My first from scratch Clam Chowder is the best you’ll ever have!

I’m at the beach and this felt like a beachy thing to make. The taste is great - briny from the clams but sweet from all the onions and shallots. The mix of potatoes and onions is important, I think, because the russet breaks down and thickens the chowder if you don’t make a roux  The onions balance out the bracing seafood blast from all those clams and clam juice.

This pot serves a lot! 5 people easy with seconds.

 

Anh’s Three Little Birds New England by way of the Outer Banks CLAM CHOWDAH!

 

• 1 huge russet potato, peeled and cubed
• 3-4 little red bliss potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 yellow onion peeled and chopped
• 1 sweet onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 4-5 stalks of celery, washed, trimmed and roughly chopped
• ¼ cup flour optional if you like a thicker chowder
• 4-5 slices of smoked bacon, (diced optional if you plan on keeping it in)
• 3 Tbs butter
• 4-5 small bay leaves
• Scant ½ tsp thyme leaves
• 51 oz. can of fresh clam juice (get in the fresh seafood section)
• 51 oz. can of drained clams, (get in the fresh seafood section) reserve the juice for another purpose
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 4 heaping Tbs sour cream
• Seasoned salt, pepper to taste

Method:

In a large heavy-bottomed pot start cooking the bacon until the fat is rendered and the bacon is slightly crisp. Add the butter and melt it.  Add the onions and shallots and sauté in the bacon and butter until onions are softened and start to get translucent.  At this point, if you like thicker chowder, add the flour and cook until the roux is starting to brown but not too much.  Add the celery, potatoes, thyme and bay leaves, sauté until the whole is hot, the celery is starting to soften…Add the clam juice next. Bring to a boil and simmer until potatoes are tender. Turn down the heat and add the clams, milk, creams and season salt.  You probably won’t need to add a lot of salt because of the salt in the bacon, butter and clam juice…also, go easy on the thyme.  Heath through but do not boil because this will toughen the clams.  Add more milk if you think it is too thick.

Serve with oyster crackers, sourdough, or cornbread.  You can also present this chowdah Moe’s style and float a melting pat on butter in the bowl and sprinkle season salt or paprika across the top.  I had some snipped fresh chives so I garnished with that.   

A food meme from bomboneria

A hundred foods you should eat, a mem from bomboneria. Those I’ve eaten are in bold.

1. Venison – As I recall, it was Emeril-marinated loin. Not bad.

2. Nettle tea

3. Huevos rancheros - as long as there’s not too much cilantro in the salsa…I love it.

4. Steak tartare – The capers are chopped up so you can’t tell there’s capers in it…

5. Crocodile - well, I’ve had “gator” bites… does that count?

6. Black pudding Don’t think about the procedure, just appreciate the result when you eat it.

7. Cheese fondue -Yum!

8. Carp - steamed with ginger and scallions (but I pushed aside the scallions)

9. Borscht

10. Baba ghanoush

11. Calamari –

12. Pho – Am I not Vietnamese? My mom makes the best.

13. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich

14. Aloo gobi

15. Hot dog from a street cart –mmm dirty-water dogs…

16. Epoisses

17. Black truffle - on sushi, of all things.

18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes – yum

19. Steamed pork buns Serious cravings for them

20. Pistachio ice cream and pudding too I love it.

21. Heirloom tomatoes the reason to live in the summertime

22. Fresh wild berries hahahah, in Oregon, this is not hard to come by.

23. Foie gras – and it was delicious

24. Rice and beans

25. Brawn or head cheese There’s a Vietnamese version that I’ve had too. I still like it.

26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper – can’t do spicy.

27. Dulce de leche damn my diabetes!

28. Oysters - Kumamotos are my favorite raw but I also love them in stews and baked, with lemon butter.

29. Baklava The Pita House makes theirs with a lovely touch of rosewater syrup

30. Bagna cauda extra anchovies, please.

31. Wasabi peas

32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl –

33. Salted lassi (mango lassi and sweet lassi) -

34. Sauerkraut I had the best in Strasbourg, France!

35. Root beer float - When mom took a part-time job at the local convenience store, she got us all hooked on them.

36. Cognac with a fat cigar – Although I prefer Amaretto

37. Clotted cream tea lovely, at the Heathman.

38. Vodka jelly

39. Gumbo

40. Oxtail – Blue Ribbon NYC — Heaven!

41. Curried goat

42. Whole insects Ladybug by accident. Haven’t had the grasshopper tacos at Oyamel yet.

43. Phaal

44. Goat’s milk – in COCOA- man that was odd

45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more wish I could remember it better.

46. Fugu I wish..

47. Chicken tikka masala - With a mango lassi!

48. Eel

49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut – Fresh, and hot, there’s nothing like it.

50. Sea urchin my favorite sushi!  Also good on spaghetti!

51. Prickly pear – I’ve had beer made from prickly pear, if that counts.

52. Umeboshi yum I could eat them out of the jar.

53. Abalone stir fried!

54. Paneer

55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal

56. Spaetzle I still remember it was too salty, although it came with duck and dried cherries at B. Moloch’s.

57. Dirty gin martini –

58. Beer above 8% ABV – Portland had them at a brewfest. Just a sip. It burned!

59. Poutine It’s real popular in Canada, eh?  I had it at Quality Pie before it closed down.

60. Carob chips - lol didn’t know our second grade teacher was a hippie but it all makes sense now.

62. Sweetbreads Also at Blue Ribbon NYC

63. Kaolin is this like eating dirt or clay?

64. Currywurst Rocks! The food of Berlin!

65. Durian also in icecream and butter. you feel like taking a bath afterwards but it’s alright.

66. Frogs’ legs

67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake – yes, yes, yes, and yes. Favorites are the Elephant Ears at Saturday Market.  The beignets from Cafe DuMond are so touristy but whatever, they were awesome. (and so was the coffee)

68. Haggis

69. Fried plantain

70. Chitterlings or andouillette

71. Gazpacho In Spain, this was fantastic.  Also wonderful was the deconstructed gazpacho from the Painted Table in Seattle.

72. Caviar and blini

73. Louche absinthe But I have the bottle and the special spoon and sugar cubes. I am all set!

74. Gjetost, or brunost – See #16.

75. Roadkill

76. Baijiu

77. Hostess Fruit Pie

78. Snail both with garlic butter ala escargot or with fishsauce in Vietnam

79. Lapsang souchong

80. Bellini

81. Tom yum –

82. Eggs Benedict –

83. Pocky - Men’s Pocky is the best, but I like strawberry too.

84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant

85. Kobe beef

86. Hare at Cafe Zenon in Eugene.

87. Goulash

88. FlowersI love the stuffed squash blossoms from Chez Panisse

89. Horse

90. Criollo chocolate

91. Spam - yum!

92. Soft shell crab – oh yeah.

93. Rose harissa

94. Catfish -at my first fish fry

95. Mole poblano –

96. Bagel and lox – with cream cheese, cucumber and tomato on a salt bagel, toasted. Yeah i could go for one right now.

97. Lobster Thermidor

98. Polenta

99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee

100. Snake

what to do with leftover corn on the cob?

Here’s one thing I do — It’s not quite cream of corn, and not creamed corn, but it’s very simple — just corn, butter, S&P.

Cut the corn off the cob by first standing the cob on its fat end and making fat slices of the corn kernels down so that they land on the cutting board or plate below and then by running the dull side of your knife back down over the cob to milk it.  For about three cobs, I use almost 2 tablespoons of butter.  Melt the butter in a saute pan until it starts to talk and then add the corn you cut off.  Be careful, and stir gently, so as not to break up those lovely fat slices of corn!  When the corn is heated through, season with a little salt and pepper and enjoy by the bowlful…. sigh!

Seattle eats well

so the coffee and beer were as excellent as I would expect.  the food, as always on the west coast, just seemed fresher and better.  The brunches were top notch and the dinner’s were fabulous to taste and look at.

Some standouts: Portage Bay Cafe, Linda’s, Fish Club, and Lake Union Cafe.

Portage Bay was a short walk down four blocks from our hotel.  We met a friend there and had brunch for lunch — best part aside from the weather and near-outdoor seating?  The Toppings Bar — a counter loaded with strawberry compote and fresh strawberries, cherries, raisins, raspberries, blackberries, peaches, pears, currants, blueberries, cinnamon, maple syrup, bananas, whipped cream and butter.  I didn’t even have french toast or pancakes. sigh. I made two or three trips.  My smoked salmon, spinach, manchego and avocado omelet was great, a little too big. Home fries wer just ok.  Everything is pretty much organic or local and the bacon was some peppered, thick-cut variety that C. scarfed up really fast.

Linda’s is all good times and no pretension.  Outdoor patio seating, Stumptown Coffee, and really good food.  C’s Bloody Mary was listed under “Hangover Helpers” and came with two crisp, pickled green beans, a fat, pimento-stuffed olive, as well as a slice of lime and celery stick. And a celery-salt rimmed glass.  It was fantastic. I had hash browns that were thin, well-done, and a tad greasy (they were HASH BROWNS) but the blue corn tortilla scramble that came alongside was really good.  C’s cowboy taco looked great too — the chicken apple sausage that came with was surprisingly good, shattering expectations from such a dive-y place.  I imagine the place gets packed especially during times of nice weather and the weekends.  Definitely go!

Sustainable, fresh, and imaginative seafood is the star at Fish Club. It’s on the waterfront in some swank hotel and this Todd English outpost was ideally situated for a light dinner.  The views are amazing, but the food was great, even if the friendly service was a little slow. We started with a great wine list, but my fresh squeezed Arnold Palmer was a good beginning.  The oysters that we got weren’t the ones advertised by our waiter but they were still gleamingly fresh, and the red wine mignonette was a tangy foil.  So sweet, juicy and plump, each oyster was a delectable bite of the ocean.  I had a surf and turf salad of Dungeness Crab meat and sliced onglet steak.  The salad part had pommes frites mixed in it, and parmesan shreds.  Whatever, it worked.  The crab didn’t taste like the Dungeness though, but it was still good, so I didn’t complain.  The steak was really tender and came with a demi glace that worked with the frites.  The mustard lemon sauce that dressed the crab was good with the salad greens - a spring mix with arugula, mache, watercress, and frisee.  Craig had huge diver’s scallops and isreali couscous.  He ate everything and hardly left any sauce on the plate.  I sampled one of his scallops and it was delish, but I think I like the ones at Zaytinya better.  Our friend had dessert which was a teeny scoop of housemade vanilla ice cream in a shot glass  with an assortment of housemade cookies: chocolate dipped biscotti, lavender-lemon shortbread (my favorite) and white and regular chocolate chip cookies.  All were fresh and homey and really perfect.

Our friends had their wedding reception at the Lake Union Cafe and it was beautiful.  The passed hors d’oeuvres were tempting little noshes that I could not get enough of.  The interior is quaint, with belt driven ceiling fans, stamped tin ceiling, big picture windows and an ice-sculpture vodka martini luge.  The buffet was attractive and the bar was plentiful.  Good job.  I really enjoyed myself!

 

Arugula

Arugula, or rocket as it is known in the UK, is my favorite salad green.  It’s peppery flavor is just the thing to perk up anything where you might want something healthy and green-leafy in your dish.  Lately, it’s been getting a bad rap for being the salad green of elitists and that beer drinkers and arugula eaters are not the same voter.  This of course, is entirely rubbish! I first had arugula in Peoria, Illinois, a small town in middle America.  The idea of elitist food is repugnant to me anyways.  There’s good-for-you-food, and bad-for-you-food (but still tastes good) and bad food that you shouldn’t eat because it tastes bad and is bad for you.  An example of good for you food is hardly necessary right?  I mean you should eat your vegetables, choose whole grains whenver possible yadda yada.  Bad-for-you-but-tastes-good is also easy: hello anything fried.  Bad for you and tastes bad is a little more subjective: but a lot of mass-produced industrial fast food falls in this category. Also - reconstituted scrambled eggs from a sketchy buffet table.  Here are my favorite recent applications of arugula, and they all go great with beer:

• Chicken Mozzarella with Tomato, Arugula on ciabatta sandwich at Au Bon Pain. I really dig their dijon-mayo spread.
• Duck confit with brie and arugula (and cracklings!) balsamic reduction drizzle pizza at Rustico. It’s a really amazing pizza. The sharpness of the arugula and sweetness fo the balsamic really serve as the perfect foil for the richness of the brie.  Of course I would love anything with duck and cracklings so…
• Salad at Zefiro - I believe it had toasted slivered almonds. sigh. I miss Zefiro.
• Cousin Robert’s pasta! - Angel hair, sundried tomatoes, butter and arugula.  The hot pasta wilts the arugula just enough… this is a sublime, simple (and sentimental) dish.

Two Quail Review

So this little place is in Capitol Hill, close to the Supreme Court and has an interesting history.

I had the Chef’s Whim, which today was shrimp bisque; and the Farmer’s salad: mesclun greens with diced apple and pear, orange slices, roaste chicken breast slices, bleu cheese, a little bacon, pistachios and dried cranberries.  For dessert, I had a slice of a lovely, light coconut cake - snowy cream cheese vanilla frosting covered with coconut.  The cake was plain, more vanilla than coconut, and had a delicate, tender crumb.  It was moist and not too sweet. My stash tea came as a mug of hot water and lemon slices with bags on the side.  The shrimp bisque was boozey but a bit too salty. I think the shrimpmeat was a little chewy and probably ovecooked, but overall, it was ok - not bad for a zillion calories.

Fusion cooking?!

I made two kinds of miso soup today and the addition of matzo balls will make it a third!  Since I’ve got a bit of a head cold (after the flu last week) I decided to make soup again, but with a little bit of a different twist.  The first soup I had was cheater’s instant miso soup. It came out of a packet I got from a box at TJ’s.  It comes with shitake mushrooms, teensy cubes of tofu, and scallions that are so dessicated that they are more of an inobtrusive garnish than anything else.  You know how I feel about green onions - blech.  Anyway, it was good, a little alarmingly salty, but overall, fine for a miso soup fix.  Then I actually made a more complex yet still cheater’s version of miso soup with dashi (seafood broth) already in the miso paste, which is kept in the fridge.  This bowl was just a touch sub par from the miso soup you get in a better Japanese restaurant because I didn’t add little tofu cubes or seaweed… the flavor is more balanced — not as salty, but with a pronounced winey, fermented tone.  I could have been imagining it, but the mouthfeel was smoother.  There were prettier little miso soup swirls in the second bowl too. Kindo of like clouds in your coffee, but almost self generating, like a pint of Guinness.

So I am making matzo balls to go in my miso soup (suitable for vegetarians!!)  because i don’t have the full range of makings for my pretty-darn-good-for-a-goy chicken soup (don’t feel like fighting the crowds at the Chinese grocery for an aged fowl) but after the deli I had last weekend, how could I even hope to compare?  The kneidlech at 2nd Ave. Deli are simply perfection.  Perfectly light, round, and meltingly tender…I could almost weep.

For lesser, but still fine matzo balls, try my recipe below.  I am adjusting because my eggs are smaller than the normal large or extra large I ususally get.

Pretty-good-for-a-goy Matzo Balls for Soup

• 4-5 medium fresh eggs (use 3 if using large or extra large)
• 3/4- 1 cup of matzo meal
• 2 tbs each stock or water (or in this case, miso soup) and oil or fat (chicken fat or olive oil is what I use)
• Salt and pepper
• dried chopped parsley

Method: Cream the eggs and the matzo meal in a non metallic bowl.  (I use a small hand mixer) Add the stock/soup/water and the fat, seasonings and dump a bunch of parsley in for a little dash of color.  The texture should be like a slightly thin oatmeal — if not, keep on adding a little matzo meal or an egg or water to help it get to where you need it to be.  Cover with plastic wrap and refridgerate for an hour.  It will stiffen and get more solid as it chills.  When you are ready to make your matzo balls, have a deep pot of boiling water ready with a tight fitting lid.  Using a tablespoon and a teaspoon, either scoop up walnut sized portions and drop them into the boiling water or form slightly larger balls with wet hands, making them round and smooth.  When you have about 5-8 balls in, depending on the size of your pot — you don’t want to overcrowd them! clamp the lid on shut and turn down to a vigorous simmer. DON’T PEEK!  I mean this.  Do not peek and when you lift the lid 45-55 minutes later, you will be rewarded with fluffy matzo balls, even though they may not be as perfect as a NYC delis.  Simmer the drained balls in the soup of your choice for a minute (I use a slotteed spoon to transfer them from pot to pot) and serve.  Depending on the size of your kneidelech, this recipe should make about 10-12 matzo balls.

Vichyssoise again

this all took about an hour.

• one big bunch of leeks  (about four or five) but I used baby vidalia onions — they look like rounded leeks with bulbous ends. Washed and white parts sliced thin
• seven small potatoes peeled and cubed (I used Yukon Gold)
• olive oil or butter
• bay leaves
• 2-3 cloves of minced garlic
• one tetra pak of chicken stock
• 2 cubes of chopped parsley
• fat free half and half or milk
• water to thin and
• salt and pepper to taste

Method: in a deep pot bigger than you think you’ll need, saute the sliced onions/leeks and garlic in about a 2 tablespoons of butter or olive oil until softened.  Add chicken stock, potato cubes, bay leaves and bring to a boil. Simmer until potatoes are tender and slide off a fork when poked.  Add about two heaping teaspoons of salt or to taste (You’ll be thinning with water and milk so you can be liberal with the salt) Add in the parsely cubes now.  Grind in some pepper.  Take out the bay leaves (I used two) With your immersion blender, puree until smooth. Don’t be alarmed if it looks like a puree of mashed potatoes instead of soup –you can always add as much milk or water to thin it out.  Serve hot or chilled, and makes a lot.

New Mocktail

I figured out that the pomegranate syrup I picked up has many practical uses — first, it’s delicious enough to glug straight from the bottle but also adds a nice touch to sauces of a non middle-eastern variety too.  However, I like it in refreshing drinks.  make sure all items are well chilled.

in a tall glass: one big spoonful of pomegranate molasses, about a shot of Rose’s Sweetened Lime Juice. Fill with chilled sparking water and stir.  I think a little vodka or even vanilla vodka would be good.  I have some orange blossom water and some rose water too — that might be nice. There’s an echo of vanilla from the molassses, I swear.  This is a tart and tangy, fragrant drink.

banana bread from my xanga

This was born of having a few overripe bananas in the house.  I added chocolate covered banana chips and a healthy dash of cinnamon, used a mix of splenda and dark brown sugar, and this is the result: moist, tender, carmelized and not too sweet.  It cracked on top and didn’t rise all that much but it tastes good.

Anh’s Dark Brown Banana Bread (it’s not burnt!)

• 3 overripe bananas, mashed (skins should be nearly all brown and thin.)
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup splenda
• 1/4 cup dark or light brown sugar (a few small lumps okay)
• 1/4 cup sugar if you think it needs it (I don’t)
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 1 jumbo or large egg (brown, of course)
• very healthy dash of ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup chocolate covered dried banana chips (optional)

Method:  Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a big bowl, mix the bananas, sugars, egg, butter, vanilla and cinnamon.  Add the salt and baking soda to the wet mixture and then the flour about a 1/2 cup or so at a time, until it is all incorporated.  Any lumps of brown sugar will caramelize.  At the end, add the chocolate covered banana chips and then pour the batter into a greased loaf pan. (I used a baking cooking spray) Bake for an hour and cool outside of the pan.  It should be almost alarmingly dark brown but one taste, and you’ll know it’s not burnt.