Tag Archives: crab

Enchanted Tiki Room Cocktail Party Menu

Although this menu came together as a part of FoodBuzz’s 24×24 for November, it has long been in the works. For as long as I’ve known, I’ve always wanted to throw a tiki party full of old school flair – think the Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland or a trip to fabulous culinary relic Trader Vic’s. Or a favorite from back in the day, the local tiki restaurant in my hometown of Alexandria, Virginia – Honolulu Restaurant. One step into the door transported you to an island oasis where the hula girls were always shaking their hips and the flaming volcano drinks left you forgetting that it wasn’t Hawaii waiting for you right outside the heavy wooden doors. It was a magical place, and the memory even more so (it closed almost a decade ago).

As the weather brings gusty cold fronts and the fireplaces flicker on one by one, I couldn’t help but think that it was high time to get a little silly, a little sassy, and throw a kitschy tiki party. Rather than listen to the endless strains of “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” I wanted to belt some Mele Kalikimaka reminding me that just because Christmas is right around the corner, it didn’t mean that I couldn’t pretend that there were palm trees swaying outside. Well, actually, there are since I live in Arizona, but I digress. Continue reading Enchanted Tiki Room Cocktail Party Menu

Crab Rangoon with Sweet Chili Sauce

I’ve always thought of this vintage throwback as a weird amalgamation – crabmeat, cheese, water chestnuts and ginger all wrapped in a wonton and fried.  Crazytalk!  But altogether, it’s a delight – one that I first tried at the now closed tiki restaurant, Honolulu, that was right off the highway in Alexandria, Virginia.

Now, I find it hard to track down a good version from Chinese takeout places, and instead, make my own.  If you love crab rangoon, but hate how many places use artificial crab meat, or worse, only cream cheese, then this is the recipe for you. Tender crab is perked up by sesame oil, ground ginger and the crunch of water chestnuts, with just enough cream cheese to bind it all together. Continue reading Crab Rangoon with Sweet Chili Sauce

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

Like a true daughter of the Eastern shore, I love me some blue crab.  I once read an article that broke me into a fury as strong as the east coast-west coast hip hop beef.  Apparently Tupac thinks dungeoness crab is far better than Biggie’s favorite blue crabs, and that those little hard-shelled beauties from the Chesapeake Bay (and increasingly from the Gulf and around Texas) are too hard to crack and overrated.  To which I say, Tupac, that’s bollocks.  Come over for these crab-stuffed mushrooms anytime and I will change your mind.  And yes, I just offered the deceased crab stuffed mushrooms.

This recipe is incredibly simple, but can be pricey if you are making it outside the Chesapeake Bay area.  I lessen the blow by substituting half of the lump crab with claw meat – this briny, dark colored meat is far cheaper and works well as a mushroom filling.  If that’s still too expensive, employ a blend of a half pound of diced raw shrimp and roasted red peppers sautéed with an extra cup of panko, a few tablespoons of butter and enough chicken stock to moisten the stuffing.  Regardless of the seafood, the mixture is lightened by lemon zest and parsley, and has a dose of cayenne for kick.  Make a batch of these for loved ones, and I am sure that your street cred will go through the roof.  Homie? Homie.

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

1 shallot, minced
4 tbs. of butter
8 oz. lump crab meat
8 oz. of crab claw meat
1 egg
1/2 tbs. of dijon mustard
2 tbs. of mayo
pinch of cayenne
1/4 tsp. of white pepper
1 tbs. of fresh thyme
2 tbs. of fresh chopped parsley
1 tsp of old bay, plus more for sprinkling
1 lemon
1/2 c. of panko, plus more for sprinkling
1 lb. of cremini or white button mushrooms

Wipe the mushrooms clean and remove the stems.  If you’d like, chop the stems and sauté with the shallots in the next step or save for another use (like a marinara sauce or a mushroom risotto).  Line a cookie sheet with foil and grease with olive oil or butter.  Place the mushroom caps on the cookie sheet and preheat the oven to 375°.

Sauté the shallots in a small skillet with the butter until translucent.  Let cool to room temperature and then pour into a mixing bowl.  Blend carefully with the egg, mustard, mayo, cayenne, white pepper, thyme, parsley, old bay and the zest of 1 lemon.  Pick over the crab for any extra shells and gently fold into the stuffing mixture.  Fold in the panko.  Fill each mushroom with a few tablespoons of filling.  Sprinkle with panko and old bay on top.  Bake in the oven for 15 minutes until golden.  Cut the lemon into wedges and squeeze over the mushrooms before serving.  Eat and then bust a rhyme.

Feast of the Seven Fishes

Holidays are about traditions – both making them and breaking them.  Given my wide splay of ethnic background, it tends to be the case that I manage to do both of these things each and every year with a slightly different celebration that meets one of our many traditions.  I feel like this is the way it is with most of us – over time we build up a collection of various customs that are an amalgamation of all of our traditions put together.

This year, we decided to give a shout out to Sicily (both my husband and I are of Sicilian decent) with the Feast of the Seven Fishes.  A custom with origins in Southern Italy, a series of fish dishes (and no meat) are prepared for Christmas Eve.  The number of dishes varies – some say it’s seven for the seven sacraments, or 10 for the commandments.  It’s at the point now where people come up with a number of dishes between 7 and 15 and assign a biblical association for that number.  At the heart of the celebration is a gathering of family and friends for a delicious meal and (hopefully) fine company.

One of the must-haves for the Feast of the Seven Fishes is baccalà or salt cod.  In another cultural twist, our Feast of the Seven Fishes contained two preparations of baccalà in the traditional Brazilian manner (called bacalhau), fried into small balls and baked with garlic, onions, potatoes and hard boiled eggs.  There’s something about the blended traditions that truly makes it a holiday for me.

If you’d like to get on a little fish action yourself and create a new family tradition of your own, here is the road map for our Feast of the Seven Fishes.  Have fun with it, add as many or as few fish as you’d like, and chow down Sicilian style.

Antipasto

Cold Seafood Salad

One of my husbands early memories was of his father making a special seafood salad at Christmastime.  He did a little research and found a close version online, that we adapted to make it like the one he knew as a child. I’m lazy and I don’t like to spend my entire life cleaning seafood, so we purchased the squid pre-cleaned and the octopus pre-cleaned and cooked at Whole Foods (the octopus was in the Seafood Salad area of the store).  The rest of the goodies are poached in a flavorful liquid of herbs and vegetables and then tossed with a light vinaigrette and crisp veggies.  Despite the sheer number of ingredients, this is one of the most beautiful things you can put on your table.

Bolihnos de Bacalhau

These croquettes of salt cod are crispy and light on the outside, and tender and moist on the inside.  Soaking the cod for a goodly while gets rid of the fishiness and elevates the taste of this festive, bite-sized treat.

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

Growing up so close to the Chesapeake Bay, blue crab is more of a right than a privilege for me, and what seafood feast would be complete without it.  These dainty suckers leverage lump crab for sweetness and claw meat for cost efficiency.  The seasoning is traditional, eastern shore, crab cake style, as yet another shout out to the land of my ancestors.
Recipe for Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

Primo

Fettucine al Langostra

Who doesn’t love lobster?  Strangely, my sister doesn’t.  But this incredibly simple and delicious preparation of fettucine with tender lobster meat was gobbled down by her and won her praises.  If that’s not a Christmas miracle, then I don’t know what is. Use good egg fettucine for the pasta and fresh basil to brighten things up.  To save time during the feast (since you are cooking most everything at once), I used a jar of Rao’s Arrabiata sauce, which is delicious, but way too expensive at $9 a jar.  I found a bottle of White Linen Gourmet Marinara at Costco for $4 that actually tasted BETTER than the Rao’s – no joke.  If you go that route, just make sure to add a heavy dose of crushed red pepper for kick.

Linguine alle Vongole

Linguine with white clam sauce, for me, is comfort food at its best – it doesn’t take a hell of a long time to prepare, it’s got a healthy dose of garlic and red pepper for kick, and at the end of the day, who doesn’t want to tuck into a mound of tender pasta. I use my Poorman’s Linguine with Clam Sauce for this one, but add fresh clams to the mix.  Simply heat some olive oil and garlic in a saute pan and when hot, pour in a cup of white wine.  Add a pound of small clams (I use manila clams) and pop a lid on the pan.  Let steam in the wine garlic mix for a short 5 minutes and then scoop out the open clams and put them on top of the pasta.  Discard any clams that haven’t opened after cooking.
Recipe for Linguine alle Vongole

Secondo

Bacalhau Gomes de Sá

Though this dish is Portuguese in origin (Porto to be exact), it’s a favorite among Brazilians as well.  The dish was supposedly created by a wealthy cod distributor’s son, who after being disowned, was forced to work in a restaurant.  His legacy was this dish, a delicious combination of cod, tender potatoes, sautéed garlic and onions, and topped with hard boiled eggs, olives and parsley. This recipe reminds me of whenever my great grandmother would come into town with heaps of bacalhau ready for the cooking.  Upon her arrival, it was a sure thing that Gomes de Sá was going to be prepared shortly thereafter.

Tuna (or Swordfish) with Gremolata

Nothing says majesty like fresh fish with a lovely topping of lemon, garlic and herbs.  Simplicity is the focus, so the freshest of fish is necessary in this one – get sushi grade (or Grade #1) tuna, or the brightest, firmest fillets of whatever you’d like.  While you can spread the fish with the gremolata and then broil them, with the tuna I like to sear them in a pan to control the doneness (I like the steaks rare) and then slather the hot fish with the lemon mixture so that it melts into the fish. Gremolata is traditionally a combination of lemon, parsley and garlic, but here, I add rosemary instead of the parsley as it is hardier and holds up to the many other bold flavors at this feast.
Recipe for Swordfish with Gremolata

Contorno

Sauteed Cavolo Nero

Called black kale or dinosaur kale, this leafy green is a fabulous taste sensation for anyone that loves bitter greens.  Plus, it matches up with the sweetness of the seafood and sauces with outstanding strength.  This recipe comes straight from one of my favorite foodie websites, Chow.com, and utilizes orange juice, garlic and onion to create the most perfectly rounded flavors in this dish.  A major keeper, I didn’t even have to tweak this recipe one bit, which absolutely NEVER happens when I’m in the kitchen. If you have any leftovers, you can fold them into a delicious soup, like a Caldo Verde (Portuguese Sausage and Kale Soup) or a Ribollita (Italian Kale and White Bean Soup with Croutons).
Recipe for Cavolo Nero at Chow.com

Cha Gio (Vietnamese Crispy Spring Rolls)

Greatest Wrapper of All Time

Cha gio, the Vietnamese answer to the Chinese spring roll, are a heck of a lot more than a crispy wrapper around a bit of filling.  The complex mix of tender pork, delicate shrimp and crab, and savory vegetables and spices form an addictive amalgamation that trumps the few shreds of cabbage and roast pork in a traditional spring roll.  Combine this roll with the delicious crunch of herbs and lettuce, and finish the whole thing off with a dunk into some sweet and salty nuoc mam, and you are in for a treat.

I always order cha gio with all the fixings at Vietnamese restaurants, and feel that the presentation lends an air of luxury to the dish.  And yet, when I was young, our Vietnamese friends would make the rolls in large quantities and share with anyone deserving of a little treat – cha gio were unpretentious and meant to be shared.  I feel the same way about feijoada completa (the Brazilian national dish of black beans, rice, and assorted condiments) – in a restaurant, the many dishes of food that make up the meal add an element of grandeur to the meal, when in actuality, feijoada is the people’s food at its best.  Just good, honest cooking meant to be shared with friends and family. Continue reading Cha Gio (Vietnamese Crispy Spring Rolls)