Recipe: Manhattan Fish Chowder

Our local grocery store has this great bag of seafood mix that they sell in the freezer isle. The page includes squid, shrimp, muscles and clams included. I've made it into a fish stew and a stir fry with vegetables in the past, so when I thought of making a Manhattan Clam Chowder, I decided to try to use the seafood mix instead of clams.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup finely diced onion
1 cup finely diced cored fennel bulb
2 tablespoons chopped fronds
4 minced garlic cloves
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning blend
½ teaspoon Mrs. Dash
1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth
Dash of Cayenne pepper liquid sauce to taste
2 cups precooked diced potatoes
2 14-ounce cans of crushed tomatoes
1 pound frozen seafood mix

Directions:
In a medium frying pan heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, fennel bulb, garlic, Italian seasoning, Mrs. Dash and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are just starting to brown.

Add broth and potatoes; bring to a boil. Stir in tomatoes, Cayenne pepper sauce, seafood and fennel fronds. Return to a boil. Seafood will cook up quickly. When seafood is cooked remove from heat and serve.

Serve with French bread or crackers.

Juicy Lucy or is Jucy Lucy

This past weekend watching a marathon on Man v. Food, the host Adam visited Minneapolis, Minnesota and took the Jucy Lucy/Juicy Lucy challenge. In the South area of Minneapolis there are two restaurants competing for the best specially made Jucy Lucy/Juicy Lucy cheeseburger. The two restaurants are Matt's Bar and just down the street is The 5-8 Club. The difference in the burgers is the way the two establishments spell the name and one offers more of a variety of cheese.

The burgers looked great, so we decided to try our own version of the cheese stuffed burgers.

Ingredients:
8 pre-made packaged hamburger patties
2 T. olive oil
8 slices of cheese—cut in fours (we used Monterey Pepper Jack cheese)
1/2 chopped onion
Mrs. Dash to taste (or salt and pepper your choice)
4 Hamburger buns

Directions:
Place 8 of the quarter slices of cheese and place it into the middle of 2 of the hamburger patties. Press the edges of the patties tightly together to keep the cheese inside. Do the same for three more patties to make a total of four hamburger.

Add olive oil to frying pan and heat. Add chopped onions. Place all four hamburgers into pan and cook to taste. I covered the pan to make sure that it cooked all the way through. Important to cook until the cheese melts.

Place patties in hamburger buns, top with cooked onions and add your favorite dressing i.e. catsup, mustard, mayo, pickles, etc.

Recipe: Ratatouille a la Garlique

Some years back I had the opportunity to enter the Gilroy (California) Garlic Festival’s Cooking Contest with an old family favorite Ratatouille a la Garlic. At the time I didn’t quite remember the recipe and had to make my husband suffer as I spent months perfecting the recipe for the contest. The work paid off in the end and I had the chance to present my dish to the judges at the Festival and my dish will forever be immortalized in the pages of the Garlic Festival Cookbook.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 head of garlic, crushed and minced (remember this was the Garlic Festival)
1 large onion, chopped
2 large eggplants, cubed
2 green bell peppers, chopped
2 small zucchini, chopped in large chunks
½ cup mushrooms
2 stalks of celery
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes
2 springs fresh rosemary
5 to 6 leaves of fresh basil
2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon c
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon cayenne
1-2 dashes of hot pepper sauce

Directions:
Add olive oil to large Dutch oven heat until hot. Add garlic and onion and sauté for 5 minutes until onion starts to tan. Add eggplant, bell peppers and cook for 10 minutes stirring frequently. Add zucchini, mushrooms and celery and sauté for 3 more minutes stirring frequently. Add tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients, cover and cook for 25 to 30 minutes or until eggplant is tender.

Recipe: Simple King Cake

This recipe may not be authentic, but it is easy and fun to make during Mardi Gras.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 package (18.25 ounce size) yellow cake mix, batter prepared according to directions
1 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon water
3 tablespoon granulated sugar, divided
Red, blue, yellow, and green food color (red and blue make purple)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use a 9x13 inch baking pan coated with nonstick cooking spray. Make cake batter as directed on box. Add lemon peel, nutmeg and gumdrop, and then bake in the prepared pan according to the cake directions.

Cool completely on a wire rack. In a small bowl, combine the confectioners sugar, lemon juice, and water until the mixture forms a creamy glaze.

Spread the glaze over the top of the cake. Place 1 tablespoon granulated sugar into each of 3 closeable plastic storage bags. Add 1 drop of red and 1 drop of blue food coloring to one bag to create purple sugar; mix well. Add 2 drops of yellow food coloring to another bag; mix well. Add 2 drops of green food coloring to the remaining bag; mix well. Sprinkle the colored sugars over the glaze to decorate as desired.