Stone Crabs: One Last Splurge

Happy 2009! Can you believe it?

Well, here goes: this year I will try to- be more frugal; stick to a diet; be more patient; listen; pour more love and encouragement on those precious to me; be a better friend. These are not resolutions but merely a little list for myself. I think I can manage to accomplish most of it. The hardest part for me is always dieting. Not so easy.

My daughter will be returning to New York City Monday.... I will miss her very much. She has a contemporary art gallery there (see "My Favorite Websites" below) and the art market has not been all that great lately. I am crossing my fingers that all the naysayers will be wrong in their predictions for 2009. This gallery is Tracy's dream and she works like mad to make it a success, which it has been for several years. I know, everyone is having problems with the economy and everyone is working hard to keep their dreams alive. But we mothers worry about all our kids, we can't help it and no matter how grown up they are, this will never change. I worry about my sons just as much. Little kids, little problems; big kids, big problems. Can't remember where I first heard that, but it sure is true.

So, in keeping with our diet promises (But our frugal promises? Not so much.) I decided to surprise Tracy on New Year's Day with her all-time favorite: stone crabs. Delicious and aren't the colors to die for? And best thing yet, no work. They are cooked and cracked and ready to go.

To accompany, we always use a recipe I found years ago in the Miami Herald for Joe's Mustard Sauce. The Joe I speak of is -need I say it- Joe's Stone Crab, the famous Miami restaurant where stone crabs are king. And the rest of their food is pretty regal too. Now I have no idea if this recipe is really Joe's or not. The paper claimed it was and we think it's pretty close to the real thing, so that's what we call it, with mea culpas to Joe's if it's not.

Joe's Mustard Sauce

Ingredients:

3 and 1/2 teaspoons dry English mustard (like Coleman's)
1 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon A-1 sauce
1/8 cup light cream
1/8 teaspoon salt

Method:

In a small bowl beat the dry mustard and mayonnaise until blended. Add remaining ingredients and chill until ready to serve. Makes 1 cup.

We needed a salad as well, so I made some Broccoli Slaw. It's pretty, you can make it ahead, although it is a simple recipe to begin with, tasty and the perfect foil for the stone crabs. My friend Polly originally gave me the recipe so I named it after her. You don't need another thing- perhaps some white wine and for those who wanted dessert I pulled out what was left of my Apricot and Nut Cookies. Yum! What a great start for 2009.

Polly's Broccoli Slaw

Ingredients:

1 pound broccoli slaw (you can find it in your market)
1 package cole slaw
6 green onions, sliced
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
2 packages ramen chicken soup mix
1 1/2 cups salad oil
2 1/2 Tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
6 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Method:

Mix the first five ingredients and refrigerate. Make a dressing with oil, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper and 1 1/2 packages of the seasoning mix in the soup packet. Mix well. Just before serving, crunch up the noodles of both packages and add to the slaw. (I put them in a plastic bag and pound them with my rolling pin) Pour dressing over and serve.

Diets Etc.

We're on a diet around here, even before we make healthy eating a New Year's resolution. Enough is enough. The only things I have kept the faith with are my daily workouts and a healthy breakfast. The rest of the day goes downhill food wise. I don't deny I'm having a fine time sampling all the holiday goodies and imbibing in my favorite gin and tonics before dinner; we are eating out more than usual too. Moderation. There is fine word defining exactly what I should be doing regarding meals. It's easy enough when nobody is here and I'm not tempted by a new restaurant with an intriguing menu.

Haven't we all tried diets promising quick results? When I think of all the fad diets I have been on over the years I cringe. Do you remember the 3 day Model Diet? The Chocolate Diet? The Slimfast Jump Start Diet? Well, I must admit the three day diet worked when I wanted an emergency 4-5 pound weight loss to get into a special dress that was ever so slightly snug- but the pounds came right back on after the weekend. The food on that diet was pretty ghastly too. After many years, my nutritionist says the only answer is moderation and a well balanced diet. All the time. B O R I N G. Sorry, I just can't be good all the time! In fact, I can't be good most of the time!

So for a few nights this week in advance of the New Year's bash (one of my aerobics teachers calls this being pro-active- but is actually referring to fact we are working out this time of year when lots of people are ignoring their normal routines and being couch potatoes) we decided to eat healthy dinners when we ate at home and try to eat healthy salads every day for lunch no matter where we were. At least it's a head start on the dire morning of January 5th when I will wake up and stand staring at my scale in anguish.

Last night we had a lovely broiled yellowtail and some roasted brussel sprouts. While shopping at Whole Foods for fresh yellowtail we found some stalks of brussel sprouts in the produce section. It l00ked too good to pass by.

We doused them with olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and stuck them in a 400° oven for 40 minutes, shaking the pan every now and then. They caramelized beautifully and went perfectly with our broiled yellowtail. So far, so good.

Next we started thinking about salads. Unusual salads, not just the lettuce/tomato kind. My friend Nancy came up with a nifty luncheon salad that fits the diet mode perfectly and is delicious to eat. We call it Nancy's Salad of course, and not only is it pretty and good for you, but it tastes marvelous.

Nancy's Salad

Ingredients:

1 small head cauliflower, in florets

3 carrots, sliced

3 celery stalks, sliced

1/2 cup pimento stuffed green olives, sliced

1/4 cup salad oil (or olive oil)

1/4 cup vinegar (any kind you like)

1 teaspoon Lawry's seasoning salt

Method:

Prepare the vegetables and olives. Make a dressing with the last three ingredients.

Mix and chill.

Serves 2
Another salad we love is one I adapted from Lee Bailey's Country Weekends; I call it Cottage Cheese Salad. Lee Bailey served it with a small piece of broiled chicken and some melba toast. I like it with a hard boiled egg, quartered, and a quartered tomato. Then I sprinkle a little Lawry's seasoning salt on top along with some freshly ground black pepper. It's divine.

Cottage Cheese Salad
Ingredients:1 1/2 cups fat free cottage cheese
1 tablespoon chives, chopped
3 radishes, diced
2 tomatoes, quartered
2 hard boiled eggs, quartered
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup roasted pecans
Lawry's seasoning salt
freshly ground black pepper
Method:Mix the red pepper, radishes and chives with the cottage cheese. Sprinkle with the roasted pecans, salt and pepper.
Serve with the eggs and tomatoes.
Serves 2

Apricot and Nut Cookies

We were among the lucky ones this Christmas: no nightmare travel stories to relate. It's all I have been hearing about from friends and family. My daughter arrived from New York City in between storms and was only a couple hours late.

My sister was not so fortunate. She had to worry about five children traveling to her Leland Michigan cabin and they were coming from both the east and west coast. The closest airport giving access to Leland is Traverse City but everyone traveling there has to make a stop-usually Grand Rapids, Detroit or Chicago. And the weather in those cities is always iffy in December and this year it was a lot more than iffy. Her daughter from San Francisco was stuck in Chicago for Christmas day. And if the photos of O'Hare are accurate, she had lots of company.

I don't like to brag (I'm going to anyway) but our Florida weather has been lovely so far this holiday. Not perfect, but really nice. Still, you can't get here if your plane is coming from an airport closed down by weather. So we sympathize because if affects us as well.

Lots of people can't imagine Christmas in Florida- but we really get into the spirit of the season; lots of lights, wreaths and outdoor decorations. I am in awe at some of the displays; the lighting has gotten so intricate. Of course in Florida we light up our palm trees rather than pine trees which is amusing the first time you see it. Deer, Santas, snowmen and snow globes decorate the lawns. Someone has a full size Santa descending from the roof on a rope; another has Santa on a huge swing.

And boat parades! I love the smaller parades like the one we have in Boca Raton; we missed it last year because the city just did not have enough money. But it was privately supported this year and back for us to enjoy. I find the larger cities like Ft. Lauderdale have boats that are somewhat more commercial- still fun to watch, but I like the down home look. Bridges are held open for the boats which of course causes problems if you have someplace to go other than the parade. Boat owners call on their friends to help decorate their boats- all sizes, large and small, and their enthusiasm is obvious as music is blaring and they are waving, cheering and hollering out Merry Christmas! as they pass by. Such fun to sit on the grass by the intercoastal waterway and wave back. This year someone set off a fireworks display that put the July 4th show to shame.

The boat parades put everyone in a holiday mood and to me that means planning holiday surprises in the kitchen. Now that I don't have small children at home and my grandchildren did not come this year, I did not make as many Christmas cookies as usual. But I do love using them as last minute gifts for friends so I tried some new recipes this year. I found an interesting recipe with apricots, almonds and pine nuts as ingredients and a frosting made with amaretto. Hmmmm. Sounded good to me so I made them. Delicious! They are rather nutty and chewy and have a very slight cinnamon flavor. But the frosting makes the cookie. My son was gobbling them down as fast as I could turn them out and my daughter was happy when I gave the last of them away as she said she would have eaten the entire plateful. Well, it's never off season for cookies so give these a try; make it a New Year's resolution: bake something new!

Apricot and Nut Cookies

Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis, Everyday Italian

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped

1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted

2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted

Icing:

1 and 3/4 cups confectioners sugar

5 to 7 tablespoons Amaretto liqueur

Method:

Beat the butter, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and salt with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Add the flour and stir until just blended. Mix in the apricots, almonds and pine nuts. The dough will be sticky at this point.

Transfer the dough to a sheet of wax paper and shape it into a log about 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches in diameter, rolling the dough in the wax paper until the shape is right. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for two hours.(After I rolled the dough in the wax paper and started to chill it, I opened the refrigerator door a few times to form it better.)Preheat your oven to 350° and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Cut the dough crosswise into 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices and place them on the parchment paper. Space them evenly apart. Bake about 15 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown. Transfer them to a wire rack to cool.

To make the icing: mix the confectioners sugar and Amaretto and beat until smooth. I poured the frosting into a small baggie and made a tiny slit in a corner and then drizzled the frosting over the cookies. Allow to set, about 30 minutes.

This recipe makes about 2 to 2 1/2 dozen cookies.