It's Hot Out - Let's Have Soup!

In between my freshman and sophomore years at college, one of my roommates invited some of us to go sailing in Casco Bay here in Maine.  Another roommate and I traveled up and we spent the next few days motoring around the bay in a sailboat under cloudy cold skies.  I should also say that both my roommate and I were intensely sea sick for that time as well.

Don’t get me wrong it was beautiful, but I was at that time unaccustomed to the fact that Maine can be 55° at midday during the summer.  It also was not very windy, which meant the “sailing” portion of our trip turned into using the diesel engine on the boat to slowly maneuver us around island (this engine was referred to as the ‘diesel donkey’).  Thus the seasickness I had was not of the “chumming for large sport fish” variety but a dull and constant nausea. 

Angry Lobster!

There were of course some wonderful experiences; stopping on an island and shell hunting, sleeping all together on the tiny galley table that pushed down to become a bed, and lastly stopping at a restaurant on the final day for some lobster bisque.  The lobster bisque was very tasty although I could only manage to swallow a few sips, again due to that lingering seasickness. 

Now, as I understand it lobster stew/bisque/chowder has basically 4 ingredients; broth, cream, butter, lobster.  And although this combination is very delicious, it is not the lightest meal to consume.  If the stew sits any longer than 30 seconds, the layer of butter separates to the top making a lovely orange shimmer along the surface of the bowl or pot. 

Since this summer has been decidedly un-Maine-like where it has actually been warm to hot even, the idea of consuming a large bowl of cream and butter didn’t sound that appetizing.  But, lobster prices are incredibly low right now, and Joe and I try to reserve tucking into whole steamed lobsters for when we have company, which lead me to thinking about lobster bisque.  So how should one go about making a lighter version of the traditional bisque? By adding vegetables of course! So the next time you feel like making soup during this incredibly hot summer, may I suggest a lovely Lobster Corn Chowder.

Lobster Corn Chowder
This recipe is really an amalgamation of recipes, but it is most closely related to the Williams Sonoma Lobster Corn Chowder

I had a bag of frozen lobster stock ready to go for this dish, but if you don’t I recommend using the one in the above recipe link.

2 1-1/4 pound lobsters
3 slices of bacon, diced
1 medium onion, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
1/4 c. white wine
4 cups lobster stock
1 lb. potatoes, diced (red skinned or fingerling)
3 ears fresh corn, shucked
2/3 c. heavy cream
3 scallions, sliced
10 cherry tomatoes, quartered (optional)
Fresh chives, chopped
Hot sauce, optional

In a large pot place 2 inches of water, heavily salted. Place the lobsters in, cover and steam for about 7 minutes, or until the lobsters are bright red.  Remove lobsters from pot and set aside to cool.

Next, cut the corn off of the cob, and reserve both the cobs and the kernels.

In a large stock pot over medium-high heat, sauté bacon to render the fat, add diced onion and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.  Add diced carrots and cook another 5 minutes.  Next add the white wine, and scrap off any brown bits on the bottom of the pan, simmer until the wine is mostly evaporated.  Add the lobster stock and corn cobs, bring to a boil.  Next add the potatoes, and the white part of the scallions, and cook for about 10 minutes.  Add the heavy cream, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Toss in corn kernels.  Continue cooking for another 10 minutes. 

Pull lobster meat from lobsters – knuckle and claw meat can be left intact, but chop tail meat into bite sized pieces.  Add lobster meat to the chowder.

Just before serving add in the remaining scallion greens.  Ladle into bowls and add chives and tomato quarters.  A dash or three of hot sauce in each bowl is a great addition right before eating – it will enhance the creaminess!

Lascivious Lentils

To begin with, I must share a little story, and then on to the post.  A friend of mine noted on last week’s recipe that he was going to cook it as he was trying to impress a vegetarian.  Now, I have acted as wing-man before and I am happy to oblige with any kind of recipe suggestions for just such a purpose.  I know that if I was a vegetarian, even if I didn’t really like kale or tofu I would be very impressed by any man cooking me a vegetarian meal.  There are certain meals, I think that can immediately upon seeing the effort that goes into them that can ‘impress’ someone.  I considered asking him to tell me after the date and dinner if he succeeded in ‘impressing’ her.  And if the answer is yes, I may start rating all of my post on a scale of how likely they are to ‘impress’ someone. (We all know what I mean by ‘impress’ right?) And, Matt, if that worked the recipe below might work as well, I rate it a 7 or 8 on the impressing scale.

Lentils are apparently a super food.  Or at least I think they were at some point.  To be honest I am a bit tired of hearing about super foods.  I just like to eat food, ok? So I will eat what I like and if that happens to be extra good for me, then so be it.  But I find that when we brand something as really great for you or cancer defying or age slaying that people tend to focus too much on consuming only those products. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love the Alice and Wonderland idea of taking a tiny bite of something that says eat me and then shrinking down in size.  However, we all know it doesn’t happen that way.  And since only celebrities seem to be able to drink kale juice three times a day for a year, I choose to just stick with my original plan of eating good food that is also good for me.  Plus if I stuck to only super foods, I would probably subsist on the bad forms of them; like kale chips, sweet potato fries and blueberry muffins. 

However, if you have not tried lentils before; please do, they are lovely.  You may have even already unwittingly eaten lentils in an Indian dish.  There are so many different kinds of lentils that when recipes call for specific ones (orange, split, French and so on) it can be overwhelming, especially since my grocery store only carries one kind.  And those are just labeled “Lentils”.

These regular lentils are a bit softer and will cook faster than French lentils, and thus they can lose their shape a bit as well.  But they are cheap and readily available and I think they work very well here.  Another great thing about this recipe is that it is quick and relatively easy to make.  I like to top the whole thing with some Italian sausage (local or chicken sausage to keep it on the healthy side) but the lentils with vegetables on their own are quite tasty. 

Lentils with fennel

As adapted from Gourmet 2007
 
1 c lentils
4 c water
1 Tb olive oil
2 large carrots, diced
1 large fennel bulb with fronds, bulb diced and fronds chopped
1 medium onion 
¼ tsp fennel seeds
¼ c fresh chopped parsley
1/8 c red wine vinegar

In a medium saucepan over high heat, combine lentils, water and a large pinch of salt.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for about 15-20 minutes, or until lentils are tender.  Some may split but most should still retain their shape. Reserve about ¼ c of the cooking water and drain lentils.

While the lentils are cooking, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat.  Sauté the carrots, fennel, onion and fennel seeds stirring occasionally.  Cover and continue cooking about 10 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.  Add in cooked lentils, fennel fronds, parsley and red wine, if the mixture looks a bit dry add in the reserved cooking water.  Season with salt and pepper.

If using sausage, prick the sausages with the tip of a knife and cook in a separate pan while the vegetables are cooking.  Once fully cooked, move the sausages to a cutting board and slice. 

Serve the lentils topped with sausages.

Almost Almond Macaroons

We have come to the end of the cookie testing, and I am glad that I did it. I had a few hits and a few more misses. And as per usual, I have left the most difficult cookie recipe to try for this weekend. So if you hear me cursing and throwing ingredients around the kitchen, don’t be alarmed.

In hindsight I wish that I had really cooked the s**t out of some new cookie recipes, but alas my time was taken away from me. So I apologize for only giving you a couple of usable cookie recipes and only a few posts this month as well. I feel as though I have really dropped the ball on this whole sharing recipes for the holiday’s thing.

This week I made almond macaroons after seeing an old episode of Baking with Julia. The cookies seemed so simple to make, and are a favorite Italian bakery treat for Joe and I. I figured, why not. Instead of using the recipe from that episode (mostly because it called for 8 oz. of almond paste and I could only find a tube of 7oz.) I instead used the recipe inside the box. And typically, this method works out just fine. Well, except for the Tollhouse chocolate chip recipe on the bag, I find that it is a little too much butter if you don’t refrigerate the dough before baking, but that’s just me.

Anyways, this recipe gives you very almond-y flavored cookies which is wonderful, but they are a bit too chewy for me. I feel like a dog eating peanut butter when I chomp into one of the cookies. Aside from that, the cookies are good, and simple to make.

I think I have narrowed down my Christmas cookie selection to the following:
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
Jam Filled Cookies
Chocolate Mint Cookies (previous post)
Italian Tri-Colore Cookies
And if the mood strikes me, maybe something else.
I’ll let you know next week which ones worked out the best!

Almond Macaroons7oz. Almond paste
½ c sugar
Pinch of salt
¼ c egg whites


Preheat oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Grate the almond paste and place in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the sugar and salt and mix on medium speed to thoroughly combine. Add in egg whites and mix until the dough everything is well incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl several times (about 5-7 minutes).

Scoop cookie dough into a pastry bag, or releasable bag and snip off one corner. Pipe the dough in a snail like formation onto the cookie sheet.

Next dampen a cotton kitchen towel and gently smack the cookies to remove the lines from piping. Bake for about 12 minutes or until the edges are a light golden brown.

Let cool on the baking sheet. To remove the cookies from the paper, lift the paper, wet your fingers, and moisten the paper directly underneath the cookie. Then peel the cookie from the paper. This will help get the cookie cleanly off of the paper. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 2 dozen.