Julia Child’s 100th Birthday — Salmon Fillet en Papillote with Shallots and Tomatoes: Fast Food!

Not spending the summer in St. Paul, I don’t have any of my Julia books on the shelf….And it’s Julia’s 100th birthday!  I shipped all of the ones I needed to work on the soup cookbook and I brought my own personal cookbook, but the whole library cannot come to Colorado.  Julia’s books sit in Minnesota: 

One bookcase of cookbooks

So to celebrate Julia’s 100th birthday (along with everyone else in the world), I had to come up with something on the web.  Salmon en Papillote with Shallots and Tomatoes seemed perfect.   Since I had salmon the freezer.   And I was alone.  Fish is perfect for one.

One.  Singular sensation:

First place the salmon filet on the parchment paper on a schmear of butter

While grilled salmon is the standard summer prep in the U.S., I’m here to tell you that you just might enjoy wrapping that little piece of fish up in parchment paper and throwing it in the oven.  Almost feels like a little craft project going on.  The oven is not on long enough to heat up the kitchen. The resulting fillet is tender, toothsome, done perfectly, and seasoned elegantly.  And if you don’t pour a loving glass of Pinot Noir or even a Syrah to go along with, I’ll be unhappy.  I will haunt you.  See below for the recipe that’s faster than calling for pizza.  Quicker than driving through the drive-through.  By the time you set the table and sauté some spinach, dinner is D-O-N-E.  If you’re still set on grilling, you could probably use the same recipe for the grill, switching foil for the paper and going the Girl Scout route.

Thanks, Julia.   I know you’re enjoying the kitchen that never gets hot, where feet never hurt, European and American measurements are the same,  knives are forever sharp, tupperware bottoms and tops always match, and watched pots do boil.  God speed.

Season with salt and pepper.  Top with shallots, tomatoes, and fresh herbs.

An aside…My favorite Julia Child recipe is French Bread.  Really.   A story for another day.

Wrap up and pin or staple as I did.  Bake at 425 degrees F about 8 minutes.   Et voila!

The fish recipe I used is from this book, but I found it here:

Jacques’ method for wrapping the fish in paper includes leaving a hole, inserting a straw, and blowing up the paper “balloon” before baking.  I went with Julia and even changed that.  As long as you get the paper packet sealed well, you’ll be fine.

Julia’s Salmon Fillet en Papillote with Shallots and Tomato
serves 1

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, soft (Cut this down to 1tsp)
1 skinless salmon fillet, 6 to 8 ounces
Salt and freshly ground white pepper  (I used black pepper)
1 tablespoon very finely minced shallots (or scallions) (Used minced red onion.)
1/2 cup diced fresh tomato garnish
Whole leaves of flat-leaf parsley, about a dozen  (I added a couple of thyme sprigs.)


1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Smear the butter in the very center of a piece of parchment paper cut to 15″x20″
3. Season each side of the salmon with a big pinch of salt and several grinds
of pepper, and lay the salmon, its most attractive side up, on the buttered
area of the paper.
4. Mix the minced shallots and tomato together and spread on top of the
salmon fillet. Scatter the parsley leaves over and around the fish.
5. Lift the shorter (15-inch) sides of the parchment so the edges meet right
above the salmon, like a tent. Fold over several times, then fold the sides
together. Crimp the folds tightly with your fingers, or use several pins at
the end to seal the package completely.  (I stapled the paper.)
6. Set the package on the cookie sheet and bake 8 minutes for a fillet less
than an inch thick, or 10 minutes for a thick fillet 1 to 1 1/4 inches thick.
7. To serve, carefully transfer the package to a dinner plate, remove the pins
if you have used them, and simply unfold or cut the parchment open. If
you’d rather remove the package before eating, cut or tear the paper
alongside the fillet, and slide the fish right onto the plate.
Just cut open.
 
The meal.
 Since this sounded wonderfully suited to a bed of sautéed spinach, I took care of that
while the salmon cooked in the oven.  One pound of fresh spinach will cook down to one cup of cooked spinach.  I think I cooked about 3 ounces of fresh spinach for me.  I stirred in some hunks of garlic at the end, but started with a little crushed red pepper in the olive oil.  Do as you like.  This, along with a small piece of buttered whole wheat bread, rounded out the meal.  Along with the wine, of course.
 
Ready for its close-up.  Done, but oh-so-tender.  Just perfect.  Just Julia.
  Cook’s Note:   Whole Foods in Colorado Springs sells their gorgeous wild salmon frozen in individual pieces for four bucks and change.  I guess they’d rather freeze it than throw it away.  This salmon is luscious.  I throw it in a covered soup pot on the front porch for 30 minutes or so (summertime) and it’s unthawed.   I have also cooked it stone-cold-frozen on a very hot grill indeed.
  
more julia for fun
Sing a new song; buy some parchment paper,
Alyce

Homemade Potato Chip-Steak Salad

Just add fork

Sometimes I don’t know what gets into me.  I know I have something leftover and simple from which to create a meal.  Say a piece of steak or two small pieces, in this case.  (Neither Dave nor I could finish our dinner the night before. Is there something wrong with us?)  I didn’t set out to make a homemade potato chip-steak salad…but here’s how it happened: 

First,  I take the steak out of the frig and begin casting around for something to go with it.  Toast?  I could make a sandwich.  Pasta?  I could cook up some vegetables to go with the steak while the water boils.  Stir fry?  Omelet filled with steak?  Steak and eggs?  I could make  mushrooms in velouté  sauce with cream (Supreme is the name, I think–I made it up as a young cook without knowing its name.) and Dijon mustard, add the steak and serve it over rice.  How about a childhood favorite, beef hash?  (Who would waste great steak on hash, Alyce?) 

Instead of beginning any of those dishes,  I  find myself at the Cuisinart making homemade mayonnaise, using Daniel Boulud’s method:
    

Who is Daniel Boulud?

 

Make a poached egg and cook it for only two minutes.  Remove from water with a slotted spoon and place it in a food processor fitted with the metal blade.  Pulse until well-blended. 

Into the food processor bowl, pour 1T good-quality  white-wine vinegar (such as Chardonnay or Champagne) and 1T Dijon mustard. (I like to use the whole grain variety.) Pulse until well blended.

Through the feed tube, with the machine running, drizzle 1 cup canola oil.* Process until thick.  Season with salt and pepper.

*Daniel Boulud uses peanut oil

~~

And then I take out a skillet, heat a little canola oil and fry up very thin slices of potato for potato chips.  This is coming together, I think:

Drain them on paper towels. Salt and pepper immediately.   Don’t eat them all.

~~

Meantime, I “boil” an egg in the microwave.  (Break an egg into a greased, microwave-safe cereal-sized bowl.  With a fork, poke the egg white all over several times and the yolk once.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and microwave on high for one minute.  Let sit one minute.  Remove wrap, tip egg onto cutting board and chop)

Next:  A large bowl comes out of the cupboard (nearly done now–pretty quick!) and I line it with  

4 cups of mixed greens topped with the steak, 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese, the chopped egg, 1/4 cucumber, chopped, 2 green onions, chopped, 1 carrot, sliced, 1 stalk celery, sliced, 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley, 1/2 each yellow and red pepper sliced, and whatever other vegetables I can find–including a beautiful warm summer tomato (don’t refrigerate them ever) and even a little leftover grilled sweet corn.

When the chips are done, I put them around the outside of the salad bowl.

A half-lemon is located and squeezed over the entire salad.  Salt and pepper are next.  I’m generous, but don’t go overboard.  After all, the salad will be dressed with real mayonnaise, right?

I slip a few pieces of baguette under the broiler.  (brushed with oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper)

And dinner is served:

I serve the mayonnaise separately; no need to over-dress this lovely bowl of goodness.

This process made enough for Dave and me.  He ate two servings; I ate one.  So I’d say this was about 3 servings!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
two-dog kitchen and around the ‘hood

I’m tired of the daytime heat.  Like the whole rest of the country, I guess. Storms often arrive late afternoon or early evening.  Things blow and go; little rain arrives, though when it does, it’s incredibly forceful.  I water everything daily.  A beautiful part of near-mountain living is the coolness of the evening and night.   While we  resort to air conditioning during the day, in the evening after suppertime it’s turned off and the windows are thrown open wide to welcome the sweet breeze.  All night long the air graces our rooms unlike the midwest where the heat lingers heavily.

My favorite breakfast these days…when I’m not having yogurt and berries: 

On the dinnerplace blog now:  Egg+Egg White Omelet filled with Nonfat Cottage Cheese on WW Toast

If I don’t get out early to walk the doggies (by 7:30), and sometimes even if I do, I later get in a power walk on youtube.  Sometimes two! There are several walks from which to choose–3 minute for a desk break, 5 minute, 2 mile, etc. They are easy to fit into the day and I often stick up the laptop (with the walking video on and the sound off) next to the tv when a favorite show is on.   I do the walk/exercise and watch Ina all at the same time.

I’m working on the soups for the cookbook almost daily.  Once I develop a recipe, it must be tested several times and then I pass it on to someone else for testing.  Does it work when someone else makes it?  I’ve now made posole several times, shall we say.  (I think I’ve got it down.)  My dear friend, sommelier Drew Robinson, was to come today to taste three of the soups (and one secret very-fast dessert) in order to begin the process of pairing.  Long ago, at some far-away dinner with our wine group, Drew let it be known he would provide the wine pairings for a cookbook I would someday write.  Not sure either one of us believed it would ever happen, but it’s happening!  Anyway, Drew forgot he has another wine-tasting tonight and we’re rescheduling.   I am a bit relieved because as much as I love my new posole recipe, I’m ready for something else to eat.  The next soups are a quick vegetarian bean and a cold avocado.   As the book will not have photographs, I keep forgetting to take pictures….I must do it!

I play inside with Miss Gab in the afternoons for a few minutes–too hot for her to run outdoors. 

You’re throwing the ball, right?

We’ve had plenty of time to visit with old friends and worship at First Congregational…one of my very favorite churches anywhere.  Last Sunday, the ample sanctuary was filled to capacity.  Nothing special occuring…and it was summer when  a lot of churches are fairly empty.  Why is FCC so full?  While I might not be qualified to say why, I do know these things:  there’s a bow toward tradition…while embracing the new.  All are truly welcome and these folks are joyful; what more could you want?  Except that when the table is laid and communion is about to begin, these words are said, “Come, all things are ready.”  Such a breathing place.

    One of the best parts about being here is more time with my family

    off to a beer festival…

    and lunches/shopping trips in the middle of the day:

    Trip to Toys r Us:  expensive
    Smile on grandson’s face:  priceless

    Sing a new song,
    Alyce

    The Blog is on Vacation, but Make This 10-minute Salmon Supper

    Out of sight, out of mind.

    The blog is on vacation.
    So are the the puppies.
    Dave, too.

    But until we all return, why don’t you make a 10-minute Salmon Supper I made for myself last night? I made enough for two meals, so I didn’t have to cook tonight.  There are still enough green beans for my lunch tomorrow.


    I write two very fun food blogs and I rarely blog the same recipe on both; today I am.  On Dinner Place, I’ve been occasionally experimenting with recipes that are more photos than text.  See what you think.

    grilled salmon with  balsamic-honey sauce and green beans vinaigrette serves 2-3

    Here’s how:

    Cook oiled and salt + peppered salmon (2-8oz portions Copper River Salmon here), skin-side up, over medium-high heat on a grill or skillet for 4 minutes.  Turn and cook until firm, but still moist– another 2-4 minutes  for 3/4″ thick fish.    Remove and let rest 2 minutes.  Thicker or larger fish will take a bit longer.

    Meanwhile, cook clipped package of haricots verts in microwave @ full power 2-3 minutes.
     Make vinaigrette for beans:  Whisk together in a medium bowl 1T white wine vinegar with 1/4 t each salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, Dijon-style mustard.  Then whisk in 2T olive oil, 1 T at a time until thickened or emulsified.
    Pour the beans carefully (HOT) into bowl and toss w/ vinaigrette.  Grate a bit of lemon zest on top.   Taste and re-season if necessary.

    Make the sauce for the fish like this:  In a small bowl, mix well together 2T balsamic vinegar and 2t honey with a good pinch of black pepper.  Another sauce I like is fig jam mixed with balsamic vinegar– about 2T jam to 1T balsamic, with some crushed red pepper and a pinch of salt.

    To serve:  Place a piece of cooked fish on each plate and drizzle with the sauce. Add the green beans and serve hot.

    Wrap well the second piece of fish (if not using) and store in frig; keeps one day.  Store beans in the bowl, covered, and refrigerated.  Use within 2-3 days.

     Wine? I typically like Oregon Pinot Noir with salmon, but this prep calls for a bit bigger wine, so go with an Australian Shiraz or a California Cab.

    two-dog kitchen and around the ‘hood

    Tucker loves to watch the neighbors come to and from The Wine Thief and The Ale Jail.  Gabby is more into, “Where’s the ball or what’s Mom doing?”

    Below:  my south garden.  Summer in St. Paul!

    yellow roses

    columbines like it here

    my favorite color rose

    When I come back, I’ll be ready to get into the next group-blogging adventure:

    Can’t wait to cook for you, but meantime read this article on summer cookbooks….

    Sing a new song,
    Alyce

    50 Women Game-Changers – #47 – Zarela Martinez’ Savory Cornbread

    From my childhood on, cooking meant sharing and security and a way of “speaking” to people.  When I grew up I found that cooking grew also to be a means of celebrating and honoring those who would eat meals that I’d carefully prepared from scratch. Over the years as I lived and thought and learned, cooking grew even more to embrace nearly every aspect of culture and human relationships. I have been lucky to make my career as chef, consultant, and businesswoman a never-ending source of joy and fulfillment.”

                                                                                                                  –Zarela Martinez

    Each week for the last forty-six, a food-loving group of bloggers has been studying, choosing a recipe, cooking, photographing, and writing  about one very special food expert off the Gourmet Live list of 50 Women-Game Changers in Food.    I jumped on this yummy trolley last January at stop number 32, but a good number of these scribes started right from the beginning.   We’re near the end of the line, but this week we’re featuring number forty-seven, Mexican chef, author, teacher, philanthropist, and NYC restauranteur-caterer Zarela Martinez.

    Born on a northern Mexico ranch, Zarela moved to the U.S. in the ’70’s, and to make a few bucks, began catering.  Soon she was at culinary school, studying with Paul Prudhomme, and working at Cafe Marimba in NYC!  Her famed, but currently closed, restaurant, Zarela, came next and taught more than one generation of New Yorkers about just how fine true Mexican cuisine could be, as well as providing training ground for her son, chef Aaron Sanchez.

     Here, Zarela teaches us how to roast poblanos (used in her cornbread recipe-below) and gives us her “Creamy Rice Casserole” recipe.

    Lots of gorgeous recipes from Zarela out there, but I hit on Savory Cornbread for this week.  The recipe sounded perfect…lot of fresh corn, great cheese, gluten-free, but something somewhere just didn’t happen exactly as I expected.   While the bread was tasty (though quite rich), I struggled to get it done.  I baked it an extra tweny minutes and it was still underdone–more like spoon bread, which may be exactly what it was supposed to be like.  We simply enjoyed it just like that.  One thing, I did bake it in a metal 9×13 pan in the hopes of obtaining a crispy crust and if I tried it again, I’d put it in the recommended glass Pyrex casserole dish. While full of butter and cheese, the roasted peppers did shine through and provided a touch of heat usually missing from American Corn Bread recipes.  I think it would be great with a fish taco salad or a bowl of spicy chili.  Scroll down past my puppies and try it:

    Gabby and Tuck waiting for mom to get done cooking.  Geez Louise, it’s walk time.

    savory cornbread — Chefs Aaron Sánchez and Zarela Martínez (courtesy NY Magazine)

    Ingredients

    3 cups corn kernels, fresh, frozen, or canned
    2 sticks unsalted butter
    2 tablespoons sugar
    3 large eggs
    1 1/2 cups rice flour (use Goya’s, not rice flour from Chinatown) I used King Arthur’s Gluten-Free flour
    1 tablespoon baking powder
    8 ounces white Cheddar cheese, shredded
    4 ounces poblano chiles, roasted, seeded, and diced
    Cornstarch 

    Instructions

    Grind the corn by pulsing batches in the food processor until coarsely crushed but not puréed. Set aside.

    Corn ground in food processor

    Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. Beat in the eggs one by one until incorporated.

     Sift the dry ingredients, and add to the creamed mixture in 2 parts, beating on low speed until combined. Fold the ground corn into the batter, followed by the cheese and chiles.

    I could not find Goya rice flour and subbed King Arthur…

    Weighing the cheese before grating.

    Butter a 13-by-9-inch Pyrex baking dish, and lightly dust with cornstarch. Pour in the mixture and bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until crust is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (2007)   

    (Published 2007)
    I write with a tasty group of bloggers!  Please take some time and visit

    If you liked this, you might like my Irish Soda Bread (with Potato Soup)

     
    And, also, on Dinner Place (Cooking for One) this week is Alyce’s Killer Guac to take to the Mother’s Day Cookout:
     
    Cook with a-band-on,
    Alyce

    Toasted Israeli Couscous Primavera–All from Trader Joe’s

    Welcome spring!

    If you shop Trader Joe’s, you might know Israeli couscous–a bit more like round orzo than couscous.  Maybe you buy it?  And if you live in the metro D.C. area or read papers online, you might have read a recipe from the Washington Post a few weeks ago for a Toasted Israeli Couscous Primavera.  I do not live in the D.C. area, though I did for years; these days my traveling husband occasionally brings me a WP home to Saint Paul.  I’m always glad to get it because it was the first paper away from Chicago to which I became really attached.   And as a food blogger, I like seeing what’s going on somewhere else food-wise.   If  you’re a regular reader, you know I rarely blog a recipe from a newspaper.  Until recently when I jumped on board the fun 50 Women Game-Changers in Food blogging adventure, I  blogged almost exclusively original recipes. This one’s yummy, though, and I wanted it on my own site–if only for my own self!  You can, and I did, buy everything you need to make this recipe at any Trader Joe’s.

    I don’t know how you feel about Trader Joe’s.  People praise it to the highest heavens and you would have thought our lives were being saved from the plague if you listened to the around-town chat before the store opened on its tight corner with underground parking.   I was in grad school at St. Thomas that summer, and even I heard about it.   And this is a city with fine, locally-owned groceries we can walk to in nearly every neighborhood.  The beauty of Saint Paul!

    So I’m of mixed emotions over what’s there–inside Trader Joe’s, I mean.  First off, I’m not drinking that wine not no-how.  Not even in Sangria.  I mean, have you tasted it?   I’d rather drink Coke and be sober.   Secondly, the produce (even though you can get cool things like fresh English peas) looks a little sad, a bit used, and not real green in both its meanings.  I mean, why wrap Italian parsley up on paper plates and in plastic?  The other thing is I have the sense (with no reason, I think) that some of this food might be processed in ways I wouldn’t like or in China maybe.   I feel like a snob.  And guess I am.  I repeat:  I have no basis for these feelings or ideas.  I even looked on the boxes of a few things I bought.  The Israeli couscous, for instance, says “Made in Israel.”  Duh.  The canned salmon is wild from Alaska.  Huh.

    The chef is always right.  This sign is right by my main prep space.  Just cookin’.

    But I go.  Once in a while.  I’ll only go at very specified times.  Like 10am on Tuesday.  If you try and shop at our Trader Joe’s in the afternoon, evening, or on the weekends, you just can’t get in and out of the parking lot or nearby streets.  The location, albeit the only one they could obtain in our city, is crowded, crowded.   While I’m there, I grab up stuff like sparkling pink lemonade in beautiful liter bottles, peanut-butter stuff pretzel chunks that are addictive, boxes of 100-calorie each scrumptious Belgian milk chocolate, and maybe even a plant or two.  Sometimes a little cheese, though I feel guilty not buying it at our local cheese shop, St. Paul Cheese, which is all of four blocks from my house.

    Just because I should, I did a little digging and, if you’d like, you can read a professional review–a bit dated– of Trader Joe’s here.  It’s all good.  Nothing to substantiate my weird, stuck up feelings.
    Well,  now that that’s off my chest…I can go on about the recipe.  Right?

    I tape upcoming recipes on the door.
    Things I’m testing or things I’d like to make sometime go up.  The couscous was up for a while before I got to it.

    A wonderfully simple all-in-one spring side dish (or summer-add whatever vegetables), we enjoyed this as a foil to a rosemary-roasted pork loin drizzled with homemade barbeque sauce for our second annual “Lilacs are Blooming” dinner party.  (A leek soup with a bit of bacon was the first course that night, but that’s another blog.)  Appearing and tasting something like  risotto, this is much easier; the couscous is cooked in only 10 minutes and the entire dish in about 15–no long-lived ladling and stirring.     My notes or changes are in red.   Try this:

    toasted israeli couscous primavera  courtesy WP/Stephanie Witt Sedgwick
      4 main-dish servings; 6 side-dish servings

    2T olive oil, divided
    2/3 c chopped scallions (1 bunch, white and light green parts)  I used ramps
    1 1/2 cups dried Israeli couscous
    Salt
    Freshly ground black pepper
    1 3/4 cups no-salt added or homemade chicken broth, heated just to boiling
    Finely grated zest and freshly squeezed juice from 1 lemon (2t zest, 2T juice)
    8 oz asparagus, woody ends trimmed, cut into 1″ pieces
    1 cup frozen peas, defrosted, or blanched fresh peas
    2 oz baby spinach leaves
    Aleppo pepper to taste
    2T fresh parsley, chopped

    1. Heat 1 T of the oil in a 2-3 qt over medium heat.  Add the sallions; cook 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently, until just softened.
    2. Add the couscous and season with salt and pepper to taste; stir to combine.  Add the hot broth, lemon zest and juice.
    3. Bring to a boil and add asparagus and peas; cover.  Cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and adjusting the heat so the broth is barely bubbling at the edges, until the liquid has been absorbed and the couscous is cooked through.
    4. Combine the spinach, the parsley and the remaining tablespoon of oil in a large serving bowl.  Add the cooked couscous and vegetables and stir until the spinach has wilted.  
    5. Dust with aleppo pepper.  Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.  Serve immediately.

    Author’s Notes:  Couscous cooks quickly, and when it’s done, it will stick to the pan.   Keep a close eye on it, and stir every few minutes.  After cooking, the couscou will clump together if you let the dish sit too long.  Serve immediately, or add more oil if you plan to make the dish ahead of time.  Vegetable broth can be substituted for the chicken broth if desired.

    My notes:  I didn’t add more oil, but I did add more broth to keep the dish moist.  I made it  right before our guests arrived for dinner, turned it off, and reheated it for serving.  It was tender,  moist, quite warm, and was not over-cooked even though I had kept it covered.

    Made Derby pies for a friend’s Derby party…

    Congratulations to Poor Man’s Feast--the blogging winner for the James Beard Awards!  Give a shout-out!

    Sing a new song,
    Alyce

    50 Women Game-Changers in Food – #35 – Delia Smith

    Would you cook with this woman?  Meet Delia Smith.

    In North America, we might argue over who taught us to cook.  While Julia really was on tv, I’m sure I learned to cook from a. my mother, b. James Beard, and c. SILVER PALATE.  (We all teach ourselves right in our kitchen, don’t we?)  But in the UK, there’s no question about who taught you to cook; Delia Smith, #35 in Gourmet’s 50 Women Game-Changers in Food, did.  (photo courtesy BBC)

    Way back in the ’70s (was it that far away?), you only had to tune in to the telly to learn how to make pastry (or lots else) with Delia in London or Edinburgh. For grins, scroll down to the bottom of the post and click on the video and see what the buzz was about.  Could you bake a blind tart shell after watching that television program? I admit I missed Julia a bit as I watched!

    After a couple of false starts as a hairstylist and travel agent, and without much education, Delia began reading cookbooks in the reading room at the British Museum.  Not long after, she was cooking and writing for the Daily Mirror starting in 1969, where she met her husband, Michael Wynn Jones.

    Many television episodes, newspaper articles,  books (21 million sold), a website, and even a soccer club later, Delia continues to deliver basic, commonsense, always-trusted cooking advice, recipes, and technique.  She’s so successful at delivering the goods that, within the world marketplace, there’s now something called “The Delia Effect.”  Which means it’ll sell like the proverbial hotcakes, as her stamp on anything makes product fly off the shelves in the UK. Reportedly, egg sales in England rose by 10% after her book How to Cook was published.

    Delia’s Complete How to Cook can be ordered through amazon.com, as can other volumes, though some appear to be more available overseas than here in the States.   Time for a few days in London, I’d say.

     Reading through recipes and trying to decide which to try for this blog, I found no shortage of tasty and wonderful-sounding things to cook.  Oven-Baked Smoked Pancetta and Leek Risotto caught my eye, as did Grilled Venison Steaks with Red Onion, Grape, and Raisin Confit, a selection from Delia’s website under the banner, “What Should You be Cooking This Month?”  There’s also a tab for ingredients and the available recipes to use them.  Special diets, Under 30 minutes, Freezing, and Cooking for One are just a few of the sections you might want to peruse on the site.   I especially enjoyed “Recipe of the Day” and “Competitions.”  At the very bottom are links to lists of recipes like, “French,” “Pasta,” and so on.  While it might not be true, the website has every indication of containing a good portion of her thirty-plus years’ recipes and information, which makes it a treasure trove, to say nothing of a great value.

    You could make “Italian Baked Fish” (and who doesn’t want more baked fish recipes) as did I, and give Delia a whirl:

    First:  Make a little marinara with mushrooms.

     italian baked fish  serves 4  (recipe courtesy deliaonline.com)

    4 thick pieces of cod or other white fish (MN cooks:  try our Lake Superior white fish here.)
    2T olive oil (no need for extra virgin oil)
    1 medium onion, finely chopped
    1 fat clove garlic, crushed
    1# ripe tomatoes or 400g tin of Italian tomatoes
    4 oz (110 g) sliced mushrooms
    1 T chopped fresh basil
    1 T capers, chopped
    Juice of 1/2 lemon
    12 black olives (I opted for kalamata.)
    Salt and freshly ground black pepper

    method

    Start by making a good, thick tomato sauce:  heat the olive oil in a saucepan and fry the onion for about 5 minutes.  Now add the garlic and tomatoes.  Season with salt and pepper, then bring to a simmering point and cook gently, uncovered, for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

    Next add the sliced mushrooms, making sure they are well stirred in.  Simmer for a further few minutes until it looks like a thick sauce.  Lastly, stir in the fresh basil and chopped capers.

    Next, season the fish with lemon, salt, and pepper

     Now place the fish in a shallow baking dish or tin, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle a little lemon juice on each piece.  Next spoon an equal quantity of the sauce on to each piece of fish and arrange a few olives on top.   Cover the dish with foil and bake on a high shelf (in upper 1/3 of oven) for about 25 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish.  Serve with new potatoes or brown rice and a tossed green salad.  

    Last, top with marinara, and bake.

     I sometimes cook fish right down in a chunky tomato-onion-garlic-etc bath either on top of the stove or in the oven; you might try that idea if it appeals to you.  Here’s my fast snapper in tomato sauce.  Get your vegetables, honey.

    Next week, join us when we’ll feature #36, Edna Lewis. “The granddaughter of an emancipated slave, Lewis, another Judith Jones protégée, brought sophisticated Southern dishes into the spotlight.” 
     ~~~~~

    If you’d like to cook a few other gorgeous Delia Smith (or other) meals, click on the blogs of the food bloggers featuring Gourmet Live’s 50 Women Game-Changers in Food this (or another) week:
     
    Val – More Than Burnt Toast, Taryn – Have Kitchen Will Feed, Susan – The Spice Garden, Heather – girlichef, Miranda – Mangoes and Chutney, Jeanette – Healthy Living  Mary – One Perfect Bite, Kathleen – Bake Away with Me, Sue – The View from Great Island Barbara – Movable Feasts , Linda A – There and Back Again, Nancy – Picadillo Mireya – My Healthy Eating Habits, Veronica – My Catholic Kitchen Annie – Most Lovely Things, Claudia – Journey of an Italian Cook, Alyce – More Time at the Table, Amrita – Beetles Kitchen Escapades
    ~~~~~
    What’s on Alyce’s blog about cooking for one, Dinner Place?

    Pork Tenderloin Salad with Berries and Oranges and a Sherry Vinaigrette

     Thanks for stopping by.


    just for fun, here’s the early video of Delia teaching pastry-making  in the late ’70s.  courtesy BBC                              Bake a new tart, Alyce
     

    Women Game-Changers in Food- #33-Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer-Meatballs with Mint and Parsley

    What if you wanted beautifully written recipes, tastefully conceived, and perfectly photographed–all from home cooks–for home cooks? What if you wanted those cooks to have worked professionally (catering, restaurants, magazines) and to have traveled the world so they could bring the best dishes back to you?

    Order book here

    Enter Canal House Cooking, La Dolce Vita,  #7  in a series of self-published  volumes from a multi-talented duo who have worked at food, cooking, and food writing/photography most of their lives.  After leaving behind the corporate publishing/food world in order to spend more time at or near their homes in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Melissa Hamilton (above, right) and Christopher Hirsheimer (above, left; she’s a she) began cooking together daily in a warehouse and keeping a record of it.   Out of that commitment comes this lovely, popular series of books that is their gift to those of us in the home-cooking “business.”   An article from WSJ tells the story more thoroughly here.

    To really get to know these women a little more, watch an enchanting tiny video about them and their food in Italy (basis for the most recent book)….Here.
     

    And, when you’re done reading and watching, it’s time to cook with Melissa, Christopher, and me….
    So that you can spend more time at the table (who are you inviting?),  we’re making:

    meatballs with mint and parsley    makes 24

      (Often served with broccoli rabe sautéed with garlic and red pepper flakes)
    1 pound ground pork
    1 pound ground veal
    ¼ pound prosciutto,  finely chopped
    1 cup fresh whole milk ricotta (in the book or David Lebovitz’ version)
    1 cup grated pecorino*
    2 eggs
    ¼ cup packed finely chopped fresh mint leaves
    ¼ cup packed finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
     ½ whole nutmeg, grated
     Pepper
     ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
     ½ cup white wine
    ¾ cup heavy cream,
     optional salt
       1. Mix together the pork, veal, prosciutto, ricotta, pecorino, eggs, mint, parsley, nutmeg, and pepper in a large mixing bowl.
       2.  Use a large soup spoon and scoop up about 2 ounces of the meat into your hand and roll into a ball.   
       3.  Make all the meatballs the same size so they will cook evenly. As you make them, arrange them in a single layer on a baking sheet. You can do this a few hours ahead, cover with plastic, and refrigerate until you are ready to cook them.
       4.  Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the meatballs in batches, about 15 minutes per batch, using two forks to delicately turn them over so that they brown on all sides. Add more oil if needed. Transfer cooked meatballs to a platter and cover with foil to keep warm.
       5,  Increase the heat to high and deglaze the skillet with the wine, stirring with a wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the skillet. Add the cream, if using, and cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens.
    *Pecorino Romano is, most likely, the pecorino (hard, often gratable sheep’s cheese) available in most American grocery stores.  Milder and less expensive than Parmesan, it’s a happy addition to pasta or salads.

    Cook’s Note: I made one meatball first and cooked it to test the seasoning; I had gone easy on the black pepper and had not added any salt at all.  My thought was to maintain the freshness/lightness of the meatball so that the herbs weren’t overwhelmed.  On tasting, I did add a bit more pepper and about 1/2 tsp kosher salt.  The rest of the batch was perfect.  You could do anything you typically do with meatballs with these, but I do think they’re special and complete all on their own.  I served them with broccolini sautéed in olive oil with crushed red peppers and slices of garlic thrown in the last 2-3 minutes.  We started with a little very simple green salad.

    Here’s a bit of the easy journey in photographs:

                           More info if you’re interested……………

    Just for fun, here’s a sample from the Canal House #7 book and their “on location work:”

    We rented a farmhouse in Tuscany — a remote, rustic old stucco and stone house at the end of a gravel road, deep in the folds of vine-covered hills. It had a stone terrace with a long table for dinners outside, a grape arbor, and apple and fig trees loaded with fruit in the garden. There was no phone, TV or Internet service, just a record player and shelves and shelves of books. It had a spare, simple kitchen with a classic waist-high fireplace with a grill. It was all we had hoped for. It was our Casa Canale for a month.

    Back in the states, Melissa and Christopher are eating lunch together every day as they take a break from cooking, working, and writing.  Read their blog that chronicles those noon-time meals. 

    Listen to their interview on edible radio.

    Want to cook more food from Canal House?  You can do it if you…. 
    Check out our team of great bloggers writing about 50 Women Game-Changers in Food

    Sue – The View from Great Island   
    Taryn – Have Kitchen Will Feed
    Susan –
    The Spice Garden              
    Heather – girlichef
    Miranda of
    Mangoes and Chutney 
     Mary – One Perfect Bite
    Barbara –
    Movable Feasts              
    Jeanette – Healthy Living
    Linda –
    Ciao Chow Linda              
    Linda A – There and Back Again
    Martha –
    Lines from Linderhof       
    Mireya – My Healthy Eating Habits,
    Veronica –
    My Catholic Kitchen     
    Annie Lovely Things
    Nancy –
    Picadillo                        
    Claudia – Journey of an Italian Cook

    Val – More Than Burnt Toast       
    Joanne –
    Eats Well With Others
    ~~~~~~~~~ 

    If you liked this, you might like my Bacon-Caprese Salad with Fresh Cheese.

    Make your own cheese!

    or my subsequent post on Meatball Subs:

    Two-Dog Kitchen and Around the ‘Hood return soon…Woof from Gab and Tuck.

    Sing  new song; dream a new dream,
    Alyce

    Food photos:  copyright Alyce Morgan, 2012.  Recipe, book and author photos courtesy Canal House. 

    Alyce’s Lamb Shanks on Mashed Ginger Rutabaga and Next Day Lamb Stew

    I like a pasta bowl for lamb shanks and sides…sit them up in the rutabagas to show them off.

     If you’re a bit unsure about lamb shanks… what they are or how to cook them, here’s the deal:  they’re pretty much like cooking a tiny pot roast on a big old bone.  Whatever treatment you’ve given beef chuck roast is probably going to work with lamb shanks–which are from way up on the lamb’s leg.  Since the meat is tough, it needs to be braised (cooked in liquid) and the braising liquid of choice is often wine, though it needn’t be.  A stiff stout would work, as would broth, tomatoes, cider and water…whatever floats your shanks.  Add root vegetables and/or onions, celery, garlic, and you’ve an entire meal.   Even just onions and wine with a bit of dried rosemary will give you something well worth eating.  Most recipes call for two lamb shanks per person; there isn’t a lot of meat on one.  I find that given the vegetables and sauce inevitably cooked with them that one is plenty.

    I start  lamb shanks on top of the stove and finish them in the oven, cutting off about a 1/2 hour cooking time compared to all oven braising.   They can also be done totally on top of the stove, paring down the cooking time even more to about an hour total. Because I wanted a simple rutabaga mash as a base, I cooked the rutabaga separately stove top just like you would mashed potatoes, except I added fresh ginger and garlic to the cooking water.  You could certainly cook the rutabaga in the pot with the meat for ease of preparation; add them for the oven time only.  Or, if you wanted, you could mix up a bit of couscous (in place of the rutabaga)  while the lamb rests or even make a salad in place of green beans. I added potatoes mostly because I wanted them for the next day stew.  It won’t take much (and actually there are vegetables in the sauce) to finish this meal.  Then, there’s

    way fast shanks in the microwave

    If you’re interested in under an hour (really),  folks have also been microwaving lamb shanks with great success since 1989 thanks to THE NEW BASICS COOKBOOK (Workman, 1989) written by Silver Palate gurus Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins. These shanks are done in 30 minutes.  Just for fun, here’s  the info for microwaving the shanks:  (And by the way, I microwave my chuck roasts for chimichangas.)

    In a 2 qt microwave-safe casserole, cook 2T olive oil at full power for 2 minutes.  Stir in 1 cup chopped red bell pepper, 3/4 c chopped onion, 2 cloves minced garlic, 2 sprigs rosemary (1/2 t dried), 1/2 tsp salt, freshly ground black pepper, 3/4 cup dry red wine, and 1T tomato paste.  Cook, uncovered, 5 min.  Remove 1/2 of the vegetable mixture and set it aside.   Lightly oil 3 small lamb shanks with a bit more olive oil and sprinkle them with salt and pepper.  Arrange shanks in a triangle over the vegetables remaining in the casserole.  Cover, and cook for 20 min.  Turn the shanks and cook another 10 min.  Spoon the reserved vegetables over the shanks, cover, and cook 2 minutes.  Remove the casserole from the microwave, and let it stand for 5 minutes before serving.  Serves 2-3.

     Still a great all-purpose cookbook( above recipe courtesy THE NEW BASICS)

    If you’d like to try them my way, do what Dave and I did:  put on some great music, pour yourself a glass of wine, and throw this in the oven to braise while you put your feet up and talk through the day.  While you can sure eat lamb shanks alone, they’re worth sharing.  And, wonder of wonders, if you didn’t eat the third lamb shank, you can make a beautiful stew next day…recipe down below.

    wine

    While the French like Bordeaux with lamb, I am partial to a softer, rounder wine here like Burgundy (Oregon Pinot Noir to be exact; good French Burgundy is out of my price range generally speaking) or a (red) French Côtes du Rhône, which is a Grenache blend.  These wines, for my palate, compliment the softer, sweeter notes in the root vegetables. So, yes, you’ll need two bottles of wine for this meal.  One for you and one for the pot.  (Not a bad deal.)  Ask your wine shop about an inexpensive–under $15– Côtes du Rhône; there are lots of tasty values.  The Oregon Pinot will be pricier for the most part (though there are some $20-$30 bottles), but really worth it for a splurge or birthday.  These wines will be $40-$50 and up and are often cellared for several years before drinking.  So if you head toward the Pinot for you to drink, pick up something less expensive for the pot.  Which ones:  I love most Oregon Pinots, but have soft spots for PriveKen Wright and Sineann,

    Try this: 

     alyce’s lamb shanks with mashed ginger rutabaga, new potatoes, and lemon-crumbed green beans               serves 2-3

    Raw lamb shank

    Let them brown well on each side
    • 3-4 lamb shanks
    • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
    • 1/2 t each kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (plus extra for vegetables)
    • 4T olive oil, divided
    • 3 cups chopped onions
    • 2 stalks celery, with leaves, chopped
    • 4 large carrots, trimmed
    • 3 cloves garlic, whole
    • 1 750 ml bottle red wine; I like Cotes du Rhone
    • 2 cups chicken stock
    • 1 6 oz can tomato paste
    • 1t Herbes de Provence
    • 1 large sprig fresh rosemary
    • 1 bay leaf
    • 3 sprigs fresh thyme
    • Pinch crushed red pepper
    • 1 large rutabaga, trimmed and peeled
    • 6-8 small red potatoes  (No recipe given for steaming potatoes or beans.)
    • 2-3 cups fresh green beans
    • 1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
    • 1t butter
    • 1/2 t grated lemon rind
    • 2t chopped fresh parsley

    1.  Mix flour with salt and pepper in a shallow, large bowl.  Place one shank at a time in the bowl and, using your hands, cover with the flour-salt-pepper mixture.  Repeat with remaining shanks.
    2. Meantime, heat over medium heat 2T of the olive oil in a heavy, oven-safe pot (you’ll need a lid or heavy-duty aluminum foil; this must be covered).  Place the shanks in the pot and let brown well–10 minutes.  Turn over and brown the other side.  Remove shanks from pan and set aside.
    3. Add remaining 2T olive oil, heat and add vegetables (onions, celery, carrots, garlic), sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper, and saute briefly–5 minutes or so.  Add herbs–  bay, rosemary,  thyme, the tiny bit of crushed red pepper, and Herbes de Provence.  Pour in wine and chicken stock and bring to a boil.

     4.  Return lamb shanks to the pan. Reduce heat to a simmer.  Cover and cook on stovetop 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
    5.  Place covered pot in oven and bake another hour or so until meat is quite tender…maybe even coming off the bone if you like it like that.  (Meantime, make the rutabaga mash (see below for recipe) new potatoes and green beans–no recipe provided for these.  I do like a bit of bread crumbs with lemon and pepper on my beans.  What I do is throw a piece of great white baguette in the food processor and then toast those crumbs in a bit of butter and grated lemon peel.  When the beans are steamed and salted, and peppered, I top them with the lemon-crumb mixture)

    Making a sauce and serving up:

    1.  Remove the cooked shanks to a warm dish and cover.  Place back in oven to keep warm while you make the sauce and mash the rutabagas.

      

     

    Cover and return to oven to keep warm while you make the sauce.

    2.  In the pan you should have a 1/2 pot of lovely gravy with soft carrots, onions, and so on.   If you can do it, spoon off a bit of the fat and remove the small sticks leftover from the rosemary and thyme.  Taste and see if it needs seasoning.  If you have an immersion blender, haul out the power tools and blend this sauce a bit—as smooth as you’d like.  If no immersion blender, you can carefully transfer some of the sauce and veggies to a food processor or simply mash away with a potato masher.  Taste again and adjust seasoning if needed.
    3.  In a large shallow bowl, place half of the rutabaga mash and carefully sit a lamb shank, bone up, in the mash, so that it stands at attention. Spoon a generous serving of sauce on meat and mash.  Repeat with the remaining serving(s).
    4.  Add steamed potatoes and green beans, if serving.  Garnish with chopped parsley.
    5.  Serve hot.  Let leftovers cool completely, cover well, and refrigerate 1-2 days until you make stew.

    mashed ginger rutabaga   2 servings

    Bring a 2-3 qt saucepan 1/2 full of water to a boil.  Add a 1″ piece of fresh ginger and 1 peeled garlic clove, as well as a generous pinch of salt and pepper.  Meantime, trim and peel one large rutabaga, which looks like a large turnip…with gnarly roots.  Just for fun, know that Brits call these babies swedes and Scots call them neeps just as they do turnips.  Cut the rutabaga into 1/2 inch pieces and add to the boiling water.  Cook until tender, about 20 minutes, and drain.  Remove garlic and ginger; discard.  Mash rutabaga well with a tablespoon of butter using a potato masher or a mixer.  Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper; taste and adjust seasoning. (Remember these vegetables will have a hearty sauce on them.)
    Cut up the cooked new potatoes for the stew; they go in toward the end or they’ll disintegrate.
    leftover lamb stew                    serves 4

    •  2T olive oil
    • 1 fennel bulb, trimmed, cored, and sliced into  1/4-1/2″ moons
    • 1/2 large turnip, peeled and diced
    • 3 large carrots, peeled and diced
    • 6 large mushrooms, quartered
    • 2 cups chicken broth
    • 1/2 cup water
    • Leftover lamb braising sauce
    • Leftover new potatoes, cut up
    • Leftover lamb, cut off the bone and chopped finely
    • 1/2 cup chopped parsley
    • Drop or two of hot sauce if needed
    • salt and pepper to taste
    1. To an 8 qt stock pot, add olive oil and heat over medium heat.  Add fennel, turnip, carrots and mushrooms.  Cook for 5-7 minutes until just softening and beginning to brown a bit.  
    2. Pour in broth, water, and braising sauce and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and add potatoes,  and lamb.
    3. Let cook until vegetables are quite tender…20-30 minutes.  Taste and adjust seasoning, adding salt, pepper, or hot sauce as needed.
    4. Serve hot garnished with parsley and with some baguette for dunking.

    two dog kitchen and what else I’ve been cooking:

       Pan-Roasted Brussel Sprouts and New Potatoes with Parmesan and Onions

    I blogged this on my other blog, Dinner Place, The Solo Cook

    When do we get to walk?  This computer stuff is getting old, Mom.
    Testing a new bread machine.

    Leftover grilled chicken with pomegranate seeds, berries and cabbage-spinach salad with sherry vinaigrette
    Our Gab

    Zabaglione…will make again and blog…

    Chickadees, in bitter cold, grab seeds and break them with their beaks while standing on metal feeders.  Brr. You think you have food problems.

    Sing a new song, and cook lamb!
    Alyce

    50 Women Game-Changers Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian, #32 – Sullivan’s Island Shrimp Bog

     
     Big bunch of bacon. (This is good.  I’m married to someone who eats anything with bacon.)  Next:  tons of onions.  Rice. Lots of shrimp, ahhh.  All cooked together in one lovely mess called a bog.  For those of us with no real connection to the south-eastern coastal states, a bog brings to mind cranberries in Maine or Wisconsin, even.  Or being stuck at work, as in:  “I’m all bogged down writing that article.”  But this bog, this “Sullivan’s Island Shrimp Bog,” is just what it sounds like:  mounds of steamed shrimp mixed up on top of a velvety oh-so-thick tomatoed, oniony, spicy rice–perfect for brunch or a lunch bunch.  If the words “comfort food” weren’t so over-used and so inappropriate (comfort food being food you had a gazillion times as a kid…), I’d call this comfort food extraordinaire.  Comfort food x100.

    Just for fun, here’s the wikipedia definition of a bog:   A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens.

    Food for thought, I’d say.  Read on:

    From Gourmet Live’s 50 Women Food-Changers, #32 Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian (of the Edible Communities magazines fame) comes this jambalaya or sopa seca-like dish that will be one of your go-tos for days like Super Bowl or Book Club Supper.  Or make it just for you; halved it was a beautiful supper for two with lovely lunch leftovers.

    Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian published the book Edible, A Celebration of Local Foods in 2010 after a long and successful career designing, writing, and publishing locavore food magazines…. (as well as lots of other impressive things)  Local peeps are familiar with the free edible TWIN CITIES.

    In Tracey’s own words….

    Then, in 2002, we decided to launch our first magazine, Edible Ojai, which was very well received. From 2002 to 2004, we worked on a plan to expand and have multiple magazines, calling it Edible Communities. In the early stages of that plan, we thought we would do the additional magazines ourselves, perhaps up and down the California coast. Then, in January of 2004, Saveur magazine included Edible Ojai in their “Top 100” for the year and within a week of that issue hitting newsstands, we had calls from over 400 people asking us for an Edible magazine in their community. That is when we decided it would be better to change the model so that each magazine could be locally owned and operated by people in the communities we published in.
    Edible Communities officially started in May 2004, with the launch of Edible Cape Cod. (courtesy dailygreen.com Read more) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Hence the eventual cookbook and hence our sweet bog recipe. Buy the stuff; make it soon!

    by the way:  sullivan’s island is near charleston, south carolina

                              sullivan’s island shrimp bog : 6 servings        

       Cooks’s Note:   I halved this and made it in a 3.5 qt cast iron, lidded pot:  we couldn’t stop eating it.  There was plenty for two of us and probably enough left for tomorrow’s lunch if Dave doesn’t get up in the middle of the night and eat it.  fyi  I exactly halved the spices (as well as all else) and we found them perfect–a bit spicy without being too hot.  This is perky, bright and addictive.  Drink beer with this unless  you have a great off-dry riesling.

    ingredients: 

    • 1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
    • 1/2 pound sliced bacon, finely chopped
    • 2 medium onions, finely chopped
    • 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more if needed
    • 3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
    • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more if needed
    • 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne, plus more if needed
    • 2 1/4 cups chicken broth, plus more if needed
    • 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes
    • 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
    • 1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
    • 2 pounds medium shrimp (40 count), shelled and deveined I used cooked shrimp in shells
    • 1/4 cup very finely chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
    • 1 lemon, cut into 6 wedges
    procedures
    1. In a fine-mesh strainer, rinse the rice well under cold running water. Drain well; set aside.
    2.In a large heavy Dutch oven or stockpot, cook the bacon over medium heat until golden, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined dish; set aside. Pour off and discard all but 3 tablespoons of the bacon fat remaining in the pot. Add the onions to the pot and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. Add the drained rice, salt, nutmeg, black pepper, and cayenne and stir for 1 minute.
    3.      Stir in the broth, tomatoes with liquid, lemon juice, and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil, cover the pot, reduce the heat, and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Stir in the cooked bacon and the shrimp and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp is cooked through, adding more broth if the rice seems to be drying out, about 10 minutes. Stir the bog with a fork. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Sprinkle with parsley, garnish with lemon wedges, and serve immediately.

    Check out how the other bloggers are honoring the 50 Women Game-Changers:
                                                         *******************


    Sue – The View from Great Island   
    Taryn – Have Kitchen Will Feed
    Susan –
    The Spice Garden              
    Heather – girlichef
    Miranda of
    Mangoes and Chutney 
     Mary – One Perfect Bite
    Barbara –
    Movable Feasts              
    Jeanette – Healthy Living
    Linda –
    Ciao Chow Linda              
    Linda A – There and Back Again
    Martha –
    Lines from Linderhof       
    Mireya – My Healthy Eating Habits,
    Veronica –
    My Catholic Kitchen     
    Annie Lovely Things
    Nancy –
    Picadillo                        
    Claudia – Journey of an Italian Cook

    Val – More Than Burnt Toast       
    Joanne – Eats Well With Others
                                                       ***************************
    If you liked this recipe, you might like:

    Two-Dog Kitchen and Around the ‘Hood return next post,friends.  But while the pups are off, listen to a great young singer I’m listening to tonight… Jeremy Anderson.  His new album is out (click on his name)  and he does all the tracks himself.  Sometimes 12!! He’s got some music on itunes, too.

     Sing a new song, make this shrimp and listen to Jeremy,
    Alyce