bell pepper

Savoring Summer- Grilled Oysters with Asian Pepper Relish

10 Jun 2011
Grilled Oysters with Asian Pepper Relish

Summer Vacation. Grilled Oysters. See, now you're smiling.

Well I am smiling too, because part of my summer vacation will be spent in Norway. In fact I am probably halfway there as you read this. At least in my mind. Because so much of summer lives in my mind. Yours too I bet. I am talking about the summers of our youth. They can be magical for all sorts of reasons. Even the torment of youth seems sweeter when lived out in the summer months.

Well I have asked a talented crew of bloggers to stop by while I am away and tell you a bit about the summers from their childhoods. I can guarantee you delicious stories. So please pop in here regularly and learn just a little bit more about some of the folks out there. I bet in the process you learn a little something about yourself too.

Of course I can't ask all these people to open up and share unless I am willing to do it also. So I'll start the series off with some memories from my youthful summers in Michigan. These were the summers when I was just beginning to find my life and my place in the world. I have probably mentioned some of this before. But when I was a kid I was painfully shy, stick thin and tough as nails. Not a great combination if your main goal in life is enjoying the summer with other kids. You quickly learn that swimming pools and tennis courts fall behind enemy lines. Day camp is deadly. Even the street in front of your house is a battlefield.

Sippity Sup Continues »
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Spicy Grilled Oysters with Asian Pepper Relish

Grilled Oysters
By jgreghenry Published June 10, 2011
Prep time: 20
Yield:1 (Servings)

Ingredients:

  • 3 T unsalted butter
  • 0.5 t red pepper flakes
  • 1 T shallot
  • 1 T fresh ginger
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 T mango chutney
  • 2 t soy sauce
  • 2 T lemon juice
  • 2 t parsley
  • 12 oysters

Directions

Prepare the grill. If using a gas grill, heat it to medium. If using a charcoal grill, start the charcoal or wood briquettes; when the briquettes are ready, pile them on one side to create 2 zones, for direct and indirect heat. The oysters will be cooked over the indirect side. (if roasting, preheat oven to 450F.)

In a skillet over medium heat, melt the butter with the red pepper flakes, shallot and ginger. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes until fragrant but do not brown. Add the minced bell pepper, mango chutney, soy sauce, lemon juice and oyster liquor. Cook until the liquid is bubbly and reduced, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and mix in the parsley.

Spoon the mixture over the oysters; each oyster will take 1 to 3 teaspoons of topping according to size.

Grill on the grates and over indirect heat, covered for 5 to 10 minutes. If using the oven, 7 to 10 minutes. The oysters are done when the edges have curled up and the topping is bubbly. Serve warm on a bed of kosher or rock salt to keep the juices from tipping out of the shell.

Notes:

makes 12

Source: Adapted from CookThink

Arctic Char is a Great Alternative to Salmon

15 Apr 2011
Arctic Char with Minted Sweet & Sour Sauce

Arctic Char with Minted Sweet & Sour Pan Sauce is another example of something I have noticed swimming around on a lot of blogs lately. I am talking about sustainable seafood.

The state of the worlds oceans is a topic of great interest to me. Because I love all the tasty tid-bits from the sea a lot. Do you love seafood as much as I do? I hope you do. I actually hope you love it enough to stop and think about the consequences of that love.

Love, indeed, has consequences and condoms are not always the answer!

Because these last few decades, the way we get seafood to market has begun to drastically alter our marine ecosystems. Overfishing, environmental degradation and destructive harvest practices are becoming cataclysmic.

But I am proud to say we bloggers seem to be taking a lead on this subject and I think the word is getting around.

Organizations such as Seafood Watch have been trying to educate consumers about many of the collapsing fisheries in the world. I first got involved with Seafood Watch in 2008, and made my first post on the subject (with video) in January 2009. Because without healthy eco-systems the seafood we all love will simply disappear.

Sippity Sup Continues »
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Arctic Char with Minted Sweet & Sour Pan Sauce

Char
By jgreghenry Published April 7, 2011
Prep time: 20
Yield:1 ()

Ingredients:

  • 1 T vegetable oil
  • 2 clv garlic, peeled & minced
  • 0.25 c chicken broth
  • 2 T brown sugar
  • 0.25 c rice vinegar
  • 1 T asian fish sauce
  • 3 T mint leaves, thinly chopped
  • 4 arctic char fillets
  • 0 salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

Heat oil in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Add the garlic and stir until coated with oil. Let the garlic cook, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes until just beginning to color. Lower the heat to low and add broth, brown sugar, vinegar, fish sauce, and half of the chopped mint. Stir often until the sugar is dissolved. Turn off heat and cover the pan while you prepare the fish. Heat a large non-stick or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until nearly smoking. Salt & pepper the fish fillets generously on both sides. Add them, skin side down to the dry pan. Cook until the skin is very crisp, dark brown and releases easily from the pan. This should take 2 to 3 minutes. Do not be tempted to check or move the fish around in the pan during this time. You will only succeed in making it stick to the pan or worse ruin your beautifully crisp skin. As it cooks you will notice that the fish gets lighter and more opaque. Do not let it cook more than about 1/4 of the way through the thickest part at this point. You might be worried that the rest of the fish seems quite raw, but honestly this is a good thing. Once the skin has crisped flip the fish, and cook it an additional 2 minutes more, or until cooked to your liking. Do not let it cook all the way through, however. The fish will continue to cook after it leaves the pan. Your goal is a succulent flesh graduating from a rare to medium-rare center outwards to a crispy crackly skin. The nature of char with it's thick and thin parts assures you will get plenty of variety in texture and doneness. Once the fish is cooked. Remove the fillets to a warm plate. Pour the sauce into the hot skillet through a sieve. Discard solids. Cook the sauce, scraping any bits from the bottom of the skillet, until it is reduced somewhat and a bit syrupy. Plate the fish and drizzle some of the minted sweet & sour pan sauce over or around each fillet. Garnish with remaining chopped mint. Serve warm.

Notes:

serves 4

Cod Stew For You, Or Do I Mean Me?

22 Feb 2011
cod stew ingredients from Sippity Sup

This Cod Stew with Pimenton & Chorizo is exactly the kind of cooking (and eating) I love.

I said I was going to stick with a simple “elemental” style for a few posts because I have felt like I have let the blogosphere lead me too far astray from the kinds of recipes I love most.

So here I am attempting to get off the blogger bandwagon and choose recipes and foods that absolutely appeal to me on a gut level.

Which means I may be standing out in left field all alone for a while. I might lose readers. But I don’t mind (pant, pant, sweat, sweat). Because I am in a place right now where I am trying to remember why it is I started this blog.

I’m pretty sure I started this blog because I love food and I love eating. That sounds about right. But then I got caught up in getting people to notice my blog. Which means I spent too much time trying to find recipes I thought other people would like. You know the recipes I mean, so don’t make me humiliate myself any further. At least I never went as far as healthy snacks for kids; but really, let’s be honest, I don’t care what kids eat. Does that make me a bad person?

Sippity Sup Continues »
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