Shrimp Pasta Alfredo

Food adventure time again! Tonight's dinner is gonna be good. Got 2 kinds of pasta from Publix,it was a bogo. We got some tortellini and some ravioli. They are very similar and it will be dynamite.
 Things we need for my Shrimp Pasta Alfredo

a pound and a half of uncooked shrimp
8 oz pack of mushrooms
8 oz bag of baby spinach
2 Jars of Newman's Own Roasted Garlic Alfredo Sauce
6 cloves of garlic.
2 8 oz bags of tortellini and/or ravioli

I like this dish because it's so easy. I just worked a 12 hour day and have no problem using alfredo sauce from a jar. It's a nice short cut, and I step on it so much you won't recognize it when I'm done. After boiling my pasta, I put all my ingredients in my biggest cooking pot and stir things up real good. Place into the glass pan for baking and let the oven do all the work. I did it at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Now that it's out, we let it cool 10 minutes so you don't burn your mouth. It looks and smells wonderful. Time to eat!

Tony's Rating : 4.0

Yummy! And, I really didn't have to do a darn thing but turn the oven on. The mushrooms and spinach compliment the cream sauce and give the pasta a rich texture. A little salty, glad I don't ever add salt to anything. Shrimp is naturally salty, so is the Alfredo sauce.

Sandys Rating : 4.0

The shrimp was perfectly cooked, and I love the earthy flavors of the spinach and mushrooms combined with creamy alfredo sauce.

Until next time foodies. All men must dine! ~Tony

Pork Steaks with Lemon Grass

Hello, foodies!  This week's food adventure comes from a cheap little Thai food cookbook I bought years ago.  I modified this recipe to what is available and to my tastes a bit, so read the notes before you go shopping.

Ingredients:
2 lemon grass stalks, outer leaves removed
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. Thai fish sauce
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
1 Tbsp. lime juice
4 spring onions, finely chopped
2 Tbsp. coconut milk
4 pork steaks
lime wedges, to garnish

1.  Finely chop the lemon grass in place in a bowl with the garlic, pepper, sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, oil, lime juice, spring onions, and coconut milk.  Mix well to combine.

2.  Place the pork steaks in a large, shallow, non-metallic dish.  Pour over the marinade and turn the steaks until coated.  Cover the dish with clingfilm and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

3.  Preheat the grill to medium.  Cook the pork steaks under the hot grill for 5 minutes on each side, or until cooked through.  Garnish with lime wedges and serve immediately.

Notes:

*  I have never found fresh lemon grass anywhere.  I substitute with the pre-chopped stuff in a tube and have no real idea how much two stalks would be.  I equate it to a tablespoon and match the measurements on the package.

*  Thai fish sauce is an acquired taste, one that I really never acquired.  However, the first time I tried to make a recipe from this book and it called for it, I ran out to buy it.  It has lasted years.  I do not use the two tablespoons it calls for, but rather added extra soy sauce and threw in a 1/2 teaspoon of the fish sauce for a little more authentic flavor.  I don't even pour it in the measuring spoon over the pot for fear of spilling the excess in my dish.  When I run out of it, I will just substitute soy sauce instead.

*  I substitute creamed coconut, re-hydrated, in this dish and use twice the amount.  It didn't make sense to me to buy a 12 oz. can of coconut milk to only use two tablespoons when I had creamed coconut at home already.

*  The secret ingredient:  1 raw egg.  When I cook anything with an Asian flavor and have to marinade it, I always add an egg.  It helps the meat absorb the flavors better.

*  Not sure what it is with this cookbook that thinks all meat is cooked in 5-10 minutes.  It took 20 minutes on the grill, and could've maybe cooked another 5 minutes without drying it out.

*  Sesame oil is a bit expensive, but it adds so much flavor that once you've used it, you can't go without it.

*  We paired this with coconut rice, green beans from the garden, and a nice riesling.

Ratings:

Sandy:  I have been a bit under the weather this weekend, and, as such, have not had much of an appetite.  I did eat two bites of my pork chop, and it was tender, juicy, and well-flavored.  However, it will now be Monday's lunch.

Tony:  4 stars.

It was grilled to perfection.  The marinade really saturated the meat and kept it tender.  The green onions made it snap.  And, the lemongrass, garlic and coconut flavors really came out in the meat.  My only regret is we waited so long to eat, but I will have a fabulous lunch on Monday.

Cost:
pork chops - on sale for a little over $4
green onions - 69 cents a bunch
Soy sauce - about $2

Everything else was stocked in our kitchen, and, as it is just Tony and I, I only used two of the four pork chops.

Until next time...
Sandy

Mussels Catalan

Happy Mother's Day! And, there's no better way to celebrate it than having over Grace Jackson and her hubby, Jerry, for dinner and drinks. We did a tapas style dinner and, oh my goodness, we grazed for hours. Good times. For the coup de grace, I made Mussels Catalan.

As you know, I am about quick, easy and good in the kitchen.  Well, this dish is all that. Things you are going to need need:
 1 stick of unsalted butter.
 1 cup of white wine
 6 cloves of garlic
 fresh parsley from the garden for some color.
 and a baguette for dipping
 2 pounds of live mussels.... and that's it. Super easy.

Get a big pot to melt your butter in and set to a medium high temperature. Once your butter is melted, drop your garlic in and roast it up nice, but don't burn it. Now, the hard part, these are live mussels, and I kind of feel bad for the little guys.  They were just sitting in the fridge, minding their own business, not bothering anyone, and here I come along to send them to the afterlife in a blaze of butter and garlic. Well you gotta eat. Top of the food chain, yo!



Okay, after that morality crisis has passed, add your white wine to the mussels and cook for 10 minutes, or until all the muscles have opened. Do not eat the unopened mussels!!  They will make you very sick.  Lucky for me, every mussel opened and was cooked to perfection. Time to eat!!

We have a special guests rating our feast tonight:
Jerry Jackson: I like everything about it. 5 Stars.

Grace Jackson : The muscles were tender and the sauce was light. Was not too salty and was seasoned perfectly.
Rating 5.0

The total cost of the muscles was about 12 bucks for everything. Cheap dinner and fun to share with friends and family. Thanks for "Gracing" us with your presence. Till next time guys, All men must dine! ~Tony

Stuffed Pork Chops

This week our food adventure takes us back to New Orleans via Paul Prudhomme for one of my favorites -- stuffed pork chops.  Nothing beats the sweet and spicy flavors of this dish.

Ingredients:

2 unpeeled medium apples, coarsely chopped             Seasoning Mix:
7 Tbsp. unsalted butter                                                 1 Tbsp. Salt
3 Tbsp light brown sugar                                              1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract                                                      1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg                                                 3/4 tsp. garlic powder
                                                                                      1/2 tsp. white pepper
***************                                                                1/2 tsp. dry mustard
                                                                                      1/2 tsp. rubbed sage
6 (1 1/4-inch-thick) pork chops                                      1/2 tsp. ground cumin
3/4 lb. ground pork                                                        1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 c. chopped onions                                                      1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 c. chopped green bell peppers
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 (4 oz.) can diced green chilies and their juice
1 c. chicken or pork stock
1/2 c. very fine dry bread crumbs
1/2 c. finely chopped green onions

1.  Process the apples, 4 tablespoons of the butter, the sugar, vanilla and nutmeg in a food processor or blender until smooth, about 3-4 minutes.  Set aside.

2.  In a small bowl or cup, thoroughly mix the ingredients of the seasoning mix.  Set aside.

3.  Prepare pork chops by cutting a large pocket (to the bone) into the larger side of each chop to hold the stuffing.

4.  In a large skillet, brown the ground pork in the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter of high heat, about 3 minutes.

5.  Add the onions, bell peppers, garlic, and 2 tablespoons of the seasoning mix.  Stir well.  Cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and scraping the bottom of the pan well.

6.  Stir in green chilies and continue cooking until mixture is well browned, about 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally and scraping the bottom fo the pain as needed.

7.  Add the stock and cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

8.  Stir in the bread crumbs and cook about 3 minutes.

9.  Add the apple mixture and the green onions.  Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly and scrapping the bottom of the pain as needed.

10.  Remove from heat.

11.  In a large skillet, heat enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan.

12.  Sprinkle remaining seasoning mix (plus some extra if you want) into some flour on a plate.  Dip pork chops in the flour, inside and out, and fry in heated oil until done.

13.  Place pork chop on plate and scoop a heaping spoonful of stuffing into the middle.  Serve with desired side, and beverage of choice.  We chose a Barefoot Pinot Noir.

Notes:

*  The original recipe calls for you to stuff the pocket full of stuffing and bake at 400 degrees until meat is done (about 1 hour 10 minutes), adding excess stuffing, in a separate small pan, for the last 20 minutes.  We were hungry and wanted our food faster, so we altered the recipe.  I do think this resulted in a juicier pork chop, and it gave it a little bit of crunch it doesn't get in the oven.

* Publix sells pre-butterflied pork chops that are perfect for this dish.  They seem to go on sale pretty often, too.

*  We were unable to locate ground pork, so we substituted with mild Italian sausage.  I think it was a little better.

*  I forgot to pick up the green onions when we went shopping, so we used chives from our herb garden.

*  Seven tablespoons of butter is just one tablespoon shy of the whole stick.  That one tablespoon isn't saving me much in calories considering everything else in the dish, so, we threw it in, too.

*  We don't make 6 pork chops when we make this, but make the full recipe of stuffing.  It freezes well and makes it a lot easier the next time you want to make this dish.  It would probably be good in some chicken as well.

Rating:

Sandy's rating:  5 stars

The first time I read this recipe I crinkled my nose and wondered what idiot would eat apples, vanilla, and nutmeg with onions and garlic!  Then, I tried it.  This is one of my favorite dishes.  I love the sweet and spicy flavors.  It is satisfying food for the soul.  And, this time, we got to serve it with a side of mustard greens picked from our garden that morning.

Tony's rating:  4.5 stars

It would've been a lot better if I hadn't drowned the greens in habanero sauce and destroyed my tastebuds on the first bite.  But, besides that, it was the best it has ever been.  The stuffing was cooked to perfection and the pork chop was crispy and delicious.

Cost:

Pork chops:  $4.11
green bell pepper - 99 cents
onion - 69 cents
green chilies - $1.19
Italian sausage - $3.99
2 gala apples - $2.25
bread crumbs - about $1.50

Everything else was stocked in our kitchen already, making it a fairly cheap dish to make.  And, if you stash some of the stuffing, you have a quick and easy meal next time you need o really wow someone.

Enjoy!