Baked Blue Cheese Crab Cakes

While I was laying in bed one night, I thought to myself "ya know what, crab cakes would go really well with blue cheese".

Well, a few months later, I finally made it a reality. It took me a while but I finally did it. One warning to you though: please make sure you like blue cheese before you go and try this recipe. Blue cheese is an acquired taste, and it would be a shame to waste money and effort on these crab cakes to find out you don't really like blue cheese.

If you're not a blue cheese fan, go ahead and substitute for a cheese you do like. I'm sure it would be just as tasty.

This recipe yields about 10 crab cakes.

Baked Blue Cheese Crab Cakes
- 450g of lump crab meat
- 125g of a mild blue cheese, crumbled into small pieces
- 2 scallions, finely chopped
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 small red pepper, finely diced
- 1/2 cup of dried bread crumbs
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp old style grainy mustard
- 1 tsp of smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper
- 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil
- dash of salt and pepper

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 375F/190C.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients and mix well. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. With your hands, shape the crab mixture into hockey puck shapes (approximately 3 inch diameter and 1 inch thick).

3. Place the crab cakes onto the baking sheet, setting them approximately 1 inch apart. Bake for 20 minutes. Set aside until cheese hardens a little bit. Serve warm. To add a bit more taste and color, you can pan fry the crab cakes before serving. I didn't bother, to keep it on the healthier side, but I contemplated it.

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Chinese Corn Soup

Soup season has officially started. With the cold weather, all I want to do is make soup. Warm, thick, hearty, make your heart feel good soups.

I try to make a different soup each week so that I don't get sick of my own cooking. This week, I made a Chinese corn soup. I used to have this as a kid when I used to visit my aunt. Years later, I finally got the recipe.

This soup is ridiculously easy to make. I love how it is both sweet and salty, and I also really like the crunchy bits of corn you get in every spoonful. This recipe uses shrimp, but you can easily substitute it for chicken or pork.

This soup is usually eaten as an appetizer, so the the serving size is smaller than normal.

This recipe yields 8-10 servings (depending on serving size)

Chinese Corn Soup
- 250g shrimp, de-veined and shells removed
- 2 cans (14 fl. oz, 398mL each) cream style corn
- 1 can (12 fl. oz, 341mL) whole corn kernels
- 3 cups of liquid chicken broth
- 3 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp powdered chicken broth
- 1/8 tsp sesame oil
- 1/8 tsp white pepper
- 2 egg whites, lightly beaten
- salt and pepper to taste

Method
1. Cut the shrimp in 1/2 inch pieces. In a bowl, mix the shrimp, 2 tsp of cornstarch, powdered chicken broth, white pepper, sesame oil, and sugar until the shrimp pieces are evenly coated. Set aside to marinate. In a separate bowl, mix 1 tsp of corn starch with 1 tablespoon of cold water and stir until corn starch has dissolved.

2. In a pot over medium heat, combine the liquid chicken broth, cream style corn, and whole corn kernels until it just starts to boil. Stir occasionally. Add the shrimp and corn starch water, and stir frequently in one direction for 5 minutes or until the shrimp is cooked. Stirring frequently in one direction will prevent the corn starch from clumping. Turn off the heat.

3. Pour the egg white very slowly into the middle of the pot. With a fork immersed in the soup, beat the egg white as you are pouring it into the soup. This will break up the egg white and create a cloud like look. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.

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Trout Stuffed with Prunes and Pomegranate

I've never been a fan of mixing meat with fruit. I've always believed that the two should be kept separate...until I started eating Persian food, that is. This dish combines fruit with fish, and if you are one of those meat/fruit haters like I used to be, believe me when I say this dish is good!

This healthy fish dish is baked with a prune, raisin, and pomegranate sauce stuffing. The pomegranate sauce adds a nice tangy flavor, and the herbs in the sauce provide texture. My mother-in-law likes to serve this dish with a dill + fava bean rice that pairs perfectly.

Pomegranate sauce can be found in most Persian grocery stores. It is a thick paste that is made purely from pomegranate juice. The pomegranate juice is reduced to create a molasses-like texture, and the paste is very dark in color.

This recipe yields 4 - 6 servings.

Trout Stuffed with Prunes and Pomegranate
- 2 trout fillets of equal size, approx 10 inches long and 0.6 kg total
- 1 cup of curly parsley, finely chopped
- 2 scallions, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup of pomegranate sauce
- 1/2 cup of prunes & sultana raisins combined (2 parts prune + 1 part raisin), roughly chopped
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F/175 C.

2. In a pan with some olive oil, sautee the parsley and scallions for 2 minutes. Add in the pomegranate sauce, prunes, raisins, a dash of salt + pepper, and sautee for 5 minutes. Set aside.

3. In a large baking dish, lay one trout fillet with skin facing down. Spread the pomegranate mixture evenly over top of the trout fillet. Place the second trout fillet on top of the mixture with skin facing up. Bake for 30 - 40 minutes. Remove from oven, remove the fish skin, and serve.

The picture below shows four trout fillets. Simply double the recipe to feed more mouths.

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Capellini Con Tonno

Sometimes, a can of flaked tuna can be a savior. All you have to do is open the can, and voila, it is ready. I like to make this pasta dish when I need a dose of meat protein, but don't feel like cooking any meat. Both the tuna and the beans in this dish provide a good source of protein.

If you don't feel like cooking the tomato sauce from scratch, you can always open a jar of prepared tomato sauce, and use that instead.

This recipe yields 4 servings.

Capellini Con Tonno
- 450 g dried capellini pasta
- 1/4 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp red chili flakes
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 cup of peas, frozen
- 5 vine ripened tomatoes, peeled and seeded
- 340g of canned light tuna in water, drained and flaked
- 1 can (156ml, 5.5 fl. oz) of tomato paste
- 1 can (540ml, 19 fl. oz) of Romano beans, drained
- 1 cup of water
- 1/2 cup of cilantro, finely chopped + extra for garnish
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 2 tsp of extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 fresh lemon

Method
1. To peel the tomatoes, cut a small cross across the bottom of each tomato, and immerse them in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Remove them from the water, and allow them to cool. The skin of the tomatoes should peel off very easily. Remove the seeds, and roughly chop.

2. Sautee the garlic and onions in a pan with the oil on high heat until onions are translucent.

3. Add the tomato paste, chopped fresh tomatoes, water, oregano and salt + pepper and stir until it bubbles. Turn the heat down to simmer, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Add the beans, frozen peas, tuna, chili flakes, and smoked paprika and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat.

5. In another pot, cook the pasta until al dente.

6. Drain the pasta, and serve with the sauce.

7. Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro, and squeeze fresh lemon juice over top of the dish.

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