A Life in Food
Thai Red Curry Coconut Shrimp with Sweet Potato Noodles is a dish that is packed with flavor. It’s quick, easy and done in about 3o minutes, which means it is perfect for busy weeknights. Getting dinner on the table in less than a half hour has never been so delicious.
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Ceviche is raw fish “cooked” by acid, usually lime juice. If you are a bit squeamish about raw fish, let me assure you that once the ceviche has marinated in the lime juice, you wouldn’t notice a difference had the fish been cooked in a traditional manner.
This is a very traditional recipe with the exception of the sweet corn. I added it for a bit of summer sweetness and texture with the super fresh fish for a wedding that I catered recently. The bride was very happy and thus, I was very happy.
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Grilled shrimp is the perfect addition to any summer soirée. It’s quick and easy, it’s a crowd-pleaser and it goes great with a crisp, chilled summer wine.
This is our first summer in our first house and I have dreams of summer parties. Everyone is gathered under twinkly cafe lights, sounds of sultry jazz fill the air dotted with the “clink” of wine glasses and raucous laughter. Obviously, everyone has a wonderful time and the food is fabulous. That goes without saying. The parties I conjure up in my head are like the pages of a magazine came to life right in my backyard. They do not actually turn out that way, but often it’s even better. Life has a way of doing that, doesn’t it? The imperfect becomes the most perfect and better than we could’ve imagined.
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Dress up your favorite Idaho® Potatoes with lobster and saffron aioli for a special holiday appetizer! Salty, crunchy thick-cut chips are a sturdy base for buttery lobster tail. Topped with a spicy saffron aioli and chives, it makes an elegant nibble for any party. This post is sponsored by Idaho® Potatoes. All opinions are my own.
The holiday season is upon us, which means HOLIDAY PARTIES! It’s a special time of year, so I don’t feel guilty about a little splurge. The end of one year, the beginning of a new one… It’s a time to celebrate with friends and family and it’s a time to pull out all the tricks and SHINE! I make one or two special appetizers for parties and lobster on thick-cut potato chips is no slouch. The saffron aioli elevates it to “high falootin’ status” and this appetizer is always the first to disappear. It looks much fussier than it actually is, everything except the chips can be made in the morning and set aside in the refrigerator for later. This is key when you have lots to do before guests arrive.
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This is my first in a series of sponsored posts by Idaho® Potato! I’m thrilled to be working with them, they are the BEST! All opinions are my own.
Curry seems to be one of those flavors that people feel very strongly about. They either love it or they hate it, there’s not much middle ground. I’m in the “love it” camp. Just the smell of curry makes my heart flutter. A long, long time ago in a city far, far away when I was in culinary school, we would wander the streets of NYC and more often than not we ended up in an area of Manhattan that had lots of spice shops and Indian restaurants. I think that’s where my love of curry was born.
I suggest making this with a meaty fish like corvina or halibut. A delicate fish like sole would get lost in the aggressive flavor of the curry. That being said, the potatoes are really the star of the show. They absolutely make the dish. The crunchy outside and fluffy inside of the potatoes make it a perfect vessel to soak up that luscious sauce. The bright tang of the tomato combined with the heady, warm spiciness of the curry against the creamy flesh of the potato makes for a perfect bite.
It’s so good that I’ve considered making it vegan by omitting the fish, doubling the potatoes and adding in more peas, onions, chickpeas, etc.
A word on trial and error:
Cooking well takes practice. The more you cook, the better you get. You will begin to develop a feel for flavors that pair well (sometimes without even needing to taste it, you’ll just “know”) and even after you’ve been doing it professionally for 14 years, it’s not always perfect. See Below…
Recipe Testing:
This was the first version. Do you see how yellow the sauce is? The curry was just a “pinch” too much. It overpowered the coconut flavor. I backed off just a half teaspoon the next time around and it was perfect.
Take risks, learn from mistakes… That’s the only way to develop your palate and learn. That statement also applies to so much more in life. It’s a pretty good mantra.
Chef’s Tip: How to get those potatoes SUPER crispy
Chef’s Tip: Always put the “good side” face down first in the pan.
How do you know? Here’s a photo to help!
Assemble like a Pro:
Let’s Cook!
Langostino are the perfect compliment to this mac and cheese dish. The saltiness of the bacon and creaminess of the pasta plays perfectly against the buttery seafood.
This week, I am partnering with Florida Milk to talk a bit about what they do as a part of my post. I happen to be a fan of farmers. I grew up surrounded by family farms, so I have an appreciation for them. I am also acutely aware that without them, food would be scarce to say the least.
When I moved to Florida a few years ago, I, like most people, really only thought of beaches or theme parks and not much else. But, did you know there are more than 130 dairy farms here and most of those farms are primarily owned and operated by second and third-generation farming families. They are hardworking men and women who care for their cows and the land, and they are leaders in their communities. Meet some of Florida’s Dairy Farmers here!
I’m celebrating “Dairy Month” with one of my all-time favorite foods: Macaroni and Cheese. It has long been one of my comfort foods. Mac & cheese has been around for hundreds of years, so I’m sure it has been a comfort food for many. When I was a teenager, it was my favorite after school snack. You know the one – the box with the shockingly orange powdered cheese. I hadn’t yet learned how to make mac & cheese from scratch, so to my untrained palate it was gastronomic bliss! I have since learned the delights of real macaroni and cheese. Thankyouverymuch.
While I still enjoy plain macaroni and cheese (probably more than I should), I wanted to “fancy it up” a bit and add in sweet langostino with a handful of crispy bacon. (Langostino look like tiny lobsters, but are actually more closely related to certain species of crab.) Normally, I use extra-sharp cheddar in my mac & cheese because I like the pronounced cheesiness. However, when paired with the delicate flavor of langostinos, the cheese should complement and not overpower them so I went with a mellow cheddar. Feel free to add in other cheeses. Play around with the recipe, swap out one for another, try different combinations… just make sure you keep the same quantity. Cooking should be fun and creative, recipes like this are a perfect place to start experimenting.
Mac & Cheese is perfection. Pasta mixed with a creamy cheese sauce, topped with a layer of (even more) cheese & breadcrumbs and baked. It’s so simple and satisfying.
Enough talk, let’s get cooking…
Pin it to your Pasta board!
I was in my late 20’s the first time I went to Spain. I remember crossing the border from France onto Spanish soil and the flood of emotion I felt. It was as if I was coming home. But, I had never been there before… It was a surreal experience and I knew right then that I would be back.
I fell in love with Spain. The food, the history, the culture… all of it. I had been studying Spain and Latin America since I was 14 years old. I had a degree in Iberian & Latin American studies (don’t ask me what to do with it), but I had never set foot in Spain. (I did the study abroad program in Guadalajara, México) It was over a decade in the making to be able to finally experience everything I had read in books.
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Getting dinner on the table in record time is a priority, but clean up… yes, clean up is the real deal breaker. That’s why I love making salmon on a sheet pan. If I have a recipe that requires me to use separate bowls and pans for everything, I’m less likely to make it during the week, or maybe at all.
When I was cooking in restaurants or in catering, I rarely had to think about the amount of dirty dishes. Now that I have my own business, there is no (paid) dishwasher! And might I just say, the dishwashers are the unsung heroes of restaurant and catering kitchens everywhere! Without them, things would come to a screeching halt, so thank you… Thank You to all the dishwashers who have cleaned up after me.
As my friends lovingly send me “friendly reminders” that they need recipes for dinner that are healthy, fast, easy and inexpensive with minor clean-up and “oh, if only you were here to cook for me” … I give you this Honey Chipotle Salmon. I’m hoping you will love it as much as I did, but if your family (or a certain friend who refuses to eat what she deems ‘fish food’) is not a fan of fish, feel free to swap it out for chicken.
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Recently I posed a question on the Facebook page asking what people wanted to see and one of the requests was “a meal that can be made in about 30 minutes, when I get home from work”. I get it, life is crazy busy and the last thing most people (most sane people) want to do after coming home from work is stand in front of a stove for any length of time.
This is a meal I made for a client of mine and it took well under 30 minutes to make, she loved it and requested I make it again. I probably need to get in the habit of sharing what I cook for clients…
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A few months ago, The Girl and I went to New Orleans for a little getaway. As a properly organized food person, I had a list (a very long list) of places to eat. That was pretty much my agenda. Sure, there are tons of things to do in New Orleans and we did a few of them, but my main objective was food. How could it not be?
So, our itinerary pretty much looked like this Every Single Day (swapping out restaurants, of course):
Oh, did I mention it was restaurant week when we were there?! Yeah, that’s like putting a fat kid in a candy store and telling him to only pick 3 things. Not likely…
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