.crab cakes.

I have to admit that I was never a big fan of crab cakes. I know! What's wrong with me? It's probably been in the last 3-4 years that I have actually grown to love them. I have even gotten over my fear of mustard... but only enough to use it in this recipe.

There is no wrong or right way to make a crab cake. There are a bazillion different variations out there. If you have a tried and true recipe, then stick with that one. This is one I have used quite a lot and we like it well enough. Serve with a lemon-dill cream sauce (not pictured).


Begin by making the bread crumbs. What I do is set 5 slices of bread on the counter. Let them sit out for at least 5 hours. It's better if you can let them sit overnight to dry out.

You can make these a couple of days in advance. Grate and put in a ziploc baggie.

If you have a food processor, break the bread apart and pulse away until they're "crumby". Otherwise, you have to do it the old fashioned way like I do and use a box grater.


In a blender, put 2 Tbsp parsley, 1 Tbsp red bell pepper, 1 Tbsp onion, 1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning, salt and pepper, 3 egg yolks, 1 tsp Tabasco, and 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard.

Blend blend blend. With the blender still on, slowly drizzle in 1/4 cup olive oil.













Transfer the mixture from the blender to a bowl. Stir in 1/4 cup sour cream.











I like different layers of flavor and texture. I put 1 lb lump crab meat (blue crab is the best, but any will work well, except for king crab), a little chopped parsley, a little minced red bell pepper, and a little minced onion. Basically the same stuff I put in the blender, but this gives the crab cake some texture.







Dump in the aioli mixture and stir everything together.











Dump in 2 cups bread crumbs and mix everything together well.











I don't have a picture of me making the cakes because my hands were all gunked up. Not too difficult to figure out though. Just patty up some crab, then coat with the remaining bread crumbs. Put on a baking sheet.

Put these in the fridge and let firm up for at *least* 1 1/2 hours. It's better if you let them set up more than that though. They will be a little firmer before frying.



Melt 4 Tbsp butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Carefully place your crab cakes in the pan and fry for 4 minutes on each side.

Super blurry picture. Flip and cook on the other side.

What I did was fry them up and then put in a low temp oven on a plate while I fixed the rest of the meal.

If you're making these for your Valentine dinner, I highly suggest you do it like I did above. You'll want all of your meal ready and held in a warm oven. That way all you have to do is pull things up to plate as you need to.

I didn't get any pictures of the lemon-dill sauce. Here are the directions:

Lemon Dill Sauce

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tbsp capers, drained

1-2 tsp fresh dill, chopped

2 lemons, zested and juiced

Mix all of the ingredients together and put in the fridge to set. Can be made 1-2 days ahead of time.

Printable version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_137gsvd49gz

.filet mignon with madeira sauce.

*rubbing hands together*

I have to tell you all, this steak was FANTASTIC!  The filet was so tender, you could cut it with the side of your fork!  The only bad thing?  We were so full from eating salad and crab cakes we could only eat a very small bit of our steak and potatoes before we had to stop. LOL

If you don't have a grill, or it's just too cold to grill, you can use a skillet.  I bought a grill pan for this and it worked great.... except for the stupid $200 Viking hood that ISNT HOOKED UP.  Yep.  I turned on my fan but as soon as I put the steaks on, the house started smoking up.  I checked and there is no vent tubing taking the SMOKE OUTSIDE.  So I need to contact the builder and have him come fix that.  What a nuisance.  Grrrr... but the steaks were fabulous and the Madeira sauce was the perfect companion for the meat and potatoes.  I know you will agree.

You really do need to use Madeira wine.  You will not get the same flavor if you use something else, but if you really need to use something different, I suggest a port.  Port wine reduction works for steak, right?

Put 1 1/2 cups Madeira wine and one chopped onion in a saucepan.  Turn on medium to medium high heat.  Let this cook down.

See how reduced down that is?  Doing this intensifies the flavor and the alcohol cooks out.  It has now been infused with the onion so there's a lot going on here.  Once it gets to this point, turn the heat to very very low.

Once the Madeira has reduced, put 3 Tbsp butter in a skillet and saute up 1 cup mushrooms (can be omitted).  Saute until they are nice and brown.

Sprinkle 2 Tbsp flour over the mushrooms and cook the flour for a minute, while whisking.

Now pour in 1 1/2 cups beef stock.  This will begin thickening up almost immediately.  Make sure you keep whisking so you can work out any lumps. After a minute, pour in the Madeira reduction.

Taste and season with salt and pepper.  

At this point I transferred the sauce to an oven safe bowl, put a piece of foil over the top and held in a low temp oven to stay warm.

Remember when cooking steak... let it sit out for about 30 minutes before grilling.  This relaxes the meat, which ensures it will be very very tender.  Again, we're using Filet Mignon, which is pricey, so make sure you don't destroy it by overcooking.

Before putting on the HOT grill, I seasoned well with salt and pepper.  I did put a little oil on the pan before putting the steaks down to ensure they don't stick.

Grill on one side for 3 minutes, then flip over and sear the other side for 3 minutes.  Then flip *back* over, putting it on another diagonal to give you criss cross grill markings.  Grill again on that side for 3 minutes, and repeat for the other side.  That should be enough for a perfect medium rare steak.  If you want your steak done a little more, then cook a little longer on each side.

When these were done grilling (and all the smoke was cleared out of the house. LOL), I put them on a plate and held them in the oven to "rest" and stay warm.

Serve with a helping of roasted garlic mashed potatoes and put some of that delicious Madeira sauce on top.  Visual presentation is just as important as flavor, so when plating, stick a little sprig of fresh thyme in the mashed potatoes (see picture at top).  You will really impress your Valentine with all your cheffy skills!!!

Printable version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_140hc3fdvc9

.spinach salad w/ blue cheese and walnuts.

This is the spinach salad for our Valentine dinner cook-along. I love a good salad and this one definitely hits the spot. You want to make sure you use really good ingredients. Make sure your blue cheese is a good brand with nice veining throughout the wedge. You won't need much because it's such a pungent cheese, so don't buy more than you think you'll use. If you aren't a fan of blue cheese, you can sub with parmesan. My daughter had cheddar on her salad.

I made this with a warm bacon shallot vinaigrette. The sweet and sour dressing was a perfect compliment to the creamy cheese and nutty flavor of the walnuts.


Slice two shallots.












Chop up two strips of bacon. I used thick sliced bacon.











Put the bacon in a skillet. Fry over medium high heat.











When the bacon is halfway done, add the shallots and let saute for 3-4 minutes.











Add 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar. If you find there isn't a lot of "dressing", add a little olive oil.

Season with 1/2 tsp sugar, salt, and pepper. If it's too sour, add more sugar. If it's too sweet, add more vinegar.

That is all this is needed for the dressing. I transferred to a bowl and kept in a low temp oven.

Slice some of the blue cheese and break into pieces.

I used one of those pre-packages of spinach that you can find in your produce section. I like these because the spinach is already washed.

Make the viniagrette a day in advance. It will save you a lot of time. Reheat in the microwave just before serving. You can also toast the chopped walnuts the night before too. Trust me. Do as much as possible before hand so you aren't killing yourself in the kitchen.

To plate: Tear some of the spinach on top of a plate. Sprinkle around some blue cheese and walnuts. Spoon the bacon-shallot vinaigrette over the top. Serve immediately.

Printable version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_136ffs6dtdv

.strawberry cream cupcakes.

We were at Costco yesterday and I noticed they had strawberries in stock. I swear I could live on strawberries alone. I love them so much. If you've ever bought them at Costco you know they come in this huge package. My husband asked me what I was going to do make with all of those strawberries. Well DUH. I don't have to make ANYTHING! I can eat them all by their pretty little selves!

Well, that wasn't a good enough answer so I told him I would make some strawberry cream cupcakes for him to take into work. I think they're starting to love me there because Jim has so far taken in Cinnamon rolls, sugar cookies, muffins, and now cupcakes. Maybe they're hating me for expanding waistlines? *gasp*

This recipe comes courtesy of Martha Stewart. She had a big cupcake thing on her show last year and this was a recipe given or shared by Sprinkles -- that famous little cupcake shop out west in California. I thought I'd give them a shot. :) (For the record, I did have to eat one of the cupcakes. Poison control, right?)


First we have to wash the berries. Make sure you only wash what you need. Don't put wet washed berries back in with the dirty ones because it promotes mold and we don't want our strawberries going bad before we eat -- I mean use them all.








Remove the stems on about 10 strawberries. We need enough to measure 2/3 cup mashed.

Use a fork to smash their itty bitty heads in. (such violence!) I would smash some and then put into a measuring cup. When I reached 2/3, I let Paige eat the rest (I helped).













See? 2/3 cup. I think there might actually be closer to 1 cup in there. You'll be safe if you inch up to 1 cup. I wouldn't go over though because strawberries produce a lot of juice when they come in contact with sugar, which can be instant death to fluffy little cupcakes.







Measure out 1/4 cup milk and pour in the measuring cup with the strawberries. Add 1 tsp vanilla as well.










In a bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1 tsp baking powder.











In a mixing bowl, cream together 1/2 cup butter (softened) and 1 cup sugar.











Add 3 eggs and whip on high until everything's creamed together and a little fluffy.










Alternate adding the flour mix and strawberry/milk mix until everything has been put into the mixing bowl. Don't overbeat this. When everything has come together, remove the bowl from the stand and do a courtesy mix with a rubber spatula just to make sure there's nothing left on the sides and bottom of the bowl.





Spray down a muffin tin. This made almost exactly 12 cupcakes. I didn't have paper liners so I spooned it all right into the pan. If you have or want to use liners, go ahead and use them. I have never met a fussy cupcake. :)

Put in a preheated 350* oven and bake for about 20 minutes. Insert a toothpick to make sure they're baked through.




Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Then dump the cupcakes out and let cool on a wire rack.

While they cool, let's make the cream cheese frosting.







Cream together 1 (8oz) package cream cheese, and 1/2 cup butter.











Add 4 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing between each addition. You don't want to add it all at the same time because when you go to turn on your machine.. POOF! You'll be coughing on a big powdered sugar cloud.

So add a little at a time, and scrape your bowl often.






You won't even have to add any milk to this recipe. The moisture from the butter and cream cheese is enough. Add a little vanilla and some pink food coloring. Mix well.









Fill a piping bag with a star tip and swirl the frosting on the tops of the cupcakes. I washed extra strawberries and patted them dry to put on top. Paige remembered I bought Valentine sprinkles at Target a couple weeks ago so we sprinkled some of those on top after the strawberries were put in place.

Keep these stored in an air-tight container and put in the fridge. That's if they last that long. ;)

A sweet little treat for your special Valentine's to enjoy this week.


Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_135gmkjk3c8

.lobster & mushroom spaghetti.

I had every intention of making lobster curry the other night, but I didn't have all of the ingredients so I had to think of something else to make. So I decided what's better than pasta and lobster? Oooo put it together! A winning combo for sure.

I didn't make your typical tomato base spaghetti sauce. Instead I made a lemon garlic wine sauce that was out of this world, blending the seafood and pasta together.


Begin by mincing three cloves garlic.












Thinly slice one medium sized onion.












Remove the seeds and gunk from 2 roma tomatoes. Dice.











Chop up some chives (about 2 Tbsp).












Chop up 1 pound lobster meat. If you can use fresh, that's best, but I wasn't able to. I bought lobster meat next to the seafood section at the grocery store.

Make sure you keep the pieces bite sized... don't cut too small.






To take an easy shortcut, I bought a package of pre-sliced mixed mushrooms. This pack came with shiitake, cremini, and white.










You'll need one lemon, juiced.












And 2 Tbsp cream.












Put a pot of water on to boil. Add salt. Cook spaghetti as directed on package. I like using thin spaghetti but use what you like.










In a pan, put 1/2 cup chicken broth, 1/2 cup white wine, the onion, and garlic in a saute pan. Turn on to high heat. We want to reduce this by half.










When the liquid has reduced by half, add the mushrooms and tomatoes. Mix around and cook for about 5 more minutes on medium high.










Add 1 tsp basil. Cook another 2-3 minutes.












Turn the heat to low and add 3 Tbsp butter. Stir with a spoon and mix the two together. You don't want the sauce to separate when you add the butter.









When the butter has melted, add the cream and lobster meat. Stir around. You really only need to heat the lobster as the sauce is complete at this time. Taste and season with sea salt and black pepper.








Finish with the chopped chives.

Drain your pasta and plate. Spoon the sauce over the top and garnish with fresh grated parmesan reggiano cheese.

Serve with salad and bread.



Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_134cd7hjbfm