Day 40: New England Ratatouille
The first year my husband had Christmas with my family was a bit different for him. At his house they would all run down and open presents early in the morning. My family has a rule of one present an hour so that Christmas would last throughout the day. Matthew's family acts out the nativity on Christmas eve; we watch how the Grinch stole Christmas. Matthew has hamburgers, chips and salsa; we have New England clam chowder.My grandmother's New England clam chowder is legendary! And after Matthew's first Christmas with my family it was legendary for more than one reason. My mom made a huge batch. She started early in the morning so it could all meld together. By the evening, when it was time for dinner, there was a thick layer of foam on top of the soup. Mom insisted it was just the cream separating and stirred it all in. (Does this explain why I make alcoholic cheese?) Everyone had a bowl, overlooking the slight carbonation. The next day we were all sick. Puking on Christmas is no fun! We traced it to what we believe was a bad batch of clams. Thank goodness there are no clams in this recipe (another great plus of going vegan).
Now, there are two kinds of clam chowder: New England and Manhattan. New England clam chowder is a cream based and is what most people think of when they think clam chowder. Manhattan clam chowder is a tomato based soup. Leave it to those Manhattians...always have to be different.
The ratatouille that I've already posted is of the Manhattan variety so to speak, even though it originated in France....am I confusing you? This ratatouille has a creamy base, thus the New England part. This recipe has nothing to do with clams so we should be safe.
New England Ratatouille
Basic ratatouille recipe
(don't you just love leftovers!)
Dilute the cheese sauce with a little water then add to the Ratatouille. Let simmer and serve. I like a baguette cut on the angel and toasted with this. This is such comfort food its a shame its healthy.
Thank goodness you appropriately blamed it on bad clams...as it was so true, and not my stupidity or that Matthew thinks I was trying to kill my one and only son-in-law on his first Christmas with our family. And by the way...how come Grandma could eat it and not puke at all!
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