This recipe is an adaptation of one I first made about 30 years ago (in my vegan days) from The American Vegetarian Cookbook from the Fit for Life Kitchen by Marilyn Diamond. Better hot but also good cold IMO!
There have been many incarnations of this soup in my life, including as a staple at the health food deli where I worked–along with a catering job–to finance an 8-week trip to an ashram in India (that, my friends, is a story for another time.)
Lately I’ve simplified the soup to the bare bones for a quick and delicious low allergen side dish. Sometimes I have this with a side of tempeh, sometimes chicken, and it’s a really great side with salmon.
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Everyone in our family loves clams, including my five-year-old (you can see him slurping one down at the end of the post.)
We usually go for simple steaming with white wine, garlic, cilantro and some variation of butter (I’ll post that recipe soon) but last week I had a hankering to try something different.
If you’ve read my past posts you may know that I’m always looking to try new Central and South American recipes. One of the cookbooks on my shelf, Latin Ladles, included recipe for a Venezuelan clam soup called Chipi Chipi.
The author explains that Chipi Chipi is actually a type of Venezuelan clam. As we obviously don’t have those readily available in Portland, I used the substitute he recommended, Manilla clams- fresh from Flying Fish Co. I adjusted the recipe slightly, per usual, but it’s pretty close to the original. I always mean to try more recipes from this cookbook. This was a good reminder.
Ingredients
- 1 quart bottled clam juice- I use Crown Prince because there’s no other junk in there
- 1/2 quart + 2 cups water
- 1/2 cup potatoes peeled and cut into small cubes
- 1 cup carrots peeled and cut into small cubes
- 1/2 cup diced celery
- 3 TBSP soy free earth balance (for dairy-free) or organic butter
- 1 red onion diced
- 1 tsp peeled and grated fresh ginger
- 6 cloves garlic minced fine
- 2-3 pounds of clams
- 2 cups dry white wine
- 2 TBSP minced cilantro
- 1 TBSP flat leaf parsley
- lime wedges for each bowl
Instructions
- Place clams in a bowl and rinse with cold water until it runs clear.
- In large pot bring clam juice and water to a rolling boil. Add carrots, celery, and potatoes. Turn down and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off heat.
- In a saucepan melt earth balance or butter. Add onion, garlic, ginger, and wine. Bring to a simmer and add clams. Cover until first few clams start to open up (peek, but be careful of the steam, it’s hot!)
- Toss clams by stirring or shaking pan until they all pop open. Discard any clams that don’t open at all.
- Put clams in serving bowls, pour in broth and spoon some of the veggies from the broth pot. Top with cilantro and parsley. Serve with lime wedges to be squeezed over soup before eating.
It was a hit!
Enjoy!
Dr. Samantha
I’ve always loved Caesar. Not the dude, of course, the salad. I’ve been off of dairy for almost 15 years so it was out of the question for altogether too long. Then a few years back my sister developed a vegan dairy-free Caesar recipe that has become a staple for both of our families. We’ve found it’s not only good on salad but also on pasta. Of late I’ve been using it also for massaged kale salad as well a marinade for shredded chicken. Lunch the other day combined these two and it was delicious (though I have to admit when I went to the gym a few hours later my trainer asked if I’d had Caeser for lunch…apparently the garlic factor is such that I shouldn’t eat it when I’m going to be breathing hard that close to another human. Oops.)
Dressing
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1/4 cup filtered water
- 1/4 cup flax seed oil (make sure this is refrigerated and not expired, rancid flax oil is nasty)
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2-4 cloves crushed garlic
- 1/2 tsp umeboshi paste (this is available at the health food store or asian market- it’s also good to put on canker sores! note it’s a little spendy but it lasts forever and once you make this dressing you’ll want to keep making it!)
Combine all ingredients in blender. Oddly, this dressing needs to be kept in a container without a metal top. The metal top will actually taint the flavor. Any food scientists out there please feel free to weigh in on why that is!
You can adjust this recipe to taste very easily. If it’s too lemony you can add more water, not salty enough add more umeboshi, want more garlic? You get the picture.
Vegan Parmesan
Truth is this isn’t really parm-like at all. But it’s delicious. We make extra and sprinkle it on pasta or other dishes. My family calls it ‘sprinkles’ and we use it liberally. Be sure to store this in the fridge, along with any nuts that you aren’t using within a few weeks as nuts contain oil and spoil pretty quickly at room temperature.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup raw walnuts
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/2+ tsp of sea salt to taste
Blend in a Cuisinart until uniform.
Croutons
Whenever I visit my sister there’s a jar of oily delicious croutons in her fridge. There have been times that I’ve downed an entire jar in a weekend. These days I’m completely gluten-free so I’ve been using Happy Campers bread to make mine. They’re great on the salad but also as little snacky bits dipped in the dressing. Or yum sauce.
Ingredients
- 1/2 loaf of gluten-free whole grain bread (obviously this works with regular bread too if you eat gluten.)
- 1 tsp-1 TBSP Olive oil or olive oil in a spray bottle.
- Rosemary or salt if the bread needs a little boost.
Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees. Cut bread into cubes and toss in bowl with olive oil, salt, and rosemary. Spread out on baking sheet. Toss every 10 minutes until crunchy all the way through.
Assembly
You can have this as a traditional Caesar with whole pieces of romaine heart that you toss with dressing and then sprinkle with topping and add croutons. As I mentioned though, I’ve been using the dressing for massaged kale (clean, cut into small pieces and massage dressing into kale as hard as you can until the leaves are soft and supple) and for a chicken marinade. I also use the dressing and sprinkles on brown rice pasta. It’s also delish poured over chicken. Or fish.
Enjoy!
My son was adopted from Guatemala as an infant. We try hard to get him exposure to various things Central and South American, food included. Actually, given how much we love to eat, food especially.
Today I made Pepián, a dish we first had about five years ago when we were holed up in Antigua, Guatemala waiting for the final word that we could bring our son home.
I remember vividly sitting with him strapped tightly to my chest. He slept as we ate a leisurely lunch surrounded by locals, always a sure sign you’ve chosen the right restaurant. The pepián was a thick stew with notes of chile and pumpkin seed. I’ve tried a few versions previously and haven’t been able to replicate it. I think I came close today.
Pepián is typically made with turkey (pavo). I’ve seen recipes that call for beef, and most will say that you can use any kind of bird. Our local meat source didn’t have any turkey today so I used chicken (pollo). It worked great. This isn’t a particularly difficult recipe but it does take a little time. Well worth it, I’d say.
Serves 4 for a main dish or 6 for a side dish.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup annatto seeds- you use these in step 1 to make achiote oil
- ½ cup olive oil
- 8 cups chicken stock. I used homemade from our freezer. My second choice would be Simply Stock by Pacific Foods.
- ¾ tsp salt
- 1 large chicken breast and 2 chicken thighs (1 lb total)
- 1 small or ½ large white onion
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tsp achiote oil
- 4 ripe plum tomatoes
- 3 tomatillos, husked, rinsed, and chopped
- 2 dried ancho chiles
- 2 dried guajillo chiles
- 1/8 cup whole plus 1/3 cup finely ground (in spice or coffee grinder) roasted pumpkin seeds
- 1 ½ tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- ¾ tsp allspice
- ½ chopped cinnamon stick
- 2 cups long beans or green beans cut into 1 inch pieces
- ½ lime, juiced
Preparation
1. Before you make this dish it’s necessary to prepare achiote oil. This requires ¼ cup of annatto seeds and ½ cup of oil. The recipes usually call for vegetable oil but I always use olive oil. Put seeds and oil in a small saucepan. Put on stove over low heat until the oil starts to simmer gently. Take off heat, put aside and let sit 2-5 hours. This oil will keep in the fridge for a few months. I’ll try to find some other recipes we can use it in.
2. In a medium to large stockpot add chicken stock, chicken meat, onion, garlic, bay leaves and salt. Bring this to a boil then turn down heat until the liquid is just simmering and cook for about an hour.
3. While the chicken is cooking put dried chiles in a heatproof bowl and just cover with boiling water. This will soften the chiles for cooking.
4. In a cast iron or other skillet lightly toast the 1/8 cup pumpkin seeds (if they are not pre-roasted), coriander seeds, cumin seeds, crushed red pepper flakes, allspice and cinnamon. You should see them just turning brown and they will start to smell delicious. Pour them onto a plate to cool. If the pumpkin seeds were pre-roasted, you can mix them in now.
5. When the spices are cool, grind in a spice grinder (we have one coffee grinder for coffee and another for spices.)
6. When your hour of stock cooking is done pull out the meat and put it aside.
7. Chop the soft chiles and add them to the soup pot with the tomatoes and tomatillos.
8. Stir in the spice mixture. Bring the stock to a gentle simmer for 20 more minutes. While the soup is simmering, shred the chicken with a fork (or your hands if it’s cool enough) and put it aside again.
9. After your 20 minutes is up, grab your hand blender and blend the soup to a uniform consistency. Bring it back up to a simmer. Slowly add the final 1/3 of a cup of ground pumpkin seeds, stirring constantly to thicken the soup.
10. Add the chicken meat back in, and the cut long beans or green beans. Simmer until the beans are to your preferred consistency.
11. Finally, add the lime juice to taste. This final step is the crazy magic that brings the flavors together.
Serve hot (or stick it in the fridge to heat up for tomorrow.)
We’re pairing it with Cocoa-Toasted Califlower from Well Fed: Paleo Recipes for People who Love to Eat (it also looks like the book for kindle is free on Amazon for Prime members.) And lo and behold they’ve got the recipe here on their website. Fabulous!
Enjoy!
If you have celiac disease then the question is moot. You cannot eat gluten. Ever. Even a bite. It’s dangerous for your health. But what about the rest of us? It’s all the rage these days to give up gluten. Usually I’m anti-fad, but I’ve already talked about why I don’t necessarily think that cutting out gluten is such a bad thing for people who are doing it to feel better, even if they don’t have celiac disease.
But cutting out gluten only to lose weight? Maybe not so much.
Here’s the thing. Jelly Belly jelly beans are gluten-free. Whipped cream is gluten-free. Pork belly is gluten-free. White rice is gluten-free. If you stop eating gluten but continue to eat refined sugars and grains and overeat calories, no, you won’t lose weight.
Historically, I think people without celiac disease or a gluten intolerance have lost weight on a gluten-free diet because it has been harder to just grab junk. No more muffins at Starbucks. No more Krispy Kremes from the break room at work. But these days gluten-free foods are abundant in most urban and many suburban areas. And many gluten-free substitutes for bread products are highly refined and quite high in sugar.
If you go from an unhealthy or high calorie gluten-filled diet to an unhealthy or high calorie gluten-free diet you likely won’t lose any weight at all. And, if your goal is to lose weight and you don’t have any signs or symptoms of gluten intolerance (though really the lion’s share of people really do feel better cutting it out) then this may not be the best way of going about it. But, if you want to stop eating because you have symptoms that may be related to gluten intolerance or sensitivity* and you want to lose weight, it can be a great way to get a kick start on weight loss while you simply get yourself feeling better.
So, if you’re going gluten-free for your health, and you’d like to lose weight, here are some important basics about your new food plan.
- Make sure that if you buy gluten-free foods packaged products that they are whole grain, and keep all packaged foods to a minimum.
- Educate yourself about where you might find gluten in your diet.
- Plan ahead. Make sure you have snacks at work, in your bag, in your car, so you don’t find yourself hungry and in a pinch.
- Keep your carb and sugar consumption down.
- Eat 3-4 cups of low-carb veggies a day.
- Make sure you don’t feel deprived, that’s a sure fire way to undermine your progress with any dietary changes. That said, I’m not a huge fan of ‘moderation’ with foods that don’t work for your body. Find other ways to make yourself feel good, either foods that are healthy for you, or even better, ways that don’t include food at all (a bath, a walk in the woods, etc.)
- Get moving. And if you’re already moving, move more. Sitting at your desk all day then going to the gym 3 nights a week might not be enough for you to meet your goals.
- Chew your food well. Give your body time to decide if you’re full or not.
- If you are having cravings, before you give into them, sit with yourself. See what it is you really want. Usually it’s not actually food. It’s comfort. It’s quiet. It’s numbing. Not easy work, but well worth it.
Perhaps you noticed that much of that has nothing to do with a gluten-free diet. Exactly my point. Figure out what foods and what food plan works best for you. If that’s gluten-free, great! If you need help figuring out what the right plan is for you, find a fabulous nutritionist (without an agenda of one particular plan being best for everyone), or a naturopath, or someone that can assess your personal health and nutritional needs. Then check in with yourself. Does this make sense, period? And does it make sense for me?
A gluten-free diet can be a game-changer for many people (myself included) and I recommend it often. But don’t confuse it with a diet. And really, that’s a good thing. Since when do diets work, anyway?
-Dr. Samantha
* Symptoms and conditions that I have seen improve with removal of gluten from the diet include (but are not limited to): IBS, headaches, migraines, depression, PMS, peri-menopause/menopause symptoms, joint pain, water retention/bloating, fatigue, neuropathy, irritability, autoimmune conditions, thyroid symptoms, and more.
A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a blog post by a well known NY food writer. It was a mean-spirited rant about people who choose to avoid certain foods or types of foods. Both the original post and the comments bummed me out. It’s not that I think that the world should bend over backwards to accommodate folks with food sensitivities (or preferences for that matter), but because it seems so, well, judgmental toward people who choose to avoid foods that make them unwell in some way.
This was on the heels of Miley Cyrus tweeting about her choice to avoid gluten and dairy after accusations started flying in the tabloids that she had become anorexic. The blogosphere went ballistic calling her choice “faddish.” But I say that it’s about time that people pay attention to what foods make them feel well instead of just eating what everyone else is eating. I tell my patients every day that just because other people are eating it doesn’t make it right. More than a third of Americans are obese. One of every ten adults takes an antidepressant. Diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol are rampant. Dieticians taking to the airwaves to decry that people shouldn’t go gluten-free because they will be missing key nutrients are missing the point. MOST people are missing key nutrients in their diets. Most people are eating foods that make them ill.
Our bodies have not been able to evolve to handle all of the hydrogenated oils, sugar, refined grains, and chemicals that we find in our supermarket foods. Our environment has not been able to evolve to handle the mass production of factory-farmed animals (I won’t get into the ethics of factory farming but please check out The Meatrix an eye opening educational video and spoof on the movie.) Our diets are not supposed to be predominantly based on sugar, wheat, and dairy.
Last week I was at the local health food coop and I ran into a neighbor. My five-year-old told her gleefully we had just seen some dude pick his nose and flick it on the floor (a grown man, for the record) and she started in on some of the ‘characters’ you’d find at the health food store. She lit into all the people who say they “can’t” eat gluten and that there is a test for celiac disease and I must “know what she means.” “No, actually,” I told her, “I don’t.” I explained that I don’t eat gluten because I simply feel better when I don’t eat it. Markedly better. She quickly realized we weren’t on the same page and changed the subject.
I have no hard feelings toward her, but it got me thinking. Why would anyone care what someone else chooses to eat? If I feel better avoiding sugar and pass on dessert, so what? No, it’s not polite to go on and on about your food choices when people don’t really care, and it’s not polite to ask your hostess to make a special meal for you. But I’ve been avoiding foods that make me feel unwell for decades. No, they are not allergies, but it’s a priority to me to feel well, to do what I can to prevent disease, to be at a healthy weight, and to walk my talk as I help others decipher which foods are right for them and which are not. How can that be bad?
Well, back to that blog post. The first commenter had this to say “I live near the worlds (sic) capital of Food Fascists, (why I will go anon), Berkeley. It is almost unbearable to go out to eat, listening to these entitled PICKY eaters.” To that I say, yes, I am fortunate that I can afford to eat organic vegetables and family farm raised animals. I am fortunate that I have the choice to stay away from gluten and other foods that make me feel unwell. I am fortunate that I have had the right guidance to help me figure out that I feel tired when I eat gluten and I get asthmatic when I eat dairy. Entitled PICKY eater? Why, yes, sir. I am entitled to choose to be picky about the food I put in my body. If you have a problem with that such that it makes going out to eat unbearable, stay home.
Here’s my deal. I’ll eat what I want to eat. I’ll ask questions at the restaurant and I’ll choose places that can accommodate my needs. Please keep your nose out of my business and your judgment out of my life. And you might be, by they way, a little less fussy if you stopped eating gluten. Just sayin’…
-Dr Samantha
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