Halibut w/ Spinach & Scallop-Citrus Beurre Blanc

I'm telling you - I'm Beurre Blanc obsessed.

When in doubt for a pairing sauce for a dish - beurre blancs are your answer.  I mean, does butter not go with nearly everything?!  Seriously.

The only thing I didn't like about this dish is that the scallop flavor didn't come through as much as I wanted it do.  It may have been the citrus.  It could have overpowered the delicate flavor of the scallops.  But besides that, I was pretty satisfied with this dish - and Andy cleared his plate so I can't complain.

Ingredients:

Fish:

2 6 oz. halibut fillets
flour, for dusting
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 cups raw spinach, stemmed
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
salt and pepper, to taste

3 sea scallops, cut in half
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Scallop-Citrus Beurre Blanc:

1 sea scallop, thinly sliced (think sashimi)
1 shallot, minced
1/4 cup citrus champagne vinegar (alternatively, you can just do 1/4 cup citrus juices or a mixture of champagne vinegar and juices)
8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

You can prepare your sauce first.  In a medium saucepan, combine the shallot and citrus vinegar.  Reduce to about 1-2 tablespoons.

Turn heat to low and slowly whisk in unsalted butter, one cube at a time.  Be careful not to add to much butter at once or you run the risk of your sauce breaking.  When all of butter is emulsified into the sauce, season with salt and pepper to taste and stir in thinly sliced scallops (the residual heat will cook them through) and chopped parsley.  Reserve sauce in a warm area until needed.  You can also choose to strain the mixture of the solids at this point, but I chose not to.

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Season both sides of halibut fillets with salt and pepper.  Dredge in the flour, shaking off any excess.

Heat an oven-proof skillet under medium high heat and add butter and oil.  (On a side note: We use a combination of peanut oil and butter in the restaurant I work at for two reasons.  The butter is there for browning and flavor, and the oil is there for a higher smoke point - to help achieve a desired "crust" - you can choose to not use both, but be forewarned if you just use butter, you run the risk of it burning, and if you just use oil, you may not get that desired golden crust)

Add your halibut to the pan and cook the first side until it is a nice golden brown, about 2-3 minutes.  Flip each fillet over and carefully transfer pan to the oven to finish cooking, about 3-5 minutes.

While your halibut is finishing you can wilt your spinach and saute your scallops.

Heat two pans under medium high heat.  Add butter to both pans, adding your spinach to one, and your scallops in the other. Of course you can do these separately, instead of all at once, but hey, multitasking is a skill we can all get better at, right?

Cook the spinach until wilted and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Sear your scallops until you get a nice golden brown sear, and then flip over to continue cooking for about 30 seconds to a minute.  Since they're cut in half, you won't need to cook them as long as if they were kept whole.

To plate, arrange a mound of spinach in the center and top with halibut fillet.  Arrange 3 half scallops on each plate and top halibut with beurre blanc.  Voila!

I love using wilted spinach as a side dish.  It comes together so easily and give you an added color boost to any plate.

Hope you guys have a great start to your week!

Red Snapper Quenelles w/ Fennel-Crawfish Cream Sauce

Alright.  No egg recipe. 

But I've got an oddball for ya. 

I didn't quite think this would all match together, let alone get my husband to see my vision.  The quenelle is first slow poached, then finished off in a fryer to get the beautiful golden brown color.  It's like a fish dumpling, if you will.  I wanted to present snapper in a different way and it happened to work out nicely! 

The cream sauce is definitely out-of-this-world.  I could have drank this alone.  It's THAT good.  Definitely something that you could throw on pasta, chicken, fish, whatever!  Versatility is key here.

Anyway, this was one of those dishes I wasn't too excited about until we sat down to eat it.  I should definitely have more confidence in myself, because Andy even said that this could be one of those dishes that he asks for over and over again.  Score!

Ingredients:

Red Snapper Quenelle:

1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup flour
2-3 eggs
12 oz. red snapper (or other lean white fish), roughly chopped
pinch of nutmeg
salt and pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
Swiss cheese, grated (optional)

Fennel-Crawfish Cream Sauce:

10-15 cooked crawfish, tails only
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons parsley, chopped
1 small onion, diced
1/2 fennel bulb, sliced thinly
1 celery stalk, diced
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper, to taste

The quenelle starts with a pate a choux base.  If anybody has ever made cream puffs, this is basically the dough that starts them. 

In a medium saucepan, combine the water, salt, and butter.  Bring to a boil and stir in flour.  Make sure all of the flour is incorporated.  Cook mixture until a slight skin forms on the bottom of the pan.  This is called a "panada".  Transfer mixture to a KitchenAid mixer and beat until no steam comes out.  You're trying to cool the mixture down before you add your eggs.  When mixture is cool to the touch (you basically want it to be less than 135 F - the temp that eggs coagulate/cook), you can start adding your eggs, one at a time.  This is the hardest part of this.  You don't want to add your eggs all at once, because the panada may not accept all of them and your panada will break.  Add the eggs one at a time and make sure they are fully incorporated before adding the next.  You may not need the 3rd egg, or all of it, anyway.  So with the 3rd egg, just scramble it in a bowl and add it little by little.  When will you know the panada is complete?  You can do the "beard test".  Take you paddle attachment and dip it into your panada, if it comes out and looks like a beard/goatee hanging from your paddle, your panada is done! This link here explains pate a choux perfectly.  It should be thick and dough-like, but pliable and sticky.  If that makes any sense.

Anyway, in a food processor, combine your red snapper, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.  Slowly add in your cream until mixture is smooth.  Combine the snapper mixture with the pate a choux dough until well mixed.  Transfer mixture to refrigerator and let sit until well-chilled, about 30 minutes.

To make the cream sauce, melt the butter under medium high heat.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add onions, celery, and fennel.  Cook until fennel starts to soften.   Stir in crawfish and cook another 1-2 minutes.  Deglaze pan with white wine and cook until almost evaporated.  Add in chicken stock and bring to a boil.  Stir in heavy cream and cook mixture until thickened to desired consistency, about 5-10 minutes.  Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper, to taste.  Hold warm until ready to use.

When you're ready to make the quenelles, pull out your fish mixture and set a pot of water to a slow simmer.  Also, get your deep fryer at about 375 F, or heat some vegetable/peanut oil to the same temp in a heavy bottomed pan.

Form your quenelles with 2 spoons (HERE is a great video on how to quenelle) and let simmer in the water for about 15 minutes.  Carefully place on a paper towel-lined tray and pat dry.

Drop quenelles in the fryer/oil until they are a golden brown, about 2-3 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack and season with salt.

Serve quenelles over rice (I didn't really think this was quite necessary, but I was really hungry) and top with fennel-crawfish cream sauce.

 

I know this was an oddball, but sometimes you have to push the limits.  It's why I'm in culinary school, right?  To try weird and new things!

Happy Friday, guys!  Enjoy your weekend!  

Spinach Souffle

I've obviously been on an egg kick, lately.  I don't know why, but I'm all about the little protein powerhouse.  Maybe because it's such a cheap commodity.  So easy to manipulate and do different things with?  Who knows. 

And I've never tried making a souffle before.  With a little extra time on my hands now that school is over for the quarter, I have time to conquer the unconquered.  I don't think I've mastered it, by any means.  But for a first attempt, I think they turned out rather nicely!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small shallot, minced
1 cup raw spinach, roughly chopped
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
salt and pepper, to taste
pinch of cayenne pepper
pinch of nutmeg
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites
1/2 cup Emmentaler (Swiss) cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Heat a medium skillet under medium high heat.  Add olive oil and heat until shimmering.  Add shallot and cook for about 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant.  Stir in spinach and cook until wilted.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.  Set aside to cool.

A lot of souffle bases don't require a bechamel, but I think it makes the souffle creamier and more delicate in the long run, so I highly recommend it.  In a medium saucepan, melt the butter.  Whisk in the flour and cook for just a few minutes, or until the flour is a light blond color.  Stir in milk, a little at a time, whisking constantly to avoid lumps.  Stir until all milk is incorporated and mixture is smooth.  Whisk in the cayenne pepper, nutmeg, and season with salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil and let simmer, whisking occasionally, for about 3-4 minutes, or until mixture is slightly thickened.  Take mixture off of heat and whisk in egg yolks, one at a time.  Transfer to a medium bowl and set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they are at stiff white peaks (think meringue).  Fold in about 1/4 of the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture, along with 1/2 of the cheese and the spinach mixture.  Fold in the rest of the egg whites.

Grease one large souffle dish or 4 mini ramekins (I had 4 inch diameter ones that made perfect side dishes).  Sprinkle inside of souffle dish or ramekins with a little bit of cheese.  Turn out mixture into prepared dishes and sprinkle with remaining bits of cheese. 

Place dish(es) in oven and turn heat down to 375 F.  Bake for about 25 minutes or until souffles are risen and golden brown on top.

Carefully take out of oven and admire your accomplishment!

I had a little bit of a deflation in one of my souffles, but that's expected with any first try, right?  Right.  But the result was an airy, creamy spinach souffle that won over Andy (who, I could tell, was a bit skeptical of having souffle as part of our dinner). 

Have you ever made a souffle?  How did your first go at it go?

Caramelized Onion Quiche w/ Balsamic Glaze

There's something about making a pie crust that's just so soothing.  It's so simple.  No more than 4 ingredients.  A little bit of kneading.  A little bit of resting.  A little bit of baking.  And the result?  Something so flaky and buttery that it would put a smile on anybody's face.

I was limited on ingredients yesterday, but I needed to make something quick and easy before we headed out to see the Silversun Pickups at the Brown last night.  And let me tell you, they really rocked!  I seriously haven't seen a band with so much energy and life in a long time!  Definitely a great rock and roll show!

Anyway, I had eggs.  I had flour.  I had onions.  A quiche was just meant to be.

Ingredients:

Pie dough:

1 & 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt
3-4 tablespoons ice cold water

Filling:

3 onions, julienned
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup milk
salt and pepper, to taste
pinch of nutmeg
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
4-5 slices of deli-ham, chopped (optional) 

Glaze:

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

First, you want to make your pie dough.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour and salt.  Cut in the butter, until the mixture resembles coarse sand.  Add in cold water until the mixture comes together.  You want it to be able to stay together when you gather it in your hand to make a fist.  Form the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. 

To caramelize the onions, add butter, vegetable oil, and onions to a large skillet.  Heat under low-medium low heat until onions become golden brown in color.  You want to stir the onions occasionally so that they don't burn or caramelize too quickly.  You want an even, "soft" browning.  This will take around 45 minutes to an hour to accomplish.  Don't rush it.  Be patient.  You'll be rewarded with sweet, caramelized onions.  I promise.

When the onions are nearly caramelized, sprinkle flour over top and mix well.  Cook for an additional 3-5 minutes, then let onions cool to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 375F.

Take your dough out of the refrigerator and place on floured surface.  Roll out to about 1/4 inch thickness and large enough to fill your pie pan.  I used a shallow 9" pie pan.  Gently place dough into pie pan and flute edges, if desired. Place pie pan in the refrigerator for at least 10-15 minutes.  Chilling the dough again makes it less likely for your pie dough to shrink during baking.  If you were to throw it right in there after you rolled it out, it would most likely shrink - and we don't want that, do we?

Now let's make the filling.  In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, heavy cream, milk, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  Whisk until combined and then stir in mozzarella cheese and cooled onions.

Place pie weights or dried beans (it helps to have a large coffee filter to put them on if using this method, so it's easy to scoop the beans right out) in your pie shell and par bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until pie starts to turn a light golden brown.

Pull out pie shell and remove weights/beans.  If using ham, place an even layer on bottom of pie shell.  Pour filling over top.  Bake quiche for about 25-30 minutes, or until eggs and custard are set.

Let cool, slightly, before cutting.

To make the balsamic glaze, simply place the balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan and reduce until at a syrupy consistency.  Pour glaze over top over quiche, if desired.

And bam - quiche!

Not necessarily a quick dinner fix (but the pie dough and caramelized onions can totally be made ahead of time!).  But definitely one that utilizes common ingredients that we're all bound to have in our fridge and pantry!  And plus, you can always adapt a quiche to what you have on hand - leftovers are perfect quiche ingredients!

What quiche combo is your fave?!

Spinach Omelette

With the close of another quarter of school, I'm one step closer to finishing!  I get to do my internship during my last lab (which happens to be next quarter) and I couldn't be more excited!  But I'm also excited about the much needed break until the new year.

It's been hard to have differing schedules with Andy.  He's a nine-to-fiver and I'm a 3-midnight kind of gal.  But we make it work.  We have lunch dates.  He takes days off (apparently he's got tons of vacation days that he needs to take).  We make time for each other and I'm thankful for that.

So when time is limited, meals end up being quick and easy.  So I've been on an egg kick.  Omelets used to be my go-to meal when I lived with my parents.  My favorite combination?  Hot dogs and cheddar.  I know - weird.  My omelet preferences have since become more "adult" in nature over the years, but I still revert to the classic every now and then.  Don't hate.

What's your favorite omelet combination?

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1 cup raw spinach, stems removed
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded 
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoon unsalted butter, divided
hot sauce (optional)

Heat a medium skillet under medium high heat.  Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in the pan and add the spinach along with a big pinch of salt and pepper.  Stir the spinach constantly until it wilts (the stirring creates steam which causes it to spinach to wilt faster than if you were to just leave it alone).  Remove from heat and place in a medium bowl to cool.

Once the spinach is at room temperature, add eggs, milk, dijon mustard, and cheese to the bowl.  Whisk until well mixed.

In a medium nonstick skillet, melt the butter under medium heat.  Pour in egg mixture and cook until the bottom and edges are set, with the top and middle still liquid.  Now this is where people differ in their omelet-making.  Some people fold both sides inward.  Some people roll.  Some people just fold one side over.  You can do whatever you fancy!  I tend to gravitate toward just folding one side over.  It's easier than the other two, and if you mess us, it's easy to make it look like an omelet after some quick damage control.  But feel free to take on whatever omelet construction you deem fit.

So fold accordingly and cook just until egg on the inside is just cooked through.  It should still be light and delicate on the inside.

 

Serve with hot sauce and you're in business!

Hope you guys enjoy the last day of the weekend and have a great start to your week!

Gratin-style Shirred Eggs

"One egg or two?"

"Is that all you're making?  That's not a meal."

I beg to differ, dear.  That's the exact conversation my husband and I had when I decided to make these.  Eggs are a nutrition powerhouse and I do, in fact, think that eggs alone constitute as a meal! 

Shirred eggs are simply ones cooked in a small buttered dish (such as a shallow ramekin) and finished off under the broiler.  The result is a softly set white and liquid yolk.  Everybody knows the perfect egg has a runny yolk! 

Some people find the process tricky, but once you get the hang of it, you'll have soft, delicate eggs every time! 

We doll these shirred eggs up with the addition of cream and some cheese. 

Ingredients:

1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 eggs
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons mozzarella cheese (any cheese will do, this is just what I had on hand)

Heat broiler to high.

Divide the butter between two small, shallow, fire-proof ramekins (about 4 inches in diameter).

Place dishes over moderate heat (it helps to have a gas range - if not, then I'd just throw them under the broiler to begin with).  Once butter is melted, add 2 eggs to each dish.  Cook for about 1-2 minutes, or until a thin layer of the white is set on bottom.

Add 1 tablespoon of whipping cream to each dish and top with mozzarella cheese.

Transfer dish under broiler and cook until white is softly set, and yolk is still runny, about 5-6 minutes. 

You'll end up with two perfectly runny eggs and some nicely browned cheese.  Plenty enough for a protein-packed breakfast!

Hope you guys have a great rest of the week - I might be absent for the rest of it - it's a big, busy week at school and work!

Foodie Pen Pals: November

Another month of foodie pen pals has arrived!  Every month gets better and better!

This month, my pen pal was Janna H. from Oklahoma!  I've never been to Oklahoma so I asked Janna if she would send me a little something from the Sooner State!  And she definitely delivered!

I ended up with this great salsa that I served at Thanksgiving during the day to snack on.  It was completely devoured! So good!

Then the prickly pear jelly - which I've been having with toast for breakfast!  To. Die. For.

And I saved the best for last.  The toasted pecan spread is out. of. this. world.  So so good!  I spread it on some cinnamon bagels and was in heaven!  I'm definitely going to find a way to incorporate it into a dessert!

Thanks Janna for giving me a look inside of the great food products that the Sooner State has to offer!

Just click the button below to find out more about Foodie Pen Pals and how to join!  It's definitely quite a bit of fun!