Fee, Fie, Foe, Friday: It Ends with Lobster Stock

I try to not let Chuck go to Costco without me. It's not that he won't get what we need, its that he'll get some things we don't need. In vast quantities. Some women tell me their husbands are likely to arrive home from a club store with another big flat screen TV, or a disassembled garden gazebo  rising out of the open sun roof of their sedan. Or a lifetime supply of cheese curls. Mine usually comes home with big bags of frozen food, because he thinks of our basement freezer as a time capsule. Of course the 800 chicken tenders will last for the 5 years it'll take us to eat them, they're frozen. They were such a deal.

This trip was different. He called me at work. He was standing in the seafood department and there are these huge lobster tails, a pound each, from the Dominican Republic. He wants to buy them; they're already thawed and will need to be used quickly. I said no, so guess what was sitting in my fridge when I got home? Yep, two big, honkin' lobster tails. The price was just too good.

Now generally, I'm not the type to turn down any kind of lobster. But since I had other cooking I was planning to write about, lobster wasn't going to be my first choice....but, gee, lobster. I love it. My favorite is cold water Maine lobster, but after that, any lobster is great lobster. For once, there was so much meat, I actually had enough lobster. Those giant shells are simmering peacefully turning plain water into glorious lobster stock as I digest my dinner of simple sautéed lobster and asparagus.

Life is good, especially when Chuck sneaks off to Costco.

Basic lobster stock: lobster shells and water.

New Years Resolution: Take Stock, Make Stock

If there is one cooking resolution you can make, and one that's easy to keep, it making stock, regularly. I'm not talking about the big-production stuff that leaves you with gallons of beautiful stock, I'm talking about gathering up the bits and pieces, once a week or so. Using that ham bone, or mushrooms or shrimp shells and making a small quantity of flavorful, rich liquid that will raise any dish you use it in a hundred notches. In this new year make stock, instead of buying that awful stuff in the boxes off the market shelves. A quart of decent stock is the start of a beautiful soup or a sauce, and the backbone of almost any braised dish you can think of. A container in the fridge or freezer is like money in the bank.

When I look at something (food), I try to think what the highest and best use of it will be. Yes, shrimp scampi will be fabulous, but there will be shrimp stock made from the shells, that'll bee cooked down and concentrated to add to the sauce. It has to be the highest and best use of ALL of it, or it doesn't meet my criteria. I don't believe in wasting a bit, if there is something good to be gained from it.

What's left of our Christmas ham bone after making
 some glorious ham stock for soup.

I just made two quarts of ham stock from the meaty bone from our Christmas ham.   One is already in a pot of bean soup, and the other will likely be frozen for when the snow flies, and I hanker for a bowl of homemade, hot, soul satisfying pea soup. It's not rocket science; it's a handful of aromatics like onion, garlic, celery and carrot, a few bay leaves and peppercorns and enough water to cover the whole mess in the pot. I use just a smidge of salt, too in everything but the hambone stock, as that generally is salty enough. Boil it until the bones or scraps are looking used up. An hour will do, usually. Strain and put it into the freezer or fridge. Done. No real recipe. 

Take stock in your crisper drawer. Wilty greens, half tomatoes, spare mushrooms and celery are all fair game for the stock pot. Half a bunch of parsley? Sure. Potatoes, or just the peelings, onions garlic shallots? Toss 'em in. If you keep all the vegetable scraps you produce in a week (except for broccoli, brussels sprouts or any other overly strong vegetable) and then at the end, cover them with water and boil, you'll have a delicious base to start the meals for the upcoming week. The remains from all-vegetable concoctions can certainly be composted after all is said and done.

We were talking about how many ways we've managed to ruin garbage disposers, and Chuck mentioned that before he met me, he'd regularly ruin his disposer with shrimp shells, but now that I freeze them to use in shrimp stock (along with my collection of lobster shells) that's one less disaster in his life. Another benefit. I have two smallish turkey legs bought cheap at the market this week, that will go swim with all my vegetable trimmings from Christmas, plus some extra garlic and onion. One more quart or so of liquid gold, with a bonus for the dog: boiled turkey.

I would like you to resolve to be a better cook, and not waste any more goodness from your precious food. Use every last bit, and take stock, make stock. make that resolution and have a happy, healthy and delicious New Year.

My friend Amy wanted a recipe for ham stock this morning, and I told her there was no real recipe, so here's my no-real-recipe, for Amy.

Throw the hambone (with some meat) into a pot and cover it with water. Toss in an onion, a carrot and some celery. I don't peel the onion or the carrot, just wash since I buy organic. Add a couple of bay leaves and 5-6 peppercorns.NO salt as the ham may have plenty. Taste later. Bring to a boil, skim off any scum and cook until the tendons fall off the bone Fish out all the solids and cook it down to around 2 quarts. Freeze in cubes or small containers. I use about 1 quart to a pound of dried beans when I make soup...

Italian Penicillin: Chicken Tortellini Soup

Italian Penicillin: Chicken Tortellini Soup

I whomped up this soup for my sister-in-law this morning. Granted, what she’s got is going to need a lot more than soup, but for the moment, soup will have to do. I’ve always called this soup Italian Penicillin, as it’s been known to cure middling sniffles, broken hearts and occasional hangovers. It’s a rich, chickeny chicken soup on steroids: Double strength chicken stock bolstered up by more chicken. Add in a nice mix of vegetables, herbs, some pesto or cheese tortellini, and serve it up in a big bowl sprinkled with good Parmesan. At this point it ceases to be a bowl of soup and becomes a bowl of love. That's all I can do for her right now, a big warm hug in a bowl.

Please try this recipe and feed it to those you love.

Notes: If you don’t make your own rich chicken stock, (I'll post a killer version that'll give you stock like this soon) I suggest looking for 4 quarts of no salt added chicken stock (it exists) and cooking it down by half. Or use the low sodium, boil it down, and add NO salt to the soup until you taste it. If you can’t find small dried soup tortellini, either use the small dried soup ravioli, or just add fresh or frozen regular tortellini after the vegetables are tender and cook for as long as the package directions tell you to.

Chicken Tortellini Soup aka Italian Penicillin

Serves 6

2 quarts of double strength low or unsalted chicken stock

4 large chicken thighs with skin and bone

1 large onion diced

1 cup sliced celery

1 cup diced carrots

2 garlic cloves minced

1 14.5- oz. can diced tomatoes with liquid

1T dry basil

1T dry oregano

1 tsp. dry thyme

2 bay leaves

pinch of hot pepper flakes

1 quart of water

½ pound of small dried soup tortellini (pesto or cheese filled)

1 10-oz. bag of baby spinach

Black pepper and salt to taste

Grated Parmesano Reggiano for serving, or a Pecorino Romano

Get a big soup pot, at least 8 quarts and dump the chicken thighs in, and then add the chicken stock. Bring it to a boil on high heat, cover, lower the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes until the chicken is tender. Remove the chicken to a plate with a slotted spoon and let it cool a bit.

Turn the heat back up under the now-enriched stock, and add everything up to and including the extra quart of water. Bring again to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes. Pick the chicken meat off the bones, cut into bite sized pieces and add the meat to the soup pot. Discard the skin and bones. Add the tortellini and cook about 15-20 minutes until they soften. Taste one to see if they’re done. Stir in the spinach and cook for two minutes. Add a little more water if it's not soupy enough as those tortellini can be thirsty!

Serve in a big bowl and pass the Parm or Romano on the side. Or put some in a big jar and take it to someone who needs a hug.