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New England Clam Chowder Style Po-Boy

Bread, Delicious, Game Day, Kids, Onions, Sandwiches, Sauce, Seafood - No Comments » - Posted on January, 29 at 9:16 am

For the last week or so I have been thinking about New England clam chowder. I could not get my mind off of it, but then as I was flipping channels late one night, I came across a cooking show that had featured a place called The Clam Shack. This place had people lined up for his food, and one that everyone was ordering was the fried clams. Right then and there, I thought to my myself, I could come up with my take on a clam chowder but tuck it into a sandwich! Genius, and genius it was.

Recipe for New England Clam Chowder Po-boy
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Now keep in mind I use the term po-boy for this recipe, and I will use it lightly. I say that only to the fact that this po-boy is not “dressed”, meaning, it is not slathered with mayonnaise and topped with tomatoes and thinly sliced lettuce.

As my wife was gone this past week, this was an opportunity for me to get my food on. As my kids were begging for me to make calamari, this was prime time to bring my clam chowder style sandwich into the spotlight, and wow, am I glad that I did.

Let’s get started.

(Makes One Sandwich)

Ingredients: [Print this Recipe]

Ingredients for Bechamel Sauce:

To make the bechamel sauce, add the butter to a sauce pan and let it melt on medium heat. Once it starts to bubble, add in the flour, and begin to stir, incorporating the butter into the flour. It will form somewhat of a paste, but don’t worry. Your goal is to let the flour cook, stirring along the way, for about 3 minutes. Slowly add in the milk, and begin whisking, on medium heat, for about 5 minutes. Whisk the entire time. The flour will begin to thicken and make a nice cream sauce. Add in the salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Give a good stir, then remove from the heat.

To a medium pot, add in the canola oil, and bring it to a medium heat. Your goal is to get the oil to about 375 degrees.

To another pot add the cubed potatoes, and fill with just enough water to cover them. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and cook for about 8-10 minutes or until they are fork tender. Drain, and return the potatoes back to the pot.

During this time, prepare all of the ingredients as cooking the clams goes very fast, so you will want to be ready , keeping in mind that you will cook all of the clams in a few batches.

Let me pause here to give a good warning here. The goal is to make the sandwich. This is the ultimate goal. HOWEVER, when you remove the fried clams from the oil, and season with a bit of salt, YOU WILL TRY A FEW. Again, the goal is to make the sandwich. I will admit, that when I seasoned the first batch of clams and let them drain a bit on paper, and had that first bite, I was in heaven, and I began eating them like popcorn! So, if you can, stay focused!

To a bowl, add the buttermilk along with the egg, and give it a good mix.

To another bowl add the masa harina, flour, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper, giving that a good mix.

Add a handful of the clams to the buttermilk mixture, and while using your hands, make sure there are no clumps. Get the buttermilk spread evenly on the clams. Let them sit in there for a couple of minutes.

Ingredients for making a Fried Clam Po-Boy

When your oil is ready, with a slotted spoon, remove the clams, letting the buttermilk drain back into the buttermilk bowl, then add them to the flour mixture. Using one of your hands, begin tossing the clam strips all around, making sure they do not clump up, and that all of the flour mixture is evenly distributed onto the clams. If you can, separate them, shaking off access flour, and place them on a tray or plate.

Add them to the hot oil, and begin frying. These will go extremely fast, about 1-2 minutes. Once golden brown, remove them with a large slotted spoon, or spider if you have one, letting the oil drain back into the pot, and add them to a wire strainer lined with paper. Season with salt.

Repeat until all of the clams are cooked.

Now let’s build that sandwich! You still have clams left right?

Slice your bread, lengthwise, but not all of the way through.

To the bottom, add the cubed potatoes. Drizzle with the Tabasco sauce, all along the potatoes. Top the potatoes with a good layer of the sliced onions. Top the onions with a heaping mound of the fried clams, then drizzle the top of the clams with the bechamel sauce.

PLEASE NOTE: If the bechamel sauce cooled up on you, simply bring it back to the stove on medium heat, add a bit more milk, water, or stock, and continue whisking until it is warmed through and easy to drizzle all over the clams.

Pinch both sides of the sandwich, open wide, and dig in. Not only is this sandwich super fun to eat, but it is everything you could think about when eating a clam chowder, but in sandwich form! You get the creamy potatoes on the base, the subtle hint of onion because they are paper thin, and the crunchy and awesome flavor from the clams. Not only that but you get the wonderful creamy bechamel sauce to boot!



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Beef Massaman Curry

Beef, Ethnic, Meat, Onions, Rice, Sauce, Soup, Stews, Thai, Vegetables - No Comments » - Posted on January, 26 at 3:16 pm

Approximately once a month, if not more, my wife and I get a real craving for a curry and coconut mixture, typically with a bit of chicken, peas, and other vegetables that is served over rice. It is a dish, especially this time of year, that is extremely comforting.  Some of my favorite Thai curry recipes basically involve a small can of curry paste that you can pick up at your local Asian store. They come in various colors, of which have different flavors, so be sure to look at the ingredients. My favorite is the red can as it packs some great heat, however they yellow curry paste, which we use in this recipe, packs these really amazing earthy flavors. Some of the ingredients include: dried chilies, shallot, garlic, fresh turmeric, lemon grass, coriander, cumin, cardamon, cinnamon, bay leaves, and cloves, among other things.  You can see where this is heading. Yep, to flavor town U.S.A. Wait, is that where I live?

Beef Massaman Curry Recipe

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Let’s get started on this simple, and comforting recipe.

Ingredients: [Print this Recipe]

You are going to treat this entire dish like a stew. It will cook low and slow for a good couple of hours, but that is OK as you will be gifted with some wonderful and tantalizing aromas during that time.

Begin by adding your cubed beef a large mixing bowl. Add in the curry paste and beging mixing the meat around, making sure the paste adheres to all of the pieces. Once done, set aside, and wash your hands with warm water and soap.

Next, heat a dutch oven if you have one, if not a heavy pot on the stove, on medium heat. Add in the oil and let it come to temperature.

Beef Massaman Recipe Ingredients

Toss in the cinnamon stick, star anise, and cardamon seeds and pods. Give a good stir.  This is probably your second great smell as the curry paste was probably the first inviting smell. Let this cook for about 3 minutes.

Toss in the shallots and the onions and give another good stir. Let this cook, stirring a few times along the way, for about 5 minutes.

Next, toss in the curried meat mixture, turning up the heat to a medium high. and give a good stir. Cook, untouched for about two minutes. Add in the chicken stock, and the coconut milk. Give another good stir.

Let this come to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and let it cook for about 1 1/2 hours.

Now, add in the fish sauce, brown sugar, peanuts, and the potatoes. Give a good stir, then cover again. Allow this to cook until the potatoes are fork tender. This will take about 30-40 minutes.

Give the broth a taste. Heavenly right?

Once the potatoes are cooked, the beef massaman curry is ready to serve.

To serve, add some cooked jasmine rice to a soup bowl. Using a ladle, ladle in some of the broth, potatoes, and beef over the top of the rice. Top with some more broth.

Not only the smell of this massaman curry is amazing, but I think you will agree that the flavor is also out of this world. Super tender beef, along with the chunky potatoes and onions. Well, what more do I have to say to get you make this one? Hope you enjoy.



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Croque Monsieur

Bread, Cheese, Ethnic, Game Day, Pork, Sandwiches, Sauce - 3 Comments » - Posted on January, 23 at 4:34 pm

The croque monsieur. The sibling of the croque madame. A French style sandwich that, once made, will be in your memory for a very long time. It is a sandwich unlike no other. If you were to compare it to a hot brown sandwich, as awesome and amazing as those are, it still does not compare. See there is something to be said about the crunch you get when biting into this sandwich. The nutty and sweet flavor of the Gruyère cheese, along with the smooth creaminess of the béchamel sauce really makes this sandwich stick out.

Recipe for making a Croque Monsieur
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(Serves 2)

Ingredients: [Print this Recipe]

Begin by making the béchamel sauce. Get two saucepans, and heat one on a medium low heat, and the other on medium heat. To the pan on medium, low heat, add the milk, and let it get warm. To the other pan, add the two tablespoons of butter, and let it melt down and begin to bubble a bit. Add the flour to the butter, and mix it very well to incorporate the two. Continue whisking for about two minutes, being careful not to let the flour mixture brown. Slowly add in the warm milk, and continue whisking until you everything is nice and smooth. You will whisk this for about 8-10 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Add in the salt, nutmeg, and the parmesan cheese. Give a good mix, then remove it from the heat until it is ready to be used.

Next, get a large skillet going on the stove, and bring that to a medium heat. Butter four slices of the bread, and lay them into the skillet, butter side down. The goal here is to get them nice and golden brown, without burning them. As they begin to cook, add a tablespoon of butter to two pieces of the bread. Lay down three slices of Gruyère cheese on top of the mustard, then top each with four slices of the black forest ham. Let them continue cooking on the skillet, lifting to peak every couple of minutes, until the have reached that golden brown color, and have a crunchy exterior.

Now for the assembly.

Get your broiler going on 475 degrees.

Add the slices of toasted bread to a baking sheet. Place the toasted bread on top of the bread with the mustard, cheese, and ham. Now take the bechamel sauce and generously spread it all of the top of each sandwich. Take half a cup of the Gruyère cheese and add that to the top of the bechamel sauce.

Place this under the broiler until the cheese is nice and bubbly and everything is warmed through, roughly 4-6 minutes.

Remove the sandwiches from the broiler, and place on a serving plate. Dig in!

This one is super delicious and has not left my mind since I last made it. It has that sort of impact. Trust me.



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3 Responses to “Croque Monsieur”

  1. christy Says:
    January 24th, 2012 at 1:35 pm

    so i am sitting here at my desk…starving more than i should at 11:30am…and popping on to tastespotting to torture myself…and i come across this?!! pretty evil if you ask me…that is if being evil was the best thing in the world! :) off to the kitchen to see if i can conjure something remotely similar up–thanks for the treat.

  2. Farah Says:
    January 24th, 2012 at 6:48 pm

    this looks delicious! Though one question: What substitution do you recommend for the ham? We can’t eat any pork products, so what would be a good replacement for it?

  3. Anonymous Says:
    January 25th, 2012 at 6:25 pm

    This does look yummy…
    Farah – I looked at Wikipedia and there’s a variation called Croque Norvegien that replaces the ham with smoked salmon. Would that work? Otherwise, I bet you could use any white deli meat (chicken, turkey) and call it Croque whatever you want and it would probably be just as tasty.

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