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(713) 523-3483 (dive)
5808 Newcastle Drive
Houston, TX 77401

Recipe

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Chef Recommended – Orzo Risotto with Shrimp

I was looking for something different to make this weekend while Ann is out of town visiting her Mother; and would you believe, a fun email arrived with a suggestions for me — Risotto with Shrimp. Ann doesn’t eat shrimp so it was perfect! This recipe comes from Jenn Segal a reformed Chef. Her website and her similarly named cookbook is “Once Upon a Chef.” I love risotto but I don’t make it very often. This recipe uses orzo which is easier to make than using true risotto. This one also ready in under an hour! Jenn provides step-by-step instructions on her website.

Let me know what you think. I will let you know how it turned out in the comments. Here is her recipe:

Orzo Risotto with Shrimp, Peas & Bacon

By Jennifer Segal

Adapted from The Ultimate Meal Prep Cookbook by America’s Test Kitchen

Rice-shaped orzo is cooked like risotto in this easy, one-pot pasta dish.

  • Servings: 4
  • Prep Time: 10 Minutes
  • Cook Time: 35 Minutes
  • Total Time: 45 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
  • 5 slices (5 oz) bacon, diced
  • 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1-1/2 cups orzo
  • 4 cups chicken broth
  • Heaping 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1-1/4 teaspoons Cajun or Creole seasoning, such as Emeril’s Essence
  • 2 pounds extra-large (21/25) shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • 1 cup frozen green peas (no need to thaw)
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
  • 3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Instructions

  • Melt one tablespoon of the butter in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring frequently, until crisp, 6 to 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside.
  • Reduce the heat to medium and add the onion. Cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more. Do not brown. Stir in the orzo and cook, stirring frequently, until lightly toasted, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the broth, salt, pepper, and Cajun/Creole seasoning and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer, stirring once midway through, until the orzo is nearly tender, about 10 minutes.
  • Stir the shrimp and peas into the orzo (it will be quite creamy/brothy at this point; that’s normal). Cover and cook over low heat until the shrimp are opaque throughout and the orzo is tender, about 5 minutes.
  • Off the heat, stir in the remaining tablespoon of butter, the lemon juice, and chives. Right before serving, stir in the crispy bacon. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary, then spoon into bowls and serve.

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Chef Recommended – Easy Vegetables

Dive Mom has been asking for more vegetables and fewer desserts in our Chef Recommended posts so being the cooperative person that I am I am posting two very easy vegetable treats.

Steamed Green Beans

This can’t be any easier. Bring home a bag of fresh green beans and trim the ends off (I prefer to do it on a bias with a pair of kitchen scissors). Set up your steamer and boil the water. When you are ready to put them on, add about half a cup of white wine or brandy to the water and then steam your beans. Don’t overcook them, you want them to be crispy. Now put them in a dish and add a little olive oil and salt to taste. This is a great time to try that herbed salt you have up in the cabinet. Cover and let the salt finish its work for about fifteen minutes and then serve.

Spaghetti Squash

Split the lengthwise and remove the seeds (save those for Dive Mom). Lightly apply some Olive oil and salt to the inside of the squash and lay face down on a roasting pan or cookie sheet. Cook for about thirty minutes until the fibers are easy to separate and look like angel hair pasta. Scrape out these fibers into a large serving dish and add butter and freshly grated parmesan cheese to taste. In our house, we like lots of butter and cheese so we tend to layer the butter and cheese to make sure everything gets a good coating. As a hint, use your microplane for the cheese and it will coat better with less cheese (or it will allow you to add more.) Cover for about fifteen minutes and then serve.

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Chef Recommended Charcuterie

https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/charcuterie-board/

As we all begin to come out of hibernation and venture out into our backyards to rejoin small groups of friends, it is the ideal time to put together a Charcuterie board or a sampling of your favorite cheeses, meats and crackers. But, how do you put together the perfect spread?

What is a Charcuterie Board?

To get started, perhaps we should look at what a Chacuterie Board is. Food and Wine magazine said, “…more than a bunch of meat on a plate, charcuterie is a culinary choose-your-own-adventure story. Imagine the savory goodness that is a charcuterie board: an array of cured meats, tangy pickles, sweet jams, cheese, fresh fruit, and your own personal culinary wild cards, paired with beer or wine to complement the flavors and textures.” To put it simply, it is a collection of cheese, cured meats, crackers, bread and a few fruits. For my part, I like to add some nice dark chocolates to the mix.

How do I put it together?

Let’s look at this a little closer…

  • Select your favorite “board” to build on. This can be a large cutting board, a large tray (remember those trays you have tucked in a closet?), a plate or even a bit of butcher paper on your table.
  • Add your bowls and large cheese wedges. This is where you put bowls to contain your pickles, spreads, olives and cheeses you want people to cut for themselves. If you are using a tray or your table, you may want to put a small cutting board under the cheese to protect the surface.These items take up space so you want to place them first rather thna trying to “squeeze them in.”
  • Now add in the bread or crackers. These take up a lot of room so putting them down now lets you build around them.
  • Lay in your cured meats and pre-sliced cheeses. By outting in pre-sliced cheeses your add some different colors and keep people from taking large slices of your block cheeses. It also keeps things moving faster. For the cured meats, put in several types at different locations of the board to give it a more colorful appearance.
  • Time for fruits and chocolate. Fill in the gaps with the fruit and chocolate. Everyone loves fruit and chocolate so tuck them around to fill in the gaps. I especially love bright red and green grapes.

Some other ideas…

Make some special bread to add to your presentation. But remember, to keep it simple. You want to enjoy the gathering not work as the caterer for people gathering in your backyard. You don’t have to use exotic or expensive cheeses, you can use simple good quality cheese and meats.

If you are feeling adventurous, try making a Fougasse and building around it. And while I would love to make this in my own brick, wood fired oven, I have yet to convince Dive Mom to let me have one at home or at the office. So, you can make it in your oven on a pizza stone.

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Summertime Treat – Coconut Cream Pie

We were sitting around talking in the Oceanic Ventures’ backyard (i.e. David’s Backyard) and the subject of desserts came up. Zaide mentioned a coconut pie and I just started thinking about some of the fun special coconut pies I have enjoyed around the world.

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Sau Bay, Fiji

There is probably nothing as special as eating a coconut pie, made from fresh coconuts sitting and watching the sunset over the Somosomo Straits in Fiji. Couple this with a nice cup of tea followed by a whisky on the deck and I am in heaven! Oh that is after a fabulous day of diving and living in a remote resort.

The funny thing was that in my email this morning was an email from “Once Upon a Chef’s” Jenn Segal with a recipe for a Coconut Cream Pie. It is a little different from the Coconut Pie in Fiji (I am trying to get the recipe or I will recreate it soon) but it looks wonderful. I can’t wait to try it (or maybe we can talk Zaide into making it for us to try!)

Maybe you should try it. Once you have your slice, sit back and remember some of your favorite dives. In your mind transport yourself to those times and as you enjoy each bite, just imagine yourself being there. Relive the experience and just be there. Now it is time for the next bite…

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Dreaming of Costa Rica

Ah, Costa Rica…  This place has everything, diving, beaches, lush forests, coffee and lots of activities for the bubble deprived (i.e. non-divers).  When Oceanic Ventures was young we ran eight adventures in five years to Costa Rica.  At that time it was a little off the beaten path and things were a little challenging, especially for me since my Spanish is functional “border Spanish” and I have a vocabulary of a two year-old.  But we had a great time!

Diving in Costa Rica
White Water Rafting
Zip Line

It was during those early trips that we met Bill and Nadine Beard.  Bill brought diving to Costa Rica and Nadine kept an eye on Bill and ran the marketing arm of their operation and acted as a Dive Master too.  They helped us put together some truly unique adventures for our travelers including white water rafting, tours into the rain forest and hikes up to an active Volcano (you can’t get that close to it anymore – it is a safety thing you know).

All of these years later, we are still leading trips off the sidewalk and Costa Rica has so much to offer.  Picture yourself on a quiet beach with a gentle surf breaking or on a beach where big waves break with surfers riding them to the beach.  Or maybe peeking over a ridge and watching large bull sharks swim by is more to your liking.  The fun thing about Costa Rica is you can do both in the same day!  You can be diving in the morning and flying through trees in the afternoon.

And if you want to experience the true beauty of sharks, the Cocos Islands should be on your “must do” list.  In this remote island chain, there are schools of hammerheads swimming through cleaning stations and small sharks feeding on the rocky reefs.  And let’s not forget the tiger sharks always present in the distance and sometimes up close.

No trip to Costa Rica is complete without coffee.  Touring a coffee plantation is a fun way to understand this important part of the country.  And, you get to sample coffee made with different beans and different toasts while looking at the lush forest surrounding these plantations.

Scalloped Hammerhead
Enjoying Coffee

Costa Rican Gallo Pinto

As with all of my adventures you have to sample the local cuisine and nothing says Costa Rica like Gallo Pinto which is served with breakfast or lunch.  A combination of black beans, rich and spices makes this truly a Costa Rican dish.  But you will find beautiful fish dishes and fresh vegetables abound throughout the country. 

So as we all think about getting back to diving, imagine lush forests, soft sand beaches and pinnacles alive with fish and you can almost be there…  

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Chef Eric Recommends a Peanut Butter Cup Tart

Ann was bored the other evening and while this is hard to believe, she started watching a cooking show! One receipe that caught my attention was a Peanut Butter Cup tart. It looked just like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup with a crust. And for those of you who know me — I love chocolate! Send me a note about how yours turns out or better yet, bring over a slice! So here is Martha’s recipe (Recipe courtesy of Martha Bakes)…

Make Martha Stewart’s Peanut Butter Cup Tart from the Impressive Chocolate Desserts episode of Martha Bakes.

Yield: Makes one 10-in tart

Course: Dessert
Theme: Family Friendly

Yield: Makes one 10-in tartCourse: Dessert
Theme: Family Friendly

  • Crust:
    • 35 chocolate wafers (8 ounces), broken into pieces
    • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
    • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
    • Pinch of kosher salt
  • Filling:
    • 1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
    • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
    • 3 tablespoons heavy cream
    • 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
    • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
    • Pinch of kosher salt
  • Topping:
    • 10 ounces semisweet (55 to 61 percent cacao) chocolate, chopped
    • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature
    • 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
    • Lightly sweetened whipped cream, for serving (optional)
    • Peanut brittle, chopped, for serving (optional)
  1. Crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pulse wafers in a food processor until fine crumbs form. Add butter, granulated sugar, and salt; process until well combined. Press mixture firmly into bottom and up sides of a 10-inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom. Bake until crust is fragrant, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.
  2. Filling: Sift confectioners’ sugar into a large bowl; set aside. Combine butter, cream, peanut butter, vanilla, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until butter and peanut butter are just melted. Pour over confectioners’ sugar in bowl and whisk until smooth. Pour into cooled crust and spread to edges with a small offset spatula. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto surface, and let cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
  3. Topping: Place chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl. Bring cream just to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat; pour over chocolate mixture. Let stand 5 minutes until chocolate has softened, then stir together with a rubber spatula until emulsified. Let cool at room temperature, stirring occasionally, until ganache is thick, glossy, and just holds a line but is still pourable, 30 to 40 minutes.
  4. Place tart on a revolving cake stand. Pour ganache into center of tart and carefully spread just shy of the edges. Using a small offset spatula held at an angle, create a spiral pattern in the top of the tart by spinning cake stand while slowly sliding spatula out from the center of the tart to the edge. Let stand at room temperature until ganache has set, about 1 hour. Serve at room temperature with whipped cream and peanut brittle, if desired. Tart is best served the same day but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days.