CRAB, CORN, & BACON CHOWDER

There is nothing like the sweet taste of Chesapeake Blue Crabs and they are so versatile in many recipes.  Autumn is here and it's that time to make soups, pot roasts, stews, and chowders.  I used lumb crab meat.

3 slices bacon, diced

2 T unsalted butter

1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

2 stalks celery, finely diced

1 red bell pepper, finely diced

1 small jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely diced

1 clove garlic, minced

½ cup instant mashed potato flakes or ½ all-purpose flour 

1 qt warm chicken broth or stock

3 Yukon Gold or yellow potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-size cubes

2 cups frozen corn

1 cup half-and-half 

1 lb clean lump or jumbo lump crab meat 

2 t Old Bay Seasoning

½ t sea salt

½ t fine black pepper

Brown bacon 2 ½ to 3 quart saucepan until crisp.

Remove bacon to a paper towel and set aside.

Discard all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon grease.

Add butter and slowly cook the onion, celery, bell pepper, and jalapeño pepper 5 to 7 minutes.

Add the flour and cook another 2 minutes.

Slowly stir in the chicken broth or stock and potatoes.

Cook another 5 minutes.

Add the corn and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the half-and-half, crab, Old Bay, salt, and pepper.

Simmer 2 to 3 minutes.

Ladle into warm soup bowls and garnish with bacon bits and parsley.

Serves 4

OLD VIRGINIA BRUNSWICK STEW

Brunswick Stew is a southern stew with a tomato base, containing chicken, chicken stock, beans, corn, okra, potatoes, onions, and spices.  The original recipe was made with one or all of the following, squirrel, rabbit, opossum, or whatever game they could get for the night.

3 lbs, bone-in chicken pieces, remove skin; I use chicken breasts & drumsticks

1-quart chicken stock or broth
3 cups water

Stew

4 slices applewood smoked bacon, diced

2 T unsalted butter

1 large sweet onion, such as Vidalia, diced

2 (14.5-oz) cans diced fire-roasted tomatoes

2 cups frozen lima beans

2 cups frozen corn

3 large potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

1 ½ cups sliced okra 

2 T Worcestershire sauce
½ t liquid smoke (optional)

2 sprigs thyme or 1 t dried thyme

2 bay leaves

2 t Old Bay seasoning

1 t sea salt

½ t ground black pepper

Hot sauce, optional

In a large cast-iron stew pot or Dutch oven,
Add the chicken, chicken stock, and water.

Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for 45 minutes.

Remove chicken with a slotted spoon and place in a large bowl to cool. 

Pour the broth into a large pitcher or measuring cup. 
You should have about 5 cups of rich broth

In the same pot, fry the diced bacon until crisp, then remove with a slotted spoon to  a plate and set aside. Discard all but about 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat.

Add butter to the pot with the bacon fat and let melt.

Add the chopped onion to the pot and sauté for 10 minutes.

Pour the reserved chicken broth into the pot with the sautéed onions.

Add the canned tomatoes, lima beans, corn, potatoes, okra, Worcestershire, liquid smoke, thyme, bay leaves, and Old Bay into the pot.

Slowly simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, pull the chicken off the bones into bite-size pieces and add to the pot. 

Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Simmer another 5 minutes, add the cooked bacon bits and serve with cornbread muffins and hot sauce, if desired.

Serves 6

BUTTERY APPLE-ALMOND CAKE

This is such an easy cake to make and so delicious.  I make it often because my husband thinks it's as good as having a dessert in a restaurant.  You can serve it plain, with confectioners' sugar, or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

Spray oil for pan

¾ cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup almond flour

1 t baking powder

¼ t ground ginger

½ t fine sea salt

2 large eggs

¾ cup granulated sugar

½ cup melted and slightly cooled unsalted butter

2 t vanilla extract

1 T Calvados (French apple brandy) optional

3 medium Honeycrisp apples, skin left on and cut into ¼ inch slices

Confectioners' sugar, for garnish

Spray oil in a 7-inch springform cake pan and set on a pizza pan or baking sheet.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, baking powder, ginger, and salt.

In a bowl of a mixer beat eggs until frothy, about 1 minute.

With beater on slow, beat in the sugar, butter, vanilla, and if using, the Calvados.

Pour half of the batter in the prepared pan.

arrange half of the apples on top of the batter.

Pour in the rest of the batter, scraping the bowl clean.

Top batter with remaining sliced apples in a design of your choosing.

Place in oven and bake for 55 minutes.

Let cool 10 minutes before running a kitchen knife around edges and unclipping the 

coller.  

Serve immediately or cover and let cool in the refrigerator.

I cover the cake with a bowl, so not to mess up the top of the cake.

Serves 6

3 lbs, bone-in chicken pieces, remove skin; I use chicken breasts & drumsticks

1-quart chicken stock or broth
3 cups water

Stew

4 slices applewood smoked bacon, diced

2 T unsalted butter

1 large sweet onion, such as Vidalia, diced

2 (14.5-oz) cans diced fire-roasted tomatoes

2 cups frozen lima beans

2 cups frozen corn

3 large potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

1 ½ cups sliced okra 

2 T Worcestershire sauce
½ t liquid smoke (optional)

2 sprigs thyme or 1 t dried thyme

2 bay leaves

2 t Old Bay seasoning

1 t sea salt

½ t ground black pepper

Hot sauce, optional

In a large cast-iron stew pot or Dutch oven,
Add the chicken, chicken stock, and water.

Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for 45 minutes.

Remove chicken with a slotted spoon and place in a large bowl to cool. 

Pour the broth into a large pitcher or measuring cup. 
You should have about 5 cups of rich broth

In the same pot, fry the diced bacon until crisp, then remove with a slotted spoon to  a plate and set aside. Discard all but about 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat.

Add butter to the pot with the bacon fat and let melt.

Add the chopped onion to the pot and sauté for 10 minutes.

Pour the reserved chicken broth into the pot with the sautéed onions.

Add the canned tomatoes, lima beans, corn, potatoes, okra, Worcestershire, liquid smoke, thyme, bay leaves, and Old Bay into the pot.

Slowly simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, pull the chicken off the bones into bite-size pieces and add to the pot. 

Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Simmer another 5 minutes, add the cooked bacon bits and serve with cornbread muffins and hot sauce, if desired.

Serves 6

PECAN/SESAME CRUSTED SALMON WITH ORANGE-BUTTER SAUCE

We lived in the Pacific NW for 26 years and loved Sockeye salmon which was plentiful there.  When we lived on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia, you could buy one side of the salmon and the other side was free.

Here in Virginia, we buy salmon that's from Scotland and it is very flavorful.

This is one of our favorite ways to make salmon

Pecan Crust

½ cup pecan halves, finely chopped

1 T honey

2 t low sodium soy sauce

2 t toasted sesame seeds

½ t lemon-pepper seasoning

½ t paprika

Place pecan mixture in a shallow bowl and mix with a fork and set aside.

2 (5 to 6-oz) Atlantic salmon fillets

1 T oil

Orange-Butter Sauce

1 T unsalted butter

2 t brown sugar

2 t reduced sodium soy sauce

¼ t freshly grated ginger

½ cup fresh orange juice

1 t cornstarch

Dry tops of salmon and press pecan/sesame mixture on top of each fillet with hands. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Drizzle oil on top of pecan crust and bake 12 to 15 minutes until salmon is done, about 140 degrees F.  Do not over bake.  

Salmon temperature will rise another 5 degrees.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, orange juice, and cornstarch.

Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Serve salmon over a bed of long grain and wild rice, drizzle with orange butter sauce and serve asparagus on the side.

Serves 2

KEY LIME PIE &/OR TARTLETS

If you make a Key lime pie with regular Persian limes and it will just be a ‘lime pie', not an authentic Key Lime pie.  Key limes are amazingly easy to squeeze.  I have one of those hand lemon/lime squeezers and all you do is cut the little limes in half, squeeze through a mesh strainer into a measuring pitcher.  Do this to avoid any tiny seeds that may have slipped through.  Key limes are mostly grown in Florida and Mexico.

Lee's Kitchen Tips:
If you wish to make individual tarts in place of one pie, use 6 individual 4-inch removable bottom tart pans.

Graham Cracker Crust
1 sleeve graham crackers, or 1½ cups
3 T granulated sugar
6 T unsalted butter, melted

Break up graham crackers and place in a food processor. 

Add the sugar and melted butter and pulse until combined.

Press the mixture into a 9-inch pie pan.

Using a ½ cup metal measuring up, dip it in water and press along the bottom and sides to form a border around the edge.

Place in the refrigerator to set up for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove from refrigerator and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden. 

Remove from oven and let cool while making the filling. If the crust has fallen in some areas, just dip your measuring cup in water and carefully push the crust back into place while still warm.

Filling
4 Large egg yolks
Grated lime zest from 3 Key limes, before cutting in half and squeezing
1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk
½ cup fresh squeezed key lime juice (1 lb. bag Key limes) or bottled

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a wire whisk, beat the egg yolks and most of the lime zest at high speed until very fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Gradually add the condensed milk and continue to beat until thick, about another 3 minutes.

Lower the speed and slowly add the lime juice and mix another few seconds.

Pour into the cooled crust and bake the pie for 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool completely then place in refrigerator until completely cold, about 2 hours.

Freeze for 20 minutes before serving.

Whipped Cream

1 cup very cold heavy whipping cream
3 T confectioners’ sugar

½ t pure vanilla extract

Whip cream and sugar until soft peaks are formed.

Add vanilla and whip another few seconds.

Cover and refrigerate until ready to decorate the pie.

Spread cream on most of the top of the pie and sprinkle with the rest of the Key lime zest.

Cut and serve

PEPPER STEAK WITH MUSHROOMS & BROCCOLI

I am in an Asian food frame of mind lately. I have posted my go-to easy weeknight Chinese and Chinese-American dishes lately; Cashew Chicken, Kung Pao Chicken, Pork Chow Mein, Szechuan French Green Beans, Orange Chicken with Broccoli, Crispy Orange Peel Shrimp, and now Pepper Steak with Mushrooms & Broccoli.

1 lb sirloin steak

Sauce

¼ cup low sodium soy sauce

¼ cup beef broth

¼ cup dry sherry or orange juice 

1 T chile garlic sauce (optional)

2 cloves garlic, pressed or grated

1 T brown sugar

1 T rice vinegar

2 T cornstarch
1 t toasted sesame oil

2-inch piece ginger, grated

2 T peanut oil or avocado oil

12 white or cremini mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed, and sliced

1 small bunch broccoli, cut into florets

½ yellow onion, thinly sliced

½ red bell pepper, cut into bite-size pieces

½ green bell pepper, cut into bite-size pieces

2 scallions, diagonally sliced, for garnish

Toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

Place steak in the freezer for 30 to 45 minutes until firm enough to thinly slice with ease. Set aside in a bowl.

In a bowl or measuring pitcher, whisk together the sauce ingredients and set aside.

In a wok or large skillet, add half of the oil and heat to medium-high.

Stir fry the steak for 3 to 4 minutes, remove and set aside in a large bowl.

Add the rest of the oil and stir-fry mushrooms for 5 minutes.

Add the broccoli and stir-fry another 3 to 5 minutes.

Add the onion and bell peppers and stir-fry another 3 minutes..

Return the steak to the pan and cook another minute.

Pour in the sauce and heat through for about 2 minutes.

Serve over Asian Lo Mein noodles or rice and garnish with scallions and toasted sesame seeds.

Serves 2

SALMON FINGER SANDWICHES

Everyone has heard of bagels and lox...well this is an Italian version of that breakfast or brunch entree.

4 oz package of thinly sliced brined salmon
Thinly sliced multi-grain bread
½ cup mascarpone cheese, room temperature

3 T minced red onion

3 T rinsed, drained, and minced capers

2 scallions, minced

Grated zest of ½ lemon

Juice of ½ lemon

Fresh chives or dill

Lemon slices or wedges for garnish

Toast bread in a toaster and then cut into finger-size sandwiches. Set aside on a cutting board.

In a bowl add the mascarpone and mix in the red onion, capers, scallions, zest, and lemon juice.

Spread on the bread slices, add a slice of salmon, garnish with chives or dill and serve with lemon slices or wedges.

Makes 9 finger sandwiches