fried pickles

Fried Pickles.  Perfection.  I mean, seriously?!  How can you go wrong with frying one of the most fantastic food items on God's green earth?!  What's not to love about a pickle?  It's salty, briny, sour... it's wonderful.

Kyle and I have always wanted to try making our own fried pickles, but we were always afraid they'd turn out soggy.  So, on New Years Eve, our good friend Andy made some fried pickles and they were fantastic!  He gave us his recipe and they are wonderful!  Here's how ya do it...

Fried Pickles

Ingredients:

Pickles, large jar

Milk, 2 cups*

Eggs, 2

Flour, 2 cups*

Garlic Powder, 2 Tbsp*

Cayenne Pepper, 1 tsp*

Kosher Salt, 1 tsp*

Fresh Cracked Black Pepper, 1 tsp*

Canola Oil, for frying

* These are rough estimates for what we use, we don't actually measure, but this should be REALLY close.

Directions:

Start off by draining your pickles and patting them as dry as you can get them.  You are going to soak them in milk, but losing their vinegary brine will help everything else stick.  If you have time, drain them and let them sit for 10-15 minutes, shaking the colander every so often, then pat dry.

Place milk and eggs into a zip lock baggie, zip the top and go to town shaking and smashing.  Have fun :)

Until it looks like this...

Then, place the pickles in the bag and work them around until they are all fully coated with milk and eggs.  Let them sit for 15-20 minutes.  Heat your oil during this time as well, you want it good and hot before you put the pickles in.

In the meantime, mix the batter.  Place the flour and seasonings in a bowl and mix them together.

Take the pickles out of the bag, by hand, and put them in the bowl of batter, in batches.  Coat them evenly.

Use a wire colander to shake off excess batter.

Gently, place the pickles in the hot oil and cook until they are golden.

Remove them and place them on a plate with paper towels to soak up excess oil.  They will be HOT!  We serve them with ranch dressing!  

What do you serve your pickles with??  I'd love to know!

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Grilled Oysters

When I was a little girl, I ate oysters ALL the time.  I LOVED them.  RAW.  Uh huh.  Until I was about 6 or 7.  And when I say raw, I mean raw - with no cracker, no horseradish, no cocktail sauce, no nothing.  Just a slippery oyster.  After 6 or so, I quit eating them all together.  I think I bit into one once.  The ultimate raw oyster no-no, LOL.

The first year Kyle and I vacationed in NOLA, we ate at Bacco in the French Quarter (sadly, it's now closed).  It was a Brennan family Italian restaurant and it was marvelous!  We were there celebrating our anniversary and when the chef found out, he sent us a few tastings.  One was a panko fried oyster on a bed of greens with a dipping sauce.  It was the most amazing bite of food I've ever put in my mouth, EVER!  From that moment on, I was hooked again.  And honestly, there's almost something adventurous about eating oysters, haha.  Is it sad that I find adventure in food?!  Hmmm...

Anyway, we eat at Acme Oyster House SEVERAL times each time we go to NOLA.  It's an obsession.  I think it may be the actual reason we keep returning, haha.  We are obsessed with their grilled oysters... they are amazing.  We usually get a few dozen each trip.  Sometimes every day!  When we went to Lake Charles I almost died of heartbreak that the nearest Acme was still 2 hours away!!!

A few weeks ago, Kyle went to the grocery store while I was at home, dying from a head cold.  It was a bad one!  Anyway, when he got home he said "I REALLY wish you weren't sick," um, yeah!  You and me both buddy, LOL - then he said "HEB had a 9 pack of fresh oysters for $6!!"  Well, then I was REALLY wishing I wasn't sick!

I've had the hardest time living in San Antonio for one reason: NO FRESH SEAFOOD!!!!  I'd have never known that moving just 2 1/2 hours from the coast would limit my seafood selection so badly!!  So, I have to rely on HEB for seafood.  It's not ideal.  But these oysters are fresh and they even give you their harvest date - it's awesome!

So, before I continue my novel... I'll give you the recipe!!!

Grilled Oysters

Ingredients:

Fresh oysters, on the half shell

1 stick butter

2 Tbsp chopped garlic

1 Tbsp minced or dried onion

1 tsp red pepper fakes

dash Tabasco 

salt, to taste

Directions:

Soften the butter by leaving it out or in the microwave.  Gently mash it with a fork.  Add the next 5 ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Place butter on a piece of plastic wrap and form into a roll.  Refrigerate until thickened again.

Word to the wise - our oysters are in the shell, they don't come on the half shell, so we shuck them.  This is a process.  Not entirely hard, but you gotta know how to do it.  So, keep that in mind before running to buy this stuff!

So, shuck and clean your oysters, leaving them attached to the bottom shell.  

As you can see, these aren't huge - but the flavor is impeccable!

Take the butter out of the fridge, slice it and place a slice on each oyster.  Place on the grill and cook until done - you'll know this when it starts to really bubble and the oyster shell begins to char a little. 

We serve these with grilled bread.  I slice a french baguette and butter one side with the leftover garlic butter mix.  Then we place it on the grill, butter side up on the top rack of the grill for about 2 minutes per side.  Be careful not to burn it, so really watch it.

I need a picture of the butter and the bread, a better one on the actual grill! :)  We'll be making these again soon, as there is another bag in my fridge as I type!  I'll take more pictures and post those too!!!  

Let me know if you make these - they are amazing.  And for $6 - you can't beat that!!!!!

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Buffalo Chicken Wontons

So, Kyle and I had these at a restaurant once and FELL IN LOVE.  Um, they are SO good!  A few weeks later we'd planned a date night at home (you know the kind... you feed the kid early and get her in bed and THEN you enjoy dinner alone and a movie or game night!).  Sometimes, home dates are the best :)

Anywho... we usually try to make something fun for dinner and this is what we wanted.  So, we used part of what we knew of the recipe for Buffalo Chicken dip and improvised from there!  The result was perfect.  No tweaking needed, don't you love it when that happens?!

Introducing... or maybe not really, since this is SO not original... LOL...

BUFFALO CHICKEN WONTONS

Ingredients:
1 pkg wonton wrappers
1 cup chicken, cubed and cooked*
1/2 cup blue cheese, crumbled
2 Tbsp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 cup Frank's RedHot Buffalo Sauce
4 Tbsp butter, melted & cooled
Oil, for frying

Directions:
* We use fresh chicken breast, not canned.  We've used canned, you can, but it's MUCH better fresh.  That said, when we cook the chicken, we have it already diced small and we saute it in a smidge of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Let the chicken cool while you prepare the rest of the ingredients or it will melt your cheeses too much.

Mix cooled chicken and blue cheese, stir gently.  Add cheddar cheese, stir again.  Add Frank's and butter and stir to combine and cover thoroughly.

Lay out your wonton wrappers.  If you've never used wonton wrappers before, you will need a small bowl of water and a paper towel.  You'll wet the edges of the wrappers in order to make them stick together.

Add a small dollup of filling to each wonton.  You will need to play around with this, but it's usually about 3/4 Tbsp.

Wet your finger in the water and slide it across the edge of the wrapper.  We've found it's easiest if you start in the middle and work out on each side.  The wrappers are dusted in cornstarch, so you will get sticky and white!  Your water will also look muddled after a while.

Fold the wrapper from one corner to another, to create a triangle.

Seal well, pressing out all the air pockets.

Lay finished wontons on a plate.

We have ALWAYS cooked these inside, but on Super Bowl Sunday, we used an outdoor fryer.  You need to fill your pot about 3/4 way full with oil and heat it on medium to medium-high heat.  Use an extra wonton wrapper to test the oil.

You should be able to fry the wontons in two batches.  Place about half of them in there until the wrapper turns light golden brown and gets crispy.  Use a slotted spoon to remove and place in a shallow dish lined with paper towels.  Immediately hit them with a small amount of salt.

Serve with ranch dressing.  ENJOY!!

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Garlicky Bruschetta

For Valentine's Day this past year, I wanted to make a nice dinner for Kyle, and I wanted to do it all by myself! So, I found a great recipe for searing steaks, made garlic mashed potatoes and fried spinach. As an appetizer I made this bruschetta... and it was a FAST favorite! Kyle asked for it for weeks afterward, and I made it everytime he asked, ha! When we planted our garden, I knew I wanted basil planted just for this recipe. It is delicious... mouth watering... and it will be gone FAST!



Ingredients:
2 Tbsp fresh garlic, chopped
2 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped
1 1/2 cups vine-ripened cherry tomatoes (I use Nature Sweet and the whole bag works perfect)
2 Tbsp + 1/8 cup olive oil, divided
1 1/2 tsp + 1 Tbsp kosher salt, divided
1/2 tsp fresh cracked pepper
Sliced sourdough bread



Directions:
Add garlic and basil to small bowl.




Slice tomatoes in half. Using a small paring knife, scoop out the seeds, then chop the tomatoes and place in bowl.







Add 2 Tbsp olive oil, 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt and 1/2 tsp pepper, mix and chill until ready to serve.





Slice bread into squares.



Sprinkle 1/8 cup olive oil over the bread. You can use a basting brush or a paper towel to help coat the bread evenly with the oil.



Bake in oven at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle with remaining 1 Tbsp kosher salt immediately after removing from oven. Serve with bruschetta.

NOTE: I have also used roma tomatoes and it does not produce near the great flavor, so now I only use the cherry tomatoes.

Chopping Basil:
The easiest way to chop basil is to lay it one on another.



Then gently roll the leaves.



Slice thin in a julienne style and then give the slices a good rough chop. So easy!

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Sharla's Perfect Guacamole

If you live anywhere in Texas, chances are guacamole is a staple at any get together. No? Well, it is in my family! My daddy was always the guacamole maker and I was probably 9 or 10 when he taught me how to make it. Since then, I've experimented with it a little and figured out the absolute best way to make it... ever! Everytime I make it and take it somewhere people want to know the secret, which really... there's not one! I often wonder what makes it so wonderful, there are few ingredients... but I think I've narrowed it down to the one that counts: GARLIC POWDER. It packs the most punch. This recipe makes about 3 cups of guacamole, so you may want to double it for a larger party.  I actually took this to church not long ago and a lady there had NEVER had guacamole!!  I was floored...!!  She LOVED it!!!  It's THAT good!

Sharla's Perfect Guacamole

Ingredients

6 medium Haas avocados

2 medium tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped

3/4 white onion, finely chopped

1 serrano pepper, seeded and finely chopped

2 Tbsp garlic powder

1 Tbsp kosher salt

fresh cracked pepper

1/2 lime, juiced

Directions

Halve and peel avocados. The best way to get the seed out is to whack it with a knife and twist... if you've never done this before, do so with caution! I really don't want to see any comments about missing fingers after trying to make my guacamole, ha!! Hold the side of the avocado in your left hand (assuming you use your right for cutting!) and tuck your fingers in. Bring the knife down smack in the center of the seed, wedging it about 1/4 of the way in. With the knife secure in the seed, twist the knife to twist the seed... this should loosen the seed enough to pull it out. Pull and viola! no more seed, perfectly in tact avocado!! I learned this when I was like 22... late to the party, as usual! Anyway, you'll never try another way to de-seed an avocado once you try this one... unless you do happen to cut of a digit or two!! :0) I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures of this method but my husband was outside playing with Reagan and it would have been hard to take those pics by myself... LOL! Make sure you keep 2-3 seeds, you'll need them in a bit. OK, so now... you have two halves with no seed... take a spoon and scoop that baby out!! Dump them all into a bowl.



I prefer to use a metal potato masher to smash the avocados, but you can use a fork.



Don't mash them too much, you want this to be slightly chunky, not smooth.



Dump in your tomatoes, onion and pepper. Mix to incorporate.





I said to use 2 Tbsp of garlic powder, and that is probably very close, but really I sprinkle it to cover the surface three times. This may be a little more or less than 2 exact tablespoons. When in doubt, do less and add more later. Sorry I can't be super specific on that!!





Add salt, pepper and lime juice and mix thoroughly.



You now have the absolute best guacamole you'll ever eat!! Remember the seeds we saved?? Place those in the bowl you serve the guacamole in, they really do help to keep it fresh.



The lime juice also keeps it from oxidizing. It will stay green for hours.

Now, here's another little tip... the best chips in the whole wide world are Julio's chips. They are these amazing tortilla chips that are seasoned. Julio's is a Mexican restaurant in Laredo, Texas and while we've never been to Laredo or eaten there... we definitely buy a lot of their products! If you don't live in Texas you may not have any luck finding these... but it's worth looking for sure!!

One last note... you can make this recipe in the food processor, it's just not as chunky (obviously!). I do this if I'm in a BIG hurry... just put the tomato, onion and seeded pepper into the food processor until it is fine but NOT pureed. I do dump it out before adding the avocado in case there is too much, you don't want runny guacamole, that's for sure! Then I puree the avocados in the food processor, remove to a bowl and mix in the tomato blend slowly, stirring to the right consistency. Then add the garlic powder, salt, pepper and lime juice the same as above. This will obviously be a lot more smooth, it tastes the same, but I TOTALLY prefer the chunky texture!!

ENJOY!!

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Texas Caviar

Growing up, I hated cilantro. Hated it. Wouldn't touch it or anything with it in there. When Kyle and I were dating, we loved eating at this Laotian restaurant and they would put cilantro in their fried rice. I hated it so much that I would actually tell them I was allergic to it to stress the DO NOT PUT CILANTRO IN MY FOOD point!! I wouldn't touch anything with cilantro in it until I ate this... Texas Caviar and not only did I fall in love with the dip itself but cilantro. Now I add it to everything and can't get enough of it! They say your tastes really do change every 7 years AND with pregnancy, so somewhere in between all of that I became obsessed with cilantro.

So, this has a funny name... Texas Caviar... but it fits! It's kinda a cross between a dip of sorts and a bean salsa.

Texas Caviar

Ingredients

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/8 tsp Tabasco

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

2 cans Mexicorn, drained

2 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 cup cilantro, chopped

1/2 medium red onion, chopped

6 tsp garlic, minced

2 large Haas avocados, peeled and chopped

** NOTE: I only made a half batch, so you'll need more beans, Mexicorn, olive oil, red wine vinegar, tomato and avocado. It's very easy to cut this in half though! **

Directions

In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, red wine vinegar and Tabasco. Mix well and set aside.

I usually don't walk through the chopping, but I wanted to share a few tricks with you today. I cut my veggies pretty small for this recipe.

We'll start with the bell pepper (yes, I realize I forgot the sticker when I washed it!!). I slice the top of the pepper off and set it aside for a moment.



Stand the pepper up on its bottom and slice in half vertically.



Remove all the seeds and veins (the light parts inside the pepper).



Then cut each half in half to create quarters. Take the top and cut out the stem. Again, remove any seeds and veins in the top of the pepper.



Start with the quarters and slice into 1/8" thick strips then into 1/8" squares.

For the tomato, I slice off the top and the bottom so it stands on it's own. Standing the tomato up, slice down vertically in half and then into quarters.



I seed the tomato by cutting everything out of the middle and then using the knife to scoop out any seeds. (We didn't get the best pictures of this process, sorry!)



Once you just have the skin, slice in 1/8" strips and then into 1/8" squares.

I like to pick my cilantro off the stems, but it is a little time consuming. I just pick off each leaf and form a pile of them. Once I have the amount I need, I roll the leaves, similar to the way you cut basil. It is tough to get a perfect roll, but try to get it all in there, it's so much easier to chop this way!





Begin by slicing from one end of the roll to the other then come back across from the top to the bottom.



After a few runs with the knife, the cilantro will be perfect!

As for the onion... well, I've never found an absolute fave way to cut those things! So sorry, no pics for that one!

Once you have everything chopped and ready, start mixing! After you've drained your Mexicorn, put it in a large bowl. Add in the drained and rinsed beans.



Then add tomatoes, red bell pepper, cilantro, onion and garlic.



Mix it thoroughly. We'll add the avocado later....



Pour the olive oil dressing mix on top and mix until everything is covered.





Chill for 2 hours.

When you're ready to serve it, halve your avocados. Once you've halved them and removed the seeds, use your knife to slice just the meat and not the shell. Make 4-5 slices vertically and 4-5 slices horizontally then use a spoon to scoop out your chunks of avocado. Mix the avocado in and serve! It is delicious and will go very quickly... thankfully it makes a HUGE bowl!!

YUMM-O!!!

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