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.

Filet mignon with port-cini redux

The method was inspired by Mike’s success with broiling steaks inside since I am usually a fan of grilling.  Except in the middle of January.  

1. Get a cast iron skillet hot as hell.  Make sure the steaks are about room temperature and well coated with olive oil and a little salt.  Also preheat broiler to 400 degrees and throw the broiler pan in there to heat up.

2. Put the steaks on each side for about two minutes.  Transfer to broiler pan and forget about the steaks for about 15 minutes for medium rare.  After this pull them out and cover briefly with foil as the sauce finishes.

3. Add about a Tbsp of butter to the skillet and brown up a chopped shallot and one garlic clove chopped finely.  As these get translucent, add a handful of porcini chopped finely.  Deglaze with about a third cup of port.  Reduce by about half with a half cup of the mushroom soaking liquid (or bullion if you used fresh).

4. This makes a very thin pan sauce, if you wanted something thicker adding a little bit of cream just before pouring over the steaks would be a rich touch, or stirring in a standard flour and oil roux.  Just be sure to whisk the hell out of it.

Villa Antinori Toscana 2004 was a great accompaniment (you want “earthy” with this one) and braised greens a good side dish as well.

Grilled whole trout

I have done this one indoors under the broiler before and will comment on that at the end of this post as well.  I was slightly skeptical of grilling white flaky fish but it was a 50+ degree clear sky evening in January and I had just been thwarted from Little Tahoma’s summit, so I was in the mood for a good dinner out doors.  So without further ado…

1. You are looking for a medium-high heat bed of coals.  I always use a chimney about 2/3 full and I am a big fan of the Kingsford with mesquite.  So get that guy going and while you are at it, chop up some eggplant, peppers and a sweet potato.  Marinate the first two in balsamic and herbed olive oil, skewer them and toss them on so that you have something to munch on while prepping the fish.

2. This by the way is unbelievably easy.  Take your skin-on, head-on trout and stuff the body cavity with slices of lemon, fresh thyme and rosemary and a few dots of butter.  Rub both sides of the outside with olive oil.  Lightly, this is just to prevent burning and sticking to the grate.

3. Put the fish on over the coals.  If you are at the right temperature (where you can put your hand above the grate for about 3 seconds before burning) it will take about five minutes one side, and five minutes on the other.  Remove and squeeze the rest of the lemon over the fish, cover with foil and let rest for a few minutes.

4. Eating unboned fish is a bit of an art, and warrants enough mention to be step 4.  Pull back the skin, reserving crispy sections to be eaten with the oh so succulent flesh you are uncovering.  There will be a line lengthwise down the middle.  Stab right there with a fork and pull perpendicular to the line and away from it.  You will get some bones but they should be manageable.  Don’t forget the juicy morsels right behind the head.

So if you find yourself in a similar situation but without a grill available, this turns out great under the broiler as well.  Three to five minutes per side about eight inches from the element is perfect.

We had this with an Argentinian Torrontes and it was perfect.  Any relatively dry, fruity white would be good.