Another Cooking Class At The North Carolina Aquarium.

Does this chair make my butt look big?

Today's cooking demonstration was performed by Executive Chef Cory Schleicher of Old Tom's Tavern in Powell's Point, N.C.
This presentation was by far the most enjoyable and entertaining I've been to yet.
The gentleman is very funny.
I will have to make the drive up there some Friday night, because that's when he comes out of the kitchen into the dining area to entertain the patrons.


He prepared Marinated Margarita Swordfish Kabobs:

fresh swordfish, cut into cubes
red peppers, large pieces
yellow peppers, large pieces
orange peppers, large pieces
Bermuda onions, cubed
fresh pineapple, cubed

Skewer the above, alternating fruit, vegetables, and marinated swordfish. Grill until swordfish is cooked through, about 4 minutes,
or bake at 325, approximately 12 minutes.


Margarita Marinade

2 cups orange juice
2 cups sour mix or margarita mix or fresh lemon and lime juice and sugar
1/2 cup Tequila
1/2 cup Triple Sec
1/2 cup sugar
1 TB salt
1/4 tsp cayenne

Mix all ingredients together and marinate the swordfish for at least 6 hours and no more than 12 hours.



Hawaiian Rice

wild rice/white rice
onions
chicken stock
Coco Lopez coconut milk
ginger
pineapple

Francaise Rockfish with Shrimp and Roasted Red Pepper Silk Sauce

Fresh Rockfish scallopine (cut on bias to about 1/2" thick)
Seasoned flour (Kosher salt, black pepper, granulated garlic, dried thyme & basil)
3 eggs, beaten
chopped shallots
TB lemon juice
4 TB clarified butter
1/4 cup white wine

To clarify butter, just heat over low heat and skim off the milk solids.
Heat clarified butter in saute pan until hot.
Dredge rockfish in flour and shake off excess.
Dip in beaten eggs and put into hot butter.
(This is the Francaise method, I learned. Normally, you'd dip in flour, then eggs, then back into flour. Here you just dip in flour then eggs.)
Sear on one side until golden brown, roughly 1-1 1/2 minutes.
Carefully turn fillets over, add chopped shallots, lemon juice, and white wine.
(If you're using open flame, remove pan from heat before adding wine.)
Season with salt and pepper and put in oven for about 5 minutes at 325 degrees.

Roasted Red Pepper Silk Sauce

1/4 pound shrimp, cooked, peeled, and deveined
2 red peppers, flamed, roasted, and peeled
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp dry thyme
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 sup sherry
corn starch slurry to thicken (equal parts corn starch and water)

Now if you can't flame roast your peppers, oil them and set under the broiler until skin is blackened. Then immediately put into a paper bag and seal so the steam helps take the skin off.

Pulse the shrimp and roasted red peppers in a food processor until the mixture is very fine.
Heat some clarified butter in a sauce pan and add shrimp, pepper mixture.
Add brown sugar, thyme, salt and pepper and cook for about 2 minutes
Deglaze with the sherry.
Add the heavy cream.
Bring to a boil, then turn heat down and add the cornstarch slurry to thicken.
Drizzle sauce over the rockfish.
Garnish with chopped red pepper and scallions.

I'll definitely be making the sauce.

Before going to our cooking class, Mr. Hawthorne and I took a side trip back to the Elizabethan Gardens since "Nancy" wanted to get some more of Somebody's-Gramma's-Parlor-Potpourri-Spray. This is after we had gone to the quilting exhibit at Roanoke Island Festival Park.

So now, I give you pictures of the lovely gardens. I only wish they had a way to bottle the smell of the freshly-mowed lawn.



Pansies are still blooming, hyacinths are falling over from the weight of their blooms, and the yellow tulips are blooming.

Ahhhhh. Spring.