Category Archives: Soups & Sandwiches

New England Clam Chowder

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New England (and it has to be New England) Clam Chowder is something Hubby looks for on every menu of every restaurant we go to. I had never had it before. Mostly because clams never struck me as appetizing. Yes, you can go ahead and think it – I was afraid of the clams.

This recipe, from the Thanksgiving issue of Bon Appétit magazine, changed my mind about clams. Hubby saw the recipe and knew right away he was going to make it. I have to be honest. I wasn’t looking forward to it (In fact, I may have hidden the magazine from him, hoping he would forget about it).

In this case, I was happy to be wrong. This clam chowder is perfect, even for a clamophobic like me. It’s hearty, the flavors are perfectly blended and it couldn’t be more satisfying. Hubby has proclaimed this one of the best clam chowder he’s ever had. And he lived in New England, where it really is everywhere, for years!

Note: We just don’t have fresh clams around here, so we used the canned kind along with bottled clam juice. (That option is included in the published recipe, so we figured it was okay. Oh yes, it was more than okay!) The other thing I love about this clam chowder? It’s all made in one pot!

To make this chowder:

First, we melted a tablespoon of butter over medium heat in our Dutch oven (you can use any large, heavy pot). Then, we cooked 8 ounces of bacon (cut into 1/2 inch pieces) in the butter until it just started to turn brown. This took us about 12 minutes.

Next, we stirred in 2 minced celery stalks, 1 large minced onion and a clove of minced garlic into the bacon.

We cooked it until the onion became translucent. Stir this often as it cooks. It took us about 15 minutes.

At this point we added 6 cups of bottled clam juice, along with 2 1/2 pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes cut into 1/2 inch pieces. This is also where we added one bay leaf and a tablespoon of thyme. Stir everything up good, bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are very tender.

Once the potatoes are tender, it’s time to make a slurry: stir 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of water together and add to the chowder.

Bring everything to a boil to thicken. This took 10-15 minutes for us. Once it’s thickened up….

…remove everything from the heat and discard the bay leaf. Now, add 2 – 10 ounce cans of baby clams.

Stir well and add 2 cups of heavy cream.

Stir again, then taste and season with salt and pepper if needed.

You have just made a spectacular New England Clam Chowder! This is where you will want to have some oyster crackers. We didn’t. Hubby is ashamed he completely forgot to get some. “You can’t have clam chowder without oyster crackers,” he said. I don’t know about that, we added a few chives and it was nothing short of delicious!

New England Clam Chowder Recipe

From the 2012 Thanksgiving issue of Bon Appétit Magazine, print the original recipe here, or find it on page 56 of the magazine (as long as you’re on that page, check out the Cranberry Shortbread too, it was so easy and so good!)

Makes 8-10 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 8 ounces bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 2 celery stalks, minced
  • 1 large onion, minced
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 2 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 1 10 oz. can or bottle clam juice
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
  • 2 10 oz. cans baby clams
  • Chopped fresh chives
  • Oyster crackers or Vermont Common Crackers

Preparation

  • Melt butter in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until fat is rendered and bacon begins to brown, about 8 minutes. Add celery, onion, and garlic and cook, stirring often, until onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Add reserved broth (or 6 cups bottled clam juice), potatoes, thyme, and bay leaf. Bring chowder base to a simmer; cook until potatoes are tender, 20-25 minutes. Stir cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl to form a slurry. Stir slurry into chowder base; return to a boil to thicken. DO AHEAD Base can be made 1 day ahead. Let cool; cover and chill. Keep clams chilled. Bring base to a simmer before continuing.
  • Remove base from heat. Discard bay leaf. Stir in two 10-ounce cans baby clams and cream. Season with salt, if needed (clams’ brininess varies), and pepper.
  • Divide chowder among bowls. Garnish with chives and oyster crackers.
    Now, what other clam recipes can I try? I heart clams :)

Chilled Avocado Soup

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THANK YOU to those of you have that have emailed and tweeted me in recent weeks about missing the recipes here. I had no idea, when I turned on the privacy feature, that so many of you were using them. Yay for you guys! So, as of now, we’re back to “public” status. Cook away! (It’s fun isnt it?)

Here’s a new favorite recipe for you too! Enjoy!

Cooking is an escape for me. It’s more than a hobby, it’s often how I relax. So, I’m not necessarily attracted to a recipe because it’s quick or easy, I’m looking more for fresh and new. But this avocado soup is all four of those things.

I love Mexican food, so I’m thrilled to have this month’s issue of Saveur, the Mexican Issue and especially this recipe in my arsenal now. Despite having a full cup of cream in it, it’s remarkably light to eat. My favorite part is the fresh flavor. No flavor overpowers, they all meld well in this chilled soup. I’m sure there will be many, many cravings down the road for this now that we’ve tried it.

When I say “we’ve”, I mean me, Hubby is allergic to avocados. I can’t imagine being allergic to avocados! Life would have no meaning..

…Anyway, here’s the fabulous recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 4 serrano chiles, stemmed
  • 2 large ripe avocados, pitted, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1 medium white onion, finely chopped
  • 6 cups chicken stock
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1/3 cup fresh lime juice (from 2 lemons)
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 plum tomatoes, seeded, finely chopped

Simply place 1/2 the serrano chiles, both avocados and half the onion into your food processor….

…and process until a thick paste forms. Or as I call it, guacamole. Next, add the chicken stock, cream and lime juice and puree until very smooth. Note: My always too small food processor wouldn’t let me do it all at once. I tried. Made a mess. Then wound up doing it in batches. If you have a small processor too, save yourself and your kitchen, and do it in a couple of batches.

Pour the soup through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl, season with salt and pepper and chill at least 2 hours before serving. Really, make sure you taste and season here. (The longer you chill it the better, the flavors come out more and more the longer it’s chilled) That’s all!

Use the rest of the serranos and onion, along with the tomatoes as a garnish to serve.

I LOVE the creamy texture of this chilled soup. It’s SO satisfying on this hot, late summer day.

Note: The first time I try a recipe like this, I never change anything from the original. Next time however, I might just add a jalapeno to the mix. I like a little heat, what can I say? ;)

To see and print the original recipe, visit Saveur Magazine

Enjoy!

Strawberry-Tomato Gazpacho

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Yes, I know I just posted a gazpacho a little over a week ago, but this one had to be shared ASAP – I didn’t want you to miss out on those marvelous, in season, local strawberries!

Or, if you want to, you can blame my seemingly duplicate post on all that Nyquil I’ve been taking for a week since I caught a doozy of a cold that has now turned into a sinus infection. Lucky me. Wait. Actually! That’s another reason to love this gazpacho! It is chock-full of that good ole immune system enhancer, vitamin C. Go C!

Okay, so you already know I love gazpacho. I make a version of it a much as possible during summer months when the produce it is at its peak. It is one of our summer staples for its ease to make (without the stove) and fresh, healthy flavors. And, this Strawberry-Tomato Gazpacho, while a new recipe for us, has jumped to the top of our list of favorite gazpachoes. Why? Strawberries. It’s all about the strawberries and how they come together with the tomatoes and cucumbers to give us a welcome (on this 97 degree F day in southern Wisconsin), delightful and chilled summer soup.

Harvest to Heat

Before I get into the specifics of the Strawberry-Tomato Gazpacho, I want to show some heartfelt love for the cookbook that gave us this recipe, Harvest to Heat, by Darryl Estrine and Kelly Kochendorfer. I bought this cookbook several months ago and have literally fallen in love with it. It highlights farm to table recipes by chefs from the country’s best restaurants and the farmers and artisans that grow and make the ingredients for them. The gorgeous pages are full of amazing, fresh recipes, yes, but also stories from every cook, chef, artisan and farmer that contributed to the recipe. The authors visited each one of them and put together a cookbook that feels like a love story for the best, freshest ingredients. I love that. There’s a sneak peek of the book at Amazon’s listing for Harvest to Heat where you can see a sampling of recipes, and view the list of all the recipes in the table of contents. If fresh food is what you love, you’ll find so many good ideas in this cookbook. (I can’t wait to try the Crème Fraîche Galette with Heirloom Tomatoes this week too!) There are just a handful of recipes that had ingredients I didn’t recognize or couldn’t find. Most of the time they give you a substitute ingredient right in the recipe. Once or twice they don’t, but I just look at that as a chance to google it and learn something new. :)

My gigantic hulled strawberry.

This particular recipe has the simplest ingredients: strawberries, tomatoes, a red bell pepper, cucumbers, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, Kosher salt and a day-old slice of bread (for the croutons). It will take a little time to hull the strawberries and chop everything, but once that’s done…

…it all goes into the food processor to be puréed until it’s nice and smooth. Then, to get rid of the strawberry seeds, the mixture gets strained through a mesh sieve into a large bowl. Except the croutons! (The process for making the croutons is with the recipe below) At this point I seasoned my gazpacho with a little bit of Kosher salt and let it chill in the refrigerator for an hour or so.

That. Is. It! Just ladle your beautiful creation into a bowl and garnish with the croutons, diced cucumbers and diced strawberries. This simple process to a fantastic gazpacho like this one was much appreciated on a hot day like this (and on a day where I didn’t feel so hot myself).

Enjoy!

NOTES: Because I knew it was going to be blazing hot today, I made the croutons last night (rather than heat up the stove (and my kitchen) today). This recipe serves 4, or one sick girl for a day. :) Cost: $7.08 or $1.77/serving (I already had the vinegar, oil, bread and salt and just had to buy the produce).

Strawberry-Tomato Gazpacho Recipe

Adapted from a recipe by Chef Jean Georges Vongerichten in the cookbook, Harvest to Heat by Darryl Estrine and Kelly Kochendorfer

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 pints fresh strawberries
  • 1/2 pound red cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
  • 1 medium cucumber, peeled and chopped
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (divided: 2 tablespoons, 1 tablespoon
  • Kosher Salt
  • 1 slice day old bread, cut into 1/4 inch dice
  • 1 small cucumber, cut into 1/4 inch dice, for garnish

Directions:

Hull the strawberries. Set aside a half pint of strawberries and cut the remaining 2 pints in half. Put the halved strawberries in a food processor and purée until smooth.

Add the tomatoes, bell pepper, chopped cucumbers, balsamic vinegar and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil to the the food processor with the puréed strawberries. Purée until smooth then strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a large bowl. Season with Kosher salt and set aside.

To make the croutons:

In a medium skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the 1/4 inch bread cubes and toss them in the oil for 3-5 minutes or until they’re lightly browned. Transfer to a paper-towel lined plate to cool completely.

For Garnish & Serving:

Cut the remaining 1/2 pint of strawberries into a 1/4 inch dice. Ladle the gazpacho into serving bowls and garnish each with a spoonful of the diced strawberries, diced cucumbers and a few croutons.

My Favorite Gazpacho

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Gazpacho = summer. Well, it does for me :) I love the stuff and every summer I look forward to using the seasonal veggies to try new recipes for them. I know I’m pushing the tomato season, at least here in Wisconsin, but I had to try a new gazpacho today. It was a craving that had to be honored. Hands down, THIS gazpacho recipe is my favorite one to date.

It was so nice smell the fresh tomatoes and cucumbers as I made this today. I can remember my grandmother canning both when I spent summers with her on the farm. I think of her standing over them in the farm house kitchen, chatting away with me, every time I smell them. I think that’s one of the reasons I love summer food so much, it brings back happy memories of Grandma.

In this recipe, the tomatoes and cucumber, combined with the balsamic vinegar, make a genuinely fresh mouthful of summer flavor. Add that dash of hot sauce and now we’re talking Sarah’s favorite kind of flavor. ;) It doesn’t hurt that you don’t have to turn the oven on for this either, right? I love that part!

Do you like gazpacho? If you do, I’d love to hear what you think about this one. I, for one, am very glad it made such a big batch. Here’s how I did it…

First things first:

Hello

Thoroughly rinse the cat hair off your cucumber and red onion after your sous chef has inspected them. Thank him for his assistance, and send him off to play with his 110 pound Labrador Retriever brother.

Next, add 2 cups of extra-virgin olive oil, 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar (I used golden balsamic) and 1 teaspoon of Tabasco sauce to your blender and briefly blend. It’ll look a lot like this.

Now chop half of a medium red onion and half a medium cucumber into large pieces. You’ll also need 12 fresh basil leaves and the leaves from 6 large sprigs of flat-leaf parsley for the next step…

…which is adding all of those things to the oil mixture in the blender.

Blend until smooth.

Now, chop up 3 medium Roma tomatoes and 4 heirloom tomatoes into large pieces.

Add a few tomatoes to your blender, and blend until smooth. Continue adding the tomatoes, a few at a time, until the blender is about 3/4 full. At this point, pour half the soup into a large bowl. Continue adding and blending the tomatoes like this until they’re all incorporated.

Pour it all into a large bowl and chill for at least 2 hours. Don’t skip the chilling, your gazpacho will not be good unless it’s chilled through, and that would be bad for your happy summer day.

Season with a little more salt, vinegar and/or hot sauce to taste and serve with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil. That’s all there is to it, except to take it outside on your deck or patio and enjoy it in the summer breezes.

Enjoy!!

NOTES: This recipe took about 20 minutes of hands on time. It made 7 cups of gazpacho. That’s  lot for a two-person household like this, but rest assured none of it will go to waste. :) Since I already had the olive oil, vinegar and hot sauce, this gazpacho cost us $4.21 ($3.00 for the tomatoes), which comes out to about 61 cents a serving if you use 1 cup servings. (I can’t eat 1 cup servings, it’s more like a 1/2 cup serving for me).

My Favorite Gazpacho Recipe

Adapted from a recipe in Bi*Rite Market’s Eat Good Food cookbook.

If you don’t have this cookbook yet, and you’re interested in seasonal, sustainable eating, this book is a must have. We’ve had it since last fall and it is one of our favorites, we cook from it all the time. Eat Good Food is filled with all kinds of information, ideas and recipes. I especially love that the recipes are sorted by season. It’s fantastic!

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for garnish
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (or sherry vinegar), plus more as needed
  • 1 teaspoon hot sauce, like Tabasco
  • 1/2 medium red onion, peeled and cut into large pieces
  • 1/2 medium cucumber, trimmed and cut into large pieces
  • Leaves from 6 large sprigs of flat-leaf parsley
  • 12 large fresh basil leaves
  • 1 large clove garlic
  • Kosher salt
  • 3 medium Roma tomatoes, cored and cut into large pieces
  • 4 medium heirloom tomatoes, cored and cut into large pieces

Directions:

Add the oil, vinegar and hot sauce to the blender and briefly blend. Add the onion, cucumber, parsley, basil, garlic and 1 tablespoon salt and blend until smooth. Add the tomatoes, a few at a time, blending as you go. When the blender is about three-fourths full, pour half of the liquid into a large bowl. Continue blending and adding tomatoes like this,  a few at a time, until all the tomatoes are incorporated and everything is blended smooth. Pour the soup into the large bowl.

If you’d like a smoother texture, strain the soup with a fine-mesh sieve.

Chill for at least 2 hours before serving. Whisk to blend, then taste and season with salt, vinegar or hot sauce as needed. Garnish with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.

Onion Bisque Anyone?

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I was going to post this tomorrow but, after eating some, I just couldn’t wait.  This Onion Bisque recipe had to be shared ASAP. It’s that good! If you like the flavor of onion, you will absolutely love everything about this. The recipe is from Chef Justin Devillier of the La Petite Grocery in New Orleans. I found it in the February, 2012 issue of  Bon Appetit….and it’s a keeper. We’ll be making this over and over again.

The main ingredients hold some of my most favorite flavors – garlic, onions and thyme. I love that these simple ingredients easily turn into an amazing bowl full of big flavors. Yes, it’s easy, but it does take a little time. If you try this, give yourself an hour and a half or so.

Also, you’ll need a large, wide pot…or Dutch oven…to make this. I don’t have either at the moment, so I tried it with our big stock pot. It worked to a point, but I couldn’t get the onions to caramelize properly in it. I was disappointed, but continued with the recipe anyway. I’m so glad I did because in the end it made me very happy. :)

The first thing I did was heat the vegetable oil and add 8 cups of sliced onions to it to cook for 20 minutes…

…or until they were translucent. Then, I added the garlic and cooked for another 20 minutes.

This is where the onions were supposed to caramelize. They didn’t. :( Even after cooking them for 20 minutes longer (for a total of 40 minutes) than I was supposed to at this step. Honestly, my heart kind of sank at this point.

I carried on anyway, and added the chicken broth and the thyme bundle. I brought this to a boil before reducing the heat to simmer for another 20 minutes.

Then, I removed the everything from the heat and added cubed, day old bread and let it sit like this for 10 minutes, or until the bread was completely saturated.

Next, it was time to puree the bisque. I ladled a few cups of the onions and broth into my blender…

…and pureed it until it looked like this – Nice and smooth. You don’t want to fill up the blender too much while you’re doing this or you’ll have a mess. I filled mine half way and pureed everything in 4 separate batches….

…straining each batch of puree through a fine mesh sieve into a large pot.

I was left with a wonderful, light but creamy smooth bisque. Once I’d pureed and strained everything, I put the pot over medium heat to bring it to a simmer. It’s a good idea to take a second to taste and season with salt and freshly ground pepper if you’d like.  We didn’t, it was perfect just the way it was.

You are ready to serve. Sit down and just enjoy this marvelous bisque.

I garnished ours with thick cut bacon as the recipe called for, along with some crumbled goat cheese. By the way, these are the perfect flavors to garnish this bisque with. I can’t think of anything I’d rather have with it.

This Onion Bisque would make a great starter to any meal – a meal I wish I could have you all over for. We’d start with the Onion Bisque, eat some of Allison’s fabulous Sunday Meat Loaf…

…and finish off the meal with this fabulous chocolate cake with peanut butter cream frosting I made last night. (sorry, it was too dark to photograph the process. You know how I am about using flash photography :) )

We’d all be in comfort food heaven wouldn’t we? At the very least, we’d be full.

The recipe for this FUN to make Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Cream Frosting is also in the February, 2012 issue of Bon Appetit. You can view and print the recipe for it at their site.

Onion Bisque Recipe

Adapted from a recipe by Chef Justin Devillier of La Petite Grocery, New Orleans.Via Bon Appetit.

Print the original recipe here, at Bon Appetit Magazine

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 8 cups sliced yellow onions
  • 8 garlic cloves, smashed
  • 6 cups low-salt chicken broth
  • 15 sprigs thyme, tied into a bundle
  • 1 1/2 cups cubed crustless day-old bread
  • 3 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2″-wide pieces
  • Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
  • 3 ounces soft fresh goat cheese, crumbled

Directions:

  • Heat oil in a large wide pot over medium-low heat; add onions and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent, about 20 minutes. Add garlic; cook, stirring frequently, until onions are golden brown and caramelized, about 20 minutes. Add broth and thyme. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Add bread to pot. Let stand until bread is saturated, about 10 minutes. Discard thyme.
  • Working in batches, purée soup in a blender until smooth; strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large pot. This bisque can be made 1 day ahead – just cover and chill.
  • Cook bacon in a medium skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until brown and crispy.
  • Bring soup to a simmer, adding water to thin if needed. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls; top with cheese and bacon.

Enjoy!!