Tag: salt

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!!!

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Spinach Casserole

This would seem to be your normal quiche, although there is no crust! It is actually a KISS recipe (Keep It Simple Stupid) and can easily made by a child with some parental supervision. It is pictured here with a little Pace Medium Salsa on top prior to serving. And yes, you could serve it for breakfast!!

Spinach Casserole

Ingredients

  • 3 cups fresh spinach OR 20 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
  • 4 ounces cream cheese, cut into small cubes
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
  • 6 slices bacon, fried and crumbled
  • 4 large eggs, beaten
  • 1/4 cup butter, melted
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Add all of the ingredients to a large mixing bowl and stir well to combine.

3. Spread mixture into an 8×8 baking dish and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the edges are golden and the center is set.

4. Serve immediately.

Notes

The original recipe from Taste of Home called for a full 8 ounces of cream cheese, but we find this to be extremely rich and more like a spinach dip.

Mushroom Chowder

The only problem in buying those Costco mushrooms is what do you do with all of those? This recipe will give you reason to use at least a half pound or more!

It may seem like a lot of ingredients, but the flavour is incredible as a result of all of the spices. I did not make this VEGAN! I did use cream cheese in place of the cashew cream. That choice is yours to make…

There is a fair amount of prepping, but mainly due to the spices,cleaning the mushrooms, etc.

Mushroom Chowder

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon oil or vegan butter
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 1/2 cup chopped celery
  • 8 ounces baby Bella mushrooms quartered
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon thyme or 1 spring fresh thyme
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground sage
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 3 cups broth or water
  • 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon salt depending on the saltiness of your broth
  • 1 1/2 cups cubed potatoes, small cubed (FYI I skipped the potatoes as I wanted to use croutons as a garnish as shown in the photo)
  • 1 teaspoon vegan Worcestershire sauce
  • 3/4 cup cashew cream, 1/2 cup raw cashews blended with 3/4 cup water or use any other thick non-dairy cream or you can also use 1/3 cup vegan cream cheese
  • green onion for garnish
  • OPTIONAL Old Bay Seasoning for a seafood taste

1. Heat the oil or vegan butter over high-medium heat in a large sauce pan. Once hot, add the garlic, onion, and celery, and a good pinch of salt and cook until the onion is starting to turn golden. 6-9 mins

2. Then add in the mushrooms and another good pinch of salt and cook until the mushrooms are starting to sear on some edges. 4-8 mins

3. Then add in the bay leaves, thyme, sage, onion powder, black pepper, and the flour and mix in for a few seconds

4. Then add in the broth. Add 1 cup broth and mix so the flour doesn’t get lumpy, then slowly add the rest. Add potatoes, vegan Worcestershire sauce, and salt and mix in. Cook partially covered for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked well.

5. Mash some of the potatoes. Add in the cashew cream and bring to a good boil. Taste and adjust salt and flavor.

6. If the chowder has thickened too much, add in more water or broth if needed and bring to a boil. Taste and adjust salt and flavor. Take off heat, remove the bay leaves and serve garnished with black pepper and green onion.

Hungarian Goulash

“The hurrier I go, the behinder I get!” LOL. Where did the week go? In actuality, we are still catching up after returning from a month’s vacation. Some of you know how that is after almost two years of no travelling. While in Europe years back, we had the opportunity of trying both Czech and Hungarian goulash. Our preference was the Hungarian, which we had in Budapest. This recipe is fairly straight forward once everything is prepped.

Hungarian Goulash

Ingredients

  • 2 medium onions diced
  • 2 teaspoons butter
  • 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
  • 2 tablespoons paprika
  • ¼ cup flour
  • 1 ½ pound stewing beef trimmed and cut into 1″ cubes
  • 2 cups beef broth or water
  • 1 cup diced tomatoes canned
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper
  • 1 ½ cup carrot diced
  • 3 cups potatoes, diced or less

1. In a large pot, melt butter and add onion. Cook till translucent. Stir in caraway seeds and paprika and mix well.

2. In a bowl, dredge the stew beef with flour. Add beef to the onion mixture and cook for about 2-3 minutes.

3. Slowly add about ¼ cup of the beef broth to lift the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Then add remaining broth, diced tomatoes (potatoes and carrots if using), salt and pepper.

4. Stir and bring to a boil, cover, then reduce to a simmer for about 1 ½ -2 hours or until tender.

Baked Salmon with Lemon Butter Garlic Sauce

On the road again and a little late with this week’s recipe. Visiting friends and opted to make dinner for them, as I usually do once or twice…this one looks a little difficult, but not really. The result was well worth it, served with an amazing asparagus with cream cheese and prosciutto (next week’s recipe).

Baked Salmon with Lemon Butter Garlic Sauce

Ingredients

  • Salmon fillets (skinless) – 5, about 150 g/ 5 oz
  • Freshly squeezed lemon juice- 2 tbsp.
  • Olive oil- 1 tbsp.
  • Garlic cloves (minced)- 1
  • Old style Dijon mustard- 2 tbsp.
  • Ground black pepper- 1 tsp.
  • Salt- to taste

LEMON BUTTER GARLIC SAUCE

  • ¼ Cup Unsalted butter melted
  • Garlic cloves (minced)-1 1/2 tsp.
  • Heavy cream/ half and half- 1/2 cup
  • Parsley finely chopped
  • Black pepper

In a medium bowl combine lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and Dijon mustard. Mix well.

Place salmon fillets into the skillet, pour the mixture over salmon fillets and rub. Season with ground black pepper and salt. Bake for 10-15 minutes in the preheated oven.

In the meantime, melt butter in a medium saucepan over low-medium heat. Add the minced garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 20 seconds.

Pour in heavy cream and bring to a boil. The sauce should thicken a little bit.

Take off the heat and stir in parsley and season with black pepper and salt to your liking.

Pour the sauce over the baked salmon and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes

 Preheat your oven to 425°F /220°C with the rack in the center.

In a medium bowl combine lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and Dijon mustard. Mix well.

Place salmon fillets into the skillet, pour the mixture over salmon fillets and rub. Season with ground black pepper and salt. Bake for 10-15 minutes in the preheated oven, depending on thickness.

In the meantime, melt butter in a medium saucepan over low-medium heat. Add the minced garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 20 seconds.

Pour in heavy cream and bring to a boil. The sauce should thicken a little bit.

Take off the heat and stir in parsley and season with black pepper and salt to your liking.

Pour the sauce over the baked salmon and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes

Crabmeat Salad

Many restaurants offer crabmeat dishes, but in reality, what they are calling crabmeat is actually Alaskan pollock, aka surimi.. “So what is surimi?”, you ask.

Surimi is a minced fish paste, made from a cheap fish in abundant supply, usually Alaskan pollock, frequently mixed with sugar and sorbitol, a sweetener.

I actually like using surimi due to the fact that it is much cheaper than the real crab meat! I recently bought a large package of surimi sticks at Costco. I sometimes eat a stick just because it tastes so great. Having bought so much of it, I decided to make this salad for lunch.

Crab Salad (Surimi)

Ingredients

  • 1 pound imitation crab meat flaked style, or sticks cut into slices
  • 1/2 cup celery finely chopped
  • 3 tablespoons red onion finely chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh dill chopped, plus more for garnish

Instructions

Add all of the ingredients to a large bowl. Stir gently to combine.

Serve immediately, or cover and chill for up to 2 days.

Sprinkle with additional chopped dill for garnish if desired.

Loaded Baked Potato and Chicken Casserole

Who does not love a baked potato, especially when it is LOADED??? I must admit that it is one of my favourite things. This recipe is straight forward and comes together in a matter of minutes. You could use frozen potato cubes, but fresh is so easy. I was able to use frozen chicken breast cubes to simplify the preparation. Your toppings are your choice!

Potato and Chicken Casserole (Loaded Baked)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup cubed raw chicken breast, marinated* (if you can find frozen, no need to thaw)
  • 1 or 2 potatoes, cubed with skins or cubed frozen potatoes
  • Spice Mix (See below)
  • Lawry’s Lemon Pepper Marinade

Spice Mix

  • 1 T. garlic powder
  • ½ tsp. paprika
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • ½ tsp. dried rosemary
  • ½ tsp. black pepper

Toppings

  • 1 cup shredded cheese
  • ½ cup cooked bacon chopped
  • 3 green onions thinly chopped
  • Sour cream

Instructions

Grease an 8 x 10 Pyrex baking dish with cooking spray.

Place cubed chicken into a bowl and drizzle with lemon pepper marinade (unless pre-marinated). Set aside.

Add cubed potatoes to the Pyrex dish. Sprinkle with spice mix and mix well.

Add the marinated cubed chicken.

Combine the potatoes and chicken.

 Bake at 400 F for 50 minutes, stirring once or twice during baking.

When the potatoes and chicken are done, remove from the oven and top with shredded cheddar cheese and return to oven until cheese is melted.

Serve immediately with the optional toppings.

Seafood Casserole

When you check your freezer and find a small package of shrimp and another one of scallops which still look perfect thanks to our FoodSaver, what else to do but a seafood casserole!

Seafood Casserole

  • 6 oz uncooked spaghetti, broken
  • 1/2 lb fresh scallops, cut in half or quarters if large
  • ½ lb fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined. Smaller ones are best.
  • 6 Tbs butter
  • 4 Tbs flour, divided
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 cups half and half cream
  • 4 Tbs white wine or sherry
  • ½ cup sliced button mushrooms
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • 8 Tbs parmesan cheese, divided

Instructions

Cook spaghetti per directions on package. Drain and rinse with hot water.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly butter a 2-quart casserole dish, or 4 individual 2 cup ramekins.

Thoroughly rinse scallops and shrimp in cold water, drain, and cut scallops to desired size. I like a bite sized piece.

Melt 3 tbs of butter in a sauté pan.

Add seafood and mushrooms and sauté over medium high heat.

Cook 6-8 minutes, or until scallops are opaque.

Remove from pan and set aside.

 In same pan, melt remaining butter. Add flour, salt and pepper and blend well.

Add half and half all at once.

Cook until mixture thickens. This should take about 5 minutes. Stir constantly with a whisk.

Add 4 T of parmesan cheese.

 Add scallops and mushrooms back to the pan.

Add wine and peas. Continue stirring until heated through.

Place spaghetti into saucepan with seafood mixture, and stir it all together until well mixed.

Place it all in the buttered casserole.

 Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until light brown and bubbly around the edges.

Southern Fried Cabbage

I am sure that I am not alone on Pinterest when I find a great recipe, make it, eat it and FORGET TO TAKE A PHOTO!!! Such is the case with me again. Nevertheless, it turned out great! Trust me!!!

Southern Fried Cabbage

Ingredients

  • 6 slices bacon cut in pieces
  • 2 tablespoons bacon grease
  • 1 cup onions chopped
  • 1 1/2 pounds cabbage chopped
  • 1 tablespoon garlic chopped
  • 1/3 cup chicken stock
  • 1 teaspoon seasoned salt or more to taste
  • crushed red pepper flakes optional, to taste

Instructions

Sauté the bacon in a heavy skillet until crispy.

Remove the bacon from the skillet and set aside.

Spoon off all but about 2 tablespoons of bacon grease.

Add the onions to the skillet and sauté until they just begin to become translucent.

Add the cabbage and garlic; sauté, stirring often, for about 10 minutes.

Add the chicken stock and seasoned salt. Simmer for about 10 minutes, or until it is as tender as you like and the liquid has mostly evaporated.

Stir in the bacon and serve.

Spaghetti Squash Chicken Pot Pie

If you are fortunate to live somewhere where spaghetti squash is available, you probably know that it is a very versatile squash and a great replacement for pasta! Cut it in half horizontally, remove the seeds, spray some olive oil over it and bake cut side down in a pyrex dish in the oven for about 40 minutes at 400 degrees. When it is done, remove it from the oven and turn cut side up. Let it cool a bit and then take a dinner fork and begin to shred it into strands.

While the shreds are resting, prepare the “pot pie” ingredients.

Spaghetti Squash Chicken Pot Pie

  • 5 cups cooked spaghetti squash, *see note below
  • 3/4 cup diced onion
  • 4 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 2 cups shredded chicken (or turkey)
  • 2 cups frozen peas and carrots (I used a can of Niblets)
  • 10 ounces button mushrooms, sliced OPTIONAL
  • 4 tablespoons of butter
  • 4 tablespoons of flour
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • Fresh black pepper to taste
  • 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
  • 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
  • 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided
  • 1/4 Panko breadcrumbs

1 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2 Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat.

3 Add the onions, stirring into the butter and cook until the onions have completely softened, about 10 minutes.

4 Stir in the garlic and cook one minute longer.

5 Add the Niblets, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning and rosemary then cook about 5 minutes.

6 Add the flour and stir to combine. Cook for a minute while stirring, then slowly pour in the milk.

7 Using a wooden spoon, scrape up the bottom of the skillet and stir the milk into the vegetables. Let the filling come up to a simmer and then let thicken for 3-4 minutes.

8 Stir in the chicken and 1/4 cup of the parmesan cheese, then remove the skillet form the heat. Taste for seasonings and adjust if needed.

9 Pour the filling into a large bowl along with the cooked spaghetti squash. Stir gently to combine the filling, then pour into a 9″ x 13″ baking dish that’s been buttered or sprayed with cooking spray.

10 Top the casserole with the remaining parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs then bake for 30 minutes.

11 To brown the topping even more, place the casserole under the broiler for 3-4 minutes.