Tuna Melts

Bad picture but good tuna melts! A good friend sent me some English Muffins from Wolferman’s for Christmas. We started working together, whoa, something like 23 years ago I think and got along great.  Then  I quit work for a while to stay home with my kids and we drifted apart but still stayed in modest touch. Then she had her kids and quit work, but around that time  I was divorced and a single mom so the opportunities to get together were slim, although we still managed at least a yearly something I think. Just the past year or so, we’ve reconnected on a more regular basis for lunch and it’s been great.

And what a treat these muffins are! Big thick hearty fresh muffins.  We’ve been enjoying them from breakfast and I froze some for later. Tonight my youngest asked for tuna melts for dinner and I thought to use up the last of the “original” flavored muffins.

For 4 large English muffins, mix together:

• 12 ounces canned tuna, packed in water, drained
• enough mayonnaise to moisten
• capers if you like (my kids don’t, so I just add a few capers to mine

Toast the English muffins while you preheat your broiler and mix up the tuna.

Line a small baking sheet with foil for easy cleanup and put the toasted muffin halves on it, then divide the tuna among the muffins and spread out. (I had some leftover so you could easily do 6 halves. We only ate 1 each of these, along with some broccoli and cheese sauce.)

Top the adult portions with capers. Top each muffin half with a good slice of Cheddar cheese. If you added capers to any, add a caper or two to the top of the cheese so you can tell which have capers in them after they’re cooked!

Slide under the broiler for a few minutes, until the tuna is warmed and the cheese is melted.

We’ve got one leftover which one child has claimed for lunch tomorrow.

Cocktail Sauce Recipe

We splurged on New Year’s Eve and had some fresh crab and shrimp.  I mixed up a homemade cocktail sauce recipe for the shrimp, and mixed some with a fair bit of mayonnaise for the crab.  The joy of making your own is that you can adjust the seasonings to make it as spicy or mild as you like.

• 1 cup ketchup or 1/2 cup ketchup and 1/2 cup chili sauce for a spicier version
• 1 Tbs lemon juice
• 1 Tbs horseradish sauce
• 1 Tbs minced onion
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp dry mustard
• Tabasco sauce to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.  Chill 30 minutes or so to blend the flavors.

The next day I made crab cakes with the leftover crab and mixed some mayonnaise with the last of the cocktail sauce to top the crab cakes. Delicious!

Cooking Crab Cakes from Leftover Crab

Hopefully you can splurge now and then on some special food, whatever that is for your family. And then if there are leftovers you certainly don’t want to waste them! For us, or at least for me, it’s fresh crab, which is in season right now. It’s our traditional New Year’s Eve dinner and such a treat!  The whole Dungeness crabs were buy one get one free, which is a great deal!  But my eldest got sick and my youngest was off to a party and there was no way I was going to eat two crabs by myself!  I enjoyed the one with some cocktail sauce (homemade) mixed with some mayonnaise on New Year’s Eve, then picked the meat out of the extra one yesterday. Today I made crab cakes for dinner, making 4 good size crab cakes from 1 crab, less than 1/2 pound.  Mix this together about 45 minutes before you want to eat, then refrigerate half an hour before shaping and frying.   Mix up the cocktail sauce or tartar sauce while you’re waiting.

• 1/2 pound lump crab meat (about one small crab’s worth)
• 1 egg
• 1/8 cup minced red bell pepper (optional, my kids would like it better without)
• 1/4 cup minced green onions
• 2 Tbs mayonnaise
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
• 2 Tbs vegetable oil
• 2 Tbs butter
• 1/2 cup flour for dredging
• lemon wedges at serving

Mixing up Crab Cakes

Mix the crabmeat, egg, bell pepper if using, green onions, mayonnaise, mustard, salt, pepper and bread crumbs.  You need enough bread crumbs to hold the mixture together but you want the crab cake to be mostly crab so start with a tablespoon at a time and mix it together, adding a spoonful now and then and stop as soon as it holds itself together. Refrigerate 30 minutes or so.

Put the flour in a small shallow plate or dish and season with salt and pepper as you’d like. Some folks add curry powder. I did not.

Heat a large skillet and add the butter and oil, swirling the pan around until well coated after the butter melts.

Shape the mixture into 4 crab cakes, one at a time, dredging in flour and then adding to the pan. Cook about 4-5 minutes, turn, and then cook the other side another 4-5 minutes or so.

Spicy Shrimp in Coconut Sauce

A friend passed along some older issues of Cooking Light magazine last weekend. I got fixed on using up some frozen shrimp I had  so browsed through a few issues for some ideas.  There were several that sounded quite good and I settled on this one.  I made some steamed rice and snow peas to go with it.  I just added the trimmed snow peas to the steamer basket of my rice cooker and served them plain.

The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 pounds of shrimp. I used what was left in the bag,  maybe 1/2 a pound.  The sauce was great though and the extra went well with the rice.  Since I was only feeding 2 it worked out great.

• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1 Tbs lime juice
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp honey
• 1/2 tsp cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp chili garlic paste
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp salt

Combine the above ingredients and set aside.

• 1 Tbs oil
• 1 1/2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 Tbs diced green onion
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

Heat the oil in a skillet, then add the shrimp and cook 2 minutes, stirring. Add the green onions and red pepper and cook another minute, then add the coconut milk mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring, until the shrimp turn pink, about 1 more minute.

Serve over steamed rice.

My youngest wants to eat a bit “lighter”, less beef for one. She toyed with being vegetarian for a bit but that was a bit strict for her.  She missed a few key things.    I’ve been reading Japanese Women Don’t Get Old or Fat: Secrets of My Mother’s Tokyo Kitchen, which I bought used on Amazon for $3, and it has some really good recipes that we’ve both been enjoying and it goes right along with her wish to eat lighter.  She loves rice and edamame so we’re halfway there.  Ha.  Last week I made this Dashi Soup with Mushrooms and Tofu, which was a hit but  a bit salty.

We had some friends over tonight, a neighbor and his daughter, and I made the same soup again, but cut back ( a bit too much!) on the saltiness. I added a cup of water AND left out the salt. Too much. We just added a bit more salt or soy sauce at the table and it was great. I also used rehydrated shitake mushrooms this time, since I’d picked some up at the store. They were good and chewy, very different than using the sliced button mushrooms.  Need to try this a third time to find the perfect balance!

To go with the soup, rice and a simple green salad I made some Teriyaki Salmon, from the same cookbook, with some frozen Alaskan salmon. I thawed the salmon by putting it in the sink full of cold water for a bit while I made the rice and salad. When it was thawed, I marinated it for 10 minutes or so while I made the soup. When everything else was ready, I cooked the salmon.

Salmon Marinade:

• 2 Tbs sake
• 4 tsp soy sauce (reduced sodium is fine)

Teriyaki Sauce

• 1/4 cup mirin (available even at my local Safeway in the Asian food section)
• 2 Tbs soy sauce (reduced sodium is fine)
• 1 tsp sugar

Each salmon filet should be about 1/2″ thick and about 4 ounces. You could also use farmed striped bass or Pacific halibut she says.

Blend the sake and soy sauce in a shallow dish and place the filets skin side down (if there is skin) and marinate for 10 minutes.

Make the teriyaki sauce by blending together the mirin, soy sauce and sugar.

Heat 1 Tbs of canola oil in a saucepan large enough  large enough to hold all the fish (or cook in two batches). Take the fish out of the marinade and blot with a paper towel to remove the excess. Cook skin side down for 5 minutes, then turn and cook another 1 minute. Remove to a plate and peel off the skin. (I fed this to the dogs and they loved it!)

Drain the excess oil from the pan and add the teriyaki sauce and cook for a minute until thickened slightly. Return the salmon to the pan and spoon some of the sauce over the fish. Cook another minute or so, until done. (Note: I overcooked mine a tad. I’m not used to cooking fish and thought a minute wasn’t enough! It was still good and moist but I think it would have been better with a minute less of cooking.)

Place one piece of fish on each plate and spoon the sauce over it.

This comes almost straight out of The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great, a cookbook I liked so much I sent copies to my sister and best friend. I really like Pam Anderson’s books and have several. This one appealed to me because it deals with the “eating lunch at home” issue. I work from my home but I don’t really want to cook a lunch every day! She has some great ideas for lunches and salads that work great. This is one of the soups, which comes from a master recipe she has. One of the variations is this shrimp and sausage gumbo version, which was really good, both for dinner last night and lunch today. I have 1 or 2 more servings left as well.

• 1 quart (4 cups) chicken broth
• 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 onion, peeled and diced
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 3 small sausages (6 ounces), sliced thinly
• 6 oz shrimp (I used frozen)
• 1 yellow bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 6 oz frozen okra
• 1/4 cup raw white rice
• hot sauce (Tabasco) served at the table

If your broth is frozen, as mine was, microwave until warmed. Throw in the tomatoes and warm them too.

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or soup pot and cook the onion about 5 minutes, stirring. Add the thyme and cayenne and stir, cooking another minute or two. Add the sliced sausage (I used a smoked beef but almost anything would be good), yellow pepper, celery, okra, rice, broth and tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat, cover partially, and simmer about 20 minutes, stirring now and then. Turn off the heat and stir in the shrimp. Cover and let stand 5 minutes until the shrimp is cooked through.  I allowed about 7 minutes since my shrimp was frozen but if I’d thought ahead I would have run it under cold water to defrost first.

Stir and serve with the hot sauce at the table so everyone can make it as hot (or not) as they like.  This was really, really good!  It’s like a thick soup. I’ve never had gumbo anywhere so have no idea how “authentic” it is, but can say it’s good!  And was just as good for lunch today. I just microwaved a bowl for a few minutes to warm it up. Mmm!

Tuna Noodle Casserole

My youngest asked for tuna casserole tonight!  It’s been a long time since I made this so I browsed a few cookbooks and ended up with following the basic recipe in Joy of Cooking: 75th Anniversary Edition – 2006, which is really a great source of all kinds of great recipes, even old fashioned casseroles! (I was surprised to see our favorite King Ranch Chicken in here as well!). I used to make this with crushed potato chips on top, but we had some crackers about to go stale so I crushed them up instead and mixed with some Parmesan cheese and melted butter. Yum. This recipe called for a smaller tuna to noodle ratio than I was used to, but it’s quite good. If you need to stretch it out though you could easily add more noodles.

First, cook 4 oz of egg noodles to make 2 cups cooked noodles, and drain.   While they’re cooking you can mix together the rest of the casserole.

• 2 7-oz cans of tuna, drained
• 1 1.5 oz can cream of mushroom soup
• 3/4 cup of milk
• 2 cups cooked egg noodles (4 oz uncooked)
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/4 cup canned pimentos
• 2 Tbs chopped green onions
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup cracker crumbs (or bread crumbs)
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan
• 2-3 Tbs melted butter

Drain the tuna and put it in a large bowl. Use a fork to break it up into small chunks. Mix in the soup, milk, cooked noodles, peas, pimentos (or substitute minced red bell pepper), onions, and Worcestershire sauce.

Put the casserole mix into a shallow 1 1/2 or 2 qt baking dish, greased.

Mix together the bread or cracker crumbs, cheese and butter. (Or use crushed potato chips!). Spread the crumb mixture on top, then bake uncovered at 375 F for 25 -35 minutes.

serves 4-5.

Roasted garlic is one of those things that seems to have some underserved mystique about it. The mystique about the flavor is well-founded. It is deliciously soft and smooth and wonderful.  But any mystique about its preparation is not.  Set aside half an hour or so and know that you can roast garlic ahead of time, then cool it, bag it, and store it in the frig for 2-3 weeks.

For each head of garlic, cut the tips off to open up the cloves.  So if you don’t grow garlic, you may wonder “What are the tips?”  The opposite of the root end!  Basically, the cloves grow up into a point and the green shoots rise up out of the ground from the pointy end. So the tips you want to cut off come to a point. (And if you haven’t grown garlic, try it!  it’s so easy! Where I live, in the SF bay area, we plant towards the end of October and harvest towards the end of June. Each year, I set aside my largest heads to replant so I basically haven’t bought garlic in however many years I’ve grown it. I’ve yet to run out before the next crop is ready.)

So preheat the oven to 375 and cut enough off the tips of the bulbs to expose most of the heads. Find a baking dish just large enough to fit all the heads you want to bake. Rub a bit of olive oil along the bottom of the dish and place the heads cut side up in there. Pour just a bit of olive oil across the top of each head.  Bake 20-30 minutes, testing that the cloves are done by poking a toothpick into the exposed side. They should be soft.

Use in dishes like Potato Soup with Roast Garlic, use for a softer garlic bread, make a fantastic baked Brie appetizer by spreading some roast garlic, olive oil and pine nuts across the Brie, barbecue some fish with roast garlic and butter and lemon juice in a foil pan, mix in with some mashed potatoes, …  The options are nearly endless!

What’s your favorite way to use roast garlic?

I got this from an online cooking group a long time ago and can’t remember who to thank for the recipe. I liked the flavor and it’s very easy to adjust the number of servings up or down.

• Tilapia fillets
• Italian salad dressing of your choice
• salt
• pepper
• Old Bay Seasoning
• ground cumin

Pour enough dressing to lightly cover the bottom into a pan large enough to fit your fish.  Place the fillets on top of the dressing then flip once so both sides have a light coating. Sprinkle each fillet with a generous amount of salt, pepper, Old Bay, and cumin. Turn the heat up to medium and lightly saute the fish about 4 -5 minutes on each side, until the fish flakes easily.

Simple and good. I might want to marinate the fish for 15-20 minutes in the dressing next time.

This was from Rachael Ray Express Lane Meals: What to Keep on Hand, What to Buy Fresh for the Easiest-Ever 30-Minute Meals, a book I’m finding some good ideas in, although I nearly always change something. Still, the inspiration is worthwhile! Last night I made a leek and bacon side dish to go with some with some sauteed salmon fillets. We found the salmon to be a bit boring, but both my girls enjoyed the leeks.

Creamy Leeks with Bacon

The leeks were easy and good. The best tip was on cleaning them. Prior to this, I’d cut the root end off, then cut the dark green tops off, then cut the leeks lengthwise down the middle, but not all the way through the end. Then I’d hold them fanned out a bit under running water. RR said cut the ends as before, cut in half all the way through, then slice thinly and put in a bowl of water. Swish them around to rinse them, then let them sit for a few minutes. The grit will settle to the bottom of the bowl. Carefully lift the sliced leeks out without disturbing the water and let them drain.

• 3 leeks, trimmed, cleaned, and sliced
• 5-6 slices of bacon, chopped
• 1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3/4 cup white wine
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup half and half

Chop up some bacon and cook in a skillet until crispy, then remove to dry a bit on some paper towels. If there’s LOTS of grease, drain some off, but leave a bit in the pan to cook the leeks in. Cook the leeks with some chopped garlic 3-5 minutes, and add salt and pepper. Add the wine and simmer a few minutes, then add the broth and half and half. Simmer 10-15 minutes while you’re cooking the salmon. Top with the bacon and serve.

Simple Salmon

• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• zest from a lemon
• 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 salmon fillets
• salt and pepper to taste
• a bit of olive oil

The salmon was simple. Chop up some fresh parsley and garlic and lemon zest. Salt and pepper the salmon, then press into the herb mixture, then cook in a bit of olive oil until done, turning once after a few minutes. As I said, we found this a bit boring but it was easy and fast.  I like  a bit of a sauce though. Next time, I think I’ll stick with my simple version, which is to season with something (it varies) and then barbecue rather than saute.