Thursday, March 3, 2011

Oysters, Shrimp, and Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes

I made this amazing meal last night.  I love the oysters at Silo in San Antonio and one day they had the recipe in the Express News. I clipped it out and this is the second time I have made them.  The first time my Hollandaise Sauce broke, but this time it was perfect. I made the red sauce for the shrimp.  I have already posted the broccoli and cauliflower recipe, but the twice-baked sweet potato recipe will follow the shrimp recipe.  The Hollandaise is very labor intensive, but oh so worth it.

Printable Recipe:
https://sites.google.com/site/whatscookingattheedwards/oysters-shrimp-and-twice-baked-sweet-potatoes
Ingredients for the Hollandaise Sauce:
1/2 pound unsalted butter
1 medium shallot, minced
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
3 egg yolks
water, as needed
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
few drops tabasco Sauce
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon heavy cream, or an extra egg yolk (if needed to repair a broken sauce) That tells you that it is pretty hard if they are giving you the recipe for broken sauce)  The key for me was to keep the butter on very low temp. to keep warm and the rest of the sauce also on low as you cook it.
kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Method:
1. Clarify the butter by slowly melting it in a small saute' pan, then skimming off foam that forms on top.
2. Pour clear butter off into another container and discard the milk solids that have sunk to the bottom. Whipe out the pan and return the butter to a pan: keep warm over very low heat. When I poured the clarified butter back in the pan to keep warm, I used a strainer to catch any milk solids I had missed
3. In a medium saute' pan, add 1-2 teaspoons of the clarified butter and saute' shallot until soft and aromatic. Add vinegar and reduce liquid until pan is almost dry. Remove pan from heat.
4. When cooled slightly, add mustard and egg yolks with a little water. Place pan on low heat and whisk constantly until yolks start to thicken. Add a little more water if it gets too thick. You want the consistency to be like mayonnaise. I kept a little water close in case I needed it, and I did.
5. Remove from heat and slowly whisk in the melted warm butter. Add Worcestershire, Tabasco, and lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper.
6. If sauce suddenly thins and takes on a grainy appearance, it has "broken." Whisk in a tablespoon of cream or an extra egg yolk. Use immediately or keep in a warm area by stove or place in a covered thermos. Hollandaise is an emulsified sauce and should be held in a warm environment to prevent it from coagulating or "breaking." You should not store leftover hollandaise.
Ingredients for oysters:
I only made one container of oysters for Jud and me. Stacy came for dinner so I opted to buy some shrimp, thus the oysters and shrimp.  I loved having both of them and we didn't have any trouble eating all of both the shrimp and oysters.
30-36 oysters (2-8oz containers) 
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 cups vegetable or peanut oil, for frying
Method for Oysters:
1. Drain oysters if in liquid and place in buttermilk. Since I only made one container, I drained them and then put them in a small bowl and poured enough buttermilk over them to cover.
Refrigerate for 1-2 hours
2. Combine flour, Old Bay, salt, and pepper. Heat oil to 375 degrees. When ready to fry oysters, remove from buttermilk. (I poured them through the colander) and dredge in seasoned flour, shaking off excess flour. Fry in batches in hot oil. Be careful not to crowd oysters because oil temperature will drop and they will not be crisp. Place oysters on paper towels to blot excess oil. Keep warm in 200 degree oven while frying remaining oysters.

Shrimp Coctail W/ Red Sauce:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place shrimp on baking sheet in a single layer. Coat with 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast 8-10 minutes
Sauce:
1/2 cup each of heinz chili sauce and ketchup
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon worcestershire
1/4 teaspoon tabasco

Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes:
2 large orange-fleshed sweet potatoes 
1/4 cup light sour cream
1 tablespoon soft butter or margarine
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
very small pinch ground chipotle chile pepper She says you can substitute chopped chipotle chile from a can ) This is what I did. I couldn't find the ground chipotle chile pepper.
thinly sliced green onions for garnish if desired.
Method:  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F or 200 C. Spray baking sheet with nonstick spray or olive oil. Slice sweet potatoes crosswise into thick pieces about 2 1/2 inches thick (You will get 3-4 thick pieces from each sweet potato. Rub sweet potato pieces with olive oil, including end pieces. Arrange sweet potatoes standing up on the baking sheet and roast until they can be easily pierced with a fork, about 45 minutes, turning them once during the cooking time.
I cut my sweet potatoes in 1/2 and roasted them like this. Made it easy to fill the skins.
When sweet potatoes are soft, remove from the oven and let cool until they can be handled. Then use a melon baller or small spoon to scoop out most of the sweet potato flesh and put it in a bowl, leaving enough flesh attached to the skin and on the bottom to make a "cup." Stand the empty cups back on the baking sheet.
Mix sour cream, soft butter or margarine, lime juice, and pinch of ground Chipotle pepper (or small amount of finely chopped chipotle pepper) Stir the sour cream mixture and 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions into the mashed sweet potato in the bowl. Season to taste with salt and fresh ground black pepper. Taste the mixture to see if you want more lime or Chipotle flavor and add as needed.
Transfer the sweet potato mixture to a small ziploc bag (or pastry bag if you have one.) Cut off the corner of the bag and squeeze out the mixture to fill the cups, filling them so it rises slightly above the edge. (If making ahead, sweet potatoes can be refrigerated at this point and reheated later.)
Put filled sweet potato cups back into the oven and bake20-25 minutes, until filling is hot and very lightly browned. Serve hot, garnish with thinly sliced green onions if desired.

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