Category — Recipes

This is the final recipe from the grand lobster bake I hosted a week and a half ago.

First off, a few disclaimers. The photo above and 2 more in the body of the recipe (you will easily spot them!) is not my own but from an article in Fine Cooking. This recipe is inspired by the recipe in that article, created by the renowned baker and cookbook author, Rose Levy Beranbaum.  The reason for the snatched photos – yeah, I didn’t take enough while assembling the pie and when I served it at the lobster bake, I was in such a rush, I didn’t get a quality photo of a sliced piece either. No matter, this is one incredible pie~

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Like just about everyone else I know, I love Mason jars! Check out my Mason jar Pinterest board to see just a few of the wonderful ideas clever people have come up with using these American icons. How about a little Wikipedia info on the beloved jars…

“A Mason jar is a glass jar used in canning to preserve food. It was invented and patented by John Landis Mason, a Philadelphia tinsmith in 1858. They are also called Ball jars, after Ball Corp., a popular and early manufacturer of the jars; fruit jars because they are often used to store fruit; “jam jars” or generically glass canning jars. While largely supplanted by other methods for commercial mass-production, they are still commonly used in home canning.”

I baked the cobblers for the clambake in wide-mouth (squat and fat) half-pint Kerr Mason jars and served homemade vanilla ice cream in regular-mouth (tall and thin) half-pint jars. Just as when using for canning, first sterilize the jars with boiling water – and when using for baking, place them in a water bath to prevent the jars from cracking.

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Succotash is a hot bean and corn dish that was  popular during the Great Depression because of the ingredients were more readily available than most other foods and relatively less expensive. I’m not a fan of traditional succotash… but turn it into a cold salad with basil dressing, and I’m all in!

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These buttery rolls are surprisingly light, perfect for soaking up the broth from the lobster bake.

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Along with the “stars” of the night… the actual lobsters, the clambake was the main course of the lobster bake evening.  The lobsters can be cooked right along with the whole “bake” but I, for one, don’t have a pot big enough to hold everything. As a result, the lobsters were boiled separately.

Since I wasn’t sure of any of the guests’ dietary restrictions, instead of the kielbasa I would generally use, I found a fabulous spicy chicken and spinach sausage at Costco and used that.  I also separated out the corn and served it next to some potatoes on the buffet, just because this time it fit better that way. But for that added pop of color, I would usually leave the corn in the “bake” as I have pictured above.

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In all honesty, I am not fully recovered from the big weekend lobster bake… still putting away all that stuff I dragged out of storage. Plus, I have been busy making lobster stock from all those shells.  Therefore, we’ll start the week of recipes slowly and begin with clarified butter. This was used for dipping the lobster and other seafood.

Clarified butter is what is left when melting unsalted butter – after the water evaporates, some solids float to the surface and are skimmed off, and the remainder of the milk solids sink to the bottom and are left behind when the butter fat (the clarified butter) is poured off.

Drawn butter is an American term for clarified butter. It has a higher smoke point than regular butter, which makes it much better for sautéing. It also has a longer shelf life than fresh butter and since is has negligible amounts of lactose, it is more acceptable to people with lactose intolerance.

And just in case you’ve heard of it before and have been wondering… ghee is the East Indian form of clarified butter.

Also note that there is about a 25% loss in the quantity of butter, after clarifying.  You may clarify any amount of butter. I started with 2 sticks (1 cup) but realized that would not be enough for the dinner party, so I ended up clarifying another 2 sticks, or a full pound of butter.

Feel free to save the milk solids you’ve skimmed off.  They can be added to rice, polenta, soups, popcorn, or even your morning toast or oatmeal.  I used them in the boiled potatoes at the lobster bake ~ that recipe will be up in a few days.

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You’ve had your tart, and your panini, so now it is time for a big helping of roasted veggie lasagna.

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Not much to say here, except these are pretty fabulous sandwiches!

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We’re going to use the first portion of the roasted vegetables from yesterday’s post in this recipe. You will need to estimate and set aside 1/4 of the yield from each vegetable, keeping them separated. Then make a tart crust (or you could just use 1 sheet of puff pastry).  I link you to a tart dough recipe here on the blog. You’ll only need half of it, but go ahead and make the full amount. You will love this tart and you’ll want to make it again, I promise! So make the full amount and freeze the other half of the dough and it’ll be even easier to make the next time.

I served the tart at a dinner party atop baby greens that were lightly coated with this vinaigrette,  but straight up is great too.

P.S. I’m just sorry that I served it on this bright peppermint stripe platter (hey, it was still the Christmas season) because it totally distracts from how bright and colorful the tart is. Go back up and see the top photo for proof of that!

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Today, we’re going to roast some vegetables and then use them for three different meals for healthy, meatless… and most importantly, delightful dishes. This one batch of roasted veggies will yield enough to make a Roasted Vegetable-Goat Cheese Tart, Veggie Lasagna, and Roasted Vegetable-Mozzarella Panini Sandwiches.  Be certain to keep all the vegetables separate when you refrigerate them, you will need it that one for at least one of the recipes.  You can store them all in the same container, just do mix them up with one another.

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