Crab Cakes from Cooking for Two, 2009

If you take a brown bag lunch to work, definitely make extra of this recipe!  The crab cakes came out great, but with one complaint: we didn't have any left-overs. This recipe was simple, as expected, and delicious.




Substitutions/alterations used:
-Miracle Whip instead of mayonnaise
-Less lemon zest with slightly more lemon juice
-1 full slice of bread hand-ripped into small pieces (so the food processor didn't need to be washed)
-No parsley (due to allergies)


Recommendations:
-The recipe could tolerate more bread, although definitely not needed: an easy way to wind up with extra crab cakes to take for lunch
-Make extra dipping sauce (start the mayo mixture with extra ingredients).


Recipe from: America's Test Kitchen (Eds.). Cooking for Two: 2009, The Year's Best Recipes Cut Down to Size, 90-2.

Pan Seared Shrimp

Tonight we tried the Pan Seared Shrimp found on page 83 of Cooking for Two. We found this spicy dish to be very delicious, and would definitely make it again. We followed the cooking instructions exactly and made only these minor changes to the recipe:

- No avocado

- 1 teaspoon chipotle chile (recipe calls for 1/2 - 1 tsp)

- We didn't have limes to add to the rice, but instead used lime juice.

Preparation time for the dish was around 30 minutes. The measuring spoons got a great deal of use, and washing them slowed down prep time a bit. The actual cooking time was only around 5 minutes, so if you measure out all of the ingredients ahead of time this can be a quick meal when you actually want to eat. For this reason the dish also lends itself well to being a tasty appetizer.

The chipotle chile was quite spicy, but added a wonderful flavor to this dish. Although the book doesn't call for it, a side dish of a vegetable (green beans in our case) could help to break up the spicy flavor.

In all this was a great meal and I would highly recommend trying it!

Recipe from: America's Test Kitchen (Eds.). Cooking for Two: 2009, The Year's Best Recipes Cut Down to Size, 83-5.

Sweet and Spicy Pork Chops

This evening, we tried our first recipe from Cooking for Two - Sweet and Spicy Pork Chops (pages 77-78).  I followed the recipe using two heaping teaspoons of hot sauce (instead of two teaspoons) and simmering the sauce at the end for eight minutes (instead of five).  Made as suggested, Rob and I both found the meal delicious and agreed we'd absolutely make it again.  The timing suggested by the cookbook was spot on.  This combined with the ease of the recipe made the pork chops a definite go-to meal for weeknights.

I'd make only two, slight tweaks to the recipe: (1) use more hot sauce, perhaps doubling the suggested amount or adding some jalapeño/habanero juice and (2) top the finished pork chops with the remaining sauce from the pan, don't just return the pork to the pan and glaze, as suggested.  If you aren't keen on spicy food and don't find it necessary to add jalapeños to your salsa to perfect the taste, then this recipe is, most likely, well proportioned.

I served this with lemon-pepper green beans with walnuts and twice baked sweet potatoes.

Recipe from: America's Test Kitchen (Eds.). Cooking for Two: 2009, The Year's Best Recipes Cut Down to Size, 77-8.

Welcome

Greetings from our kitchen in the beautiful Nine Mile Valley.  After sharing common recipe tips and critiques through email, in person, and on the phone, we thought a collaborative space would be an excellent addition.  Hence, this space was born.  Join us and post your recipes and comments.  To help keep things organized, we ask that you please label each post with the meal type (e.g. breakfast, dinner, appetizer) and the main food ingredient(s) (e.g. chicken, beef, pasta).

Happy cooking,
Rob and Laura

P.S.  Feel free to feed the fish in the aquarium.  Left click in the blue area to drop food.