Seafood in Puff Pastry

Last week I posted on a Napoleon I made. I sheet of the puff pastry made 6 pastries, I only used 3. With just my wife and I at home I had to come up with another recipe for the other pastries. The following recipe is what I came up with. A word of caution, make sure to drain the seafood as puff pastry does not like liquid. I speak from experience.

Seafood in Puff Pastry
1 sheet puff pastry (this will make 6 servings)
2 scallops per person
6 shrimp per person
1/4 cup cherry tomatoes per person, cut in 1/2 if large
2 tsp celery, finely chopped per person
1 tsp onion, finely chopped per person
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 cup white wine, increase if making more than 2
Parsley for garnish.

Cut puff pastry into 6 pieces. The pastry is folded into thirds so after it thaws unfold it and cut on the fold lines and then cut each section in 1/2. Follow baking instructions on the puff pastry box for cooking. When pastry is done cut in 1/2 horizontally.

Preheat grill.

Take a 3 foot long piece of aluminum foil. Fold it in 1/2, so you have an 18 inch long piece with 2 layers. Fold one side over 1/2 inch and then fold a second time also 1/2 inch. Turn foil around and fold the other side 1/2 inch twice. Fold the bottom up 1/2 inch, this will strengthen the foil. You should now have a pouch with an open top and the other 3 sides folded over.

Place all of the ingredients except the parsley and pastry in the pouch. Fold the top down twice, each time folding about 1/2 inch. Place on grill and cook for about 10 minutes. Flip packet over and cook for 5 minutes. Be CAREFUL when flipping so the packet does not open and ingredients don't spill out or that you don't get burned. When the packet is ready remove from grill and dump contents into a bowl. Place the bottom 1/2 of the puff pastry on the plate. With a slotted spoon remove some of contents of bowl and drain. Then place the ingredients on the puff pastry. You can put the top on the pastry and place another scoop of seafood mixture on top or put another scoop on the puff pastry and set the top on side of plate as I did in picture. Sprinkle parsley over plate after all of the seafood mixture has been placed on plate. Serve immediately.

Chicken Tostada with Queso Fresco

Thursday my wife and I celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary. My wife had taken Thursday and Friday off, I surprised her and told her I took Friday off and told her we were heading for the beach. We live close enough to the beach where we can make it a day trip. The weather was perfect 80 degrees with a light breeze. We arrived just in time for lunch. We found a nice restaurant on the beach and Annette had crab cakes and I had Lobster Newburg served over linguine. After walking the beach and exploring downtown Wilmington, NC. We headed for the Airlie Gardens. The gardens definitely had and Italian influence but with a southern twist. Check out the gardens if you are ever in the area, definitely worth the trip. Then we swung by the beach for a short stroll, it seems our shell collection was a little short and my wife needed to add a few more to complete it. Then we had to grab a little more seafood before we headed home. I had a salad with shrimp and crab, completing the seafood trifecta (shrimp, crab and lobster) all in one day. My wife had shrimp and seared tuna served over Thai noodles. I think it was probably the best day off we have had in a long time.

Friday night is usually when we do our grocery shopping, but since the beach messed that up we went Saturday. Since Saturday we have a farmers market we decided to go there first. I am glad we went. The market is bigger this year with more vendors and a better variety of foods. I bought some Queso Fresco which inspired today recipe. We also bought mixed greens (in todays recipe), strawberries which are now jam thanks to Annette, radishes and cilantro (also in todays recipe).

Chicken Tostada with Queso Fresco

Tostada and Miscellaneous Ingredients
1 tortilla per person
no-stick cooking spray
2 oz Queso Fresco, crumbled

Salad
This makes enough for 2 people
1 cup mixed greens
1 radish, sliced thinly per person
1/2 lime, juiced
1 tbs canola oil
salt and pepper to taste

Chicken
I chicken breast per person (I think we bought sparrow breasts as the one we got were so small)
1 tsp Southwestern seasoning per breast

Salsa
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved, quartered if large
1 tbs red onion, chopped
1/4 Jalapeno, finely chopped My wife likes very mild salsa add more if you like some spice
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat grill.
While grill is heating mix salsa ingredients together and let them sit to the flavors can mingle.
Sprinkle both sides of chicken breast with southwestern seasoning. Grill the breasts to desired doneness.
While breasts are grilling mix lime, oil, salt and pepper in a bowl. Toss the greens in the bowl to coat and set aside.
Spray the tortillas with no-stick cooking spray and place on grill when you take the breasts off. Cook until they get brown spots and start to bubble.

To Assemble
Put the tortilla on the plate, top with greens. Put the radishes on the greens. Put the chicken breast on top of the greens. Top the breast with the salsa. Sprinkle the whole thing with Queso Fresco.


Airlie Gardens in Wilmington NC.

Cherry Tomato and Pesto Pasta

For Easter all of my children came home, even though it didn't look like that was going to happen. We had our big meal on Saturday evening and the kids left when they wanted to. With no set times for coming and going, I had to come up with a dinner that I could easily make for 8 or cut down for just 2 if they all left. I wanted something on the light side since Saturday was a eat 'til it hurts day. I looked in the fridge for ideas and saw several pints of cherry tomatoes, buy one get one free at the grocery store plus we already had some. I decided since the temperature was in the 80's a no cook sauce was going to be just the thing. Last week I bought some pesto sauce, not enough basil growing yet to make my own. So here is what I made.

Pesto and Cherry Tomato Pasta
2 tbs Pesto, homemade or store bought
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half
8 oz pasta
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, optional

Cook pasta until el dente. While pasta is cooking chop tomatoes and mix with pesto. Set aside in a bowl. Drain pasta when its done and place in bowl with tomatoes. Toss until thoroughly mixed. Top with cheese and serve. You could add fresh basil leaves as a garnish if you like.