Summertime, grilling, Mexican food, need I say more?  It’s time to throw some shrimp on the “barbie” and have a feast!  Of course we could grill shrimp several ways.  Right now, I love the idea of marinating the raw shrimp in lime and tequila – it’s like they’re drinking a margarita.  🙂  Add some flavors and spice, and we are in business.

If you have not tried Chipotle peppers before, you must.  You can find them in your grocer in the Mexican food aisle, and they will be in a small can labeled “Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce”.  They have a unique, smoky flavor without much heat and are delicious in Mexican food and chili, too.  Once you open the can, you can use the portion you need and freeze the rest to chop up as needed.  For these tacos, we’ll use some to create a creamy mayo-based dressing, aka an aioli.

Ok my mouth is watering, let’s get going already!

INGREDIENTS

For the shrimp:
15 large shrimp, peeled, deveined
1/4 cup tequila
juice from two limes
2 TB chopped fresh cilantro
dash cayenne pepper
dash sea salt

Chipotle lime mayo:
1/2 cup mayonaise
2 teaspoons chipotle peppers (canned in adobo sauce), chopped finely
1 teaspoon lime zest
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

Toppings:
shredded carrot, lettuce, cabbage mix
sliced grape tomatoes
diced avocado
chopped cilantro

1 pkg flour taco tortillas

DIRECTIONS

Combine the tequila, lime juice, cilantro, cayenne, and salt in a medium bowl.  Add the shrimp and marinate for at least 30 minutes.  Mix all the ingredients for the chipotle mayo and refrigerate.  Prepare all the toppings and set aside.  Thread the shrimp on 3 skewers and grill until opaque and cooked through.  Warm the taco shells for 30 seconds in the microwave with a taco warmer or on a plate under paper towels.  Assemble tacos with shrimp, toppings, and the mayo.

Pour yourself a cerveza, that’s Spanish for beer, ya know 😉 or a margarita and eat up!

Vamos a comer!  (ok, that means “let’s eat” in Spanish!)  I’ll stop now.  🙂

Pie oh my!  How do I compare thee to a warm summer day?  or a cool fall night?  Any time of year, it seems pie is the perfect end to the meal … or maybe eaten a little after the meal, when we have the chance to savor the flavors on a belly less stressed by turkey dinner or a summer BBQ.  Either way, it is the crème de la crème, the pièce de résistance!  …and served à la mode, ooh la la!

While I can eat pie all year long, there is something about a fresh summertime pie bursting with berries from the farmer’s market and a pie crust made with fresh flour and butter straight from the farm.  OR you can just get a pre made pie crust and canned pie filling!  I love spending all day in the kitchen creating a home made from scratch pie as much as the next guy.  But when I’m pressed for time or looking for a quick dessert to bring to a potluck, I admit, I seek out that little Pillsbury dough boy to help me create it.  Pie crust in the freezer, filling in the pantry, badabing… in an hour you have a delicious dessert.  Add a few touches to make it your own and you’ll be just like Sandra Lee!

This particular pie is made from Saskatoon berries, those sweet little berries you can only get in Canada, dare I say, near Saskatoon!  I remember as a kid driving out through the prairie to the Great Sand Dunes area and picking as many fresh berries as we could while running and falling and playing in those dunes.  These days I can only have Saskatoon berries in Saskatchewan or in pie filling I can bring home to the U.S.  The recipe below includes instructions for fresh or canned.

“Why go to all the trouble for these berries?”, you may ask, “Why not just use blueberries?”  Maybe it’s the memory of childhood in Canada, or maybe it’s because I like the smaller berry with its unique flavor maybe a little more wild and tart than blueberries.  But when I make it, I’m reminded of home and those carefree summers on the prairie.

My father-in-law told me several years ago that Saskatoon berries are scientifically known as “amelanchier berries” and can grow in more parts of North America.  The word, Saskatoon, is of Cree Indian etymology and was used to describe the berries of the province, so is the only way I’ve known them.  The city of Saskatoon itself derives its name from the Cree extension then: “misâskwatôminiskâhk” meaning, “place of many Saskatoon berries”.  How cool is that?!

The only similar berries I have tasted in the U.S. are Maine blueberries, which I have learned are a variation sometimes called Juneberries.  They tasted delicious but slightly more like a blueberry than the Saskatoons from Canada.  It could be the strain or the location.  I hope to try some out west some day, too!

These berries can be prepared many ways (think jams, syrup), but with a pie filling created by the Berry Barn (a restaurant with one of the most beautiful settings in Saskatchewn), I can create my “homage au Canada” whenever I crave that taste.  And of course, it needs home made vanilla ice cream à la mode!

INGREDIENTS

my Mom’s handwritten recipe 🙂

Refrigerated pie crust
1-2 cans pie filling (1 jar Saskatoon berry pie filling)

OR

Homemade filling:
3 1/2 cups berries
1/2 cup water (or less if frozen berries)
3/4 cup sugar
3 TB cornstarch
2 tsp lemon juice
1 TB butter
1/2 tsp almond extract

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 425F.  Bring crusts to room temperature, roll to size and place one crust in pie pan.  For homemade filling, cook ingredients on stove until thickened.  Pour filling into prepared pan.  Cover with remaining pie crust.

Bake at 425F for 20 minutes, and then cover rim with foil or metal pie rim protector, turn heat down to 400F and bake another 20-30 minutes.
Let cool.  Serve!

As a kid I was never a fan of homemade ice cream, I know, sacrilege!  But for some reason, the ice cream got this icy texture that overpowered the creaminess.  And that was even when using fresh from the cow cream and an honest-to-goodness good ‘ol wooden and metal ice cream maker with the salt and whole shebang!  What was the salt for again?  I digress… having since visited countless ice cream parlors with both homemade hard ice cream, frozen custard, and soft serve, I wanted to give it another chance.  I fell in love with cooking because I like being in charge of the ingredients.  Why shouldn’t I do the same for my ice cream ingredients!

So, I bought a Cuisinart.

Yep, I didn’t see myself using the old wooden, salt? ice cream maker and didn’t like the results anyways.  Could it be any better with a bonafide electric version that promised pure fresh ice cream in 20 minutes?  I decided to give it a try.

The Cuisinart comes with a recipe book, of course, so I tried their standard vanilla ice cream.  I skeptically mixed the ingredients (heavy cream, required) with the Kitchenaid (one can not have too many appliances, by the way), and chilled the bowl in the fridge.  I poured the mixture into the Cuisinart’s freezer bowl and began to watch.  With each spin, turn, tumble the liquid began to solidify more and more until I couldn’t stand it anymore, I had to get my spoon in there and taste!  Before the 20 minute bell even rang, I had a delicious homemade vanilla soft serve ice cream on my hands.  I was hooked and re-converted back to a homemade ice cream lovin’ junkie in that moment.

From there I went on to experiment with different flavors – the standard chocolate, strawberry (any berry!), mint chip, peanut butter, etc.  All of them use a similar technique with the Cuisinart and provide great results.  And now I have to jump on the fun flavors craze that I’ve seen with some of my favorite ice cream shops like Mitchell’s or Jeni’s.  Et voilà – Strawberry Basil Ice Cream!

You may think “basil is meant to be eaten with tomatoes, mozzarella or just Italian food”.  But somehow it works in sweet foods and drinks, too.  And for ice cream, it’s just a matter of mixing/matching any little ingredient that the machine can handle and in 20 minutes, you can eat it!  If you want it a little harder, just chill in the freezer.  The strawberries were fresh from the farmer’s market and the basil from my garden.  And it turned out… delish!

Note:  This ice cream is a very light pink in color, not like the over-dyed versions you see at the store.  But if you want to pump up the pink, just add a drop or two of red food coloring.

INGREDIENTS

1 pint strawberries, sliced
1 TB lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar, divided
1 cup whole milk, very cold
2 cups heavy whipping cream, very cold
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp fresh basil, chopped

DIRECTIONS

Combine the strawberries with the lemon juice and 1/4 cup sugar.  Let sit for 2 hours or so.  Strain the juice and mash the strawberries with a fork or puree with a blender.

With a mixer, combine the milk and the remaining sugar and mix on low until the sugar is dissolved.  Stir in the heavy cram, strawberry juice, mashed strawberries, and vanilla.

Turn the Cuisinart on and pour the mixture into the freezer bowl.  Let churn for about 20 minutes, and then add the lemon zest and basil.  Churn 5 minutes more to combine.  Eat now as a soft texture or transfer to an airtight container and freeze until desired consistency.  Remove from freezer 10 minutes before serving.

Have you experimented with electric ice cream machines?  or the old kind, for that matter?  I’d love to hear about your results.

You know when you’re reading magazines and there’s an article about how you can wear a scarf 39 ways or some other accessory? I usually think of some meal or food item I can make 39 ways. And today I wanted to post about the wonderful world of frittatas! This simple little egg dish can be as versatile as you want as a breakfast, brunch, or lunch suitable for 2 or 20 people.

I like to think of a frittata as essentially a crust-less quiche. I love a quiche as much as the next guy, but I can whip up a frittata in a little less time. A frittata is also started in a frying pan and finished in the oven. A quiche is normally baked in a quiche pan (more on quiches some other time). Because you do put the pan in the oven, you need a handle that won’t melt. Supposedly you can wrap a plastic handle in foil and it won’t melt in the oven, but I’d rather not learn this the hard way and ruin my skillet. Buy a $3 one at Walmart and experiment. Or use a pan with a metal handle.

Eggs & Milk

Every frittata starts with these 2 ingredients. If you are making a frittata for 2 people, then maybe limit your eggs to 6 and a 1/2 cup of milk. If you are serving 20, you will need a lot more eggs and milk! I usually substitute almond milk as well, and I’m guessing other milks would also work (i.e., coconut, soy). Again, experiment!

Accoutrements aka Fillings 🙂

This is the fun part – using what you have on hand or what you plan for your special event. For the pictures, I used a combo of grape tomatoes, parsley, chives, and garlic. But I usually use whatever I have on hand that can be heated/sauteed – i.e., zucchini, red pepper, spinach, basil, tomatoes. You could also add bacon, ham or sausage. How about asparagus, onion, with gruyère cheese? Or tomato and basil with fresh mozzarella? Ooh, now we’re talking.

Cheese

I’m already giving hints into the cheese portion! Because it just adds a nice finishing touch to our versatile frittata, I think it’s a great addition. I usually have shredded mozzarella on hand so that always does the trick. But how about something more interesting like red pepper, onion, and spinach with a pepper jack cheese?!  Ooh la la!

And now the fun part, cooking it up!

INGREDIENTS

6 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 TB olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup grape tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise
2 TB chives, chopped
1 TB parsley, chopped
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350F. Whisk the eggs and milk together and let stand. Sauté the vegetables according to density over med-high heat; i.e., zucchini before spinach, etc. If using garlic, I warm a little olive oil in the pan, sauté the garlic and then add sliced grape tomatoes. Don’t completely cook the veg. Pour in the milk mixture and cook until the edges just begin to set. Put the pan in the pre-heated oven and cook 10 minutes until set. Sprinkle cheese and cook another 5-7 minutes until melted.  Remove from the oven and sprinkle herbs (chives, parsley) over the top.  Run a knife around the edges, and cut for serving.  Slide onto plates and add any garnish.  Bon Appetit!