BBQ'd Grouper and Shrimp

Red Grouper (Lyretail)

Wednesday nights are burger nights at the Olivas household. I grilled up some Motsiyas Burgers. You can see that post here. But I also grilled some grouper and shrimp and that's what this post is all about.

Many of you know I love to go fishing. Our last trip out to the southern banks of Guam, we did pretty well. Most of the fish went to the local market. But every fisherman also takes home a bucket of fish. That amounts to about 30 pounds. My wife Lupe and I are big fish eaters. Here is a photo of my take-home fish..

I decided, with Lupe's recommendation, strongly I might add, that I would BBQ that nice red grouper in the middle. 

Here is a better picture of it.

Red Grouper (Lyretail Grouper)

It would be plenty for us. It's about a 16 inch, 3 lb. fish. It would make a nice meal.

My grandson Jacob was over and he did the cleaning honors. I cut two diagonal slices on each side of the fish, just so the lemon and lime could penetrate better as well as the sea salt.

I cut up some coconut branches to lay on the grill. This is a local non-stick method used for fish. Grilled the fish for about 45 minutes over medium heat on my wood-burning BBQ pit. 

At the same time that I was grilling the grouper I was also grilling some marinated shrimp. I marinated the shrimp for about 4 hours using calamansi lemon, lime and orange juice, canola oil and salt and black pepper. This was kept in the refrigerator until time came for it to be grilled.

Marinated grilled shrimp.

After slaving on the pit for about an hour, it was all served up for my wife Lupe. I still held out in order to eat my Motsiyas Burger first. Then I had a little fish and shrimp. 

Here is the spread for Lupe. 

With this Lupe ate boiled banana in coconut milk as her starch (super delicious) and the thick, corn tortillas made locally.

Here is a picture of the aftermath....

Well needless to say, we were all happy campers who ate more than we planned on. But it was so good we couldn't help ourselves.

Looking forward to the next BBQ. That would be tomorrow. I have chicken in the refer all thawed out.

Until next time....

Grilled Ouzo Shrimp

BBQ'd Ouzo Shrimp (without the Ouzo)

I was going through some of my grilling magazines one day and came across this great looking grilled shrimp recipe in Cuisine at Home magazine, issue #75, June 2009. What a great issue and fantastic recipe. I just had to try this recipe out. We did and it was totally fantastic!!!

Here is the recipe:

• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup ouzo (Greek liqueur) or anise liqueur
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (got to be fresh)
• 1/4 cup minced garlic
• 2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
• 2 lb. jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
• Grape tomatoes

Note: I did not use the Ouzo because I couldn't find any. I also added in a couple of fresh hot peppers for a little extra kick.

My directions:

In a blender I made a pesto by adding all the ingredients, except the shrimp and tomatoes, and blending them together for about 30 seconds;

Then I marinated the shrimp in this for about 6 hours in the refer;

Skewered the shrimp with a grape tomato in between both ends of the shrimp as shown in the picture;

BBQ'd each side, over high heat, for a minute to a minute and a half while brushing the shrimp with the marinade at the same time;

BBQ'd until the tails were a little blackened for effect.

Served with white rice and finadene. 

Lemon Finadene

The flavor was unbelievable. The shrimp was moist and just melted in your mouth. The tomato was caramelized and sweet and the finadene just added that extra pop to the taste buds. It was one of those, "Suck on it for a while without biting it" kind of goodness. You know what I am talking about. We totally loved this recipe.

So if you ever get some grill time, try this out. I know you won't regret it!!!! You will need to buy a lot of shrimp because you just can't seem to stop eating this.

Until next time....

Friday Night Eats

Hey Gang, we had a little family get together at the house this past Friday. Nothing special, but it was another opportunity to do some cooking. I've had to slow it down a little lately because my wife, Lupe, is on one of those cleansing diets for 7 days. So I have been supporting that venture. All soft food, but she is feeling a whole lot better and I can see it in her.

But one of my daughters invited herself, hubby and 3 teenagers over for dinner. Of course no complaints here because that meant I got to cook "real food". So I decided to change it up a bit from the regular grilling and BBQing. I figured to do up one of my favorite combos.......Surf and Turf!!!!

So here is the spread that we planned for:

Smoked Paprika Fried Chicken

Butter Sauteed Jumbo Tiger Shrimp

Homemade Buttered Mashed Potatoes

Mixed Veggies in butter

Pork and Beans doctored up with a little ketchup and mustard

White rice

Fresh dinner rolls

Lupe's special homemade tartar sauce and 

Finadenne' hot sauce...

Here is a picture of the finished spread:

Here are the recipes for the two main courses:

Smoked Paprika Fried Chicken

Here is another variation for one of our old time favorites, Smoked Paprika Fried Chicken.

I love using smoked paprika for fried chicken. The paprika gives the chicken a subtle smoke flavor without affecting the overall great taste of the chicken. The paprika also gives the chicken that dark golden brown color.

I like to use whole chicken because there is always a piece there that someone prefers. I usually throw in another 4-6 pack of chicken thighs because thighs are my favorite parts of the chicken.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken

4-6 chicken thighs (depends of thigh size)

Flour mixture:

2 cups of all purpose flour

2 tbsp of smoked paprika powder (add a little more if you desire)

1 tbsp of salt

2 tsp black pepper

Mix these ingredients together in your favorite container or plastic bag.

Egg Dip Mixture:

5 eggs

1 cup of milk

Whisk this mixture together

Panko bread crumbs

Directions:

Cut up whole chicken into frying size pieces. Each chicken will give you 2 thighs, 2 legs, 2 wings, 2 breasts that are each cut in half, 1 lower back and 1 upper back with the ribs for a total of 12 pieces to each chicken.

Rinse and drain. I cut up the chicken about 2 hours ahead of time and place the chicken, uncovered, into the refrigerator. This is one of the secrets to great fried chicken. Dries out the chicken exterior for a better fry.

Pre-heat the oil to about 350 F, standard temp and add 1-2 tbsp of salt to oil. This will ensure that every piece of chicken is salted evenly on the outside of each piece and also serves as a non-stick method;

Dip chicken in egg dip mixture;

Coat with flour mixture;

Re-dip into the egg mixture;

Then coat with the Panko bread crumbs.

These coatings will ensure a very juicy fried chicken.

Fry chicken for about 15 to 20 minutes depending on the sizes of the individual chicken. You can check the thickest piece, the thigh, by slicing it to the bone and checking for doneness. But with experience you will be able to tell if it is done or not by how the chicken finally floats up to the top of the oil and also when the chicken stops producing most of it bubbles when frying.

Once the chicken is done, place on a cooling rack over a baking tray. This cooling will also add to the crispness of the chicken.

That’s all there is to it.

Recipe for the Butter Sautéed Jumbo Tiger Shrimp

Sautéed Jumbo Tiger Shrimp

Everyone loves sautéed shrimp. One of my favorite shrimp is the Jumbo Tiger Shrimp. They are big, sweet, tender and super juicy. What more could you ask for in a shrimp.

Ingredients:

15 pieces of Jumbo Tiger Shrimp

1 cube of butter

1 medium onion cut in half and then thinly sliced

1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp of Mama Sita’s brand barbecue marinade (http://www.msita.com/sauces.htm)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:

Heat wok over high heat;

Add cube of butter into wok when you turn on the heat. If you add the butter after the wok is heated, there will be a lot of smoke from the butter and the butter will burn and turn brown;

Sauté the onions until for about 3 minutes or until they have separated from each other and are browned;

Add in the shrimp, Worcestershire sauce, and Mama Sita’s Barbecue Marinade and stir constantly until cooked to your satisfaction but no more than 4 minutes. The shrimp should turn orange in color.

Taste liquid and adjust seasoning if needed.

Garnish with diced green onions.

Serve with your favorite sides.

Well folks, needless to say we all had a great time. A couple of us had a hard time breathing by the time we got up from the table. But we knew the job was dangerous when we started!!

Until next time....

Rain Stopped, So We've Got to BBQ

Guam Weather Graph courtesy of http://ns.gov.gu/index.html

It is the rainy season on Guam right now. You see, Guam only has 2 seasons, the dry season from January until June and the rainy season from July until December. Of course there is plenty of overlap and being that Guam is a tropical island, it rains every month. But the so called, Monsoon" season is upon us.

So it was with great pleasure that the weather turned for the better and gave us some sunshine. And you know what that means to me......that's right....BBQ!!!!

I jumped right on it, not paying attention to what day it was, and got the pit going. And the menu had to be one of my favorites, baby back pork ribs, and grilled veggies with a little shrimp thrown in. Spur of the moment type thing. You know how that goes. 

By special request, my daughter Naomi wanted me to sauce up the ribs. I usually just like my ribs with dry rub only but every now and then a little makeup never hurt anyone.

So here are photos of what I did and how I did it.....

Got a good lump charcoal fire going...

Baby Backs. Sometimes we have just got to show the backside of ribs.

Baby Backs with makeup!!

Grilled Shrimp

Grilled Veggies

Just off the grill and onto the dinner table.

Now some of you probably know that I usually use my Rueben's Rub seasoning and that I don't give out the recipe. And I'm still sticking to that, but it contains garlic powder, onion powder, celery salt, sea salt, Kosher salt, parsley, black pepper and MSG/Accent/Ajinamoto. But it is how much of each that is the kicker. Anyway I also spritzed everything down with my water/pineapple juice, honey and canola oil mix. I was very light on the honey. Imparts a subtle but noticeable flavor that seems to enhance the taste of the ribs. It makes those ribs "pop".

All of this was served with beans and rice.

Well, as usual, I forgot to take pictures of one thing or another and on this occasion it was of everyone eating. So unfortunately this post is lacking. I reserve the right to blame my age. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Hope you enjoyed this little impromptu BBQ.

BTW, you have probably noticed that it has been awhile since I have posted on this blog. That's because I was off island in the States. There are quite a number of blog posts that chronicled my activities over there. You can view those post at my sister blog site, Guam Firehouse Cook.

Until next time....