sheet pan shrimp and sausage bake

Not sure where I snapped a pic of the base recipe for this meal, but it was a hit and incredibly simple to throw together on a busy weeknight. 

Ingredients

• 1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp, tails removed
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 4 apple gouda chicken sausages (any fully cooked sausages will work)
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup frozen sweet corn kernels
• 3 cups roughly chopped spinach
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
• cooked rice or pasta
• feta or parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with with cooking spray or line with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine shrimp, lemon juice, garlic powder, and pepper. Toss to coat.
3. Add sausage, tomatoes, corn and Cajun seasoning, mix well. 
4. Place spinach on the center of he backing sheet and evenly top with all other combined ingredients. 
5. Bake until shrimp are cooked through and veggies have softened and lightly browned, about 15 minutes. 
6. Serve over cooked rice or pasta with crumbled feta or grated parmesan cheese. 

mediterranean fish soup

The kids were a bit indifferent to this recipe from The Mediterranean Dish, but Kory and I both liked it as an option for more seafood-based meals and thought the raisins added way more to the soup than expected. 

INGREDIENTS

• extra virgin olive oil

• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• Salt and pepper
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• ½ tsp dried thyme
• Pinch red pepper flakes
• ¾ cup dry white wine
• 1 28-oz can whole peeled plum tomatoes, juice separated and reserved
• 3 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• ¼ cup golden raisins
• 2 tbsp capers, rinsed
• 2 lb skinless sea bass fillet (or other firm white fish), about 1 ½-inch thick, cut into large cubes 
• ½ cup chopped fresh parsley leaves, stems removed
• 3 tbsp toasted pine nuts, optional

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in 5-quart Dutch oven (like this one) over medium heat. Add onions, celery, and a little salt and pepper (about ½ tsp each). Cook, stirring regularly, until softened (about 4 minutes). Add thyme, red pepper flakes and garlic and cook briefly until fragrant (about 30 more seconds).
2. Now, stir in the white wine and reserved tomato juice from can. Bring to a simmer, and cook until the liquid is reduced by about ½. Add the tomatoes, vegetable broth, raisins, and capers. Cook for 15-20 minutes over medium heat until flavors combine.
3. Pat the fish dry and season lightly with salt and pepper. Insert the fish pieces into the cooking liquid, and give everything a gentle stir so that the fish pieces are nicely covered in the cooking liquid. Bring to a simmer and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove the Dutch oven from the heat and cover. Let sit off heat for another 4-5 minutes so that the fish will finish cooking. Fish should be flaky when gently pulled apart with a paring knife. Finally, stir in the chopped parsley.
4. Ladle the hot fish stew into serving bowls, top each with a few toasted pine nuts, if you like. 

cioppino

 Kory and I loved the Moqueca recipe we tried recently, but the kids didn't love the coconut soup base, so we tried this Bobby Flay recipe from Food & Wine. We used a half pound of scallops in place of the clams, which was just a safe entry point because we knew the kids would eat scallops. The meal was a success and we might even try with clams next time! It was a really simple recipe too!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 
• 1 large shallot, thinly sliced
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth 
• 1 cup bottled clam juice
• 1 cup drained, diced tomatoes (from a 15-ounce can)
• 2 thyme sprigs
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce, plus more for serving
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 dozen littleneck clams, scrubbed
• 3/4 pound skinless snapper fillets, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1/2 pound shelled and deveined medium shrimp 
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions

1. In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil. Add the shallot and garlic and cook over high heat, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the wine and boil until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add the stock, clam juice, tomatoes, thyme, bay leaf and hot sauce and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook until slightly reduced, about 10 minutes
2. Add the clams, cover and cook just until most of them open, about 5 minutes. Add the snapper and shrimp, cover and simmer until they are cooked through and the remaining clams have opened, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the seafood to 4 bowls. Add the butter and parsley and cook over moderate heat for 1 minute, swirling the pan. Spoon the broth over the seafood and serve with sourdough toast.

moqueca

I found this recipe from Cook's Illustrated online for free at numnums.com. I used sweet cherry peppers instead of hot and would leave out last addition of cilantro for the kids next time. 

Ingredients

Pepper Sauce

• 4 whole pickled hot cherry peppers, about 3 ounces, stemmed
• 1 half onion, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/8 tsp sugar
• salt

Stew Base

• 1 whole onion coarsely chopped
• 1 can whole peeled tomatoes, 14.5 ounces
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Stew

• 1 lb large shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails removed (26-30 per pound)
• 1 lb cod, cut into 1 1/2" pieces
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 whole red bell pepper, stemmed, de-seeded and cut into 1/2" pieces
• 1 whole green bell pepper, stemmed, de-seeded and cut into 1/2" pieces
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 can coconut milk, 14 ounces
• 2 tbsp lime
• 2 tbsp pepper sauce from above
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Instructions

food processor prep

1. For the pepper sauce, process the cherry peppers, onion, olive oil and sugar for about 30 seconds or until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if needed.
2. Adding 1/4 teaspoon increments at a time, season to taste with salt. We usually just add a total of 1/2 teaspoon. Empty the sauce into a separate container and reserve the sauce in the fridge.
3. For the stew base, add the onion, tomatoes (and juice), and cilantro to the now-empty food processor. Combine until pureed, about 30 seconds. Reserve.

for the stew

1.  Toss the seafood with garlic, salt and pepper. Reserve in fridge.
2. Preheat the large Dutch oven over medium-high heat then add the oil. When the oil starts to shimmer, add the bell peppers and salt. Cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently, until softened.
3. Add the pureed tomato mixture and salt to the pot. Drop the heat to medium and stir frequently for 3-5 minutes until the sauce thickens.
4. Mix in the coconut milk until fully incorporated. 
5. Heat the pot over high heat. Once the mixture comes to a full boil (entire surface is bubbling, not just the edges), toss in the seafood and lime juice, then stir to evenly coat and submerge. Cover and transfer the pot away from heat. Set a timer for 15 minutes.
6. Gently mix in pepper sauce and cilantro, saving a few pinches of cilantro to top individual servings. Season with salt and pepper if needed. Serve in low bowls with remaining pepper sauce on the side.

Fish Tacos

I think fish tacos may be one of my most-craved meals and I've yet to find anything "San-Diego-worthy" other than School Yard in Chicago (YUM YUM YUM).  The tarter sauce in this recipe is delicious, but the quantity of this makes is WAY overkill.  I usually halve it, but you could easily get away with a quarter of it, I think.   I usually serve them with mango salsa and broccoli slaw.   We used to do the fish breaded this way, but now we usually beer batter it instead-- one 12 oz. beer mixed with 1 1/2 cups of flour, whisked together, dip the fish in batter and fry at 350 degrees about 2 minutes per side.