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Posts Tagged ‘Food’

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Sushi, American-made

In Uncategorized on January 13, 2012 at 3:22 pm

I’m seriously on an Asian kick this week. I had Vegetable & Shrimp Tempura for dinner one night, Fancy Q’s Sushi Bar & Grill (which I don’t recommend) for lunch, and now homemade Sushi for lunch. The good part is sushi is a lot easier to make than you think, novice or not, and it’s pretty cheap. Remember, you can fill a roll of sushi with anything you want, but we went with something simple. The recipe here makes four rolls of sushi for two people.

Ingredients:
1 cucumber
1 block cream cheese
1 carrot
1 grilled chicken breast (or other protein of your choice)
1 pack of Nori (dried seaweed, you can find it in the oriental isle at any grocery store)
1 bag of Japanese rice, you can use any rice, it will just need to be over cooked to make it sticky
Soy Sauce & Wasabi (for obvious reasons)

If you have actual Japanese sushi rice, it takes a second to prepare. First, put it in a colander it won’t go through and rinse the mess out of it. I mean, rinse it until the water isn’t cloudy white anymore, takes a few more times than you think, and after let it sit in a colander for 30 minutes before steaming. The ratio of water to rice when steaming Japanese rice is also different. With most white rice the ratio is 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water, but Japanese rice is 3 cups of rice to 3 1/4 cups of water. Let the rice boil, then steam for about 15 minutes – or just buy a rice cooker and then you don’t even have to worry about it.

The main thing you need in using white or long grain rice, is just to make sure it’s sticky. The Japanese rice will be sticky, but if you just over-cook some white rice, it will be just as sticky. There is no real trick from keeping the rice sticking to your fingers, maybe a little vinegar, but it’s going to stick either way.

Alright, while the rice is cooking, cut your ingredients. The best part about cutting for sushi, is everything just needs to be in long strips. Like this:

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Yes, I know it’s on a neon green plate decorated with sandals – thank SaltwaterChef for the plate ware! She also cooked the rice and cut the vegetables!

Notice, we aren’t using a sushi mat (because we lost it) but aluminum foil worked just fine, and the rice didn’t stick to it. Now there are two ways to start your sushi – do you want the rice on the inside or the outside? Either way, spread it comfortably over one side of your Nori. There are two different sides of the Nori, a matted side and a glossy side. Use the matted side if you want rice on the inside of your sushi (solely for appearance purposes), but if you want the rice on the outside, it doesn’t really matter.

The one tricky party to rolling sushi is not over stuffing the inside. If the veggies and (or shrimp!) are about 1/4 an inch thick, it should work out just fine. Lay all your ingredients in the middle and roll one end to the other. Use the aluminum foil and squeeze the ends nice and tight so the ends adhere to each other.

How do you make all the pieces of sushi the same size? Cut your roll in half, then cut those two halves in half – giving you 4 pieces per role. If you want, before you cut it, batter it in some tempura mix and fry it first!

Your final product might look similar to this!

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Feed yourself,
Coleman

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Holiday Menu, Cheap & with a Twist

In Seasonal on November 29, 2011 at 7:11 pm

The good thing about Holiday Menu’s are that they can be interchangeable, and you don’t have to do the same stuff every year. For our pre-Thanksgiving meal, we had Aunt Sarah’s Thanksgiving Dip, but including the dip and our dinner we only spent $95 on a meal for four. I’d say that’s a steal.

It wasn’t your traditional Holiday Dinner, because we realized not every holiday meal with friends has to consist of turkey, dressing, and cranberry sauce. Yes, those are thanksgiving staples, but for a dinner for 4 or 5 people, you shouldn’t have to over spend and exhaust yourself. So here are a few side dishes and a main dish you could make for any Holiday gathering without running the bank dry.

Lima Bean & Roasted Red Pepper Casserole

Ingredients:
1 bag frozen Lima Beans
1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 yellow bell pepper
1/2 cup Roland Roasted Red Bell Peppers
3 sticks Sargento’s cheese (whatever you’re in the mood for – we got the package that was on sale)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

This dish is not hard to make at all, and it’s not your typical casserole with some type of cream of mushroom base. It’s full of natural flavors. Find an oven safe dish to bake in and set it aside. Take your yellow bell pepper – deseed it and cut the veins off. Cut it in strips about 1/4″ thick. Sauté the peppers in your oil or fat of choice. SaltwaterChef used bacon grease for our sautéing purposes. After the peppers are soft, put them in your baking dish and sauté the onion next. After they are nice and translucent, add them to your mixture as well.

The Lima beans don’t need to be cooked, but tossing them a time or two in your hot oil will help them thaw a little bit, or rinse them in a colander under water to thaw them.
Since the red peppers were already already roasted, we threw in about 1/2 cup of them with a little bit of their juice as well. Toss everything together!

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We cubed up the Sargento cheese, but if you want to buy shredded cheese that will work just as well, and if you have it on hand – crumble some Ritz crackers on top for a nice additional texture and golden brown color. All that’s left is to bake your casserole for about 25-30 minutes until the cheese is melted and it’s ready to serve!

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Brown Buttered Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:
2 sticks of butter
5 lb sack of Yukon gold potatoes
Granulated Garlic (to taste)
Salt & black pepper (to taste)

Mashed potatoes could be the easiest side dish you could ever make. No picture involved with this one, it’s only a few short steps. I’ll try and breeze through it.

1. Peel about 6 Yukon Gold Potatoes, (remember this is based on dinner for 4 people) and cut into quarters. The more consistent the cut, the more evenly they are cooked. The smaller you cut your potatoes, the faster they cook. Throw them in a pot of salty hot water, and let them boil.

2. When your potatoes are getting close to being ready, test them with tongs for tenderness. When they easily break apart after being squeezed, they’re ready. So start your butter melting in a sauté pan. To get the butter brown, you just cook it between medium and medium-high heat until all the water evaporates and the milk solids start to turn a light brown color, but don’t burn it!

3. When the potatoes are nice and tender transfer them to a colander. Don’t leave the potatoes too long, if they aren’t mashed while hot, their natural sugars will cool down and they will become very starchy instead of staying nice and light. By the way, you don’t need a potato masher – a little strength with a fork will break them down quite nice, leaving nice small chunks for a great texture.

4. Halfway through mashing, throw in your hot brown butter. It will make the mashing easier and start to level the consistency of your potatoes. Other than that, season with some granulated garlic (minced garlic if you’re in the mood, but I’d sauté it for about 15-20 seconds in the butter first so it isn’t raw), salt and pepper. Finish it off with a few shots of milk and 1/4 cup of sour cream – how much of each that you add relies on what consistency you are looking for.

Also, it doesn’t hurt to keep a few green onions around to cut and use for garnish on top.

The Prime Rib

This was only the expensive part of the meal. We got a 3 lb, bone in, Prime Rib – that’s a 12 oz piece of meat per person for around $30. So for a nice sized protein, I consider that a win.

We didn’t even sear the steak off. SaltwaterChef drizzled olive oil over the meat and covered the outside in a new seasoning I bought, McCormick Grill Mates, Garlic & Onion Medley. We put it in the oven at 6 p.m. on 300 degrees and it was ready to eat by 7:45 p.m. It was also great because it had all the temperatures we liked to eat. One cut came out Rare+, one Medium Rare, one Medium Rare+, and the outside was a nice pink Medium.

Look at this beautiful cut of meat.

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Naturally, every meal, special occasion or not, goes great with a bottle of wine. With this evening’s meal, we drank an affordable, great wine – Clos du Bois, Cabernet Savignon. It was a great dinner with my friends. If you have a dinner party coming up over this holiday season, there’s always an inexpensive, easy way to impress people with your culinary skill.

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The “Rah” Bar, a true rarity..

In Review on November 14, 2011 at 11:40 pm

If you ever have a day off, need to get out of Brunswick for a few hours, or are tired of the scene on St. Simon’s Island – I have the perfect place for you to go, The “Rah” Bar on Jekyll Island. During the day it is known as “Cafe on the Wharf” and turns into the “Rah” Bar at night.

Located on the Jekyll Wharf, the Rah Bar serves fresh oysters (raw or steamed), mudpuppies (crawfish), Wild Georgia Shrimp, and Dungeness crab legs- as well as low country boils, BBQ sandwiches, and Dangerous Dawgs. Sides include potato chips, sausages, red potatoes, and sweet corn.

I’ve eaten shrimp and crab legs in many different cities: Memphis, New Orleans, Malibu, Charleston, and Savannah, just to name a few, but none compare to the steamed shrimp and crab legs prepared at the Rah Bar. The Wild Georgia Shrimp that are brought in daily from the shrimp boats docked on the pier, and the crab legs are beautiful large Dungeness crabs, not Snow Crab legs. They are steamed perfectly and sprinkled with the Rah Bar’s secret blend of spices. They are absolutely delicious. People come to the Rah Bar every year just to have their fresh seafood, and the plates are accompanied with cocktail sauce, a spicy hot butter sauce, and fresh cut lemons.

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Aside from the spectacular service and atmosphere, the sunset is absolutely divine. On most days of the week, this is the sunset you would set eyes on while eating a pound of peel-and-eat shrimp and delighting yourself in one of the Rah Bar’s specialty drinks, the “Rah” Rum Smash (I challenge you to try it before you know what’s in it).

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The Rah Bar also just started a great Happy Hour! Monday through Friday, 4pm-6pm, it’s $2 domestic beer, $3 glasses of house wine, $4 well cocktails, and $10 for a bucket of beer (6 domestics)! Not to mention Thursday – Sunday they have live music on the pier. It really is the perfect place to enjoy life to its fullest.

So come have a “Rah” Bar Margarita, snack on some shrimp, get lost in paradise, and prove that I’m wrong!

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Vic’s on the River

In Review on November 3, 2011 at 2:32 pm

I was around eleven years old when I first visited Savannah, GA. I went with my family, back when I didn’t even know beer existed and car rides were much more fun because I wasn’t the driver. It was St. Patrick’s Day there, where I fell in love with crawfish -until I rubbed juice in my eye- and now makes me wonder why I ever thought the tall, felt, cat-in-the-hat – hats, were deemed “cool.”

Fourteen years later, I finally got to return to the historic city. The cobblestone streets flashed through my mind as we walked down by the river, and I realized these locals have taken care of their city. I didn’t remember all the tourist shops, or how you could ride an elevator four stories up and still find yourself to be street level. I didn’t know about the multitude of restaurants, bars, and eateries.

I thought about Urbanspoon-ing a good place to eat, but I wanted somewhere with eclectic food, lively people, and an upscale casual atmosphere. Naturally, I turned to twitter. I’d like to say a special thanks to VisitSavannah for giving me such great places to check out! Their suggestions went from home cooking and southern barbecue to historic staples and local’s favorites. After an hour of debating and looking at menus and locations, my friend and I decided on Vic’s on the River. It was an excellent decision.

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We entered the restaurant from River St., but had to take an elevator up four levels to the main dining room. There’s also an entrance on Bay St., but it’s not as breathtaking as stepping off the elevator into such a beautiful large room with a lip-licking wine rack to your right and an elegant bar to your left. My eyes searched the room in excitement for my meal. It was the elegance I was searching for – tall vaulted ceilings, dijon-cream painted walls, black iron clad chandeliers hung from the ceiling, with similar candle holders on the wall. The bar sparkled, with a beautiful view of the river in the background. It was definitely a sight you don’t see in Brunswick, GA.

We were eating a late lunch, so the restaurant had great seating options. Past the bar and the small dining section was another dining room, with tables right next to the window, where we sat. When I go into a restaurant I like to observe everything about it. Here I loved the way the tables were set up. Each one had a base white linen with a black linen diagonal on top, white rolled cutlery, a bread and butter plate, and two empty water glasses. Simple, but elegant. Each table also had a small square-vase with a flower in it.

They hostess left a “Select Spirit’s & Wine” list on our table, and that’s where the journey really began. I could have sat there for two hours reading this book. Yes, it was like a book, and I loved it. It had a table of contents, a specialty martini list, a page full of all of their basic spirits (including 8 single malt scotches!), and the rest focused on wine and sparkling whites. There were pages of wines – everyone they had by the glass and the bottle, accompanied by a short description of the wine, its year, its price, and the region it came from. Put it this way, there were two full pages of descriptions of their Pinot Noir selection. I could have spent my whole meal educating myself on wine.

As with any meal, a cocktail is always suitable. I chose to start out with a Cherry Julep. It was Red Stag Black Cherry Bourbon, fresh mint, soda water, and a Rum float. There were also a few muddled cherries in it and it was delicious! My friend and foodie, SaltwaterChef decided on a Ginger Smash – Absolut, Ginger Liqueur, gingerale, and soda water. Also a great choice! I’m not a big fan of Ginger, but it was not overpowering at all and balanced very well.

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If I wanted an after dinner-tini, I would have ordered their Lemon Cookie Martini! It’s a dessert martini with Ketel One Citron, Trader Vic’s Macadamia Nut Liqueur, and fresh lemon juice.

Picking an appetizer was just as controversial as picking out the restaurant. Three options caught our eyes. Classic Oyster’s Rockefeller, and Georgia Shrimp Bisque. The bisque really intrigued me with the thought of it being garnished with a Drambuie scented creme fraiche, but since we were sharing we decided against it. The Oyster’s Rockefeller were traditionally prepared with fresh spinach, smoked bacon, Sambvca, and topped with Asiago cheese, but the Crawfish Beignets won the vote.

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They were light and delicious. The crust seemed like a pie crust or less flaky, but just as buttery, puff pastry. They were hot and golden and presented nicely on the plate. The dough to filling ratio was also great. I find most times people either use to much breading or too much filling, but these were fantastic. The Tabasco Syrup was the perfect sweet and spicy combination for the appetizer. It’s a must have!

Choosing a lunch entree was also a difficult decision between so many different sandwiches and entree plates. Not to mention there wasn’t any item over $14! That’s a deal for any decent day-off lunch. The menu ranged from a Southern Pasta Carbonara with English peas, bacon, gemelli, and a fried chicken breast to a Fried Green Tomato BLT with goat cheese, sun-dried tomato pesto on toasted Sourdough. The real eye catcher was the Fried Chicken Livers Sliders, accompanied with a creole coleslaw and lemon aioli on fresh baked yeast rolls, but they were out of chicken livers that day! I’ll have to try them next time I’m in Savannah.

For my entree I decided on Crab Stuffed Georgia Wild Shrimp. I had an idea of what to expect, and my expectations were exceeded. The plate came out gorgeous- 7 beautifully butterflied stuffed shrimp with lemon herb butter drizzled on top, slowly sinking in and around the shrimp. In the middle of the plate was a sweet corn rice pilaf, with asparagus -perfectly sautéed- on top. A small pinch of salt on the asparagus made for a delicious meal.

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SaltwaterChef decided on the Crobb Salad for her lunch! It came over a bed of baby mixed greens with applewood smoked bacon, goat cheese, mango, tomatoes, cucumbers, and it normally comes with lump crab meat, but she substituted shrimp instead. The dressing was so differently delicious – a Creamy Citrus Vanilla Dressing, that SaltwaterChef described as “very light, not overbearingly citrusy, light undertones of vanilla- more of an aromatic than a flavor, and it tastes great with the bacon.”

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Did I mention the service was spectacular? Our service professional, Robert, was very knowledgable not only about the menu but also about the restaurant and wine. Turns out, there are two other floors that the restaurant accommodates. The floor below the dining room, The Dieter’s Den, can hold private parties for up to 40 people, and the banquet room above the dining room can hold private events for up to 150 people.

I wanted to finish my meal off with a nice glass of wine, so Robert suggested a glass of what I believe was Malakoff, a Shiraz-Viognier blend. It was smooth and a delicious way to end our two-hour lunch event. Vic’s on the River was a winner, and I can’t wait to go back for dinner! Thanks again @VisitSavannah for such a great recommendation!

Here are a few more pictures from the inside of Vic’s and the wonderful view from the dining room.

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Lettuce Wraps, Made Easy

In Recipe's & How To on October 25, 2011 at 6:05 pm

I’m not a fan of using recipes. I like to experiment, guess, and see what works out the best; but, I found my tastes were becoming narrow and generic. So I bought a cookbook. Buying a cookbook involves a lot of particulars for me – it needs a lot of recipes that I know I will cook and not just fillers to take up space. So I sit and flip through the entire thing before I make my decision. I will probably never buy a crockpot cookbook, if you know what I mean. I’m a huge fan of Asian food and in Culinary School I did really well in the class, so that narrowed my decision down easily, I got the Williams-Sonoma Asian Cookbook.

The Asian Cookbook, containing 40 vibrant recipes and photos, reminded me how many different ingredients and methods are used in Asian cooking. Sometimes I forget Asian isn’t only Japanese food or Chinese food but also Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, and Indonesian food, just to name a few.

I wanted to start out with something simple and delicious, seemingly healthy but not, and filling. So I turned to the recipe for Minced Chicken in Lettuce Cups. I’ll give the list of ingredients they asked for, but I’m also including small changes or additions I made by noting them with an asterisk (*).

Ingredients:
1 head Iceberg
6 dried Chinese black mushrooms (I used 8-10 because I like them*)
2 Tbs Oyster Sauce
1 Tbs dark and light Soy Sauce
1 Tsp sesame oil
1/2 Tsp sugar (2 Tsp honey*)
1/2 Tsp cornstarch
1/8 Tsp ground white pepper
1 Lg Egg, beaten
2 Tbs Canola oil
1 Tbs ginger, peeled and minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 lb chicken, minced
1/4 lb pork, minced
1/2 cup bamboo shoots, minced
6 water chestnuts, minced
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
3 green onions (1 leek*)
2 Tbs pine nuts
1 Serrano chile, seeded and minced*
1/2 lemon, juiced*

I know it seems like a lot of ingredients, but they’re all small, and once purchased- you have plenty left over to cook with later. Think about it like you’re buying an Asian spice rack. It seems a little expensive at first, but this is how they flavor their food.

I went ahead and made the sauce first, since the grocery store was out of green onions, I bought a leek instead. Leeks are basically really big, layered green onions. If you’ve never cooked with leeks before, make sure you only you the part about 1/2 inch above the root, and an inch below where they start to petal out. It may seem like a lot of waste, but you have plenty to work with, I promise. Take your hoisin sauce and mix it with 2-3 tablespoons* of warm water. The recipe calls for 1 Tbs, but I thought the sauce was still to thick. Since I didn’t have green onions, I cut the leek in half and thinly sliced it and added them to the hoisin. Hoisin has a certain ting to it, it’s almost sharp, so I cut it down by adding juice from half of a lemon. The acidity in the lemon juice helped soften the leeks and balance out the flavor. Put the sauce in the fridge until it’s time to eat!

Put on a small pot of water, and go ahead and turn the heat on high so it’s boiling by the end of the next step. Cut out the core of the head of iceberg, using a spoon is easiest, going in a circle around and popping it out. Separate about 20 leaves and soak them in ice water in the fridge for about 30 minutes. They should be ready by the time you’re finished cooking.

Take your dried mushrooms, and throw them in the now boiling pot of water. Cut the heat down to low so it’s still simmering and cover with a lid, letting the mushrooms rehydrate for about 10 minutes.

In a small bowl, mix oyster sauce, dark and light soy, sesame oil, honey*, cornstarch, white pepper, and egg until well mixed and set aside.

In a wok, or if you don’t have one a sauté pan will do, but Wok’s are awesome to cook with, heat the canola oil. Add the ginger and garlic and let it stir-fry for 15-20. Don’t let the garlic burn! You can’t reverse the flavor of burnt garlic! Next, add the minced chicken and pork and cook for about 5-7 minutes. Make sure any pink is gone and discard any juice that may have cooked out. You don’t want to over cook the meat because it will become chewy, so if it’s a little under – the rest of the cooking process will finish cooking your meat to stay moist. While the meat is cooking, trim the stems and mince the Chinese mushrooms.

After discarding any excess liquid, return the pan to heat and add the bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, Serrano, and mushrooms until the water from them is evaporated and they’ve softened up, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in the oyster sauce mixture and stir fry until the sauce thickens (the egg doesn’t cook sepearelty, it acts as a catalyst for the thickening process), about 5 more minutes.

When you’re finished thickening the sauce, pull out your lettuce! If the process takes you longer than 30 minutes, drain the ice water off and leave them in the fridge to keep them crisp until you’re ready for them. Spoon a heaping amount of your chicken/pork mixture on the lettuce and drizzle the top with your hoisin sauce, and enjoy.

These are how mine turned out!

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Feed you soon,
Coleman

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Indigo Coastal Shanty, a Review

In Review on October 17, 2011 at 9:50 pm

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I know I’ve mentioned the lack of activity in Brunswick, Georgia, but I found a break. It’s tucked just around the corner from Gloucester and Newcastle on Reynolds Street. Walking up to this innovative Coastal Shanty, you’re relaxed by it’s comfort and simplicity. Not to mention the backside patio looks more than inviting on a breezy, cool autumn day.

Welcome, to Indigo Coastal Shanty….

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There was already a small crowd at the door, around 11:30 a.m. Accompanying the southern comfort atmosphere, were about 11 tables inside ranging from 2-seaters to 4-seaters. The decor was simple but modern, not pretentious. Various paintings floated on subtle teal walls and beige drapery hung loosely across the ceiling. Conversation fluttered around the room as the aroma from the kitchen made its way to me at the front door.

Next to the entrance hung a large chalkboard with the Soup du Jour, or “Homemade Stockpot,” and the lunch special. They both sounded incredible. The Stockpot was Pistou, loaded with summer squash, zucchini, pasta, green beans, white beans, light basil, and chicken stock. Pistou is commonly known as a sauce made of garlic, basil, and olive oil that is added in soups and stews. The lunch special was the “Pacific Wok,” stacked with bok choy, carrots, sweet peppers, scallions (green onions for anyone unfamiliar), wok sauce, toasted sesame seeds, and fragrant jasmine rice.

After a few minutes, we sat down at a quaint little two-top in the middle of the restaurant- where a jumbo bottle of my favorite hot sauce Cholula was anxiously waiting for me. I have no problem dining by myself, but I love having company to discuss the experience with so my best foodie and chef, Erika Lipe is normally with me.

We started out lunch with the Warm Artichoke Dip. It came to the table with refreshingly hot fried blue corn chips. Nothing makes me happier than fresh, hot, fried corn chips. The dip came out wonderful! The ratio of artichokes (which had texture and weren’t too soft or mushy) to cream cheese was great, and I think there was a subtle hint of sour cream in there along with some roasted garlic. We also tasted a slight twang, which made us think the artichokes were sautéed in wine before mixed with the cream cheese. The only part I wanted more of was sun-dried tomatoes. There were sun-dried tomatoes, but I wanted a little more chunk and addition to the dip.

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It’s noon and the wait at the door is steady between 8 to 10 people, and all I can see is satisfaction and enjoyment from people leaving the establishment. I also observed the dishes leaving the kitchen, seeing heat wisp from the Pimiento Cheese Burger and grilled chicken atop the Pac-Rim Noodle Bowl.

Then my lunch entree came. I love trying lunch specials because it’s a one time chance- you never know when it might run again. It was delicious. I’m quite a fan of Asian food and was very interested to see how Chef Kate Buchanan would pull this dish off. She did it exactly how I would have. The fragrant rice laid on the bottom of the plate with a beautifully cooked wok sauce. The vegetables, incredibly warm and fresh, rested on the rice with elegance. There were equal parts greens, chicken, vegetables, and rice- it simply was delicious. I’m a huge fan of pairing food with a drink, and today’s choice was a brew I had never had before! The Golden Monkey was a greet beer to have with lunch. It’s an ale, but doesn’t have the hoppiness of an ale. It was golden and soothing to sip on while I had lunch- full of fruitful, sensual flavors while I ate my Pacific Wok.

The “Pacific Wok”

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The exciting part is I only ate there for lunch, which also includes so many more interesting items. Fried Plantains with Avocado Dipping Sauce, the Calypso Salad, the Mediterranean Veggie Stack, and the “Raj” Burger are just to name a few.

Our waitress was also an additional delight to our meal. She was sweet and knew all the locals that came in to dine regularly. Chef Kate Buchanan executed our lunch very well, and her staff- intimate, southern, and friendly – seem like a well loving family to her. I can’t wait to see what dinner will be like!

Always Eating,
Coleman

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The Best, Simple Crostini’s

In Recipe's & How To on October 16, 2011 at 4:56 pm

How to make the best, simple Crositini’s:

Ingredients:
1 loaf French Bread or Baguette
Olive Oil
Parsley, finely chopped, optional

Take your loaf of French bread or a Baguette (they are normally light and soft when fresh) and cut them on a bias (diagonally) about 1/4″ thick. Place your slices on a sheet pan – whatever you can put in the oven for a few minutes will work. Get some olive oil and lightly oil both sides of the bread – and if you want to fancy up presentation, some finely chopped parsley would look nice sprinkled on top. Put the oven on 425 degrees, and throw them in for about 5 minutes until they look crispy golden on the edges. Like things a little crispier? Just leave them in for a few more minutes.

Remember, cooking times do differ based on where you place your sheet pan. If it’s closer to the heating element, it won’t take as long to cook, the further away, the longer it will take. I know that’s very common sense to people, but it’s always good to remember the small stuff.

Food Tip: bread travels best wrapped in aluminum foil. It keeps it from getting cold and keeps them crisp. Soggy bread is a fiesta failure.

Keeping things crispy,
Coleman

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Freshliest Catch, Blue Crabs

In Freshliest Catch on October 10, 2011 at 7:48 pm

There’s not much to do down in Brunswick, GA when it’s off season on the islands and the city crawls on elbows looking for action, so I’ve picked up crab trapping. I’m a novice at best, but it turns out you really don’t have to know what you’re doing to catch Blue Crabs!

My friend, Northcutt, and I started out fishing one morning on the new pier that was built off of Overlook Park, right next to Spanky’s Marshside. The tide was coming in so we thought it’d be the perfect time to catch some fish – flounder, whiting, anything. Taking initiative I also decided to try to catch a crab, so I did what I saw a lot of people do previously on the pier. I brought along a Gatorade bottle with a string wrapped around, and a chicken bone attached to the end. I heard crab trapping was so easy you could just dangle a chicken bone in the water and before you know it you’d have ten crabs. That’s a lie.

After no luck catching anything but baby fish, I pulled in a blue crab on my line. Yes, I caught my first blue crab – with a fishing pole. It was fun though. Claws were snapping everywhere while I tried to remove the hook from his mouth. After that, we packed up our gear and decided we’d get crab traps. By the way, the Gatorade bottle was a fail – every time I had a crab on the end, as soon as it surfaced, it let go.

The store we got our equipment from was West Marine. It’s a coastal playground for anyone who likes to fish, boat, kayak, or really do anything outdoors while living on the coast. We purchased 3 pyramid crab traps, a basket trap, and 300 feet of rope all for around $35! Bait is the simple part. Raw chicken. Go to your local grocery store and for $6 you can get enough chicken legs for four traps. Fish heads also work really well! You can easily find those at your local seafood market.

A few days ago, we tried crab trapping again (observing other crab-trappers gave us the best tips) and came home with 24 fresh Blue Crabs!

My roommates and I are huge foodies and love to make grandiose dinners just for three. We go all out. SaltwaterChef, also known as Erika Lipe, cooked the delicious feast of Blue Crabs, and here’s how she did it!

First off: the catch

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Secondly: The Crab Boil!

Ingredients:
24 FRESH Blue Crabs
1 lb Andouille Sausauge, cut on a bias, about a 1/4 an inch thick
1 white onion, rough cut strips
1 box Zatarain’s crab boil
Whole Garlic, sliced
Salt
2 lemons
6 ears of corn
1 loaf French bread
Butter
1 12 pack of bud light

It’s easy to cook these crabs down!

Get a stock pot and make the water salty like the sea. Throw in the onions, squeeze the lemon juice and throw 1 1/2 lemons in the pot (save 1/2 a lemon for lemon butter), garlic, and bring it to a boil.

Go ahead and preheat the oven to 350 degrees and get the corn roasting! If you want, peel the husk back and rub butter all over the corn for additional flavor.

Most people back and de-gill Blue Crabs before cooking, but if you boil them first, the back and gills come off just as easy. When the water starts to boil, throw the crabs in! Our stockpot was small so we only boiled about four at a time, and it took about ten minutes until they were cooked all the way through. AND, it’s ok if you have to cook them in rounds when the shells are on because it keeps the meat hot.

While they cook, melt some butter and juice your last 1/2 a lemon for a dipping sauce! Take your French loaf, cut it hoagie style, slather it with softened butter, and crisp it up in the oven before you feast. After the crabs are finished cooking, throw your cut sausage into the boiling water for a few minutes to cook them and let them absorb all the flavor, remove the sausage, onions, and garlic with a slotted spoon and you get a nice spicy addition to your meal.

The beer is strictly for your enjoyment. A boil is not complete without beer.

The final product to a great day of crabbing –

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We couldn’t eat all the food between three of us, and that’s the fun part – getting creative with the left overs.

Up next for my Freshliest Catch, Sweet Corn and Crab Dip!

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The Dirty Brunswick

In Business Tips on October 5, 2011 at 5:15 pm

Here’s one thing I’ve learned since living in the dirty Brunstank of Georgia. Nothing survives here – people do, even though you wouldn’t know it, but that is it.

You drive down Newcastle St into Downtown Brunswick and there is nothing but closed signs (besides St. Vincent’s Thrift store and a few antique / jewelry shops). I guess it’s just that food doesn’t survive here. At least not in the way it should. Restaurants last maximum a year to a few months, except the lucky (take that word lightly) few.

Since I’ve moved here, I’ve already seen the going of too many places to eat. Cargo’s Portside Grill, Legends, Jim’s Corner Cafe, Bourbon St., Spanky’s (Mall-side),The Oyster Shak changed management and their name to The Shak- which I hear won’t last much longer, and now Brew Burgers is going under.

It’s a shame. Surely something should make it. Fox’s Pizza Den seems about the only sustainable restaurant (no shocker, it’s a franchise).

But I found a place Downtown that seems to be doing quite well. Indigo Coastal Shanty. Can’t wait to write a review about it. Look for it soon.

Until then, I’ve learned to keep my business ventures away from Brunswick, GA in general. Unless you have the right location and can market to these locals- you’re out of luck.

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