Reagan's Seafood Bisque (recipe)

I made this bisque after adapting a couple of classic recipes to include more vegetables and cut down on heavy cream. I wanted a soup that had more lean protein in it, and ended up deciding to add a final step, of adding in my favorite types of seafood after the bisque has been pureed. This is a rich, delicious soup that goes wonderfully with fresh bread, and any fresh, seasonal seafood and herbs that you have on hand.The whole prawns create the base for this dish, but aside from that, you can add just about any favorite fish or shellfish. I chose to use shrimp, lump Dungeness crab meat, and Alaskan cod. I also used fresh thyme and parsley from the garden. This recipe creates a giant crock pot of soup- I made it this way so that I could share it with friends, and freeze small containers to pull out for a quick meals down the road. If you are planning to make just enough to serve a family for one night, I would cut the recipe in half- which would then fill up a 4 qt saucepan rather than a crock pot, and easily serve 6 people as a main dish (and would give you 12-16 small cups of soup for side dishes/appetizers).

Ingredients

1 yellow onion
1 medium leek, chopped
1 bulb fennel, chopped
3 Tablespoons olive oil
4 Tablespoons butter
2 cans peeled, diced tomatoes, drained
1 small can tomato paste (around 5-6 Tablespoons)
1 cup Oloroso sherry
1 pound medium sized, whole, shell on, prawns
1 cup uncooked Basmati rice
4 cups heavy cream
4 cups half-and-half
2 cups vegetable stock
8 sprigs parsley & sprigs thyme- tied with cooking twine
2 teaspoons crushed, dried bay leaf
2 teaspoons crushed, dried basil
fresh ground salt and pepper
8 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
a few pinches of cayenne pepper
1 pound shrimp-I like the cooked, peeled, deviened shrimp meat (looks like tiny baby shrimp)
1/2 pound lump Dungeness crab meat
1/2 pound fillet of Alaskan Cod

Tools needed: Blender (standard or emulsion) and large crock pot

Step 1: Heat butter and olive oil in a large crock pot over medium heat. Add onion, leek, and fennel. Cook until translucent (about 8 minutes).

Step 2: Add tomatoes and tomato paste. cook until most of the liquid from the tomatoes has evaporated (about 6 minutes). Add sherry, and simmer until reduced by half (about 10 minutes). Count your whole shell on prawns, and write the number down. This will help you later when you need to remove all of them from the soup.

Step 3: Stir in prawns, rice, cream, half-and-half, and vegetable stock. Bring to a simmer. Add bundle of fresh herbs, as well as dried basil and bay leaf. Simmer gently, stirring every few minutes, for 25 minutes. Add lemon juice, cayenne pepper, and salt and pepper to taste. Continue to simmer for 20 minutes more (total time simmering = 45 minutes).


Step 4: Remove herbs and whole prawns. Discard. Puree soup in a blender. You could also use an emulsion blender or a food processor. I just have a small blender, and I ended up needing to blend two batches (about 90 % of the soup). The bisque can be served at this point. If adding seafood such as crab, shrimp, cod, halibut, shellfish, scallops, etc. follow step 5.


Step 5: After pureeing, return soup to crock pot, over medium heat. Add cod, shrimp and crab (or desired seafood). Simmer for a final 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently. If adding fish, flake into small pieces with a wooden spoon as you stir.

Step 5: Garnish with sprigs of parsley, and serve with warm bread. Enjoy!

Orecchiette Pasta with Brown Butter Sage Sauce (recipe)

This is such a quick and delicious meal. It is rich and flavorful, and is a good choice as a side dish to roasted veggies or chicken dishes. Here, I served it with some homemade meatballs. I added lots of fresh sage, garlic, and Pecorino-Romano cheese to the meatballs, along with extra red pepper flakes. See the previous meatball recipe for details on how to make homemade meatballs. Once those were in the oven, while the pasta was cooking, I made the sauce. One important factor with this sauce is the type of pasta- It works well with smaller, thicker types of pasta such as campanelle, orecchiette, and is outstanding with stuffed pastas such as a cheese or mushroom ravioli.

Ingredients

Two large handfuls of fresh sage leaves, julienned (30-40 leaves)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
3 Tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound of pasta (see above for pasta types)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
a pinch of salt

optional- homemade garlic-sage meatballs with Pecorino cheese

Step 1: Make and cook meatballs. See previous recipe for details. Modify as follows: add 5 cloves minced garlic, 15 diced sage leaves, 1/3 cup Pecorino cheese, and 2 extra teaspoons red pepper flakes, into ground beef mixture before shaping meatballs.



Step 2: Boil water for pasta. Add pasta, cook to al Dente, and drain. Pasta should still have a nice 'bite'

Step 3: Make sauce. In a medium sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat until it begins to foam. At that point, add in 3 Tablespoons olive oil, and all of the julienned sage leaves. Continue to cook, stirring slowly. Be careful that the heat is not too low (needs to be high enough to maintain foam and slowly brown butter) and not too high (be very careful not to burn/overcook). Just as the sauce begins to turn a pale golden color, add minced garlic. Continue to cook until sauce is golden throughout, but not burned. Add a pinch of salt, to taste.




Step 4: Pour sauce over cooked pasta, and toss pasta so that it is evenly coated. If using meatballs, add those to the pasta as well. Serve immediately. Garnish wish Parmesan cheese and a couple of fresh sage leaves.

Davis-Vietnam Community Outreach Project

We are so excited to announce our travel plans for this summer! We are going to have quite an adventure, trekking through the jungles and communities of Northern and Central Vietnam with a few of our good friends. We will be in Vietnam in August, for a total of three weeks. The focus of our journey will be our community outreach project, and our volunteer efforts in a local orphanage. We hope to share more information as our trip comes together, and share pictures and stories as we travel! We are also looking forward to exploring Vietnam's natural beauty including its National Parks, wildlife, and ocean. We are excited about meeting people from local villages, staying in stilt houses, hiking in the jungles, and learning about the history, culture, and landscape of Vietnam- as well as reach out to the orphans of Ba Vi and support their needs.

Click HERE to follow us on Facebook


Davis-Vietnam Community Outreach Project

Goals/Fundraising Plan

Goals

Volunteer our time and services in Ba Vi Orphanage, in Northern Vietnam

Make a connection with the community of Ba Vi Orphanage by developing relationships with the children and workers; learning about daily life in the orphanage; observing the needs of the children, staff, and building; and beginning a dialogue about how to extend and continue our support

Purchase much needed supplies and materials for the children at the orphanage

Travel through Northern and Central Vietnam to learn about the country, language, culture, landscape, and local villages

Visit the Cuc Phuong National Park to view one of last remaining preserved habitats in the country, and the endangered animals and indigenous Muong Hill Tribe that lives within the park.

Visit and make a contribution (donation, possibly also volunteer some time) the Endangered Primate Rescue Center (operated by the Frankfurt Zoo) within Cuc Phuong National Park.

Bring photos, stories, and information back to the children of La Rue Park CDC and Russell Park CDC in Davis, CA; help the children develop a sense of global citizenship, an awareness of other cultures and ways of life, a sense of responsibility to care for others in need, as well as knowledge about the country of Vietnam and the people and animals who live there

Plan future support efforts

Expenses

5 volunteers (Melissa Chordas, Lisa Heritage, Reagan Carosino, Chris Carosino, Palina Chordas) from Davis California are traveling to Northern and Central Vietnam from August 1 – 21, 2010. The following figures reflect the actual costs of travel and living expenses for the trip, excluding any donations/contributions we will make.

Cost of airfare: $1206.00 per person

Cost of trip once in Vietnam: $1,300 per person (including guide, interpreter, transportation, lodging, food, etc.)

Total cost per person: $2,500.00

Total cost for group: $12,500.00

(This figure does not include cost of Visas, passports, vaccinations, malaria medication, and health and safety related travel supplies including DEET, sunscreen, Sipro, etc. or equipment such as leech socks, backpacks, hiking shoes, etc which each person will need to obtain)

Fundraising Goal for Community Outreach Project

Fundraise $2,000 to purchase supplies for the orphanage. We will take most of the funds with us to Vietnam to purchase supplies there. We may purchase some supplies in America to take with us if transport is feasible. This includes the following items which the orphanage has already specified as an area of dire need:

-Board books and picture books in English

-Baby formula

-Educational basics including paper, pencils, etc.

-Some clothing for the children

We would like to use about 250 dollars for a donation to the Endangered Primate Rescue Center. This will help to support their efforts to rescue primates from smuggling and illegal trade, as well as support habitat preservation, breeding programs, education, and program development.

We would also like to fundraise $600 per person coming on the trip. This will help pay for the cost of food, lodging, interpreter, transportation, and expenses while we are volunteering.

5 people x $600 = $3,000 total to help cover volunteer costs

Total Fundraising Goal: $5,250

Italian Wedding Soup with Homemade Meatballs (recipe)

Today a friend gave us a ton of greens from a weekly produce basket. I decided to try and use them by making homemade Italian Wedding Soup, with fresh greens, Israeli couscous, and homemade meatballs. I have never made meatballs before, and even though I was winging it, I was really happy with how they turned out. The quality of meat makes such a huge difference. We have been getting our meat from the UC Davis Meat Sale. Every couple of weeks UC Davis offers meat from their animal sciences program for sale. It is extremely fresh (slaughtered and butchered on site), and raised naturally- free of unneccessary antibiotics. The animals are raised in small numbers and recieve vetrinary care from UCD. The meat is SO delicious, and ground beef goes for about $2/pound. I just made up the recipe as I went along, and added what I happened to have, so I thought I'd share the basics here:

Ingredients for Meatballs:

fresh ground beef (2.5 lbs)
1 sweet yellow onion, finely diced
2 fresh eggs
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 Tablespoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons garlic pepper
2 teaspoons dried basil, crushed
freshly ground salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, using hands. When evenly mixed, use hands to shape into small meatballs. Each one should be about 2 tablespoons worth of meat mixture. This recipe should make enough to completely fill 2 cookie sheets. Bake until cooked through (~8-12 minutes).



Ingredients for Soup:

free range chicken broth
Vegetable bouillon cubes
1 pound organic Crimini mushrooms, diced
several large bunches freshly picked seasonal greens (you could use any- I used chard, kohlrabi, mustard greens, arugula, spinach, bay leaf, and a few varieties of lettuce)
Israeli couscous (I used around 2 cups, dry, for a huge stockpot of soup)


For soup:

Put a stockpot on the stove, and fill with 50% free range chicken broth, 50% water. Bring to a boil. Add vegetable bouillon cubes (Use the amount of water added to broth to determine number of cubes- ratio on package, usually 2 cups per cube).
Add diced Crimini mushrooms, simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add choped greens and bay leaves, cook for another 5 minutes. Add Isreali couscous, cook for a final 5 minutes.

Vegetarians can eat soup plain (if you are eating with people who don't like to use chicken broth, you can use veggie stock exclusively), meat eaters can add meatballs as desired. A bowl of soup with 4 meatballs is well balanced. Garnish bowls of soup with parmesan cheese, and serve with freshly baked rustic bread.

Quick and Easy Banana Bread (recipe)

This is a nice recipe for those forgotten bananas that are starting to look a little spotty:

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas
1 Tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 stick butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Step 1: Preheat oven to 325. Grease a 9 x 3 bread pan.

Step 2: Peel bananas, and place them into a small bowl. Add cinnamon and milk, and use a fork to mash mixture together until evenly mixed and creamy.

Step 3: In a mixer bowl, beat butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then, add the banana mixture, stirring well until evenly mixed.

Step 4: Add dry ingredients, and mix until flour has disappeared, then stop. Transfer into baking pan. Bake until cooked through and a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean (1hour to 1hour 15 minutes).

Step 5: Allow to cool for 15 minutes, then enjoy warm!



Variations: add crushed walnuts, dried cranberries (or both) with dry ingredients. Enjoy with honey or butter on top.

Next time I make it, I am going to try brown sugar instead of granulated, and crumble some on the top... we'll see how it turns out!

Spring Projects

Spring has sprung in Davis. The sunshine and 75 degree weather sent us outside, to work on some of our garden projects and yard work. Two of our accomplishments this week included building a 4 x 4 compost bin using recycled wood pallets, and getting our first batch of chicks. We are hoping to build a coop in the coming weeks, and look forward to having chickens, fertilizer, pest control, and our own eggs by the end of summer.

Here is a picture of one of the chicks next to an egg, for size comparison. She hatched from her own egg just two days ago.

These are our little ladies... we hope. The chickens are pre-sexed, so 95% of them should be hens. We picked up a total of four chicks from one of our favorite stores- Higby's Feed, in the neighboring town of Dixon. The little yellow ones are Buff Orpingtons, and the black and white ones are Barred Plymouth Rocks. Someday they should look like this....



Buff Orpington

Barred Plymouth Rock

Here is our compost bin- still under construction. It has now been completed and is in use. It is also completely lined with chicken wire, and has a lid. We salvaged the wood pallets from the alleyways of Davis. The only cost was about $7 worth of chicken wire. We are really excited to decrease our household waste and create some beautiful compost for our garden.

Cooking Up Comfort Food: Ground Beef Stroganoff (recipe)

Chris and I were both under the weather over the past few days. This is one of my favorite dishes to fight a cold- quick and easy to make, warm, inviting, and with ingredients like black pepper, onion, garlic, and spicy brown mustard to boost the immune system and clear the sinuses. In this version I substituted ground beef for the traditional Stroganoff's strips of beef tenderloin because it is what I had on hand, and is cheaper. (To stay on the cheap but avoid factory farms, I like the organic, grass fed, ground beef now carried at Costco)



Ingredients

12 oz egg noodles
1 lb ground beef
freshly ground salt and pepper
garlic powder
3 1/2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon flour
1 cup beef stock
1 onion, sliced very thinly
3 Tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon spicy mustard
(We like Sierra Nevada's Porter&Spicy Brown)

Step 1: In a pot or large saucepan bring water to boil, and add egg noodles. Cook until just tender, still slightly firm (3-5 minutes). When noodles have cooked, drain and set aside.

Step 2: While noodles cook, season ground beef with freshly ground black pepper, sea salt, and garlic powder (~2 tsp) to taste. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Melt 2 tablespoons butter. As butter starts to foam, add onion. Cook for one minute, then add beef. Use a wooden spoon to periodically stir beef and break into small pieces. As soon as beef is just cooked, remove from heat (do not overcook. Meat should remain moist, not dark brown and crumbly).

Step 3: In a saucepan melt 1 1/2 Tablespoons butter. Whisk in 1 Tablespoon flour until smooth. Add 1 cup beef stock, and bring to a simmer. Whisk for 1-2 minutes as sauce thickens. Reduce heat. Once sauce has stopped bubbling, add sour cream and mustard. Stir into sauce until texture and color are smooth and even. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Step 4: Pour sauce over ground beef and onions. Toss with egg noodles. Serve hot.

Variations: Sliced mushrooms can be added in with onions and lightly browned before beef is added.