Clam chowda

So after a failed geoduck outing, we opted for the next best thing, on sale razor clam meat fresh from Ballard Market.  Hit the spot and here it is.

Ingredients

one shallot finely chopped

three red potatoes skin on and chopped

celery, about half a cup, chopped

three cloves of garlic, pressed or chopped

two-thirds pound clam meat chopped well

tablespoon butter

two Tbsp flour

one cup chicken stock

half cup heavy cream (don’t be a pussy and use milk)

seasonings – black pepper, celery seed, thyme and dill, little bit of kosher salt

Saute (medium heat) the shallot, celery and garlic in the butter with pepper and salt.  Add potatoes when the onions are translucent.  Add the clams with as much juice as you can get out of them.  Ours were actually quite juicy, but if you happen to get ones that are not you could add about a quarter cup of clam juice.  When the potatoes start getting a little soft push everything to the side of the pan and kind of pool the remaining liquid and whip in the flour.  Add the stock to cover everything and simmer on low heat for about half an hour.  Season to taste with the pepper, thyme, dill and celery seed.  When you are getting ready to serve it, add the cream and keep it over low heat.  You don’t want to be simmering anymore, just heating it.  Serve and enjoy.

Wine-wise, this one is self explanatory –

Seafood gumbo (Creole stew)

This is not officially lazy as it took me almost eight years to zero in on the correct way to do it, but now that I have done all that work and it was not my recipe to begin with, I feel that the world needs it.  Really, this gumbo will make the world a better place, or at least you will feel that way when you smell it and dig in.  Tribute to the late Charles Hebert Sr.-

Ingredients

Roux

-1/3 c. butter

-1/3 c. oil

Plus as much flour as that will take, get the oils warm (low heat) and slowly whisk in the flour and just leave it on the back burner whisking occasionally.  A roux developes over time it will go through several colors – pale yellow, amber, brick, brown and then all of a sudden burnt to a stinking mass of garbage.  Stop this one at brick.  It will also get thinner as it sits there and the cooking will accelerate.  Watch it.

4 medium Andouille sausages (NOT CHICKEN!)

1 lb. raw shrimp (I love rock shrimp for this  but they are highly seasonal)

3/4 c. each – celery, sweet onion chopped finely

several cloves of garlic

one package (15 oz. I believe) frozen okra (unfortunately in Seattle you will never find fresh)

1 can black-eyed peas

1 can tomato sauce

1 tsp. or so each – Paprika, cayenne pepper, thyme, black pepper, 1/2 tsp. celery salt, three bay leaves, dash Worcestershire (DASH), Dave’s Temporary Insanity to heat as needed

Peal and chop up the sausage into bite sized pieces.  Place in a skillet over medium-high heat and start browning, it doesn’t need to fully cook.  Add the shrimp without draining (any fishy liquid will actually be great in this).  Again, they don’t need to fully cook.

At the same time, get the fresh veggies and garlic  in a deep pot with some olive oil and start getting them soft over medium-high heat.

Whenever you can’t take the aroma of the sausage-shrimp mixture any more, add about a cup of chicken stock and bring up to barely boiling.  Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan.

Mix everything.  That is to say, add the sausage-shrimp-stock and roux (which ought to be brick colored by now) to the large pot full of soft veggies.  Add the tomato and spices and the black-eyed peas.  If it seems like there is not enough liquid, add enough chicken stock to cover everything.

Let this simmer and thicken, at least one hour if not two if you can stand it.  I think a younger tempranillo or some sort of syrah would be the perfect wine for this.  I will be posting a photo shortly because now I really want to make this.

A little on the lighter side since I got impatient with the roux and stopped it at what might be called “pecan” in roux parlance.

Honey Balsamic Glaze (Very Good Food)

Prep and Cook time: 20 minutes

To accompany some poor man’s filet mignon (flat iron steak) and blue cheese appetizers for our Superbowl potluck (to which the jrwalsh couple brought calzones and bacon-wrapped dates and nkurz129 brought some homebrew), I made my first balsamic glaze.  Had I known how stupidly easy it is to make, I would not have waited 27 years to try for the first time.

You don’t need to spend money on great balsamic to make this.  Great balsamic should probably be left alone.  But, you should make sure that what you actually buy is balsamic vinegar.  A lot of the cheapest stuff is actually red wine vinegar doctored with brown sugar, and may be labeled “Balsamic vinegar of Modena”.  The real stuff will have one ingredient listed: balsamic vinegar (or aceto balsamico).  Also the authentic stuff made traditionally and DOC-approved is labeled “Tradizionale di Modena” or “Tradizionale di Reggio Emilia”.

Tools:

• small pot
• wooden spoon
• 1 C measuring cup
• 1T measuring spoon

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 C Balsamic vinegar (read the label, make sure it’s not doctored red wine vinegar, or, buy this)
• 3 T honey

Method

1. In a small pot, pour in 1.5 cups of balsamic vinegar and 3 T of honey.
2. Boil on medium-high heat to reduce the mix to about 3/4 cup.  For this volume, this should take about 18 minutes (care of some nice carrots (“goodness”), or here).More important than the volume reduction is the development of caramelization.  When there’s a few minutes left, the mix will thicken noticeably and actually appear to grow in volume as bubbles start to maintain structure.  At this point, cook only for a few more minutes to let the taste develop.  Take it off the heat when the tartness is cut down and some nuttiness from the caramel is noticeable, but before the tartness is gone.
3. Let it cool for a few minutes and put it on everything: steak, fruit, brie, your girlfriend, crackers, and so on.