Food – Bradley Minnigan

Steak and Green Beans

Jessie and I have decided to blog some of the meals we cook. I don’t mean to brag, but we’re some pretty good chefs. She made some curry potatoes that are the jealousy of the lunch table at my office.

Tonight I made steak and green beans for lunch for us tomorrow (because we both had other dinner plans tonight, and I had a little time to throw this together).

Jessie got two ribeye steaks the other day, so I pulled them out of the fridge and threw them on the grill. I sprinkled garlic salt on top and left them to cook while I ran inside to take care of the green beans.

I put some water on to boil, then went to town trimming green bean ends, washing them, and getting them in the boiling water.

I went outside to flip the steaks while the green beans boiled for about 6 minutes. When the steaks were flipped, I sprinkled more garlic salt on the top. Then back inside to finish the green beans.

After draining the green beans, I mixed in Emeril’s Essence Seasoning. I’ve also added some butter before, but I didn’t this time, strictly because I needed to get back to the steaks. I think they turned out fine without butter, but I much prefer some buttery goodness.

I made sure the steaks were cooked well enough through the middle, and removed them from the grill. I was able to make a great meal fairly quickly, with just a few ingredients, and very little hassle.

I would have preferred to have cooked the steaks over medium heat, but I kind of forgot to turn the grill down after lighting. I got distracted my text messages and never recovered. My steaks were slightly more well-done than I’d like, but I’m still very happy.

Wading Through the Weeds

Hunting for scallops – it’s one of my new favorite hobbies. You get a snorkle, get a mesh bag, and search through the bay weeds for these little things. The first time I jumped in the water, I wasn’t really sure for what I was looking. “Look for the Shell Oil sign.” “Look for neon blue eye.” That neon blue eyes thing was a little unnerving – that’s just downright creepy! But it was true. Just look for hundreds of beady blue eyes looking up at the sky.

Most of the time, when you get close, the scallops will simply close, and you have an easy time grabbing the little booger and collecting him in your treasure sack. Other times, they take off swimming by chomping – yes, chomping – through the water. It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. When this happens, I simply wait for the scallop to wear itself out and catch it as it falls to the bay floor again. Easy as pie. The best places to catch the scallops, though, are in the muddy, mirky reeds found in the shalllows. Here the water is only 18″-36″ deep. You have to swim through the reeds, trying to see these shells that blend in with the sandy floor. You get muddy and nasty, but at the end of the day, it’s quite worth it. Cleaning the scallops is a whole different story. Really, I’ll do a blog later on that. Until then, here are more pictures of the prepared scallops we ate.

Hunters and Gatherers

I am now a scalloper. I hunt scallops. It’s actually quite fun! For those who don’t know, scallops are little seafood delights. They are found in shells that look like the Shell Oil logo, but without the “Shell” name. My in-laws have introduced me to the extraveganza.

July is quite early in the season – this means the scallops are smaller but more plentiful than later in the year. We spent the first day out on the pontoon boat going from spot to spot, with my brother-in-law, Andrew, and I being the “scouts” (keep in mind – I’ve never done this before).

The daily limit is 2 gallons of scallops per person per day, or 10 gallons per boat. Day one saw about one gallon of scallops found between the 7 of us. Not good. Scallops in the shells become much less once they are cleaned.

Day two we spent at the beach. Andrew and I got the itch to go hunting for more scallops down the road, and a short two hours later, we each had 2 gallons! Four gallons of scallops! Now we’re talking!

Day three, we were back out on the boat. Where did we go? Straight to our honey pot spot from day 2, of course! This time, we had a few helpers, and only a half-day rental of the pontoon. In a short two hours, Andrew and I each collected another 2 gallons, the others found another gallon, and we went back to the marina with 5 gallons of scallops!

To put this in perspective, this 10 gallons of scallops that we had collected over a 3 day period “shucked” down to about a gallon of edibles. We took our shucked and cleaned scallops to the restaurant where they fried half and blackened the other half. They were delicious! And as a little dessert, they also said the cooks were quite impressed – our scallops were surprisingly large! Go us!

Now I have the scalloping bug – I can’t wait to go agian. Next time, I’ll tell you all about how we actually catch the little boogers.

Pictures, Please

So I got some advice from my fellow co-workers today – MORE PICTURES!

I’ll give you pictures. I made another quesadilla for myself tonight. This time, I added pulled rotisserie chicken to my cheese and jalapeño quesadilla. The end result was marvelous. Let’s take a look:

Are you hungry yet? I know I sure am! Bone app a teet!

Bachelor Food

Sometimes my wife goes out for a girls night or gets hired to sing an out of town gig without me. I miss her on those nights. It also seems that I get really lazy at night when baseball is on TV and no dinner is prepared. I have since discovered how easy dinner can be.

I’ve always, ALWAYS been a big fan of the ol’ PB&J, or peanut butter and jelly, for those of you who may be too civilized for such delicacies. I also have been known to down an entire bag of pita chips with a tub of my favorite humus. However, I have recently stumbled upon the amazingness that is homemade quesadillas.

I have done several varieties, but my favorites are the cheese quesadilla and the cheese and jalapeño quesadilla. I have also thought of throwing in some bacon and diced potatoes for a breakfast quesadilla. That takes a little more work, but after all, we ARE talking about BACON!

So here’s how I do it:

Take a tortilla and place it in a non-stick frying pan.

Lightly cover the tortilla with shredded cheese (Mexican blend is most appropriate).

Turn the burner on medium.

Add whatever toppings you want.

Once the cheese begins to melt, use a spatula to fold the quesadilla in half.

The underside will just begin to turn golden brown, and this is when you flip it.

The other side will then begin to golden, and this is when you’re ready to eat!

So easy! Just slice it (if you wish), let it cool briefly so as not to glue hot cheese to the roof of your mouth, and enjoy! Feel free to let the quesadilla brown to your liking – I like mine “rare,” but you may be more of a “well done” guy yourself.

Don’t forget to turn the burner off on the stove either.