En Fuego!

It was a warm mid-April evening and I had a craving- and it wasn't for more cowbell either!

Sometimes you need something simple, fast, and in your face when making a meal...this was the perfect evening for such cookery.

The star of this installment is Tequila-Flamed Shrimp Tacos. These little guys had some serious heat yo! So much so that it set a couple of happy dinner companions' mouths on fire. Hence, the title of this here post. But it wasn't all about the heat. The smokey flavor imparted by the chipotle and tequila was fantastico!

In order to douse the fire, a cool, refreshing guacamole sat proudly atop the mountain of shrimpy goodness. The guac mixture was a delicious blend of texture and flavor containing mashed black beans, scallions, lime juice and pineapple. Oh yeah, this was truly a fiesta to behold!

We threw in some grilled asparagus, bell peppers, and ice cold cerveza to take it to the next level! This is my new favorite spring/summer recipe for the following reasons: relatively cheap to make, healthy, and of course pleasing to the palate.

Super Bowl Chomp!

Maybe we should rename Super Bowl Sunday to something more accurate. Gluttony Day comes to mind! When it comes to eating, I'm certain that no other day has the kind of self imposed detrimental affect on the human body than game day. There really isn't a single item amongst the buffalo wings, "little Smokey's," Chips and the countless array of dips, that won't make waistlines across America expand.

This, my friends, is my kind of day.

It's easy to blindly throw caution to the wind and almost literally hook one's self up to a nacho cheese iv, but come on people, we're better than that! I decided this year to step back and make Super Bowl Sunday a smidgen more healthy than usual. I came across a recipe that looked pretty killer. It was a braise of Pork shoulder, chipotle chile's and beer....sounded like a winning combo to me. Okay, okay, you got me, pork shoulder contains a good amount of fat. And beer isn't exactly low fat. Especially Kona Brewing company's delicious Pipeline Porter. What in the history of this blog makes you think I'm actually capable of eating healthy? Tisk, tisk silly reader.

All joking aside, there was a bit of fiber and roughage to cleanse the colon. Well, okay, we had a vegetable platter with broccoli and carrots with a side of garlic ranch to make it go down a little easier. So I did get something in my stomach that was remotely healthy...Touchdown!

Spring in January

It was an unseasonably warm Sunday afternoon reaching near 70 degrees. Normally this time of year I'm all about the braising and the roasting of large hunks of beef, pork or fowl. But given the current weather system something lighter and healthier seemed more appropriate. It also was the perfect chance to satisfy my resolution for 2009 of trying something new each week, or in this case, a food item I currently don't care much for, this time in the form of capers. Despite my penchant for Italian/American cuisine, I've long dreaded the veal and chicken piccata littering menus the world over. But SG fans, a promise is a promise.

For whatever reason, Siege and I rarely eat fish, despite the fact that it's so healthy (especially fish low in mercury) and tasty. Well tonight was officially 'Fish Nite.' I'm sure there's a better title for it...oh wait, I know, Snapper Supper Sunday! That'll work. That's right folks, red snapper is on the menu this evening- served with a lemon caper butter sauce over green beans (trying to keep it healthy people). Ugh...bring on the capers.

The sauce was a simple combination of butter, fresh lemon juice, salt, pepper, and of course, the antagonist in this story, capers.

I would soon be eating my words for dessert because the snapper and lemon butter sauce were uber delicious. The tart-salty-pickle tasting sauce was a nice addition to the mild flaky snapper. We paired the fish with a killer Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley. It mirrored the flavors of the lemon caper sauce beautifully: zesty, fresh, clean and crisp.

It's nice to try new things, but it's also not a bad idea to revisit ingredients and food items you once found off-putting, cause you never know what you'll come across. As for me and capers; well let's just say we aren't getting hitched anytime soon, but we can definitely kick it every once in awhile on some tasty snapper.