Rosie Makes Crab Meat Stuffed Mushrooms.

I picked up some crab meat at Billy's Seafood the other day,

and I'm making two different crab meat dishes.

My first is an appetizer - crab meat-stuffed mushrooms.

Crab Meat Mixture 
8 oz. crab meat
1/2 stick unsalted butter
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 oz. goat cheese
2 oz. cream cheese
Melt butter, goat cheese, and cream cheese
in small saucepan over low heat.
Add lemon juice and gently fold in crab meat so as not to break it up.
Heat through.

Clean and trim mushrooms, pulling out stems.

I save my stems in freezer bags 

to make mushroom stock later on.

Spoon crab meat mixture into each cap.

Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.

Place caps in a small baking dish

and pour a  white wine in the bottom,

to cover the dish.

Place under the broiler until cheese

 is bubbly and lightly browned.

The wine permeates throughout the mushroom meat.

The crab meat is sweet and buttery.
It's perfection.

Rosie Makes A Chinese-Style Soup.

 

 I've had a yen for a Chinese-style soup for some time now,
 so I rummaged around in my Asian box in the pantry.
Yes, I have an Asian box.
It sits next to my Hispanic box.
Both are full of ethnic goodies.

Rosie's Chinese-Style Soup
6 cups homemade chicken consommé
dried shiitake mushrooms, small handful

dried wood ear mushrooms, small handful
dried day lilies, small handful
1 knob of ginger (an inch)
1 TB soy sauce
2 boneless pork loins, thinly sliced
1 cup reserved mushroom soaking liquid
3 TB soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
freshly ground pepper
4 TB black vinegar (or balsamic vinegar)
1/2 cup bamboo shoots, drained
1/2 cup sliced water chestnuts
1/2 cup baby corn, drained
1/2 cup edamame
1/2 cup green peas, frozen NOT canned
2 TB cornstarch mixed in 1/3 cup water
1 tsp sesame oil
1 TB sriracha sauce
1 egg, beaten
chopped scallions to sprinkle on top

Put the dried mushrooms and lily buds in a glass bowl.
Pour boiling water over the the mushrooms and the lily buds
and soak for 20 minutes.
Reserve 1 cup of the mushroom liquid.
Squeeze excess liquid from the mushrooms and the buds.
Cut the hard tips off the lily bottoms
and slice into 1-inch lengths.

While the mushrooms and lilies are soaking,
combine sliced pork with the ginger and 2 teaspoons of soy sauce.
Set aside.

Bring the chicken broth and reserved cup of mushroom liquid
to a boil in a stock pot.
Add soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, and sriracha sauce.
Add in mushrooms, lily buds, bamboo shoots, and  water chestnuts.
Add the pork, stirring to keep it from sticking together.
Add in the cornstarch mixture.
Return to a boil, reduce to simmer,
and cook for another minute until slightly thickened.
Add in the peas and edamame.
Pour the beaten egg into the simmering soup.
Remove from heat.
Stir gently.

Ladle into bowls and sprinkle chopped scallions on top.

Normally, this would serve 4-6 people.

In my house it served 2 Hawthorne Boys.

Whenever Mr. Hawthorne brings home a soup from the China Macs,

they always include a package of stale fried wonton strips

Every time, they're stale.

It ain't hard to prepare fresh fried wontons, people.

Just slice up a wonton into strips and fry 'em up.

Rosie Skewers Scallops.

 These are my afternoon appetizers - scallop skewers.

I have a half pound of huge scallops
which I cut into fourths - about 1-inch cubes.

Scallop Skewers

1/2 pound ocean scallops

1 orange, cut into little triangles

1 red pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces

1-inch knob of frozen ginger, sliced paper-thin

1/2 stick unsalted butter

2 TB peanut oil

2 TB dark brown sugar

juice of one orange

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 TB sesame seeds

Skewer alternating scallop, ginger, orange, red pepper.

Sprinkle some of the brown sugar 

down the length of the skewer, both sides.

Mix together remaining brown sugar,

 orange juice, soy sauce, and sesame seeds.

Heat iron skillet over medium high and add in the butter and oil.

When the butter gets sizzly and slightly tan,

place the skewers in the pan.

Cook 2 minutes.

Turn over.

Cook 1 minute and add the soy sauce mixture.

Cook 1 more minute and remove skewers from pan.

Serve with sauce spooned over top.

 

This hit the spot.

Rosie Is Published!

Please check out Albemarle Tradewinds for my soup recipes.

Rosie is published:
http://issuu.com/crabber/docs/oct_2014_final_web
Soups!

But they didn't have room for the second soup:

My next soup was inspired from a visit last spring to the newly opened Saltbox Café on Colington Road. Chefs/owners Amanda Wolf and Randolph Sprinkle have created a lovely venue here. I liked their presentation of tomato and basil soup so much that I went home to reproduce it with my own twist. I love it when a restaurant stimulates me to create! And congratulations to Amanda and Randolph on their recent nuptials!


Rosie’s Tomato Basil Soup With Parmesan Crisps
1 TB unsalted butter
1 TB extra virgin olive oil
½ cup chopped carrots
½ cup chopped red onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 Roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded, juiced, and chopped
2 TB tomato paste
1 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes
3 cups chicken broth
2 TB brown sugar
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup cream
1 pat of unsalted butter for each bowl
A teaspoon each of minced green pepper, minced Roma tomato, minced cucumber, and chopped basil for each bowl
Parmesan crisps (recipe to follow)
Heat the butter and olive oil over medium heat and add the carrots and onions. Cook over medium low for about 10 minutes. Add garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce to a bare simmer, and cook over low for about 45 minutes. Stir in brown sugar. Taste test and season with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Cook 15 more minutes over low, then add in the cream. Occasionally, come in and squish the tomato pieces against the side of the pan to get all the flavor. Mark the level with a skewer and continue cooking maybe 30-40 minutes more, to develop the flavor and reduce the mixture by half.
Either use an immersion blender or regular blender to purée the mixture until smooth.
To serve, ladle soup into bowls, enrich the soup with a pat of butter swirled through it, and top with a teaspoon each of minced green pepper, minced Roma tomato, minced cucumber, chopped basil, and tuck in a Parmesan crisp.

Parmesan Crisps
For each round, scoop out about ¼ cup loosely packed Parmesan cheese. Form into a round on parchment paper, lightly pressing. Bake in a 400° oven until bubbly and lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

Please visit with Rosie at KitchensAreMonkeyBusiness for more recipes, gardening photos, and travelogues. It’s a Southern front porch kind of visit.

Time For Pho.

I love a good pho
and pho is never any farther away than my own freezer.
When I make pho broth,
I make a big batch - 5 or so quarts at a time,
and I freeze it.

See my post here to learn how to make the broth.
It is truly ambrosial.
It's a clear broth with delicious umami flavor
developed from a combination of spices
and charred onion and ginger.

I have only made pho bo,
which is made from beef.

There is also a pho ga, made from chicken.
That will have to be another project for me.

Once you've made the broth,
here are the accoutrements.

Sliced shrooms.

Cilantro, basil, mint, scallions, lime, hot peppers.

Pretty dahlias.

Rice noodles and mushrooms.

I never buy any meat that isn't on sale.

I think of it as "aged."

Cut into strips.

You could use all different cuts of meat.

I just happened to have the chuck in the freezer.

Cook noodles according to package directions.

I'm making a little marinade for the meat -

some cornstarch, rice vinegar, and soy sauce.

Pour it over the meat.

More prepared accoutrements:

lime slices

chopped scallions

chopped cilantro, basil, and mint

Minced jalapeno and cayenne.

I sautéed my mushrooms in butter and oil.

Then I sautéed the meat.

Scrape all those goodie bits up.

Oooh.   

Put some bean sprouts in there.

And some other green sprouts.

It's a partay!

Pho is my phavorite.

Pho is exciting.

Different flavors in every spoonful.