Baked Baby Artichokes with Blue Cheese and Shrimp

Artichokes are in. Green or purple, full grown or baby... they are in like no one's business. I am lucky enough to live in Southern California, where there is a farmers market for every day of the week. I couldn't help but excitedly grab a few handfuls of those cute little baby artichokes at the farmers market in Ojai. When I got home, I had bread crumbs (a common theme of this blog?), Parmesan cheese, left over crumbled blue cheese, and frozen shrimp. I had big plans for those little chokes; Baked Baby Artichokes with Shrimp and blue cheese. Feel free to use whatever seafood you might have; scallops, lobster, crab, or a hearty fish.
This uses 10 baby artichokes and will serve 4 people.












Start by putting a large pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil. Cut off the top third of the artichoke, the bottom stem, and first 2 layers of tough leaves. Using kitchen shears, trim off the top parts of any leaves that have any thorns on top. Cut a lemon in half and rub the lemon on the trimmed parts of the artichoke to prevent any discoloration.

Once the water comes to a boil, season with 1 teaspoon salt and squeeze the rest of the juice from 1 lemon into the pot. Carefully place the artichokes in and cover and cook for about 20 minutes or until an outer leaf comes off easily. Drain into colander and let cool for a few minutes until they are cool enough to handle.

In the mean time in a mixing bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs, 2 chopped green onions, 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese, 2 teaspoons lemon zest, 1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper, and 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil. Set aside.

Prepare about 12 shrimp by peeling and de-veining each one (if not already done) and rinsing them under cold water. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

In a small non-stick saute pan, heat up a drizzle of olive oil. Place the shrimp in and cook until they are a pretty orange color, about 2 minutes on each side. Remove from heat and set aside.

Return to the artichokes. Standing them on their bottoms, cut them in half from the top down. Remove any spines that might be inside.

Lay them on the bottom of a baking dish, making sure they are close together. Garnish with lemons so you can serve the dish with roasted lemons. Add a dash of white wine in the bottom of the dish.

Roughly chop the cooked shrimp and toss in with the bead crumb mixture. Sprinkle the mixture on top of the artichokes. Drizzle with olive oil, a splash of white wine and bake at 450 for about 20 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

                          

Plate with a lemon and you're done! This can be a meal on it's own or as a side. If you don't have bread crumbs, you can use rice, orzo pasta, or even quinoa. Enjoy!

Rock, Paper, Scissors- Jam, Jelly, Preserves

I was cleaning out my fridge and I had to find humor in the fact that I was the owner of six (6!) open jars of jelly, jam, and preserves. I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches- when the mood strikes- but it was just incredible the variety I had open without being used in a while considering how hard the lids were to open. I wanted to use them and free up some much needed space on the shelf.

But how shall I use those last two stubborn spoonfuls still left in the bottom of the jar? My mind paced backwards to a few weeks ago when I was cleaning out my cupboards and found 3 boxes of instant oatmeal- sugar free. Two out of the three boxes were open with two flavors left; maple and brown sugar and apples and cinnamon. I couldn't make a crisp because that requires fresh fruit, but I could make a distant cousin of crisp... fruit and oat slices! YUM!




1. Combine 1 cup of jam, jelly or preserves of any kind. I used mostly blueberry jam, a touch of apricot jelly, and some strawberry preserves. Dice up about 1/2 cup dried apricots (that's what I had- dried apples and pears would work) and combine with the jam-jelly-preserve mixture. Set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together 1 3/4 cup all- purpose flour, 1 cup packed light brown sugar (use scant 1 cup if you are using non-sugar free instant oatmeal), 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 3/4 teaspoon baking soda. Add about 1 1/2 cups instant oatmeal (about 5 packets), any flavor- I used the aforementioned apple and cinnamon and maple and brown sugar. Mix well.

3. Melt 2 sticks of butter and pour over oatmeal mixture, mix to combine. Add one egg so it all stays together and mix well until everything forms together.

What a lucky egg...

4. Lightly spray the bottom of a 9" metal or glass round baking dish with a non-stick baking spray. Pour half the oatmeal mixture in and press down with your fingers, making sure to cover the bottom of the pan. 

Pour the jam-jelly-preserve mixture over that and spread evenly.

 Top off with the remainder of the oatmeal mixture and spread evenly. 

5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes, or until the top is crunchy. Let cool 10 minutes before cutting into slices. 

These can be enjoyed for a breakfast, snack, or dessert with some vanilla ice cream! Enjoy!

Tuna and Rice Casserole

Tuna casserole the entered the homes of Americans nationwide in the 1950's, along with an array of other casseroles. It was cheap to make, fast to bake, and froze well; lending itself to frozen dinner manufacturers such as Stoufer's, Swanson, and Banquet.

Over the years, I have had my share of tuna casserole, never one to decline because I personally like the dish. It has pasta, tuna, maybe some pearl onions and peas, creamy sauce, cheese, and most likely a crunchy topping. What's not to love?
However, I do believe it can easily, oh, how can I say it... get screwed up. Noodles cooked too long (or not at all), soggy tuna, the rancid taste of frozen veggies gone bad, a less than pleasing waxy coating on the roof of your mouth due to a very wrong butter to flour to milk ratio if one decides to make their own bechamel sauce. Yet, I march on and keep eating, in the hopes of finding rich, yummy versions of the comfort food that has been baked in the kitchens of millions of Americans for more than half a century.

What I have in the cupboards:
Canned tuna, 5 ounce can (canned chicken would work here, too)
Box of Rice-A-Roni ( 6.9 ounce package)
Cream of mushroom soup (10 3/4 ounce) circa 2010 -still good until 2014! (Cream of anything would work)

Other Ingredients:
Frozen veggie trio
Cheddar cheese (Mozzarella and Parmesan would work as well)
Bread Crumbs (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 leek (leftover from Creamy Pea Soup, you can use 1/4 cup yellow onion, chopped.

First, prepare the rice according to the directions. DO NOT ADD THE PACKAGE SEASONINGS!

In a medium size mixing bowl, combine the can of soup, 1 cup frozen veggies, 3/4 cup cheddar cheese, 1 leek cleaned and minced, and can of tuna, drained, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, dash of nutmeg, cayenne pepper, salt and curry powder.

Once the rice is cooked, add to the tuna mixture. Pour equal amounts into 4 individual buttered baking dishes. Top the bread crumbs and 1/4 cup shredded cheese.
















Bake at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.
Serves 4, generously.  
                                                     

           

Too much? This dish freezes well for up to two weeks.