Seafood Chowder

This morning we set out to the local Fisherman's Days down at the harbour.  What could be a better dose of Maritime Fun than the promise of a boat parade, a shell shucking contest, fiddle music, local displays and of course a bouncy castle for the kids?  Until we got there and it started raining shortly before the opening ceremonies.  We all huddled under the tents.  Feeling brave my family ventured out to look at the boats and what was still open of the displays.  My husband and I thought we would warm up a bit with a bowl of chowder from one of local vendors, except that it wasn't yet ready.  We went back, it still wasn't ready.  After the third time going back and starting to realize that the drizzle was not going to let up and that the wind was only getting stronger, we set ourselves back for home.  But now we both really wanted a bowl of chowder.
I remembered my dear friend Luan serving us the best seafood chowder at her husband's birthday a couple of years back and tried my best to find it.  This recipe jumped out at me in my search and by looking at the ingredients I thought it would be very good.  It was, it was very good indeed.
This recipe is an award winning recipe from PEI's Chef Jeff McCourt.  It took first prize in the PEI International Chowder Championship in 2003.  It is a little time consuming to make, but very much worth the effort.

1 cup (250 mL) butter
2 medium onions
2 cloves garlic
2 cups grated peeled potatoes
1/4 cup (50 mL) vermouth (I didn't have any vermouth, and substituted white wine instead)
2 cups (500 mL) milk
2 cups (500 mL) heavy cream
2 cups (500 mL) shellfish (choice of lobster, oysters, clams, mussels, scallops, and/or crab) *I adapted this with what I had on hand, cooking up a little salmon, haddock and shrimp - I also added a can of sweet baby clams
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) diced potato, steamed
Salt and pepper, to taste
Tabasco sauce, to taste

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat, add onions and sauté until translucent. Stir in garlic and continue to sauté until onions are golden brown. Add grated potato, vermouth, milk and cream. Cook over medium heat, stirring often to prevent scorching, until potato is cooked, about 20 minutes.

In a blender, purée chowder base in batches, then return to chowder pot and season with salt and pepper.

Cook whatever shellfish you want to add to the chowder, retaining all liquid from the cooking process. Shuck and set seafood aside. Add cooking liquid to the chowder base. Add diced, cooked potato for texture. Add seafood, and check for seasoning one last time. Finish with chopped chives.  Makes 8 to 10 servings.

*I paired this with some homemade dinner rolls - delicious!

While making the chowder, I happened to chat with my friend Luan on the phone.  When I told her I was making chowder and was remembering how much I loved hers, she started to tell me her recipe.  It turns out this is the recipe she uses!  Too funny :)

 

Crab & Artichoke Dip

 Last summer we were fortunate enough to have a family vacation to BC to visit with our families.  For Canada Day my sister-in-law hosted a feast - really there is no other word to describe it.  For a fantastic appetizer she made a crab & artichoke dip that was better than most you'd get in a restaurant.  Since then, my husband has been asking me to make the same dip for us to enjoy here at home.  Not quite a year later I did.  I had a lovely chat with my s.i.l. yesterday and she gave me the recipe out of her head.  I thought I had most ingredients on hand, and I was right.  Just a few variations, which as she put it, once you have the basics, the rest is very forgiving. 

2 cups whipped cream
1 block cream cheese (250 ml)
1 dollop sour cream
1 tbsp mayo
1 package of artificial crab meat
1 can real crab meat
1 cup grated hard cheese (mozzarella or cheddar)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup jarred artichokes (drained)
few drops Worchester
few drops lemon juice
good shake of Old Bay Seasoning

In a large bowl whip cream, cream cheese, sour cream and mayo all together.  Add everything else and using a hand blender, blend it all (can put it all in a food processor too).  If it is too thick you can add a little milk in to thin it out.

Divide into pie plates, cover with foil and bake at 350* for 20 minutes.
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My variation last night with what I had on hand.

1 cup whipped cream
1 cup whole milk (3 1/2%)
2 blocks cream cheese
1 tbsp mayo
1 package artificial crab meat
1 can real crab meat
1 cup grated cheddar
1 cup jarred artichokes (drained)
1/2 cup chopped green onion
few drops Worchester
few drops lemon juice
few drops hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Follow mixing directions as above.  I baked everything in a large covered casserole dish together at 425* for 30 minutes (I have a slow oven).

Both were delicious.

 My Sister-in-law's crab dip at last year's Canada Day family gathering.

My husband with his sister in her kitchen.

Sizzling Calamari Al Diavolo

This kitchen experiment of mine (like any good recipe) has a back story. My husband I both enjoy eating out, a lot more than we should. In fact at one point we were going broke because we were eating out way too much. The funny thing is that we both like to cook and we are both good cooks. I think we were just tired. We also were finding it increasingly difficult to order when we were out because we didn't want to order anything that we could make at home (and better). We both have a kind of agreed upon policy to order things we can't make at home just as good.
One of our favorite chains to eat at is East Side Mario's. And I pretty much order the same thing every time. Sizzling Calamari Al Diavolo to start and then their Seafood Linguini. The Calamari dish was a fluke when we once ordered regular calamari and they brought us this by mistake. We were instantly hooked. I love this dish.
We are now pretty much reformed from eating out. Eating out has become a treat for once in a while once again. So it really was a treat to stop at East Side Mario's on our way home from a camping trip this August. And of course I had the Calamari. Since then I'd been thinking that there must be some way to make this. We have a cast iron skillet after all. Then last week at my grocery shop a bag of calamari just jumped out at me from the freezer section. I bought it. Last night I did my best to imitate East Side Mario's recipe. Their menu gives a few clues on what's in it. The rest is just my guess work. I was really happy with the results. So was my husband. He said I got the flavor bang on. Yay me!

East Side Mario's Menu reads:
Sizzling Calamari Al Diavoli
Lightly seasoned calamari with garlic, onions, read, green and hot cherry peppers served in a tomato broth. Spicy!

I couldn't find any cherry peppers, so used a jalapeno instead. I also realized I was out of green peppers, so I substituted a yellow in it's place. Here's my recipe:

1 tsp olive oil
1 onion, cut into chunks
1 red pepper, cut into chunks
1 yellow pepper, cut into chunks (can use green)
4 cloves garlic, chopped into small pieces
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped into small pieces
1/4 cup fajita cooking sauce (I used PC Brand Memories of Mexico, but I think any tomato based fajita sauce would work)
2 tsp chicken bouillon powder
up to 1 cup water
2 tsp Tex-Mex seasoning
a few shakes Franks Red Hot Sauce
1 pound pre-breaded frozen calamari (this would be even better if you made your own breaded calamari I think)

Drizzle a cast-iron skillet with olive oil over medium heat. Add the veggies. As the veggies begin to soften add the fajita sauce, chicken bouillon, Tex-Mex seasoning, and Frank's Red Hot Sauce. Mix together. Let the veggies cook slowly to soften well. Don't be tempted to cook it fast or it will burn. Drizzle a little water as needed to keep the food from catching, but don't drown it. Once everything is cooked to done, add the calamari and mix in. Cook for just a couple of minutes to heat the calamari up (cooking too long will leave calamari rubbery). Serve immediately.

*The next time I make this, I'm going to try to deep fry the calamari and then mix it in, just to try to improve the texture a bit. Otherwise, really yummy.

**Edit Update - I made this again, but baked the calamari according to package directions first, then added it to the veggie mix. It was delicious! Much better than adding the calamari in without cooking it first.

Lobster Night in the Maritimes - what a way to say goodbye!

This isn't as much of a how to cook lobster as much as a very fitting way to say goodbye to the place I've called home for the past 7 years. We recently moved out of the Maritimes into the big bad city for the next year while my husband works on his Master's degree and I take maternity leave (baby's due next month). One of the last things we did was have a seafood night with some wonderful friends of ours. We picked up the oysters, they picked up the lobsters! (The guys also did some oyster shots with lemon and seafood sauce - not my thing, but they like it)
If you haven't heard about the plight of the local lobster fishermen, CBC ran a great story on it as many, many people decided to get their Christmas lobster right off the wharf this year. You can read about it here.
And eat lobster we did! I've never seen lobsters the size of these ones before. Oh they were so delicious.
We let the kids see them and play with them on the kitchen floor for a while first. I did get some lovely pictures of that, but part of my new blogging policy is to be very vigilant on the pictures I post of my kids and their friends for privacy and safety purposes.
Our friend Larry got this huge pot of water going to a roaring boil on the deck, while his wife Luan and I made melted garlic butter on the kitchen stove.
Once the water is going, you just drop them in and cook them until their shells turn nice and red.
Getting into the shells was another story. These were not your average crack the lobster open with lobster tools. We had to get some serious tools out to crack these claws and tails open.
The meat was delicious dipped in the garlic butter and so filling! We had so much meat left over. I don't know what our friends did with theirs, but I ended up making mine into a manicotti that I'll post soon.

My dear husband with the lobster before cooking.


Ready for eating now!