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Shrimp Cakes with Spicy Lemon and Paprika Aioli

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Hot! Hot! It is hot in Portland. About 99 Saturday and 95 today (Sunday). Thankfully, we are, hopefully back to the 80′s and 70′s (yay!) this coming week. I am not a fan of hot weather, which is one of the reasons that I wanted to move North, but we do get a handful of 90+ days each Summer. This is a nice recipe for those kind of days or any kind of day, really.

I wasn’t quite sure how they would turn out but I am happy to say that both jwa and I really liked these shrimp cakes. They are also a great use for a bag of frozen shrimp (defrosted) that you may have hanging around the freezer. Also, you can use panko for all of your breadcrumbs here, but personally, I kind of like to save my panko for breading-type applications and use regular, plain . . . → Read More: Shrimp Cakes with Spicy Lemon and Paprika Aioli

Sweet Onion Marmalade For You

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The other day I was searching around and came across a recipe for onion marmalade. I tried it, tweaking it quite a bit so let’s just call it mine. Okay then. Anyway, here’s what I ended up with. Delicious! Great on bread, chicken, uh, turkey* and anything else you could think to slather it on.

Sweet Onion Marmalade
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp olive oil
3 cups chopped onions (about 1 huge onion — I used a sweet onion)
1.5 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup port wine
1 sprig rosemary
1/4 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
2 tbsp currants
Salt & pepper

Heat the butter and olive oil in medium heavy saucepan. Add onions and a light sprinkle of kosher salt. Cook for about 6 minutes.

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Next, add the sugar and rosemary sprig and continue cooking until onions are very soft and browned, about 15 minutes. Adjust the heat as needed.

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Add the . . . → Read More: Sweet Onion Marmalade For You

A Cooler, Gentler Time: Chevre & Herb Fondue

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A couple of weeks ago, when the weather was nice and cool, a big pot of melted cheese sounded like a great idea. Lately, with the temperature in the high 80′s, not so much.

But, we can relive those memories right here. This is based on a recipe in Fondue: Great Food to Dip, Dunk, Savor and Swirl by Rick Rodgers. This is the same cookbook that I used for my last fondue experiment, Cheddar, Roasted garlic annd Zinfandel fondue.

For this one, I changed a number of things from the original recipe — used half and half instead of cream, decreased the cream cheese, added the wine and added more seasonings.

For Fondue
1 cup half & half
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 cup white wine (I used a pinot grigio)
1 garlic clove, minced
4 oz cream cheese, cut into small cubes, at room temperature
8 oz goat cheese (chevre), crumbled with a fork, . . . → Read More: A Cooler, Gentler Time: Chevre & Herb Fondue

They Are so Cute — Now What Do I Do with Them?

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I was in New Seasons the other day buying some halibut and as I was walking through the produce sections I saw the cutest thing — garlic tops.

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“Oh!” I thought to myself, “need to buy! Cuuute!”

Then I got home and realized I had no idea what to do with them. I did a little online searching and found this page — Mary Jane’s Farm about garlic scapes, which I think are slightly younger versions of my tops but I figured it was close enough.

I made the pesto, using half parm and half feta. I also added some pine nuts. Wow! The garlic! It burns! (But in a good way). I mixed about a tablespoon into a big bowl of hot pasta with some olive oil to start, as it did seem a little strong. But — by the middle of the meal, jwa and . . . → Read More: They Are so Cute — Now What Do I Do with Them?

Cheddar, Roasted Garlic and Zinfandel Fondue

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This recipe is from Fondue: Great Food to Dip, Dunk, Savor and Swirl by Rick Rodgers. I think I’ve had it for about five years but I haven’t used it before this batch of fondue. Why use it now? Well, jwa got me this awesome fondue pot for my birthday! It was on my Amazon wish list but I didn’t really expect to get it (because, dude, it’s a $135(!!) fondue pot), and he completely surprised me with it.

I thought he was going to get me the tea kettle on my list and I picked up the box and thought, “Damn. This is very heavy for a tea pot.” Well, that’s because it was a cast iron fondue pot. Hooray!

For the first recipe, I thought and thought. Then I thought about it some more. What is worthy of the first fondue in this great new pot? Well, one . . . → Read More: Cheddar, Roasted Garlic and Zinfandel Fondue