Vacation Chowder

By Lori Powell

All this week, Special Fork bloggers will be sharing recipes for vacation cooking. And to celebrate summer vacations, Special Fork is giving away a beautiful, English-style picnic basket fitted with service for four by Picnic Time. It’s easy to enter the sweepstakes.

Lucky me, I get to spend a couple of weeks each year in Mid-Coast Maine at a house on a cove that I have rented now for the past six years. It is my Northeast Oasis where I fatten myself up with all that Maine has to offer, including all the seafood, berries and great produce that I can consume in that short period of time.

Of course, all of that cooking (yes, I love to cook on vacation with the indigenous ingredients that surround me), eating and then reading need to be combined with a lot of hiking so that I can do more of the first two things.

Maine, to me, screams seafood and Seafood Chowder in all its glorious forms… whether it is lobster, scallops, shrimp or even clams. To me it generally involves some shellfish, vegetables, herbs, sometimes pork and a creamy, slightly thickened base.

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Clams are Great for One or Two Bites

By Lori Powell

I have a fantastic fishmonger in my town that has the freshest littleneck clams that are truly littleneck (less than 2 inches in diameter and 10 to13 clams per pound) and not middleneck (3 to 4 inches in diameter and about 7 to 9 clams per pound). Yes there is such as thing.

Since the clams are super fresh, they’ll keep in the fridge for up to three days after purchasing. Also they cook up super-quick for a healthy weeknight dinner and you can buy a small quantity of clams. It’s definitely a win-win for cooks needing One or Two Bites.

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