Kitchen Gadget of the Month: May edition

Who else has a hankering to do some grilling?  Spring has finally arrived in my neck of the woods, and that always makes me hungry for some grilled foods.  My absolute favorite thing to grill is chicken with my mother's famous "garlic sauce".  It's a secret family recipe - I'm not allowed to share or I'd have to kill you.  Sorry about the tease.

Kingsford's Grilling Skillet

Another fav thing to grill is shrimp.  Bacon wrapped shrimp are especially tasty.  But, shrimp are kinda small and have a tendency to fall through the grill rack into the fire.  Not fun.  This segues perfectly into our Kitchen Gadget of the Month for May:  Kingsford's Non-Stick Grilling Skillet!  Yay!


This Grilling Skillet lets you grill small items with no fear of losing them to the grate or the coals.  It has a handle so it's easy to put on and take off of the grill - plus the handle folds for easy storage.  I love grilling veggies with this skillet too. 

 I found this recipe from Food and Wine - and it is simply delicious grilled.  I think I'll make it tonight along with a perfectly chilled Chardonnay.  Ah.....

 

Grilled Shrimp with Citrus-Sambal-Oelek Dressing

Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil - Try Baja Precious from California
1 TBLSP oregano
1 TBLSP fresh orange juice - Use April's Kitchen Gadget of the Month - Lemon squeezer
1 TBLSP fresh lime juice
2 TBLSPs fresh lemon juice
1 TBLSP sambal oelek or other Asian chile sauce
32 jumbo shrimp veined - raw (frozen raw) NOT precooked

 

Pre-heat grill.

In a bowl, whisk the sambal oelek with the lemon juice, lime juice, orange juice and oregano. Whisk in the 1/2 cup of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Brush the shrimp with dressing and season with salt and pepper.  Place shrimp into Grilling Skillet.  Grill over moderate heat, turning once, until cooked through, about 8 minutes.  Don't over cook - the shrimp will get rubbery.  Transfer the shrimp to plates and spoon the dressing on top. Serve.

Kitchen Gadget of the month: April Edition

I love watching cooking shows.  All of them.  Lidia's Italy, Simply Ming, America's Test Kitchen, and, of course, anything with Julia Child.  My hero.  I also love watching "Mexico - One Plate at a Time" with Rick Bayless.  Rick has an interesting way of describing how food tastes - my hubby does a dead-on impersonation.  Never fails to crack me up.  We were fortunate to be able to dine at his Frontera Grill in Chicago a couple years ago.  The food was amazing!

Lemon Squeezer

I mention Rick Bayless because I first learned about this month's kitchen gadget on an episode of his show.  Mexican food uses a lot of limes and Rick had a really cool lime squeezer.  OMG...I have to have one!  Of course, amazon.com is my go-to place for all things food related.  I found both a lemon and a lime squeezer - yellow and green respectfully.  I thought to myself:  do I really need two?  Wouldn't the lemon squeezer also squeeze limes just as well?  A resounding YES!

This is a truly useful gadget.  Not only is it good for squeezing half a lemon or lime, but also oranges or grapefruit.  Obviously, you're not going to fit a half of a grapefruit into this gadget, but it works with pieces of the fruit too.  Need just a little juice?  Drop a slice of whatever fruit you're using into the squeezer, squeeze away and get only juice - no pulp or seeds.  Pop it in the dishwasher and you're done!  Get yours today at my amazon store:  Lemon Squeezer

So.....we have a fancy lemon squeezer - probably need to make something that has lemon juice in it, eh?  Who better to turn to for a recipe than my hero, Julia Child!  Sole Meunière was the first meal Julia had in France.  I absolutely love that scene in Julie and Julia where Meryl Streep coos......butter!  Somehow, however, this dish did not make it into her cookbook. Some say that it is because it is too easy of a dish to create...some think it is old fashioned.  It is pretty easy to make, but the results are perfectly delicious!

Sole Meunière

1/2 C finely ground almond flour (make your own - click here)
4 sole fillets (each about 3 to 4 ounces)
Coarse kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 TBLSP extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil
2 TBLSP (1/4 stick) unsalted butter

1/4 C (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
2 TBLSP chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 TBLSP fresh lemon juice
Lemon wedges

To prepare sole:   Place flour in pie dish. Rinse fish; pat with paper towels. Sprinkle both sides of fish with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper. Dredge fish on both sides with flour; shake off excess. Place on platter.  Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until oil is hot and shimmers. Add butter; quickly swirl skillet to coat. When foam subsides, add fish and cook until golden on bottom, 2 to 3 minutes. Carefully turn fish over and cook until opaque in center and golden on bottom, 1 to 2 minutes. Divide fish between 2 warmed plates; tent with foil. Pour off drippings from skillet; wipe with paper towels.

To prepare sauce:  Place skillet over medium-high heat. Add butter; cook until golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in parsley and lemon juice (sauce may sputter). Spoon sauce over fish. Serve with lemon wedges.

Bon Appetit!

Chocolate Easter Eggs

Damn you, chocolate easter eggs, damn you.                     I thought I'd treat myself - have a couple that were offered in a colleague's office.  AAAAHHHH....so creamy chocolately good.  BUT...over the next couple of days my sugar cravings returned with a vengeance!!  Ate more eggs and then I was craving donuts.  Craving Culver's frozen custard.  Craving...gasp....McDonald's fries!

I'm going to admit it.  I gave into those cravings over the course of this week. Yes - I ate a donut.  I ate Culver's frozen custard (butterfinger pecan in case you wanted to know). Unfortunately the frozen custard and donuts were delightful...:-(    Last night....I stopped at McD's and had a small bag of french fries on the way home from work.  A treat, I told myself.  You've been working too hard.

Then I regained consciousness.  The fries were HORRIBLE.  Of course, they always had been.  Half of me is glad that I ate them to remind me of what "fake-food" is really like.  I was sick to my stomach all night - skipped dinner.  What a great wake-up call!

Today is a new day.  Today I start all over again eating real food, staying away from sugar and grains, and not giving into my cravings.  Interestingly, after last night's nauseous belly, my cravings have gone away for now.  Perhaps I should have had the fries before the frozen custard and donut??