At-Home Clam Bake for 2

As soon as I get it in my head that I want Lobster…I need Lobster ASAP.  It’s by far my favorite food, and I never understand when people say it’s not worth the effort of cracking the shells and maybe getting messy!

I just say you’re lazy and don’t know what your missing, but more Lobster for me that way ;)

To make matters even easier, most grocery stores will steam those suckers right there for you so all you have to do it take home your cooked ‘stars and get a crackin!

Keep an eye out, a lot of grocery stores will have some great deals!  I’ve gotten lobsters for $3.99/lb before!!  Of course I make up for it at that price by then buying 5 of them…but then you have lobster rolls the next day, so it’s all good. 

When I saw my mom this past weekend at a family party, she mentioned she treated herself to a lobster the other day.  It was then that I decided we were having lobsters for dinner one night this week!

Monday was the night.

As soon as I arrived at the grocery store I headed straight to the fish dept.  I was slightly bummed to see lobsters were $6.99/lb.  Still cheap, but I was hoping for better than that.

Even still, I ordered 3 1-lb lobsters to be steamed while I finished my shopping.  I also decided to grab a bag of littleneck clams to add to our feast.

I had never prepared a “clam-bake” type dinner before, but I recall one of my college roommates making one for us and that was my inspiration. 

I knew I wanted it to have potatoes, corn, and the clams.  If you want to cook the lobsters yourself you can add them right in the pot with everything else. 

I pretty much winged it as I couldn’t find anything online that didn’t involve way more ingredients (like sausage), but I knew the basics….once the clams open up they are done.

DIY Clam Bake for 2:

What you need:

• lobsters, pre-steamed for a fast dinner!
• little neck clams, I had 12-15 in my bag but cook as many as you want.
• red potatoes – I used 3 medium sized potatoes.  You can also use the mini potatoes and leave them whole
• corn on the cob – husked.  I used 1 ear per person…but afterwards wished I had more!!  break ears in half
• 1 medium sized yellow or white onion - chopped
• 6oz Beer – I used Shipyard Export Ale, which is a full bodied ale.
• 1 T old Bay seasoning
• 2 t sea salt
• 1 T olive oil

Prep your clams – go through your clams and throw out any that are cracked, chipped, or broken.  Then place them in a bowl and cover with cold tap water.  Let them soak for 30min-1hr.  After soaking, check to make sure they have all closed up, if some are still open gently tap to see if they will close, if not TOSS them out!  You don’t want dead clams.

Chop onions, break corn cobs in half, and cut up potatoes into big chunks…I’d say they were “2-bit” chunks.

• Heat a large pot heat oil to med/med-high.  Add onions and sauté for 4-5 min until softened. 
• Add potatoes, cook for 2-3 more minutes.  Add old bay seasoning, and sea salt. 
• Then top potatoes/onions with the corn, then on top of that add your clams.  This way the clams will steam up above the rest. 
• Add your beer, and equal parts water.  The liquid should just barely reach the clams. 
  
   
  My pot was probably bigger than needed, so a few clams fell right into the liquid, but they all tasted great.
  
• Bring liquid to a boil, then reduced heat to low/med-low and cover pot.
  
• Check after 5min or so, my clams opened quickly.  Once they are all open, remove them from the pot.  Then continue simmering until the potatoes are tender.
  
• Using a slotted spoon transfer clams, potatoes, and corn to a serving bowl.
  
   

Other Preparations:

• melt salted butter in individual ramekins for lobster dipping
• set table with forks, lobster crackers, lobster forks, LOTS of napkins, and an extra empty bowl for shells.
• Might not want to use your favorite table cloths or placemats for this one
• bibs are encouraged
• DIG IN!

To really round out the meal, a nice green salad would be a great side dish or appetizer as well, but I ate my fair share of greens earlier in the day.

If we were just eating lobsters and corn, we would of dominated the third lobster, but with the clams and potatoes we were pretty full.

Lucky for me though, I cracked all the meat out that night and then had a bowl of lobster meat for lunch the next day!

Also, if you’re going to have melted butter…just melt salted butter.  Don’t skim the white stuff off the top…DON’T.  Sure, that’s  “clarified” but that’s also where all the yummy saltiness is!! 

Personally, I think the “clarified butter” at most restaurants sucks to be blunt.  Nothing beats plain old melted salted butter…which is also good for dipping clams, potatoes, and corn…just sayin. 

This is probably only the 2nd time I’ve ever cooked with Old Bay (that should change).  That and the beer gave the potatoes and corn SO much flavor!! 

This was such a treat to have for dinner, Brian and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I have a feeling this same meal will happen at least once or twice more this summer!

Lobster:  Love it?  Hate it?  Worth the effort?

Also what else should I cook with Old Bay??  I’m an Old Bay novice.

South of the Border BBQ

p.s. still time to enter my giveaway!!

There’s always been a Memorial Day weekend BBQ at my place. It started…I’m thinking 5 years ago when I was living in Somerville with my bff Jocelyn! Brian’s birthday usually falls around then so we had a bbq/party and the tradition stuck.

Last year, it was our first big BBQ at our new House with our new patio furniture…and a little more tame than years past ;)

Recap of last years BBQ

This year was different. The Half Marathon was that weekend and the last thing I needed was to be overly stressed by hosting a party…but I still wanted a party!!

Solution = SMALL party :)

I find, at least for myself, I get the most stressed about having people over when I have multiple “groups” of friends coming. They all might know each other, but I constantly feel like I need to spend time and chat with everyone while still trying to get all the last minute food details ready.

I’m much more relaxed once everyone has eaten haha.

So in order to have a stress-free gathering I stuck to a small group of people…9, including Brian and myself.

Although, I still managed too make enough for 20…oh well! Leftovers!!

The Menu was entirely inspired by the June issue of Cooking Light!

There were SO many awesome sounding Mexican-ish dishes in there, that I decided to have a Mexican themed BBQ!

The Menu:

Drinks

Minted Lemon-Lime Watermelon Aqua Fresca (non-alcoholic, I had two lovely pregnant ladies that day)
Skinny Girl Margaritas!
Brian’s beer (he has 2 varieties on tap in the basement)

Snacks

Homemade Guac – I special requested my friend to make it since she uses our FAVORITE recipe from the Barefoot Contessa.
Mango Salsa – homemade by another guest!

Main Dishes

Flank Steak Tacos – made the recipe for the steak and had the options out for people to make tacos: tortillas, cheese, salsa, sour cream, avocado
Ancho Chili Chicken – a favorite family recipe! Already on the blog!!

Sides

Cilantro Lime Rice – made by a guest
Baked Black Beans with Chorizo – LOVED this recipe, the chorizo gives it so much flavor.
Grilled Corn on the Cob – never got around to making the jalapeño butter, but I bet it’s delicious.
Pasta salad – made by a guest, minus the chicken
Fruit Salad – made by a guest

Dessert!!

Margarita Ice-Cream Sandwiches – I wasn’t in love with the sound of these at first, but they looked so cute and went perfectly with the theme!
SOOO happy I made them, they are delicious!!
Dessert Nachos! – totally came up with this one in my head and I am obsessed with how they came out! Definitely going to do a full post on these :)

The plan:

Friday:

• Shop for all ingredients and drinks. Also assess if you need any paper plates, or other disposable items. I already had enough at home.


• Clean!!


• Make cookie dough for ice cream sandwiches (it has to chill before baking)
  

Saturday:

• bake off cookies for ice cream sandwiches
  


• make marinade for chicken, rub for steak, and get all meats into large Ziploc bags to marinate overnight


• make Ancho chili sauce
  


• Make/Prepare beans to be baked the next day. Don't add cheese, tomatoes, or green onion yet.


• Make simple syrup, and prep lime juice for watermelon aqua fresca


• chop up watermelon


• Prepare tortilla chips for dessert nachos
  

Sunday:

• Run half marathon (if that’s what you’re doing that morning)


• come home, shower, and get ready


• final clean up/pick up


• husk corn


• Guests Arrive!!


• Fire up the grill and start grilling the meats, then corn


• Place toppings on beans then bake


• Make your friends a batch of Watermelon Aqua Fresca
  


• After everyone eats, sneak back to the kitchen to make the chocolate sauce and whip the cream for the desserts :)


• ENJOY!

It was a fun low-key, relaxing day. No one stayed too late, we did a quick clean up, and were able to crash at a reasonable hour considering we had got up around 6 that morning!

How do you handle the stress of being the hostess?? No matter how stressed I get, I still LOVE having people over! Usually my problem is a bite off more than I can chew…we probably didn’t need as much food, especially 2 desserts…oh well! I’ve been enjoying mini ice cream sandwiches all week!

Happy Friday!! I have my first dance performance tonight for the company I am in up in NH. This is sort of a practice performance for just one of the pieces, but still…a little nervous :) Our big show isn’t until September.

Weekend Recovery

Hey Guys!  This past week Brian and I spent some time relaxing on the sandy beaches of the Outer Banks in North Carolina!  I’m still working on a vacation recap, but all you need to know was that the beaches are amazing and the ocean water is a perfect temp!  Being a life long New Englander, we are used to FRIGID water.  I recall the days when I was younger we’d have to “get numb” before we could play around in the water…yeah I don’t do that anymore ;)  So this water felt AMAZING.

For now this beautiful sight

Another beautiful sight was this one that I saw when I walked in the door Saturday morning after an awesome run.

Oh yes, he did!  I ran about 3.8 miles around Lexington (part of which I did on the Minuteman Bike Trail!)  Then when I walked in the door I discovered a beautiful breakfast was minutes away!

We had a bag of red potatoes leftover from the trip and Brian mentioned something about home fries but I didn’t really think much of it. 

He made home fries with fresh oregano and thyme from our garden.

Then made delicious Caprese style breakfast sandwiches with egg, fresh mozzarella, and tomato and basil from our garden!

I added some sliced banana and strawberries to round it out.

It was just the thing to re-fuel after my run and it was delicious!!  A big THANKS to my awesome husband :)

The rest of the weekend consisted of re-organizing, errands, and more delicious food!

It was surprisingly cool and rainy today (which is actually a welcome change…maybe my lawn will turn back to green soon!), and it totally put me in the mood to cook and bake!

Also brought up a craving for a hot cappuccino…mmm foam

A compromise of a soup for a cool day but summer fresh ingredients were found in this Cooking Light recipe: Summer Squash and Corn Chowder

The actual recipe in the magazine had this soup served with bruschetta which I also made.      

The bruschetta was simple:

• mix chopped tomato, basil, a little bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and a sprinkle of salt
• toast bread/baguette on a baking sheet in the oven at 425 for 6 minutes.
• after removing from oven, rub a fresh garlic clove on each slice
• then top with tomato mixture

 

The soup had a fresh sweet flavor that was brought out by the corn!  I used mostly fresh corn off the cob as opposed to frozen.

The blended corn + milk gives a great creaminess without any actual cream.

The best part is of course the toppings of sharp cheddar, bacon, and scallions :)

I also baked up some tasty apple walnut muffins based on the Moosewood Muffin recipe, but I am not liking how the pictures came out (still working the new camera when there’s no natural light).  So, I shall do another muffin photo shoot in the morning with the sun shining in :)

It’s great to be home, but I am not looking forward to work tomorrow…boo!  At least I had muffins to look forward too!        

Enjoy your last hours of the weekend!

Stress

All this house buying stuff is sucking the energy out of me big time!! I mean I knew it wasn't easy but this has got to be one of the most stressful weeks ever!! When lots of questions and information is thrown at you all at once, even not-so-big-deal things can seem like HUGE deals. Combine this with not being able to workout all week, and that just adds another level of stress and frustration.

Well the hard part will be over tonight when we finally sign the purchase and sale and hand over the deposit...then it's done! Hopefully there's not too much between tonight and the closing on June 8th.

I'm planning a big Friday night workout haha...no but really I am!

Now for a little delicious recap of some food highlights this week thus far.

I don't eat as much tofu as some of you guys, but I do like it! I particularly like it marinaded and grilled like my dad used to make. When I found the marinade recipe he used to use I was so excited.

The marinade is from this vegetarian cookbook that my dad bought back in the day when he went Vegetarian for a little while. The book is "The American Vegetarian Cookbook from the Fit for Life Kitchen" by Marilyn Diamond and was published in 1990 (omg I can't believe that was 19years ago!!). It's funny though because it's called a "vegetarian" cookbook but after looking through it, its definitely more a Vegan cookbook! I wonder if the term "vegan" wasn't as widely used then?

Anywho, the marinade is simple and delicious. I don't remember exact proportions but the ingredients were: (I used 1 block of extra firm tofu)

• soy sauce
• dried mustard
• honey
• molasses
• garlic
• onion
• dash of cayenne pepper

This is a very flavorful marinade! I'll say that I think this time around that it was a little too salty. The recipe calls for low-sodium soy sauce but I had to use half low-sodium, half regular because I ran out! I think next time I may just use less and add some water or maybe orange juice!

The next night I grilled these babies up on my grill pan as it was raining outside :(

I love eating them in a sandwich or bun with a little BBQ sauce.

I've also been enjoying little servings of the Eddy's Slow Churned Mint Chocolate Chip! I still can't believe this stuff is low fat!

Looking lovely sprinkled with some rainbow JIMMIES! Yes they are JIMMIES! I will never call them SPRINKLES...at least never when it comes to ice cream applications. My roommate and I haven't his argument ALL the time.

What do you call them? Jimmies or Sprinkles??

Another delicious item of the week is corn. I am just starting to see corn on the cob at the grocery stores. I can't wait to see the HUGE bins of overflowing corn soon!!

Well I steamed a few ears up and put them in the fridge to eat during the week. I just cut the corn off the cob, added fresh cut tomatoes and enjoyed!

Usually this combination is perfect with some fresh basil and a drizzle of olive oil, but I had no basil so I just ate it plain. They were perfectly flavorful on their own.

I enjoyed this corn/tomato salad with a turkey and tomato wrap on Joseph's Lavash bread, and sliced red bell pepper.

My final "item of the week" is PB!! I know nothing new, BUT lately I feel like I've been enjoying almond butter so much that I have sent peanut butter to the wayside! (what does that even mean...'to the wayside'...I don't know but it seemed fitting). I was super excited to open a brand new jar of my FAV...TJ's Organic Creamy Peanut Butter!

I enjoyed this for breakfast yesterday along with my favorite "jelly" TJ's Organic Raspberry Fruit Spread, 1 banana, and 1 slice of Arnold's Double Protein Bread (toast).

Ok so maybe I snuck some almond butter on 1/3 of the toast. What can I say? I love options!!

Mmm melty.

Well hopefully the stressful week is dwindling down, because we sign the Purchase and Sale tongiht so after that we're in! Well not in the house, thats the closing, but we're locked in with our $$$$$!!!

Talk about most expensive year EVER!!!! New house, our wedding, our honeymoon, 3 weddings I am in (so that means showers and bachelorette's), 2 other weddings to attend....and who knows what else!

It's almost friday, just keep thinking that:)