an attempt at Hog Oyster's clam chowder and grilled cheese

please tell me you've had Hog Island Oyster Co's grilled cheese sandwich. their clam chowder at least? i mean the clam chowder is on the 2010 7x7 Magazine's list of Top 100 Things You Must Eat Before You Die so if you have yet to try it you probably should get on that task before your fateful last day. i don't even eat oysters but i've been to Hog Island plenty of times to reunite with the combo of the creamiest grilled cheese and pleasantly light clam chowder.

one day my cousin, Eva, figured that we could probably find both recipes online and make it at home. the task of finding a recipe for the clam chowder was easier than we thought. it was waiting for us on their website just ready for people to attempt. the grilled cheese was relatively easy as well. Eva found a recipe that seemed pretty legit so we went with it.

on a sun shiny Saturday afternoon we headed to the Ferry Building with our good friend Libby to gather ingredients. Acme bread, Cowgirl Creamery cheeses, pancetta from the market, etc. only the best for our chowder and grilled cheese.....well.....until it came to the clams. the recipe asks for 6lbs of Hog Island manila clams but after buying all of the other ingredients we decided that buying that many clams would be ridiculously expensive for an at home chowder. we headed to good ol' Safeway in search of clams but lucky us (sarcastic) they didn't have any. soooo we unfortunately had to use canned clams. oh the horror!!! don't feel too bad for us though, it still came out really good!

adaptation of Hog Island Oyster Co clam chowder


ingredients:
- 1/3 lb pancetta, sliced
- 1/2 celery stalk, thinly sliced
- 2 large leeks (white part only), thinly sliced
- 1 large carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 tbs butter
- 2 large yellow potatoes, chopped bite size
-  1 1/2 cans of clams (i hate that we had to use canned clams. it's so unappealing, but it got the job done. i can't even remember the size of the cans but the equivalent was something like a cup worth)
- 1 c heavy cream
- salt and pepper to taste

directions:
1. in a large pot boil 5-6 c water with potatoes until al dente
2. while potatoes are boiling, in a second pot, melt butter with thyme
3. cook pancetta with the butter thyme mixture until fat is rendered off
4. add leeks and celery to pot and cook until translucent
5. add carrots and cook until tender
6. add potatoes and 4 c of potato water
7. add heavy cream and clams and bring to a simmer until everything is heated through
8. add salt and pepper to taste

Libby, proud of her new found slicing skills

impressive!!!

at this point Eva's apt. smelled amazing

this came out tasting as close to Hog Island's clam chowder as much as i could imagine for a home cooked version. it was really good! i'll pat myself on the back for that one.

grilled cheese

ingredients:

- one slab of Acme onion ciabatta

- 2 tbs butter, room temp

- 4 oz fromage blanc

- 4 oz Gruyere, coarsly shredded

- 4 oz Cheddar, coarsly shredded

- 4 oz Havarti, coarsly shredded

directions:

1. slice onion ciabatta into 4 pieces and butter the outside

2. fill each portion for 1/4 of each type of cheese

3. panini press it!!

glorious cheeses!!

now i know that it's possible to make both the Hog Island grilled cheese and the clam chowder at home, however i think the next time i want it i'll just make my way over to the Ferry Building. after buying four types of cheeses and all the other ingredients, it ends up costing quite a bit. now i know why they charge nearly $15 for a bowl of clam chowder and $12 for a grilled cheese sandwich. it was fun trying, nonetheless. 

beef wellington with red wine mushroom sauce

last week Kim, Kris and i threw a lunch for a couple of friends. we wanted to make it semi-pretentious yet still be considered comfort food. somehow we came up with the idea of making individual beef wellingtons. now of course we had no business making a pate or using pate considering we were feeding fifteen guests and didn't feel like breaking the bank to feed others for free. filet mignon? nope! same thinking. howzabout some form of steak and a mushroom layer? oh and the thought of making flaky layered puff pastry from scratch was out of question also. Pillsbury to the rescue! nonetheless it came out pretty decent. we are in no way, shape or from "chefs" or even "cooks" so the meat itself came out a bit overdone for my liking but it still tasted pretty good. but what brought the dish all together was the red wine mushroom sauce!! it was quite rich and tasty, thankyouverymuch!!

unfortunately i didn't take pictures of the process of making the red wine mushroom sauce so instead i'll show you pictures from the easy process of putting together the wellingtons.

lay out some puff pastry and throw on some cooked mushrooms and onions

add a giant hunk of seared meat to that

wrap puff pastries around meat and brush with egg whites and you have sacks of soon-to-be-deliciousness

 bake at 400 degrees F for approx 15 min. crispy golden blurry goodness

dark photo, but you get the gist, right?

simple red wine and mushroom sauce

these directions make enough gravy for about five servings.

ingredients:

-2 tbs butter

-1/4 c onion, minced

-6 large mushrooms sliced (i used nearly a pack of button mushrooms)

-2 cloves garlic, minced

-3 tbs flour

-1/2 c red wine

-1 10.5oz can beef broth

-1 bay leaf

-1 tsp Worcestershire

-salt and pepper to taste

directions:

1. over medium heat melt 2 tbs butter in a saucepan

2. add mushrooms and onion and cook until onions are just about transparent

3. add garlic to saucepan and cook for another minute

4. stir in flour and mix so that the flour does not clump

5. add in wine, broth and bay leaf

6. stir until sauce bubbles and simmers

7. simmer until it reduces by about 1/2 the amount of liquid (this will take a while)

8. add salt, pepper and Worcestershire to taste 

cheesecake in a jar

last week for Trina and Justin's surprise lunch i made little jars of cheesecake with blackberry curd for take home favors. they came out pretty awesome if i do say so myself. i would eat blackberry curd by the spoonful in front of the tv if it wasn't considered gluttonous. if you don't make this cheesecake, at the least make the blackberry curd! it would go well on toast or over ice cream, in between layers of cake or with a yogurt parfait! so good!!!

i got the recipe from this site and followed the directions to a T (except for the cook time).

cheesecake in a jar 

i portioned this in to 10 medium sized jars with the base a little bit smaller than the size of my palm

ingredients for crust:

-2 c graham cracker crumbs

-6 tbs sugar

-6 tbs melted butter

directions for crust:

1. combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter in a large bowl until all crumbs are moist. 

2. portion evenly in to jars

3. push down on crumb mixture with something flat so that they form a solid base for the cheesecake

i used a mini jam jar as my utensil 

ingredients for the cheesecake:

-40 oz cream cheese at room temp

-12 oz sugar

-5 large eggs plus 2 yolks

-2 oz milk

-3 tbs flour

-grated lemon peel from 1 lemon

directions for cheesecake:

1. preheat oven to 325 degrees F

2. begin to boil a pot/kettle water

3. in a large bowl beat cream cheese until softened 

4. slowly beat in sugar

5. beat in eggs, milk, flour and lemon peel and mix until completely smooth and well blended

6. portion the cheesecake mix into the jars with the crust

7. place jars in to a roasting pan in the oven, evenly spaced out

8. pour boiling water into the roasting pan to surround the jars. water should come about 1" short from the top of the jars

9. bake for 30 minutes or until the edges are slightly firm and the middles are still slightly jiggly (i baked mine for quite a bit longer)

10. remove from oven and roasting pan

11. allow to cool completely

12. cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge for at least an hour

ingredients for blackberry curd:

-4 cups blackberries

-1/2 c water

-1 tsp orange zest

-1 c sugar

-2 oz butter

-4 tbs cornstarch

-4 tbs cold water

directions for blackberry curd:

1. put blackberries, orange zest and water in a pot and bring to a boil

2. reduce to a simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally 

3. place the blackberry mixture in to a sieve over a large bowl and press through until most of the liquid has been strained through (this is an incredibly tedious process. if you have a food mill, use it! and if you blend the berry mixture before putting it in the sieve, this will decrease your straining time. i, unfortunately didn't do either and relied on a large spoon and my arm weakness strength to get by)

4. pour berry liquid back into pot over medium heat

5. add sugar and butter

6. combine cornstarch and cold water in a small bowl

7. once combined, add to pot to whisk in with berry mixture

8. stir until thick and bubbly or to your desired consistency  (i wanted it thick enough that if i put my finger in it it would stick)

9. remove from heat and pour in to a heat safe bowl or jar

10. cover with plastic wrap and allow to cool completely

11. after completely cooling, pour over chilled cheesecakes in their prepared jars

voila! cheesecake in a jar!! 

sunday funday: surprise lunch and grandpa's bday!!

this past sunday Kris, Kim and i threw a surprise lunch for a couple of friends of ours. long story short, they're getting married and along with planning a marriage comes a lot of adversity. whether it be opinions from the family, who to invite, finances and the stress of organizing and getting things done, a wedding can be a mess of a journey. what precedes what should be the best day of your life can sometimes be overwhelming and exhausting.

because we want no more than to see our friends happy, we wanted to throw them a surprise lunch with a closed guest list of only their closest friends. we know Trina very well and knew that cooking good food and having a chill afternoon with people she loves would put a smile on her face. sunday, we successfully pulled of said lunch.

very very early sunday morning Kim and i began cooking for the days festivities. we'd planned out a menu that was to Trina's liking. luckily we all have very similar tastes in food so the menu was easy. comfort food done up and somewhere in there should be bacon!

the spread

'

"salad"

endive with fresh pear, creamy blue cheese, homemade candied pecan and champagne vinaigrette.

crab and four cheese mac n cheese. with parmesan crisps shaped like T's and J's. 

mini individual baked potatoes with chive creme fraiche and a sharp cheddar.

chicken and waffles

the most light crisp awesome waffle ever!! i'm so happy i found this recipe!! (will post later) i had to borrow Trina's waffle maker, so i told her i was making bacon waffles per my boyfriend's request a week ago. this is probably the first time i've lied in a long time. it's really really hard for me to lie!! i'm the worst liar in the world. 

beef wellington stuffed with mushrooms, served with a mushroom red wine sauce.

to drink:

gingerale with berries.

with berry ice cubes!! there was white sangria also, but i failed to take a picture because i don't really drink sangria. haha

for dessert:

mini cream puffs with nutella whipped cream and banana.

peach and almond galette!!! 

we also made little take away cheesecakes for everybody as a thank you for showing their love and support for Trina and Justin.

cheesecake in a jar with blackberry coulee. 

Kris, Trina, me (all tired), and Kim

Mike, Trina and Nina

my god! this is what i look like after not really sleeping for 72 hrs? i think i shall never do that again. what they say about beauty sleep must be true!!! (i had worked graveyard the past two nights and spent all light hours awake busy having an awesome weekend)

Justin, in his new favorite robe, trying to stare intellectually into the distance while holding his glass of scotch. (scotch??)

me and the man. look, i'm like half asleep!

Kim, Kris, Trina, me, Kim and Jess

somehow i failed to get a picture of Trina and Justin together. oops!! 

well i know that Trina appreciated our gesture and i hope that they had a good time just hanging out. we wanted to show them that sometimes celebrations can just be about them and that they have people supporting them who just want them to be happy. 

later that night my family on my dad's side went out to dinner to celebrate my grandpa's birthday. we went to All Season restaurant in SF. it's always nice to have a big family gathering. i always want my grandparents to feel loved. i know that as people become elderly they feel neglected. people don't talk to them as much because they're hard of hearing or less communicative themselves, they can't get around as easily so they don't get to go out as often, etc. so on occasions where we celebrate them, it makes me feel good that they feel good.

i love it when he smiles!!! it's infectious happiness!!  look at him all stylish!! yeah, he wears his sunglasses indoors and at night. so what! haha!! he wore kangols before the were cool! (and after too, apparently. haha!!) 

all of his children.

a good number of his grandchildren. we're missing a few.

i can't say i know why he's giving you all "the claw," but it was funny!!

my dad laughing hysterically. he nearly fell out of his chair. i think he just tried to throw up the deuces in the picture taken right before this one. backwards peace signs and dads don't mix. haha! funny guy!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Yeh-yeh!!