Posts from — January 2012

Good Tuesday morning! Thank you all for the lovely comments, the Facebook “likes”, and for encouraging your Facebook friends to also “like” LPG. The number of LPG “likes” went from 277 to 291, which is perfectly wonderful.

As I said yesterday, not one of the new 291 told me who suggested that they “like” LPG, but after some top-notch investigative work, I was able to determine the origin of several of the newbies. I discovered that the top two “saleswomen” were Jeanie Hays, who brought in at least three new people, and Amy Kilpatrick, who brought in at least two new people. In addition, Amy posted 4 comments here on the blog and Jeanie posted 1 comment. So Amy and Jeanie had the most tickets in the drawing – with 10 each!

All in all, there were 23 different people’s names in the big salad bowl with a total of 63 tickets. This is high-level math for me, so imagine the work involved – I believe that I  have a little tension headache from it! But alas…. we have our winners! And they are ~

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Just a quick reminder that our CONTEST ends tonight at midnight.

Thus far, LPG Facebook followers have increased from 277 to 291! Shy of my 325 goal, but steadily increasing, which is so encouraging.

The only Problem – NOT ONE of the new followers has told me that YOU (or anyone else for that matter) told them to follow LPG, so how can I give you the 3 tickets you deserve?!? I suppose it is possible that all the new followers are already blog followers who are just now following LPG on Facebook, and either way, each of them receives two tickets in the drawing… but if you sent them there, I need to know… by midnight tonight.

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Like just about everyone else I know, I love Mason jars! Check out my Mason jar Pinterest board to see just a few of the wonderful ideas clever people have come up with using these American icons. How about a little Wikipedia info on the beloved jars…

“A Mason jar is a glass jar used in canning to preserve food. It was invented and patented by John Landis Mason, a Philadelphia tinsmith in 1858. They are also called Ball jars, after Ball Corp., a popular and early manufacturer of the jars; fruit jars because they are often used to store fruit; “jam jars” or generically glass canning jars. While largely supplanted by other methods for commercial mass-production, they are still commonly used in home canning.”

I baked the cobblers for the clambake in wide-mouth (squat and fat) half-pint Kerr Mason jars and served homemade vanilla ice cream in regular-mouth (tall and thin) half-pint jars. Just as when using for canning, first sterilize the jars with boiling water – and when using for baking, place them in a water bath to prevent the jars from cracking.

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These potatoes are ridiculously easy and delicious. I used the milk solids that I’d skimmed from the pound of butter that I clarified for the lobster bake. Love being above using something that might have otherwise been wasted.

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Yeah, I’ve got a brand new thing that is totally wasting all my time… so much so, that I do not even remotely want to post another Lobster Bake recipe today… tomorrow, I promise! 

Instead, today I shall tell you about my addiction … AND… we shall have a little give-away.  Sound Fun? YES IT DOES!!!

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Succotash is a hot bean and corn dish that was  popular during the Great Depression because of the ingredients were more readily available than most other foods and relatively less expensive. I’m not a fan of traditional succotash… but turn it into a cold salad with basil dressing, and I’m all in!

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These buttery rolls are surprisingly light, perfect for soaking up the broth from the lobster bake.

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Along with the “stars” of the night… the actual lobsters, the clambake was the main course of the lobster bake evening.  The lobsters can be cooked right along with the whole “bake” but I, for one, don’t have a pot big enough to hold everything. As a result, the lobsters were boiled separately.

Since I wasn’t sure of any of the guests’ dietary restrictions, instead of the kielbasa I would generally use, I found a fabulous spicy chicken and spinach sausage at Costco and used that.  I also separated out the corn and served it next to some potatoes on the buffet, just because this time it fit better that way. But for that added pop of color, I would usually leave the corn in the “bake” as I have pictured above.

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In all honesty, I am not fully recovered from the big weekend lobster bake… still putting away all that stuff I dragged out of storage. Plus, I have been busy making lobster stock from all those shells.  Therefore, we’ll start the week of recipes slowly and begin with clarified butter. This was used for dipping the lobster and other seafood.

Clarified butter is what is left when melting unsalted butter – after the water evaporates, some solids float to the surface and are skimmed off, and the remainder of the milk solids sink to the bottom and are left behind when the butter fat (the clarified butter) is poured off.

Drawn butter is an American term for clarified butter. It has a higher smoke point than regular butter, which makes it much better for sautéing. It also has a longer shelf life than fresh butter and since is has negligible amounts of lactose, it is more acceptable to people with lactose intolerance.

And just in case you’ve heard of it before and have been wondering… ghee is the East Indian form of clarified butter.

Also note that there is about a 25% loss in the quantity of butter, after clarifying.  You may clarify any amount of butter. I started with 2 sticks (1 cup) but realized that would not be enough for the dinner party, so I ended up clarifying another 2 sticks, or a full pound of butter.

Feel free to save the milk solids you’ve skimmed off.  They can be added to rice, polenta, soups, popcorn, or even your morning toast or oatmeal.  I used them in the boiled potatoes at the lobster bake ~ that recipe will be up in a few days.

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Last night was the big Lobster Bake at the Hopkins’ home. If you weren’t invited, don’t feel bad…. this was a donation dinner from a fundraising event, so unless you were at the fundraiser and had the winning bid…  sorry!

There were eight lovely guests. It is currently 11:30 AM the following morning and Dave and I have just now finally gotten it all cleaned up. Here is a pictorial of the event… recipes to follow.

The lobsters arrive via Fed-Ex from Maine.

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