• Cast Iron Sandwich Press (that my wife bought me)
• Jarlsberg Cheese (that my wife picked up yesterday)
• Potato-Leek soup (that my wife cooked yesterday)

The sandwich press is not used daily, but really does make an amazing grilled cheese sandwich on thick cut bread. It mashes the heck out of that bread creating a nice crisp exterior. Every time I use it i say to myself that i need to use it more often. 

Is there a better cheese than Jarlsberg? its a little tangy, a little chewy, perfectly sized holes, melts wonderfully, great for snacking. I love this cheese!

And then my wife's potato leek soup, especially when combined with the other two things i love above (jarslberg and the sandwich press) makes the perfect rainy day fall lunch. 

My brother in law could be titled Chowder King. The guy can make at least a half dozen chowders from scratch. This salmon chowder was a great, brothy/buttery feast. While the salmon was amazing, I think the bacon stole the show. Recipe to follow soon.

Tried a black bean soup recipe from Sara Foster tonight (yes, i'm somewhat obsessed with her, and Bittman, and Waters). Overall i thought this didn't have enough kick, and my limes were on steroids clearly (though somehow organic), but still a solid bb soup. Definitely not the thick, guinessy pub version. This is fresh, bright, tangy, but also somewhat hearty. Look at this first step of ingredients:

After cooking 2 cups of dried beans (cooked in 3 inches of water for 45 minutes), i sauteed one diced red onion for about 10 minutes:

Then added in 2 diced carrots, 4 stalks diced celery, 2 diced jalepenos, 1 diced red bell pepper, and sauteed for another 10 minutes or so. I then added 8 gloves of minced garlic for about a minute:

Next i added 8 cups chicken broth (definitely could have been vegetable broth if going vegetarian), 4 bay leaves, a tablespoon of dried basil, teaspoon of salt, and 1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored, and diced:

This is it fully in the pot:

After coming to a boil i reduced to simmer and cooked for about an hour or an hour and a half uncovered:

I then took about half of the soup out, and blended it in a food processor, and returned it to the pot along with the juice of 3 gargantuan limes: 

Thickish (but not thick enough... i later went back to my remaining pot of soup after dinner and cooked it on low for another hour or so to reduce and thicken it up. )

Proof, these limes were huge. (I dropped the juiced lime halves in the food processor because i didn't want to get the counter all limey. They didn't go in there for any recipe reason))

The final bowl, topped with chopped cilantro:

In retrospect, i should have realized my limes were enormous and cut it by half. I also think this would have been great with a few slices of avocado and raw red onion on top. We ate it with a few slices of sourdough bread, but it'd be great with some simple cheese quesadillas... maybe heavy on the chipotle for some contrast. I'd definitely make this again with these modifications... but like Lori says, "never doubt Sara Foster." Ya, this was pretty great. 

 

 

Made my chowder recipe this weekend that I had scribbled down on paper when I made it for the first time on the vineyard. The start is hands down the best part:

Steaming 5 dozen little necks in 5 cups water. Ma and Pa bought me a real-deal steamer with the broth spout for my birthday last month, and the thing is perfect. Simple, huge, and fun.

5 dozen clams makes about twice this amount when shucked. But only about 4 dozen make it into the chowder as it's impossible to not toss several back with an ice cold ale while shucking. Even in 20 degree weather clams and beer taste perfect.

While the shucking is going on, I'm sauteing 3 strips of bacon (chopped), and a medium yellow onion (also chopped) in 2 tablespoons of butter. Watch out!

Once the bacon is hard, and the onions are soft, I add 4 cups of the clam broth left over from steaming (that spout makes this super easy as none of the sand can come through. Brilliant! But if you don't have that, you simply strain the broth through several layers of cheese cloth.), along with 5 medium red potatoes (diced). My potatoes seemed too large though in total volume so I added another cup of broth. I also add 1 teaspoon of ground white pepper. This cooks on medium heat (covered) for about 30 minutes untill the potatoes are soft. Then add the shucked clams, 1 cup light cream, 1 cup milk, and 1 tablespoon fresh thyme. Cook for 20 more minutes, uncovered. Then i add in 1/2 pound cod cut into bite size chunks, a final cup of milk, and turn off the heat. Let it come to room temperature (the fish cooks during this time), and then put in the fridge for at least 4 hrs, preferably overnight.

That's what you get when you reheat and serve the next day. This one was too heavy on the potatoes and a little too thin on the broth. I should have kept it to the same amount of clam broth, and just not cooked all the potatoes. But adding a little more white pepper at least brought a little more flavor into it. Froze two quarts of it for later this winter. Now that will be a tasty treat one Friday night. Looking ahead to that surprise when we unearth it from the packed freezer.