Happy As A Clam

Chowder that is. Clam chowder. Makes me as happy as a clam. Is the clam happy? Not so much, but I am. I finally got the perfect recipe down. It reminds me of the clam chowder you will find at the supper club in town. Really yummy and good to the bone. Creamy and thick, loaded with clams and potatoes and tons of flavor. This is a New England clam chowder recipe. New England being cream based verses his broth based cousin, Manhattan.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 2 celery stalks (with tender leaves) trimmed, quartered lengthwise, then sliced into 1/4-inch pieces
• 3 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 (10-ounce) cans chopped clams, drained (reserve juice)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 pound Idaho potatoes, cut into 1/2- inch cubes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Heat the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and celery and saute until softened, mixing often. Stir in the flour to distribute evenly. Add the stock, juice from 2 cans of chopped clams (reserve clams), cream, bay leaves, and potatoes and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, stirring consistently (the mixture will thicken), then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook 20 minutes, stirring often, until the potatoes are nice and tender. Then add clams and season to taste with salt and pepper, cook until clams are just firm, another 2 minutes. 

This makes a small batch, our family of five will eat this all in one sitting.  I would double this recipe, if I were you and you can be happy as a clam too.

Bite The Ham That Feeds You

Ham, glorious ham.  You make a ham and then the challenge is on.  What to do with all the ham leftovers?  Usually this comes up at Easter, but I like to make ham all times of the year.  Mainly because I like the challenge of what to do with the leftovers.  I have a few main recipes, that I always go to, but I was looking for another idea.  Ideas of mine, are not always good, but when it comes to food, it's a pretty safe bet.

We'll call this one Ham and Swiss Casserole.  Sounds delightful, doesn't it?

Ingredients:

• 8 green onions
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 2-3 tbsp thickening agent (cornstarch, flour or potato starch)
• 1 cup cream
• 1 cup milk
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 3-4 cups leftover ham
• 1 one lb bag of egg noodles
• 2 cups Swiss cheese
• Panko bread crumbs
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Sauté 2 green onions in the butter, add some salt and pepper. Mix your thickening agent in the cup of chicken stock and mix well, works great in a shaker. Add the thickening mixture, milk and cream to the onions and whisk until thickened and creamy. Add more, milk or water if you need to thin it more. If you have leftover juice from making the ham, it would be really tasty to use that. Add the sour cream whisk it in. Chop 3 more green onions and add them to the mixture and 1 cup of the Swiss cheese. Continue to whisk until the cheese is melted and then add the ham. Boil noodles until they are cooked only half way. Add the noodles to the ham and cheese mixture, stir until all noodles are coated and pour into a 9x13 pan. Cover with the remaining cup of Swiss cheese and the remaining 3 sliced green onions. Top with a generous coating of Panko bread crumbs and bake! 350° until the mixture is bubbly and the Panko is starting to brown. Enjoy!

Low fat, not so much.  Delicious yes.  Enjoy in moderation, or just eat the whole pan.  Your choice :)

Getting Sconed

Your mother warned you.  "All it takes is one time, and you'll be hooked", she proclaimed.  "It's the company you keep", she preached.  "Even if you are an innocent bystander, you will be guilty by association", she ranted.  Oh yeah, we have all been there.  Some of us listened, some of us pretended to listen and some of us didn't listen at all.  You know who you are.

Scones.  Warm, buttery, delightful.  Drawing you in.  Just one bite won't hurt.  Or will it?  Hooked, just like mother warned.

This morning I made scones.  My niece spent the night and I wanted something special for her.  Scones it is!  I have been making this recipe for years and have not found a need to look any further.  Perfection.  I love recipes that, when you taste the finished product, appear to be super difficult-because anything that tasty, must be really hard to make.  This is one of those recipes.  Big WOW factor.

Take 2 cups flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 4 tablespoons sugar and stir it up.  Cut in 5 tablespoons of cold, unsalted butter until it resembles coarse crumbs.  Make a well in the center of the mixture and add 1 cup heavy cream.  Mix gently until it starts to come together.  Gently mix in 1 cup of berries of your choice.  Blueberries, mixed berries, fresh or frozen are fine.  Take your ball of dough, with the berries incorporated and place on a well floured counter and roll or press into about a 10" to 12" circle.  Cut the circle into equal triangles and place them on parchment lined pan.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Sometimes I make a powdered sugar glaze to drizzle over the top and sometimes I eat them without, and sometimes I just eat them all before anyone wakes up.  After all, I made them.

So, if you are looking to satisfy the rebel in you, give these bad boys a try.  I promise you will be hooked.  Don't say I didn't warn you.

When Life Gives You Lemons, Preserve Them

Eight years ago, Scott and I were installing cabinets at a home.  I couldn't help but notice, a huge jar of beautiful yellow lemons.  I inquired about them and was educated on the process of preserving lemons.  For years the couple taught school in Morocco, where preserved lemons are a staple in Moroccan cooking.  The vision of those lemons, stayed on my mind and I knew someday I would have to try it myself.

That day has come.  And what a treat!  Two very simple ingredients and a little patience and you can make magic too.  Start with organic lemons, because you will, in the end, be eating the entire lemon, so you want them to chemical free (no radioactive lemons please).  I started with four organic lemons to a 1 liter jar.  Start by slicing off the top and bottom of each lemon, just enough to flatten each end.  You don't have to slice deep into the flesh.  Then set your lemon on one of those flat spots and slice down the center to the bottom, but don't slice all the way through, leave it together by a 1/2" inch or more.  Then make another slice just like that one, so the top view is forming an X, or four equal quadrants, again not slicing all the way through.  Next take sea salt and generously pour the salt into the cuts you just made.  Squish and pack lots of the salt into the lemon flesh.  Do this over a bowl, so you can work easier, but still reserve any salt or juice.  After the lemon is well packed with salt, add it to the jar and continue the process with all of the lemons.  Have a few extra lemons on hand to juice into the packed jar, if more liquid is needed to top it off.  The lemons should be submerged in salt and juice. Leave this lovely mixture sit on the counter at room temp, and once a day smash on them a bit and turn the jar upside down a few times.  You will do this for 6 weeks.  If you start to loose juice, just add some more, you want your lemons to remain covered.  As you care for your lemons, you will notice something beautiful taking place.  Your lemons will take on a softness and the juice they are bathing in, will become a lovely syrup.  

After the transformation, to something beautiful, they are ready to use.  I have found some recipes to use these beauties in, but have yet to try them.  I will have to get back to you on those, but what I can report, is wonderful.  We have been grilling chicken lately in the rotisserie basket Scott got for Father's Day.  Marinating chicken legs in a mixture of finely diced preserved lemons, fresh cracked pepper, fresh thyme, and a little olive oil.  No need to use salt, the lemons add enough saltiness on their own.  The salty, citrus flavor pierces the chicken and favors it wonderfully.  If you are the type of person that peels the skin off your chicken, because you don't eat the skin, with this dish you would only pull the skin off to save it for dessert.  And I'm not even joking.  So yummy.  Last night we did a whole organic chicken on the rotisserie.  I diced up a quarter of a preserved lemon, some fresh thyme and fresh cracked pepper.  I slid my hand between the breast meat and skin on the chicken and smeared this delicious mixture between the two.  Fabulous!

These lemons have become a staple in our house and if you give them a chance, I'm guessing you will love them too.....

Not Your Mama's

I have this potato salad I whip up regularly.  It's really yummy.  I talk about it in an earlier post (A Potato Salad Kinda Day).  It's a good ol' stand-by and nothin' like the kind you get at the deli counter.  I decided to mix it up a bit and forge into new territory.  How about Bacon Ranch Potato Salad?  Oh yeah, Bacon Ranch it is.  Boil up a couple pounds of red potatoes, in generously salted water.  While the spuds are cooling make up the creamy dressing.  2/3 cups mayo, 1/4 cup buttermilk, 2 Tablespoons cider vinegar, one finely chopped clove of garlic, 2 chopped scallions, 1 teaspoon of sugar and salt and pepper to taste.  Chop up 1/2 -1 cup celery, add to the boiled potatoes and toss in the dressing.  To top it all off, add 6 slices of crispy fried bacon.  Yummy.  Not the norm, but could easily become the norm.  Definitely not your mama's potato salad, but definitely sure to please.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Orecchiette.  Little ear.  A pasta from Southern Italy, in Italian it means 'Little Ear'.  Isn't that cute.  Pasta shaped like little ears.  Listen up.  We really are not here to talk about how "cute" this pasta is.  We are talkin' about how tasty this pasta is.  We needed a quick meal and I only took the chicken out of the freezer at 4 PM.  My Scottie, after a partial defrost, charcoal grilled up some boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  He seasoned them with only lemon pepper and garlic salt.  Grilled them so they were still really juicy inside.  I whipped up a quick pan sauce.  I thinly sliced up three green onions (greens and whites), chopped three cloves garlic and added to my pan with some olive oil.  Sauteed a bit, added some Kosher salt, fresh cracked pepper and a generous sprinkling of red pepper flakes.  I then made a mixture of 1 1/4 cups cream, one egg yolk and the zest of one lemon.  I brought the pan temp down a bit and whisked this mixture into the onion mixture, let it thicken up some and added about 1/4 cup sour cream (just because I wanted to use it up) and 1/4 cup shaved parmesan cheese.  I cooked up the Orecchiette to al dente and added it to the creamalicious sauce, tossed in the grilled chicken, garnished with fresh chopped Italian parsley and more parmesan cheese and there you have it.  Little ears with Scottie grilled chicken in a creamalicious sauce.  Yummy.  Everyone loved it.  Your family will love it too.  Thanks for listening.

Hoochie Mama

Yowzers.  Might not the prettiest thing, but very good.  Very, very good.  The kinda good that keeps ya coming back for more.  Taco burgers tonight.  On Saturday I made fresh guacamole.  It was screaming to be slathered on something other than chips.  How about a burger?  I took 2 1/2 pounds of ground beef and added a packet of taco seasoning.  Made some patties that Scott charcoal grilled to perfection and I'm just getting started.  I made homemade cracked wheat burger buns, added the grilled burger with melted pepper jack cheese, topped it off with homemade guacamole, sour cream and a few Doritos, and you got yourself one yummy meal.  You could add some taco sauce, black olives or salsa too.  Depends on how high you want to stack it.  Sure to please.  Everyone loved it.  If you are licking the screen right now, I know you would love it too.