Shrimp Fresco for Just the 5 of Us

As they circled back round past our home once again, we waved and hollered "good bye" and "drive safely" to them with all the fanfare as the first time. I watched as my 10-year old darted through beach grass and hopped over rocks trying to make it to the next driveway before they did. Trying to make the time with his beloved cousins last a little bit longer and then....my sister-in-law, my niece and my nephew were gone.

We had, of course, performed this same good-bye ritual, with the hugs, the waving, the blowing kisses, the circling around a few times, the week before when my sister and her little ones had left. After they had driven out of sight, my 5-year old had tapped me on the arm and said,"Mom?" When I turned to look at him and reply, "What?", I could see that he was trying to keep his lower lip from quivering as he asked me, "When will we see them again?"

Once my sister-in-law's car was out of sight, the 5 of us silently headed back toward the house that had moments ago been teeming with activity and now suddenly seemed very empty and quiet. Each of us, perhaps, a little wistful that the last of the vacations within summer vacation was drawing to a close.

Now, I would be lying if I didn't come forth and say that sometimes, during the past couple of weeks with all of the cousins, the noise level and chaos grew to such heights that I couldn't even hear myself think. And other times, like a good housewife right out of the 50's, I would hear myself holler, "My nerves!" and then, proceed to pour myself an old fashioned a nice, chilled glass of Pinot Gris. But...even with all of that said...I wouldn't change the time spent with all of us together. And once it was over, a bit of emptiness seemed to settle over the house.

That first day of just the 5 of us, we each retreated to our own corner. Some reading, others listening to music, another dozing in front of the TV. Not sure what to do with the calm. But soon there came requests for walks to the ice cream store and bike riding along the paths. And the next day, we hauled ourselves down to the beach. My older two out in the ocean. My little guy quietly, but with great intensity, building sandcastles and me and my sweetie....simply sitting. Next to each other. And watching.

And in the evening, as I stirred the heavenly mixture of garlic, tomatoes and white wine for our shrimp pasta and hummed quietly to The Sea, I thought about how, even with the food, there was something comforting about the rhythms of my own family. Knowing our likes and our dislikes by heart. The schedule we needed to be on...or not. How much activity we needed or how much we could simply "be". And even though I had been sad to say good-bye to the cousins, there was definitely something lovely, harmonious even, about simply being together....just the 5 of us.

(That is until the boys practically broke out into a fist fight over not just legos but lego heads...you know those teeny, tiny pieces that go on top of lego guys and of which we have at least a hundred, but apparently only one of those hundred would do....but hey....the calm was nice while it lasted.)

Shrimp Fresco with Angel Hair Pasta
Adapted from Flavors by Michael Northern

I have to reiterate how the aromas wafting from your stove while you are making this dish are so heavenly they will attract not only your family members but people off the streets. The original recipe called for crabmeat but since neither standing at the counter picking a pound of crabmeat or paying for already picked crab meat sounded appealing, I went with shrimp. Also, being the vegetable pusher that I am, I made this one time with double the spinach but I wouldn't do that again. It was too much and overpowered the dish. And one final note, be careful not to overcook the cherry tomatoes otherwise you're left with skin bits throughout the dish that some people will refuse to eat.

Ingredients:
1/3 c extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 c finely chopped garlic (about 8 cloves) Don't skimp on this!
3/4 c dry white wine
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 1/2 pints cherry or grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
2 tbsp butter
4 c firmly packed baby spinach leaves
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 lb angel hair or spaghettini pasta
Freshly grated parmesan cheese
12 fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped

Directions:
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boil over high heat for your pasta.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat, heat the oil. With your wine already measured and sitting to the side, add the garlic to your pan and cook for about one minute, stirring constantly being careful that it doesn't brown too quickly. After this time, immediately add your wine which will stop the garlic from browning further and cook for about 4 minutes or until the wine has released its alcohol and reduced by about half. Add the shrimp and saute for about 3 minutes or just until the shrimp starts to turn pink. Add your tomatoes and cook just until they begin to soften, about 3-4 minutes.

Reduce your heat to very low. Fold in the butter until incorporated about 1-2 minutes. Stir in the spinach and cook until it wilts, about 1 minute more. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and cover to keep warm.

Next, add your pasta to your boiling water and cook according to the directions on the package usually only 3-4 minutes. Drain and then return the pasta to your pot.

Add about half of your tomato mixture to your pasta. Stir to coat evenly. Then, dish up your pasta into shallow bowls. Top with more of your tomato/shrimp mixture. Sprinkle with chopped basil and parmesan cheese. Eat. And enjoy.

Yield: About 6-10 servings depending on whether you have just adults or a mixture of children and adults.

All original text and photographs copyright: Carrie Minns 2009-2010

I Forgot to Mention.....

Many of you may know that I spent my morning down at the AM Northwest studios, whippin' up Cowboy Caviar. That dip is always a hit and it didn't fail me today. The crew at KATU was gobbling it up. What I realized after the segment was over...of course...was what I had failed to mention.

Let me just say a word or two more about the tomatoes I was using this morning. "Oregon Star" (Not "Rio Star" as I said on the show.) Buy them once and you'll never go back to any other. I stumbled upon them a week or so ago at our local Zupans store on Burnside. After cutting into one and then subsequently devouring it, I decided that those bullet shaped tomatoes are everything one could ask for in a tomato. Bright red. Juicy. Meaty. (No mealiness here.) Seedless. Sweet...but not, too. Low in acid. Perfect for when you want a tomato without the sogginess such as on a sandwich. The next time I went into Zupans I chatted with Ron and Kelly, the friendliest produce guys I know, and they shared with me that the Oregon Star tomatoes are lovingly grown by Charlie Harris on his farm, Flamingo Ridge, out in Gaston, Oregon. Apparently, people come to Zupans (as well as the Hillsdale Farmer's Market) from all over Portland to get their hands on those delectable orbs. I don't doubt it. I can't wait to make some Pizza à la Julie with them. Makes my mouth water just thinkin' about it.

Also, we have discovered a few new ways to use Cowboy Caviar besides the ones I originally mentioned. Just tonight for dinner, I spooned it over a bed of green leaf lettuce, added a handful of cherry tomatoes and "voilà"...dinner. Today for lunch, my daughter put it between two slices of sourdough bread on which she had spread goat cheese. Lunch. And, last weekend, I had made my ragù for a crowd forgetting that one of my dear friends does not eat red meat....she spooned the Cowboy Caviar over pasta and again...dinner.


Anyways, should you be interested in seeing today's segment, I've attached the video below.

If the video screen does not appear above this line, click here to go directly to the website.

Oh, and one last thing....if that darn tootin' cute owl necklace that I was wearing today caught your eye (as opposed to my upper arms that need some serious work...gads,) you can find it on my dear friend April's webpage, here, along with so many other darling items.

Cheers,
Carrie


All original text and photographs copyright: Carrie Minns 2009-2010

And Now, I Pass It To You....Cowboy Caviar

"basil, lettuce, rice, peanut butter, shallots, eggs, butter, Parmesan cheese, pasta, parsley, thyme, rosemary, ketchup, oatmeal, raisins, whole grain mustard, sesame oil, vanilla extract, avocados, cherries, black eyed peas, corn, cantaloupe, lime, cilantro, salmon, flatbread, goat cheese, hot dogs, hot dog buns, hummus, salsa, pancake mix, tea, ovaltine, cherry tomatoes, Nana's jam, soy sauce, milk........"

With a pile of cookbooks, notebooks and recipe cards spread out before me providing inspiration, I make my list of groceries that I plan on hauling to the Oregon coast for our two week vacation.  The first week to be joined by my side of the family, the second week by my sweetie's.

"First Dinner - App-Guacamole, Dinner - Grilled salmon-tomato/shallot compote or just salt and pepper?, green salad, rice, green beans, Birthday cake for Mom. Second Dinner - App-Cowboy Caviar, Dinner - marinated flank steak, roasted potatoes, artichokes, bowl of cherries......."

I follow that up with my list of possible dinner menus.

I realize that when most people go on vacation, they perhaps spend their planning days laying out the activities that they will partake in on said vacation. I, on the other hand, think of the food possibilities. I get excited by the endless options. I liken it to that of a child making her list for Christmas. The glimmer in her eyes. The hope. The anticipation. The jubilation. And the beauty of it is, I'm not alone in this. In the weeks leading up to this vacation, I receive calls from my sister, my mother, my sister-in-law, my sweetie to talk about....food. Who's bringing what? Who's preparing this? Who's ordering out for that? Calls come in from shopping trips to Costco, "Just picked up a bag of those multi-grain chips we like so you don't need to get those." Text messages are flying back and forth from the next group coming out to the coast, "@grocery store, need anything?"

Now, of course, once we're there we partake in all of the usual beach activities...the boogie boarding, the sand castle building, the sand boarding, the dune climbing, the tide pool investigating, the beach combing, the bike riding, the lighthouse visiting, the whale watching, the sun bathing, the book reading, the puzzle making, the game playing, the bonfire building...actually, scratch that, we don't do the bonfire building...too cold. But through all of this, in the back of my mind is always, "When can I start preparing our next meal?

And once we're all crammed around the table on a various assortment of chairs, we continue to share, not just the meal at hand, but also, other meals and recipes that came before. An idea on preparing mussels with curry or marinating steaks with soy sauce and mustard. How to cook clams on the grill. Other ideas for vinaigrettes. Dips for artichokes. Chocolate cakes versus vanilla. We "ooh and aah" over new dishes prepared for us. The way one family sets up a taco bar that differs from our own way yet provides inspiration. And I guess that's what we take away from all of this is...inspiration. In sharing our food, our ideas, our recipes with one another we pass along a bit of ourselves. The bit that comes directly from our own kitchens. Our own homes.

I believe that Molly Wizenberg said this best when she wrote in her book, A Homemade Life:
"When I walk into my kitchen today, I am not alone. Whether we know it or not, none of us is. We bring fathers and mothers and kitchen tables, and every meal we have ever eaten. Food is never just food. It's also a way of getting at something else: who we are, who we have been and who we want to be."

Cowboy Caviar

This is one of those recipes that has circled around my neighborhood dozens of times. I requested it from my neighbor Renae who had it passed along to her by another neighbor. Get together in our neck of the woods and this dip always shows up on an appetizer table without fail. Introduce it into a new group and you will, mark my words, receive emails the following day with requests for the recipe. It couldn't be simpler. It's delicious and it's pretty darn good for you to boot. Obviously tortilla chips are its usual side-kick but I've been known to scoop it up with sliced red bell peppers or to spoon it over toast for breakfast.

Ingredients:
1 15 oz can black eyed peas
1 12-15 oz. can of corn
2 avocados, cubed
1/2 c chopped tomatoes
2/3 c cilantro, chopped
2/3 c green onion, chopped
1/4 c olive oil
1/4 c red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Gently combine all of of the ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl. If possible, let sit at least a half an hour before serving so the flavors have a chance to mingle. Set it out on an appetizer table and watch it disappear. Enjoy


All original text and photographs copyright: Carrie Minns 2009-2010

A Grill, My Man and Some Caribbean Halibut

I glanced out at him. Sitting there on the back deck. So calmly. iPad in one hand. Tazo lightly sweetened iced tea in the other. And I thought to myself, "What is it about guys and grilling? Is it primal?" On any other night, should he be asked to come up with dinner, my sweetie will ask for the phone and call 1-800-Got-Pizza but give him something to grill and....Wow! Furthermore, he could go for weeks, months, years even, without grilling but you call him back to his rightful position and he's whipping out "4-star" salmon, New York steaks and halibut like he's been doing it everyday. And so it was this particular summer evening as he patiently attended our halibut steaks.

I fear I must confess to you that I tend to be a bit bossy. Some of you may have already figured this out. Others of you may have been the victim of my bossiness. (Sorry dear brother and sister, but I was and still am the eldest.) It's not that I have a need to control everything as much as I need my life to have a certain order to it. I have a particular threshold for chaos, noise, clutter and non-premeditated events and once we go past that threshold, well...I become the "Boss Lady" as my sweetie refers to me when I'm in that state of mind. And the same applies to cooking. I am constantly thinking about the order in which each dish needs to be prepared. When this dish needs to come off the stove. Or the fish off the grill. Or the drinks poured. Or the salad dressed so that everything, more or less, is ready at the same time.

A few years back, when my big kids were little and the chaos was at its peak, my sweetie and I became disjointed in our efforts to get his grilled dish and my non-grilled dishes on the table at the same time. So one night, in a "Boss Lady" fit, I said, "Just let me do it from now on." And being the wise, patient man that he is, he stepped aside knowing, "And this too...shall pass."

Which brings us up to this particular summer evening. Maybe it's that the chaos is not so great now that the children are getting older. Maybe it's because I'm getting older. Maybe I'm just plumb tired and I'm loosing my "Boss Lady" edge. Or perhaps, down deep, I've realized that while I can grill, I don't really love it. Not like my guy. But whatever it is, I'm learning...a little bit...to Let Go and embrace some of the chaos, noise and unscheduled events.

Seeing my daughter already in the kitchen making cupcakes, I was struck by the unprecedented notion to call the boys in and give them each a job as well. Which I did. And while they were all working away...my daughter folding berries and mint chocolate chips into her buttercream frosting and me not saying a thing. Nope. Not one word about that combination of ingredients. The 10-year old chop, chop, chopping up the veggies for our salsa with chopping bits flying here and there and me not making one comment about the little bits creating a colorful pattern on the floor. And the 5-year old dipping his fingers into the guacamole, licking it off and dipping again to make sure it tasted just right and me not saying anything about germs or the green streaks appearing on his shirt which he was using as a napkin...yes, while all of this was going on, I was overcome by the feeling that despite the mess, I was truly delighted that we were all in there. There was something so, so...comforting about it. And then, not wanting him to feel left out, I went over to where my handsome man was relaxing and said, "Hey sweetie, I'd really appreciate it if you could grill the halibut. The last time I did it, we ended up with blackened fish bits all over the place." He looked up at me and without questioning the request said, "Sure."

And so it was that he was reinstated to his rightful position as "Grill Master." (Although, we never can be too sure what might happen the next time "Boss Lady" shows up but for now...) And what's more, when it was all said and done, thanks to the extra help, I was left with an unscheduled half hour. A non-premeditated half hour. I faltered for a minute not knowing what to do with myself this was so unheard of...but then, I picked up my camera and headed outside and walked to where the sun was just slipping behind the hills. Without that bit of unencumbered time, I would have missed....

The final moments in a work day.

The last bits of light before the sun slipped behind the hills.

Our own coastal range putting forth its best, yet humble, effort to embody the spirit of the original Blue Ridge mountains.



Caribbean Halibut with Tropical Salsa
Adapted from Weber's On the Grill

This is a recipe my sweetie found, purchased all of the ingredients for and declared we should have it for dinner. Perhaps he realized, subconsciously that he had been patient long enough and the time had come for him to take the "Grill Master" position back over from the "Boss Lady." Whatever it was, I'm so glad he did because this dish is amazing. So fresh. So easy. So "summery." The most time consuming part is chopping up the ingredients for the salsa but if you happen to have an offspring handy that is obsessed with weaponry, hand him a Chef's knife and tell him to have at it. And truly, if you were completely short on time, but still wanted to try this out, you could skip marinating the fish and just season it with some olive oil, salt and pepper before grilling. But don't skip the salsa. It "completes" the dish.

Ingredients:

4 halibut fillets, about 6 oz each
canola oil

Marinade:
1 c orange juice
1/4 c soy sauce
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
1 tbsp dried thyme
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper

Salsa:
1 c finely diced ripe pineapple
1/2 c finely diced ripe banana
1/2 c finely diced cucumber
1/4 c finely chopped red bell pepper
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1 1/2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
Start by whisking all the of the ingredients for the marinade together in a medium bowl. Add your halibut and turn to coat them evenly. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap, put them in the fridge and let them marinate for 1 hour, turning once or twice.

Meanwhile, make your salsa by simply combining all of the salsa ingredients above in a medium bowl and setting aside.

Once the fish is ready, prepare your grill for cooking over medium to medium-high heat. (350-450 degrees.) Remove your halibut from the bowl and discard the marinade. Pat the fish dry with paper towels and then brush both sides with canola oil. Make sure your grates are clean and then grill the halibut for 8-10 minutes, turning once or until the halibut just begins to flake when you poke it with the tip of a knife.

Slide your heavenly fish onto a plate. Top with the salsa and perhaps a side of rice and some tossed greens and enjoy. You can almost feel the Caribbean calling as you bite into this medley of tropical flavors. Now where's my umbrella drink??


All original text and photographs copyright: Carrie Minns 2009-2010