I recently had a hankering for Lobster Rolls, and Costco was out of frozen lobster meat, so I bought lobster tails instead. I was left with quite a few lobster shells, so I decided it was about time I made Homemade Lobster Stock!
This Homemade Lobster Stock is pretty straightforward. Sauté your shells and veggies, add in the liquids and aromatics, and simmer.
The result is a beautiful base for all your favorite seafood dishes: lobster bisque, seafood risotto, paella, or a creamy pasta sauce!
My father-in-law is a big fan of Key Lime Pie, so I always think of him whenever I come across key limes. With the weather heating up, and my mind (always) on ice cream, I figured it was about time I tried to make a Key Lime Pie Ice Cream for him! (I’ve made this blueberry ice cream in the past for my mother-in-law so it’s only fair that he gets his own ice cream too!)
This Homemade Key Lime Pie Ice Cream is made by combining an ice cream base with key lime juice.
Chunks of graham crackers are coated in a brown sugar butter mixture and baked to mimic the flavor of a key lime pie crust.
I love me a batch cocktail, and this Mezcal Paloma Batch Cocktail is one of my newest favorites!
A traditional Paloma Cocktail is a deliciously simple 3-ingredient warm weather drink. If you’ve never had it before, definitely check out my recipe and find out what you’ve been missing!
Although a traditional paloma is made with tequila, a common substitute for the tequila is mezcal, resulting in a smoky twist on the classic. My husband is a big fan of mezcal, so this Mezcal Paloma Batch Cocktail was created with him in mind!
My Mezcal Paloma Batch Cocktail preserves the general flavor and simplicity of the traditional cocktail but adds in some seltzer to add a bit more fizz (and to keep it sippable all party long!)
Note: Jarritos (paid link) is my grapefruit soda of choice, so the balance of other ingredients is based on the flavor profile of Jarritos. If using another grapefruit soda, you may need to adjust the amount of lime juice and seltzer.
I learned something new when I was making this Chilled Juicer Tomato Soup: not all chilled tomato soup is gazpacho. (Apologies if this is very well-known information and I am just late to the game here.)
Chilled tomato soup is made by combining the ingredients, simmering them to develop the flavors, and then is pureed and chilled. Gazpacho, on the other hand, is ingredients that are blended together raw. It also tends to have cucumbers and peppers along with the tomatoes.
All that to say, this Chilled Juicer Tomato Soup is based off a recipe I saw in one of my newest cookbooks: Lido (paid link). This cookbook is actually half stories and half recipes. Written by Melissa Pellegrino and Matthew Scialabba, Lido takes you on a culinary journey through Italy’s beach clubs and includes over 60 recipes, including a recipe for Cold Tomato Soup with Burrata Cheese.
I found myself with too many tomatoes lately, and this recipe was the perfect way to use them up!
My version uses all the same ingredients but adapts the directions to use my Hurom Slow Juicer (paid link) instead of a food mill or blender.
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for drizzling
6 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
5 lbs heirloom tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped
With my upcoming trip to Sicily, Sicilian inspired recipes are very much top of mind! It has also been quite warm in Philly, so I have Ice Cream on the brain. This recipe for Homemade Cannoli Ice Cream is (obviously) inspired by one of Sicily’s most well-known treats: Cannoli.
The traditional dessert is a deep-fried pastry shell filled with a sweet ricotta cream. Cannoli can be decorated with candied orange zest, or chopped pistachios, depending on the region in Sicily. American Italian versions (like many found in South Philly where I live) have chocolate chips stirred into the cannoli cream.
So when I was determining what ingredients to add to my Cannoli Ice Cream, I decided to take inspiration from all three options! The ricotta-based ice cream has a hint of orange zest to bring a light citrus flavor. Mini chocolate chips, chopped pistachios, and bits of broken cannoli shells are stirred in for extra flavor and crunch.
Intrigued? Let’s dig in!
Ingredients (makes 1 quart):
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup whole milk
1 (15 oz) container whole milk ricotta
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh orange zest
1/2 cup broken cannoli shell pieces (Wegmans sells cannoli chips that would work too)
My niece turned three recently, and she is absolutely obsessed with a certain cartoon mouse with a bow. These Minnie Cupcakes felt like the perfect way to celebrate my niece while still making a delicious dessert!
These Minnie Cupcakes are made with a vanilla cupcake topped with strawberry frosting. Mini Oreos work at little mouse ears, finished off with a cute polka dotted fondant bow.
Ingredients (makes 12 cupcakes):
Vanilla Cupcakes:
1 2/3 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 egg whites, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Strawberry Buttercream Frosting:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
Note: I was sent tins of Fishwife Smoked Salmon in order to write this post for Smoked Salmon Patties. Opinions are my own.
I am loving that tinned fish is having a moment; tinned fish is a must-have in your pantry for quick and tasty meals. We have been a Fishwife household for a while now (peep at my current pantry collection below for proof), so I get super excited when I get to try a new Fishwife product!
Fishwife recently sent me some cans of their Smoked Salmon, and I knew I wanted the smoked salmon to be the star of any recipe I created with them.
These Smoked Salmon Patties are a quick and easy way to get dinner on the table in no time!
I served the Smoked Salmon Patties over a spinach salad drizzled with a homemade French vinaigrette.
I make quite a bit of homemade ice cream, with lots of those ice cream recipes using egg yolks. I am down for an egg white omelet on occasion, but what to do I do with all those other egg whites? My favorite way to use up extra egg whites is by making these Easy Meringue Cookies!
These Easy Meringue Cookies have just five ingredients and take less than 20 minutes prep time! As with all meringue recipes, these easy meringue cookies are baked at a low temperature and then sit in the cooling down oven to further bake and harden.
Note: I was sent a review copy of Domenica Marchetti’s Italian Cookies: Authentic Recipes and Sweet Stories from Every Region in order to write this post for Biscotti Ricci Del Gattopardo. Opinions are mine alone.
This summer, my husband and I are celebrating our anniversary in style: we are heading to Sicily and Rome! So, when this Italian Cookies (paid link) cookbook showed up on my doorstep, I immediately paged through to the “Cookies of the Islands” chapter to find myself a Sicilian cookie to try. This recipe for Biscotti Ricci Del Gattopardo (The Leopard’s Rippled Almond Cookies) caught my eye immediately.
This Italian Cookies cookbook is a treasure trove of mouthwatering cookie recipes from all regions of Italy, along with stories and background on the cookies within the cookbook… there are over 100 cookie recipes in this beautiful cookbook, including classics like pizzelle, cuccidati, anisetti, and amaretti.
The cookies I chose to make, Biscotti Ricci Del Gattopardo, get their name from the novel Il Gattopardo by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. In the book, the prince of Salina visits a monastery where Benedictine nuns make these tasty almond-based cookies (you can actually still buy them at the convent of Palma di Montechiaro in Sicily).
In this cookbook, Domenica Marchetti adapted the original recipe to use a cookie press (paid link) rather than piping out logs (hence these cookies known as “rippled” almond cookies), which speeds up the process without messing with the flavor!
Ingredients:
2 cups superfine almond flour, plus up to 1/2 cup optional almond flour if needed
It’s been a minute (or, more specifically, a year) since I shared a new salmon recipe, so I knew it had to be something special, like this recipe for Salmon with Mustard Piccata Sauce!
I found the original Salmon with Mustard Piccata Sauce recipe on NYT Cooking but have adapted it slightly for my tastes and what I tend to have in my kitchen. Not only does it taste great, but you can have dinner on the table in under 30 minutes!
These Vanilla Cardamom Sugar Cookies have been in the works since before Christmas.
I have been experimenting with different levels of cardamom versus vanilla, making sure the cookie is nice a chewy, and determining the right chill time and cookie size and I am really happy with this final result!
So let’s get right into it! These Vanilla Cardamom Sugar Cookies are a cardamom flavored sugar cookie rolled in vanilla cardamom sugar before baking resulting in a delicious, chewy cookie that is sure to become a favorite.
Ingredients:
Vanilla Cardamom Sugar:
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon ground cardamom
1 vanilla bean, scraped
Cardamom Cookies:
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
This recipe for Squid Ink Seafood Pasta is the best way to really highlight a homemade squid ink fettuccine (or store-bought fresh squid ink pasta!)
This Squid Ink Seafood Pasta is bursting with flavor: briny pasta, a little heat from red pepper flakes, nice acidity from the white wine and lemon, smokiness from the salmon, and freshness from the basil.
This is a really impressive dish, but it can be made in about 30 minutes!
I am taking full advantage of the long weekend by making a recipe I’ve wanted to make for a while now: Homemade Squid Ink Fettuccine!
I’ve been inspired to finally try to make homemade pasta after Danny Freeman’s demo at Binding Agents a few months back. And on a recent stop at Ippolito’s, I noticed they had cuttlefish ink for sale and knew that homemade squid ink fettuccine was in my near future!
Homemade pasta is surprisingly easy to make, but it does take some time (the dough has to rest a few times) so just keep that in mind when planning to make it. I have a bunch of tools on hand that make pasta making even easier, so I’ll link to those throughout this post.
Ingredients:
3 eggs
1/2 tablespoon (1 1/2 teaspoons) cuttlefish ink
3oo grams (about 2 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
I love a classic mac and cheese. But I also love a spin on a classic, like this recipe for Cajun Mac and Cheese!
This Cajun Mac and Cheese recipe is made of elbow pasta with onions, bell peppers, celery, and andouille sausage, baked in a creamy, spiced cheese sauce.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon salt
1 (16 oz) box elbow pasta
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 (12 oz – 16 oz) package Andouille sausage, chopped
