Yummy Yummy in my Tummy pt.2

So besides having a last minute party today at my sister in laws house my husband and I are going to be entertaining my parents tomorrow. We figured we could either take them out to a really expensive steak house and then argue with my parents over who pays the bills or we could have them over here to have steaks that we had our butcher cut to order (yes daddy, you get a 1 3/4 inch thick steak! EWWW).

So tomorrow we are grilling steaks on the BBQ grill, making some baked potatoes, Tzatziki, an eggplant spread, some homemade rosemary bread and this delicious sage stuffed pancetta wrapped shirmp.

We made this for Christmas and people went bonkers over it.

Want some ingredients? You should know this is made to serve 4. Adjust your ingredients accordingly.

12 jumbo shrimp, peeled, de-veined and partially butterflied, tails left on
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
10 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil divided (You'll need more later for drizzling)
24 sage leaves
12 slices pancetta, unraveled

For the salad:
1 bag croutons **
2 carton multi-colored cherry tomatoes, halved
2 shallot, minced
2 roasted red pepper, chopped
1 cup basil, chopped
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar

What do we do now that we have the ingredients?

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat, add 2 tablespoons of your olive oil

Open up the butterflied shrimp and season them with salt, freshly ground black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil Place two sage leaves into the slice along the back where the shrimp has been de-veined and butterflied, then wrap each shrimp from head to tail with a slice of pancetta.

Transfer the pancetta-wrapped shrimp to the hot skillet and cook until browned and cooked through, about 2-3 minutes per side.

While the shrimp are cooking, make the panzanella salad: Combine the croutons, tomatoes, shallots, red pepper sand basil in a large bowl. Toss the ingredients together with the red wine vinegar, 3 tablespoons of olive oil , salt and freshly ground black pepper.


Divide the salad between the plates and top each with three shrimp.


Want some tips?

I hate using crutons out of the box! C'mon we can all make our own stale bread but why does it have to be stale? I make a lot of fresh bread at home by myself. When I need to make crutons I just take a hunk out of my loaf of bread and cut it into cubes and drizzle it with olive oil and then season it the way I want to (salt, pepper, oregano, and some rosemary) then I put it on a cookie sheet and bake it until its dry! Tada! Insta-cruton! If you don't make your own bread you can always buy fresh bread and then make your own crutons! (Also if the bread goes stale before we get a chance to eat it I cut it into cubes and put it into the magic bullet and I have my very own bread crumbs!)

You should also considering using Extra Virgin Olive Oil because it does have a better flavor then just regular olive oil but don't fret, if you don't have EVOO then just use whatever type of olive oil you have! I sometimes like to mix it up and use something special like avacodo oil! Yummy!

Yummy Yummy in my Tummy!

So yesterday afternoon I was on Facebook and I saw a discussion on Networked Blogs about blogs that have to do with cooking and I kind of snorted to myself because that was my original intention for this blog. Hence, my second post on here being some chicken dish that Rachel Ray convinced me to try! I don't think mine turned out as good as hers but hey lets chalk it up to experience and guess what, I finally got a regular freaking wine opener so I don't struggle like an idiot!

Anyway, my sister in law called me last night to inform me that her and her husband are throwing a little impromptu party at their house today. She wants to know if George and I can whip something up for it. Its officially spring and they want to start their BBQ season. So since its Spring I figured I'd make a little speciality of mine to bring over to their house. It may sound weird but I swear its oh so good!

Watermelon Feta Salad

So how do you go about making this wonderful creation? Oh c'mon stop grimacing, I swear its tasty! The sweet and salty do a little jig on your tongue!

Cut a watermelon in half and use a melon baller to scoop out little balls of watermelon. If you don't have a melon baller you can just cut the watermelon into little square cubes. Put your melon balls or cubes into a large bowl. When you've balled the entire half of the watermelon drizzle the bowl with olive oil and vinegar and then crack some freshly ground black pepper over the top. Don't add any salt because your feta is already salty enough (if you didn't buy the cheap kind!)

Now take your feta and use a knife to chop it into small bits or if you are feeling daring just take it in your hands and crumble it all over the salad. Then take some mint and chop it into fine ribbons and drizzle that on top of the salad as well.

How you should use two wooden spoons in order to mix this well. (Again you can use your hands if you are feeling daring and have washed your hands!) After this is mixed put it in the fridge for about 20 minutes in order to fuse all the flavors.

Now get your serving platter ready.
1. You can put it on a serving platter covered in a bed of romaine lettuce leaves and then use a slotted spoon to put it on the platter and serve.

So how about some measurements?

1 watermelon about 20 pounds (you will only use half)
1/2 pound of feta (try to use Greek or Bulgarian as they are the best)
4 teaspoons vinegar
4 tablespoons of olive oil
5 sprigs of mint leaves (only use the leaves).
Pepper to taste

*right before putting it in the fridge you should taste it to make sure it has a savory flavor. It's not meant to be too sweet or too salty. It's a perfect balance!

How about some additional ideas?

Some places actually are lucky enough to get watermelons in more than one colour. If you have access to red and yellow meat watermelons then instead of getting one big 20 pound melon, get two smaller 10 pound melons and mix the colors. It looks beautiful when being served.

Instead of serving the watermelon feta salad on a bed of romaine lettuce you can make sure to clean the outside of the watermelon that you've balled and clean up the inside with a knive to make it a nice smooth surface inside and just pour everything from your mixing bowl into the empty watermelon half. I find this is a much better presentation but doesn't work well if your watermelon doesn't have a flat bottom.