Shark Week Fun!
Beaches Closed Due to Shark Sightings!
HERE FOR SHARK WEEK!!!
SHARKS!!!!
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Me, In Our Happily Cluttered Nautical Den
(I’m holding a glass Japanese fishing boat float that we found floating amongst some sharp coral in Hawaii.)
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The Cocktail…
Our Sharkarita’s
(See recipe down below.)
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Our Shark Week Fun Supper
Shrimp, Salmon Patties, and Dipping Sauces
Our Asian Abalone
w/ Our Pickled Pearl Onions
(Recipe Down Below)
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Our Leftover Shark Week Foods…
…even Better the Following Day
We Love Shark Week Every Summer!
If the Shark Week line-up doesn’t interest us, then we just do our own thing.
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Our Sharkarita’s
The Blue Trays you see above and below are Shark Fin ice cube trays.
Here I added some blue food coloring to water and froze them.
Here, Gordon is adding some Hawaiian Salt to a plate where he rimmed our Margarita Glasses with some Lime Juice, and then created the nice salty rim to our Sharkarita Glasses.
Oh! Forget to say that we just bought a bucket of Margarita Mix, added the Tequila, and then placed the bucket into the freezer until ready.
When done, simply place the Margarita into glasses that are rimmed with salt, and place a few shark fin ice cubes into the drink, along with some red food coloring to ‘chum up the water.’ 🙂
“We’re gonna need a bigger boat.” Sheriff Brody (JAWS)
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Our Cucumber Sharks
(We watched a tutorial video to learn how. We thought it would be fun to carve out a shark with food as a nice accent to our Shark Week Table. Here is how we did it.)
Gordon is Ready to Get Started
Ingredients/Supplies
(Depending on how many you want to make.)
Cucumbers
Idaho/Sweet Potatoes
Lettuce Leaves (to act as Seaweed.)
Small Red Peppers (for the eyes.)
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LandShark Beer
We thought a Land Shark Beer would be good to have while we carve the sharks!
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I’m excited to carve my first Shark!
Watching a Tutorial on How to Carve a Shark From a Cucumber
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Using a sharp knife, take a small slice all the way down the length of the cucumber as shown.
This sliced off section will be used to make the shark’s fins.
Pick a front and a back of the shark.
Using a sharp knife at the front of the shark make two wedge cuts to make the mouth of the shark.
Now, make small wedge cuts with your knife to make the gills of the shark. This is done just after the opening of the mouth. Three or four of these cuts on both side are good.
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Here Gordon is Showing You How
Using a smaller knife, make wedge cuts inside the lower part of the mouth to make the teeth.
Now make a thin slice on the top of the shark to wedge the first dorsal fin (the top fin), into just beyond the gills.
Using the sliced piece of cucumber, fashion a triangular fin as shown and place part of the wedge into the slice you made at the top of the cucumber.
You can see it took me a few cuts to get the dorsal fin to the way I wanted it.
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Cute Spooky and Sparky Break 🙂
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Make another cut for the tail fin at the end of the cucumber. Here you can see I fit the tail fin into it.
Now, slice it into a triangular wedge to make the fin as shown.
Just after the dorsal fin, make a curved slice to the end of the cucumber. This cut will help shape the shark and provide you with the last two pectoral fins of the shark.
Now take a small, curved wedge out of the side of the shark as shown.
Fit one of the sections you just cut off into the side of the shark as shown. You may need to trim it up some to make it fit. Trim the fins as needed to make them fit.
Now you can see your shark coming alive.
Using your small knife, make a small square cut where the shark’s eyes should go to make the eye sockets.
Make about the same sized cuts out of your red pepper.
Place the small red pepper into each of the eye sockets. Use toothpicks to secure the fins as needed.
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Our Sharks Are Almost Ready!
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FOOD BREAK!
TIME FOR DINNER
We like to showcase the food we eat, and here is something very simple and tasty.
Just a box of Zatarain’s Dirty Rice, and some Turkey Keilbasa. Easy!
I just sliced the Turkey Keilbasa into rounds and fried it in a little bit of oil in a saucepan.
I made the rice according to the package directions and once the rice was done, I added the fried kielbasa to the rice.
Delicious! And Easy!
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Now, Back to our Sharks
Using two toothpicks, secure the lettuce leaf to the potato as shown.
Place the shark on top of the two toothpicks securing it to the potato and leaf.
Now you can see both sharks we carved.
These are great for a seafood dinner table setting.
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Salmon Patties w/ Shrimp and Dipping Sauces
(Salmon Patties are a favorite of ours, here is just another version. Sometimes we veer from our usual classic ingredients.)
Ingredients:
2 Cans Salmon
~1/2 Cup Peanut Oil – or oil of your choice
1/2 Yellow Onion – sliced thinly
1 Shallot – sliced thinly
1/2 tsp. Tabasco Spicy Salt
1/2 tsp. Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 tsp. Tabasco Hot Sauce
2 tsp. Sweet Paprika
2 Large Eggs
1/2 Cup Plain Breadcrumbs
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Pour your Peanut Oil into a large skillet.
I prefer a cast iron skillet as it more evenly cooks the item and keeps the heat.
Open the cans of Salmon into a large bowl.
We love the bone as they are soft and provide a soft crunch.
(They are also extremely healthy to eat.)
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Slice the top, and root of your onion off then slice it in half….
Now, slice it lengthwise then diagonally making a small thin dice and place them in the bowl.
Gordon Chopping the Onion
(Not sure why Gordon is wearing a mask here? Perhaps he was exposed to someone that had Covid and I made him wear a mask around me? We shot this last year, 2022 and I don’t remember?)
Do the same procedure with your Shallot.
Again, place the chopped Shallot into the bowl.
Now, add your Tabasco Spicy Salt, Freshly Ground Black Pepper, Tabasco Hot Sauce and Sweet Paprika to the bowl.
Here you can see all the ingredients we have in the bowl so far.
Add your two large eggs to the bowl.
Here you can see the egg, but even better are the soft bones in the next picture.
Mix all the ingredients in the bowl slightly.
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Now, add your bread crumbs and mix again. Heat your pan to Medium High heat.
Form your patties to the size you like and when your oil is hot. place your patty into the oil.
Gently place the patty into the oil so that it doesn’t splatter towards you. To do this, place the patties edge close to you until it touches the pan, then gently place the patty the rest of the way into the hot oil.
Do this with about four to five patties at a time. If you fry too many patties at once, the temperature of the pan and oil will drop drastically causing uneven cooking. This is also why I like using a cast iron skillet as it retains the heat so well.
Fry the patties for about 5 min. or until they are golden brown as shown.
Place the fried patties on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil.
Here you can see how the cast iron skillet cooks the patties evenly.
I hope you enjoy this great meal as much as we do.
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Our Asian Style Abalone
(This was so delicious!)
Frozen Abalone
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Ingredients:
2-3 Tbsp. Peanut Oil
6 Garlic Cloves – minced
~2 inches of Ginger – sliced and chopped
2 Red Chili Peppers – sliced thinly
1 Heaping Tbsp. Red Curry Paste
3 Heaping Tbsp. Black Been Garlic Sauce
3 Tbsp. Chopped Yellow Onion
2 Tbsp. Oyster Sauce
2 Tbsp. Soy Sauce – (Aloha Brand)
2 Tbsp. Sweet Soy Sauce
1 tsp. Freshly Ground Black Pepper
8 Abalone – thawed
Water as needed – to thin the sauce
2-3 Green Onions – sliced
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Add your oil to a Wok as shown and heat to medium temperature.
Chopping Garlic
Peel, slice and chop your Ginger as shown.
Slice and remove the seeds of the peppers. Then slice the peppers into rings,
Add your Curry Paste and Black Bean Garlic Sauce to the heated oil
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Mix the ingredients together with a wooden spatula.
Now add your Yellow Onions…
Then add your Garlic, Red Chili Peppers, and Ginger to the Wok.
Now add your Oyster Sauce…
Soy Sauce…
and Sweet Soy Sauce.
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Mix all the ingredients well as shown.
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Add your Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Continue to mix the ingredients…
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Remove the Abalone from the package and rinse them well as shown.
Then remove the Abalone from their beautiful shells.
Using a sharp knife, make slices half way through the top of the Abalone into a dice pattern as shown.
Do this for all the Abalone.
Place the Abalone into the Wok.
Mix them well into the sauce.
Add some water as needed to the sauce and continue to cook the abalone for about 3 min. over medium heat.
You can eat Abalone raw so just cook it enough to get it heated all the way through.
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While they are cooking, slice your Green Onions.
Here we have cleaned off the beautiful shells.
When the Abalone are cooked to your liking, place them back into their cleaned shells for a nice presentation.
Here you can see the nice brown colored Abalone that are covered with that amazing sauce.
Add some sliced Green Onion for a nice garnish.
We also popped open a jar of our White Pickled Pearls (Onions) as well.
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Butter and Garlic Shrimp
Remove the Shells and Devein 1 Lb. Shrimp
Rinse and Drain in the Colander
Mince 4-5 Garlic Cloves
and Chop Some Spring Onions for Garnish
Melt About 3 Tablespoons of Butter in a Pan on Medium Heat
Add the Minced Garlic to the Butter,
Cook for About 5 Minutes, Stirring Occasionally
Now Add The Prepared Shrimp
Cook For About 3 Minutes on Each Side
Should Be Perfectly Pink When Done
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Also Take a Look at our Other JAWS Themed Posts:
Our July 4th. Tribute to the Movie JAWS (1975)
AND,
Check Out Our: Summer Seafood, Sides, and Salads
And,
AND,
Stay Out Of The Water! JAWS Week
How to Make a Beachy Cheese Cake
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You can also view our Sh..sh..sh..sh..SHARK!!! Week here……..
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AND,
Click Here For: Our Southern Shark Week Table
Just a few great recipes that you can make for Shark Week as well.
Also Check Out:
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