Soup

Ingredients
1 cup white rice
2 teaspoons vegetable oil

For the marinade
1 teaspoon corn starch
4 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sherry
2 inches ginger, peeled and minced
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin slices

For the congee
2 inches ginger, peeled and minced
6 cups water
8 cups chicken broth
2 teaspoons sesame oil
¹⁄₂ teaspoon ground white pepper
Salt, to taste
1 bunch green onions, sliced

Instructions
1. Place rice in sieve over bowl.  Add 2 teaspoons vegetable oil and water to cover rice.  Stir and soak at least 30 minutes. 

2. Combine all marinade ingredients and marinate chicken for 30 minutes or up to 2 hours. 

3. When rice finishes soaking, remove from water and drain.  Place rice, ginger, water, and chicken broth in large pot or Dutch oven over high heat.  Stir well.  Bring to boil then reduce heat to medium.  Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until congee reaches desired consistency. 

4. Add chicken, increase heat to high, and continue cooking until chicken is cooked through.  Stir in sesame oil, white pepper and salt to taste.  Garnish with green onion before serving. 

Comments
This recipe is from Smoky Wok.  I’ve only ever had congee once or twice in restaurants; sadly it isn’t commonly offered in Chinese places around here.  I tried making it once many years ago and then I guess it fell off my radar.  I saw this recipe online the other day and knew that I had to make it, especially since I was under the weather and it was getting chilly out.  Congee is a great cold weather food.  It’s warming and cozy. 

This recipe is lovely.  In appearance, this looks quite a bit like Avgolemono.  The similarity ends with appearance and excellence.  I can’t wait to make this again and, thankfully, it’s a super simple recipe that involves very little in the way of prep!  I actually doubled the ginger accidentally while making this, but we all loved the added kick so I’ll be making it that way in the future and have changed the recipe to reflect this.

Internet - Smoky Wok

Ingredients
For the soup:
1 chicken, giblets and large pieces of fat removed
10 ¹⁄₂ cups water
2-3 stalks parsley, plus extra, minced, for garnish
1 large onion, cut into quarters
2 large carrots, peeled  and roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
1 large sprig thyme
6 peppercorns
1 slice lemon
¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
1 cup rice

For the egg sauce:
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Juice of 1 lemon

Instructions
1. Place chicken in large Dutch oven.  Add water, parsley, onion, carrots, bay leaf, thyme, peppercorns, lemon slice, and salt.  Bring to boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 70 minutes.  Remove from heat, remove chicken from pot, and cool 30 minutes. 

2. Skim fat off stock, then strain stock into a big bowl through a mesh strainer.  Discard flavorings. 

3. Remove meat from chicken and shred into small pieces. 

4. Return 8 ¹⁄₂ cups strained stock to Dutch oven, discard remaining stock or save to use for another purpose.  Add rice.  Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes, or until rice is cooked. 

5. In the meantime, beat together eggs, egg yolks, cornstarch, lemon zest and lemon juice in large bowl.  Beat until well combined and slightly frothy. 

6. Return chicken pieces to Dutch oven and simmer 5 minutes.  Remove pot from heat. 

7. Working ¹⁄₂ cup at a time, add soup to egg mixture and whisk gently with fork.  Repeat this 4 to 6 times to temper the eggs.  Pour egg mixture into soup and stir well.  The residual heat from the Dutch oven will be enough to gently cook eggs and keep them from setting. 

8. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley, if desired. 

Note: When heating leftovers, do so over low heat on the stovetop or very slowly in the microwave.  I found that microwaving leftovers for a minute at a time, and stirring the soup well in between, worked perfectly. 

Comments
This recipe is from Scrumptious South Africa and it’s been sitting in my “to make” pile for quite a while.  I’ve been waiting for the right chicken to come along.  When I finally did get to make this, it was when I wasn’t feeling especially well, and it was fantastic!  The soup looks like it should be heavy and cream-based, but it is surprisingly light and amazing.  It felt perfect on my sore throat and all the flavors stood out well.  In texture, it was almost like the congee I’ve had in the past.  I really loved this soup and I’d love to make it again in the near future.  Sadly, we’re not really soup people most of the time, but I’m happy to make an exception for this exceptional soup!

Shown here with Art’s Bruschetta.

Internet - Scrumptious South Africa

Ingredients
Soup
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces
6 large yellow onions (about 4 pounds), halved and cut into ¹⁄₄-inch thick moons
Salt
2 cups water plus extra for deglazing
¹⁄₂ cup dry sherry
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups beef broth
6 sprigs fresh thyme, tied with kitchen twine
1 bay leaf
Ground black pepper

Cheese Croutons
1 baguette, cut on bias into ¹⁄₂-inch slices
8 ounces gruyere cheese, shredded

Instructions
1. For the soup: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 400*F. Generously spray inside of heavy-bottomed large Dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray. Place butter in pot and add onions and 1 teaspoon salt. Onions will just about fill the Dutch oven. 

2. Cook, covered, 1 hour (onions will be moist and slightly reduced in volume). Remove pot from oven and stir onions, scraping bottom and sides of pot. Return pot to oven with lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until onions are very soft and golden brown, 1 ¹⁄₂ to 1 ³⁄₄ hours longer, stirring onions and scraping bottom and sides of pot after 1 hour.

3. Carefully remove pot from oven and place over medium-high heat. Using oven mitts to handle pot, cook onions, stirring frequently and scraping bottom and sides of pot, until liquid evaporates and onions brown, 15 to 20 minutes, reducing heat to medium if onions are browning too quickly. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until pot bottom is coated with dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes, adjust heat as necessary. (Scrape any fond that collects on spoon back into onions.) Stir in ¹⁄₄ cup water, scraping pot bottom to loosen crust, and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times, until onions are very dark brown. Stir in sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes. (I deglazed four times for a total of 1 cup of water.)

4. Stir in broths, 2 cups water, thyme, bay leaf, and ¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust on bottom and sides of pot. Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes. Remove and discard herbs, then season with salt and pepper.

5. For the croutons: While soup simmers, arrange baguette slices in single layer on baking sheet and bake in 400*F oven until bread is dry, crisp, and golden at edges, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

6. To serve: Place oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. Set individual broiler-safe crocks on baking sheet and fill each with about 1 ³⁄₄ cups soup. Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle evenly with gruyere. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly around edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving. 

Comments
I really love French Onion Soup.  If I see it on a menu and it’s not super hot outside, I’m likely to order it.  However, I’ve never made it myself because no one else in the house likes it the way I do.  With all of the snow we’ve been getting, I decided that there was no better time to make my own French Onion Soup than this week – especially since I’d just seen a recipe for it in the 2008 Cook’s Illustrated Annual.  There were a couple parts of the recipe that I was unsure about, but I followed it to the letter since it’s something I’ve never made before. 

This soup was pretty fantastic.  The multiple deglazings of the onions really yielded a deep, rich flavor to the soup.  That part of the recipe is definitely a keeper for next time. 

Even if the Test Kitchen prefers the taste of sherry to other alcohols for this soup, I’m not sure that I do.  Next time, I’d try using red wine instead, which has been my preference in the French Onion-style casseroles I’ve made in the past. 

I was unsure about the blend of beef and chicken broths, but it worked quite well and the flavor of the broth part was lovely.  However, I think I’d try all beef broth next time, just to see how that works. 

I’d also like the soup to be more… velvety.  Next time I’ll either try adding some flour after all the deglazing or I’ll simmer the soup for longer and remove the lid in step 4. 

Since I was only serving myself soup, I used the toaster oven for the croutons and the final broiling.  This worked very well for a single serving.  The first bowl of soup I made, shown here in a gorgeous crock that our best friend Brian gave us one year, had cheese only on top of the crouton.  For the second bowl I split the cheese and put a bit under the crouton and a bit on top of it.  I think I like the way the second bowl turned out better because the crouton wasn’t completely covered with cheese which let it crisp up a little more during the final broiling. 

I will definitely be making, and tweaking, this again.  It’s a great starting point for my experimentation in French Onion Soup.

Cook’s Illustrated 2008

Ingredients
12 ounces center-cut bacon, sliced into ¹⁄₂-inch thick pieces
2 medium onions, chopped fine
1 medium red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and cut into ¹⁄₂-inch cubes
6 cloves garlic, minced
¹⁄₄ cup chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (Omit if you desire a milder chili.)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
¹⁄₂ teaspoon cayenne pepper (Omit if you desire a milder chili.)
2 pounds ground beef
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (28 ounce) can tomato puree
¹⁄₄ cup maple syrup
Salt

Instructions
1. Fry the bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium heat, stirring frequently, until browned, about 8 minutes. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat, leaving the bacon in the pot.

2. Add the onions, bell pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander, pepper flakes, oregano, and cayenne and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high and add half the beef. Cook, breaking up the chunks with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink and beginning to brown. Add the remaining beef and cook, breaking up the chunks with the wooden spoon, until no longer pink.

3. Add the beans, tomatoes, tomato puree, and ¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt. Bring to boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour. Remove the cover and continue to simmer 1 hour longer, stirring occasionally (if the chili begins to stick to the bottom of the pot, stir in ¹⁄₂ cup water and continue to simmer), until the beef is tender and the chili is dark, rick, and slightly thickened. Stir in maple syrup.  Adjust the seasoning with additional salt to taste. Serve with desired condiments. 

Suggested condiments: diced fresh tomatoes, diced avocado tossed with lime juice, sliced green onions, chopped red onion, chopped cilantro leaves, sour cream, and shredded cheese. 

Comments
I have a confession.  I’ve never made a real meat chili before.  I have made vegetarian chilis, but meat chili has always been Art’s domain.  However, Art’s methods are not replicable and I wanted to find a chili method that I could blog about as well as enjoy.  I scoured a few cookbooks and found this recipe in The New Best Recipe.  I made a few minor adjustments, like the addition of maple syrup, and wished I had omitted the red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper as well.  It was just a tidge too spicy for my tastes, even with a nice dollop of sour cream! 

Those things being said, this was a fantastic chili.  Even Art approved and he’s picky when it comes to his chili.  The bacon added lovely smokiness, the ground beef was great for the major meat component.  I’m not a huge fan of kidney beans so the black beans were a fantastic change.  I was very pleased with the result of this recipe and I think I’ll enjoy making minor modifications in the future.  I could envision doubling the recipe and adding in an additional meat for more texture (like flank steak) and probably lentils or garbanzo beans as well. 

Note to Self: I cannot fit a double batch of this in my Dutch oven. 

Shown here with the absolute best Skillet Cornbread.

The New Best Recipe

Ingredients
For the stew
5 cups chicken broth
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 carrots, peeled and sliced into ¹⁄₄-inch thick rounds
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 teaspoon salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 tablespoons all purpose flour
³⁄₄ cup dry sherry
¹⁄₃ cup half and half
¹⁄₂ teaspoon dried thyme
2 bay leaves
¹⁄₂ teaspoon pepper
1 ¹⁄₂ cups frozen peas
4 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced

For the dumplings
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
1 ¹⁄₃ cups half and half

Instructions
1. For the stew: Bring broth to simmer in Dutch oven over high heat. Add chicken and return to simmer. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until chicken is just cooked through, about 10 minutes. Transfer chicken to plate and tent loosely with foil. Transfer broth to large bowl.

2. Return empty Dutch oven to medium-high heat and melt butter. Add carrots, onion, and salt and cook until softened, about 7 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in flour and cook, stirring frequently, for 1 minute. Stir in sherry, scrapping up browned bits. Stir in reserved broth, half and half, thyme, bay leaves, and pepper and bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until stew thickens, about 20-30 minutes.

3. For the dumplings: Stir flour, baking powder, and salt in large bowl. Stir in half and half until incorporated (dough will be very thick and shaggy).

4. To finish: Discard bay leaves and return stew to rapid simmer. Shred reserved chicken and add to stew along with any accumulated juices, peas, and 3 tablespoons parsley. using 2 large soup spoons or small ice cream scoop, drop golf ball-sized dumplings onto stew about ¹⁄₄ inch apart (you should have 16 to 18 dumplings). Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until dumplings have doubled in size, 15 to 18 minutes. Garnish with remaining parsley. Serve. 

Comments
Chicken and Dumplings is one of those foods that I’ve managed to live 32 years without ever having.  When I saw this recipe in the 2007 Cook’s Country Annual, I decided that I should rectify that and give it a go.  I didn’t have very high expectations; I’ve heard horror stories of heavy and unappetizing dumplings.  Art also had some wariness due to poor experiences in the past. 

But I put aside my fears and I am so glad I did!  The dumplings were delicious balls of perfection, the soup was thick, rich, and full of flavor, and the two combined was just great!  This is a perfect cold weather meal and came together in under an hour.  I will definitely be making this again especially considering both the guys enjoyed it as well!  Yum.

Cook’s Country 2007

Ingredients
4 pounds potatoes, cut into ¹⁄₂-inch slices (This time I used new potatoes from the market, in the past I’ve used larger potatoes from the grocery store.  Both work equally well.)
2-3 cups carrots, shredded, optional
3-4 small broccoli heads, cut into florets
²⁄₃ cup butter
²⁄₃ cup flour
6 cups milk, plus more to adjust consistency if desired
1 bunch green onions, chopped
12 ounces center cut bacon, cooked and crumbled (Or 1 pound of regular bacon.)
1 ¹⁄₄ cups Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup sour cream
³⁄₄ teaspoon salt
¹⁄₂ teaspoon pepper

Instructions
1. Place the potatoes and enough water to cover them by 1 inch in a large pot.  Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-high and cook 15 to 20 minutes or until potatoes are fork-tender. Drain immediately, return to pot, and mash.  (If using carrots, add to potatoes during the last minute or two of boiling.)

2. Place broccoli in a microwave safe dish, cover, and microwave for 6-10 minutes, or until just tender, stirring halfway through.  Drain.

3. Melt butter in heavy saucepan over low heat; add flour, stirring until smooth. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add milk, stirring over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Add potatoes, broccoli, and all remaining ingredients except for sour cream.  Add more milk if needed for desired consistency. 

4. Cook until heated thoroughly and stir in sour cream and serve.  

Comments
A friend passed this recipe on to me a few years ago and it’s fantastic.  It’s a nice, thick, rich, and heavy potato soup.  Perfect for a cold day.  This soup was so filling, in fact, that my family opted not to eat dinner the last time I made it for lunch.

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Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound Italian sausage (mild or hot, depending on preference), casings removed
1 carrot or a handful of baby carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 cups chicken broth (This is a great way to use leftover chicken broth from your slow cooker chickens!)
2 cans whole tomatoes (Cans are somewhere in the 14-16 ounce range, chopped tomatoes are fine too)
2 cups dried lentils, rinsed and checked for small stones
¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
³⁄₄ teaspoon black pepper
¹⁄₂ teaspoon red pepper flakes
¹⁄₂ teaspoon dried oregano
¹⁄₂ teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf

Instructions
1. In a large pot (or Dutch oven), heat oil over medium-high heat.  Add sausage and brown, breaking up large pieces with a wooden spoon.  Remove sausage from pot, leaving fat, and drain on paper towels.  

2. Add carrot, celery, onion and garlic to pot and sauté over medium-high heat until tender.  Return sausage to pot.  

3. Add chicken broth to the pot.  Open both cans of tomatoes and crush any large pieces with your hands before adding to the pot.  Add all remaining ingredients.  Reduce heat and simmer until the lentils are tender, about 30-45 minutes.  

4. Remove bay leaf and discard.  Remove ¹⁄₃ of the soup and puree it using an immersion blender or a regular blender, then return it to the pot and mix well.  Taste for seasonings, adjust if necessary, and serve.  

Comments
At the beginning of the year I had the pleasure of helping my parents out for a few weeks while my dad recovered from knee replacement surgery.  Obviously major surgery wasn’t the pleasure, but I’m eternally grateful that I’ve got a relationship with my parents that makes things like this a joy.  One of my “duties” was to make dinner every night and have it ready when my mom got home from work.  

My dad didn’t have many requests for food during his recovery, but one thing he did have a craving for was “soup like the sausage and lentil soup at Carrabba’s.”  Thankfully the internet is full of copycat recipes, so it wasn’t too difficult to find a few that I could play with to come up with this recipe.  

Then it turned out so well that when I got back home that weekend I made it again!  Now it’s a favorite, especially when the weather is wet and dreary.  

Shown here with Bread Machine Sweet Potato Bread.

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Ingredients
1 red onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
4 small cucumbers, diced
4 tomatoes, diced
¹⁄₈ cup olive oil
¹⁄₄ cup ginger, minced or grated
¹⁄₄ cup garlic, minced or grated
¹⁄₄ cup cilantro, minced
3 tablespoon rice vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
other toppings, optional

Instructions
1. Working in small batches, place first four ingredients into a food processor or blender and pulse until cut to your desired consistency. I opted for something a bit chunky but you could just as easily puree everything.

2. Transfer processed vegetables into a large bowl and stir. Add olive oil, ginger, garlic, cilantro and vinegar. Stir to mix.

3. Taste and add salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste. Stir well.

4. Cover and chill until very cold. Serve with bread, sour cream, croutons, avocado, shrimp, etc.

Note: The second time I made this I added ¹⁄₈ cup of minced lemongrass.  Delicious.

Comments
I’ve only had gazpacho a few times but I’ve loved it every time.  Most recently, at TenPenh, I had an Asian-inspired gazpacho that was fantastic and this was my attempt to replicate that.  This tastes like summer.  I served it with toasted bread things, but it would be fantastic with actual croutons as well. I’m looking forward to having this for lunch the rest of the week.

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