Destin-ed for Delicious

The husband and I took a week-long vacation to Destin, FL.  We arrived late on Saturday night and as we drove from Panama City into Destin we had great fun marketing our own vacation with zingers like “we have almost arrived to our Destin-ation” and “we were Destin-ed to vacation here” and as we rounded the corner to the condo we were rented, it became obvious that we weren’t the only ones playing with the name as there were subdivisions named “Destiny at the Sea” and “Destiny East”. 

As a polite reader you might wonder what we did on our vacation and you might be either disappointed or perhaps envious at the truth.  We woke up every morning and decided whether we would go to the beach or the pool, then we would go to the beach, while at the beach watching the waves crash against the shore, we would discuss where and what we wanted to eat for dinner.  We did this for 6 wonderful days! 

Because we did so much eating on this vacation, I thought I would share some of our favorite dishes from Destin, where the flavors of the South meet the Sea.

Seafood for Breakfast

After a long Saturday of traveling, we were starving on Sunday morning.  We decided to try Another Broken Egg even though there was a bit of a wait.  Their unique menu was definitely worth it though. Although we were both tempted to order our usual breakfast choices of eggs, green chile, and sausage, the husband and I forced ourselves to try something new and different, something that we couldn’t get in the desert of New Mexico.  I chose an omelet called Stan’s Mardi Gras which consisted of crawfish, shrimp, Andouille sausage, and red peppers and was topped with green onions, tomatoes, and Hollandaise sauce.  The husband ordered the Smoked Salmon Benny which consisted of whipped cream cheese, smoked salmon, and two poached eggs stacked on a toasted bagel and garnished with diced red onions, capers and green onions.

While neither dishes were completely new to us, they might as well have been.  I have had omelets before.  I have even had an omelet with crab meat in it before.  However, my crab meat omelet from New Mexico was most definitely made of imitation crab that left my mouth feeling dry and my mind wondering why anyone would ever combine eggs and seafood.  So for me it was a brave decision to try this and I’m so glad that I did. The eggs were perfectly cooked into a protective covering for the FRESH shrimp and FRESH crawfish.  While the sausage was a bit chunky and almost a strange texture to the smooth seafood; it added just enough Cajun spice to keep the flavor interesting.  The Hollandaise sauce somehow cooled down the spice just enough so that my mouth wasn’t burning with regret.  The Husband tasted it and said, “Wow, I should have ordered that!”

Maybe, but the benny that he ordered was good too.   He let me have a tiny taste and with great care made sure that I could taste all of the flavors.  The bagel served as a sturdy foundation for the savory salmon, the fluffy cloud-like eggs, and the sweet cream cheese.  I’ve never ordered my own eggs benedict before, but will have to do so in the future.  There is something mysterious about poached eggs, something unnatural about how fluffy and smooth they are, something I would definitely like to try again.

Hushpuppies

First, I must admit that I love hushpuppies.  Someone once asked me what a hushpuppy was and I was taken aback.  How could they not know what a hushpuppy was?  Unfortunately, my response was, “You know, those fried balls of cornmeal that you get at Long John Silver’s.”  And even more unfortunately, the response was “Oh yeah.  I like those.”

Luckily, there are better hushpuppies out there than the fast food version from Long John Silver’s.  We had the privilege of having them twice on the trip.  At Captain Dave's, the hushpuppies were the best part of my grilled shrimp and fried okra dinner and perhaps the best part of the husband's blackened tuna and fried okra dinner.  

We also ordered them as an appetizer along with fried calamari at Kenny D's.  Both recipes were very similar, crispy golden brown on the outside and mushy soft on the inside with a savory cornmeal garlicky taste.  

Because I’ve always been curious about where and how the term “hushpuppy” came into existence, I did some research and found that there are a number of different stories about this very thing.  The history of huspuppies is outlined on the Serious Eats Blog.  My favorite is that “puppy” is a euphemism for our stomachs and that the fried little morsels of delicious cornbread “hushed” the “puppy” from growling and cured the hunger in the tummy.   I can speak from experience from a really hard day of sitting at the beach and pondering what I would eat later, the hushpuppies were exactly what we need to hush our puppies.

Pineapple Cole Slaw

The husband hates coleslaw.  It’s as simple as that.  He hates it.  He even hates cabbage.  He won’t eat

it.  Maybe there was something in the salty Destin sea air or maybe there is something about eating dinner in front of the ocean that changes what one normally hates into something at least tolerable. The husband willingly ate coleslaw!

Of course, this coleslaw was not your typical mayonnaise drenched cabbage.  Oh no, not in Destin, not at Pompano Joe’s.  This coleslaw had pineapple in it!  While there wasn’t a lot of pineapple, when you got a huge chunk mixed in with the cabbage, it was like a surprise party that you didn’t know you wanted until you opened the door and saw all of your friends, a surprise, but a welcome and somehow comforting surprise. That’s exactly what the pineapple was hidden among the green and purple cabbage, a sweet contrast to the strong onion slivers.  It created a pause in flavors, a pause for the mind to catch up to the taste buds, a pause in conversation for our speech to catch up to our minds, and a momentary pause for the hatred of coleslaw.

Irish

For someone who hates cabbage so much, it’s hard to believe that the husband actually has Irish blood.  It also may be hard to believe that our favorite restaurant in the seaside town of Destin was not a seafood restaurant, but an Irish pub. Walking out of the bright sunlight into the dark, dusky McGuire’s Irish Pub, we first noticed that the ceilings and walls were covered with dollar bills.  The

second thing we noticed was the huge moose head that hung on the wall opposite our table.  I’ve never been to Ireland, but I felt transported from Destin to what my imagination tells me is a real Irish pub.  And so we took a vacation within our vacation, a pause from the Emerald Coast to the Emerald Isle.

And that was before we even saw the menu.  The menu consisted of traditional Irish fare as well as traditional pub fare. While we were pondering our choices, the waitress brought us the most delicious bread that I have ever tasted.  The menu called it Irish Honey Black Bread and Plenty of Pure Butter.  The bread was so soft and so sweet that it really didn’t need any butter, but just as the menu description claimed; it had plenty of butter - melted over the top of it like frosting on a cake.  Tasting this delicious combination of bread and butter – the essentials needed for a good meal - was the moment between taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out, the moment when you hold the air in your lungs, anticipating something good.

I too have some Irish blood and decided I would find something good in the Fish and Chips.  The description boasted “Free Range Fresh Fish caught daily in the Irish Sea by
McGuire’s Cousin Nathan and battered in McGuire’s Red Ale . Served with Homemade Coleslaw.”  I don’t know what kind of fish this was and I definitely can’t confirm where it was caught, but it was the biggest piece of fish I have ever ordered.  It was so big that it didn’t even fit on the plate!  It was lightly coated and fried.  Despite its size, there was lightness about it in both flavor and texture compared to the heavy wedges of fried potatoes hidden under the fish fillet.  With a little (ok, a lot) of ketchup, it was absolutely delicious!  And, yes, I ate every bit of it!

The husband ordered the Brewer’s Sausage Plate which was described as “Our Brewer's Choice of Sausages from Around the World, with German Sauerkraut, Potato Salad, and a Free McGuire's Craft Brewed Old Fashioned Ale”.  There were four different sausages that ranged from sweet to savory.  We joked that we needed a map so that we could know what each sausage was and where it came from, so that the flavors could be properly attributed.  Without the map, it’s difficult to describe them.   For the second time on this trip, the husband willingly ate cabbage.  While he didn’t eat all of the sauerkraut, he did try it and ate more than I thought he would.  Interestingly, a beer was part of this menu item, so the husband ordered a stout and all the goodness that had been anticipated with the bread became a reality.

Donuts

I think that every couple has a thing, you know that special thing that they do together – some couples like to go wine tasting, or brew their own beer, other couples go dancing, while others take up hiking.  The husband and I have a thing too: we love donuts!  And so you can imagine that when we heard about a place called the Donut Hole, we were ecstatic. 

The entire town of Destin must be ecstatic about this place too because it was ridiculously busy. The line to get a table was out the door and wound its way into the parking lot.  The first day we attempted to go there, we were too intimidated to stand in line.  The second time we stuck it out and were disappointed with our normal orders of eggs, hash browns, and bacon.  We were expecting something special, but this was just typical greasy spoon food.

We didn’t give up though.  We each ordered a donut to go: I had blueberry and the husband had red velvet.  They were both delicious – a sweet pause in the chaos of life.  The blueberry donut had a sweet crunchy glaze on the outside and gave way to an extremely moist purple filled inside, purple because there were so many blueberries in it.  The red velvet was by far the favorite because it was so unique – frosted with a deliciously sweet and slightly vanilla infused cream cheese frosting that gave way to a moist very light chocolate flavor.  This donut was so delicious, that I think it might be dangerous.

The donuts were so good that we went back a few more times during the trip to keep the donuts for breakfast the next day.  I tried coconut and maple frosted and the husband tried a peanut butter oreo donut. We also gave the menu another chance and were pleasantly surprised that the pancakes and the breakfast sandwich were exactly those special items we had initially expected.

Destin-ed for Delicious

Overall, our vacation to Destin was a delicious experience.  The above mentioned places and foods were just the highlights.  We went to a number of other places and I think we both agree that we were Destin-ed for Delicious.

Health(ier) Bangers and Mash

What did we do to channel our Irish roots for St. Patrick’s Day?  We had Italian food, of course.  Our nieces’ cheer team was having a fundraiser at a local Italian restaurant and so we decided to support them as well as our continuous craving for pizza and calzones.  Bangers and Mash was put on hold until the following day, but still tasted just as good as if it were the holiday.

Last year I said that I would try the same recipe with English sausage.  Well, I didn’t put a lot of effort into finding them and so I didn’t find any!  Instead, the husband and I decided to try a healthy version of Bangers and Mash.  I know what you’re thinking because I thought it too – HOW?!!!!!  All of that fat in the sausage, all of that butter and cream in the potatoes, and what to do about the gravy?

Not to panic, someone much more creative than me came up with a healthier (I won’t say healthy, but healthier) take on the traditional dish.  In a blog called “Don’t Change Much,” the entire recipe for HealthyBangers and Mash is outlined.  And I honestly didn’t change much this time because the changes to make this recipe healthier were already made for me:

• Turkey sausage (I used Sweet Italian) instead of English sausage
• Yogurt instead of butter and cream in the potatoes (I also used chicken broth to make the creamy mash more flavorful)
• Onions sauteed in leftover grease from the turkey sausage in place of a brown gravy (there wasn’t a lot of grease because this was turkey, so I added just a bit of olive oil)
• Peas and carrots were served on the side, so less potatoes were needed (less carbs too!)

The husband helped prepare everything, so we had a lot of fun chopping, stirring, and cooking together.  I think we both worried that the fat reduction would equal a taste reduction, so when we finally sat down to eat and the husband took a big bite of mashed potatoes, I was surprised at his unwavering response of “I like it.”  I think he may have been surprised that he liked it so much too.

But then I took a bite of the potatoes and completely understood.  They were creamy!  I don’t think I’ve ever had mashed pototoes that were that creamy!  Honestly, I don’t have much to compare it to though and I still consider myself a potato  novice.  While I’ve been tasked with seasoning the mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving since I was a teenager, I don’t  usually taste them and if I do it is just a quick dab of the finger in the pot to see if needs more salt.  My Pie Goddess Sister usually tells me to add more pepper.  Even though there wasn’t much yogurt mixed into the pot, it really changed the texture of the potatoes and the chicken broth really changed the flavor but not so much that you would think “Oh yeah, there is chicken broth in there.” 

I already have some ideas on how to spruce this up away from the bangers part of the dish.  First, I want to make it dairy free, so I’m going to have to look for yogurt substitutes.  Then I want to try adding scallions and maybe even roasted garlic.

Sorry!  Shiny objects and and yummy food are terrible distractions for me – back to the Healthy Bangers and Mash!  The rest of the dish was delicious – the Italian Turkey Sausage was not overpoweringly spicy and the crispy onions complemented them nicely.  The onions came out a bit crispy; I may have over cooked them, but I actually like them almost burnt.  I think that this adds a natural salt to them, but that is just my preference.

My only regret is that I didn’t get to experience the “bang” in Bangers and Mash.  The sausages were originally called this because they would make a loud “pop” or “bang” in the skillet when cooking.  Because meat was rationed during in and around World War I and even World War II, the sausages were made with water.  If the sausages were overcooked, they literally popped with a “bang”.  Modern sausages don’t do this.  So I guess we don’t really have Bangers and Mash at all, rather we simply have Sausage and Mash.  And while this doesn’t sound all that festive, I guess it shouldn’t take anything away from our St. Patrick’s Day celebration.   Bangers and Mash is  actually an English dish and not Irish dish anyway, so maybe celebrating with Italian food wasn’t that far of a stretch after all.

Bangers and Mash

The husband is a huge fan of Bangers and Mash.  If we go to an Irish Pub, I don’t even have to ask what he is ordering.  Because he orders this dish whenever he has the opportunity, I consider him somewhat of an expert.  (In fact, he should probably be the one writing this post.)

Even though the husband loves this dish and adores St. Patrick’s Day, we decided to avoid the crowds and craziness the holiday can bring and stayed in to concoct our own version of Bangers and Mash.  We both have a bit of Irish blood in the veins and hoped that we could channel some of our ancestry into our culinary experiment.  I can’t speak for the husband or his expert taste buds, but I wasn’t disappointed.

We found a recipe for Bangers of Mash, but didn’t follow it exactly.  (It’s rare that I actually follow a recipe!) Keep in mind that I used my own recipe for the mashed potatoes and for the gravy I substituted half water and half beef broth and didn't use any type of browning sauce.

We started with the mashed potatoes by cutting the potatoes into cubes and boiling them in water just like my mom taught me to do all those years ago making Thanksgiving dinner.   Of course, back then I was allergic to potatoes and couldn’t taste the progress of the dish.  It’s always been a mystery how I got to be in charge of making the mashed potatoes when I had no idea how they turned out.  All of that practice paid off though.  We used chicken broth instead of milk, which added a bit of a savory, salty flavor.  We splurged and used real butter though and I think this is the key to smooth mashed potatoes.  I’ve never used real butter in mashed potatoes before and so they had never come out quite so smooth before.  They even tasted smooth.

While the potatoes were cooking, we grilled Sweet Italian Sausages in a skillet.  I wish that I could have found English Sausages, but they were not in any of the stores that I went to.  I think the Italian Sausages were a good substitute, but according to the husband and expert Bangers and Mash orderer, they were a bit spicier and sweeter than English Sausages.  I don’t believe I have ever tried an English Sausage, so I wouldn’t know the difference.  Maybe next year I can find the right ingredient.

Although, in my opinion, the type of sausage wasn’t crucial to the dish.  We made a Brown Butter Onion

Gravy that added just enough salt and savory to the already delicious mashed potatoes.  The gravy was so surprisingly delicious that I honestly forgot about the sausage. Of course, the was also made out of butter, so I guess it shouldn’t have been so surprising. This was also my first attempt at a butter based gravy – rich, creamy, and smooth.

If there is a moral to this culinary experiment, it would have to be that butter creates a smooth delicious flavor whether in mashed potatoes or in gravy.  While the dish was relatively easy to make, I think I will reserve that delicious smooth richness (and all of those fat grams from sausage and butter) for St. Patrick’s Day.

To be continued next year with English Sausage….