Recipes Discovered

Crab Cakes with Corn Maque Choux and Tomato Jam Recipe

I have a habit of wanting to make everything I see a TV chef make, regardless of the chef. I happen to catch a glimpse of Emeril Lagasse making his “famous” crab cakes that he serves at his new restaurant in Mississippi, and I knew right away I would end up trying to make them myself. Not that trying to make something Emeril makes is a bad thing, just usually a time consuming one. The crab cakes were actually fairly simple, although I found it difficult to keep them from falling apart. Pressing them firmly into the bread crumbs seemed to help, but they still wanted to fall apart in the pan. Maque Choux (pronounced ‘mock shoe’) is a traditional Louisiana dish composed of corn, bell pepper, onions, garlic, celery, and sometimes tomatoes. After the veggies were sauteed, I added milk for a little richness. The tomato jam was simply tomatoes, vinegar, and sugar simmered together until it turned into jam. All together, this made a wonderful dish. The crab cakes were a little bland on there own (maybe more seasoning?), but combined with the corn and tomato jam, they were excellent. I love corn, so I really enjoyed the maque choux, but the highlight of the dish was actually the tomato jam. It added such a flavor punch to the dish, and I would definitely double the recipe for it next time, so there is more than a small dollop. The meal wasn’t difficult to make, but it did take a lot of time. It tasted great though, so I guess that is the trade off that makes it worth it in the end.

Thai Curry Shrimp and Broccoli

I’ve been posting a lot of desserts lately, so here is something a little different. Red Curry Shrimp is something that I would typically order at a Thai restaurant. It’s one of my favorites, so I turned it into a simple stir fry. The sauce is only 4 ingredients - coconut milk, red curry paste, fish sauce, and brown sugar - but it’s a pretty intensely flavored. If you don’t like a lot of heat, cut back on the curry paste - it can be spicy! As with any stir fry, the shrimp and broccoli can be substituted out for anything you prefer. Seth and I really enjoyed this combination though. It was sweet and spicy, and made a wonderful dinner.

Shrimp with Basil-Mint Pesto Recipe

Linguine with Butter, Pecorino, Arugula, and Black Pepper Recipe

Having a large bunch of basil in the refrigerator that needed to be used, the first that came to my mind was to make pesto. The first recipe I came across was a recipe for shrimp with a basil mint pesto, which sounded really good and was really easy. Just combine basil, mint, toasted pine nuts, and garlic in a food processor (don’t try to use a blender, it doesn’t work), and drizzle in olive oil. To make the pesto a little lighter, I used half olive oil and half chicken stock. Once everything was worked into a thick paste, I transferred it to a bowl and mixed in grated Parmesan cheese. Apparently putting the Parmesan in the food processor changes the taste because of the heat from the blades. I don’t know how much or if it actually changes the taste, but I mixed the cheese in afterwards. Once the pesto was made, I sauted shrimp in some olive oil and garlic until they were pink and then tossed them in the bowl with the pesto. I was going to use the pesto as the sauce for linguine as well, but after reading some reviews that said the pesto was very potent, I decided to toss the hot linguine with butter, grated pecorino cheese, and black pepper. I used some of the pasta water to make a sauce, and then added chopped arugula. Although I really liked the pesto sauce on the shrimp, I am glad I didn’t use it for the pasta sauce since it did have a very strong flavor. It worked well on the shrimp though. And the linguine was so simple, yet so good. I used whole wheat linguine, which I think taste so much better than regular pasta. I thought the black pepper would be overpowering, but it went was balanced by the saltiness of the cheese. The arugula gave the pasta some color, but I don’t think it added much flavor. I could take it or leave it next time. Overall though, it was an easy meal that packed a major flavor punch. Seth liked it so much, he asked me to make it again tomorrow!

Shrimp with Basil-Mint Pesto Recipe

Linguine with Butter, Pecorino, Arugula, and Black Pepper Recipe

Miso Glazed Tilapia with Soba Noodles and Sugar Snap Peas

Seth really liked the miso salmon at the Cheesecake Factory and has been trying to get me to make it for quite awhile now. I don’t enjoy salmon, but we came to a compromise that I would try to make the recipe with a different fish. I used tilapia, because that’s what I had in the freezer.

To make the miso glazed, I combined a couple recipes together and ended up with miso, rice vinegar, brown sugar, and soy sauce. I marinated the fish for about 30 minutes in the mixture before removing it from the marinade baking it for 10 minutes in a 400 degree oven. The Cheesecake Factory serves their salmon with snow peas and white rice, but I opted for sugar snap peas and soba noodles. Soba noodles are made from buckwheat and are popular in Japanese cooking. To make the miso sauce, I combined the remaining marinade with more miso, chicken broth, and sugar in a skillet. Once it was boiling, I added the sugar snap peas, covered the pan, and cooked them about 3 minutes until they were tender. I added the cooked soba noodles to the skillet and mixed to combine everything. I served the noodles topped with the fish.

I thought the soba noodles were amazing. I loved the miso sauce - it was sweet and just a little bit salty. However, the fish was horrible. Not necessarily because of the miso glaze, but because it was so fishy. Tilapia is not supposed to be fishy. I assume the fish came from a bad ‘batch’ or something, but unfortunately, it ruined the dish for me.

Miso Glazed Tilapia with Soba Noodles and Sugar Snap Peas

Easy Lobster Paella Recipe

My dad called me the other day to tell me about a recipe that was in the local paper. He wasn’t exactly sure what is was, but he said the picture looked really good. I found out later it was actually a paella recipe, which is a Spanish rice dish, and, coincidentally, I had just seen Ina Garten make on her cooking show. When I was home visiting my parents, I decided to make it for them for dinner.
Although I based my paella on Ina Garten’s recipe, I made a lot of changes to it. The biggest being the substitution of shrimp for lobster. A lot of people that had reviewed the recipe suggested this substitution, mainly because of cost, but also because the shrimp seems to hold up better in the dish. The other changes I made were basically just seasoning alterations, based purely on taste. The base of paella is rice and saffron, and then various meats and vegetables are added. I believe any long cooking rice will work for this recipe, although basmati rice is recommended since it stays firm during cooking and won’t stick together. I used risotto rice (arborio rice), which is a starchier rice, but I think it worked out okay. >> Read more