Fried Oysters w/ Green Tomato, Sweet Corn, Pickled Okra and Blue Cheese Vinaigrette

If you are looking to make a truly Southern dish in your own home then this is it!  This is a recipe from Hank's Seafood Restaurant Cookbook.  Hank's is on list after list of a must-see restaurant if you head down to Charleston and this salad is on their current menu.  I saw this recipe about a year ago in Southern Living magazine and I have been dying to try it out so I finally bit the bullet.  My husband, who isn't a huge oyster fan, absolutely loved it -- although pretty much anything is good when it's fried.  

The recipe calls for green tomatoes, but I used regular red tomatoes because I simply couldn't find green tomatoes anywhere!  How is that possible? 

So what I love most about this salad is the pickled okra.  If you haven't had pickled okra before then good Lord, get to the store and buy a jar immediately!  It is so fantastic I could die.  I ate the entire jar in one day.  Yummy!

Fried Oysters with Green Tomato, Sweet Corn, Pickled Okra and Blue Cheese Vinaigrette (makes 4 salads)

2 c. cracker meal
1 c. cornmeal 
1 c. all purpose flour
salt and pepper
peanut oil
2 large handfuls arugula
16 oysters
4 to 8 halved pickled okra

Blue Cheese Vinaigrette
2 ears fresh corn
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
1 c. diced green tomato
1 1/2 c. chicken stock
2 tbsp chopped mixed herbs
3 tbsp crumbled blue cheese
1/2 c. cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

1. For vinaigrette: cut corn from cobs, reserving cobs.  Heat oil in saute pan, add corn and cook 1 minute.  Cool.  Combine stock and corn cobs in saucepan.  Boil then reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.  Pour mixture through fine wire mesh strainer.  Cool to room temperature and refrigerate.  Stir green tomato into corn and stir into stock.  Just before serving, add in herbs and blue cheese.
2.  Pour 1 and 1/2 inches oil in a cast iron skillet; heat over medium high until temperature reaches 350.  
3.  Whisk cracker meal, flours, 2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper in shallow bowl.  Dredge oysters in mixture, shaking off excess.  Fry in batches 2 to 4 minutes or until golden brown.  Drain on paper towels; sprinkle with salt and pepper.  
4.  Spoon vinaigrette onto 4 serving plates.  Top with oysters and okra. 

Poached Pear Salad w/ Blue Cheese and Cranberry

Today is a really special day for me -- it’s the one year anniversary of ChowGals!!!  For those of you that missed my introductory post, I’ll recap:  cooking is my number one passion.  I’ve been cooking and entertaining for years and I am so so pumped to have this blog to showcase what I do and show you that you can do it too!  I am so lucky to have such great readers who follow, like and pin my work!  Because of you, my name has gotten out there a little bit and I’ve had some great opportunities that have made me stretch from my comfort zone.  Thank you, readers, you make this blog even better!  

The recipe for today was part of our Charleston weekend in the beginning of April.  It was probably one of the best things we ate there: Poached Pear Salad with Blue Cheese & Cranberry from Slightly North of Broad.  

Now here’s the most important sentence of this recipe: Use. Quality. Ingredients.

This isn’t your typical restaurant salad downed in blue cheese dressing.  This is a delicate balance of flavors in their most basic form.  The salad was deconstructed on the plate so you could pick up just the right about of cheese and cranberries to complement your perfectly poached pear.  So I guess what I’m saying is this : don’t go to the store and pick up the tub of Kraft blue cheese crumbles that you would use on a “normal” salad.  Go to the gourmet cheese section and spend the extra bucks to get a nice blue cheese that is alive in it’s velvety goodness!  And the most impressive part of the salad?  The poached pear had a layer of caramelized sugar on top.  Heavenly!!!!  That can be tricky to do at home without a torch.  Your other option is to throw the pear under the boiler which will also work!  Oh and if you find yourself in Charleston during pear season, do yourself a favor and order this dish!

Poached Pear Salad with Blue Cheese and Cranberry (makes 2 small salads)

For the poached pear:

1 Bartlett Pear, peeled and halved

1/2 c. sugar

2 c. water

1 cinnamon stick

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1/8 c. superfine sugar

For salad:

2 handfuls assorted greens

1/4 c. shelled pistachios 

1/3 c. dried cranberries

1/3 c. good quality blue cheese, crumbled

balsamic syrup for drizzling

1. For the poached pear: combine sugar, water, cinnamon stick and vanilla extract in a medium saucepan over medium high heat.  Stir until sugar is dissolved.  Bring mixture to a light simmer and add pear.  Reduce heat to low and cook for 35 minutes, until pear is tender.  Remove saucepan from heat and set aside to cool, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
2. Remove pear from syrup and top with superfine sugar.  With a creme brulee torch, torch the sugar to create a caramelized crust.  If you don’t have a torch, set your  broiler to high and broil pears until sugar caramelizes.
3. Assembly:  place greens on each salad plate and top with pear.  Add piles of pistachio, cranberry and blue cheese and drizzle with balsamic syrup.  Serve immediately.

Chopped Apple Salad w/ Walnuts, Blue Cheese & Pomegranate Vinaigrette

I love a good salad -- especially one that combines fruit and vegetables.  This salad is from Bobby Flay’s Bar American Cookbook (if you haven’t checked this cookbook out, you must....it’s packed with some truly impressive meals that are sure to stun your palate and your guests at your next dinner party) and it’s pretty simple to throw together.    

I really enjoy the tart apples combined with the creamy blue cheese crumbles and the slight crunch that the pomegranate seeds throw in there.  Give this salad a try....it’s bound to become a favorite starter or light lunch!

Chopped Apple Salad with Toasted Walnuts, Blue Cheese and Pomegranate Vinaigrette (serves 6 to 8)

adapted from Bobby Flay’s Bar American Cookbook

4 granny smith apples

6 oz mixed baby greens

1 1/2 c. coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted

1/2 lb blue cheese, crumbled (2 cups)

salt and pepper

Pomegranate Vinaigrette (recipe follows)

pomegranate seeds as garnish

1. Combine all ingredients in large bowl.  Add vinaigrette and toss to coat.  Season with salt and pepper.

Pomegranate Vinaigrette (makes 1 cup)

3 tbsp pomegranate molasses

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 heaping tbsp dijon mustard

1 tbsp honey

salt and pepper

2/3 c. extra virgin olive oil

1.  Whisk together molasses, red wine vinegar, dijon mustard and honey.  While whisking, stream in olive oil, creating an emulsion.  Season with salt and pepper.

Halloween Party -- Part 2

So today on Part 2 of our Halloween Party I have some more decor ideas for your home as well as my favorite foods from the party!  I really had a great time coming up with some of these recipes or modifying some recipes I already had to give them that touch of spookiness that Halloween brings.  Everyone’s favorite appetizer from the party was the Roasted Eyeball Crostini {aka, Roasted Grape Crostini with Gouda and Thyme}.   If you haven’t had roasted grapes yet -- give them a whirl!  They are amazingly sweet yet fit so well in savory dishes.  

Ok -- more decor!!!  My guests loved walking through the house and stumbling upon the staircase overrun with rats and candles.  The rat cut-outs and the candles are both dollar store finds and I bought the plastic pumpkin at Michael’s for a few bucks and decorated it with plastic spiders.

I love free printables from the internet!  For any holiday -- just Google “free ‘insert holiday here’ printables” and you will find tons of cute cupcake toppers, art, stickers, invitations, etc, for your next party.

Another big party hit was the menu I put out.  I simply bought a $3 frame from Walmart, downloaded a free spooky font at www.dafont.com {the most amazing font website everrr!}, and typed out everything that was being served.  I called everything by it’s “creepy” name then spelled out in detail what exactly was in each dish.  This made it easy for me to point my guests towards something fun to look at while I was putting the finishing touches on my apps.

Yay, Food!

Roasted Eyeball Crostini

{Roasted Grape and Gouda Crostini}

1 baguette, thinly sliced into 24 slices

cooking spray

72 red grapes {3 grapes per crostini}

salt and pepper

extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

6 ounces gouda, sliced into 24 thin pieces

2 tsp chopped fresh thyme

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place baguette slices on a cookie sheet.  Spray each side lightly with cooking spray.  Bake crostini for 5-7 minutes, flipping over each piece halfway through, until just starting to brown.  Remove from oven and set aside.
2. In an oven safe glass dish, combine grapes, salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.  Mix to coat grapes well.  Roast grapes for 12-15 minutes, until they begin to burst.  Remove from oven and set aside.
3. Top each crostini with a slice of cheese, 3 grapes and a sprinkle of thyme.  Return to oven and bake about 5 minutes, until cheese melts.  Serve immediately.

Crispy Brain-Stuffed Mushrooms

{Chorizo and Asiago Stuffed Mushrooms}

1 package button mushrooms, cleaned and de-stemmed

1/2 lb ground chorizo

1 small onion, minced

3 oz asiago cheese, grated

1/3 c. plain bread crumbs

extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

1. Place cleaned and stemmed mushrooms in an oven safe baking dish.  Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. Heat 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add onions and saute for about 3 minutes.  Add chorizo and cook until browned and crispy.  Remove from heat.  Add breadcrumbs and cheese and mix until combined.
4. Spoon mounds of mixture into mushrooms and press gently to pack in.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Bake 15 minutes, or until sizzling and cheese is melted.  Serve immediately.

Bacon-Wrapped Roaches

{Bacon-Wrapped Blue Cheese Stuffed Dates}

1 package medjool dates

3 oz good quality blue cheese

1 package thinly sliced bacon, each slice cut in half

1. Make a slit in each date and stuff a small piece of blue cheese inside each.
2. Wrap a half of a slice of bacon around each stuffed date, overlapping ends.
3. Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat.  Place bacon-wrapped dates in hot pan, seam side down and cook on each side until crisp, 1 to 2 minutes per side.  Skewer and serve immediately.

Liver Pate Canapes

{Chicken Liver Pate}

-- This recipe makes a lot of pate so consider cutting the recipe in half, unless of course you are crazy for chicken liver pate!

6 tbsp unsalted butter, divided

1/3 c. minced shallot

1 lb chicken livers

salt

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tbsp capers

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp anchovy paste

1/4 c. brandy

1/4 c. cream

1. Trim any fat/connective tissue from livers and discard.
2. Heat 2 tbsp butter in large saute pan on medium heat and let butter brown, 3 to 5 minutes.  Don’t let it burn.  
3. Add shallots and saute 1 minute.  Add livers, spacing them well so they can brown.  Sprinkle with salt.  Flip after two minutes.  Once browned, add capers, thyme, garlic and anchovy paste.  Saute 1 minute.
4. Take pan off heat and add brandy.  Turn heat to high and boil down brandy to consistency of syrup, 1 to 2 minutes.  Turn off heat and cool mixture.
5. Place mixture in food processor and pulse to combine.  Add remaining butter and cram and puree.  Mixture will firm up in fridge.  Pack in ramekins or small bowl and fridge for 1 hour.  Serve with baguette slices, crackers or in this case, rounds of white bread, buttered and toasted.

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

2/3 c. all purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 (15oz) can pumpkin puree {not pumpkin pie filling}

1/2 c. sugar

1/4 c. brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 c. half and half or evaporated milk

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Line a 12 cup muffin tin with cupcake liners.  In medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice.
2. In a large bowl, whisk pumpkin puree, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla and half and half until well combined.  Add in dry ingredients and whisk until no streaks of flour remain and batter is smooth.
3. Fill each cup with 1/3 c. batter
4. Bake 20 minutes.  Cool in pan.  Cupcakes will sink.  Chill before serving and top with whipped cream and nutmeg.

Buffalo Chicken Potato Skins

People often ask me what my favorite food is -- honestly, I really couldn’t tell you!  I can find joy in any food and what I’m eating really depends on my mood.  I’ll tell you what, though .... I LOVE APPS!  I really could eat appetizers for every meal of every day.  I love having that little taste of a lot of dishes for a meal -- this is probably why I enjoy happy hour so much.  Steve and I have a few cocktails and order 4 or 5 appetizers or small plates and share them all.  It’s a cheap way to get a lot of different food in you. I don’t know about where you live, but the Myrtle Beach area restaurants have really stepped it up in terms of happy hour food -- moving from chicken fingers and wings to kobe beef sliders with caramelized onions and grilled fish tacos with crunchy cabbage slaw.  Yum!  

Now there are times that I prefer to just chill at home with my drinks and my friends {and my sweatpants}, so I make those special happy hour dishes here.  These were a gigantic hit and were gobbled up quickly.  I tend to use Frank’s hot sauce -- but feel free to use your favorite brand {remember, if you’re using Tabasco, don’t use a 1/2 cup!  Wayy to spicy!}.

Buffalo Chicken Potato Skins

1 large chicken breast, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

2 tbsp butter

salt and pepper

1/2 c. Frank’s hot sauce

5 russet potatoes

1/8 c. vegetable oil, for brushing

1/2 c. blue cheese crumbles

2 scallions, chopped

blue cheese dip/dressing for serving

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Melt 2 tbsp butter and saute chicken until cooked.  Transfer to bowl and toss with hot sauce.
2. Wrap potatoes in foil and bake in oven for 30 to 45 minutes, until soft.  Cool, cut in half and scoop out middle.  Season with salt and pepper.  Flip over and brush with oil.  Bake cut side down, 5 minutes.  Flip and cook additional 5 minutes.  Fill with chicken and cheese, bake until melted.  Top with scallions and serve with blue cheese dip/dressing

Red, White and Blue Cheese Wedge Salad

When you’re planning a Fourth of July party {or any party for that matter} it’s important to have some quick and easy items on your menu so that you can throw them together on the fly then head outside to enjoy your party with your friends and family.  That’s why I’m putting this salad in the mix for my July 4th party.  The dressing can be made ahead of time as well as the bacon -- all you have to do is assemble!

This fork and knife salad is made with iceberg lettuce -- which I think is completely under-rated.  I love how crispy iceberg is; there really is nothing better than crunching into this hearty wedge. I also went ahead and lightened up the dressing by using a combination of fat free sour cream and greek yogurt - it’s creamy, tangy and delicious!  As for serving these wedges for a BBQ -- just plate them all up on a big platter, already dressed and let people grab a wedge with a pair of tongs!

Red, White and Blue Cheese Salad Wedge (makes 6 wedges)

1 head of iceberg lettuce, cored and sliced into 6 wedges

6 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/3 c. crumbled blue cheese

1 recipe Chunky Blue Cheese Greek Dressing

1 clove garlic, grated

4 oz fat free plain greek yogurt

4 oz fat free sour cream

juice of 1 lemon

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 c. crumbled blue cheese

Combine all dressing ingredients in a small bowl and refrigerate until 

needed.  If you think the dressing is too thick, thin it out with a little milk 

until you reach your desired consistency.

1.  Place all iceberg wedges on a large platter.  Drizzle with blue cheese dressing and sprinkle with crumbled bacon and crumbled blue cheese.  Finish with fresh ground black pepper.