Cooking Stuff

There is some policy-related news that I've been meaning to get to (perhaps tomorrow), but in the meantime, some actual preparation and consumption of food items.

I can't remember the last time I made anything with chicken breasts -- my preference being, of course, the dark meat -- but this sounds really good, and although it's a tad labor intensive, it would probably make a really good, and healthy, Sunday meal.

And I'm not sure if lobsters are still really cheap (relatively speaking, that is), but this lobster tale (pun intended) got me thinking back to the most recent New Year's Eve, and a decadent meal that I would highly recommend trying to emulate.

We picked up some lobsters from Penn Avenue Fish Company and intended to use it as part of a pasta dish using some fresh pasta we got from Penn Mac in a saffron cream sauce. For the latter, I did some searching on the Intertubes, found one that seemed to meet our needs (tablespoon or two of shallots sauteed in a little olive oil, add half-cup of white wine and reduce in half for about 5-10 minutes, cup or so of heavy cream, pinch or two of saffron, salt, pepper, stir over medium low heat for a bit, finish at the very end with some chopped herbs, parsley or tarragon. I forget the exact details, to be honest - try the aforementioned and you might be surprised.).

Having never done anything with lobster in our kitchen, I followed the instructions in the first hyperlink above:

''The best way to kill them, according to animal welfare agencies, is to put them in the freezer first for 15 minutes,'' he said. ''It slows their metabolism.''

After that, Mr. [Trevor] Corson suggested, put the lobster on its back and slice lengthwise through its soft underbelly.

From that point, you put them in the boiling water.

We had purchased two lobsters. I put them in the freezer for the prescribe time. I removed them. Unfortunately, for the lengthwise slicing of the first lobster, I used our chef's knife with the rounded tip, which precluded me from getting a good first incision into the large crustacean, thus defeated the entire purpose -- that is, humanity -- of this approach, as the poor thing wriggled its antennae and claws as if it were indeed feeling the pain. It was not enjoyable.

For the second lobster, having learned a hard lesson, I used a more traditional chef's knife, and the lengthwise cutting went very quickly and smoothly. No wriggling this time.

We boiled the lobsters and when they were done, my wife extracted as much meat as possible while I made the cream sauce and got the water for the pasta boiling. When the pasta water was ready, folded the lobster meat (most, not all, because there was a lot!) into the sauce, cooked the pasta, combined it all in large bowl and it was fantastic. We enjoyed it tremendously with a lot of red wine before watching the Big Night. A perfect desert to our meal.

A day or two later, we made lobster rolls with the unused lobster meat. As good as they might be on a pier in Nantucket? Probably not, but man were they tasty.

Eggs, Summer Veg, Goat Cheese

Had our first zucchini from the garden.

Had one of those tremendous mild white onions from the farm.

Had some brown eggs, also tremendous, from a different local farm.

Had a red pepper, courtesy of large grocery store chain.

Had some goat cheese, courtesy of same said large grocery store chain.

Had some fantastic, crusty bread – removed from freezer few hours prior – courtesy of the DeLallo store in Jeannette, Pa.

Had a delicious dinner.

Scrambled Eggs with Goat Cheese and Grilled Vegetables

• 5 eggs (cage-free & local, if you can get ‘em)
• 2 – 3 oz. of goat cheese, crumbled
• Half of a zucchini, cut thinly into half-moons
  
• Half a large red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
• ½ cup of thinly sliced onion
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• A few slices of crusty bread

Light a grill.

Beat eggs in a bowl with some salt and pepper. Toss the vegetables in a different bowl with a tablespoon or two of olive oil, salt, and pepper. When grill is sufficiently not (but not too hot), add vegetables. A grill plate or even some foil is advisable.

When vegetables are beginning to get tender, put a tablespoon of butter in a medium pan, over medium heat. Add eggs.

When vegetables are close to tender, add bread to grill. Cook on either side for 30 seconds to a minute. Remove vegetables from grill when they are tender, but careful not to overcook them. Onions should be nicely caramelized, hopefully with a few crispy ones.

Cook eggs until slightly more than set. Add a big scoop of eggs on top of a piece of toast, sprinkle on some goat cheese, and top each with a healthy portion of the vegetables. If you feel like it, drizzle a few drops of balsamic vinegar over top.

Enjoy.

Shrimp O'Rama

Great Moments in The Simpsons’ History:

Cap’n McAllister: Ahoy, mateys! Had your fill of tacos? Would ye sooner eat a bilge rat than another burger? Then come for all-you-can-eat seafood at the Fryin’ Dutchman!

Homer: Marge, we’re going to that restaurant.

Marge: But I think I’m allergic to seafood. The last time I ate shrimp, my throat closed up, and I went into convulsions.

Homer: Mmmmmm…shrimp.

Speaking of shrimp, came across these two appealing shrimp recipes and thought I’d share the bounty. Have not made either, so can’t vouch for their quality. Read them and see what you think.

Shrimp Risotto, courtesy of Leite’s Culinaria, an interesting, but, IMO, strange site. Launched by well-known food writer (how do you become one of those?!) David Leite, this site is not a blog, not a news site, something altogether different. Whether that’s a good thing, I can’t tell.

From Food & Wine comes a Curried Shrimp and Carrot Bouillabaisse. Now, I’ve never made a bouillabaisse. Heck, for that matter, I’ve never eaten one! According to FoodGeeks.Com – which is not to be confused with the Grumpy Beer Geek, not that you would make such an error – it’s made with lots of different kinds of fresh fish. It guess it's a French version of a cioppino. In either case, I would guess that soup purists might take offense at this recipe being called a bouillabaisse. Me. Not so much. If it tastes good, you can call it crap stew and I’ll eat it.

And, finally, Curried Coconut Shrimp on Rice Noodles. I posted this in July, but it seems worth pimping in a post about shrimp. It’s not the easiest recipe, but the end result is quite good.