We have a delightful, if a little intense, single neighbor who is a fishing boat captain - he works out of Alaska. But he is land-locked right now and we will have a chance to get to know him - he is one big time foodie, so this will be fun!
Saturday afternoon, the afternoon before Superbowl(!), Jay decided it would be a hoot to have a 'professional' chef cook for him so off to the fish mongers he and Roy went. Supposedly to pick up 'a couple' of seafood goodies to have for an impromptu Superbowl party on Sunday. My first mistake was letting the two of them go by themselves!! Lobsters, steamer clams, oysters - in shells and in a jar, scallops, smoked salmon, mussels!! for three people?? I grabbed the phone and called every neighbor to get some help eating all this bounty, but of course every single one, except one couple, had parties to go to by then!
Now, the funny happening Saturday nite for me was, I woke up ~2 a.m. with all these thots running thru my head - it was like it used to be when I was planning a catering job or a big job at the hotel - what would I fix, how did I want to cook, what order serving, what kind of presentation, the whole gamut going thru my mind like we were having a huge party, instead of 5 people coming together to do justice to the bounty of these two jokesters!! Jay had said to do whatever I wanted with the food - so, that's why my mind was in such a turmoil, there were so many ways to go!!
Oh, and to add to this feast, I had already thawed out chicken wings, some crab, and had gotten jalapenos for poppers for Roy & me to have for a small celebration during the football game. (In case I forget to mention it later....the chicken wings are still in the frig)
Finalized Superbowl Menus - for FIVE (!) people
Cranberry Crab Spread (a throw-together that turned out great!)
Ron's (a neighbor who was going to another party brot this over to add to what we had...) Smoked Salmon Spread
Two Smoked Salmon (mine & one purchased by the 'boys') with Lemon/Caper Sauce (I/we all like mine - thank you Marlene - better than the one purchased)
Jalapeno Poppers Rockefeller - a new dish -everyone loved
Scallops with Caviar and Sour Cream - I used to do this catering, served on/in Asian spoons.
Mussels with Balsamic Cream & Bacon
Lobster Medalions with Balsamic Cream & Bacon - this was an experiment to see if lobster worked in the sauce, but found we liked the mussels much better!
Grilled Oysters - always a favorite, but the 'captain' had never had them grilled.
Steamed Lobsters and Clams with garlic butter - another fav.
Loaves of sourdough for sopping!
AND the neighbor couple brot another appy, that was quite good - will have to get the recipe!
AND DID WE EVER DO JUSTICE TO THIS FEAST!!!
RECIPES
CRANBERRY CRAB SPREAD
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 T. milk
8 oz. crabmeat (fresh or canned and flaked)
2 T. green onions, minced or chives
Dashes of salt and garlic powder
4-6 shakes of Tabasco
½ cup dried cranberries
Parsley, sliced green onions, or chives for garnish
Whisk together the cream cheese and milk till well combined.
Add the crabmeat thru garlic powder and combine well.
Stir in dried cranberries, cover and refrigerate for a couple hours.
Garnish and serve with crackers or toasted bread rounds.
Makes about 2 cups.
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JALAPENO POPPERS ROCKEFELLER
I would love to give credit for this recipe, but I didn't add the name when I copied it from C2C forum - damn. Sharon???
Makes 12 appetizer servings
(Note: I only had 4 jalapenos and some scraps of yellow bellpepper, so I cut the jalapenos in half lenghtwise and filled them that way and the bells were in squares, so just topped them with the filling and a pc. of bacon - one guest wouldn't try the jalapenos, but ate all the bell pcs., so I think I'll do this again for a 'popper' tray)
24 jalapeño peppers, top cut off and seeded
12 oysters, off the shell, chopped with liquid
1/2 cup cooked spinach, well drained and chopped
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1 cup bread crumbs
1 egg
1 teaspoon Pernod
salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste
12 slices bacon, partially cooked and cut in half
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Mix the chopped oysters, spinach, green onion, bread crumbs, egg, Pernod and seasonings together. Stuff the peppers with the mixture. Top each pepper with bacon and insert toothpick through to hold in place.
Bake the peppers until they are soft, heated through and the bacon is crisp. Approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool for 2 minutes then serve.
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OVEN SMOKED SALMON
Marlene (da Cook) Cochran from the Yukon recipe
Salmon, dressed
Brown sugar
Kosher salt
Liquid smoke
(qtys. depend on size/number of salmon pieces)
Split the salmon along the backbone.
Remove the backbone and ribcage. Remove pin bones.
Leave skin on. Slice each side into 2" sections.
Lay the pcs. on a sheet pan; coat with brown sugar.
Sprinkle with kosher salt & liquid smoke.
You will be rinsing this off later, so be generous.
Cover w/plastic wrap & refrigerate for at least 12 hours.
Rinse the salmon pcs, pat dry, and place on cooling racks, which have been sprayed with vegetable spray.
Place in a 150 F. oven, until the salmon flesh takes on a translucent look, leaving the door open a crack to let moisture out.
This should take 6-8 hours, depending the thickness of the pieces.
Refrigerate for short-term use, freeze airtight for longer storage.
Serving Ideas : Oh boy am I in trouble - marinated this for 18 hours (and I must say it looked good enuf to eat at that time!); turned the oven on this a.m. and found to my dismay the damn oven goes no lower that 170 degrees...so went ahead and put the salmon in and then we had to go work on the rental. AND we always have to stop for Mexican food after that hard work.
Fast forward to coming into the kitchen after Mexican food and two margaritas each - and smelling this wonderful smoked salmon. It was 6 1/2 hours later and the salmon was absolutely perfect. So good in fact, that if I don't stop nibbling at it, I'm going to puke.
My favorite go with for this salmon – a mixture of cream cheese, little mayo to loosen, sliced green onions (or thinly sliced red onion), capers, and fresh lemon juice to taste.
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SCALLOPS WITH CAVIAR AND SOUR CREAM
Recipe By :a Chef's Journey via an old family favorite
Vegetable or Canola oil
12 sea scallops, sliced in half horizontally
sour cream for piping
thinly sliced red onion pieces
caviar for topping
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Season scallops with salt and pepper.
Cook scallops until golden on the bottom, about 2 min.
Turn over and saute till done, about 1 more minute.
Drain on paper towels and let cool.
Top each scallop with a dab of sour cream (this is easy to do with a plastic bag and a corner cut off to pipe onto the scallop)
Top the sour cream with red onion pieces.
Carefully spoon caviar on top.
Description:
"Serve on Asian spoons for a nice presentation."
Yield:
"24 pieces"
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