Carine Clary, Author at The FrangloSaxon Cooks

Orecchiette with Tomato Shrimp Sauce

April 23, 2016 by Carine Clary Leave a Comment

Let’s hear it for the ear shaped orecchiette, Apulia’s contribution to the universe of pasta and the star of Orecchiette with Tomato Shrimp Sauce. Unlike most of the recipes on this website this is not something I grew up eating and it features only intermittently on local menus. I’m not sure why that is since the little ear shape hangs on to sauce like nobody’s business and is satisfyingly chewy. And unlike spaghetti it will not splatter your cheeks or neck with sauce as you eat it. Something to consider when you’re having a business lunch or date.

This recipe is my approximation of a dish I had many times at a trattoria on the ground floor of the place where I stayed in Rome. The cooks would start the tomato sauce early so each morning we’d wake up to the mellow aroma of bubbling tomato and onions. I must be in God’s good graces because I got the taste right the first time (either that or my memory is better than I remembered). The shrimp, bacon and tomato sauce’s best quality is its ability to deliver complex flavor in a quick prep time.

You start by adding a little olive oil (in the shot below I used butter since I was out of o.o. ) in a pan then toss in the diced bacon or pancetta. Fry until fairly brown then add the onion and garlic, cooking for a few minutes till clear.

Then add the rest of the ingredients and let simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes. When the sauce is cooked to your liking, cut the heat and add the shrimp. The residual heat will cook them in just a few minutes. The amount of orecchiette you add depends on how far you want to stretch the recipe so be creative. Actually, with the exception of the bacon and tomatoes the amounts of all the other ingredients are fungible. More or less garlic or onions as you please, just make sure you get good smoked bacon or pancetta, and if you can find them the fire roasted chopped tomatoes are excellent. Your favorite herb goes on top and can be parsley, oregano or basil.

This is what’s called a rustic sauce so the finished version will be very chunky. See below:

This is a nice ladylike portion but yours will probably be larger – mine usually is. So small or large, mangia and enjoy!

Orecchiette with Tomato Shrimp Sauce

Author: Carine Clary

Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients

4 rashers of bacon, diced (or equivalent amount of pancetta, about 4 oz.)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
½ cup chopped onion
1 28 oz can of chopped tomatoes
1 tsp of sugar
½ tsp. red pepper flakes, or to taste
1 lb. shrimp, shelled & cut up
Orecchiette
Parmesan & parsley for garnish
salt to taste.

Instructions

Put olive oil and bacon into a pan & fry until done. Keep the oil & fat from the bacon.
Add garlic & onion and cook for several minutes until clear.
Add tomatoes, pepper flakes & sugar. Cover and let simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes over low heat.
Add the shrimp after you take the sauce off the burner. The residual heat will fully cook it in about 3 minutes.
Boil orecchiette according to package directions. The amount you use will depend on your preferred ratio of sauce to pasta.
Check the sauce & add a little of the pasta water to it if you want to thin it.
Drain pasta and add to sauce. Garnish with parmesan, parsley, basil, or oregano.

Notes

This is a super quick meal if you use the frozen bagged shrimp that is pre-shelled.

Seafood Lasagna

April 17, 2016 by Carine Clary 2 Comments

My first experience with Seafood Lasagna came compliments of neighbors who called it “Christmas Lasagna” because it was made the day before. It was put in the oven first thing and set out when done to tide over the family until the official Christmas dinner was served later in the afternoon. It was also Dad food. This meant our neighbor’s dad made it on Christmas Eve and he needed to be out of the very cleaned up kitchen before dark.

Its most appealing quality to me was the absence of tomato sauce which I didn’t like. Plus it was green and made by a man who let me watch the process a couple of times. It was way better than the scrambled egg and toast platter on offer at home. So at the crack of dawn I’d sneak out, careful not to bang the screen door, cross the alley, knock on the neighbor’s back door and oh the smell….shrimp, crab and anise aroma from the basil. The best.

Mr. Dad explained to me at one point that this lasagna was typical of the Genoa area and how our great local hero, Pierre Beauregard’s family were Reggios from the Piedmont which is right next door and how possibly the good general also had Christmas lasagna. Maybe. Probably not, but who knows? Not sure if neighbor dad was attempting to make a spurious connection between his fam, Pierre, Pierre’s great grandfather, Francesco Maria de Reggio, hero of the Napoleonic wars, and our back alley catch of the day casserole but if he was I didn’t notice much because I was too busy eating the lasagna.

But on to the prep. The most important thing with seafood lasagna is to thoroughly cook everything so that when you put the lasagna in the oven the only thing that needs to happen is for the seafood to cook and the flavors to mix. Fish cooks fast so the casserole shouldn’t be in the oven too long. I’ve tested this with all kinds of fish and have found that shrimp, crab, and scallops are best. Finned fish like redfish or drum get overcooked too quickly. And I’ve prepared it with shrimp only and it was fine so you can wing it when you make it, just make sure you have a pound total of whatever you pick.

The basil must be fresh, but the spinach can be fresh or frozen. This version has two sauces, and no ricotta because the ricotta doesn’t do well with the quick cooking time and the mozzarella and parmesan are enough. The main objective is precook everything except the shrimp & crab so that the casserole won’t need to be in the oven too long. It’s thirty minutes covered and five minutes under the broiler for browning.

And last but not least, if you cook lasagna much it pays to get a proper lasagna pan with deep sides so it doesn’t boil over and hit the bottom of the oven. The one pictured below has enough clearance for another layer with a little room to spare.

So try it for your holiday (or any other day)!

3.0 from 1 reviews

Seafood Lasagna

Author: Carine Clary

Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients

For the white sauce:
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
½ tsp. salt
1 cup whole milk
½ cup heavy cream
grating of nutmeg
1 crushed garlic clove
1 bay leaf
¼ cup grated Parmesan
For the spinach sauce:
1 bunch spinach (or 16 oz. frozen package)
1 bunch basil
½ cup diced onion (or shallot)
pinch of fennel powder
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
1 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 egg
salt & pepper to taste
For assembly:
½ lb. medium shrimp
½ lb.lump crabmeat
1 cup shredded mozarella cheese
grated parmesan to taste
9 boiled lasagna noodles
lemon zest
parsley for garnish

Instructions

For the white sauce:
Melt butter over low heat and whisk in flour.
Cook for a minute till smooth then add salt & nutmeg.
Slowly whisk in milk then add crushed garlic clove.
Let simmer over very low heat for about ten minutes to extract the flavor from the bay leaf & garlic then slowly add heavy cream. Stir in the Parmesan, cover & set aside.
For the spinach sauce:
Boil spinach just long enough to wilt it, drain, and squeeze as much water out of it as you can.
Put in a food processor with the uncooked basil leaves and pulse just a couple of times. Don't overdo or you will end up with baby food.
In a saucepan melt butter & whisk in flour until no lumps remain, then slowly stir in fennel powder, lemon zest, chicken broth and cream.
Once the sauce has thickened, let cool a little then add to the spinach & basil mixture.
When it has cooled a little fold in a well beaten egg. Set aside.
Assembly:
Lightly oil baking dish. I used a 10"X 6.5" X 3" pan.
Put enough white sauce on bottom to form a thin layer.
Place boiled noodles over that.
Cover noodles with spinach sauce, then evenly place raw shrimp and crab over it & cover that with some of the shredded mozzarella.
Lay down another layer of noodles, cover with white sauce, then spinach sauce, then seafood & mozzarella.
Cover with another layer of noodles and remainder of white sauce. Be sure you've left enough white sauce to form a nice thickish layer.
Grate Parmesan over the top, cover with foil and put in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Place about 5 inches under a 400 degree broiler for 5.

Notes

This survives freezing pretty well. It can be cut into chunks, wrapped in foil then warmed in the foil in a slow oven.
At the risk of sounding repetitive, do not over process the spinach/basil mixture. Just a couple of pulses will do. It should be chunky.

Carrot Vinaigrette Salad

March 27, 2016 by Carine Clary 2 Comments

Carrot Vinaigrette Salad is my version of that cafeteria staple – carrot and raisin salad. Carrot and raisin salad is served nationwide, not just in the south, and in all those places it’s served in pretty much the same style – grated carrot and black raisins bound with a little mayonnaise. Unfortunately the mayo tends to get runny at warp speed and unless you’re the sort of person who just likes raw carrots it’s a little bland and cloying. How to fix that?

I wanted something that was healthy, tasty, and would survive a few days in the fridge. Enter new & improved Carrot Vinaigrette Salad.

So I started experimenting with different methods of preparation. Each version had less and less mayo until I finally jettisoned it altogether. That took care of the watery milky residue at the bottom of the bowl. It remained only to punch up the flavor of the two main ingredients. This is accomplished by mixing up a fruit-flavored vinaigrette seasoned with red pepper flakes and lots of orange zest. If you add enough zest it almost tastes like candy and you still have all the nice slices of orange to add to the side. The parsley contributes more flavor than you might imagine, and best of all, the vinaigrette keeps the carrots fresh and the raisins plump.

It Keeps for several days

And yes, it lasts for several days in the fridge and yes, there’s a good chance that family members who don’t like salads or vegetables will like this so give it a try. You can enjoy it at supper or for a guilt-free midnight fridge raid. And try it as a side with a richer dish like Cider Braised Pork Loin.

Carrot Vinaigrette Salad

Author: Carine Clary

Cuisine: Southern

Ingredients

For the vinaigrette:
1 tablespoon olive oil
¼ cup fruit flavored balsamic vinegar (or 3 tablespoons each of apple cider vinegar & honey)
⅛ tsp. red pepper flakes
zest from one orange
⅓ cup raisins
For the salad:
3 cups shredded carrot (about .80 lb.)
⅓ cup parsley, minced
Peeled & sectioned orange

Instructions

Make the vinaigrette and soak the raisins in it for at least an hour or overnight.
Grate the carrots on a box grater.
Finely chop the parsley and mix throughout.
Peel and section the orange & serve alongside the salad.

Notes

I've used peach, lemon & grapefruit balsamic vinegar with this - all good.
For a more savory version replace the parsley with chopped chives.
Keeps in the fridge for several days.

Blackberry Sorbet

March 6, 2016 by Carine Clary Leave a Comment

Blackberry sorbet, or sherbet as it used to be called, is my new minimalist go-to dessert. And this sherbet is very addictive. The color alone might make it worth it. Purpley black like that bad cellophaned hair highlight you saved up for in ’96. Like that.

The History

I invented this (I think ‘developed’ is the trendier word, but whatever) last summer when a friend gifted me with a couple of buckets of fresh blackberries. The seeds have always been a problem for me and I don’t particularly like cobbler, so I was stumped and the berries were about to make the transition to fermentation.

St. Germain Martini

That was when a friend (not the blackberry friend – another friend) invited me out to dinner where she ordered a martini made with St. Germain liqueur. Normally I don’t go for frou-frou martinis. Too ‘Sex in the City’ for me, but this martini was really good, and the reason why was St. Germain. It’s made from little tiny flowers of something that grows in the Vosges Mountains near the Swiss border. Cue the warbling Heidi music and the gamboling spring lambs. Anyway, that’s when the rusted wheels in my sad little brain began to grind slowly. If you lose the seeds and add some great hooch something wonderful might result.

And it did. With a mere three ingredients, not counting the water or lemon squirt, you have a refreshing dessert. It’s the sort of thing that rich people in 19th century novels ate mid meal as a “palate cleanser” before the second onslaught of artery clogging entrèes. President Taft probably had them. Probably several times per meal. But you’re not the president so you’ll just have it for dessert.

The Prep

The only thing you must remember is to put the freezer bowl in the freezer the night before. Day of goes like this: Dissolve the sugar in the water over low low heat. While it’s cooling put the berries and booze in the blender and blend. Strain the puree into a bowl, add the sugar water and lemon (or lime), put in the fridge to thoroughly chill, then freeze. This will be very soft when it comes out of the ice cream maker due to the larger than usual amount of alcohol, but it will firm up in the freezer. If you let it melt, or don’t freeze it at all it can be ladled over some vanilla ice cream or onto pound cake making both them and you very happy. Just remember to wipe your face so you don’t walk away from the table with Smurf mouth.

Salud & happy freezing!

Blackberry Sorbet

Author: Carine Clary

Cuisine: Southern

Serves: 6

Ingredients

1 cup water
⅔ cup sugar
2 small containers blackberries (12 oz. total)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
⅓ cup St. Germain liqueur

Instructions

In a non-reactive pan stir sugar into warm water. Keep stirring until dissolved, then allow to cool.
Puree blackberries & St. Germain in blender.
Strain mixture to remove seeds.
Add lemon juice.
Combine blackberry mixture with syrup and chill thoroughly.
Freeze until solid.

Notes

For a small amount using only 1 container, add ¼ cup St. Germain, then use only half of the syrup