Bahian Style Moqueca (Brazilian Fish Stew)

A few years ago, I visited Rio de Janeiro with my friend Ellen, a fellow foodie.  Our second night there, we had planned to walk from our hotel in Copacabana to Azul Arinho, a restaurant on Ipanema known for their moqueca.  Along the way, we found a cute gelato shop, Beijo Carioca, and, upon realizing that they would be closed by the time we would be done with dinner, we had to stop and get a pre-dinner treat.  The gelato was so good that on our last day in Rio, with only an hour left before we had to head to the airport, we made a mad dash back for a last taste of paradise.

Continuing on to dinner, we passed by a Koni Store, and since I had read about this trendy new restaurant, we just had to stop and try a salmon hand roll.  Then there was the churro cart around the corner...but we decided that we absolutely could not eat anything else before we got to dinner (and hoped that the churro cart would still be there on the way home).

Despite not being the last bit hungry due to all the pre-dinner snacking, I found myself absolutely loving the moqueca.  We got ours Bahian style, which means it's cooked with coconut milk, palm oil, and cilantro and served with white rice, pirão (a gravy made from fish broth and cassava flour), and dendê farofa (cassava flour cooked in palm oil).

I haven't been able to find palm oil, but this recipe from The Perfect Pantry uses annatto seeds simmered in canola oil to make a similarly bright orange oil.  If you can't find annatto seeds, you can just use sweet paprika instead.  When a recipe calls for adding salt at the end to taste, I've started using adobo seasoning instead of just plain salt, especially for Latin-inspired dishes, for even more flavor.  Other than that I pretty much followed this recipe from Simply Recipes to make the rice and stew.  I've made the stew with haddock and cod and had a slight preference for the haddock version.  I can only imagine how good it would taste with sea bass instead.

Bahian Style Moqueca (Brazilian Fish Stew)
serves 4

For the annatto oil:
1/2 teaspoon annatto seeds
1/4 cup canola oil

For the rice:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup white rice
1 teaspoon kosher salt

For the stew:
1 1/2 - 2 lbs. of fillets of firm white fish such as haddock, cod, or sea bass, rinsed in cold water, pin bones removed, cut into large portions
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 tablespoons lime juice
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, sliced
1/4 cup green onion greens, chopped
1 yellow or red bell pepper, seeded, de-stemmed, and chopped (or sliced)
2 cups sliced plum tomatoes
1 tablespoon paprika (optional)
Pinch red pepper flakes
1 large bunch of cilantro, chopped with some set aside for garnish
14-ounce can coconut milk
Adobo seasoning, to taste (optional)

In a small saucepan, combine the annatto seeds and canola oil. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, until the oil turns orange. Remove from heat, strain out the seeds (and discard), and set the oil aside to cool. This can be done far in advance.

To make the rice, heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a medium saucepan on medium high heat. Add the chopped 1/2 onion and cook, stirring, until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds more, until the garlic is fragrant. Add the raw white rice and salt and stir to coat completely with the oil, onions, and garlic.  Transfer to a rice cooker and add the recommended amount of water (mine uses 1 1/4 cups water per cup of rice).  Cook the rice in the rice cooker while you make the stew.

Place the fish in a bowl and add the minced garlic and lime juice so that the pieces are well coated. Sprinkle generously all over with salt and pepper. Keep chilled while preparing the rest of the soup.

In a large covered pan (such as a Dutch oven), coat the bottom with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and heat on medium heat. Add the onion and cook a few minutes until softened. Add the bell pepper, paprika (if using), and red pepper flakes. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.  Cook for a few minutes longer, until the bell pepper begins to soften. Stir in the tomatoes and green onion. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes, uncovered. Stir in the chopped cilantro.

Use a large spoon to remove about half of the vegetables (you'll put them right back in). Spread the remaining vegetables over the bottom of the pan to create a bed for the fish. Arrange the fish pieces on the vegetables. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then add back the previously removed vegetables, covering the fish. Pour the coconut milk and annatto oil over the fish and vegetables.

Bring soup to a simmer, reduce the heat, cover, and let simmer for 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings. You may need to add more salt or adobo seasoning, lime juice, paprika, pepper, or chili flakes to get the soup to the desired seasoning for your taste.  Garnish with cilantro and serve with the rice.

I was actually pretty surprised at how close to the real thing this tasted considering how exotic the flavors are to me.  As with most stews, this tastes even better the next day and the day after that, when the flavors have had a chance to meld together more.

Next:  Pão de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Bread)
Previously:  Pluot Lambic Sorbet
Last year:  Crispy Kale Pizza

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Lobster Bisque

The first (and only other) time I made lobster bisque was during grad school with my friend Anthony.  We were cooking for our church small group, and halfway through making it, he realized that we had added twice as much butter as the recipe called for.  But when we tried it, it tasted fine, and probably even a little better because of the added butter.  ^_^

If you're going through the trouble of steaming your own lobsters, you might as well save the steaming liquid and all the juices that drip out of the lobster when you crack it open to make lobster bisque the next day.  You'll also want to save all the lobster shells to make the stock with.

I used this recipe from Bon Appetit as a guideline, but I used 4 lobsters, doubled the sherry (because I didn't have any brandy), and used water instead of the fish stock or bottled clam juice.  I also omitted the tarragon because I couldn't find any in the store, and instead of thickening the bisque with cornstarch I used a blond roux (had to add the butter in somewhere).  Four lobsters will give you way more meat than you need for the bisque, but you shouldn't have any problems using it in another dish. (May I suggest brown butter vinaigrette lobster buns or ramen lobster rolls?)

Lobster Bisque (adapted form Bon Appetit)
makes 6 servings

2-4 one-pound lobsters, steamed in salted water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, sliced
1 large celery stalk, sliced
1 small carrot, sliced
1 garlic head, cut in half crosswise
1 tomato, sliced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
8 whole black peppercorns
1 cup dry sherry
1/4 cup tomato paste
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup whipping cream

Crack tail and claw shells over the pot you used to steam the lobsters to catch any juices and remove lobster meat. Reserve the steaming liquid and juices.  Coarsely chop lobster meat; cover and chill. Coarsely chop lobster shells and bodies; transfer to medium bowl.

Heat olive oil in heavy large pot over high heat. Add lobster shells and bodies and sauté until shells begin to brown, about 8 minutes. Add onion and next 8 ingredients.  Boil until almost all liquid has evaporated, about 4 minutes. Add the reserved steaming liquid and lobster juices and enough water to make a total of 6 cups of liquid. Simmer 1 hour.

Strain soup through sieve set over large saucepan, pressing firmly on solids. Whisk tomato paste into soup. Simmer until soup is reduced to 3 cups, about 15 minutes. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

In a separate saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the flour and whisk together.  Cook until the roux turns a pale blonde.  Whisk in the lobster stock and cream and bring to a boil.  Continue stirring to ensure that the roux is dissolved and doesn't burn.  After a few minutes the bisque should thicken slightly.

Divide the lobster meat among 6 soup bowls.  Ladle in the bisque and serve hot.

I was surprised at how flavorful the bisque was even though I didn't add any salt (other than the original amount I added to the steaming liquid, which was like a large pinch).  I was tempted to add a drizzle of flavored oil on top, but then I realized it would only be to make the bowl more photogenic.  It honestly needs absolutely nothing added to it, so I just kept it that way.

Previously:  Ramen Lobster Rolls
Next up:  Sweet Corn Ice Cream with Black Raspberry Swirl

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Kale and Sweet Potato Soup

I had gotten a bunch of kale and 2 sweet potatoes in my Boston Organics delivery and decided I wanted to make a soup out of them. After a quick search on-line, I found this recipe by Joy the Baker.  I just happened to already have all the other ingredients on hand, too, so I think it was meant to be.

This soup is perfect on a cold, dreary night with it's super colorful vegetables and warm, spicy broth.  Served over a bed of brown rice, it can be a meal all on its own, too.

 
Kale and Sweet Potato Soup (adapted from Joy the Baker)
serves 4-6

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
3/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon crushed red peppers (optional)
1 bunch kale, tough stems removed and roughly chopped
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch cubes
1 1/2 quart chicken or vegetable broth
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper, to taste
1 can coconut milk
2 cups cooked brown rice

In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onions and cook down until tender and translucent, about five minutes.  Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, and crushed red pepper flakes, if using.  Cook, stirring, for about 1 minute.

 
Add the sweet potato chunks and stir.  Add the chicken or vegetable broth and bring to a simmer.

 
Add the kale once the broth is simmering and submerge all of the leaves, helping them to cook down.  Cook for about 20 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes have become tender.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

 
Lastly, stir in coconut milk and heat through.  Serve over a bed of brown rice.

 
The soup freezes well, and I found the best way to cool it down quickly was to stick the pot straight in the snow.

 
Three years ago:  Bacon Caramel Corn
Four years ago:  Wok-Fried Edamame with Garlic, Panna Cotta, Take 1

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Roasted Carrot Soup

Look at what I got in my last Boston Organics delivery!

 
Aren't they cute?  I don't even like carrots, and I can't get over how pretty these were.  I knew I definitely wanted to roast them because I've always loved how the carrots look in this post on high-heat roasted vegetables from The Kitchn.  But I didn't really want to eat them after because, again, I don't like carrots.

Then I found this recipe for roasted carrot soup on Food52 which uses fresh thyme, which I was still trying to use up after the Caramelized Onion and Swiss Chard Quiche and Garlic Thyme Popcorn, and everything magically fell into place.  ^_^

Roasted Carrot Soup (adapted from Food52)
makes 4 servings

1 1/4 lbs. carrots (about 9 small carrots)
1/4 cup olive oil
Kosher salt
4 cups vegetable stock (good quality, not too high in sodium)
1 piece ginger, an inch long, peeled
1 sprig thyme, plus more for garnish
1 small sweet onion, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
Popcorn (optional)

 
Peel the carrots, and halve or quarter the larger carrots lengthwise so that they are all about 1/2-inch thick.

 
On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the carrots with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt.

 
Set an oven rack 6 to 8 inches from the heat source and turn on the broiler. Broil the carrots until they brown and soften, turning them over with tongs every 5 minutes or so; this should take 15 to 20 minutes.  Once the carrots have cooled, chop them up into bite-sized pieces.

Meanwhile, bring the stock to a boil, add the ginger and the sprig of thyme and simmer gently for 15 minutes.

 
Put the onion in a medium stock pot with the remaining olive oil. Brown the onion over medium heat, stirring frequently.

 
Add the garlic and then add the carrots to the onions once they have browned.

 
Remove the ginger and thyme from the stock and add the stock to the pot with the onions and carrots. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, until the carrots are soft enough to puree.

Use an immersion or a standard blender to puree the mixture until smooth. If the soup seems too thick, add more stock or water and reheat gently. Add salt and pepper to taste. To serve, garnish with fresh thyme and a few pieces of popcorn.

 
The final verdict:  I liked how creamy the soup was even without any added cream.  But it still tasted like carrots.  =/  If you like carrots, you'll like this soup.  In the meantime, I think I'll stick to making Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting, Carrot Cake Ice Cream, or Curried Carrot Soup the next time I get carrots.  Or maybe I should just put carrots on my no-list again.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Creamy Delicata Squash Soup

And now with this entry I think my blog is officially almost monochrome. I shall have to try to make more colorful recipes again soon.

I needed to use up two more delicata squash that I received from Boston Organics and since it's been super cold lately, I googled for a soup recipe. I came across this one on allrecipes.com, and while I usually only try the recipes on there that have several hundred reviews, it seemed straightforward enough to try. I did make a couple of adjustments, however, since I didn't want to wait for the squash to fully cook via roasting. In the comments someone said they had microwaved the squash instead, which shaved off at least a good half an hour. The squash cooked unevenly so I ended up scooping out the done parts and re-microwaving the rest until it was done.And I substituted chicken broth for the vegetable broth and milk and half & half for the heavy cream (but only because I didn't have any).

Creamy Delicata Squash Soup (adapted from here)
makes 3-4 servings

2 delicata squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
1 small onion, chopped
2 cups chicken broth
1/3 cup half & half
2/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 dash nutmeg (optional)

Place the squash cut side down in a microwave-safe baking dish. Add 1/8" water to the dish and microwave on high for 7 minutes or until squash is soft.

In a large saucepan, melt butter. Add onion and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally until onion is softened but not brown.

Scrape the squash out of the flesh and add to onions. Add the broth, half & half, and milk. Bring to a boil and then simmer, stirring occasionally, about 25 minutes.

Puree the soup using an immersion blender. Season with salt and pepper and a dash of nutmeg, if you like.

Pureeing the soup made it really light and frothy. The consistency was slightly grainy like a potato soup, but it really wasn't very thick at all. I found that I barely had to add any salt to it, but then maybe that's because the chicken broth I used was already pretty salty. I think the nutmeg really brought out the sweetness of the squash. In fact, I can see this being a really versatile template for a squash soup. You could go the sweeter path and really roast the squash with some butter and maybe a little brown sugar. Or you could go the more savory route and use shallots instead of the onion and maybe throw in a little garlic or other fresh herbs. All in all, it was the perfect thing to have on a frigid day.

p.s. I made the croutons in the pictures by simply sauteeing some cubed wheat bread in butter. If I had really been clever, I would've cut the croutons in the shape of the squash seeds. =)

One year ago:  Hua Juan (Steamed Scallion Buns) 

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Curried Carrot Soup

I got yet another bag of baby carrots in my Boston Organics delivery last week and suddenly remembered one way (other than carrot cake or carrot cake ice cream) that I've enjoyed carrots: in a curried soup. I don't even remember where I first tried it; I think it was either at Au Bon Pain or in one of the soup cartons from Trader Joe's. I just remembered that I couldn't really taste the carrots, which is exactly what I was looking for.

A quick google search gave me Rachael Ray's version as the first hit. It looked simple enough, but I added a few tweaks. I used half an onion and replaced the other half with a shallot since it was all I had. I also halved the amount of butter, added 2 teaspoons of fresh, chopped ginger, and replaced the sour cream with nonfat plain yogurt.

Curried Carrot Soup (adapted from Rachael Ray's recipe here)
makes 4-6 servings

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh peeled ginger, finely chopped
1 pound packaged baby carrots
2 (13.5 oz.) cans chicken broth
1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
Kosher salt
Nonfat plain yogurt
Snipped scallions (optional)

Preheat medium pot over medium high heat. Add olive oil, butter, onions, shallots, ginger, and carrots and saute 5 minutes.

Add the chicken broth, curry and cayenne, and about 1 teaspoon salt to the pot. Bring to a boil, cover and cook until carrots are very tender, about 15 minutes.

Using an immersion blender, carefully puree the soup. Alternatively, you can use a blender to puree the soup in small batches.

Ladle into bowls and top with a heaping spoonful of yogurt (or sour cream) and scallions.

If you don't have yogurt or sour cream, you can also add a swirl of cream into the soup to balance out the spices, but you'll lose the tanginess of the yogurt.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

French Red Onion Soup

My first encounter with French onion soup came after my family had moved to Ohio when I was 13. We were staying at a hotel until we could find more permanent housing, and as a treat, my parents chose to eat at the hotel restaurant for dinner. Back then, going to McDonald's was still a special thing for me, so this was probably the first sit-down meal I had where a waiter served me and everything. My mom ordered the French onion soup, and when she let me try some, it was love at first bite. The melty, salty cheese and not yet soggy bread crouton floating on top of the beef broth and sweet onions was the undoing of me. If such a thing existed in this world, then I was all the more glad to be living in it.

Fast forward to my undergrad days at Cornell. At the Ivy Room, one of the a la carte dining halls, they served French onion soup every day. Of course, being on meal plan, it didn't really make sense for me to be eating there because I could have been getting all-you-can-eat at Oakenshields next door, but that didn't stop me from going to the Ivy and getting my favorite soup at least once a week. Unfortunately, by my junior year, they had stopped serving it there, although they had started making paninis, which is how I had my first Cubano, but that's another story for another day.

I've never made French onion soup myself because the usual recipes call for beef broth, baguette bread, and cheese, which are 3 ingredients I don't usually have in my fridge or pantry. But then I ended up with 2 red onions from Boston Organics which I didn't know what to do with and in the same week, came across this recipe for French red onion soup from the September 2008 issue of Gourmet, which uses chicken broth instead of beef broth. I already had all the ingredients except for the baguette and Gruyere, but I figured just this one time I could shell out for them, and boy, am I glad I did.

French Red Onion Soup (based on this recipe)
makes 4 servings

2 cups homemade chicken stock
2 cups water
2 whole star anise
6 black peppercorns
2 lbs. red onions, cut into 1/2-inch wedges3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup dry red wine
4 (1-inch-thick) slices of baguette
2 cups coarsely grated Manchego or Gruyère (6 to 7 oz)

Bring broth, water, spices, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to a boil. Remove from heat and let steep 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook onions in oil with 1/4 teaspoon salt in a heavy medium pot over medium heat, covered, stirring occasionally, until deep golden, about 15 minutes. Add wine and boil, uncovered, until reduced to 2 tablespoons, about 1 minute. Strain broth through a sieve into onion mixture and briskly simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes. Season with salt.

Preheat broiler.

Ladle soup into 4 ovenproof bowls set in a 4-sided sheet pan. Place baguette slices on top and sprinkle each with 1/2 cup cheese. Broil about 6 inches from heat until cheese is melted and bubbling, about 2 minutes.

I wish I had oven-proof bowls that were closer in diameter to the size of the baguette slice for aesthetic purposes. For gastromic purposes, it didn't really matter as the cheese that melted on top of the soup stayed nice and melty while the cheese on top of the bread protected it from getting too soggy. This particular recipe had a bit more onions in the soup than I prefer, but the taste of the soup itself was sublime. I couldn't even tell that it came from a chicken stock and not a beef broth, that's how much depth and body the caramelized onions, spices, and reduced red wine gave the soup.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Potato Leek Soup with Bacon

When I was a college student living in a apartment with 3 other girls and a tiny kitchen and a small, small budget, I loved going to Costco and getting a big tin of Bear Creek Creamy Potato Soup. It was delicious by itself, but once you added some cheese, broccoli, corn, or bacon, it became awesome. And because it came in powder form, you didn't have to worry about it going bad if you didn't end up cooking for a while.

Now that I'm grown up and getting potatoes from Boston Organics, I figure it was time to learn how to make a potato soup from scratch, especially after reading the ingredients of the powdered soup: Dehydrated Potatoes, Food Starch-modified Corn Starch Solids, Sweet Whey, Partially Hydrogenated Canola, Cottonseed, and Soybean Oil, Onions, Salt, Monosodium Glutamate, Sodium Caseinate (Milk Protein), Titanium Dioxide Color, Maltodextrin, Disodium Inosinate and Sodium Guanylate, Dipotassium Phosphate, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Spices, Parsley, Dry Sherry Wine, Garlic Natural and Artificial Flavoring, Chicken Broth Arabic Gum, Rendered Chicken Fat, Casein (Milk Protein), Citric Acid, Silicon Dioxide, Yellow No. 5, Mono and Diglycerides, Annatto Color.

Scary.

This recipe from thekitchn.com, on the other hand, only has 2 ingredients. Well, 4, if you add bacon and substitute homemade chicken stock for water. And 5, if you count salt. (I don't like pepper, so it doesn't count.) Take that, Bear Creek!

Potato Leek Soup with Bacon (based on this recipe)
makes 4 servings

5 cups peeled and cubed potatoes
2 1/2 cups sliced leeks
3-4 slices bacon
1 quart homemade chicken stock (or water)

Wash the leeks very, very well. Leeks are notorious for having a lot of dirt and sand in between layers. Drain and set aside.

In a large saucepan, brown bacon until crisp. Remove bacon and let drain on some paper towels.

Saute the leeks in the hot bacon fat left in the pan until wilted. Add potatoes and toss to coat. Add chicken broth to cover, about 1 quart. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer until potatoes are soft and cooked through, about 30 minutes.

With an immersion blender, or very carefully in batches in a food processor, or even with a potato masher and your own brute strength, blend until the mixture reaches the consistency you prefer.

Salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot with crumbled bacon, grated cheese, and chopped scallions on top, if you prefer.

Other variations: Add chopped broccoli stems at the same time you add the potatoes. Add fresh or frozen corn kernels after blending the soup and heat through. Top with sour cream or creme fraiche.

I found that the soup needed a lot more salt than I thought it would, but otherwise I was very pleased with the result, especially since I was able to get a nice, creamy consistency without needing any dairy products. Adding the fresh, chopped scallions also brings out an unexpected vibrancy to the soup.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Homemade Chicken Stock

The basis for any soup is a good stock, which is really so simple to make that there's no reason to ever use the canned kind. I used two great tips from thekitchn.com to make my latest batch:

1. Save vegetable scraps for stock. I had some leftover celery and carrots from making the clam chowda and extra onion left from making roast chicken which I threw in a freezer bag until I was ready to make the stock.

2. Use the pasta strainer insert. A great way to remove the carcass and vegetables after the stock is done without having to awkwardly dump everything into a strainer. You still have to strain the stock, but it's a lot easier without the huge carcass in the way.

Homemade Chicken Stock (based on this recipe)
makes 6 quarts
Chicken carcass or 4 chicken breast carcasses (preferably with a little meat left on it)
A handful or two each of onions, carrots, and celery
Bay leaf
Peppercorns
Garlic cloves

Pull apart whatever is left of the chicken carcass. It's good to split small bones apart; this helps the stock jell. Cut up one or two onions, a few stalks of celery, and a couple carrots and pile into the pasta insert of a large pot with the chicken pieces. Add a bay leaf, a few peppercorns, a couple of garlic cloves, and any other wilting greens you have around - leeks and turnips are good too.

Fill the pot with water, cover, and put over high heat.

Bring to a rolling boil then lower the heat. You don't want this to boil briskly; the water should just gurgle, with a few bubbles occasionally hitting the surface.

If a foamy muck comes to the top, skim it off. This is just fat rising to the surface. Don't worry if you can't get all of it. Let simmer for about four hours - or however long you have. Two hours will produce a reasonably good chicken stock, although it is not ideal.

Once the stock is done, remove from heat. Remove the pasta insert and drain. Carefully ladle stock through a sieve into storage containers, pouring it out once it is at a manageable volume.

If it is cold outside, set the containers of stock outside to chill; otherwise, let cool to room temperature and then transfer to refrigerator to chill.

Once it has chilled, skim off the fat from the top of the stock. The stock will keep in the fridge for a few days and in the freezer for a few months.

If you don't feel like your stock has enough body, you can reduce it in volume by boiling it until you get it to where you want it. Whatever you do, do not add salt to your stock. That should be done when you are making your soup; you can always add salt to a soup but there's no way to save an over-salted soup.

Next up: Potato Leek Soup with Bacon

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

New England Clam Chowda and Homemade Oyster Crackers

That should really be a sad face because Leslie is gone =(

My dear cousin and roommate, Leslie, moved out yesterday after 3.5 years of living together, so we threw a goodbye and birthday party for her on Sunday night. Annie and I came up with a theme of "Boston" for food so I made some New England clam chowder ("chowda" around these here parts) and oyster crackers. This was my first time making it, but I used a highly rated recipe on allrecipes.com for the chowder, and I think it turned out pretty good (at least, better than Campbells). The oyster crackers were more of an afterthought; I realized that it would be good to serve the chowder with oyster crackers but was too lazy to go to the store to get them so I figured I'd just make them myself. And now that I think about it, that's a pretty warped sense of laziness. Oh well.

I almost always go to allrecipes.com if there's something I want to make that I don't have a recipe for. I like the website because you can be assured that the recipes are good by looking for the ones that have tons of reviews and read the comments to catch any useful tips. For example, when I searched for clam chowder on the site, there were 43 returns, but only a few had more than a handful of comments, a couple had at least a hundred, and only one had 440. So of course I chose to use that recipe. And skimming through the comments gave me the idea to add bacon to the chowder to make it even more flavorful.

Bye Bye Leslie Clam Chowda (based on this recipe)
makes 16 servings (or feeds a party of 70+ people)

6 strips bacon
6 (6.5 oz.) cans minced clams
2 cups minced yellow onion
2 cups diced celery
4 cups cubed potatoes
2 cup diced carrots
1 1/2 cups butter
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 quarts half-and-half
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon salt (if you don't have salt you can just cry into the chowda because Leslie is leaving)
Ground black pepper to taste

Brown bacon in a large stock pot until crisp. Remove bacon and set aside. Add onions, celery, potatoes, and carrots to bacon fat and toss. Drain juice from clams and add to vegetables. Add enough water to cover and cook over medium-high heat until tender.

Meanwhile, in a large, heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour until smooth. Whisk in cream and stir constantly until thick and smooth. Add to the vegetables and clam juice. Heat through but do not boil.

Crumble the bacon and stir in with clams just before serving. (If the clams cook too much they get tough.) When clams are heated through, stir in vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Serve hot with oyster crackers.

I found the oyster cracker recipe using google. There were a couple of other recipes that used yeast and shortening, but I decided to keep it simple and use this one that uses butter. I considered briefly using bacon fat or duck fat, but then I decided I wanted my guests to go home alive. =P

Homemade Oyster Crackers (based on this recipe)
makes about 2 cups

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
4 oz. unsalted butter, diced
4 oz. whole milk
Sea salt for garnish

Preheat your oven to 375 °F.

Combine all dry ingredients in food processor. Add butter and pulse quickly, until it looks like "coarse meal". Add the milk and process 3 seconds. Remove to floured surface, knead 10 seconds and chill the dough.

Divide the dough into quarters, and working with one quarter at a time (leaving the rest chilling in the refrigerator), roll the dough out to 1/8" thickness and sprinkle with salt. Using a fork, prick the dough all over. Cut with the crackers into any desired shape using a sharp knife or small cookie cutter.

Place the crackers on a cookie sheet and bake for 5-7 minutes or until light brown. Store in an airtight container once cool.

At first I wanted to try to make hexagons and figured I could cut the dough into diamonds and then lop off two opposing corners. But after I cut the dough into diamonds, the dough was too warm to work with so I just stopped there. I loved how these crackers had some real flavor thanks to the butter and didn't just taste like salty cardboard as oyster crackers too often do.

Next up: Boston cream cupcakes and mousse.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad