Aug 11 Second 48 in the Feild

I had a great four days off with my family. I went to Red River with my parents, my niece, and my son. It was nice to breath the fresh air. We rode horses shopped and fished. We faught with each other and laughed with each other.

Well today was my first day back to my 48 hour fire department shift. allthough we were not busy with calls, we were still busy in general. Had to put new tires on the truck. While that happened the commander of Battalion one took me for traing. We practiced fire scene size up. The dividends of that training paid off great this afternoon at my first fire involving a 1st alarm and we were first in. It turned out to be a car fire under a car port up against a small house. My crew did a great job of knocking it out and saving the exposure. I ended up with a high speed low drag crew. They are kick ass.

In between the two calls and training I was able to cook dinner for my crew. I made them Chicken Breast Spanaki. Spanaki is Greak for spinich soufle. It's a butterflied chicken breast stuffed with spanaki seasoned and broiled for 20 mins. I made red skinned rosemary garlic buttered mashed patatoes and garlic french bread to go with it. Dam it was delicious!!! Below is the recipe.

Chicken Breast

Ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil
3 garlic cloves smashed and chopped
2 stalks of fresh green onions chopped
1 medium onion chopped
1 pound of frozen spinach washed and excess water squeezed out
1/2 cup of fresh dill chopped
2 whole eggs
15 oz of Riccota cheese
1 tbs fresh ground pepper
8 large chicken breasts
Itallian seasoning of your choice
olive oil
1 lemon
oregano

Directions:

Pour olive oil over pan preheated on medium heat. Add all chopped onions and garlic. Saute for one minute then ad spinich and saute for 10 mins. Now salt to taste. Preheat the broiler. Set aside spinich mixture to cool while you butterfly the chicken breasts. Sprinkle breasts with italian seasoninf, pepper and garlic powder.

In a bowl place spinach, dill, eggs, ricotta, and pepper. Mix together thorough. Stuff the butterflied chicken with spinach mixture and fold shut. Broil for 10 mins. on each side. Squeeze lemon juice and sprinkle oregano over breast 15 mins into broil. Remove and serve.

I suggest serving it with mashed patatoes from a red patatoe with skin on add garlic lots of butter and some rosemary to the patatoes. Serve also with roasted asparagus and bread of choice.

This recipe was taken from The Food Network and I modified it with ricotta, garlic and itallian seasoning.

Mmmmmmmm!!!!!!

Fist Shift Back

Well the past two days were my first shift back in the field. I thought I would be able to blog, but we were super busy. Had to respond to the Apartment fire two days in a row. We extinguished it the first day. It flared up over night during fire watch. We responded the next morning and we knocked it out for good. Stubborn fire, small voids trapped hot spots and the layers of tar from many years of construction does not help at all.

We ran 15 medical calls also. Not one of which were legitimate emergencies. Hey!! Job security I call it. Easy reports on those ones.

I cooked the second day. It was getting expensive eating out for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. One of the other firefighters brought in an oryx roast. I followed a Food Network recipe for a baseline and then spruced it up a bit. Here is the recipe with a few incoperations of my own. It had no name so since I changed it a bit I named it Below. The original recipes was taken from Alton Brown of the Food Network Show "Good Eats"

Cumin rubbed Pot Roast with Raisin Tomatoe habanero Sauce

Ingredients:

1 2-3 lb blade cut chuck roast
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 medium onion chopped
5 to 6 garlic cloves smashed
1 8 to 12 oz can of chopped tomatoes with habanero
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup cocktail olives drained and broken up
2/3 cup dark raisins

Directions:

If you do not have a dutch oven use a skillet to brown meat and bake in a pan covered with thick tin foil.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Heat a dutch oven on high heat for 2 mins. place a small amount of vegetable oil on bottom. Mean while rub the roast with cumin, salt, and pepper. When the pan is really hot brown the meat on both sides. Remove roast. Place vegetable oil in dutch oven enough to cover the bottom. Lower to medium high heat and add smashed garlic and onions. Mix until onions are soft. Add tomatoe habanero sauce, balsamic vinegar, olives and raisins. Bring mixture to a boil and reduce liquid down to half. Place roast back into dutch oven on top of mixture and spoon remainder of mixture over the top of roast. Place lid on dutch oven and place into preheated oven for 3 1/2 hours. Remove from oven and let sit for 15 mins. You may use sauce chunk or puree it and pour over sliced roast.

I baked red patatoes quartered and dredged in butter, garlic powder, and sprinkled with rosemary with a side of french garlic toast. Mmmmmm Delicious!!!! My crew loved it. They said it was a lot different than the regular old pot roast.

My Weakend

Was My dad's 61st birthday this weekend. I helped him post old cars on Craigslist and cooked him dinner. I invited two of his brothers over and cooked for them. I made Flank Steak Crostini, Chimichurri sauce, with Vidalia Relish and Honey Chipotle Glazed Shrimp Kabobs. Coconut shrimp with Pina Colada dipping sauce, and for desert tres Leches Cake(Compliments of my niece Kasey Andrea)

Here are the recipes. My recipe is the Coconut Shrimp. Flank steak Crostini is Bobby Fay's:

Ingredients:

Coconut Shrimp

8 large butterflied shrimp remove shells
2 eggs
1 cup coconut milk (Can be found in Oriental section at the grocery store)
1/4 cup Pina Colada mix (Non-alcoholic type)
2 cups shredded coconut
1 cup white flour
1/3 cup Italian bread crumbs

Pina Colada Dipping Sauce

10oz sour cream
small can of crushed pineapples
1/4 cup pina colada mix
2tbs granulated sugar

Directions:

Pina Colada Dipping sauce

Place all ingredients into dish, also adding juice from crushed pineapples, and mix together thoroughly. place in refrigerator and chill until shrimp is ready.

Coconut Shrimp

Mix coconut and bread crumbs together in a medium dish bowl. In a separate dish mix eggs coconut milk and pina colada mix and beat together. Place flour in a separate bowl. Remove shell from shrimp devein and butterfly(you may buy it from the frozen section butterflied). Now coat the shrimp with flour. Dunk shrimp into egg batter and then into coconut breadcrumb mix. With a fork toss mixture over shrimp and apply firm pressure to ensure mixture attaches to shrimp. Turn shrimp over and repeat. Place on a cookie sheet on top of parchment paper until all shrimps are coated. Preheat canola or vegetable oil to 375 degrees place shrimp in oil and deep fry until golden brown. Remove from oil and let stand for 4-5 mins.

Bobby Flay's Flank Steak Crostini with Chimichurri and Vidalia Relish:
click on link below
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/flank-steak-crostini-with-chimichurri-and-vidalia-relish-recipe/index.html

Wow I didn't realize how long it take to type these recipes!!! Hope you all enjoy the food. If anyone makes the Coconut Shrimp please let me know how you like the recipe I formulated. I will keep you all informed of my first day back in the field and what we cook in the fire house.