Seafood Feast!

Every month (the 2nd Thursday of each month to be exact) we get together with Grandmom & Grandpop Renaud for dinner.  We rotate the location and this time it was our turn to cook!   Jo's dad loves seafood so it was a no brainer... got some crab, scallops, shrimp & clams along with some wine and we were on our way...





Jo's Clams Casino

- prepare the clams

- add lemon, worchestshire, small piece of bacon

- bake at 400 until bacon is crispy

- add sauteed spinach

- top with Gouda cheese

Pretty easy to make and the different plates allowed Jo to serve each at different times... which paced the evening and allowed us all to sit around the kitchen and talk.   

Good food and good family.

As Grandpop Mike would say:  "Allllllllllllllll riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighttttttttttttttt...... time to go."

Empty the Fridge Soft Tacos

So we had a small get together for the Super Bowl yesterday... got caught up in the fun that we didn't spend time taking pictures so unfortunately we do not have photos from yesterday's feast.  But we did have leftovers that we decided to put to good use for tonight's dinner. 

Jo started out by carmelizing some onions (white & red) in bbq sauce:

For the chicken she used cumin, pepper, chili powder & chipotle and cooked it up in a pan.

Leftover corn salsa was on hand to go in the tacos... corn salsa is one of our favorite appetizers and we make it for almost every party we go to these days lol.  It is so fresh and healthy tasting.  Jo got the recipe from her Aunt Barbara...

Aunt Barb's Corn Salsa

- 2 red peppers diced

- 1 red onion diced

- 2 green apples diced

- Cilantro

- 1 bag of white corn

- Olive oil, salt and pepper

- Squeeze of lime

We also had some coleslaw leftover from our pulled pork sliders, so we threw that on a tortilla along with the chicken, some arugula, the onions and corn salsa.  It was delicious and really easy to prepare.

Our fridge has a lot more space now :)

NOLA Here We Come

So we recently booked a vacation to New Orleans with Bob and Nicole... we are so excited to go again.  We were there on the same weekend 6 years ago!   Crazy how fast time flies by.  

Get that ice down in there ba' !!!!

We've been getting so pumped for the trip and talking about where we are going to go and what we want to eat.   So we decided to do a NOLA warm up and make some cajun food at home before we head off to the Big Easy.

Started off our cajun feast the right way with a few Hurricanes!  It had been a long few days for our best friends as Bob was diagnosed with a blood clot in his calf and Nicole had spent the last 48 hours reading every WebMD article she could find... so a Hurricane was just what the Dr. ordered for Nic!

We had some official Pat O's Hurricane Mix from our last visit and decided it was about time to use it... Jo added rum and the appropriate garnish into our Pat O'Brien's Hurricane Glasses and we were on our way.

Bob was in spirit even though he was only drinking water...

As for dinner itself, we opted for two of Mrs. Toni's recipes from Theresa's Cookbook... Shrimp Casserole and Jambalaya. 

Mrs. Toni's Jambalaya

- saute 2 onions and 1 bell pepper with butter

- add Cayenne pepper (watch out it is spicy)

- add shrimp and let simmer

- add 2 cans of crushed tomatoes and let simmer

- add more Cayenne along the way if you dare

- serve over white rice

Shrimp getting thrown into the pot to simmer...

  

Just like Mrs. Toni's... very spicy and so good.

Mrs. Toni's Shrimp Casserole

- saute 2 bell peppers, 1 white onion, 2 eggplants, 1 bunch of scallions with butter

- saute until everything is cooked down, then throw in shrimp

- place in casserole dish and top with breadcrumbs and some butter

- bake at 350 for 30 mins

 Bob and Nicole suprised us with a NOLA inspired dessert... and it was the perfect ending to our meal. 

Bread Pudding with a Jack Daniels Whiskey Sauce!

The bread pudding was awesome...recipe courtesy of Emeril.   Served with some Vanilla Bean ice cream and it was a deadly combo.  The whiskey sauce was so good, never had anything like it before... you could taste the Whiskey but it wasn't overpowering and had a great taste to it. 

 

As the parents drank and ate too much, the kids played and read books lol...

Shrimp 4 Ways

Last year on our way to the Outer Banks for vacation we stopped in Chincoteague to see my Uncle Pat & Mike.  They made us an awesome dinner that we still talk about whenever we see them... shrimp 3 ways with some awesome french fries.   So that was the inspiration for our dinner tonight.   Jo brought some shrimp home from work and we worked with the ingredients on hand to make shrimp 4 ways (had to go the extra step):

The 4 Ways = fried, garlic & parm, bang bang, and traditional.

New to the kitchen, the fry daddy made fried shrimp an obvious choice.

Asian Style Cocktail Sauce - courtesy of B. Flay

For dipping we made a really easy but unique cocktail sauce.  Ketchup is the base and then lemon, fresh ginger, soy sauce, serrano pepper, pepper, salt and cilantro are added in.... thrown in the fridge for an hour and then it is ready.

Bang Bang Shrimp (Bonefish inspired)

Shrimp peeled and deveined

Season shrimp with salt and pepper

Dip shrimp in corn starch

Lightly fry and toss in sauce

Sauce = combo of mayo and sarracha with a touch of sweet chile sauce



Spinach & Walnut Pesto Salmon and Cauliflower Parsnip Puree

Busy week... seeing as though I am off tomorrow, tonight's dinner was a perfect way to start my weekend.  Glass of red wine with the wife as she prepared everything, very relaxing (for me).   Well deserved after a day of snowblowing and shoveling driveways after we were hit with 7" of snow over night.

Spinach & Walnut Pesto - we love pesto so much we made it without the standard ingredients!   Spinach instead of basil and walnuts instead of pine nuts... turned out awesome and went really well with the fish. 

Lemon, parmesan, olive oil and garlic along with the spinach and walnut, all into the food processor and there you have it.  As for the salmon, seasoned with salt and pepper and thrown in the oven for 15 minutes at 375... added the pesto on top for the last 10 minutes or so.

Cauliflower Parsnip Puree.... Jo steamed both vegetables and then threw them into the food processor along with sour cream, a dash of milk, fresh garlic, salt, pepper and parmesan cheese.  

Served with some green beans.... lots of green on the plate but it was awesome.   Pesto went so well with the salmon.  Very healthy as well, we had grean beans, spinach, cauliflower and parsnips all wrapped into this meal. 

As for the standard photo of Reed at the bottom of the post lol.... with the Eagles and Phillies off he has the Flyers Fever going on!

Can't wait for Saturday, headed to Bob and Nic's for our warmup to NOLA feast!  Using Theresa's cookbook to make some of Mrs. Toni's famous jambalaya and shrimp casserole... plus we found some Pat O' Brien's Hurricane mix.   Will finally get some use out of all the Pat O glassware we have stored in our kitchen!   Should be a good time, unless of course you are a newspaper or magazine rack.... beware cause Jo might take you out.

Football Feast

NFL Championship Sunday... had great friends over to watch the Bears Packers game.  So we made some pizza and nachos, perfect for football and we even had our first guest Chef in the kitchen.  Got to see Stoof and Tom for the first time in a while, first time since they made it official (on facebook) that they are expecting.  We are so excited for them and can't wait for Reed to have a new friend!

Jo loves to make pizzas for us... usually pretty quick and simple but all sorts of different pizzas over the years and always sooo good.  Today we went with two standards and introduced a new one to the mix. 

Pizza #1 - Buffalo Chicken = buffalo sauce as the base with pulled chicken and red onions along with some ranch and of course topped with mozzarella cheese:

Buffalo Chicken

Pizza #2 - BBQ Chicken = bbq sauce as the base with pulled chicken and red onions along with mozzarella cheese... then some bbq sauce drizzled on top with some cilantro as well:

BBQ Chicken

Pizza #3 - Margherita (new) = Sauteed thinly sliced tomatoes in olive oil and garlic.  Olive oil was the base for this one, topped with mozzarella cheese, the tomatoes and basil and then topped with parmesan cheese.  So good, we will have to make this again sometime soon:

Margherita

   

"HAAS to be HAAS" says Chef Bobby C.


Special guest Chef Bobby C came ready to impress.  A broken foot and a full leg walking boot couldn't keep him from the kitchen!   He made a nice guacamole to go along with his Bacon and Monteray Jack Quesadillas.... I don't think bacon when I think quesadilla, but it was awesome.  Bob finally admitted after the "Pocono Avocado Incident" that Haas avocados were the only way to go, his guacamole was much improved lol.    

Jo tried to add some Creme Fresca on top of the quesadilla, tasted awesome but didn't turn out so hot for the camera lol... Chef Bob wasn't pleased with her plating skills.

  

 

Jo also whipped up some crazy nachos, which went great with the guacamole and quesadillas:

What didn't these nachos have on them?  Shredded chicken, fresh homemade pico de gallo, scallions and creme fresca (el vez inspired) all topped with a cheese sauce that Jo made with butter, flour, whole milk, monteray jack cheese and sharp white cheddar.  Threw that 20 lb tray in the oven for a few minutes and it was so goood. 

Mom's French Toast

Today we are headed out for our 2nd annual "Xmas present dinner" with my parents, Theresa and Aunt Pat  at El Vez... we all buy each other gift certificates to the same place (last year Buddakan) and then we go and try to order almost everything on the menu.   We are going to eat dinner around 2:30 and then heading out to see Rich Cox at Curran's in Palmyra, should be a fun day!  So Jo and I thought we should have a good breakfast and skip lunch so that we were ready to eat everything possible at El Vez.  For weeks Jo has been talking about how she can't wait to have the crab meat guacamole, nachos, and margaritas...  

So for breakfast we decided to make French Toast... a favorite of mine from when I was growing up, my mom would make it just for me.  A pretty simple recipe but I have made a few little tweaks.  First tweak for this morning's breakfast was getting a big loaf of just baked wheat bread from the supermarket...  not sliced, this way I could cut my own nice and thick slices:

4 eggs beaten with a little bit of milk and a small splash of Vanilla (Jo's suggestion).  I always thought the Cinnamon made the french toast, so I pretty much add it at every step.  Sprinkled in some cinnamon into the egg mixture then throw the bread in there and then into the pan with some butter.  Sprinkle cinnamon on top of each piece as it cooks as well.   When it was done we threw some confectionate sugar on top (along with cinnamon again) and some butter and syrup. 

It was so good and filling... will keep us good to go until El Vez.

So good, even Reed ate it!