New Zealand Mussels Appetizer

I bought a bag of these frozen mussels at a HyVee supermarket.  They are already cleaned and cooked, so it makes preparation super simple.  Plus they are very affordable!  (I've heard these also called green mussels.)

This recipe, with a few modifications, can be found at Food.com.  This is one delicious appetizer. So let's get cooking.

Thaw the mussels and loosen them from the shell. Drain and pat dry, then place them back in the shell and arrange on a baking sheet.

Next make the bread crumb topping.

1 cup panko bread crumbs
3 Tbl. melted butter
1 Tbl. parsley flakes
1 clove garlic finely minced
2 Tbl. grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
juice of one lemon

In a bowl, combine bread crumbs, melted butter, parsley flakes, minced garlic, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.

Squeeze the lemon juice over the mussels, Spoon the bread crumb mixture evenly over the mussels, pressing down a bit.

Broil for 5 minutes or until the bread crumb topping is golden brown and crunchy, and the mussels are warm. Watch carefully when broiling.  It can go from golden brown and delicious to black and burned.  Not that I would know anything about that.  ;)

Enjoy friends!

Pan Seared Rosemary Flounder

From time to time, I read the recipes that come with packaged products, and this time I actually tried a recipe that was printed on the package of flounder flillets I purchased.  Lucky for us, this turned out to be delicious.

Here's what you will need to prepare this dish:

2 flounder fillets, thawed

1 Tbl. olive oil

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, stem removed

flour for dredging

1 Tbl. butter

salt and pepper

lemon wedges

Directions:

1)  Heat oil in pan over medium heat.  Add garlic and rosemary to the pan and cook for about 3 minutes.  Garlic should start to brown, but be careful to avoid burning it.  

Remove garlic and rosemary, transfer to a bowl and set aside.  Leave the oil in the pan.  Along with the garlic and rosemary into the bowl, add 1 Tbl. butter, and a wedge of lemon.  This will be used to make the pan sauce.

2)  Pat the fillets dry.  Dredge fillets in flour that has been seasoned with salt and pepper.

3)  Put the fish in the pan in the oil.  Cook for about 3 minutes on each side, turning only once -- flounder is very delicate and can easily break apart.

4)  Place fish on serving plates.  Return the garlic/rosemary to the pan, add 1 Tbl. butter and a squeeze of lemon juice.  Once the butter has melted, stir and pour over the fish.  Serve immediately.

Enjoy friends!

Corn Muffins

It's cool and rainy here on May the 20th.  So, we are having Ham 'n Beans for dinner tonight.  Something to go with?  Corn Muffins, right?

I've used this recipe exclusively since I got it from my granddaughter, Olivia.  She has a little cookbook called "The Hey Girls Muffin Makers"  and the recipe comes from that cookbook.

Here's the recipe:

1 1/4 Cup flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
3/4 Cup corn meal
1/3 Cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Cup buttermilk (I use 4 Tbl. dry buttermilk powder and 1 Cup water)
1/3 Cup oil (I used light olive oil)
1 large egg beaten

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.  Line a 12 cup paper lined muffin tin.

Combine dry ingredients.  Here is where I use the dry buttermilk powder.  Four tablespoons to one cup of water = one cup of buttermilk.  This stuff is handy because it's hard for me to have buttermilk on hand.

In another bowl or a large measuring cup, wisk together the wet ingredients.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients.  Stir until almost smooth.

Spoon into paper lined muffin pan -- about 1/4 Cup of batter per muffin.  Bake until the muffins are puffed and golden and a toothpick comes out clean.

The temperatures on ovens vary greatly.  The recipe calls for baking 17 - 19 minutes, but mine only took about 15 minutes, so watch carefully.

I usually have a little bit of batter left over from this recipe, but not nearly enough to warrant a second batch of muffins.

Enjoy with a smear of honey butter.  Simply mix equal parts of honey and softened butter (yes, butter).  We are lucky to get our honey from a local bee keeper -- he's also a co-worker of my hubby, so it's a win win.

Enjoy friends!

Chilean Sea Bass

We were shopping at Whole Foods and splurged on two filets of Chilean Sea Bass.  Those babies were pricey!  As in $12.99 each!  But looked delicious and so we bought them.  After reading several recipes and watching a chef on YouTube, we decided that pan searing would be the way to prepare the sea bass.

Well before time to cook, make some clairified butter which will be paired with olive oil to sear the fish.  If you are not familiar with clarified butter, just google it.  It does take some time to make clarified butter.

Coat one side of the fish with salt, pepper, and some flour. (this will make for a crispy crust on the fish).  Note, we chose to remove the skin from the fish.  Some cooks leave the skin on.

Get a non-stick skillet ready, add 2 tablespoons of light olive oil, and heat it up. 

Don't add the clarified butter yet.

Place the fish in the skillet, with the seasoned side down.

Here's where you will be tempted to move the fish around.  Don't!

Let the pan do the work.

While the first side of the fish is searing, sprinkle the other side with salt, pepper, and some flour.

This is my husband doing the cooking!

Add the clarified butter at this point.  About 2 tablespoons.

The clarified butter has a high smoking point,

and it won't splatter at you.

Looking for about 120 degrees before flipping and basting.

Flip the fish over, let it sear a bit, then start basting by tilting the pan 

and pouring the oil, butter over the cooked fish.

This is a fancy technique used by professional chefs!

Continue basting, check the temperature.  You want the fish to be at 130 degrees.

Look at the crisp crust!  Way to go, honey!

When the fish reaches 130 degrees,

remove the fish and place on paper towels.

Get ready to serve.  Chilean Sea Bass is a very mild fish, but also fatty,

in a good way!

We had french green beans steamed, then saute'd with butter, garlic, shallot, and panko.

Enjoy friends!  We will be making this again.

Whole Grain Cherry Crumble

So today my neighbor called and said she had a "bucket" of cherries and would I like them?  Would I like them?  Yes, please!  We met in the back yard and she handed over a gallon pail of pitted cherries from their cherry tree.  I thanked her and immediately came in the house and started searching for cherry recipes on line.

When this one came up from "Food & Wine" it immediately got my attention--even better--I had all the ingredients on hand.  So here it is.... Whole Grain Cherry Crumble!  Next time I'm having this with vanilla ice cream.

Recipe courtesy of Food & Wine:

1. 1 cup whole-wheat flour
2. 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
3. 1/2 cup rolled oats
4. 1/4 cup raw almonds, chopped
5. 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6. 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
7. 1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cubed
8. 2 pounds fresh or frozen cherries, pitted (4 cups)
9. 1/2 cup granulated sugar
10. 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
11. 1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
12. 1 firm Bartlett pear—halved, cored and coarsely shredded on a box grater
13. Vanilla ice cream, for serving

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. In a large bowl, whisk the flour with the brown sugar, oats, almonds, salt and nutmeg. Using your fingers, work in the butter until large crumbs begin to form. Press the streusel into small clumps and refrigerate until chilled, about 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a large ovenproof skillet, combine the cherries, granulated sugar, vinegar and the vanilla bean and seeds. Cook over moderate heat, stirring, until the juices are bubbling, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the grated pear and let cool completely; discard the vanilla bean.
3. Scatter the streusel evenly over the cherries. Bake for about 1 hour, until the topping is golden and the cherries are bubbling. Let cool slightly. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy Friends!!

Banana Bread

I always buy too many bananas and as a result, end up with some over ripe bananas.  

Oh well, that's a great excuse to make banana bread, right?

This recipe is from Mary Sue Milliken & Susan Feniger.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup granulated sugar (I used 3/4 Cup)
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 3 ripe bananas
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS

• 1
  Preheat the oven to 325° F. Butter a 9x5x3" loaf pan.
• 2
  Cream the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• 3
  In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Mix in the milk and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• 4
  Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears.
• 5
  Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove bread from pan, invert onto rack and cool completely before slicing.
• 
  

Source: M.S. Milliken & S. Feniger

Enjoy friends!

Cassoulet -- My Way

Today is cloudy, cool, and rainy!  A perfect day for some comfort food.  I had some big fat chicken legs in the fridge and some canned great northern beans, so cassoulet!  This is a much simpler method for making cassoulet. So here goes.  Oh, one other thing, I have fresh herbs growing in pots on my patio and you definitely need fresh herbs for this recipe.  Actually it's not so much a recipe as a process.  Let's get cooking!

First brown the chicken legs in a skillet.  I have recently been using coconut oil for cooking and baking.  (No, it does not taste like coconut--its just healthy clean pure oil.)

While the chicken legs are browning, chop up some onion, carrots, celery, and garlic.  I used half a large white onion, two stalks of celery, two large carrots, and two cloves of garlic.

Other stuff you will need...

Take the chicken legs out and place them on a plate.  Add the chopped onion, celery, carrots, and garlic.  Saute for a minute or so until fragrant, add salt and pepper.   Chop some fresh rosemary and thyme--about a tablespoon of each.  Add to the vegetables.

Next pour in a can of chicken broth and a can of tomatoes.  I used San Marzano tomatoes that I canned last summer.

Place the chicken legs on top of everything, cover, and place in a 350 degree oven.  Bake for about one hour.

Drain and rinse two cans of great northern beans, or navy beans, or canellini beans, pour over the chicken.  Add more chicken stock at this point if it looks too dry.  Sorry, this photo is sideways!!

Back into the oven for another 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, 3 tablespoons of butter, and some chopped flat leaf parsley -- about 3 tablespoons.  Mix the parsley into one cup of bread crumbs.

Remove the dutch oven and uncover.  Sprinkle the bread crumb parsley mixture over the chicken/bean/veg mixture.  Drizzle the melted butter over the crumbs.  Place back in the oven uncovered for another 10 minutes or until the bread crumbs are golden brown.

Serve each person a chicken leg (or two) with some of the crispy crumbs, beans, and vegetables.  A slice of buttered bread goes well with this dish.

Enjoy friends!