Tomato Aspic, Avocado Mousse and Seafood

This was the salad course for our New Orleans 24x24 party.  I came up with it based on two dishes we've had - one a salad with tomato aspic, avocados and creamy italian dressing.  The other was a seafood cocktail - served in a martini glass.  Many thanks to Kathyvegas for her tomato aspic posting!  The avocado mousse is from Epicurious.com.

Tomato Aspic

Ingredients:

2 c tomato juice

1 packet unflavored gelatin

1/2 T sugar

1/2 t salt

1/2 T wine vinegar

1 1/2 T lemon juice

1/2 T Worcestershire sauce

few dashes hot pepper sauce






Sprinkle the gelatin over 1/2 c of the tomato juice. Set it aside to soften.

Heat the other ingredients over medium heat to a boil.

Add the gelatin mixture and stir until the gelatin is dissolved. Pour into a mold or cups.

Refrigerate to set. This will take a couple of hours.  For this dish, I poured about 1/3 c each into martini glasses.

(from kathyvegas via foodbuzz.com)

Once the aspic was set, I was able to add the avocado mousse.





Avocado Mousse:

 Ingredients:
2 firm-ripe avocados

1 T lemon juice

1 500 mg vitamin C tablet, crushed

1/2 t salt

1 1/4 t gelatin

3 T whole milk

1/3 c chilled heavy cream



Directions:



Pour the milk into a very small saucepan. Sprinkle the gelatin on top. Allow it to sit for a couple of minutes to soften. Peel and seed the avocados. Place them in a food processor with the lemon juice, Vitamin C and salt. Process until smooth.

Heat the milk on low, stirring occasionally until the gelatin dissolves. Pour slowly into the processor while it is running. Once the milk is incorporated, stop. Whip the cream until soft peaks form. Carefully fold the avocado puree into the whipped cream.

For this dish, I spooned a couple of tablespoons of the mousse into each of the martini glasses - on top of the tomato aspic.

Then, I smoothed the mousse and refrigerated the glasses.

adapted from Epicurious.com





Crab and Shrimp Salad


Ingredients:

1 c crabmeat
1 c diced shrimp

Dressing:

1/2 c olive oil
1/4 c lime juice

1 t cumin
1 t honey
1/4 t crushed garlic

Directions:
Mix the dressing.  Add or subtract seasoning to taste.  Just before serving toss with the shrimp and crabmeat.

Top the aspic and mousse with the seafood salad.  We served this with Prosecco.

Dill and MORE Dill

For the last two weeks, Maria has included a bunch of dill in our CSA box.  Now, I'm not just talking about a couple of sprigs.  I'm talking about a BUNCH of dill.  So, the challenge is to use all of it.  Try not to waste anything from the CSA box.  What plays well with dill?  Eggs.  Swiss cheese.  Shrimp.  Potatoes.  I sat down the all of my herb and vegetable cookbooks and hunted for new recipes.  Found what looks to be a great potato salad recipe.  That'll be fun because it has all kinds of the stuff we love in it:  gherkins, capers...   But, I just had to go back to an old faithful - shrimp salad with swiss and dill.  It's so much better with fresh dill.  It's also better if made the day before it's served.  When I opened the refrigerator this morning to get out some eggs to scramble - yes, with dill - I saw the container of the shrimp salad.  Betcha that'd be yummy with the eggs.  It was.

Shrimp Salad with Dill and Swiss

2 heaping cups peeled shrimp
4 oz swiss or gruyere cheese
2-3 good sized sprigs of dill
2-4 T mayonnaise

Use a scissors to cut the shrimp into small pieces - about 1/4".  

Dice the cheese very finely - about 1/8". 

Chop the dill finely.  Toss the shrimp, cheese and dill together.  Add mayonnaise just until it all sticks together. 

Fabulous served with scrambled eggs, on crackers or as a sandwich spread.