Photo taken by Curtis Carlson Photography

Kurt made me dinner first using two recipes from a cookbook I gave him for last year’s wedding anniversary. These recipes involved many ingredients and serve a ton of people, so we cut down the amounts you see listed below to suit 2 and pared down the range of vegetables that it called for. The prawns were absolutely delightful. The lamb ragout was too watery (perhaps the result of Kurt not cutting down the quantity of water…) but it made for a good day-after stew served over rice after adding more tomato paste and reducing the liquid by a third.

My husband requested Dungeness crab for his dinner, which I slaved over last night. Now, if you’ve been following my cooking antics from the pre-Tiny-Bites era, you may recall my original unease with watching my dinner perish in a vat of boiling water. A year later and many YouTube comments wiser, I didn’t hesitate to say adiós to the 3-pound critter that flavoured the resulting crab bisque and seafood linguini so deliciously well.

The bisque was the highlight of the meal. Creamy and rich and wonderfully crabby, despite my substitution of clam nectar and vegetable broth in place of the ever elusive fish stock. I served it in a martini glass just to be fancy but that resulted in some food styling difficulties; the claw meat and sour cream garnishes are there, albeit submerged. At least the chives stayed afloat!

Mario Batali’s linguini recipe was also good but was overshadowed by the yumminess of the bisque. Light, piquant from the addition of shichimi, and really easy to prepare. Would make again for an everyday dinner. The base concept, sans crab, seems versatile enough to mix with different types of seafood…perhaps even just crisped up chorizo.

All recipes and visuals below. Enjoy!

Dungeness Crab Bisque

Link to recipe: Epicurean.com

Linguini with Crab, Radicchio, and Garlic

Link to recipe: Molto Mario on the Food Network website

BC Spot Prawns Sautéed with Fresh Thyme

Recipe from La Régalade: Simple French Bistro Food at Home

Ingredients:

• 16 raw prawns, peeled and deveined but with tails on
• 3 tablespoons heavy / whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup canola oil

Directions:

1. Place the prawns in a bowl, pour the cream over, and add the thyme. Soak for 10 minutes.
2. Coat each prawn lightly with flour, tapping to remove excess.
3. Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the prawns, 4 at a time, for 30 seconds on each side.

Ragoût of Lamb with Spring Vegetables

Recipe from La Régalade: Simple French Bistro Food at Home

Ingredients:

For the navarin d’agneau printanier:

• 7 lbs (~3 kg) boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 1.5″ pieces
• 1 cup carrots, large dice
• 1 cup onions, large dice
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1 bouquet garni
• Salt and pepper to taste

For the garnish:

• 4 large potatoes
• 16 baby carrots
• 16 baby turnips
• A handful of green beans
• 1 cup green peas (frozen is okay)
• 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat the broiler.
2. Heat half the oil in a frying pan and sear the lamb cubes on all sides until browned. Set aside.
3. In a Dutch oven, heat the remaining oil, add the carrots and onions, and sweat at low heat for 5 minutes.
4. Add the lamb to the vegetables, gently skim off the fat, and sprinkle with flour.
5. Place under the broiler for a few minutes until the flour is brown.
6. Remove from the oven and set the oven temperature to 400F (200C).
7. Mix in the tomato paste with a wooden spoon; add the bouquet garni and season with salt and pepper.
8. Add water to cover the meat, cover, and cook for 40-45 minutes depending on the quality of the meat. (The tougher the meat, the longer it needs to cook.)
9. Meanwhile, peel and wash the potatoes, carrots, and turnips for the garnish. Cust the vegetables and the green beans into sticks approximately 1.5 x 0.5 inches big.
10. Blanch each vegetable separtely in boiling salted water for 5 minutes or until tender but crisp.
11. Bring the frozen peas to a boil and drain.
12. 10 minutes before the lamb is cooked, add the garnish to the ragout so that they absorb the sauce.

Photos

It was in this state that I returned home to Vancouver with a renewed interest in all things Italy and a heap of leftover tagliatelle that was just asking to be eaten. Jamie Oliver has not let me down before, so out came our copy of Jamie’s Italy for a dead easy carbonara and a crispy, crackling fennel salad.

A few days later, I caught Giada of Everyday Italian making this fantastic looking turkey meatloaf stuffed in bell peppers and hollowed out zucchini. I just had to make it. My husband is gaga for Giada (in many ways!) and it looked like a fun dish to work with for my first Flickr recipe video.

Stuffed Zucchini and Bell Peppers

Source: Everyday Italian’s “Sinful Vegetables” episode

These stuffed vegetables make for a great weeknight meal, but eat it all, as the leftovers lose much of their structure and flavour. Be more generous with the ketchup and salt unless you like your meatloaf bland. Follow the link above for the recipe on the Food Network website. Play the clip below to get the gist of it.

Insalata Amalfitana

Source: Jamie’s Italy

The Hamilton household can now add another non-lettuce salad to our repertoire! This one is worth the effort of slicing the veggies paper-thin. Use a mandoline if you need to. The task can be calming and even entertaining, if you have friends and family chatting around your kitchen island like we often do.

Ingredients:

• 1 fennel bulb
• 1 red onion, finely sliced
• 1 cucumber, finely sliced
• 1 bunch of radishes, finely sliced
• 4 oranges that have been peeled and segmented
• 2 tablespoons herb / red wine vinegar
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• A handful of ice cubes (optional)

Directions:

1. Separate and reserve the herby top of the fennel. Trim and halve the fennel bulb, losing any dry outer layers. Slice lengthwise as finely as possible.
2. Toss the fennel in a large bowl together with the other finely sliced vegetables: red onion, cucumber, radishes.
3. To crunch the veggies up a notch, toss with the ice cubes and let sit for a couple of minutes. Remove ice cubes when done. [You can skip this step if you like. We found that it did make a marked impact on texture.]
4. In a small bowl, mix the vinegar with 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Add more vinegar if too flat; more oil if too tart. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Dress the salad with this vinaigrette. Top with orange segments and a few springs of the reserved fennel tops.

Pasta alla Carbonara di Salsiccia

Source: Jamie’s Italy

What to do with the remaining tagliatelle procured from Ziu Mico’s Garden stall in Atlanta? A simple carbonara chock full of spicy meatballs and pancetta. This dish was a huge hit with the husband and was one of the easiest carbonara recipes that we have attempted in our kitchen.

Ingredients:

• 4 Italian sausages
• 4 slices of thickly cut pancetta, chopped
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 3.5 oz grated parmesan
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Italian (flat-leaf) parsley, chopped
• 1 lb dried linguine (we used tagliatelle)
• 4 large egg yolks
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Split open the sausage skins and form mini-meatballs with the sausage meat. Ours were to Jamie’s spec: the size of large marbles. Keep your hands wet to prevent the meat from sticking.
2. Heat a glug of olive oil in a large frying pan. Fry the meatballs until golden brown, add pancetta and continue frying until it’s also golden brown, about a couple minutes. Bring a pot of salted pasta water and get your pasta cooking while this is taking place.
3. Whip together the egg yolks, heavy cream, lemon zest, a sprig of chopped parsley, and half the parmesan in a large bowl.
4. As soon as the pasta is cooked, drain it in a colander (reserving a cup of its cooking water) and toss it at once into the egg mixture. Toss in the meatballs and pancetta, which should be piping hot. You can do this all in the pasta pot or in the bowl like we did; you shouldn’t need any more heat for these ingredients to gel together.
5. The resulting sauce should be smooth and silky and should not look like scrambled eggs. If it resembles the latter instead of the former, try adding a spoon or two of the reserved cooking water to loosen the sauce.
6. Toss with remaining parmesan, season with salt and pepper to taste, drizzle with a bit of extra virgin olive oil, and eat toute de suite. This is not a dish that waits!