Ham Chowder

One of the reasons I chose our new Italian made Lagostina Collezione Pro cookware set aside of the high quality was it really was a 'set' but rather a mult-material collection of cookware.  One of the pieces of the set was a 4.7L (5 qt)  enameled cast iron Dutch oven, orange no less.  I would have preferred red but the reality for me when it comes to kitchen equipment is colour is always second to quality and function.  In this respect, the Lagostina Dutch oven excels in both quality and function.  The lid has a self-basting design for optimal steam recirculation.   It can be used on the stovetop or in the oven.  The Dutch oven included in the Collezione Pro collection is actually part of Lagostina's Tuscan collection as well so matching pieces can be bought separately.

While the new Dutch oven was the same size as my older Lagostina Renaissance stainless steal Dutch oven, I had reservations on how I would use it.  Seriously, for me it was aesthetics because in my mind the enamel coated Dutch oven did not look like a pot that could be used on the stovetop.  At the same time the idea of searing meat for soups and stews then cooking in the same pot in the oven intrigued me. 

We had a lovely family gathering for Easter so I had left-over spiral ham to use up.   I decided to test out the new Dutch oven with a ham chowder.  The weather has been taking its time warming here so we are still into cold weather foods.  The end result was a delicious, creamy yet chunky chowder perfect for a cold spring night.

Ham Chowder
(recipe by Garden Gnome)

1  ham bone
8 medium potatoes
2 medium carrots
1 small onion
2 c cooked ham, diced
1 c instant potatoes
1 c frozen sweet peas
1 c frozen whole kernel corn
1 c half & half

Place ham bone in large Dutch oven or stock pot.  Cover with water.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to simmer and low simmer for 20 minutes.  Peel potatoes and cut into bite size pieces.  Peel and dice carrots.  Finely chop onion.  Stir potatoes, carrots and onion into the stock pot with the bone.  Return to boil then reduce heat to high simmer.  Cook until potatoes and carrots are tender.  Remove the bone.  Scoop out half of the vegetables and set aside.  Use an immersion blender to smoothly blend remaining vegetables and stock.  Add the instant potatoes slowly while stirring to keep a smooth consistency.  Stir in reserved vegetables, peas, corn and ham.  Return to a low simmer.  Stir in half and half.  Cook until heated through.  Ladle into bowls for serving.

Despite being a bit leery on the new enamel coated Dutch oven, I quickly fell in love with it.  The ham chowder cooked beautifully in this vessel with no over heating and residual heat in the cast iron kept the chowder nice and warm for seconds.  A couple of days later I made a no-knead crusty bread (boule) in the new Dutch oven.  The bread was beyond delicious and was my first successful homemade crusty bread with chewy interior.  The enamel coated Dutch oven cleans up nicely and gives good results.  I'm impressed enough with its performance I plan on buying a matching smaller one the next time they are on sale.

Ham Chowder

Chowders have become my current favourite frugal meal. These potato based dishes are thinner than a stew, thicker than a soup yet are so easy to make. They quickly become winter comfort meals with their rich, . I recently wrote a Frugal Kitchen 101 on soups, stews and chowders. I've also posted on a few chowders: cheesburger chowder; pea meal bacon chowder; and corn chowder. As with soups, left-over chowder can be reinvented into a new meal for the following night's dinner.

Ham Chowder

One of the grocery store chains has shank or butt hams on for $1 per pound which is an excellent price. My husband picked up one for $10.48 so we had ham for dinner Saturday night (4 adults, 1 toddler) and sent ham home with the kids. Sunday I cut the rest of the meat from the bone then made ham stock. Ham stock is made the same as any other stock, using the bone with small bits of meat, onion, carrots, celery, a bay leaf then water to cover well. Once the stock was made I removed the bone and added peeled cubed potatoes then brought to a boil to cook the potatoes. When the potatoes were tender I stirred in pieces of ham, the reserved carrots slightly mashed and frozen corn. A bit of Worchestershire sauce and garlic pepper added the finishing touches. It was a quick, easy yet frugal meal.

Frugal Kitchens 101 - Soups, Stews, Chowders and Gumbos

A good portion of my cooking inspiration comes directly from some food catching my eye as I go into the pantry, refrigerator or freezers. Within minutes a plan is already in process with a somewhat rustic recipe forming in my head. I start jotting in my kitchen journal and it isn't long before I can visualize the final dish. While this method greatly influences my cooking style it is most apparent in my soups, stews, chowders and gumbos. Here's how I define these terms:

• soup - based on stock or broth, usually has one or more vegetables, may or may not have meat, may or may not be chunky, may or may not be creamy/smooth, may or may not have rice and/or noodles, liquid portion is not thickened
  
• stew - based on meat and thickened meat juices to form gravy, has one or more vegetables, always chunky with bite sized pieces, very thick, long/slow cook
  
• chowders - based on potatoes, has stock to cook vegetables in, may or may not have meat, always chunky, has milk and/or heavy cream, liquid portion is thickened to a constistency thicker than a soup but just a little thinner than stew
• gumbos - based on tomatoes and seafoods, may be accented with sausage, may have vegetables, has rice, usually spicy

Getting the texture perfect for these frugal dishes is quite easy with a few simple kitchen appliances and tools. Chances are good you already have these on hand. To make soups, stews, chowders or gumbos the following equipment is quite helpful:

• dutch oven
• slow cooker (crock pot)
• pressure cooker
• heavy stainless steel fry pan
  
• stick blender
  
• heavy stirring spoon
• ladle
  

One of my primary concerns when creating soups, stews, chowders, and gumbos is to pack the dish with the highest nutrition possible using in season or home preserved ingredients. What I'm really thinking when creating these dishes is how I'm going to build up to the final dish using a series of flavour layers. My next concern is flavour followed by colour! In terms of flavour, certain ingredients just go together nicely. In terms of colour, packing in a variety of colours using different vegetables or playing a garnish against the colour of the finished dish.

• first flavour layer - The first flavour layer usually consists of searing meats if they are being used. If using vegetables the first layer is usually the mirepoix (onions, celery, carrots or peppers) and is cooked in butter, bacon fat or other oil until the onions just start turning translucent. The oil or fat you choose does add a flavour to the final dish so choose something complimentary.
  
• base - All soups, stews, chowders and gumbos start off with a base. In most cases this starts with a meat or vegetable stock. The base is added to the mirepoix.
• vegetables/meat/seasonings - Let your main ingredient(s) be your guide always with the end result in mind. Pork and poultry pair nicely with dairy while beef and venison don't. Vegetables and meat are added next starting with root vegetables first. The root vegetables are allowed to cook until just tender. Seasonings such as bay leaf, garlic powder, salt and pepper are also added at this time. The rule of thumb is the stronger the flavour of the meat the stronger the seasoning that can be used. Don't use a delicate herb with a strong flavoured meat like beef as the flavour will be lost and at the same time don't use a strong herb with a delicate meat. The goal to strive for is a balance of flavour. This is the time to add any uncooked rice, pasta or lentils.
  
• additional seasonings - This is where you take advantage of the natural pairing to boost the flavour. For example citrus goes with fish, apples/maple syrup go with pork, cumin/Worcestershire sauce goes with beef so take advantage of that. Stir in a tablespoon of applesauce in a pork based stew and you might be pleasantly surprised with the results.
• the extras - Just before the soup, stew or chowder is finished cooking is the time to stir in niblet corn, sweat peas, sliced mushrooms or things like cooked rices or pastas, cooked beans or lentils, sour cream, milks and creams.
• thickening - Soups are generally thickened using a stick blender before serving. Stews are thickened with a slurry of cornstarch or flour added about a half hour before serving. Chowders are thickened with a slurry of cornstarch or flour in the final 10 minutes of cooking. Instant mashed potatoes can be used as a thickener for chowders as well. Gumbos naturally thicken by themselves as the liquid is absorbed during the cooking process.
• the garnish - There are very few times that I don't add a garnish to homemade soups, stews, chowders or gumbos. A garnish should always reflect the dish and usually highlights an ingredient in the dish. For example a soup contains sour cream so a suitable garnish is a sour cream tear drop with a sprinkling of dried parsley or a chowder has onions as an ingredient so a suitable garnish is chopped green onions. The garnish doesn't have to be the exact ingredient but it should give a visual clue to the ingredients.
  

Peameal Bacon Chowder

When the weather turns cold the soup pot is in action weekly if not more often. That is due to soups, stews, chowders and gumbos being extremely easy to make yet perfect comfort meals for cold winter nights. Left-overs warm nicely for the following day's lunch. The best part is soups, stews, chowders and gumbos do not really require any kind of recipe if you understand the basics. Soups are thinner broth based or can be cream based but the consistency is thinner. Stews are gravy based as in once the stew has been cooked to a certain point the resulting liquid is thickened to form a rich, thick gravy. Stew should always be cooked slowly to allow the gravy base to develop flavour before thickening. Chowders are always potato based usually creamy with a consistency between a soup and a stew. Another possibility is a gumbo which is usually spicier and thicker than a stew, usually seafood and/or sausage based often with rice. At any rate these are all good old-fashioned, down home comfort foods.

There are very few times that I set out to make a soup other than chicken noodle soup even though I make a lot of homemade soups. The reason for this is most of the soups and chowders I make are inspired by an ingredient or two that I want to use up. It could be left-over steak or it could be I spot a jar of vegetables in the pantry that just strikes my fancy at the time. This is where cooking really becomes fun because as Michael Smith says some of the best recipes is cooking without a recipe. Now this involves a bit of kitchen know how but this comes with practice. Certain seasonings naturally compliment certain meats. The lighter the meat the lighter the seasoning because the seasoning should never overpower and yet stronger meats require stronger seasoning because a lighter seasoning will be lost. If you are making a chowder you need potatoes, milk and/or cream and you need milk and/or cream for creamed soups. Other than that start with homemade stock then build from there and have fun making your own soups, stews and chowder creations!

Peameal Bacon Chowder

Pork has been on sale at rock bottom prices so I've been able to cure several pork loins. Sunday night's dinner was baked home cured peameal bacon roast. Left over peameal bacon makes a lovely sandwich but this time I decided to make a chowder. This recipe just evolved as I started putting things together building one layer at a time. The recipe I created mentions peameal bacon drippings. When a peameal bacon roast is baked in a covered casserole dish there will be about a half cup of liquid when the roast is finished. This will congeal. I removed the thin flat layer then used the rest in the chowder. The end result was a rich, flavourful, creamy chowder. True comfort food!

Peameal Bacon Chowder
recipe by Garden Gnome

2 tbsp sweet butter
4 c turkey stock
½ lg Spanish onion
1 lg bay leaf
4 c potato cubes
2 lg carrots diced
1 rib celery, sliced thin
2 tsp garlic salt with parsley
3 c baked peameal bacon, cubed
½ c drippings from baked peameal bacon
1 c niblet corn
1½ c whole milk
2 tbsp unbleached flour

Prepare onion, carrots and celery. Melt butter in stock pot then add vegetables. Sweat until onions are just translucent. Stir in prepared potatoes, turkey stock, bay leaf, seasoning and peameal bacon drippings. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender. Stir in the corn and bacon. Stir in most of the milk reserving just enough to make a slurry with the flour. Bring the chowder to a low simmer then stir in the slurry to thicken. Ladle in bowls and serve.

Cheeseburger Chowder

One of the food shows I enjoy on Food Network Canada is Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. On one of his shows he had a segment with a cheeseburger chowder courtesy of Jackie Smith. Now a chowder is essentially a potato based stew. I wrote the idea down to try as I'm always looking for comfort style foods and if anything falls into comfort food it is chowders with their rich, creamy flavours. Yesterday I my memory was jogged when another blogger talked about the cheeseburger soup she had made based on the cheeseburger chowder recipe but left out the potatoes and carrots because those were not things she would put on a cheeseburger. To my way of thinking the potatoes would add not only texture and thickness but almost the flavour of a hamburg bun. The carrots would add the sweetness normally present in the lettuce and tomato of a cheeseburger as well as a bit of texture.

Cheeseburger Chowder

I printed off the recipe then started tweaking. By the time I was finished the original recipe was just a hint of what the new recipe became. I added in the nuances of bacon flavour to give a bit more depth. The end result was a rich, creamy chowder destined to become a family favourite. It really was quite good, if I don't say so myself. My husband gave the chowder two thumbs up so I'm quite pleased with the results!

Cheeseburger Chowder
recipe by Garden Gnome

1 lb extra lean ground beef
2 tbsp bacon grease
½ Spanish onion, chopped
2 lg carrots, diced
4 c peeled potatoes, bite size
1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
½ tsp garlic pepper
2 tsp Lawry's garlic salt with parsley
3 c turkey stock
2 c Velveeta® cheese
1½ c whole milk
¼ c unbleached flour
¼ c sour cream
green onion, cut into thin slices

Brown the ground beef and drain. Chop the onion. Dice carrots. Wash, peel and cut potatoes into bite sized pieces. Melt bacon grease in Dutch oven. Stir in onions and carrots. Cook until onions start turning translucent. Stir in potatoes, ground beef, stock and seasonings. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer and let cook until potatoes are tender. Stir in cheese and most of the milk. Stir the rest of the milk into the flour to form a slurry. Once the cheese is melted stir in the slurry to thicken the soup. Remove from heat. Stir in sour cream. Ladle into bowls and garnish with green onions.

Nine Dozen Ears of Corn & Corn Chowder

2 tbspDuring our recent road trip we were rather flexible as to when we would be returning home. We decided to play it one day at a time which made for a rather relaxing trip. On the Monday evening of our trip we received a phone call from one of our friends who had very generously dropped off nine dozen ears of corn at our house. Finding no one home the corn was left by the garage so we called one of our kids to put it in the garage where it would be out of the weather and protected from most critters. Cooler temperatures meant the corn would keep well until we returned but it helped determine when we would return.

Fresh Corn

The corn was a commercial yellow variety that is difficult to find because the current demand for fresh corn on the cob is the peaches & cream varieties. The unseasonably cooler and wetter summer saw a reduced corn yield so prices for a dozen ears of corn did not dip below the $3 mark and even that was a rare find. The yellow corn varieties are better for preserving than the bi-colour varieties.

Nine dozen ears of corn (pictured) doesn't sound like a huge amount until you have to husk it. I was tired from the trip so debated how I was going to put the corn up. I wasn't to anxious to can all the corn as we prefer the taste of frozen corn. Thursday morning I checked the freezer space of which it was basically non-existent. This would mean drying and canning the corn as niblets or cream style. We ended up taking a turkey out of one freezer for our Thanksgiving dinner which freed up just enough room for freezing the corn.

Husking Corn

Husking corn is always a messy job as the silk tends to go everywhere. While husking is a fairly easy job making preparing corn for processing one of the less involved processes it is common to run into a few problems.

Corn that has sat for any length of time after picking will usually have 'icky' dark silk on the outside. This was not a problem. Another problem is corn can bring in little black beetles (corn flea beetles) that can stick around indoor for a few days. The corn borer (1) is a common find. Simply cut out the borer and any end damage. I came across one cob that actually had a cabbage worm eating it's way through (2). Now this in my experience is quite abnormal. Any corn stored for any period of time outdoors or in outdoor facilities such as garages can and most likely will show signs of rodents (3). Rodents coming out of freshly harvested fields love to get into any fresh produce in storage so it's common to see signs of their gnawing or droppings and occasionally them scurry around. We have a rodent problem when the fields come off. This corn was stored outdoors then put in the garage but we have no idea whether the signs of rodents came from the time from picking to our place (about a day) or from our property. At any rate this is a clear indication for those in areas such as ours to take appropriate measures.

As the husked corn piled up (4) the consensus was to freeze as much as possible. We ended up with 8 gallon bags of frozen corn. I reserved 8 cobs for making corn cob jelly and 6 cobs for that night's dinner. In the end I was rather pleased with the results. I didn't dry or can any corn but there is still a bit of time left yet.

Corn Chowder

Dinner was a lovely corn chowder that cooked while the rest of the corn was being prepared for freezing. A chowder is a thick soup that usually contains a vegetables (corn, potatoes, onions) in a cream/milk base and originally contained some type of seafood. Most chowders still are based on seafoods. This tasty corn chowder eliminated the seafood. It was based on the wonderful flavour of corn.

Corn Chowder
recipe by: Garden Gnome

1 tbsp butter
½ medium Vidalia onion, diced
2 garlic clove, minced
3 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
2 tbsp unbleached flour
4 c canned chicken or turkey stock
1 c heavy cream
4 medium potatoes, diced
4 ears corn, cut from cob
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
½ tsp garlic pepper
5 - 6 tbsp powdered instant potatoes
fresh parsley leaves

Prepare the vegetables. Heat the butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and thyme and cook until the vegetables are soft about 8 to 10 minutes. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil. Add the potatoes, bring to a boil. Boil about 7 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Stir in the heavy cream. Cut the corn kernels off the cob. Stir into the soup. Season with salt, pepper and garlic pepper. Simmer until the corn is soft, about 10 to 12 minutes. Mash about ¼ of the potato chunks and stir well. Adjust to desired consistency stirring in 1 tbsp of powdered instant potatoes at a tim