Monthly Cooking Thread - August 2018

[Jamestown1630]

Eggplant Parmigiana is one of my favorite dishes, but it’s a time-consuming dish to make and messes up a lot of dishes. And even though we’ve used for years a great, easy recipe from America’s Test Kitchen which involves baking instead of frying the eggplant, my husband’s commitment to low-carb eating makes any recipe that uses breading less than ideal.

Looking for a fast, low-carb alternative, I happened to find ‘Cooking with Pina’ on YouTube, and Pina’s quick, throw-together recipe. It may not be like what you are used to, but if you like eggplant for itself and are low-carbing, this might be a good way to get your ‘fix’ and vary your diet. You can use your own sauce, or buy bottled stuff. (We are actually making this right now, and tonight we’re using bottled because our year’s worth of the homemade stash is finally depleted :-(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuWw56O0P4w

(Pina's is a really nice website for Italian cooking - check out her Marinara sauce, using pesto, and the Potato Pie. And she finally taught me how that cute little stove-top espresso pot works - I must have one!)

Here in Maryland our 'Beautiful Swimmer', the Blue Crab, is the State Crustacean; and crab soup is a big deal. Ocean City throws a festival and crab soup cookoff every year, where local chefs compete in both Red and White categories. My favorite cookbook for traditional Chesapeake recipes has always been John Shields’ original ‘Chesapeake Bay Cooking’, and here is a recipe from that book for a traditional style Crab Soup:

Crab Soup at Cross Street Market (Baltimore)

Serves 10

4 quarts water

2 cans (1 lb. 10 oz.) tomatoes or 5 cups peeled tomatoes

1 can (10 oz.) tomato sauce

2 bay leaves

1/2 cup barley

1/2 cup fresh parsley -- chopped

1 Tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning

3 stalks celery -- diced

1 large onion -- chopped

2 ham shanks

1 beef bone

8 blue crabs -- cleaned/quartered

2 pounds claw crab meat -- picked for shells

1/2 head cabbage -- chopped

2 medium potatoes -- diced

4 cups mixed vegetables, fresh or frozen (corn, green beans, peas, limas, carrots)

salt and pepper to taste

In a large soup pot, combine the water, tomatoes, tomato sauce, bay leaves, barley, Old Bay, celery, onion, ham shanks, beef bone, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 1 hour. 

Add the soup crabs and backs. Continue cooking for another 30 minutes. Add the cabbage, potatoes, and mixed vegetables. When the vegetables are tender, add the claw meat, and simmer a little longer. Discard the backs. Pick meat from the shanks, and add to soup.

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There are probably as many ways to make Maryland Crab soup as there are families who make it; this article from Mid Atlantic Cooking offers a history of the soup, and an exhaustive compendium of historical recipes; it also includes a recipe for making your own Old Bay seasoning from scratch:

https://midatlanticcooking.wordpress.com/2012/08/16/maryland-crab-soup/comment-page-1

And here's the link to John Sheilds' original 'Chesapeake Bay Cooking':

https://www.amazon.com/Chesapeake-Bay-Cookbook-Rediscovering-Pleasures/dp/0201518082?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-d-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0201518082

-JT

[Liz]

Master French chef Joel Robouchon has died....ran a global chain of fine restaurants.

Robouchon's scintillating appetizer......he turned simple melon and prosciutto into a five-star dish.

[Liz]

These would be nice for your fall dessert table.

Apple Basket Cupcakes

Bake spiced cupcakes then remove baking cups.

Place cupcakes on doilies.

Decorate w/ dulce de leche buttercream dyed different shades and "striped" w/ flat tip piping tip to make wooden slats on sides.

Red buttercream was piped in large circles on top for apples and green buttercream piped with leaf tip to make leaves.