Fisherman's Stew

Ingredients:

3 lb 5 oz Mussles

3 tbsp Olive Oil

1-2 Onions, Chopped

3 Garlic Cloves, finely chopped

1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced

3 Carrots, chopped

1 lb (12oz can) chopped tomatoes

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tbsp chopped fresh dill

2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme

1 tbsp fresh bail leaves

2 lbs whitefish fillet (or any fish you like) cut into chunks

1 lb shrimp, peeled and devined

32 oz fish stock

Salt and Pepper

Directions:

1.  Clean the mussels by scrubbing or scraping the shells and pulling off any beards.  Discard any with broken shells and any that refuse to close (gently tap the shells...if the muscles are still alive, this tapping will freighten them and they will close their shells--you want to cook the muscles when they are fresh and sadly when they are still alive.)  Rinse the mussels under cold running water

2. Heat the oil in your pan.  Add the onions, garlic, bell pepper and carrots and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes...or until softened

3. Add the tomoatoes, wine (Yum-O), tomato paste, and herbs.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. 

4. Add the fish, mussels, shrimp and stock and season to taste with the salt and pepper.  Return the stew to boil and simmer for 6-8 minutes, or until the shrimp have turned pink and the mussles have opened.  Discard any mussles that remain closed (that is because those mussels may have not cooked all the way--toss 'em, you dont want to take the chance)

5. Serve immediately, garnish with basil leaves...again it is all about presentation... :)

My friend, La'Rhonda made this for me today.  Not only was it delicious, it was also very light and i didnt feel like a fat ass after eating it! lol...and to me, that is always a plus.  She found this recipe in a book titled "Mmmm...Casseroles"  Check it out! :)

From Scratch...Pumpkin Pie

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups of pumpkin pulp purée from a sugar pumpkin* or from canned pumpkin purée
• 1 1/2 cup heavy cream or 1 12 oz. can of evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs plus the yolk of a third egg
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest
• 1 good crust

* To make pumpkin purée from a sugar pumpkin: start with a small-medium sugar pumpkin, cut out the stem and scrape out the insides, discard (save the seeds, of course). Cut the pumpkin in half and lay cut side down on a rimmed baking sheet lined with silpat or aluminum foil. Bake at 350°F until fork tender, about an hour to an hour and a half. Remove from oven, let cool, scoop out the pulp. (Alternatively you can cut the pumpkin into sections and steam in a saucepan with a couple inches of water at the bottom, until soft.) If you want the pulp to be extra smooth, put it through a food mill or chinois.

METHOD

1 Preheat oven to 425°F.

2 Mix sugars, salt, and spices, and lemon zest in a large bowl. Beat the eggs and add to the bowl. Stir in the pumpkin purée. Stir in cream. Whisk all together until well incorporated.

3 Pour into pie shell and bake at 425°F for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes reduce the temperature to 350°F. Bake 40-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

4 Cool on a wire rack for 2 hours.

Hope you enjoy this one.  You can taste the spices in this pie compared to the libbys canned pumpkin pie.

You can find the original recipe at simplyrecipes.com.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Streusel Cuffins

INGREDIENTS: Cream Cheese filling

1 (8oz) package cream cheese, SOFTENED*
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons brown sugar

INGREDIENTS: Streusel

4 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
5 tablespoons white sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter, SOFTENED*
3 tablespoons chopped pecans

INGREDIENTS: Cuffin

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups canned pumpkin (about 3/4 of a can)
1/3 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

INGREDIENTS: Cream Cheese Icing

1 lb cream cheese, SOFTENED*
2 sticks butter, SOFTENED*
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 cups powdered sugar (I used 3 because i don't like super sweet icing)
1 1-gallon ziploc bag


DIRECTIONS:


1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).  Prepare paper liners in cupcake pan.
2. To make the filling: Medium bowl, beat SOFTENED cream cheese until soft.  Add egg, vanilla and brown sugar.  Beat until smooth, set aside.
3.For Streusel Topping: Medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, cinnamon and pecans.  Add SOFTENED butter and cut it in with a fork until crumbly.  Set aside.
4. Cuffin Batter:  In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.  In another large bowl, add eggs, pumpkin, olive oil and vanilla--MIX the wet ingredients together then gradually start mixing in the dry ingredients.  Beat together until smooth.
5. Place cuffin mixture in the cupcake liners in the pan; fill 1/2 full.  now the Cream cheese filling.  Add one tablespoon or so of the cream cheese mixture right in the middle of the batter.  Try to keep cream cheese from touching the paper.  Once all cuffins have their filling sprinkle the streusel topping.
6. Bake at 375 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

7. Once the cuffins is out of the oven you want to COOL THE CUFFINS completely....or else the icing will melt right off the cuffin and the whole "presentation" is out the window.  Cooling your Cuffins can take a few hours.

8. For the Cream Cheese Icing:  Add the SOFTENED cream cheese, butter, vanilla into a bowl and mix it until smooth.  Set the mixer on LOW SPEED (or else you will be wearing most of the powdered sugar) and you can slowly add some powdered sugar...wait until the sugar is blended before adding more, beat until all sugar is incorporated.  NOW turn mixer to high and beat until fluffy.

9. Add all frosting into a 1-gallon zip loc bag.  This is going to act as your pastry bag.  Push all frosting to a bottom corner of the bag and cut a small opening in the bottom corner.

10. Lastly, You want to add the icing to the top of the cupcake.  To give it a professional look (as professional as you can with a ziploc bag that is...)  Start squeezing the frosting on the outer part of the cuffin and work your way towards the center, see pic.

11.  Once you ice all your cuffins, use chopped and whole walnuts to garnish.





*It is important to use softened ingredients or else the texture will make the baking process harder than it really needs to be.


Hope you enjoy this recipe.  I first found this recipe on allrecipes.com but the original recipe did not call for the cream cheese icing.  Do yourself a favor, MAKE THE ICING...it is 10x better., if not 100X.  It has been a big hit here in Rochester.  If you want a little less calorie intake, make the cuffins without the cream cheese filling.

And lastly...I could decide if these are muffins or cupcakes...so that is where the name Cuffins came about.

Enjoy ;)