Crab Cakes

I was in the mood for something fishy tonight and crab cakes came to mind.  I've never made crab cakes so this would be a first try. I bought imitation crab with 3% real crab.  It tastes good and should hide well in a crab cake. Not to mention it cost less than $3. I bought the prawns on clearance in case the crab cakes were a disaster.  I needn't have worried.

I got the potatoes peeled and on the stove and the carrots and beans ready for the steamer.  For the crab cakes I was adding a finely diced shallot and half a stick of celery also finely diced. I sweated the shallot and celery on the stove before putting in the bowl to cool.

The guacamole  was just a ripe avocado mashed, salt, tabasco and lime juice. A hot dish would have been a better complement but I was flying blind. By this time the sweated vegetables were cool and I broke the half pound of crab up into the bowl.  I put about half a cup of bread crumbs, from Alpine bread in and less than a quarter cup of flour. I want the flour as a binder not as a dough. To that I added 2 teaspoons onion powder, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon paprika. I mixed it all thoroughly then added a beaten egg, mixed again and made 4 patties. I dusted them with flour before putting in the pan.

The patties browned nicely and I plated them while the prawns heated up with some garlic.  I plated the mashed potatoes and vegetables then put the prawns over top.  Finally I finished with a dollop of guacamole between the patties.  Tartar sauce would have been better but I had to use up the avocado.

The crab cakes were sweet and delicious. What a relief.  I thought the guacamole was a nice condiment with the crab cakes but Fern felt it didn't belong. The prawns were great and the fresh beans were a nice treat.  I'll definitely make crab cakes again.

Pork Chop with Green Cauliflower on Polenta

I went to the store today with the idea of buying purple cauliflower on special.  Of course it was gone and only green left, same price, probably look better anyway. Instead of making carrots with it I wanted to try making polenta.  So I got the potatoes peeled and boiling, pared the cauliflower into the steamer, put 1/3 cup chicken stock and 2/3 cup milk on the stove and got out a plastic bag for the pork.

Pork Rub

1 tbsp flour
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp cayenne

Put in a bag, crush the lumps out, then put the chops in one at a time and shake to coat.  There is enough for 3 or 4 chops.  Put  the coated chops in a frying pan and rotate 180 degrees half way through this side to get an even sear. It was at least 4 minutes a side, really depends on the chop thickness. When I turned it over I put 1/2 tsp chopped rosemary over the chops.

When the milk and stock is boiling whisk in 1/3 cup corn grits and turn the heat down to low. Add 1/2 tsp salt, keep it stirred and put a lid on so it doesn't get too dry. It takes about 20 minutes to cook.

I managed to get the cauliflower out at the right time, running it under cold water. I put butter in the pot and put it back  on the burner on low so it would be hot when the cauliflower goes back in.  I poured extra virgin olive oil over the top and cooked it for a few minutes before serving.

I plated the potatoes and polenta with the cauliflower on top. The polenta was nice, it could have used a lot more flavor, but I liked it.  Fern didn't.

Pan Fried Chicken Breast

I still had the maple cake in the oven when I started prepping dinner so I wasn't planning anything amazing. Chicken breasts pounded flat to double in size has become the standard treatment.  It cooks faster and more evenly so it's worth the trouble to put them in a plastic bag and pound a little. The spice rub didn't contain any garlic powder and it was really noticeable in the taste. Garlic seems to give a platform for the other flavors to play on. Onion powder and poultry seasoning alone didn't bring it to life.  It did have a nice crunch on the outside though, so it wasn't all bad.

I managed to over steam the broccoli too so they were a bit soft.  Plain white basmati rice with soy sauce for flavor. Fern likes plain white rice so I compromise by putting soy on mine. It was a satisfying meal though not the most flavor packed.

Maple Cake with Cinnamon Walnut Streusel

I love maple syrup so a maple cake sounded really good.  The recipe called for 1/4 cup maple syrup and some maple flavoring as well so it should taste pretty good.  This one was disappointing so I'm not including the recipe but describing the process can be illuminating.

The recipe was for a square pan but I just bought a bundt pan I was determined to use.  The recipe called for a layer of cake batter then a layer of streusel, the remaining batter and topped with the remaining streusel. Since I wanted to turn the cake out I did it in reverse order. Above is how it looked straight out of the pan. When it was cool I melted 1 tbsp butter, 2 tbsp maple syrup and 1/2 cup icing sugar in a pan and poured it over the cake, pictured below.

I made a mistake with the ingredients.  The recipe called for baking powder and baking soda but I missed the baking soda.  Fortunately it called for more powder than soda so the cake rose anyway but it was a little bit heavy. As can be seen above I didn't put enough streusel in the bottom of the pan and I put too much batter on top of that.  Despite that the cake was still moist and had a fairly good texture.  The only real problem, where this recipe fails, is in flavor.  It just doesn't taste mapley enough. I have made a maple cake before by modifying a vanilla cake recipe into a maple cake.  I used the same amount of maple syrup as this recipe and got very similar results.  Maple flavor does not seem to survive cooking very well.  My grocery store sells a really mapley cake from a specialty bakery so I know the flavor can come through, I just have to figure out how to achieve it.

Beef Tenderloin with Spinach Salad

Beef tenderloin was on special so I splurged a little.  The steaks were less than $5 each so within my food budget anyway.  I had mushrooms in the fridge but I had to buy a bin of baby spinach. The salad was just baby spinach, boiled egg and real bacon bits. The salad dressing:

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp oil
2 tsp fresh lime juice
salt
pepper

I fried the mushrooms in butter and served them over the steaks.  I put sour cream on my potato but not fake bacon bits as I have real ones in the salad. I seasoned the steak with my beef rub and it was absolutely delicious.

Fillet of Sole with Tartar Sauce

I was in the mood for beef, Fern was in the mood for anything but.  So I settled on nice fresh fillets of sole and fresh green beans.  I got my potatoes going for the mash and put the carrots on to start steaming.  The sole was dredged in a mixture of:

2 tbsp flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp paprika

and fried in plenty of oil. I cut the ends off the beans and steamed them whole with the carrots.  Just before they were done I drained the water, turned the burner to low  and put the veggies back in with butter, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. While they were finishing I made a condiment.

Tartar Sauce

3 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp sweet pickle relish
juice of 1/4 lemon
a good pinch of salt


Mix and slop on the fish. I also put sour cream on my mashed potatoes with artificial bacon bits. I drizzled lemon juice over the fish after plating.  It was every bit as good as it looks, unless you're a cardiologist!

Pork Chop, mashed potato, peas and carrots

Pork chops tonight.  I shook the chops with the rub in a plastic bag and fried them. Fern has been bugging me to sear at higher temperature so this time I did and burned them nicely.  The burnt part didn't affect the taste that much. They were MMMMMM instead of  WOW! Mashed potatoes with sour cream on top.  Those are artificial bacon bits on the sour cream.  I saw, I used. The vegetables were done in the microwave since the peas were frozen anyway. Fern's homemade ketchup is the condiment.  Apples, onions and tomatoes with herbs and spices, it's to die for!

Pork Chop Rub

1 tbsp flour
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1/2 tsp thyme leaves
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt