Rosie Makes A Quick Shrimp Dip.

I have company coming.
So I'm making appetizers.

Shrimp.
Two ways.

1) Chilled, boiled shrimp with Old Bay sprinkled o'er.
With a ketchup/horseradish/Lea & Perrins/lemon
cocktail sauce.

and ...

2) Shrimp/dill dip with Ritz and Triscuits

Now, on to the shrimp.

I brought a large pot of salted water
to a rolling boil
and dropped in the shrimp.

Do not overcook shrimp.
I took these out in about 2 minutes
and they were perfect.


I'm excited about my company
because I've never met these people before -
only exchanged emails.
Lori (not her real name) from Michigan reads my blog
and drove ALL THE WAY from Michigan
with her two children, Teague (not her real name)
and Trey (not his real name),
stopping in Hickory to pick up her mother, Jan (not her real name),
JUST TO MEET ME.

(OK. Maybe that last part wasn't totally true.
I think the beach might have been involved
in their decision. Whatever.)

Anyways, Lori (not her real name)
assured me she wasn't an Internet Stalker.
I prefer to think of her as my Blogger Groupie.
Hee.
Rosie has a Groupie!

We had a lovely visit.
Dixie had a wonderful time in the pool
playing with the kids
and Rosie had a wonderful time meeting new friends.


Now, my shrimp dip:

Ingredients for my shrimp dip:
shrimp
mayo
ketchup
onion
celery
fresh dill

Actually, Jan asked me about the dip ingredients
and that led to her question
about the type of mayo I use.

I told Jan immediately,
"Hellman's,"
but looking at the pic
I see it's not Hellman's.
It's the brand found at WalMart
and Mr. Hawthorne has told me
it was the same thing as Hellmann's.

I am not a Mayo Person.

I'm Buttah through and through.

Here's a quick method to shell and devein shrimp.
Cut the shrimp down the back
to the tail, going deep enough into the shrimp
to take out the vein.
Then just take your thumb
and peel off the shell.
Works like a charm.

Now for the amounts.
2 parts mayonnaise

to about 1 - 1 1/2 parts ketchup.

Or until you get this nice shade of shrimp pink.

I chopped a handful of shrimp,
about 1/3 onion,
1 stalk celery,
and the fresh dill.
If you don't have fresh dill,
you could use dill seeds,
but I prefer the fresh.

Mix all ingredients.

And stir in the dill.

I served these with a new type of chip I've found -
Ritz Toasted Chips - Main Street Original.

I've bought several bags of these
and after I've served them,
the bag disappears.
The first I found under the bed in Middle Hawthorne's room.
The second I found empty in Youngest Hawthorne's room.
Try them,
but if you have children,
hide them.

I would like to thank Lori (not her real name) and her family
for taking valuable time out of their vacation
to come and visit with me.
I truly appreciate it
and hope to see you again in November.

More Of The Hawthorne Puppies Because It's Hot And I've Been Working Outside And I Don't Feel Like Cooking.

Sweet Little Puppies Playing Together Nicely.

Filler until I have something to say and post.
And I do.
But you'll just have to wait.

Another Walk Through My Garden

Sometimes you need to just
get away from the dogs and the kids
and the cooking and the cleaning and the vacuuming
and take a nice leisurely walk through the garden.

My sunflowers.

Russian sage and Lord Baltimore Hibiscus.

My ruellia.

Lantana.

Mesclun mixture in front.
Then arugula.
Dill, basil.
Assorted peppers and tomatoes.
And Dixie.

From the pool looking out to the front yard.
This is my next project:
to clean up this area
and plant.

Late afternoon backlit hibiscus.

I feel better now.
Back to the dogs ...

Boobalicious Giada.

OK, boys and girls.
Time for another Giada post.
I've heard that Buckykatt and Mr. P.
are having withdrawal symptoms.

The Giada Reach.

The Just Giada.

The Giada Extreme Reach.

The Giada Bendover.

Mo bettah Bendover.

The Giada Photographer "Huh ... What food?"

The Royal, Regal Giada.
Is that a tan line I see?

The Just Giada.
Just eating.

Hee.
What is she eating?

I'm not sure what it is.

But I don't think I'll be trying it.

Again, the Royal, Regal Giada.

The Giada Twist and Turn.

The Giada Heft.

Regal, Royal Giada.

The I Have 64 Teeth In My Mouth
So Why Are You Looking At My Boobs Giada.

The Giada Reach.


And now,
some of my personal favorites:

Beach Volleyball Giada.

Diamonds are de rigueur accessories for frolicking in the sand.

The My Life Is Fabulous And Yours Sucks Giada.

The fully made-up,
ready for a night on the town,
but instead Imonna
play volleyball
Giada.

And a delicious Giada Bendover.

I've heard reports that Ray Ray
is upset since she's not getting equal "exposure."

Whatever, Rache.

And now, I present to you
one of my favorite Giada pictures:

Is the water cold?

Thanks, Edvard.

What Does Rosie Not Need? If You Answered Another Dog, You'd Be Correct.

What's the last thing Rosie needs?
If you guessed another dog,
you would be correct.

Don't get me wrong.
I love all my dogs,
but sometimes it gets to be a little much.

You remember Buster?
He's Good Neighbor Bobby's dog next door
and Buster and Dixie have always been good friends.

Bobby came over last night
since he'd run out of booze and he knows
I keep a bottle of Canadian Mist just for him.
And he brought Buster.

Whoot!
Junior had great fun.
He'd finally found somebody
his own size to play with!

As you know,Dixie floves her pool.
During the summer time, she stands at the back slider and just waits
for one of us to take her out.
When I go to work in the garden,
Dixie runs to the deep end of the pool, where she's been instructed to go,
and barks for me to come and count 1-2-3-Jump
and watch her jump in.

Lately, I've left out the 1-2-3.
She's like a child.
She's wants her Mama to watch her jump in.

And she has this thing she does when she jumps in.
She hits the water, then twists around on her back,
then splashes. She loves her splashes.







This next video shows Dixie helping me clean the pool.
Daggone willow trees.




And the rest of the videos show Dixie doing what Dixie loves most.

Magnificent Scallops For Lunch.

Now this was a meal.
A very good meal.
Dare I say ... "A delicious meal" ?

It's seared scallops with a fresh tomato sauce puree and a mint/pea pesto pasta in a PARMESAN FRICO CUP! Oh, and a sprig of mint. And scattered green peas. If you've been a regular reader, then you know I attempted Giada's Parmesan Frico Cups last month and posted about my sad little experience here. Yes, Rosie shares both her triumphs and her failures with her loyal readers. And I vowed to master the Parmesan Frico cups:

I truly suck at this.

But I promise you this:

I will master the Parmesan Frico cup.

Mark my words.

But first,
my pesto.

My ingredients:
1 cup frozen peas
(Do NOT use canned peas.
I will hunt you down, find you, and hurt you.)
1/2 cup toasted almonds
(Toasting nuts really brings out their flavor.)
juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
handful of mint leaves
salt and pepper
olive oil

I put the peas in my mini-processor,
added the juice of 1/2 lemon,
and the zest of 1/2 lemon.

I grated the Parmesan cheese ...

... added my mint leaves ...

... and the toasted almonds ...

... and processed while adding in my olive oil ...

... until I got this nice pesto.
Adjust seasonings to taste.

Next, I added rotini
to salted, boiling water.

Drained the pasta and added some of the
minty pea pesto.
Set aside.

I wanted some colorful accents for this meal
and something else that had mint in it besides the pesto
so I googled mint and tomatoes and found a recipe
for a blackened tomato with a mint paste.

I went out and picked some small Roma tomatoes
and some large cherry tomatoes
and the mint.
The other ingredients are
1 TB sugar
salt and pepper
olive oil

I salted, peppered, and sugared
the sliced tomatoes.

I chopped the mint
and added enough olive oil to make a paste.

I drizzled the tomatoes
with olive oil,
smeared each with the mint paste,
and drizzled again with some more olive oil.

The recipe said to cook for 45 minutes
at 350 degrees,
until the tomato kinda blackened.

I tasted at this point
and was a tad disappointed.
The tomato reminded me of a
not real soggy piece of sun-dried tomato.
I was looking forward to the mint flavor,
but there was none.
And I don't think mint is supposed to be black.
So I screwed this one up.

Now on to my tomato sauce puree:

Sadly I only had 1 ripe tomato left
since I'd used the good part of my tomatoes
for my last disappointment.
So I opted for 1 can of diced tomatoes
garlic
onion
mint
basil
fresh bay leaves
(If you use dry, cut back to 1.)
Anaheim pepper
( I used an Anaheim
because that's what's ready in my garden.
You could substitute any sweet pepper.)

That's my bay tree.

First, I sauteed the chopped onion
in some olive oil for a couple of minutes.

Then added minced garlic
and cooked for about a minute.

Rosie Tip #213:
Don't brown the garlic.
Makes it bitter.

I added in my fresh bay leaves
and stirred for another minute.

Then I added a can of diced tomatoes ...

... and about 2 cups of my chicken consomme ...

... my minced Anaheim pepper ...

... and my basil leaves.

And cooked over very low heat
for about 20 minutes.

Then I pureed the tomato mixture
in my mini-processor,
just batches at a time.

Rosie Hint # 122:
Don't fill a blender or processor
with hot liquid and mix or process.
Either cool the mixture first,
or better, process in small batches.

Now on to the dreaded Parmesan Frico Cups.
I think I can I think I can I think I can ...

I grated 2 cups of Parmesan cheese.
This time I used the coarse grater,
not my very fine rotary grater
which is what I used last time
and actually hypothesized that
the coarseness of the grate might
have something to do with the success of this little edible bowl.

From my last post about the Frico cups:

And the next time I attempt this,

I'm going to coarse grate the cheese

instead of micro-rotary-grating it.

That might just be my problem.

I made little 1/4 cup piles of coarsely grated cheese
and pressed them into little 4-inch circles.

Baked at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

I let these sit for about a minute before trying to remove
from the pan.
Right out of the oven,
they're too much of a molten mess.
And I used a micro-thin cookie spatula
for removing them.
I placed each round over top my inverted muffin cups
and pressed around to make a cup shape.

The end result:
This is a start.
Another evolving recipe for me -
like the corn fritters.

This attempt was certainly better than the first,
but none of my 8 cups was "pretty."

I need to figure a way to de-grease them
Perhaps I should have blotted them
with paper towels.

I wanted them browner,
but it didn't seem to work.

I didn't like the texture.
I wanted smoother and more uniform.

Oh well.
If anyone has any suggestions for me,
please dish.

I think I will experiment with a less coarse grate
and also try different types of Parmesan cheeses.

I will master the Parmesan Frico Cup!

I think there's gonna be a whole bunch of posts
about Rosie Asks Rosie:
How do you make a damn
Parmesan Frico Frickin' Cup??!!??



On to my scallops:

Beautiful, fresh, large ocean scallops.
Do I need to go into the whole
dry vs wet scallop thing again?
I rinsed them off.

And blotted dry.

Freshly ground pepper.
And I don't think sea scallops
need any salt.
They're nice and oceany and briny as it is.

But then I saw a lime
so I had to grate its zest over the scallops.

I heated my pan,
added some butter (for butter flavor)
and some Bertolli Extra Light Olive Oil
(to raise the smoke point)

E!L!O!O!
That's EXTRA LIGHT OLIVE OIL!!!!!!!
Oooh ...
I came up with a catchphrase.
Can I have my own program on Food Network?

Oh, sorry.

Back to the scallops.
Put 'em in the butter/oil.

And Rosie Tip #235: When sauteeing or frying, resist the temptation to push the meat or veggie around. Leave it alone. If you push it before it has time to form a "skin" the meat will just stick to the pan
and you'll tear it by trying to move it. If you wait long enough, the meat will caramelize and you"ll have a nice, seared piece that releases itself from the pan.

For 2-3 minutes each side.

Then I deglazed with a few tablespoons +
of sherry.
You could use any white wine.

You know what?
Just for a hoot ... a HOOT! ... I tell ya,
being the rebel I am,
one of these days I'm going to DEGLAZE scallops with a RED wine.
Stay tuned for that post.

This sauce is light, buttery, oceany, with a bit of citrus,
all chastely kissed with sherry.

Here's Mr. Hawthorne's dish:
Parmesan Frico Cup (evolving recipe).
Pasta with a minty pea pesto.
Fresh tomato puree.
Seared seasoned scallops.
Green peas scattered thoughout.
Sprig of mint.

Here's mine.
Mr. Hawthorne asked me why I got 3 scallops
and he only got 2.
Silly man.

(And by the way, there are 7 scallops left.)

I like using these spiral pastas.
The pesto or sauce will
adhere to the insides.
I need to look up the difference
between rotini and fusilli.

This was delightful to me.

The scallops were light, almost fruity,
and bathed in ocean.

The tomato sauce was delicate, sweet,
and a perfect bath for the scallops.

The green peas were green and peas.
And they were a beautiful accent
and tasteful flourish
on a lovely entree.

The tastes, flavors, aromas
were qibswedyk.

That's my new word:
qibswedyk.

It's "wonderful"
when your fingers are moved over one key to the left..


Hey ...
The Damn Parmesan Freakin' Freako Frickin' Cup.
It was a good try.
But I know I can do better.
And when I do,
you'll be the first to read about it.

I almost forgot to put a picture in of the
sad little baked-to-hell-tomato-slice
with no mint flavor.

The tomato would have been good
if I'd just followed my instincts
and not cooked it as long as I did
and maybe put more olive oil over top before I cooked.
But I did what the recipe said
and was cooking and doing 5 or 6 other things
so it got dropped through the cracks.
I'm sorry.
There is no excuse for my inefficiency in this matter.
I humbly apologize
and beg your forgiveness.

But, once again,
I give you the agony of my defeat.

But sometime in the future,
I will give you the triumph of victory.

This could be really good,
so I add it to my ever-evolving pile:
Corn Fritters.
Parmesan Frico Cups.
Minted Tomato Slices.

I WILL MASTER THESE.

The Hawthornes Have Tuna Steaks For Lunch.

Mr. Hawthorne picked up some tuna steaks
the other day for grilling.
He says he's not all that fond of tuna,
but I love it when it's done correctly,
which is not often unless I do it myself.
Restaurants consistently over cook it
and it turns out dry, tough, and tasteless
with a terrible texture.

Mr. Hawthorne likes to marinate his tuna overnight,
but if cooked properly,
no marinade is needed.

His marinade ingredients:
60% Balsamic vinegar
40% apple cider vinegar
(Fill up to the vinegar line on the cruet.)
water
(Up to the water line.)
Canola oil to fill the cruet
onion powder
granulated garlic
salt and pepper
1 tsp. Italian seasoning

I'm doing the stir fry vegetables
while Mr. H. grills the tuna.
I have carrots, mushrooms, celery, and onions.

And I made a really simple, flavorful sauce
for the tuna:
melted butter
lemon juice
capers

Now to the stir fry:

Mushrooms first, until browned.

Then I added the carrots ...

... the celery ...

... and the onions ...

I added in a tablespoon of sugar
for good measure.

Stir fried for about 30 seconds and it's done.

The tuna steaks look wonderful on the outside
with the cross-hatching.

Errr ... Mr. Hawthorne?
You overcooked the tuna.

I like my tuna pink to reddish in the middle.
Cooked medium rare to rare, the texture is lovely
and it's like eating fillet mignon.

Still, not bad.
Next time, I'll cook the tuna though.

The veggies were crisp and crunchy
and the caper/butter/lemon sauce
perfectly complemented the (overcooked) tuna.
Just a very nice combination of flavors.