Two years ago today, Marc and I got married — we celebrated by spending four days in New Orleans last week (our pictures are up on flickr, if you want to take a glance!). Today, of course, we had to work, but decided to spend the night in and cook a fun and delicious dinner, instead of going out for something extravagant. We decided on a Cooking Light recipe for Seafood Cakes with Mustard Crema, found in the October issue. This was a decadent meal, without be terribly difficult or frustrating — leaving us plenty of time to spend the evening catching up on the TiVo and playing with the pup.
Seafood Cakes with Mustard Crema
Seafood Cakes with Mustard Crema
from Cooking Light
- 1/3 c. light sour cream
- 6 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, divided
- 1 tbsp. stone-ground mustard
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper, divided
- 7 tsp. canola oil, divided
- 1/4 c. finely chopped red onion
- 1/4 c. finely chopped celery
- 8 oz. peeled and deveined medium shrimp, chopped
- 8 oz. lump crabmeat, drained and shell-pieces removed
- 1/4 c. (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (we actually combined regular Parm and Robusto, an aged gouda)
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1 c. panko breadcrumbs
1. Combine sour cream, 2 tbsp. parsley, mustard and 1/8 tsp. pepper, stirring well until blended. Set aside.
2. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tsp. canola oil to pan, and swirl to coat. Add onion and celery; cook 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occassionally. Remove from heat; cool slightly.
3. Combine shrimp and crab in a large bowl. Stir in onion mixture, remaining pepper, remaining parsley, cheese, salt, egg whites and egg; stir gently. Add panko; stir gently. Divide mixture into 8 equal portions; flatten to 1/2-inch-thick patties.
4. Heat skillet over medium-high heat. Add remaining 2 tbsp. oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add patties to pan; cook 3 minutes or lightly browned. Carefully turn over; cook 3 minutes or until done. Serve with sauce.
Yield: 4 servings (2 cakes per serving and about 4 tbsp sauce)
We served the seafood cakes over frisee salad, which was excellent. You could also serve this with watercress, arugula, field greens — whatever works!
I cross my heart that I had planned on making this for dinner long before they were posted both here and here … in the past couple of days!!! I have been making BBQ chicken pizza for years — even back when we lived in Cambridge and had a teeny tiny kitchen. I used to take the easy way out, throwing together the pizza with tons of pre-made ingredients, including Perdue Short Cuts and a Boboli pizza crust. As I was cooking today (with real, whole ingredients), I think my pizza’s come a long way, both in the care it takes to make it and the flavors of the pizza. It’s a quick fix for a weeknight, and it’s an AMAZINGLY tasty meal!
Feel free to use your own shortcuts as you see fit, but this is how we do it!
BBQ Chicken Pizza
BBQ Chicken Pizza
- Your favorite pizza dough (I used the 79-cent 1 lb. blob of pizza dough from Foodmaster!)
- Your favorite barbecue sauce (We used Kraft Thick and Spicy, though we’ve used Sweet Baby Ray’s before)
- 2 chicken cutlets
- 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
- Green onions, chopped
- 6 oz. mozzarella cheese
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Cook chicken cutlets until JUST done. Slice or shred, depending on your preference.
- Knead out dough on a floured cookie sheet until it is at your desired thickness (we like a thin pizza).
- Spread barbecue sauce on dough with a spatula.
- Scatter chicken, scallions and red onions over dough and sauce.
- Sprinkle cheese on the top.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let sit for about 5 minutes, slice and enjoy!
(See what I meant about EASY??!)
My Little Sister with her s'mores cookies
My Little Sister and I had our first slumber party this past weekend. I was trying to figure out something we could do together, when I realized we should probably make some delicious sweet treat to go along with our dinner. I found a great recipe for s’mores cookies on Baked Perfection, and thought it would be a good idea to take cookie baking to a whole new level. The s’mores cookies were a little more involved than your basic run-of-the-mill cookie, and are undeniably tasty as well. I let my Little Sister take the lion’s share of the cookies (no need to have all that gooey goodness lying around for temptation…), but we had fun making them.
S’mores Cookies
- 1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
- 1 c. graham cracker crumbs
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 dash of cinnamon
- 2 sticks of butter, softened
- 3/4 c. sugar
- 3/4 c. brown sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 2 c. miniature chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 c. mini chocolate chips (I didn’t have mini ones, so we just cut the regular ones … it was a mess!!)
- 2 Hershey bars, chopped
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, salt and a dash of cinnamon. In a second larger bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Slowly beat in the flour mixture until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.
- Bake for 8 minutes and remove from the oven. Push 3 – 4 marshmallows and a few pieces of Hershey bar into each cookie. Return to the oven and bake an additional 3-4 minutes until fully cooked. Cool cookies on a wire rack.
Makes approximately 4 dozen cookies …. and you don’t want to know how bad they are for you! But they’re GOOOOOOOD!
Divine!
Marc and Elysabeth at the Big Sister Halloween Party
Things have been hectic and busy with us here, so you must forgive the delay. Marc’s office moved from Cambridge to Boston and he’s spent long hours (some on the weekend…) setting up his office, fighting with satellite installers, and working his fingers to the bone — literally. We’ve been eating at home, but not too creatively, instead relying on old comfortable standbys, most of which we’ve already blogged. Forgive the delay!
We’re also going to New Orleans for our second anniversary next week (our anniversary is on the 10th of November!), and so we’ll have a lot of food-related stories to tell. I can taste the jambalaya, muffulettas, and po’boys now!
More soon!
Spinach and Cannellini Bean Dip
Tomorrow’s book club day, my favorite day of the month. Lately, we’ve been slacking on what we bring to book club, just due to the ever-present time restraints, but this month, we decided NO MORE … no more making excuses and bringing lackluster items. Our friends will eat well (dammit)!!
Marc found a recipe on Serious Eats for a lighter version of Giada de Laurentiis’s Spinach and Cannellini Bean Dip. Seeing that tomorrow’s book club, we haven’t had a chance to dive in yet, but we did make the dip today, so that it had time to set and develop overnight. Normally I don’t care for the look of white beans, but in this pureed, VERY green dip, you don’t see them which is good enough for me. Plus, it’s a much healthier alternative to the heavy sour cream-and-mayo-based spinach dips that I know and love so much. 
Spinach and Cannellini Bean Dip
- 4 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 6-ounce bags of baby spinach
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 tbsp. lemon juice (at least)
- 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- 1-2 tsp. kosher salt, more to taste if desired
- 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1. In a large, nonstick skillet, heat 1 tbsp. olive oil over medium heat. Add half the garlic and cook until fragrant (30 seconds or so). Add 1 bag of baby spinach and cook until fully wilted, about 3 minutes. Remove spinach from heat and put in a bowl. Repeat with the other half of the garlic and the second bag of spinach. You may have to add another tsp. of olive oil to prevent sticking.
2. Combine remaining olive oil, spinach, beans, lemon juice, balsamic, salt and pepper in a food processor. Pulse mixture until it is the consistency that you’d like.
Ready to pulse
3. Let set in refrigerator for at least 25 minutes. Serve with tortillas, veggies or pitas. Yum!
The leaves have been falling off the trees, and the temperature has started to drop to jacket-needing temperatures. What does this mean? Fall is here, sort of. Winter is actually starting to threaten, as we have already been dipping into our low to mid 30s in the mornings and I have already broken out my (new!) hat and gloves on several occasions. I hear we’re getting back up to temperatures in the low 60s this week, but I’ll believe it when I feel it. In any case, it is the autumn, and this is a very tasty and seasonal salad that I found on Serious Eats.
My favorite part of this salad is the sweet-tangy-salty flavor of the grilled apple slices balanced against the umami (there it is..) savory taste of the chicken and the salty finish of the shaved cheese. The dressing adds to the sweet and tangy with maple syrup, mustard, and cider vinegar while the toasted almonds seal it up with a creamy crunch. I liked this a lot, it made a great weekend lunch, and I hope you like it too!
Honeycrisp Apple & Grilled Chicken Salad with Cider-Maple Vinaigrette (Serves 2-3):
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tbsp. sugar (raw or brown preferred)
- 2 large fresh apples (honeycrisp, cortland, something tart and crisp)
- 1 boneless skinless chicken breast, pounded to about 1/2″ thickness
- 5 oz. baby greens or spring mix (small bag)
- 1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds
- 1/3 cup raisins
- 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp. maple syrup
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- aged smoked Gouda, shaved, to taste (or Parmigiano-Reggiano, Pecorino)
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Core apples and slice into 1/4″ rounds. Brush with the olive oil and sprinkle both sides with the sugar. Grill for 5 minutes on a side until grill marks appear. Remove from grill and optionally season cooked apples with a few pinches of kosher salt.
- Cook the chicken until just finished and remove to rest for a few minutes. After chicken has cooled slightly, slice on an angle into thin slices and set aside.
- While chicken is cooking, prepare the vinaigrette by whisking together vinegar, mustard, syrup, salt, pepper. Whisk vigorously while adding oil in a very slow steady stream as dressing emulsifies.
- Toss the salad greens with the almonds and raisins and place into bowls. Top with chicken, apple slices and dressing. Add shaved cheese and optionally, more ground pepper. Serve immediately.
Today is Sweetest Day, a holiday that most people in this area don’t celebrate. It was first celebrated in Cleveland, OH in 1921, and was basically a holiday started by candy companies. It’s still celebrated, though primarily in the Midwest/Great Lakes region. I try to bring a little bit of Wisconsin to Massachusetts whenever possible, and I’ve FINALLY convinced Marc that Sweetest Day is okay to celebrate — even if we’re the only ones doing it. Why not find a reason to celebrate love, right?? Marc surprised me with gorgeous flowers at work yesterday, and I gave him Ferraro Rocher Rondnoir, since he’s so sweet.
We also celebrated by doing what we do best — we cooked. We had most of the ingredients to make a rustic spinach and feta pizza — so I picked up some fresh — not canned! — dough ($1.59) from the bakery at Johnnie’s Foodmaster, and we were set to go. This pizza is SO easy, SO tasty, and a fine fine departure from the typical saucy and over-cheesed pizza you can get from your local takeout.
Spinach and Feta Pizza
Sweetest Day Spinach and Feta Pizza
- Fresh pizza dough (if you don’t want to make your own — I understand — check out your local grocery store or pizzeria. You can get dough CHEAPLY and it’s so much tastier than Pillsbury or Boboli!)
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- A good handful or two of spinach, stems removed
- 1 large red onion (or 2 small red onions), sliced thin and caramelized
- 1 clove garlic
- Small handful of pine nuts, toasted
- Feta cheese, crumbled
- A few shakes of oregano (optional)
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Caramelize onions slowly. Add garlic to pan at the very end of cooking until just fragrant. Remove from heat.
-
Pizza dough
Allow pizza dough to come to room temperature. Dust dough with flour and roll out on a cookie sheet or pizza pan that has been dusted with flour or cornmeal. Work dough gently by kneading with your fingers. The warmer the dough, the more pliable it becomes. You can determine how thick or thin you’d like the crust — we err on the thin side for a crispier crust.
- Brush olive oil on dough. Arrange onions and garlic, pine nuts, spinach, and feta.
- Sprinkle oregano on pizza, if you desire.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes at 450 degrees. Remove from oven and let cool.
- Enjoy with your sweetie!
This is a great Saturday night meal — and take my word for it, the fresh (not canned) pizza dough makes all the difference!
Editor’s Note from Elysabeth: It was a busy week for family and cooking. My brother, Christian, who is a vegetarian and a filmmaker took to the kitchen to make vegan chocolate snickerdoodles. Are you brave enough?
Congratulations on reading this blog post. You have come a long way in your quest of cooking and baking, and now you are here…
I am neither Saucy NOR Bossy, unless it’s spelled Sossy… then that’s a combination of both… anyway, I thought I’d give this whole guest post thing a whiz and a bang and see how it turns out… hopefully it will be one of many.
My name is Christian Kocinski, I am the self proclaimed Vegan/Vegetarian consultant here on Sossy and Baucey… I am not a vegan, I am a Lacto-Vegetarian, and have been for close to 10 years. So even though I am not a full fledged vegan (I like a slice of cheese and a glass of milk), I do not eat eggs… not to go into too much detail, but if you see me on the street eating a piece of cake that has clearly been made with eggs, keep in mind that my rule when it comes to egg is, I will neither cook with them, or eat them for breakfast, but if someone gives me a baked good with an egg in it, I’m not going to be that fussy.
Now, moving right along to the heart of the matter… I bake and cook vegan (whenever possible), and so for my first contribution to the Sossy and Baucey Blog, I have chosen to make Mexican Hot Chocolate SHHhhnickerdoodles.
This recipe was taken from the Post Punk Kitchen blog/website, from their book Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar
Here is the Link to the blog post, with a very helpful video attached…
But, if you don’t feel like leaving this blog, here is a recap of the recipe.
INGREDIENTS!!!
For the topping:
Ingredients
- 1/3 c. sugar
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
For the cookies:
- 1/2 c. canola oil
- 1 c. sugar
- 1/4 c. maple syrup
- 3 tbsp. soy milk (or regular milk, if you prefer)
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. chocolate extract (or more vanilla extract, if you have no chocolate extract)
- 1 2/3 c. flour
- 1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. cayenne
INSTRUCTIONS!!! OMG!!
Now, I won’t bother copying and pasting this part directly from the recipe I stole borrowed… I’ll just write up the instructions as I did them, complete with colorized photographs.
1) Get 2 1/2 cookie sheets, and line them with parchment paper – This was tricky since the parchment paper rolled in on itself.
2) Gather your ingredients – Something to note… I couldn’t find Chocolate Extract, nobody I know had ever even heard of it… So I just used extra Vanilla. Also, Nestle’s Cocoa Powder was the cheapest, but if you are a Hershey’s die hard go get the Hershey’s (is Cocoa Powder even vegan?). Also I chose to use Original Soy Milk, but I’m sure Vanilla Flavored would work as well… I hope you like Soy Milk cause you are going to have a lot left over.
3) The Topping… I started by mixing 1/3 Cup Sugar, with 1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon, in a shallow dish… don’t worry about making too much of this, because whatever is left can be sprinkled on toast.
Topping
4) At some point you are going to have to pre-heat the oven… might as well make it now. Heat that bad boy up to 350.
5) Now, next thing I did was mix together (with a fork… vigorously) oil, sugar, syrup, and milk. – Then I mixed in extracts. (see amounts above)
Wet ingredients
6) This is where the instructions get tricky… it says to “sift” in the remaining ingredients… I don’t really know what that means, so I just dumped them all in. And I opted for a large plastic spoon, instead of a fork at this point… it just made much more sense. Now the dough should be forming… it should be pliable and doughy, and even a little bit dough like.
Dough-like
7) Okay, now this is the fun part… it’s time to make some balls. Grab a clump of the doughy dough, and roll them into Walnut Size Balls. That’s a walnut that hasn’t been shelled yet. Now push those balls into the cinnamon/sugar mixture and also pat them down into a disc at the same time (about 2 inches in diameter)… Then transfer the disc cinnamon/sugar side up onto the baking pan. I fit no more then 12 cookies on a sheet before I move to the next one.
Ready for the oven
Slide them in the oven… careful now, don’t burn yourself! – What I like to do is put in the first pan, while I’m still prepping the next one… it’s something I’ve seen my dad do when he was baking cookies. They should be in that oven for like 12 minutes or so… I think next time I’d do them closer to 10.
9) Let them cool for about 5 minutes, and then transfer them to a cooling rack. Or if you don’t have a cooling rack… do what we did when we were kids… cut up paper shopping bags, and lay them out on your kitchen table, and put the cookies on that.
That’s it folks, it’s all over… the cookies are done… and hopefully they are delicious.
Let me tell you about the cookies… close your eyes, and if you can still read this with your eyes closed, it’s a miracle. Okay… Now, picture taking a sip of Hot Chocolate, followed by a rush of Cayenne pepper. That’s what these cookies taste like… They are not for those who have a weak stomach… if you like spicy food, these are the cookies for you. They are sweet, and spicy, and they taste great with a glass of Soy Milk.
The only thing is that I thought they were a little dry, and not too moist. This could be do to the soy milk, or lack of eggs… or this could be do to something i did wrong in cookie making 101, I’ll have to consult Alton Brown.
But other then that, I got a lot of good comments on those who enjoy spicy food and also enjoy Mexican Hot Chocolate.
I hope you have a great time making these… and also eating them.
Until Next time, this is Christian Kocinski for Sossy and Baucey saying: If you burn it, it’s still edible.
I’m not feeling well, not at all. I have a super stuffed nose, and a face that is extra swollen (maybe stuffed sinuses as well?). What do I want to eat when I’m sick?
Chicken soup.
I am patting myself on the back for making a double batch of chicken soup a few weeks ago and keeping a sick reserve in the freezer. I took it out of the freezer between naps this afternoon, and Marc is heating it up right now.
I also really had a strong craving for crappy chicken tenders, so Marc picked up some Tyson chicken tenders. I’m sure I will regret my decision at a later date, but sometimes the need for “sick food” is just too strong. Do you have any sick food that you MUST have when you’re not feeling well?
Sundays are great soup days. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a soupy kind of gal, but I have never been a fan of tomato soup, particularly Campbell’s tomato soup — its featureless, overly creamy, kind of thin broth was never really my thing, and so I assumed I just didn’t like tomato soup at all. Recently, when my sister was in town, we had lunch at Jam ‘n Java, a little soup and sandwich place in Arlington Center. They only had tomato basil soup, so I passed, but Cecilia got it. I tried a spoonful…and then another…and then another, and I realized that I was hooked. The delicious aroma of the basil, plus the chunkiness of the fresh tomatoes made me a convert. I’m not about to crack open a can of Campbell’s any time soon, but I will certainly make this soup again.
I knew that I could EASILY make a version of this soup, and I quickly found an easy recipe, courtesy of Ina Garten. I’m not an avid watcher of The Barefoot Contessa, but I knew that with Ina’s recipe, I couldn’t go wrong. We diverged a bit from her recipe, adding a smidge pesto and a bit of Parmesan cheese for the final product, but you can feel free to do whatever you want to make this tomato soup your own.
Roasted Tomato Basil Soup
Roasted Tomato and Basil Soup (adapted from The Barefoot Contessa’s recipe)
- 3 lbs. plum tomatoes, cut in half
- 1/4 c. plus 2 tbsp. good olive oil
- 1 tbsp. kosher salt
- 1 1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
- 2 c. chopped yellow onions (about 2 onions)
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
- 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 28-oz. canned plum tomatoes, with their juice
- 4 c. fresh basil leaves, packed
- 1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
- 1 quart chicken stock or water (or vegetable broth)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar (for the very end)
- Possible garnishes: pesto, Parmesan cheese, cream, etc. Whatever your heart desires!
Tomatoes, ready to roast
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss together the tomatoes, 1/4 cup olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread the tomatoes in 1 layer on the baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes.
2. In an 8 quart stockpot over medium heat, saute the onions and garlic with 2 tbsp. of olive oil, butter and red pepper flakes for 10 minutes, until the onions start to brown. Add the canned tomatoes, basil, thyme and chicken stock. Add the oven-roasted tomatoes, including the liquid on the baking sheet. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for at least 40 minutes, though I did it for the better part of the day.
3. Before serving, blend with an immersion (stick) blender, until soup is at desired consistency. Add balsamic vinegar, and warm through for an additional 5-10 minutes.
4. Serve with optional garnishes and yummy bread! This is a great recipe for a cool fall evening.
Soup, garnished with pesto and Parmesan
