I picked up some clams at Harris Teeter
Wednesday afternoon
before making the "score" of the hot burries.
So, steamed clams are in order for dinner.
My aromatics: bunch of thyme
bunch of parsley
slab of onion
garlic cloves
I stripped my thyme stems of leaves
with the handy-dandy herb stripper
Sister Hawthorne gave me.
And I chopped the onions and parsley
and minced the garlic.

I added an extra virgin olive oil
and Land o' Lakes butter to my hot pan.

Heated it to almost browning the buttah
and tossed in the onions.
Thyme went in.
And lastly, add in the garlic. You don't want the garlic to burn,
else it gets bitter.

Rinse off the clams first.

Then add them to the olive oil/butter/thyme/onion/garlic mixture.

Pour in about a cup of white wine,
cover, and steam until the clams open.
Add in the fresh parsley.
Toss and serve.

I loved all the flavors in this dish -
the fresh herbs, the garlic, the onion, the wine
the oceany goodness of the clams.
Next time, I might add some lemon zest.
Plump, juicy little clam.

Come on.
Admit it.
You can
see all the flavors.
Next up, Lobster Bisque.
If you recall from our Anniversary Dinner,
we had cooked four lobsters -
Larry, Curly, Moe, and Lucy.
Mr. Hawthorne, Youngest Hawthorne, and I
ate Larry, Curly, and Moe,
so we had Lucy leftover.
And Lucy is going into Wednesday night's bisque.
My start off ingredients:
bacon
onion
garlic
celery
mushrooms
homemade fish stock
butter
cream cheese
heavy cream (which I forgot to put out)
Sherry
red pepper (for garnish)
green onion (for garnish and I also forgot to put out)
cayenne pepper
salt and pepper

I chopped the onions, celery, and mushrooms,
minced the garlic,
and chopped the red pepper and sliced the green onion.

First I scissored my bacon and fried it up.
When the bacon was browned ...
... I added the sliced mushrooms.
I browned the mushrooms,
then added in the onions, ...
... the celery, ...
... and just cooked for a few minutes.
I always add garlic at the very end,
so as not to burn it and get a bitter taste.

A little flour went in
which I cooked for a minute or two
to get rid of the raw taste.
Then I slowly added in a quart of my homemade shrimp stock,
letting it gradually thicken up.
I added in about 6 ounces of cream cheese,
stirring to smooth it out.
Heavy cream went in for richness
and bisque-ness.
Here's Lucy Lobster,
ready to be shelled
and have her meaty wonderfulness
go into the bisque.
Mr. Hawthorne broke open
Lucy Lobster over the mixture ...
... letting the lobster joos
drip into the pot.
Then Mr. Hawthorne
extracted the lobster meat
and put that in the pot.
I added the leftover clam liquid
for extra flavor.

And a bit of Sherry went in
because I love the flavor of Sherry in most anything,
but especially in a bisque.
And here's my Lobster Bisque,
with fresh parsley and scallions, red pepper,
and cayenne pepper on top.
Oh my.
Rich.
Creamy.
Layers of flavors.
This was thoroughly delightful.
Every spoonful had a piece of lobster in it.
What a lovely meal this was.
Looks lovely.
ReplyDeleteLOOKS GREAT..better than any I have ever had.
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