vaneramos | New England clam chowder; Shrimp scampi

In a previous life, or perhaps a different universe,

ghostsandrobots and I must have been twins conjoined at the brain. We have serious neural entanglement issues. I met her in

missprune's or

anoisblue's journal and since then we keep crossing mental paths. Like the time we discovered we had both written about cicadas in the same day. I can't begin to count the times one of us has been thinking about some semi-obscure thing only to discover that the other has been writing about it. Our lives run some parallels, too.

Today it's clam chowder. I planned to make it for lunch, put it off until after my walk, came home from my walk, still didn't feel like cooking, then went online and discovered Zig had written about clam chowder in her

free_write.

I don't even know whether she likes shellfish the way I do, but taste is not the point. This is about receiving on the same frequency.

I don't even believe in things like that. It can't possibly mean anything. It can't!

But let's just imagine it does mean something. What would that be? It means that if I don't make clam chowder for dinner I will be fatally stung by a rare, poisonous cicada on August 13, 2004. That's cicada season. I just looked to see if it's a Friday, and sure enough.

So here it is: another favourite recipe.

New England Clam Chowder

4 slices bacon
2 green onion, chopped
4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 Tbsp. flour
2 cups milk
¾ tsp. salt
½ Tbsp. white pepper
13 ounces clams, canned with liquid
1 cup whipping cream
parsley, chopped
basil, chopped

Use a large, heavy saucepan. Sauté bacon until crisp. Add the green onions and potatoes. Sauté for a few minutes. Sprinkle with flour. Add milk and stir to blend. Bring to a boil. Simmer, stirring, until poatoes are tender (20 minutes). Add salt and pepper. Add the clams with their liquid. Add the whipping cream. Heat the soup, stirring, just until simmering. Do not boil or clams will toughen. Sprinkle with parsley and basil leaves. Serve at once.

~~~~~

I'm enjoying a bowl now. Thanks for helping me get my universe sorted out today, Zig.

Lately I've been looking for inexpensive ways to incorporate more shellfish into my meals, since I love it so much. Here is a new recipe I tried last week and enjoyed. Done in the microwave, it's easy halve or quarter the recipe. I bought a small package of easy peal frozen black tiger shrimp and it will last for several meals.

Shrimp Scampi

1 lb. medium shirmp
½ cup butter or margarine
½ tsp. salt
½ Tbsp. finely chopped garlic or to taste
2 Tbsp. lemon juince
1 Tbsp. parsley flakes
Paprika (optional)

In a round baking dish, heat butter and garlic 1½ to 2 minutes on high until butter is melted. Add lemon juice, parlsey and salt; stir in shrimp. Heat, covered, 4 to 5 minutes on power level 7 until shrimp is thoroughly pink, stirring once. Let stand covered 5 minutes; sprinkle with paprkia before serving. Serves 4.