Lemon Beurre Blanc

I recently had a banquet where there was a lot of salmon left over, and I brought it home. Tonight, I made a lemon beurre blanc to eat with the the salmon, and it was delicious - even Tom thought so!

Lemon Beurre Blanc

Ingredients:

• 1 small onion or 2 medium shallots, super finely diced (about ¼ cup diced)
• ¼ cup fresh lemon juice, (from 2 medium or 1 large lemons)
• ¼ cup dry white wine, such as chardonnay or pino grigio
• ½ cup heavy cream
• ½ cup 8 Tbsp cold unsalted butter cut into 8 pieces

Directions:

1. In a small sauce pan, combine ¼ cup finely diced onion, ¼ cup lemon juice, ¼ cup wine and simmer over medium heat until reduced to a thick mixture (7-8 min).
2. Whisk in &frac1;2 cup cream and as soon as it comes to a simmer, reduce to low heat and slowly whisk in the 8 Tbsp butter, one tablespoon at a time (whisking constantly). Add ¼ tsp salt or to taste and remove from heat. Cover with a lid to keep warm until ready to serve.

I, of course, didn't have any heavy cream, so I found a heavy cream substitute and used that:

Heavy Cream Substitute

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup butter
• ¾ cup milk
• 1 T flour

Directions:

1. Melt 1/3 cup butter on the stove, or in the microwave; allow it to cool slightly; then, slowly pour the butter into ¾ cup milk, stirring constantly, so the milk doesn’t curdle. Add one tablespoon of flour to thicken the substitute, if using low-fat milk. This will help to bring it to the consistency of heavy cream. Use in place of one cup of heavy cream in any dish that does not call for the cream to be whipped.

Chicken with Tarragon Cream Sauce

Tonight's use of pantry items yielded Chicken with Tarragon Cream Sauce.

For this dish, I only used cream, but I did use chicken that I've had in the freezer.

Clam Chowder

I'm losing steam and am running out of Tidewater produce! Tonight I made Clam Chowder.

This dish used cream and celery from the Tidewater.

Crab Mac and Cheese

Tonight, I made Mac and Cheese, but with a twist - I added crab meat!

Tom loved, loved, loved it - I thought it was okay. I guess crab in mac and cheese just isn't my thing.

Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers

So, after making Scallops Alfredo for Tom, I made a dish I've made several times before for myself - Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers.

This dish used green peppers and mushrooms from the Tidewater.

Scallops Alfredo

I got this one right on the second try!

After my earlier "miss," Tom requested some creamy scallop pasta for dinner. Last night, I attempted a different cream sauce, but it had too much butter his taste (but it was much better after I drained it). Tonight, with a little bit more tweaking, I made a successful dish using scallops, linguine and cream.

Scallops in a Parmesan Cream Sauce

Tonight, I had my first real "miss" with my experimentation.

I had hoped to replicate in some way the Tidewater's Cajun Scallop Alfredo dish, but change it up a little to replicate a pasta dish that I love at Ruby Tuesday's. I cooked the scallops, and using a recipe for a Parmesan cream sauce that I found on the internet, I made what I thought would be a really good dish. Nope, too much Parmesan. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. This dish used linguine, scallops, cream and tomatoes from the Tidewater.

Fresh Veggies

I didn't do anything too creative today, we just worked on leftovers, but I did slice up cucumbers and celery and ate them with tomatoes and peanut butter.

Neptune Pasta Salad

How did I use the Tidewater produce tonight?

Well, I used lettuce and tomatoes in a ham sandwich and cavatappi, ranch dressing and tomatoes in Neptune Pasta Salad.

Herbed Broccoli

For tonight's installment of No- to Low-Spend February, in addition to ham, I made Herbed Broccoli, a dish from the Betty Crocker cookbook.

This used broccoli and tomatoes from Tidewater and ham that I've had in the freezer.

Bacon Wrapped Scallops

I kicked off No- to Low-Spend February by making Bacon Wrapped Scallops and salad.

I wrapped bacon around scallops, secured them with toothpicks, then baked them for 25 minutes at 475&F. They were served alongside salad made with leaf lettuce, salad mix, cucumbers, tomatoes and mushrooms.
There's still enough of both to make more of each.

No- or Low-Spend February

It was brought to my attention by Wanda that this is No- to Low-Spend February. Well, I really need that right now, since the Tidewater Grille is closing for a month and a half. Yesterday, servers who were working were allowed to take any food that had not been bought, so I went in this morning and picked up a whole lot of free produce and other yummy items. I'll be attempting to use the following items sometime this month:

• leaf lettuce
• salad mix
• broccoli
• tomatoes
• celery
• cucumbers
• green peppers
• red peppers
• mushrooms
• limes
• oranges
• orange juice
• ranch dressing
• milk
• heavy cream
• linguine
• cavatappi
• scallops

I'll keep you updated on my progress.

Pork Schnitzel

Tom and I were on a cruise earlier this month, and I was surprised to see Tom enjoy the Pork Schnitzel that was served one day. We asked the chef how he prepared it, and it seemed easy enough, so I tried it out tonight.

Pork Schnitzel

Ingredients

• pork
• salt, pepper, and paprika
• flour
• eggs
• Panko bread crumbs
• olive oil
• butter

Directions

1. Prepare the pork by placing it between two pieces of plastic wrap. With a mallet or heavy pot, pound the living daylight out of the pork. You want it to be very thin when you're done - about 1/8 - 1/4 inch. Remove the plastic wrap and season the pork with salt, pepper and paprika.
2. In three seperate large flat dishes (I used cake and pie pans), place flour, eggs and Panko bread crumbs. Dip pounded and seasoned pork into flour, then eggs, then finally Panko bread crumbs. Try to ensure that the pork is evenly coated at each stage of the process.
3. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter and olive oil. Fry each cutlet for 3-5 minutes on each side.

Be careful not to overcook the pork, because the Panko might burn, and as you cook more pork, you will need to replenish the butter/olive oil in the pan. Tom liked it, I liked it - I'll definitely make this dish again.