Shrimp Thermidor and Best Ever Chocolate Brownies

Monday night.  Spent the day inside trying to toilet train #3.   I don't seem to remember this being a big challenge for #1 and #2.   When I was planning my menu for the week, I realized that I had enough shrimp for me and Mike.  As the kids don't like shrimp, thought I'd plan a meal for 2!   Also, with being trapped inside as a slave to the potty, decided to keep the girls busy by baking brownies.

Best Ever Chocolate Brownies - recipe from Elaine Churchill
(Elaine was a very good friend of my mother's and Oma.   Her youngest daughter, Louise, is still a very close friend of mine, even though she moved all the way to California on me)

2 squares unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup flour
pinch of salt
1 cup walnuts (optional - didn't do this)
Preheat oven to 350.   Melt chocolate and butter in saucepan.  Beat eggs until foamy.  Add sugar to eggs and beat until thick (10 minutes).  Stir in vanilla and chocolate mixture.  Fold in flour and nuts.   Pour into greased square pan.  Bake for 30 minutes.

Ingredients all laid out

Cracking eggs!

sampling the batter.  Yum!

Shrimp Themidor (made this for 2, but could stretch to 4)
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped Celery
1 tsp oil
1 can condensed cheddar soup
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp sherry
3/4 pound fresh or frozen cooked shrimp
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
dash hot pepper sauce
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 tbsp butter
dash paprika
Saute onion and celery in oil.   Stir in soup, milk and sherry.   Add shrimp, hot sauce and parsley.   Pour into small baking dishes.   In seperate bowl, mix bread crumbs, melted butter and paprika.  Sprinkle over shrimp mixture.  Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until bubbling.  Serve with toast.

My shrimp were uncooked so
I had to pre-steam them

hmmm?

Shrimp mixture before cooking

Quite good. Pretty, too. 

Verdict

The brownies were very good!  Chewy and not too sweet.   Kids gobbled them. 

The Shrimp was surprisingly tasty.  When I see things that involve a can of soup, I'm usually a bit turned off (snobby cook, I guess).   It looked very nice on the plate and had a good flavour.  Mike liked it as well, but was perplexed on how to eat it with toast.   I'd make this again.   

March Break is Over - Need for non-proceesed food = Dutch Meatballs!

I've been away for a week.  The girls and I went to Florida for March break while Philip and Mike headed to New Zealand to visit Grandpa.   After nearly 2 weeks apart, we're all finally back together.  We have 2 extra mouths to feed (neighbour kids) and I'm hankering for some good home cooking!  (note-don't think that all I do is feed other people's kids.  I mooch plenty off of my friends, too!)

When I first went through Oma's recipe box, I was hoping that there would be a recipe for Gehaktbal (Dutch Meatballs).   She made this often and it was a family favourite.   Unfortunately, it wasn't there, probably because she didn't need a recipe for this.  Despite this, I'd still like to include it as an entry as it's one of the meals that I most often think of when I think of Oma.    I have made it many times in the past 'winging' it with my own recipe, but I've never really made it that well.  A few months ago, I found a recipe on the web that I really like.  So as tribute to Oma, here goes:


Gehaktbal (Dutch Meatballs)
1 lb Ground Beef
1 lb Ground Pork
1/8 cup milk
2 eggs
6 tsp Gehakt Spices - These are dutch meatball spices found at the dutch deli, more on this later
4 rusk toasts - again, more on this later
100 g. butter

Mix all but the butter gently.  Form into large meatballs.** (Dutch meatballs are at least 3X bigger than a standard swedish meatball).   Melt butter over medium heat in a dutch oven pot.  Brown meatballs on all sides.  Add 2 cups water.  Cover, and simmer for at least 1/2 hour or until cooked through.  Remove meatballs and raise heat to reduce liquid in pan.  At this point, you can add 1/2 cup cream to thicken sauce.   Serve with potatoes and green vegetables.  

Note the difference between a "swedish" (Ikea)
meatball on the left and the massive Dutch one
on the right.  Yum!!

Spices-I doubt that Oma had these in her meatballs on a regular basis as access to a dutch deli was limited up north.   I found numerous websites where food bloggers say that the packet is as good as anything homemade.   I am still hunting a homemade version of this spice mix which contains a mix of coriander, pepper, ginger, nutmeg, cardamon, chili and marjoram

Meatball spice mix

Rusks are dried toast circles that are also available at Dutch Deli's and some grocery stores.    Typically people eat them with butter and cheese or chocolate sprinkles.   I lived on these when I was pregnant with Philip and had morning sickness.  

A dutch staple

**One  difference:  I distinctly remember Oma telling me that her secret to the meatballs is to put some more breadcrumbs in a bowl after the meatballs have been formed.  You then swirl your meatball around in the crumbs to make a breadcrumb coating.  It makes a big difference!   I used more rusks for this.   I also added a teaspoon of cornstarch mixed with cold water when the sauce was simmering as I like it a bit thicker.

Breading the meatballs as per Oma's advice

I decided to serve this with Pommes Anna (a layered potato dish).  Slice 1.5 pounds of potatoes into thin slices.  Layer in a buttered baking dish. After each layer, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with pepper and salt.  Bake at 375 for 1 hour.  It can be inverted on a plate and sliced for serving.    Not an Oma recipe, but a yummy one!   I also made some sauteed green and yellow beans on the side.   For dessert, a chocolate pudding parfait with layers of pudding, bananas and whip cream.   






Results
 No need to write the review this time. Please note the before and after picture.  

Before - Lookin' Good!

After - All gone!