Progressive Dinner for Dec 19

'Twas the week before Christmas and all through the forum
The dishes were cooking with grace and decorum

At least let's hope so. Here are the assignments for December 19:

Appetizer: Hila
First: Brook
Soup: Anne
Salad: Ron
Seafood: Mark
Main: Dan
Dessert: Ahron

As usual, let's get the seafood and main courses posted asap, so that everyone else can come up with complimentary dishes.

Lousianna Crab Cakes and Blackened Redfish for two.


Louisiana Crab Cakes with Corn Relish
Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onions
½  cup chopped celery
½  cup chopped red bell peppers
Mayonnaise, recipe follows
1 ½  cups plus 2 tablespoons dried fine bread crumbs
2 tablespoons Essence, recipe follows
1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat, picked for shells and cartilage
½  cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
½  cup whole milk
½  cup vegetable oil
Corn Relish, recipe follows

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions, celery, and bell peppers, and cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Combine the mayonnaise, a little at a time, with the cooked vegetables, ½  cup plus 2 tablespoons of the bread crumbs, and 1 tablespoon of the Essence in a large bowl, and mix well. Gently fold in the crabmeat.

Combine the flour with 1 ½  teaspoons of the Essence in a shallow bowl and mix well. Combine the remaining 1 cup of bread crumbs with the remaining 1 ½  teaspoons of Essence in another bowl. Whisk 1 egg with the milk in another bowl.

Using your hands, form mini cakes with the crabmeat mixture, packing gently but firmly. Dredge each crab cake in the flour mixture, then in the egg wash, then the bread crumb mixture, shaking to remove any excess breading.

Heat ½  cup of vegetable oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Pan-fry the crab cakes 3 or 4 at a time until golden brown, about 4 ½  minutes per side. Drain on paper towels.

To serve, arrange the crab cakes on a platter and top each with a spoonful of the relish. Serve hot.


Blackened Redfish
Ingredients

    3 teaspoons salt, optional
    ½  teaspoon red pepper
    ½  teaspoon white pepper
    1/4 teaspoon black pepper
    ½  teaspoon onion powder
    ½  teaspoon garlic powder
    ¼  teaspoon dried thyme
    ¼  teaspoon dried basil
    ¼  teaspoon dried oregano
    2 teaspoons paprika
    8 skinless, boneless fillets redfish about 1/4 pound each
    1/2 cup melted butter

Preparation

1. Combine the salt, red pepper, white pepper, black pepper, thyme, basil, oregano and paprika in a small bowl.
2. Dip the fish pieces on both sides in butter. Sprinkle on both sides with the seasoned mixture.
3. Heat a black iron skillet over high heat about five minutes or longer until it is beyond the smoking stage and starts to lighten in color on the bottom.
4. Add two or more fish pieces and pour about a teaspoon of butter on top of each piece. The butter may flame up. Cook over high heat about a minute and a half. Turn the fish and pour another teaspoon of butter over each piece. Cook about a minute and a half. Serve immediately. Continue until all the fillets are cooked.

Mark, I assume that's Emeril's Essence you include in the crab cakes recipe? Either way, you forgot to post it, as in: "2 tablespoons Essence, recipe follows."

Also, please repeat this post in the American Southeast forum. Thanx.

Anne, goes for your borsht recipe, too. Please copy it in the appropriate European forum.

We're off to a good start, guys.

Ann, no matter where you got the recipe, our rule of thumb for the progressive dinners is to post the recipe twice: once in the progressive dinner thread, and again in an appropriate FotW forum. For instance, your Borsht recipe would fit in the Central Europe forum.

HistoricFoodie wrote: Ann,

HistoricFoodie wrote: Mark, I assume that's Emeril's Essence you include in the crab cakes recipe? Either way, you forgot to post it, as in: "2 tablespoons Essence, recipe follows." Also, please repeat this post in the American Southeast forum. Thanx. Anne, goes for your borsht recipe, too. Please copy it in the appropriate European forum. We're off to a good start, guys.

That would be correct Brook and I will post the recipe for Essence and Mayonnaise along with pics of the process.

Apple cake 

africanmeat wrote: for dessert i will give you apple cake . it is a recipe from my late mother in law

Is there any chance of seeing the recipe Ahron? I would like to make one for Christmas.

Thanks You
Mark

Appertizer is Burekas
(Sorry for this being late my Internet seems to have swallowed up the original poat I made)

These little bites are morish so when serving as an appetiser make sure you limit the portion otherwise you will have very full happy people before you even get to starters

You will need:
1 roll puff pastry
1 egg for an egg wash
Sesame seeds

Filling:
I made a feta filling but you can fill them with what ever best suits the remainder of your meal

Feta filling:
1 cup feta
1 cup smooth cottage or ricotta
1 egg
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix all the ingredients ingredients together until smooth

Roll out the puff pastry and cut into squares about 5 x 5cm. Brush each square around the edge with egg. Put about a tsp worth of filling in each and fold (for different fillings fold differently). Brush with egg and spinkle with sesame. Place in a preheated oven on 180ºC until they puff up and go golden brown.