Surf n’ Turf Night [Recipes]

Looking to make a decadent dinner but short on time?  This is just the meal!  I got home late last night from work, had time to pick up groceries, put this together, and curl up on my couch and start Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica! [Ed. Note: How great is Season 3?! Nerdgasm!]

So what are we having for Surf n’ Turf night? Glad you asked! We’ll be having Lobster Ravioli, with a garlic-shallot butter sauce, and rib-eye steak! [Ed. Note: Foodgasm!]

The ravioli is from one of my favorite places ever – Trader Joe’s!  First, it’s ridiculously cheap, something like $3.99.  Second, it’s ridiculously delicious!

First, get a pot of water boiling and throw in the lobster ravioli (it’s a lot less traumatizing than cooking real lobster, without sacrificing the great taste!).

I didn’t want to make a regular old pasta sauce to go with this ravioli because I thought it would overpower the delicate flavors of the lobster.  So instead, I looked around my kitchen.  I had butter, I had olive oil, I had garlic, I had a shallot, I had dried parsley, and I had salt and pepper. Time to make a sauce!

To make this sauce, I melted a half a stick of unsalted butter, with a teaspoon of olive oil.  Over medium heat, I threw in 3 mushed cloves of garlic and one diced small shallot.  Next, I added about a teaspoon of dried parsley. Then, a lot of salt and pepper to taste (the butter was unsalted), and let it simmer on medium-low heat while the ravioli finished cooking.

Next, I prepared the steak by rubbing in salt and pepper, and steak seasonings.  I put a little bit of canola oil on a medium-high heated pan, and threw on the steaks.

I cooked the steaks about 3 or 4 minutes on each side (they were really thin). It came out more well-done than I would have liked BUT the steak was super juicy and tasty anyway! Crisis averted!

Bellissimo! Now, quit making excuses and get to cooking! If I can do it, you can do it!  Surf n’ Turf for everyone!

Peanut Butter Cookies [Recipes]

September always makes me nostalgic for the first day of school!  Crisp autumn weather, brand new school supplies, peanut butter and jelly lunches!

This peanut butter cookie is my throwback to the first day of school.  Serve it with a tall glass of cold milk, and I promise you’ll feel like your in kindergarten again! So yummy, and truly a great example of comfort food.  I know I always say all my recipes are simple, but this one is really really simple (cross-my-heart!).

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• LOVE ❤

1. First in a big bowl, mix together the white sugar and brown sugar with the butter. Make it real creamy.

2. Try not to lick that batter!

3. Add your peanut butter, egg, and vanilla. Mix some more!

4. Now you really can’t lick this because you’ll get salmonella poisoning!

5. Add in your dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt. Mix some more!

6. Your batter should look something like this (Try not to be so messy like me).

7. Now take the batter and wrap it up in some plastic wrap and pop it in the freezer for at least an hour.

I ❤ you peanut butter cookie batter!

8. After the batter gets a little firm, take out the batter and start rolling it into little balls. Arrange on a cookie sheet like this!

9. You don’t have to do this, but you can make your cookies extra pretty by making a crisscross pattern using the back of a fork. Just press down vertically, and then horizontally.

10. Finally, pop them in an oven, pre-heated to 325 degrees for 12 minutes or so. This will give you soft chewy cookies!

10. Enjoy them with a glass of cold milk while catching up on your Saturday morning cartoons!

I told you they’d be pretty!

Makes about 20 cookies.

Fried Fish Po’ Boys [Recipes]

Good grief! We are already in September. I can’t believe the summer flew by so fast! If you are still trying to cling desperately to the last remnants of the season, like me, fry up some good ole’ New Orleans Fried Fish Po’ Boys! Perfect for eating outside on a nice summer evening!

Cooking Ingredients:

• 1 lb of fish fillets for frying (I used Tilapia but Catfish works great too)
• 1/2 cup of flour
• 1/2  cup of panko bread crumbs and 1/2 cup of Italian bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• Oil
• Louisiana Hot Sauce (or anything you have on hand)
• Cajun Seasonings
• Cayenne, paprika,  salt, and pepper

For the Sandwich:

• 3 or 4 long Artisan Bread Rolls (they should be crusty outside but soft on the inside)
• Romaine Lettuce
• Pickles
• Tomatoes
• Mayonnaise
• Louisiana Hot Sauce

1. Create an assembly line to coat your fish. First you have the flour mixture: 1 cup of flour, season with salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne, and your Cajun seasoning. Second, is the egg mixture: 1 egg, 1 teaspoon of hot sauce, and 1 teaspoon of oil. Third, panko bread crumbs with Italian bread crumbs and all of the seasonings in the first mixture. Here is a bad picture of what my assembly line looked like:

2. First dredge the fish fillets in the flour mixture, then in the egg mixture, and then in the bread crumb mixture.

3. Heat a skillet on medium, and put about two tablespoons of oil. Then, fry those babies up!

4. Cut up some tomatoes and lettuce. Cut open your bread rolls and toast them.

Just in case you didn't know what cut up tomatoes were supposed to look like...

5. To assemble your po’ boys – first spread mayo on your toasted rolls, then lettuce, then the fried fish, some tomatoes, and then the pickle. Splash some Louisiana Hot Sauce on top for good measure!

Come to Mama!

6. Serve with some Cape Cod chips and some Goldfishes, and call it a day.