Newport Clam Chowder with Mama's Biscuits

 

Newport Beach Clam Chowder

½ cup butter

1 large chopped sweet onion

1 leek, trimmed, washed thoroughly and sliced

6 pieces of bacon, diced

4 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cubed

2-4  284 mls canned clams (keep juice for pot) How many clams you want is your preference

3-4 236 ml. bottles of clam juice

3 cups half and half cream

¾ cup flour

Bay leaf

Herbs:  thyme, dill,

Method

In a frying pan, over medium low heat, cook bacon and potatoes together until bacon is crisp and potatoes are soft.  Drain on a paper towel.

In a medium sized soup pot over medium heat, add butter and melt.  Then add onions, leeks and herbs.  Saute until onions and leeks are soft.  Add potatoes and bacon.  Then add flour and whisk all of the ingredients.  Add clams with liquid and clam juice and stir.  Add cream, simmer and stir.  Adjust seasonings if need be.  Enjoy!

Mama’s Biscuits

 (From Reece Witherspoon’s book Whiskey in a Tea Cup)

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

4 tbsp. cold butter or vegetable shortening

2/3 or ¾ cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; mix well. Cut in the butter/shortening with pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

Add the buttermilk, stirring just until the dry ingredients are moistened.  Turn the dough out onto a floured surface; knead 3-4 times.

Roll the dough to ½ inch thickness; cut with 2 ½ inch biscuit cutter or small glass/cup.  Place the biscuits on a greased baking sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes or until the tops are golden.

Smokey Caribbean Pumpkin Bisque with Grilled Cheese Croutons and Mama's Biscuits

 

½ sweet onion, diced

4 celery, sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced (or 1 tsp. garlic powder)

1 796 ml unsweetened pumpkin puree

2-4 sage leaves (you can also choose to gently fry your sage leaves and use as a garnish instead.)

1-2 bay leaves

½-1 cup heavy cream (can use coconut milk instead)

3 ½ cups beef broth or chicken or vegetable broth

1-2 tbsp. Caribbean spice

My Caribbean spices:  1 tsp. smoked paprika, 1 tsp. brown sugar or brown sugar sweetener, 1 tsp. cumin, 1 tsp. cinnamon, ½ tsp. nutmeg, ½ tsp. red pepper flakes, optional, 1 tsp. pepper.   

Garnishes:

Grilled cheese croutons

1 tsp. olive oil drizzled over finished soup per bowl for garnish

Crushed tortilla chips and if you like any nuts or seeds sprinkled around

Parsley

Grilled Cheese Garnish:  Simply make a grilled cheese sandwich, cool and cut into cubes.  Put aside until you are ready to put into hot soup. 

Method:

Put 2-4 tbsp. oil in a medium sized soup pot and sauté onion and celery over medium heat.  Add the garlic when veggies are soft and sauté for another minute.  Add bay leaf.

Add can of pureed unsweetened pumpkin

Add ½-1 cup cream and broth and whisk. 

Simmer on stove for about 15-30 minutes.  Taste and adjust seasonings if need be.  If it is too thick, add more liquid (cream and broth).

Mama's Biscuits 

from Reece Witherspoon's Book, Whiskey in a Tea Cup

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

Potatoes Dauphinoise

 I've had these many times over the years but have seen them more recently and frequently at restaurants around town.  I've been served them as a side with both a beef and a chicken dish.  They are, as most potato dishes seem to be, excellent and delicious.  Will there be leftovers?  Maybe, but probably not. This is a classic French bistro dish and one of my favorite recipes.  You will slice potatoes thin and then simmer them on the stove in some garlic infused cream. Very easy to make and will impress all of your friends! Enjoy!

The Recipe

1 tbsp. butter, 2 1/2 lbs Yukon Gold Potatoes, 2 1/2 cups heavy cream, 1 1/2 cups whole milk, 1 garlic clove, minced, 1 tsp. salt, pinch of pepper, 1 cup gruyere cheese or cheddar, or both and finally a pinch of nutmeg, 1-2 bay leaves.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, peel and slice thin all of the potatoes.  Then in a large saucepan, add the cream, milk, garlic and bay leaves.  Then add the potatoes and bring to a simmer.  Once the potatoes simmer, continue simmering for about 20 minutes.  Then carefully, using a slotted spoon, take out 1/2 of the potatoes and put into a buttered casserole.  Add 1/2 cheese over top, evenly.  Then add the cream mixture, the rest of the potatoes and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Top with nutmeg.  Bake for about 30-40 minutes.

Potato Flowers From the Cookbook, Feasts of Wine and Food by William Rice and Barbara Goldman

Recipe at the bottom:

This cookbook has travelled with me since I've been 21years old and has been absolutely pivotal and probably the most influential in teaching me how to make succulent, classic, beautiful dishes for my family, friends, boyfriends and hubby!  I can still remember the moment I saw it in a bookstore in downtown Vancouver.  I thought I'f found the secret to well-balanced high-end menus of good taste.  It's also where I first learned how to make Yorkshire puddings.  

So, while this cookbook was put together by William Rice, it would appear that the real master chef and woman behind all of these recipes was a woman named, Barbara Goldman. Why I wondered was her name not on the front cover?  I did a little google search and still cannot really find her.  She may have been married to a wine maker named Max Goldman, but I got to thinking, perhaps she did not want any accolades for doing something she truly loved. I will say however that I have become completely intrigued by many of the women's names in this cookbook including a woman by the name of Narcisse Chamberlain, the project editor for this book, but also a legend in the cooking and recipe world as well.  Looking forward to learning more about these women.

Potato Flowers:  1/2 lb unsalted butter, clarified, 1 cup olive oil, 10 new white potatoes, washed, skin on, salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.  

Recipe:

Heat the butter with the olive oil.  Using a vegetable peeler, cut the potatoes into long, paper-thin flexible slices (or a mandolin).  Immediately, to prevent the potato slices from discoloring, coat them in the butter oil mixture.  Form the "flowers" in a muffin pan:  Start building eight potato flowers by laying flour slices in the form of a cross in each muffin cup.  You now have a base to start creating flowers.  Curl the slices around one finger to form little cones and place in the cups, jamming them in so they stand upright.  Open some of the cones, carying their shape slightly.  They will look like flowers.  Sprinkle them with salt and pepper and any extra oil and butter you have left.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Bake the flowers until they are browned, about 35 minutes.  They may drip while cooking, so place a large baking pan underneath.  Notes:  This sounds hard, but once you get the hang of it, it is very easy as long as the potato slices are thing enough to be flexible.  A mandoline for cutting will speed up the process.  Well coated with the butter and oil, the flowers can be held uncooked for about 1 1/2 hours.  They don't reheat well.

 

Matzo Ball Chicken Soup

 

It's a much welcomed rainy cooler day here in Vancouver and I have been wanting to make my own Matzo Ball Chicken Soup for a very long time.  The first time I ever had Matzo Ball Chicken Soup was in Manhattan at the famous Jewish restaurant, Katz's Deli.  Today I had an uber craving for it and it is super easy if you get a rotisserie chicken, a box of matzo meal and have some chicken bouillon on hand. This is a quick version, whereas the Jewish chicken soup from scratch includes making your own broth.  Here's the recipe!

Matzo Balls:  1 cup matzo meal, 4 eggs, beaten, 1/4 cup water or seltzer, 1/4 cup oil, 1 tsp. Kosher salt, pinch or more pepper.  Mix up and put into the refrigerator for 1/2-1 hour.  Get a pot of salted water going on the stove over high heat.  Take matzo mixture out of refrigerator, wet hands, make balls and put into the hot salted water.  Turn the heat down to medium- low and put a lid on the pot.  Cook over the stove for 1/2 hour.  When done, take out with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Quick Chicken Soup:  1 rotisserie chicken, or any leftover chicken like breast meat. In a pot, saute1 medium diced onion, 2 sliced celery, 2 carrots, diced, 1 parsnip, diced 1 shallot, diced, granulated garlic as you like, or 1-2 garlic cloves crushed and minced, until veggies are soft.  Pour in 8 cups water and add your chicken bouillon according to water bouillon ratio. I love "Better than Bouillon" and don't like to make soup without it.  So good!  Chop up your Rotisserie Chicken and add as much or as little chicken as you like. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.  Add your matzo balls when ready to serve and garnish with fresh parsley.  True comfort and nourishment!  Really needed this today!

Moroccan Spice Blend for Chicken, Steak or Veggies

 

The Blend

2 tbsp. brown sugar or sweetener, 4 tsp. smoked paprika, 4 tsp, cumin, 2 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. ground cloves, 1 tsp. ground ginger, 1 tsp. salt, 2 tsp. pepper, 1/2 tsp. cayenne.  Mix together!  I like to double recipe so I have spice in a little container for more meals. By the way, add a little more of this or that as you go.  You will find your own perfect blend.  I for instance like a little more brown sugar.  You can also add 1 tsp. coriander and turmeric if you desire.  However, I do love cilantro leaves on my chicken after baked with this blend.  If you don't like sweet, you can omit the brown sugar.

The Paste

Take a few tbsp. of blend to a bowl and then add a couple of tbsp. of olive oil, and mix.  If you'd like paste thinner, add more oil and if you'd like to thicken add more blend.  Massage into chicken.

If You Marinate

You can marinate your chicken in a big bag with 1/4 cup olive oil, 2-4 tbsp. fresh lemon juice (put lemon rind in bag too), 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, 2 tbsp. fresh ginger, 2 tbsp. Moroccan Spice Blend.  Mix up in bag, seal and put into the refrigerator for 12 hours.  Grill on the BBQ or sprinkle with more blend spices and bake in the oven. Enjoy!

Moroccan Chicken

Massage paste into your chicken legs and thighs.  Put the oven to 425 and bake for 1/2 hour or until juices run clear when you make a little slit in the chicken.

For chicken breast, bake at 375 for about 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Garnish with cilantro, parsley or chili peppers.

You can also put Moroccan Spice Blend and Paste on vegetables or beef.  Enjoy!