Summer into Autumn Fish Chowder

by Sheila Connolly

We're hovering between summer and fall right now.  Frost is predicted this week, with weekend temperatures approaching the eighties.  What to cook, what to cook…

I've always thought of chowder as a hearty winter dish, but I realized it could just as easily straddle the seasons.  I'd also had it lodged in my head that it should be cooked long and low, but that's not always true:  the following recipe should NOT be overcooked.

The transitional chowder was inspired by the fact that I had a few ears of the last of the summer corn crop left over, and I didn't want to waste them.  So this is a two-season dish.

Ingredients:

4 cups of fish stock, fresh (stop laughing!) or from a jar or can or bottle

1½ lbs firm-fleshed white fish (cod, halibut, haddock) or salmon

2 oz. salt pork or bacon, diced

1 Tblsp butter

1 medium yellow onion, diced

3 or more sprigs of fresh thyme, stripped from the woody stems

1 bay leaf

1 lb peeled potatoes, sliced about 1/3" thick

Salt and pepper

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup corn kernels (optional; if you don't have fresh, frozen are fine)

This is cod

Bring the fish stock to a simmer in a skillet and lay the fish in it.  Cover and simmer until the fish is cooked through, about ten minutes (don't overcook it!).  Remove the fish to a plate and set aside.  When cool, flake the fish into bite-size pieces.  Reserve the stock.

Heat a heavy pot over low heat, add the bacon, and cook slowly until some of the fat is rendered.  Then turn up the heat and finish cooking the bacon until it is crisp.  Remove the bacon and set aside, but leave the bacon fat in the pan.

Add the butter, chopped onions, thyme and bay leaf to the pot and sauté on medium heat until the onions are soft but not browned.

Add the peeled, sliced potatoes to the pan and pour in enough of the reserved stock to just cover them.  Turn up the heat and bring to a boil, then simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are not quite cooked.

Season generously with kosher or sea salt and pepper.

Add the flaked fish to the pot and heat over low heat, for about five minutes.  Add the optional corn.  Pour in the heavy cream and heat until the chowder is warmed through.  Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Sprinkle the crisp bacon bits over the individual servings.  You can also garnish it with freshly chopped chives or parsley if you're so inclined.

And that's it.  You'll notice that it really doesn't take long to make, and it's a tasty dish for a chilly autumn evening.

Banana Upside Down "Cake" Recipe

Not all recipes work. Not all recipes like to work. I keep reminding myself of this whenever I experiment. 


I wanted to make a banana bread and add cheese to it. Why not? Put a dollop in the center and it would be delicious, right? 

Well, baking is chemistry.  It's a matter of fact. And sometimes proportions get out of, well, proportion and textures change. 






But I'm always up for an experiment. I used a basic gluten-free recipe I had used in the past and added, tweaked, and fiddled.

The result was a gooey, gooey "cake" instead of a bread. The flavor was fabulous. What's not to like about sugar and spice and everything nice? However, the texture was more like a pineapple upside down cake. I have to admit I thought those are weird cakes. My mother liked to make them and, honestly, I just don't like cooked pineapple, so the texture didn't suit me.

In this instance, I didn't mind the texture. It was gooey, but the kind that sticks to the roof of your mouth gooey - like peanut butter. I tried a slice by itself, yummy.

I added a scoop of ice cream...the best. That's the way I will eat this in the future. I might also cut back on the honey because I think that's what made the cake gooey-er  than it need have been. 


The cheese?  A nice addition.

So here’s my submission for an experiment that went “almost right” and I’d bake it again.


(*Note, if you can eat regular and not gluten-free breads/cakes, then you can make this with regular flours; omit the xanthan gum and use regular vanilla)

BANANA BROWN SUGAR

RICOTTA CHEESE

COFFEE CAKE

(Gluten-free)

Ingredients:

2 cups mixed gluten-free flours (*I used tapioca starch, potato starch, sweet rice flour)

1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder

1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup honey

1 tsp. gluten-free vanilla (vanillin)

2/3 cup butter, melted

2 eggs, large

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 tsp. cider vinegar

Filling:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 banana, peeled and sliced

1 tsp. cinnamon

Topping:

4 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the filling ingredients and set aside.

For the batter:  Mix melted butter and sugar and vanilla.  Add eggs and beat on low.  Still beating on low, add ricotta cheese and vinegar.  Then add flours, baking powder and xanthan gum.

Spoon half of the batter into a greased loaf pan.  Layer all of the filling on top of that.  Spread the rest of the batter over the filling. Cut the batter with a knife, in a swirling fashion.

 

Bake for 40-45 minutes, when inserted a toothpick comes out clean.  When cool, remove the cake from the pan and sprinkle with a generous amount of the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture.  [You could serve with whipped cream, ice cream, or more of the banana and brown sugar mixture.]

Enjoy and say cheese!

* * * * * * * *

 

BOOKSELLERS LINK

Warm Onion Dip

Have you been to a lot of drop-ins and parties lately? Seems like I’ve been to a lot more than usual. Maybe people are getting tired of the Recession that Shall Not End and are wanting an excuse to have some fun?

Since I’ve been out so much lately, I’ve eaten more than my fair share of the world’s onion dip. And I’ve noticed that the onion dip is almost always served cold.

I do enjoy cold onion dip…except lately when I’ve gotten a little tired of it. Plus, it’s kind of chilly outside, especially after the sun goes down. So here’s an old recipe for some warm onion dip. I’m using Vidalias because I’ve still got some, but you could use any sweet onion…and any kind of cheese. Maybe a 5-cheese blend? You could even broil this as a spread on bread. Lots of tasty possibilities!

I’ve found that a low-fat mayo helps keep the dip from being too oily.

Warm Onion Dip

2 cups Vidalia onions (or any sweet onion), chopped fine
2 cups grated Swiss cheese
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 t garlic salt

Preheat oven to 350. Combine the ingredients and scoop the mixture into a small casserole dish. Cook at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Serve on crackers or French bread.

Hope you’re having a good start to your fall!

Riley/Elizabeth
Finger Lickin’ Dead (Riley Adams)
Hickory Smoked Homicide (preorder book 3!)
Progressive Dinner Deadly ($2.99 on Kindle—Elizabeth Craig)

Fall Comfort Food from Cleo Coyle: Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Apple Snack Cake

Fall means comfort foods! As my readers know, I enjoy making healthier dishes, but I also relish those foods that feed the soul—and so does my coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi. In Decaffeinated Corpse, Clare warms up a chilly October morning with a fresh batch of Cappuccino Muffins, decadent little sour cream cakes made with cocoa, chocolate chips, and crowned, like her Village Blend cappuccinos, with sweet, frothy tops. Before the mystery's climax at the famous Greenwich Village Halloween parade, Clare stirs up a recipe for Carne Con Café, a hearty beef stew based on a traditional Mayan dish and laced with the earthy flavor of coffee. (The credit for that one goes to Clare's business partner, the globe-trotting coffee buyer Matteo Allegro.) Because both of those recipes are available in the recipe section of Decaffeinated Corpse, I’m sharing one today that’s more economical but just as comforting. It's my version of the classic...

Cleo Coyle, who has no fear
of frying, is author of
The Coffeehouse Mysteries

Buttermilk
Fried Chicken

Tender and sweet from its buttermilk bath, crispy and crunchy from its dip in hot oil, it's the perfect fall comfort food...

Fried chicken seems a simple enough dish. What’s the big deal, right? You flour chicken pieces and fry them. But if you’ve ever tried to make it, then you know plenty can go wrong (at least it has for me).

This recipe never fails me. My first secret is using chicken wings exclusively. Cutting up the chicken wings and discarding the tips* will yield 24 pieces of fried chicken out of just 12 wings—an economical and tasty meat course for 4 people that’s filling and satisfying. Unlike bigger pieces of chicken—which often end up burning on the outside before cooking properly all the way through—chicken wings fry perfectly in about 8 to 10 minutes. These smaller pieces require less oil, too.

The buttermilk bath is the second key to a successful batch of fried chicken. The acid in the buttermilk is an excellent marinade for the meat, softening and sweetening the chicken before it even touches the oil.


*RECIPE NOTE: The chicken wing tips in this recipe don’t have to be discarded. I boil them in water with celery, carrots, onions and spices and make a delicious chicken stock. Waste not! 

My advice: Buy a quart of buttermilk, reserve 1/2 cup for my Buttermilk Apple Snack Cake recipe and use the rest to make my fried chicken...

 Download a PDF of my Buttermilk Apple Snack Cake recipe by clicking here.

Cleo Coyle’s 

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

To download an illustrated PDF of this recipe that you can print, save, or share, click here.

Serves: This recipe calls for 3 pounds of wings, which is about 12 wings or 24 pieces after wings are cut up.

Ingredients:

3 pounds fresh chicken wings

1 quart regular or light buttermilk

      (Reserve 1/2 cup for my Buttermilk-Apple Snack Cake recipe!)

3 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons McCormick “Original Chicken Seasoning” blend

(Or your favorite chicken spice blend)

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon freshly-ground pepper, ground very fine

2 tablespoon sweet paprika

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (Optional)

Canola oil for frying

Step 1: Cut the wings into three pieces, discarding all wing tips (or you can boil the tips with carrots, celery, onion and spices to make chicken broth). Place cut up chicken in a plastic or glass container. Pour buttermilk over the chicken wing pieces and marinate in refrigerator for up to 3 hours (no more).

Step 2: Mix the flour, salt, pepper, paprika, chicken spice, and cayenne pepper thoroughly in a paper or plastic bag.

Step 3: Remove chicken pieces from buttermilk and discard excess liquid. Shake off loose buttermilk (do not rinse). Drop wing pieces into the bag 2 or 3 pieces at a time. Shake well until each piece is evenly coated.

Step 4: Heat canola oil in a pan or pot deep enough to allow wing pieces to be submerged in oil (at least 2 inches deep). Shake excess flour off your chicken wing pieces and slowly place, one piece at a time, into hot oil. (Note: You know the oil is hot enough for frying when a dough ball made from a bit of buttermilk and flour sizzles when dropped into the pot). Make sure your pan is not too crowded; otherwise, oil’s temperature will drop too fast, and you’ll end up with greasy chicken.

Step 5: Fry each batch for 8-10 minutes, turning occasionally until chicken is golden brown & cooked evenly. (Watch oil temperature: This takes patience and practice. Keeping the oil hot enough is the key to good frying. Adding wings will reduce the oil’s temp., but turning heat too high will burn them.) I place my finished fried chicken pieces on a metal rack over an old cookie sheet pan to catch excess grease. Put rack in a 220° F. oven to dry chicken out and keep warm until all pieces are fried, and. . . 

Eat with joy!

~ Cleo Coyle, author of 

The Coffeehouse Mysteries

To get more of my recipes, sign up to win
free coffee, or learn more about the 2 bestselling
mystery series that I write with my

husband, visit my online coffeehouse at...

www.CoffeehouseMystery.com

Click to see the 

Coffeehouse Mystery
Book Trailer

Roast Mortem

"A Favorite Book of the Year"

Reviewer's pick 2010 ~  Bookreporter.com 

For a peek at some of the firehouse-inspired recipes featured in Roast Mortem, click here.

Now a national bestseller
in paperback
To purchase the book, 
click here or here or here.

 

Murder by Mocha 

"...a tasty tale of crime and punishment,

lightened by the Blend's frothy cast of

lovable eccentrics." ~ Publishers Weekly

For a peek at some of the chocolate 

recipes featured in Murder by Mocha,
click here. 


Now a national bestseller
in hardcover 
To purchase the book, 
click here or here or here. 

Audiobook produced by AudioGo (BBC Audiobooks America) Available at iTunes and Audible.com

Maple Baked Apples with Maple Bourbon Sauce

It's apple time again, and that means baked apples, which always remind me of my father.  There was a time when he came to my house for lunch every Wednesday. We ate outdoors whenever possible and discussed everything from birds to aliens from outer space.

My dad liked desserts, and baked apples were among our favorites.  They're so easy and can usually be made with things that are already in the pantry and refrigerator.  There is a longish 40-50 minute baking time, but if you put them in the oven while you make the rest of the meal, they're ready when you are.

Sheila, our resident apple expert, can undoubtedly tell us which apples are best for baking.  Shh, don't tell her, but I have used all kinds of apples and they've all been good!

Coring apples is easy.  I use a paring knife and make circles at a slant, going deeper and deeper until the seeds are out.

Dark brown sugar, nuts, and raisins are my usual filling.  The sudden onset of very cold weather had me in a maple mood, though, so this time I used a touch of maple syrup instead of lemon juice.


A lot of recipes call for peeling the top half of the apple.  I've also seen them peeled on a diagonal, which is very cute.  Or you can be lazy and leave the peel whole like I did.

They can be eaten just as they are or served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  This time, I made a little bit of maple bourbon sauce for the apples.  Definitely decadent!  A word to the wise though, this is a very sweet dish.

Maple Baked Apples

2 apples

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

sprinkle of nutmeg

2 tablespoons chopped walnuts

raisins (optional)

maple syrup

1 scant teaspoon butter

Preheat oven to 350.  Core the apples.  Mix the brown sugar with the cinnamon and nutmeg and put a bit in each apple.  Drop a couple of walnut pieces (and raisins) into the apples.  Pour about 1/2 teaspoon of maple syrup into each apple.  Add more of the cinnamon mixture and walnuts, packing it all down.  Continue alternating until the apple is nearly full, then add another 1/2 teaspoon of maple syrup to each apple.  Top each with a slice of butter and place in a baking dish.  Bake 40 to 50 minutes, until apple pierces easily.

Makes 2 servings.  Double recipe for 4 servings.

Maple Bourbon Sauce

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon bourbon

4 tablespoons half and half

Pour the maple syrup and the bourbon into a small saucepan and stir.  Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat, turn to low and let simmer about 20 minutes or until it reduces by about half.  Keep an eye on it because it will threaten to bubble up and boil over.  Set aside and cool.  Add the half and half, stir, and warm briefly.  Pour over baked apples and serve.  Or if you want to be truly decadent, add a scoop of vanilla ice cream to the baked apples, and top with the sauce!

Enjoy!

Flat-Out Delicious

Kitchen-dwellers, I am delighted to introduce today's guest blogger, Jessica Park.  If you are not friends with Jessica on Facebook, do yourself a favor and start stalking her.  Honestly, reading Jessica's status updates is often the highlight of my (admittedly dull) days.  She's also a fantastic writer (see below) and an enthusiastic foodie.  So join me in welcoming Jessica to the kitchen!

~~~~~~

Hello, Mystery Lover’s Kitchen! I love coming here to visit and was so happy to get an invite from Wendy. Now that I’m not writing culinary mysteries, it’s hard to have an excuse to beg for a chance to guest blog, so Wendy saved me the humiliation! But, I’m still as food-obsessed as ever, and getting back into fall cooking after months of fresh summer salads and grilling. This is a dish that is now on the menu once a week, and I really can’t get enough of it. Obviously anything with bacon is always good, but the combination of bacon against the artichoke hearts, capers, and lemon is really awesome. Yes, I know. This dish sounds really strange, but I assure you that it’s delicious.

Fast, Easy, One-Pot, Scrumptious, Perfect-for-Weeknight-Suppers Shrimp Reminiscent of Scampi But Amped Up and Better

Serves two. Or so. I don’t really know. Depends how much you eat.

3 slices of bacon, chopped into ½” strips

1/3 cup good quality olive oil

2 T. butter

One big handful of cabbage, sliced into thin strips

1 ½ cups chicken broth

¼ cup canned tomato puree or a good handful of chopped fresh tomato

5 canned artichoke hearts, cut into quarters

2 T. capers

One big squeeze of lemon juice

2 springs of fresh thyme or 1 tsp. dried thyme

12 fresh or frozen shrimp, deveined and tails off (Do not skimp on the shrimp. Frozen can be absolutely fabulous, but avoid cheap brands where the shrimp are covered in frost. You get what you pay for.)

Salt and pepper to taste

Sautee the bacon over medium-high heat until just browned. Add the rest of the ingredients except for the shrimp, and cook at a medium simmer, stirring occasionally until the cabbage is wilted and tender without being soggy (about 15-20 minutes).  There should be a very nice amount of broth, so add more stock if you need it. Add in the shrimp and season, and then cook for a few minutes until the shrimp are no longer translucent, about 3-4 minutes. If you’ve used fresh thyme, pull the springs because no one needs to chew on little twigs.

Note: Good quality shrimp will release a wonderful flavor into this and limit how much you need to doctor the dish. If you need an extra kick, you can add a splash of white wine and/or a good sprinkle of Cajun seasoning.

Serve over polenta cakes:

If you feel like hanging out stirring a pot of polenta for ages, be my guest, but there is nothing wrong with these delicious rolls. Cylinders. Whatever they are. 

Slice into ½” thick patties (about 4 per person), dust with flour, and fry in a little olive oil over medium-low/medium heat until lightly brown and crispy on both sides. These take longer than you’d think, so plan on at least six minutes per side.

This dish would also be perfect over rice or pasta, of course, but I’m a polenta nut.

**********

Seriously awesome book!

My latest book, Flat-Out Love has nothing to do with food. Although the family in this novel does enjoy regular takeout…. But I hope that you food lovers will consider checking it out nonetheless. It’s a young adult book in many ways because the main characters are college students, but there is a much broader story about the complex family structure that truly makes this book accessible to readers of all ages. By some miracle, Flat-Out Love has spent the past five weeks as the #1 Top-Rated Romance on Amazon’s Kindle, and I’ve been amazed at what lovely reviews the book has been getting. It’s available for most e-readers and also in paperback from Amazon.

Flat-Out Love is a warm and witty novel of family love and dysfunction, deep heartache and raw vulnerability, with a bit of mystery and one whopping, knock-you-to-your-knees romance.

It's not what you know--or when you see--that matters. It's about a journey.

Something is seriously off in the Watkins home. And Julie Seagle, college freshman, small-town Ohio transplant, and the newest resident of this Boston house, is determined to get to the bottom of it. When Julie's off-campus housing falls through, her mother's old college roommate, Erin Watkins, invites her to move in. The parents, Erin and Roger, are welcoming, but emotionally distant and academically driven to eccentric extremes. The middle child, Matt, is an MIT tech geek with a sweet side ... and the social skills of a spool of USB cable. The youngest, Celeste, is a frighteningly bright but freakishly fastidious 13-year-old who hauls around a life-sized cardboard cutout of her oldest brother almost everywhere she goes.

And there's that oldest brother, Finn: funny, gorgeous, smart, sensitive, almost emotionally available. Geographically? Definitely unavailable. That's because Finn is traveling the world and surfacing only for random Facebook chats, e-mails, and status updates. Before long, through late-night exchanges of disembodied text, he begins to stir something tender and silly and maybe even a little bit sexy in Julie's suddenly lonesome soul.

To Julie, the emotionally scrambled members of the Watkins family add up to something that ... well ... doesn't quite add up. Not until she forces a buried secret to the surface, eliciting a dramatic confrontation that threatens to tear the fragile Watkins family apart, does she get her answer.

Flat-Out Love comes complete with emails, Facebook status updates, and instant messages.

Jessica Park

http://flatoutlove.blogspot.com

http://whatthekidsays.blogspot.com

Facebook: jumby24

Twitter: JessicaPark24

Retreat!

From the pantry, the stuff of magic

By the time you all read this, I'll be on the road ...

I've been lucky enough over the years to find a wonderful group of critique partners.  We call ourselves the "Lit Girls," and there's a whole lot of talent in the group.  This weekend, we're getting away, staging an informal writing retreat--retreating from day jobs, kids (for some), spouses, laundry, telephones, TV, and all the distractions of daily life--so we can spend some quality time with our laptops.

Frankly, I can't wait.  I've got a lot to do!

I recently signed a contract for a new series, and I have another story that's been trying to find its way out of my brain and onto paper.  This weekend is going to be pure heaven.  I'm so excited to dig into these characters and spend 48 hours of uninterrupted time in their heads.  Seriously, heaven.

Heaven with FOOD.  In addition to case upon case of Diet Coke and the makings for margaritas, we've got pumpkin bread, tostadas, salads, fruit, chips and dip, chips and salsa ... and brownies!  My contribution to the weekend's grub includes my deeply delicious enchilada bake and these easy-peasy Mexican chocolate brownies.

I apologize for the lack of a picture of the finished product.  I'm taking the fixin's for the brownies on the road so they'll be hot and gooey when we dig into them.  But I've made these little devils in the past, and I promise they're killer:  a jolt of sugar, chocolate, and caffeine, perfect for a marathon writing session.

Have fun in the kitchen, friends, and I'll report back (with pictures!) from the writing retreat when I post again (in two weeks).

Mexican Chocolate Brownies

1 box brownie mix (I prefer Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate, but whatever floats you duck)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla (again, I love a good double vanilla, to really amp up the flavor)
1 Tbs. instant coffee
1/3 c. water*
2 eggs*
1/3 c. oil*

* These are the ingredients in the instructions on the box.  If your mix says to use something different, then do so!

Mix the instant coffee powder in the water until dissolved.  Mix the cinnamon into the brownie mix and then add the wet ingredients.  Bake according to package instructions.

Additional add-ins:  you can also add about 1/2 a tsp. of ancho chili powder and/or a half cup of toasted pecan pieces.  Extra yum!

~~~~~~

Wendy is the author of the Mysteries a la Mode. Visit her on the web or on Facebook.