New England Fish Chowder

Chowder is a culinary tradition that has been enjoyed in the northeast US for hundreds of years. Like all traditional New England cooking, it is simply prepared, but hearty and loaded with flavor. Growing up in a Catholic family in Vermont, corn chowder was a staple for Friday night dinners during the lenten season. And, of course, anyone who has ever has a good clam chowder can tell you the stuff they make in Manhattan is totally misnamed. 


Unfortunately, a lot of folks only experience chowders at diners or from cans, neither of which are adequate representations of a good New England chowder. They are unusually thick and bland—often devoid of any taste of the sea or earth at all. But a good chowder has many layers of flavor—bacon or salt pork, good stock, a little cream, fresh herbs, big chunks of potatoes, and fresh fish and/or veggies that are not over-cooked. Chowder is a hearty, one-pot supper, closer to a stew than soup. It is a perfect comfort food for a cold Fall or Winter evening's meal.

Here is a recipe I adapted from Jasper White's cookbook, 50 Chowders: One Pot Meals—Clams, Corn, and Beyond. It cooks up in under 30 minutes.







New England Fish Chowder
Serves 6 as a main course

3-4 ounces thick-sliced bacon, cut crosswise into 1/4" pieces
2 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 cup chopped onion
1 Tbs. chopped fresh rosemary
1 1/2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
3 Tbs. flour
1 lb. baby potatoes, skin-on, cut in 3/4" chunks
3/4 cup dry white wine
3/4 tsp. salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 cups homemade chicken stock
1 cup bottled clam juice (or use broth from 2 sm. cans of clams and toss them in at the end)
1 1/2 pounds tilapia fillets, whole
1 to 1 1/2 cups frozen succotash
1 cup half and half (or light cream)
2 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley for garnish

In a large pot, fry the bacon until crisp and the fat is rendered; remove to paper towels. Add the butter and onion and saute until they start to take on a little color. Add the herbs and flour and stir until completely combined. Slowly whisk in the wine, scrapping up browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Stir in the stock and clam juice then add the salt, pepper, and potatoes. Bring to a boil and simmer 10 minutes or so, until just tender.

Add the whole fish fillets and succotash. Cook over med-high heat for another 5-10 minutes until the fish falls apart into big chunks when you stir it. Add the half and half then taste to adjust seasonings. Serve immediately topped with fresh parsley and reserved bacon pieces. Optional oyster crackers (or plain goldfish) are a traditional accompaniment.

Camping Cuisine Part II: Bananas Foster with Handmade Coconut Ice Cream

There are only so many nights that even the most-avid marshmallow toaster can eat S'mores on a long camping trip. When I was planning the meals for our 6-day Burton Island trip, I wanted to try something new and interesting on at least one night.  For one evening I had planned a simple dinner of red beans and rice, Andouille sausages, and grilled onions, peppers, and zucchini.  Kinda Cajun so why not finish it off with some Banana's Foster? With only a few simple ingredients and my trusty cast iron skillet, it was a snap.


Of course it cries for ice cream, which just doesn't keep well even in the best of Coleman coolers. Fortunately, it is easy to make in baggies; something I had done with the boys when they were in preschool. I decided to make coconut ice cream so our friend, Carmen, who can not eat milk products, could have some. And, well, nature surely intended that bananas and coconuts go together.

Bananas Foster
These are approximate measurements per person

1 banana, peeled and halved lengthwise
2 tsp. unsalted butter
1 Tbs. brown sugar
A sprinkle of cinnamon, optional
A sprinkle of salt
1-2 tsp. dark, spiced rum, optional


Melt the butter in a hot cast iron skillet then add remaining ingredients, except bananas. Stir to dissolve. Cook a minute until bubbly. Add the bananas and cook for a minute or two, basting them with the butter-sugar mixture until they are warmed through and slightly softened.  If you are ambitious you can add a little more liquor and flambe the mixture in true Bananas Foster style. I did not.

NOTE: Individual servings can also be wrapped in heavy foil and cooked over the fire instead of using a skillet. You can eat it right out of the foil.

Serve immediately with vanilla or coconut ice cream.


Coconut Ice Cream: The Baggie Method
Per person

1 ziploc sandwich bag
1 gallon-sized ziploc freezer bag
1/2 cup coconut milk, full fat
2-3 tsp. sugar (taste it and make it a little sweeter than you like; it will taste less sweet when frozen)
Splash of vanilla extract
2 cups ice
2 tablespoons coarse salt (I used canning salt)


Mix the coconut milk, sugar, and vanilla thoroughly and pour into the smaller baggie. Seal tightly. You can also double bag it to make sure none of the salt gets inside.

Put ice in the larger baggie and place the smaller bag inside it. Shake and massage the bag, kneading the cream in the smaller baggie so it freezes evenly. After 5-10 minutes it will be the consistency of soft-serve. It will get harder if you continue beyond this.

Remove the smaller bag. Cut a hole in the corner and squeeze it into a serving bowl.

NOTE: The baggie will have salty water on the outside of it, which you should rinse off (unless you double-bagged) before cutting open to keep the salt water from dripping into your ice cream as you squeeze it out.

Camping Cuisine Part I: Fire-Roasted Falafel with Cucumber Mint Yogurt Dressing

This summer we had fun camping, camping, camping. Our last trip at the end of August was to Burton Island for 5 nights with our friends, the Fisher-Olveras. Burton Island is a great place to camp. It is a beautiful, little island in Lake Champlain near St. Albans Bay. The boys had great fun playing with a whole posse of other young men and, since the island is small and safe, they enjoyed the freedom of being largely unsupervised. It was a little lord-of-the-flies-esque. Lots of running, chasing, and yelling, with sticks and other weapons. To quote my favorite Curious George book, "Luckily, no one was hurt." If you have boys, you know what I mean.


Although, I guess camping should be rustic, I see no need to limit our meals to boring fares like franks and beans. I enjoy the challenge of making some delicious food directly over a wood fire. In the past, I have made homemade pizza dough at home and froze it to take camping. Wood-fire pizzas with fresh tomatoes, sliced mozzarella, pesto, maybe some roasted veggies—rustic, yet still sophisticated. 


This time, I decided to try something new. Last summer, I had good success cooking falafel on the grill, so I made falafel "dough" at home and chilled it for the camping trip. To accompany it, I continued the Middle-Eastern theme with a hearty and healthy Herbed Bulgur and Lentil Salad and a couple bars of Halvah, a delicious sesame candy, for dessert. It was easy, tasty, and better than hot dogs by a long shot.


NOTE: My secret strategy with this is using a grill basket to cook the falafel. It keeps them from burning and sticking and you can pick them up or flip them all at once. 

Of course, I forgot to take a picture.  Here is one from Sophistimom to get your mouth watering.

Grilled Falafel
Adapted from a recipe for “My Favorite Falafel” in The Foods of Israel Today by Joan Nathan found via epicurious.com


2—15 oz. cans of chickpeas

1/2 large onion, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)

4-5 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

4-5 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro

1 teaspoon salt

1/2-1 teaspoon dried hot red pepper

2-4 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon baking powder

4-6 tablespoons flour (I used oat flour to keep them gluten-free)

Olive oil

Chopped tomato for garnish

Lettuce for garnish

Pita bread

Cucumber Mint yogurt dressing (see below)

Put the drained chickpeas, onions, parsley, cilantro, salt, hot pepper, garlic, and cumin in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process until blended but still a little chunky.

Sprinkle in the baking powder and 4 tablespoons of the flour, and pulse. Add more flour, a little at a time so that the dough forms a small ball and no longer sticks to your hands. Turn into a bowl and refrigerate, covered, for several hours.


Form the chickpea mixture into balls about the size of walnuts, flatten slightly and brush each side with olive oil.  Place in a grilling basket and grill over medium heat until browned on both sides and cooked through.  It is difficult to regulate a wood fire so you have to watch these and adjust grill height and fire as needed. They take about 10-15 minutes to cook.

Serve 3-4 falafel on a pita with tomato, lettuce, and yogurt dressing. Thinly sliced bell peppers would also taste good and add a nice crunch.

Yogurt Dressing
This is actually a recipe for a Persian side-dish called Maast-o-Khiar. I found it several years ago posted on a now-defunct website by Roxana & Farzin Mokhtarian. 


2 cups plain, non-fat Greek yogurt
1/2 cucumber, seeded but peel on
One small onion

2 teaspoons fresh mint, finely chopped

Salt

Black pepper

Grate the onion and cucumber and sprinkle lightly with salt. Let it drain for 10 minutes in a colander then squeeze out the excess moisture. Mix everything together. Taste and adjust seasoning. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.