Linguine & Clams in White Wine Sauce

I was inspired to make this after watching a segment of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on the Food Network. It looked so simple, and after rewinding and rewatching several times, found how true that was. I had to guess on the amounts of some of these, and all turned out delicious.

• 3-4 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 can whole baby clams
• 6 fresh clams* for presentation (I left out)
  
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 cup half & half (or 1/2 cup cream and 1/2 cup milk)
  
• 1 tbsp butter
• chopped basil
• ground pepper
• 1/2 lb of linguine
  

While cooking the clam sauce, cook the noodles (7 minutes according to instructions). To a pan, add the garlic, then baby clams, (then the fresh clams, ) then white wine, then half & half, and let it all reduce until the liquid is below the top of the mound of baby clams (about 10 minutes). Add the butter, basil, pepper, and mix well, then remove from heat. Remove noodles from water then top with clam mixture. Finally, top with Parmesan cheese.

This dish was so easy and so tasty. I can't wait to make it again.

Flap Meat w/ Chimichurri Sauce

I got the idea for serving chimichurri sauce with flap meat from dining at Gaucho Grill. Their version uses skirt steak. Once gain, I found the recipe from the Food Network. It wasn't the same, though still very tasty. I would add less parsley next time, as the flavor seems to be overpowering. On the side were slices of zucchini and yellow squashes, and super thin slices of sweet potato.

I got this crazy idea to throw the stove-top grill into the oven to cook the squash and meat, since the potato chips were also being baked in the oven, which made this an oven-cooked meal. The only part that had some trouble was the grill not entirely fitting into the oven, so I alternated between bake and broil. The potato went in first for about 10 minutes, then the squash were added with the door partially open for about 5 minutes, then finally the meat on the broil setting for about 10 minutes.

The meat and squash were removed first. While the meat rested, the potato continued to bake and I prepared the chimichurri sauce. Once the sauce was done, the meat was sliced thinly before serving. Yum, yum, yum!

Shellfish Galore!

Lobster Ravioli w/ King Crab Legs (upper left), both purchased from Costco and lightly drizzled in browned butter.

Panfried Croutons Topped w/ Spiced Crab (crab lower left, croutons upper right)
Sorry, will update later.

Clams Provencale (middle). See Mussels Provencale post.

Chinese Squash (lower right). Simply chop, throw into a stir-fry pan with about a tablespoon of cooking oil, cover until the liquids have released (and stirring occasionally), and season to taste.  That's it!  If you pick a young one (this one's courtesy of my dad's back yard), the seeds should be soft enough that there is no need to scoop out and can be consumed.  Ken had never had this before and quite enjoyed it.  I love the tenderness and sweetness of this squash.

Mussels Provencale

Costco had these big 5-pound bags of mussels at about $3/lb, which I'd been eyeballing forever, and finally had the nerve to go for it and buy the thing to have for dinner. Beware--5 pounds of mussels is a WHOLE LOT! Halfway through the cleaning process, I realized that this was going to be way too much (this was before I read that 3 lbs serves 6) and decided to cook just half the bag. Imagine my surprise when we ended up with a GIANT platter (I think 10x15) of it with leftovers to boot. Our only side dishes were an ear of corn each and a loaf of French bread to sop up the mussel juices. I had to add the mussels to the menu for Ken's birthday party the next day while they're still alive (not good when dead!). It was a hit both nights, and I won't be making mussels again for a long while mostly because cleaning was a lot of work! This is another recipe from the shellfish book. Very simple, very tasty.

• 3 lb (1.5 kg) mussels, debearded & well scrubbed
• 3/4 cup(4 fl oz/125 ml) dry white wine
• 1 small yellow onion (I used 2 shallots), chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped, plus 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 fresh parsley stems, plus 1/3 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
• 1 sprig of fresh thyme
• 1-2 bay leaves
  
• 3-4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• salt & freshly ground pepper

Discard any mussels that do not close to the touch. The trick is to tug on the beard as you're debearding to wake it up and close the shell. If the beard is missing, give the shell a quick squeeze and you'll see the mussel close on its own. Rinse each individually to remove any muddy/sandy bits.

In a saucepan, bring the wine to a boil Add the mussels, onion, coarsely chopped garlic, parsley stems, thyme and bay leaf. Reduce the heat to medium, cover and simmer, shaking the pan periodically, until the mussels open, about 2-4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the mussels to a large bowl. Discard any unopened mussels.

Strain the cooking liquid through a sieve lined with several layers of cheesecloth. Reduce the liquid over high heat by half to about 1/2 cup. The mussels and their liquid cooled too quickly for my taste, so I added the lemon juice, olive oil, and minced garlic to the reduced cooking liquid in the pan, added the mussels back in and covered for about a minute to give everything a quick heat before serving. When you're ready to serve, toss in the chopped parsley then transfer to a platter. Serve with crusty French bread to soak up the liquid--you won't regret this.

Thai Shrimp Salad w/ Mint

Ken's stepmom recently gave me a shellfish cookbook (I love shellfish!) from Williams-Sonoma, and I happen to have most of the ingredients to make this dish. The flavors are bright and light, perfect for a hot summer evening. Once all the prep work is done, this takes a few minutes to assemble and makes it a definite keeper. Since it's just the two of us, I halved the following amounts of the original recipe and used 3 shrimps/person.

• 1 1/2 lb medium shrimp, peeled & deveined
• 4-5 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 tbsp fish sauce (highly recommend using rather than leaving out)
  
• 1 tbsp peanut oil (don't substitute--makes it taste & smell amazing)
  
• 1 tsp sugar (or 1/4 cup honey)
  
• 1 lemongrass stalk (ends trimmed & tough outer leaves removed), minced, OR 1 tsp grated lemon zest
  
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cucumber, peeled & sliced, then quartered
• 1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion (I used shallots)
• 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, cut into thin shreds
• 1/2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 fresh jalapeno pepper or serrano chili pepper, seeded & minced
  

The recipe called for the shrimped to be cooked in fish stock or clam juice. I was grilling meat so just threw the shrimp on as well. Otherwise, boiling in plain water is just as good.

In a large bowl, whisk together the lime juice, fish sauce, peanut oil, sugar, lemongrass (or lemon zest), chili pepper, garlic and salt & pepper to taste. Add the shrimp, cucumber, onion, mint and cilantro. Toss well and serve over your favorite salad greens. Serves 6.

9/5 - I also made this for Ken's birthday party and it was a hit as well.