To get started, all you need is a large zipper top bag and a little space in your freezer.

Well, you also need to live in a home where you cook with or use fresh veggies.

I save carrot ends and peels, onion peels, squash trimmings, outer celery ribs and leaves, literally most any veggie will work here. Once you have a bag (or two) of frozen veggie trimmings you’re ready to make broth.

I like to oven roast the veggies first to deepen the flavors, but this step is optional.

Fill a large stock pot with water. Add in 2 bay leaves, 8-10 peppercorns, and a handful of fresh herbs (parsley, thyme, sage all work well). Add your veggie scraps and bring to a simmer.

Simmer for at least an hour, longer for a deeper flavored broth. Season with salt & pepper to taste.

Strain broth, discarding veggie scraps, and allow to fully cool. Transfer to air tight containers or zip top bags until ready to use. Or you can freeze in batches for later use.

Easy Homemade Vegetable Broth is perfect when making a big batch of Minestrone Soup!

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All my best,
xo Libby

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Beef Bourguignon.  Boeuf Bourguignon.  Beef Burgundy.  I think we grew up with this dish.  No, not the first two.  My Mom made beef burgundy often.  The cuts of meat may have started out a bit tough requiring extra cooking love, but the end result was melt in your mouth wonderful. This year’s Christmas Eve Prime Rib was as good as any we’ve had in the past.

Prime Rib has become a Christmas Eve tradition.  Three consecutive years of repeat behavior qualifies as a ‘tradition’ in this house.  We always have more than we can eat.  That is the plan after all.  We LOVE our leftovers, and deciding how to repurpose them is a challenge we look forward to.  Yesterday we decided on Beef Bourguignon.

When it comes to tender meat, braising is where it’s at.  The process is relatively effortless, yet turns out the most tender and flavorful results.  Always reading and absorbing what the masters have worked so hard to perfect, I’ve become a bit of a geek and I mean that in the most affectionate way.  Cooking is an art and also a science.  That’s when we’re at our best in the kitchen.

My Mom was a newspaper editor.  Our kitchen table was her home office.  No matter where we lived, mom gave Sarah and I the bedrooms.  She claimed the kitchen.  We both have elementary school drawings of Mom.  Beautiful, with big hoop earrings, hair tied up in a knot, a glass of burgundy (Gallo Brand sold by the jug), and a Tareyton cigarette burning in the ashtray.  She was passionate.  About everything.  We were often whisked out of bed in the middle of the night to ‘catch’ a story.  And if there wasn’t a story that week, we became the story.  Mom had such a gift with words and fought for every story.  She would have been a masterful blogger with life experiences I’ll never achieve.

I described ‘mom’ at the kitchen table to and the response was “you may be the modern version.”  I’d love to be that.

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As kids growing up, when we went out to a restaurant, what we ordered was routine (thank goodness I outgrew that phase).  Even though Mom had it memorized and could have easily ordered for us, from as early as I can remember she insisted we order our own meal (and take our elbows off the table).  The server would take our drink order first, mine was always Ginger Ale.  Then they’d come back and take our meal order, mine was always a Grilled Cheese Sandwich and a cup of Clam Chowder.  Always.  When you grow up in New England, it’s not a matter of whether Clam Chowder is the ‘soup of the day’….it will always be on the menu.

Yesterday, I needed Clam Chowder.  It’s more than comfort food, it’s like Mom’s arms wrapped snugly around me.  I think reminiscing with my sister this week about Mom, and all the things we wished we had told her, has got my chowder juices flowing.  Sure I could buy a can of Snow’s Clam Chowder, which is what got me through dorm-room living while in college.  OR I could make a nice big pot full of Mom’s chowder and {Share the Love}.  I took a vote at the office and a big pot full won hands down.

Cherrystone clams were not readily available.  And since my mind was made up that I was having Clam Chowder, I used cans of baby clams and bottled clam juice, a fine substitution, in their place.  Otherwise I followed my mom’s recipe, a nice creamy clam chowder, yet not corn-starchy like pudding thick.  I prefer to appreciate each ingredient’s flavor and goodness.  I’m sure over the years I told Mom many times how much I loved her chowders.  Let today be one more time.  xo

Print

New England Clam Chowder

Course Soup

Servings 6

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 3 6.5 oz cans chopped or minced baby clams, drained (reserve juice)
• 2 8 oz. bottles of clam juice
• ½ lb. bacon cut into small pieces
• 2 Tbl. butter
• 1 large onion fine diced
• 2 celery stalks very fine diced
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 2 Tbl. flour
• 2 lbs. Yukon gold potatoes peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup milk
• Kosher salt & freshly cracked pepper
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• Fresh chives
• Oyster crackers and/or crusty bread optional

Instructions

• In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, brown bacon pieces, then drain on paper towels and reserve. Add butter, onion, and celery and cook until onion is translucent. Add in garlic and cook an additional minute.
• Sift flour over onion mixture, stirring to combine. Increase heat to med-high, then add potatoes, clam broth, and reserved juice from canned clams and bring to a boil for 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium-low, add in fresh thyme sprigs and bay leaves. Gently simmer until potatoes are just tender, about 20 minutes. Remove thyme and bay leaves and discard.
• Add in clams, cream, and milk, heat for 3-4 minutes until warmed through (do not boil). Season will salt, pepper, pinch of cayenne.
• Serve in bowls sprinkled with cooked bacon and minced chives.
• Oyster crackers and crusty bread are wonderful too.

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