Respect Vegetable Soup!

When you cook a lot you end up with little bits of this and little bits of that - half an onion or peeled carrot, cauliflower florets from dinner a few nights ago, an open container of stock, a few remaining leaves of parsley, etc. My usual approach to using these extra bits remaining in my kitchen has been to make soup. But I need to be careful because tired vegetables only turn into tired soup.

To make a truly delicious vegetable soup, you must be moderate. Add a variety of vegetables, not too much, cook them calmly, and season them simply. The result is one of the most soothing foods I know. With crusty warm bread and butter, it is home.

Vegetable Soup - serves 4

• 2 T oil or butter
• 1 onion, peeled and diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 carrot, quartered lengthwise and sliced
• 1 zucchini, quartered lengthwise and sliced
• 1 handful green beans, sliced into bite-size pieces
• 1/2 head of cauliflower, florets separated
• 1/4 head of cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
• 5 or 6 sprigs fresh thyme, or 2 t dried
• 5 C chicken stock, homemade or low sodium store-bought
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Place a stockpot over medium heat, add oil or butter, and sweat onion and garlic slowly, until translucent, 7 to 10 minutes.
2. Add carrots and continue cooking slowly for another 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Add zucchini, green beans, cauliflower, cabbage, thyme, and stock.
4. Bring stock to a simmer. Do not let it boil. Simmer gently with cover askew for 15 to 20 minutes until vegetables are tender.
5. Remove thyme stems, if necessary, and season soup with salt and black pepper. Serve warm.

This again like everything I make these days is right for kids too. The vegetables are soft enough to feed children as finger foods and the broth is yummy too. Also, when reheating this the vegetables will eventually become very soft. You can at that point just puree the whole thing and even add a little cream and just call it Cream of Vegetable Soup!

Susan

Quick Chicken Breast Stew with Fresh Thyme and Cream

This recipe follows the basic cooking technique of braising and stewing, which is slowly cooking meat in a rich liquid either on the stove or in the oven. (If you want to get particular, some people distinguish braising to be meat which stews in its own liquid, but I don't think that distinction is necessary. The basic technique is the same. What's important is learning those basics so you can apply them to what you have on hand.) I do it all the time. It is the simplest, least time consuming (on my part) way of making a delicious dinner. Usually braising and stewing is used for tougher cuts of meat or ones with more connective tissue, like chicken thighs and legs, pork shoulder, or, of course, beef stew, but I like to stew chicken breasts. I can still have that rich taste in less time.

This recipe is a variation of one my grandmother used to make. She would roast a chicken with carrots, potatoes, and cream. Everything would come out well done, flavorful, and richly coated with a sauce of chicken drippings and cream. I have varied her recipe by cutting up the carrots and potatoes into smaller bite-size pieces to cut their cooking time (and to make them easier to feed my daughter as finger food), using chicken breast to reduce the cooking time and fat content, and by adding chicken broth and fresh thyme and parsley to add some freshness to the flavors and provide some more color. The resulting recipe is easy to do and hasn't lost any of the original, rich taste.

Quick Chicken Breast Stew with Fresh Thyme and Cream - serves two to three

• 1 whole chicken breast on the bone, divided into fourths
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 C flour
• 1 T oil
• 1 T butter
• 5 scallions, finely sliced
• 2 carrots, peeled, halved, and sliced
• 1/3 C dry sherry
• 2 C chicken broth
• 3 yukon gold or other waxy potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 4 or 5 sprigs fresh thyme or 2 t dried
• 1/3 C heavy cream
• 2 T flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Season chicken breast pieces with salt and pepper, then dust in flour to coat.
3. Add oil to heavy bottomed saute pan and brown chicken over medium heat until browned, 2 to 3 minutes per side.
4. When browned, remove chicken from pan and set aside. Add butter to pan and when melted add scallions and carrots. Sweat scallions and carrots for 5 minutes or until beginning to soften.
5. Turn heat to medium-high and add sherry. Deglaze pan by scrapping up any browned bits.
6. Reduce sherry until syrupy, 1 to 2 minutes.
7. Add chicken broth, potatoes, and fresh thyme to pan and bring broth to a simmer.
8. When broth simmers, return chicken breast pieces to pan and nestle in amongst the potatoes, carrots, and scallions.
9. Cover pan with lid and place in oven to cook for 20 minutes. (If your saute pan doesn't have a lid, cover it with foil. If your saute pan isn't oven-proof, place chicken breast pieces in an oven proof dish and pour over contents of saute pan, then cover with foil and place in oven.)
10. After 2o minutes, test chicken for doneness. If still slightly pink, return pan to oven for another five minutes. If done, remove chicken to serving dish and keep warm.
11. Set pan over medium-high heat. Test carrots and potatoes for doneness. If slightly firm, simmer in pan for 4 to 5 minutes until cooked through. Otherwise, remove carrots and potatoes to serving dish with chicken.
12. Bring sauce to a boil and add cream. Test seasoning and add salt or pepper as needed. Simmer sauce for 1 to 2 minutes to thicken slightly.
13. Add parsley to sauce and pour over chicken, carrots, and potatoes. Serve hot.

Enjoy!

Susan

Spiced Marshmallows

After trick-or-treating on a cool fall evening, what can you come home to and enjoy as much as your kids will be enjoying their candy? Spiced Hot Chocolate and Marshmallows!

Homemade marshmallows are a simple treat to make. They are just whipped sugar and gelatin. Here's a simple recipe for them I adapted from one on Epicurious.

Spiced Marshmallows

Makes one 13 x 9 inch pan

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 1 cup cold water, divided
• 3 1/4-ounce envelopes unflavored gelatin
• 2 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 t Gel food coloring (optional)
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1/2 t ground clove
• 1 t ground ginger
• 2 t ground cinnamon

1. Spray a 13 x 9 inch pan with nonstick vegetable oil spray.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine gelatin and 1/2 C cold water. Mix lightly to distribute gelatin powder. Let rest for 10 to 15 minutes for gelatin to hydrate.
3. Combine sugar, light corn syrup, salt, and remaining 1/2 C water in small saucepan. Bring to a simmer stirring once to dissolve sugar. Bring to a boil and continue boiling until sugar syrup reaches 240F. Remove from heat.
4. Start mixer on low speed with whisk attachment and slowly pour in sugar syrup along the side of the bowl.
5. Once all the syrup has been added, add 1/2 t gel food coloring if desired, then turn up the mixer speed to high and continue beating until misture is glossy and firm, 10 to 15 minutes depending on the strength of your mixer.
6. When done, spray a rubber spatula with nonstick vegetable spray and use it to transfer the marshmallow to the 13 x 9 inch pan. Smooth the top and let sit for 3 to 4 hours to set.
7. Once set, cut mixture into 1 inch squares using a knife or pizza slicer. Clean off knife or pizza slicer as needed.
8. Combine sugar, clove, ginger, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Toss in cut marshmallows to coat.

These go perfectly with Spiced Hot Chocolate. I first had spiced chocolate during my internship in pastry at the Crillon Hotel at La Place de la Concorde in Paris. Every Monday evening for one of the desserts at Les Ambassadeurs, I prepared a dark chocolate ganache flavored with ginger, black pepper, and cinnamon. It's flavors were the perfect antidote to the cold winter weather of my internship. I have created this Spiced Hot Chocolate in memory of those blustery walks home from the Metro station by my apartment.

Spiced Hot Chocolate - serves one to two, double as needed

• 1 C milk
• 1 T sugar
• 1 T fresh ginger, roughly chopped
• Pinch allspice
• 2 grinds black pepper
• 1 T cocoa powder

1. Combine milk, sugar, ginger, allspice, and pepper in a saucepan.
2. Simmer together for 7 minutes or until spices awaken and milk is thoroughly warmed through.
3. Add cocoa powder and whisk through.
4. Serve warm topped with spiced marshmallows.

This is perfect to finish off a fall dinner party too. Enjoy!

And don't forget you can always turn the marshmallows into treats for the kids. Instead of rolling them in spices, try colored sugars, sprinkles, crushed candies or nuts. Packaged in cellophane bags, they are a cute, quick favor for birthday parties or just for friends.

Happy Halloween!!

Susan

Two For One: Stuffed Zucchini

Another simple meal due in part to the addition of store-bought pasta sauce. I don't eat many store-bought foods. Because I actually like to cook, store-bought foods are really just backups in my home, like canned chili. But I do buy pasta sauce. It is completely versatile and is easy to use for quick meals and slow, cooked flavor.

Stuffed Zucchini

Serves 4

• 1/2 lb. ground turkey
• 2 T long grain rice
• 1 egg
• 1 t fresh oregano, chopped (or other green herb like basil or marjoram)
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
• 4 or 5 zucchini, or other summer squash
• 1 C pasta sauce (I use Prego.)
• 1 14.5 oz. can of chopped tomatoes
• 1 T olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. Combine together ground turkey, rice, egg, fresh oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper in a bowl.
3. Trim the top and bottom of the zucchini then slice them into 2" lengths. Using a melon baller or corer, remove the seeds from each piece.
4. Using your fingers, a spoon, or a pastry bag, fill each zucchini length with the ground turkey mixture.
5. Combine pasta sauce, canned tomatoes, and olive oil in the bottom of a 9" x 9" x 2" baking dish (or any size which holds the contents snugly.)
6. Place the zucchini pieces in the dish and bury them down into the sauce mixture.
7. Cover baking dish with foil and place in the oven. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until zucchini is tender and stuffing is cooked through.

This is perfect with pasta along side. The sauce at the bottom cooks down somewhat and flavors everything. At the very end, I turned a few zucchini pieces upright and browned a little breadcrumbs on top but that's not necessary. I liked it better without them.

For the kids, depending on how big or little their serving pieces need to be, slice a portion of zucchini for them and serve warm along with some pasta.

Susan

Just What I Needed

Nearly three weeks have gone by since I have posted something new. It's because my family and I have all been sick with a cold. And not just any cold. We got one of those amazing daycare center monster colds. I hate to admit it but we are still congested.

Needless to say, I had very little interest in cooking. We've been eating take out burritos with lots of fresh, hot salsa to open our sinuses, spaghetti with store bought pasta sauce, and canned chili and chips. The only food I could stand preparing, and at one point, the only food I had the ingredients to make, was homemade chicken soup. Some frozen chicken, carrots, onions, and water was all it took. And with some alphabet letter pasta I bought a few weeks ago it became appealing. It isn't much to look at (I'm not a photographer if you haven't already noticed) but it was delicious.

Susan