Barbecue, Brunch then Dinner.

Saturday night we had a few people over for barbecued pork chops and baked potatoes. They all brought contributions with sausage balls, potato salad, mixed flavour cheese cakes slices and a Boston Cream Pie. I also prepared a salad and some okra. Thereby hangs a tale. I use okra a lot when I make gumbo, but I don’t usually cook them plain. Years ago we were given some okra and I passed them on to a friend, she cooked some in our microwave then and there and they were delicious so I was annoyed I had given her the rest. Saturday, I didn’t like to call this friend because she has been ill but then I heard from the others that just the other day she was boiling okra and they didn’t turn out right, so maybe she has forgotten how to microwave them. In the end I did it by guess and I used, for the first time, a Microwave spatter screen I was given as a birthday gift. The okra turned out OK but I think I Matt and I were the only ones who liked them. This in the south and at least two of our guests were genuine, all fired southerners neither of whom had ever eaten okra other than deep fried.

There should have been 9 of us but once again illness struck and she had to beg off. This whole trip has been plagued by some form of incapacity or another. Of course the weather became ill too and it was pretty cold all weekend. Saturday afternoon we watched our neighbours install a new window which was actually quite hilarious with the comments being made by one of their number. Matt asked if they charged for the entertainment. All very funny.

Earlier we went to see our shrimp supplier Capt’n Sam and had big hugs with his wife. She is going to check out some things for us and then we have to take in our cooler today. What they do is pack the shrimp in one pound flat bags and load up the cooler with the shrimp and lots of ice, they then put it in their big freezer. We pick it up on our way home. If we keep the cooler in the car, we find the shrimp travel very well and are still solid when we get home. We already have our turkey breasts in our freezer here.

Sunday lunchtime friends took us to Shephard’s Point for brunch. A celebration of birthday and anniversary. The food was buffet style and was really good. I finally got to try shrimp and grits which I have never managed to choose before, I enjoyed it. There were all kinds of foods available including bacon and eggs benedict, roast beef, waffles, omelettes, fruit and grouper bites. Lots of things, but, damned fool I forgot my camera. We stuffed ourselves. They also gave us a basket of sweet breads which I shouldn’t have pigged out on, but did. By the time we get home I will have gained a lot of weight I think. Trouble was, we were invited to dinner in the evening.

Having rested a while and allowed all that food to digest, we headed to the home of our friend who had invited us to dinner. She had made us a delicious shrimp creole as the main course – we both had second helpings. Had a very pleasant evening with her and came home fairly early, we seem to be going to bed a lot earlier lately, mind you this morning it is not even 6 a.m. as I am sitting here typing. What a weekend though, nothing but eating, I dread getting on the scales when I get home.

To the British in particular, grits are something of a mystery, I remember watching Beverly Hillbillies years ago and grandma talking about making hominy grits, it sounded like something to do with pigs but it turns out to be made from corn. If you click on the word you will find information on just what grits really are. Plus a number of recipes including the one below. There seem to be as many recipes for shrimp and grits as there are cooks. Some cooks add hot sauce some don’t. Most don’t use instant grits, I imagine they would not be so good. The recipe below doesn’t use cheese although most do, it relies more on heavy cream. The picture shows tails left on the shrimp, I hate that and would never serve my shrimp that way, you have to get yourself messy whilst trying to enjoy the dish.

Creamy Grits with Shrimp

1 pound large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined*
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups hot stock (shrimp, chicken, or vegetable)
1/4 cup butter
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 cup stone-ground grits**
3 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
Salt and black pepper to taste
6 bacon slices
2 tablespoons finely-chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons finely chopped green or red bell pepper

* Add add flavour, place the shells of the shrimp in a saucepan and cover with water. Simmer over low heat approximately 7 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and strain the broth, discarding shells. Add shrimp broth to hot stock.

** If using quick-cooking grits (not instant, reduce cream to 1/2 cup and reduce stock to 1 cup).

In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, combine cream, water, and hot stock; bring to a gentle boil. Add butter salt, and pepper. Slowly add grits, stirring constantly (so that the grits do not settle to the bottom and scorch), until all are added; reduce heat to medium-low. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally (be careful not to scorch mixture), or until the grits are tender.

NOTE: Grits should have absorbed all of the liquid and become soft and should have the same consistency as oatmeal (moist, not dry). If the grits become too thick, add warm stock or water to thin. remove from heat.

Sprinkle shrimp with lemon juice, salt, and pepper; set aside. In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, cook bacon until brown but  not crisp. Remove from heat and pat dry with paper towels; set aside. Coarsely chop bacon when cool. Reserve 4 tablespoons bacon grease in the frying pan. Add onion, garlic, and green or red bell pepper; sauté 10 minutes or until the onion is transparent. Add shrimp mixture and bacon; sauté 5 to 7 minutes or until shrimp are opaque in center (cut to test). Remove from heat.

To serve, spoon hot grits onto individual serving plates and top with shrimp mixture.

Makes 4 servings.

Have a great day

Elections, Bowling, Dinner

I think I may have mentioned that I am sick to death of electioneering from the US which has been going on for months and will not finish until November. Now our own Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has called an election which will take place on October 14. At least our campaigning won't take so long, but it means a double whammy of advertising on TV. As a friend of mine might say, oy vey. The picture is one posted by the Green Party, I am very tempted to vote for them as I would like to see a party get in who cared about the environment which it seems to me is not the case with most of them. I won't be around when the polar bears go extinct because of ruined habitat, or any other similar situations which will surely arise in the future, but I still care enough to want to do something about it. Here is a quote from the Green Party page "Harper said he wants to be involved in the anti-Kyoto plan to coax the US into joining Kyoto. That’s like saying the reason you're joining the bank robbers in the heist (is) to convince them to go straight." Today is bowling day for the first time this winter season. I have missed it for the last few weeks since the summer league ended. Even though it means practically eating my lunch at breakfast time because they start so early and parking is so difficult. The pity is we will bowl today and then next week will be away. Not sure if we will be back the following week. Depends if we are having fun and/or the weather is being nice to us. I hope I can bowl as well this season as I did during the summer season. Trouble is the winter crowd don't seem to care that much which I find has an effect on me. Had a delightful dinner on Saturday night at a friend's house. It was, unfortunately, a tad cool for sitting outside for long. We had a drink and then ate our hors d'ouvres outside, large grilled garlic shrimp accompanied by bread and a dipping sauce of which I ate far too much and then went in as it was a bit chilly. For a main course we had a choice of chicken Cordon Bleu or Kiev with veggies cooked on the barbecue and we finished up with a sinful chocolate mousse served with Cappucino ice cream. I know our hostess reads this blog now and then so thanks a bunch, it was good. Picture from myrecipes.com. It turns out that a lot of people don't like cold soups like the one I posted on Saturday. Sorry about that y'all, but I love them and I am going to post another from the same source, Home Basics. I suppose you could heat this one if you absolutely had to!! Curried Carrot Soup Source Home Basics Serves 4 1 Tbs butter 1 medium onion, chopped 2 tsp curry powder 2 tsp grated fresh ginger 5 medium carrots, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch pieces 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth 2 cups light cream, divided 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 cup plain yoghurt In a medium saucepan set over medium low heat, melt the butter. Add the onion and sauté 3 to 4 mins. or until softened. Add the curry powder and ginger and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the carrots and broth, increase the heat to medium and cook covered for 25 to 30 mins or until the carrots are very tender. Remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Stir in 1 cup of cream. Purée the soup in a blender or processor until completely smooth. Add the remaining cream and salt and blend again to mix. Transfer to a covered container and refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 2 hours or overnight. To serve, ladle soup into individual bowls and swirl a generous dollop of yoghurt into each. Have a great day.