Buche de Noel II

After my first Buche de Noel I was feeling pretty good about my Christmas cake skills. My aunt asked me to bring one to Christmas dinner and I thought it would be fun to turn it up a notch and get creative. I used the same chocolate soufflé cake recipe from the first buche and I used the same base buttercream but I added my favorite raspberry sauce to change it up. This raspberry sauce brings a bright fresh flavor to the buttercream. In fact I think this is one of the handiest sauces to have in your repertoire. The intense fresh raspberry flavor adds a huge punch to any dessert. It's one of those recipes that I make so often I've commited it to memory. I know that you will love it too.

This recipe comes from The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Barnbaum. I use my copy so often that it falls open to all the right pages and the whole thing is covered with little stains and chocolate smears. This book should be in every cook's kitchen. I think the best thing about this book is how Rose goes into why things work and gives you understanding so you can start to make changes on your own.

Raspberry Puree Sauce

2 12oz bags of frozen raspberries with no sugar added
2t lemon juice
2/3C sugar

Thaw the berries in a strainer over a medium sized glass bowl. I usually do this over night. Once the berries are completely thawed they should have given off about 1 cup of juice. You now are going to microwave the juice on high until the juice is reduced to ¼ cup. In my high powered microwave it takes about 6 minutes. You can do this on the stove as well, but I found that it was easy to burn or over caramelize the juice on the stove.

Puree the raspberries in a food processor and the pass them through a fine sieve to remove all of the seeds. Once you have passed all of the berries through the sieve you should have about 1 Cup of raspberry puree in the bowl. Now combine the concentrated juice with puree and add the lemon juice. At this point I taste the sauce to see how much sugar I want to add. I find that I rarely use all 2/3 Cup of sugar. It just depends on how sweet the raspberries are.

Organics to You challenge, week one

It has proven easy to eat the produce we got from Organics to You. The fruit was gone in no time.  The apples, pears and satsumas were bursting with flavor.  

Tonight featured a salad with the green leaf lettuce, prepared with a whole grain mustard vinaigrette. Topped with some sliced roasted beets, crumbled blue cheese and a medium-boiled egg and the salad was done.

On the side was our favorite potato salad, using the yukon gold potatoes and some pickled red onions.

Lastly, I just roasted the sweet potatoes and served them with a little pat of butter and some fleur de sel.

It doesn't get any better, especially since the veggies are so flavorful. Those crazy vegetarians may be on to something, at least until Organics to You starts selling meat!

Hambeans

We had a rather large ham to eat for Christmas Dinner #1 with the friends, and the first thing I thought when looking at that leftover ham in the refrigerator was that the magic lies in the ham bone itself rather than the meat.  I am one of the few people I know that actually has a special tool just for extracting marrow from bones. 

 

I know, it sounds gross, but you've got to try some marrow from an osso bucco once without knowing it and you'll surely remark how delicious it is.  In this case, the marrow from the ham bone gives its flavor to these beans.  Even Keith, who remarked, "I don't really like beans," ate bowl after bowl.

We got a jar of chow chow from our friend Adam for the holidays this year.  Chow chow is a traditional southern relish often made with green tomatoes and other green vegetables, and tastes sweet and sour.  Nick remembered eating beans with chow chow as a kid, so that served as the inspiration for this dish.

I basically followed the recipe on the package of beans I bought, but spruced it up a little bit.

1 ham bone from leftover baked ham with 1 pound of reserved diced ham

2 lbs. mixed beans (we used one package of Hurst's Hambeans)

1 large onion, small dice

4 carrots, small dice

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 cups ckicken stock

1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes

juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp. crushed red pepper

1 bunch kale, chopped

Place beans in a large pot, cover with 2 quarts water. Allow beans to soak overnight, or at least 8 hours.

After draining, add reserved ham, ham bone and broth, along with 4 cups water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered 2 and a half hours. Add onions, carrot, chili pepper, kale and garlic and simmer an additional 30 minutes.  Add lemon juice and tomatoes and season to taste with salt and pepper.  If the beans are too thick, add water to thin, depending on the texture you want. Remove ham bone and serve with rice or on its own as a stew, topped with a tablespoon of chow chow if you have it.

This recipe makes a huge amount! However, it freezes well and will last a week in the refrigerator.

Mae Copenhagen's Toffee

The Perftect Dish, Beef Cheek Bourguignon

I was recently watching the documentary Unzipped, which follows Isaac Mizrahi through the creation of his 1994 fall collection, and it got me thinking how sometimes a great dish can be like a designer dress. A designer can create a silhouette with just two simple lines. With the stroke of a pen they can reduce a dress down to its purist form. Determining the height of a hemline alone can speak volumes about a dresses history, context and trendiness. I think you’ll find that it’s the details of the construction will really let a designer dress shine. You’ll find a dress that is made from exquisite fabric and hand sown. It’s this attention to detail, craftsmanship and concept that set a dress apart as fashion. So what’s all this talk of high fashion have to do with Beef Cheeks? Chefs like designers have to find a way to take the familiar ( Beef bourguignon ) and turn it into something fresh and sublime. So this is how we get to the Beef Cheek Bourguignon at Le Pigeon.

Chef Gabriel Rucker has taken on the rustic French dish beef Bourguignon and brought us the incredibly elegant and sophisticated Beef Cheek Bourguignon. When I was presented with the dish I was struck by how simple it was. In a wide shallow bowl there was a small collection of vegetables. There were tender carrots, roasted onions and several disks of pan fried potatoes. On top of this were two succulent pieces of braised beef cheeks. All of this was glazed with spoonfuls of the darkest, richest broth I have ever tasted. The Beef Cheeks are braised so dark they look as if they have been lacquered, and they are so tender and sweet that they just melt away in our mouth.

I think what makes this dish so interesting is the way that Chef Rucker has simplified this dish to five key components and then he found a way to highlight the character of each component and what it brings to the dish as a whole. Simply stunning.

Le Pigeon
738 E Burnside St.
Portland, OR 97214
503 546 8796

Potatoes Anna

Yet another French classic. I have to say, eating at Beast really brought out the Frenchie in me. I often forget that in culinary school we learned French techniques, but I eschewed them for the Italian food that was so in vogue in Portland a few years ago. I often forget that French bistro classics are just as hearty and delicious.

These potatoes are delicious. In this case, we used butter and duck fat. Duck fat is kind of like fish sauce, it smells weird but tastes delicious. And potatoes married with duck fat are to die for, as we have seen before on this website.

3 large russet potatoes

8 tablespoons butter (or duck fat, or combination)

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Peel and slice potatoes lengthwise into 1/8" slices. Melt butter.

In a large nonstick skillet, brush bottom of pan with butter. Arrange potatoes in a pinwheel formation. Brush with more butter and season generously with kosher salt and pepper. Potatoes can take a lot of salt, so don't be shy! Repeat until all of the potatoes are used and pour any remaining butter on top.

Bake for about an hour until the potatoes are tender and browned on the bottom. Invert onto a serving plate and grate some parmagiano reggiano on top if you like. Easy!

Root Vegetable and Rainbow Chard Gratin

This dish is rich, and I mean RICH. It tastes light and has lots of veggies, but it's deceiving. However, for a special occassion it's perfect. One of our diners even remarked that they don't eat those veggies very often, but in this iteration they were good. (holla, Casper!)

4 carrots

2 large parsnips

4 baby turnips

16 cups rainbow chard

one large onion, small dice

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 c. heavy cream

4 T. butter

parmagiano reggiano

1/2. lb. grated aged gruyere

nutmeg

salt and pepper

extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Heat a very large pan on medium high heat. Add shallots and a pinch of crushed red pepper, saute quickly and add garlic. Saute for 30 seconds longer. Add chard in batches with a pinch of kosher salt and continue to saute until the liquid has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper and grate a pinch of nutmeg on top.

Arrange root vegetables in a layer in a large baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, half the gruyere and some parmagiano reggiano. Repeat with another layer of root vegetables. Add the sauteed chard on the top layer. Pour the cream over the whole concoction and grate additional parmagiano reggiano on top. Dollop the butter all over the top.

Bake for 45-60 minutes until gold and bubbly. Allow to cool 30 minutes prior to serving.

Note: you may substitute all kinds of vegetables, squash or whatever you like. This is a basic gratin recipe and has many variations.

Frisee aux Lardons

Sounds fancy, but it's just a salad with bacon and egg. This is a classic French bistro salad, which gets its creaminess from the yolk of the poached egg.

Usually, this salad is served with a warm vinaigrette made with the rendered bacon fat, but we substituted a cold champagne vinaigrette. Served with a cheddar gougere and a glass of champagne, you feel very fancy, but ultimately it's just salad.

It's time to mention the beauty of Voget's meat. They have a whole variety of smoked and cured meats, and their bacon is the best I have ever tasted. Check them out at http://www.vogetmeats.com/.

1 bunch organic frisee (endive)

1/2 lb. slab bacon, cut into 1/2" cubes (you can use sliced bacon, we did)

6 eggs

parmesano reggiano

For vinaigrette:

3 T champagne vinegar

1 tsp. dijon mustard

2 T bacon fat, melted

1/4 c. olive oil

1 T. honey

pinch crushed red pepper

salt and pepper to taste

Cook bacon on low heat until browned but not crispy. Drain and reserve bacon fat for vinaigrette. Mix vinaigrette ingredients in a liquid proof container and shake shake shake your moneymaker until it's combined. Set aside.

Poach 6 large eggs until just set and still runny in the center. Remove to a bowl of ice water and set aside.

Wash and rinse frisee and put in a large bowl with cooked bacon. Season with salt, add enough vinaigrette to coat and toss. Arrange on plates, top with a poached egg and grate parmesano reggiano on top. Serves 6.

Apple Cherry Mostarda

For our Ham Christmas dinner we wanted to make several accompaniments for the meat. We concluded that we wanted honey mustard, horseradish aioli and then some kind of fruit chutney. We talked about it for a while and threw some ideas back and forth about what we thought would be nice with the ham. Peter remembered a condiment that they used to make at Ripe called Mostarda with peppers, fruit and vinegar. We used that as a starting point and then got creative. I’m glad we did because the results were spectacular. Here’s what we came up with.

Apple Cherry Mostarda
4 red peppers diced
1 yellow onion diced
¼ t chili flakes
4 Fuji apples pealed, quartered and sliced
2 C frozen sour cherries
1T dark mustard seeds
1/4C rice wine vinegar
1/4C honey
salt and pepper

Saute the peppers and the onion in a large sauté pan. When the peppers start to soften add the chili flake, apples, cherries and mustard seed. Let all of this cook for a few minutes while the apples release their juices. After a couple of minutes add the vinegar, honey and salt and pepper. Cover the pan and let the chutney cook down for ten minutes. Test one more time for seasoning and adjust accordingly. Chill for an hour.

The Omnivore's Dilemma

I am currently reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, which is a revolutionary study of the current state of the food industry. You might say it looks like the celery above.

One of the most important lessons of the book is the need to support local, sustainable organic farmers. The book is making such an impression on me that I decided to introduce these products into my every day life. I have to admit that, until now, I just reached for the cheapest vegetable I could fine, unless I was making a special dinner.

I now realize that it's time to use the best ingredients all the time. So I signed up for Organics to You, a local company that delivers locally farmed organic products to your door. We'll start featuring each basket, delivered every two weeks.

This will be a great challenge to see if we can utilize all of the product. How exciting! Here's this week's basket:

Looks good, huh? http://www.organicstoyou.com/

Buche de Noel

This year I decided that I wanted to take on a Christmas classic. The Buche De Noel is a traditional French cake that decorated to look like a Yule log. I’ve always been a little scared of rolled cakes. Sometimes making the genoise can be a little tricky and I’m always scared that cake will crack when I roll it. After watching one of my favorite episodes of Sarah’s Secretes in which she and Nick Malgieri make the Buche de Noel, I got the courage to give it a shot. It worked out great. As an added bonus I also learned a new technique for making buttercream that is a lot easier than the tradition method and results in a light and lovely buttercream.

Buche De Noel
Adapted from Nick Malgieri, Perfect Cakes

Espresso Buttercream
4 egg whites
1C sugar
3 sticks of butter
2 T instant espresso powder
2 T brandy
2 T vanilla extract

Chocolate Roll Cake
6oz semisweet chocolate
¼ C raspberry liqueur
2 T unsalted butter
6 eggs separated
pinch of salt
½ C sugar

I’m really excited about the technique for making this buttercream. It’s really easy and it gorgeous. Separate 4 egg whites into your mixer bowl. Whisk in the sugar and place the mixing bowl over a small saucepan of simmering water. You are going to whisk the mixture over the simmering water to melt the sugar. You’ll know when the sugar is melted the mixture suddenly becomes thin and runny. At this point take the bowl to the stand mixer and using the whisk attachment whisk the eggs until the outside of the bowl is room temperature. Replace the wire whisk with the beater and add the butter. Don’t freak out if the buttercream looks like it’s separating or like cottage cheese. Turn the mixer on high speed until it comes to a light fluffy texture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix together the instant espresso, brandy and vanilla in a small bowl and then add it to the buttercream.
This cake is really easy to make and has a great texture. It’s light and dense at the same time. Heat oven to 350. In a double boiler over simmering water melt the chocolate with the liqueur and butter. Once the chocolate is melted whisk in the egg yokes one at a time. In the mixer beat the egg whites and sugar till you have stiff peaks. At this point fold one quarter of the egg white meringue into the chocolate to lighten the mixture. Then fold the chocolate back into the meringue. You don’t want to over mix the meringue and deflate it. Using an offset spatula spread cake batter into a prepared sheet pan. By prepared I mean lay a sheet of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

After the cakes has cooled for a few minutes in the sheet pan, place another sheet of parchment on the cake and cover it with another sheet pan. Now you will have a kind of sheet pan cake sandwich. This makes it really easy to flip it over and release the cake. Carefully peal back the parchment that baked on the bottom of the cake. I flip the cake one more time so I end up with newly exposed bottom of the cake on a fresh sheet of paper. This probably makes no sense at this point, but when you have a cake in front of you it's much more intuitive.

Now we get to the really cool part. Rolling the cake. Spread a nice layer of buttercream over the entire surface. Using the paper start to fold the cake over. As you pull the paper up the cake will naturally roll. Easy Peasy.

To get a nice tight even roll take the edge of the sheet pan right against the cake. Grab hold of the bottom edge of the paper and push gently. The paper will squeeze the cake into a beautiful roll. Twist the ends of the paper and refrigerate the cake for an hour.

This isn't a great picture but you get the idea of how it turned out in the end. I cut the cake to make the branch on top and frosted the cake with more buttercream to look like bark. I finished it off with little marzipan mushrooms. I'm really glad I attempted this cake. I'm not sure if I'll make it very often, but it was a great learning experience. I'm definitely adding a lot more roll cakes to my repertoire.

Tabla $24 Prefix dinner is back !

Good news Portland diners. Tabla is bringing back their $24 prefix menu. The prefix menu is one of the reasons I fell in love with Tabla. You get a chance to try different things on the menu and it's an incredible deal.

Tabla
200 NE 28th Ave
Portland, OR 97232
(503) 238-3777

www.tabla-restaurant.com

Christmas Dinner

Christmas Dinner #1 (dinner and gift exchange with friends)

Menu
Appetizer
Seckle Pears wrapped in Prosciutto
Cheese Plate: aged gouda, triple cream bleu, herbed chevre

First course
Sharp Cheddar Gougere with Veuve Clicquot
Frisee with Champagne Vinaigrette, Lardons of Vogette's Bacon and Poached Egg

Main event
Baked Ham, Potatoes Anna, Root Vegetable and Chard Gratin
Accompaniments of honey mustard, horseradish aioli and apple-cherry mostarda

Dessert
Buche de Noel

Later this week we will be following up with recipes and pictures. Stay tuned!

French Onion Soup

You've all had french onion soup, which also means you have had bad french onion soup, as most of the time it is. I didn't even love this version, but it's a work in progress. My problem with french onion soup is that it doesn't usually have much body or mouthfeel. I recently had this soup at Beast, which was made with duck and veal stock. Now that's broth! Here's a passable quick version.

Keith made a very good point about french onion soup: one large cheese toast makes the whole experience frustrating because you have to hack at the bread to break it up. The solution: why not just use home made croutons? Here's how it all goes down:

Make some beef stock. I didn't, but I'm telling you to because canned beef broth is crap. All of it. That's part of the reason my version wasn't that good. After you have done this, move on to the rest. Substitute beef broth bulked up with store bought demi glace if you are lazy like me.

Caramelize some onions, see recipe below.

Add about 1/2 cup of sherry to the caramelized onions and bring to a boil, deglazing pan if necessary. Add 8 cups of beef broth and bring to a simmer. Simmer on low 30-45 minutes until soup has reduced some and begins to thicken. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and pepper flakes. The broth should be sweet and meaty, slightly salty and with a small kick from the pepper flake.

Make some big croutons, cooking until they are crispy on the outside but slightly soft in the center. I used a french batard because it has a lot of crumb and air pockets in it, perfect for absorbing all that great broth.

Ladle the soup into oven-proof bowls. Working fast, throw some croutons on top, sprinkle with shredded gruyere and broil until gold and bubbbly. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Carmelized Onions, why are you so good to me?

I admit it, I am biased against anyone who doesn't like onions. Either learn to like them, or move along. I am only partly kidding. I understand some just haven't learned to eat onions, so here's a way to entice the onion virgin. Caramelize them. Don't cheat and add sugar or balsamic vinegar, put down whatever you are doing and take the time to caramelize them right. Then, you can use them in a tart, put them on meat, or make french onion soup.

3 lbs. yellow onions

4 T butter

2 T olive oil

salt and pepper

one sprig thyme

one bay leaf

Slice the onions thinly. Heat a large, heavy-bottomed pan to medium high heat and add butter and olive oil. Add onions to pan, sprinkle with about 1/2 tsp. of salt and stir together. Add sprig of thyme and bay leaf. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook onions, uncovered. Stir only occassionally to keep from burning, but not too often so they can caramelize, about 45 minutes. Let cool. Remove thyme and bay leaf and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Christmas Cookie Fiasco

I’m sure that I can thank my mom for my love of Christmas cookies. Every year she would make tin after tin of Christmas cookies. There were Russian Tea Cakes, Pepperkakor, Spritz, Thumb Print cookies and toffee. Any time we left the house in December we would take a platter of cookies to share with friends. Everyone loved them. I love that tradition and every year I have grand plans of delivering tins of delicious cookies to all of my dear friends. There is one small problem. As much as I love baking, I find cookies tedious. There is a lot of clean up and endless trips to the oven. As far as cooking goes I find them very unsatisfying. The thing that amazes me is that I never remember my mom complaining about making all of those cookies.

That being said this weekend I planned on hunkering down and making my cookies to give away. I was going to start off with something easy, Spritz. I love these little buttery almond cookies. I needed to get a cookie press first. Last year I bought two but ended up returning both of them because neither one worked very well. This year I found on that had a better design, but I’m still not convinced. I’m not sure exactly what went wrong, but they turned out terrible. First the cookies came out of the press unevenly and then they spread out really thin and burned. This is a recipe that I’ve been using for twenty years and this is the first time it’s gone this bad.

I consulted with my Aunt Nancy (one the experts I like to consult with) the next day and she said that her recipe had 2-1/2 C flour where as my recipe only had 2-1/4 C. I think we found the culprit. I’ll try another batch this week and hopefully things will turn out better.

Food on the Road

Our dear friend Adam will be guest blogging, starting a new feature called Pedestrian Food. He'll be checking out food carts around town. Food carts are one of the best ways to have cheap ethnic food, usually for about 5 bucks.

Although these "roach coaches" often look less than appetizing, if you find the right one you can get some great food. Adam and I met today and went to a Thai cart by PSU. The food was prepared to order, but my Pad Kee Mao left something to be desired.

Stay tuned for Adam's review!

Published!

Recently, my friend Dave recommended me to cater for a friend of his who works at Portland Monthly magazine for a baby shower.  The shower went well, and, lo and behold, I got a call back to contribute food for a special issue of the magazine called "Portland Bride and Groom".  My task was to create an appetizer and drink for a fall wedding at a country club.  Here's how it turned out:

This is the accompanying description I submitted to the magazine:

Appetizer: Apple, Pear and Celery Root Salad in Endive Leaf

The salad was finely julienned pieces of apple, pear and celery root.  This was dressed with a creamy herb dressing and garnished with walnuts, prosciutto and parmesano reggiano.  This was paired with a Tuscan Pear, a cocktail made with pear-infused vodka and orange juice.

 

Here is a recipe for an appetizer serving of 8:

8 belgian endive leaves, separated from core

1/2 apple, 1" julienne

1/2 pear, 1" juliene

1 small celery root, 1" julienne (about 1/2 c.)

1/2 c. walnuts

2 oz. proscuitto

2 oz. parmesano reggiano

fresh herbs (oregano, basil, thyme, italian parsley)

1/2 c. sour cream

1/2 c. mayonnaise

fresh lemon juice

salt and pepper

 

Peel and cut apple, pear, and celery root in to 1" matchsticks. Sprinkle with lemon juice to prevent them from discoloring, and set aside.  Roast the walnuts in a 350 degree oven 8-9 minutes and set aside.  Finely slice prosciutto and saute in a nonstick pan 2-3 minutes, remove to paper towel and set aside.  Shave parmesan with a vegetable peeler and set aside.

 

To make the dressing, combine sour cream, mayonnaise and 1 tablespoon of each of the fresh herbs.  Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl and whisk to mix together.

 

Combine apple, pear, and celery root in a medium bowl with dressing and lightly toss with dressing.  Add the prosciutto and walnuts and lightly toss, just coating.  Scoop a tablespoon of the salad into the endive leaf and garnish with a shaving of parmesan and a parsley leaf.

 

Cocktail: Tuscan Pear

1.5 parts Grey Goose La Poire vodka

3/4 part limoncello

3/4 part simple syrup, infused with 1" slice ginger

1 part orange juice

mint leaf and pear slice for garnish

 

Combine vodka, limoncello, simple syrup, and orange juice in a cocktail shaker with ice.  Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with mint leaves and a slice of pear.

 

My food choices are almost always season-driven.  When food is at its best (and local), I crave new food as the seasons change.  I inhale tomatoes late into the summer.  In the spring, asparagus and fava beans are on the table until no longer available.  As the wind picks up out of the gorge, and the days are getting shorter, I have an almost instinctual craving for pears and apples.  It's also the time when root vegetables begin to appear again on the table.  The appetizer I chose to make is a refined version of a salad I eat throughout the fall when pears are at their best.  Paired with a bitter lettuce like arugula, or in this case endive, pears are a great addition to a salad.

 

I came across the cocktail after I saw a bottle of Grey Goose La Poire at the liquor store (I'm a martini person) next to the Grey Goose.  They recommend this cocktail with it.  I thought it would be a perfect way to complement the sweetness of the fruit in the salad.  The cocktail is bright, but not too feminine so it would appeal to both a bride and a groom at their wedding (I made the drink over ice in a low-ball glass with a splash of club soda).  The drink's tangerine color is harkens summer's sunshine, but in a more subdued hue, as if the sunshine of the summer is fading into fall.

 

Picturing a wedding at a country club made me think the food would be a little more refined, or what I like to call "fussy".  The salad in the endive is a kind of a deconstruction of what I would usually put in a large salad, served family-style at the table.  As the guests at a country club might be more formally dressed, this appetizer is more formally assembled and garnished, but still bite-sized and easily passed by catering staff or plated as a first course (as opposed to a more informal buffet).  The colors of the cocktail and the appetizer play off each other, almost like a painting.  The cocktail is served as a martini, befitting the setting.

Clam Chowder

We are settling in to our soup and stew season. I was thinking that I wanted to make clam chowder, but I didn’t have a recipe so I started a google recipe round up. You would not believe how many recipes are out there for clam chowder. I think it’s kind of like chili, every region has it’s own style and everyone feels pretty strongly about how to make a proper clam chowder. I didn’t really have any preconceived notions about what I wanted other than it had to be delicious. So I looked at about 15 recipes and then went to work making my own.

This recipe is made in two steps, first I made a clam broth and then in another pot I made the chowder.

For the broth

4 strips of bacon diced
1 small onion diced
3 celery stocks diced
chili flake
1 C sherry
3 C clam juice
2 lemons juiced
1 C water

For the chowder

1 inch of slab bacon cut into lardoons
1 onion diced
4 stocks of celery diced
2 russet potatos cut into 1/4 “ cubes
2tbs butter
1/3 C flour
4 C clam broth
2 C heavy cream
2 6oz cans of chopped clams, drained
4 sprigs of thyme
¼ C flat leaf parsley finely chopped

makes 6 servings

Make the broth first. Dice the bacon and brown it in a large sauce pan. Then add the diced onion and chili flake and sauté until translucent. Deglaze the pan with the sherry and reduce the sherry by half. Add the clam juice, lemon juice and water and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain the broth and discard the vegetables and bacon.

Now in a stock pot brown the bacon lardoons. Sauté the onions and celery then add the butter and dust the vegetables with the flour. Stir the vegetables to cook the flour, but don’t brown it. Add the clam broth, the potato and bring the soup to a boil. Once the potatoes are tender add the cream, thyme and chopped clams. At this point check for seasoning and stir in the parsley.