grilled beer battered shrimp

Holidays and some birthdays around here usually mean grilling stuff, like fish, chicken, or other grillables. We've been playing around with battered fish for a while, though after this we've decided that grilling food with a battered coating wasn't the best method. (I still say the grills needed to be greased. *cough cough*)

Last time we used a tempura-ish batter with beer and it didn't quite stick to the shrimp. After reading around, we realized it we weren't patting the shrimp dry enough for the batter to stick. Also, some methods tossed the fish with either corn starch or flour, further ensuring the fish to be thoroughly coated with bater. We used cornstarch.

This beer batter was one of the better recipes I've tried, and coming from Alton Brown, it all makes sense. The batter includes baking powder for lightness, I'm guessing, and the carbonation from the beer would definitely aid in that aspect along with giving the batter flavor. There's also a bit of cayenne pepper that lends a noticeable spicy note, and I also added a teaspoon of fish seasoning I have. (He uses Old Bay, and this is probably the equivalent, though he only uses a "dash".) The batter then gets a brief rest of 15 minutes in the fridge before being used, though the recipe states that it can rest for up to an hour.

The shrimp skewers were then placed on the grill and left for a few minutes until the batter set.

So far, everything seemed good. My dad was concerned that the batter would rip off like a scab and stick to the grills instead of the shrimp. (He didn't use those exact words.) The first few skewers didn't stick to the grill, which wasn't oiled.

Then some of the coating just wouldn't stick to the shrimp. I think this could have been because the outside cooked quicker than the inside, so it didn't have a chance to stick to the shrimp. However, nothing went to waste as I scraped off the coating that stuck to the grills. Gotta get my daily dose of carcinogen in! The batter was incredibly tasty, and years of purposely burning marshmallows enables me to enjoy the flavor of overly charred food. It adds an interesting aspect.

So, for the most part, it wasn't a failure, though it wasn't necessarily easy. The sad part is that you don't get the flavor of charcoal when you fry food.

P.S. I left out the obvious joke of "shrimp on the barbie", which I will mention now that this post is over.

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Alton Brown's Beer Batter for Fish
From Alton's Chips and Fish recipe

ingredients ~

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Dash Old Bay Seasoning
1 bottle brown beer, cold
1 1/2 pounds firm-fleshed whitefish (tilapia, pollock, cod), cut into 1-ounce strips
Cornstarch, for dredging

directions ~

1. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cayenne pepper, and Old Bay seasoning. Whisk in the beer until the batter is completely smooth and free of any lumps. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Note: The batter can be made up to 1 hour ahead of time.


2. Lightly dredge fish strips in cornstarch. In small batches, dip fish in batter and cook as desired.

Full cooking methods are described if you click on the link above. Instead of deep frying, you could probably pan fry the fish in a cast iron skillet with a decent amount of oil in it.

key lime pie for mother's day

One of my mom's favorite dessert is a key lime pie, so it was the obvious choice (that I almost forgot about) to make for Mother's Day. She has this really simple recipe that uses just egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, lime juice and zest, and a meringue topping. We vary between the meringue topping and a simple whipped cream topping, though this time I made the meringue with less sugar and folded it into the filling for an airier consistency. The recipe has you whip one egg white and fold it into the filling anyway, so I figured adding the entire meringue might give the pie a new twist.

By far the worst part is juicing all the tiny little key limes. I'm sure there was an easier way than using the juicer I use for lemons and more sanely sized limes, but of course I wouldn't have used the easier way. If I ever have kids and need to punish them, forget the corner, time out, or soap in mouth, I'll simply sentence them to juicing an entire bag of key limes.

For the crust, I typically go for a shortbread cookie crust over a pastry or graham cracker crust. Actually, making a crust using homemade graham cracker crust would be excellent. But this time I chose the incredibly simple no-roll pie crust from Joy the Baker. Her technique is to grate frozen butter and add it, along with a bit of softened cream cheese, to the flour mixture (which includes salt, sugar, and a little baking powder).

You then mix together oil and cold milk and toss it in the flour-butter mixture until cohesive clumps of dough comes together.

After that, you press the dough into the pie dish, freeze it, then bake.

When she says this is the simplest pie crust ever, it really is! My problem with pie crusts is that, no matter how carefully I try not to overwork the dough, the crust shrinks down. This happens with par-baking the crust, or using it straight. The beautiful crimp loses its design, and I get sad. Well, there was no worries about crimping here, and after blind baking the crust it didn't noticeably shrink a bit. The texture wasn't as flaky as regular pie crust, but it was light and had a bit of a soft shortbread consistency.

After the pie crust cooled a bit, I made the meringue and folded it into the filling.

After a sprinkling of sugar, I put the pie in the oven to bake for 15 minutes. The recipe says to bake to brown the meringue, though I figure it helps the filling as well so I kept the time at 15 minutes, or until the filling jiggled a bit but was firm to the touch.

The end result was a beautifully puffed filling with a sugary crust on top. The swirls added a decorative touch, too. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of refrigerating the pie after it cooled, which caused the crust to become soft and the filling to weep, so possibly it wasn't entirely cooled before I stuck it in the fridge. I'm not sure if it needed to be chilled at all, really.

Look at this freaky cow. How Elsie the cow with a ring of daisies around her neck can be trusted by millions of Americans for years, I'm not sure.

The pie came out just as good as always, though we decided not to add the meringue to the filling next time. We like the richness that seemed to be missing this time around, though the flavor was still there. I would, however, use this method to make mini tarts since the puffy filling would make them look really pretty.

Did you guys bake anything special for Mother's Day?

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Print this recipe

key lime pie
Recipe from an old Parade Magazine clipping

ingredients ~
4 large eggs, separated (reserve 3 egg whites for meringue)
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup lime juice
2-3 teaspoons grated lime peel
Few drops green food coloring
1 baked 9-inch pastry shell (I used the Easy No-Roll Pie Crust)
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar (or 2 tablespoons if mixing the meringue into the filling), plus additional sugar for sprinkling

directions ~

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Beat egg yolks; stir in milk, lime juice, peel and food coloring. Beat one egg white until stiff; fold into milk mixture. Pour into pastry shell.


2. Beat reserved egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy; gradually add sugar, beating until stiff but not dry. Spread meringue on top of pie, sealing carefully to edge of shell. Sprinkle with additional sugar. Bake for 15 minutes or until meringue is golden brown. Cool. Chill before serving.

Uptown Kitchen

Hey everyone! I'm still here, I just took a bit of a blogging break. It goes in cycles, I think, where sometimes you'd rather just bake, cook, and eat without thinking and taking pictures. I don't really like to go too long without posting because then it becomes a habit. I did, however, take some pictures from a restaurant I checked out recently. I haven't heard of it before, though it's locally owned and and different from most restaurants in the South Bend area.

Uptown Kitchen features a menu created with fresh, quality ingredients, nonprocessed meats, and tons of flavor. The owner, who came from Chicago, dreamed of having a restaurant since he was 10, and I'm glad I got to eat here! Serving breakfast all day, the menu offers creations that aren't typical of many breakfast fare served elsewhere, as well as a lunch and dinner menu with offerings for everyone ranging from a Kobe beef burger to a protein-packed quinoa burger.

The ambiance is an eclectic, fresh vibe that you can feel instantly upon entering. It's like dining in a really awesome dining room, but in a public setting. The hanging lamps lead up to an exposed ceiling that only lends to the eclectic feel, and reminded me of the cafe at Fox & Obels. Windows surround the entire dining area and off to the side is the kitchen, of which you have a complete view. I love eating with natural lighting as it just gives everything a brighter, lighter feel.

Before I talk about what I ate, I'll first tell you a bit about the coffee, of course. Uptown Kitchen offers two roasts, a Brazilian and an Ethiopian. The former is the lighter roast of the two, yet it's not weak at all. It has a fruitier, brighter flavor that I felt complimented the tastes of the dishes I had better than the Ethiopian, which to me was richer, but almost tasting reminiscent of a Starbucks roast (ew), yet not. It didn't have a caramelization of the oils and flavors that I look for in darker roasts.

We had a challenge when it came to deciding what to eat, so we made the brilliant choice of choosing two dishes and splitting them. First up was the deliciously described omelette filled with crab, cream cheese, and spinach. It sounded unique, and the combination of ingredients stood out amongst the rest. (If I remember correctly, this was one of the specials of the day.) The order came with a side of their Uptown Fries, pan-roasted and seasoned red potatoes.

Was this the best omelette I've ever had, or what! The taste of the cream cheese complimented the crab perfectly, and the texture next to the eggs was great. Sometimes I feel cream cheese can have too much of an overwhelming flavor, but that wasn't the case here. They weren't stingy with the crab, either, which was nice to see.

The potatoes were good, and not greasy at all (I was told they use minimal oil, they don't have a deep fryer), though one of the flavors, I think it was sage, tastes off at times. The texture was crispy on the outside, and had the innards of a fluffy, warm potato, and that made it better.

Our "dessert" was a split order of lemon ricotta pancakes with raspberry creme fraiche, another special of the day. The pancakes had a very bright lemony flavor, and the texture of the pancakes was sort of like light cheesecake-meets pancake. Raspberry always compliments lemon, and definitely made the pancakes with a little extra syrup, too.

My next visit to Uptown Kitchen will be solely for the purpose of tasting some of their cakes, like champagne raspberry, and pies. If you're in the area, check it out!

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The Uptown Kitchen
303 Florence Avenue
Granger, Indiana 46530

(574) 968-3030