(How’s that song go?  ” You’ll like em, you’ll love ‘em, you’ll want some more OF ‘em….”)

I have a blast making shrimp cakes from scratch, really I do.  But believe me when I say that the ones they’re featuring this week taste exactly like my favorite recipe, and I didn’t even have to dirty up my food processor to enjoy them tonight!  With a simple green salad and a box of rice pilaf – what a perfect and easy summer dinner!

Just sauté the cakes in a bit of neutral cooking oil (three minutes the first side, two on the second), and drain them on a paper towel.  Place them on a pretty platter along with the delicious basil jalapeno dipping sauce, then stand back and watch them disappear!

They’re priced at a very reasonable $9.99 per pound, which will get you 5 nice sized cakes.   The DamFam is duking it out over the leftovers even as we speak, and trust me — it ain’t pretty.  I’ll meet you at the seafood counter, I’m goin’ back for more. 

( And by the way, if they look familiar, it’s ’cause you saw ‘em here first! ) 

Before I tell you about the Blackened Snapper, I have to share this funny story.

When my brother Adam comes to visit us from Cincinnati, he always loves to stop at Grapes & Grain to pick out some nice wines for the weekend.  He called me from their parking lot yesterday afternoon, completely confounded, and asked, “Where did Grapes and Grain go!?”  I had to break it to him that sadly, they had gone out of business.  I thought he might burst into tears right there in the middle of Port Washington Road.  Pitiful.

He then high-tailed it over to the wine department at Sendiks (another one of his favorite Mequon haunts).  A short time later, he walked in to the house with ‘a genius idea’ for my blog – his favorite gin, Hendrich’s, is on sale for $25.00 a bottle, and limes are on sale 5/$1.00 – wouldn’t it make perfect sense to devote a blog entry to a batch of refreshing and delicious gin and tonics?!

Lest you think my brother is a raging alcoholic (and I certainly would not want to give you that impression), I’ll say that he simply thought this was information that my 10 readers might appreciate having.  He’s a giver. And I’m a tightwad, so if he wants to buy the gin, all the better.

Now, on to the fish.  You won’t believe how quickly this dish comes together!  I’m using the sale snapper fillets, but I’m sure you could easily swap in tilapia, or even salmon if that’s your deal.  The snapper that’s on sale comes with the skin on.  Don’t worry about this.  Just proceed with the recipe; when you sit down to eat, the fillet will pretty much just slip away from the skin.  However, I was assured by Jim in the fish department that the skin is entirely edible should you choose to eat it.

Shelled edamame take the place of lima beans for a fun little riff on the traditional succotash.  I might steam some rice to have alongside….then again, I might not.

If I have too many gin and tonics, we won’t be eating at all.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

BLACKENED SNAPPER WITH EDAMAME SUCCATASH

Serves: 4

• 4 – 6 oz. snapper fillets (SALE!)
• 3 T. melted butter, divided
• 1-2 T. your favorite Cajun blackening spices (I like Paul Prudhomme’s)
• 1 c. frozen SHELLED edamame, thawed
• 1 c. fresh corn off the cob (SALE! I used two ears)
• 1 c. grape tomatoes, halved (SALE!)
• ½ c. red onion, small dice (about ½ of a small onion)
• 1 T. fresh basil, chopped
• 1 T. rice wine vinegar
• 3 T. good quality olive oil
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Make the succotash by combining all of the ingredients (the edamame through the salt and pepper) in a large mixing bowl.  Adjust seasonings, set aside.

Pat the fish fillets dry with paper towels.  Brush with melted butter and sprinkle both sides liberally with the Cajun spices, making sure to completely coat each fillet.  Fire up your exhaust fan.  Heat a large skillet until it is very hot.  Pour the remaining butter into the skillet.  Carefully place two fillets in the skillet and cook about 3 minutes on each side.  Carefully wipe out the pan and repeat with the remaining butter and fish.  Serve on top of the edamame succotash.

I’m going to play along with the heat and humidity by whipping up this simple and light grilled seafood supper for the DamFam tonight.  This meal is ideal for a day like this; there is very little prep work involved, practically NO dirty dishes, and I won’t even have to fire up the oven (well, actually that’s not quite true; I think I’ll heat up a baguette to soak up the yummy sauce).  The long and the short is that I’ll have plenty of time to laze around, sipping lemonade on ice and enjoying the heat of the day.  Later on, I’ll put the Husband on grill duty.  He’s gonna be all over this recipe; I’m pretty sure the sight of foil packets will send him di-rectly down memory lane with sweet visions of his days at Boy Scout camp.

This recipe (originally found in Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food Magazine) makes great use of the sale tilapia (the same I used for the tacos a few days back) as well as those ridiculously cheap redskinned potatoes (hello….39/pound?).  You certainly could use the sale Bos’n Cleaned Shrimp, but for this dinner, I prefer to use larger shimp.  I’m going to splurge and go for 16-20 count, which I can easily justify because I don’t need that many of them for this recipe.

Ask my husband – I can justify just about anything.  It’s a gift, what can I say.

The original recipe calls for a making a dill compound butter (don’t be scared!) which is really good, but because I stupidly forgot to grab dill when I was at the store, tonight I’m going to use a slightly different riff.  It’s the same basic idea, but with Old Bay seasoning instead of dill.  Directions for both butters are included; feel free to go with the one you like.  No need to thank me.  You know I live for this stuff.

Despite how simple these packets are to pull together, I would TOTALLY be comfortable serving these to guests!  In fact, I’m going to pop it into my menu rotation for entertaining out here at the cottage.

Happy summer, all!  Enjoy!

GRILLED SEAFOOD PACKETS

Serves: 4

Source:  Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food Magazine, July/August 2007 issue.

For the dill butter:

• 2 T. butter, room temperature
• 2 T. finely chopped fresh dill, plus additional sprigs for garnish
• 1 small clove garlic, pressed or very finely minced
• Coarse salt and ground pepper

For Old Bay butter:

• 2 T. butter, room temperature
• ½ t. Old Bay Seasoning (adjust it to your taste)
• 1 small clove garlic, pressed or very finely minced
• Coarse salt and ground pepper

• 8 oz. redskinned potatoes, scrubbed and very thinly sliced (I’m serious)
• 1 lb. skinless cod fillet, cut into 4 equal pieces (I used the sale Tilapia)
• 8 oz. uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined (about 12, which is 3 a piece…did I mention math is another of my gifts?)
• 2 ears corn, husked and quartered
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced, plus additional wedges for garnish

Heat your grill to medium.  Decide which compound butter you’d like to use (or do a little of each — whatever makes you happy!).  The instructions apply to either:  In a small bowl, combine  well 2 T. butter with either the chopped dill or the Old Bay, and the garlic.  Season with salt and pepper and voila, you just made a compound butter, you sassy thing!  Taste it, admire it, set is aside.

Fold four 14-inch squares of heavy-duty aluminum foil in half, forming 4 rectangles.  Assemble packets:  spray on one half of each of four folded pieces of foil with a little Pam; arrange your VERY THINLY sliced potatoes in a single layer, top with the fish, then the shrimp, dividing all ingredients evenly among the foil pieces.  Place two ears of corn on the side.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add a dollop of the compound butter and two lemon slices.  Fold foil over ingredients, and crimp edges tightly to seal.

Place the packets on the grill, with potato layer on the bottom.  Cook, rotating (but not flipping) packets occasionally, until fish is just cooked through and potatoes are tender, 15 minutes.

Remove from grill.  Slit packets to open, and transfer contents to individual plates.  Garnish with additional dill sprigs or lemon wedges.

After a week-long hiatus, I’ve resumed my roll as the official DamFam taxi driver, laundress, short order cook, maid, and  referee, and my ‘to-do’ list is spiraling out of control. I have about 8 loads of laundry piled up in the hall upstairs, which must be dealt with, because while Camp Minikani is a wonderful place to visit, the scent that lingers is, well…not so pleasant.

Seriously, laundry from camp reeks — I would even place it in the same smelly category as my brother’s old goalie bag.  P.U!!!

When I’m going to find time to wash, dry, and fold this laundry remains to be seen.  We’re on our way to a 5-hour swim meet this afternoon, and then of course, I’ve got my daughter’s 9^th birthday party to plan.

Oh, when is her birthday?  How nice of you to ask.   Uhm, it’s tomorrow.   (Yeah, tomorrow.  That’s how I roll).   Bad Mom, reporting for last minute birthday planning duty, that’s me.

Anyway, in the midst of all this craziness, dinner still found it’s way to the table.  All three of my DamKids were off doing their own thing, so I whipped up these crunchy little Shrimp & Sweet Corn Cakes with Basil-Jalapeno Tartar Sauce for the Husband and myself.

Oh. My. Gravy.  We LOVED these!

I  used the Censea Cleaned Jumbo Shrimp that are on sale, $12.99 for a two pound bag.  Although it says “JUMBO” on the bag, I have to tell you, I think that’s a little misleading to the average shopper.  These shrimp are 26/30 count, which (in case you didn’t already know this) means that there are between 26 and 30 shrimp in each pound.  This also means the shrimp are, well, a little shrimpy.   These are not the shrimp I like to throw on the grill or serve in a shrimp cocktail (that’s just me); I prefer much larger shrimp for those types of preparations.

I like to use these shrimp for recipes such as this one, where their size doesn’t really matter, because they’re chopped up pretty finely in a food processor.

With the help of your Cuisinart, this recipe comes together quite quickly.  You’ll just need to set aside an hour or so for them to chill in the fridge before they’re quickly sautéed.  As I mentioned, I did serve these Shrimp Cakes for dinner, but they could easily be formed into teeny little cakes and served as an hors’ doeuvre.  ENJOY!  Now if you’ll pardon me, I’m off to sort more laundry.

SHRIMP & SWEET CORN CAKES WITH BASIL-JALAPENO TARTAR SAUCE

Makes 4 Servings (or 8 appetizer servings)

Adapted from The Dean Bros. Cookbook, Recipes from the Road, by Jamie and Bobby Dean and Melissa Clark, p. 206 (a really fun cookbook that I highly recommend!)

CAKES:

• 3 scallions, rough chopped
• 1 smallish clove garlic, rough chopped
• 1 lb. raw shrimp, tails removed
• ½ c. fresh corn off the cob (*see note)
• 1 egg
• 2 T. mayonnaise
• 1 T. Dijon mustard
• 1 hefty pinch of chopped cilantro or Italian parsley
• 2 c. Panko breadcrumbs, divided (find these in the Asian aisle on the bottom shelf)
• Salt and ground pepper
• Neutral cooking oil for sautéing

BASIL-JALAPENO TARTAR SAUCE

• ½ c. mayonnaise
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and rough chopped (please, wear gloves!)
• 1 smallish clove of garlic, minced
• 5-10 basil leaves, rough chopped
• 2 t. capers, drained
• Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
• Salt and ground pepper

Place the first eight shrimp cake ingredients into the bowl of your food processor.  Pulse enough times to coarsely chop the shrimp, but not to the point of turning them to total mush.  Add one cup of panko, and pulse to blend.  Season with salt and pepper and pulse a couple more times.

Form the shrimp mixture into individual cakes (I got 8 cakes out of this).  Place the remaining cup of panko into a shallow bowl.  Dredge each shrimp cake in the panko, and place cakes on a plate.  Refrigerate the cakes for one hour.

Meanwhile, make the Tartar Sauce:

Place all tartar sauce ingredients into the bowl of your food processor (which you’ve cleaned out, of course – or avoid handwashing it altogether and use a mini-prep).  Pulse to combine to desired consistency –  I like mine pretty smooth.   Transfer to serving dish and chill until serving time.

Place a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add enough oil to evenly coat the bottom of the pan (1-2 T.).  When oil is hot (a crumb or two of panko will immediately sizzle when dropped in the oil), add the shrimp cakes (don’t crowd your pan; this took me two batches).  Brown 3 minutes on the first side (or until they reach a pretty golden color), flip; brown about 2 minutes on the second side.  Remove to a plate lined with paper towels, drain.  Transfer to a pretty platter, serve with the Basil Jalapeno Tartar Sauce.

**NOTE: Cutting corn off the cob can be a messy job.  You can avoid having it fly willy-nilly all over your kitchen by doing this simple trick:  get out a medium sized glass mixing bowl.  Place a smaller bowl upside down in the mixing bowl (I use a little cereal bowl).  Cut the bottom off of the corn cob to make it flat.  Stand it on top of the upside down bowl, and slice the kernels off of the cob.  They should all land in the mixing bowl.  Nifty, right?!

No need to thank me, I live for this stuff.