Julia Child Was A Wise Woman

The corn on the grill took a turn.  For the better, in my opinion.  We started out thinking we were going to grill the corn with the husks on.  It is my understanding that the steps you take towards that end, are as follows:

1.  Pull the husks down about halfway,
B.  Remove the silks,
3.  Pull the husks back up,
D.  Soak the corn in water for 20 minutes, and
5.  Place on the grill for 15-20 minutes.

This is where I started.  I pulled the husk halfway down on the first ear of corn. Then I laboriously removed the silks.  Well, my fine friends, I must admit, that this is also where I ended.  Mon Dieu! Who wants to bother with all that baloney?

So I removed everything!

I put a very small amount of canola oil on the corn.  Just so it would brown a little bit. Then UD put the corn right on the grill rack over medium high heat, and rotated it periodically for 7 or 8 minutes.  He brought it in, and I slathered it with the Herb butter.  It was so delicious, and so much simpler.

He had also grilled a beef tenderloin.  I put some of the Herb butter on the tenderloin, and it rested for about 10 minutes while UD cooked the corn.  While it was resting, the butter was melting over the tenderloin, ever so nicely. 

Side note:  You may want to avoid serving this meal to your doctor, or any local heart surgeons.  I am pretty sure they would frown on this meal.

We had wonderful Herbs and buttery goodness all over the tenderloin.  I added a salad, and we called it a day.

If I may quote Julia Child yet again, "Fat gives things flavor".  Oy vey, was she right!



A bientot!  See you soon

The Native Corn Is Here!

I was so excited when I got to Brown's Farm Stand the other day.  As I walked in, there, front and center, was a big wooden box, full of beautiful native corn.  I bought six ears and brought them into the house with a big smile on my face.  UD asked what I was so happy about, and I replied, "The native corn is here!".  I believe that spoke volumes.

That evening I just did the usual boil for 5 minutes and we had it with some leftovers.  However, I had forgotten that the first week or two of native corn is very, very tender.  I should have done 3 minutes and pulled them out of the water immediately.  But it was still delicious and we each had 3 ears.

Then I remembered that we had done some corn with a compound Herb butter, in tin foil, on the grill.  I had mentioned that next time we would grill it without the tin foil. So that is my plan for tonight.  I was out of the original Herb butter, so I decided to make some more, and be a little more explicit with the "how to".

I always use unsalted butter, and generally I get the Cabot brand, which is made in Vermont.  But they only had the salted version available, so I chose this as an alternative.  It is Kate's butter, and it is made right here on the Rocky Coast.  So I am using this for the compound Herb butter, and I will let you know what we think of it when we do our next version of grilled corn.

I took a stick of butter out and let it get to room temperature.  Then I cut some chives and parsley from my Herb garden.  I decided to go with just these two Herbs, to achieve a lighter flavor than the previous one I made.  I think it will go well with the fresh native corn, and the beef tenderloin we will have tonight.

I cut the butter into 4 or 5 large chunks, and put it in a small bow.  Then I finely chopped the chives and parsley.

I added the chopped Herbs over the butter.

And mixed them all up together.

Now for the wrap and roll.  Place some plastic wrap or parchment paper on a flat surface.  Then place the butter mixture in the center, towards the bottom.

Start to roll the plastic over the mixture from the bottom up.

Once the butter mixture is covered with just a single layer of the plastic, roll it in the remainder of the plastic, in a slightly tighter fashion.

Once you have it completely rolled up, grasp it firmly in both hands, and sort of twist it inward from the two edges.  The butter mixture will form a beautiful roll, and you can place it in the fridge until you are ready to unwrap and roll.

A bientot!  See you soon.

Pan Seared Scallops

Sea scallops are my favorite seafood to cook at home.  They are so easy, and so delicious.  There are a couple of things you should do before you start cooking them.  You need to remove the "foot" from the scallop, and then rinse them well and dry them really well. In the picture below, all the scallops but two, have had the foot removed.  The two that are center right, still have them.  It is the white piece that is partially attached to one, and completely attached to the other.  The foot is actually the muscle that attaches the scallop to it's shell.  My very sweet and helpful niece G, is very good at removing the foot, and she has done that for me so I am able to move on to other parts of the meal. Thanks G!  You are a big help and I know you will become a great chef one day.

After you dry them really well, wrap them up in parchment paper.

And store them in the fridge until you are ready to cook them.

Okay, enough about cleaning and storing.  On to the meal.  We are having pan seared scallops, rice pilaf with onion and toasted orzo, and grilled romaine lettuce with candied pecans and thinly sliced red onion.

Let's start with the rice.  Chop about a quarter of a large Vidalia onion, and saute it in Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  When it starts to soften up a little, add a large handful of the orzo pasta.  The onion will add sweetness, and the orzo will add a toasty flavor to the rice.

Stir it around good, and let the orzo toast up to a golden brown. 

Side note: If you are admiring my wooden spoon, I don't blame you.  It was given to me by my friend D. She and her husband R went to one of Paula Deen's restaurants a couple of years ago while on vacation. I think it was The Lady and Sons, in Savanna Georgia. Any who, they brought me back a set of 4 wooden spoons, and I use each and every one of them ALL the time. Thanks again D and R.

When the orzo is golden brown, add the rice pilaf and water to the pan and follow the label directions.  When it is done, fluff it with a fork and sprinkle some freshly chopped parsley over the top.

Now we will move onto the scallops and grilled romaine salad.  Heat a pan over medium high heat, with a 1:1 ratio of EVOO and butter.  Heat until the oil and butter get nice and bubbly hot.

Earlier I had cleaned and dried a head of romaine lettuce.  I chopped just a small portion of the top off, and left the bottom as is.  That way it will grill nicely and not fall apart.  I drizzled the romaine with EVOO and sprinkled Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper on it.  While I was working on the scallops and rice, UD brought the romaine out to the grill.  He put it over medium heat and grilled it for 5-10 minutes.  Just until it got a slight char.

I drizzled the scallops with EVOO and sprinkled them with salt and pepper.  Once the pan was bubbling hot, I placed the scallops in.  Leave them for 3-4 minutes and then turn them over.  They should be seared a nice golden brown.  DO NOT move them around, or they will not achieve the nice sear that you are looking for.

Let them cook another 2-3 minutes on the second side.

And then plate them up.  It is that simple.

UD brought in the grilled romaine, and I added candied pecans and sliced red onion over the top.  Once again we used Newmans Own Light Raspberry & Walnut dressing.  So good!  I keep thinking I want to make my own vinaigrette, and then I wonder if it is worth it, since there are such delicious options available out there.

We split the salad and dug into the scallops and rice.  We both gave it two thumbs up!

A bientot!  See you soon.

 

Welcome To The Edge

I got a call from Sister A yesterday, and she mentioned that she had just finished reading the post on Shaw's Fish and Lobster Wharf.  She said when she got to the bottom, she expected to see a recipe for lobster chowder.  I thought it was rather ironic, because I was making lobster chowder that very night.  So here you go Sister A.

This is a rather simple chowder recipe.  I use the same ingredients for haddock chowder also.  You will need:

1 lb lobster meat
Whole milk
1 can evaporated milk
1 onion
2 Yukon Gold potatoes
1 tablespoon fresh parsley (dried works fine also)
Chopped chives for garnish (optional)
Butter
Kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper

Doesn't this lobster meat look great?  We always go to Atlantic Edge Lobster, right here on the Rocky Coast.  They are terrific to deal with, and it is always extremely fresh.

This year they were all wearing some pretty cool t-shirts.  It read Atlantic Edge Lobster on the front, and the catchy phrase, Welcome to the Edge, on the back.  I mentioned that I liked the t-shirt, and the guy I was dealing with said that they sell them.  I thought $10 was a good deal, so now UD has yet another t-shirt.  And he very happily modeled it for us.  Thanks UD.

Let's get started on the chowder.  Chop the onion into small pieces and saute over medium low heat, in Extra Virgin Olive Oil, salt and pepper, until it is tender, not browned.

Then cut the potato into bite sized pieces and add to the onion.  Add 1 to 1.5 cups of water to the potato onion combo.  Just enough so that the potatoes will cook, but not completely covering them.

Simmer until they just start to get tender.  Then add 2 tablespoons of butter, and the chopped up parsley.

Add the can of evaporated milk, along with about 1 pint to 1.5 pints of the whole milk.  Stir everything together.

When that all starts to warm up, add the lobster meat.  Let it simmer another 10 minutes or so.

If you would like to substitute haddock for the lobster, that would happen now.  All you do is place a pound or more of uncooked haddock on the top of the chowder.  Let it all warm up, and the haddock actually poaches in the chowder.  It flakes up beautifully, and you get tender chunks in every bite.  Delicious!

Serve it up with chopped chives for garnish.  And don't forget the oyster crackers!

Side note: Sister A has 3 sons. I don't think I have boasted about them yet. I am proud of all three of them, and I will get some good pictures of the two youngest. But for now, here is her oldest son, my nephew M.

He is a lean mean pumpkin growin' machine.

A bientot!  See you soon.

Dinner - Breakfast - Lunch

This is the ham from "The Proclamation".  I vowed to get a few good meals out of it, which happily I did.  A dinner meal, a breakfast meal, and today, lunch.

Let's recap, shall we?

Dinner was ham with Herb mashed potato and sweet brussel sprouts.

Breakfast was potato and egg, kicked up with ham and broccoli.

And finally lunch.  A good ol' ham and cheese sandwich, with brown mustard, lettuce and onion.

I wonder what I will pull out of the freezer next.

A bientot!  See you soon.

Liquid Sunshine

Today we had broccoli with breakfast.  This is meal two from the ham that I cooked in order to help make room in Nellie's old freezer. 

I got this broccoli at my favorite and local farm stand, Browns.

I cut it into fairly small pieces, and coated it with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and salt and pepper.

This is the leftover Herb roasted red potatoes and the ham.

Cut the ham into bite size pieces and put that and the potatoes in a pan that was heated up over a medium high heat.

Crack as many eggs as you want into a bowl and mix them up.  Do you remember the show "Golden Girls"?  This picture reminded me of one of the episodes.  Blanche decided to become a writer, and had writers block.  She was up all night and rather dillusional the next day.  Sophia had a bowl of eggs ready for breakfast, and when Blanche looked in the bowl, she exclaimed "My goodness!  I have a writers soul.  When I look in this bowl, I see liquid sunshine looking back at me."  Well, you had to be there.  But it was actually quite funny!

Side note:  I recently learned that shell attracts shell.  So when you crack your eggs in a bowl, and you leave behind a speck of shell, just take the large shell and put it near the speck.  It is like a magnet, and draws the little speck into the large shell.  Like magic.

Heat up the potato and ham really well.  They both taste even better when they become a little carmelized with color.

When you have cooked the broccoli in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes, pull it out and add it to the pan.

Add salt and pepper to the liquid sunshine, and mix well.

Add the egg mixture to the ham, potato and broccoli.

Voila!  Not really that visually appealing, but it is tasty to the tongue.

A bientot!  See you soon.