Sunday, April 10, 2011

Jennifer's Seafood in Garlic Cream Sauce


Butter
Onions
Broccoli
Carrots
Snow peas
Red pepper
3/4 cup crab
1 pound shrimp (50 to 60 sized)
Pepper
Lemon juice

Sauce:
Butter
Garlic
Heavy cream
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups shredded white cheddar
1/4 cup white wine


Saute onions in butter.
Add broccoli, carrots, snow peas, red pepper, whatever, chopped fairly small to saute quickly and retain colour.

In another sauce pan make sauce. Saute garlic (as much as you like) in butter until soft. Add cream.
Beat two egg yolks, temper with the hot cream and add back to sauce and whisk.
Add 1 1/2 cups of your favourite shredded cheese. I used aged white cheddar.
Stir until thickened and creamy.
Add 1/4 cup white wine and simmer for a couple of minutes.

Add 3/4 cup of crab (Costco) and as much shrimp (I like the 50-60 size) as you want to the veggies and toss to warm up.

Top with the sauce and garnish with fresh ground pepper, a wee splash of lemon juice, and any other seasoning you want.

Devour.

Update: I tried to thicken the sauce using Almond Flour, as an experiment. Almond Flour does not thicken things, probably because it has no starch. Instead it gave the whole recipe a weird mealy consistency which neither I nor my roommate cared for. I am probably going to throw away the leftovers. Warning: Don't thicken things with Almond Flour.

Brunswick Stew


1 full chicken breast
1 1/4 # ground pork
1 1/4 # ground beef
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
2 cans diced tomatoes
1/2 cup bulgur wheat
1 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp cayenne
1 Tbsp ground black pepper
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup ketchup
2 summer squash, sliced

Cover chicken with salted water, and boil til cooked, about 20 minutes. Save stock.
Saute ground beef and pork
Finely chop or shred cooked chicken
Combine all ingredients except squash, add stock to just cover, and simmer about an hour and a half.
Add squash and cook 10 more minutes.
Mixture should be a fairly thick stew at this point.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream and crusty Italian or Viennese bread.

Mmmmmmm.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Chicken with Garlic Cream Sauce


2 split chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
2 celery sticks, chopped
1 yellow onion, medium, chopped
1 zucchini squash, halved lengthwise then sliced thin
sage

2 Tbsp butter
5 cloves garlic
3/4 cup cream

Sauce
Melt butter
Saute smashed garlic
Add cream
Bring to a boil and then immediately reduce heat to low to keep it warm.

Chicken
Saute chicken pieces in 2 tablespoons olive oil until lightly browned.

Remove chicken from pan.

Add onion and celeray and cook over medium heat about five minutes until they start to look translucent. Add chicken, zucchini, and sage. Stir.

Cook covered about ten minutes or until zucchini has just a slight crunch. (I don't like the squash to get soggy so this is my measure for this dish.)

Serve in bowls and top with cream sauce. This would go nice over rice.

Braised Lamb

All I can really say about this one is a) Mmmmmmm and 2) lamb is not cheap!




2 1/2 pound boneless leg of lamb, cut in bite sized pieces
1 medium to large yellow onion, chopped coarsely (1/2 inch pieces)
3 celery sticks, chopped coarsely (see above)
olive oil
Red wine
fresh mint leaves, about 1/3 cup loosely packed
one lemon
3 Tbsp Lapsang Souchong tea
salt and pepper to taste

In a dutch oven or other deep, heavy pan, over medium high heat, sear the lamb pieces. Leave them alone for three to four minutes, stir, then leave for another two to three minutes. Remove from pan. (Searing means you do not want oil and you do not want the meat packed together tightly. I did mine in two batches.)

Lower heat to medium, add 1/4 cup olive oil to pan and add onion and celery. Stir fry for about three minutes.

Add 1/2 cup red wine to deglaze pan. Stir and scrape the bottom of the pan.

Smash half the mint between your hands and add to vegetables. Add meat. Make a sachet out of the tea (wrap in cheesecloth and tie the top with string) and add to pot.

Season with salt and pepper.

Add water to just barely cover the mixture and give it a good stir. Taste. Whatever it tastes like seasoning-wise, this is about what the lamb will taste like. Add more S&P to taste as necessary.

Bring to a low simmer, cover but crack the lid slightly, and cook for about 2 1/2 hours.

Mix the remaining mint, a teaspoon or so of salt, some lemon peel, and the juice of about half the lemon in a bowl. Portion out the lamb and then put a little of the mint salad on top for a flavorful garnish.

I served this with a small salad with creamy dressing to contrast the mint and lemon. Wild rice would also be nice.