Clam & Crab Bisque

This was the appetizer for Dan’s birthday dinner! Last year when I made him the Cioppino, he loved it. So this year I wanted to try something a little different. This recipe is from www.allrecipes.com… nothing original about this one because as I’ve said before, I don’t eat seafood so it is hard to edit and customize something you don’t eat! The only thing I did differently was add more crab meat. Other than that, follow the recipe and it should come out well.

 

Ingredients

4 tablespoons margarine

1 large onion, minced

1/3 cup minced celery

1/4 cup finely chopped carrots

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon dill weed

6 cups water

3 cubes chicken bouillon

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

3 cups cubed potatoes

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 1/2 cups milk

1 (6 ounce) can crabmeat, drained

1 (6.5 ounce) can chopped clams

 

Directions

Heat margarine in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in onion, celery, and carrots; cook until soft. Stir in flour, red pepper flakes, and dill weed. Mix in water, bouillon cubes, and Worcestershire sauce. Add potatoes, and season with black pepper; cook until potatoes begin to soften, about 10 minutes. Stir in milk, crab meat, and clams; simmer 15 to 20 minutes.

Paella!

This was Dan’s Birthday dinner this year!! He had mentioned that he wanted to have paella soon, so I found a good recipe and made it for him! I also made him Crab & clam chowder which I will post the recipe to later. I do not eat seafood at all so this recipe is straight from Tyler Florence… kind of hard to edit something to your liking when you don’t like it… LOL! This is an ultimate paella recipe, it has much more seafood in it then traditional paella!!

Ingredients

Spice Mix for chicken:

1 tablespoon sweet paprika

2 teaspoons dried oregano

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Combine ingredients in a small bowl. Rub the spice mixture all over the chicken; marinate for 1 hour, covered

Rest of ingredients:

1 (3-pound) frying chicken, cut into 10 pieces

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 Spanish chorizo sausages, thickly sliced

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

1 Spanish onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, crushed

Bunch flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped, reserve some for garnish

1 (15-ounce) can whole tomatoes, drained and hand-crushed

4 cups short grain Spanish rice

6 cups water, warm

Generous pinch saffron threads

1 dozen littleneck clams, scrubbed

1 pound jumbo shrimp, peeled and de-veined

2 lobster tails

Lemon wedges, for serving

Directions

 Rub the spice mix all over the chicken and marinate chicken for 1 hour in the refrigerator.

Heat oil in a paella pan over medium-high heat. Sauté the chorizo until browned, remove and reserve. Add chicken skin-side down and brown on all sides, turning with tongs. Add salt and freshly ground pepper. Remove from pan and reserve.

In the same pan, make a sofrito by sautéing the onions, garlic, and parsley. Cook for 2 or 3 minutes on a medium heat. Then, add tomatoes and cook until the mixture caramelizes a bit and the flavors meld. Fold in the rice and stir-fry to coat the grains. Pour in water and simmer for 10 minutes, gently moving the pan around so the rice cooks evenly and absorbs the liquid. Add chicken, chorizo, and saffron. Add the clams and shrimp, tucking them into the rice. The shrimp will take about 8 minutes to cook. Give the paella a good shake and let it simmer, without stirring, until the rice is al dente, for about 15 minutes. During the last 5 minutes of cooking, when the rice is filling the pan, add the lobster tails. When the paella is cooked and the rice looks fluffy and moist, turn the heat up for 40 seconds until you can smell the rice toast at the bottom, then it’s perfect.

Remove from heat and rest for 5 minutes. Garnish with parsley and lemon wedges.

Happy Birthday Danny!! Hope you loved it!

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Apple & Cheesecake Torte

Apple pie meets cheesecake meets cookie… how can you ever go wrong with that?!! This was so delicious! The crust on this is like a streussel topping, just compacted to make a crust. Perfect dessert for any time of year!

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened

 1 cup sugar, divided

 1 cup flour

 1 (250 g) package of cream cheese, softened

 1 egg

 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

 4 Granny Smith or Golden Delicious apples, peeled, sliced

Directions

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Beat butter and 1/3 cup of the sugar in small bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add flour; mix well. Spread onto bottom and 1 inch up side of 9-inch spring form pan.

2. Beat cream cheese and 1/3 cup of the remaining sugar in same bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Spread evenly over crust. Combine remaining 1/3 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Add to apples in large bowl; toss to coat then spoon over cream cheese layer.

3. Bake 10 min. Reduce temperature to 375 degrees F; continue baking 25 min. or until center is set. Cool on wire rack. Loosen torte from rim of pan. Cover and refrigerate 3 hours before serving. Store any leftovers in refrigerator. Serve with caramel sauce as a yummy addition!

Peanut Butter Vegetable Chicken Soup

Yes, you read that right…. soup with peanut butter in it! I have to tell you that I was very skeptical to try this but Dan was all for it! And I also have to tell you that he was right…. yes you read that correctly too… I admitted that Dan was right 😉

I got this recipe from allrecipes.com and followed it exactly (except we always make our own stock) because it was the first time we’ve made something so different like this! I think next time we will make some changes but for now, here is the recipe we used!

Ingredients

8 cups chicken broth

 2 cups diced, cooked chicken meat

 1 cup peeled and cubed potatoes

 1 cup diced carrots

 1 cup diced zucchini

 1 cup broccoli florets

 1 cup canned whole tomatoes, chopped

 1/2 cup chopped celery

 1/2 cup chopped onion

 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

 2 cloves garlic, minced

 1/2 cup peanut butter

 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

 salt to taste (we did not use any salt)

 ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. In a large stock pot, combine the broth, chicken, potatoes, and carrots. Bring the soup to a boil, and then reduce heat to medium. Cook for about 10 minutes, till vegetables are tender.

2. Add zucchini, broccoli, tomatoes, celery, onion, green pepper, and garlic. Simmer for about 8 minutes.

3. Add peanut butter, parsley, salt, and pepper; stir until peanut butter is fully blended. Simmer for 3 minutes longer.