Fancy Fish and Clam Chowder

The extra steps of cooking the potatoes and fish separate help make this dish all the more tasty with more interesting textures than cooking it all in one pot.  Serve with a good crusty french baguette and butter.  Wine recommendation:  Try a nice white Torrontes from Argentina (such as Crios de Susana Balbo Torrontes)

Fancy Fish and Clam Chowder
Ingredients

• 6 slices of bacon (trim off any excessive fat; small dice cut)
• 1 - 2 leeks (equivalent of 4-5 inchs of the white to light green portion; cut off root and top leaves leaving only the white and light green portion; slice in half lengthwise and rinse between layers under cold running water to clean; slice each half lengthwise again to quarter, then chop cross sections less than a quarter-inch in width)
• head of garlic (remove any loose pieces of paper from outer layer; cut garlic head in half through center such that one side has the root and the cloves are cut in half.  Peel the half cloves from the non-root side or any that fall out loose from the root side.  Leave paper on the clove halves that stay connected to the root)
• 2 - 3 stocks of celery (clean; cut off ends and slice into small cross-sections about 1 mm thick)
• about 6 - 8 small red or white potatoes (clean potatoes under cold water keeping skin on, but cutting out any impurities; dice potatoes into small bite size cubes)
• 1 can of Cannellini beans (rinse beans to remove can juice from beans)
• fresh thyme (pick leaves off of stems, discard stems; pick enough for 4 healthy tablespoons worth of picked thyme leaves)
• fresh chives (cut into small rings to produce about 1/4 cup worth)
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 1 1/2 cups of dry white wine (remember, if you would not drink it, you shouldn't cook with it; I typically use an inexpensive pinot gris when using a dry white wine for cooking)
• 1 small jar of clam juice
• 1 box of vegetable stock (roughly 4 cups worth)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• Tabasco 
• 24 little neck clams (scrub well under cold running water)
• 4 fillets of tilapia fish (rinse under cold water and pat dry with paper towels, gray sea salt and fresh ground pepper on both sides)
• unsalted butter

Method
Prepare potatoes:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Cover diced potatoes with light oil covering, some gray sea salt and fresh ground pepper (the oil should barely cover the potatoes, not so much to make them greasy).  Spread potatoes into a single layer on a cookie sheet and roast in the oven for around 30 minutes until cooked through.

Prepare chowder:  Heat large pot on stove over medium high heat.  Once the pot is warmed, add a tablespoon or so of oil to coat the bottom.  Add bacon and saute until bacon is cooked and slightly crispy.  Remove bacon from pot and drain on a plate or bowl on top of paper towels.  Set aside.  Drain excess bacon fat from pot (but not all of it).  Add leeks and celery to pot and saute for 2 - 3 minutes.  Add garlic (both individual clove pieces and half head) to pot and saute for another 2 minutes, stirring frequently.  Push food contents in pot to the outer edges to make a clearing in the center of the pot.  Melt four tablespoons of butter in the middle.  Once melted, add 2 heaping tablespoons of flour.  Mix and cook into a roux.  Once the roux is fully mixed, add white wine.  Cook for a few minutes to cook out some alcohol (once it reaches a boiling point, it will become very thick given the small amount of liquid relative to the roux).  Add the clam juice, vegetable stock, and heavy cream and stir pot to mix everything together well.  Bring to a boil to continue thickening process, then reduce heat to medium low (around a 4 on a 10 point heat scale).  Add bay leaves, thyme, a few dashes of Tabasco (more if desired), cannellini beans, and a small dash of gray sea salt.  Incorporate roasted potatoes into chowder.  Stir together.  Add clams and cook stirring occasionally.  Start fish cooking at this time (see below).  Chowder is done once all of the clams have opened.

Prepare fish:  This is a standard method for preparing delicious white fish (such as tilapia).  In a non-stick skillet, melt 4 tablespoons of butter until it begins to turn brown (a "brown butter" sauce).  Add fish and cook until the flesh is opaque half way up the side of the flesh; flip the fish and cook the other side until completely opaque (roughly 3 minutes per side depending on thickness of fish).

Assemble:  Spoon chowder into soup bowl (do not serve bay leaves or half head of garlic).  Sprinkle cooked bacon, chopped chives and some freshly ground pepper on top. add a half fillet of cooked fish on top of soup and serve (and enjoy).

Shepherd's Pie

I love a good shepherd's pie.  Recommended wine pairing: a spicy Zinfandel or blend such as Orin Swift's The Prisoner.

Shepherd's Pie
Ingredients

• 1 lb ground lamb
• 1 lb ground beef
• 15 red pearl onions peeled and halved
• 1 1/2 cups of baby carrots cut into about 1 centimeter wide discs 
• 1 cup of frozen peas (thawed)
• 3 cloves of garlic (peeled and rough chopped)
• 4 large russet potatoes (peeled and cut into half inch thick slices)
• 3 - 4 turnips (peeled and cut into quarter inch thick slices)
• stick of unsalted butter
• 1+ cup(s) milk
• 1 cup of dry Sherry
• 2 cups of beef stock
• 2 tablespoons fresh or dry thyme
• 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
• 1 small bunch of fresh flat-leaf italian parsley (leaves picked off stems and rough chopped to make about 1/2 cup worth)
• 1 heaping tablespoon of flour

Method
Prepare meat mixture:  Heat large skillet over medium high heat.  Add a few tablespoons of olive oil once the skillet is hot. Add pearl onions and saute for 2 minutes.  Add lamb and beef and begin to brown meat. Add cut carrots to skillet and continue to saute.  Once meat is mostly brown, drain and discard excess grease.  Add garlic, thyme, a pinch of gray sea salt and some fresh ground pepper and continue to saute for 1 minute.  Add dry sherry and worcestershire sauce and cook over medium high heat to cook out the alcohol and reduce the sherry.  After the sherry has been reduced to a very small amount, using a large wooden spoon, push the mixture to the sides of the skillet to make a circle opening in the middle of the skillet (where nothing but the small amount of liquid is on top of the skillet surface in the center).  Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the circle.  Once the butter is melted, add the flour and stir while the mixture cooks into a roux.  After about a minute when the roux is well mixed and cooking, stir in the beef stock incorporating the meat mixture.  As the beef stock comes to a small boil, the roux will cause it to thicken.  After a minute of a slight boil and thickening, turn off the heat and mix in the peas and parsley.

Prepare mashed topping:  Place potato and turnip slices into large boiling pot and fill with cold water until root vegetables are completely submerged.  Cover the pot and put on high heat to bring it to a boil. Boil for 15 to 20 minutes until you can easily pass a spoon through one of the vegetables.  Drain the vegetables and return to the pot with 3 tablespoons of butter and a small handful of gray sea salt.  Add 1 cup of milk and use electric blender to mash/whip potatoes well.  Add more milk if necessary to obtain desired texture.

Final assembly and bake:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).  In pyrex baking dish, pour meat mixture and spread evenly across the dish.  Using a large spoon, cover the meat mixture with a layer of the mashed root vegetables.  Using the back of the spoon, create little dips in the mashed topping to create peaks and valleys in the mash.  Place the dish in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes, turn on the oven broiler and move the dish to the top rack under the broiler.  Broil for about 4 - 5 minutes until you achieve some color on the mash topping (the peaks should have slight burns).  Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Simple Cold Crab Appetizer

This is a quick and delicious appetizer to pull together.

Simple Cold Crab Appetizer
Ingredients

• 16oz can jumbo lump crab meat (rinsed under cold water and picked over to remove any shell fragments)
• 1/4 cup of dijon mustard
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup light mayonnaise (amount depending on preference)
• small chopped fresh chives (a whole container or bunch worth)
• about 1/4 cup of chopped fresh dill (dried dill is no substitute)
• juice from half a squeezed lemon
• about a cup of seedless red grapes (cleaned and cut in half lengthwise)
• crackers or bagel crisps

Method
In bowl, mix dijon mustard, mayonnaise, chives, dill, lemon juice, a healthy pinch of gray sea salt, and fresh grated black pepper until well mixed.  Gently fold in crab meat being careful not to overly break up the lumps of crab meat until well coated.

To serve, place a small heap of the crab mixture on a cracker or bagel crisp and top with a half grape.  Eat immediately (do not assembly the crab mixture on the crackers in advance as the cracker will get soggy over time).

Roast Chicken with Wild Mushroom Penne "Mac n Cheese"

This meal is straight forward and delicious. You can adjust the "mac n cheese" with many variations of cheeses, vegetables, or pasta shapes.

Wild Mushroom Penne "Mac n Cheese"
Ingredients

• 1 box of multigrain penne pasta (you can substitute other pasta shapes or flavors; I chose multigrain for the nutritional value over standard pasta)
• 1 - 2 tablespoon butter (use unsalted butter when cooking)
• 1 - 2 large shallots (peeled and rough chopped)
• 1 large leek (white to light green part only; target about 4 - 5 inches in length for the white/light green portion, which may require 2 leeks depending on length of white portion available. Cut out white/light green portion by cutting off end root and top leaves.  Split in half length-wise and clean under running cold water by slightly separating layers to allow water to run through.  Once cleaned, chop each half into quarter inch half circle segments)
• 1 package of fresh mixed mushrooms (typically these wild/exotic mushroom mixes include oyster, shittake, crimini, and other mushrooms; these are pre-washed and sometimes pre-sliced)
• 2 cloves garlic (peeled and rough chopped)
• Fontina cheese (enough to generate about 1 cup of shredded cheese; shred cheese)
• White cheddar cheese (enough to generate about 1 cup of shredded cheese; shred cheese)
• Half pint heavy/whipping cream (you could substitute milk for a less heavy, but slightly less creamy version)

Optional Ingredients

• Bread crumbs (plain bread crumbs; panko bread crumbs are the best due to large size, but plain bread crumbs work great as well
• Fresh thyme or dried sage (about 3 tablespoons worth)
• Truffle-infused oil
• Extra virgin olive oil

Method

Cook the pasta:

In a large pot for pasta, bring water to boil (enough water to sufficiently cover pasta).  Once boiling, add large handful of kosher salt (pasta cooking water should have the same saltiness as sea water; this flavors the pasta; never add oil to the pasta water as sauces will not stick as well; a large box of kosher salt, given it's idea salt grain size, is an important pantry item for salting cooking water).  After a few minutes for the salt to dissolve into the water and for the water to come back to a rapid boil, add the pasta.  Cook the pasta in the boiling water, stirring regularly to prevent sticking, for 1 minute less that the longest time in the box directions.  You want the pasta just slightly underdone as it will cook further in the oven.  Drain the pasta.

Prepare the sauce mix:

Add butter to medium sauce pan and place over medium+ heat.  Once the butter has largely melted, add the shallots and saute for about 2 minutes.  The shallots should become slightly transparent ("sweating the onions/shallots").  Add the mushrooms and leeks to the sauce pan.  Add a generous pinch of salt (I prefer gray sea salt for cooking; kosher salt is for salting water that will be drained and discarded; gray sea salt is for direct flavoring of food) and continue to saute mixture for another 2 to three minutes.  Add garlic and optional herbs (thyme and sage) and cook for another minute, stirring to prevent any burning.

Add cream or milk and both cheeses to the sauce pan.  Stir regularly until cheese is largely melted and everything is mixed together into a sauce.  Remove from heat.

Assemble and bake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Use another tablespoon of unsalted butter to liberally grease the inside of a large pyrex baking dish.  In empty large pasta pot (same one used to previously cook the pasta) mix together the cooked pasta and the sauce mix until well coated.  Pour pasta mixture into greased pyrex.  Optional spread a thin layer of bread crumbs over pasta mix.  Drizzle a small amount of truffle oil and olive oil to moisten breadcrumbs (do not saturate or make too greasy; use oil sparingly, not all bread crumbs need to be wet).  Place dish in the over and bake for 20 minutes until top has slight crunch/stiffness.

Simple Roasted Chicken Breasts

Ingredients

• Split chicken breasts (1 chicken breast per person. Split chicken breasts have the skin and bones which creates juicier chicken when roasted with.  You can always remove the skin after cooking for healthier eating--which I often do)
• Fresh thyme (dried thyme can be substituted)
• 1 tablespoon butter (unsalted)
• Olive oil
• 1 - 2 cup(s) chicken stock (chicken broth could be substituted)
• Lemon (cut into slices)

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).  In a large skillet or roasting pan that can fit all of the chicken breasts in a single layer, add butter and a few tablespoons of olive oil and melt over medium high heat.  On clean surface add salt (gray sea salt), pepper (fresh cracked), and thyme to both sides of chicken; pat salt, pepper and thyme into chicken with your hands.  Once the butter in the skillet is melted and the pan is hot, add the chicken, breast side down.  Saute for about 4 - 5 minutes to slightly brown the skins.  Flip the chicken so the rib side is down.  Saute for another 3 minutes.  Turn off heat.  Place lemon slices between chicken breasts.  Pour enough chicken stock into the pan to create a half inch layer on the bottom.  Place chicken in the oven and roast for 25 minutes until chicken is fully cooked.  Liquid and lemon slices in pan can be discarded (it's purpose was to help keep the chicken moist while roasting)

Photos