Bloody Mary Tomato Aspic

 

Sometimes new recipes come from happy coincidences.  Our Super Bowl menu was going to be 1950’s cocktail party recipes.  Tomato aspic was on the list.  But I was going to do the tomato aspic/avocado mousse that I’ve made for several parties.  The pantry wasn’t cooperating.  I found huge bottles of V8 but nothing the size I wanted.  But there was a quart of Clamato.  As I carried it into the kitchen my mind went to Bloody Marys.  Hmmm, what if I made my regular tomato aspic recipe and kicked it up with Bloody Mary seasonings?  And, instead of the avocado mousse I’d do a shrimp and crab salad.  A plan was born. 

What did we think?  Well, other than the ummmmmm’s it was pretty quiet.  Then, everyone went back for seconds.  I think this one was a touchdown!

 

Bloody Mary Tomato Aspic

Ingredients

4 c Clamato

2 packets gelatin

1 ½ T Lemon juice

½ T Red wine vinegar

1 T Worcestershire sauce

1 t Sugar

½ t Garlic powder

½ t Celery salt

½ t Lawry’s seasoned salt

½ t Onion powder

 

Seafood Salad

Ingredients

1 lb 20-25 shrimp, chopped

8  Oz lump crabmeat

½ Orange bell pepper, chopped

½ Red onion, chopped

½ Jalapeno, minced

3 Celery ribs, chopped

½ Cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped

12 Cherry tomatoes, chopped

3 T Extra virgin olive oil

3 T lime juice

¼ c Cilantro, minced

 

Directions: 

Pour some of the clamato in a small bowl.  Sprinkle the gelatin on top of it to allow it to soften.  Put the rest of the aspic ingredients in a saucepan and heat gently.  Add the gelatin mix and stir until the gelatin dissolves.  Pour into a mold and chill overnight.

Just before serving, mix all of the salad ingredients.  Unmold the aspic onto a plate and spoon the seafood salad around it. 

Thanks to Taste of Home for the Seafood Salad recipe!

 

Crabmeat Wraps and Peanut Butter Noodles

Half a can's worth of frozen crabmeat.  And then there was a head of Bibb lettuce.  Some wobbly celery.  Some wobbly cucumber.  A carrot or two.  This is what the produce drawer looked like after being gone.  My brain went to Friday Night Sandwiches.  But, that didn't use up the cucumber or the carrot.  I suppose I could've made a ginger salad and used them up.  But, then I looked in the pantry and we had no bread.  Friday Night Sandwiches were out.  How about the lettuce wraps like they make at PF Changs with ground pork?  Made with crabmeat instead.  And, how about peanut butter noodles to use up the cucumber and carrot?  And, to get rid of one of the three boxes of rice noodles in my pantry. 

With many thanks to Leite's Culinaria for the dressing recipe, we thoroughly enjoyed the crabmeat wraps.  The balance of the dressing got tossed with peanut butter to make the noodles.  So, mission accomplished.  Clean up the kitchen for two!

Crabmeat Lettuce Wraps

1 large can crabmeat (20 oz?)
1/2 - 1 c slivered almonds, toasted
4 ribs celery, diced
1 can diced waterchestnuts
1 head Bibb lettuce

N.B. - I only used half a can of crabmeat so adjusted the recipe accordingly

dressing:
1/4 c soy sauce
1/4 c rice wine vinegar
1/4 c sake
1 T sesame oil
2 T lemon juice
1 t crushed ginger
1/4 c sugar
1/4 - 1/2 t hot chili oil

Mix the dressing and toss it with the crabmeat, celery, waterchestnuts and almonds.  Wrap in lettuce leaves to serve.

Peanut Butter Noodles

1 8.8oz box rice noodles, prepared as per directions
2/3 c crunchy peanut butter mixed with half a recipe of above dressing
1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1 carrot, diced
1/2 can diced waterchestnuts

Toss the noodles with the vegetables and dressing. 

Crab Pasta with Tomato Vino Blanco Sauce

Clean up the kitchen for four.  That's what my Mom always called it when she created a meal from leftovers.  She was a total whiz at making something totally new and different from disparate ingredients.  I'd like to think I followed Mom's example with this dish.

Our plan was to be out for dinner.  Work, however, interfered.  When we got home I opened the fridge to see what we had.  Half a pound of crabmeat (claw meat,) 3/4 of a jar of peppadew peppers, most of a 4 oz can of tomato paste (less 2T that went into another dish,) 3/4 of a single serving bottle of white wine (what I use for cooking,) a box of mushrooms and a bunch of asparagus.  Connie and I brainstormed.  Steak oscar?  A steak would be pretty easy to thaw.  Crabcakes benedict with peppadews instead of green pepper?  We'd have to use toast instead of English muffins.  What about pasta?  I sat down and thought about the flavors.  I could do crab, mushroom and asparagus pasta in a white wine sauce?  Or I could make a tomato white wine sauce and serve the veggies on the side.  Finally, I settled on the latter choice. 

The asparagus got roasted and tossed in with the mushrooms we love so much.  That was a great choice.  Next time I buy brussels sprouts I'm going to try them the same way!

So, what did we think?  The pasta was fabulous!!!  Part of the leftovers were devoured for lunch the next day.  And, the rest will be lunch for yet another day.

Crab Pasta with Tomato Vino Blanco Sauce

Ingredients:

2 T butter
4 oz tomato paste
1 c dry white wine
1 c half and half
1 jar peppadew peppers, chopped
2 t Italian seasoning or herbs of your choice
1/2 lb crabmeat
1/2 c grated grana padano cheese
1/2 lb pasta

Directions:

In a large saucepan, melt the butter.  Stir in the tomato paste and allow it to cook for a few minutes. 

Add the wine and stir it in. 

Gradually pour in the half and half, stirring constantly.  Add the peppadew peppers, herbs and crabmeat and heat through. 

Just before serving, stir in the grated cheese.  Serve over farfalle or penne or rigatoni.

Sherried Mushroom Crabcakes

How many of you have wandered into the kitchen knowing you've got a certain ingredient to use up but you just can't wrap your mind around one of the recipes you've used before or the plethora of choices you've got?  I do it all the time.  That's one of the reasons I try so hard to actually have a menu planned.  That and the fact that sometimes recipes require advance preparation. 


Take this evening for example.  I'm going to be thawing a Boston Butt (No, not Connie, pork.  but, he is from Boston) for cooking over the holiday weekend.  I've also got to get spice rubbed pork chops thawed and rubbed so they're ready to go on the grill tomorrow night when I get back from my Columbus office.  And, I want to get the lamb chops for Friday thawing in the fridge so they're ready for Friday evening. 


A few days ago my dilemma was crabmeat.  I'd made Steak Oscar for the crew when we went to Columbus to visit.  I had half a can of crabmeat left.  And, there was another 1/3 of a can in the freezer that needed to be used before it succumbed to freezer burn. 


My first thought was my friend Lauren's wonderful casserole.  Mushrooms, sherry, a bit of cream.  Topped with buttered bread crumbs.  Then, I thought about crab cakes.  Those sounded great too.  But, neither sounded perfect.  I hunted through my file of crab recipes to try.  Nothing struck me.  I was striking out and was going to just go ahead and make Friday Night Sandwiches.  Then, inspiration hit.  What if I made crabcakes out of Lauren's casserole???  A quick peek in the fridge and I found boursin cheese that could be used as the base of a sauce.  What's the worst that could happen?  We'd have to toss the crabcakes and open a can of soup. 


What did we think?  We loved these.  In fact, Connie said he liked these BETTER than my normal crabcakes.  Since I wasn't expecting such stellar results, I made them via the dump it in until it looks right method.  The recipe that follows is based on estimates. 


Sherried Mushroom Crabcakes
makes 6-8 crabcakes

Ingredients:

for the crabcakes:

1 pound crabmeat
2 large eggs
1/2 c cream
1 1/2 c panko
old bay seasoning
2 T shallots, minced
8 oz cremini, chopped and sauteed
1/4 c dry sherry
flour
olive oil or butter

for the sauce:

1/4 c lowfat sour cream
1/4 c mayonnaise
1/4 c boursin cheese
1 t Old Bay seasoning
1 T white wine
1 small shallot, minced

Directions:

Mix the sauce ingredients together and set aside while making the crabcakes.  Making the sauce first will allow the ingredients to get happy together.  Mix the crabmeat mixture gently.  Form into cakes and dust with flour.  Saute in olive oil or butter until browned.  Flip and sautee on second side.  Serve with the sauce.

Seafood and Seduction

New Year's Eve.  Seafood and seduction.  Connie's a New England boy.  He grew up downtown Boston.  As in right downtown.  By the Bunker Hill Monument.  He went to Boston Latin School.  Worked for the Bank of New England while he worked on his college degree.  Grew up on fresh seafood.  Needless to say, he doesn't find the same in Indianapolis.
 
We met in 2004 and pretty quickly we knew we were meant to be.  Pretty much love at first sight.  And, that's coming from a gal who'd been divorced for 26 years, had a successful business and really had no intention of ever getting married again.  He certainly changed my mind and I'm ever so glad he did!! 

Over the years, we've created some wonderful traditons.  Our New Year's Eve seafood fest is one of them.  That first year, we went to the now-defunct seafood shop across the street from my office.  What they had created the basis for our meal.  Escargot, bacon wrapped scallops, lobster tail, crab soup, crab cakes, shrimp.  We both got dressed up and I decorated the table.  It was incredibly romantic.  Each year we've done the same.  We've changed up the menu a bit each year.
 
Now, we start planning the menu about a month or two before New Year's Eve.  This year most of the inspiration came from Entertaining with Booze.  I know, we've talked before about the title.  Not terribly appetizing.  But the recipes?  Oh, la, la.  We've loved so many of the ones we've tried.

There was a bit of excitement as we started our dinner prep this year.  My beloved Indiana Hoosiers were playing Ohio State.  My stepson David's alma mater.  Here are my favorite screen shots:

You can probably read the second one with a magnifying glass...  It says the Hoosiers beat the number one and number two ranked teams in the same season for the first time ever.  All cooking stopped and breathless watching ensued.  The game wasn't decided until the last seconds.  Wow.  It feels like the old days.

This year we had a bit of a twist to our meal.  Leftover escargot.  Turns out the soup I fixed for New Years Eve Eve dinner with Mom needed a dozen escargot.  The can holds two dozen.  No way was I going to waste those!  I didn't tell Connie what I was doing and he didn't discover my plan until I was ready to put the escargot dishes in the oven.  The look on his face was fantastic.  Huge grin.  He practically did a happy dance.  Thanks to Jaden at Steamy Kitchen for the oven temp and the amount of butter to use.

Escargot

Ingredients:

12 escargot
4 T butter at room temp
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 T fresh flat leaf parsley, finely minced

Directions:

Mash the butter with the garlic and the parsley.  Divide it into 12 balls. 

Place your escargot either into the shells or escargot dishes (or both if you desire.) 

Put the butter on top of each.  Bake at 450 for five minutes.  Serve with sliced baguette.

As we cooked, we drank a bottle of Domaine ste Michelle Blanc de Noirs.  That was absolutely lovely bubbly.  We used the flutes my sister-in-law Pam gave me many years ago.  I love them not only because they're beautiful but because every time we use them I'm reminded of my wonderful sister-in-law.  I love you Pam!  Here's a photo of Connie in the mirror while we're toasting with our bubbly:

After escargot, it was on to cream of crab soup.  While hunting for a new she-crab soup recipe, I came across a cream of crab soup recipe in The Chesapeake Bay Crabbiest Cookbook.  It's one my dear friend Donna gave me.  She said she knew we'd get good use out of it and we have.  Once again, I used my great grandmother's soup bowls.  They're beautiful and a perfect serving size. Connie doesn't really like soup.  But, he loved this.  I did too.  It's VERY rich.  All of the flavors dance together in perfect harmony.  The recipe says it serves twelve.  I made a quarter of that and we had enough for at least six of our small servings. 

Crab House Cream of Crab Soup

Ingredients:

1 c half and half
1 c heavy whipping cream
1 T chicken base (I used Penzey's)
1 T dry sherry
pinch of pepper
1/4 t Old Bay seasoning
4 T butter
1/4 c flour
1/3 lb crabmeat

Directions:

Heat the half and half and cream in a large sauce pan.  Use low heat.  You don't want the soup to boil!  In a small skillet or sauce pan, melt the butter.  Stir in the flour and cook until it's lightly browned.  While that's cooking, whisk the soup base, sherry, Old Bay and pepper into the soup.  Once the flour is ready, pour about 1/4 c of the soup into the roux.  Whisk like crazy so it stays smooth.  Gradually add more soup then, pour the mixture into the soup saucepan.  Whisk to incorporate it.  Add the crabmeat and stir gently to incorporate it.  Heat the soup through and serve.  It may be served with additional sherry.  We chose not to do that.

While we ate our soup, shrimp flan baked away in the oven.  This was a recipe from Wine Mondays.  It was a bit different from our other dishes because of the flavor profile.  Most of our other recipes were dishes we'd had in one form or another.  And, the flavors weren't terribly bold - well, unless you count the GARLIC in the escargot :-)

We liked the shrimp flan but it's not something that I'll make again.  I'd be much more likely to take the marinade mix and grill the shrimp once they've spent their time in the marinade.  This recipe makes a six small appetizer servings.

Shrimp Flan

Ingredients:

1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 garlic clove, minced
1 t pickled ginger
zest of 1/2 orange
zest of 1 lime
1 t fresh lemon juice
1/2 t ginger juice
1/4 c chopped scallions
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1/4 t freshly grated nutmeg
3 T fresh cilantro, chopped
2 t salt
1 large egg, separated
2 T butter at room temp
3 T olive oil
1/2 t freshly ground pepper
4 T heavy cream

Directions:

Mix together the garlic, ginger, orange zest, lime zest, lemon juice, ginger juice, scallions, cayenne, nutmeg, cilantro and salt. 

Toss the shrimp with the marinade and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.  At the same time, put the bowl of your food processor in the freezer.  Lightly beat the egg white.  Put the egg white, egg yolk, cream, butter and olive oil in small bowls next to your food processor.  After the shrimp has marinated, put it in the processor and process until smooth.  Add the egg white, followed by the egg yolk then the butter, then the olive oil and finally the cream.  Butter 6 4 oz ramekins.  Pour the mixture into the ramekins.  The recipe calls for baking the ramekins in a bain marie with foil covering the tops of the ramekins.  I simply baked mine at 350 for 25 minutes.


After the flan we were on the Oysters Rockefeller.  Typically this dish has a topping of spinach and various green herbs.  This recipe didn't.  Connie tracked down fresh oysters at Fresh Market.  He watched a couple of You Tube videos on how to shuck them and started in.  Look how gorgeous they were! 

This recipe called for a very light herb topping.  We loved it.  The flavor of the oysters came through so much better than recipes with spinach.  We cut the recipe down to do 6 oysters but the recipe below is for 24.

Oysters Rockefeller

Ingredients:

6 green onions, chopped
3/4 c unsalted butter, softened
1/2 c Panko bread crumbs
1/4 c freshly grated Romano cheese
1/4 c fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/4 c fresh celery leaves, chopped
1 T fresh tarragon leaves
1 T fresh chervil leaves
2 T Pernod
dash hot pepper sauce
salt
freshly ground black pepper
4 lb rock or kosher salt
24 fresh oysters, shucked (be careful to reserve the liquor)

Directions:

Put the butter, green onions, breadcrumbs, Romano, parsley, chervil and Pernod in the bowl of a food processor.  Process the butter until it's blended but still has texture. 

Place the rock salt on a large rimmed baking dish.  Put the oysters on the rock salt, shell side down. 

Top each oyster with a dollop of the butter. 

Broil for five minutes.  You want the butter to melt and the edges of the oysters to curl.  Do NOT overcook these.


After the oysters we took a break and finished our bubbly and enjoyed the candlelight and each others company.  We also had a furry visitor.  Annie knows she's not allowed in the dining room when her humans are eating.  She's a wonderfully behaved pooch.  George on the other hand believes his humans are here to love a cat and take care of his every need.  He comes in and begs.  Since he's 17, I let him slide.

Then, it was time to fondue the scallops.  I'd had Connie pick up a few extra shrimp so we had those also.  The recipe actually calls for using the little bay scallops but Connie got his favorites so we were dealing with mongo sea scallops.

Since we had no sterno for our fondue pot, we "fondued" the seafood on the stove top then carried our plates to the table.  I'd intended to serve a garlic aioli with this but decided we were going to have enough food.  Then, when we sat down to eat our scallops I was very glad I'd not made the aioli.  The flavor was magnificent.  Very light and nuanced.  Aioli would've just covered it up.  This will be our go-to broth for seafood.  It's yet another recipe from Entertaining With Booze.  I think we're up to 15 recipes from that cookbook.  That's got to be a record for me since I normally make a few then am off to the next cookbook.  By the way - do you love the edges of the cookbook?

Seafood Fondue

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil
1 small onion minced
1 clove garlic, minced
4 c vegetable broth (we used vegetable stock)
2 c white wine - Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc
1/4 c brandy
1 bay leaf
1 T soy sauce
1 dash hot pepper sauce
1 T fresh tarragon, chopped
1 T fresh parsley, chopped
seafood:  lobster, shrimp, scallops, salmon...

Directions:

Pour the olive oil into a large saucepan.  Heat it to shimmering.  Add the onion and saute it until it's translucent.  Add the garlic and saute it for about a minute.  Add the other ingredients other than the tarragon, parsley and your seafood.  Allow the broth to come to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer it for thirty minutes.  Add the tarragon and parsley.  Pour the broth into your fondue pot and dig in with your seafood.  The recipe calls for serving with Bernaise sauce if you so desire.  I'd recommend trying this as is first.

Wow, by this time it was well after 10 pm.  We'd been cooking and eating since about 6 pm.  Two courses to go.  But, alas, we were too full to have dessert when the time came.  Even though we'd eaten tapas-sized servings we were stuffed!  That meant that we really were too full to thoroughly enjoy our last course.  We soldiered through though and did love this dish.  Yet another from Entertaining With Booze.  A couple of notes on the recipe.  We had a small wedge of brie left from earlier in the week.  It was about 4 oz.  We used that instead of a larger wedge.  We also used just half of a lobster tail and cut the rest of the recipe in half.

Baked Brie with Lobster, Mushrooms and Madeira

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb live lobster
2 lb wheel double cream brie
1 T butter
2 shallots, minced
1 c cremini mushrooms, chopped
1/4 c Madeira
1 baguette, thinly sliced

Directions:

Put the brie in a baking dish that's large enough to accomodate the cheese plus the topping. 

Heat your oven to 425.  Melt the butter in a medium skillet.  Add the onions and mushrooms and saute them until they're softened. 

Put the brie in the oven to bake for about 8 minutes.  Add the madeira and cook until it's reduced by half.  Chop the lobster meat and add it.

Heat the lobster through.  Pour the lobster sauce over the brie and serve on baguette slices.

Another wonderful New Year's Eve with the love of my life. 

Atlantica Parmesan and Asiago Crab Dip

This recipe has been in my to-try for the party for several months.  I collect recipes during the year then try them in the fall and come up with a final party menu by the end of November.  Over the years we've made many different crab dips.  You might think that we just love to test crabmeat recipes.  Hmmm.  Guilty as charged :-)


We made this for our dinner party for our football friends.  Everyone loved it.  Then, we took the leftovers to our friends Andy and Mary Kay's.  Again, everyone loved it.  But, it just isn't quite as good as the crab dip I've made before.  And, since I make a couple hundred mini crabcakes for the party, everyone gets a good dose of crabmeat there.  I made half a recipe and this served 10 for appetizers.


Atlantica Parmesan and Asiago Crab Dip


Ingredients:
16 oz crab meat
16 oz cream cheese
1 c mayonnaise
1 1/2 c finely grated parmesan
1 1/2 c finely grated asiago cheese (I used gruyere)
1 c sour cream
2 heads of garlic, roasted
2 large handfuls of cooked fresh spinach




Directions:


Whip the cream cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise.  Blend in the spinach. Stir in the garlic, parmesan and asiago.  Mix well. The recipe calls for baking this at 400 until it's hot and bubbly.  I also served it cold - after it'd been baked once.  Both were very good.

adapted from Where and What in the World

Messes and Successes

Just like with anything in life, cooking provides ample opportunity for 1)errors and 2)things that just don't turn out like you'd hoped and expected.  We've had a few of those in the last few weeks and I thought I'd share some.  Along the way, though, there've been some pretty good successes.

First to the messes.

Asparagus Ravioli.  I read this recipe in Fine Cooking.  Then, one of my favorite bloggers wrote glowingly about the end result.  I couldn't wait to try it.  If I ever make it again, I'll change the recipe up big time.  The filling is made with asparagus, ricotta and mascarpone cheese.  I found it very blah and watery.  Next time, instead of cooking the asparagus in water on the stove, I'll toss it with a little olive oil and roast it.  That'll give the flavor some oomph and will eliminate the problem with the wateriness.  The filling may still need to be kicked up with hot sauce or herbs or something but I'll wait and see what needs to be done.  The other issue was using won-ton wrappers instead of making my own pasta dough.  Let me just say that won-ton wrappers are a fine substitute if you're willing to settle for thin, tasteless pasta.  Never again for me.  If I don't have time to make my own pasta, I'm not making ravioli.  And, yes, I know the photo makes it look tasty. 

Rhubarb Goat Cheese Crumble.  I got to watch an episode of Chopped not too long ago.  One of the dessert items was Cheezits.  YUM!  The gal turned them into a wonderful topping with cinnamon etc.  I had rhubarb and goat cheese and thought since they're wonderful together in a salad - Rhubarb and Shagbark Hickory Salad -  they'd probably be equally wonderful in a crumble.  Wrong.  The rhubarb might as well have been celery for all the flavor it provided.  I mixed eggs and goat cheese and Shagbark Hickory Syrup and other cheesecake like stuff then topped it with crumbled Cheezits tossed in a skillet with butter and allspice.  The topping was pretty good.  The base, not so much.   The rest of the crumble went down the disposal...

Rach's Pimento Cheese Sliders.  Normally, Rachael Ray hits home runs.  This wasn't even a single.  Sliders made with beer and a lovely pimento cheese sauce sounded wonderful.  Fortunately, I did a taste test and cooked a little of the burger before making the whole meal deal.  Insipid.  Totally insipid.  I added Tabasco, Worcestershire, two more cloves of garlic...  And, finally got the taste up to ok.  The pimento cheese sauce was good but even though I put in 50% more cheese than called for, it was a bit thin in the flavor category. 

Blueberry Superman Drinks.  Connie's our bartender so I'm not at all certain what went into these other than Blue Curacao.  All I know is they tasted like rocket fuel.  Except, this rocket fuel it's safe to pour down the drain.  Thank goodness!

Successes

Roasted Radishes - I've been reading a bunch about these so decided I'd try to make some myself.  They were ultra simple.  You cut them in half then toss the radishes with vinegar and sweet.  Balsamic is a good choice for the vinegar.  Honey or agave nectar are great for the sweet.  Coat the baking dish with a little melted butter or olive oil.  Toss the radishes with the dressing and roast away.  I prefer to roast vegetables at 500.  These may need to go under the broiler for a bit at the end.  Next time, I'm going to try this with fig balsamic or chocolate balsamic.

Crabmeat Stuffing - Crabmeat and mushrooms do seem to have a special affinity for each other.  I thought some crab stuffing for a couple of the morels would be good.  It was.  Very.  Now, I wish I could tell you exactly what went into it.  But, I can't.  It started with a bechamel sauce.  And, some dry sherry and a bit of cayenne.  They were topped with some nice, crunchy toasted pine nuts.  A couple of days later, I sauteed a 6 oz package of sliced creminis and combined them with the stuffing we didn't use in the morels.  Crab pot pies.  Again, very good.  And, even though I'm a pitiful artist, I did manage to cut out some freehand hearts to decorate the tops.  Here's the trick to cutting out the crusts for the top.  Use refrigerated pie crust.  Upend the baking dishes and use them to cut the tops.