Do NOT Fear Food: Muffuletta Pasta With all the Fixins'!!!

Do NOT Fear Food: Muffuletta Pasta With all the Fixins'!!!: So you like pasta??  So do I!!  It's an easy ingredient that you can add just about anything to....seafood, meat, veggies, I guess you...

Muffuletta Pasta With all the Fixins'!!!

So you like pasta??  So do I!!  It's an easy ingredient that you can add just about anything to....seafood, meat, veggies, I guess you could add chocolate if you wanted too!  It's all good as long as it tastes good!  Remember if it looks like you can eat it, and it smells like you can eat it, then go ahead and EAT IT!

But for this dish here's the start to a very quick and tasty dish!  First ya gotta heat da earl....or for NON New Orleanians, you must first heat the olive oil:

Then sauté' some green onions and some classic creole blend of onions, garlic, parsley, celery...I have to admit, in order to save some time, this time, I purchased it already cut up and ready to go!  With all of the big boys I have to feed, sometimes a time saver is the best way, in fact I had a few short cuts this time around:

Next come the meats!  Some ham, a bit of prosciutto, some salami (any kind you would like or can find) some pancetta, you can add chicken, or pork....whatever you may have in the freezer or fridge. But for the flavor, make sure you add some Italian meats to this dish, or you just won't get the Muffuletta vibe:

Next comes....well one of my personal favorite additives!  DA wine, it helps to pick up all of the pieces of meat and seasonings that are stuck to the bottom of the pan, and of course it adds amazing flavor, cook it down a bit before adding one of the most important ingredients THE OLIVE SALAD:

There is no special timing to this dish, this one's about as easy as making a hamburger, sauté till clear, sauté till brown, add the wine (cook down for a bit) then add the olives!

Now comes the last additive....da pasta!!!!  Just boil up some of your favorite kind, I don't think spaghetti works, at least it doesn't work for me, but if it's your only choice at the time, then go for it!  I usually use ziti...it's dense and holds all of the flavors.

Top it off with some parmesan cheese and some fresh basil and you have a  dish no one will toss out...only toss in (their mouth)!!!

 TA DA!!!!!  

Do NOT Fear Food: Shrimp and Pasta With a Kick!!!

Do NOT Fear Food: Shrimp and Pasta With a Kick!!!: Is it essential that you get all of the ingredients correct???  Sometimes, but not always!  If you find that you pulled everything out tha...

Shrimp and Pasta With a Kick!!!

Is it essential that you get all of the ingredients correct???  Sometimes, but not always!  If you find that you pulled everything out that you need to "make" a certain dish, and you realized you don't have heavy cream, like I just did with this dish, then you improvise!!!  So here you go!!!

Everyone love a picture book.....and here's mine:

To start...make a shrimp head stock....and peel your shrimp to the tail....DO NOT DEVEIN!!!  I repeat...DO NOT DEVINE!!!....when you handle fresh seafood too much it becomes gummy!  YUCK!!  Who wants gummy shrimp??!!  And what's a little shrimp poo???  Like my momma always said, "Eat that stuff, it's good for ya!"  (Half the time I never knew what that "stuff" was anyway)

NEXT you want to sauté some FLAVOR!  In New Orleans we love to add the right amount of gawlick!  or Garlic for the rest of the readers.....what is the right amount you may ask?  The right amount is when you can't talk to the rest of the world for 3 days afterward, so go add some garlic and some onions, and some green onions!  How much?  Whatever you're comfortable with!

ALWAYS sauté in Butter and Olive Oil!  Why?  because the combo is amazing...more flavor than you can possibly ask for!!!

Once you've sautéed the gawlick and onions, oops oh yeah, someone will ask HOW LONG???  my answer is "as long as you'd like", but in reality just let them all get nice and soft and sort of see through! 

NOW comes the good ingredients!!!  THE WINE!!!  Yes, about a cup of white wine!  My suggestion is ALWAYS taste some of the ingredients....and the wine is a must!  So along with the bottle for pouring, you need a wine glass for.....hum.....TASTING!!!

Personally that's my favorite part of the cooking experience!!!  TASTING 

Now add your NOT DEVEINED fresh shrimp!!!  Don't use frozen if you can help it!  I will tell you that once you add frozen shrimp, you may need more wine, more gawlick, MORE of everything in order to get a good flavor!!!

 and some LEMON!!! and the zest!  Lemon makes everything....and I mean EVERYTHING taste better!!!

Is there really an order to all of this???  NO!!!  you do want to do the special things first, IE the sautéing, the wine, the shrimp, the salt, the pepper, OH yeah!  I forgot about the salt and pepper, just add that to taste!  

Next I add some of the seasoned shrimp stock!  BE careful....be vewwy vewwy caaarefull....as Bugs would say!...if you season that shrimp stock well, you may not need nearly the amount of pepper you're used too, I always add Crab Boil to my shrimp stock...so yes that is HOT!!!

I'll bet you don't know what that last picture is...HUH???  That's what I call spiders, its the base of the shrimp head!  Just stick your finger into the head and pull down, and now you have probably one of the tastiest parts of the shrimp!!!  They have a crunch, but they also have all of the fat of the shrimp in there, I always add that to any shrimp dish I do!  If your squeamish about something called a spider, then just throw it away!  If NOT then go for it!  They are yummy!!!

OK let's see what's next???  You can see I write like I cook!!!  NO FEAR!!!

This is my improvised version of heavy cream!!!  Some milk and some flour!!!  Would a great chef do this?  I have no idea, but I did, and I think in the end it tasted like a great chef made it....I just added about a cup of milk (mine was 2%, use what you have, or get some real heavy cream) and then I added about 2 tablespoons of finely sifted flour, just so that I don't have clumps of flour in there!  YUCK!  then stir it around and it sort of becomes this heavy whipping cream texture!

Now comes the KICK....top it off with some Louisiana Hot Sauce and some Parmesan Cheese and your guests will not believe you cooked it!!!  Throw it all in some pasta, or rice, or quinoa, or whatever is your choice and you will have one of the best dishes you have ever cooked....DO NOT FEAR the food!!!  Just do it!!!

TA DA!!!!

NEVER FORGET the wine in the end.....had to post that twice just to make sure you remember!!!

ENJOY!!!!

I'm Making a Shrimp Head Stock???

What the heck is a shrimp head stock???  Is that your question?  Well, it's just some raw shrimp heads, placed in water, raised to a boil with some crab boil added to it!   It's very very simple, and it's very very good!!!  It adds lots of flavor to a seafood style dish, and it also adds lots of pretty color!

Why would you want color?  To make it desirable to eat!  Dishes with pretty color are eaten more readily than dishes without!  Reds, yellows, greens, equal yummy!!!

Yes, here I am starting a new food blog!!!  I'll have pictures...and semi recipes....and solid recipes....and ideas on how to get kids to eat veggies that you never thought they would eat....beets!...kale!....okra!.....and the list goes on!!!

Come on by from time to time! There will be lots of interesting ideas and lots of pictures for those of you/me that like the picture stories, those are the ones that give us all ideas!

See ya soon!!! and please DON'T FEAR FOOD!!!!