Seafood Chowder

I debated calling this "six species stew" because I was in temporarily in awe of my carnivorousness having just combined four sea dwelling creatures with two air breathers to create a delicious meal buuuuut, seafood chowder is really a much nicer way of saying all that.  

3 strips of thick bacon

1 onion

3 stalks of celery

chicken broth (homemade is best, it is good to keep some frozen for occasions like this)

white wine

2 carrots

1 large potato

cream 

1lb clams

1/2lb mussels

1/2 lb shrimp

1/2lb small bay scallops

chop the bacon into little bits and cook.  Add onion and cook a while, then add celery. Add wine, broth, and veggies and cook until potatoes are almost done.  Add cream and thicken soup somehow (see below).  Add seafood and cook for just a few minutes before serving.  Whatever you do don't overcook the seafood. The scallops should be added last since they really only need about 120 seconds.  Also, when buying scallops don't get the really white ones, they have been soaked in a preservative. Instead you want the dry packed ones that are a little bit cream colored.  Freshness of the seafood you're using is important so try to buy it fresh the same day you plan to use it.

a note on thickening:

I guess traditional chowder is thickened with "ship biscuit" aka "hardtack" but I tried using my regular standby, cornstarch, with limited success.  I would have liked a thicker soup but the fact that it didn't thicken much didn't impact my enjoyment all that much. Good luck thickening, if you find a great method please comment and let me know.

Simple Chicken Salad Sandwich

cooked chicken (great way to used left overs)

mayo

celery

apple

tarragon

fresh lemon juice

Mix it all up and put it on some tasty sourdough. 

Fried Calamari

I was at the Fisherman's Terminal today buying seafood for a clam chowder that has turned into an everything chowder (new england style) and I saw squid! Their little disembodied-tentacle-bunches stared up at me and cried, "Eat us, eat us". How could I not?  This was my first time making calamari and as it turns out, calamari is super quick and simple.  

Calamari:

squid

flour

5 spice

cayenne powder

salt

oil

Heat up canola oil to about 350F in a heavy pan - the heavier the pan, the less the heat will drop when you add the squid.  Just cut up the squid, coat in the flour mixture (add other seasonings if you feel like it) and fry. I tried dipping the calamari in the flour, then in egg and then in the flour again to get a thicker breading and it worked but the squid got lost in the breading and it was tough to get the dough crispy all the way through without over cooking the squid. One dip in the flour was enough. 

Dip:

mayo

garlic

salt

hot sauce

fresh lemon juice

Mix garlic with a pinch of salt and then add everything else.

Pulled Pork, Homemade Pickles & Aioli

I need to fire Lars my photographer for this one. This sandwich is way tastier than it looks.  Pork shoulders were on sale so I threw one in a crock pot for a day and whipped up some refrigerator pickles and aioli. 

Pork:

1 pork shoulder (I think mine was around 4lbs)

apple cider vinegar

white wine

garlic

Cook in crock pot until meat is tender and shreddable (figure 6-8 hours)

I saved the drippings and plan to make a tangy sauce for another pork sandwich. Will post recipe when done.

Pickles:

carrots

cucumber

red onion

apple cider vinegar

water

sugar

salt

I used the slicing side of my box grater to slice the carrots and cucumber really thin really fast.  People living in this decade can use their food processors.  Start with about two table spoons of sugar per cup of water.  Mix half sugar water and half vinegar and adjust from there.  If you start these at the same time as the meat you'll  be in good shape and they're even better the next day.  I like to add fresh dill when I don't forget to buy it. 

Aioli:

mayo

garlic

thyme

rosemary

sage

salt

apple cider vinegar

Ok, so I took the shortcut and used mayo but that's because I'm lazy.  The apple cider vinegar was supposed to be lemon juice but that's because I forgot to buy lemons. Despite all of this, this recipe worked out well for this sandwich but you could mix pretty much any tasty flavors with mayo and have a decent sauce.  I like to start by mushing the garlic and salt together before adding the other stuff.  Mixing it with salt first seems to take the harsh edge off the garlic so you can taste more of the garlic flavor.  

Sweet Potato Black Bean Chicken Soup

Broth:
2 lbs chicken with bones
3 carrots with tops
4 stalks celery
1 onion
6 garlic cloves
thyme

Homemade broth is really easy and totally worth it if you happen to be hanging out at home for a couple hours anyway.  Basically keep everything covered in water and boil for about 3 hours or until you're too impatient to wait any longer.  Take the chicken out after about 45 min. so you don't boil it into mush.  I pull the chicken off the bone as soon as its cool enough and then throw the bones back in.

Then I make broth I like to use a reusable mesh grain bag that i bought for homebrewing to put the veggies in. This eliminates trying to strain the steaming hot broth later.   Any homebrew shop will stock these and they're only about $10.

Soup:
1 onion
4-5 cups broth
1 medium sweet potato
1 can diced tomatoes
3 big scoops of chunky peanut butter
pulled chicken (from broth)
cooked black beans
chili garlic sauce
salt
pineapple (optional)

Instructions: 
saute onion in butter
add everything else and simmer to combine flavors
stir in pineapple before serving

Welcome

Welcome to Olives & Orgasms.  I love olives. A lot. Not the way kids love PB&J or the way I love a good beer and the end of a long day.  I really love olives.  "Why don't you marry them" one might ask.  Well, maybe I will... and then I'll eat them.

This is not a blog about the use of food in various sex acts or about my love of olives and yes, I love orgasms too.  What this blog is about is food.  More specifically, food that I make, eat, and hopefully enjoy.  I've never been a good recipe follower which curses me in all of my baking endeavours, but it's what makes the less precise art of cooking fun for me.  I often begin with many recipes and through all of the pouring, dumping, pinching, and dashing I end up with something uniquely mine.  I will attempt to offer guidance on the amounts of the ingredients I use but in the end, these are just starting points to be taken with a grain of salt...or a teaspoon depending on your tastes.