Chef's Corner: Southern Seafood

BALTIMORE (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- What could be better than adding southern flair to some succulent seafood? Here's one cook who effortlessly combines the two and leaves you with seafood to die for.

Behind this collection of more than 500 wines and this luxurious scenery is a kitchen that's fit for a queen or a top-notch chef anyway.

“I love everything about cooking. I love the way it sounds. I love the way it smells. I love the way it feels. I love the way it looks,” says Chef Cindy Wolf.

Wolf combines French fare and southern style in her Baltimore restaurant simply called Charleston. A favorite recipe is her shrimp and grits. Start with shrimp -- heads on. “What happens is the shrimp begins to heat, the fat melts out of the back of the head, and it imparts flavor and color into the sauce,” Wolf tells Ivanhoe.

Add butter, tasso ham, andouille sausage and chives, and then place some stone-ground grits on top.

Wolf says, “You get a little bit of spice from the tasso and the andouille. You could certainly add a little bit, if you’re after a lot of spice, you can certainly add a little bit of Tabasco.”

For more southern flair, try Wolf's twist on salmon. “I use white benne seeds and sometimes I use black and white benne seeds. Benne seed is the African term for sesame,” she says.

Coat salmon in the seeds. Sear it and roast it in the oven for no more than 10 minutes. White wine, butter, crab meat and chives make the flavorful sauce. Top with baby arugula and blood orange slices to add some brightness.

“So you have the two seafoods, the crab and the salmon, coming together with all the wonderful sauce and then the bright fruit. It’s beautiful,” Wolf says. Serve it up and enjoy the flavors of the south.

Those recipes are not only tasty but also won't keep you in the kitchen long. Wolf says the shrimp and grits dish takes only four minutes to make.