"Party Dips!" - Andy Husbands's Hot Crabmeat Dip - Holiday Party Food!

Date I made this recipe:  December 4, 2016 – Holiday Party Food!

Party Dips! – 50 zippy, zesty, spicy, savory, tasty, tempting dips by Sally Sampson

Published by The Harvard Common Press

ISBN: 978-1-55832-278-3; © 2004

Purchased at Bloomington Crime Prevention Association (BCPA) annual sale

Recipe:  Andy Husbands's Hot Crabmeat Dip – p. 72

My guy's name is Andy.  He is my husband.  This recipe momentarily confused me – Andy Husbands is a chef and restaurateur who contributed this recipe - but then I got over it and made this dish anyway.  My Husband Andy loved it so there you go.

Our guests also enjoyed this delicious dip and I also think that this was the first one to be cleaned out from all the party selections we made.  But that stands to reason, right, because people see "crab" and they fall on it like it was a long-lost relative who hasn't been seen in these parts for the past 20 years.  And when you think about where Minnesota is in relation to an ocean (and yes, Lake Superior is huge but it doesn't count), then this makes sense.

Now maybe I'm just getting older and more jaded when it comes to selecting party fare, but aside from this crabmeat dip, none of the other recipes in this cookbook did much for me.  And it wasn't that they didn't sound tasty, it's just that they felt too standard:  onion dip, hummus, ranch dressing – yawn.  And this is not to say the other dips aren't potentially great, it just wasn't their year: "Sorry, 'Creamy Sesame Dip,' but you didn't make the final cut.  While we admired your flavor...."

So this year it was crab and only crab and we were done and that was a good thing because too many recipes later and we get "crabby" (pun intended) and who wants crabby party hosts?

The table of contents for this book is broken out by dip categories as follows:  "Party Dip Basics;" "Smooth Dips;" "Chunky Dips," and "Cheesy Dips."  Each recipe also comes with a "Divine Dippers" tip on what to serve these dips with, such as vegetables, or potatoes, or crackers. I appreciate that even if I usually have my own ideas about serving.  And the recipe photos, like the one on the cover, are lovely plus they are a great guide for recreating the same platters at home.  I tend to like cookbooks that include photos.  There don't have to be a ton of them, just enough to give me an idea of the author's/chef's take on their creations.

Before we leave the world of dips, I have to admit that every year, I put out some sort of veggie and dip tray, and every year, more often than not, I am not completely satisfied with the dip.  And I don't know why that is but it sort of annoys me.  And our guests seem to follow suit in that they will eat the veggies but don't demolish the dips.  And I've tried all kinds of dip. 

This year, I made a  veggie dip from a different source and it fell flat on its face.  Perhaps then, I should have considered the Ranch Dip (p. 23) featured in this cookbook?  Perhaps.

As to this crabmeat dip, it can be served hot or cold but I opted for hot.  I think guests like hot dips as they are not usually something they make at home.  You can make the mixture up in advance and refrigerate, adding the crabmeat just prior to baking. That said, the difficulty of serving hot dips at a party is keeping them hot.  I believe I put this in the microwave a couple of times during our four-hour party to reheat and you can do the same but do watch your time carefully so that your dip won't dry out.

I purchased my can of crabmeat at Coastal Seafoods, a local fishmonger, just before Thanksgiving (it needs to be refrigerated anyway), and ran into a friend who was there buying mussels for her portion of a Thanksgiving dinner to be spent with friends.  "Party food," I said, as I held up my purchase for her inspection.  "Are you making the almond bon-bons?"  (Her favorite item at our party.)  "We are!"  "Can't wait!"

So she came and enjoyed the almond bon-bons and the crabmeat dip (at least I think she enjoyed it—others sure did) and all was well with my world and my Husband(s), Andy!

Andy Husbands's Hot Crabmeat Dip – makes 2 cups

 1 teaspoon olive oil

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

½ cup mayonnaise

1 celery stalk, finely diced

1 small shallot, finely diced

1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, to your taste

1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

2 teaspoons peeled and grated fresh horseradish

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 cup fresh crabmeat, picked over for shells and cartilage

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Ann's Notes:  I had a hell of a time – who knew – finding a fresh horseradish root that wasn't as long as a baseball bat.  And I still have a chunk of it left over.  And be warned that grating it is like grating an onion, i.e. you'll start crying.  Also, make your life easier and just buy crabmeat that has already been picked over for shells and cartilage.  It costs a bit more but saves a lot of time and energy and possibly swearing.

Preheat the oven to 450F.

Place a small skillet over medium-high heat and, when it is hot, add the oil. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until golden, about 2 minutes.  Place the garlic in a medium-size mixing bowl, add the mayonnaise, celery, shallot, lemon juice, parsley, horseradish, mustard, thyme, and red pepper flakes, and mix well.  Using a spatula, lightly fold in the crabmeat.  Season with salt and pepper.

Transfer to a small casserole and bake until light brown, 10 to 15 minutes.  Serve immediately.

Olympic Food Part 3 - "The Food of Portugal" - Pork with Clams Alentejo-Style (practically a national dish!)

Date I made this recipe:  August 21, 2016 – closing day of the Rio Olympics

The Food of Portugal by Jean Anderson

Published by:  William Morrow and Company, Inc.

© 1986

Purchased at Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, NYC

Recipe:  Pork with Clams Alentejo-Style (Porco a Alentejana)

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I sense a lot of nose-wrinkling going on out there after reading what's in this recipe.  Pork and...what?  Clams?

Yes, clams.  And I hear you:  when Andy and I were in Portugal and first saw this dish on the menu, we had the same reaction.  But we forged ahead into the unknown and this dish remains one of the best things we've ever eaten.  And that's saying a lot as we've traveled through 10 European countries and most of the United States.

So let me fast forward to the end result here and tell you that the dish I made at home was everything we remembered and more.  It is just so delicious, it's scary.  And since Portuguese sailors "founded" Brazil and Brazilians speak Portuguese instead of Spanish, I thought it fitting to end my Olympic cooking trials with a Portuguese dish.  And this is because...

...  in 1993, Andy and I went to Spain and Portugal for vacation.  We drove into Portugal after a couple of sleepless nights in Spain (when Spaniards tell you that they party into the night, believe them) and just fell in love with the country, especially Lisbon, mostly because we caught up on sleep.  (Our itinerary was a few days in Spain, starting at Madrid, then into Portugal, then back into Spain (no sleep) and then after a refreshing and rejuvenating trip to Gibraltar and the Rock of, back through the south of Spain to Madrid.)

While in Portugal, we sampled delicious tapas (far cheaper than Spain) and then the pork and clams and fell so in love with this dish that we ordered it any time we could.  The Portuguese dish came with lots of clams but I erred on the side of fewer clams for my dish since clams do not reheat well.  I should not have worried as we ate the entire dish in one sitting; it helped that I made half the recipe.

I first saw this cookbook at my public library, checked it out so I could see if it contained my pork and clams recipe – it did -  and then put it on my list of books to buy.  When I found it at one of my favorite bookstores, Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks in NYC, I felt like I struck gold. 

Now I knew going in that I was going to make the pork and clams and only the pork and clams from this cookbook but you are welcome to try other recipes in this book if you want (many include pork or other seafood).  This recipe though, is the real deal and   although I don't think it's the national dish of Portugal, it comes close.

You should know though, that in order for this dish to work, you must marinate it overnight in a "Massa de Pimentão" (red pepper sauce) or you can substitute  paste of garlic, salt, paprika and olive oil.  Since I made half the recipe, the latter substitute paste made sense (but even then, halve those ingredients).  I suspect though, that the dishes we had in Portugal were made with the "Massa de Pimentão," which requires you to seed and then cut into strips 8 sweet red peppers, let them sit at room temperature for 12 hours and then roast for 2 – 2 ½ hours.  Whichever one you choose, the flavors are sensational and the pork is so tender it's ridiculous. 

The biggest "hazard" with this dish was adjusting the cooking times.  The recipe said you need 20 minutes to steam the onions and garlic but given that I made half the recipe, I should have checked back in 10 as I nearly incinerated my mixture (I saved it just in time).  I cooked the pork as directed for 1 ½ hours but think I could have cut that in half, and the clams did not need the 30 minutes as directed although no harm befell the clams for having steamed that long.  My advice for making half the recipe is to check as you go.

So thus endeth the Olympic games and our voyeuristic viewing of all Olympic events, big and small (or at least the ones NBC showed us) and as always, that made us sad.  I thought Rio's Olympic torch design was the coolest thing ever (I want a mini one for my house) and that Rio did a great job as host.  I also loved the daily shots of Copacabana Beach ("Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl..." from Copacabana by Barry Manilow) and who knows,  Andy and I might go there some day.  If we don't, then Portugal is an acceptable silver-medal "winner." 

The only challenge, but we have plenty of time to prepare for a Brazilian visit, is that we'd have to work on the language. Speaking Portuguese is not for the faint of heart.  It's a combination of Spanish and French that sounds Russian—or at least it did to our ear.  If we spoke Spanish or French or interchanged words while in Portugal, we were usually understood, but trying to understand what they said back to us was another story.  Oh well!  ("Ah Bem!").  We shall try our best to be somewhat conversant whether in Portugal or Brazil.  Of course, the next summer games are in Tokyo so perhaps it's time to practice our Japanese? Yes? ("Hai")

And now, one of the best things I've ever eaten:

Pork with Clams Alentejo-Style – makes 6 servings – Ann's Note:  requires 24-48 hours of prep time

2 ½ pounds boneless pork loin, cut into 1-inch cubes

2 tablespoons Massa de Pimentão (page 90 – also below) or, if you prefer, a paste made of 1 peeled and crushed garlic clove, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1 tablespoon paprika (preferably the Hungarian sweet rose paprika), and 1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup dry white wine (Ann's Note:  a half recipe required only ½ cup but that is too little and your mixture will dry out and burn.  I just kept adding until I felt I had enough liquid to steam the clams.  Couldn't hurt, might help!)

2 large bay leaves, crumbled

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons lard (hog lard, not vegetable shortening)

1 large yellow onion, peeled and coarsely chopped

1 large garlic clove, peeled and minced

2 tablespoons littleneck clams in the shell, scrubbed well and purged of grit. (To do this, cover the clams with cold water, add 1 tablespoon cornmeal, let stand at room temperature 20 to 30 minutes, then drain well.)

¼ teaspoon salt (about)

¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper (about)

If using the massa substitute: (Ann's Note:  if you make half the recipe, make half of this mixture)

1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon olive oil

If using the Massa de Pimentão: (recipe to follow)

8 medium sweet red peppers

2 tablespoons kosher or coarse salt

2 large garlic cloves, peeled and minced

1/3 cup olive oil

Ann's Note:  This recipe requires you to marinate the pork overnight in either the garlic/salt/paprika and oil mixture OR the Massa De Pimentão.  The Massa is not hard to make but it does require 12 hours of prep time at minimum and then 2 hours of cooking time.  And this is why I used the shortcut!  But if you want an authentic marinade and have the time, then follow the Massa de Pimentão recipe below (yields 1 ¼ cups).

Wash, core, seed, and cut lengthwise into strips about 1-inch wide your 8 medium peppers.  Arrange a layer of pepper strips in the bottom of a shallow bowl no more than 9 inches in diameter; sprinkle with ¾ teaspoon of the salt; now add 7 more layers of pepper strips, sprinkling each with ¾ teaspoon salt.  Let stand uncovered at room temperature for at least 12 hours.  Drain off excess liquid.

Turn on the oven to Warm (250-275).  Place the bowl of peppers, still uncovered, in the oven and roast 2 to 2 ½ hours, stirring occasionally, until all the juices have been absorbed.  Remove the peppers from the oven and cool to room temperature.  Now peel the skin from each pepper strip and discard. 

Place the garlic and pepper strips in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal chopping blade or in an electric blender cup and add about half the oil; buzz nonstop about 30 seconds, scrape down the work bowl sides, and buzz 30 seconds longer.  Now with the motor running, drizzle enough of the remaining oil to make a paste slightly softer than whipped butter.  Churn 60 seconds nonstop until absolutely smooth.  [Author's] Note:  If you have neither food processor nor blender, you'll have to grind the garlic and peppers to paste as the Portuguese women do – with a mortar and pestle.  You must then add the olive oil very slowly, drop by drop at first, beating hard to incorporate.

Transfer the red pepper paste to a small jar with a tight-fitting lid and store in the refrigerator.  Dip into the paste as needed, letting whatever you remove from the jar come to room temperature before using.

To make the pork and clams:

Rub the pieces of pork well all over with the Massa de Pimentão and place in a large, shallow nonmetallic bowl; add the wine and bay leaves, cover, and marinate about 24 hours, turning the pork occasionally in the wine.

Next day, heat the olive oil and lard in a large heavy kettle over high heat until ripples appear on the kettle bottom—the fat should almost smoke.  Life the pork from the marinade (save the marinade to add to the kettle later) and brown in the three batches, transferring pieces to a large heat-proof bowl as they brown.  When all the pork is brown, dump the onion and garlic into the kettle, lower the heat to moderate, and stir-fry 3 to 4 minutes until limp and golden.  Turn the heat to low, cover the kettle, and steam the onion and garlic 20 minutes.  Ann's Note:  I almost incinerated my mixture so 20 minutes was too long for me.  I advise checking it after 10 minutes to see you fare, especially if you halve the recipe like I did.

Blend in the tomato paste and reserved wine marinade, return the pork to the kettle, adjust the heat so that the wine mixture barely bubbles, then cover and cook 1 ½ hours until the pork is fork-tender.  Ann's Note:  you should plan to add more wine as you go as what is leftover from the marinade is not enough.  Also, check after 45 minutes to see how the meat is doing.  If it's done, continue with the next steps.

Now bring the kettle liquid to a gentle boil, lay the clams on top of the pork, distributing them as evenly as possible, re-cover, and cook about 30 minutes – just until the clams open, spilling their juices.  Ann's Note:  check back after 15.

Ann's Note:  the author advises serving this with crusty bread, but in Portugal, this was always served with delicious steak fries.

"Catch 'em and Cook 'em" by Bunny Day - Crabs Creole

Date I made this recipe:  June 26, 2016 – spotlighting the game show, To Tell  The Truth

Catch 'em and Cook 'em by Bunny Day

Gramercy Publishing Company

© 1961

Purchased at Arc's Value Village Thrift Stores

Recipe:  Crabs Creole – p. 46

In my May 8^th blog, I cooked from actress and TV personality Arlene Francis' book, No Time For Cooking.  Arlene was a panelist on the (vintage) TV show, What's My Line, and in that blog, I did a good deal of "reporting" about that show and its sister shows, To Tell the Truth and I've Got a Secret. 

I also reported that cookbook author, Bunny Day, appeared on To Tell the Truth, prompting me to screech "Bunny Day? My Bunny Day?"  That very name – Bunny – is what prompted me to purchase two of her cookbooks in the first place and there she was, on TV and everything!  When I was growing up, I knew or knew of three people with the name or nickname, Bunny, and it just makes me giggle – still - because it's so cute (and so were they).

So I made a mental note to cook from her book sometime this summer and was actually gearing up to do so when I watched yet another episode of To Tell The Truth, and on that episode, three people claimed to be cookbook author, Eva Jean Schulz, who wrote the book, Shrimply Delicious!  So first I had Bunny talking about fishing (which I gather was an expertise of hers) and her cookbook (Catch 'em and Cook 'em) and now Eva was talking about her shrimp expertise and her cookbook and well, something was "fishy" here, right?  (Pun intended.)

Alas, I already cooked from Shrimply Delicious! (Collectible Cooking – December 15, 2007 – Shrimp and Mango Chutney Canapés that were delicious) as well as from Bunny Day's other cookbook, Crazy-Quilt Cookery (Collectible Cooking - September 24, 2014 - Beef Casserole/Meatloaf), and so that left me with one more from these game show participants:  Bunny Day's Catch 'em and Cook 'em.

But first, one more tidbit that just amused me to no end about Schulz's book, Shrimply Delicious! On the To Tell The Truth celebrity panel that night was the always elegant and witty, Kitty Carlisle who, before beginning her questioning of the panelists, said (dramatically, of course) "Well there's absolutely nothing I love more than shrimp!"   I do so love her.  Plus, she was wearing this totally kick-ass leopard skin stole (with pearls) and yes, I know, PETA will likely be all over me for that but let's remember folks, that back in the 60's, this was the biggest deal on the planet. 

At any rate, Kitty was all excited by the Shrimp Lady and she was all excited about Bunny Day and shrimp and seafood and you should be too! 

I must confess that when I first starting looked through this book for a recipe to make, I thought I might be overwhelmed with recipes for fish and I am not a fish fan.  But hooray, readers, the "Catch" in the title is misleading because the book is not about catching something with a fishing pole but rather "caught" as in with traps (crabs, lobster) or digging (oysters, scallops and mussels.)Except for the bouillabaisse recipe in the last chapter, there's not a mention of fish to be seen and to me, this was a good thing.  (And need I tell you that there is no way I am ever again gutting a fish?)

Had I grown up on the east coast like my father and his family, I might just have gone to a seafood store, gotten live crabs (or lobster or whatever) and just cooked them myself.  Alas reader, I did not grow up on the east coast (although I do visit a lot) and Lake Superior, my backyard, does not yield these incredible edibles so I chose the slacker route and went to Coastal Seafoods and bought a can of crab, already prepared.  As I often say, "Why do for yourself when you can pay others to do for you?"

Aside from the crab meat which pound for pound equaled a couple pounds of beef or a couple chicken breasts (depending where you shop), the rest of the ingredients were pretty inexpensive to buy and the entire thing was really easy to make.  My only complaint, and it is very minor, is that the dish was a little too sweet (i.e. sugary) for me.  The guy at Coastal Seafoods talked me into purchasing a can of sweeter crab meat and that, along with the teaspoon of sugar, and lack of other balancing savory spices, made for a more sweet than savory concoction.  Did we eat it anyway?  Well, of course we did.  But the next time around, I might add a bit of Old Bay or even a bay leaf to try to course correct the sweetness.

The recipe also calls for 4 tablespoons bacon fat and I tell you what, I was positively giddy to discover that Trader Joe's carried a one pound package of raw bacon ends and pieces (of mostly fat) which was PERFECT for this dish.  I used to buy and freeze bacon slices but that didn't work well because we never used them up in a timely manner, but this?  This I will use, especially if the recipe calls for only the fat and not the bacon itself.

So there you go.  "Bunny" and I had a lovely time in my kitchen making this dish and I think you will too.

Meanwhile, I am keeping an eagle eye on the guests on To Tell the Truth because you never know who will pop up. In fact, I was watching one episode (circa 1963) recently where three people claimed to be Australian-born folk singer, Shirley Abicair, who rocketed to stardom after appearing on the BBC.  And one of the panelists claiming to be her was actress Cecily Tyson.  (You should know that Shirley is Caucasian as was the other pretender but Cecily is not.  But this type of mixed panel happens quite often on "TTTT" to throw off the panel.  I've seen them mix men and women, for example, when the "real" person's name is something like Carol (f)/Carroll (m), or Jean (f)/Gene (m)("'Jean'"/Gene, the dancing machine..." from The Gong Show.)

At any rate, so I'm watching the show, right, and I kept thinking "I know that woman"   (Cicely Tyson) but could not come up with her name.  I remembered "Miss Jane Pittman," a character she played in a 1974 TV movie, and I correctly placed her as character Annalise Keaton's mother in the contemporary TV show, How to Get Away with Murder, but beyond that, I was stumped.  And then just as she was asked to give us her real name and what she really did, the light bulb came on and two seconds later she said " My name is Cicely Tyson and I am a student at "the New School" and I was born right here in New York City."  (By the by, the New School is a famous New York university, of which, the drama program tutored up and coming (and now famous actors, like Ms.  Tyson) in the craft. 

So get out there and Catch 'em and Cook 'em folks (ha—as if), and do some cooking and if you have time, perhaps a little walking down memory lane by viewing some vintage and current TV shows or movies.

Crabs Creole – serves 4

2 cups crab meat

1 large onion, chopped

1 crushed clove garlic

½ cup chopped green pepper

4 tablespoons bacon fat

1 16-ounce can tomatoes

½ cup chopped celery

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Dash Tabasco sauce

½ teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

Sauté the onion, garlic, and green pepper in bacon fat until tender.  (Ann's Note: I threw in the celery too because I wanted mine soft.) Add everything else and simmer for 20 minutes.  Serve on rice.

"Cookin' Up a Storm" & "Emeril's New New Orleans Cooking" - Cheese Coins (crackers) and Creole Corn and Crab Bisque - Hurricane Katrina Anniversary

Date I made these recipes:  August 29, 2015 – Hurricane Katrina's 10 year anniversary

Cookin' Up A Storm – The Life and Recipes of Annie Johnson – Updated 2^nd Edition by Jane Lee Rankin

Published by:  Grace Publishers

ISBN:  0-9657387-2-8

Recipe:  Cheese Coins – p. 70

Emeril's New New Orleans Cooking by Emeril LaGasse & Jessie Tirsch

Published by:  William Morrow and Company, Inc.

ISBN: 0-688-11284-6  

Purchased at Hopkins Library Used Book Sale

Recipe:  Creole Corn and Crab Bisque – p. 59

Today – August 29 – marks Hurricane Katrina's 10^th anniversary when a good portion of New Orleans as well as other places along the Gulf Coast went underwater after a massive storm surge.  Some of those images are forever engrained in my brain and likely yours as well.  I cannot imagine the horror but am cheered that New Orleans is slowly rebuilding – not fast enough - but it's getting there.

Now the title of Cookin' Up a Storm is somewhat misleading as it has nothing to do with Katrina and nothing to do with New Orleans but I liked the title so much that I had to include it in this post.  This cookbook is subtitled "The Life and Recipes of Annie Johnson," domestic help to the Rankin household of Louisville, KY.  As with many southern African-American women, Annie Johnson was a fabulous cook and her recipes here are all basic, delicious, (mostly) southern specialties like the cheese coins I made. 

I love books like this that are half memoir, half cooking and could have easily cooked up my own storm by making all the recipes in this book.  I chose Cheese Coins because they are a southern specialty (I hardly know a southern cookbook that doesn't contain this recipe or one for cheese straws) and I was intrigued by the use of the puffed rice cereal – not to be confused with Rice Krispies.  I know this because I Googled "puffed rice cereal" and saw that it was as I remembered i.e. a lot bigger than Rice Krispies and made by Quaker Oats.  But alas, folks, finding this cereal was like looking for the unicorn.  Four stores later (I am not kidding), we found what we wanted at Lunds & Byerlys.  This is sad because I'm thinking that today's preferences for sugary cereals is why the basics are disappearing off the shelf.  So thank you, L&B!

And wouldn't you know, we both loved these very easy cheese coins and are placing the recipe into our "consideration" pile for our annual holiday party, especially since we know now where to find the rice cereal.  It's the littlest things that please us.

At the same time I was cooking up a storm with the cheese coins,  I started Emeril's bisque recipe.  Our elusive ingredient for this recipe was the seafood broth.  I knew, with certainty, that Swanson made this broth and yet our grocery store no longer carried it so that was another thing to add to the list of treasure-hunt items.  We found that, and the puffed rice cereal at Lunds & Byerlys. Coastal Seafoods, where I stopped to inquire about crabmeat, also sold homemade fish broth but it was more expensive and I would have had to freeze it.  Coastal Seafoods also had lump crab (frozen) but it was more than what I needed and very expensive so I ultimately went with canned crabmeat. All was not lost at Coastal though as they carried the small bottle of liquid shrimp and crab boil I needed so I bought that. 

After rounding up all the usual ingredients, I set to work and the first order of business was to make a proper roux for the bisque.  Epic fail.  While making the first one, I spooned too much flour into the butter and it turned into pie dough.  Dammit!  So I tried again and it was better but still not like the pictures.  This Yankee doesn't get much practice making a roux so that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  Roux is a thickener made with flour and butter (fat) and it thickened my bisque all right to the point that I ended up with chowder.  And folks, I didn't even add all the roux required!  Luckily, this mattered not as the dish was delicious, even if we settled for canned crab meat.

All in all, this was just a lovely repast showcasing the best of southern cooking.  Hurricane Katrina was a very sad event but the resilience of people in New Orleans and other coastal areas is inspiring.  Cooks and chefs of all kinds have rebuilt New Orleans, considered by many to be the culinary capital of America.  May they all continue to cook up a storm.

Cheese Coins – Yield:  4 dozen

 1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 pound (4 cups) cheddar cheese, grated

2 cups puffed rice cereal (Ann's Note:  NOT Rice Krispies.  Quaker makes this cereal.)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 375F.

With an electric mixer or by hand, mix the butter and cheese together.  Sift the flour, salt and cayenne pepper together.  Add to the butter and cheese, mixing until a soft dough is formed.  Add the puffed rice by hand or with a spoon, mixing well.

Form 1-inch balls and flatten to make coins.  Place on lightly greased baking sheets 1 inch apart.

Bake in a 375 oven for 15 minutes, or until coins start to turn golden brown.  (Ann's Note:  About 13 minutes seemed right.)

Creole Corn and Crab Bisque – Makes 7 cups, 6 first-course servings

3 tablespoons Roux (see below or see page 5 if you have the cookbook)

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ cup minced onions

1 cup uncooked corn, scraped from about 2 ears

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons minced celery

1 cup Crab Stock (page 11) or Fish Stock (page 9) (Ann's Note:  or store-bought.  Swanson's makes a fish broth but not all stores will carry it.)

2 teaspoons salt

¼ teaspoon white pepper

3 bay leaves

3 cups milk

1 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon liquid crab boil (Ann's Note:  Zatarain's makes this product.)

½ pound (about 1 cup) lump crabmeat, picked over for shells and cartilage (Ann's Note:  Coastal Seafoods in St. Paul had it frozen but way more than I needed so I used – gasp – canned lump crabmeat.)

¼ cup chopped green onions

½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

For the roux:

1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter

1 cup flour

Prepare the roux, set aside 3 tablespoons, and refrigerate the rest for future use.  (Ann's Note:  See instructions below on how to make the roux.)

Heat oil in a large pot over high heat.  When the oil is hot, add the onions and corn and sauté for 1 minute.  Stir in the garlic and celery and sauté for 30 seconds.  Add the stock, salt, pepper, and bay leaves and bring to a boil.

Stir in the milk, cream, and crab boil.  Bring back to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Whisky in the roux 1 tablespoon at a time until thoroughly incorporated into the soup.  Reduce the heat to low and continue to cook, whisking until the mixture thickens.

Stir in crabmeat, green onions and Worcestershire and simmer for 6 to 8 minutes.

To serve, ladle 1 generous cup of the bisque into each of 6 soup plates.

To make the roux (makes about ¾ cup)

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Whisk in the flour 1 tablespoon at a time and cook, whisking constantly, until the roux is thick and forms a ball, for about 4 to 5 minutes.

Remove from the heat or incorporate some immediately into a dish you're preparing.  If you prefer, allow the roux to come to room temperature and refrigerate it, covered, for a week or two.

"Normandy Gastronomique" & "Step-by-Step Tapas & Spanish Cookery" - for Le Tour De France (bike ride) - Warm Scallop Salad and Gazpacho

Date I made these recipes:  July 27, 2014 (The last day of Le Tour de France)

Normandy Gastronomique by Jane Sigal; Foreword by Anne Willan; Photography by Debbie Patterson

Published by:  Abbeville Press (Out of Print book)

ISBN:  1-55859-496-5

Purchased at Strand [bookstore] NYC

Recipe:  Warm Scallop Salad with Cress and Vegetables (Salade de Coquilles Saint-Jacques) – p. 36-37

Step-By-Step Tapas & Spanish Cookery

Published by:  Greenwich  Editions

ISBN:  0-86288-021-1

Purchased at Arc's Value Village Thrift Stores, Richfield, MN

Recipe:  Gazpacho – p. 33

Bienvenue (Welcome) to my annual Le Tour de France recipe post!  As is usual and customary, I celebrated the end of the greatest bike race in the world by finding something French to make.  And then this year, because I have a tie-in to Spain, I threw in something Spanish as well.  "De nada." (Spanish for "You're welcome.)

Still, despite the vast collection of cookbooks of all topics and all cuisines, I was getting a little nervous about a French recipe until I happened upon the Normandy cookbook on a recent trip to the Strand (bookstore) in NYC.  I took it as a sign that I found this book during the first week of this year's tour.  Plus, the foreword was written by Anne Willan, a celebrated cookbook author whom I've met and talked to when she came to Minneapolis years ago to promote a book.

The route of the Le Tour de France changes every year and this year, it just skirted around the Normandy region of France but it was close enough to merit an inclusion.  Still, the cooking of Normandy is pretty hearty fare and I was almost in despair of finding a recipe that worked well in the summer when voila!, the very light Coquilles Saint-Jacques just leapt of the page.  Again, signs pointed to "yes."

Elsewhere in this cookbook, you'll find a lot of recipes for seafood and chicken, sometimes in cream sauce, sometimes not, duck, fresh vegetables, apples and a wonderful apple byproduct, Calvados, a most yummy apple brandy.  As tempting as all those were, I was feeling in the mood for something light and something seafood.  This recipe fits the bill and then some.

Turning our attention to Spain, here's how gazpacho fits into this picture:  in 1994, my husband and I went to Spain and stopped outside the city of Granada for the night having driven and toured the region all day long.  While eating in a small restaurant, we observed a group of Americans – about 6 or 8 in all – "practicing" their Spanish.  When one of them absolutely butchered "I want to go to the disco," I laughed and said "Where are you guys from?"  Turns out they were a group of bicyclists from Alabama, who were taking a bike tour through the Sierra Nevadas.  One of the guys in the group was a former navy guy, previously stationed in Spain, whose wife was Spanish and he led the group of bikers.  He also owned a bike shop in Alabama.  We became fast friends with the 'Bama Boys and agreed to meet the next day in the city of Granada for a group dinner. By the way, you should know that they weren't sure we were Americans because we were so quiet.  We get that a lot and consider it a compliment. 

So the next day, we had dinner and we all decided to start with gazpacho, which is pretty much the national soup of Spain.  Made up of fresh tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic plus a few other key ingredients, it is served cold (or room temperature) and is delicious. I could eat that all day, every day in the summer.

Well, one of the guys in the 'Bama Boys was not familiar with gazpacho and when his soup was served, he took a bite and then exclaimed in his best southern accent "This soup is cold!"

I want you to know that we could have absolutely split our sides open laughing but we did not and just explained that it was meant to be served that way.  He remained skeptical whereas the rest of us polished off our portions, craving more.

And so, dear reader, that is how serving scallops and gazpacho made prefect sense to honor the tour!  Had I been thinking though, I should have made something Italian or Sicilian as the 2014 winner, Vincenzo Nibali, hails from those countries (born in Sicily, went to Italy to train).  Maybe next year.

And as per usual and customary, Andy is sad the tour is over although I don't think this year's withdrawal will be that bad, considering how we were on vacation for part of it (and on news blackout at our hotel.  I must write to them and tell them that they need a sports channel for these key events.)  This summer's weather has not been the greatest for biking around these parts but he's managed to get in some long rides and has a very long ride scheduled this coming weekend.  The landscape in southern Minnesota (outside Rochester, MN) is not exactly France or Spain (or England, where part of this year's tour took place) but it will have to do. 

A la prochain!  (Until next time)

Salade De Coquilles Saint-Jacques – serves 4 as a first course

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 large clove garlic, thinly sliced

Pinch of cayenne pepper

¼ tsp sugar

1 bay leaf

¼ tsp crushed coriander seeds

½ cup dry white wine

½ cup chicken stock, preferably homemade

1 small turnip, peeled and cut into ¼-in dice

½ red bell pepper, seeded and cut into ¼-in dice

½ small zucchini, skin and outside flesh only, cut into ¼-in dice

2 tsp hazelnut oil

12 scallops

Salt

Garden cress, to garnish

Ann's Note:  I couldn't find hazelnut oil without driving all over town but I did have some walnut oil on hand so I used that. 

Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan.  Add the onion and sauté it until translucent, 2-3 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook it until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Stir in the cayenne, sugar, bay leaf, coriander, white wine, and stock.  Bring just to a boil then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer this court bouillon gently for 10 minutes.

Strain the court-bouillon and return it to the pan.  Add the diced turnip and a little salt and cook gently, covered, for 10-12 minutes.  Add the diced bell pepper and zucchini and continue cooking until the court-bouillon reduces to a light glaze, 5-7 minutes longer.  The vegetables should still be slightly crunchy.

Remove from the heat and let cool to lukewarm, then stir in the hazelnut oil.  Taste for seasoning, adding more salt, cayenne, or hazelnut oil until the sauce is as pungent as you like.  (The mixture should be slightly less seasoned than for traditional vegetables a la grecque.)  Keep warm.

Set a nonstick frying pan over moderate heat.  When the pan is hot, add the scallops and cook then, turning once, until they are nearly opaque throughout, 2-3 minutes.

To serve, arrange 3 scallops on each plate.  Spoon some of the tepid vegetable mixture around the scallops.  Scatter cress sparingly over the vegetables and serve immediately.

Ann's Note:  I substituted butter lettuce for the cress.  My grocery store changed ownership recently and man, they about eliminated anything interesting in the produce department so cress was off the table.  As it was, the new cashier was sadly lacking in vegetable knowledge.  She asked "What's this?" while ringing up my turnip, zucchini and butter lettuce.  Had she inquired about my tomatoes, I would have caused an incident and there would have been cleanup at register 12!

Gazpacho – Serves 4

1 ½ pound beefsteak tomatoes

½ Spanish onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 slices firm white bread, crusts removed, broken into pieces

10 fl oz (1 ¼ cups) tomato juice

3 tablespoons virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

About 8 ice cubes, to serve

Accompaniments

1 diced small red pepper, 1 diced small green pepper, 1 diced small onion, 1 chopped hard-boiled egg and croutons.

Peel, seed and chop the tomatoes.  Put in a food processor or blender with remaining soup ingredients, except ice cubes.  Mix until smooth.  Pour soup through a nylon sieve, pressing down well on contents of sieve.  If necessary, thin soup with cold water then chill well.  If you want more texture to your soup, omit the nylon sieve process.

To serve, pour soup into cold soup bowls, add ice cubs and then serve with accompaniments if desired.

"Esquire Cook Book" - Shrimp with Rice Fra Diavolo (made for the premier of Mad Men - Season 7)

Date I made this recipe:  April 13, 2014 (Mad Men Season 7 premier)

Esquire Cook Book by the Editors of Esquire (magazine); Illustrations by Charmatz (Bill Charmatz)

Published by:  McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.

© 1955

Recipe:  Shrimp with Rice, Fra Diavolo –p. 114

Finally—Mad Men (Season 7) is back along with Archie, Jughead, Veronica and Betty.  Wait, that's The Archies (1970's TV cartoon based on the comic book).  Correction:  Mad Men (Season 7) is back along with Don, Peggy, Roger, Pete, Joan and a host of other characters including (we hope), Betty Draper, Don's ex-wife.

It is with longing and trepidation that we approach Season 7 as this will be the final run of what I consider to be a great show.  Seven episodes air this spring, seven more follow next spring (2015) and then that's all folks.  And then what will we do?  Why, we'll watch it all on DVD's!  Collect the whole set!  I have.

Mad Men, in case you didn't know, is a story about men and women working at an advertising agency in the 60's.  Season 7 starts in 1969, just after Nixon's inauguration (and my word, won't we be in for a couple of wild years) but some of the characters, like our protagonist, Don, are stuck in the 50's and are trying to keep up with these changing times.  Many viewers commented that Don was still wearing a hat in the first season 7 episode, something that I don't find odd at all:  my father wore a hat to my college graduation in 1980.  Besides dealing with the changing times, each character on the show is trying to deal with a changing life.  It's too detailed for further comment so let's get to the food!

Esquire magazine is a men's magazine, founded in 1932 by the Heart Corporation.  It's still on the newsstand today, a major accomplishment given how many magazines have folded over the years.  I never read the magazine but when I saw this cookbook, I snapped it up.  (I also have Esquire's Handbook for Hosts which I am saving for another day.)

I noted at the top that the illustrations in this book were done by (Bill) Charmartz and they are basic illustrations (i.e. nothing fancy) but definitely charming and a sign of the times.  Many magazines featured artwork by famous (in the industry) illustrators and magazine covers for the longest time also featured artwork.  Today, cover art from Gourmet magazine, Vogue, The New Yorker and the like are highly sought after (and can cost a pretty penny).

As to the recipes, there's a wide variety of recipes, some of which are quite involved and some of which are easy; unless I'm in some kind of weird mood, I opt for easy!  Many of the recipes are from famous restaurants and I only wish I had the time to do some Google searches to see which ones, if any, are still operating.  And, as a sign of the times, frog legs and lobster recipes are prevalent in the Shellfish chapter—although someone please explain to me how frogs are shellfish.  That puzzles. 

After careful consideration, I decided on the fancily-named Shrimp with Rice, Fra Diavolo, Italian for "Brother Devil."  Wait – what? Well anyway, it's supposed to be spicy.  This was not spicy.  It was good, but there were a few problems so let's get to them!

Problem number one:  the recipe requires "1/2 teaspoon pepper."  It doesn't say "red pepper flakes" which is the usual and customary ingredient of this dish, just pepper.  Well, pepper can have a bit of a bite, but not black pepper if this was in fact what they wanted.  The little spice chart at the front of the book was not helpful because it too, listed "Pepper – black or white."  But I'm here to tell you folks, that you need to use red pepper flakes and a lot more than ½ teaspoon!

Problem number two:  To make the rice, you slice two small onions and cook them in ¼ pound of sweet butter.  Not a quarter stick or a quarter cup – ¼ POUND.  This is too much butter.  Way too much.  It might have been fine had the recipe called for two large onions but not two small.  So while the rice was good, it was a bit greasy.

Problem number three:  the recipe calls for one 1 1/2-pound can of plum tomatoes but doesn't tell us what to do with them.  I found the blobs of tomatoes to be just a bit much so I pulsed them in my Cuisinart.  I might as well have just purchased chopped or crushed tomatoes – live and learn.

Problem number four:  what kind of heat are we looking for here?  Simmer?  Low?  Medium?  The only direction was to bring the broth to a boil, then add the rice and cook for 20 minutes.  But are we still at a boil or not at a boil?  And then when you make the tomato sauce the directions say to "cook for 15 minutes" but again – what temperature? I'll do whatever the recipe calls for but it really should call for something!

Now, despite our four problems ("Please identify the four problems then compare and contrast in an essay..."), the dish was tasty.  Not spicy, not hot, and not necessarily spectacular, but tasty.  Can't fault that.  And I do so love shrimp, so there's that.  It was a nice dish for a Sunday night viewing of Mad Men and seemed to fit in with the times – a little exotic ("Frau?" "Diavolo?") a little spicy (this was 1955 after all), very retro and very "Esquire."  And If anybody embodies a 50's (and 60's) male, it is Don Draper.  (The fact that he and his life are a mess is beside the point – watch the show!). (By the way, although "esquire" is used in the US to signify an attorney, in England it is a designation used by certain members of the gentry i.e. well-borne members of a high social class...usually men.)

And that is how we got off to a great start watching Mad Men Season 7 premier!

Shrimps with Rice, Fra Diavolo...from Scribes Restuarant, New York – serves 4, amply

2 small onions, sliced

¼ pound sweet butter (Ann's Note: this is way too much—adjust according to your preference)

1 quart chicken broth

2 cups rice

3 cloves garlic, diced

4 tablespoons olive oil (Ann's Note: again, just a tad much – adjust accordingly)

1 ½ pound can of plum tomatoes (Ann's Note:  I recommend using crushed tomatoes)

½ teaspoon *pepper (Ann's Note:  use red pepper flakes.  Period.  And about 1 teaspoon – or more – should do it)

¼ teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon chopped parsley

1 ½ pounds peeled, raw shrimp

For the rice:  Slice two small onions and cook them until golden in ¼ pound sweet butter.  (Ann's Note:  use low heat).  Add 1 quart chicken broth and bring to a boil.  Stir in 2 cups rice and cook for 20 minutes to reduce the volume.  (Ann's Note:  I decreased the temperature to medium and even then, almost burned the rice.  You've got to keep an eye on things!).

For the shrimp sauce:  Brown 3 diced garlic cloves in 4 tablespoons olive oil; then add a 1 1/2-pound can of plum tomatoes, ½ teaspoon pepper (Ann's Note:  Last call—use red pepper flakes!), ¼ teaspoon oregano, 1 teaspoon chopped parsley.  Cook for 15 minutes (Ann's Note:  apparently, at a temperature of your choosing!  I chose low), then add the shrimp and simmer for 10 minutes.

Place rice on platter, cover with shrimp and sauce, and serve to 4, amply.