Crawfish Boil at the couple's wedding shower

The ubiqitous shower (both wedding and baby) is changing. In the past few years I've cooked for more and more couples showers. These showers usually move to the evening rather than afternoon, and the boyfriends, husbands, fathers, brothers and other males are invited to these formerly all female occaisions. The typical shower menu of chicken salad, tea sandwiches, and petit four are also becoming more male-friendly. One recent hostess chose a crawfish boil although she wasn't a big fan of crawfish. We added lots more shrimp, although crawfish were definitely present.

I purloined (can purloined be a verb?) anyway, I took some leftovers to use for breakfast the next day, which I made while watching the Sunday political shows. I cut the corn from the cobs, and sauteed everything in some butter, deglazed the pan with some Marsala wine and poured it all over grits. Just incredible.

Pan Fried Gnocci with Shrimp and Lemon Gremoulata

I have to admit I used a packaged gnocci for this-but it was so good I thought I would post it anyway. Next week I'll make my own gnocci, I promise. Pan frying the dumplings result with crispy edges with a fluffy potatoey interior, just perfect to pair with some sauteed vegetables and shrimp flavored with garlic and lemon.

For the Gremoulata:

Zest of one lemon

1 garlic clove, minced

2 Tablespoons of minced fresh parsley

Finely mince these ingredients together and sprinkle sparingly over pastas and braised meats (used in the Italian dish Osso Bucco to top the veal shanks).

For the Gnocci:

2 Tablespoons of butter

1 Tablespoon of olive oil

1 pound of gnocci (enough for two)

1 Tablespoon of red pepper flakes (or to taste-depending on how spicy you like it)

1/4 cup sliced celery

1/4 cup carrot, sliced into coins

2 Tablespoons of minced green onion

1 Tablespoon of minced garlic

2 Tablespoons of fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup white wine

Salt to taste

Heat the butter and olive oil together add the red pepper flakes.

Add the gnocci, carrots, and celery to the hot oil, and saute over medium heat for several minutes until the edges are browned and crispy and the vegetables are tender.

Add the shrimp and toss to coat the shrimp with the flavors and oil. Add the lemon juice and wine and simmer one minute just until shrimp are done, add a little salt if you like.

Serve in pasta bowls topped with a sprinkling of gremoulata.

Seafood Tostada

I made this for myself, but it is going to be an off menu appetizer special tonight. It was too large for an appetizer, so I am going to eliminate the lobster and make it smaller. I started with a tortilla, crisped, toppped with lettuce, tomato, and thinly sliced red onions. I composed crab and lobster meat over the lettuce and placed a grilled prawn on top. I dressed the salad with a vinaigrette made with lime juice and tequila. I garnished with avocado, jalapeno,sour cream, and lime wedges. It was refreshing delightful.

Shrimp Burger

In honor of my cousin Kevin, who has commanded me to "lighten up" in my last post's comments, I made shrimp burgers. They seem sort of whimsical and light. I read an article recently about the Japanese McDonalds who developed shrimpburgers for the Japanese palate, and it intrigued me.

So shrimp burgers had been on my mind, when Josh, my pantry cook brought me this recipe for shrimp balls that he makes for his step father. Instead of balls, I had him form them into patties and we made the first batch of shrimp burgers. I made wasabi mayonaise to serve with the burger. They were quite tasty, but both of the recipes need some tweaking before I sell them in the restaurant. In one of those ironic twists of fate, Josh is highly allergic to shellfish, so he can't taste them, and he has to wear surgical gloves when he makes them.

Two Tasty Pastas with Fresh Peas

Fresh peas are becoming such a problem. My farmer growers don't like to grow them-no one wants to put the work of shelling them into their routine. These peas came from a grower already shelled. Although they were fresh, they were disappointing to me because they were a bit mature and starchy-not the tiny sweet orbs I wanted-nonetheless they were still tasty mixed with some additional ingredients and noodles.

Very simple and delicious. The first is linguini tossed with shrimp and grilled salmon. The sauce was Vodka Tomato cream-we reduced cream, added some of our red sauce and 1/4 cup vodka and cooked it briefly before tossing in the shrimp and salmon to cook in the sauce, then we added the already cooked peas and noodles. We finished the dish with fresh dill.

The second is from the cookbook author Marcella Hazan's "Classic Italian Cooking". It is titled Paglia e Fieno. The translation means "hay and straw"-you use both egg and spinach noodles, so it whimsically looks like a mixture of hay and straw. This time the noodles are sauced with reduced cream, wine, wild mushrooms, peas, and parmesan. Before serving I topped the noodles with some thinly sliced Proscuitto, which makes it essentially noodles with ham and peas-the Italian sounds exotic, while the American sounds mundane-in any case, to paraphrase (badly) Shakespeare "a pasta by any other name would taste just as sweet"-so call it what ever you want.