Corn and Lobster Chowder

Corn and Lobster Chowder

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Corn-and-Lobster-Chowder-106800

Soup is one of those dishes that can be made quickly in a pinch - store bought broth and precut or frozen vegetables definitely speed up the process. Last night I had the luxury of breaking a soup into its individual parts, and pulling as much flavor as possible out of each of those components. Was the difference noticeable? Who knows. I can tell you the personal satisfaction was significant.

This is a simple recipe. Start with a fat, add onions, add stock and aromatics, add more vegetables, top with lobster. Season to taste. Done.

Or not. Start by thinking about the stock. The recipe calls for chicken broth - but this is corn and lobster soup - no chicken in the name. It makes sense to use chicken broth - it adds some richness without overpowering the other flavors, but its the other flavors that are so important to the soup. So - to increase the corn flavor, I cooked the corn on the cob, cut off the kernals and tossed the cobs in the broth. All of that milky corn sweetness was transferred to the broth.

As for the lobster, I am a chicken. I hate it that I don't have the guts to throw the lobster in the pot myself, and have to ask the fish monger at the store to be my lobster hit man, but there it is. I had two lobsters steamed and brought them home. As delicious as the meat is, the shells and juices are equally valuable. I opend up the lobsters over the broth, draining all the delicious juices into the pot, salvaged the sweet meat and threw the shells in the stock to add as much briny seafood flavor as possible. The chicken broth is now but a memory - adding lovely color and richness, but truly overshadowed by lobster and corn.

And the rest goes back to being simple. The fresher and sweeter the corn, the better. Fresh off the cob can't be beat - every bite ends in sweetness. I used red bell pepper instead of yellow to add a bit of color - since the soup isn't pureed color consistency is not a major issue. I also used very thinly sliced leek instead of scallions - just what was on hand. I didn't add any heat, but next time I think I will throw in a bit of cayenne - if the corn is sweet enough, it really can stand up to it, and the half and half will help with the balance. Too hot and the corn will be lost though, so it will be important to taste as I add. A handful of chopped parsley (added after I pulled the shells and cobs out)added more color, flavors and a bit of thickening to the soup. The flat leaf was the right choice for this soup - curly would have been too peppery.

Finally, season to taste. Possibly the least helphul phrase known to man. I added smoked salt and pepper. Tasted, added a bit more smoked salt, until I was at about two teaspoons. Probably could have added a bit more, but the smokiness was tastable, and I hadn't overtaken the sweetness of the stock, so I quit while I was ahead.

Start to finish, this version took about two hours (and one glass of wine). I would say, with store stock, lobster tales and frozen corn, probably you could cut it to an hour and the results will be fine. As for the satisfaction...

Beef, Borscht and Beyond

Beef Borscht

My earliest memories of borscht are my Mom taking the container of purple liquid with the occasional beet chunk out of the refrigerator, adding some hard boiled egg, and pouring it in a bowl. It is a wonder I ever tried borscht again.

Many years later, a neighbor of ours, freshly immigrated from Moscow, served me a warm version of that same purple concoction. This time, however, the soup was rich and velvety, brimming with melt in your mouth beef and bright, fragrant herbs. And so began my love affair with beets and borscht.

The recipe I finally have settled on starts with short ribs. I used boneless - that's all they had at the store, but on the bone would add more flavor. I browned the ribs and then simmered them in beef stock with cloved onions and dill for an hour and then with beets, tomatoes, potato, carrots, leek, caraway seeds, chicken stock and water for another hour. This time I added beer to deglaze the skillet after browning the ribs - I'm happy to report the beer added a yeasty flavor that complimented the caraway nicely. I finished the soup with lemon juice, fresh dill, salt and pepper and topped each bowlful with a dollop of sour cream.

And now for the beyond. What to do with the leftovers. The easy answer is - eat them. But when you have leftover horseradish mashed potatoes too, you start to get creative. My solution - pull the solids out of the soup and place in a casserole dish. Cook down the soup liquid to a syrup and pour over the solids. Mix in fresh chopped dill and top with the horseradish mashed potatoes. Voila - Psychedelic Shepherd's Pie.

Smoky Black Bean Soup

Smoky Black Bean Soup

I'm getting smarter - I've learned to set the picture up before I put the sour cream in top - because once the cream hits the hot soup, you have about a nanosecond to take the picture before a dollop becomes an octopus.

I also picked up a couple of new soup bowls for a change of pace - the one in the photo was $3.99 at IKEA. The quality is decent, and the price was right!

This was also an easy soup to make - to speed up the process, I brought the beans and cold water to a boil, then turned off the heat and let them sit covered for an hour. This is a good method if you don't have time for an over night soak.

The soup gets its smoky flavor from the hamhock. The usual suspects - leeks, carrots, onions and celery are browned, then the ham hock, beans thyme and bay leaves are cooked with chicken broth and water (about 6 cups of liquid)- simmering for about 2 1/2 hours. Make sure the beans are always covered in liquid during the simmering process. I used a highly seasoned broth made from the carcus of a chicken I had roasted. (This is a great way to get the most out of whole roast chicken. Roast the bird, carve it, and then cover the carcus with water and boil it. It is not the long process you have when you start with raw parts - but it also only makes about four cups of broth.)

Once the beans are tender, add in crushed tomatoes and hot sauce to taste (I used a chipotle hot sauce for a little Tex Mex dimension). Cook for another 15 minutes, adjust salt, add more hot sauce? and throw half of it in the blender. Add it back in the pot, taste it again and serve. Personally, I like a bit of sour cream on top, and a bit of cilantro adds color and compliments the chipotle hot sauce. Oh, and a ice cold bottle of Yeungling beer!

Beef Borscht

Great winter soup. This one hits most of the senses - the color is beautiful, the flavor has the richness of beef, garlic mixed with the sweetness of the beets and the tangyness of dill and lemon. The aroma will fill the entire house.

No real recipe is necessary here - just some basic soup making approaches -

Start with a meat base - I used beef short ribs, but I'm sure chuck or shank would work well too - I do like using meat with bones - you get the added flavor from the marrow. The key is in the browning - I used butter in a cast iron skillet and got all sides nice and brown.

Next step, start to braise the meat - I used beef broth - I imagine water would work for cost savings, but the beef broth does add richness. Especially cooking beef in it - even the store bought stock that is usually just made with bones (maybe they pass a tray of beef near it when it is cooking) will be fine because it is infused with the beef flavor. I added onion with cloves, garlic and dill for flavor and let it simmer for an hour. I used an enameled cast iron soup pot, just big enough to keep the meat totally submerged in liquid, and covered the pot.

Next came the veggies - carrots, leeks, potatoes, tomatoes and beets (I'm thinking fennel might be nice too - any root vegetables would be fine - just nothing so strong that it overpowers the beets) as well as chicken broth (I used homemade brown broth, again for richness - but store bought would work fine) and caraway seeds - make sure you have about 10 cups of liquid all told - if as its simmering it cooks down add a little more. You could probably use water - just to keep it around ten cups. I also add a bit of tomato paste because we like tomatoey soups! (One note - because I wanted the meat submerged in the last step, I had to switch pots when adding the extra ingredients - one more pot to wash, but the meat turned out really tender).

After another hour of simmering, let it cool, shred the meat and return it to the soup. Toss the cloved onion (I quartered mine for ease of removal). The best situation at this point is to put the whole deal in the fridge, let the flavors meld and easily get the congealed fat off the top. Because the meat is fatty, there will be a good bit of grease which does nothing for the soup eating experience. If you can't wait, and must have the soup right away, strain the liquid and put it in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. Then you should be able to skim the fat off the top. A gravy skimmer will work too - I actually used both methods last night just to be sure.

Finally, when you are ready to enjoy your soup, add more fresh dill (or whatever prevalent herb you are using - I am definitely trying fennel next time instead of dill, fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper. You might also decide to add sugar for balance - that is a taste as you go sort of thing. I also topped the soup with sour cream.

Pumpkin Apple Soup with Duck

Pumpkin apple soup with duck topping at Clyde's Restaurant in Rockville, MD. The pumpkin was pureed very smooth, the apple was diced and still fairly supple. The soup was well seasoned with a mild bite to it. All of the flavors were well balanced. Personally, I would have preferred the apple as puree also, with some diced apple as topping - the small diced pieces of apple made the consistency less pleasant.
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