COOK OF THE WEEK - BRENNAN J. VAVEREK

Mayonnaise(Corrected recipefrom last week)Jackie Redenius Schulze Mom always made her own mayonnaise.2 tablespoons flour1 cup sugar1 tablespoon yellow mustard1/2 cup vinegar1/2 cup milk2 eggs Mix dry ingredients, add vin-egar and then milk. Heat on stove until warm. Add well beaten eggs and cook until thickened. And now for this week’s Cook of the Week. Brennan J. Vaverek is the next Bank Iowa employee we are highlighting. Brennan is a Senior Lender and has been with Bank Iowa for two years. When asked what he liked best about working at Bank Iowa, he re-plied, “I enjoy working with area businesses and farmers. We have a wonderful team at Bank Iowa and I look forward to work each day.” Brennan continued, “Bank Iowa will continue to serve the Humboldt Community with superior products and ser-vice and looks forward to being a key part of Humboldt’s con-tinual success.” Brennan moved to this area in 2013. Brennan says, “My wife, Christiane is the finest cook ever!” He is sharing some of his favorite dishes that she makes.Seafood Pasta Bake12 ounces shrimp, peeled and deveined6 ounces lump crabmeat1/2 lemon2 tablespoons butter1 shallot, chopped 1/4 cup white wine1/4 cup Italian parsley, choppedolive oil2 cloves garlic, minced1 pound penne pasta (or your favorite shape)1-1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheeseAlfredo Sauce:2 cups heavy cream1 stick butter2 cloves garlic, minced5 ounces shredded Parmesan cheese Cook pasta according to di-rections. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large skillet and driz-zle in some olive oil. Cook the shallot until tender. Deglaze the pan with the wine and cook a couple of minutes to reduce. Add in the shrimp, crabmeat, parsley and garlic and cook until the shrimp is pink and done, about 3 to 4 minutes. Season with a bit of salt and pepper. Squeeze the lemon over the sea-food and remove from the heat. For the Alfredo sauce, melt the butter in a saucepot. Add in the cream and garlic and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and whisk in the Parmesan cheese, a little at a time, until completely melted and the sauce is thickened. Preheat the broiler. Mix the seafood and the sauce with the pasta. Spread this into a casse-role pan and sprinkle the mozza-rella all over the top. Broil for a couple of minutes to melt and brown the cheese.Lemon Chicken Orzo SoupFor the Chicken:1 pound chicken (I like boneless, skinless breasts)1 stalk celery, cut into thirdshalf of a lemon, slicedhandful of fresh parsley1/4 teaspoon salt1/4 teaspoon pepper2 bay leaves3 sprigs thyme1 cup water1/2 cup chicken brothFor the soup:1 onion, diced2 cloves garlic1/3 cup white wine3 carrots, sliced into rounds6 cups chicken broth1/2 to 3/4 cup orzo pasta, uncooked3 egg yolks2 to 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juicesalt and pepper, to taste2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced1-1/4 teaspoons fresh thyme2 to 3 large handfuls of fresh baby spinach, chopped For the chicken: Combine all the ingredients in a 5 liter pres-sure cooker. If the chicken is frozen, that is okay. Bring the mixture to a boil. Secure the lid and bring to high pressure. Once high pressure is achieved, cook for 20 minutes (for thawed) or 30 minutes (for frozen) chicken. Remove from heat and let pres-sure release completely before opening the lid. Let the chicken cool until it is cool enough to handle. Shred and set aside. For the soup: Add 1 table-spoon of olive or canola oil in a large Dutch oven. Sauté the on-ion over medium-high heat until golden and tender. Add the gar-lic and sauté for 1 minute more. Add the white wine and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the broth and carrots. Bring to a boil. Mean-while, whisk the egg yolks and lemon together. Add 1 cup of hot broth from the Dutch oven very slowly to the egg yolk mix-ture, whisking as you pour. Then, transfer the mixture to the Dutch oven. Stir in the orzo and chicken. Continue cooking over medium-low heat until the pasta and carrots are tender. Just be-fore serving season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the thyme, parsley and spinach. Serve im-mediately.Pancetta and GruyereBreakfast PizzaServes 4:1/3 of a pizza dough recipe1-1/2 cups Gruyere cheese, shredded4 eggs8 slices Pancetta4 cocktail tomatoes, cut in quarters2 basil leaves, choppedfreshly ground black pepper Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parch-ment paper. Roll out the pizza dough to your desired thickness. It can be round or square. I made mine square this time. Place the rolled pizza dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Top with shredded cheese. Crack the 4 eggs into each cor-ner of the pizza. Arrange pancet-ta around eggs. Top with basil leaves and tomatoes and season with black pepper. Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes or until golden.Spicy ItalianCrescent Ring2 cans (8 ounces each) Pillsbury refrigerated crescent dinner rolls1/2 cup well drained roasted red bell peppers (from a jar)8 slices provolone cheese, halved1/3 pound deli sliced hot salami1/4 pound deli sliced ham1/4 pound deli sliced capocollo1/2 cup well drained hot pepper rings (from a jar) Heat oven to 375 degrees (350 degrees for dark or nonstick cooking sheet). Unroll both cans of dough; separate into 8 rectan-gles. On ungreased 12-inch piz-za pan, arrange rectangles in ring so short sides of rectangles form a circle in center. (Dough will overlap; half of each rec-tangle will hang over edge of pan. Dough ring should look like a sun.) Spread roasted red bell pep-pers toward center of ring on bottom halves of rectangles. Top with half of the cheese. Layer salami, ham and capocollo slices over cheese. Arrange pepper rings over top. Cover with re-maining half of cheese. Bring each dough rectangle hanging over side of pan up over stacked filling, tucking dough under bottom layer of dough to secure it. Repeat around sandwich until entire filling is enclosed (some filling might show a little). Sprinkle with black pepper. Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until dough is golden brown and thoroughly baked. Cool 5 to 10 minutes before cutting into serv-ing slices. Corn, Crab And Shrimp Chowder6 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth1 pound large shrimp, shelled and deveined, shells reserved3 ears of corn – shucked, kernels cut off and cobs reserved1/2 teaspoon celery seeds1 teaspoon fennel seeds1 stick unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons1 large yellow bell pepper, cut into 1/3 inch dice1 large yellow onion, cut into 1/3 inch dice3 celery ribs, cut into 1/3 inch dice1 Serrano chili, minced2 large baking potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/3 inch dice1 pound lump crabmeat, picked over1 quart heavy creamsaltfreshly ground black peppersnipped chives, for garnishbuttered toast, for serving In a large pot, bring the stock to a boil with the shrimp shells and corncobs. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the cobs. Strain the stock through a fine sieve into a large, heatproof bowl, pressing on the shells to remove as much stock as possi-ble. Wipe out the pot. In a small skillet, toast the celery and fennel seeds over moderately high heat until fra-grant and starting to pop, about 45 seconds. Let cool completely. In a spice grinder or mortar, grind or crush the seeds to a powder. In a large pot, melt the butter over moderately high heat. Add the yellow pepper, onion, celery and chili and cook until they begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Add the ground fennel and cel-ery seeds and cook for 1 minutes. Add the potatoes and shrimp stock and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until the potatoes are tender about 8 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir the shrimp and crabmeat into the chowder. Cover and let stand until the shrimp turn pink on the outside, about 3 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream and corn kernels. Bring to a simmer over moderate heat, immediately re-duce the heat to low and simmer gently until the shrimp are white throughout, about 3 minutes. Ladle the chowder into bowls and garnish with chives. Serve with buttered toast. Make ahead. The shrimp stock can be made and refriger-ated overnight. The finished chowder can be refrigerated overnight; reheat gently before serving. If you are reading this, then you probably enjoy new recipes. If you would like to share some of your recipes with the com-munity, YOU could be Cook of the Week. Please contact me, Sally Redenius, if you would like to be in this column some week. I can be reached by phone at 515-373-6346 or email me at sacuthbe@msn.com. I will be happy to email or send you my short questionnaire and set up a time to come and visit you at your convenience. I’m always looking for NEW Cooks of the Week. Also, if you are new in town, this is a good way to introduce yourself to the Humboldt community and sur-rounding communities. I look forward to visiting with you. The COOK OF THE WEEK 3rd Edition Cookbook is available. Cost per copy is $10.70, plus $4.80 shipping/handling. Order a copy today by sending a check or money order, along with name and shipping address, to: Humboldt Independent, 512 Sumner Ave., Humboldt, IA 50548.