Amuse Bouche

Five Islands, Maine

I took another trip up North to visit Mom while husband stayed home puppy sitting.  This time the weather did her best to cooperate and on Tuesday Mom decided I needed to remedy my Bob's Clam disaster.

We hopped in her Jeep with my iphone for GPS and hit the road.  We headed over to Sidney to try and find the maker of the yogurt in the last post and maybe meet the goats in person and buy some cheese.  We found the address, but there was no sign down at the road indicating a farm or come and buy some cheese here and since Tuesday seems to be the official 'CLOSED' day in this neck of the woods, we felt like stalkers at the end of her driveway and headed off to Five Islands.

Five Islands, lies along one of the millions of little fingers of shoreline that line Mid Coast Maine.  The directions read, 'take route 127 until your hat floats and then back up a bit', and they do mean it. 

We tooled along with the sunroof open in perfect sunshine and 80F until we were about 1 mile from the water and then it turned all misty moisty and the temp dropped about 10 degrees.

We found a space and hopped out.

 

You wander over to the dock and pick your building.  The 1st building on the right is where you order the fried stuff and sandwiches.  Clams, fish and chips, and the usual variations on clam shack fare. Building number 1 on the left is ice cream because you always want ice cream after fried clams, if you have never had fried clams, trust me on this, it is one of the gastronomic laws of nature.  Building 2 on the right is for those who want a lobster. We chose building 1 on the right.  You read the chalkboard and place your order while you watch the action.

 

Order placed you pay your cash and they give you a slip of paper with a number.  Wander out to the dock and pick your table.

 

You could tell the experienced clam shack denizens from the novice tourists.  The table behind us had brought their own bottle of wine and cups.  Another woman, of an age, sidled up with her husband and spread a beach towel on the often seagull soiled picnic tables and promised those around that she was not about to break out her best silver, not too worry.

While Mom and I waited for our number to be called, so to speak, I watched the guys below unloading the lobsters.

 

They go off the boat into those flip top crates and then they are tethered next to the dock on lines.

 

And when the kitchen needs some more lobsters someone just strolls down the dock and drags one into the back kitchen door.

 

Can you say 'FRESH' boys and girls, can you say 'LOCAL'? Uh huh buster.

You also get to hear the lovely local accents as this guy asks how long before the boat unloading the lobsters will move so he can pick up some passengers to take em fishing.

 

Eventually our number was called and our reward arrived.

 

As for Mom and I, we didn't worry about covering the table nicely or bringing wine, nope, we weren't taking a chance on the tartar sauce ruining our clam experience, so we made our own and brought it.  We needn't have worried, 5 islands is one of the few places that make their tartar in-house, but one can never take chances with the tartar!

They were sweet and crispy, bellyfull and clean, briny and simply, divine.  My summer is complete.

And this view doesn't hurt either.

Five Islands Lobster Co.

1447 Five Islands Road
Georgetown, Maine 04548
(207) 371-2990

The 420 mile Locavore or MA to ME and back in 24hrs

My Mom is now ensconced in her summer house for a month.  She and the 3 cats drove up from VA last Friday and of course as is her luck on vacation the weather has been poo.  I needed a break from the grind so Renee pushed me out the door of Create a Cook and demanded I take a few days off.  The pooper had a vet appointment Friday and her latest round of old age induced incontinence meant that husband stayed home and I hit the road for a road trip.

I called Mom Thursday morning and reported that I was hitting the road, but informed her that there would be a few stops along the way, I'd get there, I reported, when I got there.  My favourite kind of trip. A quick stop at the NH state liquor store for some wine meant that I would hit Kittery right around 11:00. 

Why does 11:00 matter you ask?  The well seasoned Maine traveler and the fried clam junkies will know that 11:00 on the dot is when Bob's clam shack opens and I, having not had fried clams a single time yet this "summer", was not going to pass on the opportunity.  Surprisingly on a gray and might i add cold July afternoon, rte 1 was dead as a doornail.  I pulled into Bob's stood second in the queue and ordered up my clams. No fries, no onion rings, no sides, just the clams please. I hopped back in the truck and opened up the $26.00 dollar of clams.  Yes TWENTY SIX DOLLARS worth of clams and this is what greeted me.

$26.00, you would shriek, for that?  Not only was it a paltry sum, but they were teeny tiny nickel sized clams that any clam aficionado would lament had ZERO bellies. Sigh.  Oh well, at least they were fried clams.  I snapped the pic above with my iphone and sent husband the picture with a note that read "I think you can guess where I am".

I pulled out of Bob's parking lot barely looking left or right since there was no traffic to speak of and headed left on route 1.  I like to meander around and up and down until around Ogunquit and then hit 95 again to head towards 295N. I saw far too many vacancy signs on the B&B path and any tourists that I did see out and about walking were wearing thick and heavy sweatshirts likely purchased at the local tourist shop.  In fact sweatshirts are probably the biggest tourist item this summer.  At least someone is making money in this cold and rain.

Around Wells I pulled in to a DD's to get some iced caffeine to keep me going for the 2 hours I still had on the road.

I veered off at 295 in Portland and swung through the bay on my way North.  My next stop, Hannaford's in Augusta.  Mom's friend Lizzie was up staying with her and they already had dinner planned so I had to stop in and pick up some extra supplies.  Of course I never, EVER leave Maine without a Whoopie pie.

This photo was snapped via the iphone and sent to husband along with a note that read..."And of course I had to buy some of these".

I had a lovely chat with a gentleman and his wife in the parking lot about the new restaurant being built on the hill in the adjacent plaza.  The one offering, "a nice view", commented the husband.  Sure, I guess if you like to watch the parking lot of Hannaford's and the Maine turnpike. Believe me in this part of town a new place to dine is BIG news.  He lamented the closing of Rustler a few years ago and informed me the place was "some Texas chain". I hopped in the truck and I took a left again and headed down some of my favourite roads to see my egg lady.  Her husband was out on his ATV in the driveway as I pulled in.  He saw me and turned off the ATV.  "Got any eggs?" I shouted.  He turned it back on and drove over to his porch and I hopped out of the truck and rambled onto his farmer's porch.  "How many?", "Two dozen please".  I took my eggs and we chatted about the weather, like you do, and I asked if he was having a hard time getting his hay in.  He said he only had 1 lot done and by now he should have 5.  I asked him what the forecast was for the next couple days and in his dry drawl he said "Rain, and then rain the next day and then some more rain, and I think rain later."  I chuckled and as I turned around to leave the porch I noticed the 2 freshly hatched kittens on the rocking chair and of course I squealed.  He said "Take one." I looked back at him and he said, 'No, really take one". I gave each kitten a scratch behind the ears and he hopped back on his ATV, "Got to go catch a cow that escaped this morning" and off he went.

I turned right and headed down to Puddledock road to head over to Ballard's my favourite local meat market. 

My buddy here is always waiting around on the other side of the door for a generous offering of bones or sometimes hot dogs. Another iphone snap I sent off to husband to keep him updated.  I picked up 5 pounds of bacon that I just finished sealing up and freezing courtesy this lovely machine.

 

Ballard's will also cold smoke anything you want!  In house that day they had house made smoked sausages and two smoked cheeses.  One was a smoked blue (4 hours in hickory smoke!) and they buy a whole Cabot cheddar wheel and sell enormous chunks of it.  I bought one plain and one smoked.  Mac & Cheese might never be the same, but right now a piece of smoked cheese and some Laphroaig is a pretty good summer evening nosh and tipple.  Especially when summer means 62F. I grabbed a few other lovely things and then headed back on the road to Mom.  I passed a few private roadside grab and pay stands that didn't have enough goodies worth stopping for.

When I got enough bars on the phone, I rang Mom to ask whether I took a right at the old church or stayed straight on to head over to the organic farm. I pulled up on the gravel drive and heard the DING DING of an old gas station air hose bell.  Instantly two barking and wagging Australian cattle dogs were at the truck door to greet me and little Sage popped her head out from the farm stand offering to take me on a farm tour.

I pulled this local yogurt out of the fridge(don't worry about the date, it's still quite lovely) while her mom came around the corner to tell me what had just been baked. 

I took her up on the blueberry pie to bring home to husband.  As I was leaving I snapped this picture and emailed it off saying "Your 3 favourite words!"

I took a left and headed off to Mom's.  On the camp road I scoped out the mushroom situation.  From the truck I could see Chanterelle and a few lobster mushroom, but I'm going to wait until I go the 1st week of August because I think just a few days of warm could make those woods pop!  I pulled down the driveway towards the lake, margaritas and some kittie love.

Thursday night the rains began in earnst.  By Friday mid-morning it was apparent that it wasn't going to let up so I packed up the truck and Mom followed me to Longfellow's to pick up a hanging plant to replace the one that drowned earlier this summer.  I tucked it safely on the floor of the passenger seat, set my iphone up as my GPS system, waved to mom who was heading to ballard's for lobster for her and SD who would arrive that night and headed off to find the Whole Foods in Portland to pick up the few items we would need around for the weekend.

 

I hit the highway around Augusta and followed this poor couple who were obviously on a road trip holiday.  the Harley itself was doing fine, but the trailer they were towing behind was hydroplaning like mad.  I followed him slowly for a few miles to stop the 18 wheelers carrying Wide Loads from riding up his ass and then passing him at 80.  Eventually he waved me on and pulled over under an overpass to wait it out.

Rte295 southbound is still closed so the North bound traffic can use it while their side is being paved.  You could see them working hard on my drive up.

The detour on that stretch of 295 takes you on a lovely 2 lane stretch of road called 201.  The road in fact passes by the dirt that Mom and SD bought last year to build on and retire to. It's close enough to be at the summer house more, yet not so far away they can't come mow the lawn and take in the mail.  Sadly the economic nose dive has put a damper on all that for now, but I told Mom I would scope out her new hood for good food finds on the way home.

My first stop was the nostalgic and soooo adorable Rocky Ridge Orchard.  I took a quick snap of the outside because I didn't want to be *that* food blogger snapping away at everything.  Of course there was already a woman inside with her video camera, *sigh*.  This little slice of perfect nostalgia has a wonderful old pie safe, 5 maybe six shelves high all covered in screen. 

I picked up husband a peach and raspberry pie.  As you can see upon my arrival home, he didn't even bother to wait for me to take a picture. He gave it his "Oh my" followed by food silence approval rating. This little gem of a place has homemade donuts, bismarks, cream horns, cider vinegar, local maple syrup, homemade rhubarb strawberry soda(!), sandwiches, crab rolls and soups set out in crock pots atop the vintage 1920's stove for self service. The creaking, slamming screen door just sealed the deal for me.  I will be back!

I pulled out, took a right and headed further south on 201.  A few miles down the road a pickup truck in front of me had his right directional on, as I slowed to wait for him to turn, I realised it was a farm stand and quickly pulled in after him.

It was the farmer making a delivery form the fields and he nodded and said hello.  His daughter came out to tend the stand and I picked up some of the finest strawberries I have smelled or tasted all year.  A container of just picked potatoes, some green beans and a zucchini polished off my order.  The sign inside the little stand said they grew everything they sold.  I asked the girl if the detour had been good for their business and she smiled and said "oh yea" with a nod. Another notch on my soon-to-return belt!

I knew that L.P. Bisson wasn't far from the farm stand so I turned right and headed for Meadow Road. I was here last year and learned all about this abattoir/butcher shop so I had to come back for more.  Ideas for dinner had been forming in my head as I was picking up items along the way. I bought a gorgeous local chicken, some pork butt for freezing, a pork tenderloin that is brining in the fridge as we speak.  A pint of unpasteurized chocolate milk for husband and I inquired about buying a roast with the skin on for crackling.  I spoke to the gentleman and he said he always keeps some pork shoulder with skin on from their pigs in the freezer.  Since my cooler was already full, I told him I'd be back in a week or so to pick that up!

I set my iphone GPS for Whole Foods in Portland, or course I had to explain no, not Oregon, Maine please, and took a right back on to 295S.  Holy cow, what a Whole Foods!  Ginormous! They have a granola bar to make your own, a macrobiotic and vegan bar, a sweet coffee bar, a rather decent beer and wine selection and parking lot CHOCK full.  I had to circle for space along with every other kayak covered, Mt. bike strapped car heading for their weekend away. One volvo in the lot was loaded nose to gill with interesting looking drum equipment made of gourds and skins and interesting things.

Back onto 295S, coffee in hand and another 2 hours ahead of me.  Everything was lovely until I hit 128S and ground to a halt around Lexington where we c-r-a-w-l-e-d until the Mass Pike exit.  When the truck was finally unloaded and a cocktail was in hand I began to cook a dinner from all the things that I gathered.  I called Mom and reported on my findings giving my seal of approval to her new neighborhood.

Can it be called Locavore or eating local when the goods came from 200 miles away? I think so but only if it involves a visit to see Mom.

Dinner

Summer?? Tomatillo Salsa, Sundrops, Coorgi Pork Curry and Gujerati Sem

Solstice? Summer?  What is that?  We have barely seen peaks of the sun in the last 21 days, never mind on the day with the most daylight. Those sundrops are the brightest thing I've seen in days.  They practically scream out in the garden against all the gray skies and greenery.  A friend is in Iceland as we speak, I hope her solstice is going better than ours, I sent her off with a warning to watch Bourdain's episode and not to eat the fermented shark.  It's so cold around here and damp that I was even tempted to light a fire today, but mine would have been to keep warm, not to keep the witches away or the faeries and spirits. 

Instead of lamenting the distinctly English summer we are having here in New England I decided to dream of warmer and sunnier places and cook up some hot Indian for dinner tonight.

First I put a boatload of tomatillo, plum tomato, serrano chile, poblano and garlic under the broiler until they were nicely blistered.

I turned them into a salsa that will get a diced, rinsed white onion and become Mexican rice and something else Monday night, Sunday is all about prep for the week.  I roasted husbands lemon chicken for his sandwiches as well.

Next I popped the spices in my pan to toast them for the curry.

There aren't too many pork recipes in Indian cuisine, as you would imagine, but Goa and Coorg had some leftover Portuguese influence and some Christians kicking around so the occasional recipe crops up.  I could have made a Vindaloo, but husband really hates vinegar, which I could drink by the quart, so I made this one instead with tamarind and a bit of coconut milk, garlic, onion, ginger paste and those nice spices all ground up.  I'll make his favourite green beans (Gujerati sem) with loads of mustard seeds, garlic and chile and I have a bunch of diced potatoes kicking around upstairs so I'm trying to find a dry aloo recipe to put them to use, maybe sookhe aloo.  I'm hoping that we can at least generate a sweat on this 60oddF day in "summer". 

Remind me of this day in august when I'm bitching about the unbearable heat would you?

New England Clam Chowder

Last week my friend and former culinary school cohort Brian wrote about some nasty, NASTY dehydrated clam, pot noodle concoction.  Many of us weighed in on not only how disgusting the thought of eating it was, but about other evil atrocities like clam chowder that includes tomatoes (no, just no! - have cioppino instead please) and noodles.  The horror of that Styrofoam contained monstrosity triggered my instincts to right the world's wrongs by making some clam chowder today for dinner.  I mean, what else does one think of when they live in New England and the landscape has been white since two weeks before Christmas, white snow, salt white roads and cars, white, white, WHITE, snowblindness.  Oh and did I mention that it was 2 degrees F when we awoke this morning?  Yea, chowder it is.

Oh look at the 6:00 PM heat wave!

Now I'm not writing this recipe to inform Brian on making good clam chowder.  He needs no help, not only has he been down the path of culinary lessons, but folks he's from Maine and there is an unspoken rule that you come out of the womb knowing how to make clam chowder and how to find a mean Whoopie pie.  I'm putting this recipe here because I really don't know why anyone would buy clam chowder in a can or frozen because really, if there is an easier soup to make I don't know what it is. 

I called my favourite local fishmonger Captain Marden's this morning to find out if they had fresh chopped chowder clams and of course they did. 

But really, there is ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with using clams in a can.  Nope there is NO shame there.  I also picked up some of their fish stock, fumet if your feeling all food snotty or French, sure I could make it myself by asking for some heads and frames of a non-oily fish and about 30 minutes of my time, but this is fish stock from a major fish store that wholesales to local restaurants, if their fish stock isn't good shame on them and i assure you, it IS good.

On my trail of errands I also picked up some bottled clam juice.  A pantry staple in this house that I use liberally whenever making fish based soups or steaming mussels, or making clams with linguine.  Cheap and so useful.  I recommend every cupboard have a bottle or two.  I'm not asking you to drink clamato here people, but you will find yourself using it far more often than you think.

Now another traditional aspect of clam chowder is salt pork.  Maybe it is just because I live here in New England, but I can always find salt pork in my local grocery store, generally somewhere near the bacon.  It keeps for a long time and if you check each package you can find one that has lots of streaks of meat and good chunks of fat.  As you would expect from the name it IS salty, but it adds a depth of flavour to clam chowder that is necessary.  Bacon, is an option that others have used as a substitute, but in my mind the smoked flavour of bacon is not right for this chowder.  You want the pork, the salt, but not the smoke or the often added flavourings that come along with bacon like maple or pepper.  If you do find salt pork, it will freeze well, so don't worry that you won't use the portion you find in the store, it keeps for a long time. Oh, and as an added bonus in these lean times, it is cheap as chips as they say.

I happened to have some guanciale in the fridge.  What, you don't have friends who buy you cured pork products as gifts?!?  My friend Renee bought me a full package of Niman Ranch guanciale (cured, salted pig jowls) for a Christmas present this year AND she wrapped it in a snazzy red box with a ribbon.  Doesn't everyone want a friend like her? 

There are a few heretical things I do with this recipe for purists.  First I use Yukon Gold potato since they hold together AND they allow me to freeze and reheat my chowder without them falling apart and turning to mush. 

Second, I add flour to my onions to thicken my chowder.  Yukons may retain their shape, but they are not as starchy as a Russet and I am not using the ancient tradition of thickening with crushed up hard tack crackers, so I use some flour to give it body.  I use the fish stock I mention above along with clam juice.  Some purists would only use the juice from steaming open the clams.  Whole clams that they steamed open, shucked and chopped themselves.  Is life not too short people?

Okay here is the recipe..simple and quick, what more could you want? And don't bitch about the cream, you aren't eating this every night for heavens sake!

New England Clam Chowdah (Chowder for you non native speakers)

2 ounces salt pork or guanciale, diced

2 cups Spanish onion minced fairly fine

4 TBS flour

4 cups fish stock

8 ounces bottled clam juice

1.5 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced into chunks between 1/4 and 1/2-inch depending on your preference.

2 cups of chopped fresh chowder clams (or equivalent canned, drained with juice reserved and used as part of the toatl clam juice, fish stock amounts)

2 cups half and half OR 1 cup heavy cream and 1 cup whole milk

Salt, to taste

In a large, heavy pot slowly render the guanciale or salt pork.

Remove the cracklings and set them aside, serve them sprinkled on top of your chowder, if you can resist eating them as you cook.

Slowly cook the diced onions in the fat for about 6 - 10 minutes, stirring frequently, you don't want colour here, more like a sweat, in fact for part of the time I cook them on very low heat with a lid on.

Stir in the flour and cook, stirring, for 2-3  minutes.

Add the fish stock and clam juice, stir or whisk to remove any lumps

Add the diced potatoes and then bring the liquid to a boil, turn it down a bit and then simmer until the potatoes are cooked through, about 15 minutes.

Lower the heat substantially and stir in the reserved clams and cream/milk mixture or half and half.

Allow this to come up to temperature very slowly being careful to not bring it to a boil.  Now taste and add some salt.  I think I ended up with 1 - 2 tsp in the end.  Don't panic people, again, look how much liquid we have here!  Add some, taste, let it simmer gently.  Taste, season again.  Heck, add some cracked black pepper if that's how you roll.  Just no tomatoes..PLEASE.

Oh...and I bought a new book today.  More details later.

LP Bisson & Sons Meat ,Topsham ME

When I was up in Maine with Mom last she told me about this new meat market they discovered in Topsham.  They are looking for land to build a house and finally relocate from VA to Maine permanently to be near the summer house and closer to all of us.
Since rte 295 was still closed I took the detour on 201 and decided to stop in to check out LP Bisson.
Take Meadow Road which is right off 201 in Topsham and just look for the power lines and the cows and you will be close. 

It was a bit odd to see the cows out grazing near the power lines, but they seemed perfectly content and barely gave me a second glance when I wandered over to take their picture.

On the opposite side of the street is a much larger field and enormous birds swooping around overhead in the thermals that I believe were turkey buzzards.

The shop is clean and quaint and gives off a real old fashioned vibe. The room is lined with cases of meat all raised, slaughtered and butchered on site. 

There are pictures of the family from the 1940's and an aerial view of the farm arranged around the tops of the cases. 

Bisson raises their own cows, but they also raise pigs but can't produce enough pork to keep up with demand so they do bring in some pork from Canada. 
I was tempted by the cases and I bought some of their house made kielbasa, bacon and I almost came home with one or their whole smoked chickens.  Just as i wsa headed out the door I spotted a case with their own raw milk so I brought husband home a pint of their raw chocolate milk.
You can choose what you want out of the case or make a special request and watch them prepare it in the room off to the side.

I happened to arrive just as he was breaking down a section and I watched him work for awhile while we chatted.

Not only is Bisson a meat market but they are also the local abattoir.  I asked when their busy season was and he said there were a couple times a year when things really got busy.  People were already starting to book for their home reared animals to be brought in for the fall.  There is a sign on the wall explaining all the costs for breaking down the animal along with an admonishment that if you don't pick up your meat when you say you will storage fees will be charged!

If you're in this neck of the woods, stop by Bisson some time, and don't worry Ballards, I'm never going to leave you, but I may stop by here once in awhile.

LP Bisson and Sons
112 Meadow Road
Topsham, ME

Chanterelle

I drove up to Maine this week to hang up with my mom for a few days.  I had the week off and she is staying up there for a month. Our menfolk had to work.  I'm not sure if you have heard but it has been raining.  A lot.  That is not an understatement.

However I would like to show you the rewards of all this rain.

I picked these in about 15 minutes around our house and if the road verges weren't like small rivers when I left this morning I'd have at least a half a pound more and some lobster mushrooms. 

Since our little holiday was a washout Mom took me on the local gourmet tour of Maine.  I'll show you a few of my finds later.

Meanwhile, what should I do with those lovely chanterelle mushrooms?

A Big Fat Goose Egg

You have heard me mention Wicken Fen before.  I adore their eggs.  I stopped by Formaggio last week on my between Cambridge and create a cook and miraculously there was a parking space.  After doing a happy dance in my truck as I parked, I whizzed in for a quick dash and grab.  I had hoped to pick up some more duck eggs, which we have had and adored before, but this time all they had were quail and goose.  Really, really BIG goose eggs.

Look how big!

That egg on the left is a JUMBO egg from The Country Hen, that is as big as chicken eggs get.  That goose egg dwarfs it.  husband took one look at the egg and asked if I was trying to kill him with cholesterol.  I assured him this was a one off and I just wanted to try the egg to see how it tastes.
On Sunday I made him an egg, along with that Jumbo egg you see above.  The goose was for husband, the jumbo was for the pooper.  She gets 1 egg a week for her coat.

Just look at the two in the pan.

So, you ask, how did it taste.  Well, perhaps this method of cooking is not the best way to cook a goose egg.  The whites are rather, ummm, rubbery.  Very bouncy and rather thick.  In fact, you can literally remove the entire yolk from the cooked egg without it appearing to affect the white at all.  Having said that about the whites, the yolks taste fantastic!

I know that The Country Hen likely adds some sort of fish meal to the hens in order to get the high omega 3 ratings in the eggs.  This means the eggs don't exactly TASTE like fish, but they do have a slight undercurrent of fish to them.  Don't get me wrong, these are our go to, non-battery, free roaming, store bought eggs of choice, but they are a wee bit fishie.

The goose yolk, on the other hand, tasted amazingly good, much like the eggs we get from 'the egg lady' in Maine.  Her chickens roam about and peck and scratch and eat what they like and her eggs taste fabulous.  Would I repeat the goose egg?  not likely, but you can bet I will be back for the duck eggs, and maybe try the quail while I am at it.

Smoked Trout and Duxbury Oyster Chowder

I confess here that I never used to enjoy a variety of fish.  I was strictly a swordfish, tuna and cod kind of girl, but over the last couple of years I have made a concerted effort to branch out.  Trout was one of the fish I never thought I would like, but recently I have come to love it. 

One of the things that I have always loved was smoked foods. ANYTHING smoked = good. I cannot tolerate salmon cooked, but smoked salmon is heaven.  Smoked salt, smoked paprika, I love my single malt scotch all peaty and smoked and Islay bound. Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Caol Ila, Ardbeg all heaven, like drinking the essence of a fire.

During the summer I started picking up packages of Duck Trap smoked fish for cocktail hour because my stepdad is a big fan.  He loves the smoked mackerel, which I like as well, but my favourite is the smoked trout.  I had picked up a package in Trader Joe's a week ago and an idea for a chowder had been simmering in the back of my mind.

Yesterday out on my travels after cutting off 12 inches of my hair off and buying new clothes...what else do you do after a major haircut(?), I swung by the Whole Foods on the Winchester line and picked up some Duxbury Oysters and a few other ingredients and headed home.  Oh and in case your interested...they had cardoons!  I never, ever see cardoons.  I'm going to read up first and then go back and get some of them to try.  Anyway, back to the chowder.  While I was driving home I realised that the one tool I do not posses is an oyster knife. 

I was doing a mental inventory of husbands tools and trying to figure out how the heck I was going to open those oysters without stabbing my palm and bleeding all over them. When I spied a small knife, rather like a cheese knife in one of my drawers, you can see it in the top right of the photo above, so I wrapped each oyster in a dish towel folded thick and began to wedge away at the hinge.  It took a few tries on some of the beasts, but as you can see in the bowl I have a nice supply of oysters and the glorious liquor with them. 

When I went to start my chowder base I also remembered that I had a great fat medium in the meat drawer.  Instead of the typical salt pork or blanched bacon that most chowder bases use, I was going to use guanciale.  I picked mine up at Russo's a few weeks ago, but Bill over at John Dewar in Newton has told me that he will start carrying it again soon. Guanciale, for the uninitiated is cured pig cheek.  Like salt pork, it can be too salty to cook without removing some of the surface salt, so I did blanch it for a few seconds in boiling water. The flavour is much more intense and tasty compared to salt pork and it is the true product to use if you are making an authentic carbonara.  Don't worry, if you make this chowder you can use bacon, pancetta or salt pork, whatever you like or can find, I just happened to have some guanciale around.

I hit the fridge, grabbed some more ingredients and the chowder was off.  I was really pleased with the result, base not too thick, plenty of smokiness from the trout, a hint of the Mediterranean with saffron and briny sea from the oysters all in about 30 minutes.  Go on try it, let me know what you think.

Smoked Trout and Duxbury Oyster Chowder

6 Duxbury Oysters, cleaned, shucked (keep the liquid - the liquor)

1 8 oz package of Smoked Trout, I prefer Duck Trap, skin removed and pieces broken up by hand into various sized chunks

1 ounce guanciale, chopped into small cubes and blanched in boiling water for 30 seconds, drain

1 leek, rinsed well, sliced into thin half moons

1 bunch of scallions, white and green kept separate (they go in at different times)

2 TBS flour

2 TBS chopped chives

4 cups fish fumet (if you can't find bones to make your own fish stock, substitute clam juice from the grocery store or seek out a good fishmonger, mine sells house made fish fumet(stock) frozen)

4 ounces heavy cream, I prefer HighLawn Farm as theirs is NOT Ultra Pasteurized which really ruins cream for cooking, plus it tastes amazing

1 pinch of saffron threads crushed in the palm of your hand or in a mortar and pestle

kosher salt and pepper to taste

In a large saucepan, over medium heat, sauté the guanciale until it begins to render some of the fat and the pieces begin to crisp up. When the pieces are uniformly browned, add the leek and stir.  Toss in 2 TBS water and cook, stirring occasionally, until the leeks have softened.  Add the white scallion pieces and stir again. Cook for 2 minutes and add the chopped chive and green scallion tops and stir again.  Sprinkle over the flour and stir everything well, cooking for 1 minute.  Now pour in your fish fumet, clam juice or fish stock and cream and stir, turn up the heat to medium-high and bring to a high simmer or even a low boil (180 - 212) stirring occasionally.  The base should begin to thicken slightly.  Turn the heat down to low and add the saffron threads and the smoked trout, put on a lid and cook over very low heat for 10 minutes to allow the fish to warm and the taste to permeate the chowder base.  Taste your chowder, add salt and pepper to season it and if the fish still hasn't permeated everything, put the lid back on and cook for 5 more minutes.  Just before serving, taste a final time and adjust seasonings and add the oysters.  These will cook in about a minute, so don't leave it long on the stove after they go in.

Serve with a nice crusty bread and a bottle of Conclass Rueda - 2006.  So good.

Thanksgiving: Sausage and Dried Sour Plum Stuffing

Happy Thanksgiving!  I trust that you are all deep in the throes of cooking or talking or fighting with siblings or ensconced in a football toss in the front lawn or any number of family and holiday related events.
It's just husband and I here today.  Later we'll take the pooper to the local dog park for a stroll around and then we'll have dinner much later this afternoon.  I hope that you all have a happy and safe Thanksgiving and report, in detail of course, on the things you made.

Breakfast
Well, the duck eggs were delicious!  The yolks were enormous and deep yellow with very little white. We both agreed we would happily buy them again, the nest inside the box was of fresh hay and the smell was so amazing.
I cooked one beside an extra large egg from The Country Hen (our usual egg source) for size comparison.

Before I tell you about the stuffing I want to talk about those two amazing ingredients you see at the top of the page.
The first thing I fell in love with recently was the 8 Brix.  I picked it up on a whim at Russo's when I was planning on making a roast vegetable salad.  I thought I would use it as a base for my vinaigrette.  When I got home and opened the bottle I put some on a teaspoon to taste it and OH MY GOODNESS that stuff made my taste buds  jump with joy.
It tastes like jammy essence of raisin with a slight tang of vinegar.  If you have ever tasted those raisins that you can buy sometimes that are still on the vine the taste is just BIGGER than any other raisin you have ever tasted.  8 Brix is like that in a bottle.  It hails from Canada and the label itself says moût de raisins or grape must.  I will NOT tell you how much the bottle cost or the fact that the bottle was double stickered and the sticker under the price I paid was half of what I ended up paying.  But you Internet savvy folks can find it somewhere else cheaper I am sure.  Trust me here, I can think of dozens of uses for this nectar.  Buy Some.

The other item I found at Formaggio when I was waiting for my cheeses at the wall o' cheese.  It's a lovely verjuice from Barossa Valley in Australia.  Verjuice(Verjus) is the juice of unfermented grapes or sour grapes.  This one has a nice soft acidity and it works perfectly in sauces or dressings.  There are even a few podcasts on the site from Maggie talking about verjuice that are worth a watch.

Sausage Stuffing with dried sour plums and verjus

Stuffing base is made with some sausage that came in my Stillman's Meat CSA.  What?  I hadn't mentioned the meat CSA?  Ah...all of that later my dears, today we talk about Thanksgiving.

Big Ox Farm: From Seed to Plate

Yesterday I ventured out West on rte 2A a bit to Concord to meet Peter Merrill, farmer and jack of all trades, at his new place Big Ox Farm.

Peter, along with his wife Meg are former graduates of The Cambridge School of Culinary Arts. Peter went on to work in the kitchens at Sel de La Terre for a few years before he decided that he would like to actually be outdoors occasionally and work during the day instead of at night - ah the life of a baker.  He chose a local farm school program to attend and after finishing the course he looked around to see how he could start out with very little capitol, but a lot of love for what he does.

The 30 acre farm resides on protected lands that are part of the Minuteman National Parks and as such he must follow some very strict rules about how the land is used.  Since they consider the soil from 18" down to be the 'architectural shelf' and everything must remain as it was in 1775, they can't dig in fence posts or lay irrigation lines.  He has to really think outside the traditional farming methods in order to house, feed and raise his heritage breed cattle, pigs and poultry on 27 acres and raise produce on the other 3 acres.

We met him at the first fenced in area you see above.  Those lovely sheep (SHEEP!!) are part of a UMASS Amherst research project that is being tested to see if using sheep to graze off and kill invasive species of plants such us purple loosestrife,  bittersweet and other plants is a viable option.  The sheep are corralled behind solar powered electric fencing that is moved to a new spot every few weeks.  Once they clear an area, and boy do they clear an area, the fences are easily relocated and then they wait to see if the plants die off completely or return to the area.

The sheep are a Border Leicester and Dorset cross.  He said that sheep are generally easy to care for and you really only need to worry about worms and fly strike.  Peter shears, does their hooves and provides all required shots himself.  He said it takes about 3 hours to do the hooves of about 30 sheep. 

After we chatted at length about the sheep, we headed across the street to see his tractor and the produce field. 

Several of us had already read his website which goes on at length about all the troubles he has had with this tractor and we started grilling him on why he keeps it around.  The tractor is a 1953 Ford Jubilee, created by Ford to celebrate their 50th anniversary, why a car company built a tractor as a celebration none of us were sure. Peter told us that one thing that kills most farmers in their first year or two is borrowing too much money to pay for loads of specialized equipment.  The tractor, he said,  was free.  It had a tree growing up through the middle of it, but that didn't deter Peter.  He's good with his hands and knows a few things about engines so he rebuilt it top to bottom.  The lovely double sink he found over on the side of the field is resting on the disc harrow one of only two tools he uses to cultivate the 3 acre field, the other is a plow. Also sitting in the double sink is his ox yoke.  He said he was going to try and convince the ox to come over to the field, but he's rather ornery and tends to do things when and the way he chooses.

In this field he mostly grows baby lettuce, mustard greens, kale, green beans, radish and beets.  All of this produce is sold back to Sel De La Terre and T.W. Food in Cambridge as well as the lamb, pork and chicken after a meeting with his abattoir, Blood Farm in Groton.

Next we met my favourite residents, although not for long, they are set to be dispatched in a few weeks time, Matilda and Sadie.  They only have names because Peter thought he was going to keep them and use Matilda as breed stock, but she had three chances and none of them worked out.  He said it is easier to purchase 10 piglets at a time from Codman farms and then he can plan their arrival date and the number of piglets far easier than wondering when a pregnant sow would drop and how many would arrive.  These lovely and smart pigs are Tamworth.  Tamworth are a heritage breed of pig that was set for extinction when their numbers dropped to around 200 several years ago.  Since then, farmers have realised how valuable these pigs are because they have one interesting feature.  They don't sunburn.  This means Peter can leave these guys out in the fields to roam free eat bugs and worms and roots, rut around the produce fields after he has let things go to seed and they don't need shelter.  When we arrived these guys were both laying over on the other side of the field next to their water.  All Peter had to do was yell "hey piggies" and those two girls got up and ran over.  What were they after?  Ear scratches.

As we grilled Peter with questions about Matilda's weight, 600 pounds, and how much she would yield in meat, about 400 pounds as well as her age, about 8 months the lovely Matilda dropped down for a nap.

We left her snoozing and went to look at the chickens in Peter's cobbled together range coop. 

Most of the residents had been dispatched the day before, but he saved a few to show us how the range coop works and to talk to us about how he raises them.  The chickens are a Cornish and Leghorn cross.  Later he would like to raise heritage breeds as well as ducks and geese, but right now he is trying to not take on too much.  Remember this is a two man band running this operation and he works part time at B&R artisan bread, Sel de la Terre's baking outpost in Framingham as well!  The coop moves along a bit every day by lifting the side up and placing an old two wheeler underneath, Peter then hauls it over a bit to find some fresh grass and bugs and all the chickens made little noises of excitement when they were relocated.

I'm already plotting how many chicks I can ask Peter to raise for me. 

Everything here is raised eating from the local environment, he uses very little feed to supplement any of the livestocks diet.  Sadly I had to leave to meet a friend in Concord centre so I missed going over to the other fields to see the cattle and that ornery ox, but I'll be back.  Peter says come by anytime, this is public land and part of a public park system, I'm sure he'd be pretty happy to show you around.

Big Ox Farm
955 Lexington Road, Concord MA