THE APRON GAL

Category: Fruit technically but more commonly considered in the vegetable category


Ideal season to purchase: Available year round as primarily imported from Mexico. 


How to select: Look for firm and bright green tomatillos.  Avoid any with soft spots or discoloration. 


Where to buy: Regular grocery store or farmer's market. Mexican supermarkets are also a good bet!


Fun Facts: 

• Whenever you have a green salsa at a Mexican restaurant, you are probably eating tomatillo salsa and didn't know it!
• Member of the nightshade family
• Also called the "Spanish tomato," "husk tomato," and "Mexican husk tomato" 

Flavor: A tomatillo is a sister to the tomato but doesn't taste anything like a tomato! The best description is as a cross between a an apple and a lime. It has a sharp acidic taste but is very refreshing. You can actually cut them up and eat them like apple slices which are great! You just probably would only be able to eat a few slices since they are very tart. 


How to Prepare: Peel back the outer layer called the "paper calyx" and wash as the fruit will be sticky from the outer layer. 


Storage: Store for up to 3 weeks in the fridge. 


Recipe Suggestion:


The most common recipe with tomatillos is a green salsa. Below is a tart, fresh, and slightly spicy Tomatillo salsa, inspired by my dad's much spicier version!


First, remove the husks and wash your tomatillos. Slice into quarters. Slice the serrano peppers and remove desired amounts of seeds. 




Chop Serrano peppers first in food processor so that they have the most time to get chopped into smaller pieces. [Nobody wants a big spicy chunk of pepper in their bite!] I used 1.5 deseeded Serranos and wish I had added a little more for kick. Test yours to see how much heat you want.  In order to help chop the peppers first, place a few tomatillo pieces to add moisture. 


After chopping the peppers, add onions and cilantro. 


Pulse until desired consistency by try to not let it get too liquid-ey. I think chunkier salsa is better! Finally, add the tomatillos with garlic salt and white pepper. This will keep the tomatillos from turning to mush while pureeing the other ingredients. 




Test to see if desired spiciness and salt/pepper level are achieved and adjust as necessary. Serve with tortilla chips or over pork tenderloin, tacos, or tamales! 




Look at that rich green color, enjoy!


Tomatillo Salsa
The Apron Gal


Ingredients

• 8-10 tomatillos 
• 1/2 sweet onion 
• 1-2 serrano peppers or 1-2 jalapenos 
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• 1/2 tsp Garlic salt [more to taste]
• 1/2 tsp White pepper 

You still have 3 days left to enter my giveaway! You won't regret it! 

Summer is such a great time for fresh seafood. Is seafood really better in the summer? Do fish taste different during one season or another? I have no idea. But to me, being at the beach in the summer and picking up fresh seafood just screams summer. 


For the 4th of July, My Guy and I went to Rockport, Texas with my family. Rockport is right along the water so we had seafood literally every day during our 5 day stay there. Here's just some of what we ate:



Most of the above are from restaurants but I was just dying to cook some seafood on my own for the blog! So mid-morning we drove to the shrimp lady. Every day around 11 or 12 the fresh shrimp catch of the day comes in. It doesn't get any fresher than seeing the shrimp boat next to the bait stand. If you can't get shrimp this fresh, remember to look for fresh wild shrimp from the butcher counter. Fresh and wild are always better than farmed and frozen. But if the frozen is on sale that will work too!



We bought about 2 pounds of the large shrimp [not jumbo]. Remember that shrimp will be peeled and shrink up when cooked so make sure to account for that depending on how many you are serving.

First, wash your shrimp in cold water. Then peel your shrimp. I threw my shells away because I was on vacation, but I read if you were really ambitious that you could keep your shells to make a seafood broth later. I might not be that industrious but if you are more power to you!


I hope that makes sense. I think peeling is less hard than knowing how to de-vein. Don't worry if you mess up the first few shrimp you are peeling, no one will notice in a batch of dozens. 


On to de-veining.  I think de-veining [I don't think that is a word but I am using it anyways] is a mystery to some people. De-vein is a nice way of saying to de-poop the shrimp. Yes, that noticeable black trail on the top side really is remnants from the digestive tract. De-vein is just a nice word. The black vein underneath really is a vein, I think. 


The rule for de-veining is that if its black it needs to go but if it's thin and white it can stay. Additionally, de-veining is only necessary for larger shrimp as it would be practically impossible for the smaller ones. 




Sorry that had to be so graphic but I wanted it to be clear. I couldn't not do a step-by-step for my readers, it just wouldn't be fair! 


Now on to the good looking stuff. 


Heat some olive oil over high heat in a skillet. Throw in your shrimp with the lemons, garlic, garlic salt, parsley, red pepper flakes and white wine/water. 





As always, if you don't want the spiciness you can omit the red pepper but I think it gives a nice flavor. 




Stir this up and let it smell wonderful before you remove the shrimp from the heat, about 3-5 minutes. They will turn pink and become substantially smaller. Add additional wine/water if you want more of a sauce at the end. 




You can then serve them as they are with rice or keep them in the skillet and toss the sauce and shrimp with some angel hair pasta which would be delicious. Squeeze some fresh lemon on them to finish them off and enjoy! 






Lemon Garlic Shrimp
The Apron Gal


Ingredients
2 pounds peeled and de-veined large shrimp
1 large lemon or 2 small
2 cloves garlic in large slices
1/2 cup [ish] roughly chopped parsley
1/2 cup white wine/ white cooking wine [or water if you don't have either]
2 tsp red pepper flakes
olive oil
dash of garlic salt.

Directions
Wash, peel and de-vein shrimp. Heat a few teaspoons of olive oil over high heat. Add shrimp, lemon, white wine, garlic salt, parsley and garlic.

Cook 3-5 minutes while stirring over medium high heat, until shrimp are pink and no longer translucent. Toss with pasta if desired or serve with rice. Finish with sprigs of parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Enjoy!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway here! It's the last week!

Every Friday I am going to tell you about a new fruit, vegetable, food product or food craze. These aren't necessarily new to everyone but I think everyone will be able to learn something!  


The point of this is for ME and YOU to learn new things about food and expand our horizons!


Let's being honest, how many of us have ever eaten a rutabaga? I know I haven't! 


Every Foodie Friday I'll explore a new food and hopefully find some awesome new recipes, or at the very least be able to say, "Why, yes I have eaten a rutabaga!"


For my first Foodie Friday, I am keeping things simple by telling you about:

• The largest recorded watermelon was 262 lbs!
• Watermelon is 92% water. 
• The watermelon is cousin to squash, pumpkin & cucumber.

       Many people have never seen yellow watermelon so its definitely a conversation starter!

Flavor: The yellow watermelon is sweeter than the red watermelon and is described as having a honey like taste. The one I ate for this post was seriously so sweet it melted in my mouth. 


How to prepare: Little known fact: you should wash watermelon before you eat it. Even with a rind you don't want dirt getting into your slices or when you are cutting it up. 


Recipe suggestions: Normally I would try to have something of my own here but today I am just linking to a couple fun recipes!



There really aren't a lot of recipes using yellow watermelon out there but you could easily substitute yellow watermelon in any of those beautiful red watermelon salad recipes like this one:




Overall Rating: 5/5

I thought to start things off right I would post a cool chocolate dessert. What's not to like right?






My MeMaw [that's Texan for grandma in case you didn't know] used to make this for me and ever since she gave me the recipe I have used it many times to create a dessert that is fast and delicious. 


Start with your choice of large chocolate bar. I like to use the symphony bar with the almonds and toffee. Save a few squares to be crushed up for sprinkling over the finished pie. Heat the remaining chocolate in the microwave until melted. 



Then mix your melted chocolate with a tub of cool whip. I used light since it was going to be mixed with melted chocolate and placed in a chocolate crust. Save a few calories where you can right? 




 Then pour the chocolate cool whip mixture into your chocolate graham cracker crust [you could use regular graham cracker crust too, homemade or store bought]. Top with remaining chocolate pieces. 




Now if you want to serve the pie where the mixture is soft or you don't have a lot of time, refrigerate until ready to serve. 


The real way is to freeze for a few hours until hard.


I have done both and either way this pie is delicious!