Month: January 2019

Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass with Roasted Vegetables

Here is another idea for an awesome Valentine’s Day dish to make for your Sweetie. True Sea Bass is pretty pricey but well worth the cost and it’s a healthier alternative than Filet Mignon.

1 -2 Servings

Prep/Cook time – about an hour

Ingredients for the Sea Bass…

  • 1 – 8 oz Chilean Sea Bass Filet
  • 1 tbsp Ghee (may use grapeseed oil instead)
  • 1 1/2 tbsp Blackened Seasoning
  • a sprig of fresh Rosemary
  • 2 lemon wedges
  • 1/4 cup dry white wine

Ingredients for the Roasted Vegetables…

  • 8 small Yukon Gold potatoes
  • 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 celery rib
  • 2 medium carrots or the equivalent with baby carrots
  • 1 large shallot
  • 2 cloves fresh garlic
  • 1/2 bell pepper
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
  • 1/4 tsp chopped fresh thyme
  • 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp onion powder

Cut the potatoes into 1-1/2″ chunks. Cut shallots and bell pepper into 1″ chunks. Cut celery into 3/4 ” slices. Halve the garlic cloves. Add all vegetables and seasonings into a bowl with the olive oil and blend well.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spread vegetables out on a sheet pan covered with parchment paper. Roast for 10-12 minutes. Turn vegetables over with a spatula and cook another 10 minutes or until done. Do not walk away from the vegetables as many oven settings vary and they may get too browned. Set aside and keep warm while preparing the Sea Bass. Leave oven on.

Keep roasted vegetables warm while preparing Sea Bass

Rub the Sea Bass with olive oil and season liberally on both sides with the blackened seasoning. Add the ghee to a sauté pan and set on medium high. Brown each side 3-4 minutes. Place the vegetables back in the oven to reheat. Squeeze the juice of the lemon wedges into the pan and leave in pan. Add the rosemary sprig and the white wine to the pan and place in the oven and cook for another 5-10 minutes until flaky and opaque. Internal temperature should be a minimum of 145 degrees. Do not overcook. Place on serving plate and pour the pan juices over the filet.

Enjoy!

Music suggestions for your listening pleasure while preparing this dish….

“All about That Bass”  by Meghan Trainer from her 2014 album “Title”

“Take Me to the River” by the Reverend Al Green from his 1974 album “Al Green Explores Your Mind” – also performed by Big Mouth Billy Bass…

Whole Grain Wheatberry Sunflower Bread

Trying to figure out a way to keep your house warm during these bone chilling temperatures? Here is a recipe for a whole grain wheat bread with wheatberries and sunflower seeds…

Yield – 1 small loaf
Prep/cook time – (after soaking wheat berries for 24 hours) about 4 hours
Ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup lukewarm purified water
  • 1/2 egg
  • 1 tbsp softened butter
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 cup wheat berries
  • 1 1/2 tbsp shelled sunflower seeds
  • 1 tsp active dry yeast
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp dark molasses
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp wheat guten (optional)

Soak wheat berries at least 24 hours before preparing bread.

Add yeast and water to the mixing bowl. Stir and let rest for 5 minutes. Add all other ingredients to mixing bowl. Attach dough hook and mix on medium speed for about 8 minutes until the dough starts to come away from the bowl. (If bread is too dry, add a tad more water. If it’s too wet, add a tad more flour so that the dough starts to come away from the bowl).

Remove dough hook and cover the bowl and dough for 30 minutes.

Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until it doubles, about an hour. Spray or grease a loaf pan. Roll dough into a rectangle. Roll up jelly roll style and pinch ends to seal. Place in the loaf pan and cover again with greased plastic wrap until double in size again – about an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

When dough doubles in size, place in oven

Bake 35 – 40 minutes until well browned and loaf feels hollow. If not sure if it’s done, check with an instant read thermometer. Internal temperature of loaf should be 195-200 degrees. Brush with melted butter or with homemade butter (see previous post for recipe) Let cool 20 minutes before slicing.

Enjoy!

Suggested music to listen to while preparing this recipe……

“The Best of Bread”  Their Greatest hits album released in March 1973. Includes “Make it with You”, “Everything I Own” and “It Don’t Matter to Me”

“Canned Wheat” by the Guess Who released in September 1969. Includes their awesome songs “No Time”, “Laughing”, and my favorite one, “Undone”

javascript:void(0)

Shrimp Scampi

Nothing say’s “I love you” like preparing your Sweetheart or bae a delicious home cooked meal on Valentine’s Day!

“You can barbecue it, broil it, bake it, sauce it. Dey’s uh shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan Fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich.

– Bubba from Forrest Gump

2 servings – prep/cook time approximately 1 hour

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. large shrimp peeled and deveined
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1 shallot, diced
  • 4 tbsp butter
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/1/2 Tbsp or juice from 1 lemon
  • 1/2 tsp of lemon zest
  • 1/4 tsp Lemon pepper seasoning
  • 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 cup cooking sherry (or other dry white wine – more for drinking while preparing if desired)
  • 2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

Marinate the shrimp with 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil, salt and half of the chopped garlic (1 clove) and place in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Add the other 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil to a saucepan on medium heat. Add the marinated shrimp and cook for about 2 minutes or just until pink and remove the shrimp from the skillet. Leave the drippings in the pan and add the other chopped garlic clove, shallots, crushed red pepper and lemon pepper and sauce until browned.

Add the wine and lemon juice to the pan and reduce by half. When reduced, add the butter and lemon zest and stir until the sauce becomes thick and glaze like.

Add the partially cooked shrimp back to the pan and cook a few more minutes until done. Do not overcook the shrimp.

Top with the chopped parsley and serve over your favorite pasta or with a good crusty baguette.

Suggested music for your listening pleasure while preparing…

“Dead Shrimp Blues” by Robert Johnson from his 78 rpm single released in 1937

“Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran from his 2014 album “X”

“Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe” by Barry White from his “Can’t Get Enough” album released in 1974

“You Make Me Feel Brand New” by The Stylistics their 1974 album “Rockin’ Roll Baby” or by by Simply Red from their 2003 album “Home”

Enjoy!

#valentinesdayideas #shrimpscampi #shrimp #forrestgump

Pesto Parmesan Air Fries

There are dozens of brands and styles of Air Fryers out these days. The one we have is a Farberware combination toaster oven.

Prep/cook time – about an hour

Servings – 1-2

  • 1 large or 2 small russet potatoes
  • 1 tbsp. pesto
  • 1 tbsp. freshly grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 1/2 tsp. olive oil
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/8 tsp. black pepper
  • 1/8 tsp. garlic powder or paste

Wash and scrub potatoes. Remove eyes and any rough spots.

Cut into desired sized strips

Rinse well and soak in cold water for 30 minutes
Dry well with a clean kitchen towel

Place in bowl and add all the ingredients except the parmesan cheese and coat well

Spray air fryer tray well with olive oil. Spread the strips out so they barely touch. Place the tray in the Air Fryer and set it at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Check after 12 minutes and turn them over with a spatula and cook the rest of the way. Sprinkle with fresh parmesan cheese and devour!

Enjoy!

Suggested music to listen to while preparing the fries….

  • “Under the Boardwalk” by the Drifters from their 1962 album “Save the Last Dance for Me”
  • “That’s Amore” by Dean Martin from his 1953 album “Dean Martin Sings”
  • “If French Fries were Fat Free” by Alan Jackson from his 2004 album “What I Do”



Click below to see air fryer at Amazon…

Click below to buy pesto paste

//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=joynts55-20&language=en_US&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B0005XPC0A&asins=B0005XPC0A&linkId=75f7a17396c552d217725fd586524f50&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true

It’s Launch Day!

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing”

Walt Disney

Greetings from White House, Tennessee! Today is the official launch day of my new food blog that I have been working on tirelessly for the last couple of months. Please check it out! If you like the content or any of the posts, please follow, like, comment & share. I am also asking you to provide me with any feedback you may have good or bad. This really just started out as a hobby – something to kill a little time while doing things that I love during the cold bleak weather months in Tennessee. Food has always been a passion of mine, and I absolutely love cooking, baking and photographing food, so what better way to express myself than by keeping kind of an ongoing journal of my adventures?

“Whether you think you can or think you can’t… You’re right”

Henry Ford

Please keep in mind that this whole project is still a work in progress. I have self taught myself how to set this up, and I am still learning new things about my DSL camera that I purchased three years ago. Most people that know me well would classify me as technologicaly challenged but I am pretty darn good with grammar and spelling. My total investment so far has been less than a hundred dollars including a couple of books that I bought. I plan to keep furthering my education about photography, blogging and marketing through reading and perhaps taking a few classes.

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have”

Maya Angelou

When I told my daughter Leslie that I was starting a food blog, she said “but Dad, you don’t even use recipes!” and she is correct. When posting recipes I will have to start measuring and weighing ingredients, which I am not used to doing, but I will learn.

What can you expect from me and what will you see in this blog?

  • I will plan to post no less than one blog post per week
  • The reason that my tagline is “Food and other stuff” is because I am not going to limit topics to food only, although food will have the most emphasis. I have many other things that I am passionate about including family, gardening , music, photography, etc. so I wanted to keep the posting topics open. You may see a restaurant or business review. You may see me rant about some off the wall topic, things that are trending or just random things that may be on my mind. You, the reader ,will determine most of the topics due to feedback, likes and comments that I receive about certain topics.
  • I am a Christian man but religion and politics WILL NOT be discussed in my blog posts.
  • I may or may not be able to make money from this blog. That would likely happen only if I have a certain amount of followers. (Thanks for following!)
  • I vow not to plagiarize any content or recipes from any other sites. If I am inspired by a recipe and choose to share it or modify it and use it, I will give credit to that site or person.
  • If I am offered any free products or equipment due to my blog, I will NOT promise to endorse anything just because it was given to me. (I will, however accept free products!) 🙂
  • I will do my best to reply to all questions and comments.
  • I have been in the foodservice field for 50 years and have quite a bit knowledge about food, food businesses and food sales. Feel free to each out to me if I can answer any questions you may have pertaining to these fields. If I cannot answer your question, I know many other experts in these fields including restaurant owners and managers and people in the food distribution business that I could reach out to. My brother Steve has been a very well respected Executive Chef of a country club in Bonita Springs, Fl. for 18 plus years and I love to pick his brain!
  • In the future, I may have polls, Q & A sessions, etc. and I plan to do a piece about a local farm soon.

What would I like from you, the reader?

  • If you like my site, please like, share, follow, comment and tell your friends!
  • I would like honest feedback, but please keep comments clean. Be considerate and respectful and please refrain from demeaning, discriminatory or harassing behavior. If you wouldn’t say it to your own Mother, please don’t say it to me!
  • Ask questions – There’s no such thing as a stupid question!
  • Feel free to hit me up with topics for discussion or story ideas.
  • All photos in my gallery were taken by me and are copyrighted by publishing. Please do not use or copy without my permission.
  • Again, please just bear with me as I am still learning on the fly!

“Don’t start a company unless it is an obsession and something you love. If you have an exit strategy, it’s not an obsession”

Mark Cuban