Dirty Thoughts

The other night I had a craving "flung" on me, as Bo would say, for some dirty rice. Since I didn't have chicken livers or gizzards (which I LOVE when they are fried) and I only had 2 parts of the trinity (onion, bell pepper and celery), I had to wing it. I actually love to make changes to recipes and make them my own, but I have been know to go overboard. You are reading the blog of someone that has ruined chicken and rice, TWICE. Ask Mark. He won't let me live it down. Guess I will have to tell you about that at a later date.

Anyway...here goes nothing.

Get some water boiling for the rice.

Chop up and onion, bell pepper and garlic. Throw then in a skillet with butter and top with Italian and Creole seasoning.

Saute until soft.

Add a pound of ground beef and cook until brown.

Add some cooked rice, 2 cups of chicken stock and 2 bay leaves. Adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper and more Creole seasoning.

Let simmer until all of the liquid is absorbed.

Remove the bay leaves and serve!

Let me go ahead and say that this turned out SO good. I didn't go overboard on anything and I would make this over and over again. Maybe next time I'll use some Conecuh sausage. My boys loved it and Mark even took some for lunch the next day. Hope you try it and like it. We did!

Shrimp Overload

As you know, I reside in Mobile, AL, just a few miles from Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Living on the coast means fresh seafood year round! Thankfully we have TONS of friends in the seafood industry and they love to share their catch with us. From shrimp and fish to softshell crabs, they drop stuff off all the time. Shrimp are in season at the moment and a friend dropped off 50lbs for my parents who in turn split it when the rest of the family. There were some nice big ones, but mainly it was small shrimp. I'm not complaining though. They were right off the boat and FREE!

The big boys were calling my name!

After peeling them, I decided to marinate them for a little while.

Then throw them on the grill.

Serve with a splash of lemon juice.

After de-heading and peeling the little ones, I put some in the freezer and fried the rest.

For the batter, mix flour, salt, pepper and some Ole Bay seasoning.

Roll them in the flour.

Toss them in a skillet with hot oil and let fry until golden.

Drain and serve.

Talk about a feast! There were no leftovers, of course. Mark and I almost fought over the big boys, but there was plenty to go around. JW loves fried shrimp (who doesn't) and ended up eating most of the small ones.

Hopefully later in the season we will get some bigger shrimp. They have been small this year and not many to choose from due to fresh water draining into the Bay. Fingers crossed that it will get better for our shrimpers. I will go without before I buy shrimp from overseas. Now is the time to support your local seafood, meat, grain and vegetable producers!