing in some shredded coconut with the breadcrumb mixture or even substituting it completely for the bread crumbs and following the recipe as indicated. Personally, I am not a fan of coconut myself, but a lot of people love the coconut shrimp. You can then make or buy your favorite sweet chili sauce for dipping instead of the cocktail sauce. I made this as our entrée for the meal and served it with some rice and vegetables, but it would be a great appetizer for any time. I liked the shrimp and the cocktail sauce in this one and Sean gobbled these up as well, so I think the recipe is a pretty good alternative to frying the shrimp and using all of that oil.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
Fall Soups and Stews – Photo Gallery | SAVEUR.
It is definitely that time of year when my attention (and perhaps yours) turns to warm, comforting meals like soups and stews. These make great tasting, nourishing meals that are perfect for you to make any time, like on the weekend to get ready to have for lunches or dinner during the week. Saveur Magazine has put together 60 soup and stew recipes so you can try just about anything that you like. Check it out!
Michelle has been away on business all week so it has just been Sean and myself home for dinner each night and I let Sean choose some of the meals we would have this week. Naturally he chose things like burgers and pizza but he also wanted us to have some fried calamari this week for dinner. I love fried calamari myself, whether as an appetizer or as the main course, so I decided to make some for dinner for us and I found this recipe from Chuck Hughes on the Cooking Channel that was some calamari with a nice puttanesca dipping sauce. It seemed very easy to make and looked delicious so I decided to give it a go.
Fried Calamari with Puttanesca Dipping Sauce
For the Calamari:
1 pound fresh calamari
2 cups milk
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon hot sauce
2 cups all-purpose flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 eggs
Vegetable oil, for frying
Lemon wedges, for serving
For the Puttanesca Dipping Sauce:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
1/4 cup pitted, diced black olives
1 tablespoon capers
3 tomatoes, diced
Pinch of chile flakes
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Zest of 1/2 lemon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the calamari, clean the calamari and cut the bodies into thick rings, reserving the tentacles separately.
Mix the milk and the lemon juice in a large bowl. Let the mixture rest for 5 minutes until it thickens. Add the hot sauce. Add the calamari and allow it to soak in the buttermilk for up to 4 hours.
In a separate medium bowl, mix the flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, the paprika and the cayenne pepper until blended. In another separate medium bowl, beat the eggs.
Remove the calamari from the buttermilk and allow it to drain. Dip the calamari into the beaten egg and then into the flour mixture to dredge it.
Fill a large, heavy skillet or Dutch oven with 2 cups of vegetable oil and heat the oil over medium-high heat until it registers 360 degrees on a candy thermometer, or if you are using a deep fryer, set the deep fryer to 360 degrees. Fry the calamari, in batches, until they are golden brown and crispy, about 4 minutes. Place the calamari on a plate and pat them dry with paper towels to remove any excess oil. Sprinkle the calamari with salt and pepper. Serve with the puttanesca dipping sauce and lemon wedges.
For the Puttanesca dipping sauce, heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan set over medium heat. Add the shallot and saute for 2 minutes. Add the garlic, tomato paste, anchovies, chopped olives, capers and tomatoes. Saute the mixture, stirring occasionally, for another 5 minutes. Season the sauce with salt, pepper and the chile flakes to taste. If the sauce seems a little thick, add a little bit of water and mix to thin out the sauce. Stir in the parsley and the lemon zest and serve.
you end up with crispy and tasty calamari and the dipping sauce was great. The mix of the anchovy, olives, capers and tomatoes were perfect and made a great compliment to the calamari. Of course, you can always just use buttermilk if you have some on hand instead of making your own as the recipe does, but many people do not always have buttermilk on hand so this is a good quick fix for that. As I said, this is great as an appetizer or an entrée, and we had it for dinner with some rice and vegetables to round out the meal. I forgot to take a picture of the sauce, but trust me, it comes out very tasty and fragrant.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
Fun, unusual and forgotten designations on our calendar.
Happily Ever After Lives Here
a little bit naughty a little bit nice
Letting Life Lead
Simple and delicious dinner inspiration
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