Mother’s Day At Almost Heaven South

We had a little MD get together at our place that included our newest mother Wende, her daughter Eliza, her friend Ralph, SIL Pat, Bev, and me as chief cook and bottle washer for the day.  Wende and Bev both thought that grilled shrimp should be the meal for the day and I added some par-boiled and smashed potatoes, and some fresh picked asparagus that the neighbors had given us the previous day.  And since we didn’t have enough shrimp to go around, I added a piece of Swordfish that we had bought fresh from Skip One Seafood’s in Fort Myers during our winter trip.  We considered having a salad but decided we had plenty to eat without it or dessert.

First, I got everything ready throughout the day as follows:

Shrimp – We had thirty Royal Red Shrimp that we bought from Joe Patti’s Seafood during our winter trip.  Look at that tuna and swordfish in the bottom pic.

The Royal Reds are described as tasting more like a combination of shrimp and lobster and Bev thinks they are the best ever.  I’ve always used two skewers for shrimp but discovered that if I use just one near the head end, it works fine if I just sweep them across the grill as I lay them down.  I cooked them over high heat and flipped them a few times brushing on garlic butter with each flip. Here they are ready to go.  Unfortunately, this was the last of them and we may need to head back to Pensacola in the near future.

Potatoes – I peeled the flatter sides of 3” diameter red potatoes so they could brown easier.  Then I parboiled, cooled slightly, and flattened them a little with the heal of my hand.  I used the same garlic butter to cook them. 

Swordfish – We had purchased two pieces of swordfish and decided to eat one the night before to be sure it was okay and to cook this day, I cut it into three pieces, added Island Garlic Lemon Herb seasoning (that Bev had picked up in Sint Maarten) to both sides except part of the larger piece then grilled it over medium heat.  I was getting low on the IGLH so for this cook I made up some lemon pepper seasoning from an online recipe and added a little sugar per the IGLH ingredients list to get this:

Homemade Lemon Pepper Seasoning

¾ T. lemon rind granules (ground smaller)

1 T. ground pepper

1 T. sea salt

½ T. sugar

Asparagus – After drying, I tossed with some Italian herb infused olive oil, grilled over medium heat then topped with Parmesan and garlic powder to serve.

I was too busy to get cooking shots but here is my plate.

The meal was a big hit and Wende and Ralph enjoyed their first try of the Royal Reds.  The potatoes were good but had trouble staying together - this works better when they are bacon wrapped.  As always, the fresh asparagus was delicious and tastes so much better than when it has been picked for a while.  

I had used the IGLH for most of the swordfish with a little of my lemon pepper along one side and surprisingly I preferred it.  Due to the potency of the lemon granules, a little of this spice is all that is required.  We all loved the flavor and moist butter texture of the swordfish but it's been so long since we last ate it, I forgot how good it is - will be a regular purchase from now on.

While we ate our fish, Eliza used her first tooth bud on some boiled potato, followed by a bottle after supper, then a little nap.

Bev said that she had a very nice day which made my efforts well worth it.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

5/13/18 Meal Date