One of the nicest things about living in New England is how accessible seafood (GOOD seafood) is here. The added bonus of living in Southeastern Mass is the big Portuguese population that settled here and their, I dare say, freakin' tasty cuisine. I would go on a limb and say it's wicked pissah.
Today I was lucky enough to have Andy home with me for the day. Mr. Lucky Pants has a job where he can choose to work from home as he wishes, and with snow on the way and an inspection sticker to get he decided today would be one of those days. Well, yay for me.
We both love seafood, and this past year I (thankfully) found out that I'm no longer allergic to crustaceans. So, since then, we've been indulging in all things fishy. I am definitely not complaining. One of our favorite places to buy our seafood is a little market called Amaral's Market, which is about 5-10 minutes from Andy's house. It's kind of like a Portuguese general store with really great fish and meat counters. If you go there, you'll notice immediately which counter is meant for the "gringos": it has everything that is relatively easy to recognize and it's also written in English. The more exotic counter caters to the Portuguese and most of the fish is whole.
Showing at a theater near you: "The Crab That Flipped Me Off."
Today we decided to indulge ourselves and have a New England Clam Boil. Now, when most people think of a clam boil they think of a big pot of lobsters, steamers, white fish (like cod), potatoes, onions and corn. That may be so. But the Portuguese population has had an influence on this traditional meal around here, and you'll find chourico or linguica in the pot (two kinds of Portuguese spicy sausage). Some people also add mussels or littleneck clams. We decided on steamers, North Atlantic crabs, yellow potatoes, onion, and chourico. Throw in some Portuguese hot pepper and Old Bay seasoning, and you got yourself a party!
Andy and I generally use recipes when we cook as guidelines and kind of do our own thing. A little of this, a little of that, rounding the cooking time.. a little distracted by Facebook and the pot boils over. You know, kind of like that. We really haven't had a bad meal yet, so I guess we're doing something right. After a few Google searches, we found some recipes and sort of slap-dashed them together. Portuguese hot pepper, Old Bay, some bay leaves, kosher salt, garlic cloves, and a little white vinegar were added to our crab and potato pots. We ended up needing 3 pots, which was a little disappointing as Andy was hoping his new pot with the strainer basket would be enough. We also decided to cook the clams separately since they were a little tricky to time properly.
Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble...
30-40 minutes of cooking, cleaning, and bickering later, we ended up with a seafood feast. Let me tell you something: I lived in California for a little while during "the dark ages" of my life. ...We can leave it at that, I think. Anyway, you would think living near San Francisco would afford me the opportunity to get some great Pacific seafood. YEAH, NO. It was terrible and I couldn't help but miss being in New England every time I went to Whole Foods for some mediocre seafood or ate some "New England" clam chowder (read: "dirty dish water with clams"). THIS MEAL people, would make you miss New England, too, even if you've never lived here.
Hello, lover.
I told Andy tonight that this would be on my list for a Death Row meal, or an Apocalypse meal. I am not kidding.
Do your parents know you're out here alone?
We were both very happy campers tonight. Hope you enjoyed the photos! And don't worry: it's ok to be a little bit jealous.
Hugs and fishes,
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