Grilled Grouper Two Ways

After another night in Marathon visiting with our friends Emmett and Lindsay, we were a little behind on things at the homefront. Plus, with Baz walking, there is new meaning to the word exhaustion. He is all over the place. It's freakin' adorable with his little Frankenstein arms stretched out before him for balance, but it requires a new degree of vigilance that my 6 month pregnant body is having trouble keeping up with.

Our new house is close to a great little tot lot that Baz really enjoys so we like to go there to let off some steam in the afternoons. And then on the way home, we frequently stop in at the supermarket to figure out what we'll do for dinner. Last night I picked up some red grouper they had in the case which is funny since Damien is working on a story about how some of these fish are actually banned from being fished. Guess Caribbean red grouper is not one of them, or if it is, hopefully not too many people are reading this from the Fishing and Wildlife Commission. Because it actually was delicious. Grouper is one of my favorites since it has a light flavor but is a meaty enough fish that you can grill it without it falling apart.

I was craving cajun spiced grouper but of course I get home and Damien is like, "Can we not have cajun fish tonight?" Um, fine, but that was my whole point of getting grouper and I was pretty excited about it. He acts like we have cajun fish every other night or something. So, I marinated his piece in a mixture of butter, olive oil, garlic, white wine, salt and pepper. Once Baz was in his crib sleeping soundly -- oh, how glorious after running after him all day -- we fired up the Weber and Damien cooked the mismatched pieces of grouper.

I served it with some steamed broccoli that I seasoned with butter, salt, pepper and some garlic powder. And I also used a frozen bag of brown rice. Not sure if you are aware of this, and I am sure there is some reason this is not as healthy as making browned rice from scratch and I'll probably die because of some unknown preservative in it, but Birds Eye makes cooking up some brown rice so easy. You just put the bag in the microwave for 4 minutes and it comes out perfectly cooked and fluffy unlike the big glob of mushiness I usually get after 45 minutes.

So, check it out -- and please leave me in the dark if there is some reason I am poisoning my family with BPA infused rice or something. Okay?

**Oh, and while I was in Marathon I cooked up a batch of Picadillo for the gang. Some of the guests, including our dear friend Betsy who was also there, asked for the recipe so here is the link from when I blogged about it.

Mom's Shrimp Creole

REVISED RECIPE!

Okay, you really have to try today's recipe. It is so good.

It's a good thing it worked out, too. Today was strange and unproductive, well, except I also made that fresh mozzarella cheese which turned out pretty well. A little hard, but still tasty served with some vine ripe tomatoes and a little bit of olive oil.

Anyway, about my unproductive day -- I just hate paying the babysitter when I don't feel like I got enough done. But with the weather being pretty crappy, I couldn't shoot much so I tried to digitize and get started on the editing. The beginning of this process always feels like this. Very slow and painful. I mean, I knew going into it that it was going to be slow. Just not this slow.

So, I tried to redeem myself by making a great dinner which began with a quick trip to the supermarket to pick up some of the ingredients I would need. I don't normally stock pimientos and I was out of tomato sauce.

This recipe is so super easy but you need a food processor (or, I guess a blender would work too -- and it would probably help to have a child who does NOT burst into tears every time he hears the roar of the processor motor. Poor little Baz is terrified every single time.)

Here's how you do it:

Shrimp Creole
1 green pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 6.5 ounce jar of pimientos
1 8 ounce can of tomato sauce
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
REVISION: 1/4 cup fresh parsley, stemmed
1/4 cup olive oil
1 pound shrimp

Place the green pepper, onion, garlic, pimientos, tomato sauce, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, salt and pepper and parsley in a food processor. (If you have a small one like me, you may have to do two rounds. Poor Baz.) Blend until smooth. Pour the mixture into a saucepan, stir in the olive oil and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In the meantime, clean and devein the shrimp removing the shells and tails. When the sauce has 5 minutes left of cooking time, add the shrimp and continue cooking.

Serve over white rice. And you may want to throw in a side of sweet plantains. Yummy!

I hope you like as much as I do. It is actually really great left over so throw a few extra shrimp in there for tomorrow.

Honey Soy Glazed Salmon

Tonight is very special. For one thing Damien is cooking for me. He is making his famous Honey Soy Glazed Salmon which is really spectacular.

And then, the other more exciting news is that I became an aunt today for the very first time. My brother, Raul and his beautiful wife, Meera welcomed their first son this afternoon and the whole family could not be prouder. I'll leave the details for later, but mom and baby (and dad, of course) are doing great.

Let's get back to the recipe now. Damien found this recipe on epicurious and adapted it to suit our taste.

Honey Soy Glazed Salmon
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons soy sauce
fresh lime juice of one lime (should be about 2 tablespoons)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon water
dusting of flour
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 pound salmon fillets

Put honey, soy sauce, lime juice, dijon mustard and water in a plastic container with lid. Shake the container to mix well.

Remove the skin from the salmon and dust both sides of the fish with a little bit of flour.

Heat up the vegetable oil in a skillet big enough to fit the salmon. Heat the oil on high heat until the oil is hot but not smoking. Place the salmon fillets in the skillet and cook until they are golden brown and cooked through which should take about two or three minutes on each side. Remove the fillets from the skillet and put aside.

Pour the honey soy glaze mixture into the skillet and simmer for one minute. Pour the glaze over the salmon.

Tonight Damien served with a side of string beans (I know, we eat a lot of string beans) and some coconut rice which was a bit of an experiment that generally worked.

Here is how we made it:

Coconut Rice
1 cup water
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup rice
2 tablespoons shredded coconut

Bring the water and coconut milk to a boil. Stir in the rice and shredded coconut and return to a boil. Lower heat to low setting and cook for 20 minutes.

Next time I think we will use coconut water instead of coconut milk. I also think we will try and toast the coconut in a bit of butter in the pot before we add the water and coconut water. And we should maybe try using jasmine rice next time, too.

We also drank a glass or two of Verdejo, a white Spanish wine, that went perfectly with the sweet dish.

It was a delicious dinner and I thank Damien for making it. I also thank him for cleaning up after himself.

Chicken Cordon Bleu - Diana Style

First of all, I need to take two boneless, skinless chicken breasts out of the freezer right now before I forget. They're defrosting in the refrigerator. Now I can relax.

Damien is coming home tonight which makes me happy. I had a busy couple of days so it wasn't too bad, but I miss him and wouldn't mind having a little back-up for the boy. Baz slept great the first night Damien was gone, but last night he woke up at about 1am. I tried to let him fall back to sleep on his own, but after about 10 minutes I went in there and discovered he had peed through his diaper and pajamas and was really in a state. So, I cleaned him and cuddled with him for a few minutes before putting him back to bed. He was alright after that. Well, until about 7:10am.

In honor of Damien's return, I thought I'd make one of his favorite old stand-bys. I like to call it Chicken Cordon Bleu, but since I use prosciutto and fresh mozzarella instead of regular ham and swiss cheese, I guess it's not really chicken cordon bleu.

Regardless (or irregardless, as they say in Massachusetts) it's simple to make and sort of impressive looking. Here's how I do it:

Chicken Cordon Bleu - Diana Style

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/4 cup of flour

1 egg

2 tablespoons of milk

1 cup Italian breadcrumbs

4 slices of thinly sliced prosciutto

2 - 1/4 inch slices of fresh mozzarella

1 tablespoon butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the chicken breasts lengthwise so that you can fold them open to stuff. Beat the egg with milk until frothy. Coat the chicken breasts with a light layer of the flour. Then dip the floured chicken breasts in the egg mixture. Fully coat the egged chicken breasts in the Italian breadcrumbs both on the outside and inside the split.

Lay the chicken so that they are butterflied. Place two slices of prosciutto inside the fold of the chicken breasts. Then place one slice of cheese on each breast. Fold the chicken breasts so that they are now stuffed with the prosciutto and cheese.

Place the two chicken breasts in a baking dish small enough to keep them assembled. Cut a pat of butter for each breast and place it on the top center of the breasts.

Cover the chicken with aluminum foil, loose enough so that it does not touch the top of the breasts. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for 5 more minutes. (The cooking time can vary a bit depending on the thickness and defrosting status of your chicken. You might need a few more minutes than this. I did tonight.)

While the chicken is cooking, I make the Chicken Seasoned Rice that I also made to go with the Chicken with Mango and Peach Salsa. And I also make a steamed vegetable - Tonight I think I'll make steamed string beans sauteed with a little bit of garlic.

It's really simple and delicious. Damien's gonna love it especially if I follow it up with some Haagen Dazs Dulce de Leche and Caramel Cone ice cream.

Chicken with Mango and Peach Salsa

So I am waiting with baited breath for my brother's wife to go into labor already. What's the hold up Apple Jack? I hear that she's not even a wee bit dilated or effaced.

Another Caribbean themed meal tonight. This time with chicken. It's a bit of an experiment since I haven't made it before, but it sounds like a good idea to me.

See, I bought this enormous jug of salsa at Costco over the weekend when we were having people over for appetizers and drinks. It was like $5 for 100 gallons of it. Well, maybe not quite. But since I have tons of it left, I thought I'd try to use it for something besides a corn chip dip.

So here is what I made:


Chicken with Mango and Peach Salsa
1 1/2 cups of mango and peach salsa (Costco sells it, but you can use whatever salsa you have)
2 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 chicken breasts (I'm using boneless, skinless, but I bet it'd be better with bone-in, with skin)
salt and pepper


I took the salsa, garlic and some olive oil and blasted it in the food processor for a few seconds to get it nice and smoothed out and mixed together. Then I seasoned the chicken breasts with some salt and pepper and poured my salsa mixture all over it. It's marinating now. I'm giving it about an hour or so.

I'm going to take the chicken out of the salsa and sear it in a frying pan with just a tiny bit more olive oil. I just want it to get a bit browned on the outside. Then I'll put the chicken in a baking dish and pour the salsa mixture over it and bake it for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

I'm serving it with a side of chicken seasoned rice. This is how I make that:

Chicken Seasoned Rice
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 onion, diced
1 cube of chicken bouillon
2 cups water
1 cup of rice

Melt the butter in a small pot on medium to high heat. Add the onion and saute until they are translucent and just starting to brown. Add the chicken bouillon cube and break it up a bit with a wooden spoon. Then add the water and stir until the bouillon cube is dissolved. Bring the mixture to a boil. Add the rice and return it to a boil. Then lower heat to the lowest setting and cook for 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Since this has tomatoes and peaches and mango, I don't think I am going to make another veggie side dish. But, I don't know. Maybe I should. We'll see how Damien reacts.

I hope it's good. I'll give you an update when it's done.