Crab Cakes

1 lb jumbo lump crab meat
4 Scallions, green part only, minced
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh herb, like Italian Parsley, Cilantro, or Basil
1.5 tsp. Old Bay
2 - 4 Tbsp. plain dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup Mayo
Salt and White Pepper
1 Large Egg
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 Tbsp. Veg. Oil

Gently mix crabmeat, scallions, herb, Old Bay, 2 Tbsp. bread crumbs, and mayo in a bowl, but don't break up the crab clumps. Season with salt and pepper, and gently fold in 1 beaten egg with a spatula to bind the mixture together. Add more crumbs if necessary.

Divide the mixture into 4 portions, shaped into a fat, round cake about 3" wide and 1.5" thick. Cover with wax paper and refridgerate for at least 1 hr. to hold them together, but can be chilled up to a day in advance.

Lightly dredge cakes in flour. Add oil to a med-high skillet until hot, but not smoking. Pan-fry the cakes until browned and crisp on the edges....4-5 min. per side.

Serve With:

1 Jalepeno
3 peaches
Sugar
Green Apple.
Honey

Slowly heat diced and pealed apples with honey to cook the apples. Add the chopped and pealedpeaches and minced jalepeno to taste to make a spicy remoulade. Temper the mixture with sugar for flavor.

Nick's Chocolate Andes Mint Cake

Tip: Start frosting first then make cake. 

Andes Ganache

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

8 oz Andes chips

8 oz semisweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place chocolate in heatproof bowl. Bring cream to boil in small saucepan over medium-high heat. Pour over chocolate. Add corn syrup and let stand three minutes. Whisk gently until smooth; stir in vanilla. Refrigerate 1 1/2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes, until mixture reaches spreadable consistency.

Chocolate Cake

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup natural cocoa powder (Hershey's)

2 teaspoons instant expresso or instant coffee

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Adjust oven rack to center and heat at 350 degrees. Generously grease two 8x11-inch cake pans with shortening and dust with flour.

2. Beat butter in bowl with electric mixer until smooth and shiny (30 sec.). Gradually sprinkle in sugar, beat until mixture is fluffy and almost white, 3-5 minutes. Add 1 egg at a time, beating a full minute between each egg.

3. Whisk flour, baking soda, salt cocoa, and instant expresso in medium bowl. Combine milk and vanilla in measuring cup. With mixer on lowest speed, add about 1/3 of dry ingredients to batter, followed by 1/3 of milk mixture. Repeat process twice more until batter is fully blended.

4. Divide batter evenly between pans. Bake cakes until they feel firm and toothpick comes out clean, 23-30 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes on wire rack. Invert and cool completely. 

5. Assemble cake when frosting is fully cooled and thick. 

Quiche Lorraine

1 pie shell

8 slices bacon - cut into pieces

2 lg eggs, plus 2 lg yokes

1 c whole milk

1 c heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

pinch of grated nutmeg

4 oz Gruyere cheese, grated (about 1 c)

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Partially bake pie shell. 

2. Meanwhile, fry bacon in skillet until crisp and brown. Whisk all remaining ingredients except cheese into medium bowl.

3. As  soon as pie shell comes out of oven, spread cheese and bacon evenly over bottom of pie shell. Pour in custard mixture. Bake until lightly golden brown and center feels set but soft like gelatin, 40 minutes. 

Variation: Also very good with spinach. Use 1/2 box of frozen chopped spinach. Drain and sprinkle in bottom of pie pan the same time as cheese and bacon. 

Tavern Baked Ham Recipe

A spiral cut ham is preferred to allow the flaver to penetrate the ham meat better. For a 12-15 lb. ham, set the oven to 325 bake and cook 15 minutes per lb.

Score the fat side of the ham and insert cloves for added flavor.

Pour 1 can of beer into the bottom of a broiler pan under the ham rack. Bake the ham fat-side up, uncovered.

About 30-60 minutes before finished, glaze the ham with the following mixture:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp brown mustard
Use sautern wine or vinegar to make a batter similar in consistency of pancake batter.

Spread over ham and sprinkle cinammon-sugar over the ham. Continue baking and remove cloves.

Clear BBQ Sauce

2 cups H2O
2 Tbsp Garlic and Onion Juice
1 Tbsp Worchester Sauce
1/2 cup salt
1 oz. sugar
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 lb butter
1/2 tsp accent
1 Tbsp dry mustard
1 cup vinegar
1 tsp nutmeg

Clear, salty bbq sauce serves enough for 3 whole chickens. Simmer on low on side-burner of grill while ribs are cooking.

Turkey in 2 Hours!

10 - 24 lb Turkey
EVOO
Coarse Kosher Salt
Coarse Ground Black Pepper

Roasting Pan
V-Rack, or something fashioned from baking racks to hold Turkey above roasting pan a couple inches.
MEAT THERMOMETER!

Thaw the bird and remove the innards. Trim excess fat from body cavity with scissors. Remove the bird from refrigeration no greater than 1 hr. prior to cooking.

Wash the bird with warm water and pat dry with paper towel. Fold the wings inside out and under the body, kinda like you're twising it's arms off. They should be pinned under body by their own tension.

Bath and rub the bird in EVOO, and sprinkle with Salt and Pepper generously. Cover the end of the drumsticks with aluminum foil to avoid them burning. Insert meat thermometer into breast all the way to the bone. DO NOT Stuff the bird!

Pre-Heat to 475, but DO NOT USE CONVECTION!!! Set the rack on the lowest level so the bird is 2" from the bottom of the oven.

Bake that bird, rotating once for even browning. If areas are becoming too brown, cover them loosely with a piece of foil. If oven is smoking, ensure all drippings are falling into pan. Allow thermometer to reach 160 deg and remove from oven.

Loosely cover bird with foil once removed from oven and let it rest 30-45 minutes before cutting. This will bring temp. up to 165.

Remove Turkey legs from body at the joint and return to oven if needed for 3-5 minutes to finish. Carve that sucker and eat it!

10 - 13 lbs.....about 50 - 75 minutes cooking time.
13 - 16 lbs.....about 75 - 110 minutes
16 - 19 lbs.....about 75 - 120 minutes...

Not your Mama's Green Bean Casserole

6 Tbs butter
2 Shallots, finely chopped
8 oz. Portabello mushrooms, sliced long and thin
8 oz. white mushrooms sliced
2 sprigs FRESH Thyme
1 Tbs chopped FRESH Sage leaves
3 Tbs flour
3/4 cup cooking Sherry
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 lbs trimmed and cleaned green beans, available in bags in store

Melt the 4 Tbs butter in a large skillet over med. heat. Sautee Shallots until clear...about 3 minutes.

Add Mushrooms, Thyme, Sage and sautee until mushroom liquid evaporates...about 1o minutes. Stir in flour and cook 5 more minutes.

Add the Sherry and cook until sauce thickens, adding cream and simmering 5 more minutes....set aside.

Melt remaining butter and toss the beans to sautee for about 7 minutes...keeping them crispy. Season with salt and pepper, and serve on a platter.

Pour the mushroom sauce over the beans and garnish with fresh herbs over top of sauce.

Pumkin Pie...Best Recipes

1 frozen pie shell
2 cups plain pumpkin puree
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup heavy cream, 1/2'n'1/2 OK
2/3 cup milk
4 lg eggs

Prebake pie shell at 375.

Put pumpkin, brown sugar, spices, and salt into blender. Bring mixture to a simmer over med-hi heat for 5 minutes.

Increase to 400 when done with pie shell.

Whisk cream and milk into puree, and bring to a simmer. Process eggs until yokes are mixed, then slowly add pumpkin puree.

Immediately pour into pie shell and bake until filling is puffed and cracked on edges....about 40 minutes.

Allow to cool for 1 hr.

Sausage and Spinach Dip

1 10 oz pkg frozen chopped spinach
1 10.5 oz package fat-free sausage
1 16 oz velveta light cheese
1 10 oz can Rotel mild

Thaw and drain Spinach.
Cook sausage and crumble.
Combine cheese and Rotel and cook in microwave until cheese melts, then add sausage and spinach, mixing well.

Serve with Tortilla chips

Prime Rib

Bring Standing Prime Rib Roast to room temperature, resting in marinade of minced garlic, salt, pepper, paprika, and Worchester sauce.

Place in a deep pan atop a solid layer of rock salt. Surround with rock salt, occassionally spraying the salt with a squirt bottle to solidify salt. Bury in salt with meat thermometer installed.

Bake at 475 until done....about 15 min/lb. Allow to rest as temperature will continue to rise. Remove with hammer and use basting brush to remove rocksalt remnants.

Yummy!

3703 BBQ Sauce

2 Large onions
3/4 cup water......puree together in a blender, using water sparingly

64 oz. bottle Ketchup, Heinz
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup liquid smoke
1/4 cup worchester sauce
2 tsp red pepper
4 tsp garlic powder
2 cup apple cider vinegar
4 tsp celery seed

Simmer for 2 hrs to reduce to ketchup consistency....you can return to ketchup bottle.

Indian Soup

1 lb chicken
1 medium leek, sliced......brown these together in oil.

1 pack mushrooms sliced
1 cup water
1 cup cream
1 cup frozen corn
salt and pepper
Curry Powder....lots, to taste.

Cook together and put in processor to puree. Garnish with cilantro and garam masala. Serve with Naan.

Spinach / Artichoke Dip

1 pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 can artichoke hearts, chopped and drained
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup grated mozarella cheese
1/2 cup grated swiss cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup mayo
1/4 cup milk
Garlic powder to taste

Bake at 350 until bubbly, stirring once while baking. Reheat in microwave for leftovers.

Asian Cole Slaw

6 Green Onions....sliced
1 Head Cabbage, finely chopped, or 2 bags slaw mix
2 packages Ramen, crushed (omit spice mix)
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup sesame seeds

Dressing:

4 Tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon ground pepper
6 tablespoons rice vinegar