Elegant Entertaining ~ Passionate about healthy food and entertaining!

Dressing

• Whisk together the dressing ingredients, taste and adjust to your liking. Set aside.

Salad

• Thinly slice fennel into a small bowl (using a mandoline or grater). Drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil, and a small squeeze of lemon, with a sprinkle some salt. Toss and set aside for five minutes. (I find that marinating the fennel helps it become more tender).
  
• Slice the pear thinly and coat with a squeeze of lemon, set aside.
• Toast the walnuts.

Putting it Together

• In a larger bowl, toss together the pears, arugula, fennel, half of the feta, walnuts and salad dressing.
• Assemble on a platter and topped with the remaining feta, walnuts, mint leaves. Serve with more salad dressing on the side.
  

Prepare your Ingredients

• Slice fennel into fine slices, chop onion, shallots, garlic, parsley, basil.
• Add 1 cup of warmed stock to a bowl, add a pinch of saffron and stir.
• In a bowl of water soak the clams prior to cooking.
• Scrub and debeard your mussels, then soak in a bowl of water.
  

Prepare the Cioppino Sauce

• Heat the olive oil in a very large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the chopped fennel, onion, shallots, and salt. Saute until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes.
• Add the chopped garlic and red pepper flakes, then saute 4 minutes.
• Stir in the tomato paste. Add the wine and fish stock and tomatoes with their juices. Add bay leaves. Add saffron stock.
• Cover and bring to a simmer, reduce the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.
  
• If you are makeing the sauce ahead of time, then cool the sauce and store it in an airtight container. It can be refriderated two or three days befor your dinner. Or it can be frozen for upto two months.

Putting it all together

• Into the warmed cioppino sauce, add the clams and mussels. Cover and cook until the clams and mussels just begin to open, about 5 minutes. Add the shrimp and fish. Simmer gently until the fish and shrimp are just cooked through, and the clams and mussels are completely open, stirring gently (discard any clams and mussels that do not open)
• Season the stew, to taste, with more pepper, salt and red pepper flakes. Remove the bay leaves.
• Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti according to package directions or to desired doneness.
• Remove the lid and stir. Remove the shrimp, mussels, clams and fish to a bowl. Drain the pasta, reserving a cup of the pasta water. Add the pasta water to the tomato mixture followed by the spaghetti and stir through the sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the chopped parsley, reserving some for garnish, and stir.
• To serve, add the pasta to serving bowls, spoon over the tomato sauce and add the shrimp, mussels, clams and fish. Garnish with parsley, basil and a drizzle of olive oil.

A Refined Cioppino

• If you want to have a more refined Cioppino, then with an emersion blender, blend the sauce, then run the sauce through a sieve.
  
• Ladle the sauce (and pasta if using) into serving bowls. Top with mussels, clams, prawns, fish.
• Garnish with parsley and basil.
• Serve with warm crusty bread.

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9×9 inch baking dish with parchment paper.
• Cream the butter then add the sugar, salt and beat until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla then mix until combined. Add the flour a little at a time and mix untill it is combined and it forms a ball. Don't overwork it.
• Transfer your shortbread mix to your prepared pan and press into an even layer then bake at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes or until the edges are golden.
• While the base bakes prepare the caramel. You may want to use a candy thermometer but you don't need one. In a saucepan combine the butter, brown sugar, salt, vanilla, sweetened condensed milk.
• Place the saucepan over medium heat and whisk until melted and combined then continue whisking over the heat while the caramel bubbles and darkens to a richer colour. Once the caramel reaches 225 degrees or if it starts to thicken and pull away from the edge, 10 to 15 minutes, your caramel is ready. Careful to continue whisking so it does not burn on the bottom.
• Pour the caramel mix onto the shortbread base, smooth to the edges creating a flat layer. Chill for about 15 minutes so the caramel sets.
• Chop chocolate and melt with cream either in a double boiler stirring throughout. Pour the chocolate over the caramel and smooth into an even layer. Sprinkle with salt then chill. Once the squares have chilled you can cut them into 1 inch pieces.
• These bars can be kept in the freezer for a couple of months. Simply cut into one pieces and wrap them well with plastic wrap before you freeze them.