Chicken Cilantro Lime Soup

This is a great dish - easy, very tasty, and quick to make. I used the Cilantro Lime Soup recipe from Epicurious at http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/599. However, I used two chicken legs and 2 chicken thighs. When the soup was done cooking, i pulled the pieces out, pulled the meat off the bone, chopped up the meat and tossed them back in the soup. The only other change was the addition of sliced avocado on top. Mmmmm...summer.

Crab and Cantaloupe Soup

Hmm. You know those food combinations that taste good for a bite or two, but you really don't want more than that? This recipe fits into that category. The cantaloupe and crab tasted pretty good together, but an entire bowl of it was just way way too much. I did enjoy the contrast of the lemony crab with the mellow sweetness of the cantaloupe, and it certainly felt healthy. I think this would work better as an amuse bouche, served in a little dumpling spoon. One bite would have been perfect!

Black Bean Soup

I've said it before, I LOVE black beans. And with this chill we are suffering through after such a beautiful start to spring, its the perfect thing. The recipe was pretty much the same as before, though this time I did have the sour cream. Also, I added some smoked turkey sausage, which I had sliced and fried before adding to the soup near the end of the cooking.

Shrimp Chowder on a cold day

Yum! As I've said before, I'll take chowder anytime of the year, regardless of the season or temperature. The latest edition of Saveur has a whole spread on the glory of shrimp, and a nice simple recipe for Maine Shrimp Chowder. We had it for dinner last night, and I'm sitting here eating the even better leftovers for lunch today. It was good and simple, though I'm not listing it under Quick because it just takes some time to peel the shrimp. By the way, wasn't able to get Maine shrimp, so got what I could. Also, I love bacon, way way too much, and I wish the bacon flavor had come through a little more. Maybe next time I'll just have another piece that I cook and can crumble on top of each bowl. Otherwise, it was very nice. Moe and Bean, our cats, approved of the shrimp as well.

Unfortunately, I don't see the recipe on their website yet, so I have written it out below:

Maine Shrimp Chowder
Serve 4

Maine chowder differs from other New England chowders in that it's often not thickened with flour. This results is (sic) a light soup perfectly suited to delicate Maine shrimp. This dish comes from Sam Hayward, the chef of Fore Street in Portland, Maine, and an all-around champion of Maine's foodways.

3 lbs shell-on, head-on Maine shrimp
1/4 oz. slab bacon, cut into 1/4" pieces
3 medium russet potatoes (about 1 lb), quartered lengthwise and sliced crosswise into 1/2 inch pieces
1 large leek, white part only, cut into 1/4" pieces
3 tbsp butter
3/4 cup heavy cream
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pinch cayenne pepper
2 tspn snipped chives

1. Peel the heads and shells off the shrimp, reserving both for the shrimp broth. (If the shrimp are in the middle of their spawn, says Hayward, clusters of gray eggs may be present that will not adversely affect the broth.) Transfer the shrimp to a bowl, cover and refrigerate them until the chowder base is completed. Place the shrimp shells and heads in a large pot and add 10 cups cold water. Bring to a simmer over high heat, then reduce to low and gently simmer for 5 minutes, skimming off any foam that rises to the surface. Strain the broth through a fine sieve and set aside.

2. Now made the chowder base. Cook the bacon in a small pot of simmering water for 1 minute. Drain. Heat a medium pot over medium heat, add the bacon, and cook, stirring occasionally, until it releases some of its fat. Add potatoes and leeks, stir well, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add 3 cups of the reserved shrimp broth (freeze remainder for another use) and simmer, covered, until potatoes are tender, 8-10 minutes. Remove the chowder base from the heat and cover to keep warm.

3. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Raise the heat to high, add the chilled shrimp and cream, stir well, and bring to a boil. Let boil for 30 seconds. Add the shrimp mixture to the chowder base and stir gently to combine. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Season with salt, a generous amount of black pepper and the cayenne. Ladle into warm soup bowls and sprinkle the chives on top of each.

White Bean, Ham and Kale Soup

I'm dealing with a lot of leftover ham from our Christmas ham, so last night I made an easy and tasty soup from the bone and some chopped up pieces of meat. It was simple and most of that time I was laying on the couch while it simmered away. Uh, rather I was, um, doing my taxes. I served it with corn muffins.

White Bean, Ham and Kale Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium to small yellow onion, diced
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 ham bone plus 1.5 cup diced ham (about 3/4-inch pieces)
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 15-ounce can great northern beans
3 cups chicken stock
2 cup fresh kale, cut into strips

Heat oil over medium heat. Saute onions and celery about 5 minutes, stirring often. Add ham and bone, stirring for 1 minute. Add tomatoes, beans and chicken stock, stir and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook for 35-45 minutes. Stir in kale. Cook for 5 minutes. Serves 4.

Turkey, Barley and Asparagus Soup

Yup, Thanksgiving leftovers are still haunting us and its DECEMBER. I got the turkey carcass from Mom's Thanksgiving, and yesterday made lots and lots of stock. Tonight I made a soup out of the stock, cooked turkey, barley and veggies. It was simple yet very well-flavored, though next time I will use a little less barley. The recipe I used is below. As I said, probably should use a little less barley than I have listed below. Also, my stock was very well flavored with bay leaf, salt, pepper, thyme and parsley. If you are using store-bought stock, you might want a add a pinch of these seasonings.

4 cups turkey stock (feel free to substitute chicken stock)
1/4 cup diced onion
2 celery ribs, chopped
3/4 cup diced cooked turkey (feel free to substitute diced chicken)
1/2 tspn dried thyme
3/4 cup pearl barley
1 carrot, chopped
4-5 asparagus stalks, ends cut off, and stems chopped into 1 1/2-inch pieces
salt and pepper

Bring stock, onion, celery, turkey and thyme to a boil. Add barley and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 30 minutes. Add carrot and cook for 10 minutes. Add asparagus and cook for 3 minutes. Taste and adjust salt and pepper seasoning.

Serves 2.

Lovely Lentils

Honestly, I just love lentils and could eat them everyday. Last night we had an old standby - Lentils with sausage and kale. It's pretty quick and inexpensive and is perfect on a cold night, though I would eat it no matter the temperature. By the way, I used the Healthy Choice Smoked Sausage and didn't taste a difference from other store-bought smoked sausages (my check better be in the mail).

olive oil
1/2 smoked sausage loop, cut into 1/2-inch slices
3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 cup lentils
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
3-4 big kale leaves, ribs removed and leaves cut into long slips

Cook sausage in medium pot in 2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from pot and drain on a paper-towel lined plate. Set aside.

Reduce heat to medium-low on pot and add onions and garlic, and saute, using more oil if needed. Cook until soft and add the lentils. Cook for 2 minutes. Add stock and cook, uncovered, until lentils are soft and cooked through, about 30-40 minutes. Add kale and cook for 5 minutes. Feel free to add salt or pepper, but I found it was plenty salty from the sausage and stock I used.

Serves 2.

Soup Dumplings

I LOVE making dumplings, ravioli, etc. -- they are like little gifts that you bite into for a surprise of ground meat, cheese, beets, whatever. With so many types of wrappers sold today it can be relatively quick and easy. You also can make them ahead of time and pull them straight from the freezer and into whatever you are cooking them in.

I'd love to hear about any type of stuffed goodie any reader out there likes to or wants to make. Send in a comment!

Last night I tinkered with a dish I've made a few times before -- shrimp dumplings in broth, sort of a seafood take on wonton soup. Previously I have added some mushrooms to the broth, but last night I went a step further and really made it a deep mushroom-flavored broth. It was a very satisfying hot soup on a chilly night. The recipe is pretty simple, though the dumplings can take a little time assembling. It makes enough for soup for two, plus dumplings left over that make terrific appetizers. Who doesn't like dumplings?

1 lb medium shrimp, shelled and deveined
2 green onions, chopped
1 egg
4-5 water chestnuts, diced
1 tspn soy sauce
1 tspn sesame oil
1/4 tspn chili garlic sauce*

Put three-fourths of the shrimp and all the other ingredients in the food processor. Pulse until blended and transfer to medium size bowl. Chop the other 1/4 lb of shrimp into 1/2 inch pieces, add to bowl and mix thoroughly.

Fill a small bowl with cold water. On a clean surface place one wonton wrapper (Cover the open wonton wrapper package with a towel to keep from drying out). Place one heaping tablespoon of shrimp mixture on the wrapper, slightly toward one side. Brush edges of wrapper with cold water, and fold one side over the filling, to create dumpling. Press down on all sides to seal, and make sure to get all the air out or the dumplings will open when cooked. Place dumpling on a lightly floured cookie sheet, and cover with a wet towel (not terry cloth). Continue making dumplings until all the filling or wrappers are used up. Cover tray (sans towel) with plastic wrap and place in freezer.

1/4 cup dried mushrooms
8 ounces mixed mushrooms, sliced or roughly chopped
4 cups vegetable stock
2 green onions, finely chopped
pinch of salt

In a small bowl, pour one cup boiling water over dried mushrooms. Let sit for 30 minutes. Remove mushrooms and finely chop. Pour water in small bowl through a paper towel into another small bowl to remove any grit or dirt.

In a medium pot, heat one tablespoon vegetable oil over medium heat. Add fresh mushrooms and saute for 2 minutes. Add stock, chopped reconstituted mushrooms and liquid from small bowl and simmer for 30 minutes. Add green onions and salt.

Fill a medium pot with water and bring to a boil. Carefully put 10 dumplings into water. Using a slotted spoon, remove dumplings when they float to the top and place 5 into each soup bowl. Spoon mushroom broth and mushrooms over dumplings.

Yum!

Frugalicious!

You can make so many meals out of just one chicken. Last week, I had to cook a whole chicken for a catering job, but I still had about half of the meat and the carcass left over. So, tonight I made some chicken noodle soup. I covered the carcass with 5 cups of water, a chopped-up onion, two celery sticks chopped, 4-5 peppercorns, a bay leaf, a tspn of thyme and a tspn of salt. I brought this to a boil, then reduced it to a simmer and covered it. I cooked it for another hour, skimming scum (that white frothy stuff) off it every once in a while. Then I strained it into another cooking pot, added two more chopped celery sticks and about a cup and a half of shredded cooked chicken. Last time I made this, we found it to be a little too sweet, so instead of adding diced carrot, this time I just put in two carrots peeled and cut in half, to get just a little of the flavor. Also, normally I would add in some parsley, but the chicken was originally cooked with a lot of parsley so I already had plenty of that floating around. If you want to add some, add about 2 tbspn chopped parsley at this point. I cooked the soup, covered, about 20 minutes, or until the celery was soft. While the soup was cooking, I boiled some salted water and cooked about a cup of pasta I had on hand. Once cooked, I strained the pasta and add it to soup. Finally, I adjusted the salt and pepper seasoning. This made 2 tasty large portions.

Tomorrow - chicken salad!

Black Bean Soup

Mmmm, soaked a bag of black beans overnight. The next afternoon i drained them, and poured in 4 cups of chicken stock, one diced onion, dash of cayenne, 1-2 tablespoons of cumin (I like more than more people, so use your judgment), salt, pepper, and a can of diced tomatoes. Cooked this for about an hour and a half, until the beans were cooked through. I served this with diced onion and shredded cheddar. Usually I top it with sour cream, but we were out. Still yummy.

Chowder in the Summer

Last night I made a corn and fish chowder that was particularly tasty. Some may think its weird to make a warm soup in the middle of the warm Kentucky summer, but I think its the perfect time to cook the season's sweet sweet corn and fresh seafood.

I started by cooking some strips of pancetta in a large pot. When they were cooked and crispy, I removed them from the pot and left them sitting on a paper towel. I added a diced onion and a couple of minced shallots to the pot with the pancetta fat. Once they softened, I added about a cup and a half to two cups of chicken stock (I would have used seafood stock, but didn't have any on hand), about a cup and a half to two cups of white wine, 7-8 small red potatoes diced into 1/2 inch pieces, and the corn from two ears. This cooked for about 20 minutes. I stirred it occassionally, scraping the bottom to get any brown bits from the pancetta. Next, with the potatoes almost done, I added the fish - 1 lb of cod filets cut into 1-inch pieces. I also salted it just to taste. About 5 minutes later, I stirred in 1/3 cup cream. This cooked for another 2-3 minutes. Then I added about an 1/8 a teaspoon of black pepper and a dash of cayenne. After spooning this into our bowls, I spinkled the pancetta bits and a little fresh parsley on top of each serving. We ate this with some leftover crusty bread to dip into the soup. Even I thought it tasted delicious!