Clam & Salmon Chowder

The other week I was lamenting on Facebook how difficult it is to live on a $50/week food budget, and one of my friends told me about two blogs she regularly uses that are focused on creating cheaper dishes for those on tight budgets.  I could live on $50/week if I wasn't buying baking ingredients all the time, though, but that's besides the point.  I'm not going without baking ingredients.  I am realizing how lucky I was in Rossland that my dad regularly contributed baking ingredients to my pantry since I baked things for him, too.  Ah well.  I do my best, and usually I succeed.

Anyway!  The two blogs I mentioned are Budget Bytes and Poor Girl Eats Well.  Budget Bytes is particularly interesting because the author does a comprehensive breakdown of her ingredient prices to get an accurate price per serving amount.  This inspired me to do some of my own calculating, just for interest's sake.

The other night I made a salmon and clam chowder for dinner.  The story behind the salmon is that I saw a package of ground salmon in the grocery store that looked perfect for a salmon burger.  But when I got it home to make the burger, I saw that the meat had not been ground properly and that is was in long thin shreds.  So froze it for a later use and decided to stick it into some clam chowder.

So here is what I used, the prices, and then the price per serving.  I got 8 servings out of this recipe and put half of it into containers for freezing.

2 cans clams @ $1.67 each = $3.34
half of one container of 10% cream = $0.86
carrots = $0.37
potatoes = $0.76
6 slices bacon (17 slices/package at $4.97/package = $0.29/slice) = $1.74
1 cup of whipping cream left over from another recipe = $1.39
fresh thyme left over from another recipe = $2 (approx.)
salmon = $2.79 (approx. - I didn't keep the receipt for this as I bought it a few weeks before I started keeping track, but this is what I remember it to be approximately)

total cost of chowder = $13.25
8 servings = $1.65/serving

Not bad, eh?  There is room for improvement, though.  But not bad at all.  And the chowder was good!

Seattle Hot Spot: Part I

During a trip to Seattle in 2001, or thereabouts (way back in the mists of time, anyway), I stumbled upon a great little joint across from Pike Place Market that served really good seafood. The place stuck in my mind not only because of the food - it was great - but because it had bright blue and white decor and small little wooden booths that were kind of cute.

This past Christmas and New Years, I was in Seattle again for the first time in 10 years, and I took a day to go exploring around the market. I still remembered the place I'd eaten at way back when, and I wanted to go there again if it was still around. I remembered that it did not front out onto the street and that it had "oyster bar" in the title. After meandering around a while, and noting the ridiculously long line in front of the original Starbucks for future reference, I saw a sign under an awning that said "Emmett Watson's Oyster Bar." I followed the arrow up a corridor and into a courtyard, and there it was - complete with the same booths and everything! I went in, got a table, and was presented with a menu printed on the back of a paper bag.

At this point, I even remembered what I'd ordered back in 2001 (or whenever it was): the Captain's Basket. I remembered this because of the deep fried clams it had, and that the variety of fish in the basket - oysters, clams, shrimp, scallops, and some kind of white fish - was very appealing since I love all those things. And so this is what I ordered again.

And it was fantastic. Deep fried perfection! It was just how I remembered it. Served with tartar sauce and seafood cocktail sauce, the portion size was generous and the fries were perfect - hand cut, blanched first, and then fried (you can always tell).
During last week's trip, I just had to go back. I went to the market on Sunday, and was disappointed to see that some places closed early. But not Emmett Watson's. They were open till 6:00 and I was in luck.

I was seated in a nice blue booth and perused the menu once again, thinking I should try something else for a change, and I figure that since this was an oyster bar and I adore oysters, I should just go for the oyster basket. It was the same price as Captain's Basket - $9.75 (a bargain, if you ask me). I also decided, since it wasn't the nicest day weather-wise to try some chowder. I am a chowder fanatic, and I was not disappointed. Stick to your ribs thick (my spoon practically could stand up in it), it was piping hot and served with a little package of oyster crackers. It was a bit on the salty side, but excellent, and I think, from the texture, it might have been thickened with mashed potatoes rather than a roux. And it wasn't filled with large chunks of carrots and celery, which I appreciated.

As for the oyster basket: excellent, again! I counted 9 juicy oysters, seemingly battered in a cornmeal batter, perfectly fried, succulent, and just fabulous.


Definitely check this place out if you're in Seattle and need a great place to eat while out marketing at Pike Place.

Vietnamese Lunch

As I said in Sunday's post, I no longer have to rely on LOGS and there is a great variety of places to grocery shop down here. One of my favourite places to go is T&T Supermarket, a large Chinese chain. And I have one within walking distance! Needless to say, I go there often. They have good prices and because it's a large chain, the variety is stunning. The exotic ingredients are both puzzing (pigs uteri) and exciting (fresh keffir lime leaves). The store closest to me has a food court, too, and it has several different cultures represented there. There is Korean food, Thai food, Japanese food, of course Chinese food, and one place I've been to a couple of times, Vietnamese food.

I have always enjoyed Vietnamese food, and one of my favourites is salad rolls with shrimp. I've ordered these a couple of times, for the not-so-bad price of $4.75. They are made fresh (unlike Save-on Foods' ones, which are terrible) and come with a tangy sauce.


But look at what else is in theses salad rolls. On the bottom, there are a couple of slices of that pale sausage similar to the one I encountered in my pho experience last year. I was a little surprised when I first saw this, but once I tried it, I really liked it. The sausage is very mild in flavour and is a touch - just a touch - salty. It's really good!

I also tried something new at my last trip there, Vietnamese carioca. They were described as deep fried rice balls, and I could see that they were coated in coarse sugar and drizzled with caramel. But when I bit into one, it was like biting into soft, mushy marshmallow. They were not balls of whole grain rice. I think this is more of a rice flour dumpling, deep fried. And they were really good! The texture of the balls was quite decadent and they used real caramel for the drizzle, not a caramel sauce. That really impressed me.


Lunch that day was yummy, and it only cost $6!

Lunch in Wolfville, NS

I am on holiday in the Maritimes! So, just a quick post today, and I wanted to share the great lunch I had at a diner here in Wolfville called Front Street Cafe, at 112 Front St. I want to eat as much east coast seafood as possible on this trip, and the feasting started today with this huge plate of Digby scallops and chips. EXCELLENT! It was perfect! Check it:

Fries were homemade and fresh and the scallops were luscious and lightly breaded.

Tomorrow, I'm off to Halifax for the day. Not sure what I'm going to do there because there are tons of options. But there will be lunch!

Spoil-myself Food

When I feel like spoiling myself, I often make these shrimp salad rolls. They have fresh mint in them from my AeroGarden. They are very easy to make, but are a bit finicky. They are so worth it, however! And when I feel I'm worth it, I make them. This afternoon was such a day for such a treat!

Magazine Monday #76: Egg & Shrimp Sandwiches

My AeroGarden containing the herb mixture is doing great, I am happy to report, especially the dill. In fact, I have so much dill I'm not sure what to do with it all. I might start drying it for a rainy day. Tonight I am planning a dilly pasta for dinner, and now I am obsessed with finding recipes with dill... Dill bread? Dill biscuits? Dill cookies??? There is so much dill I don't know what to do!

So, in an effort to use a teeny bit of what I have on hand, I decided to make this sandwich today for my lunch. This is the Open Faced Shrimp & Egg Sandwich, made on a toasted bagel, from the June 2010 issue of Canadian Living Magazine. The recipe is here.

Very easy, very tasty. And it hit the spot. You can't beat fresh dill - unless you have too much of it and it beats you!

AeroGarden Herb Usage #1

My AeroGardens continue to pay off and today I harvested some herbs and made a dish I've been craving for a while.

I have a TON of dill ready to pick, I just need to feel inspired to use it. The mint and the basil, however, was another story. I have no idea what brought on a craving for Asian salad rolls, but a craving I did have and as soon as the mint was big enough I was in business. Mint goes for $1.99 for a small package, and fresh basil is the same. The herbs were delicious!

My salad rolls contained both mint and basil, and also lettuce from my lettuce garden. Also in there was rice vermicelli and shrimp. The sauce I used was the Vietnamese-Must Have Table Sauce (AKA nuoc cham) from Hot Sour Salty Sweet. This is an awesome sauce: fresh and zingy and it went perfectly with the salad rolls. The original recipe contains a bird chile, but I A) don't have access to such a thing and B) don't like spicy.

Vietnamese-Must Have Table Sauce (page 28 of Hot Sour Salty Sweet by Jeffry Alford & Naomi Duguid)

1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup Thai fish sauce
1/4 cup water
2 tsp rice or cider vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 small clove garlic, minced

Combine!

Awesomeness! Go AeroGardens!

Cooking with Kylie: Neil's Chilli-salt Squid!

I love Kylie Kwong, but her books are not cheap! I did get some Christmas money, however, so I treated myself to Kylie's Heart and Soul. As is the norm with Kylie, everything is so mouthwatering, and also very simple to make. I have a ton of recipes flagged in there, but I decided to make something that really grabbed my eye the first time through the book, Neil's Chilli-salt Squid, on page 35. The flavours really appealed to me, and I do love calamari. I don't have access to fresh squid, unfortunately, so in order to get any at all, I had to make a trip to the LOGS in Trail where they sell frozen squid in 1lb packages. It's times like these when I miss living on the coast...

The dish was very easy to put together, but I didn't think it was an incredible success. This wasn't the fault of the recipe, though, but more my execution of it. I had to shallow fry the squid because I didn't have enough oil, and I don't think I heated the oil enough. It was hot, but not as hot as I realize now it should have been. The squid didn't crisp up, and though the meat was done perfectly, the coating didn't stick. Next time I'll make sure I have the proper amount of oil, deep fry, and make sure the oil is much, much hotter. The flavour was there, though, and the oil turned a spectacular colour!

I served my squid with some baked fries and an Asian coleslaw.

The recipe is here.

I Ate Sashimi!

Last weekend's trip to Calgary was a very awesome experience, and I have a zillion stories to tell but one I thought might be interesting for my readership here was a sushi restaurant I visited with my one of my BFFs, J.

J loves sushi and she knows I love sushi, so she took me off to a place whose name I cannot remember, though it began with a K, on McLeod Trail. What's fascinating about it is that this was one of those sushi restaurants that has the little boats on a moving waterway carrying colour-coded plates of food around the bar, and you just pick off what you want as it comes around. I have heard of these places in Vancouver, but never been to one, so this was exciting for me.

Unfortunately the frenetic pace of the place, the yelling of sushi chefs, and the multiple birthdays that necessitated the staff doing a Happy Birthday routine several times during our time there, didn't make the place somewhere conducive to having a good chat. In fact, the high stimulation environment really bothered me to the point of almost not being able to function. But it was fun, and when we were done there, we repaired to a Tim Horton's so we could actually have a good chat.

The food was good. We started off with some tempura and J had some miso soup. We ordered several rolls as we watched plates go by us on the boats. Thankfully, we were provided with a picture menu so we had an idea of what was floating by us.

J ordered some salmon sashimi, I got some interesting octopus rolls and some calamari. The calamari was disappointing and overly greasy, as was, I have to say, the tempura. The octopus was good. We had a variety of other rolls, too, that were very good.

You'd think the plates were just whizzing by when you look at this photo. They were not. I just have a shitty camera.

The calamari. The sauce it came with was spicy, so I skipped it.

This is the octopus roll.

This is the salmon sashimi, and I really did enjoy it. It was my first ever foray into sashimi! It was served on a bed of shredded daikon radish.

And this was my most daring choice of the night, a raw scallop roll with some...stuff on it. Not sure what the stuff was, but it was delicious!

This was a very cool experience, and I'd definitely like to go to one of these places again, especially as there were some very interesting menu items that I'd never seen before. I will say, however, something did upset my stomach that night; I'm not sure what it was, but I was quite uncomfortable for a while. But it was not enough to put me off experimenting with sushi and sashimi again.

Sockeye Salmon Three Ways

At the tail end of August, one of my fellow cooks at the senior's residence came by our work with an offer I could not refuse: he was selling freshly caught sockeye salmon for $10 each. At the same time, I happened to know that the Local Overpriced Grocery Store (aka LOGS) was selling whole sockeyes for about $22 - $24 each. So, I bought one sockeye from my colleague. I should have bought more.

The fish was cleaned and gutted and headless, but needed filleting. So, after work, I went to LOGS, which has an excellent set of butchers, and asked one of the guys there how to fillet the darned thing. He said, "I'll just do it for you. It'll be quicker." I told him I had not purchased the salmon from the store, but he didn't mind. He went a head and filleted the fishy for me while I watched so I could learn. I then went home and cut eight portions from the fish! What a screaming deal! I should have gotten more from my colleague, but at the time I had no idea what I was getting. Oh well.

I have had a few meals from this salmon, and they were all awesome. I took some camping for Shan & me, and that was lovely. But at home, I have prepared this salmon three different ways.

Exhibit #1: Salmon with Key Lime seasoning from World Market (love that stuff!), rice, and Asian coleslaw (coleslaw mix, seasoned rice vinegar, sesame oil).

Totally awesome meal, very easy & quick to prepare, and healthy to boot.





Exhibit #2: Grilled sockeye with maple, soy, and ginger glaze.

Oh, this was absolutely divine! The glaze was easy: maple syrup, soy sauce, and a few drops of ginger oil my dad bought for me at the Nelson Farmer's Market in July. I served this also with rice and the same Asian coleslaw.





Exhibit #3: Salmon & Shrimp Chowder.

Oh, how I love a good seafood chowder, and this was another winner! Very simple to make, and I found some cheap back bacon at LOGS to go in it. I got a huge pot of soup that made me about 8 servings, and for it I used the two tail ends of the sockeye, about half a pound of shrimp, and a couple frozen pieces of chum salmon I had kicking around my freezer that I had purchased at Safeway a while back. God, the difference between the sockeye and the chum is ridiculous! I don't think I'll ever buy chum that way again - it's just pathetic in comparison to the sockeye!

Wedding Feasts, Part 2

So, the day after the wedding there was a huge family gathering at Shan's parents' place. There were 78 people there altogether. Once again, the food was copious and fantabulicious. There were left over spot prawns, but there was also sockeye salmon, and IMO, the star of dinner, fresh oysters! All this seafood bounty was, again, courtesy of Shan's uncle who is a fisherman on Vancouver Island.

For a run-down of some non-food related incidents around the wedding, you can go here.

But let's get started!

Shan's mom, C, who is also a caterer, BBQed a bunch of roasts, and one of the aunties brought a huge crock pot full of homemade baked beans.

Here is the salmon. It has a brown sugar & soy glaze on it.

Also on offer were some of the leftover appies from the wedding dinner the night before. This was so awesome because the appies were excellent - and, bonus, there were still leftovers after this Sunday meal, so I got to take a whole bunch home & snack on them during the week! The big pretzel you see came from a bakery in Cranbrook and it was part of the midnight snack served during the dancing at the reception (which I wasn't there for; I left at 10pm).

There were tons of salads:

Here are the spot prawns:

And here was the star of the show! The oysters! One of Shan's cousins grilled them, seasoning them with butter, lemon juice, and a tad bit of tobasco sauce. They were huge! I cannot tell you how orgasmically fan-fracking-tastic these were. They were so fresh, so delicious...they were surreal! I was in heaven!
Sigh...Sigh...

Here is one of my plates...I had seconds...Can you blame me?

And, there was dessert. Another auntie brought a chocolate fountain with all kinds of goodies. It was a huge hit, and it was super amazing!
So, that about sums up the wedding eating. I'm pretty sure I gained back all the weight I've lost since January, but I totally think it was worth it!

Wedding Feasts, Part 1

As promised, some pictures & rundowns of food I experienced & ate during my brother's wedding celebrations at the tail end of July (better late than never, right?). It was a food fest and half, let me tell you! My SIL's family always celebrates events big & small with copious amounts of food - and awesome food at that! So, here we go.

We'll start off with the rehearsal dinner. It was supposed to be pulled pork, but a tragic freezer breakdown just before the wedding put the kybosh on that because the pork butts were ruined! Instead, we had a huge spaghetti dinner!
But the highlight of the evening for me as a foodie was the peeling & steaming of the Vancouver Island spot prawns fished by Shan's uncle, frozen, and brought to the wedding celebration as a gift (more seafood gifts would be on the way, but that is another post!). The spot prawns were so delicious I can't even tell you. I am used to bland frozen shrimp from the grocery store, and so these spot prawns tasted like candy to me! I participated in some of the peeling, but as I had just had my nails done, I bailed early because I didn't want to ruin my lovely manicure. But here are some photos!
The prawns were served at the wedding reception with a homemade cocktail sauce, and they were amazing! We also had them at the family reunion on the day after the wedding.

As for the wedding feast itself, it was fantabulous. I don't have a lot of pictures because it was a buffet setting, which is hard to photograph if you're in a line-up, and I was busy drinking & socializing. The catering was done by a Nelson outfit called Alligator Pie Catering, and Shan made an excellent choice because the food was superb. In fact, everyone was so impressed with it that Shan's sister, who is getting married next summer, is, I believe, planning on using Alligator Pie, too.

The Menu:

Hors d'Oeuvres

Crostini with Green Olive Tapenade, Goats Cheese and Caramelized Onions
Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Bruschetta with Goat Cheese and Basil Drizzle
Pita triangles baked with brie, roast chicken, and green apple (not on their online menu, for some reason, but my absolute fave of the three!)

Sides

Roasted New Potatoes with Dill Butter
Balsamic Marinated Grilled Vegetables
2 Salads

Mains

Baked Chicken with a Garlic Pesto Crust
Grilled Salmon with Hazelnut Lime Butter (totally awesome)

Here is my plate:
Dessert was wedding cake, made by Shan's mom, C. It was vanilla cake with chocolate ganache in the middle, and it was delish! They kept the design of the cake simple and used a fresh flower topper in keeping with the wedding colours.
Part two will follow...sometime!

Magazine Monday #63: Pasta With Shrimp & Cilantro-Lime Pesto

This recipe comes from the July 2010 issue of Bon Appetit, my subscription for which has just run out. As mentioned previously, I will not be renewing. Anyway, the recipe came from the RSVP section, where readers request recipes they've tasted at various restaurants around and about, and in this case, the reader who requested the recipe tried the original dish at Tejas Texas Grill & Saloon in Hermantown, Minnesota. It caught my eye because I love cilantro and an entire pesto made from this ingredient was just too good to pass up! I was not disappointed! This was a fantastic dish. I even invested in a mini of tequila!

Pasta With Shrimp & Cilantro-Lime Pesto

1 1/4 cups, packed, fresh cilantro leaves, plus more chopped for garnish
1/4 cup green onions
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp chopped seeded jalapeno (which I skipped because I don't like them)
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb linguine
1 lb uncooked medium shrimp, peeled & deveined
3 tbsp tequila
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (original recipe calls for Cotija cheese, but this is the boonies, man - good luck finding that anywhere around here)

1. Blend 1 1/4 cups cilantro & next 4 ingredients in a food processor until a course puree forms. Gradually add oil as machine runs. Season with salt. (NB: I did not use the full amount of oil.)

2. Cook linguine & drain.

3. Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shrimp & cook until almost opaque in the centre, about 3 minutes. Remove the skillet from heat; add tequila. Return skillet to heat and stir until sauce is syrupy, about 30 seconds. Add pesto; stir to coat. Remove from heat.

4. Add sauce to pasta & gently combine. Serve with extra cilantro & sprinkled with feta. Should serve 4.

Awesome, tasty, and easy. I'll definitely be making this again, next time with a margarita, perhaps!

Enjoy!

Clam Chowder for a Crowd

Here is another work recipe that I have made a few times now. When I first looked at the recipe, I nearly had a heart attack! Bacon! Butter! Whipping cream! I thought, You want me to feed this to seniors? Seriously? I was a little shocked. But apparently, this is one of the most popular soups on the menu. And after I made it, I had a bowl myself, and it was sooooo gooooood. Sinfully good. No wonder it's popular!

Clam Chowder

8 slices of bacon, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 onions, diced
4 potatoes, diced
3 cans baby clams, with nectar
1 lb butter
2 cups flour
1 liter water
2 tsp chicken base
2 liters whipping cream
2 tsp each basil, parsley, and ground pepper

Cook the first five ingredients in a large pot until veggies are just tender. In a separate, smaller pot, melt the butter. Add flour and make a smooth paste. Add this to the veggies and combine. Add liquids, and the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a simmer to thicken. Serve.

OK, we don't use whipping cream where I work, but rather a mixture of 10% and milk. It works just fine and tastes great!

New Year's Nibbles

Yes, still on a blog break (and kind of enjoying it!). Here are some pictures of the food my SIL made for us on New Year's Eve.




Bacon-wrapped scallops, lobster skewers, scallop skewers, baked brie...Not pictured: chocolate fondue, crostini & bruschetta, chips & homemade salsa, my baking...

And, I couldn't resist posting another picture of Crushy the mushy doggy!

Here he is sitting on his master's lap on New Year's Eve. Crushy provided me with the only New Year's kiss I got!