All posts filed under: Food Musings

Clamoring for Grilled Clams

Published by Kathy Hunt

Summertime and the grillin’s easy. Fish are jumpin’ and the shellfish supply is high. (And, no doubt, the ghosts of Ira and George Gershwin are horrified.) Although a lot of folks stick to cooking shrimp and the occasional lobster on their grills, I like to make my summer, shellfish meals a bit more intriguing with bivalves. Not sure if you’ve met this gang? You’ll surely recognize the members — clams, mussels, oysters and scallops. Of the aforementioned four, clams, specifically hard-shell clams, are my current favorite. As their name indicates, hard-shell clams possess hard shells. The other variety, soft-shell, has a brittle, thin shell that, because of a long, protruding siphon, doesn’t close completely. The clams that I grill are East Coast littlenecks. Possessing a grayish shell less than two inches in diameter, these are the smallest hard-shell clams. To clean my clams, I scrub them under running water with a stiff bristled brush. I then place them in a bowl of cold, salted water to soak. Here’s the cool thing about live clams. They …

A School of Lemon Sugar Cookies

Published by Kathy Hunt

Two weeks ago, as I cut and baked seven dozen fish-shaped, lemon sugar cookies for the Fish Market launch party, I thought of my late father and all the rolled, sugar cookies that we’d made together when I was a kid. Every Christmas and spring he’d pull out a large, aquamarine, Pyrex mixing bowl, wooden rolling pin and an eclectic collection of tin cookie cutters and spread these tools over the kitchen counter. This display of kitchen equipment could only mean one thing — we were about to kick off our biannual baking spree. No matter the season I’d insist on using every cutter, which meant that we ate bunny- and shamrock-shaped cookies at Christmas and reindeer and Santa Claus cookies at Easter. Then again, by the time that I’d finished slathering the cookies with royal icing, colored sugars, chocolate morsels and candy sprinkles, no one could tell exactly what he was consuming. Unquestionably, my dad was a good sport when it came to cookie making and decorating. Then and now, the secret to cutting …

Launching Fish Market

Published by Kathy Hunt

If you follow Kitchen Kat, you know that my first cookbook, Fish Market, has hit bookstore shelves. Published by Running Press, it covers 48 fish and shellfish and has handy, final chapter on seafood-friendly side dishes. As a longtime food writer, recipe tester and pescetarian (person who eats seafood but doesn’t consume meat or poultry), I am thrilled by its publication. Finally, I get to share all of my fish tales and recipes with you. Although you know about the book, you may not realize that I’m throwing a big party in honor of it and you all are invited! On Friday, May 31st, at 7 PM I’ll host the official Fish Market launch party at the Towne Book Center in Collegeville, Pa. A spacious, well-stocked, independent bookstore, the Towne is conveniently located near our work-in-progress farmhouse. If you’re going to restore an old house in the country, let it be near a good bookstore. Friday’s events include a sampling of dishes from my book, drinks, a brief talk about seafood, Q&A and a book …

The Apple Jane-Key Lime Pie Conflict

Published by Kathy Hunt

I’m not a fan of conflict. Ditto for controversy. Yet, in spite of this I’ve become embroiled in a battle to end all battles. No doubt, like most skirmishes, this one began harmlessly enough. Two weeks ago a friend, “Apple Jane,” made a key lime pie, brought it over to our place and served it for dessert. It was a nice, generous gesture but one that kicked off a hot dispute. At issue was the pie’s crust. Jane’s husband, “Apple Frankie,” had definite opinions and questions about it. Should Jane have baked it so that it became firm and toffee-like? Should she have doubled the recipe, adding an extra bit of crunch to every bite? Frank, the crust curmudgeon, thought so. Jane, however, did not. In an attempt to settle the debate last week I made two key lime pies. The first was Apple Frankie-style, with a baked and chewy double crust. As much as I love sweets, I found this concoction cloying and hard to cut. The second was my compromise pie — the …

In Honor of Mother’s Day, My Mom’s Strawberry-Yogurt Pie

Published by Kathy Hunt

Although it’s been a whirlwind of a week, I couldn’t let Mother’s Day pass by without sharing a recipe in honor of my late mother and all the other hardworking moms around the globe. Among the many things that my mother was, she was a huge fan of sweets. At dinnertime she was more apt to enjoy a slice of seasonal pie or quick bread than eat the meal over which she’d labored. At breakfast, while I choked down grainy, bland and much dreaded Cream of Wheat, she nibbled on iced, fruit-filled pastries or glazed May’s donuts. Craving a cookie? We always had a box, bag or tin filled with chocolate chip, date-filled oatmeal or sugar cookies on hand, just in case the need arose. When my mother spoke of her own late mother, she talked of weekends spent making fudge, divinity candy, meringues and cakes. Needless to say, I come from a long line of sweets lovers. If a sweet tooth is hereditary, there’s no question from which side of my family mine came. …

The Surprisingly Alluring Sardine

Published by Kathy Hunt

Over the past few weeks I’ve been inviting friends over for a series of “Pretend You’re at Williams-Sonoma Sampling Food” nights. On these evenings I ply them with recipes from my cookbook Fish Market in an attempt to see which dishes appeal to even the most apathetic seafood eaters. Unequivocally, they have gone for sardine spread. Considering how many had initially voiced their distaste for this small, iridescent fish, I’m both surprised and pleased by the discovery. What makes people dislike sardines? Beats me. I do know why I enjoy them. For such small fish they possess a ton of rich, meaty flavor. Add a few to a salad, sandwich, pizza or pie and you end up with one fabulously savory and complex tasting dish. Then there are the health aspects. These guys are packed with heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids and protein. Plus, they pair well with an array of ingredients. Eggplant, tomato, onion, orange, lemon, cheese, olives, fennel, rosemary and parsley all marry beautifully with sardines. What makes our friends, many of whom had …

Dreamy Triple Chocolate Coconut Bars

Published by Kathy Hunt

I’m married to a guy who adores coconut. Me? Not so much. Hand me a Mounds or Bounty bar and I’ll nibble off the smooth, rich chocolate, leaving behind a sticky blob of sinewy coconut for my husband to eat. Gross but true. Because of my apathy toward coconut, I rarely bake desserts featuring it. However, when I do, I make Dreamy Triple Chocolate Coconut Bars. Inspired by Amy’s Bread’s coconut dream bars, these luxurious treats feature plenty of coconut for my husband and an ample amount of chocolate for me. They’re the perfect compromise for two only children who love radically different sweets. Dreamy Triple Chocolate Coconut Bars will keep for several days. If you aren’t going to serve them right away, cover them with plastic wrap and store in a cool place. DREAMY TRIPLE CHOCOLATE COCONUT BARS Makes 20 bars 3 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted 1/2 cup white chocolate chips 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 3 1/4 cups sweetened coconut flakes 1 3/4 cups sweetened condensed milk …

Chesapeake Bay Crab Balls

Published by Kathy Hunt

Thanks to good friends who live in the Chesapeake Bay area, I spend quite a bit of time cooking and eating along Maryland’s coastline. Hang out in this region for any amount of time and you’ll quickly see how crazy everyone is about crabs. It’s not hard to figure out why. Native to the western Atlantic, blue crabs play a major role in the local marine fisheries and economy. As their name suggests, blue crabs sport blue claws and bluish-green bodies. Along with their striking appearance they possess sweet, soft and flaky meat, a trait that wins them many fans. Got blue crabs? Then you’ve got a lot of recipes featuring savory crab meat. What do my Chesapeake Bay buddies do with their crustaceans? They steam or sauté them, shape them into patties for crab cakes or add them to soups and stews. One of my favorite Chesapeake Bay creations is a quick, zesty appetizer known as crab balls. Created by old friend and cooking pal Elizabeth Theisen, crab balls are this week’s Kitchen Kat …

The Friday Fish Fry

Published by Kathy Hunt

Last week I heard two words that jettisoned me right back to high school — fish fry. Thanks to a heart attack that my father had suffered at a school football game and our family’s subsequent dietary restrictions, I grew up eating a lot of dry, unadorned fish dinners. Several times a season, though, we would slip out of these tight restraints and head off to a Friday night fish fry. Hosted by local churches and the Telephone Pioneers of America, of which my engineer dad was a devoted member, these events were the highpoint of our otherwise drab seafood diet. What I remember most about those fish fries are the oil-stained, white paper plates that collapsed beneath the weight of their contents and the contents themselves. The cargo varied slightly, with sides of coleslaw, mac and cheese, pierogies or french fries, but always contained triangles of crunchy, golden batter encasing fillets of white fish. Paired with tartar sauce, malt vinegar and ketchup, the crisp, deep-fried fish was, in my mind, outrageously delicious. Today I …

Spring Vegetable Frittata

Published by Kathy Hunt

Beyond chocolate bunnies, jelly beans and marshmallow chicks, I’ve never associated a specific food with Easter. When I was a kid, my mother would occasionally bake a ham pricked with cloves and draped with pineapple rings. Served alongside creamy scalloped potatoes and peas, it was the closest that my family ever came to a traditional, home cooked, Easter meal. More often than not, on Easter Sunday we went out for brunch. Some years we hit an upscale buffet brimming with glistening Danishes, steamy scrabbled eggs, roast beef and shrimp cocktail. Other times we enjoyed a sit down meal of fruit- and cream cheese-stuffed French toast, eggs Benedict or chicken divan. Once again, there was no set cuisine or, for that matter, locale. Oddly enough, I’ve married into a family that likewise celebrates this holiday with brunch. Taking into account that recurring meal, I’d like to share a fresh, easy, brunch offering, Spring Vegetable Frittata. It may sound fancy but a frittata is nothing more than the Italian version of a French omelet. With omelets you …