Friday, August 24, 2007

...And More Fun In The Kitchen

Just a P.S. to the Crab, Shrimp & Scallop Roulade posting - The goop from 'sieving' the onions from the sauce was too tasty to discard, so added back to some leftover sauce and made Mac & Cheese. I would do this again as the main recipe - it was just delicious.








and served with the roulades - great combination, altho one roulade would be plenty!

MORNAY SAUCED MAC & CHEESE

2 1/2 Tablespoons butter
3 1/2 Tablespoons flour
2 cups milk, 2% lowfat, heated
Salt & white pepper
couple grindings of nutmeg
1/2 cup gruyere cheese, grated
8 ounces onion, finely diced and simmered for 15 minutes in 2 T. butter and set aside
1/3 cup cracker crumbs or panko
2 Tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

Melt butter in a saucepan; blend in the flour and stir with a wooden spoon to make a smooth paste. Stir over moderate heat for 2 minutes without coloring. Remove from heat.

After the bubbling subsides, add 1 3/4 cup of the hot milk and whisk briskly to make a smooth sauce and blend thoroughly. Put back over moderate heat and add the rest of the milk a few drops at a time to desired consistency. The sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Whisk in salt, pepper and nutmeg - tasting as you add the spices.
Remove from heat and let cool several minutes before adding the cheese.
When cooler, add the cheese and the onions; stirring until cheese is melted. At this point you can chill the sauce for later use, or freeze it, or add to pasta at this time.

Pour into a greased baking dish and top with a sprinkling of cracker crumbs or panko and dabs of butter
Bake in a 350 F. oven for 30-35 minutes.

Description:
"This dish was a by-product of making the Crab, Prawns & Scallop Roulades for Don Kaiser. It's wonderful."
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On top of all the cooking/testing/tasting Roy & I did on Wednesday - Neighbor Neery brot over two crabs (of the 16!!) she and the boys caught this day. Managed to clean them and threw in the frig for tomorrow - No more cooking today!

And so to Thursday and more fun. Wednesday, I received a C.D. from Lorraine, that was just a hoot. Two Toronto Chefs speakingFrench demonstrating recipes. The name of the CD is "Au pied de cochon" which my handy-dandy little translator says "with the foot of pig".......will have to find out more about this from Lorraine, plus the names of the two chefs who are an absolute hoot!

Willl have a lot of editing to do if I don't have this info correct - but, everything is in French and I barely got thru one year of Latin in high school.... The chefs are (apparently?) David Emmanual Fafard and Jean-Francois Boily and because they so inspired me, I only managed to get thru one recipe on the c.d. -
Le Saumon
dans le Papier Journal
Salmon wrapped in Newspaper


It looked so fun (and tasty), I headed for the freezer and neighbor Christine's salmon that she gave me months ago to 'do something' with! This is what I copied from the sub-titles -

Bake the salmon at 400 F. for 20 minutes per pound of salmon 'roast'

Sprinkle with sea salt and fill cavity with something - the boys used pesto.

Soak four sheets (with no color) in some water

Wrap the salmon up tightly and lay on a baking sheet

Place in the middle of the 400 F. oven for 1 hour (I cut my 'roast' to 3 lbs.); remove from oven and let rest before unwrapping.











I made this in the a.m. and did not make any kind of sauce to present this dish with, so it's not a really pretty presentation - but, it was delicious and Roy and I picked at it for nearly an hour!









While picking on the salmon, I had to do something with the crabmeat from yesterday -

Crab & Corn Fritters
Ray’s BoatHouse restaurant in Seattle

2-3 qts. canola oil for frying
1 cup a.p. flour
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. ground white pepper
1/2 tsp. granulated garlic
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup milk
2 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 tsp. unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup crabmeat
1/2 cup each: corn kernels, diced red bell pepper & diced green onions

Heat oil to 350 F.

In mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, white pepper, granulated garlic, cayenne pepper and baking powder.

In a separate bowl, combine milk, eggs, butter, crabmeat, corn, bell pepper and green onion and mix well.

Add to dry ingredients and mix with a fork until just combined. Do not overmix.

Drop batter by heaping tablespoonfuls into hot oil Cook until fritters are golden brown and fully cooked on the inside, about 3 – 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Serve immediately with the dipping sauce.

Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. sambal oelek
2 T. water
2 T. Thai fish sauce

In a small bowl, whisk together everything except the fish sauce. Then add fish sauce and stir just until combined.

I have to say after all the tasting we did between the salmon and the fritters, dinner was not looking too good, but I had sirloins thawed out for a couple of days and had to use them. So, went ahead and made the Gingered Tomato Chutney to go with the grilled steaks - instead of Roasted Dijon potatoes I had planned, we ate MORE of the fritters with the steak!


The chutney is from Cuisine at Home, issue #65 - I liked it very much, Roy could not stay out of it!
for one cup chutney:
1 1/2 ccups cherry tomatoes, halved, divided
1/4 cup red onion, diced
2 T. white wine vinegar
2 T. fresh ginger, minced
2 tsp. garlic, minced
3 T. fresh lime juice
2 tsp. tomato paste
2 tsp. jalapeno, seeded, minced
salt to taste
Simmer 1 cup of the tomatoes, onion, sugar, vinegar, ginger, and garlic in a saucepan over med-high heat, stirring often, 12 minutes.
Add lime juice and tomato paste, return to a boil, and simmer 3 minutes or till thickend to jam consistency.
Stir in remaining tomatoes, jalapeno, and salt. Set chutney aside. Grill the steaks and top them with the chutney. Roasted Dijon Potatoes are good to serve with this dish.
Today is Friday and now it's time to put the rest of the salmon in the oven for Marlene's Oven Smoked Salmon - it's been brining with brown sugar, kosher salt, and liquid smoke since last evening - but, this is the only cooking I'm doing today!!! Going to a movie and out to dinner tonight!!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

CRAB, PRAWN & SCALLOP ROULADES

My good friend Don Kaiser called last nite to describe a dish that a friend (or brother?) of his had seen on TV – a filled piece of fish, stuffed with crab, prawns and scallops, and had a sauce that might have been a hollandaise sauce. I think that’s all Don knew about the dish and wanted to know how he should put it together.

So, this morning I got to play. Don is not crazy about hollandaise sauce, so that was out. From thinking about it in the middle of the damn night, I knew pretty much what I wanted the ‘stuffing’ to be. That just left the sauce to really play with.

This will be a very easy dish to make for company, because all the stages can be done ahead of time and chilled and/or even frozen.

Crab, Prawns and Scallop Roulades








The filling:
1/2 cup leeks, the white and the light green part, cleaned and minced (2 oz.)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T. butter (clarified, if you have it)
1/4 cup bell pepper, minced
1/4 cup dry white wine or Noilly Prat
Salt and pepper
3 oz. crab meat
3 oz. prawns, coarsely chopped
3 oz. bay scallops, cut in half
1 1/2 T. capers, chopped
The white sauce:
2 1/2 T. butter
3 1/2 T. flour
2 cups milk
Salt and white pepper
Couple grinding of nutmeg
-----
1/2 cup gruyere cheese
8 oz. onion, finely diced
2 T. butter, again clarified if possible
4 filets of fish (cod, sole, halibut or a firm fleshed fish of your choice)
1/4 cup dry white wine or Noilly Prat
4 thin lemon slices

The filling:
Sauté leeks and garlic in butter until soft, but not browned, 3-4 minutes.
Add the bell pepper and wine; raise the heat and simmer until liquid is almost gone, about 3 min. Season lightly with salt & pepper.

Add the seafood and cook until the shrimp is just turning pink and the scallops are cooked. (If using cooked crab, do not add yet.)
Add the crab, if using cooked and the capers; just heat through. Remove from heat.








At this point, you can put in bowl and chill until ready to use. Can be done one day ahead.

The White Sauce:
Melt butter in a 2 1/2 qt. saucepan; blend in the flour and stir with a wooden spoon to make a smooth paste. Stir over moderate heat for 2 minutes without coloring. Remove from heat.

After the bubbling subsides add 1 3/4 cups of the milk and whisk briskly to make a smooth sauce and blend thoroughly. Put back over moderate heat and add the rest of the milk a few drops at a time. The sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Whisk in the salt, pepper and nutmeg – tasting as you add the spices. At this point you can chill the sauce for later use. You can even freeze it.

When ready to use, thaw or remove from the refrigerator and heat in a double boiler or over a bain-marie. You may have to thin a little with milk.

After the sauce has heated, remove the from the heat and let cool several minutes, then add the gruyere cheese, a little at a time, stirring well between additions.
Simmer the finely diced onion in the 2 T. of butter without browning for 15 minutes. Add to the sauce and combine well. Force through a sieve.








To complete the dish, lay out the 4 filets and sprinkle each with a little salt, then spoon 1/4 of the filling on each filet, roll up being careful to push the filling in as you go. Secure with toothpicks.



















Spray a baking dish with pam and pour the 1/4 cup white wine in the bottom of the dish. Lay the fish bundles seam side down, or stand up in the baking dish. Lay one thin slice of lemon over each roulade. Bake uncovered in at 350°F. oven for 30-35 minutes until the fish flakes when prodded with a paring knife.





To plate: spoon a little of the sauce on a plate and lay slices of the roulade on the sauce, adding a little more sauce to the top.







It was very, very good!! Now, I hope Don likes it also!!








P.S. Could not stand to throw the 'goop' from the sieve away - it had a great flavor, so cooked up some Campenelle, tossed with the goop and added a tad more of leftover sauce. Now, that's going to be good!!
I had intended to make a Mornay sauce, but I kept coming back to a Soubise sauce, so it's kind of a bastardized-Mornay/Soubise sauce. Whatever we call it, it is delicious.