by TheLastWonton | Mar 27, 2021 | Main Dishes, Pasta & Noodles, Recipes, Seafood, Sides
Oodles of baby clams jumbled and tumbled into a decadently creamy, but at the same time down-home sauce, boasting plenty of tangy Parmesan, and topped off with some freshly-steamed, still-in-the-shell, baby clams. Yes, please!
This is one of those family recipes I've been making since I was in my early twenties. So, for quite a loooong time this clam sauce has been present and accounted for at many family birthdays, and friend gatherings.
In the olden days, Forest Grump and I owned and operated a going concern of a little restaurant, in Kelowna, called Chianti's. One of our most popular 'Specials' was this very It's Our Creamy Clam Sauce. I was one beaming cook, on those clam sauce days, with a silly smile that couldn't be wiped off, from all the compliments, heading into the kitchen.
In those early years when our boys were little, happily they both had fairly open tastes, and both Courtney and Josh loved clam sauce from the get-go. Cool! Now, both of them 40-something, this is still one of their fave requests for family get togethers.
So I thought it damn time that I post this recipe, for posterity, and to make sure that the only place it is stored, isn't just in my head. Which brings us here today.
Well, that, and the fact that my just-turned-4-year old granddaughter, Saylor, had a very enthusiastic request for her recent birthday dinner. "CLAM SAUCE!" 
As I almost always have a little stockpile of different made-in-Italy pastas on hand, before Saylor arrived, for her special dinner, I put out 4 packages of different shaped pastas, so she could choose the 'best' pasta to go with her clam sauce. I chuckled as I put those pasta packages on the counter picturing her inspecting the shapes, while trying to decide. The actual choosing went nothing like that! I popped her up on the counter where the pasta choices were waiting, and with no hesitation whatsoever, she picked the giant sea shells, and was done. Done! Giant sea shells and clam sauce it is!
But, of course like a lot of pasta sauces, It's Our Creamy Clam Sauce is good on many, many pasta shapes, and it comes together quick and easy.
We started Saylor's birthday dinner, with a simple charcuterie, as another one of her most passionate food requests is "Prosciutto, please! And olives!" What a kid!
And then it was time to dig into the eagerly anticipated main course. Ta da!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
IT'S OUR CREAMY CLAM SAUCE ~ 4 to 8 servings
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 medium sweet onion, diced
2 plump garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup flour
6-8 ounce jar clam nectar
2 cans (10 oz) (284gr) whole baby clams, undrained
1 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 generous teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 pinches sea salt, to taste
1 1/3 cups shaved, or grated, good quality Parmesan cheese
1 pound giant sea shells, linguine, spaghetti, or pasta of your choice
1 pound frozen baby (40/60 count) Brown clams, in the shell, thawed
About 1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon butter
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 plump garlic clove, minced
2 lemon slices
Italian parsley, for garnish
Add butter to medium saucepan, over medium high heat. When butter is melted stir in diced onion. Stirring, cook about 5 minutes until onion is tender, with some toasty brown edges. Add garlic, and saute for 2 minutes, just until fragrant.
Add flour and stir, stir, stir, to combine, until the mixture bubbles. Stir, or whisk in the clam nectar, then add the 2 undrained cans of baby clams, while continuing to stir. Adjust heat if necessary to medium. While stirring, add whipping cream.
As mixture thickens, continue stirring while adding Worcestershire sauce, pepper and salt. Adjust heat, if necessary. When bubbles just start to break the surface, add Parmesan and stir, stir, stir to incorporate completely into your creamy, silky, rich, delicious, down-home good clam sauce.
Meanwhile start your pasta water, and cook your pasta until just al dente, drain.
While your pasta cooks, add 1/2 cup water, 1 tablespoon butter, sea salt & pepper, 1 garlic clove, minced, and 2 lemon slices to large-ish skillet, with lid. Bring to a quick boil. Gently add the thawed, whole baby Brown clams in the shell. With the lid on, simmer for 5-8 minutes, just until the clams are fully open. Discard any clams that do not open.
Now let's bring it all together. Add warm clam sauce to your just-drained, perfectly al dente pasta, and toss, toss, gently toss. Transfer this glorious mixture to serving dish. Quickly scoop steamed clams-in-the-shell, onto the top of the saucy pasta, and scatter with a bit of torn, Italian parsley. TA DA!!
by TheLastWonton | Mar 21, 2021 | Baking & Desserts, Treats
A rich flaky crust boasting the indulgently deep flavour of toasted pecans, and a heady caramely filling, topped with a generous dollop of whipped cream, touting a bit of a coffee kick.
These moody Spring days of late overflow with the gentle excitement of the golden warmth of the days to come, but happily, also invite down home, comfy-in, days. Enter Pecan Pie.
Pecan Pie is definitely nostalgic, down home comfort food for me, but also has a delicious elegance, or something of that sort, about it.
As far back as I can remember my Mom baked a mean Pecan Pie, to serve for birthdays, holidays and special occasions. Mmmm…... 
Did you know that this classic pie goes waaaaay back? Pecan Pie is an American creation. Pecans are native to North America, and grew along areas watered by the Mississippi River. The first recipe that most closely resembles what we know today, as pecan pie, was published in 1898 in a church charity cookbook in St. Louis, but was sent in by a Texas woman.
A classic indeed, that has deliciously sailed through the tests of time. Such nutty, gooey goodness is hard to beat!
Plus, everyone just loves it when a fresh pecan pie is baking, in the oven, moody Spring day, or not. Then to top it off with cream that has been whipped with a smidge of sugar, a sprinkle of instant espresso and a dribble of good vanilla. Oh Mama!!
I've been making this Pecan Pie for decades, so do not remember if this recipe was written by a particular cook/chef, if it was just like my Mom always made, or if I took a bit from here, a bit from there. However I came to settle on this stand-by Pecan Pie recipe, evidence has it that I'm not the only one who is glad I did.
OUR PECAN PIE with Coffee Scented Whipped Cream ~ Makes one 9-inch pie
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell (my pastry recipe, below)
1 1/3 cups pecan halves
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
2-3 tablespoons sugar
1 heaping teaspoon instant espresso
1/2 teaspoon good vanilla
Preheat oven to 350F. Spread pecans on rimmed baking sheet, and roast for 5-10 minutes, watching closely. Pecans burn easily! Remove from oven and let cool.
Beat or whisk eggs in medium bowl, until well combined. Add sugar and beat, or whisk to combine. Whisk in melted butter, until combined. Whisk in corn syrup and vanilla, until combined.
Plop pecans into unbaked pie shell and pour filling over pecans. Bake for 45-55 minutes, until all golden brown and just right. Let cool to room temperature. Serve chilled or at room temperature, with lotsa' coffee scented whipped cream.
COFFEE SCENTED WHIPPED CREAM
Using cold cream, add to medium bowl, along with sugar, instant espresso and vanilla. Using an electric mixer whip the cream until it reaches your favourite consistency. Plop a dollop on each piece of Pecan Pie, and serve.
JUDI'S PASTRY
This recipe is enough for a double crust pie. You only need 1 crust for this Pecan Pie recipe, so you can cut the recipe in half, OR freeze or refrigerate the other half of the unused pastry, for another pie.
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
scant teaspoon salt
1 cup cold lard, cut into cubes
1/2 cup ice water, mixed with 1 tablespoon white vinegar
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and salt. Add cold cubed lard and, using your fingers, work the lard into the flour mixture. Keep breaking the lard down into the flour, until mostly evenly distributed, with some of the pieces resembling oat flakes and some about the size of peas. Add ice water and vinegar mixture. Use a fork to bring dough together.
Plop half the pastry onto a well floured work surface. It will be moist, just as it should be. Keep your work surface and top of the pastry floured, as you roll pastry into a large round, to fit pie plate. Rotate dough circle as you go, and add additional flour as needed to keep from sticking. Gently lift round into pie plate to form bottom crust.
Trim the crust leaving about 1-inch overhang. Fold the overhang under itself, tucking it into the pie plate. Crimp the edges.
by TheLastWonton | Mar 21, 2021 | Appetizers & Snacks, Breakfast & Brunch, Recipes, Sides, Vegetarian
Each charming little stack of thinly sliced, golden potatoes is both crispy and softly tender, fragrantly riddled with feisty garlic butter and cheesy goodness. More, please.
One potato, two potato, three potato, four……...and some butter, fresh garlic, Parm, Aged Cheddar, and a damn good sprinkle of freshly ground pepper and sea salt flakes. Easy peasy, and kind of tasty, too.
Firstly, you want your potatoes so thinly sliced. A mandoline makes fast and easy work of slicing. You can use a very sharp knife, but a mandoline makes slicing a breeze.
After that it's just a matter of tossing the almost paper-thin potato slices with the cheesy garlic butter and then stack, stacking, the flavour coated slices into a muffin tin.
And into the oven they go, where all the magic ensues. Then boom-shaka-laka….Cheesy Garlic Butter Potato Stacks, ready to be popped out of the muffin tin. And not only that, naughty little stacks that they are, they create their own presentation. Ta Da!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Adapted from one of my fave food blogs, Half Baked Harvest
for The Last Wonton. Thanks Tieghan!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
CHEESY GARLIC BUTTER POTATO STACKS ~ 6 Servings (maybe)
4 medium Yukon Gold, or other yellow fleshed potato, cut into 1/8 inch thick slices
1/2 cup butter, melted2 plump garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded aged Cheddar, or Gruyere
Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly butter a 12 cup muffin tin. Cut the potatoes using a very sharp knife or a mandoline, into 1/8 inch thick slices.
In a large bowl stir together melted butter, minced garlic, both cheeses and a pinch of both salt and pepper. Add the potatoes and toss well to coat the slices. Layer the potatoes evenly among the prepared muffin tin, stacking the layers all the way to the top. The potatoes will shrink down as they cook.
Cover with foil and place on baking sheet. Transfer to the oven and roast for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue cooking another 25 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender and golden. Run a butter knife around each stack to release them. Stack 'em up and serve immediately sprinkled with a wee bit of sea salt flakes. Ta Da!
by TheLastWonton | Mar 19, 2021 | Appetizers & Snacks, Breakfast & Brunch, Mexican, Recipes, Salads & Bowls, Sides, Vegetarian
Cool, buttery avocados touting crumbles of blue cheese that deliver a tangy hit. Weird combination? Oh yes, but what a damn fine combination it is. A savoury, creamy, kicky hit of deliciousness. Dippity do!
"Please pass the Sweet Maui Onion Kettle Chips." Or any hardy potato chip, for that matter.
You're still thinking about the weirdness of this combo, aren't you. But, it's just sooo good, and somehow impressive, too.
Was that a "Hmmmm…", I just heard?
What the heck, if you like blue cheese, and you like avocado, why not give it a try?
And when you do, you've gotta' try it with potato chips. Again, it just goes. That said, Guacamole with Blue Cheese is great served with tortilla chips, for dipping, as well. And Margaritas, of course.
GUACAMOLE with BLUE CHEESE
2 large-ish avocados, diced
Juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon sea salt
Generous 1/3 cup blue cheese crumbles
1/4 cup red onion, thinly diced
10 grape tomatoes, quartered
1 teaspoon Tabasco
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 hefty pinches freshly ground black pepper
Toss avocados, lime and sea salt together in medium bowl. Mix. Add remaining ingredients to bowl. Stir, stir, and if you are so inclined, get a bit rough and mash, mash. You choose. Topple into serving dish, alongside Sweet Maui Onion Kettle Chips. Dippity Do!
by TheLastWonton | Mar 16, 2021 | Beef, Pork & Lamb, Main Dishes, Pasta & Noodles, Recipes, Sauces, Dips & Condiments
Rich, meaty, saucy, deliciousness, happily hugging perfectly al dente Rigatoni, that has been strewn with decadently creamy pieces of torn Burrata. And it's easy peasy to make. Oh me oh my oh!
I love meat sauce. Really though, doesn't everyone? Way back when, my Mom made the best meat sauce, in the whole wide world. So, of course, even as a kid, I was a quick and eager study. And now, in turn, I make a pretty damn good meat sauce, if I do say so myself.
I've been making this recipe, or a very close-to-this version, for about 5 decades. Yikes!
Now, I know almost every family has their revered recipe for the best meat sauce. But that's one of the great things about any meat sauce recipe. We can adjust whatever is in the recipe, to best suit our own tastes. Same same here.
At our house, we usually have meat sauce and spaghetti with shavings of fresh Parm. Or, one of my old-time faves. Hot spaghetti on my plate, generous sprinkling of grated old cheddar on top of the spaghetti, crowned with a hefty ladleful of freshly made meat sauce, so the cheddar gets all melty. Happiness is…..
But this time around I wanted to mix things up a bit, so got some good quality rigatoni and Burrata, at my favorite local Italian market, Valoroso. Both brought in from Italy, of course.
Because Burrata is best eaten within just a few days of being made, the smarty pants makers of this particular Burrata quick freeze each 'ball', within hours of production. And that's how it's shipped to Canada, and in turn sold, from the freezer, at the Italian deli. Cool!
Burrata is an Italian cow milk cheese (sometimes buffalo) made from mozzarella and cream. The outer casing is solid cheese, while the inside contains stracciatella, and cream, giving it an unusual soft texture. Stracciatella is cheese produced from buffalo milk, in southern Italy.
And it all comes together in this little sack of glorious, creamy, texture-y, deliciousness. So what's a girl to do, but tear it up and throw it on some freshly made rigatoni and meat sauce. Then drizzle the best damn olive oil over top, and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper. Mamma Mia!
My Meat Sauce has mostly the usual cast of characters. But never you mind if one or two of them are quirky! Quirky is interesting, and can be damn delicious. And not only that, your kitchen will smell damn delicious when this meat sauce is gently simmering, on a back burner. Che Bello!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
MY MEAT SAUCE with Rigatoni and Burrata ~ Serves 4-6
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small sweet onion, diced
1 pound lean ground beef
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 – 28 ounce can whole plum tomatoes, buzzed with immersion blender
1/4 cup water
2 heaping tablespoons ketchup
1 heaping tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon dried basil – or 1 tablespoon fresh
1 teaspoon dried oregano – or 1 tablespoon fresh
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound rigatoni
Salt for cooking rigatoni
1 200 gram drained Burrata
Drizzles of top quality olive oil
Sprinkles of freshly ground black pepper
Italian parsley – optional
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in large-ish saucepan, over medium-high heat; add onion and cook for 4 minutes. Add beef, salt, pepper and garlic, stirring occasionally, about 8-12 minutes until meat is cooked. Adjust heat as necessary.
Add buzzed tomatoes and water; stir, stir. Add ketchup, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, chili powder, basil and oregano. Bring to a soft boil, turn heat to medium low, or low, so the sauce juuuust simmers. Simmer gently 1 hour. Can be made ahead.
Bring a large pot filled with water to a boil, over high heat. Generously salt water and return to boil. Add rigatoni and cook until al dente. Drain and return pasta to pot, over very low heat.
Just before adding the hot meat sauce to the pasta, stir 2 tablespoons of butter into the sauce, so it shines. Add meat sauce to the pasta, and stir to completely coat rigatoni with that delicious meat sauce. Scoop into serving dish. Right away tear Burrata into pieces and randomly place over hot pasta. Drizzle Burrata with top quality olive oil and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper, and maybe some Italian parsley. Serve immediately, with a cheeky grin. And that, my friends, is Amore!
AND, OF COURSE, MY MEAT SAUCE IS RAHTHER TASTY WITH SPAGHETTI & PARM, TOO!
