Recipes

Coquilles St. Jacques

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Coquilles St. Jacques

  • Prep 45 min.

  • Cook 10 min.

Ingredients

  • 1# mushrooms, sliced
  • juice of lemon
  • 5 T. butter
  • 1#fresh or frozen sea scallops, thawed
  • 1 c. dry white wine
  • 1/4 t. ground thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/2 t. salt
  • 1/8 t. pepper
  • 3 T. flour
  • 1 c. light cream
  • 3/4 c. buttered soft bread crumbs

Directions

  1. Soak scallops in brine: 1 qt. cold water, 1/4 c. lemon juice and 2 T. table salt for 30 min. (if in the US)
  2. Place scallops on rimmed baking sheet lined with clean kitchen towel; place second clean towel on top and press gently to blot liquid; let sit 10 min.
  3. Sprinkle mushrooms with lemon juice.
  4. Cook mushrooms in 2 T. butter until golden brown.
  5. Cut scallops into quarters (or use bay scallops).
  6. Place scallops, wine and seasonings in saucepan.
  7. Simmer, covered for 5 min.
  8. Drain, reserving 1 cup broth.
  9. Make a white sauce with remaining 3 T. butter, flour, broth and cream.
  10. Add scallops and mushrooms.
  11. Spoon into 6 buttered scallop shells.
  12. Top with buttered crumbs.
  13. Bake at 400 F. for 10 min. or until browned.

Garlic Shrimp

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Garlic Shrimp

  • Prep 10 min.

  • Cook 5 min.

An original recipe

Ingredients

  • shrimp, peeled
  • garlic salt
  • olive oil

Directions

  1. Heat olive oil in skillet.
  2. Add raw shrimp.
  3. Sprinkle with garlic salt.
  4. Turn shrimp over when pink.
  5. Add more garlic salt.

Salade de Foie Gras

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Salade de Foie Gras

  • Prep 15 min.

“Source: Cafe St. Jean, Perpignan”

Ingredients

  • lettuce
  • melon or cantaloupe, cut in chunks
  • strawberries, halved
  • tomatoes, cut in chunks
  • foie gras, sliced
  • serrano ham, sliced
  • gros sel/kosher salt (or sea salt)
  • vinaigrette

Directions

  1. Tear lettuce into pieces and add vinaigrette.
  2. Place lettuce on each individual plate.
  3. Top with fruit and tomatoes.
  4. Add slices of ham.
  5. Top with a slice of foie gras encrusted in gros sel (Kosher salt).

Croque-Monsieur

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Croque-Monsieur

  • Prep 5 min.

  • Cook 10 min.

  • Ready In  15-20 min.

“The kind you get at a bar or cafe in France.”

Ingredients

  • 1 T. unsalted butter, plus soft butter
  • 1 T. flour
  • 1/2 c. milk
  • 1/4 c. gruyere cheese, grated
  • salt and white pepper
  • freshly grated nutmeg
  • cayenne pepper
  • 8 slices white bread
  • 8 oz. sliced gruyere
  • 6 oz. sliced ham

Directions

  1. In small pan,melt 1 T. butter.
  2. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, until nutty, 1-2 min.
  3. In another pan over med., warm milk until bubbles form on edge.
  4. Whisk slowly into butter mixture until smooth.
  5. Bring to boil; reduce to low and cook 2 min.
  6. Stir in grated cheese and season.
  7. Cook sauce until thickened, 2-3 min.
  8. Transfer to a bowl and cool.
  9. Brush one side of each slice of bread with butter (outside).
  10. Spread sauce on inside; top sauce with cheese, ham, cheese, then bread.
  11. Season tops of bread with salt and pepper.
  12. Fry sandwiches.

Seafood Paella

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Seafood Paella

  • Prep 20 min.

  • Cook 35 min.

“Paella without the chicken or meat”

Ingredients

  • 2-1/4 c. seafood broth
  • large pinch of saffron threads, slightly ground in mortar
  • 1 T. Pastis
  • 3 T. olive oil (2+1)
  • 12 raw, peeled and deveined shrimp
  • 2 calamar tubes (encornets), sliced crosswise into rings
  • 2 T. chopped tentacles from the squid
  • 1/2 onion, minced
  • 4 mini red bell peppers, sliced crosswise in rings (or 1/2 large red bell pepper, diced)
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 fresh tomatoes, diced
  • 1/2 t. dried thyme
  • 1 T. fresh parsley, chopped
  • 1 T. fennel fronds, chopped
  • sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
  • 1 c. Arborio rice
  • 8 ou. fresh cod, cut in 1/2″ slices
  • 12 clams
  • 12 mussels
  • 1/2 c. frozen peas (optional)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
  2. Heat broth in large saucepan. Add saffron and boil for 5 min. Add pastis. Set aside and keep warm.
  3. In paella pan, heat 2 T. oil. Add shrimp and calamar rings and saute until shrimp are golden. Remove from pan.
  4. Add onion to the paella pan and cook 3 min.
  5. Add 1 T. oil to the pan and saute bell peppers, 2 min.
  6. Add garlic and tomato and cook, 3 min.
  7. Add thyme, parsley and fennel, salt and pepper to taste and stir to blend.
  8. Stir in the rice and cook until juices are absorbed.
  9. Add broth and stir evenly. (Add peas, if using.) Boil 10 min. on the stove, until broth is half absorbed into the rice.
  10. Without stirring, tuck fish pieces, clams and mussels into the rice.
  11. On top, add tentacles, shrimp, and cod.
  12. Put into oven, uncovered, 25 min. until liquid is all absorbed.
  13. Rest, covered with a linen kitchen towel for 5 min. before serving.

Bread Custard Pudding

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Bread Custard Pudding

  • Prep 20 min.

  • Cook 60 min.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 c. crumbled dry bread
  • 1 T. butter
  • 2/3 c. sugar
  • 1/2 t. vanilla extract
  • 1 egg
  • 3 c. scalded milk

Directions

  1. Combine crumbs and milk; bring to boiling point.
  2. Add butter and stir into the egg and sugar beaten lightly in the pudding dish.
  3. Flavor with vanilla.
  4. Surround the dish with hot water and bake in a moderate oven (350 F) until knife comes out clean when inserted (about 45 min.+).  To make Chocolate Bread Pudding, increase sugar to 1 cup and add 2 ounces chocolate, melted (or 2 T. cocoa).   Source:  Ida Bailey Allen’s “Modern Cook Book” (1924, pp. 588-589)

Good Relish

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Good Relish

  • Prep 30 min.

  • Cook 30 min.

“Source: Mother”

Ingredients

  • 1/2 peck (8#) green tomatoes
  • 12 sweet red and green peppers
  • 12 large yellow onions
  • 1 quart white vinegar
  • 2 sticks cinnamon
  • 2 T. whole cloves
  • 2 T. whole allspice
  • 2 # white sugar
  • 2 T. salt
  • 2 T. celery seed
  • 2 T. mustard seed

Directions

  1. Grind together tomatoes, peppers, and onions.
  2. Boil vegetables in juices for 15 minutes, then drain.
  3. Heat together vinegar, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, sugar, bringing to a boil, then strain out the spices.
  4. Add this liquid to the vegetables.
  5. Add salt, celery seed, mustard seed.
  6. Bring all to a boil and put in hot sterile jars and seal at once.

Fried Green Tomatoes

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Fried Green Tomatoes

  • Prep 15 min.

  • Cook 20 min.

“Southern Living, June 2009, p. 113”

Ingredients

  • 4 large green tomatoes
  • 2 t. salt
  • 1 t. pepper
  • 1 1/2 c. buttermilk
  • 1 c. plain white cornmeal
  • 1 T. creole seasoning
  • 2 c. flour, divided
  • peanut oil

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 200 F.
  2. Cut tomatoes into 1/4″ thick slices; sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.
  3. Put 1 c. flour into 1st dish.
  4. Pour buttermilk into 2nd dish.
  5. Stir together cornmeal, seasoning and 1 c. flour in 3rd dish.
  6. Dredge tomatoes in flour, then milk, then cornmeal mixture.
  7. Pour oil to a depth of 2″ in large cast-iron skillet; heat over medium to 350 F.
  8. Fry tomatoes, in batches, 2-3 min. on each side or until golden.
  9. Drain on paper towels; transfer to wire rack and keep warm in oven.
  10. Sprinkle with salt to taste.

Thon Catalane a la Maison

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Thon Catalane a la Maison

  • Prep 5 min.

  • Cook 8 min.

“An original recipe”

Ingredients

  • fresh tuna steaks
  • 2 T. olive oil
  • 2 shallots, sliced
  • 1/2 roasted red pepper, sliced
  • 2 T. pickle relish
  • 1/4 c. tomato, crushed or diced
  • salt and pepper

Directions

  1. Saute tuna in hot oil until golden.
  2. Turn and add shallots.
  3. When shallots are soft, add red peppers, relish and tomato.
  4. Season.
  5. Serve steaks topped with sauce.

Baked Egg in Puff Pastry

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Baked Egg in Puff Pastry

Baked Egg in Puff Pastry

  • Cook 25 m

“Egg baked in a puff pastry shell”

Ingredients

  • Frozen puff pastry shell
  • egg, cracked into a dish
  • melted butter

Directions

  1. Bake puff pastry shell, per package instructions, for 15 minutes, or until nicely risen.
  2. Remove center “lid” and discard.
  3. Add egg by slipping it carefully into the center hole.
  4. Return to oven and bake 5 minutes.
  5. Add a little melted butter.
  6. Continue to bake another 5 minutes, or until desired doneness.