Halloween BITES!

Good Evening,

Do come in,

So very thrilled you could join us for a BITE,

hope you can stay awhile,

and try not to FLY off any time soon…..

The Great Vincent Price

Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

HAH ha ha ha ha ha!

HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!!!!!

—————————————

Click Here for: Gordon’s Bat Motel

Just in case your looking for a place to stay…….

—————————————

With my Cheesy Introduction aside, Gordon and I Welcome You!

We hope to fill this blog post with many Halloween BITES for you to enjoy.

I have always seemed to prefer little BITES to some huge meal. (With the exception of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.)

I do have a thing for “FINGER” foods though. 🙂

I Especially HEART Shrimp

———————————

Enter if you dare, dine if you will, dance underneath the moonlight while the cats swoon, for tonight is the night of All Hallow’s Eve.

Julie Lancaster-Whann

—————————————–

Sometimes a nice lunch of egg rolls and dipping sauce with a lovely glass of wine is fine. It looks Halloween anyway.

Along with a book….

————————————-

It wouldn’t be Halloween without a childhood favorite of Franken Berry cereal on ice cream, now would it?

———————————————

How about a nice dinner of Grilled Shrimp, Breaded Scallops, Grilled, and Black Rice with Straw Shrimp?

Straw Noodle Shrimp

Grilled Shrimp, (Butter, and Garlic Infused)

——————————————

Fried Chicken Livers and Feta Dipping Sauce

Fried Chicken Livers have always been a favorite of mine seeing as how I grew up in the south.

Chicken Livers were a very common sight on salad bars in restaurants in my hometown of Rome, Georgia. So, whatever Salad Dressing you were adding to your salad is the “Dipping Sauce” you had with your Fried Chicken Livers.

Here I wanted to use a creamy Feta Dip. We didn’t make this dip, we purchased it ready made at the grocery store so I don’t have a recipe for it. But we do have a great recipe for the Fried Chicken Livers.

——————————————-

Assembling All the Ingredients

Ingredients:

1 Package of Chicken Livers

½ Cup Corn Starch – add to bowl

3 Eggs Beaten – add to bowl

½ Cup Bread Crumbs – add to bowl

½ Tbsp Turmeric

½ Tbsp Worcestershire Pepper or regular cracked pepper is fine

Salt to taste after they have been fried

½ Cup Olive and Avocado Oil for Frying

Add your seasonings to the Breadcrumbs bowl and mix well

Using a colander rinse your chicken livers under cold running water. Doing this will clear away any old blood which may contaminate your liver.

Assembly Line

Add your cooking oils to the large frying pan and heat to Medium heat.

(We used two oils here because we ran out of one and needed more.)

Crack your eggs into the bowl

Whisk together your eggs in the bowl

(I Julie, this is sooooo gross.) Ick!!

Slice your chicken livers into bite sized pieces

———————————————-

Place a chicken liver into your corn starch and coat it well within the cornstarch

Remove it from the cornstarch and shake off any excess. Now, add the liver to the egg mixture. Shake off any excess then add it to the bread crumbs. Repeat the above steps with the other livers and cook about 5 – 6 at a time in the hot oil in your pan.

After frying about 2-3 min. and golden brown, turn the livers over as shown and cook for another few min.

—————————————————

This is a good picture (Thanks Julie) of the livers in waiting for the journey to the pan.

(Yeah, but it’s a really GROSS picture. Glad they taste good because they are not pretty!)

Here you can see some of the livers frying

Here is the finished product!

Here Julie artfully placed her favorite dipping sauce into a bowl and placed it on a large plate. She then placed the fried livers around the bowl serving just like you were at a restaurant.

Boo Appetite!!!!

———————————————

Straw Shrimp w/ Black Rice

Made in the Rice Cooker

Black Rice was something that was considered forbidden and rare in Ancient China and reserved for Chinese Royalty only. It has many health benefits from anti-inflammatory properties to healthier arteries and better insulin regulation.

Gordon Making the Rice

———————————————

STRAW NOODLE SHRIMP

(Looks a bit creepy, doesn’t it?)

I have wanted for Gordon to make this Straw Noodle Shrimp now for awhile. That day finally came and although Gordon’s Straw Shrimp didn’t look exactly as the picture, it did taste good AND I loved the look of it for Halloween!

These photos, and the recipe are from the cookbook, The Ultimate Chinese and Asian Cookbook, Enticing Stir-Fries and Sensational Aromatic Dishes from the East.

Soba Noodles

Shrimp!

——————————————-

I thought that I would do the write up from the cookbook in the hopes that it will explain how to cook this shrimp. It was a bit intricate.

Straw Noodle Shrimp in a Sweet Ginger Dip

Shrimp are a popular feature in Japanese cooking. Rarely are they more delicious than when wrapped in crispy noodles.

Ingredients:

Serves 4-6

3 ounces somen noodles or vermicelli, or Soba Noodles

3 sheets nori

12 large jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined

vegetable oil for deep frying

For Dipping Sauce:

6 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons sugar

3/4 inch piece of fresh ginger, grated

———————————————

Gordon Washing, and Deveining the Shrimp

The Black Vein is Shrimp Poop! Remove it because if you eat it you can get sick.

Gordon Cutting the Soba Noodles

This is the “Straw Noodle” of the Straw Noodle Shrimp

Cover the Somen Noodles, if using, with boiling water and let soak for 1 – 2 minutes. Drain and dry thoroughly with paper towels. Cut the noodles into 3 inch lengths. If using vermicelli, cover with the boiling water and let soak for 1-2 minutes to soften. Drain and set aside. Cut the nori (seaweed) into 1/2 x 2 inch strips and set aside.

——————————————-

The Nori Seaweed

The Soba Noodles

Line up the noodles or vermicelli on a wooden board. Straighten each shrimp by pushing a bamboo skewer through it’s length. Roll the shrimp in the noodles or vermicelli so that they adhere in neat strands.

The Nori Seaweed

Cut Into Strips

Adding the Vegetable Oil

Straightening the Shrimp into the Skewers

Moisten one end of the Nori (seaweed) strips and secure the noodles at the fat end of each shrimp. Set aside.

Heat the vegetable oil in a preheated wok with a wire draining rack or in a deep-fryer to 350F. Fry the shrimp in the oil, two at a time, until the noodles or vermicelli are crisp and golden.

To finish cut through the band of nori with a sharp knife, exposing a clean section of shrimp. Drain on paper towels and serve with the dipping sauce in a small dish.

———————————————

To Make the Dipping Sauce:

Bring the soy sauce to a boil in a small saucepan with the sugar, then add the ginger. Simmer for 2 – 3 minutes, strain and set aside to cool.

—————————————–

———————————————–

Butter, and Garlic Infused Grilled Shrimp

Served with a nice Cocktail Sauce

————————————–

This is a Garlic Infused Butter

You first want to slice some garlic and add to some butter/margarine in a microwave safe container.

Microwave just long enough to melt the butter.

Here Gordon is Firing up the Grill!!!!

We are also Grilling some Stuffed Scallops

(We don’t have a recipe for these. We purchased them at the grocery store.)

—————————————

Gordon Grilling the Stuffed Scallops

Grilled Stuffed Scallops

Now for the Shrimp

By using wooden skewers that made it easier to straighten them out a bit. It was also easier for me to hold them to apply the garlic infused butter and then place them onto the grill.