Clam Boils, White Water Rafting, Camping oh my….

Back in July my hubby and I went up to Maine for a wonderful weekend of camping , filled with good food, great new and old friends, and lots of adventure. My bff and her hubby had invited us to a weekend at the New England Outdoor Center in Millinocket, Maine, never heard of it… its a tiny town 5000 strong, with beautiful mountains, lovely lakes, and some pretty amazing white water rafting.

 The drive up...

The drive there was half the fun, lots of scenic views along the way, we started out early on a Friday morning and managed to get there in the early afternoon. We set up camp.. we actually stayed in shack/cabins..explained in the brochure as four wood walls, tin roof, steel door you get my drift, and boy were they spot on in description. 

While the boys set up camp the girls went exploring, and found this little cove at the lake..

 

Then onto the clam boil, a New England tradition and one we do every summer. We got some amazing clams and of course some chorizo ( a staple where we are  from) potatoes, onions and sausage. Luckily we had a propane fueled burner to put a big ole pot of boil up. 

After fueling up on food and having some nice campfire talk, it was time to go to bed and get a good nights sleep for our adventure the next day. I will not lie, I was nervous about the white water rafting, first off I wear glasses, never contacts, and I had to wear contacts that day so that was a lot to get used to on a fast moving raft. We woke up that morning to some rain, well more like sporadic downpours, but we realized we were going to get wet anyway so did it really matter?? We went thru the "rafting talk " with the instructors and were then brought by school bus, ( haven't ridden in a big ole yellow bus in quite some time) to the Penobscot River and met our instructor and carried our raft into the water. Once we hit the water the skies opened up and it turned into a beautiful sunny day!! They don't waste any time once your it in the water, this picture below was oh about 3 minutes after we hit the water..

Holy Smokes...

That is our guide "Rabbit" in the back and then me with the look of shear terror on the left and my hubby on the right. In front of us our our friends Amy in front of me ( who stated she wasn't going to paddle when we first got in the raft lol) and Karen ( you can only see her helmet) on the right, oh and their husbands in front of them, well you can't really see them  you can only see the hand of Zack on the right....But I swear they are there...

There they are... after we popped up...

and now calmer seas...

This was probably one of the most exhilarating things I have ever done, oh yeah and the girl that said she wasn't going to paddle( too nervous she said) had an amazing time and after our first Class V could not wait to do it again!!! I am so glad that I did it and we are already planning our next trip for next summer! 

I guess you guys are waiting for a recipe huh.. ok here ya go 

New England Clam Boil

Serves 15

Items needed:

Big ole pot.. or Steamer Pot (like this one)

Long tongs

Red clam boil bags, seafood nets?? Not sure what they are called

• 15 quarts Steamer Clams, cleaned**** see below
• 30 sausages links
• 30 hot dogs
• 30 chorizo links
• 3 lbs potatoes, whole
• 2 lbs onions, peeled
• 2 bottles beer
• water 
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled left whole
• salt and pepper
• red pepper flakes
• Butter 

 

• We placed each item in its own red bag, and then placed in order potatoes, onions, chorizo, hot dogs, then sausage in the pot.
• Add the 2 beers, and extra water to cover the potatoes and onions, garlic, salt,  pepper ,and pepper flakes 
• Let boil/steam for about 40 minutes, sticking a knife or long wooden skewer into the potatoes to check for doneness 
• Add the clams after about 40 minutes and continue cooking for another 20 minutes until the clams start to open
• Remove the bags and dig in!!!
• Put 1 tbs of butter each into small bowls or cups and pour the broth from the pot over to melt and dunk the clams in before eating YUMMY!!!  
• 
  

 ***** Cleaning Clams: Here is a link  to explain how to clean them, this is pretty much what we did. As it says you can use pepper which we did, the clams don't like pepper (remember they are still alive) and it makes them spit out the pepper and sand.*****

Eat and Enjoy!!

They like me!! They like me!! Or at least my clams....

Ahh Monday mornings how I dread it! But yesterday was different, I woke up and carried on as usual getting ready for work but had some extra time, so I thought I would check my emails. Once that was done I thought eh, I'll go check out FoodBuzz and see whats going on there, and to my surprise when I checked the Top 9 there was my photo from my Steamed Clams recipe. Wow they like me , the really like me, or at least my clams that is. I am somewhat new to this, not the cooking thing or the baking thing but to the picture thing. In the short time that I starting blogging again, I realized how much a picture speaks to the reader about the dish. I mean lets be honest no ones running into the kitchen to make an ugly one.

After checking out various food photo sites, it seemed quite apparent that a picture truly is worth a thousand words. You are more likely to want to cook something that looks amazing, so you can't just point and shoot, you have to take your time. Now I have what I think is a very nice camera, it served me and my husband very nicely on our three week honeymoon road trip but is it top banana? No way. So since getting a new camera is out of the question I must deal with what I have!!! I guess it worked, since they picked my picture of Steamed Clams.

Now on to the matter at hand....food. I know I promised Part Duex of the Clams,Clams, Clams recipes, but my camera, yes the one I spoke so highly of above is behaving ( battery issues) badly. So I only have pictures of my Chorizo and Peppers Sandwich for now and will have to continue the suspense of the Clams...... Until tomorrow.

Chorizo and Pepper Sandwiches

• Chorizo links, sliced
• 3 green peppers, diced
• 1/2 red onion , diced
• 1 c red wine
• 1/2 11 oz. can tomato paste
• 1/2 15 oz. can tomato sauce
• Portuguese Rolls
  

Place all ingredients in slow cooker , and turn on low ( 8 hours ) or high (4 Hours). Remove lid from slow cooker 30 minutes to allow steam to escape and thicken sauce. Serve with Portuguese rolls, or bulky roll.

ENJOY!!!

Clams, Clams, Clams....

My brother in law called me up yesterday to say that he had a bag of fresh clams and didn't know what to do with them...Could he bring them over and maybe I would know what to do with them.... Are you kidding bring it on!!!Oh boy the possibilities...

I was going back and forth trying to decide what to make.. Being from New England, south eastern Massachusetts to be exact, the first thing that came to mind was Steamed Clams with Chorizco. But really the possibilities are endless... Clam Cakes, Clam Chowder, Clams Casino, Stuffies.... Oh my!

I decided with so many clams to split them up and do two dishes. So this will be a two parter...

Part One~ Steamed Clams with Chorizco

We live in the South Coast area of Massachusetts, about halfway between Providence, RI and Cape Cod. What some refer to as Little Portugal, with half of the population in the area being of Portuguese decent, there is no shortage of great dishes to choose from. Portuguese Chorizco is a staple around here, with its dried smokey red pepper flavor and subtle spiciness it is a perfect combination with the sweetness of the Clams.

Steamed Clams with Chorizco

• 20 littlenecks (what we call Clams)
• 1 onion, quartered
• 1/2 c red onion, diced
• 1/4 c red bell pepper, diced
• 6 thin chorizco links, sliced
• 4 cloves, garlic whole
• 1 beer
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/4 stick butter

Thoroughly wash clams scrub with a brush to get any bacteria and dirt off. Put clams in a strainer and rinse in cold running water for 5-10 minutes. In a steamer insert of pot, place quartered onion , and clams, in bottom layer of steamer pot put garlic, beer and red pepper flakes to make the broth. Steam until all clams are opened, discard any unopened clams. Reserve broth.



In separate pan, saute red onion and red pepper in 2 tsp olive oil, cook until translucent, add sliced chorizco and cook until slightly browned. Add 2 cups of reserved broth to deglaze pan, cook 2 minutes, add butter and cook 1-2 more minutes. Serve over Clams with a big ole piece of bread to sop up the broth!!

ENJOY!!

Stay tuned tomorrow for Part Two........