Good Living 123

Even the word “bisque” sounds fancy. Chefs make bisques out of all sorts of ingredients, including fruits, squash, carrots, and tomatoes. However, the original bisque was always seafood based. This is a rich soup and pricy, too.

In truth, the shells of shrimp and lobster make a marvelous seafood stock, but to make it easier, we can always use a purchased seafood or fish stock with or without some added brininess from bottled clam juice.

If you want to make your own Super Simple Seafood Stock, try this:

Melt 2 T butter on med-high heat; add shrimp shells, lobster shells, and lobster legs. (Or just shrimp shells, of course). Stir for 3 minutes. Add 4 ½ c warm water in which you have dissolved 2 seafood bouillon cubes AND a mahhhhhvelous “secret” ingredient: 1 T Better Than Bouillon Lobster Base. Add 2 Bay leaves, 1 diced onion, 1 diced carrot, and 2 diced celery stalks. Bring to a boil. Then reduce heat and let simmer 15 minutes. Strain out and discard all the shells and solids. You should have 4 cups. If you need more liquid, simply add a bit more stock, bottled clam juice, or water. (Note: No, I have no affiliate status to make money promoting Better Than Bouillon’s product. It is simply a super product, and they have many other varieties, from beef and vegetable to ham and onion.)

To make a seafood bisque, you simply add your stock to a roux, followed by cream and your seasonings. Then garnish with lump crabmeat and sautéed shrimp.

That said, I can’t leave without also giving you my Sensational Seafood Bisque recipe. Use a packaged stock or one you made, as you prefer. This recipe makes enough for 8 appetizer servings or 4 entrée servings.

4 T butter

2 c chopped sweet onion

2 T tomato paste

4 T flour

4 c seafood stock

1 celery rib, diced

½ tsp garlic powder

1 tsp each: Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, sweet paprika, Old Bay seasoning, & dried thyme (not ground)

¼ tsp cayenne pepper (or ½ tsp, to suit your taste)

1/4 c each: brandy and dry sherry (or white wine)

8 oz canned claw crabmeat & the juices

8 large shrimp, peeled & deveined & coarsely chopped

½ c diced lobster meat

2 c heavy (whipping) cream

Salt & ground white pepper (to suit your taste)

8 large shrimp, sprinkle with salt & pepper; then sautéed in butter

4-8 lobster claws or 4 lobster tails, halved lengthwise once, then crosswise twice, warmed

½ lb lump or jumbo lump crabmeat, warmed

Garnishes of your choice, such as: chopped cooked bacon, croutons, chopped fresh parsley or chives, chunks of avocado, dollop of sour cream

Melt butter in Dutch oven or large soup pot over med heat; sauté onion for 3 min, stirring once. Remove from heat and stir in tomato paste, followed by flour. Slowly stir in 1 c of your stock, followed by the remaining stock, stirring till smooth. Return to med-high heat and stir in seasonings and alcohol, followed by the claw crabmeat, chopped shrimp, and diced lobster. Bring to a boil and let cook 5 minutes. (The alcohol cooks off during this, leaving its lovely flavor.) Remove from heat and use an immersion blender to puree the bisque base. Return pan to med-low heat and stir in the cream. Heat it through, but do not let it boil. Taste your bisque and season with salt & white pepper to suit your taste. Ladle into warmed serving bowls and shrimp, lobster, and lump crabmeat on top along with other garnishes you have selected. Serve to your grateful guests, along with a salad and crusty bread, if desired.

KISS Tips: 1. Warm the seafood toppings very briefly in a small skillet in a bit of butter while warming the cream in your bisque.

2. If using a traditional blender container, puree your bisque in 3 batches to prevent splattering.
3. If you want your bisque thicker, whisk together 1 T cornstarch with 2 T cold water; then whisk into your soup, simmering (but NOT boiling) till thickened.
4. If your like, after tasting your bisque, you can also stir in a T of sherry for extra flavor.
5. This is also nice with just shrimp and crabmeat. I have also added a sautéed scallop or 2 to the seafood on top, only halving them if using large sea scallops.

Yes, there’s a fungus “amungus.” If you are not a fan of shrooms, simply click delete and move on in your reading.

I love mushrooms, stuffed, grilled, sautéed, fried, etc., etc., etc. However, ‘tis Autumn, which in my world signals the time to start making various soups again. Since it’s National Mushroom Day, I “capped” my ingredient thoughts at mushrooms.

Here’s my 1978 recipe, simple and straightforward.

Cathy’s Cream of Mushroom Soup

2 c sliced fresh mushrooms

2 T chopped onion

2 T butter

2 T flour

2 c chicken broth

1 c whipping cream

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp white pepper

Sauté mushrooms & onion in butter till tender, but not brown, about 3 minutes. Blend in flour; add broth. Cook & stir till slightly thickened and bubbly. Stir in cream, salt, nutmeg & pepper. Heat through. Makes 4 servings.

I still like it that way. However, I confess to having kicked it up more than a few notches in more recent decades.

Cathy’s Cream of Mushroom Soup

This is scrumptious, simply served with warm, crunchy garlic or onion bread and a side salad.

4 slices bacon

2 T olive oil

2 T butter

2 sweet onions, chopped (2 c)

1 T minced garlic

1 lg stalk celery, finely diced (1/3 – ½ c)

8 oz portobello mushrooms (2-3 caps), gills scraped out & discarded, before slicing & coarsely dicing

8 oz shiitake mushroom caps, sliced

8 oz cremini/button mushrooms, sliced (& a few chopped)

½ tsp each: salt, black pepper, white pepper

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

½ – ¾ tsp ground thyme

½ c pinot grigio (or other wine of your preference)

½ c almond flour

4 c chicken broth or stock

3 c beef broth or stock

1 c heavy cream or half-and-half

2 T thinly sliced green onions (green portions)

2-3 T chopped fresh, flat-leaf parsley

Cook bacon in the olive oil in large, high-sided skillet or soup pan.  Remove cooked bacon from the oil (crumble to use in the soup or reserve for another use).  Add the butter.  Sauté onions and garlic for 2 min over med-high heat; then add celery and mushrooms.  Reduce heat to med; let cook 5-6 min, stirring a few times.  Stir in seasonings and wine.  Stir and cook 1 min.  Sprinkle flour over the top; stir in.  Gradually stir in chicken broth, stirring till thickened a bit.  Then stir in beef broth and bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat, and let simmer 10 min.  Stir in cream, green onions, and half the parsley.  (Taste & add more salt & pepper, if desired.)  Heat through, but do not let boil.  Serve, sprinkled with remaining parsley.  Makes 10-12 cups.

KISS Notes:  You may crumble the cooked bacon and include it or not in the soup, as you prefer.  You may also wish to scrape out the dark “gills” under the portobello caps, as when stuffing them.  For soup I leave them.  Their flavor is strong, but it adds a perfect balance to the cream in the soup.  As with most soups, flavors improve when reheated a second day, so try to make this the day before you plan to serve it.

KISS Variation:  Replace 4 c chicken broth with 2 c beef broth and omit the cream to make a Portobello-Plus Mushroom Sauce to serve over pasta.  It’s great with chicken pasta dishes or mushroom ravioli, for example.  Simply sprinkle shredded Parmesan over the top.

Okay… in all fairness, today is also National Cinnamon Bun Day. However, just thinking about the sugar made my teeth ache, and focusing on the yumminess made me want to eat 2 or 3…. Warm and toasty with a nice drizzle of light icing. So, I am displaying a rare moment of restraint and opting for National Taco Day.

Eat them in a crispy corn shell… or a soft flour tortilla… or even a folded, rich, cheesy chaffle. Tacos deliver a fun way to eat what otherwise could be a mere sandwich. What?!? Not happening!

Tacos are often filled with shredded lettuce, finely diced tomato, salsa, shredded Jack cheese, guacamole (or diced or sliced avocado), and sour cream, along with some protein… from sliced steak or seasoned ground beef to spicy shredded chicken or turkey (great with diced apple in the filling), or even gator nuggets, or sausage. Try one that’s all veggies, if you like, by filling your taco with matchstick-cut slices of zucchini, yellow summer squash, and red sweet pepper, along with thinly sliced sweet onion, guacamole, salsa, and some black beans. Or think totally outside the box and try an apple-cheese taco with shredded cheese and apple slices (and… okay… some crispy bacon).

Hubby’s favorites include ground beef and grilled shrimp. I agree with him on the shrimp. Yummmmm… especially paired with a crunchy slaw. Sooooo…. Surprise, surprise, here’s my Shrimp Tacos recipe.

Shrimp Tacos

1 lb large, raw shrimp, peeled & deveined, sautéed or grilled 3 min, & seasoned to suit your preference

Soft flour or crisp corn taco shells

Filling Mixture

In a bowl, combine:

Kernels from 2 ears of corn (microwaved 2 min) or 1 c frozen kernels, thawed

1 can black beans, drained & rinsed

1 large red tomato, finely diced (omit seeds) (or 1 c finely diced fresh pineapple)

1 c finely shredded purple cabbage

½ – 1 jalapeno pepper, thinly diced (omit seeds), optional

Line 3-4 shrimp in center small soft flour (or crispy corn) tortilla. Top with the filling mixture. Drizzle with sauce, garnish as desired, and serve with salsa & sour cream on the side.

Sauce

Whisk together:  ½ c mayo, ½ c sour cream (or plain yogurt), 2-3 T lime juice, 1-1½  T sriracha or other hot sauce, dash garlic powder

Or

Mash guacamole till smooth and add a bit of water to get your preferred consistency to drizzle

Garnish ideas: thin slices of fresh radish, diced or sliced avocado, fresh cilantro leaves, lime wedges

KISS Tip: Replace shrimp with a favorite grilled fish or crispy fried fish pieces.

Tacos! Not just for Taco Tuesdays!

When two of my favorite foods enjoy the same “national” celebration day, I simply must combine my thinking. I mean, to my tastebuds, there is very little as delectable as the sweet tender meat from a freshly steamed lobster simply dipped in salty, melted butter. Then comes the quesadilla, with its crispy exterior and melty, cheesy yumminess inside.

So, go ahead, dice up your lobster meat and sprinkle it on one half of a large flour tortilla. Then sprinkle on a healthy dose of a favorite melting cheese, such as a muenster, Monterey Jack, or a pepperjack for a little zing.

Then lay that tortilla in melted butter in a skillet over med heat and fold the plain half over the goodies, forming the classic quesadilla half-moon shape. Let it cook just 2 minutes to add some buttery crispness to the tortilla and start the cheese melting. Use a large spatula to flip it over and let it crisp another 2 minutes or till the cheese is marvelously melted. Slide it onto a plate and use a sharp knife to cut it in wedges. Enjoy as it is or with a side salad.

Because I am a big lobster fan, I wrote Lobacious Lobster: Decadently Super Simple Recipes in 2017. It’s packed with lobster recipes from appetizers to desserts, plus lots of lobster information. Lobacious Lobster marked the first larger format and full-color cookbook in my collection of 9 cookbooks in the Super Simple line-up.  (Oh, and did I make up the word “lobacious” for this book? Yes, indeed… as it simply sounds decadent.)

So, here’s my KISS (Keep It Super Simple) Lobster Quesadilla recipe from Lobacious Lobster. It’s party-sized to make 10 quesadillas, but it can be sized down to just one quesadilla, too.

KISS Lobster Quesadilla

1 red onion, finely chopped & sautéed (to sweeten it; or use a large, sweet onion)

2-3 plum tomatoes, chopped

8-oz cream cheese, softened to room temp

4 c Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

4 thin green onions, finely chopped

4 T Asian hot sauce or a ginger sweet chili sauce

Sea salt & ground black pepper

1 lime, juiced

2 lbs cooked lobster meat, diced

10 (8” size) flour tortillas

4-6 T butter, or more as needed

Combine tomatoes & sautéed onion in small microwave-safe dish; microwave on high for 2 min. In a bowl, mix cheeses, green onions, hot sauce, seasonings, lime juice & tomato-onion mixture. Spread some on half of each tortilla. Divide lobster meat among the 10 tortillas, sprinkling over the cheese mixture. Fold over to create a half-moon shape. Melt butter over med heat in large skillet; pan fry each tortilla (2 at a time) for 2-3 min per side, till brown & crispy. Cut into wedges and serve with salsa, guacamole & sour cream on the side.

KISS Tips: These can be assembled in advance and pan-fried as needed throughout your party. You can also vary the ingredients to suit your tastes. For example, sprinkle diced bits of papaya or mango over the lobster before folding the tortillas to cook them. Or try replacing your regular salsa with mango or peach salsa.

That is how I celebrate National Lobster Day and National Quesadilla Day!

So, this is the official day to eat pepperoni pizza. As if we need a special day!!?! Make mine a double pepperoni, please.

I love a crust that’s on the thin side, but not all the way to “cracker.” I like it perfectly crispy outside and as light as air inside. No floppy slices, please; I do not care if folding the slice in half saves the toppings from sliding to the plate below. I like a crust that has been baked in a truly hot pizza oven, so no “folding” is even needed, although it remains optional for devotees.

My only beef with pepperoni pizza is all the extra grease it adds. Back in the 1990s, I came up with a marvelous little twist that wiped out that issue… even for a double pepperoni pie! Try these, and you will be hooked.

Cathy’s Pepperoni Crisps

Serve these gems as snack chips. I also like to crumble them and toss them into all sorts of dishes. Think macaroni & cheese, salads, garnishes, casseroles, stuffed mushrooms, rolls & biscuits, burgers, eggs, or quiche. These deliver all the flavor without all that oil!

2 dozen slices of packaged pepperoni slices in single layer on 3 layers of paper toweling

Top with 2 more layers of paper toweling.

Microwave 60-75 seconds.

Let cool. Throw away all the grease on the paper towels! Store airtight at room temperature… never in the fridge. Note: Every microwave is different, so start at 60 seconds and then check the pepperoni to be sure it’s not burning.) Make as many as you like… I usually opt for an entire pillow pack.

Here’s the Super Simple variation to use for pizza: Microwave just 30 – 45 seconds. Then spread the partially cooked crisps on your pizza and cook as usual. For my double pepperoni pizza, sprinkle the cooked pepperoni pizza with more crisps that you have crumbled. Oh, yeah!!! (And if you’re going out to your favorite pizza joint, bring a little baggie of crumbled crisps with you to sprinkle on your pizza to add pepperoni flavor without the extra grease.)

Okay… I admit it. Even on National Pepperoni Pizza Day, I can skip the crust and simply enjoy the crisps.

On this day I celebrate the simple, but always endearing crab cake. I prefer them meaty and moist, with barely a touch of breading. They always go like hot cakes! Serve them as appetizers, entrees, or atop salads, jazzing up the sauce with as much horseradish as your personal preference enjoys.

Crab Cakes

1 lb lump crabmeat

2 lg or x-lg eggs

1/3 c mayonnaise

¼ – 1/3 c finely chopped green onion

1 T Dijon mustard

¼ c breadcrumbs, plain or seasoned (or crushed pork rinds, if you’re leaning toward keto)

Combine ingredients; season with sea salt & pepper to suit your taste; form into 6 mini patties.

Place on cooking spray-coated sheet of heavy-duty foil; put on grill preheated to 350°F (medium). (Or cook in a sauté pan.) Cook 3-4 minutes per side. Serve atop salad or with split, toasted mini rolls spread with Mustard Sauce, adding a slice of ripe tomato and lettuce or fresh baby spinach leaves.

Mustard Sauce:

3 T mayonnaise

2 T Dijon mustard

2 T prepared horseradish

1 T fresh lemon juice

Stir ingredients together and drizzle over crab cakes. (I do love the sauce and usually double the amount.)