Linguine with Clam Sauce or Linguine Alle Vongole

Yum yum! I've made this clam linguine so many times and to rave reviews. It really is delicious and I first started making it back in the 1980's when I was just a young cook (weren't my 19 year old friends lucky to get this meal served up when they visited me?). This is an Umberto Menghi recipe and one that I'm sure he teaches his students at his cooking school in Tuscany. Well, today, you're getting it for free!

1 lb. of linguine cooked al dente: 3-5 minutes for fresh pasta and 5-7 minutes for packaged linguine.

Clam Sauce: Add one 12 ounce or 350 ml can of clams with clam liquid to a pot with 2cups of cold water, one onion diced, 1/4 cup of white wine, and 1 bayleaf. Boil for a few minutes and then drain pot except of course for clams and 1/2 cup of the liquid. In a separate pan, saute 1 1/2 garlic finely minced in 6 tbsp. of unsalted butter over medium heat...careful not to burn the garlic. Then add clams, clam liquid and 3 tbsp. of parsley to garlic and stir until blended and reduce by simmering for 4 minutes.

Then add an additional 1/3 cup of white wine to garlic, clams, clam liquid and parsley and reduce by simmering on medium heat for 2 minutes.

Finally season with salt and black pepper to taste! Love it!

Shrimp Ceviche

1 ½ - 2 pounds of uncooked fresh shrimp, 2 - 3 chopped avocados, 2 chopped up yellow/red peppers, 1 chopped cucumber, ½ cup of fresh lime juice, ½ cup of lemon juice, 1/4 cup of orange juice, 1/2 cup of chopped red onion, 1 cup of fresh cilantro leaves, 1 tbsp. of chipotle spice – or instead you can buy one serrano chili (add seeded and chopped. You can get at Mexican store), 1 tsp. of sugar, 3-4 tbsp. Of tomato sauce, 1/2 tsp. of salt.
First put the shrimp into a bowl with lime and lemon juice and put into the refrigerator for about 3 hours. The acid of the juices will cook the shrimp. Then add all of the above ingredients mix together and put back into the fridge for another hour. Serve with some nice baked tortilla chips. ***Last April tomatillos were in season and I added a few of these.

***If you like you can add 4 chopped up tomatoes too – it will taste just as good.

Prawns with Feta

I remember whipping this dish up with these ingredients when we had some last minute guests drop by. It was unbelievably delicious.
1 small onion, finely chopped, ½ oz. of butter, 1 tbsp. of olive oil, 125 ml of dry white wine, 4 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped, 1 clove of garlic, crushed, ¾ tsp. chopped fresh oregano, salt, freshly ground black pepper, 4 oz. of feta cheese, crumbled, 2 lbs. of uncooked prawns, peeled and deveined, 4 tbsp. of chopped fresh parsley. Sauté onion in butter and olive oil in a saucepan for 5 minutes. Add wine, tomatoes, garlic and oregano. Season. Bring to the boil then simmer until sauce thickens slightly. Add cheese, mix well, and then simmer for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Add prawns and cook over moderate heat for 5 minutes or until tender. Do not overcook. Transfer to a serving dish, sprinkle with parsley. Serves 4 or 1 if you are me.

Lobster and White Cheddar Sliders

Alright everyone, these are just lovely and delicious. I invited 14 friends over to eat appetizers this weekend and I have to say, I find it overwhelmingly endearing and heart warming when I see all of my friends converge like little honey bees around my food. "when willl you be serving the brioche and Camembert?" one asks, "oh you've missed your calling as a caterer" another declares. It's true. The love is definitely felt in my food (Maya Angelous believes that people can indeed feel the energy you had while making your food and I believe it). This weekend I made a few old favorites that you can find on the blog, ie: Mushroom Wellington and Brioche and Camembert. I also served a simple and delicious new cocktail that consisted simply of 2 oz. of Limencello topped with champagne. "I reminds me of my trip to Italy this summer" my sister-in-law said. Truth be told I had a whole other cocktail in mind called, "Captain Handsome" but could not get a hold of creme de violet here in the great white north. Apparently there is an order coming in this January and you can bet your bottoms up I'll be getting me a few bottles for next season. Alright, enough about me, these appetizers are for you, enjoy!

Lobster Sliders: Here is a wonderful take on a unique and delicious slider not to mention a positively refreshing change from the original beef ones.

1 1/2 cups of lobster (I used a can of real lobster that I bought frozen, but you know, fake lobster is delicious too), 1/2 cup of Hellman's mayo, 1/2 cup of celery, 1/4 cup of shredded white cheddar (cheese is optional), 1 tbsp. of lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste and a tbsp. of any other herb that you might enjoy with your lobster, such as lemon pepper (just a 1/2 tsp.), tarragon, Old Bay Seasoning (1/2 tsp.), or dill (which I used for this recipe). Bread and butter. I made 12 of these sandwiches, so I used 24 pieces of bread. Per piece of bread you are going to use a glass to cut a round of bread and you can save the crusts and extra bits of bread for the stuffing you'll be making Christmas dinner! Now butter one piece of bread and put the butter side down on a baking sheet. Top with about a tbsp. of the lobster mixture, then top mixture with another piece of buttered bread and make sure the buttered side is facing up (like if you were making a grilled cheese sandwich). Do this with all of the sandwiches and line them all up on the baking sheet. Bake sandwiches in a 350 degree for about 20 minutes turning them once until the bread is nice and toasty brown on both sides and the lobster mixture is warmed through. You can serve immediately, or I had made mine early in the day, kept them in the fridge and then microwaved them for about a minute or so until they were all nice and warm again.

Now mix up the above

Jumbo Shrimp in Diced Tomato, Onion, and Feta

I had a hankering last night for jumbo shrimp.  Yes I happen to have some available in my fridge, lucky me.  Years ago I made a version of this and it was far better from a Greek cookbook I have but couldn't find last night.  Anyway, saute some onion in a pan with some olive oil.  Once it's nice and soft add 1/2 a can of diced tomatoes with juice and let it simmer down.  Meanwhile add all your seasonings, salt, pepper, Greek seasonings, garlic.  Once it's reduced, add cooked jumbo prawns and finally nice hunks of feta cheese and let it melt.  Simply lovely.  Watched it during Bachelor Pad....interesting.

Lobster and Asiago Macaroni

This was so good and I made it for a family party we went to the other day.  I did not use real lobster, but I have to tell you, I think I actually like the fake stuff better.  It's so sweet and flavourful!  Seriously!  So you will have to make a roux first - put 4 tbsp. of butter into a pot and melt over medium high heat.  Once melted add two heaping tbsp. of flour and wisk into the butter until crumbly and blended.  Then add two cups of milk and whisk furiously to get all the lumps out.  The sauce will start to thicken and gently boil in about 5 or so minutes.  Once the sauce begins to boil a little add about 2 cups of shredded asiago cheese to the sauce and a pinch of nutmeg, salt and pepper.  I wished I'd had a little white wine to add to it....but let's be honest, I probably would have drank it before it hit the pot.  Add the lobster to the sauce and stir.  Turn off the heat.  Boil in a separate pot about 4 cups of macaroni.  Once done, drain and put into a greased casserole dish and pour sauce over it mixing through.  Top with Club House Parmesan/Herb blend and some herbs....I used Rosemary.  Bake at about 300 degrees for 20 minutes.  I had to refrigerate this macaroni and then transport it to the party.  When I had to reheat it, it needed a little moistening up.  Once it was warmed through, I added about a 1/2 cup of cream evenly over the entire casserole of lobster macaroni because that was what was available.  You could easily use milk instead and let it sit for a moment.  It was tremendously delicious!

Low Calorie Shrimp Vegetable Stuffed French Crepes

I always love it when I can find uber delicious already prepared foods that make low calorie eating a sensuous experience. I found Frieda's French Style Crepes at the grocery store and was to be honest, sceptic that any already prepared crepe could taste divine. I was pleasantly...well more than pleasantly surprised. Now that I am on Weight Watchers, I was looking for still delicious pleasurable meals that would not only fill up my hunger, but my soul as well.

Roast 3-4 mushrooms and one small sliced red pepper in 1/4 cup of vegetable broth in a 350 degree oven until your desired doneness. I had mine in the oven for about 15 minutes. Take out of the oven and drain the broth to dry out the veggies BUT SAVE 2 TBSP. of broth for the sauce.

Then lay out 2 crepes and get ready for stuffing. I first layered, 1/2 slice of low calorie Swiss cheese down each centre - break it up a bit if you like to cover the whole length of the crepe. Then begin adding the roasted veggies, and 1/2 cup of shrimp to each crepe - then roll up. Bake in the oven again at the same temperature until the crepes are just a little bit brown.

Then for the sauce, add 1 tbsp. of 1/2 fat Hellman's mayo to a small bowl and mix in the two tbsp. of reserved vegetable broth and stir until a creamy like consistency. I then added perhaps 1/2 tsp. of low calorie Parmesan cheese to the sauce. When you take the crepes from the oven, put onto a pretty plate, pour the sauce evenly over each crepe and garnish with parsley. This whole two crepe breakfast is 6 points in total and absolutely delicious!

English Girl's Prawn/Crab/Egg Salad

Why English girl? Well I kind of have an idea about what the Brits enjoy considering my roots. This uber simple salad is just that....simple and yet one more cool no fuss salad for a hot summer day.

Pile some organic fancy green lettuce on a pretty luncheon plate. Mix up 2 cups of prawns or shrimp, chop up some 2 cups of fake crab, 4 hard boiled eggs, 2 green onion, 1/4 cup of chopped up fresh tarragon, juice of 2 lemons, and 1 cup of miracle whip. Obviously this amount will make several salads, but you can keep it in the fridge throughout the week to enjoy mid afternoon when you get a little hungry. Add a little Kosher salt - I used pink Hawaiian salt, pepper and lemon wedges. P.S. You could if you like add a little seafood sauce to the mix. Nice with a little glass of white. P.S.S. What tastes even more amazing is when you don't add the eggs right away, and refrigerate this salad over night to allow the flavours to mingle. Add a slice of lemon to the salad and put away until the next day. Then boil up your eggs and when still warm slice up and add to the cold salad and mix up and serve. The warm eggs and the cold salad are heavenly. XO

Lime Oysters....

This post is mostly for me to remember a delicious combo that I'll have to bake myself eventually. My husband and I enjoyed a fabulous wine tasting the other night of Pinot Noir wines. Of course my hubby told me it was Zinfandel, so that's what we brought. There is nothing unusual about him and I screwing up. I mean my hubby is not a red wine drinker and to him Zinfandel and Pinot Noir sound similiar..... OK, so we went to this great intimate wine tasting at our friends' home and I had baked oysters and instead of lemon, she squeezed lime all over the oysters instead. One of our guests ate a zillion of them so I'm almost certain her husband would have gotten the ride of a life time later on. Pardon me, but isn't that what oysters do to you... So try lime instead of lemon - sensational!

Hot and Sour Soup made from left over Seviche

Last night I served Seviche as an appetizer before our company Christmas party at our house. Since there was some seviche left and because I didn't want to waste it, I turned this Mexican dish into a Mexican/Asian fusion with a very simple recipe for hot and sour soup. I just had a bowl and it is delicious.

Put left over seviche into a pot and add a carton of Chicken broth. Then add about 6 slices of fresh ginger to the pot, and 4 green onions. Then bring the dish to a boil and simmer. I then added two tbsp. of cornstarch to the pot - but you must first mix the two tablespoons of cornstarch with three tablespoons of water and mix until it is a smooth paste. Then add it to the pot and it will add a nice texture to the soup. I then added two tbsp. of Splenda to freshen the taste up together with lots of hot sauce - taste and do it to your own liking. Also add 1 tbsp. of rice vinegar, 1 tbsp. of soy and Worcestershire sauce. I also added a little olive oil to the pot as well because the recipe had called actually for 1 tsp. of sesame oil and I didn't have it. Then mix up one egg and stream it into the hot pot. It looks gorgeous and tastes amazing. If you are starting from scratch and not using leftover seviche, follow all of the above and just add 2 cups of shrimp.