Crab cake sandwiches

Whitney loves the State Farmers Market with its wide variety of cheap produce and other local businesses, so much so that she seems to forget that we are already subscribed to receive a box of produce every week from our CSA. One day she came home with ingredients for crab cake sandwiches and we got to work making use of our large stock of perishable foods.

Everything except condiments in this meal is from local farms and businesses. We used sweet potato from our Brinkley Farms CSA to make fries; crab from Locals Seafood; cabbage (for slaw), lettuce, and tomato from various NC Farmers Market vendors; and rolls from La Farm Bakery in Cary (sourced at the NC Farmers Market).

Maryland Crab cake Sandwich Inspiration from Bryan Voltaggio & Esquire
   For 2 sandwiches
Ingredients
3 Tbsp mayonnaise, preferably Duke's 
1 tsp Old Bay
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 ½ tsp lemon juice  
1 egg
2 scallions, minced  
2 drops Tabasco sauce
pinch of fine sea salt  
1/2 lb jumbo lump crabmeat, picked of fragments
1/3 cup cracker meal for breading  
1/3 cup clarified butter*
2 buns, toasted and buttered

Directions
   In a medium bowl, combine the mayonnaise, Old Bay, Worcestershire, mustard, lemon juice, eggs, scallions, Tabasco, and sea salt. Using a wire whisk, mix the ingredients together to incorporate evenly. Add the crabmeat by thirds and fold gently with a spatula to be sure the crab does not get broken up.
   Evenly coat the bottom of a baking dish with a generous dusting of the cracker meal, about ½ cup. Use an ice-cream scoop or a similar tool to divide crabmeat mixture into six or eight individual cakes. Place each crab cake in the cracker meal and dust with the remaining cracker meal, coating all sides. In a large frying pan, slowly heat the clarified butter. Use a candy thermometer to get it to 325 degrees, or stick the end of a chopstick into the butter — when it gives off a steady stream of bubbles, you're at 325.
   Using a slotted metal or other high-heat-resistant spatula and working one at a time, place each cake into the butter, leaving a half inch between them so the crab cakes brown evenly. Cook crab cakes on both sides in the clarified butter, about 6 full minutes per side, until golden brown. (If you need to cook in multiple batches, set your oven at the lowest temperature and insert a cooling rack over a baking sheet, to rest the crab cakes on.) Let cakes sit for a minute, and then transfer them to the buns. Top with tartar sauce.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries from Paula Deen
Ingredients
Olive Oil, for tossing
1 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced in 1/4-wide inch strips
1 tablespoon House Seasoning (salt, black pepper, garlic powder)
1/2 teaspoon paprika

Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Line a sheet tray with parchment. In a large bowl toss sweet potatoes with just enough oil to coat. Sprinkle with House Seasoning and paprika. Spread sweet potatoes in single layer on prepared baking sheet, being sure not to overcrowd. Bake until sweet potatoes are tender and golden brown, turning occasionally, about 20 minutes. Let cool 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Tartar Sauce
Combine dab of mayo, some chopped pickle relish, dash of white vinegar, dijon mustard, salt and pepper.

Serve crab cake on sandwich with tartar sauce, baked sweet potato fries, and slaw.

Salmon and dijon potatoes

These roasted potatoes were really good. Most of the time we do roasted potatoes they're a bit ho-hum, but the mustard in this preparation really gave them the kick they needed to be extra delicious. We had them with salmon and an arugula salad.

Dijon-roasted potatoes

Inspired by Ina Garten's Mustard-Roasted Potatoes

Chop potatoes into bite-size pieces. Toss with dijon mustard, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast at 425 until cooked through and lightly browned.

Pesto stuffed chicken breasts

I'm not typically a big fan of chicken breast. Even when cooked properly and dressed up, I'm not often craving the next bite. This dish, however, was exceptional and surprised me. The chicken came out perfectly tender, and the decadent pesto cream cheese filling and bread crumb topping made it extra delicious. Perhaps it isn't the healthiest chicken breast preparation, but this is great for an occasional treat.

For better chicken breast in general, apparently sous vide (precision temperature controlled water bath) is the way to go to avoid the dry stringy texture that's typical with baking. Maybe someday we'll give that a try.

Whitney served this with couscous (tossed with sun-dried tomatoes and scallions) and honey carrots

Pesto stuffed chicken breasts Inspiration from this previous recipe
Ingredients
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 oz cream cheese, softened
4 tbsp pesto
salt and pepper
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions
   Preheat oven to 350F.
   Pound chicken breasts to an even 1/2" thickness.
   Prepare pesto filling - mix together cream cheese, pesto, salt and pepper. Divide filling and place down the middle of both chicken breasts (lengthwise). Bring sides together and secure with a toothpick.
   Prepare bread crumb topping - mix together breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, and extra virgin olive oil. Spread over chicken breasts and pat down.

   Bake in preheated oven for 35-45 minutes or until center registers 165F with a meat thermometer (I don't usually cook it quite so high to help save some of the texture, possibly at some food safety risk).
   Serve immediately.

Oatmeal and biscotti

We have a favorite baked oatmeal recipe with one big problem: by the time we decide to make it, and then prep it and bake it, I'm super hangry and half the day has been wasted. This was the big motivation to start experimenting more with stovetop oatmeal. The main difference is that you have to cook it in boiling water instead of slowly in the oven with milk, so you lose some of the tastiness of the milk base and it's easier to cook it improperly and end up with tasteless runny mush.

But if you cook with just enough water and just enough time and add delicious mix-ins, you can get a really good result in less than 15 minutes total. The one pictured below was pretty much a direct imitation of the baked oatmeal recipe along with a splash of half and half. I've also experimented with pecans, peanut butter, crunchy granola, and chocolate.

This post also features some tasty hazelnut biscotti that Whitney picked up from Ninth Street Bakery. I was initially leery of them as I thought the texture would be too dry, hard, and crunchy for my liking, but I found that they are awesome when you dip them in coffee and couldn't get enough. All in all we had a great breakfast that day!

Grandma Pizza

When it comes to your basic tomato and cheese pizza, there's still plenty of room for variety - crust style, amount and type of cheese, tomato sauce vs. chopped tomatoes, and seasonings. Whitney picked out this Cook's Country recipe that makes a tasty thin-crust pizza with chopped tomatoes and mozzarella. I've made a few different pizza crust recipes before and found this one easy to make and work with, and it came out of the oven perfectly crisp. Given the time to make it I would probably still prefer my Chicago pizza imitation, but we really enjoyed this one.

Cook's Country Grandma Pizza
   Serves 4
Ingredients
   For the dough
3 tbsp olive oil
3/4 C water
1 1/2 C bread flour
2 1/4 tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
   For the topping
1(28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
8 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded (2 cups)
1/4 C grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil

Directions
   Coat rimmed baking sheet with 2 tablespoons oil. Combine water and remaining 1 tablespoon oil in 1-cup liquid measuring cup. Using stand mixer fitted with dough hook, mix flour, yeast, sugar, and salt on low speed until combined. With mixer running, slowly add water mixture and mix until dough comes together, about 1 minute. Increase speed to medium-low and mix until dough is smooth and comes away from sides of bowl, about 10 minutes.
   Transfer dough to greased baking sheet and turn to coat. Stretch dough to 10 by 6-inch rectangle. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 1½ hours. Stretch dough to corners of pan, cover loosely with plastic, and let rise in warm place until slightly puffed, about 45 minutes. (If the dough snaps back when you press it to the corners of the baking sheet, cover it, let it rest for 10 minutes, and try again.) Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 500 degrees.
   Place tomatoes in colander and drain well. Combine drained tomatoes, oil, garlic, oregano, and salt in bowl. Combine mozzarella and Parmesan in second bowl. Sprinkle cheese mixture over dough, leaving ½-inch border around edges. Top with tomato mixture and bake until well browned and bubbling, about 15 minutes. Slide pizza onto wire rack, sprinkle with basil, and let cool for 5 minutes. Serve.

Squash and Fontina Casserole

The Arts & Living section of the Sunday News & Observer features a recipe each week. On this particular week I mentioned to Whitney that the featured squash and fontina casserole looked pretty good. Given that it was also a Vivian Howard (star of "A Chef's Life") recipe and we were somehow still getting summer squash from our CSA, it inevitably ended up on the meal plan the following week.

The only way I really like summer squash is when it is cooked long enough to release some of its water and start caramelizing. This recipe does just that and then bakes the squash with some herbs, cheese, and garlic, making for a delicious casserole (although I think the squash itself would be almost as good). Check out the link below for a little blurb from the N&O about the recipe. We served it with salmon and green beans.

Vivian Howard's Squash and Fontina Casserole
   Serves 10-12 (we halved)
Ingredients
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp cornmeal
2 tbsp bacon fat (we used evoo)
4 medium yellow onion halved and sliced thin, about 4 cups
2 tbsp minced garlic
8-10 medium yellow squash or zucchini, sliced 1/4 inch rounds or half moons
3 tsp finely chopped fresh sage or 1 1/2 tsp dried sage (we used dried sage)
1 tsp finely chopped rosemary
3 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 C grated Fontina, Swiss or white American cheese (we used Fontina)
1 large egg

Directions
   Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch-by-8-inch casserole dish and dust the inside of the dish with cornmeal. Alternately, you could use six (6-ounce) ramekins and make individual casseroles.
   Heat bacon fat over medium heat in a 12-inch saute pan or cast iron skillet. Add onions and garlic and cook until onions are translucent. Add the squash, sage, rosemary, salt and black pepper. Stir it all to combine and cook over medium-high heat for about 25 minutes, checking periodically to make sure things aren’t sticking. You are looking for the squash to release all its liquid and begin to brown. Remove pan from the heat. While things are still steamy, stir in cheese. Allow the mixture to cool slightly. Then stir in the egg.
   Fill whatever vessel you choose three-fourths of the way with the squash mixture. Bake uncovered for 30 to 45 minutes for the large casserole, or 15 to 20 minutes for the small ones. Either way you’re looking for it to brown on top and around the edges. Serve warm.

This particular meal came together easily as we were able to just
shove everything in the oven at the same time

Thai beef with basil

From tacos to meatloaf to spaghetti sauce, ground beef is an old favorite of mine. I never considered how one could make an Asian-flavored dish with ground beef (it sounded kind of weird to me), so I was surprised when this one came out to be super delicious! It's also simple to make, especially when you don't bother to keep the "slaw" or rice separate and just mix everything together in the skillet.

Thai Beef with basil from Bon Appétit

   Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tbsp  vegetable oil, divided

6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

2 red chiles, thinly sliced, seeded for less heat if desired, divided

1 lb  ground beef

salt and pepper
½ cup low-sodium chicken broth

3 c fresh basil leaves, divided

2 medium carrots, julienned or coarsely grated

2 scallions, thinly sliced

4 tbsp fresh lime juice, divided

2 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce

1 tbsp fish sauce (such as nam pla or nuoc nam)

1 tsp sugar

Steamed rice and lime wedges (for serving)

Directions

   Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add garlic and 1 chile and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add beef, season with salt and pepper, and cook, breaking up with a spoon and pressing down firmly to help brown, until cooked through and nicely crisped in spots, 8–10 minutes. Add broth and 2 cups basil and cook, stirring, until basil is wilted, about 2 minutes.
[For these final steps I just tossed the ingredients into the skillet rather than mixing them up separately]

   Toss carrots, scallions, 1 tbsp lime juice, and remaining chile, 1 cup basil leaves, and 1 tbsp oil in a small bowl.

   Mix soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, and remaining 3 tbsp lime juice in another small bowl until sugar dissolves.

   Top rice with beef and slaw and drizzle with soy dressing. Serve lime wedges alongside for squeezing over.

It's Always Caturday

Naps, naps, and more naps

Shrimp and edamame succotash

Whitney prepared this succotash for us one evening. I didn't know what a succotash was, but apparently it's a dish primarily featuring shell beans (edamame in this case) and corn (supposedly optional in the South, but lard or butter is most certainly not). More traditionally it is made with lima beans, which I'm really not a fan of, so the edamame was a welcome substitution. The dish was easy to throw together and had a good mix of flavors (including bacon!), so I was satisfied.

Tossed with couscous

Shrimp and edamame succotash from the lean green bean blog

Ingredients
2 slices of bacon, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup onion, minced
1 cup corn kernels
1 red pepper, diced
1.5 cups frozen, shelled edamame
1 pound shrimp, raw, peeled & deveined
1 tsp paprika
1 Tbsp melted butter

Directions
   In a large saute pan, cook bacon, onion, garlic and peppers over medium heat for 5 minutes.
Cook edamame according to package directions. Add to pan along with corn and cook 3 minutes more. Set aside.
   Place shrimp on skewers, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with paprika. Grill 2 minutes per side. If you don't want to grill your shrimp you can easily cook them in the pan.
Plate succotash mixture, top with shrimp and add fresh basil and goat cheese if desired.

Green bean salad with cherry tomatoes

Green beans are one of my least disliked vegetables, as they have a decent texture when cooked properly and have a fresh "green" flavor without being too bitter. This recipe takes green beans from "ok" to "actually good". The acidity of the lemon dressing and cherry tomatoes complement the green beans really well and make for a delicious salad.

Green bean and cherry tomato salad from chow.com
   Serves 6-8 (we halved)
Ingredients
2 tbsp finely chopped shallot (from about 1 medium shallot)
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest (from about 2 medium lemons)
2 tsp kosher salt, plus more as needed
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
6 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about 3 medium lemons)
1/2 c extra-virgin olive oil
2 lb green beans, ends trimmed
2 pints (1 pound) cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves and stems

Directions
   Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil and prepare an ice water bath by filling a bowl halfway with ice and water; set aside.
   Meanwhile, make the dressing. Place the shallot, lemon zest, and measured salt and pepper in a medium, nonreactive bowl and add the lemon juice. While whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in the oil and whisk until evenly combined. Set the dressing aside.
   Add the green beans to the boiling water and cook until crisp-tender, about 3 to 4 minutes. Drain and transfer to the prepared ice water bath. When the beans are chilled, drain again and thoroughly pat dry with paper towels.
   Place the beans, tomatoes, and parsley in a large bowl, pour in the dressing, and toss to coat thoroughly. Taste and add more salt and pepper as needed.

Asian style beef short ribs with soba noodles

I'm a big fan of slow-cooked beef that is super tender and just falls apart. In the past we've done beef stroganoff and pot roast in the slow cooker, which have always turned out great, but it was really nice to try something pretty different. The Asian sauce for these ribs was delicious, and the salad let us use up some corn and spinach we needed to get rid of. I was skeptical when Whitney added the corn but it blended with the other flavors surprisingly well.

Crockpot Asian style beef short ribs with soba noodles inspiration from Real Simple
   Serves 4
Ingredients
1/3 c soy sauce
1/2 c packed light brown sugar
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
4 pounds baby-back ribs (2 to 3 racks), cut into 8 pieces
2 bundles soba noodles
2 c fresh corn
1 c spinach
4 scallions, sliced

Directions
   In a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, mix together the soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, cornstarch, oil, ginger, and red pepper flakes. Add the ribs and turn to coat. Cover and cook until the ribs are tender, on low for 6 to 7 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours.
   Twenty minutes before serving, heat broiler. Place the ribs, meaty-side up, on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Strain the cooking liquid from the slow cooker into a medium bowl. Brush the meaty side of the ribs with half of the cooking liquid and broil, basting twice with the pan juices, until shiny and glazed, 3 to 4 minutes.

   Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to the package directions. Drain and run under cold water to cool. Add the noodles to the bowl of remaining cooking liquid from the slow cooker and toss with the corn, spinach, and scallions. Serve the ribs with the soba noodle salad.

Homemade pasta with beets and arugula

The plan for this meal was simply "beet pasta" which left me the option of either integrating the beets into the pasta dough or making normal pasta served with beets. I chose the latter for a few reasons. First, pasta dough is finicky enough when it's just egg and water; adding in beets with all of their water and fiber throws another wrench in that can make the process more frustrating. Second, there's not much advantage to beet pasta over regular pasta; it seems like a lot of the color (and probably the nutrition too) leeches into the water when boiling, leaving you with a pink version of regular pasta that was harder to make. Third, I enjoy eating whole pieces of beet with my pasta.

So the choice was obvious, and I got to further refine my pasta-making skills with a simple egg/flour fettucine while we roasted the beets on the side. I turned out great!

As for what specifically we did, we made pasta, and probably made a sauce out of some olive oil, pasta water, and parmesan cheese. Then we tossed the hot pasta with arugula and roasted beets.

Welcome Back

If you're reading this it means that our technical difficulties have been resolved and you have landed back at our old blogging platform (Blogger). Hooray! You should notice that things are snappy again and some things should be familiar from before the original switch to theeibls. Whitney and I should be able to resume normal blogging now with greater productivity and reduced stress.

If anyone is interested in the details of what happened, when we were going to switch the blog over to theeibls.com, I already had a web hosting plan with it for the old wedding website, so I thought it would be fun to move the blog over to be self-hosted rather than point the domain at Blogger. I liked the idea of having more control over the site rather than having Google running everything behind the scenes. Because Blogger is not available for self-hosting, I decided to use WordPress, which at the time I figured was pretty much the same feature-wise and it wouldn't be a big deal to switch.

That was my big downfall; we had several problems with WordPress, and the only thing I used my extra self-hosting powers for was to hack up the php to try to fix things that just worked in Blogger. WordPress is slow, and seems like it can only be made workable with a combination of fast (aka pricey) hosting and a kludge of third-party speedup solutions. That kind of headache is just not worth it for a blog with a handful of readers. The other major problem with WordPress is that the post editor is terrible; the visual (WYSIWIG) editor frequently inserts weird formatting that you do not ask for, and doesn't permit certain formatting techniques that are easy in Blogger. On top of that, the html-style editor is not actually html, making it very difficult to fix the things that the visual editor screwed up, whereas Blogger gives you the real html.

All of that made it worthwhile to go back and port a few months of posts back to Blogger and to apply some of the stylistic updates we had made to the WordPress site (before the move I hadn't realized how flexible the Blogger templating is). Hopefully you appreciate the move as much as we do!

Wellness Wednesday - Fitness classes

It was the beginning of my sophomore year of college that I first took a serious interest in physical fitness. The previous year I had managed to gain 10 pounds by eating a cheese steak for lunch every day, and I looked and felt terribly out of shape. My buddy Romin and I started going to the gym nearly every day together (more or less) until we graduated, which felt great for both my social and physical wellness. We kind of made everything up as we went along and might not have had the most balanced or effective routine, but what mattered most was that we were going.

By the time I started working at IBM the January after I graduated, my routine had trailed off despite still having had access to the Duke gyms up to that point. IBM did have a gym but it required a paid membership, and for whatever reason I never decided to take the plunge and join, so my physical fitness mainly consisted of running whenever I felt like it and the weather was decent (which wasn't often enough). When I started working my current job which does have a free gym, the momentum of previous habits carried forward and I still did not get into an exercise routine.

Finally, earlier this year, Whitney and I committed to doing better and started going to the gym 3-5 days every week. For a few months I was doing a similar routine to what I had done in college (20-30 minutes of cardio followed by about 30 minutes of lifting), but since I was on my own and the workout was pretty boring, I was prone to cutting it short every now and then when I didn't feel like it or when I had a lame excuse like getting back to work. Eventually Whitney convinced me to try the classes that the gym offers, and they made a big difference.

First, you have to schedule the classes in advance, which creates a great incentive for showing up at a particular time, rather than having to motivate myself to drop what I'm doing and go. I can just schedule myself four classes every week and barring some unseen conflict, be confident that I'll go to them. Second, the classes go for a full hour so I'm not able to stop early. Third, there's good variety in the exercises done in each class, which is good for a well-rounded exercise routine, but also keeps things more fun and interesting while challenging my body in new ways. These are the classes I've tried:

Cycling - mostly cardio with some upper body/core exercises
Strength/cardio/core - quick paced total body workout
Yoga - mostly flexibility and balance
Pilates - core strength exercises
Boxing - Total body exercises mixed with some boxing exercises

I'd say my favorite has been the strength/cardio/core because it has good intensity and variety. Yoga's been my least favorite because of the slow pace, but I still mix it in to work on my flexibility.

As I've often heard, the right type of exercise is the one that you actually do, and I'm glad I've found something I enjoy and that I'm able to work into weekly routine. Doing these classes makes me feel great and is contributing significantly to my overall wellness.

Zucchini and turkey meatballs

Despite my love for breadcrumbs and ground meat, meatballs were never one of my favorite foods - something to do with the texture or having all the meat concentrated in one bite (as opposed to a meat sauce). These ones were pretty good though, and healthier too; instead of the egg and breadcrumbs often found in meatballs, these ones are just meat and veggies, with plenty of the latter. We served them on black rice for a nice well-rounded meal.

Turkey and zucchini meatballs inspiration from one lovely life
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 lb. ground turkey
2 c zucchini, grated (leave peel on)
1 small onion, grated
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper

Directions
Toss turkey with zucchini, onion, garlic, salt, and pepper. Mixture will be quite wet.
On a greased baking sheet scoop meatballs and then bake in a preheated 400F oven for 30-35 minutes or until cooked through.

Bok Choy Salad

We most commonly use bok choy in stir fries, where we will saute the chopped stalk with all the other veggies and then thrown in the greens at the end to wilt. This recipe used it differently, with the leaves used as salad greens and the raw stalk chopped up and tossed in the salad. The dressing seems like a really odd combination of ingredients, but it was surprisingly quite delicious (although you can never go wrong with peanut butter as far as I'm concerned). I'm glad we found a new way to use bok choy and look forward to having this again!

Bok Choy and Pineapple Salad from the chow  
Serves 8 (we halved)

Ingredients
For the dressing
1/4 cup natural smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (from about 2 medium limes)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons packed dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons fish sauce (we substituted miso sauce)
1 medium garlic clove, smashed
1 teaspoon chile-garlic paste
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
   For the salad
2 pounds baby bok choy
2 1/2 cups fresh small-dice pineapple (from about 1/2 medium pineapple)
2 medium carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise, then thinly sliced crosswise
1/2 medium English cucumber, quartered lengthwise, then thinly sliced crosswise
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup roasted, salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
2 medium scallions, thinly sliced (white and light green parts only)
*We added some shredded rotisserie chicken to the salad

Directions
For the dressing
   Place all of the ingredients except the oil in a blender and blend on high until smooth. With the motor running, slowly stream in the oil until it is fully incorporated; set the dressing aside in the blender.
For the salad
   Cut the bok choy in half lengthwise, rinse it, and dry it. Cut the leaves crosswise into 1-inch-wide ribbons, cut the stalks crosswise into 1/4-inch pieces, and transfer both to a large bowl.
   Add the remaining ingredients, drizzle with the dressing, and toss to combine. Serve immediately.

Scallops and Grits

I had never heard of grits until I moved to North Carolina, and once I had, the name and appearance suggested that it might just be wet sand and I did not try to eat any for many years. For any other Yankees out there, grits are ground corn cooked into a porridge, traditionally eaten at breakfast. It can be served plain, with cheese, or dressed up, most often as shrimp and grits.

Ultimately I did come around to grits and have enjoyed keeping a box in the pantry. Whitney will prepare a grits dish for breakfast every now and then, most often with a fried egg and whatever assortment of vegetables we have on hand (especially avocado, tomato, green onion), cheese, and for a special treat, bacon (like this one). Sometimes though we will feature grits in a dinner entree, such as with this shrimp and grits recipe, or the scallops and grits featured today.

There's no real surprises here; it's pretty much shrimp and grits, with the shrimp replaced with seared scallops that we love so much. We followed a recipe from The Chew that included parmesan, mascarpone, and yellow onions, and it turned out great! We served it with a kale salad.

Scallops and Grits from ABC's The Chew
Ingredients
   For Grits
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups polenta (we substituted quick cooking grits)
1/4 cup Mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Kosher salt
   For Scallops
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (divided)
1/2 yellow onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds nantucket bay scallops (cleaned) (we substituted sea scallops)
1/2 lemon, juiced

Directions
To make the Polenta: In a 4-quart saucepan add the stock and bring to a simmer. Season the stock with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Slowly add the polenta while whisking and reduce the heat to low. Cook over low heat for 2 hours, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and whisk in the mascarpone, Parmesan and 4 tablespoons butter. Season to taste with salt.

When Ready to Serve: Place a large sauté pan over medium high heat, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic with a pinch of salt and sweat until translucent and aromatic, 5 minutes. Blot the scallops dry on paper towels then season with salt. Add the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter to the pan and cook it until it starts to become brown, bubbly and nutty smelling. Add the seasoned scallops and cook until just barely cooked through and light golden brown, 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and squeeze in the lemon juice. Stir in the parsley.

To Serve: Spoon some polenta into a bowl, top with some bay scallops and a drizzle of brown butter.

Gifts We're Lovin' - Pie Crust Bag and Butter Warmer

It probably won't surprise you that one of the most frequent categories of gifts that Whitney and I give to each other is kitchen tools (so much so that it's about time for another round of kitchen de-cluttering!). This post will highlight two such recent gifts that we've been enjoying.

The first one is a pie crust bag. When Whitney said she was interested in this I had no idea what it was, but when I found out I figured it would be pretty useful. Rolling out pie crust can be fairly annoying with it sticking to the counter or rolling pin and constantly checking whether it's big enough and is in a proper circle. With the pie crust bag you roll the dough inside a bag zipped together from two circles, which solves the sticking issue, and the edges of the bag give a clear guide for how to roll the dough. We've found it to be very helpful with our recent pies and quiches. Here are some step-by-step photos from a crust Whitney made:


The second gift is a butter warmer. We keep our microwave in the garage since we don't use it very often and want to save the kitchen counter space for cherished items like our toaster oven. One thing we use the microwave for is to melt butter, which can be somewhat challenging; it either doesn't melt, or if you slightly overdo it, it foams up and makes a mess. The butter warmer is a small vessel that can be placed on the stovetop to melt butter or warm anything else, and it allows us to stay in the kitchen and keep an eye on it, and then conveniently pour it as soon as it's ready. Here it is in action!

Shrimp and Grits

We've had shrimp and grits a few times since our initial attempt and it is always a delicious success. It's pretty hard to go wrong when there's bacon involved, but the creamy grits and assortment of complementary vegetables all come together to make a hearty comfort food. I especially liked the fresh tomatoes that we added this time around; the light acidity nicely balances the savoriness of the bacon, mushrooms, and grits.

Here's what we did!
Cook quick grits in chicken stock.
Cook bacon and remove from pan. Saute mushrooms and onions in bacon grease until close to done. Add garlic and shrimp and cook until shrimp is done.
Serve grits in bowl and top with cooked ingredients, fresh tomatoes, and green onions.

Throw together mascarpone pasta

It's time for another throw-together meal! One of the easiest things you can do when you have some vegetables lying around and need some food quickly is just to cook them and mix them with pasta, and you'll almost always end up with something good. This time around we had spinach and cherry tomatoes. The tomatoes can be roasted in the oven with some balsamic vinaigrette or sauteed until they're soft and bursting, and then the spinach can be mixed in with the hot pasta and tomatoes so that it wilts. We also had some mascarpone cheese on hand that we mixed in for some extra flavor, and with a little pasta water added to the mixture, can create a creamy sauce for everything.

Pork Braise with Orzo and Arugula

One night Whitney decided we should have something like this Pork Ragu for dinner, but I was in charge of the prep. Feeling somewhat lazy that night, I was annoyed that the recipe would have us cook such a small amount of vegetables in a skillet and transfer them along with a small amount of pork (since we halved the recipe) into a slow cooker, and getting both of them dirty in the process. With that attitude I looked up how to slow cook in a dutch oven so I could just saute the veggies in it and then throw the pork in and put the whole thing in the oven. I ended up putting the dutch oven in a 325 degree oven for 2-3 hours, and the meat came out perfectly while I saved myself a little bit of dish-washing.

Other than the cooking technique I think we followed the recipe pretty closely. We used orzo for the pasta and some full-grown arugula from a produce box we had. This was one of the better pork preparations we've done (I really prefer the tenderness from slow cooking) and look forward to having it again.

Pork Ragù with Broken Lasagne from Sara Moulton

Serves 6 to 8: Makes 12 cups meat and sauce
4 pounds bone in pork shoulder
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium white onion, peeled and cut into large pieces
1 rib celery, cut into large pieces
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
4 cups Chicken Broth
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 pound dried pasta, such as broken lasagne
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups trimmed baby arugula
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Using a sharp knife, remove the thick skin from the pork, leaving a small amount of fat on top of the meat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Place the pork in a large slow cooker.
In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and fennel seeds.
Cook until the vegetables are softened, about 10 minutes. Add the broth and thyme and bring it to a simmer.
Add the contents of the skillet to the slow cooker. The meat should be almost covered by the liquid. If not, add some water.
Cover and cook on low until the meat just begins to pull away from the bone, and a small sharp knife inserted in the meat comes out easily, 8 to 10 hours.
For the dutch oven method I mentioned, cook the veggies in a slow cooker, then add the pork, cover, and put in a 325 degree oven for 2-3 hours.
Place the meat on a cutting board. With two forks, tear the meat into bite size pieces and discard the bones. Place the meat in a bowl.
Strain the cooking liquid into another bowl. Skim off the excess fat. Discard the solids.
Pour enough of the liquid over the pork to cover the meat. (Use the remainder for soup or stews.) When ready to serve, reheat the pork in its liquid in a large pot. Simmer until the liquid is slightly reduced.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to boiling over high heat.
Add the pasta and salt to taste. Cook, stirring often, until the pasta is tender yet firm to the bite. Drain well.
Add the pasta to the pot with the meat. Add the butter and cheese and stir well. Stir in the arugula. Serve immediately.