Slathered Guacamole Stuffed Shrimp
Slatherin’ Sauce in Every Day with Rachael Ray!
When I was giving a cooking demo back in January, many people in the audience asked, “Are you related to Rachael Ray”? I got a huge chuckle out of that. We do spell our names differently, but still, we have the same initials…so maybe it’s just fate that our first major national media mention is in EveryDay with Rachael Ray‘s magazine.
Atlanta Food critic John Kessler was in Charleston and authored this article. The article on Charleston has captured so much of what we love about life here.
We’re over the moon with delight and thank our friends at Whole Foods for pointing us out to Rachael Ray’s team.
Enjoy the article via PDF clipping from the Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Miss in the Kitchen and Hawaiian Pizza
Via Facebook, we *met* Milisa, a wonderful food blogger who is super creative, not to mention kind. Milisa sampled Slatherin’ Sauce and has created her own recipe for Hawaiian Pizza.
Do jump on over to Miss in the Kitchen and take notes, ’cause you’re gonna want to create this pizza for your family this weekend.
What is Barbecue to you? Noun or verb?
With warm weather arriving now in many parts of the country, our thoughts turn to outdoor entertaining and cooking, or as many people call it barbecuing.
Now, I’ll be the first to say that you can call it what you like, but here in the South (the Southern U.S.A. that is) the term barbecue is a noun, not a verb. And as many of you know, the topic of barbecue can turn friends into enemies, or bring enemies together. Don’t believe me? The BBQ Song says it all.
There have been many books written about barbecue (the noun): how to prepare it, whether beef, pork or chicken is better, what type of sauce you use…and on and on.
When I was in England last month, many people talked about barbecuing…and they weren’t talking about slow cooking pork in a pit. What they were talking about was cooking over open heat, out of doors. So, today I want to hear from you how you barbecue (the verb) meaning cook out of doors.
I enjoy cooking on the grill and enjoying my outdoor deck with my family. What do I like to put on the grill? Slather Burgers®. Although sometimes I confess that I prefer vegetable skewers on the grill, with a bit of Slatherin’ Sauce brushed on them at the end of cooking. My other “go-tos” are locally made sausages or quail. All of which get Slathered!
What I want to learn is how you barbecue? What do you cook? Do you grill-out on week-nights or only on weekends? Who is the grill chef in your household?
Great ways to make it at home
If you’ve been reading my blog and following what I care about, you know that my causes are family dining at home and good nutrition for family and children (at home and at school). I know that a good life begins with eating well!
For months I’ve been enjoying the blog posts on Good Life Eats, and cheering on Katie Goodman in her quest to promote the same goals.
Her post on Homemade DIY Dry Pantry Staples as part of a series of Eat Well, Spend Less really caught my attention, so I’m sharing it with you. Go read, and learn some great ways to save money, and have your own pantry staples right at hand.
Slatherin’ It on for Children
One of the things we enjoy most about selling Slatherin’ Sauce at events around the country is the opportunity to share our wonderful sauce with families. We just love it when children are excited to taste the sauce and take it home with them. The children always remind us why we do what we do…We are committed to providing healthy delicious products. We proudly welcome our newest Princess of Slather, Miss Lauren.
The London Report: Slather Brand Foods at IFE
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Taking Slatherin’ Sauce to The International Food & Drink Event in London was a thrill! It would have been fun to have taken all of our friends with us to London, but since you couldn’t go there with me, I thought I’d share all the news and reactions.
We arrived early and took a few days to explore and get settled into the time change. We had so much fun adventuring around London.
One of the great highlights of my trip was a visit to Jamie Oliver’s restaurant in Canary Wharf. The chef signed a menu for us and is excited to be be getting his own bottle of Slatherin’ Sauce that was delivered to him after the show! We dined on large green olives from Puglia with Jamie’s’ special sundried tomato tapenade and crisp Sardinian Music bread, scallops with squid ink angel hair pasta, prosciutto, pear,and pecorino salad, and South Coast Frito Misto mixed crispy fried fresh fish of the day served with tartar sauce and lemon…plate included whole large prawns and sardines…delicious!!!…all this enjoyed with a lovely Prosecco from Jamie’s special cellar…Who need champagne?
We went to Central London to explore Parliament and Westminster. The architecture and sculptures took my breath away. It was a very exciting time to be in London..everything was abuzz with plans for the Royal Wedding..Kate is so lovely!!! I am so excited for them. Just as I was glued to the TV when the beloved Diana married the Prick of Wales so will I be glued to it when the beautiful Prince William marries the lovely and graceful Kate Middleton.
On Saturday, I set up the booth.. then it was nothing but serious work. I must admit it was a bit intimidating when I walked into the Grand Hall to find my display area within Southern US Trade Association. But once I got my booth set-up and saw how wonderful it looked, I was ready!
The exhibition was a blast! Slatherin’ Sauce was a run-away hit with hundreds who came by and tasted (hey, it might have even been in the thousands!) Our biggest new fans came from three different sections of the culinary world. Owners of curry shops were wild for Slatherin’ Sauce. They loved the flavor that Slatherin’ Sauce added to their Indian dishes.
Did you know that TexMex is a growing trend in popular cuisine in the UK? Neither did I! But we learned that TexMex restaurants owners thought Slatherin’ Sauce was the perfect companion sauce for all their Texican dishes.
Finally, we had lots of tastings sessions with food service professionals who found the flavor profile of Slatherin’ Sauce was something they want to offer their diners as a finishing sauce to add flavor at the table.
After three jam packed days of talking about Slatherin’ Sauce, we packed up everything and caught our plane for home.
Hopefully in the coming months, Slatherin’ Sauce will be available at many locations in the UK and I’ll be reflecting on all the wonderful days we spent, Slatherin’ It On in London!
Sustainable Seafood
If you have been reading my blog posts for a while, you know that I’m really concerned with many issues and have worked to focus attention on the ones that matter most to me. These are: what we and our children eat, our environment and consuming locally grown food.
Part of my own actions are making sure our packaging is completely recyclable, and using recycled paper for the labels on our Slatherin’ Sauce bottles.
A big part of being concerned about our environment is the issue of sustainability; making sure we tread lightly, renew and improve our earth, our communities and our relationships.
Slather Brand Foods supports initiatives to focus attention on sustainable seafood and when possible, wild caught seafood.
Do you stop to think about the fish you consume? Where did it come from? Who caught it and how far did it have to travel to reach you? Are you eating fish that is under environmental pressure or is over-fished?
Answers to these questions and resources to help you learn more about sustainable seafood can be found at the South Carolina Aquarium’s Sustainable Seafood Initiative. The SC Aquarium even has a chart showing which fish are available month by month. You can download the PDF of that here. In California, the Monterrey Bay Aquarium also has a Seafood Watch section with advisories and other details.
Shrimping was once a major industry for the Carolina Coast, now, there are fewer shrimpers for many reasons. You can learn more about the issues and locate providers who sell wild caught shrimp via the South Carolina Shrimp Marketing website.
Now I know it’s hard when you live in Iowa to get fresh wild-caught fish and shrimp, but you can choose to purchase wild-caught fish and shrimp from U.S. fisheries waters. It may cost you a bit more to purchase, but the taste is sweeter knowing that you are helping an entire industry survive, not to mention species.
photo credit: Flickr user Bruce Tuten
Thanks, Ken
Ever get up in the morning and have your day made just by something someone says? Well, that’s how my day is today! Thanks to Charleston Post and Courier Columnist Ken Burger.
Ken interviewed me on Monday this week just as I was about to hit the tarmac and fly to London for the International Food and Drink Exhibition in London. His interview has become a wonderful story about how we’ve taken my ideas and turned them into Slatherin’ Sauce.
Ken’s column can be read on the Post and Courier’s website or you can read this PDF 2011-03-10-Burger Column Slatherin’ Sauce.
Certified South Carolina Honey Now in Slatherin’ Sauce
Bell Honey
Ever noticed how wonderfully sticky and slightly sweet Slatherin’ Sauce is? Why? Because every bottle of Slatherin’ Sauce is approximately 25% honey. Slatherin’ Sauce is produced in small batches and that means we need 22 gallons of honey for each bottling run. That’s a lot of work from the bees! **Fun fact below
Since our launch we’ve been searching for a South Carolina honey producer who can supply enough honey for Slatherin’ Sauce to use in our production.
And we are pleased to say that our new honey provider is a Certified South Carolina provider, Bell Honey of Rembert, South Carolina.
Craig Bell is the Beekeeper of Bell Honey. According to Bell Honey, “His colonies have grown so that he now tends over a thousand honeybee colonies scattered all over South Carolina… Many are strategically placed to pollinate South Carolina fruits and vegetables, including blackberries, blueberries, watermelons, squash, cucumbers, and strawberries and of course to make plenty of honey.”
Bell Honey is shipped to us as raw honey! Meaning that it has not been processed by anything other than a bee.
Beginning this month (March 2011) you will be enjoying actual tastes of South Carolina sunshine transmuted by bees into honey.
Fun Fact!
Q–How many flowers must a Honeybee visit to make one pound of Honey?
A–2,000,000
One gallon of honey weighs approximately 12 pounds. So, 22 gallons x 12 lbs. = 264 lbs x 2,000,000 flowers = 528,000,000 flowers visited!
Want more fun facts about honey? Visit Bell Honey’s website.
Slathered Guacamole Stuffed Shrimp
Created by Holly Herrick and photographed by Helen Dujardin, these snappy, Slathered Shrimp will make you sing with delight.
Slathered Guacamole Stuffed Shrimp
(Makes 16 appetizer portions)
All pink and green, these peppy little mouth-poppers just scream spring and make pretty starters for your Easter or spring feasts.
For the guacamole:
1 medium ripe Hass avocado, peeled, halved and pit removed
Juice of ½ lime
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Slather Brand Slatherin’ Sauce Spicy Recipe
1 large clove garlic, minded
¼ cup finely chopped Bermuda onion
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon best quality extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
For the shrimp:
1 pound, 15 – 20 count fresh shrimp, peeled, and deveined with tail on and butterflied
1 tablespoon Slather Brand Slatherin’ Sauce Spicy Recipe
Drizzle of best quality extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Make the guacamole at least one hour before serving so the flavors can set up. Serve at room temperature. To prepare the guacamole, combine the halved avocado, lime juice, and Slatherin’ Sauce in a medium bowl. Smash with a fork or a potato masher to work into a chunky puree. With a spatula, fold in the garlic, Berumuda onion, fresh cilantro, and olive oil. Taste and season carefully to taste with salt and freshly ground black. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and press down the wrap so it touches the top of the guacamole, covering the entire surface. (This helps prevent the guacamole from discoloring). Stand at room temperature for up to one hour.
Meanwhile, turn your oven broiler (they can also be grilled) on high. Prep the shrimp by cutting down the round, back side of each shrimp, stopping at the tail. Peel the shell off of each shrimp, keeping the tail on. Remove the vein and discard. To butterfly the shrimp, cut deeper through the center of the round back, stopping about 1/8” until you get to the under-side of the shrimp. Fan out the two sides of shrimp to flatten. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet. Using a pastry brush, brush a thin layer of the Slatherin’ Sauce Spicy Recipe over each shrimp. Drizzle each very lightly with olive oil and the lime juice. Season liberally with salt and freshly ground pepper. Place the baking sheet as close to the broiler as possible and cook, watching closely until crisp and golden and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool at room temperature for five minutes.
To compile, arrange the shrimp flat on individual plates or a serving platter. Top each with a heaping teaspoon of the guacamole. Garnish each with a sprig of fresh cilantro if desired. Serve immediately.