Shrimp Stuffed Poblano Peppers

I traded some end of season figs from our fig tree to a friend at work for some end of season peppers he grew. Some of the peppers were poblanos. We wanted to do something different and possibly exciting with them. Well, exciting as far as poblano peppers go. They do have a flavor we enjoy but can be quirky by by sometimes tasting as mild as a bell pepper and other times having a nice punchy unexpected heat. So, we gave it some thought and poblanos really cry out to be stuffed but stuffed with what? Cheese? Good but too typical. Beef? Maybe. Chicken? Possibly, but with what else. Some kind of seafood? Hmmmm, yes but what? Crab, shrimp? Yes, shrimp but with what else? What seasonings? Lisa looked at a number of shrimp stuffed pepper recipes on line and we came up with few we could work with for poblanos. The result was amazing.

Ingredients for two people -

 4 poblano peppers, roasted and peeled

 1 red bell pepper, roasted, peeled, and chopped

 2 Tbsp + 1 tsp olive oil, divided

 1 Tbsp butter

 ½ sweet onion, diced

 4 cloves garlic, minced

 1 lb medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

 1 Tbsp ground cumin

 1 tsp salt

 freshly ground pepper

 ½ lime, juiced

 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour

 ½ cup sour cream

 ½ cup whole milk

 1 cup shredded 5-cheese Mexican blend

 To roast the peppers:

There are a number of way to roast and peppers. The best way is to roast them on the grill or under the broiler in the oven. But we chose to do them in a cast iron skillet. Remove from the skillet and immediately place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow them to cool and rub the skins off. Chop the red bell pepper and slit the poblano peppers on one side, leaving the stems intact. (You can remove the seeds at this point if you want your poblanos a little less spicy.)

To make the filling: 

Preheat the oven to 350℉.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large pan. Add the red bell pepper and onion. Cook until soft, about 3-5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute, being careful not to burn the garlic. Remove the vegetables from the pan and set aside.

Next, sprinkle the salt, pepper, cumin, and lime juice on the shrimp. Melt the butter in the same pan that you used to cook the vegetables and add the shrimp. Cook until done, about 3-5 minutes.

Add the vegetables back to the pan and mix with the shrimp.

Place the poblanos in a medium baking pan and stuff with the vegetable-shrimp mixture.

To make the sauce:

Add the flour and the remaining olive oil to the pan (that originally had the vegetable-shrimp mixture) over medium heat and stir until the flour starts to thicken. Add the sour cream and the milk. Whisk until completely mixed without lumps. Cook until the mixture starts to simmer, but do not boil. Remove from heat and add the cheese, stirring until smooth.

Pour the cheese mixture over the stuffed peppers and cook for 15 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned.

Mussels Steamed in White Wine and Herbs

Yay, mussels! We love 'em. If you do too, try this. It's a basic, time proven way to cook them - garlic, shallots, parsley, white wine,  a little heat and we added a secret ingredient - a sprinkling of crushed fennel seeds. This recipe will not disappoint. We like the mussels served over linguine. It just seems the right thing to do.

Ingredients
3 lb. mussels
2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
4 medium cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp crushed fennel seeds
3/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 cup dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc or any other crisp, herbal white wine

1 box good quality imported linguine
Good-quality crusty bread, sliced or torn into pieces, for serving..

Rinse the mussels well under cold water. Pick them over, pulling off any beards and discarding any mussels that are broken or gaping open.

In a large pot with a lid, heat the oil and butter over medium heat. Add the garlic, shallots, crushed fennel seeds and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant and soft but not colored, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add the mussels, wine, and half of the parsley. Increase the heat to high, and cover the pan. After 2 minutes, remove the lid and toss the mussels well with a large spoon. 

Cover the pot again and cook until the mussels have opened wide, another 3 to 4 minutes. 

Add the remaining parsley, give the mussels a final toss, and divide the mussels and the broth among bowls of linguine. Serve the bread alongside.

Fancy Pants Mussels Rockefeller

You've heard of Oysters Rockefeller. This is their cousin Mussels Rockefeller. We love mussels and were planning to have them this past Friday our favorite way - steamed in a wine and herb broth and served over linguine but Lisa said "Hey, babe, let's change things up. I've found a cool recipe for mussels Rockefeller maybe we can play around with the recipe and have them that way." I replied, "Why not?" And so we did and lived happily ever after.... Wait, that's another story. I'll save for another time. 😄

Typically oysters Rockefeller are prepared by mixing together breadcrumbs, garlic, herbs, some kind of green - usually spinach, and butter and topping oysters on the half shell with that mix and baking or broiling them.

Mussels Rockefeller is done the same way but with a little different, and necessary, prep twist that we discovered pretty quickly. Like oysters, mussels don't like to have their shells pried open. Oyster shells are much harder than mussel shells, but with a little practice, you can easily pry open raw oyster shells at their hinge with a shucking knife without damaging the oyster inside. But mussel shells are delicate and if you try to pop the shell open at the hinge you will just end up cracking or breaking it and destroying the mussel meat in the process. What you have to do is "coax" the mussels into opening their shells by themselves. How do you do that? By heating some water in a pan to just boiling and tossing the tightly closed mussels in. About 5 - 10 seconds later the mussels will have opened up on their own. Then fish them all out with a strainer. The shell can easily be snapped apart leaving the mussel meat on the other half ready to be filled with the delicious breadcrumb herb topping.

The ingredients in the topping we made - for 2 dozen mussels (about two pounds) -

Garlic - 3 cloves minced

Olive oil

Fresh Thyme - 1 tablespoon finely chopped

Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley - 1 tablespoon finely chopped

Red pepper flakes - to taste

Splash of white wine

Bread crumbs - 2 cups

Butter - 3 tablespoons

Salt and Pepper to taste

In a small frying pan, sauté the garlic in a little olive oil until just translucent, add a splash of white wine and turn down the heat to simmer, stir in the herbs, salt and pepper and bread crumbs. Stir regularly until the bread crumb mixture gets toasty. Remove from the heat and add the butter. 

After taking the shells apart by the method above, place the half shell mussels on a foil lined baking sheet. Top each mussel with about a teaspoon of the bread crumb mixture

Move the oven rack to the top of the oven and bake at 425 F for 3-4 minutes. Turn off the oven and turn on the broiler. Broil for just a minute to put an extra crunch in the bread crumbs.

Remove from the oven and hit each one with a spritz of lemon juice. Enjoy!

We served these with a side of arugula, basmati rice and mandarin orange sections.

Mason-Dixon Salmon

Bringing the North and South together we experimented and used toasted Georgia Pecans, Pennsylvania Maple Syrup and a little Pennsylvania rye whiskey to make a sweet crunchy sauce to spoon over pan seared salmon filets - so, Mason-Dixon Salmon was born. Aren't we clever? 

We picked up a nice big jug of Hillegas Maple Syrup when we went to the 72nd annual Pennsylvania Maple Syrup Festival in a little town called Meyersdale in the beautiful Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania. We didn't even know that Pennsylvania was a big producer of maple syrup! 

And we had to add a little of our favorite small batch Pennsylvania rye whiskey made right here in Pittsburgh by family run Wigle Whiskey.

Ingredients - 

Salmon filets - 2
Whole Georgia Pecans - toasted then roughly chopped - 2/3 cup 
Pennsylvania Maple Syrup about 1/3 cup
Pennsylvania Rye Whiskey - 1 teaspoon
Squirt of lemon juice

Here's what you do, and it couldn't be simpler - 

In a bowl, combine the maple syrup, chopped pecans, rye whiskey and lemon juice.
Note: you can play with the quantities to make more because you might find yourself sampling to much of this before using it on the salmon! 

Sear the filets in a pan with a little butter and olive oil

Spread the mixture on top of the salmon filets and serve with grilled fresh green beans and wild rice mix.

Maryland Style Crab Cakes

I think you will agree crab cakes are a real treat. With warmer weather coming, summer is near, well, pretty near and that's good enough for me. To us, certain foods just speak summertime. Crab cakes are one of them. This is not an old family recipe or a friend's secret recipe. We looked at a number of preparations and came up with one of our own using ingredients we felt would play well together give the best straight forward flavor to the crab. The simple sour cream lime sauce is a nice addition and pulls it all together. We think you will like them.  

Ingredients – (makes 6 crab cakes, but we made 6 plus a runt with what was left...)

1 lb. jumbo lump or back fin lump crab meat, fresh or pasteurized

1 large egg

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1-1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1-1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Sea salt

1-1/4 cups fresh breadcrumbs - from soft white sandwich bread

1 Tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 Tbsp olive oil 
Lemon wedges for serving - optional

Sour cream lime sauce -
1 cup sour cream mixed with the zest and juice from 1 lime 

Preparation –

Drain the crab meat, if necessary, and pick through it for shells. Put the crab in a medium mixing bowl and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, Old Bay seasoning, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and 1/4 tsp. salt. Pour the mixture over the crab and mix in gently until well combined. Do not over mix.

Sprinkle the breadcrumbs and the parsley over the mixture, and mix them in thoroughly but gently with your hands; try not to turn the mixture into a mush—it should still be somewhat loose. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 to 3 hours. Shape the crab mixture into 8 cakes about 1 inch thick.

And place on wax paper on a cookie sheet then into the freezer for an hour. Cooking in 350 degree oil from frozen insures everything stays together. 

In a 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat the butter with the olive oil over medium heat. When the butter is frothy, add the cakes to the pan (8 should fit comfortably but don’t overcrowd). Cook until dark golden brown on the underside, about 4 minutes. Flip the cakes, reduce the heat to medium low, and continue cooking until the other side is well browned, 4 to 5 minutes. 

Serve with a dollop of the sour cream lime sauce. 

Possible Sides - Jasmine rice or roasted baby potatoes, coleslaw, sautéed zucchini or pan fried escarole or rainbow Swiss chard.

Pasta Con Le Sarde

Pasta con le sarde - Pasta with Sardines - is a classic Sicilian dish made with fresh sardines, fennel, onion, pine nuts, golden raisins and toasted bread crumbs. If you really want to get hardcore, add a few anchovy filets, a tin of sardines and some ground fennel seeds to the sauce!  We do. The pasta of choice is bucatini, which is dressed with the sauce then served with a good sprinkling of seasoned homemade bread crumbs and topped with a pan fried sardine. Yes, there are some strong flavors but don't let that scare you, just jump right in. This is one very tasty seafood dish and perfect for Christmas Eve!

Note: If you haven't had them, fresh sardines are a light sweet buttery fish, similar, in my opinion, to trout which you could substitute here if you can't get fresh sardines.

Ingredients (for 2)

1 Fennel bulb, diced - reserve the tops

1 medium onion diced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 fresh or frozen whole sardines, cleaned and bones removed

1 4 oz tin whole sardines in olive oil, drained and coarsely chopped

3 tbsp pine nuts, toasted

1/4 cup golden raisins chopped
I teaspoon ground fennel seeds 
2 anchovy filets in oil - optional

1 large pinch of saffron, soaked in 2 tbsp white wine

1/2 box of bucatini pasta, if you can't find it, substitute with spaghetti
1 cup milk
Flour to coat the sardines for frying
Olive Oil as needed
Salt and pepper - taste along the way for seasoning. But go easy on the salt, this dish has a good amount in the ingredients
White wine - Pinot Grigio, Soave or Sauvignon Blanc

Directions

Clean the fresh sardines -

Rosetta Costantino's web site http://cookingwithrosetta.com/ 
Rosetta shows how to clean fresh anchovies. Use the same technique for sardines -

Open each one out flat and pull out the central bones along with the head.  Wash and shake dry then soak in a bowl of milk.

Note: If you can't find fresh or frozen whole sardines, use trout filets and pan fry as with the sardines.

Make bread crumbs from good crusty country bread in a food processor to a coarse texture. Then toast in a frying pan with olive oil. Make about two cups.

Start the pasta water to boil at some point during the steps below -

Wipe the pan clean and heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil (add more if needed) over medium heat. Add fennel and onion and cook, stirring, for about 15 minutes or until softened and slightly caramelized.

Add garlic and and anchovies - stir for 2 minutes.

Add saffron with the wine it was soaking in and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.

Stir in the raisins.

Add the canned sardines and break up with a wooden spoon 

Add ½ cup hot water from the pasta pot and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a separate pan heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Remove the sardines from the milk and dredge them in seasoned flour, shaking off excess. Cook, turning halfway, for 3 minutes or until crisp and golden. Set aside.

The pasta water should be boiling by now so add a tablespoon of salt and the bucatini. Dip out and save a cup of pasta water. 

When the pasta is almost done, add it to the pan with the sauce and stir through adding the pine nuts and the fennel fronds. Use the saved pasta water as needed to the sauce if it seems too dry.

Serve on plates and top with the bread crumbs and the fried sardines.

Drizzle each serving with a little olive oil.

Here a couple videos showing variations of this dish - 

Lemon Pasta with shrimp

It's SUMMER!!!  So, Lemon Pasta with Shrimp

This is a great summer pasta dish for four. The lemon pasta is excellent on it's own even without the shrimp or with adding more seafood - fish, scallops, crab, lobster. 

Ingredients - 
1 lb cleaned deveined shrimp

1 pound spaghetti

2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

1 tablespoon lemon zest

Optional - 2 tablespoons fried capers*

  

Directions -

Whisk the olive oil, Parmesan, and lemon juice in a large bowl to blend.

In a medium sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat. Season the shrimp with the salt and pepper. Add the shrimp in a single layer to the preheated pan. Cook for 3 minutes per side or until pink and cooked through. Be careful not to over-cook. Set aside.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, about 8 minutes. 

Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Toss the pasta with the lemon sauce, the shrimp and the reserved cooking liquid, adding 1/4 cup at a time as needed to moisten. Season with the salt and pepper and stir in the basil. Garnish with lemon zest and fried capers.

*To fry capers, drain, rinse and dry the capers very well. Heat several tablespoons of vegetable oil in a small straight sided skillet over medium high heat until it shimmers when you swirl it. You can make sure it is hot enough by adding one caper to the oil. If it immediately starts to sizzle and pop, the oil is hot enough. Add the capers to the hot oil and fry for about 15 to 20 seconds or until they have popped open are golden brown and crispy.

Using a slotted spoon, remove the capers to a paper towel lined plate and allow to drain before using.

Rice and Beans Cooked in Coconut Milk with Fish

I was talking with a coworker the other day and somehow the conversation turned to food - chili peppers in particular, and how to best use them - we were both fans of controlled heat! She is from Jamaica and told me how she makes beans and rice. The key is cooking the rice in coconut milk. Ingredients included red beans, thyme, garlic, chili pepper and green onions. She also said she liked serving it with cod fish.

Lisa and I talked it over and decided to give it a try but with a few changes - using fresh field peas instead of red beans and tilapia instead of cod. It turned out great. I know you will love it.

For the rice and beans:

Ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 cup jasmine rice

1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1 cup water

1 can coconut milk  (14 oz)

1 cup shelled field peas

1 teaspoons dried thyme

1 whole fresh chili pepper

Juice of 1 lime

Directions

Heat the oil in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and sauté for 4-5 minutes, until they begin to brown on the edges.

Add the garlic and rice, stir well and cook for another 2-3 minutes, stirring often.

Add the grated ginger, salt, water and coconut milk and stir well. Add the field peas and sprinkle the thyme over everything. 

Add the whole chile; it will season the rice much like a bay leaf would. Bring to a simmer, then turn the heat to low and cover.

The rice should be done in about 15-20 minutes, depending on the type of rice you are using (some long grained rice takes longer to cook). Check after 15 minutes. 

Once done, remove from heat and cover for 10 minutes. To serve, fluff with a fork. Sprinkle with a little lime juice. Discard the pepper (or eat it, if you dare!)

For the Fish:

4 Tilapia filets
Juice of one lemon
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Green onions sliced in rings

Cut the tilapia filets in half lengthwise and remove the red bloodline. Drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Saute and brown in a pan. Give them a squeeze of lemon juice.

Serve on top of the rice and beans and add the green onions 

Pan Seared Sea Scallops - the Basics

You don't have to go out to a fine seafood restaurant for wonderful pan seared sea scallops. They are a real treat but a little tricky to get done just right at home. Here is an easily understandable technique that makes pan searing scallops very approachable. ENJOY! 

Pan-Seared Scallops with Arugula Pesto

Cooking scallops so they get a nice crusty sear requires a hot pan so that they sear rather than steam. But they also need to be dry when they hit the pan. Most scallops you buy at the store have been soaked in a liquid solution that keeps them looking white. So you'll need to drain and rinse them thoroughly, then pat them dry with paper towels before you season them. If you're lucky, your seafood purveyor carries "dry-packed" scallops, which haven't been treated with this liquid. If so, you don't need to rinse them, just season them with a little olive oil, sea salt and fresh ground pepper and they're ready to cook. Scallops have an gristle like muscle,sometimes called a "foot" on the side. It's a tough little tab of meat that you should pull off before cooking because it can be kind of chewy. Once your scallops are dry and seasoned, heat a nonstick sauté pan - I like a well seasoned cast iron skillet, over medium high heat, and add a tablespoon of unsalted butter and a little vegetable oil. The oil/butter mixture needs to be very hot before you add the scallops. 

I have included a recipe for a base of roasted eggplant for extra flavor. Yes!

Serves 4

Ingredients

12 large sea scallops
1 tablespoon olive oil 
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Sea salt 

Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Place the scallops on a plate, drizzle with just a little olive oil (so the salt and pepper will stick) and season with salt and pepper. 
Heat a 12" non-stick heavy frying pan over a medium high heat and cook the scallops for 2 minute each side. 
A 12" skillet is better for this many scallops, they need to be uncrowded so they don't steam.

Make ahead of time - 

Arugula pesto

Makes 1/3 cup

Ingredients

1 large bunch arugula (about 1 packed cup), trimmed and coarsely chopped 

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 

1 small garlic clove, minced 

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice 

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt 

Freshly ground pepper, to taste 

Directions 

Combine all of the ingredients together in a food processor fitted with a blade attachment and pulse until smooth. 

Eggplant spread

This silky dip gets its flavor from garlic and thyme, stuffed into slits in the eggplant before it's grilled. For a rustic look and feel, serve it on crispy grilled crostini.

Makes 3 cups 

Ingredients

3 medium eggplant (about 4 pounds), halved

4 cloves garlic, peeled and very thinly sliced lengthwise

12 1-inch pieces fresh thyme

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt

3 tablespoons minced fresh herbs (a combination of parsley and basil)

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Freshly ground pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
Arrange eggplant cut side up on a baking sheet. 
Make slits in eggplant and insert garlic and thyme. 
Drizzle with 2 tablespoons oil. 
Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt. 
Bake until tender, about 1 hour. 
Remove from oven; let stand until cool, about 20 minutes.

Scoop flesh into a food processor. 
Add herbs, 2 tablespoons oil, and lemon juice. 
Puree until smooth. 
Pulse the ingredients with 1 teaspoon salt and pepper to combine. 
This will keep refrigerated up to 3 days. 
Serve with crackers or crostini, or as in this case as a base for the seared scallops.