.coconut shrimp w/ spicy pineapple apricot sauce.

This weekend I catered a sweet 16 party. My friend, Darleen, asked me about a month ago if I could make the cake and then she asked if I could help with the food. Of course! I love doing this kind of thing. Her daughter was having a murder mystery party called "The Lethal Luau". How fun, right?

On the menu they decided on: Coconut Shrimp, salad and rolls, Huli Huli Chicken w/ rice, and then cake.

Check out the cake! It was a lot of fun to make.





Okay.. back to the shrimp. I had a recipe I've been dying to try and when she said coconut shrimp I secretly went "Yes!" I even bought a little extra so I could make some ahead of time for Jim, Paige, and myself. Seriously.. these were perfection.

You could buy these pre-breaded and frozen, but that would be a mistake. You just can't compare these to those and they don't take long at all to make. So if you're looking for the perfect appetizer for parties or dinner, try these!


Begin by making the sauce. Easy easy easy!!

I made a bunch for the party, and you really don't need a ton of this. I'll give you the recipe for the smaller batch. This will be the right amount for about 2 dozen shrimp.

1/2 jar pineapple preserves
1/2 jar apricot preserves
the juice of half lemon
3 Tbsp Thai chili sauce

If you want added heat, add 1 Tbsp horseradish.

Put all of this in a saucepot and heat on medium. This will melt the jams and mix everything together. Set aside.


You'll need three separate bowls for the breading.

In one bowl (far right) put 1 cup flour and 2 tsp baking powder.

In another bowl, break and mix two eggs.

In the last bowl, put 2 cups panko (japanese style bread crumbs), 1 cup coconut flakes, 1 tsp kosher salt, and 1/2 tsp allspice.


Take your peeled and deveined shrimp and put in the flour, coating both sides. Shake any excess flour off.


Dredge in the egg, shaking off any extra.


Lay in the breadcrumb/coconut mix and press the breading on both sides to make sure it all sticks.


Heat some oil in a pot, fry daddy, or wok to 360*. Carefully lower the shrimp into the oil. I fried up about 5 at a time. If you're using a wok, you can put 10-12 in. Fry until the shrimp is nice and golden (about 3-4 minutes)


Set on a paper towel to drain any excess oil off.

Serve warm.


NOTE: You don't want to make these too far ahead of time because then you'll have to re-heat and run the risk of having tough, chewy shrimp. Spoon some of the dip into a bowl or martini glass and put in the middle of a plate. Scatter the shrimp around the glass or bowl and serve. If you want a little decoration, put some fresh pineapple wedges on the plate and a hibiscus or plumeria flower.

These were a BIG hit at the party! Thanks so much for letting me cater your shin dig, Alexandra and Darleen! xo


Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_98gvtsmjdv

.fruit salsa w/ cinnamon tortilla chips.

I went to a party once when I lived in Virginia where this dish was served. My friend, Jenna, said she got it out of the Better Homes and Garden cookbook. Well, I looked in mine and it's not in there.... but she's a lot younger than I am so she probably had a newer addition. I loved it. Not only was it a really light, fresh appetizer, it was really pretty and tasty! Good food is usually very visually pretty. ;)



This is also a very low-fat/low-cal recipe so you can't go wrong with this dish! Here's how we make it.



Take 10 fajita sized tortillas. Cut in half, then in half again. Then in half again. We're quartering them to make our baked cinnamon tortilla chips.

Arrange the tortilla wedges on a baking sheet. You'll need to use about 3 sheets, or just keep cranking them out using one. You don't want them to overlap or else they won't get crispy in the oven.

Melt 1/4 c. butter in the microwave.

Brush the wedges lightly with some of the melted butter.

Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon sugar. Put in a 350* oven for 10 minutes. After those 10 minutes are up, turn the oven to 400* and bake another minute. This will crisp up those chips!








Pull chips from the oven and let cool. These can be made the night before and put in a ziploc to keep fresh.


[TIP: Instead of throwing out your spice jars, clean one up and put some sugar and cinnamon in it. Shake well. Mark the lid with a STAR for easy finding. You'll always have cinnamon/sugar ready for toast or other things like this!]



While the tortilla wedges are in the oven we're going to make the salsa.

Peel and finely dice one mango.

Peel, slice, then finely dice 2 kiwi.



Make sure when you buy the kiwi that they aren't too squishy. They need to be firmer or else they will be nothing but mush when you go to dice.

Dice about 2 cups strawberries.



Put all the fruit in a bowl and mix together.

Using the small grate on your cheese grater, zest one lemon. Only grate once or twice in the same spot. You don't want any of the pith (the white stuff under the pretty yellow skin). Add to the bowl.

Cut the lemon in half and squeeze into the bowl. Take any seeds out that might have fallen from the lemon into the bowl.

Sprinkle in about 1 Tbsp shredded coconut. Stir everything together.



This salsa is adaptable for anyone's taste. Pineapple would be a wonderful compliment to this, but my husband doesn't care for pineapple. I added a little diced banana to my bowl. If you use banana, make sure you add it at the very last minute because they brown quickly.



You can also add plum, peaches, and some chopped mint!





[TIP: When you only need half of a lemon, use the other half to bleach and sanitize your cutting boards. Sprinkle some salt on the flat side of the lemon and then rub in a circular motion. Let sit for 1/2 hour before washing.]

.coconut cream pie.

For dessert tonight, I whipped together a delicious coconut cream pie. YUM!


You'll want to start out making a single pie crust. Here's how!


Put 1 1/3 c. flour and 1 tsp salt in a bowl. Mix together. Cut in 1/2 cup shortening until it becomes nice and crumbly. Add tablespoonsful of ice water and fluff with a fork until the dough starts pulling together. Form a ball and roll out.

Put in your pie plate. Trim the edges then flute. Prick the crust all over with your fork. You want to create a lot of vent holes otherwise the crust will balloon up when it bakes.

Put in a 425* oven and bake for 10 minutes or until the crust is nice and golden. Pull from oven and allow to cool completely.


While the crust is cooling, make the filling.


In a pot, put 2 3/4 c. milk and 3/4 c. sugar. Put on medium-high heat until it becomes nice and foamy and is almost to a boil. DO NOT LET THIS BOIL! It will curdle your milk. If it boils, dump and start over.







In a side bowl, mix together 1/4 c. milk, 1/3 c. cornstarch, and 4 egg yolks. Whisk well to remove all lumps.

When the milk on the stove is scalding, pour some (about 1 cup) into the cornstarch/yolk bowl and mix while you pour. This is called "tempering". If you added the yolks/cornstarch directly to the hot milk on the stove, it would lump up really bad and the eggs would cook too fast and basically you'd have yummy scrambled eggs in your pie filling. Ick.









Once the yolks are tempered, pour everything back into the big pot and put back on medium high heat. Stir with a whisk constantly while it thickens. Be careful not to let this burn so keep stirring!








Once it's nice and thick like pudding, pull from the heat and add a bunch of coconut, 1 tsp vanilla and 2 Tbsp butter. Stir well.









Put your pot in an ice bath (either a sink filled a few inches up with cold water and ice, or a large bowl filled with some water and ice). This will help cool your filling quickly. Don't let any of the water get inside your pot though. Stir so it doesn't form a skin on top.






Once cool, pour into your cooled pie crust. Cover the top with saran and put in the fridge to chill and set. Just before serving, whip up your cream (2 cups whipped cream, 1/3 c. sugar, 1 tsp vanilla).








Put on top of your pie and then sprinkle the top with toasted coconut.

Voila!



Printable version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_22ggh3ffhm