Article by Christine Budd
Clams Casino
Ingredients:
24 top neck clams thoroughly rinsed
8 ounces butter - 2 sticks
8-10 slices bacon thinly sliced
1 large bell pepper small dice
1 large Spanish or Vidalia onion small dice
½ cup Romano cheese grated
1 teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon Italian parsley finely chopped
1 lemon optional- garnish
½ cup bread crumbs unseasoned
Directions:
You can open your clams the old fashioned way or use my shortcut and place the thoroughly rinsed clams in the freezer for a minimum of one hour up to a week. The clams will open slightly which will allow you to easily open them without risking cutting your hand.
Preheat oven to 375° Fahrenheit.
Place sliced bacon and butter into a large sauté pan or pot and allow to cook for 3-4 minutes.
Add chopped bell peppers and onion and continue to cook over low heat for about 15 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and add the grated Romano cheese, bread crumbs, black pepper and oregano. Mix well.
Place casino mixture into the refrigerator to allow the fixture to firm up. Stir mixture occasionally so all the ingredients stay well blended.
This will take at least 2 hours, so give yourself enough time.
Open clams, running a knife under the clam to make sure it is unattached from the shell. Place the opened clams on a cookie sheet until ready to fill.
Remove casino mix from the refrigerator. Using a tablespoon add the prepared casino mix to the clam. Make a nice mound of it on top of the clam by pressing the casino mix into the clam firmly with your hand.
Repeat this process until all of the clams are stuffed.
Place the clams into a preheated 375 degree Fahrenheit oven for 15-20 minutes or until the bacon and tops begin to get nicely browned.
Remove carefully from the baking dish. Re-stuff clams with the mix that fell out if necessary.
Serve clams on a serving dish or on a bed of rock salt with lemons and parsley as a garnish.
Rockfish with Crab & Old Bay Cream Sauce
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds rockfish fillets
1 1/2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
3 tablespoons butter (divided)
2 tablespoons white wine
1 green onion (finely chopped)
1 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (French’s)
8 ounces lump crabmeat
Directions:
Season flesh side of fish with 1 teaspoon of the Old Bay. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in large skillet on medium-high heat. Place fish skin-side up in skillet. Cook 5 minutes, turning fish after 3 minutes. Remove fish from skillet and keep warm. Reduce heat to medium.
Stir wine into skillet scraping bottom to loosen browned bits. Add remaining 1 tablespoon butter and green onion; cook and stir 1 minute.
Stir in cream, mustard and remaining 1/2 teaspoon Old Bay. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer 2 minutes or until slightly thickened. Stir in crabmeat. Return fish to skillet & cover. Cook 3 minutes longer or until fish flakes easily with a fork.
Soft-Shelled Crabs Meunière
Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 small (4-inch-wide) live soft-shelled crabs, cleaned
1 cup Wondra or all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons clarified butter
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Directions:
Combine milk, salt and pepper in a shallow dish and soak crabs 5 minutes. Lift 1 crab out of milk, letting excess drip off, and dredge in flour. Knock off excess flour and transfer to a tray. Repeat with remaining crabs, arranging them in 1 layer as coated.
Heat clarified butter in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté crabs, upside down, 2 minutes. Turn over and sauté until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes more.
Transfer crabs to a serving dish. Add butter pieces to skillet and cook until golden brown with a nutty aroma. Add lemon juice and parsley (mixture will bubble up) and remove from heat.
Season sauce with salt and pepper and drizzle over crabs.
Note:
If the crabs you get are larger and don’t fit 4 to the skillet, cook them in batches using more clarified butter.
Ceviche Recipe
Ingredients:
1 lb. shrimp (raw or cooked) peeled, deveined and diced
1 cup lime juice from 6 limes
1 cucumber peeled and diced
1 large avocado (or 2 small avocados)
2 roma tomatoes diced
1/2 red onion diced
1/4 bunch cilantro chopped
1 jalapeno seeded and minced
1/4 tsp black pepper or to taste
1 cup clamato juice (use “picante” version for spicier salsa)
To Serve:
16 Tostadas (or a bag of tortilla chips)
Hot Sauce (Tabasco or Frank’s Red Hot)
Directions:
Dice shrimp and place into a large glass, non-metallic bowl. Squeeze 1 to 1 1/4 cups lime juice from 6 limes over shrimp. Stir to combine then cover and marinate in the refrigerator (marinate 1 1/2 to 2 hours for raw shrimp or until no longer translucent and marinate 15 minutes for cooked shrimp), stirring halfway through.
Chop the vegetables: cucumber, avocado, tomatoes, red onion, jalapeno and cilantro.
When shrimp are done marinating, add vegetables to the bowl.
Add 1/4 tsp. black pepper or season to taste and gently stir to combine. Lastly, stir in 1 cup Clamato juice, mixing just to combine. Serve with tortilla chips or over tostadas.
Ahi Tuna Salad with Sesame Ginger Dressing
Ingredients:
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 medium-sized tuna steaks (fresh or frozen, each steak should be about 8oz.)
Sesame seeds for encrusting tuna, plus more for garnishing
1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
1 cup carrot matchsticks
1 cup sliced red cabbage
1 cucumber, cut into matchsticks
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1 avocado, thinly sliced
Wonton or tortilla strips (optional, for garnish)
Carrot Ginger dressing:
1/2 medium sized carrot, grated
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 tbsp. sesame oil
2 tbsp. rice vinegar
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. minced ginger
1 tbsp. soy sauce
Directions:
In a Magic Bullet, blender or food processor, blend ingredients for dressing and set aside. If you don’t have carrot or celery, you can just mix sesame oil, rice vinegar, honey, ginger and soy sauce together but it won’t be as authentic as real sushi-style dressing. It will still taste great though!
Meanwhile, prepare veggies for the salad and divide evenly among four large salad bowls. Season tuna with salt and pepper before coating in sesame seeds.
Add olive oil to a large frying pan over high heat. Wait until oil is smoking, then add tuna steaks, searing for 30 seconds per side. Remove from heat and slice with a sharp knife, adding half of each steak to each salad.
Garnish each salad with sesame seeds and wonton strips, then add dressing. Serve and enjoy!
Fillet of Fish Stuffed with Spinach & Feta
Ingredients:
4 flounder fillets (tilapia works great too)
1 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 ounces crumbled feta cheese
1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon oregano
Salt and pepper
Directions:
Heat oil in saucepan.
Add garlic and onion and sauté for a minute or two.
Add spinach to pan.
Sauté until all water evaporates. About 3 minutes.
Take off heat. Add feta and parmesan. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Set aside to cool.
Season fish with salt and pepper.
Place about 2 tablespoons of filling onto the center of each piece of fish.
Roll fish around stuffing.
Place fish seam side down into baking dish.
Drizzle with olive oil (if desired).
Sprinkle fish with oregano and paprika.
Bake at 400 degrees uncovered for 30 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.
