Living on the Florida coast!

One of the things I really love about living on the Florida coast...the seafood! There are several seafood stores that feature fresh, local caught, seafood. Today was just one of those days that an over powering urge came over me to have some local fare. Not just to go out to eat, but, go to a market and pick out the fresh whole fish and cook it. This is the Yellow Eyed Snapper season and today there were several whole fish available at the local market. I quickly picked out out and had it filleted. According to the clerk, who also filleted the fish, it was caught on Monday. Pan fried and served with a mix of brown Jasmine, white Jasmine, and wild rice with a side of asparagus. Oh yea, also had a local naval orange to finish the meal. Living on the Florida coast has its advantages.

Mac-Daddi-Roni Salad

Mac-Daddi-Roni Salad

Recipe courtesy Guy Fieri, 2007

Cook Time: 15 min
Level: Easy
Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients
16 ounces macaroni pasta, 1/4-inch tube
2 cups mayonnaise
2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 tablespoon white vinegar
3/4 cup minced red onion
3/4 cup minced roasted red bell pepper
1/2 cup carrot, diced
3/4 cup celery, diced
1/4 cup diced Peppadew peppers
1/4 cup minced pepperoncini
1 teaspoons sea salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
Directions
In a medium pot, boil water and add salt. Add pasta, cook until al dente, and place into an ice water bath.

In a medium mixing bowl add mayonnaise, garlic, mustard, and vinegar. Mix to combine and place in refrigerator to keep chilled while pasta cools down.

When pasta is cool, mix in mayonnaise mixture and all vegetables. Mix thoroughly, season with salt and pepper. Place into refrigerator and chill for 1 hour for the flavors to combine.

Peppadew Peppers available on our Internet store.

Click on Jar!

DO YOU PEPPADEW?

A great little pepper from South Africa, called a Peppadew, make a wonderful addition to any Holiday meal. Stuffed with goat cheese, or Bleu cheese, or even chopped and added to a salad or on a pizza. This little peppadew pepper adds bold flavor and just a little heat. Available for retail or food service. Go to our web store for retail or email us for food service packaged products.

SNICKERDOODLES

Snickerdoodles

Yield: 30 cookies

Ingredients
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 6 3/4 ounces)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• Cooking spray
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°.
Combine 3/4 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, and butter in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and egg.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and salt, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to butter mixture; beat just until combined. Shape dough into 30 balls.
Combine 1/3 cup granulated sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon in a small shallow dish. Roll balls in sugar mixture, and place 2 inches apart on baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 8 minutes or until tops crack. Cool on pans 1 minute. Remove from pans; cool on a wire rack.

Shoot Them!

I recently met a gentleman (not sure yet...too soon) ,named Cliff, at a market in Cocoa, FL. He showed me an old cook book and a recipe for Corn Doger's. After doing some research, I found it was a line from the movie True Grit when John Wayne played the part of Rooster Cogburn and used Corn Doger's for target practice. Well here is the official recipe from a 1975 Tennessee cookbook.

I guess if you can't eat them...shoot them!

Corn Doger

2 cups cornmeal 1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. soda 2 tbsp. fat
1 tsp. baking powder Buttermilk to make a rather stiff batter

Combine the dry ingredients, add the melted FAT and buttermilk.
Make into small pones (dogers). Bake in greased iron skillet in
hot oven (450 degrees) until golden brown.
Serve with Southern-style cooked vegetables.

Recipe from Ivola Dement Davidson County page 18
of NAEHE Cookbook from Tennessee to you Knoxville, 1975

Peanut Brittle for Thanksgiving

Wow. What an easy and great little treat for Thanksgiving Day. Peanut brittle that only takes 25 minutes to make.

Serves 20.

Ingredients:

nonstick cooking spray

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt or sea salt

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3 cups salted dry-roasted peanuts

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and spray a light coat with cooking spray. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 1 cup water. Bring to a rapid simmer over medium-high heat and cook until deep golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove pan frm heat. Stir in butter, baking soda, and peanuts. Stir until mixture is no longer bubbling and caramel is smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer to sheet and spread with a lightly greased spatula. Let cool until firm, 15 minutes. Break into pieces. Pass around the fun after the big dinner while the big games are playing.

NOW ON TWITTER

Chef Johnny now on twitter. FOLLOW ME ON twitter. Click the twitter logo.

A Special Dressing

SAUSAGE-APPLE-PECAN DRESSING
SERVES 8-10

1 Loaf thick sliced bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 Pound bulk mild pork sausage
6 Slices bacon, chopped
1 Large onion, chopped
1Cup Celery, chopped
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1Cup Pecans, chopped
2Cups Chicken broth
1Cup Chopped fresh parsley
1teaspoon Rubbed sage
1teaspoon Dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4teaspoon Pepper


Place bread cubes on a baking sheet and bake at 225degrees for 1 hour. Stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Cook sausage and bacon in a heavy sauté pan until sausage crumbles; drain and reserve 3tablespoons of the grease. Cook the onion and celery in the 3 tablespoons of grease until tender. Add the pecans and cook an additional 3 minutes. Combine the sausage mixture, breadcrumbs, chicken broth and remaining ingredients in a large bowl; spoon into a lightly greased 13X9X2 baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil; bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover; bake an additional 30 minutes.

© Chef Johnny 2001

NEW ITEM...Wild Hibicus Flowers in Rose Syrup

New item just in time for the holiday party season. 100% natural, sustainably farmed, edible, whole Wild Hibiscus Flowers which are crimson in color hand packed in natural essence of two dozen Bulgarian roses. Serve as a garnish in drinks or in both sweet and savory food recipes. Two year shelf life, 3 months once opened. Both syrup and flowers are heat stable for cooking applications. A gloriously feminine indulgence bursting with Joie de vivre! Contact Jacki @ 321-567-4644 for more information and to place your pre-holiday season order.

Microwave Cooking---Lemon Chicken

Lemon Chicken…Microwave
Serves 4

1 2 ½ to 3 pound broiler—fryer chicken, cut into 8 pieces
½ cup lemon juice
1 ½ teaspoon Sea Salt
Garlic powder, to taste
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste

In a 10-inch square, heat-resistant, non-metallic baking dish, place chicken, skin down. Pour ¼ cup lemon juice over chicken.

Heat, covered, on ROAST for 10 minutes.

Turn chicken over and add remaining lemon juice and seasonings to chicken.

Heat, covered, on ROAST for 9 to 11 minutes or until chicken is tender and heated to 165 degrees internally. Serve and garnish with lemon slices and fresh parsley.

Chicken in microwave on ROAST are cooked for 8 minutes per pound. The time on this recipe may be adjusted for any weight chicken. Add additional lemon juice if more chicken is used to keep chicken moist and flavorful.

Beach Walking

Today I am not posting any notices about food bourne illnesses. Or, recalls of tainted foods or mislabeled foods. No industry notices of who is doing what or why. Today I am posting beach walking. Most of you know we moved to Florida and today we found "our beach". Perfect in every way. Few people, lots of birds, and beautiful water. Beach walking...Florida style baby!

First Starbucks rolled out Via, a line of instant coffee that threatened to undermine the company’s core identity as a premium coffee vendor. Then came the “stealth Starbucks” stores, locations stripped of the company name and logo meant to blend into their neighborhoods. Now Starbucks, a name synonymous with “coffee” in America, has started serving beer and wine in one location and may eventually serve alcohol in thousands of stores worldwide. And all of these developments have happened in little more than 18 months.

All of this reminds me of two brothers in Ohio. One owned a hardware store and the other owned a grocery store. The two stores were across the street from each other and in time them developed a friendly competition that grew into an unfriendly relationship. The brother that owned the hardware was not happy when his brother with the grocery store started selling motor oil for below his cost. Finally the brother with the hardware started selling bananas in his hardware way below cost. The hardware brother became known as the "banana man" for his marketing move. Now that Starbucks, the coffee people of America, is selling wine. How will associate this with the Starbucks famous image? Are they a wine shop or a coffee shop? Why not do what you do best and stick to it? Is the economy making institutions like Starbucks changing to survive? Are tanning beds and a coin laundry service next for the Starbucks venue? Stay true to your trade!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - JACKSON, Miss. - November 5, 2010 - Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: CALM) today was notified by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) that one of the Company’s suppliers, Ohio Fresh Eggs, LLC, Croton, Ohio, had a routine environmental study sample which tested positive for Salmonella Enteritidis (SE). Cal-Maine purchased approximately 24,000 dozen unprocessed eggs from Ohio Fresh which were processed and re-packaged by the Company’s Green Forest, Arkansas, facility between October 9 and 12, 2010, yet the Company was only notified today. The eggs involved, which were not produced from Cal-Maine flocks, were distributed to food wholesalers and retailers in Arkansas, California, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. There have been no confirmed SE illnesses related to the purchased eggs.

In cooperation with the FDA, Cal-Maine immediately notified its customers and recalled specific Julian dates of shell eggs because they have the potential to be contaminated with SE. The following packages were included in this recall.

In cooperation with the FDA, Cal-Maine immediately notified its customers and recalled specific Julian dates of shell eggs because they have the potential to be contaminated with SE. The following packages were included in this recall.

Product Description Plant Number Julian Date Sell By/Expiration Date
Sunny Meadow Jumbo
UPC Code - 6 05388
71459 6 1457 282, 284 11/07/10;11/09/10
Sunny Meadow Large
UPC Code – 6 05388
71457 2 1457 282 11/07/10
Sunny Meadow Large 18
UPC Code – 6 05388
71461 9
Sunny Meadow Extra Large
UPC Code – 6 05388
71458 9 1457 284 11/09/10
Sunny Meadow Extra Large 18
UPC Code – 8 13905
00120 7 1457 282 11/07/10
Sunny Meadow 5 Dozen
UPC Code – 6 81131
74355 6 1457 284 11/09/10
Sunny Meadow 6 Pack
UPC Code - 6 05388
71462 6 1457 284 11/09/10
Springfield Grocer Medium Loose 1457 282 11/07/10
Springfield Grocer Extra Large Loose 1457 284 11/09/10
Springfield Grocer Large Loose 1457 284 11/09/10
Sun Valley Large
UPC Code 0 33643
00018 2 1457 284 11/24/10
James Farm Medium
UPC Code 0 97009
01083 3 1457 285 11/07/10

Plant numbers and Julian dates can be found printed on the individual cartons. The Julian date follows the plant number, for example P1457-282.

Beach Driving

Now we have been in Florida for one week. Finally taking a look at the beach and not just a look, a drive! Seeing it is one thing, but, driving a car down the beach while a hurricane is hundreds of miles off shore is another. Huge pounding waves and strong winds brought out the wind surfers. Enjoy!

New Things to Learn

Well, now that our operations are relocated in Florida, there are new things to learn. Different climate, different foods, etc. Soon I will be trying some of the local foods including the seafood. New recipes coming next week.