Day at The Docks 2012....Slinging Fish Tacos and Teaching Quick Baja Style Shrimp Ceviche

Every year my amazing friend Tommy Gomes

(the most amazing fishmonger at Catalina Offshore Products)

Sets up a booth at Day at The Docks

Selling fish tacos

To raise money for the Monarch School (a school that educates childeren impacted by homelessness). This year we raised $5,000.00!

When I am not slinging thousands of fish tacos, I teaching. This years cooking demonstration, on one of the many amazing sport fishing boat was Baja Style Quick Shrimp Cevice.

Here is the recipe I made this year.

Quick Baja Style Shrimp Ceviche

Serves 4 to 6

For Cooking Shrimp

1 ½ lb         Shrimp, shell on

4                 Green Onions
1/4 cup        Lime juice
1                 Jalapeno, cut in half

For Ceviche

1                 Jalapenos, seeded & diced

1 cup          Green onion, sliced into thin slices
1/4 cup       Cilantro leaves, chopped
1 tbsp          Extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup       Tomato ketchup
¼ cup         Tomato juice
½ cup          Lime juice
Salt & fresh ground black pepper
1 1/3 cup    Cherry tomatoes (multi colored), halved or quartered
1/2 cup       English Cucumber, finely diced

1                 Avocado, seeded, peeled and diced

Tortilla chips

Combine green onions, lime juice, jalapeno, and 2 quarts water in a large stock pot; bring to a boil.

Add shrimp, stir, cover, cook until half cooked, about 2 minutes (or until pink and firm on the outside and shiny on the inside).
Drain in a colander.
Remove from colander and spread into a single layer onto a cookie sheet and refrigerate till cooled completely.
Peel and devein shrimp. Cut shrimp into bite sized pieces, small enough to fit onto a chip.
In a large bowl, stir together jalapenos, green onions, olive oil, ketchup, tomato juice and lime juice. Add shrimp and season with salt and pepper. 
Refrigerate for 30 minutes, or up till over night
Before serving stir in cilantro, tomatoes and cucumbers.
Serve with a garnish of avocado and with good quality corn tortilla chips or tostadas.

Recipes Seen On San Diego LIving

My Easter Menu

Deviled Eggs

Crudite with Herb Dipping Sauce

Biscuits

Dijon Glazed Ham with Raw Sugar Crust

Green Bean Potato Salad with Dijion Dressing

"Ambrosia" Fruit Salad

 

Glazed Ham

With Maple Dijon Sauce
Serves 6 to 8

1 (5 to 6 lb) Smoked, spiral ham

Glaze:
½ cup Dijon mustard
½ cup Brown Sugar
¼ cup Honey
1/8 tsp Fresh nutmeg
¼ tsp Ground pepper

Sugar Crust:
1 cup Raw sugar

Maple Dijon Sauce:
1/3 cup Maple Syrup
1/3 cup Dijon mustard

Submerge ham in water and soak for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line a roasting pan with foil.
Place ham, flat side down, into roasting pan and cover the ham completely with foil.
Place in oven and cook for 1 hour.
Remove ham from oven and increase oven temperature to 400°F.
In a bowl stir together glaze ingredients.
Uncover the ham, trim excess fat, score ham in a diamond pattern and coat ham with the glaze mixture; making sure to get into the diamond scores.
Cook for 15 to 20 minutes, basting half way through.
Remove ham from the oven and press the 1 cup of sugar to the outside of the ham; add a thin layer of sugar and melt with a torch. Heat the sugar until a crust forms, and turns a dark caramel color and repeat (adding a thin layer of sugar and torching).

Rest the ham for 10 minutes, before carving*.
In a bowl stir together maple syrup and mustard, till smooth.
Slice ham and serve with sauce.

* I prefer to serve my ham cold. If doing so torch the sugar crust just before serving to ensure a good crust.

Green Bean and Potato Salad

Serves 4

1 lb             Mixed fingerling potatoes or small potato, scrubbed and cut in halves or quarters

½ lb            Green beans, trimmed and blanched

3 tbsp         Dijon mustard
¼ cup         Olive oil
2 tbsp         Cider vinegar
½ tsp          Lemon zest
3 tbsp         Mixed fresh soft herbs (chives, thyme, parsley, tarragon, basil, etc.), chopped

Place potatoes in a large pot of salted cold water and bring to a boil. Cook until tender when pierced with a fork, about 10 minutes, and drain.
In a large bowl, whisk together Dijon mustard, oil, cider vinegar and zest; till smooth.
Add potatoes, beans, salt and pepper, toss to combine.
Salad may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.
Add fresh herbs and serve salad warm or at room temperature*.

*Note- is you prefer a creamier dressing you can replace some or all of the olive oil with mayonnaise, but you will not be able to serve the salad at room temperature.

Chef Jenn is cooking up some amazing new classes

We just finished our first Urban Farm Cooking Class of 2012 and it was amazing! If you are interested in attending one of these class we have scheduled our next class for Saturday May 12. Please contact me if you are interested in RSVPing.

My amazing fish monger and I will be teaching a Seafood Cooking Class on April 13 (yes that is Friday the 13, ha ha).This menus will feature Roasted Shrimp Cocktail with Classic Red and White Cocktail Sauce; Baja Style Octopus Ceviche with Fresh Tortilla Chips; Salmon Burger with Wasabi Mayonnaise; Scallop and Crab Stuffed Halibut with Citrus Beurre Blanc.

For those of you in the North County I have a ton of great hands-on class coming up through San Dieguito Adult Education like Spanish Tapas or French Cooking for Beginners and so much more.

I have had several students ask about volunteer opportunities. Please email me and let me know if you would like to be put on my new volunteer list. Student would help plate food, serve food and in some cases event cook the food for various classes and non-profit events.

For a full list of upcoming classes, including Vegan and Urban Farm classes go to www.chefjenncooks.com
Please contact Chef Jenn at (858) 212- 9054
www.chefjenncooks.blogspot.com or follow me on twitter Chef_Jenn