Fruitful Fridays - Clam Chowder and Roux

Well...I did it! For the first time in my life I made CLAM CHOWDER! And I was able to eat it too!

My youngest daughter's teacher's favorite meal is Clam Chowder. Her birthday was this week and my daughter wanted to make her lunch. I was excited that my little girl was wanting to bless her teacher and I really wanted to honor her generosity...even if it meant making something for the first time, then giving it away! I told her teacher I'd give it a go and that the good news was, if she didn't like it, she wasn't going to be able to say that to a Sweet Little Kindergartener! ;-) (Luckily, I have a great relationship with this teacher and she laughed.)

I found a good recipe on AllRecipes.com. If you have never been to this site...you have to go! This is my "Go To" site for any and all recipes. Readers can submit recipes and then they are rated and receive reviews. The best luck I have is to find recipes with 4 or 5 star ratings and then I read as many reviews as I can to make adjustments to the recipes.

Here is the one I found for the Clam Chowder. In reading the reviews, you can rank the reviews by "the most helpful". For this recipe, the most helpful review modified the recipe by making a Roux instead of just adding the flour. I figured...seeing this was a first, why not add another first...I made a Roux, too! (hey, that rhymes!)

If you've never heard of this...

Roux (pronounced "roo" is a thickening agent for soups and sauces with roots dating back more than 300 years in French cuisine. It is made by cooking a flour and oil paste until the raw flavor of the flour cooks out and the roux has achieved the desired color, a properly cooked roux imparts silky-smooth body and a nutty flavor while thickening soups and sauces.

The AllRecipes site also had step-by-step instructions for Making a Roux. I know this had to have made a difference in my chowder. It was so thick and creamy. I am so thankful for the internet. How cool for me to want to do something new and be able to find instructions right at my fingertips!

Thanks for letting me share a "first" with you. Have any of you tried a new recipe lately and want to share it with us?