Blackened Fish

Here's another quick and easy meal that is truly tasty. You will need some of these.

These are Mahi fillets that we get frozen from Costco. They come individually vacuum sealed in a three pound bag so they cost  less than $1.50 a piece. Needless to say they are a staple of our freezer. But you could use  any skinless fish you like. Swordfish works well also. Next gather up these spices.

The celery seed (good for your liver: http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/celery-seed-000231.htm) and the turmeric (Alzheimers prevention: http://www.wellnesstrader.com/evidence/Turmeric-Alzheimers) are optional. Sprinkle both sides of  the fillets with the combination of spices. If you like more heat, add more red pepper.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to just short of it's smoke point over medium high heat.

Cook for two minutes per side depending on the thickness. We like to use the screen to hold down the splatter.

Take 'em up.

And serve with your favorite salad.

Or like this one.

They also make great fish sandwiches!

Crab Cakes With Mango Salsa

When I first came to Florida I had this dish at a restaurant in Anna Maria. It was so good I just had to go home and try to duplicate it. This is what I came up with. For the Mango Salsa you'll need these.

Combine about a cup of chopped mango

with a quarter cup of chopped plum tomatoes, a quarter cup of chopped red onion, a quarter teaspoon of salt, a drizzle of olive oil and the juice of two key limes freshly picked from your tree (What? You don't have your own key lime tree! Sucks to be you!)

Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.

You can use what ever crab cake recipe you like. We use fresh crab whenever possible

 combined with a green onion, bread crumbs, and enough mayo to hold them together.

Saute the crab cakes in a little canola oil.

And plate 'em when they're done.

Time to pull out the salsa.

Put a little on your crab cake.

What the hell, smother it!

Enjoy.

Charcoal Grilled Standing Rib Roast

OK all you grill bast...uh masters out there, lets see if you got a pair or you need to put your skirt back on. Don't even think about doing this on a gas grill. I've seen it done once on gas using indirect heat and you could not tell the difference between it and an oven roast. We're talking a big, fairly expensive cut of beef here. You don't want to be ordering pizza 'cause you screwed this up. First you need a good cut of bone in standing rib roast.

This is a three rib roast we cooked one Christmas. We usually serve one rib per person. I know a lot of you want the end piece (you will with this!). No problem. Just cut the roast into two pieces and now you have four end pieces. This is all the seasonings that you will need.

Today we're doing a two rib roast. It doesn't matter how big the roast is because you're going to cook it the same way regardless. Season all sides completely with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Over a really hot fire sear one side for two to three minutes with the hood down.

Flip it over and do the same thing to the other side.

Now flip it over, bone side up and repeat.

Now put the bone side down, put the hood down, and go find something to do.

Now would be a good time to find that meat thermometer that you haven't seen in a while.

After about twenty minutes start checking the internal temperature. Depending on how hot your fire is this is probably a little early but you don't want this over done. We like ours rare so we take it up at 115 degrees. Be careful, especially with a larger roast, as the bones will sometimes try to separate from the rest of the roast.

After resting for five or ten minutes it will rise to 120-125.

Like I said, we like ours rare.

Here's a picture of the three rib roast cooked as two pieces.

Flobby Bay, Stephie and Miriam will be my bitches!

Frog Legs

Man I love frog legs! Just about every birthday frog legs will be my birthday supper. Don't they just look so cute in all their nakedness?

Sometimes they like to do a little synchronized dance first.

As you can clearly see, these are all females. I don't know why, but that's all that you can ever buy. However, we do occasionally find big frogs trying to hang out with our goldfish.

We named this one Lee Roy. Impressive, eh?

Get over it!  Some folks find that funny. Especially when they're hanging out at our favorite bar.

But I digress. Frying up a mess of these tasty amphibians is easy. First you're going to need a little flour seasoned with black pepper.

Next a little egg bath.

And finally some Italian bread crumbs.

Heat some vegetable oil to about 360 degrees. Or you can do it the old fashioned way like me and keep adding a small pinch of flour to the oil until it sizzles properly.

Now that you've got your frying station set up

powder down the first pair of frog gams in the seasoned flour.

Then into the egg bath.

Dredge through the seasoned bread crumbs.

And into the hot oil.

Repeat with the rest of them, cooking in batches so as not to crowd the frying pan. We like to cover the pan with a screen so that they don't try to jump out.

Cook to a golden brown on one side, flip 'em over and do the same to the other side.

And that's all there is to it.