Clam and white bean soup with chorizo

Here's a fairly simple dish that I came up with last night. The dish is, I think, a Portuguese preparation. At least, the main ingredients are all commonly found in Portuguese cooking. I found that the broth was a little thin for my taste, so next time I make it I'll play around with the seasoning a little more. Below, I listed the ingredients that I used, but if you make this, I would suggest trying ways to improve the broth. I listed a couple suggestions.

Depending on how long you let things simmer, this meal should take only about 45 minutes to make. I served it with baguette toasts and side of greens the had been braised with garlic, chicken stock, red pepper flakes, and cider vinegar.

INGREDIENTS (2-3 servings)
2 lb clams
2 14oz. cans of white beans.
1/2 lb chorizo, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
4-6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 small bottle clam juice
1/4 cup white wine
olive oil
red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper to taste
parsley or cilantro for garnish

Start by cooking the onions, garlic, carrot and chorizo with 1 Tbsp olive oil a pinch of salt and red pepper flakes over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Add a splash of white wine and turn the heat up to high to reduce the wine. Let the wine reduce for about a minute then add the clam juice. Add another 2 cups of water, the beans, and bring everything to a boil. Turn the heat back down to medium and let everything simmer together for a while. It can be as little as 10 minutes or as long as an hour. The more time you let this cook, the more the flavors will blend together. As this mixture is simmering, you can start seasoning. You can add a bay leaf and/or a few sprigs of thyme to add some depth to the flavor. Add salt and pepper a little bit at a time, and keep tasting the broth until you like the taste.

As I mentioned above, the broth was a little thin. Perhaps it just needed more time, but replacing the water/clam juice mixture with seafood or chicken stock might have improved things. The right amount of salt and pepper did help out a lot, but it didn't get it all the way there.

Once you are about ready for dinner, throw in the clams and let cook, covered, until the clams open up (around 5 to 8 minutes). Garnish with parsley and lemon juice.

Mussels in saffron cream sauce

The recipe is here. The one thing I would change is to go with a light cream instead of heavy cream....maybe even half and half and add garlic and some tomato paste or half a small can of canned tomatoes, hand crushed. This would add a bit more acidity to the sauce and improve the color. Is it stands, the broth is just too rich. Serve with toasted slices of baguette that have been brushed with olive oil (before toasting).

Beet soup

Wrap beets in foil and roast at 350F for 1 hour. Let cool, then peel and cut into chunks.
While the beets are cooling, cook roughly chopped red onion and ginger with butter and salt in a medium pan. I used 1 half of an onion and 1/2" of ginger for 8 small beets (about the size of a new potato). When the onions have softened (5 minutes), add the beets and enough chicken or vegetable stock to cover everything by almost an inch. Add part of an orange peel to the mixture and let simmer for about 30 minutes. Remove the orange peel and puree the mixture. Season to taste with coriander, orange juice and lemon juice. For the garnish, mix together soft goat cheese with a bit of sour cream in a food processor. For a more refined version of this soup, pass the pureed soup through a strainer a couple times. This will make the finished product thinner and smoother.

Pollo al ajillo

This is a simple Spanish recipe. Start by seasoning bone-in skin on chicken thighs with salt and pepper and browning in a large pan with some olive oil. Once the skin is crispy, remove the chicken and pour out all but 4Tbsp of olive oil. Add an entire head of garlic (for 8 chicken thighs) and cook over medium heat. You don't want to brown the garlic, so keep an eye on it. Add a splash of white wine and lemon juice and stir in a bunch of chopped parsley. Return the chicken to the pan and cook, covered for another 15 minutes.

Tuna burgers

I used the same recipe that I used to make the tuna meatballs here. If I make these again, I would use about half the amount of bread crumbs in the recipe. Serve on brioche with arugula that has been tossed in a very small amount of olive oil, lemon juice, and kosher salt.

Cumin crusted lamb with pomegranate sauce and basmati rice

INGREDIENTS:
Lamb loin (1 per person)
Cumin
Salt, pepper
Demi glace
Pomegranate molasses
Basmati rice
Butter
Onion
Chicken stock
Bay leaf
Slivered almonds
Sumac
Broccolli
Garlic
Red pepper flakes
Lemon juice
Olive oil

Begin by toasting ground cumin in a hot pan until it become aromatic. Rub the cumin into the lamb with salt and pepper and set aside.
Next, get started on the rice. For two servings, finely dice one quarter of an onion and a clove of garlic. Cook in a medium sized pot with 1/2 Tbsp butter. Add a cup of basmati rice and cook over medium heat for another minute. Add 1.5 cups chicken stock and a bay leaf and bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer, covered, for 20 min. When the rice is done, add onions sumac, and additional cumin to taste.
Once the rice is going, cut the broccoli into florets and steam for 5 to 6 minutes and then get the sauce started. For the sauce, you want to just combine a bit of demiglace and pomegranate molasses. I don't remember the ratios, so just adjust this to taste. If you don't have demiglace, just mix two parts beef stock to one part red wine and reduce to about one quarter of the original volume.
Now you can cook the lamb. Sear it for about 2 minutes on each side over high heat and finish in the oven at 400F for about 5-6 minutes (it might need longer, but check it at this point). When the lamb is done, it will need about 5 minutes to rest. Use this time to finish off the broccoli by sauteing it with sliced garlic, red pepper flakes and olive oil. After the broccoli is reheated, hit it with a dash of lemon juice. When you initially steam the broccoli, it isn't cooked through, so this step finishes the cooking. It should still have a bit of bite to it though.