Spicy Cajun Oriental Shrimp Olive Salad with Wonton Crackers

Have you heard of "37 Cooks"? It is a great blog about cooking with wonderful recipes. I got this recipe from the site. It is from Linda Mire one of the 37 cooks. Just a great little salad. If you can't find Slap Ya Mama seasoning I think any good canjun seasoning would do just fine.

 

Here is the recipe from Linda

 



Spicy Cajun Oriental Shrimp Olive Salad with Wonton Crackers

 Salad:

2 cups shrimp (peeled, boiled and chopped) *

1/2 cup water chestnuts (diced)
1/2 cup bean sprouts (ends removed and diced)
1/2 cup celery (diced)
1/2 cup red bell pepper (diced)
1/2 cup green onions (diced)
1 cup green olives with pimentos (diced)
1 cup black olives (diced)
Handful of bean sprouts (end removed) for garnish
Whole green olives for garnish
Black pepper for garnish

 

Place all ingredients in a large salad bowl (except the garnish items). Cover with plastic wrap and chill for an hour.

 Dressing for Salad:

3/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoon Slap Ya Mama Original Blend Cajun Seasoning
dash of sea salt and white pepper

 

Combine all ingredients and whisk well. Set aside.

 Wontons:

12 wonton wrappers (cut in half for triangles shape)

Olive oil

Baked Chicken Wings

Normally I like my wings deep fried in duck fat. Tonight I thought I would try a little healthier version of wings so I baked them. Ok the verdict is in. These baked wings are not bad at all. I think I still like the deep fried version better but these were pretty good and with a little tweaking they could be even better. Ingredients corn starch, chili powder, garlic powder, Slap Ya Mama seasoning, salt and brown sugar. Think next time I will cut back on the salt and chili somewhat. I just need to get them a little crispier.

Feiny's Rubs

I am soon going to get a chance to try out some of Chef Feiny's Rubs. The food on his site looks absolutely delicious. I will be posting pics with comments on all of the foods I cook with Chef Feiny's Rubs. Can't wait. Until then visit his website at http://www.feintastingfoods.com/#

Saturday Night Dinner

Sometimes you just want to play around with different ingredients you have in the house. Tonight I felt like having some wings. I had a tub of duck fat in the fridge so I thought I would fry them up in duck fat and then season them with Frank's Hot Sauce and a generous sprinkle of Slap Ya Mama seasoning. My wife bought a loaf of very fresh Italian bread. So I thought I would mix up a dipping oil using Tuyya olive oil. Tuyya is a very smooth, cold filtered olive oil from Morocco. Really nice taste. This was the result. Had this with a nice cold chardonnay. Not a bad way to start off Saturday night.

Tuyya Olive Oil: You Have to Try It.

Experimenting With Pizza and Tuyya Olive Oil

I am by no means an olive oil expert. I use it all the time for cooking but up until now I have just bought the cheaper grocery store versions. Recently I was given a bottle of Tuyya Olive Oil. The specs on the oil are as follows:

 

2011 Vintage - Organic Single Estate Moroccan Extra Virgin Picholine Ollve Oil.

- From olive trees over 100 years old in Fkih Ben Saleh, Morocco.

- It is unfiltered, first cold pressed on a granite mill and bottled within 7 hours after manual picking and sorting.
-Available in Natural and Thyme and Bay Leaf
-Thyme and Bay Leaf - 80 kg of each per 10000 kg of olives.
-The picholine olive is very high in polyphenols which means a longer shelf life and has a proven antioxidant effect.  (US National Library of Medicine - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20209466)

In addition to the effects of the mono-unsaturated fatty acid oleic acid, olive oil and olive extracts contain polyphenols with remarkable health benefits. Of these, extracts concentrated for oleuropein have been shown to lower blood pressure (BP) and cholesterol levels. Michael T. Murray MD 2013-03-18 http://www.naturalfactors.com/caen/blog/2013/03/18/Olive-Polyphenols-Promote-Heart-Health-by-Affecting-Gene-Expression

So I thought I would try out a new recipe for pizza dough that called for olive oil to see if it would improve the taste of the dough.  An online friend of mine and pizza maker extraordinaire David Cavanagh said that this was kind of a waste of good olive oil. I have not really used olive oil much for pizza dough but this is what I found online about the use of olive oil in pizza dough.

 

Reasons to Use Olive Oil (from http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=864.0

1) it makes the dough easier to stretch (improved extensibility) by lubricating the gluten and starch molecules; 2) it captures and holds the nice flavors released during baking, and also contributes its own flavor components; 4) it helps to provide a better rise to the dough during baking, as it traps gasses; 5) it produces a good mouth feel when the crust is eaten; 6) it contributes to the browning of the crust, through heat transfer (and oxidation) at high temperatures; and 7) when used on top of the dough, it provides a barrier to migration of liquids from the sauce into the dough, thereby preventing or minimizing a gum line (which is a no-no for professional pizza operators).

Here are my observations:

I really don’t think it would have made much of a difference which olive oil I used in the dough making process. The dough did have a nice flavour, and very nice texture and the crust was a beautiful brown. But I probably would have achieved this with a much cheaper olive oil. So why use Tuyya? Well let me tell you. I made up a small dipping sauce using Tuyya,  added some oregano, a little balsamic, a little garlic and salt. I used it to dip the pizza crust. PURE HEAVEN. Maybe the best part of the pizza tonight.

 

I compared it to the grocery store version. First the smell is fantastic. Wonderful smell of fruit. Smooth velvety taste in the mouth. Definitely worth the extra dollars. I do agree with David though that these olive oils should be used in such a way that you can get the full taste. Save the cheaper stuff for the dough and use Tuyya straight up. I guarantee you will love the taste!

 The Arrogant Chef

 

Fettuccini With Ham and Mushrooms

This is a delicious, easy to make recipe that can be made any night of the week.

1lb of fettuccini (homemade is the best if you can make it)

10 ounces of mushrooms (you can try a mix to make things more interesting.)
3 spring onions chopped
4-6 sliced of cooked ham. (great to use ham leftovers) You can also use pancetta.
2 ounces of butter
1 ¼ cups of heavy cream
Chopped fresh parsley to taste

 Instructions:

 Cook the fettuccini in boiling salted water until al dente. Drain and return to pan.

 While the fettuccini is cooking slice the mushroom, spring onions, and the ham. Heat the butter and cook the ham, spring onions for about 3 minutes then add the mushrooms and cook for about another five minutes stirring occasionally. Add the cream, half the parsley, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until sauce thickens. Add the sauce to the fettuccini and toss well. Serve immediately and sprinkle with remaining parsley.