Now we are talking

I can get into drink recipes ^

Shrimp and Oyster Perloo - a delicious recipe courtesy of www.saveur.com

Another one pot meal (well I guess two pots as I made some quick shrimp stock from the shrimp shells). I also did not use 25 oysters, I used 9. I also did not use the oyster liquor as I purchased my oysters already shucked, so I used shrimp stock. Not only was this a wonderful dinner but with a poached egg on top it made for a delicious breakfast this morning.

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1⁄2 lb. country ham, finely chopped
1⁄2 lb. kielbasa, cut on the diagonal
into 1⁄4"-thick slices
2 medium onions, chopped
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded,
and chopped
1 jalapeño, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
3 tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp. dried thyme
1⁄2 tsp. cayenne pepper
Kosher salt and freshly ground
black pepper, to taste
3 medium tomatoes, peeled,
seeded, and chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup long-grain rice
3⁄4 cup chicken broth
25 medium oysters, shucked (about 9 oz.),
1⁄2 cup of their liquor reserved
35 large shrimp (about 1 1⁄2 lbs.), peeled
5 scallions, chopped, to garnish

1. In a 6-qt. pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add ham and kielbasa and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add onions, peppers, jalapeños, parsley, thyme, and cayenne and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid from the tomatoes thickens, about 10 minutes. Stir in rice, chicken broth, and oyster liquor. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer, covered, until rice is almost cooked through, about 20 minutes.

2. Stir in shrimp and oysters. Cover and continue to cook on medium-low heat until the shrimp are bright pink and the edges of the oysters have curled, about 10 minutes. Season with salt. Serve perloo sprinkled with the chopped scallions.

I do that, too. Still, it's more likely to go to waste once it lands in the freezer, so I like to use as much as possible when I first open the can.

I put the open can in the ice box, wait until it dries out and then throw it away.

You left out the Bacon!

My cornbread recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, melted
1 cup white sugar
4 eggs
1 (15 ounce) can cream-style corn
1 medium to large onion, diced
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers, drained
1 (4 ounce) can of chopped jalapenos, drained
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
½ cup shredded monterey jack cheese
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal (I use ½ cup white and ½ cup yellow)
4 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Lightly grease 9x13 inch baking dish.

2. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Blend in cream corn, onions, chiles, jalapenos, and cheese.

3. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture to wet mixture; stir until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted into center of the pan comes out clean.

Love it 🍸

Kale and Spinach Artichoke Dip
 

2 bags of spinach or one of each. ( 8-16 oz)
1 pack of cream cheese
1 cup of parmesan cheese (grated)
2 cups of any other type of shredded cheese or grated.
1 can of artichoke hearts

Cook spinach and or kale first. While that is cooking, add every thing in a pot ( leaving some cheese for the top)

Stir and mix until all melted. Then add spinach and or kale to the mixture.

Pour into a baking tin and add the remaining cheese on top.

With the stove on 350 ,bake for about 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Foolproof Herb-Crusted Steak
 

There's nothing I like better than a good steak and after preparing them a million different ways (charcoal-grilled, pan-seared, broiled, wet-rubbed, dry-rubbed, au poivre, etc.) I have pretty much converged on doing them only one way, I never manage to screw it up, and everyone always loves it.

Get a big pile of coarsely ground sea salt and fresh cracked pepper in about equal parts. Grind more than you think you will need. Then mix up a roughly equal amount (meaning that the sum of these ensuing ingredients should equal the volume of the salt/pepper mixture) of paprika, garlic powder, cumin, and dried oregano, parsley, and rosemary. Dried herbs work better than fresh here as the lack of water content gets along better with high heat cooking. Then add to this an oil with a high smoke point; canola has always worked fine for me but if you have a fancier one use that. Add just enough oil to cover the stuff and start mixing; you want it to be about the consistency of paste. Let it sit for about 10 minutes so the dried herbs soak up the oil.

Remove steaks - I have done this with everything from filet to sirloin to ribeye to skirt - from refrigerator and coat extremely liberally with the seasoning oil paste. Every side should be thickly coated. Let them sit for about 30 minutes at room temperature.

Get a big cast iron skillet insanely hot, as hot as you can get it. Add steaks and do not touch. After 4 minutes, flip. After 4 more minutes, remove from pan. Want them cooked differently? Go to someone else's house. Let steaks sit for 5-10 minutes and enjoy.

This is great for left-over turkey from Thanksgiving, but can be made year-round either using chicken or turkey. This is very quiche-like. If there are left-overs of the pie, cut them into individual servings and freeze them. They still taste great warmed up.

EASY TURKEY PIE

25 minutes preparation plus chilling, 35-40 minutes baking. Makes 8 servings.

Ingredients:

* 1/2 package (10 to 11 ounces) pie crust mix

Filling:

* 1 cup chicken broth
* 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
* 1 small red bell pepper, chopped
* 1/2 cup sour cream
* 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 cup shredded, cooked turkey breast
* 1 cup frozen chopped broccoli, thawed & drained
* 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
* 3/4 teaspoon salt

Topping:

* 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Prepare pie crust mix according to package directions

2. On a floured surface, using a floured rolling pin, roll dough into a 10-inch round. Fit dough into a 9-inch quiche dish or tart pan with a removable bottom. Trim dough even w/ pan edges. Chill for 30 minutes.

3. Preheat over to 375F. To prepare filling, in a medium saucepan, heat broth and tarragon over medium heat until mixture begins to boil. Add red bell pepper. Cover; cook until just tender, 5 minutes.

4. Mix together sour cream and flour until smooth. Stir sour cream mixture into broth mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened, 2 minutes. Remove from hea. Stir in chicken, broccoli, beaten eggs, and salt.

5. Pour filling into prepared crust. Sprinkle cheese on top. Bake pie until filling is set, 35 to 40 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool slightly.

Shortcut: Can use frozen package of red peppers/broccoli/corn instead of fresh red pepper & broccoli. 2 cups.

This recipe can also be used at other times of the year using chicken instead of turkey.

Sweet Dill Pickles
 

This is my mother's recipe. I used to love them as a kid and always keep them in the refrigerator. Great to snack on, in a relish tray or with a good sandwich. I experimented by making them with Splenda instead of sugar. They are just as good and now, I make them with Splenda exclusively.

Sweet Dill Pickles

2 quarts whole Kosher dill pickles
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups sugar (2 cups Splenda works just as well - for guilt free pickles)
1 T dry mustard
2 cloves garlic minced
3/4 cup white vinegar
1 medium onion sliced
1 1/2 t horseradish

Drain and discard the pickle juice. Slice the pickles into quarters (or halve them if using baby dills) and return to the two jars. Heat the other ingredients until the liquid just begins to boil. Pour over pickles and refrigerate at least four days. Recipe is easily doubled. They last for months. I've had them in the fridge for up to 8 months and never had an issue.

I shred a 1/2 rotisserie chicken and use cheddar cheese. Gonna add the bacon bits next time.

We made Serious Eats' Chicken, Bacon and Lentil Stew for the first time last weekend, and I cannot begin to describe how fantastic it was. The only tweak we made was adding some already-cooked brown rice (a handful or two) at the end just to thicken it a bit. This dish is so flavor packed that I could eat daily for a month and never grow tired of it. Really. I promise you. Go straight to the grocery store and thank me later.

If you don't have a pressure cooker, I'd highly recommend the Instant Pot. It's a pressure cooker/slow cooker/rice cooker/other cooker. Really fantastic small appliance.

Just wanted to chime in and say that I made this for an open house we hosted over the weekend. Beer, bourbon, wine & football plus heavy appetizers. This was well-received and I would definitely make it again. Now that I've done it once I see how the proportions can be adjusted to match personal taste with respect to the cheese/chicken/bacon mix as well as the flavor of the buffalo sauce.

Good recipe though! ^

Martini for salmon lovers

Very cold good vodka
Splash of Grand Marnier

The vodka zaps the sweetness and so you have a very refreshing, lightly orange flavored martini.

I discovered these at Mayflower Hotel in Seattle, home to the annual Seattle Martini Classic Challenge.

Goes great with salmon!

Mayflower had a menu pairing the winners of the Challenges with appetizer plates. Yum!