A Tossed Shrimp & Shell Pasta Salad with a Mushroom Wine Reduction Sauce (& BBQ Chicken)

Tossed 'Shrimp & Shell' Pasta Salad with a Lemon-Mushroom-White Wine Reduction Sauce & BBQ Chicken

This meal was one in a million. With a 3 hour preparation time from start to finish, this meal had some serious TLC behind it (marinating time included). No recipe, no idea what I was making when I started sautéing mushrooms- I was free styling.

Let's start with the pasta.

First, I started with the mushrooms

(although I would recommend starting with marinating the shrimp if I was going to make it again).

I threw a small can of mushrooms (drained) straight into a saucepan and let them sizzle for about a minute. At that point, I had a few slices of onion precut from a salad that I had for lunch, so I tossed two or three into the pan to do my flavor a favor, along with some pepper and course kosher salt.

Next, I considered butter, but I really wanted to avoid frying the mushrooms immediately, so I decided to make the mushrooms part of a sauce (for what, I didn't know yet, but this is when it starting coming together). I basically added a 1/4 cup of wine to the mushrooms at a time, along with a little butter,

and I began to reduce the mixture until the wine was nearly gone. I continued this same process until I had reduced approximately 1/2 bottle of the leftover dry white wine and used about 3 tablespoons of butter.

Once I realized I had a fairly rich mixture, I decided to compliment the wine and contrast the butter with the juice of about half a fresh lemon. Then, I turned the heat real low and let it barely simmer for about 20

minutes. Eventually, I turned off the heat and let it cool.

Meanwhile, I moved on to the medium shrimp. I thawing two hands full under a small stream of cold water in a colander. Then I shook the water off and began marinating them with the juice of the other half of the lemon & about 2 tablespoons of thin teriyaki sauce. I covered them and threw them in the fridge.

2 hours later, I made the shells (medium) and cooked them until they were al dente. This pasta wouldn't have done the sauce justice had the pasta not been al dente- no questions about it.

After the pasta had been drained and rinsed, everything finally came together and were mingled and tossed. A highly unexpected fresh taste from the mushrooms and brilliant sauce, while the shrimp complimented the al dente pasta perfectly. Topped it off with a green onion garnish.

Finally....I BBQ'ed some Boneless-Skinless Chicken Breasts in the oven with a specially doctored-up Sweet Baby Ray sauce.

Bon Provecho.

BONUS TIP: I just learned that the noun form is marinade and the verb form is marinating.

Stir Fry with Honey Ginger Glazed Salmon, & Classic Hamburger with a Candied Caramelized Onion Twist

So the first week we moved in, we tried to keep things fairly simple. I hardly could find the plates, let alone the pan for the salmon.

Stir Fry Veggies with Honey Ginger Glazed Salmon

So this was a really quick meal, probably 20 minutes tops. The stir fry part was a pretty straightforward mixture of frozen veggies with some added soy and teriyaki sauce.

The salmon was a little more complicated.

The salmon was basically marinated in a sauce that I made with some local honey, ginger powder, some spices and a splash of soy.

It was chilled and marinaded for about a hour beforehand, but it could really just be used as a glaze. Finally, the salmon was oven-steamed in a foil pouch to help retain the moisture. A little extra sauce was thrown on top the last minute of cooking time.

Fresh Hamburger on toasted bun with candied caramelized onions and pasta.

This meal was more of a classic with a creative twist. The burger was formed fresh and had some Worcestershire sauce mixed with it to draw out some of the flavor.

More importantly, the onions.

The onions were first sautéed in the skillet with some course salt and pepper.

Then, I added some butter to start cooking them down a bit. If you do this, just don't burn the butter! After they had simmered for a little while I added at least 2 tablespoons of raw honey and some standard granulated sugar. Finally, I spun the skillet so that the sugar would

caramelize but not burn.

The Extras

The buns were toasted in the oven, and then I added the fixin's to the burgers. I used some fresh spinach in place of the traditional lettuce to compliment the flavors in the burger, as well as a swipe of mayo. The whole thing was garnished with a thickly sliced piece of swiss cheese (that eventually ended up on the burger).

It's Been A While!

Ok Folks- I know it has been a while, but I really didn't give up on this whole "food blog" thing. Between starting school and moving into a new home, it has been busy. However, that also means I have tons of content to upload over the next day or two- so pay attention because I have been cooking and eating.

First off, I'll be posting the homemade stuff since we've moved in. Then, I'll be posting some of our excursions into the heart of Indiana food.

Amazing Discovery!

This may be juvenile but I'm pretty excited about a discovery I made today. While searching for local restaurants near to our (hopefully) home-to-be online, I struck gold.

Personally, I think such a discovery increases the value of our new home by like....at least a few thousand dollars, by merely being near to this wonderful place. So what is it?

An Asian market- but not just any Asian market, it's an Asian market that sells sushi grade meat! This is epic. This changes everything. This will enable and inspire us to make Japanese and Korean food like none other.

So keep your eyes open, because in less than 2 weeks, you should see some new and unique dishes!

Some Recent Meals!

In Transition

So- for the past week we've been living out of a hotel without access to a real kitchen, and no- the coffee pot on top of the microwave on top of the mini fridge doesn't count. So, while we're transitioning to our new home, I decided to upload some recent delicacies from our excursions in a new city!

Admittedly, we've eaten a lot of sushi and sashimi, but it's all been delicious!

Descriptions follow the pictures!

This is a "German chocolate hazelnut cheesecake."
This (above) is from the Lafayette brew company, a medium rare tuna steak rubbed in jerk seasoning. This is an order of "scotch eggs" (above) from a microbrew in Lafayette. Basically, these are hardboiled eggs caked in ground sausage & batter- then deep fried to perfection and served with a delicious sauce. This chocolate pyramid is from a delicious Asian place in Homewood, Illinois called: Asian Harbor. In fact, the following three photos are from the same place. A spicy roll from Asian harbor....amazing presentation, but a bit of a letdown.

Wasabi Salmon, Jasmine Rice, Cucumber Salad

Marinated Wasabi Salmon with Jasmine Rice and a Cucumber Salad

This is a great meal for those hot summer days when you don't want to turn on the stove! Salmon in the steamer, Jasmine rice in the rice cooker, and a cold cucumber salad.

So a few nights ago, we briefly marinated some salmon in a mixture of soy sauce, ginger powder, water, and honey, then the fillets were rubbed with wasabi and steamed to perfection.

We used Jasmine rice instead of the regular rice because jasmine rice has a great fragrant

aroma.

The cucumber salad is basically a thinly sliced cucumber with a mixture of wasabi, ginger, soy sauce, and the juice of one lime!

Quick, Easy, Movie Tapas para Mi

Celery with Peanut Butter and Honey

Toasted Wheat Bread with Cucumber and Tuna

So the other night, we rented a mediocre romantic comedy- and created some "tapas" to go along with our flick. "Tapas" just sounds a lot nicer than "snack."

Either way- we came up with two quick and easy tapas!

First- the cut celery with peanut butter- a droplet of honey on each, and sprinkled with cinnamon.

And the Second- (the one I don't have a name for)- We oven-toasted some squares of whole grain wheat bread with the "chile spiced olive oil." Then we dabbed each with a drop of Miracle Whip. After that, a very thin slice of cucumber was laid on it. Then a fairly dry tuna mixture was dropped by the spoonful on top. The tuna was drained and mixed with black pepper, Adobo, and some garlic powder. Finally, a little teeny piece of celery was placed on top for aesthetic value.

Last Minute Dinner

Grilled Chicken Breasts with Fresh Tomatoes

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with light Mushroom Sauce & Fresh Diced Tomatoes

Homemade Garlic Bread

Last night, we had been traveling and returned home fairly late. We decided to go for whatever was in the freezer- so chicken it was.

The chicken was thawed (in cold water in the sink), seasoned with pepper, and then browned in the skillet with some olive oil that I recently spiced up with whole cloves of garlic and some hot chiles. The oil has a hot finish, but a light garlic start. It really added some flavor to those basic chicken breasts.

The best part of this dinner was the sauce- it was a basic 'pasta' sauce, but spiced up with some mushrooms, 1/2 tablespoon of butter, and the large diced tomatoes were added at the last minute so that they were hot, but not soft. It was delicious.

Honey-butter glazed salmon with a hot finish!

This salmon fillet (pictured with rice on the side) features a honey butter glaze with a slightly spicy chile finish.

Easy Presentable Baked Potatoes

Garlic Baked PotatoesThese potatoes were cleaned, rubbed with garlic-spiced olive oil, sprinkled with course salt, and garnished with three shavings of fresh garlic. They turned out great. 350 for 70 minutes.

A note about baked potatoes...

By the way- tonight we're doing something a bit different with the baked potatoes. Rather than simply throwing them in the oven in a baking dish, we'll be cutting a small hole into the potato, and inserting two thin slices of garlic, and then putting the removed piece of potato back in. Think of it as a cork.

Baked Potato Tip: Do not wrap your potatoes in tin foil because you'll steam them rather than bake them. Personally, I like to rub the skin of the potatoes with EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) and then lightly sprinkling them with course salt and pepper!

Coming soon...

CHECK BACK TONIGHT FOR THE FINAL LOOK!

So tonight- we're having company, and looking forward to 'testing' out some new dishes.

The menu was constructed after a long look at what we have already, plus a few extra items from the store. We started out deciding on 4 large beautiful pork chops (bone in). Then, we naturally decided apple sauce was an appropriate side. Everything fell into place after that.

Here's the menu:

Marinated pork chops (dry-rubbed overnight)- seared until brown in a cast iron skillet 5 hours early, then dropped in the crock pot with fresh chicken stock- and sautéed peppered onions.

Apple Sauce

Homemade Biscuits/Rolls

Baked Potatoes in the oven fused with a garlic clove and course salt

Spinach salad with Roma Tomatoes, Onions, and homemade dressing

White Wine (red or white works with pork, but given the content of the rub, white works best).

Dessert: Leftover apple pie (see last post) and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

After deciding on the chops- I immediately began to thaw them (last night) and creating a dry rub for them to marinate overnight. The rub consisted of the following:

Onion Powder

Achiote Pepper Powder

Light Salt

Pepper

Garlic Powder

Sugar

Flour

Herbs Du Province

Paprika

Cumin

Cinnamon

Oregano

...and homemade apple pie!

Topped off with some homemade apple pie- cooling on a window sill on a beautiful night. Alissa and I worked hard on this one- She made the filling, I made the crust!

Bulgarian Sausages with Sweet Onion & Mango-Spinach Salad

Tonight we finally had a guest! So we went all out and did a full spread. Enjoy the photos, and I'll explain it later!!

Spinach and Gazpacho

Delicious Spinach
Although it's been a while since we've posted, there has been plenty of fantastic cooking while we've been gone.

Most recently, we rendered an entire large bag of spinach in the skillet with 1 teaspoon of bacon grease and fresh cracked pepper (on right). It takes about 5 minutes to do, looks great (if you like spinach), and creates a great aroma.

Gazpacho

Secondly, we made gazpacho again- but this time, the sieve that we used was finer (after blending the soup together), so the soup turned out a little less thick than last time (which

worked out well). Pictured here, the gazpacho is garnished with a lime and a hard boiled egg.

Back to Bolz Basics

Makeshift late night dinner after cleaning the house.

Pictured is a homemade vegetable soup, featuring hearty cut carrots, onions, and potatoes. Seasoned with a pouch of whole back peppercorns (removed) and a bay leaf!

The two cuts of sandwiches are made with honey kissed turkey breast, on honey kissed whole grain bread with mustard, Miracle Whip, oil, vinegar, and pepper.

Stuffed Green Pepper with Mexican Rice, Refried Beans, and Chicken Tacos

Tonight we had a stuffed green pepper, our secret Mexican Rice, Refried Beans, and Chicken Tacos. Enjoy the photos!

Process of tonight's dinner!

So I think I'm making chicken tacos with refried beans and Mexican Rice.

So, since we're probably moving in the next month, I wanted to start using up some t

hings that have been lingering in the cupboards and freezer. I started out kno

wing I wanted to use up some leftover pinto beans (for Mexican refried beans) and some chicken drumsticks from the butcher.

Waste Not, Want Not

So about the drumsticks, if you get them fresh from the grocery, you can save some money by getting drumsticks with the skin on still on them.

I got six drumsticks for $2.57 in Illinois. After boiling them, I remove the drumsticks from the water (now broth), and took the skins off while they were still hot.

I put the skins temporarily back into the broth to boil a little longer.

This broth won't be used tonight, and will be frozen for some other time. Homemade broth is great to cook with, so I save it!

The pinto beans were sorted (take out the cracked beans and the stones, if any) and I put two cups of them into the crock pot. I put about two inches of water on top of the beans, and instead of using garlic powder, I put in about 6 whole cloves of garlic.

The photo turned out pretty cool since the garlic floats and then sinks back and forth.

I call it the "Mexican Lava Lamp."

After cooking them overnight, I removed the extra water, took about about half the garlic cloves, lightly salted them, and mashed them with a potato masher. I also added 2 tablespoons of bacon grease, for flavor. Gotta save the bacon grease!

Finally, I decided they were still too moist and runny, so I left the lid off, and stirred occasionally on high (crock pot) heat. In about 30 minutes, they had reached the consistency I wanted.

I then deboned and shredded the chicken, seasoned it with a powdered Mexican pepper, black pepper, and oregano. I set it aside to bake later, just before we eat, so we can make tacos.

The achiote pepper adds a nice color to the chicken.

Now we're basically ready to go, except, I just decided to make Mexican rice with tonight's dinner, in sticking with the theme.

The Mexican Rice, I suppose, is a 'trade secret' that was revealed to me only after I married my wife and made friends with her mother!

Look back tonight for the full dinner!

July 1st, 2009- Salmon Sandwiches

Salmon Sandwiches alongside French Onion Soup

Salmon Sandwiches- honey glazed baked salmon steaks on toasted french bread with a homemade sauce, garnished with cilantro- pictured with leftover french onion soup.

Tonight we used up our leftover french bread from last night, and utilized some Wild Alaskan Salmon fillets that we had in our freezer. We find these 4 oz salmon fillets for .99 cents on sale, and stock up anytime we see them. But check and make sure that you are getting wild caught salmon or fish, because some other varieties by the same company are farm raised, like the tilapia, and just don't taste the same.

I baked the salmon fillets in a glass Pyrex baking dish for 14 minutes at 425, with a little butter and olive oil on the bottom.

The fillets were quickly marinated in three tablespoons of lemon juice, paprika, pepper, 2 tablespoons of honey, some garlic powder, and a dash of salt. They were then baked along with the marinade.

The french bread was sliced open from the side, kissed with olive oil and a sliver of butter and lightly toasted in the oven the last 3 minutes of the salmon's cooking cycle.

I then quickly whipped up a sauce for the sandwiches that consisted of some Miracle Whip, mustard, paprika, garlic powder, honey, and pepper.

Then I threw it all together, garnished the salmon with cilantro, and warmed up some leftover french onion soup from the night before.

Late Night Dessert Tapas

Alissa is doing some late night work tonight, so I decided to make a quick dessert with whatever I could find- so this is what I came up with!

This is lightly toasted raisin bread with caramelized sugar bottom, topped with diced apples coated in cinnamon and honey- garnished with a fresh apple slice. A splash of lemon on the diced apples juice helped accent the sauce. I also threw a dash of nutmeg in for fun.

French Onion Soup & Side Salad

June 30th, 2009-

Today we made homemade French Onion Soup- simply done with the crock pot. I had recently seen some recipes for it, and it seemed simple enough to make.

The Salad

I coupled it with a salad made with Romaine lettuce, crumbled gorgonzola cheese, and a homemade dressing made from Miracle Whip, olive oil, pepper, garlic powder, sugar, and a dash of salt. I topped the salad with homemade croutons from the leftover french loaf. Those I made by dicing the bread, adding a splash of olive oil, pepper, and garlic power- then roasting in the oven for 5 minutes. Finally, I garnished it with a a shaved carrot (for color and content).

The Soup

2 medium Yellow Onions (thinly sliced)

1 tablespoon Butter

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon of pepper (or to taste)

6 cups of Beef Broth

2 tablespoons of Worcheshire sauce

1/8 cup of dry white wine or sherry

1 loaf of french bread

1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese

Either in the crock pot (approximately 30-45 minutes) or in a skillet (10 minutes) combine the butter, olive oil, sugar, and sliced onions and simmer on medium heat (or high in the crock pot) until onions begin to have golden edges- do not completely brown the onions.

Put in crock pot and then add the pepper and the flour. Mix together, put the lid on, and cook an additional 15 minutes on high.

Then, add the beef broth, dry white wine (or sherry), and Worcheshire. Stir together and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours or on high 2-3 hours- stirring occasionally. Low & slow cooking is always the better option!

Slice the french bread, top with the cheese and brown in the oven or broiler. Serve and drop cheesy bread into bowl.

As my wife would say: ¡Buen provecho!

This one, we'll certainly make again.

Before We Dine

Today, my wife and I begin an endeavor to blog our dinner and dining experiences. Although neither of us have formal culinary training, we both have an appreciation for foods from around the world.

Dining, whether at home or in a restaurant, is a cultural practice. Food in my family is a hybrid experience that has extended across cultural boundaries for years. For me, dining with my wife and others is an act of fellowship. The experience is much less about the texture and presentation of the meal and much more about how the meal changes the setting and influences the tone of the experience.

Further, each culture and region often has items in their diet that are strikingly similar to other cultures- I call these convergent foods. For example, in the Mexican tradition there are tortillas. Similarly, traditional meals from India include naan, while the equivalent across the middle east and greece is pita.

Thus our adventure begins! We hope to bring you both the best and the worst of our meals and dining experiences. As always- feel free to comment, suggest, recommend, and of course, enjoy!