Mussels with a White Wine Tomato Sauce

I love the mussels at my favorite Belgian tavern in the city, Eulogy. They are to die for; they are so tender and the sauce is amazing to soak up with the hunks of bread they give you. And their beer list is nothing to shake a stick at either! I've always wondered if I could recreate something like them at home, and finally decided to give it a try.

This recipe wasn't inspired by anything in particular that my tavern has, but they were very tasty. I served it over angel hair pasta and spinach to turn it into a meal, but it would be great as an appetizer as well. Either way though, you definitely need a big hunk of bread to mop up all that delicious sauce!

Mussels with a White Wine Tomato Sauce
(Serves 2)

1 Tablespoon of olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 of a medium white onion, diced

1/3 cup of dry white wine
1 cup of clam juice
1 (14.5 oz.) can of diced tomatoes with juice
1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
black pepper

1 pound of fresh mussels

Directions: Heat olive oil in large stock pot over medium heat. Add minced garlic and onions and cook until fragrant and onions are soft. Add white wine, and allow to reduce slightly. Add clam juice, tomatoes with juice, red pepper, and a dash of black pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 20 minutes to let the flavors blend together.

Rinse mussels, and discard any that have opened. Bring the sauce back to a boil, and add mussels. Cover and allow to boil for 6-7 minutes, occasionally giving the pot a fast rotate/shake to allow the mussels to cook evenly. Remove mussels with a slotted spoon, and ladle the sauce on top. Enjoy!

Adapted from allrecipes.com, original recipe here.

Linguine with Red Clam Sauce

Happy holidays! I hope you all had a peaceful holiday, and got to spend some quality time with family. H and I definitely had a wonderful few days off, and were lucky enough to be able to visit with both of our families, as well as enjoy some quiet time to ourselves.

Santa was extremely kind to me as well! I got a number of kitchen toys- an immersion blender, a couple mini crock-pots, another set of Pyrex containers (you can never have enough of those babies), and a mini egg pan with egg flippers from joie. I am so excited to try them all out!

I also continued the tradition ( can I call it that yet?) of our seafood dinner on Christmas Eve. I used a couple recipes from last year, and changed another up. Here is one that is oh-so-easy, and absolutely delicious! I have to admit, I am torn between keeping it a Christmas tradition, and making it way more often. As usual, I apologize for the none-too-appetizing photo, but I promise it tastes a whole lot better than this picture looks!

Linguine with Red Clam Sauce
Serves 6

2 (14.5 oz.) cans of diced tomatoes, with juice
1/4 cup of tomato paste
2-3 Tablespoons of capers

6-8 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons of white sugar
2 teaspoons of dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of dried basil
1 pinch of ground black pepper
1 pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

2 (6 oz.) cans of minced clams
1 (12 oz.) can of whole baby clams

12 oz. of linguine pasta (3/4 of a box)

Directions: Combine all ingredients, up until the clams, in a large stock pot. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 45-60 minutes. Add the clams, and some of the juice (I use about half) and allow to simmer for another 5 minutes. Serve over linguine. Enjoy!

Adapted from allrecipes.com, original recipe here.

Scallops Gratin

Every so often, I try a recipe that I have high expectations for, and it ends up absolutely blowing those expectations away. This recipe was certainly one of them. Seafood? Garlic? Butter? Wine? I didn't see how it could be anything but delicious... but I wasn't prepared for exactly how awesome it turned out. It is extremely impressive for how easy it is.

Scallops Gratin

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium shallot, minced
1 ounce thinly sliced prosciutto, minced
1 Tablespoon dry parsley (or fresh)
1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup Panko
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 pound bay scallops, patted dry
Lemon, for garnish

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425. Place 3 gratin dishes on a sheet pan and place 1 Tablespoon of white wine in the bottom of each dish.

In a small bowl, combine the butter, garlic, shallot, 1 Tablespoon of the white wine, prosciutto, parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Use a fork to combine, mashing as you go. Drizzle in the olive oil, and continue to combine. Fold in the panko and set aside.

Use a paring knife to remove the muscle from each scallop. Divide the scallops evenly among each dish, and spoon the butter mixture over the tops.

Bake 10-12 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown and sizzling, and the scallops are just barely done. For a crispier top, turn on the broiler for the last 1-2 minutes.

Remove from oven and finish with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and the remaining parsley. Serve immediately with crusty French bread.



Adapted from Pink Parsley- recipe here, originally from The Barefoot Contessa.

New England Clambake- Right at Home

Happy Fourth of July (weekend)! Hope everyone is having a safe and enjoyable weekend :) So far, we've had time with friends, both of our families, multiple barbecues, and the beach! And so, we're taking it a bit easy today. How was your weekend? Any celebrations?

 (source)

H and I started the weekend off with a bang and had a couple friends coming over for a barbeque Friday. I was dying to try something different; I didn't want to do the usual hamburgers/hot dogs/chicken, and the last time they came over we had seared ahi tuna steaks on the grill (yum), so I didn't want to do that again either. So after a bit of searching, I found a recipe for a backyard clambake from Rachael Ray. Hm, now we're talking!

Her recipes tend to be pretty hit or miss with me, but I was hoping this one would work out! It looked surprisingly easy, and I figured it would taste great on our charcoal grill. I didn't make many changes- except that I used all the same type of clams (just littleneck instead of littleneck and steamers), dried thyme instead of fresh, and well, didn't really measure too much. I just used what we had/seasoned to what looked good. It turned out really well! Everyone was satisfied, and it really tasted great on the grill.

I was also inspired by another Rachael Ray recipe, Blackberry Ginger Sour Highballs, for our drinks. I didn't make this exact one, because, well, it sounded too difficult. That and I was nervous the blackberry syrup at the bottom being too, ah... chunky. Nothing ruins a good drink for me faster than pulp or seeds. Strawberry smoothies? Gross. Pulpy orange juice? Gag me with a spoon. Anyway... I decided to make a mix of three quarters lemonade and one quarter club soda, and then mix that with the gin. I froze black berries to use as ice cubes, so it was kind of a blackberry gin lemonade.

Throw in a salad, and some deliciously, perfectly sweet summer watermelon and you have yourself a summer feast!

New Recipe Review- Healthy Shrimp Newburg

As part of my 101 in 1001, I committed to trying a new recipe each week for the next 1001 days. While I don't promise to blog about all of my accomplishments in the 101 list (I highly doubt anyone is interested in the extra $10 I put into savings or if I called my mom that week), this is one that I'd really like to keep up with.

So last week, I decided to try Rachael Ray's healthy version of "Shrimp Newburg," recipe here. I saw it in the magazine and it looked delicious, so creamy and "shrimp-y" and flavorful, but it was a bit of a disappointment. It didn't really have any flavor at all. I ended up dumping a few teaspoons of garlic powder in, which made it better, but still nothing exciting. Granted, I used skim milk instead of the recommended 2% milk because that's what we had, but I have trouble believing that was the problem. Oh well. They can't all be winners.

It looked pretty anyway. I served it with orzo pasta and steamed broccoli.