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By J.Ho, June 23, 2010 8:39 am

Why use canned clams if you live in clam country, people ask me all the time.  Cause it’s cheap and easy!  This is a perfect mid-week, inexpensive, simple and amazingly delicious meal.

1 pound dried linguine
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, minced
2 (6-ounce) cans of chopped or minced clams with their juice
½ cup dry white wine
¼ teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
¼ cup freshly chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
Juice of ½ a lemon
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

In a large sauté pan heat the oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and slowly cook, stirring, until slightly golden, about 5 minutes. Or sweat the garlic in the olive oil for about ten minutes.  Add the clams with their juice, wine, red pepper flakes, butter, lemon juice, salt and pepper (keep in mind that the clams are quite salty on their own). Stir, reduce the heat to a simmer, and simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Sometimes I like it a tad thicker than usual and I take about level tablespoon of flour and mix it in a small amount of wine.  Add a small amount of the flour/wine mixture to the sauce and stir. till you get your desired thickness.

Now, when you add the wine, make sure you use a good quality dry wine such as a nice Chardonnay. Use something that you would actually drink. Don’t be stupid and use one of those “cooking wines” that you’ll find at the grocery store. They suck.  they suck bad. If you wouldn’t drink the wine out of a glass, why the hell would you cook with it?

Cook the linguine while reserving about ½ cup cooking water. Tip for cooking linguine: add 4-6 quarts of cold water to a large pot. Cover and bring to a boil. Add about ½ tablespoon of salt. Always wait till the water is boiling before adding the salt. If you add the salt before the water boils, the salt crystals will not dissolve immediately and can damage your pot. Stirring occasionally, cook for 8-10 minutes or so, no longer than 12 minutes.  I like my pasta sub-al dente, so 8 minutes is good for me.  Drain the pasta and immediately add it to the sauce along with the chopped parsley to the sauce and mix well, adding a few tablespoons of pasta cooking water if needed to coat the pasta evenly. Cover and cook for about a minute. Serve immediately. This dish is pairs perfectly with a bottle of Spanish Albariño.

I measured out the ingredients to have a little more sauce than most people would use. I like my pasta swimming in sauce. If you would like to regulate it better, add drained pasta to your serving dishes and spoon sauce over the top to get the volume you like.  I could eat this three or four times a week.

Yankees suck!

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By J.Ho, April 7, 2008 1:23 pm

I’ve posted this recipe in the past, but I just found some pictures I took the last time I prepared it for some friends. So I figured it would be a good thing to update. Don’t let the bacon, butter and cream fool you. This dish is much lighter than it appears.

This is a simple country-style French dish that is hearty, nourishing and wicked, wicked good! It’s origins are in the French province of Brittany. One of the six Celtic nations, Brittany is gastronomically revered for producing some of France’s best beers, white wines, crêpes and seafood.

1 large onion, sliced
4 oz butter
8 oz bacon slices
1 ½ pounds potatoes, peeled & thinly sliced
1 ½ pounds fresh cod fillets (any medium to firm textured white fish such as haddock, roughy or halibut may be substituted)
1 cup heavy cream

Heat oven to 350°. Sauté the sliced onion in 2 tablespoons of the butter. Prepare in a greased casserole dish which is an appropriate size to pack in all the ingredients firmly. Cover the bottom of the oven dish with a layer of bacon slices, then half of the onion, then half of the potato slices. Layering it all like a sandwich.

Cut the fish into medium sized pieces and place on top of the potatoes. Season well with salt & freshly ground black pepper. Reversely, cover the fish with the rest of the potatoes, then the onions and then the bacon. Season well with salt & freshly ground black pepper again. Pour over the cream. Dot the top with the remaining butter. Bake in the oven for about an hour. It will be done when the top is well browned and the cream is bubbling vigorously.

With the potatoes integrated within the dish, all you need is a side green vegetables. I’d suggest roasted asparagus.

Yankees suck!

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By J.Ho, April 2, 2007 9:44 pm

All I had to work with tonight was a little less than a pound of left over fresh haddock from dinner this weekend. That recipe will be up here one of these days. It ruled! Not that this recipe is one for the ages, but it is light, and taste fresh and delicious.

1 pound fresh cod, halibut, sea bass or haddock
2 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced thick on the diagonal
2 medium yellow squash, halved lengthwise and sliced thick on the diagonal
1 half large white onion
2 cloves fresh garlic, peeled and minced
1 medium shallot, peeled and minced
3 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
1 tablespoon Zatarain’s Cajun seasoning
Half fresh squeezed lemon

Heat oven to 425°. Melt the butter with the oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and shallots and sauté for 5 minutes. Try to control the heat. Do not brown or burn the garlic. Salt & pepper both sides of the fish filet. Spoon a small amount of the sauté mixture into a baking dish and place the fliet on top. Spoon a small amount of the sauté mixture on top of the filet. Toss zucchini, squash, Cajun seasoning and a bit more salt & pepper in the sauté pan for a minute or two and add to the sides of the baking dish around the fish filet. Place onions on top of the filet and squeeze fresh lemon juice all over everything. Bake for 25 minutes. There are several different directions you can go with seasoning this dish. Try dried oregano, rosemary or thyme. Maybe lemon pepper. Go for it! Enjoy! Yankees suck!

Comments (1)

By J.Ho, April 22, 2006 3:29 pm

I was at a local market and saw cod fillets on sale. I jumped at the chance on a good deal on fish. Not that this recipe all that special, but I feel it’s worth a quick write up. This is a pretty easy way to give a bit more taste to white fish while still preserving it’s own flavor and texture. You can do this with just about any fish you like. I usually use haddock, cod, or halibut.

1 pound or more of any medium textured white fish
¼ cup or more all purpose flour (about that much per pound of fish)
¼ cup light olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
Salt & freshly ground black pepper, to your own liking
Ground cayenne pepper, I only use a small dash

Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat. In a mixing bowl, blend flour, cayenne, salt and pepper. Pour seasoned flour onto a large plate. Add oil and butter to the hot pan and bring to a slight sizzle. Cut fish into decent size pieces, if it’s given to you in large, long filets. Rinse off fish under cold water and dredge each side through the seasoned flour. Pat in the flour well on each side. Add a few pieces to the pan, but don’t crowd them. If you have lots of fish, work in batches and add more oil and butter if necessary for the last few batches. Sauté for about five minutes on each side, or longer if you want it crispier. I like it a bit crispy. When done, set aside on a plate lined with paper towels to cool and drain. Serve with rice, or buttered noodles. Boiled & buttered carrots or roasted asparagus go well with this.

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By J.Ho, March 8, 2006 7:59 am

I can’t wait for the arctic weather in the Boston area to leave.  This is one of my favorite summertime grill foods.  Nice, sweet, plump scallops … marinated and skewered … Addictive!

1 pound (or more) of large sea scallops (fresh or frozen, thawed)
18-20 fresh white mushroom caps
1 can pineapple chunks, drained
3 medium bell peppers (1 green, 1 yellow and 1 red), cut into 1-inch rectangle pieces (stem and white inside part removed)
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
½ cup dry white wine
½ cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
12 slices bacon
Set of metal or wooden skewers

Place scallops, pineapple chunks and vegetables in a large, shallow container. Wisk together the remaining ingredients, except the bacon.  Pour over mixture in container and mix well with the scallops. Cover and refrigerate for 1 ½ hours, stirring frequently.

Fry bacon until almost cooked, but not crisp. Cut each slice in half widthwise.  Remove scallops, pineapple and vegetables from marinade, reserving marinade. Thread one end of each strip of bacon on a skewer, then a scallop and a pineapple piece. Bring the bacon round the scallop and pineapple pieces with the skewer.  Then add a mushroom cap and bell pepper to the skewer.  Alternate till you have three or four scallops on each skewer.

Grill kebabs on a hot grill, turning and basting frequently with the marinade, for about 15 minutes or until bacon is crisp and scallops are completely white.  Serve on a bed of steamed sticky white rice.

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By J.Ho, March 7, 2006 4:44 pm

Rich and creamy, sweet and succulent.  Scallops are one of my favorite foods.  This dish is simple as it is unique.

1 pint sea scallops
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup cream
¾ cup milk
½ cup Italian flavored bread crumbs
Salt & freshly ground black pepper

Heat oven to 400°.  On the stove, melt butter in an oven proof sauté pan and add scallops.  Stir well and sauté for about 5 minutes.  Stir in flour and blend well.  Slowly add cream and milk.  Cook while stirring often until slightly thick.  Season with salt & pepper.  Cover with the bread crumbs and transfer to the oven.  Bake in oven till crumbs are browned, about 10 minutes.

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By J.Ho, March 7, 2006 5:05 am

Swordfish has a texture that makes so easy to grill that many people overlook other ways to cook it. I tried this recipe out and fell in love.

2 ½ pounds of fresh swordfish
All-purpose flour
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
½ cup marinara sauce
4 tablespoons of butter
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 shallots, sliced fine

Heat oven to 300°. Cut the fish into ½ inch thick slices if they aren’t already (try getting the butcher to do this when you buy it), dry well, and sprinkle lightly with flour, salt and pepper. Mix the marinara sauce with four tablespoons of the butter. Place the oil in a baking pan and add the fish. Cook for five minutes on each side on top of the stove over medium heat. Remove from the heat. Add the marinara sauce/butter mixture and sliced shallots. Cover and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Enjoy.  Yankees suck!