Unexpected Guests at Dinner

Part I
It's time for a food post! Between a recent two week vacation, with little cooking involved, and a huge amount of fun produce from my food co-op, my kitchen's been running on over-drive and I've tried all kinds of new things this week. Some things that are rather unexpected for our family's diner table. . . a whole, fresh coconut . . . brussell sprouts . . . shrimp . . . to name a few. And I was in picture taking/blogger mode, so this is what you get (just went to see Julie and Julia - LOVED it!!!).


Dessert first! I began my cooking quest with a plum "tatin," (whatever that is) - Ina Garten's Plum Cake "Tatin" (upside down cake?) - since I got a zillion pluots from my co-op. I knew they were ripe and ready to eat but I also knew we couldn't get to all of them before they were too soft to enjoy. (I like mine still firm and a little tart.) I think I even saw the episode of Barefoot Contessa when she made this cake while I was on my vacation. It looked SOOOO gorgeous!


The cake was good, but I almost like the pictures better! The "tatin" tasted like a sugar cookie in cake-form which is not a bad thing at all and the warm fruit with it was a yummy combination. Peaches or apricots would be divine too. The bonus is that this cake is pretty easy to make. If you are dying to try this recipe you can go to food network to check it out. I have too many other recipes to get to in this post! But I just couldn't resist the pics!

Part II
We had the cake Sunday night and with dinner I served brussell sprouts (did I hear an audible YUCK!?) - another thing I acquired from my insanely wonderful food co-op Bountiful Baskets. But what do you do with brussell sprouts? Who will even eat them? Ina does.


I tracked down another of the Barefoot Contessa's simple recipes for oven roasted brussell sprouts. I am a sucker for crispy/salty roasted veggies of almost any kind and so I knew this was going to be the best way to stomach my sprouts.

They did turn out browned and beautiful and every member of my family ate them - including AAH the two year old.


Oven Roasted Brussell Sprouts

brussell sprouts
kosher salt
pepper
olive oil

Turn the oven on to 400 degrees. Wash the sprouts and pick off the bottom leaves. Trim them down if necessary - mine were very large! In a bowl or right on a cookie sheet, toss the brussell sprouts with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Cooking them right on the metal vs. parchment paper or a silpat with help with browning and they still won't stick so don't worry. Bake for 45 minutes or until your desired brown-ness. I like mine dark! Salt again if you'd like. Serve and watch people be surprised that they might actually like brussell sprouts.

Part III
One of my most major accomplishments this week was making use of my fresh coconut - again a food co-op prize. Don't point fingers and call me Martha Stewart but . . .I turned mine into fresh coconut milk. This was a surprisingly simple process. And BTW the liquidy stuff you hear inside the coconut isn't the milk - surprised? Read on and you'll learn.

Fresh Coconut Know How

The coconut has three "eyes." With a long, large, CLEAN, nail pierce one of the eyes using a hammer. Pierce a second eye and then pour the coconut water into a bowl (again, this is NOT the milk). Then put the whole coconut right on the rack in your oven and bake it at 325 degrees for 30 minutes - applying heat loosens the woody husk on the outside. When it is done baking take your hammer and crack the coconut open. It will break apart and as you work with it, pry the husk off the white meat. There will still be a thin layer of brown skin left on the white meat. With a vegetable peeler, take off that brown layer. You can grate the coconut at this stage and use it in recipes or if you want to make coconut milk do this:

Chop up the white coconut meat and put it into a blender. Pour in the coconut water. If it doesn't totally cover the chopped coconut then add warm tap water to cover and process together until it's finely grated. Over a fine mesh strainer covered with cheese cloth, pour the contents of the blender. Let it drain and then squeeze out all of the liquid - what is left is coconut milk! Discard the coconut pulp remaining in the cheese cloth. The milk will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

So now the big question - what did I do with all that coconut milk? I made Coconut Rice of course! To accompany my Teriyaki Pinapple Grilled Shrimp Kabobs for dinner club. Could you just die and go to heaven now? It was crazy good. You are not going to want to wait - run right on over to the market right now and make this for dinner. Your family will kiss you for it! At least that's what the Pioneer Woman said would happen if I made her kabobs - she was right.

(I should clarify one major point, I am a great recipe stealer - I am no chef or recipe genious - I just want to pass along the great recipes out there that I have inflicted upon my family, which I have ever so conveniently taken from other great cooks - Ina and PW being two of those.) Enjoy!

Coconut Rice

1 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. kosher salt
2 C med. grain rice
1 can coconut milk
2 C water
1/2 C chicken broth
sweetened flaked coconut, toasted

In a med. saucepan melt the butter. Add the brown sugar and salt and stir until dissolved. Add the rice and stir well. Add the coconut milk, water, and broth. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking and heat to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand 10 minutes without opening the lid. Serve topped with toasted coconut.

Notes: this is not a sweet rice but the toasted coconut adds some sweetness and crunch - it is a MUST!!! So, so delish.



PW's Yummy Easy Pinapple Skewered Shrimp

Peeled and de-veined Jumbo shrimp
1/2 to 1 C teriyaki sauce
about 3 Tbsp. chopped garlic
2 to 3 sliced green onions, chopped
1 to 2 Tbsp. sugar
pinapple juice (reserved from pineapple chunks)
splash of lemon juice
2" piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
zest and juice of 1 lime
(optional red pepper flakes or chopped jalapeno)

In a bowl combine the teriyaki sauce, green onions, garlic, ginger, sugar, pineapple juice, lemon juice, & lime zest and juice. Rinse shrimp and place into marinade for at least 2 hours. Skewer the shrimp wrapped around a pineapple chunk - about 3 or 4 per skewer. Grill on a very HOT grill, 1-2 minutes per side. Flip again to make sure you've got good, dark grill marks. PW says, "serve to a hungry crowd.. Get ready to be kissed because they will love you for the shrimp, if nothing else."


Notes: Taste the marinade as you're adding ingredients and adjust flavors to your taste. (Always add the meat last!) The lime zest and ginger were optional ingredients in her recipe and the lime juice was my own addition - I couldn't help myself - to me this recipe REQUIRED all of those ingredients. But suit yourself.