Summertime Shrimp Rolls

Summertime Shrimp Roll

You know how those fancy-schmancy lobster rolls get all the attention? Well thanks to fellow foodie blogger Tom over at The Bonafide Farm Food Journal we can all now enjoy what he calls “the lobster roll’s better more lovable brother.” Hop on over to his blog and read about what he thinks! It’s a good read.

I adapted his recipe to make only two sandwiches since my daughter was away that night for dinner. I also lightened it up a bit and used half mayo, half lowfat Greek yogurt. This hoagie just came out INCREDIBLE! It’s not only pretty to look at, it is pretty danged delicious. And it’s super-easy to make, too. Try it, you’ll like it!

Summertime Shrimp Rolls (Makes 2 Sandwiches)
Adapted from The Bonafide Farm Food Journal/Tom Hirschfeld

1/2 pound large, raw deveined shrimp
1/4 cup English cucumber, diced
4 sugar snap peas, cut crosswise into thin rounds (about 2 tablespoons)
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 heaping tablespoon mayonnaise
1 heaping tablespoon 2% fat Greek yogurt
1/4 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
Sea salt, to taste
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
2 hoagie rolls of choice (I used sesame seed)
Red or green leaf lettuce

Shrimp Roll Ingredients

Bring a 2-quart pot of water with 1 tablespoon of salt up to a roiling boil. Add the shrimp and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Drain the shrimp in a colander and run cold water over them. Remove the shells and tails then chop the shrimp into 1/2-inch pieces and add to a mixing bowl.

Chopped Shrimp and Veggies

Add the rest of the ingredients except the rolls and lettuce to the shrimp. Mix until well-combined.

Split the buns from the top, line with leaves of lettuce and top with the shrimp salad. Serve with sliced dill pickles and potato chips.

Summertime Shrimp Roll

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Braised Chicken in Milk

Braised Chicken in Milk

Sometimes you just have to ignore comments on a recipe and just go with it. This is one I followed some suggestions from the original recipe, and they didn’t work out for me. Plus the fact that my husband insisted he didn’t want “split milk” and that the original instructions stated “you can add a few tablespoons of fat to keep the sauce from curdling” but failed to read on that “the split sauce is actually the point.”

Well I came out with a LOT of sauce that wasn’t split, and it was much too watery. Many readers said they did not have enough sauce and wish they kept the pot covered, which I did. SOOOOO, lesson learned? If you are going to make a recipe from someone as famous in the culinary world as Jamie Oliver, just try it exactly as is and then modify as needed on the next go-round.

However, the chicken was exceedingly moist and tender, and the sauce was delicious even if too much and too watery. For the leftovers, I scraped off the fat that solidified to the top (the butter and olive oil) the next day after refrigerating it and reduced the strained sauce over the stove. BINGO! Split milk curdly sauce.  OMG it was delicious!!! Both me and my daughter ate the leftovers right up. Next go-round with this? Original recipe. I will link to that. My variations are in the recipe below, which is probably not the best help for you. Comments are added to NOT do some things I did. 😉

I served this with homemade mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach with some of the lemon juice from the lemon I zested for this.

Braised Chicken in Milk Ingredients

Braised Chicken in Milk
Adapted from Jamie Oliver’s Chicken in Milk on the Food52 website

One 3 to 4 pound organic chicken (Mine was 3 1/2 pounds)
Salt or Mrs. Dash, to taste
Ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons real butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cinnamon stick
3 sprigs fresh sage (use more if you have some, that’s all I had)
Zest of 1 very large lemon, peeled in thick strips with a peeler
10 to 15 garlic cloves, skins left on. (Some of mine were very small)
2 cups whole milk (not half or skim)

Snug Chicken in a Pot!

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and use a snug-fitting pot for the chicken (My 3 1/2 pound chicken fit snugly in a 3 quart saucepan that had an oven proof lid, however you may not want a lid).

Season the chicken all over with salt or Mrs. Dash and pepper, and fry it in the butter and olive oil. Turn it 1/4 turns until golden-ish all over. This took about 20 minutes.

Browned Chicken

Remove from the heat then put the chicken on a plate. Here was my first mistake. I left the butter and olive oil in the pot. Don’t do that. Remove it for another use, such as sauteing some veggies.

Put your chicken back in the pot with the rest of the ingredients, then cook it covered (DON’T) in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours. Baste with the cooking juice when you remember. (I forgot, OY!) However, if you do want more sauce you can partially cover it. I did end up taking the lid off in the last 20 minutes to brown the skin a bit more.

The Rest of the Ingredients Added to Chicken Ready to Finish Cooking

When done, remove from oven, then cut and divide the chicken on to your plates. Spoon over plenty of juice and curds (if you have them!). Serve with wilted spinach or greens and mashed potatoes.

Braised Chicken in Milk Meal

As an aside, here is what the “reduced” gravy after taking out the fat looked like with the chicken in it the next day (I added the chicken after reducing the sauce just to heat the meat back up.) That sauce was WAY better that way. Just remember, curdles aren’t all that bad, even if your spouse disagrees! 🙂

Split Milk and Lemon Sauce Done Right

 

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Baked Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus Spears

Baked Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus Spears

A quick disclaimer: These are not easy and do NOT take 10 minutes to make. So there, I said it. This is one of those appetizers that I see all the time on Pinterest being touted as “so easy!” and “takes just 10 minutes!” and other catchy LIES. 😉

Kidding aside, these do present well and were a big hit at our company potluck. There is really not much of a recipe, it is more of a “method” to get these puppies to turn out just right. I think one of the issues I had was I followed some advice to ask the deli to slice the prosciutto “as paper thin as they can.” In theory that’s good since prosciutto is very expensive, but the downside is that it makes it very difficult to work with.

But at the end of the day (a long one at that!) these did turn out beautiful and so very tasty. If you have patience, you will be rewarded. Start to end, this took me over an hour to make.

Trimmed Asparagus

Baked Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus Spears

1 1/2 pounds thick asparagus spears (about 30 or so)
1/2 brick Neufchâtel cream cheese
1/4 pound thinly sliced prosciutto
Ground black pepper
Lemon wedge and zest

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or foil and spray with olive oil. Wash the asparagus and lop off the woody ends.

Next, lay out slices of prosciutto on a cutting board, then spread a thin layer of cream cheese over them. This is one thing I messed up from the get-go, as I cut my first batch into thin strips then tried to spread the cream cheese over. Do NOT do it that way.

What a disaster! Don’t do it this way.

Spread the cream cheese THEN cut it into strips. One by one, wrap the strips of prosciutto around each asparagus spear and place onto the baking sheet. This process takes a while.

Asparagus Ready to Bake

Grind black pepper over the spears, then spritz the naked ends with olive oil. Place in a preheated 400-degree oven and bake for 15 minutes. At that point, bump the oven to broil and broil for about 5 more minutes.

Remove from oven, and place in a serving dish using tongs. Squeeze the lemon wedge over the dish, then zest the lemon peel over it. At this point you can serve immediately or put in the refrigerator. When ready to serve, warm the dish in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes.

Baked Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus Spears

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Tarragon Chive Lemon Butter on Grilled Steaks

Tarragon Chive Lemon Butter on Steak

My parents have made it back to town for the summer to escape the sizzling heat of Texas, only to bring their sizzling heat with them. OK so high 80s/low 90s is not exactly sizzling by Texas standards, but when you have no AC that’s hot enough, thank you.

We invited them for dinner this past weekend and figured we’d grill them up some steaks, but I wanted to make their welcome-back dinner a little more special. So I tried my hand at making a compound butter with some of the fresh herbs from my planter garden.

Butter, Lemon, and Tarragon

This was so gosh-darn easy. OK I take that back. I do not have a proper zester and it frustrated the heck out of me to finally get at least a teaspoon of zest from the lemon on my cheese grater. I was so frustrated that I finally took a photo of my pitiful attempt before getting that amount (minus the chives, those were added last minute). But I finally got ‘er done!

This herbed lemon butter can be used for more than steaks, such as fresh steamed green beans or asparagus. In fact, I must try that!

Herbed Butter Log Ready to Chill

Tarragon Chive Lemon Butter on Grilled Steaks

1 stick of unsalted sweet cream butter (8 tablespoons)
Zest of one lemon plus about a teaspoon of the lemon juice from it
2 tablespoons fresh chopped tarragon
1 teaspoon fresh chopped chives
1 steak per person (we used New York Strip, any good steak cut will do)

Let the butter sit on the counter for a few hours to soften and bring to room temperature. Add the softened butter to a small bowl, then add the rest of the ingredients (except the steak, ha!). Using a fork, combine and squish and mix around until it’s all incorporated well. Plop the butter mixture onto wax or parchment paper, then roll it around until it’s the shape of a large tootsie roll. Seal it on the ends and then refrigerate until the butter hardens. In the interest of time I put it in the freezer for about 15 minutes then transferred to the refrigerator.

Grill up those steaks seasoned lightly with salt and lots of black pepper, then top with a pat of the herbed butter. Put the butter on while the steaks rest for five minutes, so it starts melting all over it. YUMM! This added such a fresh taste to the steaks, and my mom even used more of the butter for her baked potato. I loved the fact that nobody asked for any kind of bottled steak sauce! You will not be disappointed.

p.s. We are leaving again for a trip to our RV property on the coast for four days on Thursday after work. I don’t know if I’ll have time to write that one before we leave, but if not, you’ll see a fab new recipe early next week!

Melting Herbed Butter on Steak