Eclipse de Luna

I assume if you have lived in Atlanta for a while you have been to Eclipse de Luna, and, therefore, you are asking yourself, "Why is Frugalfoodie writing about a place that has been around for forever and that is not particularly what you would call a 'foodie' spot. "  Well my friend, Eclipse just happens to be a fine good staple in the good ole Atl.  My friends and I have been going to this Spanish tapas restaurant for years now and it is one of my good friend's favorite restaurants in Atl, and since she has moved away to the Nation's capital to become a famous basketball star, I always go to Eclipse with her when she visits home.

My friends and I have eaten at this establishment so many times we know exactly what we want to order without even looking at a menu.  One thing I have to say is this past time they were out of the $6/glass Malbec, and I was quite disappointed.  I expect a Spanish restaurant to keep their Spanish wines in stock,  but I sucked it up and just ordered the $6 Pinot instead.

Back to the food....our order consisted of the potatoes, tomatoes and mozzarella, calamari, shrimp, mussels, ribs, and a deviation from the usual, fried bananas.  Not sure of the official Eclipse names on the menu, but they knew what we were talking about.  We got that Eclipse lingo.

We usually get 2 plates of these delicious fried potatoes because I myself could probably eat an entire plate, but what is quite essential to this dish is the sauce that accompanies the taters.  You must dip and then eat and then you will say "mmmmmmm."

I love the tomato dish because the maters are always so think and juicy and then the mozzarella in between each slice is the perfect proportion.  The cheese doesn't overwhelm the tomatoes and vice versa.  Then the fresh basil and the balsamic vinegar top the whole thing off.  So good, which you can see because someone already started to cut them before I had taken a picture! Not cool when eating with Frugalfoodie!

Now my friend who I mentioned earlier LOVES her some shrimp and we all love these as well.  The sauce is buttery, garlicky, and spicy!  You have to sweep the shrimp in that yummy sauce and then just put the whole thing in your mouth (less the tail).  I actually forgot how spicy they were, but it just makes it so much better!

Said friend was not a huge fan of mussels, but I love them and as did another person at the table, therefore, these clam cousins were ordered.  Not really much to say about mussels.  They are drenched in a delicious buttery sauce that you want to drink down but would be looked down upon so you just dip some bread politely.

The calamari pic came out a little blurry, but that is not to say it is an underwhelming dish.  This is one of my favorite dishes at Eclipse, which is probably why the pic is blurry as I am most likely trying to stuff my face and picture take at the same time.  That is the problem with tapas places.  Food is coming every which way and there's so much excitement going on and so much to look at that I forget that I must blog with these pictures!  I digress.  I love the fried calamari because it is nice and crispy without being overly fried and you can still taste the fish.  Also this dish comes atop a sweet tomato sauce that you dip the calamari in. It is soooo gooood!!

 
Because we are mature adults, we allowed a dish we had never tried to be ordered, the fried bananas, which were actually quite tasty!  Don't know if I would keep them in our rotation, but it was a nice little sweet surprise.

Last but not least, we also had their ribs, which unfortunately I did not get a picture of because I guess we ate them too quickly.  They are so tender and marinated in a balsamic vinaigrette sauce that is so fingerlickin good!

This was a great Eclipse de Luna venture as they all are, and it was great to see my famous basketball star girl.  Can't wait until she comes home for Christmas and we can go again!!

Shrimp and Grits

One of my favorite southern dishes is shrimp and grits.  I didn't always like or even understand the concept of the dish, but I have grown to love it and have finally decided to make it.  The first time I heard of the dish was many years ago when my parents were throwing a dinner party.  As always it was craziness in the house before the guests arrived.  People were yelling, pots were clanging, and I was sitting there confused over this shrimp and grits mixture.  My step-dad, Jack, was the chef for the night, and he was such a great cook.  He was more of a throw-something-together-sort-of-using-a-recipe kind of chef, and he used his creativity to make great meals, but in return, left the kitchen a huge mess, which did NOT make my mom a happy camper.  Thank goodness kitchens have doors and none of the guests had to witness this debacle!  (I believe I learned all my cooking attributes from that smart, crazy man)  I remember hearing that we were having shrimp and grits for dinner and being so confused.  "Why would you eat grits that you eat for breakfast with shrimp?!"  I did not understand it and being the picky, stubborn child I was, I did not eat it.  Years later, though, I have learned to love this dish, and now I think of this moment every time I eat shrimp and grits and think how I missed out on one of Jack's great meals (lesson for all those picky eaters out there!)

So now here I am wanting to spread the love of this special southern meal with this recipe.


Grits
3 cups of milk
1 cup of water
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper

1 tablespoon of butter

1 cup uncooked quick-cooking grits

1/3 cup of shredded Parmesan

1/3 cup of mozzarella or  any other type of cheese (I also use Gouda)

Shrimp

5 slices (or 10 whatever your preference) of bacon

1 pound of shrimp

1 cup of thinly sliced onion

2 cups of grape tomatoes halved

2 garlic cloves

1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon of sriracha

Start off by making your creamy, cheesy, delicious grits!  Mix the milk, water, salt, pepper, and butter and bring to a boil.  Keep an eye on the milk and stir occasionally as the milk will stick to the bottom of the pan when it starts to cook.  Once the milk has started to boil, stir in the grits slowly and turn the heat down to low.  Let the grits cook for about 5 minutes and stir in the cheese until it melts.  I like my grits super cheesy, so you can add as much cheese as you like.  Just be careful with the salt content because the more cheese you add the more salty the grits will become. 

Now comes the best part! BACON!  Cook your bacon in a big fry pan and take in that yummy smell of cooked bacon.  I like mine pretty crispy especially for this dish, so I cook mine for about 7 minutes on the first side then flip and cook for about another 3 minutes on the other side.   Once cooked, take out the bacon and crumple it all into pieces and set it aside for later.

Pour out the bacon grease (but not into your sink, duh), but leave about a tablespoon in the pan because....you will be cooking your shrimp in that heart healthy grease!  Add your shrimp to the pan and cook for about 2 minutes on each side and then set aside the shrimp.

Now add your sliced onions and halved tomatoes to the same pan and cook for about 5 minutes or until tender.  Add the garlic and cracked pepper and cook for another minute.  Now add the shrimp and bacon back to the pan and pour in the sriracha.  I like my shrimp pretty spicy, so I tend to add about 3 squeezes of the hot sauce (real technical measurements here) until I taste enough spice.  Only cook until the shrimp are warmed up because you don't want to over cook them.  Now just spoon the shrimp mixture over your yummy grits and you are ready to chow down! 

  

I hope you enjoy and maybe you too will now think of my step-dad whenever you eat this dish!  Go Jack!

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