I love New England Clam Chowder. So when Tele and Savory decided on Northeastern America for EU Night I had to make it. I know that it goes against my MO of making desserts for EU night and everything else, but this was a must.
In making clam chowder you have a very important decision to make...canned or fresh clams. I read both types of recipes. I was a little scared of the whole shucking of clams, but that wasn't going to stop me from using fresh clams. The idea of canned clams in kind of creepy too. Alton Brown suggests using both clams, fresh in the soup itself and then topping the bowl with a few fresh clams. I don't like the idea of a shelled clam sitting upon my bowl of soup though. So that was definitely not the solution. Ohh, what to do? The decision was made for me when the meat counter guy at Smith's explained that he didn't stock fresh clams regularly, but only by special order. Alright, so there we go. Canned clams it is (even though I still found canned clams to be a strange thing).
Now to find the ultimate recipe. I started out my research in cookbooks around the house, but they just didn't have what I was looking for. I then moved to the internet and finally decided on Michael Chu's Clam Chowder New England Style on Cooking for Engineers. I love how this guy thinks. The recipes have so much wonderful detail. I have decided that it is the engineering part of my brain that leads me into doing my crazy photo journal recipes on EU. But, anyway, I digress.
Now that I was armed with the recipe and ingredients it was just time to wait for EU Night to roll around.
In true EU Night fashion I did not perform a test run of any kind on this recipe. It was either going to be good or bad, but we would all find out together. I am happy to report that it came out very good. There is an amazing amount of clams in this wonderfully creamy soup. I will say that you must not skimp on the salt. The salt is certainly a key ingredient in balancing the flavors.
The one thing that I will add to the recipe next time I make it is a rib or two of celery. I didn't think I would miss the celery that Progresso's Rich and Hearty New England Clam Chowder has in it, but I really did.
Here we go! For this EU night, I decided on making Cheesesteaks. Alas, they weren't traditional, in the fact that they weren't made with Cheez Whiz (Seriously. Apparently, a hot dog vendor in Philidelphia invented cheesesteaks when he got bored with his regular faire). This is the recipe. alas. it is not exact. Why? Well because its up to you the amount of ingredients you want on the thing. Not me.
Also, note that the cut of beef required (suggested) for these is a mysterious cut known to few as "Eye of Round" Roast. In my earlier, uncertain years, I worked at a Smiths Food and Drug in the Meat department. I know quite a bit of beef from my Father and Grandfather as well, but I had never heard of this cut. I dont know why. Ask your butcher, or use a Rib-Eye steak or comparable marbled cut of beef. You can't tell the difference. Except in price, maybe, the Eye of Round is very cheap, $11 for 2.5 lbs or so. (Note: 2.5 lbs is enough to make 10 sandwiches, and thats just meat and cheese.)
2lb. Eye of Round roast,
or comparable portion of
meat to stick in sandwiches.
8-10 Dutch style sandwich rolls (very flaky crust).
16-20 Slices of provolone cheese
? Frenched onions, chopped bell peppers, mushrooms
sweet cherry peppers, anything you want on there.
1 Spray bottle or mustard bottle filled with
clean water.
1 Bottle of Steak/Grill seasoning (optional)
Start by putting the roast, or other meat in the freezer for an hour or two. You want it frozen, but still pliable. Rock hard would be bad, and hard to cut. While its freezing, cut the vegetables, watch TV, do something.
Frozen enough? ok, get a serrated blade, yes, the type you cut bread with. What you're looking for here is to shave very thin slices of beef off of the roast. Since the beef is frozen, it should be easier to cut without tearing. After you've sliced all of the beef very thin, set it aside in a bowl. I would suggest you get a two burner cast iron griddle for this, they're good for pancakes, eggs, pretty much anything, but great for this. Lay it across one front burner and one back burner, and turn the heat on the front burner to high, and the back burner to low.
Throw a cup or so of your veggies on the front part of the griddle, and saute until desired done-ness. While this is cooking, preheat the oven to 175 degrees. If the vegetables begin to stick to the griddle, hit them with a squirt of water from the mustard bottle, it will prevent them from sticking. Once they're cooked to your liking, move them to the back of the griddle. Throw a cup of the sliced beef on there, and cook to desired doneness and again, hit with a squirt of water if it starts to stick. Once this is cooked to your liking, combine the cooked vegetables and the beef together and cook for a minute or two, blasting with water when you need to. With the spatula, form the mixture into an oval shape, and then put two slices of provolone on the oval, almost covering the meat but try to keep it off of the grill. Hit the top of the cheese with two or three squirts of water, and the steam from this will melt the cheese very very quickly.
Get one of your sandwich rolls, and cut lengthwise along one side, in the typical hot dog bun fashion. Lay the bun open side down onto the meat, and then slide the spatula underneath the entire mass. In one motion, flip the whole mess over, and you should have a Philly Cheesesteak! Yay!
I know it seems like quite a bit of work, but they are mighty tasty.
After a mixup where the beans I had originally planned for a Boston Baked Beans dish didn't manage to fully soak overnight, I had to run to the store and grab some ingredients to quickly whip up a backup dish, broccoli and ham gratin.
- About a pound of broccoli, stems included
- 8-10 slices deli ham
- Parmesan and cheddar cheese for topping
- Breadcrumbs
- 2 cups of milk
- 1 stick of butter
- 4 tbls flour
- Dried sage
- Black pepper
- Dry mustard
After cutting the broccoli down (including stems) to florets and small discs, I put them on to boil. After they'd softened slightly, I spread them across the bottom of the baking dish. Next, I mixed up a bechamel (melted the butter, mixed in the flour, then took off the heat and mixed in the milk). After putting the milk back on the heat and whisking heavily, I added a dash of sage and mustard, then ground in some pepper.
After tearing the ham into shreds and laying it across the top of the broccoli, I added the bechamel, covered the top with cheese and breadcrumbs, and put it into the oven at 350 degrees for half an hour.
Unfortunately, I let it cook a little longer, and I really shouldn't have; the broccoli dried up a bit. I'm looking forward to trying this one again sometime soon, however.
