Zabby, I could have used your help on that dinner! Our waitress/friend guessed the crab sauce had no cream, but when I made it just with chicken stock, wine, butter, and flour, it tasted like gravy! I'm sure an expert sauce-maker could have done better but I would have preferred a cream sauce to what I made. Maybe next time I eat there I'll talk to the guy who made up the recipe. It was a special, it's not always on there. Anyway, ok dinner, but I should stick to cooking vegetables since they're always my favorite part of the dinner anyway...I finished the broccoli and potato cakes but not the halibut. Thanks to all the feedback, I decided to use up the crab by making crab cakes tonight. I looked at Tyler Florence's recipe (which my friend made once) and kind of estimated for the amount of crab I had. They were good, not very stuck together, but great taste and hardly any filler. I fried some leftover mashed potatoes into potato cakes, sauteed some mushrooms that didn't fit in my shepherd's pie, and spread leftover roasted garlic on bread my friend made & brought. Voila! A delicious dinner for two created entirely from leftover ingredients. The best part was the drinks, which I made with both the halibut and the crab cakes. Also inspired by my favorite restaurant. Lavender citrus martini: Mix vanilla vodka with a bit of Cointreau, enough lemon juice to give it a little tartness, and lavender simple syrup (I like it kind of sweet). Delicious! Lavender simple syrup: Mix equal parts (by volume) sugar and water in saucepan. Add a few sprigs of lavender and boil till sugar dissolves. Cool in a jar in the fridge, leaving in the lavender. Use up within a day or two. Good in the martini, delicious over grapefruit, spectacular in lemonade. Dancinglemons, glad to see someone else in central VA. I wonder how many of us there are. I was thinking of organizing a berry-picking trip to Westmoreland Berry Farm on the Northern Neck. My kitchen isn't big enough to host a jam-making afterward, but we could have a canned goods pot luck picnic at the berry farm. Maybe I'll make a post in May when it's almost berry season. Melissa

Chesapeake blue crab can't be beat for flavor. I prefer it to lobster or any other crab I've eaten. It is expensive though if you pay someone else to pick the meat. I haven't purchased any canned blue crab in ages, haven't even seen it for a long time in the stores I go to. It used to be packed in one pound cans which were pasteurized in a process gentler than regular canning, resulting in a product much like fresh crab meat which would keep well under refigeration. The back fin (lump)meat was packed separately and sold for a higher price. I think this type of crab meat is not widely distributed, but if you can find it and if you can afford it, you will have a very good product, indistinguishable from fresh. Most of the crab meat I have consumed was either blue crabs caught by me and the family (a fun sport for all ages) or live crabs bought by the bushel. Boil them up with Old Bay seasoning and dump them on a paper covered picnic table. Crack and pick at your own pace and wash them down with beer (lemonade for the kids). There's no better way to enjoy crabs. And catching them yourself is cheap entertainment. Jim

Asparagus! Have I got an asparagus recipe for you. I made this for DD when she was recovering from a broken jaw and needed soft foods. It was delish and a dish that I will make for company! It is even good the next day. I regret that the recipe looks long and complicated. It is not complicated at all. Asparagus Souffle from Simply Recipes INGREDIENTS 1 lb asparagus spears, bottom ends trimmed and discarded, thick spears peeled, spears cut into 1-inch pieces Salt 1/4 cup chopped shallots 1 clove garlic, chopped 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped, or 1/2 teaspoon dried 4 Tbsp unsalted butter 1/2 cup finely ground dry bread crumbs 3 Tbsp cake flour (can substitute all purpose flour) 1 1/4 cup whole milk 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg Pinch dry ground mustard Pinch ground cumin Pinch ground ginger Freshly ground black pepper 1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese (can substitute Parmesan, but frankly I prefer the Gruyere) 3 egg yolks, lightly beaten 5 egg whites 6 8-ounce ramekins METHOD 1 Blanch asparagus for 2 minutes in boiling salted water (1 teaspoon of salt for every quart of water). Drain. Rinse in cold water to stop cooking. Set aside to let cool. 2 Melt 1 Tbsp butter in saucepan on medium heat. Add shallots, garlic, and thyme. Cook gently until soft, do not let brown. About 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat. 3 Puree asparagus and shallot mixture in a blender. Measure out 1 1/4 cup of puree. 4 Butter 6 8-ounce ramekins. Coat well with the bread crumbs, reserving any leftover bread crumbs. 5 Make a thick bechamel sauce. Over medium-low heat, melt 3 Tbsp butter in a medium sized saucepan. Add the cake flour and whisk to completely incorporate the flour into the butter, continue to stir for a couple of minutes. Do not let brown. Very slowly, add the milk to the mixture, little by little, whisking constantly. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon of salt, the nutmeg, cumin, mustard, ginger, and some fresh ground black pepper. Lower the heat to low and let cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep the mixture from sticking to the pan. 6 After 15 minutes, remove the bechamel from the heat and stir in the cheese. Transfer the bechamel and the asparagus mixture to a large mixing bowl (if you have a mixing bowl with a pour lip on the side, use it, it will make it easier to pour out later). Taste the mixture and adjust the seasonings. The souffle base should be well-seasoned. Stir in the egg yolks until well combined. At this point you can make ahead the souffle mixture. Refrigerate to store for up to two days. Return to room temperature before proceeding. 7 Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 8 Prepare to make a water bath (a bain marie). Have ready a 9x12 baking dish with at least 2 inch sides. Put on a kettle of water to boil. 9 Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and using a mixer, beat the egg whites to firm but soft, almost stiff, peaks. (Make sure there are no traces of egg yolk or shell in your egg whites before starting.) Do not over-beat. Over-beating results in stiff peaks that are dry, somewhat reminiscent of styrofoam. Use a rubber spatula to first fold in one quarter of the beaten egg whites into the asparagus mixture, then the remaining three-quarters. Use a light touch to keep from deflating the egg whites. 10 Fill ramekins with the mixture up to a quarter-inch from the top. If you want, sprinkle leftover bread crumbs on top. Place the ramekins in the bain marie baking dish. Place baking dish on the middle rack in the oven. Pour boiling water into the baking dish around the ramekins until the water comes up halfway the sides of the ramekins. 11 Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degreesF, reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and bake for about 15 minutes more, until puffed up and golden brown. Don't open the oven door until the souffle is just about done, or it may fall. You can serve the souffles immediately or you can serve them later. To proceed for serving them later, let the souffles sit in the bain marie for 15 minutes. Then use run a sharp knife around the edges and invert the individual souffles to a buttered baking sheet. Cool to room temperature, wrap in plastic and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Return to room temperature before re-baking. Heat oven to 400 degrees F, bake the souffles on a buttered baking sheet, not in ramekins, for 7-8 minutes, and serve. Yield: Makes 6 individual souffles.

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