Blog Archives
Time for Book Group
My book group met this week at my house to discuss our latest selection, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. This highly readable book is about an African-American woman from 1950’s Baltimore, whose cervical cancer cells turned out to be incredibly virulent and prolific. Her cells, HeLa cells, have been widely used in scientific research for 50 years. The book tells about her personal history and covers a range of bioethical issues . Howard, my molecular biologist husband, gave a brief lecture about some of the science we didn’t understand. The book provided great food for thought for lively discussion.
What would you provide for snacks that have some sort of loose connection to book’s theme? It was a stretch. Initially, I thought I’d serve a variety of twisted food, like cheese straws and some kind of cookie twists. The twists were meant to be reminiscent of the double helix of DNA. OK, I know, it’s a stretch.
In the end, I went in a different direction, drawing on Baltimore as the inspiration.
Baltimore = Maryland = Crabs
When I visited my Maryland sister a couple weeks back, we had an amazing warm crab dip for an appetizer before dinner at Mick’s New American Bistro in Frederick. It was creamy and crabby with a hint of sherry and a cheesy topping like French onion soup. That seemed like something to try to replicate.
It’s hard to find actual Maryland crab, so used Southeast Asian crab. I would have used lump crabmeat, which I can find at Costco, but I shopped at Trader Joe’s. They only had claw crabmeat. It worked fine, though lump would have been even better.
My dip was popular with the book group. I served it with Stacy’s pita chips, but it would be good on any sturdy crackers. It would probably be good on vegetables too. This made more than we needed for half a dozen ladies, so making a half recipe for a smaller group would be a good idea.
Crab Dip
8 oz cream cheese, softened
½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup sliced scallions
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp sherry
1 tsp Old Bay Spice
½ tsp Tabasco
1 lb crabmeat, drained
½ cup grated Gruyere cheese
Preheat the oven to 350F. In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients except the grated cheese. Transfer to a 1 quart baking dish. Sprinkle the cheese over the top.
Bake 30 minutes, until dip is bubbly and cheese is melted and golden brown.
French Fridays with Dorie: Mustard Bâtons with an Asian Flair
This was actually the first recipe I made after I bought Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table, before French Fridays with Dorie even started. I was happy to see this recipe on the docket because they were relatively easy to make and quite delicious.
Mustard Bâtons is yet another one of Dorie’s versatile template-more-than-recipes to add to your repertoire. The first time, I made this recipe “straight” with a fresh bottle of Dijon mustard and a seed medley (flax, toasted sesame, black caraway, midget sunflower, poppy, & anise seeds) on top. They were the perfect elegant nibble to serve at a reception.
This time around I wanted to be a little more creative. I checked out the pantry shelves for inspiration. I found a little jar of something called Goma Shio, also labeled Rice Seasoning. It’s meant to be a Japanese condiment, though my jar was made in China. It contains just black sesame seeds and large crystals of salt and sugar. This inspired me to go with an Asian theme. I had some dried wasabi that I thought I could mix into Dijon mustard, but then I spotted a jar of Trader Joe’s Sake Wasabi Mustard on the condiment shelf of my fridge. A little taste confirmed that this mustard had enough bite to use as is.
The hardest step in this recipe is rolling out the puff pastry. I’m good at rolling things out, though I found it a challenge to get a true rectangle. No worries, I cut the sides straight, and the ends are just a little curvey.
I liked the sweet and salty flavors from my topping. I think a little sprinkle of sugar and salt would be nice with plain seeds. I also think of a light sprinkle of seeds on the inside would be fun. You wouldn’t see them, but they would taste good!
These crispy treats were a treat to nibble on. There were some leftover that I served with salad for lunch the next day. They were a little soft after the night in a plastic container, but a quick crisp-up in the oven would fix that.
Overall, I give this week’s recipe a hearty thumbs up. This is the kind of recipe I love. The steps are simple and anything could go inside or on top of the batons for an endless variety of elegant appetizers.
As always, I love to see my fellow FFwD bloggers did with this week’s recipe. I’m sure they’ve been very creative. Check out their links at French Fridays with Dorie. We don’t post the recipes, but Dorie has posted the recipe on her site, so you can find it here.
First Try at Mustard Batons
A Plateful of Happiness 