Lent Recipe #7: Pasta Alfredo

It's the last Friday in Lent (already?!) and that means this is my last abstinence inspired recipe for the year.  I've really enjoyed the last seven weeks of eating at home and, seeing as I've learned how to cook seafood I'd previously avoided, I think I'll be returning to several of these shrimp and fish recipes in the near future!  Although the recipe for tonight was incredibly unhealthy, it is obnoxiously easy and gets "I'd pay for this food" comments from Grandmama and HB -- which might in fact be the only compliment I actually accept.

Fettuccine (I use something smaller like girelle because it is bite size for GW)

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces

2/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

2 Tbsp champagne vinegar

1 lb cooked shrimp
Parsley

Cook fettuccine in a pasta pot of boiling salted water until al dente.  Drain and set aside.

In a heavy skillet over medium-low heat, mix together the cream and butter and bring it to a gentle simmer.  Add roughly 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper (I typically do it to taste rather than measure, so this is an estimate).   Dump in about half of the Parmigiano-Reggiano and whisk until the cheese is no longer stringy and is fully incorporated into the cream sauce.  Repeat with second half of cheese.  Add the champagne vinegar for a touch of acidity and add more salt to taste.  Finally, throw in the cooked shrimp just long enough to heat through (don't over cook them!!) and remove the sauce from heat.

Toss the shrimp and sauce with the pasta and garnish with parsley.

Lent Recipe #6: Rick Bayless' Chile-Garlic Shrimp

So this will be a quick post because it needs absolutely no ado, but let this warning suffice: this is not for the faint of heart!  I served this over plain home made pasta to cut the heat, but rice would probably have worked better.

Chef Rick Bayless' Chile Garlic Shrimp

1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup chopped garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1 pint fresh figs (our grocer didn't have these, so I had to use dried)
1/2 cup almonds, toasted and chopped
2 limes
2 cans chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, drained, seeded and cut into strips
2 lbs prawns, peeled and deveined
3 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro or flat-leaf parsley

1.  In a small saucepan, combine the oil, garlic and salt and bring to the barest simmer over very low heat.  Cook, stirring occasionally until the garlic is golden brown. Roughly 10 minutes.

2.  Remove garlic sauce from heat and reserve 1 1/2 Tbsp oil  Add the fig and almond to the pan.

3.  Raise the heat to medium and squeeze in the juice of 1 lime and simmer until most of the juice has evaporated, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the chiles, taste and adjust the salt.  Reduce the heat to low and keep warm.

4.  Cut the remaining lime into 6 wedges and reserve.

5. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the reserved oil over medium high heat.  Add half the prawns to the skillet, sprinkle generously with salt and gently stir or shake until the prawns are just pink and opaque throughout, 3-4 minutes.

6. Stir in half the cilantro or parsley.  Remove from heat and transfer to a deep serving plater. Repeat to cook the remaining prawns.  Toss with the sweet garlic sauce to taste and pass the lime wedges.

Lent Recipe #5: Salmon with Shrimp, Mushroom and Brandy Cream Sauce

• With some very special friends in town this weekend, HB did the cooking tonight and I am so so excited to share his recipe.  Originally this recipe was meant for veal cutlets, but it's a Friday during Lent and I am absolutely, ridiculously in love with salmon so he swapped the cutlets for fillets.  We served the fish along side a green salad and oh my goodness (!!) I want him to cook this every night!
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• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 red onion, halved, thinly sliced
• 8 ounces mushrooms, stemmed, caps thinly sliced
• 6 tablespoons brandy (get the best you can, the buttery quality of good brandy makes a big difference)
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup beef stock
• 1 cup whipping cream

• 6 ounce salmon fillets 

• 24 cooked shrimp, peeled, chopped

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Once frothy, add the onion and sauté for 4 minutes until it becomes translucent. Add mushrooms and sauté for 3 minutes until beginning to brown. Remove skillet from heat and add brandy. With the utmost care that you don't burn down your house or loose your eye brows, carefully ignite the brandy. When the flames subside, return the skillet to heat. Simmer the mixture until the brandy is almost evaporated - should take roughly 1 minute.  Add beef and chicken stock and let it boil for 5 minutes before adding the cream as well.  Let the sauce boil it coats spoon, about 14 minutes.  Toss the chopped shrimp into the sauce to heat through, then remove the skillet from heat.

In a separate skillet, heat 2 Tbsp oil and 2 Tbsp butter until frothy.  Sprinkle salt and pepper onto the salmon fillets and place in the pan.  Cook the fish for roughly 2-4 minutes per side until the salmon has a nice sear and flakes.  Remove from skillet.  

Divide the salmon onto plates and top with shrimp, mushrooms and brandy cream sauce.  ENJOY!

Lent Recipe #4: Seared Scallops with Oranges

So as a special birthday dinner for me and my Mom, I decided to go out of my comfort zone tonight and cook one of my favorite foods: scallops.  I've always been intimidated by scallops because it seems oh so easy to screw up the cooking of them so that either wind up undercooked and gross or overcooked and rubbery.  But taking Lent as an excuse to try something new that I'd LOVE to order at a restaurant tonight, I fond a great recipe from Chef Curtis Stone that I wanted to try.

Fortunately for me, saving myself from permanent cyber embarrassment, the scallops turned out perfectly and the family gobbled them up with several compliments.  I think this one will permanently join my cooking repertoire... hope you like it too!

1.5 cups orange juice
2 tsp heavy whipping cream
5 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp oil
12 jumbo scallops
1 blood orange, peel and white pith removed
Curly leaf parsley

In a sauce pan over medium heat, simmer the orange juice for about 25 minutes or until it reduces to 1/3 cup.  Add the cream and return the mixture to a gentle simmer.  Remove from heat.  A few pieces at a time, add the butter to the orange and cream reduction by constantly whisking until thoroughly blended.  Once all of the butter is incorporated, season the sauce with salt and pepper and set it aside in a warm spot to ensure that it doesn't break.

Place an empty, heavy based skillet over high heat for 2 minutes.  Meanwhile season the scallops with salt and pepper.  Pour the 1 Tbsp of oil into the hot pan and add the scallops.  Sear the scallops about 4 minutes on each side until they are just opaque in the center and golden brown on both sides.

Transfer the scallops to your serving dish and garnish with segments of the blood orange.  Drizzle your orange cream sauce over top and add an extra splash of color with with sprigs of parsley.

Can't believe I made that!! Go me!

Lent Recipe #3: Tuna Casserole

With a refrigerator stocked full with massive amounts of meat-filled left overs - veal bolognese, pesto-steak sandwich fixings and sausage stuffing - my motivation to cook yet another dinner was minimal.  However, seeing that it is Friday and it is still Lent, I needed to come up with something that was more than cereal to feed the gang... finding the vegetable drawer nearly empty and the pantry fresh out of just about all of my go-to ingredients, I decided that we'd pull out one of HB's hot dish recipes from Minnesota - the good, ol' tuna casserole.

We've tweaked the recipe some to fit our tastes and give it more substance, but it maintains the intended flavors of the original in the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook so I'll give it all the credit.

4 ounces noodles (I use fusilli or something like it)
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dry ground mustard
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 cups milk
5 cans tuna in water, drained
1 cup shredded cheese

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

For sauce, in a medium saucepan cook celery, carrots and onion in the butter until tender.  Stir in flour, salt, dry mustard and black pepper.  Add the milk all at once; cook and stir until slightly thickened and bubbly. Combine sauce, tuna and cheese with the noodles.  Transfer to a casserole and bake, uncovered at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

Lent Recipe #2: Mushroom Tart

So it seems like there is this misconception in pop culture that whatever you forgo or alter for Lent must make you miserable in order to be a true expression of piety -- almost as if we socially expect Catholics to desperately stand in the pouring rain outside of the local bakery and lustfully gape at the shelves of tantalizing, seductive cupcakes until Easter when the poor, starving soul can finally be rewarded with dessert.  And while I readily acknowledge that it is difficult to give up a worldly comfort for the sake of spirituality (and no, I will never give up sugar), I fully reject the connection of misery with the practice of abstinence. 

You see, at just about two weeks into Lent, I am feeling like my family isn't necessarily missing anything in our lives by eschewing restaurants.  Don't get me wrong, I've thoroughly screwed up dinner a couple times and the other nights certainly aren't five star quality, but I am finding the experience to be a worthwhile exercise of "plan B" -- which, admittedly, is something I am not very good at.  It seems to me that the value of Lent is in recognizing something tangible or excess that we place far too much value in and essentially resetting our lives in a bigger context.  By using the opportunity as a learning experience to better ourselves, we are attempting to find "... glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope" (Romans 5: 3-4). 

By giving up restaurants and any form of prepared food, HB and I are without the convenience of just grabbing a bite wherever, but we're starting to recognizing the superfluous nature of going out.  We can make what we like at home and, frankly, the cost of only eating what can be purchased at the grocery store seems to be more time together... and I like those prices. 

So... the recipe for this week is for an awesome mushroom tart.  I originally got the recipe from Bon Appètit magazine, but I've been tweaking it over the years and I think I've finally found the combination of ingredients that I think is easiest, healthier and tastes better than the original (whatever you do, don't skip the Cognac or change the chesse!).  I typically make my own pastry crust, but for convenience sake I've listed a store bought crust to save you precious weeknight time:  

Single pie crust 
1 roughly chopped maitake mushroom (AKA "Hen of the Woods")
1/4 cup minced shallots
2 Tablespoons Cognac
2 Tablesppons chopped fresh rosemary and thyme
2/3 cup grated Gruyère cheese
3/4 cup milk
2 egg whites
1 whole egg 

Melt butter in heavy large skillet over high heat. Add chopped maitake mushrooms. Season with salt; sauté until deep golden, about ten minutes. Add shallots and sauté for two minutes. Add Cognac and boil until absorbed, about three minutes. Mix in 1 tablespoon of the herbs. Cool.

Preheat oven to 375° F. Line crust with foil. Fill with dried beans; bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Maintain oven temperature.

Sprinkle 1/3 cup cheese in crust. Cover with mushrooms. Whisk cream, yolks, egg and remaining herbs in bowl. Pour custard over mushrooms. Top with remaining cheese. Bake until filling is set and top is golden, about 30 minutes. Cool on rack 15 minutes and serve. 

Lent Recipe #1: Israeli Skillet

So it is the first Friday of Lent today and, as a practicing, soon-to-be baptized Catholic, that means fasting and abstinence (no meat).  Since HB and I have decided to abstain from eating at restaurants for the next 40 days - which, if I may say, is not only a oblation of convenience but a sincere sacrifice of worldly foodie indulgence - I've resorted to the HB-tested, GW-approved bag of home cooking tricks I've built up over the last couple years.  Most of my recipes are for things like slow cooked lamb shanks, pesto-steak sandwiches or veal bolognese, which clearly are not vegetarian or fish options, but I've got a few Lent appropriate meals up my sleeve that will satisfy even these picky eaters. 

The thing is, although fasting cuts out the main source of protein in meals by restricting meat, as a diabetic I don't exactly relish the idea of serving up a big plate of plain old carbs.  Plus, if you tie in my desperate attempts to loose the extra baby weight and my interest in actually have something tasty on the table, creativity and nutritional research become key... because, let's face it, cereal has never exactly been my forte.

So in an attempt to share the work I've done to combine these food-factors, I'm going to post the recipes for our Friday night dinners throughout Lent in case something strikes your fancy.  Tonight's was an "Israeli Skillet" recipe from Bon Appetit magazine that I've tweeked a bit.  It's got chickpeas, tomatoes, feta and eggs -- and, if I've never raved the value of the garbanzo bean before, let me do it now! Not only does this recipe have phenomenal flavor and come together in a jiff, but the chickpea has a stellar carb:protein ratio that beefs up (ha) its substantive quality in this dish - I mean one 4 ounce serving size has 15 grams of carbs and 5 grams of protein! And to top it all off, HB - the meat and potatoes, corn fed, muscle man from MN - says he loves it...  

Alright, enough preamble, here ya go:

Ingredients: 

1/4 cup olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

1 can chopped green chilies

1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained

2 tsp Hungarian sweet paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp lemon peel; 1 Tbsp lemon juice

Dash ground cinnamon

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 cup coarsely crumbled Israeli feta

8 large eggs

1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley

Warm pita bread with honey (watch the carbs in pita, it's higher than you'd think at roughly 36 g per slice)

Directions: 

Place souffle dishes on a cookie sheet and preheat them in oven to 425°F.

Heat oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, and jalapeños; cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, about 8 minutes. Add chickpeas, paprika, and cumin and cook for 2 minutes longer.

Add crushed tomatoes and their juices. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens slightly, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with pepper.

Pull souffle dishes from oven and evenly separate the tomato sauce between the dishes. Sprinkle feta evenly over sauce. Crack eggs one at a time and place over sauce, spacing evenly apart (two per souffle dish).

Transfer dishes back to oven and bake until whites are just set but yolks are still runny, 8 - 10 minutes. Garnish with parsley.

Serve with pita for dipping, honey on the side.