Beer Battered & Deep Fried South African Lobster Tails

The Mondays after I spend a weekend cooking are always among the hungriest days I spend in the office.
I usually start my morning by ripping and editing my food photography from the weekend.
It's a great way to ease back into the week, but it never fails to make me want to head back into the kitchen for more cooking, and sooner or later, more eating.
It's not that I'm have incredible mouthwatering food photography skills (I wish), it's just I reminisce about how delicious the meal was, and how relaxing it was to prepare.
Then I wake up from my daydream and realize I'm not in my kitchen, I'm at my desk in front of Photoshop, and I'm about to start drooling BOO.
There were some OUTSTANDING eats around my house this weekend.
Friday night I made beer battered and fried South African Lobster Tails.
They were amazing. The beer kept the batter from being too heavy, and the sweet, velvety South African Lobster tail just melted in your mouth with the delectable coating. It was fried food heaven.
I was planning on making the Dean Brother's Baked Hush-puppies recipe, but I was lazy, and my Mom had made about 10lbs of German Potato Salad to have with Easter Dinner, so I figured I would just have that as I side.
I am powerless against the incredible deliciousness of German Potato Salad. And to make matters worse, I can't make it to save my life. My family holds the recipe hostage, and won't pass it on until it's absolutely necessary. I have pointed out the flaw in the logic of this plan...but that goes ignored. Others hold the ultimate potato power I wish to possess.
Warm, full of fresh parsley and dill...with lots and lots of bacon. You just can't go wrong with it no matter what you serve it with. I had to admit, I thought it seemed to be an unusual pairing with Lobster, but I was so very wrong.
The beer in the batter on the South African Lobster tails was perfectly complimented by the German Potato Salad.
There is a news flash for you guys... beer goes well with German food. Someone call the news paper and stop the presses. This is front page material right here ladies and gentlemen.
Now that we have had that breakthrough, I can share the recipe and photos from over the weekend! Happy eating foodies. I'll be back later this week with more pictures from Easter Sunday's dinner.

Beer Battered & Fried Lobster Tails

Ingredients
Two 8-10 oz Lobster Tails (South African used in this recipe)
1 Bottle Beer of Your Choice
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup all purpose flour
Salt & pepper to taste
Cajun Seasoning to taste
Oil for frying

Directions
Using a deep fryer or dutch oven, heat vegetable oil to 365 degrees.
Combine dry ingredients in a 1 gallon zip lock bag and shake to combine well.
Add beer to the dry ingredients little by little until your mixture looks like a thick lumpy paste. This should take most of the bottle of beer.
Split Lobster tails in half using kitchen shears and cutting from the fin, towards the front.
Once lobster tails are split, place each half into the bag of batter and cover completely with batter.
Once all Lobster tail pieces are battered, drop them into the hot oil and fry for about 5 minutes. Lobster tail meat should be firm and white when cooked, and the batter will be a golden brown color. Allow lobster tail halves to rest on a paper towel before serving to draw out any excess oil.

Plans for the Weekend- Clash of the Titans & Deep Fried South African Lobster

It's Friday at last! It's also Good Friday...so there is a slim chance we will close the office early :)
It's going to be a fun weekend, and I'm really looking forward to getting it started.
To begin with...Today, Clash of the Titans was released in theaters. I have been waiting for that one for a while now.
I have already heard from a trusted source that it was "Cheesy," but that was just a CNN review he had read...so it's not a direct review from the source and less valid in my mind.
The original was good, but I'm pretty sure this one will be better with the technologically advanced effects.
Pretty much anything is better than clay-mation.
Unless it's Mr. Bill. I. LOVE. MR. BILL.
Aside from my uber geeky movie fest, I plan on making some Deep Fried Lobster.
I have not made fried lobster in a while, so I thought I would make it a little more special and order South African Lobster Tails for this recipe.
South African Tails have the same sweetness of a Maine Lobster tail, with the velvety texture of the New Zealand Lobster Tail.
Fantastic combination, and being 8-10 oz each, they are perfect for the Lobster Gram go-to recipe for friend Lobster.
I will share that little gem with you guys on Monday, along with the Dean Brother's Recipe for Baked Hush-puppies I will be making to compliment the fried lobster.
That really does not make sense. I'm deep frying my lobster, and baking the hush-puppies like it's going to make the dinner healthy or something. I guess that makes me delusional.
Oh well.
The South African tails arrived this morning, and I decided to take a few pictures of them while they are still frozen so you can see just how different looking the South African tails are from the other types.
So here they are, and I'll be back Monday with movie reviews, recipes and lots of tasty images.
Happy eating foodies!

Recipes from Last Week's Wordless Wednesday

Pretty much everyone knows how to roast a chicken.
And pretty much everyone knows how to make mashed potatoes.
What most don't know, is how to turn this simple Sunday Dinner Staple into a gourmet feast without too much additional work.
So here are the recipes from last week's wordless Wednesday post. Butter Parsley Roasted Chicken with Duchess Potato Tartlets.



Parsley Butter Roasted Chicken
Ingredients
1 roasting chicken, about 3 pounds ( I use Niman Ranch Poulet Rouge for their delicate skin that roasts to a beautiful crisp)
salt and pepper to taste
1 small onion, peeled and quartered
4 large celery stalks, chopped coarsely
4 large carrots, chopped coarsely
1 shallot finely chopped
2 to 3 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh parsley
4 tablespoons melted butter

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Rinse and pat down the chicken. Dry skin with a paper towel. Season the inside and outside with salt and pepper to taste. Remove the bag from the interior of the chicken, and trip the excess neck skin off. To the bottom of the roasting pan, add the onion, carrots and celery. Place chicken on top of the vegetables. Melt butter, add parsley and coat the entire chicken with the mixture.
Roast in oven, breast up, for 15 minutes. Turn chicken on it's side and continue to roast for another 15 minutes. Turn chicken once more, and roast for another 20 minutes.

Duchess Potato Tartlets
Ingredients
3 lbs red potatoes, peeled
Salt & pepper to taste
Paprika
1 stick butter
1/2 cup Milk

Directions
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add peeled potatoes and boil until soft.
Drain the water and add salt, pepper, milk and butter.
Combine well. Preheat oven to 400. In a cupcake tray, fill each cup cake holder about 1/2 way with mashed potato mixture. Add an extra dollop of butter to the top of each tart and bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Sprinkle with paprika and serve warm.

Kitchen Staples- What do you need to keep on hand?

Everyone has their own list of "must have" kitchen staples.
Whether it's cooking wine, frozen pork chops or lobster meat by the pound, there are just some thing you feel you can't go without.
So, I thought it would be fun to start a list of my must-have pantry and freezer items,and see what it is that you guys can't live without in your own kitchen.
Here it goes!

MUST HAVE Pantry Items (in no particular order)
1. Oak Aged Balsamic Vinegar
2. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3. Granulated Garlic
4. Red Wine
5. White Wine
6. Shallots
7. Flour
8. Cajun Seasoning
9. Panko Breadcrumbs
10. Maggi Seasoning (Thanks Oma)

Must Have Freezer Items
1. Frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2. Ground turkey
3. Lobster Meat by the pound
4. Sea Scallops (Yes @RecipeTaster, I ALWAYS have scallops on hand lol :)
5. Home made vegetable stock (lasts about 6 months in the freezer)
6. Home made seafood stock (lasts about 6 months in the freezer)
7. Home chicken stock (lasts about 6 months in the freezer)
8. Home made marinara sauce
9. Frozen veggies (peas, carrots, corn, broccoli)
10. Extra sticks of butter (you can never have enough butter on hand)

So...what is it that you can't function without in the kitchen?
Let me hear from you!

Kleftiko- It's spring at last!

Good Monday morning foodies! I hope everyone had a great weekend. It's starting to be spring here in Chicago. It's a little cool still, but beautiful weather is on it's way and it should be a beautiful end of the week.
My weekend was productive, but relaxing. I got a lot of spring cleaning done that I had been meaning to get to, and then rewarded myself by preparing one of my favorite spring dishes. Kleftiko; otherwise known as Greek Herb Roasted Lamb Chops.
This is a quick and easy recipe that can be thrown together in minutes, and just takes a little patience getting through the roasting process.
The outcome was fantastic as always, and my kitchen is still heavy with the aroma of roasted oregano.

Kléftiko (Greek Herb Roasted Lamb Chops)

2 lamb chops
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/8 cup loosely packed oregano leaves
1/4 cup loosely packed parsley leaves
1 tablespoons thyme leaves
1/2 crushed bay leaf
1/8 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 300. Wash and dry lamb and set aside.
Chop herbs finely. Mix in salt and pepper. Sprinkle lemon juice all over the chops, on both sides. Brush generously with olive oil. Coat with herbs evenly on all sides.
Place chops in a roasting pan high up in the oven. Cook for about 1 hour depending on the thickness of the meat. The meat will be crispy on the outside but tender on the inside. Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday- Butter Parsley Roasted Chicken with Duchess Potato Tartlets

Vacation Finds and The Unexpected Dentist Visit

Hey there foodie friends! It feels like I have not blogged in forever! It's great to be back, but the vacation was desperately needed!
First of all, I wanted to share with you all an incredible store that I found over the last week. I was up in Long Grove, IL in the little historical town they have there, and noticed a new shop there called the Olive Tap. As it obviously a foodie shop, I decided to take a look. I will tell you this now people...this is my new favorite store!
They have every kind of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegars you could imagine. The entire store is filled with gorgeous silver tap kegs each filled with a new and intoxicating oil or vinegar. And everything is available to taste testing...yes, really!
I ended up choosing to fill a bottle 275ml bottle with 18 year old traditional from Modena, Italy and another bottle of Cinnamon Pear Balsamic from Modena.
I have two words for you guys...
Balsamic Bacon.
Yes, balsamic bacon.
I made some thick sliced bacon, and just tossed some of the super sweet Cinnamon Pear in and let it caramelize in the bacon fat with some fresh green grapes. It was beyond fantastic.
So yes...if you get a chance, visit the Olive Tap. It's a dream come true if you love to cook and/or eat!
It was fantastic to just relax on this vacation. Not to worry about work, or house chores or anything else...until I chipped a tooth over the weekend, on an unassuming Cheese Nip.
Thanks Murphy...that was super cool of you!
The high point, I got to extend my vacation for another day.
The low point, I spent the beginning of that day in the Dentist's office. Just for clarification's sake..I'll let you guys in on a little secret.

I. HATE. THE. DENTIST.

I don't know if I can stress this point enough. We are talking cold sweats, heart palpitations and dizzy spells at the mere mention of shots of Novocaine and a drill.
But then I grew a proverbial pair and decided, hey since I'm going to face this assured hell, I may as well knock out all of those other little cavities that were brought to light when I had my wisdom teeth extracted.
Great idea Nikki! Instead of having just one tooth drilled, filled and billed...let's do five!
Friggen Sweet!
I see now I can't always trust my own judgment...silly girl.
They say the things you fear the most are the things that have already happened to you.
I guess that only applies to sane people, cause that totally was not the case with me.
I told the dentist I was pretty terrified, and would probably need to be sedated. Gassed, smacked upside the head with a frying pan...I was willing to negotiate.
I then had to explain that this was all theoretical terror as I had never experienced this before and had no concrete reason to be afraid.
My dentist laughed at me for a good five minutes after the phrase "theoretical terror".
I should have bitten him for that.
But I hear dentist tastes bad...
and I didn't want to go to jail and have to explain why I wasn't in the office again.
But I'm back now, and shortly I will be posting some fantastic images from before vacation!
Happy eating foodies :)