Something Old, Something New - Seafood Edition

Last Friday was one of the few evenings where it hasn't rained around dinner time. We're now officially into summer and it's been quite rainy. Me thinks summer in Toronto might be cancelled. This is one of the few instances where I hope I'm wrong.

I have two dishes at the plate today. The "something old" would be fried calamari - you know...squid.

Here, I've deep-fried calamari rings. You'll find decent, frozen calamari rings at your supermarket and if you love calamari, this good convenience product saves you from the trouble of having to clean squid.

There's no rocket science here, the calamari rings are dredged in a seasoned combo of all-purpose and corn flour. If you want to have fried calamari at your home just the way you first tasted it at the Greek "psarotaverna", the simple and straightforward approach can be viewed here.

The "something new" is a shrimp dish I saw, gawked at, and tried. Now I'm sharing it with you. It's easy, quick, hard to screw up and delicious.

This recipe comes from Bobby Flay's Boy Meets Grill but interestingly (and refreshingly) this dish is not his but it comes from Bobby's inlaws.

Bobby Flay married Stephanie March, best know for her work in Law & Order. In this episode, she and her sis and mother make an appearance and share their family favourites with Bobby and the viewer.

I love this shrimp dish because it's easy, a little spicy, incorporates some quick grilling and when you taste the shrimp, you get the tangy zing from the lime and then bite into a contrast of naturally sweet, succulent shrimp.

Folks, this is a family favourite from Texas and now I know why...it's easy and tastes "dang good".

One final note...as instructed, leave the shrimp shells on. Eat this shrimp dish with your hands...suck the juices out of it, peel & eat to your enjoyment and damn to all who insist on cutlery.

Leave that for the the loopy characters in Seinfeld who ate the Snickers Bar with a fork & knife!

Tried, Tested and True

I'm gonna get right to the point. The title of this entry is for a food event hosted by Equal Opportunity Kitchen.

Giz and Psychgrad, the mother & daughter duo co-host this food blog right from my the province I live in, Ontario.

The premise of the food event is to highlight a dish, recipe that has friends, relatives and bloggers raving about.

When I first read of this blog event, my mind immediately raced to my Baby Back Ribs. They have the flavour of being slowly done in the BBQ but all the work is done in the oven.

My dry rub is unique in that I use a hickory salt in the mix.

All the juicy details of my ribs can be found here.