My Last Meal in America

Holy exhaustion Batman.  You don't know tired until you move to a foreign country.  A little over two weeks ago, my family and I moved to Florence, Italy for my husband's job.  Thankfully, my husband and I visited over the summer, so I was reasonably prepared for what we would need, and what things we should bring from the States (thankfully I remembered taco seasonings and Old Bay!)

I think people really don't realize that Italians eat pasta every single day.  It's nothing like pasta in the States, it's lighter, more flavorful, and in all ways just better, so trust me, I plan on taking plenty of cooking classes to share my experiences and recipes!  I want to learn not only authentic Italian cooking (which varies by region), but other European cuisines as well.  Italian food is amazing.  Everything is always fresh and homemade.  In Italy, if something isn't homemade, they'll tell you. 

And trust me, Italian food is kind of like dating.  You can weed out the phony "tourist trap" food versus the amazing Italian food very very quickly.  (For example, if you see a huge mound of gelato, slowly back away.  You are being bamboozled.  Go to a small gelateria where there aren't any/many tourists and allow yourself to be completely blown away.)

The thing is, as much as I love Italian food, I had a hankering for a cheeseburger the other day, and me, yes, Little Miss "I only eat healthy food" dragged my husband to Hard Rock Cafe for a huge bbq burger.  I have to say, it was awesome- until I was in a food coma and literally couldn't move for ten minutes. 

After my honkin' "American cheeseburger", I got to thinking...in the whirlwind of packing up and moving to Italy, what was my last homemade American meal?

Shrimp and Grits!!

 

How befitting, I moved to the South a Philly girl, and left the US with grits in my belly.

Here's the easiest recipe for grits you'll ever find.  This is not quite as amazing as my best friend Alexis' shrimp and grits recipe, but she's promised to share that with you all another time.  This recipe is simple and no holds barred delicious.  Give it a go!

Cara's Shrimp and Grits
serves 4

You'll need:

For the Shrimp:

• (1) 1lb bag of shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/2 Green Bell Pepper
• 1/2 Yellow Pepper
• 1/2 Red Bell Pepper
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 Cup corn (I used frozen sweet corn, but you can use fresh if you want)
• 3 Tb Old Bay (You can add more if you like.  I tend to go heavy on the Old Bay)
• **1lb Andouille Sausage, sliced (I didn't have any on hand, but you should definitely try it with the sausage!

Heat a medium sized skillet to medium heat.  Chop, slice the peppers (or if you want, just buy a bag of frozen chopped/sliced peppers) and toss them in the preheated pan with 1/2 the butter, sliced andouille and Old Bay.  Cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Stir in the corn.  Cook for 1 minute.  Add the remaining butter and the shrimp.  Cook until the shrimp go from clear to white/pink and begin to curl (2-3 minutes).  Stir occasionally.  If it seems like the butter is reducing quickly, lower the heat a bit and add a bit more butter, a splash of fish or chicken stock, or a splash of white cooking wine  Don't overcook them!  Add more Old Bay to taste.

For the Grits:

• 1 1/2 Cups water
• 1 1/2 Cups milk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup white or yellow quick grits (NOT INSTANT) 
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Tb butter
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (optional)

1. In a small pot, bring water, milk, and salt to a boil.
2. Slowly stir grits into boiling mixture.
3. Stir continuously and thoroughly until grits are well mixed.
4. Let the pot return to a boil, cover pot with a lid, lower the temperature, and cook for approximately 30 minutes stirring frequently.
5. Add more water if necessary.
6. Grits are done when they have the consistency of stiff cream of wheat.
7. Stir in butter.
8. Serve with additional butter on top. (Optional- I didn't do this since the grits were being topped with the shrimp, veggies and Old Bay butter sauce.)

Serve grits topped with shrimp and veggies!  Enjoy!

Lemon Garlic Shrimp and Tilapia

One of Laela's favorite foods to eat is shrimp.  With butter, plain, in Chinese food, in scampi, cooked in a crab boil, you name the way it comes (she'll even down them with some spicy cajun seasoning!), and she'll inhale them by the pound.

Since Kyle isn't the biggest shrimp fan in the world, and Laela asked to have shrimp for dinner, I compromised and made some lemon-garlic shrimp and tilapia with broccoli and brown rice.  It was a delicious meal that didn't take a ton of time, and was the perfect combo of being both filling but not heavy so that when we went to the park afterwards, we didn't feel like we were laden down from a huge meal.

Lemon-Garlic Shrimp and Tilapia with Brown Rice and Broccoli

You'll need:

• 1/2 lb peeled and deveined shrimp (I usually buy frozen by the pound since it's generally cheaper)
• 4 Tilapia filets, deboned and filleted
• 4 Cloves garlic, diced
• 2 Lemons
• 2 Broccoli Heads, or broccoli florets
• Brown rice of your choosing (enough to serve 4)
• Onion Powder
• Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Instructions:

• Heat a large skillet to medium heat.
• Drizzle the skillet with olive oil (a teaspoon or two, enough to make sure the pan is covered so that the fish does not stick to the pan)
• Slice one lemon into thin slices.
• Lightly sprinkle the tilapia with onion powder, salt and pepper.
• Do the same to the shrimp.
• Place the tilapia and two garlic cloves in the hot pan.  Surround them with the lemon slices.  (Don't overcrowd the pan though.  A few slices will do.)

• Squeeze lemon juice on top of the fish.  If the fillets are thin, they should take about 2 minutes per side.  With fish, when it is ready, it becomes more white rather than clear white, up the sides.  It also releases itself from the pan when it is ready to be flipped, or is done cooking.
• Remove the tilapia from heat.  (Fish is flaky when it is done.  If you need a knife at all for tilapia, it's not done cooking.)
• Place the shrimp and 1 garlic clove in the hot pan, making sure there is enough oil in the pan.
• Squeeze some lemon on the shrimp and toss in a few lemon slices.
• Shrimp cook quickly, so when they begin to curl, change color, and look more firm, take them out.
• Serve with a side of lemon.

For the Broccoli:

• Heat a medium skillet to medium heat.  Drizzle a small amount of olive oil into the pan.
• After the pan has heated, add 1 diced garlic clove into the pan.
• When you can smell the garlic cooking (after about a minute or so), add the broccoli to the pan.
• Cook for 3-5 minutes.  Broccoli will be tender when ready.
• Salt and pepper to taste.
• **If you haven't got any olive oil left, or are trying to be extra healthy, use a few tablespoons of water to steam cook the garlic and broccoli.  Just put the heat to medium high heat with the water in the pan, add the broccoli and garlic.  Pop on the lid.  Lower the heat to medium heat.  Broccoli in 5 minutes!
• **I squeezed fresh lemon over the entire meal to make it more cohesive, but if you want some components sans lemon, that's totally up to you.

Enjoy!

Simply Superb Shrimp Scampi

Sometimes I find really amazing recipes at the strangest of places.  The other day, my friend Colleen and I went food shopping at Whole Foods (yes, she was brave and went shopping with Laela and I), and wound up talking to the samples woman.  She made shrimp scampi- which I generally can't stand, and made it light and lemony- not heavy, buttery and cloying like I often find shrimp scampi to be.  It was so good, I bought a pound of shrimp and all of the ingredients that she recommended.  We had it for dinner that night, and, in the words of Laela: "MMMMMM!  Yummy!  Delicious Mama!!"  Make this.  It's super simple and absolutely fantastic.

Shrimp Scampi

serves 4-6

You'll need:

• 1 lb peeled and deveined shrimp (I used frozen peeled and deveined shrimp, they only take a minute or two extra to cook.)
• Juice and zest of 2 lemons (preferably Meyer lemons)
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/2 bag baby red and green chard, cleaned and rinsed (you can add more if you like.)
• 1/2 cup white wine
• Pinch cayenne pepper (I added a little more than a pinch because we like a little kick.)
• Salt to taste
• Chopped Italian parsley

Instructions:

• Finely chop the garlic.
• Melt the butter over medium low heat.  Saute the garlic gently until very fragrant.
• Add the wine and lemon juice and raise the heat to medium high.
• Reduce the wine mixture by half, and add a pinch of cayenne pepper.
• Add the baby chard and cook briefly.
• Add the shrimp and cook just until done, 3-4 minutes. (They'll turn from clear to pinkish-white)
• Add the chopped parsley and lemon zest.
• You can serve this as is, or add cooked pasta to the mix so that it can seep up all of the delicious sauce.

Enjoy!!

Leftovers Kicked Up a Notch!

Kyle and I went on a hot date at the Melting Pot the weekend before he had to leave for London, and if you've ever been there, you know that you go home with a TON of leftovers.  We had enough pieces of chicken, filet mignon, shrimp, salmon, and duck leftover to make a hearty dinner for the three of us, plus a huge lunch for Kyle to bring to work.

Best part?  It takes ten minutes, and you should have all of the ingredients ready to go in your fridge.

Ingredients:

• (1) package chow mein noodles. (Although, any kind of asian noodles are fine.)
• All of your meat/poultry/fish leftovers. (This works for ANY kind of protein.  You can even use eggs if it really blows your hair back.)
• Mixed veggies- I always have a bag of asian mix in my freezer, but any veggies will do. (enough for 4 people.)
• (3) Tb Soy sauce
• Ginger (fresh is always better, but if you don't have it, just use any kind you  have in your spice cabinet)
• Pepper
• Cayenne Pepper
• (3) Tb honey
• (2) Beef boullion cubes
• (2) Tb flour
• (1) Tb onion powder
• (1) tsp crushed garlic

Directions:

• Cook your noodles according to the package instructions, with beef boullion in the water.
• Dump all of your protein into a bowl and toss in the flour.  Make sure each bite is lightly coated in flour.
• Put the pan on medium high heat.  Pour the protein and any remaining flour into the pan.
• Ladle one ladle-full of the noodle broth into the hot pan.
• Add in the honey and soy sauce.  Add a few good shakes of pepper, cayenne (depending on how hot you like your food), and ginger (again, some like more ginger, some like less- remember that you can always add more).
• Cook for two minutes, keeping the protein moving.
• Stir in the veggies.  The sauce will cook them quickly. 
• Lower your heat to medium low heat.
• When the noodles are done cooking, rinse them well and toss them in the pan.
• Stir the noodles into the mixture.
• Cook for one minute, stir occasionally.
• Serve! 

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!  I made it a little spicy, and was pleasantly surprised to find that my little girl loved it too!!