Soup Night (24 page)
Authors: Maggie Stuckey
Green Salad with Mini Crab Cakes
(photo,
page 100
)
Serves 8–10
My friend Nancy Allen, of Long Beach, Washington, has one great advantage over the rest of us — her husband Phil. He loves to catch crabs in the waters off the Long Beach Peninsula, where they are rich and sweet, and only a skip away from their home. From that bounty she has created many wonderful recipes, including this original version of crab cakes.
- 1 pound Dungeness crabmeat
- 1
⁄
2
cup plus 2 tablespoons mayonnaise - 3 scallions, finely chopped
- 1
⁄
4
cup finely chopped parsley or cilantro - 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
- 1
⁄
4
teaspoon freshly ground black pepper - Panko crumbs, or fine plain dry breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Grated lemon zest
- Lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
- 1 teaspoon dill weed, fresh or dried
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1
⁄
2
teaspoon chopped garlic - 1 tablespoon diced red pepper
- 1 tablespoon diced celery
- 10–12 ounces mixed salad greens
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 4 scallions, diced
- Vinaigrette
- 1.
Make the crab cakes: Combine the crabmeat, mayonnaise, scallions, parsley or cilantro, mustard, salt, and pepper, plus any optional additions, according to your preferences. Form the mixture into small patties about the size and shape of a flattened ping-pong ball. - 2.
Coat each crab cake thoroughly with panko crumbs (or, if you can’t find panko, with plain finely grated bread crumbs, such as Progresso brand). Place the patties on a plate or tray, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 1 hour (longer is fine). - 3.
Just before serving time, assemble the salad: Layer the salad greens, red onion slices, and scallions into a bowl. If possible, include some bitter greens (such as arugula, watercress, or endive) along with several types of lettuces; their tangy taste is a nice complement to the sweetness of the crab. Don’t add any dressing yet. - 4.
Cook the crab cakes: Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Arrange the crab cakes in the pan with room to spare; if you crowd them, they’ll steam rather than fry — you don’t want that. Set your timer for 4 minutes. Don’t touch them until the 4 minutes are up. Turn them over and set the timer for another 4 minutes. - 5.
While the crab cakes are cooking on their second side, toss the salad with your favorite vinaigrette and place servings on individual salad plates. - 6.
Place 3 or 4 crab cakes on each salad plate and serve at once.
Originally from Japan, panko crumbs have become widely popular in the United States in recent years, and with good reason: they are unbelievably crisp and crunchy, and retain that crispness through baking, oven frying, or frying. They are especially appropriate for delicately flavored items like shellfish, when you want crunch without any extra flavor.
Makes
1
⁄
2
cup
My friend Andrea Pedolsky, of Washington, D.C., is a wonderfully creative vegetarian cook. I’ve had the pleasure of eating at her table and admiring what she can do with the simplest ingredients. She is a wizard with salads and created this dressing in that improvisational way that so many great cooks favor: by combining several ideas and then finalizing the results into something new and unique. In her day job, Andrea is a talented editor, which may help explain her skill at combining, adapting, and reshaping disparate parts into something wonderful. Check out her Leftover Split-Pea Soup (
page 144
) for another example of her “editorial” work.
- 1
⁄
3
cup extra-virgin olive oil - 2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons plain yogurt
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until emulsified. Serve on a fresh, green salad.
Whole-Wheat Peanut Butter Cookies
Recipe from
Toni Kelly
, Erie, Pennsylvania
Makes 4 dozen cookies
A more wholesome version of the classic favorite.
- 1
⁄
2
cup (1 stick) unsalted butter - 1
⁄
2
cup natural peanut butter, either creamy or crunchy - 1
⁄
2
cup brown sugar, packed - 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3
⁄
4
cup unbleached all-purpose flour - 1 cup whole-wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1
⁄
2
teaspoon sea salt
- 1.
Preheat the oven to 375°F. - 2.
Cream the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and
1
⁄
2
cup of the granulated sugar together in large mixing bowl. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla, beating well after each addition. Add the all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, baking soda, and salt, and mix well. - 3.
Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and roll in the remaining
1
⁄
2
cup sugar. - 4.
Arrange the balls on baking sheets and flatten slightly with a fork in a crisscross pattern. Bake until set and lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. - 5.
Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for a minute before moving them to a cooling rack.
Lemon Ice Cream
Recipe from
Albertina’s Restaurant
, Portland, Oregon
Serves 6
This is incredibly rich, incredibly easy (you don’t need an ice cream maker), and incredibly good. I have known folks to lick their dessert bowls, to get the very last drop. Seriously.
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1
⁄
3
cup freshly squeezed lemon juice - 1 cup whipping cream
- 1
⁄
2
teaspoon vanilla extract - Mint leaves, for garnish
- 1 lemon, sliced paper thin, for garnish
- 1.
Mix the sugar, milk, and lemon juice in a medium bowl. - 2.
Whip the cream until stiff, then fold it into the milk mixture. Add the vanilla, and mix well. Pour into a shallow container to freeze. - 3.
Stir the ice cream at least once when partially frozen. - 4.
Garnish with fresh mint leaves or lemon slices.
Mimi’s Double Chocolate Brownies
Makes about 50 brownies
For most of the first decade of the twenty-first century, David Kenworthy, Episcopal minister and unpretentious gourmet cook, prepared a wonderful holiday gift for his friends — a compilation of a dozen or so recipes that he had especially enjoyed during the year, including some from his mother, Mimi. He chose the best of the best, lovingly printed them out on holiday-themed paper, and bound them together with a holiday letter filled with gentle wit and good wishes. His many friends miss him greatly. I like to think he would have loved the idea of Soup Nights.
- 3
⁄
4
cup (1
1
⁄
2
sticks) butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan - 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped, the best you can afford
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1
⁄
2
teaspoon salt - 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan
- 1
⁄
2
cup walnut halves (optional) - 4–5 ounces good-quality chocolate chips (optional)
- 1.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly butter a 10- by 13-inch baking pan, dust with flour, then tap out the excess flour. - 2.
Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter and the chopped chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat. - 3.
In a mixing bowl, cream the remaining
1
⁄
2
cup butter with the sugar until light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl occasionally. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each one. Stir in the vanilla and salt. Add melted butter–chocolate mixture, stirring to combine well. - 4.
Sift 1 cup flour and then spoon it back into the measuring cup. Sifting will add air to the flour; level the measuring cup with a spoon. Add the flour to the batter one-third at a time, mixing well after each addition. - 5.
Add the walnuts and chocolate chips. Both are optional, but adding the chocolate chips is what makes these brownies “double chocolate.” - 6.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes. Check the brownies after 20 minutes; if the top is cracking, whisk the pan out of oven, because they’re getting too done. To be sure they’re done, insert a toothpick in the center; if it comes out clean and the sides are beginning to shrink from the pan, cool the brownies to room temperature and cut. If the brownies are not done, put them back in the oven for a few more minutes.
Dave’s recipes came to me, and now to you, from his longtime friend Connie West. They were high school pals in the small town of The Dalles, Oregon, but, as these things often go, lost track after graduation. When they ran into each other a few years later, Dave was on leave from his mission work in St. Croix, Virgin Islands. He happened to mention that a new school, under construction, was in need of teachers. Connie, a woman with a bold heart, didn’t hesitate. Off she went to St. Croix and to an amazing adventure that would change her life. The teaching job led to a position as private tutor to one of her students, which meant traveling the world, and eventually led her to the man she would marry.
Spring
Spring brings many good things. The first flowers, the first tantalizing warm days, the first farmers’ markets. And asparagus, the quintessential spring vegetable. At its peak, there’s nothing like it, and anyone can be forgiven for gorging themselves.
In fact, I once read a story in a cooking magazine (this was years ago, and I no longer remember which publication) about a woman who was tired of her friends complaining that they never got enough fresh asparagus because the season was so short, so she decided to do something about it. She prepared an elegant dinner party of just asparagus — nothing more. At several critical points along the table, she placed small bowls of drawn butter, butter with lemon, and hollandaise sauce, but otherwise the only thing on the table was a half dozen big white platters mounded with beautifully steamed asparagus spears, bright green and tender-crisp. Her friends thought it was magnificent.
In honor of this wonderful treat that truly is only worth eating when it’s fresh, let’s start the recipes with two versions of asparagus soup.
It’s about 6:30
pm
, and everyone has settled in with their full soup bowls when Milo stands up and taps his wine glass with his spoon. Most of the conversations continue uninterrupted, but Milo teaches middle school and he is not about to let a bunch of unruly adults get the best of him. Over good-natured protests, he finally gets everyone to stop talking.
His announcement is simple, but his excitement is plain to all: He and Joy have just learned that they are about to welcome their first grandchild. The room erupts in cheers.
