Not So Crabby Cakes

I am never 100% satisfied with the lump crab meat available at my supermarket. I always give it another shot and end up being incredibly disappointed with the freshness of the crab and spend the entire meal devastated that I spent 19.99 on a pound of sub par crab meat. It took me a while, but I learned my lesson. I try not to cook with crab while in DC. But there are crab dishes that I miss - like crab cakes. The idea of these shrimp cakes really intrigued me since it was an awesome alternative to the crab cake.

Spicy Shrimp Cakes with Corn and Avocado Salsa
Adapted from Cooking Light November 2006

Yield

5 Servings

Ingredients

Cakes:

• 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• Cooking spray
• 1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
• 3 tablespoons reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons hot sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 3/4 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs), divided

Salsa:

• 2 ears of fresh corn, roasted and cut from the cob
  
• 1 diced peeled avocado
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped seeded jalapeno pepper
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation

To prepare cakes, cook shrimp (salted and peppered) in a skillet sprayed with Pam until pink,

place shrimp in a food processor; pulse 10 times or until finely chopped. Set aside.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add bell pepper to pan; sauté 3 minutes. Add garlic to pan; sauté for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Place bell pepper mixture in a large bowl. Add shrimp, green onions, and the next 6 ingredients (through egg), stirring well.

Stir in cilantro and 1/4 cup panko.

Divide shrimp mixture into 5 equal portions, shaping each portion into a 1/2-inch-thick patty. Pat panko bread crumbs on each side of the cakes while holding in your hand. The mixture is too loose to dredge. Chill at least one hour (I chilled them overnight).

Heat pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add 3 cakes to pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until browned. Be careful will flipping the cakes. They crumble easily. Press down on the cakes with the back of the spatula a couple of times before flipping.

Remove from pan; cover and keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining cakes.

To prepare salsa, combine corn and remaining ingredients, except for the avocado; stir gently.

Add the avocado and toss very gently.

Serve immediately with shrimp cakes.

Famous French Bread

As a native New Orleanian it seems natural that a French Bread Pizza would be topped with traditional New Orleans fare like crawfish and andouille sausage. You see, in New Orleans French bread is as important an ingredient in the local cuisine as anything else. French Bread serves as the foundation of our famous po'boys and is used in New Orleans versions of pain perdu and bread pudding. French Bread or Po'Boy Bread (as it is more frequently referred to in New Orleans) is the bread of choice in the Crescent City. There are famous bakeries, like Leidenheimer's that specialize in perfect French bread and the distribution of it to eateries and restaurants both far and wide that are interested in serving authentic New Orleans po'boys. You can also find wicker baskets filled with fresh baked French Bread in every local grocery store and pastry shop in the city. French Bread is ubiquitous in the Big Easy and because of that fact, I love the marriage of the crawfish and andouille pizza on a French bread crust!

Crawfish and Andouille French Bread Pizzas
Adapted from Coastal Living March 2004

Yield

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound andouille sausage, diced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 small green bell pepper, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pound cooked frozen crawfish tails, thawed and drained
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt-free Cajun seasoning
• 1 (16-ounce) Whole-Wheat French Bread
  
• 1 (14-ounce) jar pizza or pasta sauce
• 3 cups (12 ounces) shredded provolone cheese

Preparation

Place a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add sausage; cook 4 to 5 minutes or until lightly browned on all sides.

Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic; cook over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Add crawfish tails and Cajun seasoning. Remove from heat.

Cut bread in half lengthwise. Cut each half crosswise into 3 equal pieces. Remove a little of the dough in the center of each bread section and discard. Place bread, cut side up, on a baking sheet. Spread sauce over bread halves;

top evenly with crawfish mixture.

Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 425° for 8 minutes or until cheese melts. Serve immediately.

Pick-y Eaters

As I believe I have mentioned before on this blog, I am not a huge fan of BBQ sauce. I can't remember any occasions in my earlier more finicky years where I enjoyed a meal that was drowned in the smoky condiment. In fact, I distinctly recall turning my nose up at any dish that contained BBQ sauce. But there was one exception to this rule. Every time my family grilled out in the backyard the first thing to hit the grill were several links of Patton's hot sausage. Since chicken for a family of six took so long to cook I think this was my mom's way of pacifying her vulture like children. As soon as the sausage was ready she would bring the links to the chopping board and cut them into half-inch pieces. Then she would cover the links in barbecue sauce and place six toothpicks in six separate pieces. At this point she would bring the dish out in the backyard and each family member would grab their toothpick and their sausage piece as she made her rounds. After stopping at each family member she would make her way back around the bunch allowing for a second helping. She would continue this until the sausage was gone or until no one accepted her offer. I think this was her way of ensuring that everyone got their fair share and the younger kids didn't get left out. If you only had one toothpick then you couldn't engage in more than one piece at a time. She was a very even-handed mother of four.

Despite the fact that I didn't dig on barbecue sauce I always participated in this pre-BBQ chicken ritual. It was part of a family food tradition and I didn't want to be excluded. Even though I reference the routine like it was a thing of the past, this tradition has never gone away. The barbecues have moved to a different house. The backyard has changed from a pool setting to the pier on the lake. Mom doesn't police the sausage pieces to kid ratio any longer. And there are waaaaaay more than six toothpicks these days to accommodate our ever growing clan. But we still have that individually sliced sausage appetizer with one toothpick per family member every time we have a family barbecue.

Chorizo Pasta with Chipotle Cream Sauce
Loosely adapted from Food Network

Ingredients

• 1 ounce olive oil
• 1 yellow bell pepper, cut into strips
• 1/2 red onion, sliced
  
• 2 links of chorizo sausage, cut in bias slices
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• Chipotle Sauce, recipe follows
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 9 ounces cooked bowtie or penne pasta
• 2 ounces Parmesan, grated
• 1 tablespoon diced scallion

Directions

1. Make Chipotle Sauce.

Chipotle Sauce:

• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
  

Combine all ingredients in blender, puree, cover and refrigerate.

2. In saute pan over high heat, add olive oil and sausage links. Sear links until browned. Remove sausage from pan and drain on paper towels. Add onions and bell peppers to the pan and cook until softened.

Lower heat to medium. Return the sausage to the pan.

3. Then add cream, chipotle sauce, salt and pepper.

Add cooked pasta and the cheese. Toss to combine.

Serve in pasta bowl and garnish with , scallions or parsley and more grated Parmesan.

Our Lady of the Ladle

The entire food blogging community is extremely exited about the new somewhat blog-related movie coming out this Friday. Julie and Julia is based on the popular book of the same name and depicts the life of the famous Julia Child and the not so famous Julie Powell who aspires to cook and blog her way through the world renowned Mastering the Art of French Cooking.



I can not say that I am not equally excited and enthralled in the buzz surrounding this film. I read the book about two years ago before I had a blog of my own and found it a very easy, fun and uplifting experience. At the end of the book the author mentions that Julia Child's kitchen in which she cooked, entertained and filmed her show was donated to the Smithsonian in 2001. The kitchen and its contents were on display at the American History Museum. How convenient! Since I lived in DC it would be a breeze to hop on the Metro and spend an afternoon gawking at Julia's culinary possessions. There was one small detail that I forgot as I planned the excursion. At the time I read the book, the American History Museum was undergoing a two year long renovation and was closed down.

A few months ago Forrest and I found ourselves downtown with a few hours to kill before we met some visiting family members. The American History Museum had recently reopened and I knew I wanted to stop in and visit a particular exhibit. At this point in life I was completely immersed in my blog and had worked my way through about 150 recipes of my own. Cooking had a whole new meaning to me than it had a year earlier when I read the book. I headed straight to the exhibit and spent the next hour tickled pink. Her entire kitchen had been moved from her Massachusetts home and reconstructed just as she had it for 42 years. Outside of the kitchen they had displays of her cooking utensils (this women had it all), her Le Cordon Bleu diploma and the first edition of Mastering the Art of French Cooking.


Excuse the glare in the shots. Everything was encased in glass. Curse you museum gods!

Julia's Diploma

Julia Child hovered at six feet two inches and her husband custom built all of her cabinets and countertops in her kitchen to be the perfect height for her tall stature. My favorite was the picture below of Julia cooking in her tiny Paris apartment as a young women. She looks so at ease in a situation that looks amazingly uncomfortable.

Classy Cheese Puffs

We were invited to have drinks at our friends' house this weekend and I planned to make these gorgeous gougeres to bring with me. I bought a super sharp aged white cheddar at the grocery and had the best of intentions to arrive with these savory choux pastries in tow. Well, life got away from me and I ran out of time to make them before we had to leave. I made them the next day since the recipe was still calling my name. They were a blast to prepare and the end result was too pretty for just Forrest and myself. I can't wait to make these again for a crowd.

Salt-and-Pepper Gougeres
Adapted from Sunset December 2003

Yield

Makes 48 puffs; 12 to 14 servings

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1/4 lb.) butter, cut into chunks
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 6 large eggs, beaten to blend
• 1 1/4 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh-ground pepper
• Coarse sea salt
  

Preparation

1. In a 3- to 4-quart pan over high heat, bring 1 1/2 cups water and the butter to a full rolling boil.

Remove from heat, add flour all at once, and stir until mixture is a smooth, thick paste with no lumps.

Add a quarter of the beaten eggs at a time,

stirring vigorously after each addition until dough is no longer slippery. Stir in cheese and pepper.

2. Spoon dough into a large pastry bag fitted with a plain 1/2-inch round tip. Pipe in 48 equal mounds on two cooking parchment-lined or buttered 12- by 15-inch baking sheets.

(Alternatively, drop dough on sheets in slightly rounded tablespoon-size portions.) Wet your finger tip with water and press down the peak in each mound left from the pastry tip.

Sprinkle each mound with a few grains of coarse sea salt.

3. Bake in a 400° regular or convection oven until dry and well browned, about 30 minutes. Serve warm. The puffs can be made up to 1 month ahead and frozen; cool, then freeze airtight. Reheat thawed puffs, uncovered, in a 375° oven until crisp and hot, about 5 minutes.

Slider Solution

During one of my blog giveaways, I gave away a slider bun cutter. At the time, I thought it was really a cool little gadget that you could use to cut slider sized buns out of regular hamburger buns or use it as the cutter if making your own buns from scratch. I thought that little cutter or something similar was my only shot at the perfect pint-sized buns for slider. Well yesterday at the supermarket I found these:

Chicken-Chorizo Sliders w/ Avocado Mayo
Adapted from Cooking Light July 2002

Ingredients

• Mayonnaise:
• 1/3 cup fat-free mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 ripe peeled avocado, seeded
• 
  
• Burgers:
• 1/2 pound Spanish chorizo sausage
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts, coarsely chopped
• 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped
• Cooking spray
• 16 wheat slider buns, toasted
• slices of pepper jack
  

Preparation

Prepare grill or broiler.

To prepare mayonnaise, combine first 5 ingredients in a food processor;

pulse 10 times or until combined. Cover and chill mayonnaise mixture.

To prepare burgers, remove casings from sausage and roughly chop chicken and remove all fat.

Place sausage, salt, chicken, and jalapeño in food processor; process 30 seconds or until mixture is coarsely ground.

Divide mixture into 16 equal portions, shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick patty the size of the slider buns.

Season each patty with freshly ground black pepper. Place patties on a grill rack or broiler pan coated with cooking spray; cook 7 minutes on each side or until done.

Meanwhile, place slices of pepperjack cheese on the top half of the buns and place them along with the bottom half of the buns on a baking sheet

and broil on high in the oven for 2 minutes in order to melt cheese and toast buns.

Place chicken burgers on buns; spread 1 tablespoon mayonnaise mixture over the chicken patty. Top each with the cheese melted top half of each roll.

Mock Shoe

I feel like everything I post on this blog has corn as a key ingredient. I can't stop it - I love corn. It is plentiful in the summer and oh so delicious. I just can't help myself. So here again is another corn centered dish...

Corn Maque Choux with Andouille Sausage
Adapted from Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound andouille sausage, sliced and quartered
  
• 4 ears young sweet corn
• 1 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onions
• 1 cup chopped green bell peppers
• Salt
• Cayenne
• 1 cup chopped canned tomatoes, drained
  
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions

Directions

In a large skillet, over medium heat, render the sausage browned.

Drain the sausage on paper towels and set aside. Cut the corn off the cob by thinly slicing across the tops of the kernels and then cutting across a second time to release the milk from the corn.

To the pan where the sausage was cooked, over medium heat, add the oil, onions and bell peppers.

Season with salt and cayenne. Saute for 2 minutes. Add the corn. Season with salt and cayenne.

Continue to saute for 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes, or until the corn is tender.

Stir in the milk and remove from heat.

Stir in the sausage and green onions.

Serve immediately.