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Spicy Beer Shrimp with Smokey Creamy Saison Polenta and Lime Crema

Spicy Beer Shrimp with Smokey Creamy Saison Polenta and Lime Crema3I’m still in shock.

A few days ago I was given word that I’m a finalist for a Saveur award for BEST Original Recipes. Best on the entire internet and in the entire world. Out of the millions of food blogs out there and out of the 30,000 they considered, they chose The Beeroness as one of the six best.

SAV_Best Food Blog Award_FINALIST_2014

 I’d love to tell you that I feel justified, or vindicated. But really, I feel humbled. I feel honored. I even feel a little overwhelmed.

I want you to like what I’m doing. I want you to make my recipes for your family, I want them to become your recipes, for these recipes to be a great excuse to explore craft beer. But I never really needed it to be more than that, more than just me and you making some beer food and sharing it over a few pints.

Spicy Beer Shrimp with Smokey Creamy Saison Polenta and Lime Crema2

 

And the Saveur goes and makes me want this too. I want to win it, for us, for the love of beer food.

So take a second and vote for The Beeroness for the Best Original Recipes

Because beer food really is the best.

Spicy Beer Shrimp with Smokey Creamy Saison Polenta and Lime Crema

 

Spicy Beer Shrimp with Smokey Creamy Saison Polenta and Lime Crema

Ingredients
  

For the Polenta:

  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup Saison beer
  • 1 cup dry polenta corn grits
  • 3 tbs butter
  • 3 wt oz smoked gouda shredded
  • Salt and pepper

For the Shrimp:

  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • ½ tsp red chili flake
  • ½ tsp smoked paprika
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1 lb raw shrimp peeled and deveined
  • 2 tbs butter
  • 3 clives garlic minced
  • ½ cup saison beer

For the Crema:

  • ½ cup Mexican crema
  • 2 tbs fresh lime juice
  • 1 avocado sliced

Instructions
 

  • Heat the chicken broth, water and beer in a pot over medium heat. Add the polenta and cook over a low simmer, stirring occasionally, until creamy. About 30 minutes. Stir in the butter and cheese, add salt and pepper to taste.
  • While the polenta is cooking, make the shrimp.
  • In a small bowl stir together the chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, red chili flavors, smoked paprika and salt, set aside.
  • Melt the 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the beer.
  • Add the shrimp, sprinkle with seasonings.
  • Cook the shrimp until pink, remove from heat.
  • In a small bowl stir together the crema and lime.
  • Plate the polenta, top with shrimp and avocado slices, drizzle with crema.

I use Bob’s Red Mill Polenta (affiliate link), it’s non-GMO, organic, very consistent and really high quality.

 

Spicy Beer Shrimp with Smokey Creamy Saison Polenta and Lime Crema4

Greekamole: Greek Guacamole

Greekamole: Greek Guacamole

Did I ever tell you about the time I was on a boat halfway between Italy and Greece and had my first Greek salad? I was just out of college, completely broke, and had nearly smuggled myself on board an overnight cruise ship. Although I was supposed to stay on the lower deck, I wandered up to the dinning room, looking for whatever I could afford on my tiny daily food budget. I found these small Greek salads that had all those great flavors found in a Greek salad but with no lettuce. And when you have cucumbers, Kalamata olives, Feta cheese and a lemon vinaigrette, you have no need for any lettuce.

Greekamole: Greek Guacamole

I spent the rest of the night playing "Italian Poker" on the top deck with a father and son from Naples who spoke no English (I, consequently, speak no Italian). Somehow, we managed to communicate, and for hours we played the poker I was familiar with but only used cards ranked 7 and above. They continued to order me those Greek salads, as well as cup after cup of the strongest espresso I have ever had.

I don’t remember parting ways with those two, although I’ll never forget them, but I do remember stumbling off the boat in the wee hours of the morning, in Cofu Greece, rattled by the Espresso Shakes and being handed a shot of Ouzo as I got into port.

Since then I can’t get enough of that magical combination of ingredients. Since you all already know my deep love of the avocado  it was only a matter of time before I made a greek version of guacamole. This was so good I ate the entire bowl for lunch, and then made it again over the weekend.

Greekamole: Greek Guacamole

Greekamole

Ingredients

  • 2 large avocado
  • ¼ cup Greek yogurt
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • ½ tsp chili powder
  • ½ cup cucumber, peeled and chopped
  • ½ cup red onion, chopped
  • 2 large Roma tomatoes, chopped
  • ¼ cup kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
  • ½ cup feta cheese

Instructions

  1. Add the meat of the avocados, greek yogurt, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and chili powder, mash until well combined.
  2. Stir in the cucumbers, red onion, tomatoes, kalamata olives and feta cheese. Garnish with additional feta cheese if desired.

BLT Eggs Benedict with Avocado Hollandaise


BLT Eggs Benedict wtih Avocado Hollindaise_

I’m a breakfast girl. I’m also an avocado girl. So when California Avocado Commission asked me something along the lines of: "Hey Jackie, wanna come to a fancy schmany Beverly Hills restaurant and have a schmancy chef make you Breakfast For Dinner? Oh and you get to make cocktails with avocados," My answer didn’t require much debate.

Schamncy Chef Neal did an outstanding job feeding Los Angeles bloggers an array of Avocado Breakfast foods. They even sent us home with a goodie bag that included a bag of avocados and a cutting board. AND if that doesn’t sound great to you, you’re probably not a food blogger. We seem to have an unreasonable affinity for bags of produce and cutting boards.

I also have a great love of the Eggs Benedict (I’m probably an old man, given the love I also have for stout beer and cable knits) but after waitressing my way through college, working the early shift at a breakfast joint, I’ll never be able to eat hollandaise at a restaurant (if you read this book, you’ll also know why). Because of these two things, I tend to make it myself about once a month. Add the creaminess of an avocado and I’ll lick it right out of the blender and don’t you try and stop me.

BLT Eggs Benedict with Avocado Hollandaise

Ingredients

  • 1 large ripe California avocado, diced
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 3 tbs butter
  • 2 tbs lemon juice
  • pinch each of salt, pepper and cayenne
  • 4 English muffins, split and toasted
  • 8 slices tomatoes
  • ½ cup baby arugula
  • 8 strips bacon, cooked
  • 8 eggs, poached
  • Yield 8 (4 to 8 servings depending on serving preference)

Instructions

  1. Add the diced avocado to a blender or food processor, process until smooth.
  2. Add the egg yolks and process until well combined.
  3. Heat the butter in a microwave safe bowl until very hot.
  4. While the food processor is running, slowly add the melted butter until well combined. Add the lemon juice, salt, pepper and cayenne, process to combine.
  5. Add the English muffins to a plate, cut sides up. Top each half with a slice of tomato, a few leaves of arugula, bacon, and a poached egg.
  6. Spoon avocado hollandaise over eggs. Serve immediately.

BLT Eggs Benedict wtih Avocado Hollindaise 2

Chilean Salmon with Avocado Cream Sauce

I’ve always wanted to go to Chile. Since I started traveling, I’ve had a deep love for Spanish speaking countries, I want to visit them all. Although, other than language, they seem to have little in common. Other than maybe a shared love of food and family.

I spent some time in Spain, missing my flight home for an extra day in Madrid.

I took my husband with my to Costa Rica, and I didn’t want to leave. I just kept begging to head further south, even telling him I’d allow as much Van Halen signing as he wanted once we hit Panama (PAAAAAna-ma-ah!). But he wanted his own bed and some clean clothes. Weirdo.

And Chile has been there, long and lean, just sitting there on my list. I want to go and visit this place, so gorgeous, and with it’s incredible food.

I was invited to a dinner party event put on by Foods From Chile a few weeks ago. It wasn’t a flight south along the Pacific, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be part of an event that took place in five cities across the US. The food was amazing. Salmon, Avocado Soup, Endive Salad, and Blueberry Crisp, cooked up by the lovely Chef Cheryl.

Maybe I’m not going to get on a plane and head south just yet, but I can eat some Chilean salmon, with some Chilean avocado cream sauce, and of course, the Chilean wine. And dream about the day I actually get my passport stamped in Santiago.

Chilean Salmon with Avocado Cream Sauce

Ingredients

For The Salmon

  • 4, 3oz salmon fillets
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 to 2 tsp salt
  • 1 to 2 tsp pepper
  • 3 tbs olive oil

For The Avocado Cream Sauce

  • 1 large avocado (about 2/3 cup)
  • 2 tbs lemon juice
  • 1 tbs chopped shallots
  • 1/3 cup coconut water
  • pinch cayenne
  • pinch chili powder
  • pinch smoked paprika
  • ¼ tsp cumin
  • 2 tsp white wine vinegar
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 1 tbs chopped chives

Instructions

  1. Place salmon fillets on a plate, squeeze lemon juice over salmon and allow to sit for five to ten minutes. Sprinkle filets with salt and pepper just prior to cooking.
  2. In a good quality heavy sauce pan, heat the olive oil over high heat until hot but not smoking, swirling the olive oil to evenly distribute.
  3. Add the salmon and allow to cook until golden brown before carefully flipping, about 4 minutes. Cook on the other side until cooked through.
  4. In a food processor add the sauce ingredients and puree until smooth.
  5. Add salmon to plates, top with sauce.

 

 

Crab Stuffed Baked Avocado

There is something about the raw exposure that blogging brings that forces you to face and deal with emotional handicaps that you didn’t even know that you have.

It may be the contrast between complete strangers showering you with compliments and adorations, and other complete strangers raining down harsh criticism. When in reality, neither is wholly accurate. You are, to one degree or another, somewhere in the middle.

And as harsh and those nasty comments can be, the overly positive ones have always been more difficult for me to deal with. Those readers who send compliment saturated emails about how much they love my recipes, or how great my life must be, are with no doubt a highlight of blogging. But I am always left with the fear that the pedestal will crumble and I will be exposed as the ordinary person that I truly am.

Self worth is supposed to be an isolated container, unaffected by the thoughts of others. But I’m not sure anyone has really figure out how to do that, and if he does, I’m not sure I want to meet that guy.

The truth is, sometimes we need a mirror of honesty to see how great we are, and place that value in our container of worth. And to really start to believe it.

Take a second to think back on your life and write down all the best compliments that you have ever received.

And then take the rest of your life to truly believe them.

Crab Stuffed Baked Avocado

4 oz cream cheese, softened

6 oz crab meat (drain well if using canned meat)

1/4 cup tomatoes, chopped

1 tbs scallions

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

pinch cayenne pepper

3 large ripe avocados,cut in half, pits removed

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400.

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients except the avocados and the parmesan, mix until well combined.

Fit the hole in the avocado with crab mixture, top with generous amounts of cheese. Place avocados in the wells of a muffin tin, bake at 400 until the cheese has melted about 8-10 minutes.

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Avocado Crab Chowder

My favorite thing about fall is homemade soup. I love a soup that takes all day, it’s like an art. But, since I am a very busy working mom, as I assume quite a few of you are too, I also need a really delicious soup that I can make after work. I invented this soup because I adore clam chowder, but I’m not a huge fan of the clams that you buy at the grocery store. Crab, in all it’s delicious splendor, was a fine substitution. I added the avocados because I live Southern California, a very avocado heavy place. If you ever make it out west, make it a mission of yours to stop by a farmers market (we get to have them year round in these parts) and have one for yourself.

Avocado Crab Chowder

2 tbs butter

1/2 cup chopped onions

3 large cloves of garlic, minced

4 cups chicken broth

2 cups potatoes, peeled, chopped

1 cup corn kernels (I used Trader Joe’s Fire Roasted Corn Kernels)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp Old Bay seasoning

1/2 tsp chili powder

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 tsp chili pepper sauce (Such as Tapatillo or Tabasco)

2 6oz cans crab meat (lump or claw meat if you can find it), drained

1/4 cup lemon juice

3 large avocados, chopped

In a large pot, melt the better over medium/high heat. Saute the onions until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and stir. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Add the potatoes and allow to boil until the potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes. Add the salt, pepper, Old Bay, and chili powder, stir to combine. Remove the soup from the heat. Using an immersion blender, puree until smooth,  and then pour in the cream, stir to combine.  Return to heat, add the corn, and allow to boil until thickened, stirring frequently,about 5 minutes. Add the chili pepper sauce, crab meat, and lemon juice and stir to combine. Adjust the seasonings to taste. Pour into serving bowls, garnish with avocado.



Halloween Recipe: Avocado Witches Fingers

Spooky Halloween treat. Looks like slimy, severed fingers, makes you hungry, right? That’s the best part about Halloween, you get to make crazy, gross, appetizers that are inspired by dismembered body parts and people love it.

Spooky Avocado Witches Fingers

4 Avocados
peeled, pitted and halved
1 tbs lemon or lime juice
2 ounces goat cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 ounce prosciutto slices

Cut each avocado half into 4-6 slices. Place in medium bowl and gently toss in lemon juice.

 Fill the center of each avocado slice with 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon goat cheese mixture.

Sprinkle with salt, pepper and chili powder.

Wrap each avocado “finger” with 1/3 slice of prosciutto until the goat cheese is secured to the avocado. Make sure to leave the tip of the avocado exposed, to resemble a finger nail. Arrange the avocados in the shape of a hand on the plate to add extra spookiness. Serve and Enjoy!

Check out my other Halloween Posts:

DIY Glow In the Dark Chosts. Take 5 minutes!

Inside Out Caramel Apples