Birthday Bang Bang Shrimp!

We lived around the corner from a chain restaurant called Bonefish Grill for almost two years before checking it out.

Hubby isn’t a big fish fan, and their logo (a fish skeleton) really is a terrible design because it doesn’t inspire thoughts of anything remotely appetizing.

But I had heard positive reviews from friends, and also their commercials made them sound pretty good, so we finally went just over a year ago. We liked it enough that we went back soon afterwards for my birthday dinner. This time, we tried their famous appetizer, bang bang shrimp. It was divine.

We’ve gone occasionally since then, but not often. We miss it terribly, mainly because of the bang bang shrimp.

Which is why the next part of my story is romantic, thoughtful, and just plain awesome.

My birthday was a few days ago. I think it was late morning when hubby casually asked, via gchat, what time I intended to leave work. I responded, “Around 4.”

He asked if I had any thoughts about dinner, and I replied that my only thought was that I didn’t intend to spend all evening cooking. I was willing to do something simple, given that we had plans to celebrate at a restaurant that weekend, but I didn’t want to spend much effort on it. He agreed that this sounded reasonable, and left it at that.

I pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex around 4, about a half hour earlier than expected. Hubby’s car was inexplicably already there, though he normally wouldn’t be home until after 5, so a big grin spread across my face as I realized that he had a birthday surprise in mind. It made me think of the time I’d gone into school a bit early on my 15th birthday and found my friend in the middle of decorating my locker.

When I entered the apartment a minute later, I found cheesecake swirl brownies cooling, alfredo sauce being thickened, and a big bowl of raw shrimp being prepped. In addition to making shrimp fettucini alfredo, hubby was using a copycat recipe to make bang bang shrimp!

I don’t normally blog stuff he makes, but I felt that I needed to this time. Please excuse my less-than-awesome pictures. I was trying to stay out of the way.

He started by making a sauce with mayo, Thai sweet chili sauce, and sriracha hot chili sauce (more than the recipe called for, because it seemed to need it).

Next, he dredged raw shrimp in cornstarch.

After heating up some vegetable oil, he lightly fried them in small batches.

He drained them all on a plate lined with paper towels, just like with bacon.

Presentation is simple. In a dish, place some lettuce. I didn’t take pictures of that, sorry. But then place the shrimp on the lettuce and drizzle on the sauce. Or toss the shrimp in the sauce before putting them in the dish, as we did, just to make sure they’re evenly coated.

We’d already eaten a few before we remembered to sprinkle on some chopped scallions. So we did that.

So…. this was pretty much the best thing ever.

It was so romantic that hubby left work early, went to Wegman’s for ingredients, and was cooking this when I got home.

We both ate a full half pound of shrimp before taking a break and tackling some of the fettucini that he’d made. So much food, but so yummy. Hey, I only turn 29 once a year. The shrimp had such a nice texture, crispy yet soft and covered in the warm, creamy sauce. And the sauce was both sweet and tangy. Oh so good.

If you’re interested, here's the copycat recipe that he used.

Artichoke Chicken

Sometimes I go grocery shopping when I’m hungry. That’s always bad news because I stock up on random things. Not too long ago, I ended up with a few extra cans of artichokes. Just because. You never know when you’ll need artichokes, right?

One night, looking for a flavorful and easy weeknight dinner, I stumbled across a recipe for artichoke chicken. Good thing I stocked up!

First, I thawed some chicken breasts that I had preserved with my new Food Saver vacuum system (Christmas present!). Super fun!

Then I prepared to pound it out. I used my Thor hammer. Or maybe a handmade meat tenderizer, weighted with BBs, made by my Dad as a Christmas present.

I kept it in the bag just to keep it from getting too messy.

Sufficiently flattened.

Look at that handiwork! Thanks, Dad!

I cut each of the breasts in half and put them in a baking dish.

Next: the topping. I opened a can of marinated artichokes…

And used a nifty little strainer (another Christmas present) to drain the can.

And chopped them up.

I love these things.

The recipe called for Parmesan cheese, but I only had a tiny sprinkle left so I subbed in Italian blend (mostly mozzarella and provolone and parmesan I think).

To the artichokes and cheese, added some mayonnaise.

Based on reviews, instead of doing the full amount of mayo, I replaced some of it with sour cream.

And I didn’t have “garlic pepper,” whatever that is, so I used a garlic herb blend.

All mixed up, this is what the topping looked like:

Just spoon it over top the chicken and bake. Simple as that.

Mmm, all cooked up, this is what it looked like.

It was delicious. Still a little heavy on the mayo, so next time I will replace more of it with sour cream, or maybe Greek yogurt. But other than that, this was good. Flavorful and juicy!

Here’s the original recipe, if you’re interested!

Sloppy Joes and California Potato Salad

This post is about classic dishes. I was getting bored with my normal ground beef recipes and wanted to do something different. Allrecipes suggested Sloppy Joes. I’d never made Sloppy Joes before, so I was hoping for a recipe that was a good representation of what a good one tastes like. And for the side, potato salad. Although there are thousands of different potato salad recipes, many of which I’ve tasted, I had never made one of my own before. For my first attempt, I wanted to make the classic side dish but in a big way: a version that was unique and delicious. I think I accomplished both of these.

 

 

Two memories of Sloppy Joes growing up:

 

1. They were called “Sloppy Jolies” in my house because apparently I made a royal mess with them. This was the only acceptable term, and I’d bet money that it’s the one my parents still use.

 

2. The real reason I made a mess of them was because my mom hid tiny bits of onion on it and I was trying to eat around them. I was on to her tricks.

 

Current thoughts about Sloppy Joes:

 

1. It still feels weird to call them anything other than Sloppy Jolies, but I’m trying.

 

2. I like onions now, assuming they’re cooked down a bit.

So here we go. An onion and a green bell pepper.

 

 

All cut up.

 

 

I started with some ground beef in a big skillet on the stove.

 

 

A little browner…

 

 

When it was mostly done, I drained out the fat and added the vegetables.

 

 

The sauce that I made was a combination of a recipe and my own changes. I’ll post a link for it at some point. For now, this is what you need to know:

 

A bit of ketchup and also some barbecue sauce (I used KC masterpiece).

 

 

And some garlic powder, mustard, and brown sugar.

 

 

The meat and veggies are about done, so I transferred the mixture to a crock pot and added those sauce ingredients.

 

 

Then I added a touch of vinegar (not in the original recipe)

 

 

And Worcestershire sauce (also not in the recipe)

 

 

And then a healthy dose of salt and pepper.

 

 

Then I just mixed it up, covered it, and left the crockpot on low for a few hours.

 

 

 

Now for my potato salad. Here are some potatoes. I didn’t bother to peel them, just scrubbed and cut them up.

 

 

After cubing them, I dropped them in a big pot of water and let them boil.

 

 

I also put some eggs in water to boil.

 

 

Then I assembled my ingredients: garlic, Dijon mustard, rice vinegar, mayonnaise, and a can of artichoke hearts. This is looking yummy already.

 

 

While I waited for the potatoes and eggs to cook, I chopped up the artichokes.

 

 

 

When the potatoes were finally done, I drained them in a big colander.

 

 

And when the eggs were done, I drained out the hot water

 

 

Before replacing it with cold

 

 

When they were cool enough, I peeled the eggs. Here they are! I was surprised by how easy they were to peel. I guess I normally wait until they’re chilled, but this worked well.

 

 

Look at how amazingly perfect they turned out! No green tinge, just a perfect, bright, fluffy yellow yolk.

 

 

Anyway, I diced the eggs and added them to the artichokes.

 

 

Added the potatoes and mixed everything up a bit before adding garlic

 

 

Dijon mustard…

 

 

 

Rice vinegar…

 

 

Mayo…

 

 

The recipe said to use freshly shaved Parmesan. This was the best I had. A poor substitute, I know, so I only added a touch of it.

 

 

Then I mixed everything up.

 

 

Then, in a flash of inspiration, I crumbled and added three strips of cooked bacon that I happened to have in the fridge.

 

 

Then it was time to serve!

 

I put some hamburger buns in the toaster oven.

 

 

The Sloppy Jolie Joe mixture had gotten real nice.

 

 

When the buns were toasted, I spooned a little bit of the meat onto the bun and topped with the other half.

 

 

 

And of course, my California potato salad, bursting with artichokes

 

 

Impressions:

 

The Sloppy Jolies Joes were sweeter than I’d expected. I suppose adding BBQ sauce without decreasing the brown sugar is to blame. I’m not sure it was a bad thing or not, except that the flavor was more reminiscent of BBQ sauce than tomato sauce, as well. But it was good. Hubby seemed pleased enough with it to have seconds, so I guess I did all right.

 

 

As for the potato salad? I can’t praise it enough. It was SO DAMN GOOD. I was fighting the urge to snack on it all afternoon. I ate too much of it at dinner. I nibbled on it again when I was cleaning up later. I ate more the next day. Someone who does not like artichokes will not like this recipe, but someone who likes them will love it. It wasn’t too heavy on mayo, either. I plan on making it again today or tomorrow, if I can get my homework done with enough time to justify playing in the kitchen.

 

Seriously. So good.