Cooking for Zo

Taste Level: VG
Cost: $20 and under
Serves: 4-6
Prep Time: 10-15 min.
Cook Time: 10-15 min.
Difficulty: 1

Taste Level: VG
Cost: $20 and under
Serves: 2
Prep Time: 10-15 min.
Cook time: 25-30 min.
Difficulty: 1

I was digging around in the fridge and cam across two bags of mushrooms that I totally forgot I had purchased and sliced up. Luckily they still looked, tasted and smelled OK. I tossed them on the counter and decided we would have a nice Mushroom Alfredo sauce for dinner. I grabbed some herbs that had seen better days and picked through them until I found some good bunches, chopped some onion and went to cooking!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Bella mushrooms (sliced)
1 1/2 cups button mushrooms (sliced)

Taste Level: GR
Cost: $20 and under
Serves: 1
Prep Time: 25-30 min.
Cook time: 20 min.
Difficulty: 1

Taste Level: GR
Cost: $20 and under
Serves: 1
Prep Time: 5-10 min.
Cook time: 10-15 min.
Difficulty: 1

I needed something to do with leftover Chicken that was quick for lunch and this is what I concocted. I just took how you would make a diner style tuna melt and made a chicken melt. The only ingredients I wish we would have had in the house are tomatoes. I think fresh slice of tomato on top would have been great, then again it was pretty great just how it was!

Ingredients:
1/3 cup Garlic Rotisserie Chicken (pulled from bone, recipe follows)
1-2 tbsp Creole sauce
1 1/2 slices deli sliced sharp cheddar
1 slice sourdough bread
fresh crack pepper medley (to taste)
paprika (pinch)

Turn oven (or toaster oven) to 350 degrees. Lay bread on upper most rack and cook for 2 minutes, flip and cook for two additional minutes. Remove bread from oven and spread Creole sauce evenly over one side. Spread out chicken pieces, top with cheese and then place back into oven and cook for 5-7 minutes or until cheese is fully melted.

Remove from oven an place onto plate. Crack fresh pepper over melt and then lightly dust with paprika before serving hot. Enjoy!

Garlic Rotisserie Chicken
2-3 lb whole chicken (cleaned)
10 garlic cloves (peeled and cracked open)
1 tsp Italian Volcanic lemon juice
2 tsp smoked paprika
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp essence
2 tbsp sweet European butter
1 tsp red Hawaiian sea salt
fresh crack pepper (to taste)

Chicken

Stuff chicken with garlic cloves and then truss the wings and legs. Melt butter in a small sauce pan over medium low heat then stir in the lemon juice and seasonings until mixed well. Baste chicken with mixture and then place chicken into the rotisserie with a pan underneath to catch drippings. Cook for one hour basting ever 5-10 minutes until mixture is completely used.

Your chicken is ready to have the /3 cup chicken pulled from it. (Make sure you baste with the drippings if the chicken appears to be getting dry!)

Taste Level: VGR
Cost: $20 and under
Serves: 2
Prep Time: 0-5 min.
Cook Time: 15-20 min.
Difficulty: 1

Fusion Food is always fun to try. Around the house we mix and match ideas pretty often. Every now and then one of those ideas makes it on here. This particular idea we heard about listening to NPR. The talked about a Vietnamese taco truck that is very popular in California. The mentioned a few items on the menu including Kimchi Quesadillas. Zo and I both said we have to try those one day. Now over a year later we finally got around to trying them out and man are the good! We did not know how they made them on the taco truck so we just put them together how we would. Take a chance on these! You will not be disappointed!

Ingredients:
Quesadillas
2 tbsp Spicy Kimchi
green onion (chopped)
1/4 of a jalapeno (seeded and diced)
1/4 cup Aged jack cheese (shredded)
1/2 cup Aged Extra sharp cheddar (shredded)
1 tsp sweet European Butter
2 8 inch tortillas (we use partially cooked tortillas)

Sauce
1 1/2 tsp Sriracha
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp soy sauce
1/8 tsp powdered ginger
2 cloves garlic (minced)

Quesadillas
In a 10 inch skillet heat butter over medium heat until melted. Add Kimchi, onions and jalapeno to skillet and cook for 5-7 minutes. Remove all ingredients onto a small plate and site aside.

Sauce
Add garlic to the now empty skillet and cook for 4-6 minutes until browned, then place garlic in a small bowl. Add the remaining sauce ingredients to the bowl and stir until mixed well. Sit the sauce in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Quesadillas Continued
Turn the heat on the skillet down to medium low. Lay out both of your tortillas and evenly distributed the Kimchi mixture over them. Now mix the cheeses and evenly divided it between both tortillas. Wipe your skillet out with a paper towel (being careful not to burn yourself.) Fold both tortillas in half and add them both to the skillet. Cook for 3-4 minutes, then flip the tortillas and continue cooking for 3-4 minutes or until all cheese is melted and tortillas are crispy.

Slice into 3-4 pieces and serve hot with the sauce. Get ready for some good eats! Fusion food does not get much better!

Taste Level: GR
Cost: $20 and under
Serves: 2
Prep Time: 10-15 min.
Cook Time: 15-20 min.
Difficulty: 1

When Zo and I met she'd never had a Soft-shell Crab Poboy. Matter of fact I don't believe she'd any sort of Seafood Poboy before we met. That is just a shame. As a matter of fact, any of you out there that have not had a Seafood Poboy (Nicci Excluded because she is allergic to seafood) shame on you! Treat yourself right now! That is right get from out of the computer and make one or go buy one! OK, back to the post. Our first trip together to the Gulf Coast I ordered a Shrimp Poboy and an Oyster Poboy. She dug right into the Shrimp Poboy but said she was not to sure about Oysters. I asked her why and she said she had Oysters in the past and hated them. I talked her into having a bite and half of the Oyster Poboy vanished as she munched it down. The next day I took us to an old fish shack and order Soft-shell crab Poboys. She loved them. I have to admit that Paper-shell Crab Poboys are my favorite, just a bit harder to find. This is my version of a Crab Poboy, I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Ingredients:
2 Soft-shell crabs
1/3 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
1 tbsp essence
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/4-1/2 tsp Cayenne
fresh crack pepper medley (to taste)
2 cups olive oil

In a quart Ziploc add together cornmeal, flour and seasonings. Seal bag and shake till mixed well. Take your crabs and throw them into the mixture and shake around until coated well. (Alternately you can beat 2 eggs and give the crabs and egg bath before adding them to the mixture but in most cases your crabs will be moist enough for the mixture to stick.) Sit crabs to the side until oil is heated.

In a medium sauce pan heat olive oil over medium heat until it just begins to smoke. Turn heat down heat just a little and add the coated crabs. Cook for 4-6 minutes or until crisp on both sides (you may need to flip the crabs or cook them one at a time depending on the size of the sauce pan you are using.)

Spread some creole sauce, mustard or tartar sauce on either a Hoagie roll or some fresh french bread. Lay your crab in the roll and top with some fresh Cole slaw! Get ready to enjoy one of our favorite sandwiches!

Taste Level: VG
Cost: $20 and under
Serves: 4-6
Prep Time: 0-5 min.
Cook Time: 0 min.
Difficulty: 1

Here is a sauce that is not only great on any seafood Poboy but also on turkey breast and chicken breast sandwiches!

Ingredients:
1 tbsp Zatarain's Creole mustard
1/4 cup mayonnaise

Taste Level: VGR
Cost: $20 and Over
Serves: 4
Prep Time: 20 min.-1 hour (depending on if you make or purchase the chicken)
Cook time: 25-30 min.
Difficulty: 1-3 (depending on if you make or purchase the chicken)

Holy Cacciatore Batman, this was good! Did you know that the meal most of us refer to as Chicken Cacciatore is in fact not chicken Cacciatore? Chicken Cacciatore was commonly referred to as Hunters Stew because it was adapted by travelers way back in the day. Depending on what the travelers may have captured for dinner (rabbit and chicken being the most common.) They needed a meal that was easy to prepare while outdoors. It's core components consisted of chicken, mushrooms and spices. The sauce was actually a brown gravy that came from cooking the chicken slowly in a pot until the meat fell from the bone. There is more than one way to get meat to fall of a bone! Also I don't think many people reading this blog are living out in the wild. Maybe they are, who knows? I am thinking about making a Original Cacciatore recipe in the crock pot but for a post later down the road. So instead of crock potting or pan frying like many modern recipes call for, we put the chicken in the rotisserie and went with a light tomato sauce! I hope you enjoy our off the beaten path version of Chicken Cacciatore! I sure did!

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup Garlic Rotisserie Chicken (shredded, recipe follows or purchasable at grocery store)
3 slices pancetta
1 1/3 cups penne pasta
1/4 cup dry jack cheese (shredded)
4 oz fresh mozzarella (shredded)
3 tbsp extra sharp white cheddar (shredded)
1/4 cup marinated in herbs mozzarella (shredded)
1/2 of a 14.5 oz can fire-roasted tomatoes
1/1 cup red onion (chopped)
1/4 red bell pepper (chopped)
1/4 yellow bell pepper (chopped)
1/4 orange bell pepper (chopped)
2 0z baby Bella mushrooms (sliced)
2 oz button mushrooms (sliced)
1/4 cup Merlot olives (diced, green olives can be substituted)
3/4 tsp fresh oregano (diced)
3/4 tsp fresh basil (diced)
1 tbsp sriracha
2 tbsp chicken drippings (or substitute 1 1/2 tps olive oil)
fresh crack pepper (to taste)

Garlic Rotisserie Chicken
2-3 lb whole chicken (cleaned)
10 garlic cloves (peeled and cracked open)
1 tsp Italian Volcanic lemon juice
2 tsp smoked paprika
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp essence
2 tbsp sweet European butter
1 tsp red Hawaiian sea salt
fresh crack pepper (to taste)

Chicken
Stuff chicken with garlic cloves and then truss the wings and legs. Melt butter in a small sauce pan over medium low heat then stir in the lemon juice and seasonings until mixed well. Baste chicken with mixture and then place chicken into the rotisserie with a pan underneath to catch drippings. Cook for one hour basting ever 5-10 minutes until mixture is completely used.

Your chicken is ready to have the 1 1/4 cup chicken pulled from it. (Make sure you baste with the drippings if the chicken appears to be getting dry!)

Cacciatora
In a 12 inch skillet heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the pancetta frying for 5-6 minutes or until crisping. Remove the pancetta from the pan (leave the oil,) add 2 tbsp of the chicken drippings, the onion and mushrooms cooking for 5 min, then stir in the dry seasonings, bell peppers and tomatoes. Let simmer for 7 minutes and then stir in chicken, sriracha, oregano and basil continuing to simmer for 5- 7 minutes more.

While sauce is simmering prepare your penne by following the directions on the package.

Stir pasta, olives, fresh crack pepper and cheeses into sauce and let simmer for 5-7 minutes before serving hot!

Taste Level: G
Cost: $20 and under
Serves: 4
Prep Time: 20-25 min.
Cook time: 40-45 min.
Difficulty: 1

We had some left over pasta that needed eating or did it? I mean does pasta go bad? It has never lasted long enough in our home for me to find out. I suppose it would mold like any other food. Anyway it had been in the refrigerator for 3-4 days and in my book that means it is about to go bad, so I tossed together to make this Baked Penne. The funny thing about this bake is that it tasted a lot like a vegetable pizza. I lowered the taste score of this recipe because of it. Not because it was not good, it was and I had it for lunch the next day. It just tasted like a pizza should taste, not like a bake should taste. I even debated about calling it Pizza Penne. If you have kids that love pizza and are refusing to eat anything else give this recipe a try, even calling it Pizza Penne to trick them into eating something new! Or if you really like Pizza (and who but my mother doesn't) whip yourself up this meal!

Ingredients:
Penne
2 1/2 cups Wheat penne pasta
8 oz fresh mozzarella (sliced)
1/3 cup extra sharp white cheddar (sliced)
1/2 cup Merlot olives (diced, green olives can be substituted)
fresh crack pepper (to taste)

Sauce
1 14.5 oz can fire-roasted tomatoes
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 cup red onion (chopped)
1/2 red bell pepper (chopped)
1/2 yellow bell pepper (chopped)
1/2 orange bell pepper (chopped)
4 0z baby Bella mushrooms (sliced)
4 oz button mushrooms (sliced)
1 1/4 tsp fresh oregano (diced)
1 1/4 tsp fresh basil (diced)
1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
fresh crack pepper (to taste)

Sauce
Heat olive oil in small sauce pan over medium heat. Add onion and mushrooms and cook for 5 min, then add the rest of the ingredients and bring to simmer stirring frequently. Let simmer 10-15 minutes.

Penne
Cook pasta according to directions until al dente. Pour into a colander to drain, then run cold water over pasta until it can be handled easily.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Pour sauce into a large mixing bowl and then toss in the penne until mixed together well. Add half of the mixture to a baking dish. Now add in 1/3 of the mozzarella, then cover with the rest of the mixture. Top with remaining mozzarella, then cheddar and finally olives.

Place baking dish into oven on the upper most rack and bake uncovered for 40-45 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes before serving!

Taste Level: VGR
Cost: $20 and under
Serves: 4
Prep Time: 40-45 min.
Cook Time: 25-30 min.
Difficulty: 2

I love it when Zo and I both have an idea of flavors we want to have separately but when thrown together match up almost as perfect as we do! Here is an example: Zo had been wanting to make a potato and goat cheese pizza for a few days. When she first told me about I was not to excited. I mean potatoes and goat cheese on a pizza? Then she told me how she had one a few years back and really liked it. We ended up having crab at my parents and on the drive home I said "Wouldn't onions be good on it?" Zo said, "Maybe." Then the next day I said, "What about pears?" I am not to keen on the idea of fruit on pizza (I hate pineapple on 98 percent of pizzas) and she said, "That could be good." Then I grabbed some marinated with herbs mozzarella while we were grabbing fresh mozzarella for the pizza and Zo said, "This could be good on it!" Zo reply more excitedly to this idea than any of the others with a, "OH Yes that will be really good!" Then right before we went to cooking she ran to the store and got some fresh rosemary and Pancetta to go in the sauce and over the pizza. Our run on recipe idea came out of the oven smelling and tasting amazing! If you are not afraid of trying something a little different (and you shouldn't be) then crank up those ovens and roll out some dough!

(For instructions on how to make your own sourdough pizza skin check posting dated 7/7/09.)


Ingredients:
Toppings
1/2 lb fingerling potatoes (preparation instructions below)
1/2 red pear (sliced)
4 pieces pancetta
1 stalk rosemary (rosemary removed from stem)
2 oz goat cheese
4-5 oz fresh mozzarella (thinly sliced)
2 oz herb marinated mozzarella twist (thinly sliced)
fresh crack pepper

Sauce
4 pieces pancetta
1/3 of a large red onion (sliced then halved)
4 cloves garlic (minced)
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1/4 tsp red Hawaiian sea salt
fresh crack pepper (to taste)
1/8 tsp essence

Crust
1 portion of sourdough pizza dough check posting for 7/7/09 or pre-made crust

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Tossing dough
What works best for me is I strongly throw the ball of dough down on a solid flat surface covered with a piece of wax paper until it is large and flat enough for me to easily balance on top of both of my fists. Then I make an X with my arms keeping my fists close together (backhand to back hand, the dough atop of them both) and I fling the dough upwards with my fingers as I simultaneously bring my arms quickly parallel (palm to palm) about 3-4 inches apart. As the dough falls I remake my fists and catch the dough atop them again in the X position and repeat until the dough has formed a 12-14 inch crust.

(Alternately you can lay dough on a solid flat surface covered with wax paper and squish flat with hands. Roll into a ball and slam the dough down onto your solid flat surface covered with a piece of wax paper. Using your fist mush the dough down repeatedly as if you were punching it softly but firmly (this helps get any air bubbles out of it.) Now using your finger tips press and stretch dough until you have formed a 12-14 inch circular pizza skin (you can also make an easier rectangle skin.)

Sauce
Add 4 pieces of pancetta to a small sauce pan and crisp over medium heat (5-7 minutes.) Remove the pancetta from the pan and then add the red onion to the grease and cook for 5-7 minutes or until translucent. Now add the garlic and cook for 3-4 minutes or until becoming fragrant. Crumble the pancetta back into the pan and then add tomatoes, essence, salt and crack pepper. Let simmer for 10-15 minutes or until thickened.

Potatoes
Add potatoes to a medium sauce pan and cover with hot water. Place on stove over high heat and bring to boil. Boil for 2-3 minutes and then remove from heat and strain. Once cool enough to work with slice into 1/2 inch slices.


Pizza
Sprinkle corn meal onto a baking sheet and lay skin on to it. Spread sauce evenly up to about an inch and a half away from the edge of the crust (I find using a pastry spatula works great for spreading tomato sauce.) Take the 4 slices of pancetta you did not cook and unroll them into strips. Lay these strips along the outside of the crust. Mix together the mozzarella cheeses and spread 1/2 of the mozzarella slices over the sauce. Finally lay the potato slices over the cheese and sauce.

Place pizza on baking sheet lightly coated with corn meal. Arrange your oven racks to where they are on the upper and lower thirds of the oven. If you are using a baking stone as we do place it directly onto the floor of a preheated oven for 45 minutes (but you will be less likely to ruin your pizza stone if you place it on a rack at its lowest position.) Place baking sheet with pizza on the lower oven rack and bake for 7-10 minutes. After 10 minutes remove the pizza and baking sheet from the oven and add the remaining ingredients in this order; mozzarella, pear slices, goat cheese, rosemary and then fresh crack pepper.

Place the pizza and baking sheet onto the upper rack and bake 7-10 minutes (if cooking a second pizza you can put it on the lower rack now on a separate baking sheet.) Slide Pizza off of baking sheet directly onto baking stone and cook for 3-8 minutes or until crisp and bottom is browning (if you were cooking a second pizza you would move it to the top rack on its baking sheet once you slide the first pizza onto the baking stone and of course you would move it to the baking stone once you have remove the first pizza and cooked the second one 7-10 minutes on the upper rack.)

Slide pizza onto a cutting board or baking sheet and use a pizza slicer to cut into 8-10 slices and serve hot with your favorite pizza sides, seasonings and sauces!

Taste Level: GR
Cost: $20 and under
Serves: 4
Prep Time: 10-15 min.
Cook time: 20-25 min.
Difficulty: 2

Whenever we come back from visiting my family on the Gulf Coast, I am always inspired to cook meals with ingredients commonly used there. It also didn't hurt that soft-shell crabs were on sale for 30 bucks per dozen at the grocery store! You should expect to see me using them in 3 or 4 more recipes in the coming weeks. So I hope you like crab! I pan fried this crab in a mix of butter, essence and lemon. It tasted and smelled so good we were lucky it made it into our omelet before it made it into our belly's! I then used the season butter left over from cooking the crab to cook the rest of the omelet. This made all the flavors really come together into one dish. It was lip smacking good! So get to cooking!

Ingredients:
Crab
1 small soft-shell crab
2 1/4 tbsp unsalted sweet European butter
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp essence

Omelette
3 eggs
1/3-1/2 extra sharp white cheddar (shredded)
2 tbsp half and half
1 tbsp sour cream
1 small green onion (chopped)
1/2 tsp fresh chives (diced)
1/2 tsp fresh tarragon (diced)
1/8 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp essence
fresh crack pepper medley (to taste)
1/4 of a Mediterranean sweet lemon (optional for squeezing over omelet)

In a 10 inch skillet heat butter, lemon juice and essence over medium high heat. Once heated add crab and fry for 3-4 minutes, then flip crab and fry for another 3-4 minutes. Remove crab onto a dish and place aside.

While crab is cooking whisk together egg, half and half and sour cream until smooth. Then whisk in essence, coriander tarragon and chives.

Wipe out most of the butter with a paper towel but leave enough that skillet is still coated evenly. Turn heat down to medium low, pour in the egg mixture and let cook for 4 minutes. Now spread cheese over 1 half of the omelet and sit the cooked crab on top of the cheese and let cook for another 3-4 minutes or until cheese is fully melted. Fold omelet half without cheese over half with cheese using a spatula, turn off head and let sit 2-3 minutes.

Slide omelet onto plate, crack fresh pepper over it (squeeze sweet lemon over if using) and serve while still hot.

Taste Level: GR
Cost: $20 and under
Serves: 4
Prep Time: 5-10 min.
Cook time: 15-20 min.
Difficulty: 1

Zo wanted to make us dinner and who was I to say no? I'd been working on the house all day and did not mind that I would get to relax at all! You may be wondering why we just did not go out to eat or get some take out? Well, since we have bought the house we have eaten at every place we like in Reno, twice. Believe me that is alot of places! So after 3 months of eating out we are fed up and want some home cooked meals. We finally just looked at one another and decided no matter what we are doing on the house we will stop, take a break, and make dinner. Most of our meals have been pretty simple lately but that does not mean that every now and then we don't accidentally make something great! We originally made this sauce to go over some mushroom and cheese ravioli but it was so good by itself, I decided to toss it up here for everyone else to enjoy, so enjoy!

Taste Level: VG
Cost: $20 and Over
Serves: 4
Prep Time: 15-20 min
Cook Time: 0 min.
Difficulty: 1

This was the first meal I cooked in our new kitchen. We have not finished remodeling yet! So you may notice over time the kitchen looking a bit different as it gets finished up. You may wonder why with our love of cooking the kitchen is not being done first? Well, we also love sitting at a dinner table and having a place to sleep! I got this idea while thinking of different prosciutto recipes to make for our upcoming prosciutto party. I thought, "Why not whip up something quick and tasty tonight while we work on the house?" My sister ended up dropping by to do some laundry so I made a few extra. We had them along with a mixed green salad that had diced prosciutto, pepperoncinis and blue cheese with a glass of Chianti. Dinner was surprisingly filling! Enjoy!

Ingredients:
Fold N' Rolls
4 oz Wild Caught Nova Smoked Salmon (cut into 1 inch wide strips)
4 slices prosciutto (sliced in half long ways)
1/2 of a ripe but still firm avocado (cut into eight 1/4 inch slices)
Fresh chives (cut in half)
1/2 of a jalapeno (seeded, Juliane, optional)
Your favorite dressing for dipping (optional)
1/2 fresh lemon (optional)

Stuffing
4 1/2 tsp cream cheese (softened)
1 tsp chives (diced)
1 tsp sweet Vidalia onion (minced)
Dash of fresh crack pepper

Stuffing
Mix stuffing ingredients together in a small dish with a fork and sit to side.

Fold N' Rolls
On a plastic cutting board lay out your 8 strips of Nova salmon. Place a little more than 1/2 tsp of stuffing to one side of salmon slice. Fold salmon slices over stuffing. Lay one slice of avocado over each folded slice of salmon.

Take the fatter end of one of the strips of prosciutto and lay it under the bottom side of one of the folded salmon slices. Wrap the prosciutto at an angle once around the salmon, then place 5-6 halves of chives over the first prosciutto wrap (optionally add a jalapeno sliver here) and finally wrap the prosciutto the rest of the way around the salmon fold. Repeat until all have been completed. (Optionally you can squeeze 1/2 of a lemons juice over the Fold N' Rolls before serving.)

These go well with a side salad with a light red wine for a light but tasty lunch or dinner.

Bon Appétit!

Taste Level: VG
Cost: $20 and under
Serves: 4
Prep Time: 2 hours
Cook time: 10-15 min.
Difficulty: 2

I cooked this meal for my parents about 4 or 5 months ago. I made some notes and tossed them into my cubbyhole. After the move to the new place my notes turned up, Zo saw them and said, "That looks good! Are you going to make it for me?" So after taking off almost 3 months from cooking I said, "Sure thing!" Man oh man I should have done some little dishes before making this! I've lost my cooking groove! I do not feel as confident of my meals, some of my timing is a little off and it does not help that I'm in a new kitchen. Usually I can manage a few sauce pans and skillets while chopping on the cutting board but not last night. I made one monster of a mess! I got the shrimp broth going, started to chop up this and that while getting everything ready for the rice. Turned around and the shrimp broth was boiling over, carrying shrimp shells all over and under the stove. I don't know about you but one of the worst smells I can think of is rotting seafood! After I do anything with fish, shrimp, lobster or crab, I put the shells into a Ziploc and through it in the freezer until garbage day. I only had to make the mistake of throwing away seafood once! So now I was cleaning as I tried to finish up cooking. I was really glad that Zo and I had both finished sealing the grout in the kitchen because I could just imagine the shrimp broth soaking into the grout and our kitchen perpetually smelling like a Fisherman's Pier. I finally got it all cleaned up then Plop! I tossed the shrimp into the frying pan or rather tried to, missed and dumped them all over the counter top... So back to cleaning before I was able to finished up dinner. I am just glad I didn't hurt myself cooking!

Ingredients:
Shrimp
1 lb large shrimp (pealed, save shells)
2 small green onions (chopped)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 tbsp Cajun white wine mustard (Creole Mustard can be substituted)
2 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp Sriracha sauce
2 bay leaves (mortared)
1 tsp fresh oregano (diced)
1/2 tsp essence
fresh crack pepper medley (to taste)
1 1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Rice
4 servings of white long grain rice
2 cups shrimp broth (recipe below)
2 tsp fresh chives (diced)
1 1/2 tsp fresh tarragon (diced)
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp Brummel and brown (unsalted butter can be substituted)
garlic salt (to taste)
fresh crack pepper medley (to taste)

Shrimp
Place peeled shrimp into a sealable container or Ziploc with all ingredients except garlic. Mix together well and sit in refrigerator to marinate for 1 and a half to 2 hours.

Rice
Take the shrimp shells and tail and place in a small sauce pan with 2 cups of water. bring shells to a rolling boil for 3 minutes and then turn heat off. Let sit and cool. Once cooled, strain shrimp broth into a measuring cup (there might be a little less than 2 cups that is OK.) Use this to cook your rice in. If your rice package calls for more liquid than 2 cups of water (with which you will be substituting shrimp broth) just add extra water to the shrimp broth until the needed amount of liquid is reached.

About 10 minutes before you star cooking your shrimp prepare your rice according the the directions on the package (except use shrimp broth for the water.) After your rice is ready stir in salt, pepper, Brummel and brown, tarragon, chives and vinegar to the rice 2 minutes before serving meal.

Shrimp continued
In a medium skillet add 1 1/2 tsp olive oil and heat over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for 4-5 minutes. Add the shrimp mixture to the skillet, cooking for 6-8 minutes (flipping half way through) or until the shrimp are cooked through and opaque .

Serve while still hot!