5220– I agree with Lurk on the garlic shrimp, shrimp scampi, and shrimp and grits. It wouldn’t be the panhandle if we didn’t fry some,. We also like to grill’em on skewers basted with real butter, garlic, real lemons squeezed, and dusted with Old Bay’s.
Shrimp on the barbie down under. The also do "bugs". Kind of like a smaller Florida lobster and quite good. Had them in Byron Bay.
You never do a shrimp boil with corn and potatoes? My wife's family would do that with newspapers spread out on the table a long time ago when they lived in Cincinnati. I could never convince them to sub out the shrimp for crawfish. Yes, they do have crawfish in the Midwest but you have to catch them yourself. Would see them much more often in the wild there than I do in the Gainesville area.
Actually yes we do have low country boils-I guess I wasn’t thinking it through when I typed my first response. Shrimp, andouille sausage, corn, and potatoes. For years we always used red potatoes but a couple of years ago we changed to the Yukon Gold potatoes. Merritt’s Mill Pond here has the best crawfish too. Spring fed pond of clear water, the crawfish are practically purged when you catch them. We do re-purge them but it doesn’t take much time. It’s just a matter of taking the time to catch enough. We set up two sawhorses and put a sheet of 3/4” pressure treated plywood on them to make our table then add the newspaper tablecloth on. It’s always an outside affair and it pairs extremely well with col’beers!
Probably one of my favorite dishes at home is our creamy Cajun shrimp over linguine. I also have a variation of that with shrimp & andouille over penne with a few tweaks. But we generally have that during the colder months. Simple to make but very tasty. During the summer months, when the grill becomes your kitchen 3-5 nights a week, we love grilled shrimp, andouille and vegetables with chimichurri sauce… and go that route. Also, I gotta have my shrimp & cheese grit fix every so often. Plus I can make plain old shrimp cocktail become a meal on nights where I don’t want to cook. When you get right down to it …we probably eat shrimp as a main course meal 20-25 time a year. And it never disappoints, regardless of how it is prepared.
For tonight a meatball sub. Toasted roll, with a speckle of grilled onions, a dash of shredded parm, pinch of oregano and slices of provolone on top. Potato chips, a dill pickle spear and a cool Modelo.
I’ve got a pot of white chicken chili simmering on the stove for our supper tonight. The recipe calls for white Cannellini beans which we use but we like the flavor of mixing in black beans as well. Finely sliced jalapeños, Sargento Tex-Mex shredded cheese, and Tortilla scoops will be available on the side. The weather remains very pleasant up here on the mountain. A high here today of 78* with the lows predicted to be in the low-mid 60’s. The longnecks are ice cold, the wine is chilled, and tumblers of top shelf bourbon are available. Life is good in Gator Nation!
Tonight is leftovers. Lots of chili (with Hebrew National hotdogs that want chili dogs), chicken tagine and the creamy shrimp with penne. Chilling a rose of pinot as a wine that can go with everything.
As much as I love a fresh pot of chili, I do think that the chili-cheese dogs that follow are my favorite part of a pot of chili.
For some reason there was an ad for tinned mackeral last time I was here and it made me think about the most amazing fishing experience I have ever had. I was in junior high and fishing off a short pier in the Ding Darling bird sanctuary near the point of Sanibel Island not far from the light house. There was all the bait fish you can possibly imagine swimming near the pier and we scooped some up to use as bait. Every cast landed a spanish mackeral. After a while we didn't even bother baiting the hook. The mackeral were bitinging on anything shiny. Every cast was a atrike and reeling them in they were followed by three or four other fish. We gave away a lot of fish that day at the pier and took a Buick trunk load of fish back to our cottage on Estero Island where we gave away a lot more fish. We were tired after about three hours of fishing. That was a great day fishing but not the funniest. I was canoeing with some friends on a river in Illinois and water levels were low. Some times we got between the rock bass and a shoal and they would jump. We had two fish jump into our canoe. Downstream we asked fishermen from the shore about their luck and when they said that they didn't have any we held up our fish and said that they jumped into our canoe.
Ok, y’all got me yesterday talking about chili. 54* here this morning, so chili it is! Our bunch likes it served over a plate of white rice and topped with Sargento shredded sharp cheddar cheese. You are correct, the dogs and buns were also picked up for the chili cheese dogs to follow. Beautiful day here today with a high of 71*….. The longnecks are ice cold and the wine is chilled. Life is good in Gator Nation!
Supposed to get down to 67 F tonight in Gainesville. Making a pork and mustand green soup with rice noodles and Sichuan peppercorns. Sichuan peppercorns are not peppers but dried berries from a prickly ash tree and they have a mouth numbing effect. Nothing else like it.
Great minds a guess. I have a pot of Texas beef chili simmering right now. Close to the hour 3 mark…and ready for the bean dump. I know Texans will tell you it’s illegal to put beans in their chili …but I just have to have it mine. As long as you don’t screw up the bean/meat ratio. For the toppings, I usually go with diced onion, cheese and crackers with your traditional ground meat chili. But when having a bowl o’ red I generally go Fritos & pickled jalapeños. My intention was to make it a day in advance for game day and just have an egg or tuna salad sandwich or something for tonight… but I am weak. I might have a test run this evening.
Interesting. I never used your traditional chili as a topping for hot dogs. It just didn’t seem to match. I usually make a couple of batches of Michigan dog meat sauce separately and freeze them in smaller containers. Michigan dog sauce is a bit thinner and not chunky and is a staple here in upstate NY. The Slattery’s, who owned a very popular hot dog stand outside of Detroit back in the 20s & 30s moved here and settled up near the Plattsburgh area, up in the north country. They brought their sauce with them and it became famous in the region. Now, there are countless Dog diners or road side dog stands throughout the Adirondack region. All with slightly different variations but really good nonetheless.
Hot dogs, pizza and BBQ are things that folks argue about all the time. For me there is no hot dog better than a proper Chicago Vienna beef hot dog. Hebrew National hot dogs are almost as good, but a Chicago dog has the toppings that take them over the top. And being from Chicago you might think that I prefer deep dish pizza, but I don't. And all BBQ is great. I prefer my pulled pork western North Carolina style and my ribs Memphis dry rubbed. I was never a huge fan of Texas BBQ beef. I can think of many better ways to cook a brisket or beef ribs. It is still good, but I don't think it is the best use of the meat.
I’m with you on the BBQ. Not really a brisket guy. Love western Carolina style pork. I can go Memphis or KC with ribs.
I have to have Carolina vinegar slaw when I make pulled pork because it has to go on the sandwich and I also make that as a side when I make Memphis dry rubbed ribs. Somebody from Memphis would consider that heresy as they typically serve a mayo based slaw as a side. Call me a rebel (said in a PeeWee Herman voice). LOL. After having vinegar slaw I could never make mayo based slaw again. Next on the BBQ discussion board is BBQ sauces. Folks have STRONG opinions on that. I am not a big fan of the mustard based sauces, but others swear by it. I guess BBQ is like religion and folks will fight wars over small differences of opinion. I am a tolerent person. I can even accept a BBQ atheist (vegan or vegetarian) and I won't browbeat them, but I will think that they are wrong and won't try to convince them of the errors of their ways. I will let it slide. BTW, Texas BBQ goat is very good. The proper term is cabrito. More of a Mexican thing that Texans picked up. IIRC there was an old school BBQ place at the corner of University and Waldo Road called Ed's that had bbq'd cabrito way back in the 1980's. I miss that place.
I never liked your standard cole slaw, too sweet, and I don’t get those that put celery seeds in it. But I do have to have mayo as a part of the base but use vinegar to thin it out. Add some grind up onions & dill pickle, then sprinkle some red pepper flakes. And it has to be angel hair slaw. No carrots or purple napa cabbage. Just my preference. I put a spoon full on my pulled pork sandwiches and also top my Michigan dogs with it often. It’s been our standard slaw in my family for cookouts and such. Also, I have to have my potato salad as a side with my pulled pork.
