I See Bacon in my Future

We brought home a new baby the other day.

And someday, these two pigs will make beautiful babies together.

And someday after that…bacon!

Will Work for Food

I’m certain there are times that the boys don’t think raising chickens is worth it. Like at 5:30 a.m. when the have to feed and water them before school.

Or when they want to go out with friends, but they have to make sure that someone will check in on them every 4-5 hours, or more often if it’s hot.

And then there’s the weekends when they have to get up at 5 a.m. and process 50-100 chickens for customers who are on their way.

But the one time they really don’t complain is when dinner’s on the table. And they get Barbeque Chicken that looks like this:

Or Parmesan Chicken that tastes as good as it looks:

Strange how they don’t complain about the work so much at dinner time.

And now for the Clam Chowder…

Frozen Fish Sticks.
Frozen Fish Cakes.
Tuna fish sandwiches.
Tuna fish pasta salad.

That’s is. That’s the extent of my exposure to seafood prior to the age of 19 when Paul and I started dating.

There was the time when I was 20 and my roommate said that she wanted to make a fancy scallops and pasta dish for our boyfriends, and I offered to peel the potatoes, because the only time I’d ever heard the word scallop was in reference to a creamy potato dish.

She’s probably still wondering what I was talking about.

Paul, however, was raised by parents who loved seafood, and he grew up enjoying it on a semi-regular basis, especially whenever they traveled down to the Texas Gulf Coast.

So it can’t be any huge surprise that I never have developed a great love of things from the sea. I’ve gotten to where I’ll eat shrimp occasionally and I love almost all fish. Crab is a wonderful ingredient. But as for lobster and scallops…I’ll pass.

Clam chowder also has never been high on my list, although Paul, the boys, and my Dad all love it. And it was Dad’s choice for his birthday dinner.

It just so happens that when Dad asked for clam chowder, I was reading Jacques Pepin’s autobiography, The Apprentice.  (If you haven’t read it, you should. It’s fascinating!) And Jacques has a recipe in his book for New England Clam Chowder.

I can’t say I followed his recipe to a “T”, after all, I didn’t have access to affordable fresh clams and I’d used all the pancetta wrapping the asparagus spears. But otherwise, it was pretty close.

And everyone seemed to like it. Me included.

Here’s how I made it:

New England Clam Chowder

1/2 pound pancetta (or bacon)
1/2 large leek, chopped
3 large carrots, chopped in 1/2 inch pieces
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 T flour
2 springs fresh Thyme
2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 c chicken broth
2 bottles clam juice
3 cans clams
2 c half-and-half
1/2 c heavy cream
Salt & Pepper to taste

Slowly cook the bacon over medium heat. When fully cooked, remove bacon and all but 4 T bacon grease.

Stir flour into bacon grease and stir to combine. Add  leeks and carrots.  Cook over medium heat until leeks are softened. Add garlic, chicken broth, clam juice and potatoes. Cook on medium until potatoes are soft.

Add half-and-half, cream and clams. Heat to steaming, but don’t boil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Clam Chowder in a Bread Bowl for Dad

When I was a teenager, and wanted something from Dad … money, the car, permission, etc. … I always opened the conversation with the question,”Daddy, Do you know how much I love you?”

And he would always answer with a question of his own, “What do you want this time?”

Well, this weekend I had the opportunity to show Dad how much I still love him. It was his birthday weekend, which, as in most families, means he chooses the meal.

And thus it was that on this gorgeous 80+ degree weekend in a valley in the Greater Puget Sound region, I baked bread bowls and made a kicker pot of clam chowder.

Dad, I love you enough to not only cook clam chowder for you on a hot day, but I also grilled some of the proscuttio-wrapped asparagus that you wanted to try.

Happy Birthday!

Bread Bowls

Recipe from Jacques Pepin’s Complete Techniques cookbook

9 c all-purpose, unbleached flour
3 envelopes yeast (6 3/4 tsp)
3 1/2 c water (at approx. 80 degrees)
1 T salt

- Mix the yeast and water together, and place two-thirds (6 cups) of the flour in the bowl of an electric mixer.

- After 2-3 minutes, stir the water/yeast mixture again. Wait another 5 mins. until the water starts to bubble on top. Add the yeast mixture to the flour and using the dough hook, beat on medium for about 5 mins. Add the salt and keep mixing for a few seconds.

- Add 2 more cups of the flour and keep beating on low for 1 minutes.

- Place dough on counter and knead by hand with the rest of the four. More or less flour will be needed, depending on weather, humidity, etc. Reserve at least 1/2 cup flour for the end. Work the dough by folding it with the palms of your hands. Continue kneading 7-8 mins. Sprinkle with more flour if it is sticky and absorbent. The dough should be satiny and resilient.

- Sprinkle the dough with flour and place it in a large bowl to allow for expansion. Cover with plastic to prevent a skin from forming on the top and to retain moisture. Allow to rise for 2 hours in an 80-85 degree area.

- After 2 hours, check the dough by plunging 2 fingers into it. If the depression made by your fingers remains, the dough has risen enough.

- Knead the dough for a few seconds to knock down the air bubbles. Let the dough raise a second time, or divide it into whatever shapes you wish.

At this point, I divided mine into 9 very large “buns”, let them rise a second time. About 1/2 hour before I thought they would be ready for the oven, I turned the oven on to 450 degrees and set a pan of water on the bottom rack to create steam.

Since we would be using the bread for soup bowls, I wanted a really good crust on the bread. Right before I put the bread in the oven, I tossed a couple “handfuls” of water on the hot oven floor to create steam and turned the oven down to 400 degrees. Then 5, 10 and 15 minutes after I put in the bread, I repeated the water-throwing process. It baked about 20 minutes more, to an internal temp of 210 degrees.

Next up…the chowder recipe…