Posts Tagged ‘Herbs And Spices’

Souper Sunday Afternoon

Friday, December 17, 2010

soup recipes

The predicted storm did not materialize over the weekend, but the weather was still cold enough to enjoy a roaring fire all day long. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon with the wind billowing outside and grey clouds hanging low enough you felt like you could reach up a grab them. It was one of those days when you spent more time inside than out.

Weather like this cries out for food that’s warm and soothing. It calls out for a steaming, bubbling pot of soup; the kind that fills the house with aroma of herbs and spices; vegetables and meat.

When Brianne was younger I would send her to school with a thermos of piping hot soup almost every day of winter. It became the running joke in our house that “mom could make soup out of anything” and it wasn’t far off. Give me a leftover chicken carcass or a doggie bag of beef from a recent restaurant trip, along with a few veggies from the fridge and a small amount of pasta, rice or barley from the pantry and I could whip it into a steaming, hearty pot of soup, perfect for two.

We still eat a lot of soup during the winter months, transformed from a variety of leftovers or created from ingredients in our pantry. But, our creations are a bit more elaborate as our tastes have changed and our desires for more exotic creations have grown.

So, if old man winter gives you the cold shoulder fend him off with a simmering pot of soup. Paired with a salad and a warm loaf of homemade bread smothered in butter, you have the perfect cold day meal. Tonight’s soup…

Pasta Fagioli

Pasta e fagioli

2 pounds – ground beef
1 each – onion, chopped fine
3 each – carrots, chopped fine
4 each – stalks celery, chopped fine
28 oz – diced tomatoes, undrained (canned or homemade)
16 oz – red kidney beans, drained (if using dried, soak overnight)
16 oz – white kidney beans, drained (if using dried, soak overnight)
30 oz – beef broth (canned or homemade)
3 tsp – oregano
2 tsp – pepper
5 tsp – parsley
20 oz – spaghetti sauce (canned or homemade)
8 oz – small shell pasta

Brown beef in skillet; drain fat and add to crock pot. Add all remaining ingredients, except past to crock pot and cook on high for 5 to 6 hours. During last 30 minutes add pasta. Makes 12 servings. Top each bowl with parmesan cheese if desired.
Serve with warm focaccia bread and salad.
This is a great recipe for using up that chicken carcass.

It’s amazing how much meat is left on a carcass when it’s cooked down. Before starting, put carcass in large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and turn heat down to simmer for about an hour. Remove carcass and place on a cutting board to cool. Reserve 4 cups of broth, remaining can be ladled into freezer containers for later use. When carcass has cooled, pull off as much meat as you can. The recipe below is based on 2 cups of meat.

Greek Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup

4 cups – chicken stock, or 14 ounces of canned broth
2 cups – chicken, chopped into bite-sized pieces
3/4 cup – orzo pasta
2 eggs
Juice from 1 large lemon (or to your personal preference)
Coarse salt and ground pepper to taste
Italian parsley

In a stock pot, combine 1 cup of water and broth, bring to a rapid simmer, add orzo and cook according to package directions. Add chicken to pot. In medium bowl, whisk together eggs and lemon juice. Whisking constantly, slowly pour 1 cup hot broth into egg mixture, immediately whisk egg mixture into stock pot. Season soup with salt and pepper, garnish with parsley. Makes 2 large servings.
Serve with warm pita and hummus, and a salad of lettuce, red onion, tomato, Kalamata olives and Feta cheese with Greek dressing.

Creative Commons License photo credit: jessicafm and recipegirl

Creative Commons License photo credit: randomcuriosity

May I Take Your Order Please?

Friday, August 6, 2010

diner

Moving towards a more homegrown life has separated me from one of my long held favorite activities – dining out. Yep. In my former consumer based life I was a fan – huge fan – of eating out. Having apron clad servers bow to my ever whim, talented chefs whipping up my favorite entrees, and, most of all, not having to clean the kitchen made me feel special, almost regal. The idea of not having to figure out what to do for dinner was sublime. I was bringing home the bacon, why the hell should I have to cook it too.

But – somewhere along the way to this simpler life, eating giant portioned meals, prepared by cooks of questionable health, with products grown in God knows what conditions lost its luster. I was breaking away. The only problem…I had my favorite dishes from my favorite restaurants. I really didn’t want to give them up.

What’s a girl to do?

Set out on a mission, of course – a mission to recreate those dishes with homegrown meats and produce, or at the very least, organic locally grown.

I didn’t give up eating out all together, but over the years I have made notes on what was in my favorite meals. Like a biologist dissecting a frog, I jotted down ingredients, seasonings I could taste and herbs and spices I recognized. On weekends I worked at recreating those dishes. It took time and there were a few failures along the way. But, like Marshall Thurber said, “anything worth doing well is worth doing badly in the beginning.”

After several tries many of them came together nicely and some ended up better than the original I was trying to copy. Below are two favorites that will have you eating well and locally summer or winter. The first is a hot weather Luau Chicken Salad; chock full of crunchy veggies and crispy wonton strips; and the second, an exotic North African Lamb dish, full of aromatic spices and sweet dried fruit. Read the rest of the story »