By upping the amount of chocolate chips to a pound and omitting the crust, you have just made yourself the base for truffles. Simply refrigerate for at least 2 hours until firm, remove and roll. After rolling, dip these truffles in powdered sugar or melted chocolate. Whatever you decide to do with this recipe…..caution! They are super chocolatey.

2 cups crushed graham crackers

1⁄4 cup brown sugar

1⁄4 cup butter or margarine, melted

11⁄2 cups light or half-and-half cream     

4 tablespoons butter or margarine

1(12-ounce) bag chocolate chips

11⁄2 cups marshmallow creme, divided     

    

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. In a bowl, combine graham crackers, brown sugar and melted butter. Stir well until graham crackers are completely moistened. Spread in a 9-inch pie tin evenly along the bottom and up the sides as much as possible. Bake 8 minutes, remove from oven to cool while making Truffle filling.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add cream and butter. Stirring frequently, bring to scalding. Reduce heat to low and continue cooking and stirring until butter has melted. Be careful not to let cream boil. Add the chocolate chips and 1 cup marshmallow cream. Cook and stir frequently until the chocolate has melted and the marshmallow has completely blended in. Remove from heat and pour into prepared pie shell. Microwave remainder marshmallow creme for 10 seconds. Remove from microwave and stir. Drizzle over pie, swirling it on top. Refrigerate 2 hours, or until firm.

New England Couscous

Although a noted ingredient in many Middle Eastern recipes and mostly associated with Israel, couscous is, in fact, an original from Africa. Couscous, which is a semolina product, is the perfect sponge for absorbing the flavor of clam juice. But try this recipe using fish or seafood stock, as well as chicken or vegetable broth, as well.

1(15-ounce) can whole tomatoes in juice

16 ounces clam juice

1⁄2 small onion, minced

3 tablespoons chopped, fresh basil

1 cup couscous

1 cup water

12 ounces chopped clams, drained but reserved

1 teaspoon sugar

Couple dashes of hot pepper sauce

Salt and black pepper to taste

Fresh basil leaves, chopped for garnish

In the bowl of a food processor or blender, add the whole tomatoes with juice, clam juice, onion and 2 tablespoons chopped basil. Pulse until the tomatoes are minced very fine. Transfer to a large saucepan and add couscous, water, juice from the canned clams, sugar and hot pepper sauce. Stir until combined and place pot over medium-high heat. When boiling, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 8-10 minutes, or until the couscous has plumped up and cooked. Remove from heat, stir well, adding the chopped clams and season to taste. Divide among 4 bowls and serve with freshly chopped basil leaves on top.

— Chef Jim Bailey is The Yankee Chef and an authority on New England food and its history. He is a respected food columnist from Maine and is married with four children. You can email questions or comments to [email protected] and visit theyankeechef.blogspot.com.