Seafood and Saffron Tagliatelle

This is a recipe that we have been trying to get to for a month and found some time today. I'll post the recipe as it is written and then tell you what I did for two. This recipe comes from Jamie Oliver's cookbook, The Naked Chef Takes Off.

Serves 4
a good pinch of saffron
1 glass of dry white wine
1 lb. tagliatelle pasta
olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1.5 lb. mixed seafood (fish, scallops, clams, bearded mussels, shrimp, squid)
1 1/3 c. cream
salt and pepper
for garnish only: fennel fronds, parsley or dill

Soak the saffron in the white wine. Cook the tagliatelle in salted boiling water until al dente. Add a little olive oil and the garlic to a frying pan and cook until softened. Add clams and mussels, shake pan around and add white wine/saffron mixture. Bring to a boil, and discard any shellfish that remain closed. Then add rest of seafood and the cream. Simmer for 3-4 minutes, season to taste, add the drained tagliatelle and serve scattered with a few of the garnish suggestions.

This was a fabulous tasting dish. I would like to try it again with actual fresh seafood. We used a good-quality frozen "frutti di mare" (fruits of the sea) mixture (thawed - 1/2lb.) and didn't deal with tracking down good shellfish. I used 250 g. of tagliatelle (roughly 1/2lb.) and only 1/2 c. cream along with a couple spoons of the pasta cooking water. Also, I took the pasta out of the boiling water when there was 2 minutes left on the manufacturers instructions and tossed it with the saffron cream mixture, put a lid on it and let it soak up the broth for the remainder of the cooking time and the pasta came out perfect.

Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner

You may (or may not) have noticed my lack of posting this month. Travel and being a new cook don't go well together. I thought I would make up for it by preparing Turkey and Stuffing. This is the 2nd time I've made this Rachael Ray recipe and it is heavenly. Super fast, super yummy. I'll write my "modified" version below.

Turkey Cutlets with Corn, Sage and Prosciutto Stuffing

2 pounds turkey breast cutlets (2 packages, 12 pieces) I used 6 pieces, 1.5 pounds
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
Salt and pepper

Stuffing:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 ribs celery from the heart, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
4 sprigs fresh sage (2 tablespoons) chopped
2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley, eyeball it
1/4 pound prosciutto, deli sliced like bacon, then chopped
3-4 corn muffins, crumbled (I made them earlier in the day; make sure it's the non-sweet type)
1 cup chicken stock or broth or canned turkey broth

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Season turkey with poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Brown the turkey filets, remove to a plate.

To a second skillet over medium high heat, add oil. Add celery and onions and season with salt, pepper, poultry seasoning. Saute 5 minutes until just tender, add sage, parsley, prosciutto and stir to combine. Crumble muffins into the pan. Moisten stuffing with broth and heat through.

We are about to eat leftovers for lunch and we've been drooling for an hour already. Frankly, it's about as good as the "Mad at your mom meatloaf" in our book and will be making it often. (I'm making the meatloaf tomorrow...)

Did I mention how extraordinarily healthy it is? Of course, it's me writing! Enjoy!

What kind of soup is this?

Ever since this month's challenge has been announced, I knew I wanted to make some sort of butternut squash soup. I had to wait until the last week because it has just been too freaking hot. Tuesday started off rainy and foggy so I went ahead with plans to make this soup. I found a recipe for Winter Squash Soup in my Barefoot in Paris library book that sounded exactly what I was looking for.

To start off, I sauteed 2 cups of onions in 1T butter and 1T olive oil for 10 minutes. I added 1 cracked garlic clove about 5 minutes in. Then I added 1 can pumpkin, 1-1/2 pounds cubed butternut squash, 3 cups chicken broth, 1/2 tsp pepper, and 2 tsp salt and simmered for 20 minutes. I allowed this too cool. Oh, okay, my son woke up from his nap and it was a couple of hours before I could get back to it. I processed it in a food processor, put it back in the soup pot and added 1 cup half and half and 1 tsp sage and heated back up. To serve, I sprinkled a little Gruyere cheese on top.



So, I put this in front of my husband for dinner and he wrinkled his nose and asked "what kind of soup is this?" He ended up saying it was better than he thought, but still pushed it away halfway through saying he just wasn't into it. I thought the soup turned out pretty ok, but I feel like I would have liked some other flavors in it to give it some depth. Unfortunately, I was planning on having leftovers tonight, but I hope to serve it with my salad course, so maybe that will be better.

Fish in Red Curry Sauce - Main Course

This would be quite a risky main course for a dinner party. But, we were so impressed by our presentation that I knew I had to share it. I actually went out and bought better dinner plates for picture taking ... is this getting pathetic? This recipe comes from Kerri's Greatest Hits and we have made it several times. This curry sauce is really good ... restaraunt quality. It's such a rich sauce and goes perfectly with a light fish. The only thing I've added to the original recipe is some extra veggies.

1 t. oil
2 t. minced peeled fresh ginger
1 garlic clove
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 small zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced
2 handfuls green beans, trimmed
1 c. chopped green onions
1 t. curry powder
2 t. red curry paste
1/2 t. ground cumin
4 t. soy sauce
1 T. brown sugar
1/2 t. salt, divided
1 (14 oz) can coconut milk (can use light coconut milk if you want)
2 T. chopped fresh cilantro
4 firm white fish filets (such as tilapia)

hot cooked basmati rice for serving

Preheat broiler.
Heat 1/2 t. oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic; cook 1 minute. Add pepper and onion; cook 1 minute. Stir in curry powder, curry paste, and cumin; cook 1 minute. Add soy sauce, sugar, 1/4 t. salt, and coconut milk; bring to a simmer (do not boil). Add zucchini and green beans and cook slowly until vegetables are tender, 10 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in cilantro.

Brush fish with 1/2 t. oil; sprinkle with 1/4 t. salt. Place fish on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Broil 7 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Serve fish with sauce, rice and lime wedges.

Cheese Tortellini Soup - Another first course

We've made this soup about a billion times and again last night. It was a cover recipe from Bon Appetit magazine. I thought I would share it since it is so popular with us. I'm usually good about being able to cut down soups to about 4 servings but this one just makes a lot. I would say 6-8 first course servings.

2 T. olive oil
12 oz. fully cooked, smoked kielbasa, thinly sliced
1 onion (or leek), chopped
1 c. fresh fennel, cored, quartered and thinly sliced
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 T. chopped fresh thyme (but I just use about 1/2 t. dried)
1/2 t. dried crushed red pepper
10 c. low-salt chicken broth (I use bouillon)
1/2 bunch of chopped kale (I have subbed spinach or cabbage ... basically something green)
1 (15 oz) can canellini beans, rinsed, drained
1 (9 oz) pkg. cheese tortellini
grated parmesan, for serving

Heat oil in a heavy, large pot over medium heat. Add next 6 ingredients and saute until vegetables are soft and kielbasa is brown, about 12-15 minutes. Add broth and bring to a boil. Stir in kale (or cabbage) and beans. Reduce heat to low and summer until greens are wilted, about 4 minutes. Add tortellini to soup. Simmer until pasta is just tender, about 5 minutes. Serve with fresh parmesan.

Hot Brie Kisses with Homemade Red Pepper Jelly

We really aren't appetizer people. When we go out, we usually order salads instead. Yes, that is a little boring, but we have had some great salads. :) So when I think about appetizers to use at home, I really have a specific thing in mind: finger food, not a dip, and not hard to make. Oh, and not seafood. I went way over my seafood quota last week. This really doesn't leave a whole lot for appetizers. I pulled out one from the first CLBB cookbook that I have made once before. The original author says she uses apricot preserves instead of the pepper jelly, but inasmuch as I have a bounty of hot peppers, I decided to make homemade hot pepper jelly as well.

It has been a busy week!

Hot Brie Kisses

- Thaw store bought puff pastry according to package directions.
- Unfold carefully.
- Cut into 16-18 squares.
- Put each square into the cup in a muffin tin.
- Place a 1/2" piece of brie cheese on pastry followed with 1/4 tsp of hot pepper jelly.
- Fold up pastry around cheese and jelly.
- Bake at 400 for 10 minutes

Truth be told, I only made 6 and froze the rest unbaked in the muffin tin. I will take them out frozen and put in a plastic bag, then just bake them when an appetizer emergency arises. I don't think you are suppose to do this but I have done it before with good results.

This isn't the best picture, but here they are:



The jelly was easy, but hard at the same time. I think I was just stressed about the canning, but thankfully, I heard the popping of the jars sealing after I was done. I guess that whole physics thing works! The best part is that I have 8 extra jars for Christmas presents this year. Woo-hoo! When you open the jar, it just smells incredible. The jelly did not end up too spicy, but it is a little sweet in my opinion. I would use less sugar next time.

Red Pepper Jelly - from CLBB

20 hot red peppers
4 red bell peppers
2 cups white vinegar
10 cups sugar
2 bags liquid pectin

- Remove seeds of peppers and chop fine in a food processor.
- Combine vinegar and sugar in pot and bring to a boil.
- Add peppers and boil for 10 minutes.
- Add pectin.
- Boil 1 more minute
- Ladle into clean hot jars.
- Put jars in pot and cover with water.
- Boil for 5 minutes.
- Allow to cool on flat surface. As they cool you should hear a pop sound. Yield. 8-8oz jars and 2-12oz jars.

Desserts! Part II - CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES

That's right, I said CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES!!!!!



I was at the library browsing cookbooks and came across Barefoot in Paris. I actually was hoping to find some interesting appetizer recipes (I am drawing a blank for appetizers). After I got this book home, I came across this recipe for truffles and decided to give it a try. It certainly didn't look like it would be as difficult to make as you might think.

My changes: I used 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate and 3 oz unsweetened chocolate. Hey, the unsweetened was on sale! I do enjoy me some dark chocolate and I think this was right on the border of being too bitter. It may not work for some people and I would recommend sticking with the recipe on this one. I used Frangelico in place of the Grand Marnier.

I poured hot cream over the chocolate to melt it, which worked pretty well. The mixture was a little grainy, so I thought maybe it should be heated up to melt a little more. I put the bowl over hot water, but really, it just kept getting worse. I really thought it was over at this point...but went ahead and added the remainder of the ingredients and it smoothed out.

It was really hard to roll the balls without getting the chocolate too warm. I wish I could have done better, but not really sure how to make them better looking. The recipe says to roll them in cocoa, then in powdered sugar, but I would recommend just sifting the powdered sugar on the truffles. I think it would the presentation would be better.

This ended up being pretty easy, and although it was time consuming, the individual steps didn't take all that long. I would definitely make this again for company. I could see it working well when a cake would just be too much...a chocolate truffle (or two) would be a great little sweet to serve with coffee or port at the end of a heavy meal.