GARNISH
1 jalapeno chile, roasted, peeled, and cut into strips
1 poblano chile, roasted, peeled, and cut into strips
1 red onion, skinned and diced 5 new boiling potatoes, scrubbed and diced small
1 tablespoon thyme leaves, stems discarded 3 tablespoons basil leaves, stems discarded
2 bay leaves
IV2 cups shucked clams, reserving all
available liquid, kept cold Salt and pepper to taste V/2 cups fresh corn kernels, cut from the
cob (reserve cobs) Cream, or fish stock, or half and half, as necessary
1 banana chile, roasted, peeled, and cut into strips
1. Make the bechamel: In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, heat butter. When it is warm, add the diced onion, celery, green pepper, and jalapeno, and stir. Turn up the heat to almost high. Cook the bechamel vegetables, but do not allow them to brown. When they are fairly soft, whisk in the flour. With a wooden spoon push the flour and vegetables around the pan until well mixed.
2. Now add the fish stock and whisk again. Lower the heat and simmer 10 to 15 minutes, stirring as often as necessary.
(recipe continues)ND CORN CHOWDER with Roast Chiles
3. Add the cream and whisk again. Simmer about 20 minutes.
4. Remove from heat, strain liquid into a large bowl, and reserve. Discard vegetables. This is the bechamel; it should be somewhat thicker than double cream.
5. Prepare the soup: In another heavy pan, cook the cubed slab bacon to medium, at the most. (If the bacon does not render sufficient fat to saute the soup vegetables, add virgin olive oil or butter.)
6. Add the leeks, celery, red, green, yellow, and jalapeno peppers, and onion, and saute briskly. Then add the potatoes, thyme, basil, and bay leaves and cook for 1 minute.
7. Add the reserved clam juice and cook 3 minutes.
8. Add the reserved bechamel, salt and pepper, and reserved corn cobs. Cook 5 minutes. Add more cream, fish stock, or half and half if needed, and keep warm for service or chill for later use.
9. Roast the chiles as you would bell peppers and reserve for garnish.
10. Remove the com cobs from the soup. (The cobs distribute a nice, milky sweetness.)
11. If the clams are large, chop them into bite-sized pieces.
12. Quickly saute the kernels of com in a little butter and add them to the soup. Bring the soup to a moderately high heat and mix in the raw clams. Stir. Pour the soup into warm bowls and garnish with the chiles.
Note: I like to use as many as 3 different kinds of chiles, but one of any kind will do.
rOACHED GARLIC SOUP
with Sausage and St. Andre Croutons
St. Andre is a delightfully rich triple cream cheese, and here we have the added pungent flavors of garlic and sausage. This soup, like vichyssoise, gets its body from potatoes, leeks, and cream-but this one is served hot. It is a lusty, warming soup that makes a nice light evening meal when served with a small salad.
Serves 8 to 12
30 garlic cloves, peeled 1 quart plus 3 cups Chicken Stock (page
*A pound Milano sausage, or any cooked smoky garlic sausage, cut into small pieces (be sure to remove any inedible casings)
240)
9 leeks, cleaned and cut in medium dice V2 pound (2 sticks) butter 8 new boiling potatoes, peeled, diced,
Olive oil to saute croutons
Sourdough bread cut into 2A-inch thick,
wafersize pieces (1 slice per person)
St. Andre cheese, cut into 'A-inch thick,
waferlike pieces (1 slice per person)
and reserved in clean, cold water
Salt and pepper l'/г quarts cream
1. Put the garlic cloves in 3 cups of the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Poach them until they are soft, approximately 15 minutes. Remove the cloves to a bowl and allow them to cool. Now reduce the remaining stock to a glaze and reserve.
2. On low heat, in a large heavy saucepan, cook the diced leeks in the butter. When leeks are translucent, drain the potatoes, add them to the leeks, and stir. Season with salt and pepper. Now add the remaining 1 quart chicken stock and simmer until the potatoes are softened, approximately 25 minutes.
3. Add the cream, cook 10 minutes, and then add the garlic-chicken glaze.
4. Puree the soup in a blender and strain it into a large bowl or pot.
5. Slice the poached garlic and scatter over the soup. Add the sausage.
6. When ready to serve, get a skillet moderately hot and add the olive oil. Saute the sourdough croutons, turning them as necessary, and then remove them to paper toweling
7. Ladle the hot soup into bowls and top each serving with a crouton spread with fairly warm St. Andre cheese and cracked pepper.