Spotting Lunch - Crab Melt on Wholewheat English Muffins

For as long as I can remember my mother's choice sandwich was a tuna melt. A summer or two ago I remember her bringing home half a tuna melt sandwich from The Summer Kitchen in Newtown, Pennsylvania that looked so good every time I go to that restaurant I see if it's on the menu. We'd also make tuna melts at home for a quick lunch of dinner. I like it better than the average tuna salad sandwich (although I did make a tuna salad with grilled ahi tuna - AMAZING)... When I was on TasteSpotting looking for something for lunch and found cafenilson's crab melt - I was sold! I'll probably be trying this recipe out for my mom for Mother's Day - I know she'll love it!

Photo from cafenilson

Crab Melt on Wholewheat English Muffins
via cafenilson

Ingredients:

• 1 cup crab meat (you can use the real thing or the imitation crab, either way it still tastes good)
• 2 tbs butter
• 1 tbs flour
• 1/2 cup heavy cream, fat -free half and half or milk (I use whatever I have in my refrigerator)
• 1 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded and divided into two or 4 portions depending on size of muffins used (see below)
• paprika
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 halves english muffins or 2 large ones

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a medium hot sauce pan. Add flour to make a roux. Add cream (or milk) and cook until thick. Add more or less cream to make a thick enough white sauce. Add crab meat pieces, stir carefully and season with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool.
2. Place muffin halves in a baking sheet. Divide the crab mixture in half (or four if using regular sized english muffins.)
3. Add crab mixture on top of muffin, enough to cover. Add the cheese on top. Cheese need not cover the muffin as it will melt and spread so watch out how much you put. Sprinkle with paprika on top.
4. Broil in the oven until cheese melts and top is crusty golden brown, usually 10 - 15 minutes.
5. Remove and serve with salad of choice.

The serving suggestion from cafenilson is that you serve the crab melts with a salad and I agree. This would be great with almost any kind of salad that you could think of. I came across a cucumber salad in Barefoot Contessa "Back to Basics" which would be a nice along side this. But a simple red onion and heirloom tomato salad would be equally as nice. Ina's tabbouleh salad (minus the pitas) would be a great choice too!

Here's to Alaska and full bellies.
- Cait

Spotting Breakfast - Ham and Cheese Omelet Roll

I love omelets... I usually make myself an egg white omelet for breakfast close to every morning. Making an omelet for a group of people can be annoying though. Everyone ends up finished eating before you've even sat down to start eating your omelet. When I saw realmomkitchen's ham and cheese omelet roll on TasteSpotting I knew I had to share it.

Photo from realmomkitchen

Ham and Cheese Omelet Roll (6 serving version)
via realmomkitchen

2 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 plus 1/8 cup milk
1 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 eggs
1 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 heaping cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 cup finely chopped fully cooked ham
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions

Line the bottom and sides of a greased 9 x 13 baking dish with parchment paper; grease the paper and set aside. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and slowly add milk until smooth. Add flour and salt; mix until combined. In a large bowl, beat the eggs until blended. Add cream cheese mixture; mix well. Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 375° for 30-35 minutes or until eggs are puffed and set. Remove from the oven and use parchment paper to remove egg from the pan. Immediately spread with mustard and sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese. Sprinkle with ham, onions and 1/2 cup cheese. Roll up from a short side, peeling parchment paper away while rolling. Sprinkle top of roll with the remaining cheese; place roll in pan and bake 3-4 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.
Yield: 6 servings.

There's also a recipe variation that serves 12 which can be found here.

On a side note - I found the realmomkitchen blog to have a cute design and a nice layout.

You could easily put any type of filling into the omelet instead of ham and cheese... Lightly sauteed cherry tomatoes and spring asparagus with fontina or cheddar would be a great use of spring vegetables. My favorite kind of omelet would have to be made with my special mushrooms and cheddar.

Here's to chickens and warm bellies.
- Cait

Spotting Dinner - Fig, Goat Cheese, Prosciutto and Arugula Pizza

I've been in such a pizza mood lately. I even bought some ingredients to make pizza for myself this week. When I found eggsonsunday's Fig, Goat Cheese, Prosciutto and Arugula Pizza on TasteSpotting, I knew I'd have to show it off. It's a beautiful pizza. It would be perfect for even a dinner party (done in small versions for something elegant).

Photo from Eggs on Sunday

Fig, Goat Cheese, Prosciutto & Arugula Pizza

via Eggs on Sunday

Ingredients
1 lb pizza dough (I most often use the recipe listed here, using 2 cups AP flour + 1 cup semolina flour)
fig spread (recipe below)
4 ounces fresh goat cheese
about 2 ounces prosciutto
two generous handfuls of arugula, gently tossed with a little olive oil and coarse sea salt

Directions
Preheat the oven to 525 or 550 degrees F with a baking stone inside. Place your pizza crust on a lightly floured pizza peel (or the back of a lightly floured aluminum sheet pan). Spread some fig spread on your pizza crust, enough to coat it but not too thick. Dot with crumbled goat cheese, then slide the pizza onto the baking stone. Bake until the crust is browned and the cheese is melted, about 5-8 minutes. Take the pizza out and top with folds of prosciutto and a mound of dressed arugula.

Fig Spread

This spread is just sweet enough — more like a savory & sweet fig puree than a cloyingly sweet jam.

Ingredients
4 ounces dried black Mission figs, chopped
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup red wine or ruby port
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 cup water
1 tablespoon sugar

Directions
Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the sliced onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and caramelized. Add the chopped dried figs, the balsamic vinegar and the red wine, scraping up any brown bits that have accumulated on the bottom of the pan. Once the wine is almost evaporated, add the water and sugar. Simmer to reduce until the water is mostly evaporated and the figs are soft. Pour the mixture into a food processor and puree to the thickness you desire (I like mine fairly smooth.) Remove and cool; store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Makes about 1 cup.

It's great that eggsonsunday includes a pizza dough recipe link in the pizza recipe. Yum. I made homemade pizza once - It was well worth the wait (waiting for the dough to rise). This pizza would be delicious with creamy fontina cheese instead of goat cheese (if you don't like goat cheese). If you're trying goat cheese for the first time (worth trying!) I'd go with a soft and creamy cheive. It's the kind of cheese I like to use for a bunch of different things.

Here's to pizza stones and warm bellies.

-Cait