Shrimp and Crab Stir-Fried Rice

3 cups cold cooked rice

2 eggs, beaten

1 lb. raw shrimp, peeled and de-veined

3-5 cloves garlic, minced

1 inch ginger root, peeled and minced

8 oz. lump crab meat

1 bunch chopped scallions or green onions

Shrimp Seasoning:

1 tsp. sesame oil

1 tsp. soy sauce

½ tsp. sesame seeds

½ tsp. red pepper flakes

couple shakes of Tony’s Creole seasoning

Sauce for rice:

¼ cup soy sauce

¼ cup sesame oil

1 squeeze of honey (approximately)

3-4 drops Habanero pepper sauce

Recipe:

Peel and de-vein shrimp, then season shrimp with listed ingredients. Heat Wok Topper in TUCS for about 10 minutes over medium heat.  Stir together sauce ingredients in a small mixing bowl.  Once wok is hot, add oil and cold rice.  Toss to coat rice with two large wooden spoons or wok utensils for 2 and a half minutes.  Create well in center of wok and add beaten eggs.  Stir constantly to scramble eggs.  Three minutes later, add seasoned shrimp, garlic, and ginger.  Two minutes after adding shrimp, add crab and green onions. Allow to cook until crab meat is heated through, approximately two-three minutes.  Remove wok from heat, turn off flame, and stir in sauce.  Toss to combine.  Serve and devour!

Cajun Risotto (made in a Wok)

This recipe does carry some contradictions – an Italian rice dish with Cajun flair made in a Chinese cooking vessel – but it’s absolutely delicious.  My family boils a large selection of vegetables with our crawfish, which is where I got the inspiration for this dish.  You could use any leftover vegetables from your Sunday crawfish boil or just use fresh ingredients from the produce section of the grocery store.  If you boil crawfish like true Cajuns, you may find your vegetables already spicy enough.  The first version of this recipe was made using leftover onions, mushrooms, corn, andouille, and asparagus from our weekend crawfish boil.  Vegetables can be removed or added according to your preferences.  This is more of a method than an exact recipe.

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 cup uncooked Arborio rice

3 cups chicken stock (or 2 ½ cups stock and 1 cup white wine or beer)

1/8 cup liquid crab boil

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, diced

6-8 asparagus spears, chopped

1 small package button mushrooms, each mushroom sliced in half

2 ears’ worth of corn removed from ears

1 package andouille sausage, sliced or diced

With olive oil and butter in wok, head until melted and butter is bubbling.  Add onion.  Cook for 3-4 minutes, until onion is translucent.  Add minced garlic, cooking for another minute.  Add uncooked rice, stirring constantly for about 2 minutes.  Add 1 cup of the chicken stock and stir until absorbed.  Once liquid is absorbed, add remaining stock (and wine, optional) plus crab boil a half cup at a time until completely absorbed.  Once liquid has all been absorbed, add remaining ingredients and stir to combine.  Reduce heat to very low.  Stir occasionally until rice is tender and all vegetables are heated through.

Seared Steak and Scallops

Ingredients:

2   8 oz. New York Strip steaks (or your favorite cut of beef)

8-12  sea scallops

juice of ¼ large lemon

½ teaspoon Turmeric

2 teaspoons Cajun/Creole seasoning (such as Tony’s)

1 ½ teaspoons fresh ground black pepper, divided (1/2 tsp. for scallops, 1 tsp for steaks)

1 ½ teaspoons Kosher salt, divided (1/2 tsp. for scallops, 1 tsp. for steaks)

Recipe:

Preheat grill to 500 degrees.  While grill is heating, lightly brush steaks with olive oil on both sides.  On both sides of steak, sprinkle Cajun seasoning, Kosher salt, black pepper, turmeric.  On a separate plate, squeeze juice of ¼ large lemon onto scallops and sprinkle both sides with Kosher salt and black pepper.

Once grill is heated to 450-500 degrees, spray lightly with a gas grill-friendly cooking spray and place steaks down on hot grates.  Close lid and let steak sear on first side for 2 minutes.  Open cover, flip steaks with tongs, close cover, and allow steaks to sear for 90 seconds.  Remove steaks from grates with clean pair of tongs and place in a heat-safe baking dish on side warmer.  Cover with foil.

While steaks are resting, reduce flame and allow grill to reach 300 degrees.  Spray grates lightly and place scallops down on hot grates.  Close cover and allow to cook for 2 minutes.  Open cover, turn scallops over with tongs, close cover, and allow to cook for another 2 minutes.  Remove from heat, squeeze a bit more lemon juice over scallops, and serve with steaks.

As a tasty side dish, try

Lucas & Erin’s Superb House Salad

Fill your favorite serving bowl with a variety of mixed greens.  On top of greens, place a handful cherry tomatoes, handful black olives, half an avocado (sliced into small pieces), a palm full of crumbled Feta cheese, ¼ cup unsalted almond slivers.  Pour desired amount of oil or vinegar based dressing (such as champagne dressing, balsamic vinaigrette, or oil-and-vinegar dressing).  Grind about ¼ teaspoon black pepper on top.  Toss and serve.

*We make this salad nearly every weeknight to accompany whatever meat, fish, or poultry we’re grilling.  We never measure our salad ingredients and encourage you to use your own desired amounts of each ingredient.

Breakfast Quesadillas

Ingredients:

6 eggs

1/8 cup milk

1 tsp. Tony’s Creole Seasoning

¼ tsp. cayenne

juice of ½ lime

1 jalapeno or Serrano pepper, diced

1 tomato, finely chopped (or 10-15 cherry tomatoes, finely chopped)

4 green onions, sliced

1 8 oz. bag finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 package burrito sized flour tortillas

Recipe:

Preheat TUCS griddle plate over medium high heat.  While griddle is warming up, combine eggs, milk, seasonings, and lime juice in a large mixing bowl.  Whisk egg mixture until you can no longer see the difference between the whites and yolks (there will also be a slight froth in the bowl). 

Pour a small amount of beaten eggs onto griddle, mixing and scraping constantly in a circular motion with metal or silicon spatula.  Continue adding eggs until completely combined.  Turn heat under griddle down to low.  Add pepper, tomato, and onions, and cook 1-2 minutes longer.  Push scrambled eggs to the side of the griddle or remove completely and place in a bowl (I push them to the side, but you can make more quesadillas at a time if the griddle has been cleared). 

For each quesadilla, toast one side of tortilla for approximately 30 seconds.  Flip tortilla and fill one half with scrambled egg mixture.  Sprinkle cheese over egg mixture and use large metal spatula (the kind that comes in grilling tool kits) to fold empty half of tortilla over filled side.  Let quesadilla toast for 1-2 more minutes, then flip.  Once flipped, allow second side of quesadilla to toast until cheese is melted.  Remove from griddle with large spatula and allow to cool for at least one minute.  Use a pizza wheel to slice quesadilla in half.  Serve with salsa, sour cream, and guacamole.

Instead of plain sour cream, try:

Greek Yogurt Dip

Combine one small container of Greek Yogurt with 1 Tbsp. lime juice, ¼ teaspoon Creole seasoning, 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin.  Serve with quesadillas

Juicy, Garlicky Chicken

½ bottle Stubb’s chicken marinade

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

5-6 cloves garlic (peeled and cut into large chunks, possibly halved)

1 bottle of your favorite beer

large glass of water

Place chicken and marinade in a gallon-sized zip top bag and marinate in refrigerator for at least two hours.  One hour before cooking, remove chicken from refrigerator and allow to start coming to room temperature.  Pour bottle of beer into trays in Cajun Fryer Smokin’ Grill.  Refill bottle twice with water and pour into trays as well.  Preheat grill to 300 degrees.  Once grill reaches 200 degrees, open top and drop garlic through grilling grates into trays.  Close lid and wait until grill reaches 300 degrees.  Garlic will begin sizzling soon, producing a fragrant aroma.  Once grill reaches temperature, place chicken down on hot grates, close grill, and allow to cook for 5 minutes.  Open cover and flip chicken breasts over.  If liquid has mostly evaporated, add more so garlic doesn’t burn in trays.  Cook another five minutes (or until done) and remove.  Allow grilled chicken to sit for at least five minutes before cutting into chicken.

Blackened Fish Tacos

Traditionally, blackening is done in cast iron cookware.  I thought it’d be fun to try this recipe on the TUCS griddle to see what happens.  As it turns out, the TUCS griddle seals in flavor and allows the fish to develop a nice crust, just as my blackening pan does.  Cooking this outside also helps keep my kitchen nice and cool, which is perfect during the warm spring and summer seasons.

1 ½ pounds white fish such as tilapia or mahi mahi

8 corn tortillas

blackening season (store-bought or you can make your own)

pico de gallo (store-bought or you can make your own)

a lime

shredded cabbage or package of cole slaw mix

sour cream or Greek yogurt

Recipe Here:

Heat griddle top of TUCS over medium-high heat.  Sprinkle one side of fish fillets with blackening seasoning.  Once griddle is hot, place fish seasoned side down on griddle.  While the fish is cooking, season the top side with blackening seasoning.  Once fish has blackened on side one, flip over using a large spatula and allow to blacken on other side.  Each side will take approximately 4-7 minutes depending on griddle heat and thickness of fish fillets.  Remove fish and squeeze a lime over them.  Serve with warm corn tortillas, sour cream (or Greek Yogurt), pico de gallo and shredded cabbage.

Make Your Own -

Blackening Seasoning:

3 parts paprika

1 part garlic powder

1 part onion powder

1 part salt

1 part white pepper

1 part ground cayenne (use less for sensitive taste buds)

Spinach and Mushroom Quesadillas

Ingredients:

10 oz. package sliced baby portabella mushrooms

2 jalapeno peppers, chopped

1 onion, sliced

9 oz. bag spinach or baby spinach leaves

2-3 Anaheim or bell peppers, sliced

¼ cup olive oil

2 tsp. Tony’s Creole Seasoning

½ tsp. ground cumin

1/8 – ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

½ tsp. chili pepper

3 dashes of your favorite hot sauce

pinch of Kosher salt

juice of a lime

package 8 burrito sized flour tortillas

¾ # sliced or cubed Havarti cheese

Combine first all ingredients (excluding spinach, cheese, and tortillas) in a large mixing bowl.  Stir to coat all vegetables with oil and seasonings.  Preheat grill to 300 degrees.  While grill is heating, place grill wok or large pan on grates to heat up.  Once grill reaches 300 degrees, add vegetables to hot pan and cook for approximately 15 minutes or until vegetables soften, tossing often with tongs.  Add spinach leaves and cook another five minutes.  Depending on the size of your pan, you may need to add spinach leaves slowly, tossing with other vegetables to wilt.

Remove vegetables from burner, place in clean bowl, and ignite second burner.  Turn burners to low.  (This can still be done on a smaller grill.)  To assemble tortillas, use the following method:

·         Toast tortilla on one side for approximately 10 seconds.

·         Flip

·         Add cheese to one half of tortilla

·         Top with vegetable mixture

·         Fold second half of tortilla over filled side

·         Allow to brown on side facing grates

·         Flip and brown on other side

·         Remove from heat and place on cookie sheet that’s been sitting on the warming tray on the side of the grill until ready to serve

·         Once all quesadillas have been assembled and heated, slice each in half with a pizza wheel

·         Serve on festive tray with salsa, guacamole, and sour cream

Honey and Rosemary Glazed Pork Chops

1 Tbsp. Sherry or Sherry Cooking Wine

3 Tbsp. honey

6 Tbsp. olive oil

6 sprigs rosemary, divided

            four should be kept intact

            two should have leaves removed and chopped

¼ tsp. Cardamom

½ tsp. white pepper

pinch Kosher salt

1 pound thick pork chops

Whisk together sherry, honey, olive oil, chopped rosemary, Cardamom, pepper, and salt in mixing bowl.  Trim excess fat from pork chops and place in large zip top freezer bag.  Pour all of marinade into bag, reserving approximately ¼ cup in bowl.  Allow pork to marinate for at least an hour in refrigerator.