nutmeg – Buen provecho…2022

Seafood Lasagna

“The time has come”, the chicken said. If you have been following Buen Provecho since the beginning, you have access as of today to 500 of my recipes! A few have been there since the beginning in March 2011, which is incredible. Many of you are “newbies” to the site and may not be aware of all of the recipes herein.

Probably FAKE NEWS, but my stats show viewers in 118 countries around the world, with 8,305 in USA, 8,177 in Canada and 3,350 in Mexico. The rest are an A to Z spread, from Australia to Zimbabwe…Thank You all so much!

Looking back, I have had many delicious recipes of which you may or may not have been aware. I encourage you to use the search feature to continue to enjoy the site. Alas, this is the FINAL recipe, which in fact appeared in October 2013. It is and has always been one of my favourites of the 500!

It’s certainly a special occasion recipe and involves lots of preparation, but it remains a very special one which I prepare on special occasions with special people, who obviously must enjoy seafood!

SEAFOOD LASAGNA

8 tbsp. butter
8 tbsp. all purpose flour
1 c. cream
1 c. milk
chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of nutmeg
1 lb. lasagna, “no boil type”
10 oz. frozen spinach, thaw and drain on paper towels
16 oz. ricotta cheese
8 oz. Manchego cheese
8 oz. provolone cheese
1 can sliced mushrooms
2 sliced onions
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
1 tomato, cut and peeled
1 1/2 lb. seafood (shrimp, crabmeat, scallops, white fish)
Parsley and rosemary to taste

To make sauce, melt butter and add flour. Take it off the burner, add cream, milk and broth. Put back on burner. Stir constantly. When everything is mixed, take it off the fire. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg. To make lasagna, sauté onions and mushrooms in butter and oil. Add tomato, parsley and rosemary. Add seafood. In a greased lasagna pan, pour some sauce, place some lasagna, seafood, mozzarella, ricotta and chopped spinach mixed, provolone, and press it down before you begin second layer. Follow same order as first layer, ending with lasagna strips and sauce. Be sure to generously cover with sauce. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 – 40 minutes.

Buen provecho amigos!!!

Coconut Rice Pudding

Due to my spouse requiring a modified diet for a few days, I decided to make him some rice pudding. Without too much work, this one filled the bill!

Coconut Rice Pudding

Serves/Makes: 4 | Ready In: 30-60 minutes

Ingredients:

1 can (15-ounce size) coconut milk
1 cup water
1/2 cup uncooked rice (I used Jasmine)
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

Combine the coconut milk and water in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil. Add the rice and cook until it returns to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer, cover the pan, and let simmer for 15 minutes or until most of the liquid has been absorbed.

Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the sugar, vanilla, and nutmeg. Pour into custard cups.

Serve warm or chilled.

Hot and Sour Soup

Recently bought 2 fresh leeks for potato and leek soup, but had too many leftover from the recipe. They were just sitting in the fridge ready to use up. Coincidentally, I had leftover cooked pork loin. “Alexa, what can I do with leeks and pork?” NOT REALLY…you know by now I am a big fan of Pinterest in these situations. She/he never fails me. This recipe looks long, but only because of the seasonings. It called for sweet corn (unusual for hot and sour soup); I substituted a small can of corn, but I would omit next time…As you can see in the photo, I omitted the Ramen noodles to cut carbs.

P.S. If you have never used fresh leeks they MUST be sliced down the middle first and thoroughly washed as they contain sand or dirt from where they were grown.

Hot and Sour Soup

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon Oil
1 leek roughly sliced (after thorough washing)
1 1/2 cups sweet corn (OPTIONAL)
2 mushrooms sliced
4 cups chicken Stock
1/8 Teaspoon nutmeg grated
1/8 Teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon red chili pepper flakes
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
2 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon fish sauce
1 Teaspoon rice vinegar
1 cup chopped pork loin cooked
2.65 ounces Ramen noodles (OPTIONAL)*
Juice of 1 lime
Cilantro garnish

1. Heat up a shallow pan, add the oil.

2. Throw in the sliced leeks and fry soft for 2 minutes.

3. Add the sweet corn and mushroom. Stir and mix well.

4. Pour in the broth mixed with water.

5. Season with nutmeg, black pepper, chili flakes, brown sugar, soy sauce, fish sauce, vinegar. Add in the chopped cooked pork loin.

6. Mix the whole content well and let it cook covered until the sweet corn is getting soft. This might take 10 minutes.

7. At the end add the noodles and cook those soft for another 5 minutes uncovered.*

8. Remove from heat and pour in the lime juice. Mix the soup well and serve hot.

Sweet Potato, Onion and Blue Cheese Frittata

I want something different for breakfast on Sunday! What do I have? – sweet potato, red onion and bleu cheese, eggs. Why not? It was a pretty straight forward recipe I found and it turned out well. Mr. L thought it was quite rich with the bleu cheese (secret – I added more than the recipe called for…he was right) Stick to the recipe!

Sweet Potato and Blue Cheese Frittata

Ingredients

2 Red onions, medium

1 Sweet potato, large

6 Eggs, large free-range

1 Nutmeg, whole

3 tbsp Olive oil

100 g Blue cheese crumbled

Method

Preheat the oven to 190ºC.
Rub the sweet potato with 1 tablespoon of oil and season with sea salt and black pepper. Bake for 40 minutes, or until cooked through. Remove and leave to cool.
Peel and finely slice the onions. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a 26cm ovenproof frying pan over a medium heat, add the onion, pop on the lid and cook for 20 minutes, or until soft. Leave to cool.
Whisk the eggs in a bowl. Crumble in the cheese, then add the onion, and scoops of sweet potato flesh, discarding the skin. Add a good grating of nutmeg, then season.
Wipe out the pan and coat with 1 tablespoon of oil, then add the egg mixture and fry over a medium heat until the eggs start to settle and cook.
Reduce the heat to low and cook for 3 more minutes, then transfer to the oven for 10 minutes, or until cooked through.
Delicious served with a seasonal salad.

Too vegan for me…LOL…I cooked some bacon….

Fragrant Fall Red Cabbage with Apples and Bacon

This has to be one of my favourite fall recipes and it would be great with your Thanksgiving Dinner! The origin of the recipe was the Dallas News way back in 2008. When I searched online it is nowhere to be found, either on Google or Pinterest as far as I could check. Fortunately I had a copy! You’re going to love serving this fragrant dish with your dinner.

Fragrant Fall Red Cabbage with Apples and Bacon

4 slices bacon cut into 1 inch pieces

1 large head red cabbage cored and thinly sliced

1 large red onion, halved and thinly sliced

2 apples, halved, cored and sliced

¾ cup red wine vinegar

¼ cup maple syrup

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon allspice

Salt and pepper to taste.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook the bacon until lightly browned, but NOT crispy, about 4 minutes.

Add the cabbage, onion and apples. Stir well to coat with bacon drippings. Cover and cook until the vegetables and apples are limp, about 15 minutes.

Add the vinegar, maple syrup and spices. Stir well, then season with salt and pepper.

Serves 8 to 10

Cindy’s Pumpkin Pie

Just in time for Canadian Thanksgiving, Larry came across this recipe from allrecipes.com. He has been trying to perfect his pie crust recipes with some success. The problem here is finding the right flour, as whole wheat flower doesn’t taste that great, especially with pumpkin! Finding real pumpkin here in Mexico is a challenge except in late September or early October when we do have something called calabaza Halloween… He bought a smallish one and roasted it in the oven for about an hour at 325 and then scooped out the seeds, followed by the pulp. He put the pulp in the refrigerator overnight to allow it to cool. Instead of the separate spices you could use Pumpkin Pie Spice which is not always available here*

The secret to this recipe seems to be the vanilla ice cream… Thanks CindyAnn whoever you are!

Cindy’s Pumpkin Pie

1 1/2 pints vanilla ice cream softened
4 eggs (original recipe called for 3)
1 3/4 cups pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon*
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg*
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger*
2 – 9 inch pie shells (Larry used only 1 and filled it up)

Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Place the ice cream near the oven to soften.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs. Stir in the pumpkin, sugar, salt, cinnamon. ginger and nutmeg OR pumpkin pie spice. Mix in the softened ice cream until smooth. Pour filling into the pie shell. (If you have two much filling, place the remainder in Pyrex cups and bake separately).

Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce temperature to 175 degrees C and bake an additional 30 to 40 minutes, or until filling is set.

Creamed Spinach

A long time ago, we used to go to Detroit for dinner at the famous Joe Muirs Seafood Restaurant. It has moved to a great location in the RenCen overlooking the Detroit River and Windsor, my hometown!

http://gmrencen.com/dine/joemuerseafood.axis

My side dish was always the creamed spinach which went very well with a steak. And…its still on the menu after over 90 years!

Since we had an excess of spinach I decided to use it before it went bad and opted for this recipe from Tyler Florence of Food Network. One thing cooks know is that what seems like a lot of spinach does not make much once it is cooked It says the recipe makes 6 to 8 servings. I ended up with 4 healthy servings. Then again I love creamed spinach. Its the perfect side dish!

Creamed Spinach (courtesy of Tyler Florence – The Food Network )

Ingredients

Extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 pounds fresh baby spinach, stemmed
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Directions

Heat a large pot over medium heat. Drizzle with a 2-count of oil, add the butter, and stir it around so it melts. Saute the onion and garlic until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the spinach in batches, pushing it down with a wooden spoon to help it wilt. Keep adding more spinach when there is room in the pot. Cook the spinach until it is dry, then lower the heat and add the cream and nutmeg. Stir and cook for 10 minutes. Toss in the Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper and serve hot.

McIntosh Dark Christmas Cake

Okay…I hear ya! It may seem too early to start this, but trust me, NOW is the right time to make this cake! Once baked and wrapped and stored, you are going to take it out every two or three weeks and brush it with your favourite brandy! Keep doing that right up until the cakes are all gone!! You won’t regret it…

FYI…this is Larry’s mother’s recipe with a slight change. Since we had no cherries, we replaced them with dried cranberries. He also added some Kirsch to make up for the lack of cherry flavour… BTW…MY mother used glazed pineapple too!

Mrs. McIntosh’s Dark Christmas Cake*

Fruit Mixture:

3 cups seedless raisins

3 cups Sultana raisins

1 cup dates cut up

1.5 cup dried cranberries OR glazed cherries

3 cups mixed peel

1 cup chopped pecans OR walnuts

Dry Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

3 tsp.cinnamon

½ tsp. nutmeg

¼ tsp. mace

½ tsp. ginger

¼ tsp. ground cloves

Wet Ingredients:

10 Tablespoons butter

10 Tablespoons shortening (Crisco)

8 eggs

1.5 cups brown sugar

2/3 cup orange juice

Line 2 loaf pans with heavy waxed paper and brown paper.

Preparation:

Soak fruit with 1/3 cup Kirsch liqueur

Add the nuts; dust with ¼ cup flour.

Stir Dry Ingredients (remaining flour and spice) together in a separate bowl.

Cream Wet Ingredients (shortening, butter and sugar), beating together until fluffy.

Add eggs ONE AT A TIME, beating well after each.

Blend in dry ingredients; fold in ½ fruit and nut mixture.

Add orange juice slowly while mixing in, and then add second half fruit mixture.

Fill prepared pans 2/3 full.

Bake in a slow oven (300 degrees) 2 hours or until done. Place a pan of hot water in a shallow pan on bottom rack during baking. Remove after one hour!

Cool before removing paper; re-wrap and store in an airtight container in a cool place.

DON’T FORGET THE BASTING EVERY TWO OR THREE WEEKS….. I personally like brandy!

Roasted Carrot Soup

The following recipe was a real hit a recent dinner party. As always, my changes to the original recipe are in red….

Roasted Carrot Soup

Serves four, yields about 1 quart

1 lb. carrots, peeled and cut into 3-inch lengths
1 Tbs. olive oil
Herbs de Provence
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
1/2 medium onion, cut into medium dice (about 3/4 cup)
1 large rib of celery, cut into medium dice (about 1.2 cup)
1 Tbs. minced fresh ginger (from about 1/2-inch piece, peeled)
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/8 tsp. ground white pepper
Chopped fresh chives or chervil for garnish
1 cinnamon stick
Nutmeg
Sour cream

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Put the carrots in a medium baking dish, or any dish that will hold the carrots on a single layer without touching, and drizzle them with the olive oil. Sprinkle a little bit of Herbs de Provence over them. Toss them to coat well and roast, stirring once halfway through roasting, until they are tender, blistered and lightly browned in a few places, about 1 hour.melt the butter in a medium heavy saucepan set over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until it’s translucent and fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the celery and ginger and cook until the celery softens a bit and the onions start to brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the roasted carrots, chicken broth, salt, pepper and 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium low and cover. Drop in the cinnamon stick. Cook at a tender lively simmer until the carrots are very tender, about 45 minute. Turn off the heat and let the liquid cool somewhat or completely. Remove the cinnamon stick!!!

Puree most of the soup in a blender in batches, filling the blender no more than one-third full, vent the lid and hold a towel while you turn it on. Keep about ¾ cup of the vegetables aside to be added when serving if you like some chunks in your soup. If serving immediately, return the soup to the pot and reheat, along with the unpureed veggies. Garnish with the chives or chervil if you’d like and/or a dollop of sour cream. Sprinkle some fresh ground nutmeg to add some extra zip.

Otherwise refrigerate for up to 5 days. Reheat gently and taste for salt before serving.

Marianne’s Pumpkin Cake

Our American friends invited us to celebrate their Thanksgiving in Merida. Besides their beautiful home, we were there with some beautiful people! The deep fried turkey was astounding! So was one of the desserts for the last course… When we made this yesterday, our friends thought it was much better than pumpkin pie!

Marianne Kehoe’s Pumpkin Cake

1 – 15 oz can pureed pumpkin

1 – 12 oz can evaporated milk

3 eggs

1 cup sugar (I used brown sugar but can be white)

4 tsp pumpkin pie spice * (see below)

1 package white, spice, or yellow cake mix

1 c butter

1-1/2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans

* If you can’t find pumpkin pie spice use 4 T. ground cinnamon + 4 tsp. ground nutmeg + 4 tsp. ground ginger + 3 tsp. ground allspice. This makes more than you need!!!

Oven 350 F (175 C). Grease a 9 x 13″ cake pan.

In large bowl, combine pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, and spices and pour into pan.

In another bowl, with fingers incorporate butter pieces into cake mix and crumble over pumpkin. (I also added a little more cinnamon to mix here for color because I could only find white cake mix,) Sprinkle walnuts or pecans on top.

Bake for about 1 hour, or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.

We served this with some fresh whipped cream and a mix of chopped walnuts and brown sugar which we had carmelized just a bit…