December | 2023 | Is this a keeper?

This seafood pasta is a good way to use up a variety of fish if you have it on hand. The recipe calls for squid, shrimp, and a firm fish cut up into bite size pieces, and then simmered in a tomato based broth.

The base begins with some onion and garlic sautéed over a medium heat, then some white wine added and cooked until it has almost evaporated. The squid is added, followed by the crushed tomatoes, and then sprigs of rosemary and thyme. This simmers away for 30 min covered. I used the Trader Joe’s seafood blend of squid, scallops, and shrimp which worked perfectly.

After the 30 min, it gets another 20 without the lid…and then the firm white fish (Mahi in my case) and some more shrimp are added. Pasta is being prepared and ready to all be tossed together with some butter.

We enjoyed this one…I think we enjoyed it better when we added more of the red pepper flakes and topped it with a little mozzarella. I feel like you could add any fish you like in this and it would taste good. It is one of those base recipes that you can make your own. I would probably throw in some spinach next time!

This one is a keeper!

Btw I think it was even better the next day for leftovers!

This tart is suppose to have a spur-of-the-moment feel to it…a ragged-edged, free-form crust topped with sautéed mushrooms, herbs, and micro-greens. I was thinking it might look spur-of-the-moment, but it certainly wasn’t hahaha. This took time.

First step is making tart bottom, more like a cracker. We used our recipe, Raggedy-Edged Almond-Herb Crust. Fairly simple to pull together in the food processor….almond flour, flour, egg, butter, and 3T of herbs…I used chives and rosemary in this bake. It needs to chill for awhile and then cook for about 30 min.

Meanwhile we are to make the spread. Typically made with ricotta, yogurt, scallions, shallot, and 2T of minced herbs. I looked up a suitable sub for ricotta, since it bothers my stomach and it said cream cheese. So I used a whipped cream cheese in place of the ricotta and yogurt, but kept the rest the same. Worked perfectly. This is set aside and chilled while we work on the mushroom topping.

I wish I had made a half recipe of this tart as it makes quite a lot. I ended up only assembling half one night and half the second since it didn’t seem like it would work well for leftovers…and it still was too much 😂.

The 1 1/2 lbs of mushrooms get sautéed in olive oil and butter with garlic. When cooked down some white wine is mixed in and cooked off…finally adding in scallions and 2T of herbs. (There is a lot of herb prepping in this recipe!) Also, salt and pepper to taste.

Now that all the components are made, you can assemble it right before eating.

The crust is first topped with the spread, then the mushroom mixture, and finally some micro greens tossed with lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

I do think the tart looks restaurant-worthy. Something you would order for the table as a starter. My husband and I both thought it was tasty and enjoyed it. I am not sure we loved it, or that I thought it was worth all the prep and expense. 🤷‍♀️

I feel like it would work well if you were entertaining and used it as an appetizer…and had prepared all the steps ahead of time and just needed to assemble.

The recipe is a keeper…just not sure when I would use it.