Eating This: Fresh from Southern California

Riverside Farmer's Market

I have been on a bit of a mini-vacation in Southern Calirofnia, hosted by friends in Riverside at their home.  The setting is idyllic, really beautiful and I know why they love being here so much.  Food is important here:  Fresh food. Local food. Delicious food.  Our dinners have been really extraordinary.  Here are some photos of the fresh products from their garden and the local Farmer's Market and the resulting meal!

Eat This: Sunday Fish

Italian salmon with tomatoes and herbs and redfish in lemon butter.

Two fish for dinner this evening:  one redfish, pan roasted in a simple butter and lemon and salmon cooked in the Italian manner.  Both delicious. Both easy. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Using two oven proof pans; I used one Calphalon all stainless and one non-stick (which I used for the redfish).

So here's how I did it:

Sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil - you will need 1/4 Cup.

One can of fire-roasted tomatoes and fresh oregano (you can substitute dried but I like the taste of fresh) - about 1/4 Cup loosely packed fresh oregano or 2 Tablespoons dried.

One fresh redfish fillet - As small or as large as you like - this one was 1# and at $14/lb. was very nice.

One half of a salmon fillet (fresh, wild caught) - this was about 1# as well.

Combine the fresh oregano, tomatoes and the sun-dried tomatoes.

Add 2 Tablespoons capers, drained, 1 Tsp. garlic powder, 1 Tsp. onion powder, 1 Tsp. crushed red pepper flakes, 4 Tablespoons lemon juice, 1/2 Tsp. black pepper, 1/2 Tsp. Kosher salt and

... five chopped green onions. Substitute fresh garlic and onion for the powder (my original recipe called for the powder)

Oh yeah, and a glass of wine while doing this is almost required, right?

For the salmon, put the tomato mixture in the pan and sit the salmon fillets on top.

Spoon about 3 Tablespoons of the mixture on top.  For the redfish, I combined 3 Tablespoons of butter and 4 Tablespoons of lemon juice.  Pour the butter mixture over the redfish fillet and shake freshly ground pepper over the top.

I roasted the pans together for 25 minutes.  Be sure to check at 20 mins. Overcooked fish is nasty.  The saving grace is that both these recipes are really forgiving.

The results:

Salmon in tomatoes and herbs.

Redfish in lemon and butter.

Friday Images: Food

So, today I stopped by the market on my way home and was struck by the color and variety in the produce section.  I can't imagine what would have happened had I ventured into the bakery.

Good Eats: Caprese Reimagined

My favorite warm weather salad is the classic Caprese.  Vine ripened tomatoes, Buffalo mozzarella, basil and EVOO.  Instead of the usual "stack it up and tear it down" variety ..

Classic Caprese Salad

... I like to do a "put it all in a bowl" variety.  I dice up the tomatoes and mozzarella, roll up the basil and cut in "chiffonade"  - long thin strips.  I added some fresh oregano from the backyard planters where the basil came from, some roasted garlic grey salt I buy from NapaStyle.com, throw in some EVOO and black pepper... delicious.

My Caprese Salad

Dinner: Shrimp & Grits, Texas Style

Tonight I wanted something SPICY, but was also in the "Sunday" frame of mind... comfort food.

Being an addict for shrimp... I thought: Shrimp & Grits! A nod to my Southern heritage.  Living in Texas years ago I have a pretty good palate for hot and spicy.

So here's the scoop:  I took quick cooking grits (1 cup) and used chicken broth and the liquid from a can of Rotel tomatoes (3 cups total) too cook them in.  Once I had the liquid measured, I added back the drained Rotel tomatoes.  Delicious enough, right? Creamy. Spicy.  Not good enough yet.  Add 2 pats of butter and 1/2 cup of aged White Vermont Cheddar and a half teaspoon of roasted garlic grey salt (I get mine from NapaStyle.com).

Then, the shrimp.  I used a pound of large, peeled and deveined Gulf shrinp that have been marinated for a couple of hours in 1 T. of Vietnamese Garlic-Chili Paste - more or less to your taste, but the grits are going to be spicy too so.. tread lightly.  Quick saute of 4 green onions, thinly sliced using only the whites and about 2" of the green ends, one Jalapeno, seeded and FINELY chopped in olive oil (about 3 T.) and butter (3 pats).  Add the shrimp and saute FAST until pink on one side.  Now here's the tricky part: flip em over, remove them from the heat, scoop them all in the center of the pan and cover.  Let it sit for about 3 minutes and they will be PERFECT. Overcooked shrimp are not to be eaten.  Ever.

Shrimp and a little of the pan juices, served over the piping hot grits in a nice earthenware bowl?  H-E-A-V-E-N!

An ice cold beer is the perfect compliment.

Go for it and let me know how it turns out.