New Orleans Style Shrimp and Rice

Shrimp Creole is one of the first "fancy" dishes I remember making after I graduated from college. It is a comforting dish and it can be prepared relatively quickly. This recipe, heavily adapted from Martha Stewart, is very reminiscent of Shrimp Creole. The sauce is rich with flavor, though Miss F would disagree. She ate everything separately, a scoop of rice, a couple of shrimp and a few bell peppers, all neatly placed on her plate. She said she didn't like the sauce, but she had no problem eating the shrimp and bell pepper that had been cooked in the sauce. I tried explaining to her that the sauce was much like tomato pasta sauce, but she wasn't hearing it.   I ate a ton and I may have gone back for seconds a few hours later.

New Orleans Style Shrimp and Rice

¼ cup butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
14.5 ounce can stewed tomatoes
½ cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus more for garnish
1 ½ teaspoons Cajun seasoning
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon coarse salt
½ teaspoon hot sauce, such as Tabasco, or to taste
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 cups cooked white rice, for serving

Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add flour, and stir until light brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add bell pepper and onion, cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 7 minutes. Add tomatoes, broth, parsley, spices, salt, and hot sauce. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer until vegetables are soft and mixture is slightly thickened, about 30 minutes. Stir in shrimp, and cook until pink and cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley and serve over rice.

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Beef Fajitas with Corn Salsa

I will order pretty much any kind of fajitas before I will order beef fajitas. Pork, shrimp or chicken are my usual go tos, or some combination of those three. I will even throw in lobster when we are eating at El Tiempo. This fajita recipe may change my mind. The rub provides the perfect fajita flavors and the flank steak is tender and delicious with the overnight marinade. What really stands out is the corn salsa. It is sweet, crunchy and tastes like summer. I am so thrilled to have a grill at our new condo in Colorado. I would grill on it every night if I could. And these fajitas are going to be in regular rotation this summer.  The salsa would also be fantastic on pork, shrimp or chicken fajitas, but I think I prefer it best on beef.

Beef Fajitas with Corn Salsa

1 pound flank steak
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon vegetable or canola oil
1 cup corn kernels
1 avocado, cut into a small dice
1 tomato, cut into a small dice
1 small onion, cut into a small dice
juice from half a lime
dash of hot sauce

tortillas
shredded cheese
sour cream

Trim the fat from the flank steak, set aside. Whisk together the oil, garlic, cumin, chili powder, pepper and salt together. Pour over the steak and let marinate overnight.

Heat the oil in a small saute pan over medium heat. Saute the corn for 5 minutes or so. Set aside to cool. When cool, toss with the avocado, tomato, onion, lime juice and hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Remove the steak from the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking. Preheat the grill to medium, grill the steak about 5 to 7 minutes per side. Cover the steak with foil and let rest for 15 minutes. Slice the steak into ¼ to ½ inch-thick strips and serve with warm tortillas, corn salsa, cheese and sour cream.

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Pizza Margherita

This pizza was all Miss F's creation. She spooned out the sauce, scattered the cheese and artfully arranged the basil. She also made a plain cheese pizza for herself because she didn't want green leaves on her pizza. Her loss. Pizza Margherita is one of my most favorite ways to have pizza, especially with fresh basil from my mom's garden. I like the simpleness of plain crushed tomatoes and shredded mozzarella to top this pizza.  The dough was perfect, just the right amount of chewiness.  The pizza dough recipe is adapted from Feeling Foodish.

Margherita Pizza

3 cups flour
½ teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup warm water
1 ½ teaspoons olive oil

1 cup crushed tomatoes
1 cup shredded mozzarella
handful of basil leaves

Mix together the flour, yeast, salt and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Pour the warm water into the flour mixture, stir until all the flour is incorporated. Add the oil and use the dough hook attachment to knead the dough for five minutes. Divide the dough into two equal pieces and place in sealed quart-sized container or freezer bag and refrigerate overnight or up to 72 hours.

The following day, remove the dough balls within two hours of baking to allow the dough to come to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees with a pizza stone inside. Open each dough ball and transfer to parchment paper. Top with the crushed tomatoes, mozzarella and basil leaves. Transfer the parchment paper to the pizza stone and bake for 5 to 7 minutes. Serve.

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