Shrimp Salad, Turkey Rissoles and Rhubarb Crumble

Well, I thought I was going to do some good cooking over the weekend and have some interesting recipes for you, but “the best laid plans of mice and men” as they say... Special thanks to Aspen Dental and their annual Service Day for all the dental work they did on me (and all the veterans) – even if I didn't feel up to cooking (or eating) for three days afterwards.

Sally's Birthday Salad

Sally's birthday was Wednesday, and after we came home from yoga class I made her this "everything she loves" salad to celebrate.

1 cubed fresh Mango

1/2 cubed Florida Avocado

1/4 cup fine diced Red Onion

1 Red Bell Pepper, diced

3/4 lb cooked 21-25 Shrimp

1 cup Romaine lettuce, chopped

Cajun seasoning to taste

Dressing

Juice of 1 Lime

3 Tbsp EVOO

1 Tbsp Sugar

Shake to combine.

Lay down the Romaine as a bed and sprinkle the onion dice on top.  Arrange the mango on one half of the dish, and the avocado on the other half.  Put the bell pepper down the center.  Arrange the cooked shrimp around the rim, and dust with Cajun seasoning.  Chill until ready to serve.  Plate and dress.

Turkey Rissoles

I had a half pound of turkey sausage leftover in the freezer from a guest who wanted Scotch Eggs for breakfast and preferred poultry sausage. Turned into a nice mid-week dinner.

1/2 lb ground Turkey or bulk Turkey Sausage

1/4 cup finely chopped Mushrooms

1/4 cup finely diced Red Onion

1/3-1/2 cup Panko

1 large Egg, beaten

1 tsp Italian Seasoning, optional

Mix everything together, as you would for a meatloaf. Divide into two large patties about 3/4" thick, and fry them on medium heat, turning once, 6 minutes or so per side, until nice browned and cooked through.

Serve with your choice of sides.  I chose corn on the cob, but you could do a veg and starch if you want.

Brit-Style Rhubarb Crumble

Using rhubarb in that Swiss Chard and Sausage dish last week, got us thinking about a rhubarb dessert. I would have made a pie, but Sally asked for a Rhubarb Crumble like she remembered from her childhood This recipe is borrowed from the BBC website and translated from English to American.

10 sticks Rhubarb, sliced lengthwise and cut into 2”-3” pieces

8 Tbsp White Sugar

1 tsp powdered Ginger

4 oz Butter, softened

4 oz Brown Sugar

6 oz AP Flour

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Rinse the cut rhubarb, then spread it on a baking sheet and , dust with the white sugar. Bake for 10 minutes.

While that's going on, make the crumble. Mix the flour and brown sugar together, then cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or your fingers.

Spread the roasted rhubarb, about 1-1/2” deep, in an 8x8” square or 9” round baking dish, and dust with the powdered ginger. Sprinkle the crumble mixture on top of everything, then bake for 35-45 minutes or until the crumble is crispy and the filling is soft and bubbling.

Really, really tasty! Just sweet enough to counter the rhubarb tang. You could convert the Roasting step to 1-2 minutes in the microwave, which would cut the overall time by a few minutes (and reduce the oven-heating-the-kitchen).

In England they would serve this with spoonfuls of “double cream” (whipping cream), or with custard. Here we served it with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

Rhubarb, Swiss Chard & Sausage Skillet, Key West Napoleon and more!

Rhubarb & Swiss Chard Sausage Skillet

This recipe comes to us compliments of the Columbia University quarterly magazine. Sally's daughter Holly is a Masters graduate of that esteemed institution.

What struck both of us was the unusual list of ingredients – Swiss chard and rhubarb?? Italian sausage and maple syrup and garam masala?? What was this going to taste like? I just had to try it to see...

4 mild Italian Sausage, pricked with a fork to let out steam when being cooked

1/2 Red Onion, thinly sliced

1 bunch Swiss Chard – your choice of color

6-8 oz Rhubarb pieces (frozen works just fine)

1 Tbsp dried Currants or Golden Raisins

1 Tbsp Maple Syrup

1/2 tsp Garam Masala

1/2” piece of fresh Ginger, peeled and grated or minced

A pinch of Salt

1 Bay Leaf

Disassemble the chard – cut the stems into 1/4” thick rounds, tear the leaves into bite-sized pieces. Keep the leaves and stems separate. Also cut the rhubarb into 1/4” thick slices.

Heat a splash of EVOO in a large skillet on medium high and cook the sausages until well browned all over. Transfer to a plate and reserve.

Saute the onion in the same skillet, until soft. Add the chard stems and continue until the onion is browned and the chard is softening (about 5 minutes).

Add the rhubarb, currants, maple, syrup, garam masala, salt, ginger, and the bay leaf. Cook, stirring often, until the rhubarb is falling apart (8-10 minutes). If the pan starts to scorch, add a few tablespoons to a quarter cup of water.

Add the chard leaves, and cook while stirring, until they wilt. Remove the bay leaf and plate the chard mixture on a serving platter.

Return the sausage to the skillet, and re-heat to crisp up on all sides. Serve on top of the chard-rhubarb mixture.  Any good quality, not-too-spiced sausage would work well here, such as kielbasa, mild bratwurst, etc.

Smoked Fish & Tomato Napoleon

We took a long weekend trip to Key West with our friends Melinda and Christine from Orlando. Went down on the Key West Express high-speed ferry on Friday morning, got there about 12:30; spent two nights at the Westwinds Inn, then left late Sunday afternoon in a torrential line squall (quartering following seas and wind made for an 'interesting' ride), and we arrived back in Fort Myers Beach about 10:30.

We found a couple of interesting and new-to-us places to eat, notably the restaurants 2 Cents, Blue Heaven and the Eaton Fish Market. Really good food in all three of these establishments; check them out if you're Key West bound!

Our friend Mel had this Smoked Snapper and Tomato “salad” Napoleon as half of her “two app” dinner on Saturday night at the Blue Heaven.  The little toasts were great for scooping up 'fallout', and the spicy-tangy house-made pickles played a nice counterpoint to the richness of the fish and tomato.

Napoleon is a French cooking term for a stack of things -- originally the layers of puff pastry and pastry cream so loved by the emperor. Main or salad course Napoleons, like this one, often alternate meat and vegetables.

For this Napoleon you can, of course, use tuna or salmon from a can, or fresh fish. Locally I might also use smoked mullet dip. Crab dip would also do well, and if you had to you could even make this with canned chicken for non-seaood lovers. 

You really want the protein “mashed” finer than you would for tuna salad, so a trip in the food processor might be easier than hand mashing.

• Fish
• Liquid Smoke to taste – easy does it, this is powerful stuff, just a few drops!
• Tomato(es) sliced fairly thick, the yellow tomatoes were a nice touch, but red beefsteak size tomatoes will work well also.
• Baby Greens and/or Sprouts – the sprouts atop Mel's dinner are beet. You could also serve this on a bed of couscous, quinoa or amaranth.

Cuban Breakfast Muffins

I created these savory muffins for our Cabana guests who need to be 'out and about' early – to catch the Key West Express for example. I made these for our own Key West Express trip.

1-1/4 cup Bisquick ^tm

1 cup Half & Half

4 Eggs, beaten

1/2 cup diced Ham

1/2 cup diced Red Bell Pepper

1 small can diced Green Chiles

1/2 cup diced Dill Pickle – I use the “baby whole” kind

1/4 cup shredded Cheese

1 tsp Sazon Completa spice blend

Combine the dairy and the flour and whisk to combine. Add the fillings and stir to distribute them. Spoon the mixture into muffin cups, I have a bunch of the silicon re-usable ones that work great. Bake in a preheated 375 F oven for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the tops are nicely browned.  Two muffins make a very filling breakfast!

Mango Fro-Yo, Hræringur and a Whole Wheat Crusted Tart

Mango Fro-Yo

One of the best things I've ever done with mango! Super simple and fabulously tasty!!

Backstory – We've taken up eating Siggi's™ Icelandic-Style Skyr.  Skyr (skeer) is the thousand year old Icelandic version of yogurt, made from skimmed milk.

Skyr is roughly 12% protein, 3% carbohydrates and 0.5% fat!  Really healthy stuff that's not as 'sharp' tasting, and much creamier textured than even the best conventional yogurt.

We've been getting the single serving cups of Siggi's, flavored with various fruits and berries, but the other day I picked up a large container of their plain skyr for 'testing purposes'. How many of you can take even some of your grocery bill as a tax deduction???

On the underside of the foil lid of the container was a recipe for Peach Frozen Yogurt.

Nope. Not a peach in sight. But I do have a couple bags of frozen mangos left from last season's crop. Hmmmm!  Not particularly Nordic, but what the heck!

2 cups frozen Mango slices or fillets

¼ cup Sugar or Splendatm

1 cup Siggi's Plain Skyr

1 tsp Lime juice (lemon might do as well)

Fresh grated Nutmeg to taste

In the food processor, combine the fruit and sugar. Pulse until things are finely chopped. Add the yogurt, nutmeg and lime juice. Continue to whizzzz until everything is pureed. Transfer mixture to a wide shallow container (it will freeze faster that way) and freeze for 2-3 hours.

Process the mixture a second time until very smooth. Serve immediately, or transfer to a sealed container and re-freeze until ready to use (or both). Makes 4 servings ramekin sized servings.  Will last a month in the freezer.

I've had a lot of mango flavored ice cream, gelato, etc., over the years. This is hands-down more intensely flavored, richer, and smoother textured than even the best I've had from professional frozen-treat makers!

Hræringur

I think this is pronounced “h-r-air-ing-gur” but don't quote me until we get back from Iceland in September. Yes, we're spending three days in Reykjavik on our way to two weeks holiday in Scotland.

In reading up about Skyr, I discovered that one of the many uses for the product is mixed in with “porridge” which is usually oatmeal. Sweet or savory additions like berries, jam or honey, or herbs etc. are also used.

So I made steel-cut oatmeal for breakfast yesterday, then added a nice big dollop of plain Siggi's Skyr. Sally topped hers with mango (not very Nordic!) and I added some marmalade to mine. Wow! Really filling! Much more than even you ordinary bowl of oatmeal!

Oatmeal or Hræringur isn't very photogenic; besides we were so hungry that we were half finished before I remembered the camera! Here's a photo from

 www.realsimple.com of a fancy bowl of oatmeal with yogurt and marmalade, taken just before someone would stir it all together.

Whole Wheat Crusted Savory Tart

I was trying to “make healthy” for Sally the other day, and made a version of my No-Fail Tart Crust, using half whole wheat flour and half AP flour. That combination is nearly a Fail in the crust department – too dry and flaky. Perhaps I should have used whole eggs rather than just yolks, to hold things together.

We had some goat cheese in the fridge that was starting to turn green; so I cut the moldy bits off and spread it on the still-warm crust. Then I added a layer of pencil asparagus, garlic and chopped Roma tomato, dusted it with Italian Seasoning; then I finished with a shredded cheese blend. The topping combination was really tasty.

I'm not particularly fond of the taste of whole wheat bread products, but Sally thought the flavor was good. The texture needs more work, as I said.

Foodish Ramblings

Yes I missed last Monday's (Memorial Day) post. But the week in North Carolina was well worth it! I got to reconnect with Suzanne Duplantis, a chef-friend from Louisiana – see her blog called Makeover My Leftover. We got to relax with a fabulous view. Sally got to spend quality time creating watercolor illustrations for the deer-rescue book we are editing and illustrating for NC friends Angela Zeiss and Keith Gilbert. We also got to eat some great food!

Tarta Liquida -- a baked to order molten marcona almond tart souffle with a quinelle of cherry sorbet

This dessert is what we shared after a fabulous tapas dinner at Curate, one of the best Spanish Tapas restaurants in the country. 

After our visit there last year, we were smart enough to make a reservation more than a month in advance. If you know you're going to be in Asheville, NC, do yourself a major favor and book a reservation at this restaurant!!

Sally and I and Suzanne and her husband Chris got to meet up at the Altapass Orchard, which has been around for something like 70 years. Every year they host several open-to-the-public events including the Memorial Day Pot-luck where we met up along with probably two hundred other folks. A really great small town kind of celebration with fabulous food and all-day music by local mountain/country/old time players. By request I took one of my dulcimers, and we sat in the shade of a tree while I played and sang.

We got back last Friday morning, and extended our vacation to Saturday morning when we went to Bowditch Point beach near Fort Myers Beach. For lunch we went to a favorite place called Big Hickory Seafood Grille and Marina, where they serve the best fish tacos I've every tasted (and I've eaten fish tacos in half a dozen states and at least two countries! 

 They have several kinds of fish tacos, but I prefer the Grouper version. Three huge, well-filled tortillas with lots of fish, and shredded lettuce, avocado slices and salsa fresco, topped with their signature Key Lime Aioli, along with a side of fries. Out of sight!

Best Fish Tacos Ever at the Big Hickory Seafood Grille and Marina, Bonita Springs, FL!

Sunday, Sally's Mum came for lunch and I made an apricot-stuffed pork loin (2.5 lbs) and assorted roasted vegetables from our Co-op box – parsnips, purple sweet potatoes, golden beets, onions, etc. Take a look:

For dessert I made strawberry-mango smoothies:

A friend has lent me a book on making Vegan/Vegetarian cheeses tht actually look, taste, and have the mouth feel and cook-ability of dairy cheeses; look for experiments in cheese making to come!