Top of the Mushroom to You!

I've served these at one of my restaurant jobs and as long as they're hot enough they are pretty tasty. I decided that I wanted to make them myself and that they would probably be even better.

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms
Printable recipe

Ingredients:

• 1Lb Whole mushrooms
• Pinch dried thyme
• Pinch paprika + more for topping
• 1/4 tsp salt
• pinch black pepper
• 1/2 c plain or Panko bread crumbs
• 1+2 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 4 oz drained crabmeat
• 1/2 Tbsp Sherry

Directions:
1) Wash and dry mushrooms and remove stems.

2) Coat baking pan with cooking spray or butter.
3) Melt 1 Tbsp of butter and brush mushroom tops.

Imagine the pastry brush here, I only have two hands...

4) Place mushrooms, top down, in baking pan and brush edges with remaining butter.

5) Melt 2 Tbsp butter and combine with the other liquid ingredients.
6) Drain crab meat, put in a small bowl and pour liquid mix over it. Stir to combine evenly.
7) Combine all the dry ingredients, pour over crab mixture and stir till evenly mixed.

8) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
9) Using your finger, ball up chunks of the crab mixture proportional to each mushroom cap, enough to press into the hole and pile on top a bit.

 

10) Bake for 15-20 minutes, until tops are crusty and browned.
11) Sprinkle with paprika and serve.

Splendad Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies

Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 Egg whites*
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. Splenda® Sugar Blend
• 3/4 c semisweet chocolate chips
• parchment paper

Directions: 

1) Preheat oven to 200ºF.

2) Beat egg whites with vanilla at high speed until foamy.
3) Add sugar 1 tbs at a time (I found that mine were a bit sweeter than I'd like so I suggest using 1/4-1/3 c. instead), continue beating until stiff peaks** form.
4) Gently stir in chocolate chips.
5) Spoon rounded teaspoons onto parchment lined baking sheets. (I used a tablespoon sized scoop so the ones pictured are larger than they should be). They can be placed fairly close together as they do not expand or spread while baking.

6) Bake for 2 hours. Cool slightly then move to wire racks to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

 

*How to separate eggs

**Stiff peaks

Yada yada yada

These Pretzels Are Making Me Thursty

Here's a really simple, fun, quick, tasty recipe (What? Too many adjectives?) for an elegant treat. Enjoy them yourself or give as a gift!




Chocolate Covered Pretzels:

Printable recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 Bags Pretzel Rods (I use Snyder's)
• 1 Bag (14 oz.) Chocolate Wafers
• 1 Bag (14 oz.) White Chocolate Wafers

Equipment:
2 Tall coffee mugs
Parchment Paper or Silicone Baking Sheet

*Note: When buying pretzels, look for bags with the least amount of broken rods. This is harder than it sounds.

1) Lay out sheets of parchment flat on a counter top where you will be dipping the pretzels.
2) Pour approx 3/4 of each bag of the chocolate wafers into each of the coffee mugs. (In the picture I used bars of chocolate).

3) Microwave one mug of chocolate on high for 1 minute and then for 30 second intervals, stirring (i would use a knife, less messy) at each interval until melted. *Make sure to stop and stir or chocolate can get ruined.

4) Once completely melted, dip pretzel rods into the chocolate, holding the mug at and angle to coat the length of the pretzel leaving an un-coated bit at the end as a handle.

 5) Let excess chocolate drip off then place on the parchment paper to set. 

6) Once done with the first half of the pretzels, repeat this process with the white chocolate. *Be even more careful when melting, white chocolate burns faster and becomes very hard to work with.




7) After all pretzels are dipped, melt the rest of the unused chocolate and use a spoon to drizzle it over the contrasting dipped pretzels.



8) Place in freezer or refrigerator to set chocolate.





* Do not use regular food coloring if you want to color the white chocolate. Either buy colored chocolate or use and oil based food dye. 
**Instead of drizzling chocolate you can decorate with sprinkles or colored sugars.

9) Enjoy!

I didn't mean to have two recipes in a row that would inspire Seinfeld reference titles, but that's what happened and thus, another Seinfeld video clip:

I Mentioned the Bisque...

Anyway, this week I have hand picked an awesome recipe for lobster bisque which I tried and loved [it's been modified from this recipe]. This is saying a lot because I am excessively picky. Enjoy!

Lobster Bisque

Printable recipe

Ingredients:

• 10-14 oz. raw lobster tail / claws
• 7 scallions
• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• 1/2 c. butter
• 4 c. chicken stock
• 4 parsley sprigs
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 black peppercorns
• 2 1/2 c. milk
• 1/3 c. all-purpose flour
• 8oz. tomato paste
• 1/2 c. sherry
• 1/2 c. heavy cream
• A pinch nutmeg
• Salt and pepper

1) Cut the lobster tail in half, lengthwise, keeping it in its shell.
2) Chop the scallions, onion, and carrot. In a large pan, melt half the butter, and add the scallions and onion. Cook for five minutes or until soft.
3) Add the carrot and cook an additional two minutes.
4) Add the water, lobster tail halves, fish stock, parsley, bay leaf, and peppercorns.
5) Bring to a boil before reducing the heat to simmer for about 20 minutes.
6) Remove the lobster tails from the stock. After the tails have cooled, separate the meat from the shells and set it aside.
7) Allow the stock to continue simmering for an additional 15 minutes; then strain it through a sieve lined with two layers of dampened cheesecloth. Use a rubber spatula to push the stock through the sieve.
8) While the stock is simmering, chop the lobster meat into small chunks. After straining the stock, puree about half of it in a blender with one-quarter cup of stock and blend until smooth. Set the other half aside.
9) Mix the flour and remaining butter into a paste. Place the flour paste into a large pot and mix in the pureed lobster, tomato paste, sherry, cream, nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste.
10) Add the remaining stock to this mixture.

11) Cook on high heat until the soup boils and thickens, stirring continuously. [May be lumpy until it reaches a boil.] Reduce the heat and simmer gently for another five minutes.
12) Add the remaining lobster chunks before serving.