Caesar Salad Pasta with Grilled Shrimp & Croutons Skewers

Confession time: This was not our first time fixing this wonderful dinner but we broke our own rule (of fixing new-to-us food) for a special reason and occasion: Meg’s birthday!  This was her request and she didn’t have to twist Sue’s arm. We are pushovers for good food!

We originally made this recipe about a year ago. A year is a long time in the world of recipe stockpiling and Sue couldn’t find her copy of the recipe. Last minute (would you believe Thursday night and Friday morning), frantic e-mails and phone calls were made to Customer Service at Cuisine at Home. Sue begged, was willing to pay for the recipe and generally fell all over herself to get another copy. A big “Thank you” to April at the magazine for saving Sue’s “you know what” and the birthday dinner.

We both agree that this is in our top 10 of all-time favorite dinners. We hope it becomes one of yours, too!

This being a birthday we gilded the lily of the Lemon Tea Cake and made a version of blackberry lemon “shortcake”. The blackberries with the Limoncello are wonderful with the cake and would be equally wonderful on their own. We further gilded by adding some fresh whipped cream. (When gilding, we find it helpful to repeat to ourselves several times: birthday, special occasion, birthday, special occasion . . .).

Our biased and unsolicited opinions:

This dinner always gets rave reviews. It is some of the best of the food world: pasta, Caesar salad and succulent shrimp all together! The grilled croutons with the lemon are to die for. Watch out --people sneak them.  If you have the grill space, make more. We are sure the leftover croutons would be delicious and sometime we may actually have some leftover.

Note: Due to inclement weather, (April in northern Nevada is always dicey), we used an indoor grill and did not use the skewers. Both the croutons and shrimp turned out great. While it would have been nice to artfully display the skewers on top of the pasta for our presentation photo, trust us, this did not affect the taste one little bit.

Caesar Salad Pasta with Grilled Shrimp and Crouton Skewers

Recipe courtesy Cuisine at Home magazine, August 2011

Prep Time: 

Inactive Prep Time: 

Cook Time: 

Level:  Easy

Serves:  4 servings

Ingredients 

·         8  ounces dry linguine

·         2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

·         ¼ cup diced shallots

·         ¾ cup olive divided

·         1 - 2 ounce can anchovy fillets in oil, minced

·         3 Tbsp. minced garlic

·         3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice, divided

·         3 Tbsp. lemon zest, divided

·         2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

·         ½-1 tsp. red pepper flakes

·         ½ tsp. each kosher salt and black pepper

·         8 cups, chopped romaine lettuce

·         ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

·         Salt and Pepper

·         24 large shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails left on

·         24 cubes Italian baguette, 1 inch thick

Directions

Preheat grill to medium. Brush grill grate with oil.

Whisk together ½ cup of the olive oil, 1 Tbsp. each, lemon zest and lemon juice with the salt and pepper. Set aside.

Thread shrimp and croutons alternately on skewers. Brush with reserved lemon oil.

Boil linguine in a large pot of salted water according to package directions; drain and set aside.

Melt butter with the remaining ¼ cup olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add shallots and anchovies and cook until shallots are soft and anchovies melt, about 3 minutes. Add garlic; cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Stir in in remaining 2 Tbsp. lemon juice, 1 Tbsp. lemon zest, Worchestershire, and pepper flakes. Toss linguine with sauce to coat.

Grill skewers, covered, 2-3 minutes per side.

Off heat, toss romaine and Parmesan with past and season with salt and black pepper. Serve pasta with grilled shrimp and crouton skewers.

Weight Watchers: 22 points per serving (and worth every one of them)

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Lemon Tea Cake

Recipe courtesy Melissa d'Arabian, 2012

Prep Time:  10 min

Inactive Prep Time:  --

Cook Time:  20 min

Level:  Easy

Serves:  4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

Cake:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Juice and zest of 1/2 lemon

Glaze:

• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon

Directions

For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch-square pan. Cream the butter and sugar in a medium bowl until light and fluffy, using a hand mixer (about 3 minutes). Add the eggs one at a time while mixing, and then add the vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Add half the flour to the butter mixture and combine. Add the lemon juice and zest, mix, and add the remaining flour, mixing again to combine. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake until the cake springs back when lightly pressed, about 20 minutes.

For the glaze: Combine the confectioner's sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice and mix well. Mix until thoroughly incorporated. Pour over the cake.

Weight Watchers: 8 points per serving for 6 servings

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Blackberries with Limoncello

Recipe developed by Sue

Prep Time: 10 min

Level: Easy

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

· 2 – 6 ounce packages of fresh blackberries

· 1 tsp. Lemon zest

· 1 Tbsp. powdered sugar

· 6 tsp. Limoncello

Directions

In a bowl large enough to hold the blackberries, whisk the Limoncello and powdered sugar until well incorporated. Take one blackberry and dip into mixture. Taste for sweetness. Add more powdered sugar or Limoncello if necessary. Whisk again.

Add lemon zest and whisk to blend. Add blackberries and gently turn in sugar-Limoncello mixture. Refrigerate covered until ready to serve.

Weight Watchers: 2 points per serving for 4 servings

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WINE

Torrontes, 2011, Phebus,Mendoza, Argentina  / $9.99 at Total Wine

Lost in space ...

We apologize for any comments that you previously sent. The path we set up lead nowhere and they are currently floating around in Internet space with nowhere to land. If you have tried any of the recipes we would love to hear your thoughts; so please try again.

Spring . . . we'll eat that again!

Results from the leftover challenge: 

Meg made individual baked chicken pasties that included the potato-artichoke mash, leftover chicken, snipped oven roasted cherry tomatoes, cream and 3 cloves of roasted garlic. The crust was homemade (can you tell who the baker is in this partnership?),  and included ¼ cup freshly grated Romano cheese. She showed great restraint and didn’t even taste them till tonight. It was hard, trust her, it smelled really good in her kitchen. 

Sue made her version of potato pancakes with the left over mashed potato-artichokes, diced pancetta, green onions and Parmesan cheese. They were coated with flour, egg whites and Panko bread crumbs, then pan fried until lightly golden in olive oil. She made a sautéed mix of the leftover chicken and lemon-herb sauce with a red bell pepper, and green peas, which she served in the remaining butter lettuce leaves. 

Having no judges but ourselves, we declared a tie. If anyone would like the actual recipes for our “leftover love” just drop us a line.

Spring! We'll eat to that!

A week late, we are.

Meg got sick, she did.

Party postponed, it was.

Now cooking same fare, we are. 

OK, so we channeled Yoda…you get the picture.  Meg got sick and fearing contagion, we didn’t have the anticipated dinner party with our friends, but here we are doing the same meal… more for us.  We saw the chicken recipe in the newspaper and thought it perfect. Two weekends ago we were calling this our “Spring Anticipation” dinner.  This menu just seemed like spring with the lemon-herb sauce, fresh tarragon, and the new potatoes.  We debated another side dish (sautéed broccolini or roasted asparagus), but finally settled on the butter lettuce with a rich blue cheese dressing of our own design. (Score!)

So, despite the intermittent flying snow and 20 something nights this last week, the daffodils, crocus and trees are in bloom; so this meal seems fitting. Enjoy it with whatever version of Spring Mother Nature gave you this year.

We have split the leftovers and intend to meet Tuesday night for a leftover cook-off. While enjoying this meal the conversation wandered into “leftover land”, and the gauntlet was thrown. We will provide pictures and our biased (as always) commentary. Now, where to find an impartial judge . . . . . Meg says, “who cares?”.

Our biased and unsolicited opinions:

The chicken was really delicious. Neither of us had used fresh tarragon in our cooking previously, but we are now converts. The combination of the lemon with the fresh tarragon screamed “Spring”.  One note: drain the potatoes when they are tender, because they continue to cook in the water, affecting the texture of the mash. Taste for seasoning. We added additional salt.

We started with boneless, skinless chicken breasts, slicing them into cutlets. You could start with chicken tenders and reduce the prep time with equally pleasing results. It is your choice whether cost or time is more important.

To “springify” the mash, consider using 1 inch pieces of steamed asparagus with the potatoes. Meg and I disagree here regarding including the artichoke hearts with the asparagus.  We do agree that we would not mash the artichokes with the potatoes to retain more texture.

This was a really good choice for a Spring meal and we thoroughly enjoyed it!!

Note from Meg: Last Christmas, Sue introduced me to Van Gogh Double Espresso vodka and all I could think of while baking this cheesecake was how good they would be together. The orange zest in this cheesecake is pleasantly dominant and is really enhanced if you happen to have some Van Gogh Double Espresso vodka to serve along-side, (which we did). Because this cheesecake has very little sugar, dusting it with powdered sugar when you serve it doesn’t make it overly sweet and compliments the flavors.

Chicken Pailllards with New Potato Artichoke Mash & Lemon-Herb Reduction

Courtesy of Reno Gazette Journal, March 2012

Serves 4

Ingredients:

·         I pound new  potatoes, unpeeled and scrubbed

·         ½ C skim milk

·         2 Tbsp. butter, divided

·         1 clove garlic, minced

·         ¼ C flour

·         2 tsp. salt, divided

·         ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

·         1 tsp. paprika

·         1 ½ - 2 pounds thinl- sliced chicken cutlets

·         2 Tbsp. olive oil

·         1 C low sodium chicken broth

·         Zest of 1 lemon

·         2 Tbsp. lemon juice

·         3 Tbsp. fresh tarragon, minced and divided

·         1 can (15 oz.) artichoke hearts, drained 

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

In a medium size saucepan over medium high heat, gently boil potatoes until just cooked through, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and set aside.

In a small saucepan over low heat, warm milk, 1 Tbsp. butter and garlic until butter melts. Remove from heat and keep warm.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Combine flour, 1 tsp. salt, pepper and paprika in a shallow bowl. Coat each chicken cutlet in flour mixture; add to pan. Sauté chicken in batches until each is golden brown and cooked through, about 3-4 minutes per  side. Remove chicken to oven to keep warm.

Drain any fat left in pan and warm to high heat. Add broth, stirring to scrape up any browned bits. Reduce heat to medium high, add lemon zest, lemon juice and 2 Tbsp. minced tarragon. Simmer 5-7 minutes, until liquid has reduced.

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Butter Lettuce with Our Blue Cheese Dressing

Ingredients:

·         I head of Butter lettuce

·         2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar

·         ¼ c crumbled blue cheese

·         ¼ c whipping cream

·         Salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper  

Combine all ingredients except lettuce in a measuring cup. Mash blue cheese slightly into the wet ingredients. Toss with torn lettuce when ready to serve.

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Ricotta Cheesecake

 Courtesy “The Italian Cooking Encyclopedia”, Hermes House

Serves: 8

Prep time: about 1 hour

Ingredients:

·         2 c low-fat ricotta cheese

·         ½ c heavy cream

·         2 eggs

·         1 egg yolk

·         1/3 c confectioners’ sugar

·         finely grated rind of 1 orange

·         finely  grated rind of 1 lemon

Pastry:

·         1 ½ c flour

·         3 T sugar

·         Pinch of salt

·         8 T chilled butter, diced

·         1 egg yolk

To make the pastry, sift the flour, sugar and salt onto a cold work surface.  Make a well in the center and put in the diced butter and egg yolk.  Gradually work the flour into the diced butter and egg yolk, using your finger tips.

Gather the dough together, reserve about ¼ for the lattice, and press the rest into a fluted 9” tart pan with a removable base.  Chill the pasty shell for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375’ and make the filling. Put all of the ricotta, cream, eggs, egg yolk, sugar, and the orange and lemon zest in a large bowl and beat until evenly mixed.

Prick the bottom of the pastry shell, then line with foil and fill with baking beans.  Bake blind for 15 minutes, and transfer to a wire rack, remove the foil and beans and allow the shell to cool in the pan.

Spoon the cheese and cream filling into the pastry case and level the surface.   Roll out the reserved dough and cut into strips.  Arrange the strips on top of the filling in a lattice pattern, sticking them in place with water.

WINE

Pinot Grigio, 2007, Robert Mondavi Private Selection, California, Raley’s Supermarket from Sue’s stock. It was under $10.00, but not sure of the actual price.