Review of last recipe (photo above) - Since I didn't want to place raw chicken in my vegetable steamer and had nothing else, I just placed the chicken breasts atop the bones I had butchered away.  The steaming really infiltrated the chicken with great flavor and kept it so moist and tender.  The sauce was great too, but the takeaway is the technique which I will use again.

TODAY'S RECIPE - SCALLOPS FLORENTINE
Serves 6

2 oz Parmesan cheese, cut into 3 pieces
3 large cloves of garlic
20 oz fresh spinach, dried thoroughly, stems cut off and reserved
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 tsp salt
1 cup whipping cream
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 1/4 lb bay scallops, rinsed and drained
8 oz shell or other small pasta, cooked al dente and drained (I guess this recipe should have really been in the pasta section)

Position rack in center of oven and then preheat to 425 degrees.

Chop parmesan finely in food processor.  With machine running, drop garlic through the feed tube and mince finely.  Add spinach stems and mince.

Melt butter in heavy 12" skillet over medium-low heat.  Stir in garlic mixture and salt and saute until stems are very soft; about 8 minutes.  Add whipping cream and simmer until reduced by half; about 5 minutes.

Coarsely chop spinach leaves in batches, using on/off tgurns.  Add to cream mixture with nutmeg and pepper.  Increase heat to hight and cook until spinach is heated through; about 3 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Stir in scallops and pasta. 

Transpfer to shallow 4 qt baking dish.  Sprinkle reserved parmesan cheese over top.  Bake until scallops are just opaque; 10-12 minutes.

Serve immediately.

Review of last recipe (photo above) - Just a comment first about the construction.  My picture doesn't do it justice; it really looked like a log.  The "knot" (on the left side) doesn't show up very well in the photo, and after making this, I looked at the picture in the recipe, and the pistachios were sprinkled only on the "knot", not all over the cake.  The directions didn't state it in that way.  In any case, it was easy to make, and the addition of the instant coffee to the frosting made a big difference.  The cake was light and not really that flavorful, but with the frosting and the whipped cream, it made for a decent dessert.

TODAY'S RECIPE - CHICKEN SUPREME WITH SPINACH
From Women's Day, November 16, 1982 ( 1 month and 30 years ago...yikes).  Recipe from Executive Chef Fernand Gutierrez, La Reserve, Inn on the Park, Houston, TX.  After Googling Mr. Gutierrez, I found out at some point, he moved to Chicago where he was named one of the Great Chefs of Chicago.  Unfortunately, he died young; in 2006 at the age of 56.

Serves 2.

1 cup chicken broth
1 chicken breast (about 1 lb), skinned and boned (reserve bones)
1 clove shallot, diced
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 tsp tarragon
dash of salt and pepper
2 tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp butter
10 oz. spinach, steamed
hot cooked baby carrots

In a large saucepan, bring to boil the broth, reserved chicken bones, shallot, wine, tarragon, salt and pepper.  Reduce heat and simmer about 15 minutes.

Place chicken in a steamer basket or strainer over broth and return broth to boil.  Cover and steam over medium heat for about 6 minutes, or until the chicken is barely tender.

Remove the chicken to a serving plate and keep warm.  Strain broth into skillet or back into saucepan.  Boil until reduced to 1/4 cup.  Stir in cream and butter and cook about 1 minute or until the sauce is slightly thickened.

Center chicken on plate and surround with spinach.  Spoon sauce around the spinach in a circle.  For color, serve some baby carrots on the side.

Review of last recipe (photo above) -  Really delicious sauce; easy to throw together.  Didn't really get the peapods, however (and why is my photo rotated?).

TODAY'S RECIPE - BUCHE DE NOEL
A blog  (especially since I'm working alphabetically in my file of recipes) knows no season.  The recipe comes from Family Circle Magazine, which I don't want to discount because it tends to be a simpler rendition, so we'll just see how it turns out.  Even though I'm French and my mom baked alot, she never made a Buche de Noel (and I never have, either).  We always had something called a Blitz Torte on Christmas, which was and is fabulous! It's a layered egg-y cake topped with meringue and pecans, with whipped cream inbetween the layers.  Although it's not in this file (1976-1983), I'm sure it'll show up somewhere.

Serves 8

Oven 350 degrees

5 eggs, separated
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tbsp flour
1 tub milk chocolate ready-to-spread frosting
1 tbsp instant coffee powder
1 cup heavy cream, whipped
2 tbsp chopped pistachios

Grease a 15" x 10" x 1" jelly roll pan, line the bottom with waxed paper and grease and flour the paper. 

Beat egg yolks in a large bowl until fluffy, then gradually beat in granulated sugar until light and thick.  Beat in cocoa and flour at low speed.

Beat egg whites until soft peaks form, then fold into yolk mixture until smooth.  Spoon batter evenly into prepared pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until top springs back when lightly pressed.  Turn out onto cloth sprinkled with confectioners sugar.  Cut a 1/4" strip from one short side.  Roll up cake and towel together, and cool on wire rack.  Combine frosting with coffee.  Unroll cooled cake, spread with 3 tbsp of the frosting, and then spread with whipped cream.  Reroll.

Frost roll with remaining chocolate frosting.  Roll up the trimmed edge and press onto the log to form a "knot".  Draw fork down frosting for bark effect.  Sprinkle with pistachio nuts.  Garnish with marzipan "mushrooms" and a dusting of confectioners sugar, if desired.

Review of last recipe (lopsided photo above) - Well, in the immortal words of my husband, "write this one down".  What does he think I've been doing on this blog?!?  Anyway, it was easy and quite delicious!  A keeper!!

TODAY'S RECIPE - SCALLOPS AU BUERRE GARLIC
Serves 1

2 tbsp butter, room temperature
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 medium shallot, diced
4 oz bay scallops
1/2 small onion, chopped (about 2 tbsp)
1 tsp oil
1/3 cup peeled, seeded and chopped tomato
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp thyme
4 blanched pea pods

In a small bowl, blend butter, parsley and garlic.  Set aside. 

In a small saucepan, bring wine and shallot to a boil.  Add scallops; return to boil.  Immediately remove scallops with slotted spoon.  Boil poaching liquid until reduced to about 2 tbsp.  Whisk in butter mixture; set aside and keep warm.

Meanwhile in small skillet, saute onion in oil about 1 minute.  Add tomato, bay leaf and thyme.  Saute briefly; only long enough to heat through and blend flavors.  Then discard bay leaf. 

Spoon onto serving plate and arrange pea pods on top in a spoke-fashion.  Spoon scallops between pods and pour reduced liquid over all. 

Nutritional Information:  375 calories, 79 G protein, 12 G CHO, 28 G fat, 132 mg cholesterol, 580 mg sodium

Review of last recipe (photo above) - Not in any way as good as I would have expected with all that butter, and it's also just plain ugly.   It probably was my own fault, as I forgot that I needed to buy shortening (something I rarely have on hand), and instead of substituting yet more butter, I used vegetable oil.  It made the mixing part easier (my hand mixer did not want to plow through the butter and brown sugar), but the end result was a somewhat oily cake, and the frosting was just too sweet for me.  I had to throw it out, which never makes me happy.  The only good thing is that I won't  be consuming those extra calories.

TODAY'S RECIPE - CHICKEN SCALLOPS IN MUSTARD CREAM
From Jean Anderson Cooks ... I googled Jean Anderson, and found out she is a quite accomplished cookbook author (BA from Cornell, MA from Columbia), worked with James Beard Foundation, editor of Ladies Home Journal etc etc etc.  Impressive.

Serves 4

2 large (1 lb each) chicken breasts, boned, skinned and split
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp crumbled leaf thyme
1/8 tsp pepper
1/3 cup flour
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tbsp mild French mustard
1/2 cup heavy cream

Pound each chicken breast lightly with a rolling pin to flatten somewhat.  Sprinkle both sides with salt, thyme and pepper, then dredge lightly in flour.

Heat the butter in a large heavy skillet over moderate heat until it bubbles up, then subsides.  Add the chicken breasts and brown for 3-4 minutes on each side. 

Remove the chicken to a heated platter and keep warm.

Pour wine into the skillet and heat and stir for 1-2 minutes, scraping up browned bits on the bottom of the skillet.  Add the mustard, then the cream and boil hard for 2-3 minutes until reduced by about half; the sauce should be about the consistency of sour cream. 

Pour over the chicken breasts and serve.

Nutritional Information:  Calories 502, protein 41 G, fat 31 G, CHO 11 grams, Na 424 mg

Review of last recipe (photo above) - Yikes!  What is it?!?  Normally, I plate the blogged recipe by itself, but in this case, I forgot, and it looks abit scary along side my broccoli and noodles.  It was good, but nothing I'd make again.

TODAY'S RECIPE - BROWN SUGAR POUND CAKE
This recipe is part of a cookbook entitled, The Washington Cookbook, which was published at the end of 1982.  The recipes in that cookbook were obtained from embassies, politicians and their wives, present and former First Ladies, as well as the White House chef.  Sounds like one delicious cake!

Bake at 325 degrees for 1 1/2 hours
Serves 24

3 1/2 cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 lb + 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
5 eggs, room temperature
1 cup milk, room temperature
Butter Pecan Frosting (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease and lightly flour a 10" bundt pan.

Sift flour and baking powder onto wax paper.

Beat butter, shortening and brown sugar in a large  bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until smooth.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, until mixture is fluffy.

Add flour mixture, 1/3 at a time, alternating with milk, just until blended.  Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until top springs back when lightly pressed with fingertip.

Cool cake in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes.  Loosen around edge and tube with  knife, invert cake on wire rack, shake gently, remove pan and cool cake completely.

Prepare Butter Pecan Frosting.

Spread frosting over top of cake, allowing it to drip down sides and center.

Butter Pecan Frosting:  Brown 1 cup chopped pecans in 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter in heavy saucepan.  Let cool.  Stir in 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar.  Stir in enough milk so frosting is creamy.