Fish
Summer is in full swing and what a better way to enjoy summer and grilling with some freshly grilled oysters! Jim and I went to our local farmer’s market a couple of weeks ago and purchased some fresh oysters and I knew right away we would be grilling them even though I have not done that before. Guess what? It was super easy and delicious! Because we like things hot, we added a few more dashes than called for. Add what makes your mouth sing!
INGREDIENTS
24 fresh oysters
4 Tablespoons Butter
4 large garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 or more dashes of hot sauce – I keep the hot sauce to serve on the side as well.
course sea salt for serving if desired.
DIRECTIONS
FOR THE SAUCE- Add butter to a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat until butter is melted. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, remove from heat. Add lemon juice, hot sauce, and herbs.
FOR THE OYSTERS- Heat outdoor gas grill to medium heat. Place unopened oysters on the grill and grill until the oysters just begin to open. As soon as they begin to open, use an oyster knife or a butter knife as we did, open the oysters completely apart so you have two shells. Use kitchen gloves as the oysters will be hot.
Using the same knife separate the meat from the shell, set aside. Do this for each oyster. Discard any unopened shells, do not consume those.
Take the top of the shell, the one that has more of a bowl shape and place them back on the grill and place one oyster back into the shell. Add the sauce into each of the shells. Turn the grill to high heat. When the sauce is bubbling in the shells remove from heat being careful not to spill the sauce.
remove oysters to a platter that has the course sea salt on the bottom of the platter.
Serve warm but remember the sauce is hot just off the grill!
Enjoy!
I made this dish specifically for my Dad as he saw a picture of the recipe I gave you on Tuesday and said he wanted that, but without the pasta. Well, when Dad wants a dish, I make it! This dish is cooked similar to Tuesday’s dish as the seafood is all cooked separately then put together at the end. When I was looking at recipes similar to this all of the recipes put raw seafood together and cook it all together. I really, really did not like that idea as all of the seafood are different sized and have a different cook time and if I cooked them separately, I could season each layer as I cook, because of that this dish does take extra effort and time. I can promise you it’s well worth it. No one at my Easter table was disappointed with this dish. In fact, there was almost none left and I served it as a side dish!
NOTE – this dish is easily made gluten-free by using crushed gluten-free crackers (I used gluten-free Cheese Itz type cracker for Robby) for the topping. I made Robby a smaller dish just for him!
This dish was made in a large round casserole dish for the rest of us.
This picture is just my dads first helping of the buttery seafood casserole. Note the cute bunny plate!
INGREDIENTS
1 pound large raw shrimp, peeled, deveined and tails off
4 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
12 large scallops
1 Tablespoon butter for scallops
4 lobster tails, steamed, shell removed and chopped into large pieces
2 garlic cloves, finely diced
1 1/2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Zest of 1/2 lemon
3 Tablespoons white wine
Salt
Pepper
1 to 1 1/2 sleeves of Ritz crackers, crushed
1 1/2 sticks of butter, melted for topping
DIRECTIONS
For shrimp – place the shrimp on a baking sheet, drizzle with 2 Tablespoons of olive oil, add a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix to combine. Place the shrimp in the oven with the oven set to broil keeping the oven door open slightly. Roast the shrimp just until the shrimp turn pink. Remove from oven and set aside with your already prepared lobster meat.
For the scallops- heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil to the pan along with 1 tablespoon of butter. Dry the scallops with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper. When the pan is hot add the scallops to the pan seasoned side down. Season the top side of scallops with salt and pepper. When the scallops have seared on one side, turn them over and sear the second side.
When the scallops have cooked, add the lobster and shrimp to the pan to warm through.
Meanwhile in a bowl, add the melted butter, garlic, wine, lemon juice and the zest of half a lemon, mixing well. Place all of the seafood into a greased baking dish. Add the desired amount of crushed crackers. We used the full sleeve and a half of the crackers. Drizzle the melted butter mixture over the crackers and place in a 400 degree oven to brown the top of the crackers. This just takes a few minutes, so watch closely! Remove from oven and serve warm.
Enjoy!
If you don’t cook a lot of seafood this is a great dish to start with. I made this dish with gluten-free pasta so Robby could enjoy it as well. If you are local and are looking for a really good gluten-free pasta, we love the packages they sell at Tuscan Market in Portsmouth NH. We were shocked at how good this pasta was as it tastes just as good as the regular pasta we are used to. This is an easy dish that you can make even on the busiest of days.
INGREDIENTS
8 ounces penne pasta- can be gluten-free
1 Tablespoon garlic infused olive oil
4 Tablespoons butter (or ghee, a clarified butter, skimming the fat off of the top. Can be purchased at your local grocery store) divided
1 1/2 pounds uncooked large, deveined, peeled and tail off shrimp
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 – 4 cups spinach- use as much as your family enjoys
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 Tablespoons parsley, minced for garnish if desired
Salt and pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS
Cook the pasta according to package directions, drain and set aside. In a large skillet heat olive oil and one tablespoon of butter. Add the shrimp to the hot pan and cook until the shrimp start to turn pink, flipping the shrimp once. Once the shrimp are almost cooked through add the Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, and spinach. Cook until spinach is wilted, stirring occasionally. Add the cooked pasta to the shrimp and spinach mixture. Add the remaining butter and stir until melted and well combined. Top with lemon juice, parsley, salt and pepper and stir. Serve warm.
Enjoy!
This week is all about seafood! Living in N.H. we have some of the best and freshest seafood available and I love taking advantage of that. With summer just around the corner, well…we hope anyway, the weather has not cooperated at all this spring! The seafood dish I am starting with is this Seafood Carbonara. It takes your average carbonara dish to an entirely new level. Although this dish has a number of steps, many ingredients, and more pans than I usually use for dinner, it was worth all the extra effort as we loved it.
NOTE – You can change the seafood to what you and your family like.
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
8 large scallops
1 pound large shrimp, peeled, deveined and tails off
3 lobster tails, steamed and chopped or 1/2 pound cooked lobster meat, chopped
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper
6 slices of bacon
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup gruyere cheese
14 oz. linguine
3 Tablespoons fresh tarragon, chopped for garnish-optional
DIRECTIONS
Place a large pot of water on the stovetop on high to boil the pasta. Starting with the seafood, chop the cooked lobster into large pieces and set aside. For the shrimp, place the raw deveined, tails off shrimp. On a baking sheet drizzle a small amount of olive oil, a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix to coat the shrimp with the oil and seasoning. Place in the oven on broil (leaving the oven door slightly open) and let roast until the shrimp just turns pink being careful not to overcook. Remove from oven and set aside with the cooked lobster.
Meanwhile, in a medium hot skillet, chop the bacon into pieces, add to the skillet and cook until crisp. When the bacon is cooked, add the minced garlic and cook for just a minute. Remove from heat and drain bacon fat.
In a large non-stick pan add the olive oil and heat to medium-high heat. Dry the scallops with a paper towel, season the top side with salt and pepper. When the skillet is hot add the scallops to the pan, seasoned side down. Add salt and pepper to the top side of the scallops. When the scallops have a nice brown seat on the bottom side turn the scallops over and sear the second side.
Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until al Dante, about 8 minutes, stirring as you go.
In a bowl add the heavy cream, egg yolks, both kinds of cheese and mix to combine.
Add the shrimp, lobster, bacon and garlic mixture to the large pan with the scallops when the scallops have cooked through.
Add the drained pasta and remove from the heat. Add the cream and egg mixture stirring to combine, add tarragon and serve warm.
Enjoy!
I was looking for a simple appetizer dish and thinking of what I had on hand and this came together so easily. My entire family loves a little bit of heat so this was a big hit at my house using only just a couple of ingredients. You can serve this with ranch or blue cheese dressing but we loved it with the White BBQ sauce I posted yesterday. I know when camping season comes around I will be making this often on the grill. For today I used the oven!
INGREDIENTS
1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp
1/4 cup buffalo sauce, plus a few dashes at the end of cooking time
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper
DIRECTIONS
Turn oven to broil, leaving the oven door slightly open. Place the shrimp in a bowl add the 1/4 cup of buffalo sauce along with salt and pepper. Mix to combine and place the shrimp in an even layer on a sheet pan. Place in the oven, still keeping the door open just slightly, and cook for just a couple minutes until you see the shrimp turning pink. Once one side is pink turn the shrimp over and cook for just a minute or until both sides are pink and cooked through. Remove from oven, add a couple more dashes of buffalo sauce, mix and serve warm.
Enjoy!
