Catch Of The Day

Mr. Willoughby and I enjoy spending time together in the kitchen; talking, cooking a nice meal, having a glass of wine (or cocktails) and listening to music. He's quite a catch, if I do say so myself, but that's not the catch I'm talking about tonight. The catch of the day today is flounder. We made shrimp, too, so does that make it catches of the day? I don't know.

I have to tell you that we discovered a new wine tonight, too. I always buy four bottles of wine at a time because my grocery store gives a 10% discount when you do that. I usually get three bottles I know we'll like and try one new one. We're kind of middle of the road when it comes to wine; not to sweet, not too dry. I randomly grabbed an Australian Riesling and put it in my cart. When I got home, I noticed it was a screw top! A screw top? No self respecting wine has a screw top! I put it in the wine rack and decided to save it specifically for cooking. Mr. Willoughby took it out tonight for our shrimp scampi and we couldn't resist tasting it. To our great surprise, it was excellent! I recommend giving it a try (though I can't believe I'm saying that about a screw top wine). It's Banrock Station Riesling, more dry than sweet. I promise you that you'll never miss the cork.

On the menu tonight was Broiled Flounder Parmesan (the recipe is for Tilapia, but we prefer flounder), Shrimp Scampi, Oven Baked Fries and a simple green salad. Everything was delicious, but the Shrimp Scampi Mr. Willoughby made was outstanding! We had never tried this recipe before, but this will be our new "go to" recipe for scampi. Something about the combination of lighting in my kitchen and the flash on my camera never makes food look as good in my pictures as it does in person, but trust me that this was one tasty meal. The kids enjoyed it every bit as much as we did.

Instead of dessert, we made Cafe Caramel. It's like the Caramel Machiato from Starbucks, but doesn't cost $5 a cup! Here's what you need:

Start by brewing some coffee. Yes, I know, I've got Maxwell House here, not some fancy schmancy expensive whole beans roasted in small batches by hand in a tiny village in Columbia. I like that kind, too, but tonight it's Maxwell House. And those two blue bowls in front? Those are sugar and creamer. If you prefer dairy cream or half and half, those would be fine but I like non-dairy creamer.

To each mug, add two heaping teaspoons of creamer, two teaspoons of sugar (or to taste) and approximately two tablespoons of caramel ice cream topping (I never bother to measure) and fill to within a 1/2 inch of the top with hot coffee. Stir until well mixed and caramel topping has dissolved. Top with whipped cream and a drizzle of caramel topping.

If this were a Friday Night Drink Demo, I might add a splash of Kahlua or some Bailey's Irish Cream along with the caramel topping. I might even go so far as to skip the whipped cream and top the coffee with a dollop of Kahlua Mousse.

Happy Saturday, everyone!