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Category Archives: Seafood

An Anniversary Dinner: Pan Seared Rib Eye Steak, Port Wine Sauce and Bacon Wrapped Shrimp

23 May

Okay, so I probably want a little overboard with dinner for our anniversary last night, but it was certainly worth it. It was a lot of work to get everything prepared and it was an awful lot of food for just the three of us (of course Sean joined us for dinner), but everything tasted great so I had nothing to complain about. I went to the store yesterday morning and picked out some nice-looking rib-eye steaks to make and with a little help from Denise Landis of The New York Times I was able to put together a quick port wine pan sauce to go with the steaks. Both were pretty easy to do.

Pan Seared Rib-eye Steaks

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 (8-to 10-ounce) rib-eye steaks, 1 to 1 1/4 inches thick
Salt and pepper
1 recipe Port Wine Pan Sauce (to follow)

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Meanwhile, pat the steaks dry with paper towels and season both sides generously with salt and pepper. Lay the steaks in the pan, leaving 1/4 inch between the steaks. Cook, without moving the steaks, until well browned, about 4 minutes. Using tongs, flip the steaks and continue to cook until the meat registers 115 to 120° (for rare) or 120 to 125° (for medium-rare), 3 to 7 minutes. Transfer the steaks to a serving platter and tent loosely with aluminum foil to rest or while preparing the pan sauce, then serve.

Port Wine Pan Sauce

1 small shallot, minced
1 small onion, minced
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup ruby port
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

In the same skillet that the steaks were seared in, add the shallot, onion and mushrooms. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to soften, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the vegetables from the pan. Deglaze the pan with the ruby port, stirring to loosen any browned bits. Add the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, and gently swirl into the sauce until well blended, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the vegetables back into the pan, season with salt and pepper to taste, and stir in till slightly thickened about 1 to 2 minutes more. Off the heat, add in the fresh thyme and gently mix. Serve the sauce on the side with the steaks.

The steaks were cooked perfectly and have great flavor to them even though the only spices I added were salt-and-pepper. I actually cooked them for about 2 minutes longer so they were closer to medium, but you want to make them to your own personal preference. The pan sauce was just right for the steaks. I love the taste that the port wine adds to the sauce on it blended well with the shallots, onion and mushrooms. It also tasted great on the mashed potatoes that I made to go along on the side.

And the other dish that I made to go along with the meal was a very simple bacon wrapped shrimp. This doesn’t have to be a messy project or a big production; there are really only three ingredients to the entire recipe and most of the work goes into the preparation and not the cooking itself.

Bacon Wrapped Shrimp

24 large uncooked shrimp, shelled and deveined
6 slices bacon, cut into quarters
1 tablespoon Montreal Steak seasoning

Preheat the oven to 450°. Cover the bottom of a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Insert a wire rack into the baking sheet. Spray the baking sheet with nonstick vegetable spray. Wrap each shrimp in a 1/4 slice of bacon, being sure to wrap the bacon tightly. Secure the bacon with toothpicks if necessary. Place the shrimp on the wire rack in the baking sheet. Sprinkle the shrimp with the steak seasoning on both sides.

When the oven has come up to temperature, place the baking sheet inside the oven and bake the shrimp until opaque and the bacon has begun to crisp, approximately 10 to 15 minutes.

It doesn’t get much easier than this one. There are a couple of notes to take into mind when making this for yourself. First, make sure that you using large shrimp for this particular recipe. The size of the shrimp will take just about as long to roast in the oven as the bacon will to crisp so you won’t end up with any rubbery shrimp. If you are using smaller shrimp such as a medium-sized shrimp, you may want to think about cooking the bacon slightly before you wrap the shrimp to make sure that the bacon will be crisp at the same time the shrimp is done. You don’t have to use the steak seasoning if you don’t want to, although I think it added a nice flavor to the shrimp and the bacon. You could also use a barbecue sauce instead of the seasoning if you wanted to try something a little different. Having the shrimp up on the wire rack in the pan allows the air to get underneath and the heat to get underneath so that the bacon and the shrimp both cook on both sides. You could also put the shrimp on a skewer if you didn’t want to use toothpicks, or if you wrap the bacon tight enough, as I tried to do, you don’t really need any toothpicks at all.

I also served a side dish of roasted asparagus for the vegetable. Overall, I think it was a pretty good meal and we all seem to enjoy it. There were some leftovers of course but will be able to re-purpose them for another meal.

That’s all there is for today. Check back next time this see the recipes I use for dinner tonight. I’m hoping to get to the Ethiopian stir-fry tonight; I’m curious as to how well that one will turn out. Check back and see how it goes. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by on May 23, 2013 in Beef, Cooking, Dinner, Sauce, Seafood

 

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Getting Fancy with Scallops with Carrot Cream, Pickled Carrots and Herb Oil

22 May

I came across this recipe thanks to Food Republic, who had posted it on their site about a week ago. The pictures of it looked great and it sounded simple enough to try out myself so I thought I would give it a shot. It doesn’t take long to make at all, so you can even do it for a weeknight meal without any trouble.

Scallops with Carrot Cream, Pickled Carrots and Herb Oil

Carrot Cream

1/2 pound carrots, cut into a large dice (about 2 cups)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup heavy cream

Freshly ground black pepper

Pickled Carrots

1 large carrot, sliced into short ribbons using a vegetable peeler (about 1 cup)

1/4 cup seasoned rice wine vinegar

Scallops

1 pound sea scallops

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Herb Oil

3/4 cup packed fresh Italian parsley leaves

1 tablespoon fresh marjoram leaves

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup vegetable oil

For the carrot cream : Add the carrots and salt to medium saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for 7 to 8 minutes, or until the carrots are tender. Drain the carrots and add them to a blender along with the cream and a pinch of pepper to taste. Blend until the mixture is a very smooth puree and set aside.

For the pickled carrots: In a medium bowl, toss the carrots with the rice wine vinegar. Marinate the carrots for at least 20 minutes. Drain, reserving the vinegar for another use, and set aside.

For the herb oil: In a blender, combine the parsley, marjoram, olive oil, vegetable oil and the salt. Blend until the oil turns a vibrant green color, about 3 minutes. You can strain the oil through a fine mesh strainer or leave it alone if you like it with some texture to it. Transfer the oil to a bowl or a squeeze bottle.

For the scallops: Dry the scallops thoroughly with paper towels. Place them on a plate and season them generously with salt and pepper. Heat a heavy skillet over high heat. Add the vegetable oil and, when the skillet is very hot, carefully add the scallops to the pan, being careful not to splatter oil on yourself or crowd the pan with too many scallops. Cook the scallops for 2 minutes on one side without disturbing them, or until they are caramelized, then flip them over, cooking the other side for a minute or so more.

To assemble the dish: Gently re-heat the carrot cream, then spoon some on each plate for serving. Top each plate with several scallops. Drizzle some herb oil around the scallops and garnish with a sprinkling of pickled carrots and marjoram leaves.

This dish looked very nice and tasted fantastic. The scallops were cooked perfectly and I loved the combination of the carrot cream and the pickled carrots with the scallops themselves. The herb oil added a nice contrast to the dish with the parsley and marjoram. It seemed like a perfect combination. I also had plenty of oil left over to use for other dishes down the road. I served this with some white rice and broccoli to round out the meal.

That’s it for today. Tonight is our 20th anniversary and I have a nice dinner planned, so check back for the menu for that one later this week. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by on May 22, 2013 in Cooking, Cooking Websites, Dinner, Sauce, Seafood, Vegetables

 

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Let’s Get Really Garlicky with Shrimp Scampi

19 May

I usually buy shrimp about every 10 days or so because it makes a good protein and it is one form of seafood that Sean really likes. Of course, if it were up to him, I would make fried shrimp or popcorn shrimp every time, but I do like to try different things with it every now and then. I have made shrimp scampi many times before, and it is almost always the same way, so I wanted to give something a little different a try. Personally, I like a lot of garlic, so this version of shrimp scampi worked out quite nicely.

Very Garlicky Shrimp Scampi

1/2 cup flour

Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more if needed

1 1/2 pounds extra-large shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails intact

8 tablespoons butter

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup dry white wine

Grated zest of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons fresh parsley

Lemon wedges, for serving

In a small bowl, sit together the flour, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. In a large skillet, heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Toss half of the shrimp in the flour mixture to coat evenly, shaking off any excess. Add the shrimp to the pan and cook, turning occasionally, until the shrimp are opaque throughout, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate and tent the plate with foil. Repeat the process with the remaining shrimp, adding more oil to the skillet if needed.

Reduce the heat to medium-low, add 2 tablespoons of the butter and the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the garlic softens and is fragrant but not browned, about 2 minutes. Add the wine, the lemon zest and the lemon juice and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook until the mixture is reduced by half, about 1 minute. Reduce the heat to very low. Add the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, letting each addition soften into a creamy emulsion before adding more.

Return the shrimp to the sauce and mix gently to coat the shrimp well. Remove the shrimp from the heat and season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer the shrimp to a serving dish and sprinkle with the parsley. Serve with the lemon wedges.

I have to admit, it was very garlicky even though it didn’t seem like there was a lot of garlic in there. I did like coating the shrimp a bit with flour first to brown them nicely and the sauce came out nicely adding the butter in a bit at a time. I always serve shrimp scampi with white rice myself as I love the way the sauce tastes with the rice. This time though Michelle and Sean had it with pasta so you get the nice garlic and butter taste on the pasta.

That’s it for today. I have lots of recipes to use for this week, so keep checking back to see what I have for the day. Until then, enjoy the rest of the day and your weekend (even though it is rainy here in New York) and enjoy your meal!

 
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Posted by on May 19, 2013 in Cooking, Dinner, Seafood

 

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Pan-Fried Crab Cakes and Oven Fries

08 May

I have posted crab cakes and oven fries recipes on the blog before, but I did make them a little differently this past week when we had them for dinner. This time, I decided to use the Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook, which I find I used for many different things. It has lots of great recipes in it, both basic and a little more technical see you can cover just about everything. The cookbook also has a lot of great hints as far as equipment, kitchen accessories, techniques, and more. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a cookbook batting compresses everything. The crab cakes recipe that I used is pretty basic and easy to follow.

Pan-Fried Crab Cakes

1 pound jumbo lump crab meat, picked over to remove cartilage and shell fragments
4 scallions, green parts only, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, cilantro, dill, or basil
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2-4 tablespoons plain dried breadcrumbs
1 1/2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
Salt and ground white pepper
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Lemon wedges
Tartar sauce (recipe to follow)

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Gently mix the crab meat, scallions, parsley, mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs, and Old Bay in a medium bowl, being careful not to break up crab lumps. Season with salt and white pepper to taste. Carefully fold in the egg with a rubber spatula until the mixture just clings together. If the cakes do not bind, add more breadcrumbs, 1 tablespoon at a time, until they do.

Divide the crab mixture into four portions and shape each portion into a fat, round cake, about 3 inches in diameter and 1 1/2 inches thick. Arrange on a prepared baking sheet, cover, and refrigerate at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.

Place flour in a shallow baking dish or pie plate. Lightly dredge the cakes in the flour. Keep your loyal in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Gently lay the flowered cakes in the skillet and cook until the exteriors are crisp and browned, about 4 to 5 minutes per side. Serve immediately with lemon wedges or sauce.

I’ve always found that the key to really good crab cakes is having less breadcrumbs, less filling and more crab. Most of the crab cakes you seem to get when you go out to a restaurant are just filled with breadcrumbs and don’t have much crab in them at all. Also, I have found many places tend overcook them so you really only need about four minutes per side just to crisp them up. Jumbo lump crabmeat can be quite expensive, so if you want a cheaper alternative you can certainly buy pasteurized crabmeat. That is what I used this time and I think the recipe turned out just fine. Another key is you really do need a good nonstick skillet to use to make these. There is nothing worse than trying to flip the crab cake that is stuck to the bottom of the pan. I served the crab cakes with that recipe that I also got from this cookbook for the tartar sauce. It’s really easy to make and it’s certainly better than anything you’re going to find in a store.

Homemade Tartar Sauce

3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 shallot, minced
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and minced
2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl. Cover and let sit to blend of flavors together, about 15 minutes. Stir again before serving. The sauce can be refrigerated and stored for up to one week.

I didn’t have sweet pickle relish on hand, but I did have bread-and-butter pickles so I use them instead, I minced a few up and added a tiny bit of pickle juice to the mixture and I think it came out great. I also cut back a little bit on the mayonnaise as I am the only person leads tartar sauce in our house so this way we didn’t end up with a lot left over. The final piece of the dinner was one of Sean’s particular favorites for the night, which were the oven fries. I’ve tried making oven fries in the past with mixed results and this recipe is very similar to one I have tried before.

Oven Fries

2 1/4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut lengthwise into 10 to 12 even wedges
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
Adjust an oven rack to the lowest position and heat the oven to 475°. Place the potatoes in a large bowl, cover with hot tap water, and soak for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, coat a large, heavy-duty rimmed baking sheet with 4 tablespoons of oil and sprinkle evenly with 3/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper; set aside. Line the second baking sheet with triple layers of paper towels and set aside.

Drain the potatoes. Spread the potatoes out on the paper towel lined baking sheet, then thoroughly Pat dry the potatoes with additional paper towels. Rinse and wipe out the now empty bowl. Return the potatoes to the bowl and toss with the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil. Arrange the potatoes in a single layer on the oil baking sheet, cover tightly with aluminum foil, and bake for five minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake until the bottoms of the potatoes are spotty golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet after 10 minutes. Using a metal spatula and tongs, scraped to loosen the potatoes from the pan, then flip each wedge, keeping the potatoes in a single layer. Continue baking until the fries are golden and crisp, about 5 to 15 minutes longer, rotating the pan as needed if the fries are browning unevenly.

While the fries bake, line a baking sheet with a triple layer of paper towels. Transfer the baked fries to the prepared baking sheet to drain. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste and serve.

There seems to be a couple of keys to the recipe that made it turn out better for me this time than the past. First, I tried to cut the potatoes as evenly as possible so everything would cook at about the same time frame. Soaking the potatoes for the required amount of time really makes a big difference as it pulls out a lot of the starch from the potato and helps to keep them from sticking to the pan. Adding the oil to the pan and a little bit to the potato not only helps with the sticking but helps with the browning process. Finally, covering the potatoes with aluminum foil for five minutes at the beginning of cooking allows the potatoes to steam so you can then crisp them up the rest of the cooking time. I certainly think it was a pretty successful effort this time out.

That’s it for today. Time for me to get back to work after spending yesterday evening at Citi Field watching the Mets game. I’ll have another recipe for you tomorrow so check back and see if it’s something you are interested in giving a try. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and hopefully you were not in the rain as we are here in New York. Enjoy your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by on May 8, 2013 in Cookbooks, Cooking, Dinner, Potatoes, Sauce, Seafood

 

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Fish Sticks and Sweet Potato Fries

08 Apr

I know it’s been a while since I’ve done a post on this blog, and my other blog as well. I apologize for the lapse in time but life has a way of getting in the way more often than I would like some times and had just haven’t had the time and energy to keep up with the blogs is much as I would like to. Anyway, I am going to make a concerted effort to try to do better as far as posting recipes on here and other posts on by personal blog if you follow that one as well. For now I’ll try to go back and cover some recipes that I’ve done in the past few weeks that I haven’t had a chance to write about on here. We’ll start off with a nice easy recipe that I tried not that long ago that I picked up from Cooks Country. It’s a recipe for fish sticks with tartar sauce.

Fish Sticks with Tartar Sauce

4 slices of white bread, torn into large pieces
16 Saltine crackers
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
1 cup mayonnaise
2 pounds skinless cod or other thick white fish, cut into 1 inch thick strips
1/4 cup finely chopped dill pickles, plus 1 tablespoon pickle juice
1 tablespoon capers, minced
1 cup vegetable oil

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 200°. Pulse the bread and the saltines in a food processor until they are fine crumbs; transfer the mixture to a shallow dish Place the flour in a second shallow dish. Beat the eggs with 1/4 cup of the mayonnaise in a third shallow dish.

Pat the fish dry with paper towels and season well with salt and pepper. Taking one piece at a time, coat the fish strips lightly with the flour, then into the egg mixture, and then dredge in the crumbs, pressing on both sides to make sure the crumbs adhere properly. Transfer the breaded fish to a clean plate. Combine the remaining mayonnaise, pickles, pickle juice, and capers in a small bowl and set aside.

Heat 1/2 cup of the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until just smoking. Fry half of the fish strips until a deep golden brown and crisp, about two minutes per side. Drain the fish on a paper towel lined plate and transfer them to the oven to keep them warm. Discard the oil, wipe out the skillet, and repeat the process with the remaining oil and fish. Serve with that tartar sauce on the side.

I have to admit I was a little skeptical whether or not Sean and Michelle would like this particular recipe. Fish sticks are not always the most popular thing in any home. I think too many of us are used to growing up with what would come out of the box in the freezer and the taste that went along with these particular fish sticks. I can remember most of the time that they weren’t that great, but this recipe using the fresh fish and the saltines in the breadcrumbs really seem to come out nice crunchy and have great flavor. If you are not a big fan of tartar sauce, you can always eliminate that or make a simple cocktail sauce with some ketchup and with horseradish if that is something you prefer.

The next recipe is also quite a simple one. I got this one from the March issue of Bon Appétit magazine. They have a bunch of recipes in there that are great for family dinners, including the one I posted a while back for a shrimp fried rice. This one in particular is for sweet potato wedges with lime mayonnaise, although I did not make the lime mayonnaise as it didn’t seem like something the rest of the family would go for.

Sweet Potato Wedges with Lime Mayo

3 sweet potatoes, peeled, each cut lengthwise into eight wedges
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
Chopped fresh cilantro (for serving)

Preheat the oven to 450°. Toss the sweet potatoes and oil on a foil lined large rimmed baking sheet; season the potatoes with salt and pepper to taste. Roast the potatoes, turning once, until golden brown and crisp, approximately 25 to 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk the mayonnaise, lime zest, and juice in a small bowl. Season the fries with salt, top with those cilantro, and serve with the lime Mayo for dipping.

I think the fries tasted just fine without the lime mayo, and we used ketchup as a replacement without any problem at all. All you need to round out this meal is a fresh vegetable to complete the meal, such as broccoli, asparagus, or some roasted carrots. You could even just go with a nice side salad and I think everything would be fine.

That’s the recipe for today. I am planning on making a lamb tonight. I should be able to get the recipe up for that either tonight or tomorrow. I have posted lamb recipes before, but I think I’m going to try something new as I have gotten a couple of new recipes lately for a few different things. I also have some other recipes that we have done in the last few weeks that I think would be good to post. Unfortunately I do not have pictures of a lot of the things I have made lately, but I hope to get back into that tonight with the lamb and keep going from there. Thanks for stopping by and checking out the blog and sticking with it. I hope you enjoy the recipes and get to try out some things on your own. If you ever have any recipes you would like to share, please feel free to leave a note in the comments section below with your email address and I would be happy to get back to you about posting the recipe or even doing a guest blog post on your own if you would like to do that. Thanks again, enjoy the rest of your day, and enjoy your meal!

 
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Posted by on April 8, 2013 in Cooking, Dinner, Potatoes, Seafood

 

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A Couple of Recipes of Old Favorites

10 Mar

While I have been cooking regularly and keeping up with trying new things, I have been bad about blogging and putting them online. There just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in a day to do everything I need to do anymore, which really only gives me the weekends to blog. Hopefully I can get around to more than just that, but we’ll see how it goes.

We did make a couple of things this week that are old stand by recipes that I am sure many people have made before. They are both very simple recipes that are not only easy to make but easy to clean up afterwards and they taste awesome. The first of these I made early on in the week and it was just a simple Shrimp Fried Rice. I love this recipe because it is a great one pot meal to make. If you have leftover rice already, most of the work is already done for you and you can get it done even faster.

Shrimp Fried Rice

2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided

1 pound peeled and deveined small shrimp, thawed if frozen

8 scallions, whites chopped, greens thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tablespoon finely chopped peeled ginger

3 cups cold cooked white rice

2 large eggs, beaten to blend

1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed

3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil in a large, nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Season the shrimp with salt and cook, turning once, until just opaque in the center, about 3 minutes. Transfer the shrimp to a plate.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in the same skillet; add the scallion whites, garlic, and ginger. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the rice and stir to coat. Cook until the rice is crisp, about two minutes. Push the rice to one side of the skillet; add the eggs to the other side and cook, stirring and working them into the rice mixture, about 1 to minutes. Add the peas, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil and the cooked shrimp. Cook, tossing constantly until the shrimp and the vegetables are heated through, about 1 minute. Top with the scallion greens and serve.

I actually added some mushrooms and water chestnuts to this to make it a more filling meal. The original recipe I got from Bon Appetit calls for edamame, which I did not have, but feel free to add it if you like. The great thing about a dish like this is you can really add whatever you want to it to make it a meal. If you don’t like shrimp, add some boneless chicken or pork. You could go all vegetarian and just add some vegetables to it like snow peas, corn, zucchini or whatever you like. Since it is all one dish, clean up is a breeze.

The other recipe for today is one we make once in a while. It is for a simple, quick batch of Banana Muffins. We used Bisquick to make these and we had some overripe bananas on hand already, so it makes baking these quite simple.

Quick Banana Muffins

2 cups Bisquick baking mix

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 1/3 cups bananas, mashed (about 3 bananas)

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

3 tablespoons milk

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the baking mix in a medium bowl and break up any lumps. Combine the egg, bananas, brown sugar, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla extract with the mix and stir thoroughly until well blended. Fill paper lined muffin cups of a muffin tray until about 2/3 full. Bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool the muffins in the pan for 5 minutes before serving.

Of course, these are great for breakfast with your morning coffee or just to have as an afternoon snack. We left the chocolate chips out for ours, but you can use them, or some walnuts or pecans if you like. You can really use other fruit too if you wanted blueberry or some other berry muffin.

That’s it for today. I promise to have some other recipes this week. I have made a bunch of things and have recipes for them, I just haven’t had time to post anything, so I will get to some of them this week for sure. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your Sunday and enjoy your meal!

 
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Posted by on March 10, 2013 in Breakfast, Cooking, One Pot Meals, Rice, Seafood

 

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It’s About Time For A Home Cooked Meal

25 Feb

Between my being sick and then Sean being sick, I haven’t had much time to do any real meals during the week, let alone doing any blogging about the meals. Since we are all finally starting to feel better around here, I though today would be a good day to try and get things back to normal around here and cook some good meals. I have had some flounder in the freezer and was looking for something to do with it when I came across this recipe in America’s Test Kitchen’s cookbook “Quick Family Cookbook.” I like this cookbook because it gives me some good meal options that can all be made in under 45 minutes, which make thhem great for any weeknight meal when you may not have a lot of time or energy to put into your meal but still want something made at home. This is a simple fried fish with Southwestern corn, though to be honest I eliminated a lot of the heat from this meal since Sean and Michelle both don’t really care for spicy food. Nonetheless, it’s a good recipe that you can play around with and use a variety of fish with if you have some on hand.

Cornmeal Fried Fish and Southwestern Corn

2 tablespoons butter

8 ounces chorizo sausage, chopped

1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped fine

1 jalapeno chile, stemmed, seeded and minced

1 shallot, minced

1 garlic clove, minced

Salt and pepper

4 cups frozen corn

2 teaspoons minced fresh cilantro

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

2 (12 ounce) skinless flounder fillets, cut in half lengthwise

1 cup vegetable oil

Melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chorizo and cook until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Stir in the bell pepper, jalapeno, shallot, garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and cook until the bell pepper begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the corn and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Stir in the cilantro and season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a bowl and cover.

Meanwhile, mix the flour and cornmeal together in a shallow dish. Pat the flounder dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper., then dredge the fish in the cornmeal mixture, pressing gently so it adheres to the fish.

Wipe out the now-empty skillet with paper towel, add the vegetable oil and return to medium-high heat until the oil is shimmering. Lay the fillets in the skillet and cook until golden on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer the fish to a paper towel-lined plate. Let the fish drain briefly, then serve with the corn.

You could really use any fish fillets you like for this meal – catfish, sole, tilapia, trout, snapper – you name it. Ialso added some other colored peppers to the corn to make the meal look a little more festive since I wasn’t using the chorizo or the jalapeno. You could serve this white rice or brown rice and you would have quite a nice meal.

A nice simple meal that is great for any dinner. We are getting back to the meal plan this week after I go shopping tomorrow. We have gotten away from it lately and haven’t been planning things out and I feel we actually eat better from a health standpoint when everything is planned out for the week, so we are going to try and get back to it and try to get back to one meatless meal for the week, one fish meal, one stir fry, one chicken and one lean meat. I’ll have to see how things go at the market tomorrow to see what I can pick up and go with it, so check back tomorrow and see what we have for the week. until then, have a great day and enjoy your meal!

 
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Posted by on February 25, 2013 in Cookbooks, Cooking, Dinner, Seafood

 

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4 Ways With Mussels

30 Jan

4 Ways With Mussels.

I love mussels myself. They are great in a paella, served over rice or just by themselves. I have seen them for some pretty good prices lately and you can get them pretty much year-round now. They may a great appetizer or a great entree. Don’t shy away from them and think they are too hard to cook or tough to make. It just takes a little bit of prep work and cleaning on your part and just a bit of cooking and they will taste great. Williams-Sonoma posted this on their blog about, cleaning, serving and storing mussels along with a few simple recipes. Check it out!

 
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Posted by on January 30, 2013 in Appetizers, Cooking, Cooking Tips, Cooking Websites, Seafood

 

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Quick Skillet Salmon

08 Jan

Since Michelle and I both have pretty busy schedules, I am always looking for meals that can be prepared easily and quickly. One of the cookbooks I got this Christmas is from America’s Test Kitchen called the “Quick Family Cookbook,” with recipes that can be prepared in under 45 minutes and are perfect for families who need some weeknight meals without having a lot of unusual ingredients that you may not typically have around the house. It seems like a really good book and since I love the cookbooks from them I am sure I will use it a lot.

That being said, this recipe for Skillet Salmon is actually from the Food Network. I came across it a few days ago and we just happened to pick up some wild salmon, which was on sale for a really good price. Michelle only likes the wild salmon as the farm-raised often does not have the same good flavor that you get with wild salmon. Wild salmon, on the other hand, is often pretty expensive, except this time of year when you can often find it for a good price. I got mine here at Adams Farms for $9.99 a pound. Still pricey, but much cheaper for wild salmon. Anyway, I had everything else on hand for this recipe, so it was quick and easy.

Hoisin Skillet Salmon

One 15.5 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed (I actually used dried beans instead of canned and did a quick soak to get them ready)

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 cloves garlic, crushed

4 cups broccoli florets

Four 5-ounce salmon fillets, skin removed

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh cilantro, optional

Kosher salt

Combine the beans, 3/4 cup of water, hoisin sauce, red pepper flakes and garlic in a large skillet. Top with the broccoli and nestle the salmon into the broccoli. Bring the skillet to a simmer over medium heat. Once it is simmering, cover the skillet and cook until the salmon is flaky and just cooked through and the broccoli is crisp-tender, about 5 to 6 minutes. Drizzle with lemon juice and sprinkle with cilantro, if using (I skipped the cilantro, my family are not big fans of it). Add salt to taste and serve.

That’s all there was to it. I did add some white rice to the meal to round it out, but you don’t really need it with the black beans. I particularly love quick meals you can do all in one pot. It makes for super easy clean up when all is done.

Just a quick recipe for today. I do have a pork tenderloin I am cooking tonight, beef stew tomorrow, and then a frenched pork roast on Thursday, so I’ll be posting some recipes for those things along the way the rest of the week. I am also scouting around for some new lunch recipes as Michelle is looking  for different things to bring for lunch that are quick and healthy without using any bread, We’ll see how it goes and what I can find. If you have any suggestions, please pass them along. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal today!

 

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Posted by on January 8, 2013 in Cookbooks, Cooking, Cooking Websites, Dinner, Seafood

 

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Don’t Forget Your Thanksgiving Appetizers

21 Nov

Yesterday I covered the side dishes I am making for Thanksgiving, and on Monday it was the soup for the day, and Sunday I wrote about the turkey, stuffing and gravy. There’s not much left to write about  unless you want to make some appetizers for everyone before the meal. Here’s my advice on appetizers for the holidays. You have enough going on in the oven and on the stove, so try to do things that you don’t have to cook at all if you can avoid it. It’s just one less thing you have to cook for the day and you may not have the room or time to do it anyway. You can go simple, and just do a nice selections of cheeses and crackers, maybe some sliced apples and pears, some grapes and some pepperoni or sliced dry sausage. I am trying to keep it simple by doing some shrimp cocktail and some homemade horseradish cocktail sauce.

Shrimp Cocktail

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning

1 pound extra-large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 cup Horseradish Cocktail Sauce (recipe to follow)

Bring the lemon juice, bay leaves, salt, peppercorns, Old Bay and 4 cups of water to a boil in a medium saucepan for 2 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and add the shrimp. Cover and steep off the heat until the shrimp are firm and pink, about 7 minutes. Drain the shrimp and plunge them immediately into ice water. Drain and refrigerate the shrimp until thoroughly chilled, about 1 hour. Arrange a platter and serve with the cocktail sauce.

Horseradish Cocktail Sauce

1 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons prepared horseradish, plus extra for seasoning

2 teaspoons Tabasco or other hot sauce, plus extra for seasoning

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Stir all of the ingredients together in a small bowl. Season with additional horseradish and hot sauce as desired.

The cooked shrimp and the cocktail sauce can be refrigerated separately for up to 1 day, so you can make them ahead if you want to. If you get uncooked shrimp that is already peeled and deveined, you can save yourself some extra work and make things a little quicker for yourself.

You’re likely to have some people who don’t like shrimp cocktail, so you’ll need to have some other things available too. You can always put out an array of different chips and snacks or vegetables and have some dip for them. Instead of using the soup packet for your onion dip this year (I have nothing against it, I do it a lot, but it is often a little stale and always very salty), how about making a simple onion dip on your own. It’s not really any work and it tastes a lot fresher. You can just use straight sour cream or try this dip base and add the onions to it.

Simple Onion Dip

3/4 cup mayonnaise

3/4 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup caramelized onions

2 garlic cloves, minced

Salt and pepper, to taste

Stir all of the ingredients together and season with salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate the dip for at least 1 hour so all of the flavors can blend together nicely. The prepared dip can keep covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days.

For the caramelized onions, if you have never done it before, simply melt 1 tablespoon of butter with a tablespoon of vegetable oil over high heat. Add about 4 onions, halved and sliced thin, 1 teaspoon of light brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Cook until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are deep brown, about 40 minutes. Take them off the heat, stir in 1 tablespoon of water, season with salt and pepper, and you’re done.

Yes, it takes some planning ahead if you are going to use caramelized onions, but they are so tasty, not just for dips but as a condiment for nearly anything.

If you want to make something ahead of time and like nuts, you can try this recipe for spiced nuts. I tried this with some mixed nuts and a spice blend I got from PepperMary’s Spice Blends and boy was it good. I used the Cajun Blend for the nuts, but Mary was kind enough to send me samples of her other spices, which I plan to try after Thanksgiving on some fish that I got. Thanks Mary, they are awesome. I also used the Mesquite Blend on a London broil I marinated last night for dinner and it had a nice taste and kick to it. Give her stuff a try if you get the chance.

Spiced Nuts

1 egg white

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon salt

1 pound of mixed nuts, unsalted

2 tablespoons sugar, maple syrup or honey

4 teaspoons PepperMary Cajun Spice blend (or other spice blend you like) or:

2 teaspoons cumin, 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper and 1 teaspoon paprika

Adjust 2 oven racks to the upper and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 275 degrees. Whisk the egg white, water and salt together in a medium bowl. Add the nuts and toss to coat. Drain in a colander for 5 minutes.

Toss the sugar, maple syrup or honey with the spice blend or desired spices with the nuts. Spread the nuts evenly on two parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake until the nuts are dry and crisp, about 50 minutes, stirring occasionally and rotating the baking sheets halfway through. Remove from the oven and let the nuts cool completely on the baking sheet, about 30 minutes. Break the nuts apart and serve.

These can also be made ahead and stored at room temperature wrapped tightly in plastic wrap for up to 1 week.

If you still aren’t sure what to make, you can always try going for an antipasto platter. This lets you put out a variety of meats, cheeses, olives and vegetables that people like and you can pretty much choose what suits your crowd the best. I put together just a few ideas in this one.

Antipasto Platter

1/2 pound soppressata salami or other dry sausage, skin removed and sliced thin

2 cups mixed olives, black and green, marinated, such as Kalamata, Nicoise or others

1 jar marinated roasted red peppers

1 jar marinated artichoke hearts

1/2 pound fresh mozzarella, sliced thin

Arrange all the items on a platter for people to choose as finger foods. You could always add other cheeses, like marinated mozzarella, or other meats like ham, or even some marinated and grilled vegetables like eggplant, asparagus or zucchini, and some sliced tomato. The options are endless with this. Have some good extra-virgin olive oil on hand if you want to do any marinating of anything.

Okay, I think that covers the appetizers. There are a lot of other choices out there, that I didn’t go into, but I could be here all day writing suggestions and I still have prep work myself to do. Later on today, I will post a couple of dessert options if you are still looking for ideas. Check back and see what I have. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day!

 

 
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Posted by on November 21, 2012 in Appetizers, Cooking, Cooking Websites, Produce, Sauce, Seafood, Snacks, Spices

 

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