Homegrown Gourmet- Round 4 Lobster Casserole

My little blogging event has jumped the Atlantic ocean over to the UK- isn't that exciting! Michelle from GreedyGourmet.com has chosen Stews & Casseroles for this round. Finding a stew or casserole that represents New England was a challenge for me... I'm not a big stew or casserole fan!

When you mention Maine to anyone, the first food that comes to mind is lobster. I actually don't really like lobster- I'd rather have crab. But I thought a nice lobster casserole would be both a new challenge for me and a yummy way to serve it.

So I bought a live lobster, which we named Mr. Pinchy just like Homer Simpson did, and I was horrified. First the thing looks like a gross huge bug, and I hate bugs. Second it's alive and in my fridge. Third, it's alive and I have to kill it to eat it. The whole experience was traumatic! With my husband's help though, we cooked poor Mr. Pinchy, I tore him apart, and served him up in a bubbly delicious casserole.
Mr. Pinchy, all torn up All the meat from Mr. Pinchy


It was so tasty I may just endure the torture of lobster again!


Maine Lobster Casserole
Inspired by AllRecipes.com

• 1 1.25 Lbs. Lobster (enough to make 1+ C. meat)
  
• 1-2 Tbsp. Butter
  
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. Flour
  
• 1 C. Milk
  
• 2/3 C. Heavy Cream
  
• 2 Tbsp. Onion, chopped
  
• 1 tsp. Dry Mustard
  
• Dash of Salt & Pepper
  
• 1/2 tsp. Paprika
  
• 1/4 tsp. Chili Powder
  
• 1 1/2 C. Fresh Sliced Mushrooms
  
• 3 Tbsp. Swiss Cheese, grated
  
• 1-2 Slices White Bread, cubed/ torn into small pieces
  
• 1/2 C. Bread Crumbs
  
• Dash Paprika

1. In a large pot, heat about 2 inches of salted water to a rolling boil. Add in a steamer basket and place poor helpless lobster in the steamer. Cover pot and cook for about 18 minutes.
   
2. When lobster is cooked, allow to cool to the touch. Remove meat from all the nooks and crevices including all the little legs!
   
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
   
4. In a sauce pan, melt the butter. Stir in the flour and mix until smooth and bubbly.
   
5. Pour in milk and cream and whisk until creamy. Bring to a low boil and stir until until thickened.
   
6. Add in mustard, onion, salt, pepper, paprika, and chili powder. Allow to simmer for 2 minutes. Add in mushroom and continue to cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
   
7. Grate in the cheese and stir until melty. Finally stir in the lobster and bread pieces.
   
8. Pour mixture into a small casserole dish. Sprinkle bread crumbs lightly over mixture and throw on a dash of paprika. Bake in oven for about 25 minutes until bubbly.
   
9. Serve using a large spoon and garnish with parsley.

Cherries and Cream Scones

I wrote below about my in-laws family tradition of eating well on Christmas Eve. They are such a great family that they like to carry that sentiment in to Christmas Day too and have a brunch to beat all brunches. Eggs Benedict, mimosas, blood grapefruits, and scones were all on the menu. They had this luxury as they never went anywhere that day and usually stayed in pajamas from dawn til dusk.

Things are not like that in my family. We get up, do presents, throw something down and drive to whomever's house we're visiting or start cleaning up for guests. It's far more frantic. So with marriage blending two lives, the holiday traditions have to meld too.

I don't have the time to do such a nice meal all before I have to be in the shower by 10:30 to be on the road by 11:30 to be to Mom's by 1:30. Eggs Benedict is out. However, I was able to make scones for this year thanks to my lovely boss! She has a fantastic recipe that I think will stick around for many a Christmas morning to come. It is versatile and the cherries can be swapped for currents, raisins, orange zest or any other tasty treat you want to blend in. It is moist and very easy and makes plenty to keep you fed for the week!


Cherries & Cream Scones
From my boss, Leslie

• 2 C. Flour
  
• 1/3 C. Sugar
  
• 1 Tbsp. Baking Powder
  
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
  
• 6 Tbsp. Butter, cut into small pieces
  
• 2/3 C. Dried, Pitted Cherries
  
• 1 C. Heavy Cream
  
• 2 Tbsp. Flour (for rolling out and coating at end)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
   
2. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.
   
3. Using a pastry cutter (or maybe a fork?) work in the butter until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.
   
4. Mix in the cherries and cream using a fork to blend. Let the dough stand for 2 minutes.
   
5. Transfer the dough to a board floured with half of the 2 Tbsp. Flour. Press the dough down gently, working it into a flat, 1/2" thick sheet. Dust the remaining flour on the top.
   
6. Cut the scones into triangles or any other shape. Please on a baking sheet, leaving at least 1/2" between each scone.
   
7. Bake for 15 minutes until just golden brown. Remove to a baking rack to cool. Serve plain or with butter and jelly.

Ball of Heaven

I love Christmas Eve. Wanna guess why? Nope, it's not the anticipation of Christmas day. Naw, not friends and family. The beautiful church service? Don't be silly.

No, I love it because I get to make and consume a cheeseball. It's the only time of the year I can get away with making a 6" diameter sphere of cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and other seasoning and then devour it with crackers. It's like a dream come true!

My husband's family has a wonderful tradition of feasting on all the wonderful finger food goodies that they like, and I have happily taken this tradition to heart. Most the items come back every year, and the reason is that they are so good. This year we ate:

• Crab legs
  
• Smoked salmon (excellent with cheeseball)
  
• Finger deli sandwiches
  
• Veggie crudite with ranch dip
  
• Big purple grapes
  
• Sliced Gouda, cheddar, and pepperjack with crackers
  
• Cookies (which we didn't touch)
  
• Sparkling Red Wine
  
• And of course... cheeseball with crackers

Happy holidays indeed!


Cheeseball
From my Mom

• 11 oz. Cream Cheese
  
• 8 oz. Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese, grated
  
• 1 Tbsp. Onions, Shallots, or Green Onions, chopped
  
• 2 Tbsp. Blue Cheese or Roquefort Dressing
  
• 1 tsp. Tabasco Sauce
  
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
  
• Crushed Walnuts

1. Mix together all ingredients except the walnuts in a large bowl. Blend well.
   
2. Remove mixture from bowl and form into a delicious large ball of joy with your hands. Or, you can make a log or multiple cheeseballs.
   
3. Roll/ press cheeseball into small ball of walnuts to coat completely.
   
4. Place on a plate and cover with plastic wrap. Chill for at least an hour before serving.

Italian Christmas Cookies

My grandfather, Anthony, is very Italian. Holidays in our family often included meatballs or stuffed shells or other delicious Italian fare. And Christmas was no exception. My grandmother always made these cookies for my grandfather, but after 50 years of marriage, she is sick of it.

Luckily she has me for a granddaughter who is eager to use family recipes and keep them alive. I'm still improving my technique, but the family gave them overall approval. And they looked just as festive as ever with their multi colored candies on top!

These are anise, or licorice, flavored. I use anise extract, but Grammy says the way to go is anise oil. This is very hard to find and the last time she looked, she could only find it at the drug store. The recipe below gives how I made the recipe and then in parenthesis how it should be.

Buen Natale!


Italian Christmas Cookies
From my Grandmother

• 3 Eggs
  
• 3/4 C. Sugar
  
• 1 C. Butter, softened
  
• 1/2 1 oz. Bottle of Anise Extract (Should be 1 oz. of Anise Oil for more bite and flavor)
  
• 3 C. Flour
  
• 3 tsp. Baking Powder
  
• 1/4 tsp. Salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
   
2. Mix together eggs, sugar, butter, and anise flavoring either in a stand mixer or large bowl with hand mixer.
   
3. Blend in dry ingredients and mix well.
   
4. Roll dough into small balls, only about 1/2" wide as they will expand quite a bit.
   
5. Bake on ungreased baking sheet for about 10-15 minutes until they are just starting to get golden brown on top. These cookies to not get very brown on top, but if you lift one up, the bottom will be a lovely golden color. Be sure to cook enough as they should be just slightly cakey when done right. (I haven't mastered this yet!)
   
6. Allow to cool completely and then glaze and sprinkle with colored candy balls. Glaze recipe below.

Sugar Glaze

• 1/2 C. or more Confectioners Sugar
  
• 1 tsp. Milk
  
• Colored Candy Sprinkles

1. Mix together sugar and milk until a thick liquid is achieved. You want the glaze to be thin enough to drip off the cookies, but thick enough to leave a nice off-white coating on the top.
   
2. Leave glaze in a small bowl. Hold each cookie upside down and dunk the top into the glaze, holding it out over the bowl to let the excess drip off. Flip over, place on parchment paper or wax paper (for easy clean up) and sprinkle with candies while wet. Allow to dry before serving.

100th Post- Penguins!

We interrupt the Christmas '07 goodie train to announce my 100th post! Woo hoo! I started this blog back in July while hopping on the popularity wagon and have really enjoyed recording my endeavors in the kitchen. Most posts have 1 recipe, but I've had some that are more than 1 and just a couple that are non-cooking related.

So to celebrate, I'm going to pull something out from last year's holiday celebration. I was not in the habit of photographing food before my blogging days, but this little number was too cute.

Mom asked me to bring an appetizer to Christmas dinner last year and I found this one at my go-to site, Allrecipes.com. Are they not the cutest things? Large black olives stuffed with herbed cream cheese, topped with small black olives decorated with thin thin sliced carrot rounds and roasted red pepper strands make for adorable and pretty tasty treats.

Cream Cheese Penguins
Recipe and Instructions available at AllRecipes.com

Kim's Country Cookies

Who the heck is Kim?

This recipe makes me giggle a little every time I or my mom make it. The reason is that there is no Kim in our family tree or circle of friends. Kim's Country Cookies are from a doll I had when I was a kid- apparently that was her name. For whatever reason the marketing folks decided, this doll came with a recipe for delicious molasses cookies that have become a Christmas staple in my household.

These cookies are chewy, sweet, and I love the raisins. At the holidays it's very easy to get chocolated out- I know, that sounds crazy, but it's true. These baked goods are a nice change of pace and are just as simple as any recipe you'd make the rest of the year. So we keep it around and occasionally it makes an appearance at the 4th of July.

Kim, however, we believe has gone the way of the Goodwill truck, though it's possible she's crammed in a box in my parents' attic- you just don't know. Thanks anyway doll!


Kim's Country Cookies
From a random toy from the 80's

• 3/4 C. Vegetable Oil
  
• 1/4 C. Molasses
  
• 1 C. Sugar
  
• 1 Egg
  
• 2 C. Flour
  
• 1 tsp. Cinnamon
  
• 2 tsp. Baking Soda
  
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
  
• 1/2 tsp. Ground Cloves
  
• 1/2 tsp. Ginger
  
• 1/2 C. Raisins (or more)
  
• Sugar (white granulated)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
   
2. In a Kitchen aid mixer, or large bowl with hand mixer, beat together the oil, molasses, sugar and egg on medium speed until smooth.
   
3. Add in dry ingredients and mix. Stir in raisins.
   
4. Roll dough into small 1" balls. Place dough onto ungreased cookie sheet and sprinkle with a little bit of white sugar.
   
5. Bake in hot oven for about 8 minutes until the cookies have flattened and set up. Cool on a baking rack and store in airtight container until ready to serve or give.

Note that my cookies were kind of crumbly and susceptible to breaking easily. This may just be because I was storing them in a loosey goosey freezer bag on the counter where they no doubt got shoved around by me and Adam. The fridge might have been a better place for them.

Chocolate Covered Moose Chips

Appealing recipe title, eh? :-) Well, the name might not be great, and the caloric count for these is definitely not great, but the taste sure is fantastic. There is a reason these bad boys only come out around the holidays- I think I'd be long dead of clogged arteries if they were a year round treat!

But since the holidays are about taking pleasures all around, these chocolate and peanut butter bars are perfect. They've got a nice crunch with the graham cracker chunks and the crunchy PB, but the butter, chocolate, and sugar add an almost grainy smoothness to them. Mmmm. I will admit I usually partake of too much batter when making these and feel a little sick.

Thank goodness the holidays are also about sharing pleasures, so I was able to get most of these tempting treats out of the house and into friends' and neighbors' hands!

Chocolate Covered Moose Chips

• 2 Sticks of Butter (1 Cup)
  
• 1 1/3 C. Graham Cracker Crumbs/ Crumbles
  
• 2 1/3 C. Confectioners Sugar
  
• 1 C. Chunky Peanut Butter
  
• 1 12 oz. Bag Chocolate Chips

1. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. All that wonderful butter...
   
2. Stir in the graham cracker crumbs and confectioners sugar, getting everything moist and well mixed.
   
3. Stir in the peanut butter and mix until PB melts.
   
4. In a 9" x 13" pan, preferably lined with wax paper for easy handling and clean up, pour in the peanut batter, spreading it evenly across the bottom of the dish.
   
5. Put dish in fridge and let cool for about 15 minutes.
   
6. While cooling, melt the entire bag of chocolate chips in a small pot on the stove over low heat. This is probably a good use for a double boiler if you have one. I don't though, so I am sure to stir the chocolate often to prevent burning.
   
7. When peanut mixture is chilled, evenly spread the chocolate on top all the way to the edges.
   
8. Allow the goodies to chill for at least an hour. When cooled through, cut into small bars. They should be no more than 2" by 2" as they are very rich. Keep chilled when not serving as they can get melty.

Butternut Squash Risotto & Apple Scented Pork Chops

Mmmmmm, risotto and baked pork chops make for such a nice warm and hearty meal. Risotto is one of my favorite things to make. Everyone talks about how labor intensive it is, and how difficult... I don't get it. Sure, you can't walk away from it like a crockpot or baked dish in the oven, but I do all my cooking actively standing in the kitchen for at least 30 minutes most nights. So risotto ain't no thing to me! And hubby loves it too, which is an added bonus!

Pork, on the other hand, hubby does not like. He's not totally against it, but it is low on his favorites list and complains about it whenever I make it. So I only make it about 6 times a year. That's about the same amount we eat beef steaks. (We eat lots and lots of chicken and fish and pasta!) But I am off topic... I was in the mood for pork, so I declared we were having it. I thought a nice sweet dish would go well with the risotto.

Goodness it was good...


Butternut Squash Risotto

• 2 Tbsp. Butter or Olive Oil
  
• 1 or 2 Cloves of Garlic, minced
  
• 2 Tbsp. Onion, finely chopped
  
• 1 C. Arborio (Risotto) Rice
  
• 1 C. White Wine
  
• 3+ C. Chicken Broth, warmed
  
• 1 C. Butternut Squash, cooked and cubed
  
• 2-3 Tbsp. Parmesan Cheese, grated

1. In a medium pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add in the garlic and onion and saute until delicious smelling!
   
2. Stir in rice and coat with oil/ butter and let heat up, about 1 minute.
   
3. Pour in white wine and stir, continuing over medium heat. The wine should start to bubble and soak into the rice. If you do not want to use wine, you may just use the equivalent amount of chicken broth.
   
4. Add in 1/2 C. (or so) of chicken broth and stir. The broth should simmer and slowly soak into the rice. Stir every couple of minutes to make sure the rice is not burning and sticking on the bottom and to make sure there is enough liquid. Once most of the liquid is absorbed, add in another 1/2 C. and repeat the process.
   
5. With around 1 C. of broth remaining, stir in the squash. As the rice finishes cooking, the squash should cook further, getting softer and breaking into tiny pieces with the rice. You will get a lovely orange color and the rice will almost be coated with the squash.
   
6. Continue adding in the broth until the rice is thoroughly cooked through. If you need more broth to get a tender, al dente texture, add more in.
   
7. Just before serving, stir in Parmesan cheese until melted.

Apple Scented Pork Chops
From Allrecipes.com

• 2 Medium Pork Chops
  
• 1 Apple, peeled, cored, and sliced
  
• 1 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
  
• 1 tsp. Cinnamon
  
• 2 Tbsp. Apple Jack Brandy
  
• 1 Tbsp Butter, cut into smaller pieces
  
• Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Salt and pepper both sides of the pork chops. Brown both sides in a hot pan on the stove top.
   
2. Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.
   
3. In a glass baking dish lined with foil, place apples slices along bottom of pan. Sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter.
   
4. Place browned chops on top of apple slices and pour Apple Jack on top of everything.
   
5. Bake uncovered in oven for about 45 minutes until pork reaches a temperature of 160 internally. Serve warm with cooked apple slices.