Anzac Biscuits...or Oatmeal Cookies Topped with our Pure Flaky Sea Salt

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Anzac Biscuits...or Oatmeal Cookies Topped with our Pure Flaky Sea Salt

Here’s one of the recipes I tried out this past weekend from a cookbook I was gifted for Christmas ‘Pastry Love Baker’s Journal of Favorite Recipes’ by Joanne Chang. I always look to find a recipe that would benefit from a “sprinkle, sprinkle” of our pure Newport Sea Salt on top and this delicious Anzac Biscuits recipe was one of them. They were just the right kind of sweet I was looking for with some oats and coconut action and of course a finish of pinch of our sea salt on the top. It’s all about the sweet and salty in our home!

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Lemon Rosemary Shortbread

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Lemon Rosemary Shortbread

Lemon Rosemary Shortbread is such a nice sweet treat with a pop of our pure sea salt that will make you want to make more to share with your friends and family! We just made a batch this week and they will ALL be going to our postal carrier, Ron. We will be in the salad zone for the next few months! ;) #covid15

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Take an Italian Trip Down Memory Lane With Us

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Take an Italian Trip Down Memory Lane With Us

While living in Italy, our favorite thing to do as a family was to jump in our little car on the weekend and go exploring. We were molto fortunata (extremely lucky) to live near the Amalfi Coast. During the colder months, Amalfi Coast is very similar to Newport in that the town quiet’s down….like realllllyyyyy quiets down and you almost feel like you have this beautiful place to yourself. Well, this one day, it truly felt like our own. We walked down Via Marina Di Praia which hugs the azure blue Mediterranean Sea and discovered this isolated cove with a rocky beach and dotted with closed for the season restaurants - except one - Bar Mare Petit Restaurant. The proprietor, Salvatore Ferraioli welcomed our family with a smile and told us to come in and his mama would make our family a pasta lunch. It was just our family of 4 at one table and Salvatore and his mom and dad at the other table watching futbol. Mama prepared gnocchi Sorrentina for our boys and her signature dish for the adults. Mama Mia, we were beyond lucky that day to have discovered this gem of a place and be welcomed in!

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Veteran Built and a side of Apple Pie

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Veteran Built and a side of Apple Pie

So on to that side of Apple Pie…what could be more American than serving in the military and loving apple pie?! :) Matt saw the bowl of red local macintosh apples that were waiting for our boys to eat them and asked when were we going to have apple pie?? Done. I used the salted caramel I recently made from Jane Soudah’s cookbook, ‘Delightful Desserts’ and baked the Salted Caramel Apple Pie for dessert. Our whole family so enjoyed this apple pie, that Matt has already requested it as our dessert for our Thanksgiving with our extended family. We did serve this pie warmed with a scoop or 2 of Steve’s Bourbon Vanilla and a Salted Caramel ice cream. YUM!!

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Moules Frites - My Favorite Summer Meal

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Who am I kidding…this is my ALL-time, all-season favorite meal! Mussels, white wine, onions, garlic, shoestring french fries, and a baguette to soak up all that lovely, super flavorful broth - HECK YEAH!!!

Recently, we had been on a crazy juggling exercise of business and family schedules and throw in our 12 year-old Connor’s all-star game travel series for good measure. ;) We were so looking forward to relaxing at his Sunday early evening baseball game at the picturesque Marine Field overlooking the Newport Harbor when the gray ominous clouds rolled in and the skies opened up to a deluge of torrential rain. Well, there went that game. In place, we set up our newly acquired and freshly painted mini picnic table (Thank you, Sass) with a mussel spread that would make a nostalgic New Englander proud! I seriously cannot get enough of these beautiful navy blue bivalve mollusks with a pearly blue shelled interior….and they are so inexpensive to buy. For a couple pounds that can feed our family of 4 - they come in at $10! So think twice when you order them at a restaurant as they are so easy to make at home and serve al fresco on a porch like we did. Enjoy the summer friends!


Moules Frites a la Mullins

Ingredients:

  • 2 lb. mussels, de-bearded and scrubbed

  • 1/4 cup of Olive Oil

  • 1/2 cup dry white wine

  • 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed

  • Sliced garlic - 2 cloves

  • Chopped Parsley

  • Cherry tomatoes (gave a pop of color!) - handful or 2

  • 1 medium sliced shallot

  • A splash of seafood broth

  • Crusty baguette!!

  • Shoestring Fries

  • Rosemary and Thyme Newport Sea Salt Co.

How-To:

Well, our how-to as there are so many many ways to ‘Moules-Frites’….

  • Shortcut: Take freezer shoestring fries and pop them into a pre-heated oven…meanwhile have all your ingredients ready to go.

  • First, heat olive oil and butter in a 12” high-sided skillet over low heat.

  • Take chopped shallots and throw it into the skillet, the aroma will envelop your kitchen…

  • After approx. 6 minutes, add sliced garlic and lightly sea salted tomatoes to skillet…

  • Let “marry” for a few minutes, then add white wine (that you enjoy) to the skillet, take a sip of your own and chat for a minute, and then add a splash of seafood broth…still with me???

  • Add scrubbed and de-bearded mussels, season with a sprinkle of sea salt, bring up to medium-high and COVER your skillet…

  • Cook, occasionally shaking skillet, until all mussels are opened, about 5 minutes.

  • Open the lid….and smell the DIVINE aroma waft out of the mussel heaven pan…..Divide mussels, only if you want to share between 2 large bowls or if you want to save some dishes just serve from the pan and throw those fries in, baby! I sprinkle our shoestring fries with our Rosemary and Thyme Sea Salt and serve with a mustard aioli…let me know if you would like that recipe…;)

  • Add friends and family around your picnic table and enjoy! OH>>>>>and serve chilled white wine or beer…it completes this meal!

    CHEERS!

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with a Side Story

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Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with a Side Story

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Parmesan Crisps

It has taken me a long time to write this as this recipe has quite the story attached to it. 

In New England, it has been a winter of frigid cold temperatures followed with short dark days where I feel like bears have it right with this hibernating thing. Wake me when spring is here. 

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And that's a Wrap to 2017!

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And that's a Wrap to 2017!

Hello there and Happy delicious and inspiring New Year to you! I know I have said this before in other posts, but I will say it again - Whew! It has been a whirlwind of activity both personally and professionally for our Newport Sea Salt family. During our first small business Christmas season, we moved into our old home in Newport from military housing. This was our first move ever that did not involve moving out of state, across country or across the ocean - but just across town. It was the shortest move we have ever made, but not the easiest. As snow came down as well as the cold temperature, we watched as box after box came into our home marked ‘nick nacks’ and books waiting to find a cozy spot in our extra small home. Matt and I just looked at each other with a bit of bewilderment, but smiled and started to unpack - and decorate for Christmas. Did I mention that between the move and the crazy holiday season that it was business as usual?! And not usual by any means, as we had vendors calling us with replenishing requests and new orders to stock their shelves. It was AH-MAZING.

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A Pumpkin Bread that You Will Crave all Season Long

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A Pumpkin Bread that You Will Crave all Season Long

It is a wind whipping 27 degrees here in Newport, Rhode Island - in November! Oh man, I am not ready to brave the cold temperatures outside so I will stay cozy right here sitting at our farm table with my hot cup of coffee and my winter blanket scarf wrapped around me while I write about this ah-mazing pumpkin bread I can’t stop eating! I know I just posted another pumpkin recipe in cookie form, but seriously while we were stationed in Italy we did not get around to too many pumpkin items and I am now catching up! But just wait, this pumpkin bread is different.  It is moist, it is dark and pumpkin pie spicy and it is topped with, drumroll please… rosemary sea salt! I know what you are thinking - rosemary sea salt on traditional pumpkin bread??? This recipe is to add a twist for those that want to throw caution to the windy day out there and make a traditional recipe ‘POP’ with sea salt and fresh fragrant rosemary. It brings out all the fall flavors! You will want to make it for your neighbors, friends, and loaves just for yourself to enjoy on cold fall weekend mornings curled up on the couch. 

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