Revamped: Boozy Low Country Boil with Homemade Tartar Sauce + Homemade Wasabi-Cocktail Sauce

Boozy Low Country Boil with Homemade Tartar Sauce + Homemade Wasabi-Cocktail Sauce

Welp folks, it was a hell of a weekend. I can't believe another famous St. Patty's Day celebration in Savannah is in the books... and unfortunately, we have to wait a whole year to have it back. My liver, and my body as a whole, is happy. But I'm sure I'll find another way to make up for its absence. Otherwise, it was a textbook Irish celebration, filled with bar hopping, drink making, and wearing green. To make life easier on ourselves, we decided to make a classic Low Country Boil for lunch/dinner after the parade. This is by far the best decision we have ever made, simply because it's not that high maintenance... all you do is throw a bunch of crap in a pot and pour it on a table. Done + done. I know that I have already featured a Low Country Boil recipe a while back, but it needed some revamping (we like to do that a lot around this joint) by adding a whole mess of beer and spices. But, what really put it over the top was the homemade dipping sauces that accompanied the meal. To be quite frank, those guys stole the show. I started off by making a classic garlic aioli and added some pickles and capers to make a classic, but divine, tartar sauce. I'm telling you, making the mayonnaise from scratch is key to everything here people, it's worth the extra 10 minutes of whisking. After the tartar sauce was finished, I moved onto my Homemade Wasabi-Cocktail Sauce. This was my favorite, but it does come with a fair warning... it will knock your socks off. Now that we have addressed that issue, I can say I couldn't get enough of the stuff. It was lip-burning, tongue-scorching, sinus-clearing spicy. And in our world, that is a very, very good thing. Between the Sriracha, Chili-Garlic Sauce, hot sauce, red pepper flakes, horseradish, and my secret ingredient, wasabi paste... this bad boy had a kick that won't quit. If you don't want a tear-inducing sauce, I suggest you start with a little bit at a time until you have found the spice level that y'all like. Besides that, this Boozy Low Country Boil is made extra special with lots o' beer, spices, and high-quality ingredients. It was the perfect way to eat on a hot Savannah day, and hey, it certainly helped us to sober up before the night's partying. Also, what is more satisfying with eating food off the table, with bare hands and an ice cold beverage? Nothin' gets better than that, take my word for it!! Enjoy y'all :)

Oh, we were ready to dig in alright. 

Georgia Shrimp. Potatoes. Vidalia Onions. Sweet Corn. Smoked Sausage. 

How easy is that? Almost too easy. 

Homemade Tartar Sauce 

Homemade Wasabi-Cocktail Sauce

For the Homemade Tartar Sauce:

1 Egg Yolk

1t White Vinegar

1 ½t Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice

¼t Dijon Mustard & Sugar

4 Garlic Cloves, Minced into a Paste (with a little bit of sea salt)

½t Salt

¾C Canola Oil

½C Pickles, Cut into Small Cubes

3T Capers, Finely Chopped

1T Minced Shallots

1 Lemon, Zested (and you can use a little juice to taste)

¼t Worcestershire Sauce & Hot Sauce

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

For the Homemade Wasabi-Cocktail Sauce:

1C Ketchup

¼C Sriracha + 2T Asian Chili-Garlic Sauce

Prepared Horseradish, To Taste (we like a lot of horseradish)

4 Cloves of Garlic, Minced

1 Lemon, Zested & Juiced

1T Worcestershire & Hot Sauce

1t Red Pepper Flakes & Paprika

1T Wasabi Paste (we like it to blow our heads off)

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

For the Boozy Low Country Boil:

4Q Beer (or enough to completely cover all of the food in the pot)

¼C Soy Sauce & Hot Sauce

2T Old Bay Seasoning

2 Shrimp or Crab Boil Bags

3lbs Small Red Potatoes (or you can cut bigger potatoes in half)

2 Vidalia Onions, Cut into Medium Chunks

10 Large Cloves of Garlic

2 Packages of Conecuh Smoked Sausage, Cut into 1inch Pieces

6 Ears of Corn, Cut into Small Rounds

2 Lemons, Cut into Medium Chunks

3lbs Fresh Wild Georgia Shrimp, Unpeeled but Deveined

For Serving:

Cajun Seasoning, For Sprinkling (we love Tony’s)

Homemade Herbed Compound Butter, Melted

Homemade Tartar Sauce, For Dipping

Homemade Wasabi Cocktail Sauce, For Dipping

Lemon Wedges, For Squeezing

Hot Sauce, For Dipping

Newspaper & Paper Towels (for the table)

Directions:

1. For the Homemade Tartar Sauce: Combine egg yolk, lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, minced garlic, and ½t salt in medium bowl. Whisk until blended and bright yellow, about 30 seconds. Using ¼t measuring spoon and whisking constantly, add ¼C e oil to yolk mixture, a few drops at a time, about 4-5 minutes. Gradually add remaining ½C canola oil in very slow thin stream, whisking constantly, until mayonnaise is thick, about 8-10 minutes (mayonnaise will be lighter in color). Add in all of the remaining ingredients and stir until combined. Season it with any additional spices to taste. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve.

2. For the Homemade Wasabi-Cocktail Sauce: Combine all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl and add in as much prepared horseradish as you want; stir to combine. We like a lot of horseradish, wasabi, and spice, so this sauce is quite pungent & spicy (make sure to season a little at a time until you have reached your desired taste). Refrigerate the sauce until you are ready to serve.

3. For the Boozy Low Country Boil: Fill a large pot with the beer and whisk in the soy sauce, hot sauce, old bay seasoning, salt, and pepper. Add in the boil bags and bring the mixture to a boil. Once boiling, add in the potatoes, sausage, onion pieces, and garlic cloves. Cook on medium heat for 20 minutes. Next, add in the corn and cook for another 10-15 minutes. Throw in the lemon chunks and the shrimp and cook for just 2-3 minutes or until the shrimp have just turned pink. Drain the low country boil and pour out onto a table that is lined with newspaper. Heavily sprinkle the boil ingredients with Cajun seasoning. Drizzle some of the melted herbed compound butter over the ingredients or serve it on the side for the corn. Put all of the homemade dips on the table, along with lemon wedges and hot sauce. Enjoy it while it is still hot, and with a lot of paper towels and cold beer!

We came. We saw. We conquered.

Even dogs try to sneak a bite!

Life As Of Lately...

My life as of lately...

{st. patty's day edition}

Peach-Blueberry Whiskey Lemonade's with Blueberry Infused Honey Whiskey, Honey Simple Syrup,
Macerated Blueberries, Roasted Peach Lemonade, & Peach Soda 

ever clear-soaked gummy bears 

Both passed out after the long day... Notice Eloise's tongue.

Third Year at Savannah's St. Patty's Day Celebration

Hanging in the garden

Cuban Cigar

Low Country Boil with Homemade Tartar Sauce + Homemade Wasabi Cocktail Sauce

Heading out for the night 

Savannah Smiles Dueling Piano Bar

Confederate Canons 

First Wet Willie's

The final countdown.

me + my mountain man 

so. much. green. 

I mean, look at that view! 

The fountains are green, people.

Always have to have a kiss 

Breakfast from Parker's at 3AM

We came. We saw. We conquered.

Beer pong at Forsyth

Perfect Friday Night

Eloise meets a green dog 

ba-na-nas (said alla rachel zoe)

Stay tuned for a recipe that will be posted shortly :)

XOXO, Juliana

Slow Roasted Cherry Tomato + Burrata Pizza with Herbed-Garlic Olive Oil, Parmesan, Fresh Basil, & Balsamic Reduction

Slow Roasted Cherry Tomato + Burrata Pizza with Herbed-Garlic Olive Oil, Parmesan,
Fresh Basil, & Balsamic Reduction

Things I'm obsessed with: slow roasted tomatoes, bacon, brown butter, bourbon, crispy shallots, fried eggs, brussels sprouts, Cheerwine soda, red velvet (anything), sweet potatoes, fruit punch, heirloom tomatoes, fleur de sel, and burrata. 

Okay, so now that you know that, you can see that most of my recipes include one or some of those ingredients, which makes me boringly predictable. I apologize, I truly do, but I really don't at the same time. Ironically, my Mountain Man and I haven't eaten the same meal twice in about three years. Crazy huh? There are the occasionally recipes we certainly do repeat because they are so damn tasty or they are easy to whip up (or I'll just have a massive chocolate chunk cookie craving), but not more than three times. So, maybe that makes us not so boring because we still manage to mix it up a bit. Well, homemade pizza is a weekly thing for us and normally we make it on a Thursday or Friday and enjoy it with some ice cold beer (or a big glass of wine in my case). Normally I try to come up with a crazy combination of flavors, but this week, I wanted to keep it classic and fresh. I slow roasted two pints of sweet cherry tomatoes until they had reduced and were perfectly sweet. While they were cooking, I marinated some olive oil with fresh garlic, red pepper flakes, basil, and a few other knick-knacks to spread over our homemade pizza dough. Dude, I could eat that infused olive oil straight, or it would be wonderful drizzle of cheese + toast (but that's for another day). The star of the pizza, however, is the utterly creamy burrata cheese. Have y'all ever had burrata? If you haven't, you need to try it now. It's fresh mozzarella cheese that is stuffed with shreds of more soft mozzarella and a heavy dousing of heavy cream. CREAM FILLED MOZZARELLA CHEESE, PEOPLE. Well, I got us two balls of burrata and cut it up into pieces and scattered it across the pizza along with the tomatoes, oil, and parmesan cheese. But the glory of this cheese is that it doesn't get hard... it just spreads and oozes all over the dough, almost like you drizzled cream all over the toppings. Nothing was more satisfying than biting into a big glob of that burrata cheese. To finish the pizza, I added some homemade balsamic reduction, a whole mess of fresh bail, and some red pepper flakes. I loved this pizza for its simplicity and classic Italian flavors. Not too many frills, but with a slight gourmet touch! I know we'll make this pizza over and over again, and that's saying a lot!! Enjoy :)

I mean a whole mess of basil, obviously.

See those bright white spots... that's the creamy burrata!

For the Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes:

2 Pints of Cherry Tomatoes, Cut in Half

Olive Oil, For Drizzling

Salt & Pepper, For Sprinkling

4 Sprigs of Rosemary

For the Herbed-Garlic Olive Oil:

½C Olive Oil

4 Cloves of Fresh Garlic, Minced

½t Red Pepper Flakes

2T Fresh Basil, Minced

Fleur de Sel & Fresh Cracked Pepper, To Taste

For the Pizza:

1 Batch of Homemade Extra Crispy Pizza Dough (made into two dough balls)

Prepared Herbed-Garlic Olive Oil

2 Burrata Cheese Rounds, Cut into Slices or Pieces

Prepared Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese

Homemade Balsamic Reduction, For Drizzling

Fresh Basil, Chiffonade (a whole bunch of it, trust me)

Salt, Pepper, & Red Pepper Flakes, For Sprinkling (optional)

Directions:

1. For the Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes: Preheat the oven to 225 degrees and line a baking sheet with a Silpat. Place the sliced tomatoes onto the prepared tray and drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add on the sprigs of rosemary. Roast the tomatoes for 3-4 hours or until the juices have reduced and the tomatoes have shriveled. Set them aside until you are ready to put them on the pizza.

2. For the Herbed-Garlic Olive Oil: In a small bowl, mix together all of the ingredients until they are well incorporated. Let the oil infuse with the garlic and herbs for at least an hour, but preferably longer if possible.

3. Prepping the Dough:During the last hour of the dough’s resting, preheat the oven to its hottest setting, around 500-550 degrees, and arrange a rack in the middle of the oven. Working with the dough, dust it generously with flour and place onto a floured work surface. Gently shape the dough balls into a two 10-inch disks. Press or spread the dough dish on top of a baking sheet or pizza stone. Now it’s time to add on the toppings.

4. Assembling the Pizza:Spread the dough with some of the herbed-garlic olive oil, and then drop and scatter the Burrata pieces over the dough in an even layer, and then top it the slow roasted cherry tomatoes and freshly grated Parmesan Cheese. Place the pizza into the hot oven and bake for roughly 10-12 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the crust has begun to brown. Bump the oven heat up to broil. Remove from the oven and sprinkle on a little more Burrata and return the pizza to the hot oven for just another 2-3 minutes.

5. Remove from the oven and drizzle the pizza with some of the balsamic reduction, generously top it with some fresh basil, and a sprinkle of salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Cut into slices and enjoy it while it is still hot.

Croque Madame Waffle Napoleon with Overnight Yeasted Waffles, Gruyere Cheese, Honey Glazed Ham, Fried Eggs, & Béchamel Sauce

Croque Madame Waffle Napoleon with Overnight Yeasted Waffles, Gruyere Cheese, 

Honey Glazed Ham, Fried Eggs, & Béchamel Sauce

Springtime is Brunch time. I don't know why exactly, but we look forward to Sunday every weekend, just so I can whip up some pancakes or doughnuts or waffles in the case of this recipe. We are waffle-crazed people ever since I bought us a fancy schmancy waffle maker last year. And hey guys, what's more brunch-y than a Croque Madame Sandwich? I mean, it has ham, cheese, a glorious cheese sauce, and a big fat friggin' fried egg on top. Sign us up, we're totes there. But, we couldn't just make a classic sandwich, we don't know how to do classic in this house. Why not a Croque Madame Waffle Napoleon with overnight yeasted waffles in place of bread? Perfection. This stacked "sandwich" is made for a man, but trust me, no woman could do this down. The waffles have this wonderful yeasty beer taste, and then when it's paired with sweet ham, nutty gruyere cheese, and extra runny fried eggs... you're in hangover food paradise. We would know, we're hungover a lot. After everything is all layered and stacked, you get the utterly satisfying vision of watching the Béchamel Sauce cascade/waterfall over the waffles. And in Piece, Love, & Cooking land, fried eggs make everything better. Oh hey, fun fact, did you know that eggs actually help you feel better when you're hungover? There's something called "cysteine" that break down toxins in the body. So, drink as much alcohol as you want, as long as you eat eggs afterwards... that's right, right? Yep. Be fancy, make a stack of waffles, call them a Napoleon, and cure your hangover all at the same time... that's our motto!! Enjoy :)

More Eggs... Less Hungover

Oh-so-many yeasted waffles

This is the cascading waterfall that I was talkin' about...

For the Overnight Yeasted Waffles:

½C Warm Water

1 Package of Active Dry Yeast

2C Buttermilk, Warmed

1 Stick Unsalted Butter, Melted & Cooled Slightly

1t Salt & Sugar

2C AP Flour

2 Large Eggs, Lightly Beaten

¼t Baking Soda

For the Béchamel Sauce:

3T Unsalted Butter

3T AP Flour

2C Whole Milk

12oz Gruyere Cheese, Grated

½ C Parmesan Cheese, Finely Grated

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

Freshly Grated Nutmeg, To Taste

For the Croque Madame Waffle Napoleon:

Prepared Overnight Yeasted Waffles, Cooked until Golden Brown & Crispy

Dijon Mustard

Thinly Sliced Honey Baked Ham, For Layering

Shredded Gruyere Cheese (the remaining that is leftover from the sauce)

Prepared Béchamel Sauce

2-3 Fried Eggs per Stack

Minced Chives, For Sprinkling

Directions:

1. For the Overnight Waffles: Combine the water and yeast in a large mixing bowl and let stand to dissolve for 5 minutes. Add the buttermilk, butter, salt, sugar, and flour to the bowl. Whisk until well blended and smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it stand at room temperature overnight. When you’re ready to make the waffles, preheat the waffle iron. Also, preheat the oven to warm and place a baking sheet in the oven. Just before making the waffles, whisk the eggs and baking soda into the batter until smooth (the batter will be very thin). Fill the waffle wells and cook according to the manufacturer’s instructions, or until golden brown & crispy. Transfer the finished waffles to the baking sheet in the preheated oven to keep warm.

2. For the Béchamel Sauce: Heat butter in a 2-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat. Add flour and cook, whisking, until smooth, about 1 minute. Whisk in milk, and bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer until slightly reduced and thickened, 6–8 minutes. Add ½ cup of grated Gruyere and the Parmesan, and whisk until smooth. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

3. Assembling the Stacks:Heat broiler to high. Place 2 waffles on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, and spread 1 tbsp. mustard over each. Top with 2 slices ham, some Gruyere, and a fried egg. Repeat this process again by stacking another waffle spread with mustard, ham, and cheese. Broil until cheese begins to melt, 1–2 minutes. Top with one last waffle, then pour a generous amount of béchamel on top of each sandwich. Broil until cheese sauce is bubbling and evenly browned, about 3–4 minutes.

4. Garnishing the Stacks:Once the cheese has melted, remove the stacks from the oven and top them with one last fried egg and garnish with a little salt and fresh cracked pepper, as well as some fresh chives for color.

Dark + Stormy's with Homemade Ginger Simple Syrup, Black Spiced Rum, & Ginger Beer

Dark + Stormy's with Homemade Ginger Simple Syrup, Black Spiced Rum, & Ginger Beer

Dark + Stormy's are a really popular bar drink, mainly because they typically just have ginger ale and rum in the cup. But, when we make cocktails at home, we have to make them special. My components are a homemade ginger simple syrup, black spiced rum, "extra ginger" ginger beer, and fresh lime. I like my Dark + Stormy's to be overloaded with ginger flavor, so feel free to substitute plain ole' ginger ale and classic simple syrup for a tame version. We garnished our drinks with a cane sugar rim, candied ginger cubes, and lime wheels. Short. Sweet. Simple. And to that the point. That's how all cocktails should be!! Enjoy y'all :)

Garnish with Candied Ginger & Fresh Lime!!

For the Ginger Simple Syrup:
1C Sugar

1C Water

10inches of Fresh Ginger, Cut into 1inch Pieces

For the Dark + Stormy’s:

3oz Black Spiced Rum, Chilled

1oz Ginger Simple Syrup, Chilled

1 Lime, Juiced & Zested

“Extra Ginger” Ginger Beer, Cold (to fill the glass)

Cane Sugar, For Rimming (with a leftover lime peel)

Candied Ginger Cubes, For Garnishing

Directions:

1. For the Ginger Simple Syrup: Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add ginger; bring to a simmer. Remove from heat, and let steep 30 minutes. Pour syrup through a fine sieve into an airtight container; discard ginger. Refrigerate up to 1 month.

2. For the Dark + Stormy’s: Get a chilled glass and rub the rim with a spent lime peel and dip to the cane sugar. Put in some crushed ice, and then zest and juice the lime on top of the ice. Next, pour in the black-spiced rum and ginger simple syrup. Slowly pour the ginger beer until it has filled the entire glass. Gently stir and garnish with candied ginger cubes and lime wheels.

Blackened Heirloom Tomato Salsa

Blackened Heirloom Tomato Salsa

Why is it still so cold out? I mean, that's one of the many perks of living in the South... the warm weather!! But, my gawd, it has been chilly out there for the last couple weeks, I'm just straight up sick of it. I'm ready for perfect picnic weather, amazing peaches, juicy ripe heirloom tomatoes, silver queen corn, baseball games, and long days at the beach. In the mean time, I'm going to pretend that it's warm outside by making food that evokes that state of mind. One of those for me is making fresh, homemade salsa. I absolutely cannot stand salsa out of the jar. It's got that canned tomato, pastey, over processed taste to it... and I ain't havin' that. I like to make my salsas with fresh heirloom tomatoes because they are naturally sweeter than a lot of other 'maters (southern for tomatoes) and they are just-oh-so-juicy. Also, I adore that they come in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes. I'm literally drawn to them when I go to the grocery store or a farmer's market, I just can't not buy some. Typically, I keep all my ingredients fresh or in their "raw" form, but this time I opted to roast some of the vegetables until they had blackened and charred. This added such a pronounced smokey flavor to the salsa that you usually can only get from a restaurant. The rest is really up to y'all... I like my salsa slightly chunkier than the average person, so feel free to throw the batch into a food processor and puree it until it is smooth. This dip is the perfect appetizer for cocktail hour and it paired perfectly with our homemade Dark & Stormy's that I will post on Friday!! Enjoy :)

Can you see the black flecks of charred vegetables??

For the Salsa:

6 Ripe Heirloom Tomatoes

4 Cloves of Garlic, Unpeeled

1 Small Red Onion, Cut into Thick Slices

3 Jalapenos

1 Lime, Cut in Half

½-1C Sweet Onion, Finely Chopped (we like a lot of onion in our salsa, so we used 1C)

1 Bunch of Fresh Cilantro, Finely Chopped

2T Candied Jalapenos, Minced

1T Vegetable Oil & 1T Red Wine Vinegar

Salt & Sugar, To Taste (we like our salsa sweet & spicy, so we add a little more than usual)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to broil and line a baking pan with a Silpat. Set it aside.

2. Blackening the Vegetables: Cut 3 of the heirloom tomatoes in half and place on the prepared baking sheet along with the unpeeled garlic cloves, red onion slices, whole jalapenos, and lime halves. Broil the vegetables until they are charred/blackened and softer in texture, about 20-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it cool enough, so you can handle the hot vegetables with your hands.

3. For the Salsa: With the remaining 3 heirloom tomatoes, roughly dice them up into small cubes and place them into a mixing bowl (this will help give the salsa a pleasant chunky texture). Add the sweet onion, chopped cilantro, candied jalapenos, vegetable oil, & red wine vinegar into the bowl. Toss until all the ingredients are combined. Now that the blackened vegetables have cooled, put the tomatoes, peeled roasted garlic cloves, red onion, and jalapenos into a food processor and pulse until a puree has formed. Pour this mixture into the mixing bowl of fresh ingredients. Squeeze the roasted lime over the salsa, and then season with salt and sugar to your liking (we like our salsa spicy, yet pretty sweet, so just add it a little at a time). Toss one last time to ensure that the salsa is thoroughly combined.

4. Serve the salsa with tortilla chips for dipping!