Shrimp Cocktail Salad

This recipe is a combination of shrimp salad and shrimp cocktail. Its easy to pull together, which is good for me as lately I have not been in the mood to cook. Last night I actually nuked a very ho hum box of mac and cheese for my family. They looked at me suspiciously, but would never dare comment for fear of wearing the mac and cheese. My friends who realize how busy my life has been lately, tease me about taking the time to make homemade meatballs. I guess I just like the way mine taste better. They yell, 'just buy a bag of frozen ones, no one will know.. the world wont come to an end!' I just can't do it....some days I think a bag of frozen meatballs would make my life a whole lot easier.

So today I am forcing myself to make something fresh and delicious, I needed a dish that would assure me that summer really is around the corner.I have always been a big fan of chopped avocados with shrimp, so this is what Ill be serving up tonight, with crunchy crackers of course.

• Juice of 4 limes
• Slightly more than 1/2 cup of ketchup
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 pound of medium sized cooked shrimp, cleaned, tails removed, cut in half
• 1 small red onion finely chopped
• 2 medium avocados peeled and chopped
• Hot sauce
• Salt and pepper
• Fresh chopped cilantro

Mix the ketchup, lime juice and Worcestershire sauce together in a bowl. Add the shrimp, onion and avocados, gently toss together. Season with hot sauce and salt and pepper.Cover and place in fridge for about an hour. Top off with fresh cilantro. Not to brag, but this dish really is tasty, I just gobbled up 3 spoonfuls before I wrapped it up. Oh, one last thing, the sweet little glass dishes you see I just picked up for 25 cents a piece at my local thrift shop. ;)

Halibut with Sweet Carrots and Cider Glaze

I just made this fish dish last night. We all agreed it was quite tasty. The technique used to cook the carrots was new to me, it will now become my standard method for serving cooked carrots. I used halibut, however striped bass or any thick white fish would be delicious as well. The recipe was created by Chef Bruce Sherman, Chef and owner of the Chicago restaurant North Pond. Now I'm looking for an excuse to go to Chicago...

• 1/2 cup of apple cider
• 1/2 cup of cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 bunch of organic carrots (peeled and sliced on the diagonal 1/8 inch thick)
• 2 garlic cloves crushed and peeled
• 2 rosemary sprigs
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 4 5 to 6 ounce skinless halibut fillets

In saucepan boil the cider and cider vinegar over medium high heat until reduced to about 2 tablespoons. This took about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and mix in the butter. Now in a separate non stick skillet heat the olive oil. Spread the carrots in the skillet in an even layer, add the garlic and the rosemary. Cook over medium heat without stiring for about 5 minutes. Now reduce the heat to a lower temperature and continue cooking the carrots until tender and caramelized, about 4 to 5 more minutes. Remove the garlic and the rosemary, I was too lazy to pick out all the garlic and believe me the carrots were TO DIE FOR. Season with salt and pepper, stir in the parsley and about 1/2 of the reduced cider glaze. Now onto the fish, you could just make the carrots..but the fish does round out the meal nicely. Heat vegetable oil in a non stick skillet. Season fish with salt and pepper and add to skillet. Cook until the fillets are lightly golden about 4 to five minutes. Turn fish over, cooking other side for another 2 to 3 minutes. Place caramelized carrots on plates, position fish on top. Drizzle with the remaining cider glaze. Now tell me that doesn't look like a 42 dollar entree in a fancy sea food restaurant????????????

Roasted Beet Pesto

My valentine hates beets. I on the other have have always loved them. Ive been known to put pickled sliced beets into ham and cheese sandwiches. When no ones looking Ill eat the pickled beets right out of the jar. I guess I'm strange that way. Its difficult to love a vegetable when everyone else in your house hates it. I decided to selfishly make a roasted beet pesto for valentines dinner on Sunday.I was tinkering with the recipe today, I must say the end result was quite tasty. The color? Ridiculous. For a moment I thought that even a non beet lover might enjoy this one. So Mr. Valentine walked in the door a few hours ago (very grouchy after a 2 hour commute home in the snow), I greeted him at the door by stuffing a warm pita wedge covered in beet pesto into his mouth. He LOVED it, no I mean like really loved it, like more than I loved it. So will you. If you want to get really fancy, go to TJ Maxx and pick up the little white heart dish to put it in for $2.99. Happy Valentines day folks. xoxoxo

• 2 medium raw beets cut in half
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• about a 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 2 peeled garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup of toasted pine nuts
• 1/4 cup Parmesan

Warm toasted pita bread

Preheat oven to 400. Drizzle the beets with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Wrap in foil, roast in oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour till soft. I roasted the beets and toasted the pine nuts the night before. Once the beets are tender and cooled, remove the skins. In a food processor add beets, garlic, pine nuts and about 1/4 teaspoon of salt.. Combine ingredients till smooth. Slowly add the Parmesan and some olive oil until well combined. Serve with warm pita, keeps in fridge for about 3 days.

Shrimp Sliders

Of course Ill be serving the traditional wings, guac, chips and dip next Sunday, but I thought it was time that I introduced something new and different. That new and different would be these deeeeeelightful shrimp sliders.I will be serving them with an assortment of yummy toppings . I was thinking red onion, tomato, avocado slices, tartar sauce and russian dressing.The nice part is the shrimp patties can be prepared long before everyone arrives. Lets face it, we are all kinda 'over' the mini cheese burger sliders.The idea of replacing the shrimp for the burger seemed like a fun idea. So this Sunday try something new, then do what I do, watch the commercials, stuff your face and ignore the game. Recipe brought to you by recent culinary grad Katie Machol...Katie, you go girl!!!

• About 1 1/4 pound of medium shrimp peeled and cleaned
• juice from 1/2 a lemon
• 2 tablespoons of mayo
• hot sauce to taste
• 1 to 2 teaspoons of Cajun or Old Bay seasoning
• about 3/4 a sleeve of crushed Ritz crackers(I have not purchased these crackers in years!!!)
• Salt and pepper
• handful if chopped cilantro
• 3 to 4 chopped scallions (only use white and light green sections, save top for garnish)

1 mixed egg

• Sliced small dinner rolls

assorted toppings

Combine lemon juice, mayo, hot sauce, cajun seasoning, cracker crumbs,egg, cilantro, scallions and salt and pepper. Mix well together.Cut cleaned shrimp into small pieces, you want some texture, but you also want them to stay together,try to resist urge to throw them in the food processor. Add shrimp to mayo mixture, combine well.Form shrimp patties, making them slightly larger than the dinner rolls you plan on using. I ended up with about 14 small patties.Make sure the patties are not thicker than 1/2 an inch.Place patties on a lightly greased baking tray (that will fit in your freezer). Tray goes right in freezer for about 1 hour, a little longer is fine.The freezing will help them hold their shape while cooking.When the game begins, remove from freezer. Heat a large non stick pan, spray with oil (I know its non stick just do it), cook each side about 2 minutes till nicely golden and shrimp appear cooked. Stuff shrimp sliders in to warm rolls, add favorite toppings and enjoy.

Potato and Cheese Cake Frico Caldo

A simple and delicious appetizer brought to you by chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson. Chef Lachlan specializes in cuisine from the northeastern corner of Italy, the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. This region has little interest in meatballs and marinara. Due to Friuli Venezia Giulia's location, one finds many interesting culinary influences. For example I was surprised to learn that cumin and Cinnamon are common ingredients. So what is this town best known for? Prosciotto de San Danielle, the local cured ham.

So today I present Chef Lachlan's Frico Caldo, otherwise known as potato and cheese cake. Its a classic treat from Friuli-Venezia Giulia, a location I never heard of prior to this post, but now hope to visit.

• 1 large baking potato
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 small onion diced small
• 1/4 cup grated cheese Asiago, Montasia or even Romano works, whatever you chose it will be delicious
• Grated nutmeg to taste
• s and p olive oil
• 4 slices of prosciutto

Cilantro Vinegar

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon minced shallot

red wine or sherry vinegar to taste

S and P

Start off by boiling the potato till tender. When the potato is cool enough to handle, remove the skin. Use your fingers and crumble the potato into small pieces, place crumbled potato in small bowl. Heat a 6 or 8 inch non stick skillet. Melt butter, add onions. Saute onions till lightly golden. Remove cooked onions from heat and gently mix with crumbled potato. Add cheese, nutmeg and S and P to taste, mix together. Now wipe out pan that you used to cook onions.Heat up a little olive oil in pan. Add potato mixture, flatten out with back of spatula. Cook for about 4 minutes till golden. Place a small plate on top, flip potato cake over, gently sliding uncooked side back into pan for another 4 minutes. (you may have to add a little more olive oil). While the second side of the potato cake is cooking, mix cilantro vinegar ingredients together. When you peek underneath and the potato mixture appears golden slide onto plate (it will be somewhat crumbly). Top with small pieces of prosciutto and lightly drizzle with cilantro vinegar. Or you can do what I did the first few times I made this, skip the vinegar all together, top with the prosciutto and chow.

Ramen with Flank Steak, Shitakes and Spinach

I have a confession. I spent three years at a maximum security prison several years ago. Who would have guessed a little food blogger from Philadelphia would have such a sordid past? Well its true. Even thought I wasn't an inmate, those three years changed my life forever. I was hired as a therapist to council prisoners and manage a small group of employees. Where is this story going? Well in prison, all roads lead to ramen noodles. What?? Yup that's right. If your fortunate enough to have moolaa, the prison canteen ramen noodles are what you existed on. Inmates were always trying to come up with creative ways to prepare their noodles. A favorite was crushed cheetos or barbecue chips sprinkled on top of the steaming broth. If you had the resources to afford a can of spam, that would be chopped up and mixed in with the noodles. Sounds nasty? Not really, it was prison.

I recently came across a ramen recipe created by America's Test Kitchen. My heart sunk, immediately thinking about all the inmates I had gotten so close with. Most of them still serving their life sentences, while I had gone on to have a family and career. I thought to myself, If only shitakes and flank steaks were sold at the prison canteen. These two items alone would had made serving time a wee bit more tolerable. I was surprised at how delicious and simple this recipe was. My entire family LOVED it (this does not happen frequently). Its a keeper for a quick weeknight dinner. Let me know what you think once you make it.

• 1 pound flank steak sliced thin across the grain


• 6 teaspoon soy sauce


• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil


• 8 ounces shitake mushroom, stemmed and sliced thin


• 3 garlic cloves minced


• 1 tablespoon grated ginger


• 5 to 6 cups chicken broth (the recipe called for 3 1/2 cups, I wanted it more soupy)


• 4 3 ounce packages ramen noodles (throw out seasoning package, if your locked up while reading this use it..hee hee..)


• 3 tablespoon white wine


• 2 teaspoon of sugar


• 1 6 ounce bag of baby spinach


• Season with hot sauce or red chili paste

Mix sliced flank steak with 2 teaspoons of soy sauce. Heat oil in a non stick large skillet, add steak, cooking till brown and cooked though. Set aside in a bowl. Wipe out skillet, add 1 tablespoon of oil, cook sliced mushrooms till browned, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and ginger, cook less than 1 minute. Stir in broth. Now break the ramen up and add to the broth. Simmer for about 2 minutes till ramen is tender. Add the remaining soy sauce, wine, sugar. Stir in spinach.Now add the cooked flank steak along with accumulated juices and cook for another 2 minutes. Serve. If you ever do hard time in the future, you will be happy to have this recipe.Ill be sure to visit you and bring the shitakes and steak.

Manchego and Radicchio Quesadillas

We all have that one go to dish we whip up when we are running late and everyone is hungry. For the past few years mine was chicken and cheese quesadillas. I would use store brought roasted chicken shredded, any type of cheese, tortillas and jarred salsa.. It was quick, delicious and everyone was happy.Oh, if I had leftover caramelized onions from the weekend they would get thrown in as well. Well apparently times have changed. I made them last week and everyone groaned...A certain individual stated that they are 'so over' these quesadillas that next time they planned on going to the neighbors for dinner!As a matter of fact several opted for a bowl of cereal instead!! I wasn't ready to give up on the quesadilla, I just needed to freshen up the interior.I made this new and improved version last night and no one pulled out the Captain Crunch. I used Manchego, a Spanish cheese made from sheep milk. It has a firm texture and nutty flavor. Italian perorino romano would be wonderful as well.

• Olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1 teaspoon of minced fresh rosemary
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 head of radicchio
• 2 Tablespoons of melted butter
• 6 flour tortillas
• 2 Tablespoons of tapenade, I used a jarred one made with green olives
• About 1 1/2 to 2 cups of grated manchego or romano
• fresh thyme leaves

Mix together oil, vinegar,garlic, rosemary and salt and pepper. Cut the radicchio into wedges, about 6. Brush the radicchio with the oil mixture. Place under the broiler till lightly charred, about 3 minutes. Brush on more of the oil mixture, turning the radicchio over.It took another 5 minutes till they were nicely browned and tender inside.(I did this part in the morning).

Slice the radicchio into thin slivers. Now get all of your ingredients ready. At this point my family is walking in the door saying "I'm starving.."Spread one side of the tortilla with a thin layer of tapenade. Place a tortilla in a warm skillet with melted butter (tapenade side up).Sprinkle with grated cheese, radicchio, thyme and ground pepper. Place 2nd tortilla on top, brush with melted butter. Press down with a spatula cooking till cheese is melted. Turn over quesadilla, cooking till other side is nicely golden. Cut into wedges and gobble up.