Spiced Pecan Pumpkin Quick Bread

Last October, when the wife and I were browsing in the Ala Moana Center’s Williams-Sonoma store, I picked up a package of their Spiced Pecan Pumpkin Quick Bread mix, fully intending to put it together during the Fall holiday season.

Well, things being the way they are, I put it away in the cupboard and didn’t get to it until a month or so ago.

It's a snap to make. All you do is mix the contents of the package with a cup of water, two eggs and a stick of melted butter. Pour the batter into a greased muffin pan (or use paper muffin cups) and bake 20 to 30 minutes in a preheated 350-degree oven until a toothpick comes out clean and dry.

Make sure to rotate the pan so all the tops brown evenly.

Then, after removing them from the pan and cooling them off on a rack, slather cream-cheese frosting all over the top and decorated with some cute candy sprinkles.

The frosting consists of a stick of soft butter, a cup of soft cream cheese, a cup of powdered sugar, and a teaspoon of vanilla. Combine the ingredients until smooth, and then ice the muffin tops with a butter knife or any other flat utensil.

 

I made 16 muffins with the mix, but you can make it as a loaf in a bread pan. Or, I guess, you can make cookies out of the mix.

Delicious!

 

Scallops Wrapped in Bacon

You’ve had these as canapés and appetizers, but they are also great as an entrée, serving three to four per person.

They’re totally delicious. I mean, with bacon and maple syrup, what’s to not like? And it’s so easy to make that it’s almost a crime to write a recipe for the dish.

Sure, they're rich, but try it. I guarantee you’ll like it (unless you don’t like scallops or bacon or butter or maple syrup).

Ingredients

• SCALLOPS, 12, large
• BACON, 6 slices, cut in half
• BUTTER, 1 tablespoon
• MAPLE SYRUP

Directions

1. Rinse and pat-dry the scallops.
2. Wrap the scallops with bacon and secure with toothpicks.
3. Place on sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
4. Top with pea-sized pat of butter.
5. Broil 20-30 minutes at 425°, turning once, until bacon is cooked.
6. Remove from oven and drizzle with maple syrup.

Scallops and Snow Peas with Salsa

Scallops aren’t cheap, and when you get a chance to buy some in bulk at a reasonable price, do so. Costco has deals all the time, but be prepared to buy enough for three meals. What I do is break the bulk and repackage the purchase into two or three packages of a dozen large scallops each, using my vacuum food saver.

Actually, you can substitute the salsa with any kind of sauce you want. If you’re in the mood for Italian, use marinara sauce. Country gravy is good, and if you want French instead, use a beurre blanc.

Ingredients

• SNOW PEAS, approximately two dozen in the pod
• SEA SCALLOPS, 12 large, each cut in half horizontally
• ONION, ¼ of a large or ½ of a medium, sliced
• GARLIC SALT, to taste
• BUTTER, 2 tablespoons
• OLIVE OIL, ¼ cup
• SALSA, commercial brand (I use Pace Mild), ¼ to ½ cup 

Directions

1. Prepare, rinse and dry the scallops, seasoning lightly with garlic salt.
2. String the peas if necessary, and boil until just tender in water seasoned with garlic salt. Drain and set aside.
3. Sear the scallops in a hot pan with olive oil and butter until barely cooked through, remove from heat and set aside.
4. Sauté the onions in the buttered pan.
5. Add in the snow peas, then the scallops, including any juices.
6. Add in the salsa and heat through.
7. Serve with rice or tortillas.

Apple-Pinoli Bread Pudding

Pinoli are shelled pine nuts with a very distinctive and mild nutty flavor all their own. This recipe is a “tinkered-with” recipe of one I have used for a while, this time adding in some chopped apples and toasted pinoli instead of my usual raisins.

Use a stale French baguette (the skinny, long loaf); the staler and drier the bread is, the better it will soak in the custard liquid. If your bread is fresh, dry it in the refrigerator overnight. That’ll do the trick.

If you bake it for 45 minutes, the top will be nice and crusty, and the inside pretty moist. If you prefer a drier bread pudding, then leave it longer in the oven.

Ingredients

• BREAD, 1 French baguette
• BUTTER, 4 tablespoons, melted
• EGGS, 8 beaten
• MILK or HALF AND HALF, 4 cups
• SUGAR, 1½ cups
• CINNAMON POWDER, 2 teaspoons
• NUTMEG, ½ teaspoon
• VANILLA EXTRACT, 4 teaspoons
• PINE NUTS, ¼ to ½ cups, shelled and lightly stove-top toasted
• APPLE, 1 large, ½-inch diced

Directions

1. Using a serrated bread knife, cut the French baguette bread in half lengthwise, then cut each half in half the same way. Cut crosswise into 1-inch cubes (see the introduction, re drying the bread overnight if necessary).
2. Prepare the pine nuts and apple; combine them with the rest of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and add the bread cubes.
3. Let it soak for a while (15 minutes should be okay, as long as the bread becomes wet throughout.
4. Pour the bread mixture into an 11x9 pan and spread evenly.
5. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour in a 350˚ oven.
6. Remove from oven and let stand for a half-hour before serving.

Sautéed Tilapia with Tomato Mélange Relish

Tilapia is a very tender, flaky white fish with a somewhat neutral flavor that adapts well to seasoning and sauces. Or, in this case, a tomato relish. I call it a “mélange” because of the various ingredients that I use.

The last time I made this, I had a jar of pickled bell peppers that added the perfect zing to the relish. If pickled peppers aren’t available, use diced green and/or red bell peppers instead. I would roast them first and char off the skins.

Adding calamata olives adds saltiness to the combination of sweet-sour pickles, the acidity of the tomatoes, and the sweetness of the honey. And of course, the onions turn sweet in the butter.

Ingredients

• TOMATOES, 3 medium Maui or Vidalia, seeded and diced
• ONION, 1 large, chopped
• CELERY, 2 stalks, diced
• PICKLED PEPPERS, ¼ cup (more, or less, to your liking), chopped
• CALAMATA OLIVES, 10, seeded, chopped
• HONEY, 1 tablespoon
• GARLIC SALT, to taste
• BLACK PEPPER, freshly ground, to taste
• TILAPIA FILETS, 4 to 6
• SEASONED SALT, to taste
• OLIVE OIL, about 1 tablespoon each for the relish and the fish
• BUTTER, 3 tablespoons for the relish, 2 tablespoons for the fish

Directions

1. First, make the relish. Heat the olive oil and melt the butter in a large pan.
2. Cook the onions over medium heat until soft but not browned.
3. Add the celery, tomatoes, pickled peppers and olives and heat through.
4. Add the honey, garlic salt and black pepper.
5. Heat through and set aside.
6. Next, sauté the tilapia; season the filets with the seasoned salt.
7. In a clean large sauté pan, heat the olive oil and butter until it’s melted.
8. On medium heat, brown one side of the filet, then flip over and brown the other side.
9. Serve the fish over a bed of tomato relish.

 

 

Rigatoni with Garlic Shrimp

This is a pretty light and delicious main course. I saw a version of this recipe, called aglio gamberetti con pomodoro in Italian, on David Rocco's Dolce Vita show on the Cooking Channel, and added in the mushrooms and olives because I had some leftover in the refrigerator.

I used rigatoni, but you can use whatever pasta you have in your larder.

Ingredients

·         OLIVE OIL, ¼ cup

·         GARLIC, 2 cloves

·         SHRIMP, 16 headless, size 16/20

·         CHERRY TOMATOES, ½ cup, halved

·         ZUCCHINI, 1 medium, ¼-inch dice

·         MUSHROOMS, 4-6, sliced thin

·         OLIVES, ½ cup sliced

·         LEMON, ½, juice, plus zest if desired

·         GARLIC SALT, to taste

·         BLACK PEPPER, freshly ground, to taste

·         PASTA, about one cup, rigatoni or your choice

Directions

1.       Cook the pasta and set aside.

2.       Clean the shrimp by removing the legs, cutting down the back with scissors and removing the vein. Leave the shells and tails on for extra flavor.

3.       Slice or crush the garlic and heat it in the olive oil.

4.       Sauté the shrimp in the hot oil until just orange/pink inside. Set aside.

5.       Sauté the tomatoes, squishing them slightly.

6.       Add the zucchini, mushrooms and olives.

7.       When the veggies are cooked and slightly tender, return the shrimp to the pan.

8.       Add the lemon juice.

9.       Add in the pasta and mix well.

Insalata Caprese

One of my favorite salads is Insalata Caprese, more commonly referred to by its English name – Caprese Salad (or, “salad in the style of Capri”).

I forget when I first discovered this salad, but once I did, there was no stopping me once I saw it on an Italian restaurant menu. Plus, it’s so easy to make. Nothing to it, just get the right ingredients and arrange them on a plate.

If the basil leaves are limp when you buy them, refresh them by placing in iced water and they will perk up.

Ingredients

·         ROMA TOMATOES, as many as you like, estimating one per diner

·         MOZZARELLA CHEESE, one ball, soft and moist

·         FRESH BASIL LEAVES

·         OLIVE OIL, extra virgin top quality

·         BALSAMIC VINEGAR (optional), aged, from Modena if possible

·         SALT and PEPPER to taste

Directions

1.       Slice the tomatoes into rounds, approximately 3/8 of an inch thick.

2.       Slice the mozzarella cheese into rounds, about the same as the tomatoes.

3.       Chiffonade some of the basil leaves.

4.       Arrange the tomatoes, cheese and basil in alternating layers.

5.       Sprinkle with olive oil (and balsamic vinegar), then salt and pepper to taste.

6.       Arrange a few basil stem tips and leaves on the plate as decoration.