Two Dinners and Some Nuts

I have been having more fun in the kitchen the past couple of days. It all started early Wednesday morning when I got some beef short ribs ready to sear before slow cooking them all day.

The beef short ribs have been seared and onion added to the pot.

A sauce of yellow mustard, dijon mustard, lemon juice, minced garlic, salt, pepper and sugar coat the ribs and the slow cooking begins.

After 10 hours in the slow cooker, the ribs are fall-off-the-bone tender. Don't be alarmed by the amount of fat in the dish. Unless you are eating the sauce, it isn't a problem and it is perfectuly normal for the fat to be rendered from the ribs.


Mise en Place for "Emeril's Spicy Nuts" (Don't mind me while I giggle.)


First we toast the pecan halves.


Set aside the nuts (er, drupes) and add butter, brown sugar, water, cumin seeds, cayenne pepper, cinnamon and salt to the pan.

Once the glaze has combined, add the pecans back in the pan. Stir and coat thoroughly.

Lay the pecans out on a baking sheet to cool. Use two forks to carefully separate the nuts so they don't stick to each other. This was my first time making such a dish and I am fairly pleased with the results.

The cast of characters for Bobby Flay's Barbecue Grilled Shrimp: cumin seeds, cayenne pepper, black pepper, paprika, brown sugar, and salt.

Tonight's dinner players. Living as we do in Southern Indiana, all our seafood comes to us in the frozen form. Here I have shell-on shrimp, sea scallops and a mahi mahi filet.

The scallops are wrapped in pre-cooked bacon slices and they and the shrimp are on skewers. The dry rub has been applied to both the scallops and the shrimp. The mahi mahi has been salted and peppered and will be grilled whole. Unfortunately, I was too busy cooking to take pictures of the seafood cooking on my stove's grill top.

I decided to try yet another new recipe today: A Beurre Blanc sauce from William and Sonoma's web site. The ingredients include white wine, lemon juice, minced shallot, salt, white pepper, and of course butter.



Wait - what's this? Someone is using a Sharpie(tm) to put grill marks on the fish?



The finished Beurre Blanc Sauce. You may have noticed that this particular recipe eschews the heavy cream that is often found in this classic sauce.



And we have our Mixed Seafood Grill! Excuse me while I go eat now.