*Joe's Crab Shack Crab Cakes*

These were delicious! I made homemade tartar sauce and it was delicious!

 form crab cakes and dredge in flour..

 I cooked them in Olive Oil...

 Let them get browned on the tops but not black!

Joe's Crab Shack Crab Cakes: 

Ingredients:

 2/3 cup mayonnaise 

5 egg yolks 

2 teaspoons lemon juice 

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 

2 teaspoons black pepper 

1/4 teaspoon salt 

1/4 teaspoon blackening seasoning 

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 

1/2 cup crushed, chopped parsley

 2 1/2 cups breadcrumbs (I used panko bread crumbs)

 2 lbs crabmeat

 Directions: Mix all ingredients together. Make into 4 oz. patties Coat with flour and fry in 1 inch of olive oil until golden brown. ( I just coated the bottom of the pan with olive oil and it 

worked just fine)

Salmon With Buttered Brown Sauce

Very yummy

 Buttered Brown Sauce...

Salmon With Buttered Brown Sauce

This is super simple with the salmon being baked and then you just have to make a simple white sauce to accompany it. I had it ready to eat in about 15 minutes. ( I got this recipe from The Tasty Kitchen website)

1. Preheat your oven to 450ºF.

2. Place the fillet, skin side down on a roasting pan, sprinkle with sea salt and place in the oven. Bake until it flakes apart with a fork, about 15 minutes.

3. While the fish is cooking, place the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Melt and cook until the butter browns. Watch it carefully and swirl the pan as you go, it will turn fairly quickly and you don’t want it completely burnt, just a light brown color.

4. Once the butter browns, add the flour and stir, then quickly add the heavy cream and wine.

5. Stir the sauce until slightly thickened, then remove from heat and add some salt and pepper to taste.

6. Remove the salmon from the oven and serve with a little of the sauce drizzled over the top and use some kitchen scissors to snip a few chives over the top.

• 1-½ pound Salmon Fillet With Skin On
• Sea Salt
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 Tablespoon Flour
• 1 cup Heavy Cream
• ½ cups White Wine
• Kosher Salt And Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste
• Chives For Garnish

Spicy Shrimp Pasta Bake

 Mix sauce together..

 Lay spaghetti down first on a butter dish..

 layer on top salsa and 1/2 of shrimp

 top with cheese...
layer again with pasta, shrimp and then pour the sauce over the entire thing..

 I added cheese to the top, but you don't have to do that, I like things cheesy!
Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

Spicy Shrimp Pasta Bake

2 lbs. shrimp, cleaned, peeled, & deveined (you can use frozen)

16 oz. jar of salsa (the finest diced tomatoes works best)

9 oz. angel hair pasta {I used about 3/4 of a box}

1 tsp. dried oregano, crushed

1 tsp. dried basil, crushed

1 tsp. crushed red pepper

1/3 cup freshly chopped parsley

1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese

1 cup plain yogurt

1 1/2 cup half & half

2 eggs

1/2 cup grated Monterrey Jack cheese

First make sure you cook your pasta and then drain.  In a separate bowl, combine eggs, half & half, yogurt, swiss & feta cheeses, parsley, basil, and oregano.  Mix until well blended.  Set aside.

Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish with butter and spread half the pasta over the bottom of the dish.

Cover the pasta with salsa, put half the shrimp on top of the salsa, and then cover it with the monterrey jack. 

Now go ‘head and add the remaining pasta and shrimp.

Now pour the egg mixture  right over the top of the pasta & shrimp.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until bubbly.  Let it stand for about 10 minutes before serving.

I pinned this recipe from http://pearls-handcuff-happyhour.blogspot.com

She is awesome and has amazing recipes, check her out!

Homemade Sushi Rolls

Everyone Loves Sushi!

 First cover your bambo mat with saran wrap, then lay out the seaweed...

 Spoon the rice on using a wet wooden spoon, because the rice is sticky... spread out and leave a 1 inch rim on the side facing away from you...

 Lay your ingredients on top of the rice, use fingers to hold ingredients in and your thumbs to begin rolling..

 After the first roll adjust mat and begin rolling again..

 Turns out like this... to cut, use a wet knife... I wet it in between each slice...

 Yummy, serve with soy sauce and wasabi... but I forgot our wasabi... :(

 inside out roll... lay sea weed down, cover with rice like first time, but then FLIP the seaweed over making the rice on the bottom..

 Again, layer your ingredients for filling on the closest edge to you....

 and roll....and slice... and eat... :)

Homemade Sushi Rolls

Making sushi at home was WAY easier than I thought. Its just the preparation that takes up all the time. Also cooking the rice takes a bit of time. But once you have everything ready, putting it together is quite simple.

We used a mat that I got at World Market.  I just walked in, asked for where their sushi rolling mats were, she pointed me in the direction and they were $1.99... so pretty good deal!

You will need to decide what you would like to have in your sushi. We decided on the following ingredients

– Sushi Rice (of course)

-Seaweed wraps (found in Asian Section of Grocery store)

-Rice Vinegar (2 tbsp added to every 3 cups of cooked rice)

–Green Onions

–Cooked Shrimp

–Cooked Crab Sticks

–Avocado

–Cream Cheese

–Mayo

–Salmon

–Cucumber

If you aren't pregnant you could add: Smoked Salmon, Tuna or other favorite fish

Just follow the directions on the package of sushi rice. It is best to purchase rice made for sushi. It requires you to cook it up to 30 minutes.

Once you have your rice cooked it will be very sticky. You have all of your ingredients cut up. I cut up the cucumbers into thin slices, avocado and cream cheese were in thin slices as well..

Lay down your bamboo mat with 1 piece of seaweed on top. Using your paddle, a large heaping amount of rice in the center of your seaweed. It helps if your paddle is wet to prevent over sticking. You may use your hands (if they are wet) or the paddle and spread out the rice.

Leave approx 1 inch of seaweed on on end with out rice on it so that it can overlap when you are rolling.  Once you have your rice pressed firmly and on your seaweed. You may now add in your favorite ingredients. Remember LESS is more. Do not over stuff your sushi.

Some of the combos that were good:

Mayo, Avocado, Shrimp

Cream Cheese, Green Onion, Shrimp, Cucumber, Avocado

Crab, Cream Cheese, Cucumber

Salmon, Cream Cheese, Green Onion, Avocado

When you start to roll your sushi, Start on the end closest to you and roll out. Make your first flip/roll tight. The tigher you roll your sushi, the more firm it will be and less will fall out. Once you flip it/start the roll. Untuck the bamboo mat and continue to roll your sushi till the very end and pressing firmly in your hands.

You can see the photos below of us rolling multiple sushi rolls. Once you roll it. You may use a little bit of water to help seal that last 1 inch of seaweed. Then cut your roll into 8-10 pieces.

We made alot of sushi with 1 package of seaweed.  Not as hard as I thought, Daniel and I thought we would have a difficult time and it may have been a flop, but it was very easy! Soooo good luck!

Coconut Shrimp

Well these shrimp were really a test batch... I fried some and I baked some.  I think the baked shrimp tasted great, the shrimp part actually tasted the best, but the fried shrimp the fried part tasted really good.  I will give instructions for both.

Coconut Shrimp

1 lb of Peeled deveined shrimp

1/2 cup flour

salt

pepper

2 eggs

1 tbsp honey

1 cup Panko Bread Crumbs

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup of Canola Oil (If you plan to fry)

3 tbsp of Olive Oil ( if you bake)

Mix bread crumbs and coconut together in one bowl, in separate bowl mix eggs and honey together, in another bowl mix flour, salt and pepper together.  Dredge shrimp in flour, then in egg mixture, then in bread crumbs.

If you fry: get oil hot but not too hot, I'd say on medium heat, drop shrimp in and get them light brown on each side.

If you bake: Put oil in pan, heat oven to 350 and bake for 15 minutes on one side and flip them, then bake for 15 minutes on other side.

Serve with: Ketchup, Honey Mustard or whatever you like!  I did Honey mustard and it was great!

Sea Scallops and Spinach

First put pepper and Kosher salt on the scallops, I used a few sea scallops and a few bay scallops, the bay scallops were WAY cheaper and taste the same, I recommend using them. First of all don't put too much salt, mine was too salty, so I say be very conservative with the kosher salt, a light sprinkle will do. After this you dust them in flour before dropping them in the pan.
cut up shallots and garlic, I used two smaller cloves of garlic, instead of the one larger clove, but I like garlic...
finely chop the flat leaf parsley.. I hadn't really chopped it up very much yet.
This is the scallops dropped in the pan with the butter and wine sauce sizzling!
yum, it thickens up because the flour from dusting the scallops gives it a nice thickness for the sauce.
Cook spinach per directions and top Scallops on the bed of spinach!
1 lb. fresh bay or sea scallops
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black peper
All-purpose flour, for dredging
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
½ cup minced shallots (about 2 large)
1 clove garlic, finely minced
2-3 tbsp. flat-leaf parsley, minced
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 lemon, halved

Directions:
If using bay scallops, leave them whole. If using sea scallops, cut them in half horizontally (or, leave them whole and cook a bit longer). Season the scallops with kosher salt and black pepper, toss with flour, and shake off the excess.

In a large skillet or sauté pan, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over high heat until sizzling. Add the scallops to the pan in a single layer. Lower the heat to medium and allow the scallops to brown lightly on one side without moving. Then turn and brown lightly on the other side. This should take about 3-4 minutes total (closer to 8 minutes for sea scallops left whole).

Add the rest of the butter to the pan with the scallops and let it melt. Add the shallots, garlic, and parsley to the pan and sauté for 2 more minutes, tossing the seasonings with the scallops. Add the wine to the pan and cook for 1 minute. Taste the sauce for seasoning and adjust as necessary. Serve hot, with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice over the scallops.

My comments: I liked this recipe, but like I said earlier, I added too much salt. So next time I won't add that much salt. It was nice and very filling, surprisingly! It also would be good served with a side of rice. Daniel liked it, but he did say it was way too salty, so I think if you don't use that much salt, it will be really delicious!

Enjoy!