A Very Non-Valentine's Dinner

Boyfriend and I aren't Valentine's Day fans. At all. So when we realized we had scheduled a dinner party for "Valentine's Weekend," we weren't all that upset.

I thought about making a more intimate dinner for the four of us (steak, potatoes, the works), but I gave up red wine for Lent (I KNOW. Don't say it) and our guest gave up chocolate! So, I settled on something totally not associated with the big day- shrimp creole!

I've been meaning to make this for years now and since boyfriend and his friend got back from New Orleans fairly recently, I figured they'd be good judges. Most of the recipes I looked at were super time intensive and complicated, so I adapted this one from skinnytaste. I served it over white rice (cooked in chicken broth and garlic to give more flavor) with really crusty bread on the side.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup plus 1T olive oil (divided)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 7 cloves of garlic, minced, divided
• 14-ounce can of diced tomatoes
• 8 oz tomato sauce
• red pepper flakes to taste (I totally overdid it)
• 1/4 tsp Cajun Seasoning
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tbsp of all purpose flour (1 tsp corn starch for gluten-free)
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 lb of large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp hot sauce, to taste
• Scallion and pasley for garnish
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

First, peel and devein your shrimp (if not done already). Then, combine olive oil (about a quarter cup) and 5 chopped garlic cloves in a large Ziploc bag. Marinate in the refrigerator for ~3 hours.

While shrimp is marinating, you can make the tomato base. Heat the tablespoon of olive oil and add the garlic and onion. Once that's fragrant and the onions are turning clearer, add the green bell pepper, garlic and celery and saute until tender. Next, add the tomatoes and tomato sauce, spices, bay leaf and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for about 40 minutes.


While the tomato base is simmering, take the shrimp out of the bag and dump onto a large baking tray. Cook at 350-375 for about 6 minutes until opaque and no longer pink. Season with a bit of Cajun seasoning when they are hot out of the oven and set aside.

When the tomato base has simmered, combine the flour and water in a small bowl, and then dump into the tomato mixture. Continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Add Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce; stir together.



Add the shrimp to the dish and adjust seasonings to taste. Top with parsley and sliced scallions.


The evening was complete with Irish coffees with homemade whipped cream-- complements of B, who had never made it before! Look how proud this girl is!

Mom's "Reliving Her 20s" Best Quiche Recipes

One of my favorite things is going home for Sunday dinner. It grounds me, lets me spend time with my family and get back to things that matter.

When I was making my 52 Weeks of New Food list for 2013, I originally said I wanted to make a killer quiche, inspired by a trip to Morristown with my friend Samantha. My mom read it and said she had an amazing crab quiche recipe she and her best friend used to make when they shared an apartment together in their 20s.

We spent the larger part of a rainy afternoon going through all of her recipe books and pulling out the best recipes (one of our goals for 2013, and a post for another day!).

Her quiche recipe (from a 1978 issue of Better Homes and Gardens), and she had handwritten notes all over it. The recipe makes enough egg and Swiss filling for two pies, so we made a spinach quiche and a crab quiche.

They were AMAZING, and she said they tasted exactly like she remembered. Definitely not low cal, but who cares- they're worth it. (Ignore the photo. I was so excited about these that I started to cut it before I took a photo!)

Thanks for this recipe, Mom! It's a keeper!    

Mom's Quiche (Makes enough filling for 2 quiche)

Ingredients:

2 refrigerated pie crusts (or premade crusts)
2 cups heavy cream
4 eggs
4 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup scallions, chopped
~2 cups Swiss cheese, shredded
 6oz. crab claw meat
10oz. frozen spinach, thawed and drained 
Salt, pepper (can use white pepper), cayenne, nutmeg to taste

Directions: 

Cook the pie crusts per the directions on the package for about 8 minutes. You want the crust to be a tiny it brown, but not burn when you put it back in the oven. When pie crusts are done, turn oven to 325.

In a bowl, whisk together the heavy cream, eggs, and Swiss cheese.

In the meantime, heat the butter over the stove, and add scallions until they shrink just a bit, about 5 minutes. Add the scallions to the egg mixture. Then, divide the egg mixture evenly into two bowls.

For spinach quiche:
Add the thawed spinach to the egg mixture. I love a lot of spinach, so this was OK for me, but you can add half if you like. Add in a sprinkle of nutmeg, salt and pepper and stir.

Pour into the pie crust and bake at 325 for 45 minutes (until a knife comes out clean if you put it in the middle). Let it rest for about 10 minutes before serving.

For crab quiche:

Add the crab claw meat to the egg mixture, followed by a sprinkle of cayenne, salt and pepper.

Pour into the pie crust and bake at 325 for 45 minutes (until a knife comes out clean if you put it in the middle). Let it rest for about 10 minutes before serving.