Lobster Bisque

     Lobster is one of those food items that make you think of  high-society, sea-worn men, and love.
Valentines of 2016, a beautiful man made me the most succulent lobster dinner.  He sealed his fate in my life when he sent a lobster tail home with me (the next day) to use at my discretion.  I approached that lobster with buttery sleeves pushed up, Pink screaming in my ear, and Spotted Cow in my glass. There was a moment of silent contemplation ... then suddenly knife fury, celery praying for release, and garlic on it's knees begging for forgiveness! I completed this saga with a very fine pot of lobster bisque. By now, this beautiful man was on his next business trip and I was on to the most decadent of fine evenings with linen napkin in lap and lobster bisque before me - telling me tales of other-worlds and making me weep to the strains of Miles Davis.  Enjoy!


Ingredients:

1 lb lobster cut into chunks
2 cloves fresh garlic, crushed
4 Tbsp green onion, chopped
4 Tbsp shallots, minced
4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup white wine
3 sprigs fresh Thyme
2 fresh bay leaves
3 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
salt to taste
2 Tbsp tomato paste
3 cups chicken or fish stock
1 cup heavy cream


Preparation:

Boil lobster for 8 minutes.  Coarsely chop, cover and chill
Heat olive oil and butter; add the vegetables and herbs; saute 10 minutes
Add tomato paste and cook for 4 min.
Add Worcestershire
Add wine and boil until almost all is evaporated
Add stock and bay leaves; heat through
Whisk in heavy cream
Add lobster
Cover and simmer 30 minutes
If you prefer it thicker, stir in 1 Tbsp. cornstarch mixed in 1 Tbsp cold water.


Serve with a simple salad and hot buttered crusty bread. Champagne goes especially well with cream- based soups. 

                                                                                                                     Mel

Steak Soup

To help calm me while I was driving home on icy roads, I created a recipe in my mind - with ingredients I knew I had on hand, and Darn, I can hardly stand myself it was so good!

                                                                                                                 


Ingredients:

• 1.5 lb. steak, cooked, cut up into bite sized pieces (I used pork shoulder blade steak)
• 2 - 14.5 oz. cans stewed tomatoes, with peppers, celery, and cumin
• 1 - 6.5 oz. can mushrooms
• 1 - 11 oz. can Mexican corn
• 4 cups beef broth
• 4 cups water
• 1- 16 oz. can Baby Butter Beans 
• 1 pkg  Gnocchi   
• 1 Tbs each of, Cumin, Oregano, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder
• Salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients except Gnocchi in pot on a low boil for 1/2 hr.  Place Gnocchi in pot and allow to boil for 3 minutes until they rise to the top.  Serve with Parmesan Cheese on top and crusty hot- buttered bread on the side.




Pair with a lovely Merlot or Syrah ~


                                                         

                                                                                        Mel

Mango Tenderloin

                                                                           

     It's been two years since my last post here, and it hasn't gone unnoticed!  Many have asked me where I went, if I was okay ... Cooking, and this blog, were used as a source of healing for me during a tough time in my life.  When life got better, I stopped blogging. I did not stop cooking though! In fact, I have a boyfriend now - who loves to cook as well.  This recipe we created together, and when we took our first bites, I kid you not - our eyes connected, our forks trembled, and I believe one of us whimpered - this was some amazing stuff and we knew we were on to something big. Big like people would pay big bucks for a dish like this, and here I am offering it to you for free!  What a gal. All you have to do is purchase the ingredients, set aside an evening, and make some sweet love to some tender loins!  This is the perfect dish for a 3rd. date, especially if you want to have a 4th., and a 5th., and a 6th. .... You get the idea.  Enjoy!

                                                                                                       

Ingredients:

• 3 lb marinated, pork loin (we bought one in an apple marinade)
• 1/2 cup onion
• 2 orange peppers
• 4 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 Tbsp. ginger
• 3 mangoes
• 3 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice

                                             just look at all that goodness melding together!

Let's get started!

  Heat the vinegar in a pan over medium heat.  Add the sugar and cook until thickened some.  Add ginger and the mango, and continue to cook until softened.  Add the lime juice.  Puree until smooth in a food processor.

  Consistency will be jam-like.  You'll be tempted to stop right here and spread it on some toast, but Wait! Put this in a pan, or crock pot, along with the rest of the ingredients -   Cook until peppers and onion are soft.  In the meantime, cook your tenderloin to your choosing.

  Arrange your sliced tenderloin on a serving platter, Serve with the mango salsa on top, and be prepared to drool.  Man, this is good stuff Maynard!

  Don't forget your side of crusty warm bread ...

Make the final presentation as beautiful as the woman you made it for.

 .... and then dig in!

                                                                                                       

Mel

Bare-Naked Pear Salad



Not sure why the pears are bare naked, but I knew that would get your attention and that's what this stuff is all about.  If I can't get your attention you'll never know how easy it is to be a fabulous cook that everyone raves about behind your back.  Why behind your back?  Because they're all jealous.  Now focus - and be prepared to present a salad as artistic as the ceiling in a famous chapel.  Remember:  Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.  Set your pear salad down before them with attitude and chin high.  They'll believe.


Ingredients:

• 2 Pears, any kind, cored and sliced
• 1 Large chicken breast cooked and chopped
• 2 Romaines lettuce heads torn into bite sized pieces
• 1/2 cup toasted walnuts or pecans
• 1/3 cup Olive Oil
• 3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. prepared mustard
• 1 Clove garlic, chopped

Preparation:

1. In a skillet over medium heat, stir sugar and nuts together until they caramelize, about 5-10 min.  Cool.
2. In large salad bowl layer lettuce, pear, and chicken.
3. Dressing:  blend oil, vinegar, garlic, mustard, salt and pepper to taste.  Pour over salad.  Sprinkle with nuts and serve with a smile and a flip of the hair.

Caramelizing nuts

Preparing the Pear

Savor

mel

Shallot Chicken

The closest I'll probably ever get to him is by making his personal favorite dishes.  Perhaps my conniving hope is that somehow by cooking his meals he will accidentally fall upon a link that brings him to my blog.  He will be swept off his feat (not sure by what exactly yet), and immediately send 'his people' to locate me and bring me to him. He'll ask me to whip up a meal alongside him, bumping elbows in the extra-large kitchen (but I'm sure we'll both want the blender at the exact same time.)  He'll playfully put flour on my nose, I'll pull out my camera and take these exotic photos of him posing with the butternut squash and before you know it we'll be seated at a candlelit table feasting on an appetizer of cranberry feta pinwheels, to be followed with shallot chicken, and finished off with feeding each other buttermilk and honey sorbet - clinking our coffee cups.


But for now I must keep sweating over these hot coals, tirelessly exploring one recipe after another until he finds me, and smiles, and says, "Well done my child, well done." 


Ingredients:

• 8 chicken thighs
• flour
• 3 T safflower oil
• 2 cups sliced shallots
• 2 cups white wine
• 2 T Dijon mustard
• 1 cup rich chicken broth
• 1 q cherry tomatoes halved
• salt & pepper to taste
• 2 T dried Basil

Here is where I needed to deviate some, for various reasons-certainly not to improve upon the recipe because there is no such thing with Andrew's recipes.  Andrew asked for 4 cups whole peeled shallots - no mention of slicing.  I opted for 2 cups, sliced.  Andrew requested 2 cups chicken broth, I used 1 cup otherwise my pan would have overflowed.  I did not have tarragon on hand ( his recipe asks for 6 tarragons tied together) so I used basil instead.  I also did not have cherry tomatoes so I chopped up some whole tomatoes in place.  Lastly I used lime juice in place of the lemon juice because I had margarita's last night.


Does this make it mine own recipe?  I suppose I could argue it does, but I'd much rather share the creation with Andrew.  After all, he inspired me.   


The result ... honestly ... it is my absolute 100% incurable favorite chicken recipe of all time and will definitely be my go-to dish if ever I decide I need to get some one's attention.  Which causes me to pause ... and wonder if Andrew would like to come to dinner ...


Back to the recipe ...


Instructions:

Season chicken with salt & pepper and dredge in flour.  Place in oil in a large wide pot over medium heat.  When very hot add thighs, skin side down.  Brown well on both sides.  Remove chicken to plate and add shallots and basil to oil in pot.  Stir, until shallots start to caramelize.  Add wine, cook, boiling for 3 minutes, add mustard, broth, and chicken and cover.  Lower heat to simmer and cook for 30 minutes.  Remove lid and at a strong simmer cook until liquid is at sauce consistency.  Add tomatoes and cook for 3 more minutes. Season with salt & pepper.  Drizzle in 1/4 cup lemon juice, heat 30 seconds.  Serve garnishing with minced basil or tarragon.

                                                                            flour and fry

                                                                            fry it pretty

                                                                    caramelize shallots

                                                              add wine, drink the rest   

                                                                  adding chicken, broth

                                                               thicken, good lookin'

                                                   tomatoes and lemon juice for a bit of tang   

                                   We'll share a fork, Andy.  You don't mind if I call you that, do you?

Inspired, encouraged, and enticed, by Andrew Zimmern.

mel

                                                                                                                 

                                                              

Maple Salmon

I don't know about you, but I find salmon sexy.  Yes, I said sexy.  It can be tantalizing - smelling the sweet marinades as they caramelize with the heat.  Romantic with the sipping of a paired wine.  I find the color of salmon beautiful - in fact, it is a color.  My brother serves salmon for Easter. My sister goes to watch the fall salmon run in Michigan.  If salmon is not yet a part of your life, now is the time.  Not only is it amazing for your health, but it'll make you feel sexy too - as it's an aphrodisiac.  Search for all those natural aphrodisiac ingredients - you know, the ones that increase your,  ummmm ... interest in your partner (insert wink).  Don't go overboard though, or you just may get interested in your neighbor's partner.  Then, blindfold him and feed it to him.  He might just love you forever.  OXOX.

Ingredients:

1 lb. salmon

1/2 cup maple syrup
4 Tbsp soy sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. In a bowl, mix the syrup, soy sauce, garlic, salt and pepper.
2. Place salmon in a shallow glass dish and coat with marinate.  Cover dish and place in refrigerator for 30 minutes minimum, turning once. 
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
4. Place salmon in oven with marinade, and bake uncovered 20 minutes, or until easily flaked with a fork.

SideDish:

Baked Asparagus

• 1 bunch asparagus
• snap off ends and rinse well
• place in a large Ziploc bag with 1/4 cup olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground pepper
• bake in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes, turning once.

Wine Pairing:

                                                                                                  

Pinot Noir

Rose Champagne

Chardonnay

marinade salmon

prepared asparagus, ready for baking

baked salmon, can you smell it?

enjoy!

                                                                                   

Don't be afraid to swim against the flow.

mel

•                                                                    

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Among all types of cancer, prevention of the following cancer types is most closely associated with intake of Brussels sprouts: bladder cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, and ovarian cancer.  I have recently increased my intake of Brussels sprouts due to their superb properties, as well as just because I think they are so darn good!  I wanted to get away from the high - calorie white sauce that I had been making to top them with, and with experimenting, found some easy and great tasting alternatives.  If you have qualms about eating Brussels sprouts, increase the salt you put on them.  Slowly back off on the salt as you learn to enjoy them.  Here is my favorite sprout recipe, today. 




Ingredients:


1 lb. Brussels sprouts
2 Tbsp. minced garlic (3 cloves)
1 tsp. lemon juice
3 Tbsp. olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper.
freshly grated Parmesan is optional


Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Places Brussels sprouts in a cast iron frying pan, or roasting pan.
• Toss in olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Stir to coat.
• Cook 5 min. on medium heat.
• Place sprouts in oven, top rack, for 20 min. 
• Stir, cook another 10 min.  Sprinkle with cheese lightly, cook another 5 min.
  
  
  Outside leaves should be dark and lightly crusted.  
  
  
                                                                                                                      mel
  
                                                                  
  Optionally, you can toss in 1 Tbsp. dijon mustard, cider vinegar, pine nuts, thyme, or roasted chestnuts.  Add them during the last 5 minutes.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Wine Parings:
                                                                                          Meagan's and my favorite 
  
  Pinot Noir                                                           
  Cabernet Franc
  Pinot Grigio
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
                                                                          
  
  
                                                                               
                                                                                 
  
  
  
  
  The leftovers waited patiently,
  In the fridge for their turn.
  They did not harbor resentment,
  Nor was their rejection of concern.
  
  
  Except for Brussels sprouts,
  Who worried they'd be overlooked -
  They reeked of rotten eggs and sauerkraut,
  For they’d been overcooked.
  
  
  

  

  Yams tried to console Brussels with some sage advice:
  “Sure, you’re the lesser cousins of a greater creed,
  But rest assured, even you will be sought after 
  By gluttony and greed."
  
  
  The vegetables and their sauces, 
  Gravy, and cornbread dressing too,
  Congealed under plastic wrap,
  Between the mayo jar and last week's stew.
  
  
  Cranberries, potatoes and turkey
  Cooled in the old Frigidaire.
  Whipping cream and pumpkin pie,
  Sat idly by without a care.
  
  
  But as the leftovers leisurely gossiped,
  In the crisp Freon atmosphere,
  Brussels foresaw a hopeless future:
  "We're never getting out of here!"
  
  
  Brussels sprouts just knew,
  With their rancid smell,
  They’d be the only leftovers
  The gluttons would repel.
  
  
  The others humored Brussels,
  While furtively rolling their esculent eyes.
  Then as predicted they heard a voice:
  "You get the turkey, I'll get the pies!”
  
  
  They could hear dishes clanging,
  And the fridge door slowly creaking -
  The gluttons had arrived,
  Whispering and sneaking.
  
  
  Leftovers were piled onto plates, 
  And happily heated in the microwave.
  Except for the Brussels sprouts,
  Who were left behind to rot, rant and rave.
                                                     Rachel Howells
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Mel


P.s. New camera, can you tell?  :o)

The Healing Soup

drum roll please ...

Lori Prosser -  With her life sustaining soup!

                                                                       Lori

This recipe calls for gnocchi.  A wonderful little Italian gem of a dumpling.  I have a gnocchi class coming up in a few days that I am terribly excited about.  There is quite an art to the making of good gnocchi, so if you're buying them, buy the best and freshest you can find!  Lori stated, "The best gnocchi I've ever had was served as an appetizer in Milan.  The waiter sauteed it in a skillet at the table.  Served a bit crispy on the outside and melted in your mouth.  I've never had it the same way since."

I was anxious to try this soup, as I had been feeling under the weather.  Five ingredients and fifteen minutes later I was into a bowl pulsating with the heart of heaven!  Sooo easy, sooo good. The  first time Lori made it she didn't want her husband to know how easy it was.  Of course, she wanted him to think it involved hours of slaving and simmering!  It tastes like it does.

The recipe calls for hot turkey Italian sausage.  "Really, it doesn't matter the sausage, it always turns out delicious," Lori says.  I had plain ground turkey on hand and threw in two teaspoons of Cajun seasoning to give it a kick and one tablespoon Italian seasoning and it worked quite well!  I would think even Kielbasa would go nicely, for the men.

Lori also changed the five ingredients to seven (as did I), by adding sliced mushrooms and chopped fresh spinach - just because they were on hand.  I always double my recipes as well, something I've learned from my mother - cooking for a family of eight.  For me, it provides leftovers for healthy work lunches and food to share with friends!

                           Not much time to leaf through a magazine, "Soup simmers in minutes."

                                                                                                                                       
Ingredients:

• 1 (4.5-ounce) link hot turkey Italian sausage
• 2 cups water
• 1 (16-ounce) package vacuum-packed gnocchi (along-side the dried pasta)
• 1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, beef broth
• 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can Italian-style stewed      tomatoes, undrained and chopped
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese 

Preparation:

lori prosser

1. 1.) Remove casings from sausage. Cook sausage in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat  until sausage is browned, stirring to crumble.  Pepper to taste.
2. 
   
3. 2.) Add 2 cups water and next 3 ingredients to pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until gnocchi float to the top of pan. Ladle soup into bowls; sprinkle each serving with cheese.
4. 
   

Make it your own:  Tear up a handful of fresh spinach, slice up some fresh mushrooms - toss in with other ingredients.  Fresh garlic would go nicely as well.  

Wine Pairing:  Chateau Julien 2009 Barrel Select Merlot ($15)

                                                     Sangiovese

1.                                          

                                             Bert, 90                                                             - Photo by Lawrence Syverud       

1. 
   
2.                                                               
3. I texted my children one evening, recently, to tell them to look at the moon.  It was glorious in it's crisp white shirt and as full as a baby's tummy after nursing.  Huge on the horizon - I wanted to drive straight to it.  The moon reminds me of soup.  I'm not sure why ... the moon is the one thing that my children and I can look at, at the same time and be together, no matter where we all are in the world.  That's comforting, like soup.
4. Soup brings me back to the basics.  After an active day - while chopping vegetables for soup, I pretend I'm my grandmother.  Hair up, apron tied. Grandma whistled.  I sing.  When Ill, we instinctively go back to the basics, the beginning; humidifier, Vicks, soup.  It sooths and comforts.  We know It heals more than the sickness.  
5. What newer generations have not learned yet is that soup should always be eaten, not just when we have runny noses.  The elderly know this, but they don't tell us.  It's for us to discover on our own. The elderly aren't eating soup because the vegetables are soft with the liquid and goes down easy, they eat it frequently because of it's healing properties.  It offers longevity.  It sustains, helps one grow to 90.  
6. Tonight while preparing the soup, shaking the delicate rain of cayenne and basil into the broth of it, my daughter, Hannah, called and told me to look at the moon.  I strained over the balcony of my third floor apartment in every direction except the one allowing me to view the splendor.  She said it was blazing and glorious, but I could not see it.  I returned to stirring my soup, and raised the wooden spoon to my lips and tasted the moon.
7. Unsettled, I quickly slipped on my Uggs and raced down the flights of stairs that brought me to the back door and into the crisp air, and there is was!  And we gazed at it, together.  After two days of eating nothing but Lori's Healing Soup, I am on the mend.  I feel strength returning, an uplifting of my soul.  I am learning what Bert knew.  I think I'll have soup tomorrow.

As the winner of this month's recipe contest, Lori will receive something homemade from my kitchen, just as soon as the bird takes flight to England.  : )

1.   mel                                                                                                                             

         

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