Chile Cheese Soup

Since I'm now cooking for one most times, I usually freeze half of this recipe, sans cheese. Good tomatoes are very important. If it's not tomato season, I strongly suggest you put out the extra money and purchase hothouse tomatoes.

4 cups of rich beef stock
10 garlic cloves, peeled
4 large tomatoes (Tomatoes need to be good quality and ripe)
3 medium onions, quartered
1/2 tsp mixed dried herbs
1 scant tsp of sugar (I use Splenda)

1 medium onion, cut into thin rings (I usually halve the rings,)
2 jalapeno peppers, cut into thin rings ( I leave seeds in because I like the soup to be spicy)
1 red bell pepper, seeded, cut into thin rings or chopped
1 cup of sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup of mozzarella cheese


I couldn't find four large tomatoes - at least not of the quality I needed so I used nine small. You do not need to remove the skins. I just use my tomato shark to remove the tops.

In large saucepan, bring broth, garlic, tomatoes, quartered onions, herbs, and sugar (or sugar substitute) to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to simmer and continue cooking for thirty minutes. Puree in blender or food processor and return to pan. ( I do half at a time)



Add onion rings and peppers and simmer until tender, about fifteen minutes.

Toss together cheeses. Ladle soup into serving bowls. Add cheese and stir gently. Serve.

New England Clam Chowder

Alright. I'll admit it I got lazy and didn't make the dumplings, but I did make the chowder. I adapted it from a recipe I found in The Clam Lover's Cookbook" by William Flagg, put out by Gorton's.
Ingredients

1 pound of bacon (if you are like me, the entire pound won't go in the chowder, you'll eat some of it. The original called for 1/4 pound, but hell . . . with all that butter and half and half, what difference is 3/4 pound of additional bacon gonna make?)

1 medium onion, diced

2 cups of potatoes, in 1 inch cubes (I use red skinned potatoes and I don't peel them.)

2 cups of clam broth

fresh ground pepper (as much as you want or as little as you want - it's your chowder)

2 cups of half and half (the original recipe said heavy cream was best, but believe it or not, I grew up drinking skim milk. Cream kinda does me in.)

2 cups of clams, chopped

3 tablespoons of butter


What to do with those ingredients

Cook the bacon over medium heat, until crispy. Remove bacon and most of the bacon fat. Add the onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.



Add potatoes, clam broth, and pepper. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes.



Add clams and simmer for an additional 5 minutes. Add milk, butter, and chopped bacon. Heat but do not allow to boil. Adjust seasonings.

This usually tastes better after it sits for a day.

Ham Shank Shortage and Beer Shopping

I've been to three freakin' grocery stores today looking in vain for ham shanks. I've come to the conclusion that there is some kind of ham shank shortage (say that three times fast) in east central Pennsylvania. It's 54 degrees and and I want ham and bean soup. Dammit.

But anyway . . . I went to my favorite beer store. I got Blue Point Blueberry Ale, Buffalo Bill's Orange Blossom Cream Ale, Smuttynose Portsmouth Lager, Blue Moon Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale, Abita Strawberry Harvest Ale, and Abita Turbo Dog. No Aegean (a recomendation from a friend) to be found and the owner wasn't there so I couldn't ask him about it. He had some Beavis and Butthead clone working the register.

Screw the bean soup. I have beer now. I'm drinking the Blue Point.

Tomorrow I'm going to review the web sites of the above beers and I'm pretty much gonna crucify all of them. Just because I have beer doesn't mean I won't be bitchy.

Chow Down Chowder

Easy and quick.

In 4 qt. Dutch oven, combine -

1 20 oz. pkg. of refrigerated shredded potatoes
1 14.5 oz. can of chicken broth
1 10 oz. pkg of frozen corn

Bring mixture to boil. Then simmer, covered, for 10 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Using potato masher, slightly mash potatoes.

Stir in -
2 cups milk
1 lb. of cooked crumbled sausage
1 bunch of chopped scallions
Pepper to taste
Hot sauce to taste.