It’s Lent and I’m running out of idea’s for Friday night dinners so I’ll be giving this one a shot just as soon as I can pick up some Chef Paul Magic spice. Also, make note that you do not want to use salted butter.

Ingredients:

Talapia filets
Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Blackened Redfish Magic Spice
1 Stick of Unsalted butter (salted butter will BURN!!!)
Cast Iron Skillet

Instructions:

This works best outdoors due to the the blackened smoke so unless you have a kick-butt commercial exhaust fan, you would be smart to put your cast iron skillet on an outdoor grill to blacken your fish.  With that said, get the skillet red hot and your ready to get started.

Dredge the filets in melted butter and coat one side generously with the blackened spice and place this side down in the hot skillet.

Now coat the top side heavily with more blackened spice. Cook 2-3 minutes, turn and cook half the time you did the first side.

Serve hot with grilled corn and potatoes.

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My daughter just came home from her freshman year in college. This was her first meal request. I guess that speaks volumes. I did it with the asparagus and mashed potatoes. This is typically a summer deal and done on the grill but its 27 degrees and blustery here so the broiler worked just fine.

Ingredients:

1 to 1.5 lb. flank steak
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
4-8 slices of bacon
fresh parsley
1 pkg. hollandaise sauce mix
1/4 tsp. dried tarragon

Instructions:

Score the steak diagonally, making diamond cuts. Wrap in plastic wrap and pound to 1/8″ thickness.  Season on both sides.

Cook bacon until done but still soft, lay lengthwise on the steak. Toss the parsley on top.

Roll the steak up jellyroll style. Secure with toothpicks and cut into 1 inch slices.

Grill to medium rare, turning once.

Prepare the hollandaise sauce according to package instructions, add the tarragon and stir. Serve over the grilled steak.

This is steak is great served with grilled asparagus and mashed potatoes. Place the potatoes on the plate, top with asparagus and then steak & hollandaise. Pour a little demi glaze around the potatoes or the hollandaise. Serve with fresh bread and a salad.

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On Valentine’s Day, I prefer to have a fancy cocktail and cook a simple dinner at home that’s delicious but not labor intensive.

Rick’s Maryland Crab-cakes are just the ticket. Mix them up ahead of time so they’re ready to go and while you’re grilling a small fillet and making a salad they can be browning in a skillet.

The perfect Valentine’s dinner!

MMD

Maryland is perhaps the king of crab-cakes, at least they make that claim. Texas has brisket, K.C. owns ribs and the Carolina’s are the master of pork.

About 10 years ago they held a local crab cake contest in Frederick at the annual county fair and this recipe took home all the marbles. It’s simple and that’s the key to a great crab cake recipe. In Maryland they don’t ruin their crab cakes with a bunch of “fillers”. One bite and you’ll know exactly what I mean.

If you can’t find blackfin crab any fresh lump meat crab will work.

Ingredients:

1 lb. blackfin crabmeat shells removed
1 egg, well beaten
4 saltines, crumbled
2 tbsp. mayo
2 tsp. mustard
1 tsp. old bay

Directions:

In a bowl, mix all ingredients and pour over crab. Mix gently and form into patties. Fry in butter over medium heat in a non stick skillet until golden brown.

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From Rick:

“I wish I could say that I had been a studious son of my mom’s talents in the kitchen when I was nearing college. I imagine she had no worries as I was to be fed with the masses on campus. The bad news for me was that, as graduate school approached, there would be no ‘dining hall’ and no ‘mom’ bailing me out on weeknight dinners.

One afternoon, after classes, I called her and asked for some help in the kitchen.  This was my first time living ‘off campus’ and my new room-mates (all upper class-men) required I provide a dinner or two a week. Of course she came through with some classics that even a newbie could handle. This was one of her easy stews at the time and I have changed very little. I do prefer the slow cook version but that’s because I have her awesome ‘Magnolite’ dutch oven. I am pretty sure I could put dirt in that, cook it slow, and someone would ask me for the recipe. Anyway……here is her Wine Beef Stew and I quickly developed a reputation in grad school for being ‘a cook’ because of mom.

1 lb. stew beef cut into small pieces
garlic powder and pepper to taste
1 package Lipton Onion Soup Mix (dry)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
water
3 carrots sliced thin
2 potatoes sliced thin
1 cup red or white thin
1/2 cups mushrooms sliced thick

Instructions:

Oven (350 degrees for 2 1/2 hours):

Place beef in dutch oven, sprinkle with seasoning. Mix the dry soup and cream of mushroom soup with enough water to make it pourable. Pour over beef, cover tightly either with a lid or foil. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Add potatoes and carrots, cover and bake for another hour.

Add wine and mushrooms, bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

Oven (225 degrees for 7 hours):

Place beef in dutch oven with the potatoes and sprinkle with seasoning. Mix the dry soup and cream of mushroom soup with enough water to make it pourable. Pour over beef, cover tightly with lid or foil. Bake at 225 degrees for 3  hours.

Add the carrots and cook for another 3 1/2 hours at 225 degrees.

Add the wine and mushrooms and cook uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

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Don’t you just love these creamy, cheesy pumpkin rolls? You don’t have to buy them from a bakery. My brother Rick shared his recipe for the homemade version and they’re surprisingly simple. It’s as easy as opening a can of pumpkin and sifting some dry ingredients together, spreading the batter onto a jelly roll pan and then rolling it up, letting it cool and then unfolding it to spread the cream cheese filling over the inside. Put it in the fridge for an hour and you’ve got this beautiful pumpkin roll to serve for Thanksgiving dessert.

Ingredients:

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2/3 can pumpkin
1 tsp. lemon juice
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ginger
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
1 cup finely chopped pecans

Ingredients for filling:

1 cup powdered sugar
4 tbsp. butter room temperature
6 oz. cream cheese room temperature
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Spray a heavy 15x2x10 jelly roll pan with Pam. Line the pan with wax paper.

Beat eggs at high speed for 5 minutes. Gradually add sugar, stir in pumpkin and lemon juice.

Fold in dry ingredients. Spread batter on to the pan and sprinkle with pecans. Bake 15 minutes, remove from oven. Let cake sit for 10 minutes then flip it over on to a clean towel that’s been sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Peel off the wax paper. While cake is still warm, roll up the towel lengthwise.

Beat the filling ingredients until smooth. When the cake is cool, unroll and spread the filling. Roll the cake up again (without using the towel), cover it with plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.

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