Smoked Salt & Pepper

We had our 2nd annual McCao crawfish boil in mid-April.  It was kind of a scramble, because apparently crawfish season ran a little late this year due the hard freezes over winter.  Too bad we didn't expect that and arranged the crawfish boil before I was sure we could get our hand on some.  Well the usual local suppliers: HEB, Whole Foods, Quality Seafood, and Fiesta had none to sell yet.  Instead of cancelling, we just had some crawfish overnighted to our front door from Louisiana through Louisiana Crawfish Company .  Haha. It was awesome! Of course, there was the usual Jake vs. crawfish throw down.  Jake won. He ate like, 3 live mud bugs.  We ordered 40lbs and had a few pounds left, so I made our friends help me peel the rest and saved the tails to make my mom's crawfish etouffee. This etouffee is the delicious combo of buttery smokey roux, and that classic celery, onion, green bell pepper combo that marks great creole dishes.  I don't know h...

Ok- are you ready for the simplest, quickest, most amazing flavor pay-off dinner ever?!!! I have been really into chicken thighs lately.  They're cheap, they're tasty, and super versatile.  I really like boneless, skinless chicken thighs unless I'm planning on roasting.  So I had a bunch in my freezer I needed to use up and that's how I stumbled upon this great and light recipe ! It's from Ellie Krieger who has a healthy food cooking show on the Food Network.  It's also great in that I have all these ingredients on hand most of the time.  I was really surprised how good this was...totally understand why this has 5 star rating and a gazillion billion reviews. Quick Chicken Teriyaki Ingredients 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs 1/4 c. low sodium soy sauce 2 tbs. brown sugar 2 tbs. dry sherry 2 tbs. rice vinegar 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 tsp. fresh grated ginger 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes 2 tsp. sesame seeds, roasted 1/4 c. chopped green onio...

I love potato gnocchi! It's kinda a miracle marriage between potatoes and pasta, two things I could eat all the time.  I'd tried to make a sweet potato gnocchi once and it went horribly.  The dough fell apart and it took forever and was inedible.  So it's been quite a few years since I wanted to attempt it again.  But this recipe, from Food Network , is awesome.  It's light and fluffy and delicious to pair with a sage butter sauce or tomato sauce.  I made the latter, with lots of fresh basil, tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella.  Paired the dinner with a caprese salad. Potato Gnocchi Ingredients: 1 lb. russet potatoes, roasted and peeled 3 to 4 large egg yolks 1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesan 1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg 1/2 tsp. sea salt 1/4 tsp. freshly grated pepper 1 c. all purpose flour Directions: Pass the potato through a ricer or food mill in a large bowl Make a mound of the potato with a well in the middle.  Add 3 of the egg...

This was a delicious discovery of a recipe I found in Martha Stewart Living magazine.   http://www.marthastewart.com/1033653/zucchini-rollatini   It was a great way to use the basil that's growing like weeds in my herb garden (also made pesto this week...so much basil!) You can even make the dish vegetarian by omitting the prosciutto.  It was very tasty, and pretty, and Reid even said the next morning, that was really tasty! Zucchini Rollatini 2 large zucchini (8-10 inches long), cut lengthwise into 1/8"-thick slices coarse salt and freshly ground pepper 1 tbs extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed 5-6 oz. thinly sliced prosciutto 1 lb. fresh mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced 24 large fresh basil leaves, plus more for garnish (about 2 handfuls)-I think I used more like 3 handfuls 2 c tomato sauce Preheat oven to 425*.  Season zucchini slices on both sides with salt and pepper.  Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.  Cook ...

I've had this recipe in my arsenal since my sister and I lived together some 5 years ago.  Those were really awesome days and we cooked together all the time.  I've been making this recipe since 5 years ago.  The one hang up is finding good tomatillos.  Sometimes the tomatillos at HEB are a little sad looking, so I try to make this recipe when they look decent.  This recipe come from food network http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/chipotle-shrimp-taco-with-avocado-salsa-verde-recipe/index.html  Sorry the pics are so blurry! That's what I get for always taking photos on my camera phone at night. I need to invest in a better camera, it's just camera phones make uploading pics so easy! The avocado salsa makes tooooons, so I sometimes reduce the recipe for half or buy some tortilla chips to finish off the rest.  Also, the salsa gets pretty watery in the food processor, so try not to pulse too much.  I have also pan fried the shr...

A few weekends ago, Reid and I went to a techniques class at Williams-Sonoma.  Technique classes are basically free classes where they teach you...you guessed it...cooking or baking techniques.  You should check one out at your local store:  Williams-Sonoma technique classes .  The one Reid and I attended was on how to make homemade pasta.  The pasta dough recipes I'm posting here are from the handout they gave us.   Williams-Sonoma Classic Fesh Egg Pasta Recipe  and  Williams-Sonoma Fresh Spinach Pasta .  The Alfredo sauce recipe is from Food.com.  Better than Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce Recipe .  Did you know that Alfredo was a chef who created Alfredo sauce for his picky pregnant wife by tripling the butter and cream in a traditional pasta sauce? Thanks, Dinner Party Download ! Dinner Party Download is an awesome Podcast, and I highly recommend it to everyone.  It starts with an ice breaker joke, has a drink inspired by histo...

One of my former lacrosse teammates, Lizzy, introduced me to pizza dip.  She would bring it to lacrosse parties and get togethers and pretty much any other time we could beg her to bring it.  It's amazing! You dip tortilla chips in the dip and it literally tastes like pizza.   In your mouth.  But on a tortilla chip.  We used to have "Fun Food Fridays" on some of our rotations at vet school, which is pretty much an excuse for residents and interns and the doctors to get fed by the 4th year students.  Anyway, I brought this 1 or 2 times and it was a hit.  I also brought this to work once when we had a pot luck day.  It's super easy to make and definitely a crowd pleaser!  Great game day food, too.  I altered Lizzy's recipe a little by adding oregano and dried basil to the cream cheese base. Pizza Dip Ingredients: 8 oz. softened cream cheese 1 tbs dried oregano 2 tsp. dried basil 3/4 c. tomato sauce 1&1/2 c. shredded mozzarell...