Author Archives: Emily

The people of Texas have this weird tendency to not believe signs. It’s almost as if they think the people who set up the signs put it there as a joke. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve seen signs reading “Left lane ends” or “Lane ends: Merge right”, and the person driving doesn’t merge over until the very last second. I don’t know if they’re all blind or think maybe the giant orange cones are going to leap out of the way, but if I get cut off one more time because some fool thinks that maybe the construction workers put them there as a joke, I may go insane.

Tailgating here is also unbelievably bad. If you’re tailgating me while I’m already going over the speed limit, I will slow down. And laugh as I watch you freak out in my rear view mirror. And then when you finally decide to try and pass me, I’ll speed back up and go on my merry way.

I think the driving here in Texas is going to make me a very aggressive person.

Anyways.

For two days I was trapped in my kitchen (oh, the horror…) while we got new floors put into our house. I decided that during those two days I wanted to make crab cakes. And I did just that.

During all the commotion of our new floors being put in, I mixed, molded, refrigerated, got frustrated over and devoured these little cakes. Little did I realize how hard it is to make crab cakes! My first test subject fell apart and burned before my very eyes. So I decided to refrigerate them. The second one fell apart, but this time didn’t become a black blob in 30 seconds. So I mixed in panko into my crab mixture. Each small batch of crab cakes came out better than the previous, which had me in a much better mood than when I burned the first one. I shared them with my Aunt for lunch and saved some for my father, who later ended up eating two of my leftover raw ones… but that’s a different story.

Despite their difficultness to make, they’re actually quite tasty! Paired with this garlic aioli, the pair make a great weekday lunch.

The floors in my house look amazing, such a huge change from the off-white carpet that covered the majority of the house. It makes it look so much bigger and cleaner, I can’t tell you how annoying it is to pick off black dog hair from a white carpet. Most importantly though, my Mom loves it. And that’s all that really matters!

New Floors!

Crab Cakes with Garlic Aioli

Crab Cakes
Adapted from Bon Appetit
(warning: if you follow the recipe completely, they turn out rather soupy and hard to work with. I’ve adapted the recipe to what I did to make it not so soupy)

Ingredients
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 large egg
2 tablespoons sour cream
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
4 teaspoons plus 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, divided
1/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
Large pinch of cayenne pepper
6-8 ounces fresh lump crabmeat, picked over, patted dry, coarsely shredded
1 1/2 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pans

Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese in medium bowl until smooth. Add 1/4 cup Parmesan and egg; beat to blend. Beat in sour cream, lemon peels, 4 teaspoons chopped chives, coarse salt, and cayenne pepper. Fold in crabmeat and 1/2 cup of panko. This can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.

Toss remaining panko, 1/2 cup Parmesan, and 2 tablespoons chopped chives in small bowl. Drizzle 1/4 cup melted butter over, tossing with fork until evenly moistened. Roll 1 rounded tablespoon portions of of the chilled crab mixture in the panko-Parmesan mixture, and pan-fry the crab cakes in a skillet of melted butter set over medium-high heat.

Garlic Aioli
Adapted from Food Network’s Tyler Florence
This aioli is amazing. I can only imagine the endless possibilities of what you can spread this on. It makes quite a bit, so feel free to half accordingly.

Ingredients
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons freshly chopped chives (optional)

Mince garlic and make into paste using the side of your knife. Hint: to make this go faster add a bit of salt to the garlic and continue mashing with the side of your knife.

Place the paste a large bowl and add: the sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and oil. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Fold in the chives. Give it a final taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary.

My Aunt taught me how to tie my shoes at my Grandmother’s house- in the middle bedroom of her ranch home to be exact. The house was always packed with pizzelle cookies and chocolate covered marshmallows, and often smelled like horseradish, due to the absurd amounts of horseradish growing behind the swimming pool fence. You learned to stay out of the kitchen on the days horseradish sauce was being made, unless you enjoyed crying. My brother and I would help pick tomatoes off of my grandparent’s tomato plants, but we’d always scrunch up our faces if asked to eat one. I remember the horrible squeamish feeling I’d get if I picked an overly ripe tomato and it squished in my fingers.

To this very day I hate touching squishy tomatoes.

We’d spend our summers swimming in the pool, pretending there were sharks in the depths of the 8 foot deep, play ring around the rosie on the awning poles, then just act like crazy monkeys when we got older. I’d eat ants on a log and learned to put salt on cucumbers (because I didn’t like eating salt and radishes like everyone else in my family). My brother and I would catch fireflies at night and dance with sparklers on the fourth of July.

I don’t really know where I’m going with this. I just started to think of my Grandmother’s old house (my Uncle bought it from her and now lives there) and all these memories came flooding in of summers at my grandparents. I’m finding it so strange how much I can remember being 8 years old just by thinking of my grandparents, or their house, or even just the neighborhood (Handel’s ice cream, oh how I miss it!). I remember going out for Italian food with my Grandmother, because if there’s one thing her and I have in common, it’s our love for all things pasta.

And it’s true, we both love pasta. I think a bowl of spaghetti could easily put a smile on either of our faces.

And then add some garlic?
Bring it on.
Shrimp?
Now we’re talking.

This Shrimp Scampi dish is so easy to make, it’s basically fool proof! Just don’t let the noodles sit and clump together like I did though before you put them in the pan, oops… almost fool proof. But get this- the leftovers may be even better than eating it the first day! So if you’re like me and cooked wayyy too much for only two people, don’t fret- it will still taste great tomorrow for lunch.

The original recipe called for white wine, but since no one drinks it in my family, I omitted it and instead just added more butter. I also added a ton of garlic, because I’m a garlic fanatic, in fact next time I may even add more… but then I’m pretty sure my tastebuds will officially die.

And because I posted on my last entry that I was in consideration for an internship at a veterinary hospital, I just wanted to update and say that I ended up getting it, and I start Monday morning! I’m so incredibly excited! But I do have a confession, I’ve never picked up a cat before… and for some reason the fact that I have never done such is kind of making me nervous. I mean, what kind of person wants to go into veterinary medicine and has never picked up a cat?! I guess my excuse could be that when I volunteer all I ever do is work with the dogs… but at the moment it’s sounding like a pretty poor excuse. But that’s the point of an internship… right? To learn? Crossing my fingers I don’t get scratched to death…

Adapted from The Food Addicts

Succulent Shrimp Scampi
Serves 4

Ingredients

3/4 lb. angel hair pasta
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 lb. peeled and deveined large shrimp
4-6 large garlic cloves, minced, or forced through the garlic press
1/2 tsp dried hot red-pepper flakes
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
7 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Cook angel hair pasta just until al dente.
2. Heat olive oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet and sauté shrimp, about 2 minutes on each side. Then transfer with a slotted spoon to a large bowl and set aside.
3. In the same skillet, add garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper and cook over high heat, about 1 minute.
4. Add butter to the pan and stir until melted.
5. Add in diced tomatoes, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
6. Toss in angel hair pasta and shrimp and evenly coat with the butter sauce.
7. Turn off the heat and add chopped basil and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
8. Serve immediately.
Tip: Reserve about 1 cup of cooked pasta water and add it to the sauce to keep the pasta moist, if necessary.