Surf and Turf Extra

Years ago I had a recipe almost like this, and I loved it! Some weeks ago I came across that same old recipe and was so happy, so I made it the same day. Guess what....it wasn't as good anymore as I thought. In fact, it was one big disappointment.

But, but, but, a miracle happend, yeah well almost....

In a magazine I found a recipe that had the puree as described below plus the beef, and then I knew, this has to be IT!

And there it was, a mixture of two recipes and a little extra. The extra is, yes of course, the tequila.

I used a red chili pepper, including the seeds, so it has a kick, but you can discard the seeds if it's too much for your taste.

Ingredients:

1 red chili pepper, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

olive oil

1/3 cup cilantro, chopped

1 lime

about 7 oz raw large shrimps, peeled and cleaned

2 beef tenderloins

4 oz feta, cut in cubes

tequila

Use a mortar and pestle to make a puree of the chili and bell pepper, add some olive oil, the cilantro and the juice of half a lime. As you can see I didn't pureed it all, I like some chunks of the bell pepper in it.

The tenderloins got a rub with the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Cajun Foreplay Spice Rub (yes I used it again, and I love it!!) and some olive oil. I grilled the meat on the stove, in a cast iron grillpan, but you can do this, of course, also on the grill. Grill them for 5 minutes, then wrap them in aluminium foil and let them rest while you prepare the rest.

In the meantime heat a wok and start heating the pepper puree. Keep the heat high and keep stirring! Add the shrimps, and keep stirring! Add a splash (don't be shy...) of tequila and the feta cheese.

This all should take no longer than 5 minutes.

Unwrap the meat (yeah, really, makes dinner taste much better...) and slice the meat. Serve it with the shrimps and some bread.

I can't describe how it tastes, but trust me, you're gonna luvvv this dish!!!

Last but certainly not the least, uncork a bottle of Shiraz Rosé to complete your meal!

Enjoy!

Shigen!

A good dinner always starts with an appetizer, and therefore I´m starting this blog with that too. And not just some average one, nooo, this is really tasty, unusual and stealing the show!

Look at this beauty:

What is it? It´s shrimp, chicken and bacon....all in one!

The genius who came up with this recipe is Tom Porter, you´ll find his recipe here. And while you´re there, don´t forget to check out the rest of his website!

What do you need for these babies? Large raw shrimps, chicken breasts and bacon! First you'll start with cutting the chicken breasts in rather large cubes and let them marinate in the rub for a while. For the chicken rub I used a mixture of Old Bay Seasoning and smoked paprika powder. Clean the shrimps and slice them almost all the way through. Put one piece of chicken in a shrimp, wrap it with bacon and use a toothpick to hold it all together.

In the meantime I soaked some wood chips in water, peach this time. That would give an extra yummy taste to the Shigen!

It´s important to keep the temperature of your smoker or barbecue very low. Tom used a smoker in his recipe, but since I don't have one I had to use the Weber barbecue. It turned out that it's no problem to do this little project with a Weber OTS. When the temperature had reached 240F, I added the wood chips to the coals and the Shigen were ready to be put on the grill!

And this is after about 25 minutes, almost done, and that smell was very promising!

The BBQ sauce I served with the Shigen was a roasted garlic-honey sauce, and I added a little Sriracha, just to give the sauce a bit of heat.

I assume I don´t have to mention that they were all gone very soon....! Try them, with your favorite rub and sauce, it will definitely be a huge success at your next party!!