Shrimp "Monica"

I love Jazz Fest back home in New Orleans. The last time I went was with Jeremy in our newlywed days, and I'm so glad I got to take him. I remember it rained the entire time we were at the festival. Kind of a bummer, but you just make do. I love camping out listening to live music at the different stages. Better than Ezra is always a favorite. I also love looking at all the crazy interesting people everywhere. But I think what I like the best is the FOOD!!! My favorites that come to mind are Crawfish Monica (creamy, spicy pasta dish with lots of crawfish) and Crawfish Bread (french bread stuffed with lots of monterrey jack cheese, cajun seasoning and crawfish tails). 

I found a copy-cat recipe for Crawfish Monica years ago and tucked it away in my recipe binder that has been neglected to my online recipe searches for the past few years. I pulled it out the other night because I was craving a creamy pasta and I had raw shrimp tails in the freezer.

This was seriously one of the BEST (and easiest) dinners I've made in a looooong time. And I gotta give credit to my sous chef -- Jeremy is always so helpful in the kitchen and helps the meal get made faster when someone is washing your green onions, stirring a pot, boiling and draining the pasta, and getting the frozen garlic bread from the wrapper to the oven. :-) Thanks Honey!

We WILL definitely be making this DISH alot!! Now I just need to go stock up on more frozen shrimp from Costco. I've always been impressed with it.

Shrimp "Monica" adapted from Gumbo Pages

• 1 lb. shrimp, peeled; 
• 1 stick of butter 
• 1 pint of half-and-half 
• 1 good-sized bunch green onions, chopped (tops, too) 
• 7- 10 cloves garlic, minced or chopped 
• 1 Tbsp.  (or much less if you don't want spicy) Creole seasoning to taste (I use Tony Cachere's Original creole seasoning, can be found at most regular grocery stores.) 
• 1 lb. cooked rotini pasta 
• Parmesan Cheese 

1. Cook pasta according to the directions on the package. Drain, then rinse under cool water. Drain again, thoroughly. 
2. Melt the butter in a large pot and saute onions and garlic for 3 minutes. Add the shrimp and saute for 3 minutes. Add the half-and-half, then add Creole seasoning, tasting before the next pinch until you think it's right. 
3. Cook for 12 - 17 minutes over medium heat until the sauce thickens. Add the pasta and toss well. Let it sit for 10 minutes or so over very low heat, stirring often. Serve immediately, with lots of parmesan cheese, and if you're my mom you'll probably want to add a sprinkle of chopped fresh parsley.
   
   (We served with buttered garlic french bread. Delish!!)

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Image credit: Kristina Gill via Design Sponge

I loved this recipe found on Design Sponge via Pinterest! (I would recommend clicking on the original recipe to see more of their beautiful photos of the process.) One of my favorite things to pick up at Farmer's Markets is Butternut Squash. I made soup with it last time I got it, and this time I was dying to try this new recipe, and it did not disappoint. I figured since I already had fresh mozzarella and a block of Parm cheese, it was the perfect time to make it. It was a bit time-consuming, but well worth all of the effort. It would be a lovely dish to serve to company. 

Butternut Squash Lasagna 

1 Large Butternut squash – Peeled, cored and sliced thin 1/4 inch
1 stick Butter, separated
¼ Cup Flour
3 ½ Cups Whole Milk
6 cloves Garlic
1 handful Spinach
1 bunch Italian Parsley
10 to 14 Pasta Sheets (I bought "no boil" noodles to avoid cooking noodles separately. I was tempted to buy fresh pasta sheets from local Italian Deli, but decided to stay on-budget :-)
3 Cups Shredded Mozzarella (I used thinly sliced fresh mozzarella from Costco)
½ Cup Parmesan (freshly grated is my fave - we usually have this on hand in fridge.)
10 each Sage Leaves – Sliced Thin
1 Lemon – Zest
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil

1) Roast butternut squash:
Pre-heat oven to 375F. I used a large baking sheet and drizzled with olive oil and placed the squash slices on it, seasoned with salt and pepper, repeated another layer until all the butternut is layered. Covered with foil and baked for about 10- 15 minutes until the squash is cooked yet still firm enough to break apart.

2) Make cream sauce:
While squash is roasting, start on your roux: ½ stick of butter in the pot and melt until almost browned, whisk in the flour and continue to cook for about 30 seconds, slowly whisk in the milk and bring to a boil, Add the garlic and continue to cook at a medium heat until mixture thickens (took me about 30 minutes total, I think.) Transfer the mixture to the food processor (or blender) and blend in the Spinach/parsley. Season with salt and Pepper.

3) Assemble and bake lasagna:
Rub the Baking dish with a little butter and begin the layers: Cream Sauce, pasta sheets, Mozza, Parma, butternut – Repeat. Make sure the top layer has cheese on top. Cover with Foil and Bake for 40 minutes, remove foil and bake for another 15 or until the top is crispy golden brown.

4) Serve with Sage/Lemon Brown Butter:
While lasagna rests for 10 minutes before serving, make your Sage/Lemon Brown Butter: In small sauté pan bring the remaining 1/2 stick butter to a light brown color – Very hot and bubbling add sage, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Spoon over a little on each piece.

Voila, truly delicious and full of winning combination flavors. And yes, men like it, too.  :-)

Image credit: Kristina Gill via Design Sponge

Birthday BBQ

Jeremy and I both LOVE BBQ. We had a little family birthday party for Jeremy, and I thought it was the perfect time of year for a BBQ menu. I originally wanted to make a home made bbq sauce and follow Tyler Florence's recipe for BBQ pulled pork, but once the day got here, I figured I should go for easy as well as tried and true. I had no idea what his BBQ sauce would taste like, so last minute I decided to just use our favorite "Sweet Baby' Rays Original Sauce"

BBQ Pulled pork sandwiches:

7 pounds of Pork shoulder (bone out) - [fed 17 people]

Salt/pepper

1 large bottle of Sweet Baby Ray'z Original Barbecue sauce

Potato roll buns (I like these because they are soft and a little bit sweet, and they are smaller size than large hamburger buns. Perfect size for kids, and for adults too with sides of potato salad and beans).

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Salt and pepper the pig on both sides. Put the pork in a roasting pan (fat side up) and roast it for about 6 - 6.5 hours. An instant-read thermometer stuck into the thickest part of the pork should register 170 degrees F, but basically, what you want to do is to roast it until it's falling apart. (We pulled it out a couple times and tried to start pulling meat apart with 2 forks, until it actually was "pulling apart" rather easily.)

While the pork is still warm, you want to "pull" the meat: Grab 2 forks. Using 1 to steady the meat, use the other to "pull" shreds of meat off the roast. Put the shredded pork in a bowl and pour the sauce over. Stir it all up well so that the pork is coated with the sauce.

To serve, spoon the pulled pork mixture onto the bottom half of each hamburger bun. Bon appetit!

Baked Beans (a mixture of my friend Kelly McDonald and Pioneer Woman)
3 Large cans (28 oz) pork and beans (I like "Bush's" brand) and drain a little of the liquid
1 med (sweet) onion chopped
1 lb cooked bacon cut up in pieces
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
1/2 - 3/4 cup brown sugar
a splash of cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard

Cook Bacon. Then stir together all ingredients, place in baking dish, cover with foil and bake for a long time maybe 1 1/2 -  2 hours on 300 degrees.

Loaded Baked Potato Salad.
I have this recipe posted here, and I doubled it for the amount of people we had over.

Stuffed Spinach Shells

(I'm really embarrassed about the lame photos for this post. I'll try not to use iphone anymore!! But still wanted to post this recipe b/c it's really yummy!!!)

I've always loved food. I grew up in New Orleans, and in my opinion ate at the best restaurants in the world. Ok, I guess I can't say "world", because I'm definitely not a "world traveler"- The only place I've been out of the country is Mexico. Anyways, my heart (and taste buds) are in New Orleans. When I was in High School, I applied to a favorite local Italian restaurant, Figaro's, close to my (childhood) home on a whim, and was hired that same day. One of my favorite things there was their Stuffed Pasta Shells. And it also reminds me of my mom, too, she would always order it. So I tried to find a close enough recipe to resemble this said stuffed shell recipe. After searching around, this is what I found.

On a side note, my 14 month old LOVES LOVES LOVES this. She wanted to eat the whole pan. And she had leftovers again and again until they were all gone.

Spinach and Artichoke Stuffed Shells
(Makes 6 servings)

6 oz jumbo shell pasta (1/2 a standard box or about 20 shells)
15 oz ricotta cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
10 oz frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 can (or jar) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
2 cups grated Fontina or mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, divided
1 egg
salt
freshly ground black pepper
24 oz jar marinara sauce



1. Cook pasta shells according to package directions, drain well and let cool.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
3. Combine ricotta, garlic, spinach, artichokes, 1 cup Fontina, 1/4 cup Parmesan and the egg. Mix well. Season with salt and pepper (you won’t need much salt since the cheese is salty).
4. Spread a cup of marinara sauce on the bottom of a 13 x 9 baking dish.
5. Fill the cooked shells with about 2 tablespoons of the ricotta mixture. Arrange the shells in rows in the baking dish. Spoon the remaining sauce over the shells and sprinkle with the remaining Fontina and Parmesan.

6. Bake covered with foil for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake another 10 minutes until cheese is golden and bubbly. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Citrus Garlic Shrimp Linguini

This is one of my mother-in-law's recipes. It's so delish! I got the recipe after the first time we had it. It is  a Curfew family favorite, and especially in our home, too! I now keep frozen (raw) shrimp from Costco in the freezer, and use them for this fancy and easy meal. It only takes about 30-40 minutes to make from start to table. Here is the recipe...

Citrus Garlic Shrimp Linguini

1 pkg linguini

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup (fresh squeezed) orange juice
1/3 cup lemon juice
3 to 4 garlic cloves, peeled
3 tsp grated lemon peel
2 tsp grated orange peel
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 pound uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
shredded parm cheese - lots and lots!!!
minced fresh parsley

1. cook linguini according to pkg directions. meanwhile in a blender or food processor, combine the next eight ingredients; cover and process until blended.
2. pour into a large skillet. heat through. add shrimp. cook for 5 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. drain linguini. toss with shrimp mixture. sprinkle with cheese and parsley.

Louisiana Chicken Pasta with creamy cajun sauce

Chicken:
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons flour

Cajun Sauce:
1 tablespoon butter
1 small yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
3/4 small red onion, chopped
3 whole garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 1/4 pints whipping cream
1 cup low-salt chicken broth
4 tablespoons fresh basil, thinly sliced
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 package bow-tie pasta
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
salt and peper

Melt butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add yellow and red bell peppers, mushrooms, and onion to same skillet and saute until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes.

Add minced garlic and crushed red pepper to skillet and saute 2 or 3 minutes.

Add whipping cream and chicken stock. Simmer until sauce re-heats and thickens slightly, about 5 minutes.

Add basil and 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese to sauce, stirring to incorporate. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low, simmer. Sauce will reduce and thicken.

Cook chicken:
Wash and drain chicken breasts. Pound until very thin, as thin or thinner then 1/4-inch thick (the thinner the chicken breasts the better).

Mix breadcrumbs, flour, and Parmesan cheese together. Place milk in dish for dipping.

Dip chicken in breadcrumb mixture and then in milk and then back in breadcrumbs.

Place in fry pan that the oil has been heated and fry at medium high temperature until golden, crisp, and cooked through. Add more oil as needed. Remove and drain chicken. Keep warm.

Meanwhile, cook bow-tie pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain and return to pot. Add sauce and toss to coat.

Place pasta with sauce on plate, and top with chicken breast. Serve, passing additional Parmesan separately.

(recipe found here. Servings: 6)