Chicken Corn Chowder

This is one of those soups that can be as rich or as light as you prefer it to be.  In the spring and through the summer, a light puree of corn, tomato & green onions with some quick grilled chicken is amazing; by fall you can splash in a little milk and add some potatoes to your puree for depth and body; come winter, start with a nice medium roux, use up left over slow roasted roasted chicken and maybe top with some good smokey bacon and cheddar. 

This version is nice for the early fall days we've been having, silky and creamy without the butter and bacon.  Give me a shout later in the season if you'd like some help making it richer and deeper.

Yield: 8 servings
Cook time: 90 minutes

Ingredients:
olive oil
6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
1 small potato, peeled and diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 t thyme
1 t oregano
1 t celery salt
1 bay leaf
1 bag frozen sweet corn
1.5 boxes low sodium chicken stock
1 c milk
smoked tabasco
sliced green onion to garnish


Method:

• heat 1 T of oil in your soup pot over medium heat, salt & pepper the chicken on both sides and, cook in two batches until just done. No need to get color on the meat, it can give the soup a weird texture
• pour out rendered fat, add potatoes cook 3 minutes, its ok to get some color on them, but you're not looking to fry them, really just steam / sweat in the chickeny goodness that's left in the pot.
• add mirpoix (2 parts onion, one part celery, one part carrot), sweat until all vegetables are tender, about 10-12 minutes, add garlic and herbs (not bay leaf)
• add 1/2 stock and 1/2 of the corn, bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, cover slightly and cook 10 min
• remove the soup from the from heat, and puree.
• return the soup to medium / medium high, add bay leaf, stock, milk, bring to a boil. partially cover and simmer 30 min
• dice and add chicken, add as much whole corn as you prefer, warm through
• season with a small amount of smokey tabasco, garnish with green onions.

That Tastes Like Channa Masala!

Tonight I set out to make a curry (again, I know) to use up some of the hardy winter veggies I have accumulated lately. When I was done, I gave it a taste and was surprised to have recreated the first Indian sauce I had ever had, completely by accident.

So, tonight's Kismet was truly an accident. Hope you enjoy it.

Yield: 6-8 entrees, 10-14 sides
Time: 90 minutes

Ingredients:
vegetable oil

Masala 1 - all measurements are 'heaping' ('masala' means mixture)
1 T turmeric
1 T cumin
1 T cayenne
1 dried red chili pepper, chopped

1.5 large yellow onions, diced (3 cups)
2 inches of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
8 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced (volume should match ginger)

Masala 2
2 t cinnamon
1 T coriander
10 green cardamom pods, seeds only
1 t fennel seeds
2 mild green chilis like poblano or banana

1 14.5 oz fire roasted chopped tomatoes
2 c broth, or water
s&p to taste
4 14.5 oz cans of chick peas, or 6 cups cooked chick peas

6 cups cooked basmati, jasmine or brown rice.

Method:

• In a large, heavy bottomed pot, heat 1 T of oil until just shimmering, remove from heat. Add Masala 1 and stir quickly and constantly to prevent spices from burning. Return pan to medium low heat and cook (stirring constantly) 3-5 minutes being careful not to burn.
• Add onions to pan, stirring to coat with spices. Cook over medium heat until soft, stirring often. Add ginger, garlic and Masala 2, cook over medium for 5-8 minutes, stirring often. Remember that your goal is to 'fry' the spices.
• Add tomatoes and 1 c of broth. Remove from heat and puree with immersion blender to the texture of catchup. Return to heat and simmer for 20-60 minutes, stirring often and adding liquid as necessary. Taste and adjust seasonings.
• Add chickpeas and heat through.
  
• Serve over warm rice as an entree or as a side dish to a main curry or biryani.

For a main dish, feel free to add anything to the pot...chicken, lamb, shrimp, cauliflower, peas, potatoes, eggplant, spinach. The dish is great alone or over rice, quinoa, lentils etc. Let me know what you like best!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I don't really have a story for this one...its sooper easy, healthy, light and delicious.

Yield: 6-8 entree servings
Cook Time: 30-60 minutes, depending on your chop speed.

Ingredients:
2 T vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion, small dice
2 ribs celery, small dice
1 poblano pepper, very small dice
1 banana pepper, very small dice
1 pepper in adobo (canned, in with the latin foods), minced with sauce
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 T oregano
2 t good quality chili powder
1 T ground cumin
1 t red pepper flakes if you still want more heat
8 oz (or the whole can, who cares?) fire roasted chopped tomatoes and liquid
1-2 boxes low sodium chicken stock
1 bay leaf
several dashes smoked Tabasco
1 cup black beans, cooked
1-2 cups, grilled chicken thighs, chopped
1 cup corn, fresh or frozen
1 lime, juice and zest

Garnish:
broken corn chips
shredded cheddar
chopped scallions

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat until rippling. Add onions, celery and peppers. Sweat over medium about 10 minutes or until beginning to soften. Add a small amount of salt and the garlic, stir and continue cooking 1-3 minutes, careful not to scorch the garlic.
2. Add dry herbs and spices, toast all together for a couple of minutes, then add tomatoes, stock, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and add tabasco. Simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes and adjust seasonings.
   
3. Add chicken and beans, warm through, about 8 minutes. Add corn and cook until just heated through.
4. Finish soup with lime juice and zest, adjust salt, pepper and other seasonings to taste.
5. Ladle soup into warm bowls, top with a raft of chips and sprinkle with cheese and scallions. Plunk a couple of black beans and corn on top for prettiness.
   

Drink:
Dos Equis Amber or
Aged Tequilla with a splash of soda and a wedge of lime.

Basic Curry

I was always one of those "I don't like curry" people. Really turned my nose up at the stuff. When B started enjoying Indian cuisine with coworkers, he tried to get me on board and I firmly declined. One day I was at the market and spied an Indian frozen dinner, so I picked up a Chana Masala for B. He offered me a taste and I reluctantly accepted....and then I was hooked. So many flavors that were brand new to me. I promptly got on the web and started looking for recipes. Now more than 3 years later I have a couple of trips to India under my belt, a cabinet full of spices and a repertoire of dishes that I mostly make up on the fly. Today's recipe is a super basic dish that changes every time I make it. I like it best for breakfast....chalk it up to 5 weeks in India.

NOTE: like any good soup, stew or sauce everything is relative and to taste. The longer and slower you cook it the better and it is 2x as good the next day.

Yield: 4-6 entree portions
Cook time: up to 3 hours

Ingredients:

2 T canola oil or ghee
2 large yellow onions, small dice
1.5 inches of ginger root, peeled and thinly sliced
5 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced (you want about the same volume of ginger and garlic)
8 oz canned diced tomatoes and all liquid
1 fresh green chili, minced
1 dried red chili, minced
8 green cardamom pods, seeds only or 1 T ground cardamom
2 T ground cumin
2 T ground coriander
1 T fennel seeds
1 T ground turmeric
1 T chili powder
1.5 c garbanzo beans
1.5 c cauliflower florets
1 c frozen green peas
1 -2 c anything else like zucchini, potato, chopped spinach, tomato, eggplant, diced chicken etc
1-3 c water or stock as needed
6 cups prepared rice

Method:

• Heat 1 T oil over medium low in a medium sauce pan, add onions and sweat 5 minutes. Add garlic and ginger, continue to sweat another 10 minutes. Add a very little salt.
• Meanwhile, in a large saute pan or dutch oven, heat the remaining oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the cumin, coriander, turmeric, and chili powder. Stirring constantly fry for about 10 minutes. Do not burn! Add sprinkles of water if it begins to catch. After 1o min, add fennel seeds, cardamom, and chilies - fry 3 more minutes.
  
• Add fried spices,tomatoes and any liquid to the sauce pan. Remove from heat and carefully puree with stock / water using an immersion blender. You're going for something about the consistency of catchup. Return the sauce to simmer and allow to cook down for 30 to 60 minutes stirring frequently. It will gloop all your stove...embrace it. Taste from time to time and adjust the seasoning to your liking.
• Add the garbanzos and cauliflower and any other additions, cover and cook till tender crisp. Add the peas 5 minutes before serving to avoid over cooking. Adjust the liquid content to the desired consistency, should not be soupy or too catchuppy, more like a nice thick pasta sauce.
• Serve over warm rice, along side any grilled meats or veggies, accompanied by steamy naan. My favorite seasoned rice recipe to follow soon.
  

Gumbo...

I Made It up and Did it wrong... Don't Tell my Mom
We find ourselves in that part of the summer when the veggies have veggies and I start running out of ideas. Indian style curries are my default for using up all manner of vegetable - perfect for the summer - complex and spicy and packed with veggie goodness. This week I was thinking about doing another curry, but I remembered that we had plenty of sausage left over from Paella Night, so I shifted gears and proposed a gumbo...

Gumbo in August you say?? That's just insane! But really its not when you think about it. Its really just a curry...from a similar climate in another part of the world. You start with sweating out your aromatics, you add some spices, you add some tomato, you add some liquid and you simmer for a while. Then you add some thickening agents, some protein, some more spices and you let it all come together.

Poke around and you'll find lots of 'tropical' cultures that have a very traditional spicy stew in a rich glossy gravy over rice as a staple in their diet.

Yield: 6-8 servings
Time: less than 90 min

Ingredients:
1 large onion
1 large rib celery (I didn't have any celery, but seems like it should be in there)
1 large carrot (does not belong...but I had a lot of carrots)
1 large bell pepper (didn't really use this, but you're supposed to)
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 t thyme
1-2 cups chopped mushrooms (this does not belong here...please don't tell my mom...)
0.5 - 1.0 lb sausage, sliced on the bias, about 0.5 inches thick, should be andouille, but i used chorizo...(and half of it was vegetarian...shhh)
1-2 cup okra, sliced about 0.5 inches thick
1 T tomato paste
1 14 oz can fire roasted chopped tomatoes (muir glen is my favorite)
1+ cup white wine
5+ cups chicken or veg stock LOW SODIUM, the other seasonings have a lot of salt (sub half with water if you don't have low sodium)
2 cups squash, diced (again...this soo does not belong, but it was good and I had to use it up!)
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs or cut of your choice about 1+ lbs
1 T butter
1+ T flour
2 t red pepper flakes
1 T oregano
1 bay leaf
1-3 T cajun seasoning (preferably Tony's, you can find it at most groceries)
1-3 T smoked Tabasco sauce
4 cups cooked (brown) rice

Method:

1. Get your rice going. Use brown, cook it properly - it'll wreck the dish if you mess it up. no pressure, but rice is an ancient and wonderful food that deserves proper cooking...I'm just sayin.
2. Lightly s&p your chicken - REALLY light with the salt, set aside on a plate
   
3. Heat 2 T oil over medium heat in a large heavy bottomed pot, sweat onion, carrot, celery and green pepper until beginning to soften. About 5 minutes.
4. Add mushrooms and thyme, sweat about 5 minutes more until mushrooms give up their liquid. You can add a pinch of salt here, but really no more.
5. Add okra and garlic and herbs, stir and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 3 minutes
6. Add tomato paste and cook while stirring to incorporate it, about 3-5 min
7. Add tomatoes and wine, cook a bit till the wine reduces by about half
   
8. Add some stock, pepper flakes, bay, pepper, tabasco, and Tony's, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer
9. Meanwhile, heat 1 T oil over medium heat in large saute pan, when shimmering, add sausage and render (melt out the fat, brown the meat a little). Remove the sausage to some paper towels to drain.
10. Add the chicken to the pan and render out what fat there is over medium low heat, do not brown the chicken, that will give it a funky texture in the gumbo. No need to cook the chicken through, just cook about 5 minutes on each side and remove to a plate to rest.
11. Scrape any brown bits out of the pan, toss them in the veggy pot.
12. Pop 2 cups of stock/water in the mic and warm.
    
13. Melt 1 T butter in the pan until the bubbling stops, turn the heat to low. Slowly sprinkle in the flour while whisking like crazy - weird stuff will happen, but keep whisking. Because you have more than 1 T of fat in the pan, you may need up to 2 T of flour, but go easy. You're looking for a sort of peanut butter texture. Cook that over low heat - stirring like a mad man
    until you get a light to medium brown color.
14. Slowly and carefully whisk in the warm broth. Continue whisking and cooking a bit more until thickened. Then slowly stir the flour mixture into the veggie pot.
    
15. Dice the chicken & add it and sausage to the pot, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook about 20 min.
    
16. The gumbo should be pretty thick at this point. Add the squash and cook about 7 minutes until the squash is just tender, this will add a lot of liquid to the pot.
17. Serve over perfect warm rice.
    

Clams and Zucchini Linguini!

Hey gang - life gets busy, haven't had time to post. Just sent this quick and easy summer beauty to a friend and figured I'd just post it here too. Lazy as all get out - but still a yummy treat.

Yeild: whatever
Time: 30 min (not including scrubbing...that's another 30)

Ingredients:

couple dozen clams per person, I soak and scrub 3 times, cuz grit makes me glum
2 med zucchini or squash per person
1 clove garlic per person, just smash it, no need to mince
1-3 oz diced pork product of your choosing (sausage, pancetta, bacon)
oil
1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved, per person
1/4 cup white wine, per person
big fat bunch o fresh basil
red pepper flakes, if you like

Method:

* so - first you need a mandolin get the squash into sketti - just do the outer parts, not the seed core....here's a link...this is the cheap assed one I have - use it all the time http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?sku=10496373


* scrubby your clams
* sketti-ize and portion your squash raw into your serving bowls before you get started
* heat a little oil over low heat and slowly render the fat out of your pork, essentially you want to melt the fat out and lightly brown the not fat part
* turn up the heat once you're rendered (or you're bored)
* add garlic and swirl till fragrant and a little colored
* toss in the clams, the wine and half the basil, bring to a boil and cover tightly until the clams open
* ladle a little broth onto the squash to get it working, let it stand about a minute, then top with clams, tomatoes and more broth and fresh basil
* enjoy!

Aw hell - I'm just gonna copy and paste this into a post... lol

Vegetarian Paella

Having some friends over for paella night this weekend and we have some diet challenges in the mix for a change. The paella I'm preparing for the gang will be seafood and chorizo and I want Sean's version to be as close to that taste and feel as possible, so this is what I test drove last night.

Yield: 2-3 servings
Time: 1.5 hours

Ingredients:
1 link vegetarian "chorizo style" sausage link, sliced about .5 inches thick on the bias
1 t smoked paprika, hot
4-6 oz seitan, cubed
1 t smoked tabasco sauce
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 large cloves of garlic, finely minced
1 cup finely chopped roasted tomato (I use Muir Glen's fire roasted tomatoes)
3/4 cup aborio rice
1 1/4 cup veggie stock, heated
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 small pinch of saffron threads (soak them in the wine)
1 bay leaf
1 t taragon
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup cubed zucchini or summer squash
4-6 artichoke hearts, quartered
any other veggies that make you happy
4 T olive or canola oil
salt & pepper

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350*
2. Toss the seitan in the tabasco. Add more if you like it a little spicier.
3. Pop the saffron in the wine to soften
   
4. Heat 1 T oil over medium heat until shimmering, place the sausage slices in the pan and brown evenly until a nice crust forms, turn and brown the other side
5. Remove the sausage to a plate, you can drain on paper if you like, but there's next to no fat in this dish and I think the oil gives the sausage a little body. Sprinkle the sausage with the smoked paprika and a little salt while the sausage is still hot.
6. Scrape any weird bits of not-meat out of the pan, add a little more oil, heat over med / med high and add the onions. Cook until soft, about 3 min.
7. Add garlic, cook about 1 minute.
8. Add tomato and a little S&P, cook about 3 minutes or until a little color forms.
9. Add the rice and cook until well coated in the tomato mixture.
10. Add the hot veggie stock, the wine, the bay, the tarragon, and your "meats" and stir briefly. Taste and salt & pepper as necessary. Bring the liquid to a boil, cover the pan tightly with foil and pop it in the oven for about 12-15 min or until all the liquid is absorbed.
11. USING A POT HOLDER, remove the pan from the oven and tuck all your veggies into the rice and sprinkle the peas on top. Cover with foil and return the pan to the oven until the veggies are tender crisp, about 10-12 more min. Sprinkle with a little water if the rice starts to look dry - the veggies should release enough liquid to keep it going though.
    
12. USING A POT HOLDER, remove the pan from the oven, remove the foil and USING A POT HOLDER cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes to develop the amazing crusties at the bottom of the pan. Ideally your rice won't quite be done when the pan comes out of the oven.
    
13. Cover again with foil and let rest for 3-5 min.
14. Garnish with lemon wedges and USING A POT HOLDER serve.

In case you can't tell....I forgot about the pot holder in step 12.