What's for Apps? Oysters Rockefeller!

It was our friend Greg's birthday on Sunday, and to celebrate he brought over oysters to our place and made a batch of Oysters Rockefeller (I know...he was doing the cooking on his birthday!) and also steamed a couple of dozen.  It is oyster season, and we are spoiled living here at the beach, because we get great oysters from nearby Stump Sound.  I always think of oysters as kind of a pain to make, though, because of the shucking.  But once you get that down (and it is a bit of a process), they rest is easy!  Maybe you can sweet talk your local oyster seller to shuck 'em for you.  That would be the best!  But, regardless of how you get them shucked, try this recipe...it's really good!!  Enjoy!

Oysters Rockefeller
Adapted from Epicurious.com
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

• 2 cups firmly packed baby spinach, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped scallions
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 teaspoons minced celery
• 1/4 cup coarse fresh bread crumbs (preferably from a day-old baguette)
• 3 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Pinch of cayenne
• 5 bacon slices
• 1/4 cup shredded or grated Parmesan cheese
• About 5-8 cups kosher or rock salt for baking and serving
• 20 oysters on the half shell, oysters picked over for shell fragments and shells scrubbed well

Preheat oven to 450°F. Toss together spinach, garlic, scallion, parsley, celery, and 2 tablespoons bread crumbs in a bowl. 


Melt butter in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, then add watercress mixture and cook, stirring, until spinach is wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in cayenne, and salt and pepper to taste, then transfer mixture to a bowl and chill, covered, until cold, about 1 hour.

While spinach mixture chills, cook bacon in cleaned skillet over moderate heat, turning, until crisp, then drain on paper towels and finely crumble.

Spread 5 cups kosher salt in a large shallow baking pan (1 inch deep) and nestle oysters (in shells) in it. Spoon spinach mixture evenly over oysters, then top with bacon and sprinkle with remaining bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Bake oysters until edges of oysters begin to curl and bread crumbs are golden, about 10 minutes. Serve warm oysters in shells, nestled in kosher salt (about 3 cups), on a platter.  Enjoy!

What's for Dessert? Peanut Butter Cup Brownies!

A friend relayed some good news to me today...it's National Brownie Day!  Considering I had 4 boxes of my favorite brownies in the pantry because they were on sale...it called for celebration.  Now, I can't even call this a recipe, because it is not by any means homemade, but I thought I would share this with you because these are the best brownies EV-AH!  Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Brownies rock my world.  And I got a crazy thought...why not add in another one of my favorite things EV-AH...Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!?!  A pretty perfect dessert for me on any given night is a Reese's, but when you add them to my favorite brownie...perfection personified! This is so quick and easy, even the worst bakers (me included) can't screw it up!  Try it, you'll love it!

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies
The box says serves 16...who are they kidding???  Serves about 6!

• 1 box Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Brownie Mix
• 1/2 bag Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Minis (up to you what to do with the other half of the bag...hmmm...but below is another recipe I've been wanting to try that I found on Pinterest***)

Prepare brownie mix to package directions.  Stir in peanut butter cups into the batter.  Fill a greased, 9x9 glass baking dish with batter.  Bake at 325 for about 35 minutes.  Don't over bake.  You want them to be sort of gooey! For extra indulgence, serve warm with vanilla ice cream.  Ohhhhh, yeah.

***Try below recipe with the remaining peanut butter cups and tell me how it is.  After I pop out baby #2, it's go-time! 
Peanut Butter Cup Martini

What's for Dinner? Seafood Chowder!

This past weekend was a good one.  We had our annual Christmas party and it was a ton of fun.  The food theme this year was "Paninis and Crostinis".  Basically, just a lot of different sandwiches from different countries.  It was fun to do (and I will be blogging a few of them in the upcoming weeks) and oh-so-delicious.  We had a lot of leftover sandwiches, and what goes better with sandwiches than soup?  I was feeling seafood, and chowder is nice and hearty (I would say for the cold weather we have been having, but it was 75 degrees today!).  This chowder was really good, and it led me to beg the question, "why does chowder you get in a restaurant have to be SOOOO bad for you?"  This chowder that I made had no cream at all...only 1 cup of 2% milk.  The stats on it are really good for such a thick and creamy soup.  And you can basically use any seafood you like...mix it up!  Give it a try...you won't be sorry!

Seafood Chowder
Serves 6-8
Printable Recipe

1 TBSP olive oil
2 leeks, mostly white part, halved and thinly sliced
2 ribs celery, diced
1 potato, peeled and cut into 1/2 to 1 inch dice (depending how chunky you want them)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups seafood stock (this can be found now in any grocery store in the broth/stock section...if not, use chicken broth)
1 cup milk
1 lb cod or halibut, cut into small chunks
1 lb raw shrimp, peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 lbs bay scallops (the small ones)
1 cup grated Gruyere cheese
1-2 TBSP fresh dill
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

In a large dutch oven or soup pot, heat oil over medium high heat.  Add celery and leek and saute until just soft.  Add garlic and potato and saute 2 minutes more.  Sprinkle flour over veggies, stir and let cook several minutes.  Add broth and stir well.  Let thicken.  Add milk and stir.  Simmer until potatoes are just soft.  Add in fish, cook for 1-2 minutes.  Add shrimp and scallops.  Let all simmer for another 5 minutes.  If chowder gets too thick, add some more stock.  Add dill. At the very end, add in Gruyere cheese and remove from heat.  Serve with garlic toast or oyster crackers and top with more cheese, if desired.  Enjoy!

What's for Dinner? Divan Stuffed Chicken!

Chicken Divan is an old favorite of mine.  It is one of my go-tos when I can't think of anything else to make or if I just want a quick, one-dish meal.  Tonight I was in the mood to stuff a chicken breast (for some weird reason) and I thought that a Divan-like stuffing would be really good.  It turned out way better than I expected.  The curry-flavored filling inside the breaded chicken breast tasted just like the casserole version, but a little more sophisticated (aka, better)!  This kicks the old Chicken Divan up to the next level.  I will definitely making this again.  Don't let the stuffing process intimidate you!  I thought I was done for...I accidentally cut all the way through one of my breasts and had filling oozing out in every direction.  But I rolled up my sleeves and completed the breading process and by the time I had the chicken in the skillet, it all came together and was fine.  Just go with it!  Give it a try...you'll be a Stuffed Divan convert!

Divan Stuffed Chicken
Serves 4
Download PDF of Recipe

1 crown broccoli, cut into small florettes and steamed until soft
1/2 can cream of chicken soup (I use the Healthy Request version)
1/2 teaspoon curry powder (add a little more to taste if you like the curry flavor)
2 TBSP light sour cream
4 slices cheddar cheese (could also sprinkle shredded cheese instead)
4 chicken breasts
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp season salt or Cajun spice
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 egg, beaten
1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
2 TBSP olive oil

Preheat oven to 375.

In a small bowl, mix together broccoli, soup, curry powder and sour cream.  Set aside.

In three shallow bowls or plates, prepare the breading station.  In the first bowl add flour, Cajun spice (or whatever spices you like), and pepper.  Mix well.  In second bowl, add egg and scramble well.  In third bowl, add bread crumbs.

For each chicken breast, make a slice horizontally through the breast, being careful not to slice all the way through (slice it the way you would open a book).  Peel back the top of the breast and stuff each breast with 1/4 of the broccoli mixture.  Lay the cheese over the mixture (I used cheese slices and halved them so they would fit better) and pull top of the chicken over everything and press together (try and get everything to stay inside, but this is tricky!).  Once the breasts are stuffed, roll in flour, then egg then bread crumbs.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil until hot.  Add breasts and saute on each side until they are golden (but not cooked through), about 2-4 minutes on each side, depending on how hot your stove gets!

Either put skillet in oven (if it is oven proof), or transfer breasts to a baking dish lined with foil and sprayed and cook until all the way done, about 12-18 minutes, depending on how thick your breasts are.  Remove from oven and serve with mashed potatoes or yellow rice.  Enjoy!