Category Archives: Fish and Seafood

Cioppino

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Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch fresh parsley
3 large shallots, minced
2 teaspoons salt
1 (28-ounce) can San Marzano tomatoes
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried fennel seed
1 lb raw shrimp
1 lb seared scallps
Meat from 2 lbs crab legs

Method

Send tomatoes through a food processor and blend to desired consistency.

Cook shallots in olive oil until shallots are almost soft. Add garlic and parsley and cook another minute.

Add tomatoes, broth, wine, red peppers, bay leaves, basil, thyme, oregano and fennel. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 40 minutes.

Remove bay leaves.

Bring broth to a boil, then add the seafood simmer (covered) for 3-5 minutes.

Serve with warm sourdough bread.

* If you’re a purist, leave the crab un-cracked, and add some fish and shellfish (clams and mussels).

Impromptu Italian Pasta Collage

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My apologies for failing (for the first time) to provide you with exact measurements, but I was in a hurry and measuring things out would completely fly in the face of the spirit of this dish. This is just an idea for what you can do with whatever you have laying around the house.

Ingredients:

1 lb Italian sausage
1 lb shrimp (peeled & deveined)
1 lb can San Marzano tomatoes
Spaghetti
1 onion (sliced)
3 cloves garlic
Extra virgin olive oil
Red wine
Random herbs (basil, oregano, thyme, etc.)
Sea salt
Fresh ground black pepper

Method:

Combine tomatoes, red wine and herbs in a saucepan. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce to about 1/3.

As your reduction is nearing the end, put the spaghetti in a pot with salted water to cook.

Heat up a cast iron skillet, and cook sliced sausage. Once it’s about done, add a little olive oil and cook onions for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Shove that stuff to one side of the pan, and add shrimp and salt (as well as more olive oil, if needed).

Once everything is done, mix it all together in a big pot and serve with fresh-grated Parmesan cheese.

Seafood Sandwich

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Ingredients:

1 lb. Crab meat, lump, cooked
1 Avocado, sliced
3 tablespoons Mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Red onions, finely diced
¼ teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
Saffron, tiny pinch
6 slices Sourdough bread, soft, toasted
Black pepper, fresh ground
6 jumbo Shrimp
Olive oil

Method:

Combine the mayonnaise, 1/4 teaspoon of Old Bay Seasoning and a small pinch (ground between your fingers). Stir and chill.

Slice the shrimp down the middle so 6 looks like 12. Sprinkle with Old Bay Seasoning and sautee in olive oil. Remove the shrimp and put them in the refrigerator to chill.

After 30 minutes of chilling, combine the crab meat, shrimp and mayonnaise mixture. Stir as gingerly as you’ve ever stirred before. The goal is to mix it up without breaking up the lump crab meat.

Pile the seafood mixture on the toasted bread. Garnish with avocado slices and fresh ground black pepper. Serve.

Spanish Paella

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Ingredients:

½ pound Chicken thighs, diced
½ pound Shrimp, (uncooked, shelled)
½ pound Lobster tail, Diced
½ pound Bay scallops
½ pound Chorizo, sliced
1 Onion, large, diced
1 Yellow bell pepper, large, diced
1 cup Artichoke hearts
3 cloves Garlic, minced
14.5 ounces Tomatoes, crushed
2 cups Short-grain rice, (arborio)
1 cup Peas
4 ½ cups Chicken broth
Extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon Hungarian paprika
¼ teaspoon Saffron
Sea salt
Black pepper
Lemons, (wedges for serving)

Method:

Heat a paella pan or LARGE cast iron skillet over medium heat.

Coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil, and let it heat up. Season the chicken all over with salt, pepper and a little bit of the paprika. Sear in the olive oil until browned all over. Transfer to a plate with tongs.

Saute the onions, bell peppers and artichoke hearts until soft. Add garlic and cook another minute.

Stir in the crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, paprika, salt, pepper and chorizo. Bring the liquid to a boil and then stir in the rice and saffron. Add the browned chicken pieces. The rice should be completely covered with liquid. Cook the paella without stirring for 20 minutes.

While the dish is cooking, sear the shrimp, scallops and lobster.

When the liquid has all been absorbed, add the shrimp, scallops and lobster. Let it sit for 5 minutes.

Pur some blanched peas over the top and serve with lemon wedges.

Cajun Shrimp Boil

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Ingredients:

3 bags Zatarains Crawfish, Shrimp and Crab Boil
4 pounds Shrimp, uncooked
6 Red potatoes, cut into 3/4″ slices
5 Lemons, cut in half
1 pound Spicy sausage, cut into thirds
4 ears Corn on the cob, cut into thirds
2 Red onions, cut into quarters
2 bulbs Garlic, smashed
8 teaspoons Salt

Method:

Combine 6 quarts of water, boil seasoning, salt, onions and garlic in a huge stock pot or turkey fryer. Squeeze the lemons into the water, then add the lemons. Bring to a boil (could take as long as 35 minutes).

Add potatoes and cook for 8 minutes. Add corn and cook for 5 minutes. Add sausage and cook for 8 minutes. Add shrimp and cook for 5 minutes.

Drain the water, and dump on a table covered in butcher or freezer paper. Eat with your fingers.

Chipotle Shrimp Etouffee

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A very simple Etouffee for those of us that are land-locked and have poor access to crawfish. Shrimp will do in a pinch.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs uncooked shimp
32 ounces clam juice
8 ounces chicken broth
2 sticks butter
1 cup flour
1 cup diced bell pepper
1 cup diced celery
2 cups diced yellow onion
4 cloves minced garlic
1 minced chipotle in adobo sauce
1/2 to 1 teaspoon Tony Chechere’s creole seasoning
1 tablespoon minced parsley

Method:

Melt the butter. Add flour gradually, wisking all the way. Make a roux that matches the color of peanut butter.

Add onions, celery and bell peppers. Cook about 5 minutes.

Add garlic and chipotles and garlic. Cook 1 minute.

Gradually add clam juice, then chicken broth, stirring as you go.

Add creole seasoning and parsley. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes. Add shrimp and simmer for another 5 minutes, until shrimp is cooked.

Serve on a bed of white rice.