Meals for Cold Weather
Steamed Clams, Potage Saint-Germain, Potato and Bacon Chowder
Once we made the overnight shift from air conditioning to heat that is a common part of fall in the Low Country, we felt it was time to unearth some cold weather recipes. The clam recipe is from a Frugal Gourmet cookbook and was passed along some time ago by Merry's brother and sister-in-law. It certainly lived up to their rave reviews. We used clams from the local clam farm which helps to eliminate some of the scrubbing usually associated with clams. Jeff Smith, The Frugal Gourmet, notes that this recipe should be served with some good bread. We were fortunate to have some wonderful herb bread on hand that was shipped to us from St. Louis. We went through a lot of it "sopping up" the broth which is almost a meal by itself.
The split pea soup recipe was a speciality of The Magic Pan restaurants that used to be scattered around the country. We don't know if the restaurants are still in existence, but their soup recipe is memorable and we have made it numerous times over the years. The original recipe included shredded chicken if you choose to include it. The final chowder in this column combines ingredients we usually have on hand and thus serves as one of those meals that helps us a avoid a trip to the store--for at least one more day.
