Manhattan Clam Chowder

When we were in Cape May, we ordered softshell crabs to-go from the famous Lobster House. With the remaining legs and shell, I made a crab stock. I had seen that recipes call for fish stock, and I after a few google searches (http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Lobster-Broth),  I assumed that if you seeped the shells, it would yield a broth outcome, and it did. I just never knew what I wanted to do with fish broth. 

Until last week, my fish stock tupperware inhabited my freezer!  I decided to make Manhattan Clam Chowder. I even tried to replicate the Lobster House recipe, since I kept the lid and the ingredients were listed, so I decided to give it a whirl!

In my clam chowder (made 4 servings), I used the following
- 2 celery stalks
- 1 large carrot
- 1/2 medium onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 hand fulls of fingerling potatoes
- 2 cans of minced clams
- 4 cups of crab stock
- 1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
- 1 cup water
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp oregano
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 3 slices of Bacon diced

First, dice the bacon and cook until the fat is rendered. Use a medium heat, but if the bacon starts to burn, lower the heat.

As the bacon is cooking, dice the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic. 

Next, remove the bacon from the pot, and keep it aside. Sauté the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic in the bacon fat. Add spices. Cook for 5-7 mins at medium heat. 

Add potatoes and continue to cook for additional 5-7 mins. 

Add fish broth, water, and diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 mins. Add the clams and bacon. Continue to cook for 15 mins.

Serve and enjoy!!! 

cleaning out my freezer!

So being that I've had this thought for sometime now, I've been in the process of cleaning out my freezer, and boy did I have some winners - like Christmas cookies from last year!

Here's a picture of my freezer about two weeks ago.

Stuff to capacity! Here is the door...

Now, many of you might be wondering about the dreaded freezer burn. As long as you store your food in airtight packages, your food should be safe. The problem with freezer burn is that if you do not store your food in airtight containers, the moisture within the food will freeze, leaving ice crystals behind and your food (especially meats) becoming dehydrated and "burned", thus freezer burned. Also, because water leaves your food, then it is possible for oxygen to seep in, and by doing so, the flavor and/or color of your food can change. Food that has freezer burn is safe to eat, but it might have a different taste or flavor than a normally fresh piece of food (like a steak) would have.


I've made several attempts to remove items to have a clean fridge by the new years. My first recipe: Manhattan Clam Chowder.

Sbarro's declared bankruptcy

I referenced this as a Facebook link, but the pizza chain, Sbarro’s, declared bankruptcy earlier this month.  I was a little taken aback - a food like pizza, so affordable, but a company seeking bankruptcy? Because of the economy, many families have decided to sustain from eating out, so restaurants have taken a hit over the past few years.  Also with a product like pizza, where its ingredients are cheese and flour, it is more costly to produce. This family-started company, whose founders immigrated here in the 1950s, expanded their business into one of the “great” American food chains is now restructuring.   I hope for Sbarro’s Inc that this process helps them rebuild, and the company can continue to be a food icon in America. 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-04/sbarro-files-for-bankruptcy-protection-after-restaurant-chain-s-sales-slid.html

The Brian Special

It’s a rare sight when I prepare an American-Italian meal – pasta and chicken parmigiana – but it’s Brian’s favorite, so at least once a month, I’ll make something he’ll definitely enjoy.  I was curious of the origins of the dish.  Yes, it’s typically found at most chain restaurants and delis, and I had assumed it somehow came from the north with a name like “Parma-“; was I wrong! It is thought that the dish comes from southern Italy (Sicily and Campania take claims to being the originator region of the meal), where it started as eggplant parmesan.  The eggplant is a staple in southern Italian cuisine, thus  as the dish evolved, layers became chicken and then veal.  Today, it’s a more common American dish than Italian, but it is still a beloved favorite by many (especially Brian!)

One of the reason why I don’t cook this meal as much is because there are so many healthier alternatives, but with some tweaking, you can make it a little better (it’s like how diet coke is to coke, sort of).  I use whole wheat bread crumbs from my stale bread pile, part-skim mozzarella cheese, and bake the chicken instead of frying.  Also, I usually don’t have sauce on hand, so if it’s made and frozen, there’s usually a chance that I’ll make this dish. 

1 egg beaten with a tbsp olive oil

½ cup bread crumbs with oregano, salt, pepper, garlic powder

1 cup tomato sauce

½ cup part skim mozzarella cheese

2 chicken breasts

Dip chicken in egg mixture and bread.  Bake at 400F for 25 mins.  Heat tomato sauce.  Remove chicken from oven and spread tomato and cheese on top, and place back into the oven to melt cheese.  Enjoy! 

French Onion Soup

Probably, you have noticed a trend with my blog entries; I’m backlogged with food, from my pantry to my freezer, and I don’t like throwing anything away. I’ve made a roast twice this year, and I’ve freeze the cooking liquid with the thought that I’d use it as beef broth.

With the weather changing, comfort food recipes will be put away, but with a cool day like today, I decided to make French Onion Soup.  It's a great soup that's usually in everyone's "top five" soups.  Here's my recipe:

1 large yellow onion

4 sprigs of thyme

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp unsalted butter

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp flour

½ cup red wine

2 cups beef stocks

2 cups water

sliced Italian bread, toasted

1 cup grated Gruyère cheese

½ cup mozzarella cheese

Cut onion in half, and then with each half, slice onion thin.  Melt butter and add sliced onions, thyme, bay leaf and salt and pepper to taste.

Cook over low heat for 25 mins, occasionally stirring.  Add 1 tsp flour and cook for 2 mins. Add wine to deglaze the pan and cook for 2 mins. 

 

Add beef stock and water and cook for ½ hour until favors meld together. 

Pour into ovenproof casserole pot. Place toasted bread on top and add cheese. 

Place in broiler for 3 mins until cheese melts. 

This made soup for four. This was a great recipe for my first time making onion soup, and though a little time consuming, the soup was worth it. Note, the original stock I made had carrots and mushrooms, but your stock doesn't need to have these ingredients. Also, I used red wine because that's what I had opened, but white is good to use too. 

new favorite candy

I had a candy graving the other night, and living next to a CVS, I can get my fix. So walking down the candy aisle, I found Hershey's ode to their competitor's M&Ms, their new "Pieces" line. Yes, Reese's Pieces have been around for years, but they've combined our favorite Hershey's candies into bite-size, candied-shelled delights! I picked up the Hershey's Special Dark Pieces - SO GOOD and much better than the dark chocolate M&M's.  Go out and pick these up! Hershey's also has York Pieces and Almond Joy Pieces.

How to kill your lunch??

The Huffington Posts has a video series (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-klein/how-to-kill-your-lunch_b_849501.html) exploring the life of smaller farmers.  In particular, the video series examines the sustaining food movement, and in essences, how farmers only butcher the animals that they need for food.

It got me thinking that not only farmers grow and kill their own food.  Growing up in my Italian-American family, though by trade we did not have any “farmers,” we definitely had our backyard garden (today, which is barricaded by twine and cinderblocks to impede any invading predators- ground hogs!)  and seasonal animal to be slaughtered.  During the Easter season, my uncle would have a lamb waiting for slaughter in his backyard.  As children, we’d watch and pet the lamb, not realizing that it would soon be on our dinner table. Today, we often purchase lamb from a local farmer. Another memory is that at times, we would have rabbits boxed up in our backyard, only to be stewed for dinner a few nights later.  A more common hunting-for-food meal is deer.  My uncle would often go hunting and come home with several deer, all which hung in his garage, waiting to be butchered and served.  

These are a few memories, I had from when I was a child.  It’s so easy to think that meat comes from a supermarket, but to remember it is a luxury we all have today, when not too long ago or even in different parts of the world, people still need to survive by killing for lunch.