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| Chirp. |
HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!
I like to think that spring is right around the corner, and then I look at our forecast of SNOW for tomorrow. There are worse things in the world, but I am REALLY looking forward to St. Patty's Day. Tomorrow (or Tuesday) I get to keep up the tradition of the Irish Jig Competition, started by my fabulous predecessor, and I am so excited to experience my first one. Even if we have snow, it will happen on Tuesday, or it will happen with our delay, but I am so sick of this snow! I JUST WANT SPRING... this is coming from the girl who complains in July that she wants Fall & snow.. I guess this is karma?
So last night, Kyle and I decided to have a romantic dinner night - which usually means we are going to eat some fatty pasta & seafood. And guess what? We did! I made this fabulous, fabulous pasta from The Pioneer Woman (love her). It included sautéing searing shrimp & scallops, then cooking diced tomatoes in the same skillet. Meanwhile only 1/2 cooking the pasta. Then put the pasta on top of aluminum foil in a large baking dish, dump the tomato "sauce" on top, add all the seafood, fold up the aluminum foil and BAKE. Finish off with some warm cream & basil. It was probably the most amazing seafood pasta recipe I've made. Normally Kyle & I die for Alfredo - but this one stole my heart last night. I highly recommend!
Well, just having this pasta was simply not enough. A few weeks ago a super-friendly Wegmans employee was helping us with seafood and started to divulge into his familys rich-Italian heritage and how they all loved cooking together. He started talking about making clams, and how tomato sauce vs. alfredo sauce enhances the seafood flavor much more. I tried to remember everything he said, and created my Accidental Coupe Clams! They were delicious. I can't take full credit for this recipe - because it was you, Mr. Wegmans-Employee that truly inspired this!
What you need:
1 10 oz can diced tomatoes
Clams (we used 3/4 lb - you could do 1 lb with this recipe too)
5 'smashed' cloves of garlic
1 cup white wine
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 fresh basil leaves torn apart (fresh really makes the flavor)
How to:
Thoroughly wash and drain all claims. I like to scrub off their shells a little bit just to eliminate any extra grit.
To a large pot melt the butter & olive oil over medium heat. Add the 'smashed garlic and simmer for about 30 seconds. What I mean by smashed is peel the clove & then lay your knife horizontally flat across the garlic, and smash your fist down on top of the side of the knife "smashing" the clove beneath. I guess this is also considered "crushed" garlic. This way you are releasing the flavor, but keeping the cloves whole.
Add white wine and let it simmer for about a minute. Add the red pepper flakes & diced tomatoes. Let this simmer for a few minutes until the ingredients have married (hey! I'm getting married too!!!!).
Add the clams & let it simmer until the clams have popped open. This should only take a few minutes. Pour everything into a serving dish. Sprinkle with the basil. We ate ours with some breadsticks/rolls - that way we could soak up the juice. I would also recommend serving this on bruschette toasts!
(I don't have the weight watchers points for this. It shouldn't be too high - if you are worried about points, feel free to use 'light' butter instead of regular butter! The white wine may also drive the points up. But hey, we all need a date night!).
Okay so next - Kyle decided to branch out and try some Swiss Chard in his 'juices' this week instead of Kale.
I looked up how to store chard and it was very different than Kale. Chard should NOT be exposed to water pre-storing (unfortunately wegmans had been spraying them off with the misty water). So I laid all of the chard out on a towel & patted them dry with a paper towel. I know I could have let them air-dry, I just wanted them off my counter!
Next, when they are dry, store them in a plastic bag. (I like to date my containers so I know when it was packaged).
Then squeeze ALL the air that you can out of the bag. Mine looked kind of vacuum-sealed! This should keep the chard fresh for approx. 5 days.
The website I used said another option is to blanch the chard, then freeze it. If this method doesn't work this week, I may try to blanch and freeze next week. Fun!
Also - on the note of fresh herbs - just wanted to say that my Parsley has stayed healthy for about 2 weeks! Some of it did start to yellow, but I was able to go through and 'clean out', and I still have a small mason jar full of beautiful healthy parsley!
Enjoy! - Jack =)
So last night, Kyle and I decided to have a romantic dinner night - which usually means we are going to eat some fatty pasta & seafood. And guess what? We did! I made this fabulous, fabulous pasta from The Pioneer Woman (love her). It included sautéing searing shrimp & scallops, then cooking diced tomatoes in the same skillet. Meanwhile only 1/2 cooking the pasta. Then put the pasta on top of aluminum foil in a large baking dish, dump the tomato "sauce" on top, add all the seafood, fold up the aluminum foil and BAKE. Finish off with some warm cream & basil. It was probably the most amazing seafood pasta recipe I've made. Normally Kyle & I die for Alfredo - but this one stole my heart last night. I highly recommend!
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| beautiful! |
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| Here, let me pass this through the computer. |
What you need:
1 10 oz can diced tomatoes
Clams (we used 3/4 lb - you could do 1 lb with this recipe too)
5 'smashed' cloves of garlic
1 cup white wine
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 fresh basil leaves torn apart (fresh really makes the flavor)
How to:
Thoroughly wash and drain all claims. I like to scrub off their shells a little bit just to eliminate any extra grit.
To a large pot melt the butter & olive oil over medium heat. Add the 'smashed garlic and simmer for about 30 seconds. What I mean by smashed is peel the clove & then lay your knife horizontally flat across the garlic, and smash your fist down on top of the side of the knife "smashing" the clove beneath. I guess this is also considered "crushed" garlic. This way you are releasing the flavor, but keeping the cloves whole.
Add white wine and let it simmer for about a minute. Add the red pepper flakes & diced tomatoes. Let this simmer for a few minutes until the ingredients have married (hey! I'm getting married too!!!!).
Add the clams & let it simmer until the clams have popped open. This should only take a few minutes. Pour everything into a serving dish. Sprinkle with the basil. We ate ours with some breadsticks/rolls - that way we could soak up the juice. I would also recommend serving this on bruschette toasts!
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| Accidental Clams! |
Okay so next - Kyle decided to branch out and try some Swiss Chard in his 'juices' this week instead of Kale.
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| This is vibrant healthy chard! You do not want yellow'd or brown chard. |
Next, when they are dry, store them in a plastic bag. (I like to date my containers so I know when it was packaged).
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| Leo was all up in that Chard's business |
Also - on the note of fresh herbs - just wanted to say that my Parsley has stayed healthy for about 2 weeks! Some of it did start to yellow, but I was able to go through and 'clean out', and I still have a small mason jar full of beautiful healthy parsley!
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| Apparently Leo had to see for himself. Go ahead, cat, BURY your face... Great idea. |
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