Texas Style Cuisine

Red Fish on the Half Shell

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Texas Style Cuisine

Before

After

I love grilled fish, especially when its fresh. Now this can’t get much fresher. I caught it about 1:00, ate it about 4:00. That s pretty fresh. Now a fish cooked on the half shell is simply a fillet that has cut off the bone and the skin and scales left on. Now you want to use a fish with a tougher skin, like reds, snapper, black drum or something like that. If you look at the plate you will see a small piece of fish to its left. the is the throat of the red. This is located behind the gills and below the pectoral fins. Many times when someone fillets a fish this portion of the red is thrown away. It’s not a real large area but it is tasty. I have a grill set up outside the trailer and it really comes in handy. I like cooking outside but it also takes some heat out of the trailer and Texas produces enough heat without the help of the stove.

Now to get started. I have taken he fillets and seasoned them with some Tony Chachere’s and then drizzled a little Italian dressing on it with a squeeze of lemon. I have also cooked the bones on the fish, this red was big enough that I saved the bones to cook also

The red seasoned up

I have the grill heated up and head straight to it with he fillets. Now you lay the fish straight on the grill on a medium high heat. My grill does not have a lid so I use some aluminium foil to make a tent over the fish to help hold in heat. Before I had the fish on I fixed some red potatoes. I got the small ones and sliced them in half, seasoned them with salt, pepper, cumin and some fresh garlic. I also sliced up about half an onion. wrapped this inside of some aluminum foil, with a stick of butter. This package was placed on the grill before the fish.

The bones are ready

Just about ready

Supper is ready

Grilling in the shade outside of the 5th wheel

Categories: Entrees, Grilling, Texas Style Cuisine | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

Shrimp Linguine

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Texas Style Cuisine

Wow it has been a long time. I have been busy and had to many irons in the fire. My wife and daughter headed to Europe for a few weeks so I headed to the coast to do some fishing. I have had a few meals worth talking about so I will try to get them posted as soon as I can. The meals were not anything overly hard to put together, but preparing them our 5th wheel is a challenge. The first I want to post up is a quick little shrimp dish I threw together that will be easy for anyone to prepare.

First I started some water to boil for the linguine. I added a little oil and some salt to the water. While I was wanting for the water I started dicing a package of mushrooms and about 1/4 of an onion. I also minced three cloves of garlic. The water was boiling so I added the pasta.  I heated a pan with a stick of butter and added the onions. I sautéed them until translucent then I added the garlic. The garlic was cooked for about 60 seconds, then i added the mushrooms. Once the mushrooms were finished I added 2 pounds of peeled and deveined shrimp. It only took about 3 minutes to have the shrimp cooked. once they were almost done I added a package of cherub tomatoes that hd been sliced in half. While the tomatoes were heating I poured in about 1/2 cup of white wine. I seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. The pasta was removed and drain. I topped the linguine with the shrimp mixture and topped it with grated parmesan cheese.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb     Linguine
  • 2lb      Peeled and deveined shrimp
  • 1 pkg   Mushrooms
  • 1 pkg   Cherub tomatoes
  • 1/4       Onion diced
  • 3          Garlic cloves
  • TT       Salt and Pepper
  • TT       Parmesan Cheese grated

sauteing the onions, garlic and mushrooms

Adding the shrimp

Finishing up with the tomatoes and some wine

 

 

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Shrimp Skewers

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Texas Style Cuisine

I was looking for a quick meal the other night so I decided to throw together some shrimp skewers. Libby ran to the local HEB food store and pick up some 10/15 shrimp, while I was starting the fires. I put on some rice after starting the fires and washed up some zucchini squash. I had some of my Chipotle BBQ Sauce already made up and I threw together a balsamic vinaigrette. Once the wife got back with the shrimp I started peeling and deveining the shrimp. I left the tails on for presentation and skewered up the shrimp. Half the shrimp were brushed with the BBQ Sauce and half were coated with the vinegrette. The fire was ready when I was finished. I had the propane grill going also so I put the squash on after coating them with some of the vinegrette, and threw on some fresh green onions. The skewers did not take long at all about 3 minutes on each side. I plated everything up by placing the shrimp skewers on a bed of rice, two wedges of squash and a  nice green onion. We had a great meal in just over 30 minutes. Not a bad meal for something thrown together at the last-minute.

Categories: Appetizers, BBQ, Grilling, Hors d'Oeuvres, Texas Style Cuisine | Tags: , , , , , | 3 Comments

Oysters Rockefeller

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Texas Style Cuisine

This is my absolute favorite way to eat oysters, although I will eat them any way they are fixed. I had a friend growing up whose dad had a seafood restaurant. Klondike Cafe was the place to be for seafood back in the 70’s and early 80’s. Earl Rudes was the chef and owner of this special placed. Earl was the kind of guy what would make you feel important and he was an excellent cook. Earl passed away  a little over a year ago but before he did I had a chance to visit with him and he gave me some of his recipes. Of course the first I asked for was the Rockefeller. Now Oysters Rockefeller is made with different ingredients I prefer ones made with spinach. They were created in New Orleans by a chef that was having a hard time getting snails. So he decided to use the ample amounts of oysters that were in the region to create his new dish. They say that when he had it perfected it sauce was a rich green sauce, so the richest person he new of was Rockefeller, thus the name.

Shucking an Oyster

A nice plump Texas Oyster

A tray about ready for the oven

Categories: Appetizers, Hors d'Oeuvres, Texas Style Cuisine | Tags: , , , , | 4 Comments

Fiesta Rib Cook Off

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Texas Style Cuisine

Fiesta in San Antonio is a huge celebration. It is 100 different events over 11 days in late April every year. One of the annual events is the Culture Fest Rib Cook Off  hosted by St. Philip’s College. I had entered a few years ago and really enjoyed myself with a 3rd place finish. It took very little convincing to get Bar Cross to enter it this year. We decided to enter both beef and pork ribs and to sell plates. I made a run to Restaurant Depot and picked up 30 slabs of spare ribs and six slabs of beef. We usually never cook beef ribs so we practice on a few racks prior to the cook off and came up with what we would be a good recipe. We have been working on some new recipes so we decided to enter two teams, Bar Cross and Bar Cross Too.  We got to St Philip’s around 3:30 and started the fires. The pit was warmed up and cruising about 250º so we loaded up the pit with 30 slabs of pork and 6 slabs of beef that had already been rubbed the day before. About 10:45 we turned in our competition ribs. Team 1 turned in our sweet pork rib recipe and some spicy beef ribs. Team 2 turned in some spicy pork ribs and sweet beef ribs. Soon as we turned in we started selling plates. $5 would get you potato salad, borracho beans and a nice juicy rib. We had a good line of people buying plates when we were called for the awards ceremony. We were busy and did not go so they sent for us again. This time my cousin Fernando went to represent our team. The rest of us continued selling plates. in about 15 minutes we hear Fernando calling. We spot him coming through the crowd with his arms full of trophies. He yells out “We Won It All”. He was not kidding. We won 1st place beef ribs, 1st and 3rd place pork ribs and the Student Choice Award. Not a bad day. From the time we were announced as the winners we had people in our line until 1:30 when we ran out of ribs. Then we started selling sausage plates until they were all gone. So by 3:00 we had won every 1st place and sold out of food. Also we had a chance to try out the pit since we had moved it to the new trailer and made a few changes. It all worked out and we had a great time. St Philip’s did an excellent job hosting the event. We got to meet many of the Fiesta dignitaries, the president of Fiesta, the President and some of the deans from St. Philip’s and King El Rey Feo. We also wound up on TV here in San Antonio. WOAI TV 4 came by for a live shot for their morning show, and David Sears from KSAT 12 dropped in and tried some ribs while filming the trophies. It was great fun for us and we made good money selling plates, we just did not bring enough. But next year we will know and we will bring twice as many ribs.

Team Bar Cross BBQ

Pappy and I slicing ribs

The new trailer

Categories: BBQ, Entrees, Texas Style Cuisine | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Cast Iron Cookie

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Texas Style Cuisine

I had one of the kids come in and ask me if I could cook a huge cookie in a frying pan. Well of course I can, I told him.  I checked the dry storage and we were out of chocolate chips. But we were in luck, one of the kids had some World’s Finest Chocolate bars for a fundraiser. So we bought two bars and got after it. I grabbed an 8″ skillet and melted a stick of butter. Next I stirred in 1/2 cup each, of white and brown sugar. After the sugar was melted in I added 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla. We pulled the skillet off the stove. This is where you have to be careful, you can’t add the egg to soon. If you do you will cook the eggs. That is why you cant get the skillet to hot. Cast iron holds heat, so if you get it to hot it will take a while to cool it off. While the skillet was cooling, I chopped a World’s Finest Chocolate Bar into pieces. We had the chocolate and almond bar and that worked great. Then we sifted 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and mixed them together.. Next I whisked one egg into the sugar and butter. Then the flour was poured into the skillet to form the dough. Once the flour was incorporated totally I pressed the dough out evenly across the skillet. I then scattered the chocolate across the dough and placed it in the oven. The cookie was baked for 20 minutes at 350 and it came out a beautiful  golden brown. Now the best way to serve it, I believe, is with a few scoops of ice cream on top. We had no ice cream so we cut it up and found a little milk to drink with it. On a whim it was an excellent dessert and a great lesson for the kids to experience. Now if I was going to make a few of these I think I would make the dough and add it to a warm skillet. A much easier and faster way to cook these excellent cookies.

Categories: Dessert, Texas Style Cuisine, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Southwestern Quiche

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Texas Style Cuisine

I spent the day making Quiche. The French teacher brought his classes down to try a little french cuisine. I had a few quiches already made, so I would make one for the class then let them help my students make a few more. So by the end of the day we had made about 20. I had the kids cook a classic ham and cheese quiche, a spinach one and a broccoli one. We also made two southwestern quiches. They were all excellent, but as you would guess the spicy ones were my favorite. If you have never tried quiche then it’s about time and this is an easy one to make.

Southwestern Quiche
  • 1/2 lb                 Diced Kiolbassa Sausage with Jalapenos or Hot breakfast sausage
  • 1 1/2 Cup          Monterey Jack Cheese
  • 1/2 Cup            Cheddar Cheese
  • 1/2 Cup            Rotel Tomatoes with Green Chilies
  • 1  Cup               Milk
  • 3                        Eggs
  • 1/4 tsp             Pepper
  • 1/4 tsp             Salt
  • 1                        9″ Pie Crust
  1. Pre heat oven to 400
  2. thoroughly mix eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and rotel
  3. Place pie crust in 9″ pie pan
  4. Spread cheese evenly in the crust
  5. Spread the sausage over the cheese
  6. Poor egg mixture over the cheese and sausage
  7. Place quiche in oven for 30 minutes or until eggs are set
Categories: Entrees, Texas Style Cuisine | Tags: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A sweet little Fattie

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Texas Style Cuisine

Now I am sure that many of you wondering what in the heck is a Fattie. Basically it is a meatloaf stuffed with your favorite fillings wrapped in bacon and then smoked. I made two of them, one was an Italian, stuffed with red and green bell peppers sweet onions, mushrooms, ricotta and mozzarella. The other was stuffed with fettucine alfredo, mushrooms and jumbo shrimp. They were excellent. The way I make them is I place my meatloaf in a ziplock bag. Then I make a woven matt of bacon. The stuffing is placed inside of the meatloaf and rolled up, using the bag. I slice the sides with a sharp knife so it can be opened up. The meat roll is then place on the bacon matt and rolled up. Roll the fattie in plastic to firm it up, then put it on the smoker for about 2 hours at 225.

Categories: BBQ, Entrees, Grilling, Texas Style Cuisine | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

BBQ Chicken Test

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Texas Style Cuisine

Sunday I figured I would throw a couple for chickens on the UDS. I wanted to try out a couple of new rub recipes. I also wanted to try a mustard slather. I cooked each bird with the same rub but I only slathered one half. I wanted to see how it affected the flavor. The first bird was rubbed with mustard and McCormick’s Grill Mates Cowboy Rub and the other half was coated with EVOO than rubbed with the same rub. The other bird was coated the same way and I used an Ancho chili rubbed that I put together on it. Both birds were a success. After about an hour and fifteen minutes on the grill at 300 degrees they were 165, so I pulled them. The winning flavors with both birds were the one with the mustard slath. I have always been told that you can’t taste the mustard but my judges said they could taste a little mustard on each one. The appearance was good on each half, but the one with the EVOO seemed to be a little darker in color. I don’t think any of the four halves were to light, but the mustard ones were lighter.

Categories: BBQ, Entrees, Texas Style Cuisine | Tags: , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Rattle Snake Round Up

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Texas Style Cuisine

Wild times were had in Sweetwater at the Annual Rattle Snake Round Up. Julie Richards, of Waco and Julie fame, was on the winning team. Midkiff Mafia BBQ had a great day. They place 1st in rattle snake, 2nd in brisket and 10th in chicken. That gave them just enough points for the Grand Champion call in this Lonestar Barbeque Society event. Julie was going to make a snake meatball using my Chipotle Bomber recipe as a guide, but they were thrown a curveball and had to change the recipe at the last-minute. This year the judges decided to make the teams turn in snake on the bone, so they could be sure it was indeed snake. So it’s a little tough serving meatballs with bones, so she changed at the last moment. I will try to get some pics up later of the winning team. Julie had to take off early because her and Waco were singing over in Midland. So she missed the awards. Check out the link from here to Waco and Julie’s site and go see them sometime if they are in the area. Congratulations to Bernie Phillips and the Midkiff Mafia BBQ team.

Categories: Appetizers, BBQ, Competition, Entrees, Texas Style Cuisine | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

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