Archive for the ‘Seafood’ tag
Lambert Family Baked Stuffed Clams
This is a recipe that I grew up making after finding a recipe card for “Dicky’s Clams Casino” in my Grandmother’s recipe box. I asked my Dad to show me how to do it, and I’ve added a few touches of my own. Over the years my version of the recipe has been refined and solidified, and I make it the same way each summer. It’s very close to my Dad’s recipe, but I’ve modified a few things. I think they’re the best baked stuffed clams I’ve ever eaten. You can try making them and be the judge. The stuffing proportions are approximations, since I just eyeball it every time, but I think they should be pretty close.
Spaghetti with Seared Scallops, Lemon, Garlic, Parsley and White Wine
This is the type of dish that I love cooking on the Cape. One fresh local seafood ingredient, paired with the most straightforward flavors and cooking methods, cooked up after a day at the beach. You can feed a hungry group of people in 20 minutes, start to finish. Serve it with some crusty bread and a good white wine, and you’re in business.
Classic Cape Broiled Cod
Cape Cod got its name from the incredibly abundant codfish that lived offshore, which were fished from the 1600′s all through the turn of the century in traditional wooden boats, back when men were men and the sea was God. The history of Cape Cod is steeped in this fish, which when salted and dried provided long-lasting food for the trans-Atlantic voyages that eventually resulted in the formation of the colonies, and thus our country. Salted cod stew fed many a sailor on those long and lonely passages, I’m sure. In keeping with tradition, you can’t come to Cape Cod and not have a traditional broiled codfish dinner. Simple ingredients, simple preparation, and a wonderful meal.
Fresh Cape Cod Steamers
Le Chef’s blog is coming to you from Cape Cod this week, where I will be cooking a few of my favorite local Cape Cod foods. For those of you who don’t know me, I grew up coming to the Cape for the summers, and a lot of my early food experiences involved catching my own food and learning how to cook it. This weekend, while on the flats at First Encounter beach in Eastham, MA, we dug a nice little bucket of steamers to have as an appetizer for our the start of Memorial Day Weekend.
Cold Avocado Soup with Lobster and Scallions
Last weekend I got together with a number of the New York Food52 members for a potluck picnic in Central Park. Elina (a.k.a. The Naked Beet) organized a wonderful get together on Sheep’s Meadow, with great turnout and amazing food. My contribution was a cold avocado soup with lobster and scallions.
How to Eat (or…pick the meat from) a Lobster
In the vein of learning to deal with crustaceans, I am posting a step-by-step guide to breaking down a lobster. In this case I am removing the meat to serve with a soup, so the photos are from that process (instead of using lobster crackers on the claws, I’m using a rolling pin like a hammer). However, the general ideas of how to eat a lobster still apply, so this guide can be used by anyone who has never eaten a lobster, or anyone who wants to get every last morsel of tasty meat out of that shell.
Fresh Morels with Soft Shell Crab and Crispy Carapace
Today when I went to the store and saw what was available, I felt obligated to create a dish using the two freshest, most indulgent and seasonal ingredients I could find: fresh morels, and live soft shell crabs. What emerged is my springtime take on the classic crab stuffed mushroom, with a twist:
Whiting Croquettes with Truffled Tartar Sauce
Yesterday at the store I came across an ugly, often overlooked fish: the whiting. When I say “often overlooked” I say this because I never even give them a second glance at the fish counter. They’re small and ugly. They don’t have enough meat to be able to fillet them and cook them as a meal. I decided that I should give this fish a chance, and I picked one out to try as an experiment. This is one of those recipes that goes under the “just crazy enough to work” category.
Diver Scallops, Sweet Corn Chowder Puree, Smoked Bacon
The other day I was having lunch with my friend Ned at an all-you-can-eat Indian place in Murray (a.k.a. Curry) Hill. You may remember Ned from the Pig’s Head Torchon post; he is a chef with Daniel’s catering wing. We were discussing the fine points of scallop diving over a plate of saag paneer and chicken tikka, and the conversation turned to a unique preparation for diver scallops that involved searing the whole, just shucked, still alive scallop with an iron and serving the dish using the shell as a plate. Ned’s preparation involved a cranberry beurre blanc (he was on Nantucket at the time, and fresh cranberries were in season) and the idea was incredibly intriguing. I have only been diving for scallops once, and they were the small “bay” variety, as opposed to the larger “sea” or “diver” scallops. Today I just happened to find whole diver scallops for sale at Citarella, and had to give this technique a try.
The Season Is Here: Soft Shell Crab with Sweet Corn Salad and Chipotle Aioli
Despite the recent “chill” in the air, today I stumbled across a sure sign of spring: the first batch of fresh, live, soft shell crabs at Citarella. Nothing makes me happier than a nice fried soft shell crab, and now I’ve got three months of crab season to look forward to. The fact that it coincides with my favorite season of the year has a *little* to do with it, but either way, I’m psyched:
