Wish Upon A Chef

After bashing Rachael Ray's magazine a few weeks ago for not having any recipes that I'd actually want to try, lo and behold here was this one beckoning me from the pages of another edition.  Years ago I took a summer cooking class at the community college and one of the dishes we made was lobster bisque.  It wasn't until then that I knew the answer to one of life's biggest mysteries: 

I've taken several vacation cruises in my life and there is always a "surf and turf" night on the menu.  I noticed that no sooner had I cracked my lobster tail out of its shell, the wait staff came around with shiny silver tongs and plucked the shell off of my plate.  Now you might think it was just a sign of excellent service and the fact that they don't want you sitting there having to look at a discarded crustacean body part while you dine, but if you notice that lobster bisque appears the next day on the menu and know that the shells are a vital part of preparing bisque, then you have the answer to the big mystery of why they snatch that shell up so quickly.

I dunno....maybe I'm the only one who ponders such things??  Either way, shrimp bisque is prepared in the same manner as lobster bisque and this recipe from RR is fairly easy and not so time-consuming.  Try it and free your mind of worrisome questions.

Shrimp Bisque
Serves 4
courtesy of Rachael Ray magazine

3 tablespoons EVOO 
1 pound medium shell-on raw shrimp
Salt 
4 large sprigs thyme 
1 onion, chopped 
1/2 cup chopped celery
Cayenne 
2 tablespoons tomato paste 
1 cup white wine 
2 tablespoons long-grain rice 
1/2 cup heavy cream 

In a large saucepan, heat 2 tbsp, EVOO over high heat. Add the shrimp, season with salt and cook, stirring, until pink and firm, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the shrimp to a medium bowl and let cool slightly. peel the shrimp and transfer to a clean bowl. Return the shells to the pot. Add 8 cups water and 3 sprigs thyme, bring to a boil and cook over medium heat for 2- minutes. Strain the broth into a large glass measuring cup, pressing on the shells to extract any juices; discard the shells. 

Add the onion, celery and remaining 1 tbsp. EVOO to the pot; season with salt and a pinch of cayenne. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste then the wine. Bring to a boil and cook until the liquid is almost evaporated. Add the shrimp, broth and rice. Bring to a simmer and cook over low heat, skimming occasionally, until the rice is cooked, about 1 hour. 

Remove 6 of the shrimp and slice in half lengthwise; reserve. In a blender, puree the soup with the remaining shrimp in batches; return to the pot. Add the heavy cream and bring to a simmer. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Season with more salt and cayenne. Ladle the bisque into bowls; garnish with the reserve shrimp and the remaining thyme.

I recently polled a few of my girlfriends as to what their definition of "sexy" is when it comes to the ideal mate.   Most of their answers focused on physical attributes: 

I love a tall man with wide shoulders. 

I think a foreign accent is totally sexy.

Blue eyes and blond hair make me melt. 

As it usually is with me, the cheese stands alone when it comes to being in agreement with what everyone else thinks.  Of course there are certain physical attributes that will turn my head, but what I find truly sexy has not so much to do with hair or eye color, dialect or stature. 

The Boy Toy has the extremely lethal combination of all things that I find sexy in a man.  It's a given that I find him physically attractive - we won't even go there.  But what makes me weak in the knees about him is that he is a great cook.  And he does dishes (which scored him MAJOR points with my family during this trip.)  And if those things alone don't make you **swoon** I'll throw in the fact that he......

Wait for it........




Wait......





He also shops for his own groceries. 

Be still my beating heart, but those are all the things that trip my sexy trigger.  Now, if you'll give me just a moment to catch my breath and get myself back together, I'll finish my story...

Since I am the "foodie" in our relationship, I naturally assumed that I would do most of the cooking when we became a couple and it wasn't until after the Boy Toy and I started dating that I discovered his culinary talents.  As it turns out, I've eaten more meals at his house prepared by his own hands than he has at mine.  So last week, when he emailed me this picture of a fruit trifle and said he thought it looked yummy, I knew it was my chance to impress him with my kitchen skills.

Trifles are very easy to make and can be done with any combination of items that you have on hand.  When I catered, we sometimes used brownies and layered them with chocolate syrup, fresh whipped cream and either strawberries or raspberries.  Most other times it was yellow cake with vanilla infused whipped cream and any combination of fresh fruits.  You can be really creative when making these (just as someone was with this one probably made to celebrate The Queen's Diamond Jubilee.)

This time I wanted my trifle to be over-the-top rich and delicious so I turned to my recipe for homemade Bavarian Cream.  I used a combination of sliced fresh strawberries and blueberries and I also used two diced fresh peaches for the fruit layers.  I purchased a Sara Lee family-sized pound cake (they're in the frozen section of my grocery store) and cut it into cubes for the cake layer.  The Bavarian Cream is GUARANTEED to bring the sexy back, so use it with caution :)

I showed up for Sunday lunch with the Boy Toy and his family bearing my huge trifle, which initially frightened his children as something they may not enjoy and he later told me that when I first showed up, he wondered how in the world we were going to eat all of it.  After everyone (including the skeptics) had at least three huge helpings, he knew. 

Who's sexy now?!? 


Bavarian Cream
Yields 3 quarts

1 cup flour
1/2 cup corn starch
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 gallon milk
1 pint heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
3-4 drops yellow food coloring
3 egg yolks

In a large, heavy sauce pan mix first 4 ingredients.  Add next 4 wet ingredients to the dry.  Stir over medium heat constantly.  After about 10-15 minutes, it will begin to thicken.  Beat egg yolks with 1-2 cups of the cream mixture in a separate bowl to temper the eggs; stir back into cream mixture.  Cook for 5-10 minutes more for desired thickness.  Cool completely.

*Tip:  when cooling or storing cream, place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the cream and press out the air bubbles.  The wrap needs to touch the cream so it won't form a "skin."

Memorial Day, the day marked to remember the brave soldiers who have given their life for our freedom is also the unofficial start to the summer season.  The long weekend is spent celebrating all things that make this, The United States of America, a truly remarkable country to live in regardless of your religious and/or political views.  For me, it was yet another wonderful holiday spent with the Boy Toy and his uber-awesome offspring doing all things American:  cheering on baseball games, splashing in the pool, cooking out, eating watermelon and probably the most awesome American thing of all, eating peanut butter and jelly. 

The habit of slathering PB&J between two slices of bread became a staple during the Great Depression when money was tight and food was rationed and has become not only a tradition but also a rite of passage for almost any American child who ever toted a shiny metal Raggedy Ann and Andy lunch box to school.  A 2002 survey showed the average American will have eaten 1,500 of these sandwiches before graduating from high school!  (I'm betting only my "mature" readers A) even know who Raggedy Ann and Andy are, and B) have ever seen an actual metal lunch box.  I had one just like this in grade school and I'm still especially aggravated at my mother for selling it in a garage sale ~ especially since I saw it in an antique store not long ago for $40.  Let's just skip over the fact that I am now old enough to see some of my favorite play things and possessions in an antique store.)
When I saw this recipe for Nutty Peanut Butter and Jelly Squares from the May 2012 edition of Rachael Ray's magazine I was thrilled that, after 6 months of receiving and numbly flipping through her magazine during my lunch hour, I'd finally found a recipe that I actually wanted try.  Even better was the fact that it only dirtied up the bowl of a food processor and one other small bowl.  Say what you will about RR and her annoying EVOO extra-virgin olive oil habit (and I say I very much like the cookbooks of hers that I own, but not so much her magazine) but her recipes are always simple and quick to pull together and don't require any outlandish ingredients.  I immediately thought I'd make these for Boy Toy's kids because they both are PB&J lunch packers but ironically enough they did not deem them "kid-friendly."  I didn't get feedback from them as to exactly why but I'm thinking it's because neither of them are big on eating alot of sweets and these were pretty rich.  I'm going to tag them as kid-friendly anyway because maybe your kids or yourself will enjoy them.  In all honesty, I was never a big fan of the PB&J combination back in the day or even now (how un-American, I know), but I stored the leftovers in the freezer after the holiday and I really enjoyed it better served ice cold when I pulled one out this week. 

Enjoy your Summer 2012 and even though the Memorial Day holiday is over, continue to remember all those who helped give you the freedom to enjoy whatever flavor of jelly you like with your peanut butter!

Peanut Butter & Jelly Squares
courtesy of Rachael Ray Magazine, May 2012

3/4 cup salted, roasted peanuts
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounce stick unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces
3/4 cup natural creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup grape or strawberry jam

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees . Line an 8-inch square baking pan with an 8x13 inch sheet of parchment, letting the excess hang over.

Using a food processor, pulse the peanuts until chopped. Transfer to a medium bowl.

In the processor bowl (no need to clean), mix the 2 flours, the brown sugar and salt. Add the butter; pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the peanut butter and vanilla; process until crumbly. Measure out 2/3 cup of the crumb mixture; transfer to the bowl of peanuts.

Dump the remaining crumb mixture into the prepared pan and pan down firmly (it doesn't have to be perfectly even). Spoon the jam on top and spread to within 1/2 inch of the edges. Sprinkle the peanut-crumb mixture evenly over the top, going all the way to the edges of the pan.

Bake until the top is golden-brown and the jam is bubbling, about 45 minutes. (If browning too quickly on top, lay a sheet of foil loosely over the pan.) Transfer the pan to a rack to cool completely.

Grasp the parchment and gently lift the entire dessert out of the pan. Place on a cutting board and cut into 16 squares.