"To Hell with Summer" Seafood Chowder

And with Autumn comes the simplicity and joy of just playing in the leaves...



And also chowder. This recipe will warm you on those chilly days, but is not nearly as heavy as braising something. I'm not quite ready for the heavy winter braising. This chowder will remind you of days with more sunlight and less frost and things that are green, yet, will warm you right to the bone. Just perfect for right after jumping in a fat pile of leaves.

As an aside, I load this recipe with prawns. My kids always ask for extra prawns and if there isn't enough, there's hell to pay. And, as you know, I always avoid the hell to pay.

xo YM


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"To Hell with Summer" Seafood Chowder

Ingredients

6 ounces meaty salt pork, rind removed or slab bacon, and diced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium onions
6 to 8 sprigs fresh thyme, chopped
A pinch of tarragon
1 dried bay leaf
2 lbs small red potatoes, skin on, sliced into quarters
5 cups shrimp stock (See Note 1)
Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lb skinless haddock, catfish, monk fish or cod fillets, preferably over 1 inch thick, pinbones removed (See Note 2)
2 lbs of uncooked, shrimp with shells on (use shells for stock)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream (depending on how thick you want your chowder)
8 chives, cut with scissors into fine pieces
Several handfuls of fresh or frozen corn
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley (garnish)
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives (garnish)

1. Cooking Note: Shrimp stock can be made simply from the shells of the shrimp you are using for this recipe. Just add to a pot whole a small whole onion, 2 whole carrots and a few stalks of celery. Sweat them a little in oil and butter. Add shells to the aromatics. Sweat those for a couple minutes. Add a little splash of white wine, if you want. Salt and pepper. Add water. Let simmer - but not boil - for a half hour. Voila! Home-made shrimp stock. Betcha cant' buy that at Whole Foods! I usually make this the day before so I'm not making chowder and stock at the same time.

2. Cooking Note: You can use any combination of your favorite seafood - don't let me box you in - clams, scallops, mussels, lobster, go nuts. Just make sure you know cooking times for the seafood you choose. You don't want a pot of over-cooked shrimp and under-cooked lobster. If you need help with that, ask your fish guy. They usually know.

Preparation

Heat a soup pot over low heat and add the diced salt pork or bacon. Cook until the pork is a crisp golden brown. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cracklings to a dish, leaving the fat in the pot.

Add the butter, onions, thyme and bay leaf to the pot and sauté, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, for about 8 minutes. The onions should be soft and caramelized, but not fried.

Add the potatoes and stock. The stock should cover the potatoes. If it doesn't add water. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook the potatoes vigorously for about 10 minutes, until they are soft on the outside, but firm in the center. Smash a few potatoes against the side of the pot and cook for a minute or two longer to release their starch. This will thicken the broth a bit.

If you feel you have too much broth and your chowder might be too soupy, remove some broth with a ladle to a bowl and set aside. You can always add more to the pot if you need it. If you end up having extra broth, freeze it for your next chowder.

Reduce the heat to low and season with salt and pepper. Add the fish fillets and cook over low heat for a couple minutes. Add corn at the same time. Remove the pot from the heat and allow the chowder to sit for 10 minutes. The fish will finish cooking in the pot.

Gently stir in the cream and taste for salt and pepper. You can refrigerate the soup and reheat later or eat it immediately but I like to let it sit a bit. Just don't stir it a lot or you'll break up the fish. This recipe cannot handle lots of fussing. Just season and leave it.

Add cracklings. Serve with minced chives and parsley, either in individual crocks or in a single pot brought right to the table.

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The Vegetable Soup Rich People Make When They Own A Country House

This scrumptious vegetable soup was one of our first lovely Autumn meals in our new...wait for it...country house. Hooot!

David hates it when I tell people we have a "country house". Right now, he's freaked out and his skin is crawling, but he doesn't know why.

When he hears me talk about our new "country house", he actually cringes and jumps in and explains to people that the house is a fixer upper, a run-down, unloved, ugly thing that needs our undivided attention to reach it's full potential, an investment, something that will eat up copious amounts of our free time. We closed on Monday and he already refers to it as our little "Money Pit".

A few weeks ago, I made the mistake of twittering about "our country house". I was trying to get into the spirit of the country. I have to get into the spirit of the country because, well, I'm from the country and did everything I could to get out of the country, only to marry someone I thought would never leave the city and have him convince me we should be buy a house surrounded by carpenter bees nesting in our siding, an exploding deer population that eat every plant in their wake, nights that are pitch black and have strange eerie scratching sounds coming out of the backyard and no concierge.

That's right. Not one single person down stairs to pick up my packages or keep robbers and murderers from breaking into our apartment.

But I was trying to get into the spirit...


So, I was fantasizing about the gorgeous farm stands loaded with local produce and wine country in New Paltz, where the house is, and The Culinary Institute of America right down the road, the actual green house in my house where I can have a garden year round and grow lemon trees - Can you believe it? Lemon trees - and the amazing light from the cathedral ceilings and the space, the space, the space and the good restaurants and rockin' chefs, and the idea that we might have a yard full of egg-laying chickens next Spring, the scads of grass-fed beef that you can find everywhere and my happy rock climbing husband who is excited about having a house nestled in the Shawanagunks, the best climbing in the Northeast.

And weirdly, we have more sex in the country. Must be the air. But the best thing - no more camping in a tent, so we can be near the nature. Thank you, Jesus.

I was getting excited. So, I twittered about it. The spirit moved me, so kill me.

This prompted a call from David. He actually stopped working to call me from the office and tell me to stop calling it "the country house", lest people mistakenly think we are rich.

So, we've been working on names for the house ever since. How to describe our little "homestead", "shack", "hut", "Camp Foster" without making it sound like we own the Kennedy Compound. We are in New York after all and "country house" is synonymous for weekending in the Hamptons.

But I do this exercise for David. Frankly, I like having a "country house." I look forward to a parade of ants trooping through my kitchen and flying bugs the size of grapes getting tangled in my hair. I look forward to the really gross bathrooms that cry out for renovation and the kitchen tile that is beyond repair. I look forward to the kids having a city life and a country life. City friends and country friends. I look forward to long Sunday Suppers with a full clamoring table in a proper dining room. I dream about designing a gourmet kitchen. I look forward to losing myself in a garden and cussing at the woodchucks.

I just look forward. And despite what our bank accounts look like, we are rich.

I will take pictures at "the Casa" or whatever we are calling the house next weekend and give you a tour. Until then, try this soup, as you say "Good bye" to our lovely Autumn.

xo YM

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There are just enough lovely fall vegetables still hanging around the farmers market now to make this divine soup. There was a similar recipe in Gourmet a month or two but it was for a "stew". I can tell you that we don't eat stew here, the kids will turn up their noses at stew, but they will devour soup. So, I keep my broth soup like, but feel free to chunk it up with tomatoes, if you prefer a stew.

So, this soup is lovely, completely vegan, and deliciously simple. I gave you some ideas about vegetable quantities and such but really just go nuts at the farmers market and pick veg that looks good and that you like. Then, eyeball the quantities. Like zucchini? Add more. Despise eggplant? Leave it out.

Just enjoy this last taste of Fall.

The Vegetable Soup Rich People Make When They Own a Country House

* 1/3 cup olive oil
* 2 onions, chopped
* 2 celery ribs, cut into slices
* 3 carrots, cut into slices
* 4 garlic cloves, chopped
* 1/2 cup water or chicken broth
* 4 fresh tomatoes, chopped
* 3 handfuls of green beans, trimmed and cut pieces
* 2 red bell peppers, cut into chunks
* 2 small zucchini, cut into slices
* 1 smallish eggplant, cut into chunks
* 3 medium boiling potatoes, peeled or un-peeled, and cut into 1-inch pieces


Heat oil in a pot over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Add onions, celery, carrots, and garlic and cook until pale golden, about 10 minutes. Add eggplant and water and cook, until eggplant is slightly softened, about 10 minutes.

Stir in tomatoes and bell peppers, then reduce heat to low and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, blanch green beans in a saucepan (about 3 minutes). Remove with a slotted spoon. Bring water up to a boil. Do the same with the zucchini and remove. Bring water to a boil. Add potatoes and do the same. Drain and remove.

Add all the blanched vegetables to stew and simmer, stirring, until all vegetables are very soft, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

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