Linguine and Clams

I spend the past week on Manasota Key in Florida. My Aunt Nancy lives there, and for the past four summers I've gone to visit...to chill out by spending time on the beach and eating fresh seafood. 

The best dinners out this time were a lobster roll (a crispy bun with lots of lobster meat in a light mayonnaise dressing) from Lock 'N Key restaurant and caught-that-morning-in-the-gulf red snapper (seared and served with green bean almondine and fried plantains) from Beach Road Wine Bar & Bistro. 

On Thursday, I walked to the little fish market down the road and bought 50 fresh clams for dinner. I specifically wanted to make this recipe...and I'm so glad I did. I plan to make this again at home soon.

Linguine and Clams

recipe adapted from Bon Appetit

Spaghetti with Lobster

When we ate at Joe Beef in Montreal earlier this year, one of the best dishes we tried was the Spaghetti Homard-Lobster (pictured above). In their cookbook, the Joe Beef guys explain, "We take this name from an old Iron Chef episode when the host declared 'Battle Homard Lobster!' Yes, homard and lobster mean the same thing (like 'minestrone soup'). Among other things that don't make any sense: this is probably the most popular Joe Beef dish."

I'd been ogling the recipe before our trip and was excited to try it. However, by the time the TWO pasta dishes arrived--after FIVE other courses--we were so full that we could only take a few bites. Almost immediately, we talked about recreating the dish at home.

That finally happened last week.

I used 3 medium-sized lobster tails instead of a live lobster. I cooked the tails, pulled the meat out, then used the shells to make the sauce in the same water that I boiled them in. I think I used too much cream, though, as my dish was a bit too saucy. No worries, though, because it was still pretty delicious. And I kept the extra sauce to eat with more pasta later.

Spaghetti with Lobster

recipe from The Art of Living According to Joe Beef

Shrimp Enchiladas with Jalapeño Cream Sauce

Confession: I taught the most difficult cooking class I've ever had last night. It was a demo class featuring all shrimp recipes: smoked shrimp salad, shrimp and corn fritters, coconut shrimp bisque, shrimp enchiladas...with watermelon-blueberry margaritas, strawberry shortcake, and mascarpone sorbet.

Thanks to Ruth Sparrow for letting me this photo from Kitchen Conservatory's Instagram feed.

It was...ambitious. To say the least.

I used 10 pounds of shrimp total and cooked for 19 people. For the first time, I wasn't as prepared as I should have been, even thought I got there 2 hours before class started. I didn't make the recipes in the order I should have, and by the end of the night I still hadn't made the sorbet or the shortcakes. Luckily, I had a great class that didn't care if I improvised the dessert. I ended up serving Grand Marnier macerated strawberries with mascarpone whipped cream. Everyone was too full at that point for shortcakes anyway.

In fact, I had to improvise a couple other recipes in order to finish at a decent time (and still went 30 minutes over). I ended up leaving out some of the chopped vegetables (onions, carrots, etc.) in the rice and enchiladas. I kept the spirit of the recipes, but took a few shortcuts (like combining steps and eyeballing measurements) to save time. Plus, I used the opportunity to talk about adapting recipes and "winging it." It was a teachable moment, at least.

Everyone left happy and full, so that's all that matters. They said everything was delicious. I told them it was because it was all made with love, sweat, and panic. ;-)

The best dish of the night were the enchiladas...corn tortillas layered with spicy sautéed shrimp and spinach, sprinkled with cheese, and topped with a creamy sauce. 

Click through for my adapted recipe.

Smoked Salmon Mousse

Ahhhh, summertime. All school year, I look forward to summer break...the lazy mornings, breakfast on the porch, endless hours to read and knit...

Except this summer.

This summer...I decided to teach summer school. It sounded like such a good idea in February. In the 20 years I've been teaching, I've never taught summer school. I thought I'd give it a try. After all, I could use the extra money.

There have only been four days of summer classes so far, but I'm already regretting my decision. 

I had convinced myself it wouldn't be that bad. I'm teaching two sections of English from 8:00-1:00. I am focusing on Gothic literature, particularly Poe and Jeykll & Hyde. The session ends on July 1st. Piece of cake, right?

Wrong.

I absolutely did not want to get out of bed this morning to go to work when all of my teacher friends are enjoying their summer break. If I talk about teaching summer school again next year, punch me in the face...okay? 

I can make it until July 1st. Right? RIGHT? 19 days left...

I am, however, still trying to make the most of my summer. I'm taking a road trip to Chicago this weekend with my BFF to see The Cure. I'll be in Chicago again in mid-July for my first visit to Wrigley Field. I'm flying to Florida in early July to spend 4 days on the beach. And I'm planning to visit a few museums in St. Louis that I've never been to. 

Tonight, I'm seeing A Midsummer Night's Dream in Forest Park, my all-time favorite event in St. Louis. I haven't yet decided what to make for our picnic, but I'm considering this smoked salmon mousse, which I made for the Mother's Day brunch class I taught. It's easy, light, and delicious...and would go well with a bottle of wine and some Shakespeare.

Smoked Salmon Mousse

Makes about 25 appetizers

3 ounces smoked salmon

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon fresh minced dill

Black pepper
2 English cucumbers, sliced

• Place the smoked salmon, cream cheese, lemon, dill, and pepper in a blender or food processor; blend until smooth. 
• To serve, spoon the mousse into a pastry bag with a star tip and pipe onto cucumbers slices or crackers (or serve as a dip).

Maple-Dijon Salmon

I brought back some maple syrup from Montreal. Of course. While I plan to make waffles (mmmm....waffles) soon, I wanted to make something else to showcase the syrup.

I've baked a maple pie in the past. I considered a maple-glazed roasted pork tenderloin, sesame-maple tofu, maple donuts (mmmm....donuts), peanut butter-maple fudge, some cocktails, or another batch of maple granola. Since I have several cups of syrup, I'm sure a few of these will happen as well.

But, I decided on Nicoise salad with maple-dijon salmon for a simple Sunday supper.

Maple-Dijon Salmon

recipe slightly adapted from Joyful Healthy Eats

Blue Crab Boil

I've been wanting to cook crabs at home ever since I went to Florida in April 2014. I was so excited to eat at a crab shack during that trip, but we drove 45 minutes just to discover that they hadn't caught any crabs that day.

No worries, I thought...I'll buy some live blue crabs at Seafood City when I get home and have my own boil. Sadly, if the Florida fishermen aren't catching any crabs then there will be none in St. Louis either.

Cut to earlier this year: My friend Theresa and I decided we were going to have a crab boil one spring afternoon...but there were only two, pathetic, disabled crustaceans left in the bin. We ended up having dinner at Peacemaker Lobster & Crab Co. instead.

THEN...yesterday, I get this text from Theresa:

But wait. "We could totally do a boil today," I replied. And so, Theresa showed up with 5 pounds of blue crabs, some tiger shrimp, and red potatoes. I supplied the giant stock pot, boil seasoning, lemons, andouille sausage, and beer.

One thing about crabs that you buy at an Asian market....they don't come with rubber bands on their claws. And these were feisty little fellows:

It was hard to pick them up...they kept striking out at my tongs, kept grabbing ahold of the tongs, the bag, each other. I ended up getting out the long BBQ tongs to avoid injury.

(Yes, I talk to my food. Yes, I cackle-laugh. And, yes, I said "sorry" to each one.)

Shrimp Shumai

I've been wanting to make dim sum at home for a while now. I've made steamed pork buns and potstickers before, but I wanted to try my hand at other kinds of steamed dumplings. So, last night, Nick and his daughter Maggie came over to prepare dinner with me. 

Maggie was in charge of making sesame chicken potstickers, and she did a fabulous job! She also made a spicy peanut dipping sauce (recipe at the end of this post) to go with them.

I was in charge of the shrimp shumai, a recipe that I wanted to test so that I can use it in an upcoming cooking class. 

I was very happy with both of these recipes, and I will definitely make them again. They were much easier and not as tedious as I'd expected. 

Today, I'm using the leftover chicken filling (it makes way more than 20!) to make meatballs that I'll eat with rice and veggies. 

Shrimp Shumai


adapted from Mark Bittman

Salt Cod Fritters with Spicy Cilantro Sauce

Salt cod is cod fish that has been preserved by drying and salting. Before it can be used, salt cod must be either soaked in cold water for a few days, changing the water two to three times a day, or boiled to rehydrate and remove some of the salt.

It is most commonly used in brandade, a French gratin of mashed potatoes mixed with salt cod, garlic, and olive oil (which is smeared on bread and is heavenly); with ackee fruit in the national dish of Jamaica; in New England fish cakes; in a casserole with potatoes & onions; or battered & fried (as I did).

So, why use dried and salted fish when you could use fresh fillets? NPR compares salt cod to prosciutto, asking "Why eat prosciutto [...] when you could have fresh ham?"

This is not a gratuitous comparison. As Harold McGee writes in his encyclopedic work of food science, On Food and Cooking: 

The best of these [salted fish] are the piscatory equivalent of salt-cured hams. 

In both, salt buys time for transformation: it preserves them long and gently enough for enzymes of both fish and harmless salt-tolerant bacteria to break down flavorless proteins and fats into savory fragments, which then react further to create flavors of great complexity.

I made these fritters in a Girls' Night Out cooking class that I taught on Friday. Having never seen, used, or eaten salt cod before, most of the women in class were skeptical. However, this recipe was a hit!

Salt Cod Fritters

Beer-Steamed Mussels with Chorizo

I spent last week on the beach in Englewood, Florida, visiting my Aunt Nancy. My plan was to spend some time near the water, eat a bunch of seafood, and RELAX. Mission accomplished.

Corey and I explored the tiny island of Manasota Key, eating and drinking at a few local beach bars. We ate lobster rolls, steamed clams & shrimp, conch fritters, fried lobster bites, and grilled grouper. For a couple dinners, we made freshly-caught mackerel (that I prepared blackened & sautéed) & stone crab claws at Nancy's house.

On Thursday, drove about an hour to Peace River Seafood & Crab Shack in Punta Gorda to eat blue crabs, but they didn't have any that day. I had been looking forward to that meal for a month and was so disappointed. We ordered other seafoods for lunch, and it was still tasty.

But since I had blue crab on the brain, I decided to buy some at Seafood City in St. Louis (the only place in town that usually has live crabs) and cook them today. Alas, there was no blue crabs to be found there either.

I am determined to hunt down the elusive blue crab very soon and create an authentic crab boil in my own kitchen. For now, though, here's one of my favorite seafood recipes to make at home.

Beer-Steamed Mussels with Chorizo

Lobster Rolls

When my friend Theresa came over last month to cook Coq au Riesling with me, we decided to make New England lobster rolls next time. I'd never eaten a real lobster roll, but we agreed that we had to make everything from scratch for it to be authentic--including cooking live lobsters, making mayonnaise for the salad, and baking fresh buns.

Lobster rolls are traditionally served on flat-sided buns that are buttered and toasted. According to the Boston Globe, "Variously called top-sliced, top-loading, or frankfurter roll, the style was developed sometime in the mid- to late ’40s, explains Michael Cornelis, vice president of American Pan, which makes baking pans for the industry. Howard Johnson’s approached J. J. Nissen bakery of Maine to develop a special bun for its fried clam strip sandwich. The restaurant chain wanted top sliced rolls that would stand upright and be easier to prepare, serve, and eat. […] 'Before the New England-style roll,' says Cornelis, 'there was no way to mechanically slice a bun part of the way through. If you wanted a roll pre-sliced, commercial bakers would slice them all the way through. Well, that’s not as happy a hot dog bun.'"

I borrowed Ruth's hot dog bun pan and followed the recipe on the King Arthur Flour website. In the end, they turned out just fine--albeit a little dense. Next time, I would buy good-quality buns (hubba) instead.

The lobster salad, however, was damn delicious. 

So, what do you think Theresa and I should cook next month?

Maine Lobster Rolls

recipe slightly adapted from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home

Mussels with Lemon-Saffron Sauce

Photos by  Corey Woodruff

So far, 2014 is....fairly cold. We are bracing for some serious winter weather here in St. Louis, expecting up to 10 inches of snow and low temps of -9. The high on Monday is predicted to be zero. Brrrr.

I don't mind the arctic temperatures; I just hope my boiler can keep up. It's been fickle lately, refusing to ignite sometimes and letting the temperature in the house drop. A few weeks ago, the boiler was off all night and it was 40 degrees in the house when I woke up. Last night, it was off for several hours but kicked back on in the middle of the night...thankfully. I've had a repair guy out to check it, but it was--of course--working just fine when he was here & he couldn't find anything wrong with it. *sigh*

With such frigid forecasts, people tend to stock up on milk, eggs, and bread. Instead of making French toast, however, I made a big pot of steamed mussels with a piquant lemon-saffron sauce...perfect with crusty bread and a bottle of wine.

I highly suggest making this while you're snowed in tomorrow.

Thai Shrimp with Chili, Mint, Basil & Parsley

A few days ago, my friend Rachel posted this on her Facebook page:

Thinking of going to no-cooking for July. I'm tired of doing so many dishes every day and spending time over my stove! What are your favorite healthy, no-cooking (or little-cooking) recipes?

I then remembered that I have a cookbook called No-Cook Pasta Sauces, and I went in search of a new recipe to try and to share with Rachel. I adapted their Shrimp Sauce with Basil, Mint, and Cilantro...taking out the sugar, adding some fresh garlic & red pepper flakes, and substituting some parsley for the cilantro.

As with any recipe, switch out or leave out whatever you (or your kids) don't like. Try this with chicken instead of shrimp, add Sambal for a spicier kick, or substitute sesame oil for the sweet chili sauce.

Thai Shrimp with Chili, Mint, Basil & Parsley

Sole Meuniére

Famed chef and cookbook author Julia Child would have turned 100 on August 15. Child learned to cook at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris in her mid-thirties & worked for years on her tome Mastering the Art of French Cooking, the first book to bring classic French food into American kitchens.

Julia and her husband Paul arrived in France on November 3, 1948. Her first French meal, at Restaurant La Couronne in Rouen, featured sole meuniére, oysters on the half-shell, a green salad, her "first real baguette," fromage blanc, and a bottle of Pouilly-Fume.

In the opening pages of her memoir My Life in France, Julia writes:

Rouen is famous for its duck dishes, but after consulting the waiter Paul had decided to order sole meunière. It arrived whole: a large, flat Dover sole that was perfectly browned in a sputtering butter sauce with a sprinkling of chopped parsley on top. [...]

I closed my eyes and inhaled the rising perfume. Then I lifted a forkful of fish to my mouth, took a bite, and chewed slowly. The flesh of the sole was delicate, with a light but distinct taste of the ocean that blended marvelously with the browned butter. I chewed slowly and swallowed. It was a morsel of perfection.

[...] at La Couronne I experienced fish, and a dining experience, of a higher order than any I'd ever had before. [...] Our first lunch together in France had been absolute perfection. It was the most exciting meal of my life.

Julia later admits that the meal was "the standard by which [she] would now measure every eatery."

That lunch is my favorite scene in Julie & Julia; Meryl Streep as Julia Child is emotionally overwhelmed with the first bite of sole meunière, a dish that seems so delicious that she cannot express her satisfaction in words. It's a moving scene that nearly brings me to tears every time I watch it.

In "The Whole Fish Story" episode of The French Chef, Julia calls sole "one of the glories of French Fishery." Sadly, we can't get authentic Dover Sole in the United States. The fishes that are sold as "sole" here are all flounders, which is a similar fish.  Julia explained:

The great difference between the true sole and all other of the flat flounder type of fishes is that you can easily peel the skin from a sole but not flounder; They must be filleted first before removing the skin.

In honor of Julia's 100th birthday, I prepared this historic dish for myself tonight.

I carefully dredged the delicate, white filets & cooked them. I smiled as the hot browned butter made the lemon juice and parsley sizzle on the plate. I took the first bite while standing in the kitchen. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine what Julia was thinking when she took her first bite. I could instantly understand why she was so smitten. It was quite delicious. I savored each bite...the nuttiness from the browned butter, the slight tartness from the lemon juice, the freshness from the parsley, the sweetness from the fish. 

It was, dare I say it, a little bit magical...even in my midwestern kitchen on a late summer Sunday evening.

Sole Meuniére

recipe slightly adapted from The Culinary Institute of America

Serves 2

2 sole filets

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
pinch of fresly-ground black pepper

All-purpose flour, for dredging, as needed
2 ounces clarified butter

juice from 1 lemon

2 tablespoons chopped parsley 

1 ounces whole butter 

• Season the fish with salt & pepper; dredge in flour.
• Sauté the fish in a large sauté pan in the clarified butter over medium heat until lightly browned and cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes per side.
• Transfer the fish to a serving platter and sprinkle with the parsley & lemon juice.
• Wipe out the pan and add the butter. Heat the butter until lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes, then pour over the fish.

The CIA says, "Dover Sole is classically served whole and filleted tableside. Steamed potatoes are an excellent accompaniment." On her cooking show, Julia recommended serving the dish with parsley potatoes, cucumber salad, and Riesling. I ate mine with a bottle of white Bordeaux and steamed broccolini to soak up the remaining buttery, lemony sauce.

And what was left, I literally licked clean...standing with my empty plate over the sink. I got butter in my hair.

I think Julia would approve.

* * * * * * * * * *

Here are a few other of Julia Child's recipes that I've made:

Boeuf Bourguignon
Lobster Thermidor 
Oeufs Brouilles (scrambled eggs) 
Potage Parmentier (potato & leek soup)
Soupe a L'Oignon (Onion Soup)

Shrimp Butter

The second "found on Pinterest" recipe that I tried for our picnic in the park last week was an addicting mixture of sauteed shrimp, onion, lemon, cayenne, and butter...lots of butter...aptly named shrimp butter.

I don't really know what else to say about this dish...other than it's essentially SHRIMP FLAVORED BUTTER. And, it's REALLY GOOD spread on toasted bread or crackers & paired with a glass of tart white wine.

And, well, to be honest...I also smeared some on hot corn-on-the-cob and it was PRETTY DELICIOUS.

YES, I'M SCREAMING AT YOU.

SHRIMP! BUTTER!

recipe from Epicurious

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 lb medium shrimp in shell (31 to 35 per lb), peeled and deveined
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup minced onion
2 1/2 teaspoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper *

• Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then sauté shrimp with salt and black pepper, stirring, until just cooked through, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Transfer shrimp with a slotted spoon to a food processor, reserving skillet (do not clean).
• Cook onion in 1 tablespoon butter in skillet over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape onions into processor and cool mixture to room temperature, about 15 minutes. 
• Add lemon juice, cayenne, and remaining 9 tablespoons butter and pulse until shrimp are finely chopped. 
• Pack shrimp butter into a 2-cup ramekin or serving bowl and chill, its surface covered with plastic wrap, at least 6 hours (to allow flavors to develop). 
• Bring to room temperature 45 minutes before serving. (Kelly's Note: I assumed this step was to let the mixture soften enough to spread, but I discovered that it doesn't get hard like chilled butter does. So, I think this step is optional.)

* I thought it could stand a little more heat, so I sprinkled the top with more cayenne.

Citrus-Cured Salmon

Lately, I've had a serious craving for raw or smoked salmon. And, NO, I'm not pregnant. For weeks, though, I've wanted a toasted bagel with a thick schmear of cream cheese and thin slices of fresh salmon dotted with salty capers. I finally satisfied my craving over spring break last week by curing some salmon for a simple Easter brunch.

I've tried curing a couple things in the past (like wild duck breasts) with no success. It was always too salty in the end. THIS, however, turned out perfectly. It's so easy; you just have to plan ahead.

Any leftovers are a delicious addition to scrambled eggs or pasta. Yum.

Citrus-Cured Salmon

from Michael Ruhlman

1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1 tablespoon grated grapefruit zest
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon lime zest
One 2- to 3-pound/1- to 1.5-kilogram skin-on salmon fillet, pin bones removed and very thin pieces of flesh trimmed

• In a small bowl, combine the salt and sugar and stir to distribute the sugar throughout the salt. In another small bowl, combine the citrus zests.
• On a work surface, lay a sheet of aluminum foil large enough to extend beyond the length of the salmon. Spread a third of the salt mixture in the center of the foil to serve as a bed for the salmon. Place the salmon skin-side down on the salt. Distribute the citrus zest evenly across the salmon. Pour the remaining salt mixture over the salmon. It should be covered. Fold the foil up to contain the salt. Place another sheet of foil over the salmon and crimp the sheets together firmly. The idea is to have a tight package in which the salt mixture is in contact with all surfaces of the salmon.
• Set the foil package on a baking sheet/tray. Set a pan or dish on top of the salmon and weight it down with a brick or a few cans. This will help press the water out of the salmon as it cures. Refrigerate the salmon for 24 hours.
• Unwrap the salmon and remove it from the cure, discarding the foil and the cure. Rinse the salmon and pat dry with paper towels. To remove the skin, place the salmon skin-side down on a cutting board. Holding a sharp, thin, flexible knife at about a 30-degree angle, cut between the flesh and the skin. When you can get a grip on the skin, pull it back and forth against the knife to separate it from the flesh. Set the salmon on a rack or on paper towels on a tray and refrigerate for 8 to 24 hours, to allow the salt concentration to equalize and to dry the salmon further. Wrap the salmon in parchment/baking paper and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

NOTE: I used a 2-pound salmon fillet. I let the salmon cure for about 20 hours, then let it chill after I washed off the salt for only about 3 hours. The texture and salt concentration was fine.

Spaghetti with Creamy Clam Sauce

You may have noticed that I have this thing for comfort foods, particularly nostalgic comfort foods. Sometimes, I crave the foods from my childhood...and not necessarily always Grandma Green's homemade noodles or Grandma Martin's cabbage rolls.

Sometimes, I crave the foods that I haven't eaten in 25 years and probably wouldn't even like today...like the Chef Boyardee pizzas made from that kit-in-a-box. My dad used to make those for us all the time, and I loved them....the little pepperonis, the packet of powdered cheese. I bought a pizza kit for dinner once when I was in college. I was so excited because I'd remembered those pizzas being so yummy. My roommates, on the other hand, were very skeptical. The pizza turned out bland and chewy, and I was so disappointed. (Though, we did end up eating all that pizza after a night out at the bars....and it tasted pretty good then!)

My friend Stephanie, whose father also used to make those pizzas for her, recently wrote about her memories of that particularly nostalgic food.  I'm a little afraid to revisit those foods I loved as a kid, for fear that they won't be good and it will destroy my whole idea of good and evil, right and wrong...

Ok, maybe I'm being a little over-dramatic. I just don't want my good memories to be clouded by my current food-snob self.

Another nostalgic food for me is the spaghetti from The Old Spaghetti Factory. It was my favorite place to eat when I was growing up (well, there and Red Lobster). I would order the Pot Pourri, a 4-sauce sampler with mizithra cheese & browned butter, a rich meat sauce, a creamy white clam, and a marinara sauce. The mizithra cheese and clam sauces were my favorite. (I unsuccessfully tried to recreate the mizithra dish several years ago.) I haven't eaten at a Spaghetti Factory in nearly 16 years, and I'm sure I'd be disappointed in the food if I went today.

Nevertheless, I've been wanting to make white clam sauce at home for a while. I've never had clam sauce except at OSF...and I'm sure that today I'd love pasta with whole clams in a garlic, winey sauce. But, I'm saving that for a more special meal.

Instead, I was craving that creamy sauce I had when I was a kid, so I picked up a can of whole cherrystone clams at Trader Joe's and decided to try to recreate (and update) the dish at home. I found several sources online that touted the "original" Spaghetti Factory recipe. I used that as my base and tweaked the seasonings & method just a little.

The result? PRETTY GOOD. I would make this again (though, I would probably use fresh clams from Bob's Seafood in St. Louis). Since I used canned clams, it was...well...pretty clammy tasting. I balanced that with some lemon, pepper, and fresh parsley.  The key here is to mix the clams in at the very end, with enough time left to just heat them up, since they are already cooked...any more time on the heat will result in over-cooked, rubbery clams.

Spaghetti with Creamy Clam Sauce

Stovetop Shrimp Boil

I made a small, simple dinner for Christmas Eve.
Behold:

 To begin, I boiled some tiny red potatoes in water seasoned with a Zatarain's Crawfish, Shrimp & Crab Boil packet. Beware: it's strong. It made me cough. A lot.

After the water came to a boil, I added chopped andouille sausage & corn on the cob.
 

After a few minutes, when the potatoes were tender & the corn was cooked, I added skin-on shrimp, turned off the heat & covered the pot for about 5 minutes, until the shrimp were cooked through.

I scooped everything into a serving dish & set it on the table with some lemon-garlic butter for dipping & big glasses of red wine.

It was a perfectly indulgent yet simply-prepared holiday meal.

Angry Lobster

Let's face it: Valentine's Day sucks...and it doesn't matter if you're in a relationship or not. While I like getting gifts as much as anyone, I don't like the pressure of having to do something romantic for V-Day. Going out to eat is out of the question for us, as it's usually so crazy-crowded at the restaurants. It just feels like such a forced holiday.

So, this year, I decided to have an Anti-Valentine's dinner party for a few friends. For decorations, I set a vase with three long-stemmed red roses in the middle of the dining room table. Then, I cut the blooms off and left them laying on the table. I also set out a heart-shaped box of chocolates for my guests...after I'd taken a bite out of each one, of course. I called my appetizer course--a chunk of bleu cheese--"Love Stinks." I made Red Hots infused vodka as an aperitif.

I asked my guests to bring an appropriately unromantic dish to share...something bitter, sour, spicy, or otherwise un-love-ly.

Tomato Braised Calamari

When it comes to cooking squid, I'd always heard that you cook it for either 1 minute or 1 hour. Anything in between makes the meat rubbery as hell....and yes, that's a technical culinary term. I often wonder if restaurants have ever heard this rule, because the calamari I order out is often way too chewy. I guess that's why I've always been hesitant to try making any kind of squid at home; it seemed nearly impossible to perfect.

Then again, I'd also heard that if you braise squid for an hour or so that it becomes meltingly tender. I've wanted to try that for years & finally got around to it over the holidays. I bought a box of whole, frozen squid from Bob's Seafood in St. Louis, and Jerad & I learned how to clean the squid by watching YouTube videos.

Jerad did all the cleaning because I was kind of grossed out.

We braised the meat in a smoky & spicy tomato sauce, which we ate with lots of crusty French bread for dipping. This, with a couple bottles of red wine, was our Christmas dinner.

I can see also making this to serve over pasta as well. So good! And since we have some squid left in the freezer, I'm going to try braising it in a white wine & garlic butter sauce.

Tomato Braised Calamari

adapted from Vanilla Basil

Project Food Blog: Luxury Dinner Party (Challenge #3)

ABOUT: 

Project Food Blog is the first-ever interactive competition where thousands of Foodbuzz Featured Publishers are competing in a series of culinary blogging challenges for the chance to advance & a shot at the ultimate prize: $10,000 & a special feature on Foodbuzz.com for one year.

Challenge Prompt: Celebrate! Whether you're an experienced host or an entertaining newbie, get creative & host a luxurious dinner party where your guests will discover new tastes & exotic flavors. Share your hosting secrets with readers, like how to cook for a crowd, plan a menu, or involve guests in the prep.

A REASON TO CELEBRATE:

This challenge couldn't have come at a better time, because yesterday was my 37th birthday. Age has never bothered me before, but for some reason 37 bothers me. I woke up yesterday with terrible back pain; I just felt old. However, as far as birthday celebrations go, it was a pretty good one...I had a multi-course dinner at Araka with my girlfriends on Wednesday, met a couple other friends at Monarch for dinner & drinks on Thursday, saw Anthony Bourdain speak on Friday, & threw a Spanish tapas tasting party last night.