Tag-Archive for ◊ roasted ◊

14 Jul 2010 Roasted Crab
 |  Category: Main Dish, Seafood, Seasonal  | Tags: , , , ,  | One Comment

Crabs! After two years of miserable harvests, they are abundant this year. I’ve seen ads for crab for $4.99 lb, $3.99 lb, and Buy One Get One Free (but they hike the price up to $6.99 lb.to get a free one). Here’s a fabulous, easy, finger-licking good recipe which takes about 20 minutes to pull together after arriving home with a few cracked and cleaned crabs. You have to eat the crab with your fingers, and you have to lick your fingers. It’s required. Eaten this way, this crab is DELICIOUS. The only side needed is a loaf of fresh sourdough bread to mop up a bit of the sauce in the bottom of the pan. For dessert, my daughter shared her Terry’s Chocolate Orange. Simple, quick and what a memorable meal!

NOTE #1: I made my first three batches of this crab in glass 13 x 9 inch pans. On the fourth batch, I took one pan out of the oven, placed it on a cutting board, stepped away…, and then the glass dish EXPLODED! Glass EVERYWHERE, including all over the 2 crabs in the dish. (Second glass dish, cooked in same oven, was fine.) Because of this potentially dangerous–and obviously very messy– situation I would caution against using a glass (Pyrex, Anchor Hocking) pan to roast the crab.

NOTE #2: Don’t underestimate how HOT a pan gets in a 450 degree oven. Be careful, very, very careful when transferring the HOT pans . Use your thickest oven mitts, on both hands, to move this pan.  I have had painful burns from not protecting my hands enough. A burnt hand can really interfere with your enjoyment of a good meal.

I found this recipe on Epicurious.com, LOVE that website!

Roasted Crab

For each pair of cracked and cleaned crabs:

Salt and pepper, to taste
1 T. chopped parsley or cilantro
1 T. chopped fresh thyme
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. olive oil
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 minced shallot
1/2 tsp. dried red pepper flakes
1/4 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 c. freshly squeezed orange juice
grated peel of 1 lemon
grated peel of 1/2 orange

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place pieces of each pair of crabs in a 9 by 13 inch baking dish, sprinkle with salt, pepper, parsley/cilantro, and thyme. Melt butter and olive oil in a skillet. Stir in garlic, shallot and red pepper flakes. Cook for 2 minutes. Pour sauce over crabs. Place in hot oven for 6 minutes. Stir, shake, turn crab and then return to oven to roast for another 6 minutes. Remove crab to a serving platter. Pour drippings back into skillet. Add 1/4 c fresh orange juice and 1/4 c fresh lemon juice, grated orange and lemon peel. Boil for 5 minutes and then pour sauce over crabs. Serve. Definitely finger food. Must lick fingers. Have towels on hand for wiping. Mop up sauce with bits of sourdough bread.

This was a really GOOD day to stop by my kitchen!

26 Apr 2010 Roasted Cauliflower
 |  Category: Veggies  | Tags: , , , , , ,  | Leave a Comment

In the US, a “good” dinner is a main dish, maybe a veggie, a starch and a green salad.  In England, the norm for a “good” dinner is a main dish, mash and three veggies. I’m English. Three veggies, please!  I love my veggies.  Love them, love them, love them.  I never met a veggie I didn’t like.  Roasting veggies is surprisingly easy and brings out the sweetness in the veggies. Ever roast a cauliflower?  No?  You’re missing out! Here’s the recipe (from Epicurious.com).

Roasted Cauliflower

8 cups cauliflower florets (you’ll need one huge head of cauliflower or two smaller heads)
3 T. olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Put the small florets into a large (gallon) sized Ziploc bag or large bowl.  Mix the olive oil and salt together then pour over the cauliflower.  Shake the bag, or stir the bowl, to cover the cauliflower evenly with the oil and salt.  Spread cauliflower onto a large baking sheet (the metal kind with 1/2 inch or 1 inch sides).  Place sheet into hot oven. Shake pan after 15 minutes to rotate florets.  Continue to roast for another 10 or 15 minutes or until cauliflower is tender and sports nice golden brown spots.

Thanks for stopping by my kitchen today!  Will you be roasting some cauliflower soon? What other veggies do you like to roast?

10 Feb 2010 Coffee Kissed Salmon

It’s a marriage made in heaven. Even coffee haters will appreciate this pairing.  The baked salmon tastes a bit smokey, and bit cedar-y, not at all like coffee.  This is an easy, healthy, entree to put on the table after a long day, and an easy company-pleasing entree to put on the table during a busy weekend.  It can’t get much easier, actually.  Just make sure you have some good quality salmon steaks on hand. Then rub them, bake them, and enjoy.

Coffee Kissed Salmon

For each pair of salmon fillets (each about 6 oz)

1 T. ground cumin
1 T. chili powder
1 T. brown sugar
1 T. ground coffee (not instant, use fresh coffee grounds-not used!-any kind, caffeinated or decaffeinated, it doesn’t matter)
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients cumin, chili powder, brown sugar, ground coffee, salt and pepper in a small bowl and then rub mixture all over the salmon fillets.  Set fillets aside to rest, 10-20 minutes.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Drizzle a little bit of olive oil over the salmon, and lightly brush oil evenly over the fillet without disturbing the rub.  Bake fillets in hot oven until fish is cooked (internal temp of 140 degrees), which usually takes 10-12 minutes but depends upon the thickness of the fillets.

This recipe was found in the comments of Facebook’s Epicurious Fan page, under a post from October 22, 2009, titled ‘Our Favorite Cooking with Coffee Recipes’. It is attributed to Rebecca Chanin of WiseChoice, Your Personal Path to College.

Thanks for stopping by my kitchen today!  Try this salmon soon, it will become one of your staples. I am sure of it!