roasted tomato soup with brown rice and basil

My friends in the northeast will laugh, but we got a bit of snow last night.  When I say a bit, I mean less than an inch…which (stranger even) is enough in these parts to warrant a school closure.  My son went to bed last night with pajamas turned inside out and spoons under his pillow (like the beer commercial says, it’s only weird if it doesn’t work).  When I rolled over this morning and checked the cell phone, expecting to see the text message announcing school was closed, so that I could roll over and go back to sleep…nothing.

white bean chili

As promised last week, here’s another recipe you can make with that turkey leftover from Thanksgiving.  A batch of this goes far…enough for a meal straight away and, if you choose, 4-5 individual frozen servings that pop into a lunch bag and easily reheat for a work day lunch.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving-full of good food and people who are dear to you.  I decided that this week I was thankful I didn’t have to cook yesterday!

white bean chili

2 cups cooked shredded turkey or chicken breast

1 pound ground turkey, browned in a pan with 1 Tbsp olive oil and drained (this is completely optional.  I’ve made this recipe many times without this.  It simply makes it a bit heartier)

1 -2 jalapeno peppers (depending on taste), seeded and minced

3 7-ounce cans Anaheim chilies, drained and diced (again, optional.  Tastes great without if you can’t find these in your store)

4 1/2 cups cooked white beans, or 3 15-ounce cans, rinsed and drained

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 large yellow onion, diced

2 tsp ground cumin

5 garlic cloves, minced

4 to 4 1/2 cups chicken stock, warmed

2 Tbsp fresh oregano, minced

1/3 cup fresh cilantro, minced

1/4 cup cornmeal

salt and pepper to taste

Add olive oil to large skillet or saute pan over medium heat.  When oil is warm, add onion.  Season with salt and pepper and saute, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5-7 minutes.  Add cumin, garlic and jalapeno.  Continue to cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.  Stir in chilies and 3 1/2 cups of the chicken stock.  Transfer to a slow cooker.  Stir in turkey and/or chicken, beans, oregano and cilantro.

Put cornmeal in a small bowl and slowly whisk in 1/2 cup of the stock.  Stir the cornmeal mixture into the slow cooker.  Cover and cook on high for 3 hours.  Thin the chili with more broth if needed.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Ladle into bowls.

Optional garnish:  sour cream, grated cheddar or Colby cheese, lime wedges, sliced jalapeno, tortilla chips

shrimp and corn chowder with homemade corn stock

Are you throwing out the corn cobs from your summer corn?

Stop it.  Stop it right now.  This stock is so easy to make…and it absolutely makes this chowder shine (not to mention it smells pretty darn good while it’s simmering).

Spanish Gazpacho (sort of)

How long  does the temperature have to hover near 100 degrees before we can no longer declare we are having a “heat wave”?

So often that now, when the temperature happens to dip below 90, we refer to it as a “cool spell”.

I had never been a fan of gazpacho until a fellow CSA farm worker pointed me in the direction of a traditional Spanish recipe.  A Spanish teacher during the school year, he searched for a recipe that embodied the soup he had enjoyed while spending one summer in Spain.  Different than the customary soupy salsa-style gazpacho, he explained, the Spanish make it silky smooth by pushing it through a sieve before serving.

After scoring some tomatoes and green peppers at the farm, I decided to break out the blender on a day that was too hot to fire up the oven, let alone the grill.  After trying it both ways, however, I decided I preferred the gazpacho unstrained.

Be liberal and creative with  fresh garnishes.  Toasted bread crumbs, feta, bleu cheese, toasted almonds, chopped cucumber, cilantro, or pea shoots are all delicious toppings for this flavorful, cool soup.

Summer Gazpacho (barely adapted from Jose Andres’ cookbook, Tapas:  A Taste of Spain in America)

2 pounds ripe red tomatoes

8 ounces cucumber (about 1 cucumber)

3 ounces green pepper (about 1/2 bell pepper)

1/4 small red onion

2 Tbsp sherry vinegar

1 garlic clove, peeled

2 Tbsp almond flour

3/4 cup olive oil

Salt to taste

Core the tomatoes and chop roughly.  place in blender.  Peel cucumber and cut into chunks.  Cut the pepper in half, discard seeds and chop into large pieces.  Add both, along with onion, to tomatoes in the blender.

Add the garlic, vinegar, and almond flour to the vegetables and blend until it becomes a thick liquid.  Add olive oil and season with salt to taste.

Refrigerate at least one hour before serving.

Pour into bowl or cup and drizzle with olive oil, if desired.  Garnish with fresh herbs, cheese, nuts and/or chopped vegetables.

chicken noodle soup

I knew it would happen eventually.  The cold weather has finally arrived.  Until now I maintained a falsely- based optimism.  Hope, you could call it, in the midst of the almost 60-degree days we’ve been experiencing. Inwardly I’ve even secretly thought “It’s January.  Maybe winter will just skirt around us and the next thing we know-POUF!  It will be spring.”

That’s called denial, right?

Temperatures in the upper teens and wind gusts upward of 25 mph make me want to slip into pajamas, throw a few logs on the fire, and curl up on the sofa with a steaming bowl of this chicken noodle soup

One of the reasons I especially like this recipe is that it’s a one-pot affair.  The stock is made as part of the process while poaching the chicken.  Orecchiette works nicely  because the shape deliciously cups and cradles the stock and bits of vegetables.

The last time I made this soup,  I reheated  it for my son the next day with some warm crusty bread and he exclaimed “This is the BEST lunch I’ve had in a long time!”

Isn’t that reason enough to make a pot?

chicken noodle soup

1 whole chicken ( 3 1/2 to 4 pounds-don’t be tempted to go bigger.  It won’t fit in your stockpot)

4 medium carrots, cut into pieces

3 celery stalks, cut into pieces

1 large onion, chopped

bundle of thyme, tied together with kitchen twine

1 14.5 ounce can northern or other beans, rinsed

17 ounces of orecchiette or other type of pasta

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Place chicken in a 10 or 12 quart stockpot (be sure to remove parts from inside of chicken first).  Add onion, celery, and carrots.  Cover chicken and vegetables with water by a couple of inches (approximately 12 cups).  Add bay leaf and thyme bundle.  Season with salt and pepper.  Be generous-approximately 2 tsp salt and one tsp pepper.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat and simmer until chicken is cooked through, approximately 45 minutes.  Skim fat and foam from top of stock as the chicken cooks.

When chicken is cooked, carefully remove from pot to a cutting board.  Remove  and discard skin.  Shred chicken as you remove it from the bone.  Remove bay leaf and thyme and return shredded chicken to the pot.  Add lemon juice, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  While soup is simmering, add pasta and cook until al dente (tender, but firm).  Add beans.  Taste it.  Does it need salt and pepper? Season to taste.

french onion and apple cider soup

Fall is the time for big pots of soup-y, stew-y, warm goodness…something you can dip into the next day or pack in a thermos to take to work for lunch with a hunk of crusty bread or a salad.

Having just finished up the last of chicken chili leftover from Halloween, I was itching to make another soup or stew.  I’m usually not the type to have an ‘a-ha” moment when it comes to making, let alone, creating recipes.  No…I usually have to take stock of what I have, pour over recipes, think about what would taste good together, how I can tweak it…you get the idea.

When I saw the big bag of onions in the farm box, along with the apple cider, it hit me like a ton of bricks.  I hadn’t had french onion soup in a long time and that’s exactly what I wanted.

This somewhat lighter version of the original uses chicken stock instead of beef.  Notice how I said “somewhat light”?  It wouldn’t be onion soup without the cheese and there was no way I was leaving that off.!

french onion and apple cider soup

1/2 cup butter

3 pounds onions, very thinly sliced (if you have a mandoline, then break it out for this)

1 Tbsp sugar

1 Cup apple cider

4 cups chicken stock

leaves from 3 sprigs fresh thyme

8 slices bread from a baguette, toasted

cheese (I used gruyere, but you could use fontina or camembert)

Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan or stockpot and add the onions.  Saute them until they start to soften.  Add a splash of water, cover with a lid, and cook until the onions are very soft and start to caramelize.  Be patient as this can take a long time.  Mine took about an hour.  During this process, you may have occasionally add another splash of water and toss the onions around in the pan a bit.

Take the lid off.  Add the sugar and continue to cook until the juices and water have evaporated.

When the onions are dark, add the cider, stock, and thyme and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 10 minutes.

Turn your broiler on low.

Ladle soup into 8 heavy bowls that are ovenproof.  Put 1-2 slices of the toasted bread on top of each bowl, and top with slices of cheese.  Place on a cookie sheet in oven and broil a few minutes, just until the cheese is melted and starting to turn golden and bubbly.  Serve immediately.