Together at Two Peoples Bay near Albany Australia
This week’s PhotoHunt theme is Together. This was really tough especially after having family as a theme a couple of weeks ago. I decided to use this one since it was taken at Two Peoples Bay .
Seafood Provencal Stew
I’ve almost used up all our tomatoes. This weekend I made this tomato soup from Epicurious. G really liked it and it was perfect for our cool gray days.
I thought it would be great with seafood and a little more spice. It would be a take off on both Bouillabaisse and Cioppino. I tried it today and it was great. It is actually a bit more like a seafood stew. I had frozen scallops and shrimp in the freezer so I used those for the fish but it would also great to add a white fish such as snapper and some clams.
Seafood Provencal Stew
Based on Provencal Tomato Soup with Rice on Epicurious
2 lb tomatoes or 28oz can whole tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 celery rib, finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme
Scant 1/2 teaspoon dried hot red-pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 Turkish bay leaf or 1/4 California
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 cups water
1 3/4 cups vegetable broth (14 fl oz)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Pinch crumbled saffron threads
1/4 cup long-grain white rice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1 lb fish or shellfish (I used about 8 large scallops and 8 shrimps) cut into bite size pieces.
If using fresh tomatoes, peel and coarsely chop. If using canned, drain, reserving juice and coarsely chop.
Cook onions, carrot, celery, garlic, thyme, red-pepper flakes, fennel seeds, and bay leaf in oil in a 2 1/2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes.
Add tomatoes with reserved juice, tomato paste, water, broth, salt, pepper, and saffron then simmer, uncovered, stirring with a spoon occasionally, 20 minutes. Stir in rice and simmer, uncovered, until rice is tender, 10 to 20 minutes. Discard bay leaf and stir in seafood. Cook over low heat until just done. Stir in parsley and basil. Salt to taste.
Serves 2 large bowls or 4 small servings.
Note: The original soup also uses a small amount of orange peel which would also be a nice addition. I didn’t have any oranges on hand. Also, if the soup seems a little tart, you can add a small amount of sugar. My vegetable broth is somewhat sweet from carrots and a little sugar so I have not needed to add any.
PhotoHunt: Blue
Aquarium of Western Australia – Perth
This week’s PhotoHunt theme is blue. It was really hard to decide what photo to post. I went hunting through my albums and this one was one of the bluest.
We love visiting aquariums and the blue blue ocean. This shot was taken at the Aquarium of Western Australia outside of Perth. It has the longest underwater viewing tunnel in Australia. They have a great collection of shark and we enjoyed viewing the animals from the safety of this tunnel. I highly recommend the aquarium.
Here are some of our favorite aquariums around the world.
Kelp Forest exhibit – Two Oceans Aquarium – Cape Town South Africa
Oceanographic Aquarium – Monaco
Jelly Fish exhibit – Monterey Bay Aquarium – California
Pumpkin Ravioli with Brown Butter, Sage and Pine Nuts
Fall is starting to be one of my favorite cooking season. I love squashes, nuts, soups and roasted dinners. It is also a great time for vegetarian cooking.
I forgot last week’s Presto Pasta Night. This week Chef Melissa of The Cooking Diva is hosting Presto Pasta event. I didn’t want to miss it.
We have several great fresh pasta companies here in Seattle. My favorite is Carso’s which is available at Central Market in Shoreline. I found pumpkin filled ravioli as their seasonal special this week and decided to make it for this week’s Presto Pasta Night.
I love to serve winter squash filled ravioli with a brown butter sauce seasoned with sage and pine nuts. This sauce is very versatile and can be used with other types of ravioli such as a goat cheese stuffed ravioli. If you can find good fresh ravioli – it is also a quick easy pasta meal. Perfect for a Presto Pasta night. I served it with a roasted Romanesco broccoli.
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Ravioli with Brown Butter, Sage, Pine Nut Sauce
6 Tbs unsalted butter
3 sage leaves, chopped
2 Tbs pine nuts
Salt and pepper to taste
Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
8 oz ravioli – (butternut, pumpkin or goat cheese filled)
Bring a large pot of water to boil.
While the water is coming to a boil, melt butter over low heat. When it starts to slowly bubble but has not darkened, add the sage and pinenuts. Shake the pan from time to time making certain the pine nuts do not burn. Watch closely, once it starts to brown, you may want to remove from heat. Salt and pepper to taste.
Once the water comes to a boil, salt and add the ravioli. Cook as directed. Drain and add to brown butter stirring to coat. Serve immediately and top with Parmesan Cheese.
Poached Pears with Marsala, Cinnamon, and Vanilla
My friend dropped off some fresh bosc pears this weekend. I wanted to try something different. I have never poached pears in wine but it sounded wonderful especially with some type of cream as an accent. I looked around Epicurious and there were several interesting sounding recipes. They all used different types of wine; fruity red, riesling, sweet muscat.
I decided to try this recipe poaching the pears in Marsala. I made a half batch since I only had a cup of Marsala. The recipe called for dry Marsala and I had sweet so I omitted the sugar. I also peeled and cut my pears in half instead of poaching them whole. It was easier to manage.
They were deelish especially with a dollop of mascarpone cheese. And it made my house smell wonderful while they were cooking.
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Poached Pears with Marsala, Cinnamon, and Vanilla
From Bon Appettit/Epicurious
2 cups dry Marsala
2 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise
2 long strips orange peel
6 7-ounce Bosc pears, peeled, stems left intact
8 ounces mascarpone cheese (optional)
Combine 2 cups dry Marsala, 2 cups water, sugar, cinnamon sticks, split vanilla beans, and orange peel strips in heavy large pot. Bring to boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add peeled Bosc pears. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover pot and simmer until pears are tender, turning pears occasionally, about 40 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer pears to platter. Boil liquid in pot until reduced to 1 1/4 cups, about 12 minutes. Pour syrup over poached pears. Chill until cold, turning pears occasionally, at least 3 hours and up to 1 day.
Divide poached pears among 6 shallow bowls. Strain syrup; discard solids. Drizzle syrup over pears. Top each with dollop of mascarpone, if desired, and serve.
PhotoHunt: Scary
Spiders are extemely scary to many people. There seems to be an instinctual fear at the sight of one. But not for me.
We have had tarantulas as pets since 1993. It all started as a contest to one-up my boss. He had a large marine salt water fish tank in his office with a couple of Morey eels. My husband bought me a tarantula as a Christmas gift to take into my office. It was the battle of the dangerous pets.
We eventually expanded our collection by purchasing small captive bred spiderling. At one time we had over 2 dozen tarantulas. We keep each spider in small 2 gallon aquarium and feed them live crickets every three weeks or so.
We purchased this spider as a baby in 1995 and we still have her. It is a Grammostola actaeon – Brazilian red rump. Female tarantulas can live over 20 years.
Fall walk in the Seattle Arboretum
The winds will blow their own freshness into you,
and the storms their energy,
while cares will drop away from you
like the leaves of Autumn. – John Muir
The weather continues to be glorious for October. I love crisp blue fall days. We usually have rain, fog or gray days. But we have only had a few misty days the past few weeks. G even had to water the garden it has been so dry. Cold but dry.
We went to the Seattle Arboretum to view the gorgeous colors. We had not been to the Japanese Garden in ages so we paid it a visit. It is separate from the main arboretum and has a small entry fee. The colors were brilliant reflecting on the pool.
Here are some pictures from the Japanese Garden:
Click through for more pictures…
Mushroom Polenta
It was 34 degrees this morning. But the day was brilliantly clear and bright. The bright blue sky contrasted with the red of the Japanese maples.
I’m still working my way through my pantry trying to use up the open packages of staple goods so I can freshen up my cupboard. I found a half used package of instant polenta from when I made the Chocolate Polenta Tart from Dolce Italiano. Warm soft polenta is a great food for a cold fall day.
I decided to top it with mushrooms. They would need to have a strong flavor to stand up to the polenta so I softened some dried porcini mushrooms, diced up a small fresh tomato and finished it with a dash of Marsala. It was just the comfort food we were looking for.
I didn’t follow a recipe so here is an approximate recipe for two people.
Mushroom
3/4 lb mushroms, cleaned and sliced
1 tbs olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion or shallot
large pinch salt
1 clove garlic coarsely chopped
2 TBS dried porcini softened in 1 cup of hot water
1 small tomato chopped
1 tbs fresh chopped herbs (combination of sage, rosemary, thyme, parsley)
2 tbs marsala wine
Heat olive in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add onion and saute until translucent. Add sliced mushrooms and saute over medium heat. Add pinch of salt to help the mushrooms to cook.
When the mushrooms have started to reduce, add the garlic and saute a bit longer. Chop the soften porcini and add. Add the chopped tomato. Add about 1/4 cup of liquid from the soaked mushroom and cook until the liquid is mostly reduced. Add herbs and marsala and cook until fully reduced.
Polenta
1 cup instant Polenta (Moretti)
4 cups of water and mushroom liquid
pinch of salt
1 cup cheese (combination of fontina, gruyere, parmesan)
Bring water to boil. Reduce heat to a brisk simmer and slowly whisk in polenta with a wire. whisk. Cook until thickened. Stir in cheese and serve immediately.
PhotoHunt: Family
We recently had a small family get together and decided to take a family portrait. This was the first time I had tried to take a formal family portrait. It was fun and chaos at the same time.
In memory of Mina
Last year, we had to put down our sweet kitty, Mina, on this day. She came to us serendipitously. Good friends had gone to Oregon to visit friends. Two pregnant cats had been dumped on their farm and they had 17 kitties. We told them to pick out a kitten. We were ready to have a cat again after mourning the loss of our first cat a year earlier.
G got the call. They had found the perfect cat. But she had a little sister that she protected. They were a pair. Would we take two? G said “Yes!”
We went to their house to pick them up. Cassie came out like a bull dog – proud and beautiful. But behind her was a waif. She was half the size with large mouse ears and had a deformed crooked half tail. This was Mina. She was the runt of the litter – pushed aside but now given a chance for a life.
She was so smart. She was the first to learn how to jump up on the window sill. She was constantly catching birds. She didn’t bring them – she ate them. A survivor. Scrappy.
Unknown to us – not only did she have a deformed tail but she was probably born with only one kidney. As she grew, the other kidney struggled and eventually gave out. We didn’t understand the signs, urinating outside her litter box, drinking water from outside – until too late. She had chronic renal failure but we were able to nurse her back with the help of a wonderful veterinarian assistant. We learned how to give her fluids. But she resisted and struggled. We were able to maintain a good quality of life for another year. But then it was time.
Mina – we miss you.
