Chicken Soup (and Variations)

When Elsie was really little, chicken soup was one of the only things I made that she ate voraciously.  I just put it through the blender for her, and she loved it.  I'll list my basic recipe first, then add a variation that tastes even better.

Basic chicken soup: 

Ingredients

• Chicken broth (home-made is way better, but if it's not possible, do half canned, half water) 
• Chicken pieces
• 1 head escarole, washed and chopped up
• 3-5 carrots
• 3-5 stalks celery (you can use the greens, too)
• 1/2 onion
• Potatoes (cut up) or rice or pasta
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Method: 

Bring your stock to a boil

Throw in your starch first (potatoes, rice, or pasta) and cook until cooked through

Add carrots next, then celery and onion.  When these are cooked through, add chicken pieces and heat through, then add escarole at the very last minute.  It cooks fast

Salt & pepper to taste

Serve!

Even Better Chicken Soup: 

Add in some or all of the following:

• cooked pork sausage
• fennel bulb pieces
• cooked or canned beans (I like white beans the best in a soup like this)
• kale
• a pinch of hot pepper flakes

This is a GREAT way to reinvent a leftover dinner of beans, greens, and sausage from a previous night.


Notes: 

• Most nights, my toddler will eat at least some of what is in this soup.
• Kids are very texture-oriented, so pasta will probably work better than potatoes and rice if you're making it for kids.  If you're a super fun parent (more fun than I am), you can even buy stars or letter pasta.  Otherwise just use whatever is in the pantry.
• The amount of broth isn't really important.  Just use at least enough to cover all your non-leafy-green ingredients. The greens can stick out in a thicker soup.  For a thinner one, just use more broth.  If you don't have enough, top up with water, then taste to see if you need to salt it a bit more. 
• If you are missing an ingredient, no biggie. Just go without.  If you have something else you wan to throw in, go for it!  Soup is so very flexible.

Mom's Broccoli

My mom used to make this broccoli, and I can't seem to get it to turn out quite as delicious as hers is.  Maybe it's my organic, gluten-free soy sauce that's the problem.  Maybe I just need some kikkoman. Regardless, I still make it this way and people still seem to like it.  It is a kid favorite, if your kids are willing to try broccoli.

Ingredients:

• Broccoli florets, cut into manageable pieces and washed (okay if it's still wet)
• Olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• soy sauce
• pepper

Method:

Mince and saute the garlic in a pan with olive oil until the garlic is just golden

Toss in your broccoli, cook, mixing, until it is brighter green, but still crunchy

Remove from heat, drizzle with a little soy sauce and pepper -- done!

Fish in Foil

I really wish I had taken pictures of this last night when I cooked it up for dinner with friends, but I did not.  Oops!  Will have to update someday when I make it again.

I cook fish in foil because it is easy to do, hard to mess up, and conducive to grilling.  It's a bit wasteful, though, as the foil comes out so nasty that it is hard to clean it sufficiently for recycling.  Bummer.

Ingredients:

• Fish
• White wine
• Olive oil
• Lemon
• Ginger (fresh is better but dry works fine)
• Herbs (I used parsley, chives, and lemon verbena)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Heavy-duty aluminum foil

Method:

Heat your grill on medium or oven to 350F or so

Lay out a big piece of foil in a rimmed baking or roasting pan

Place your fish in, skin down (if applicable)

Pour some wine over it.  Pour some olive oil over it.  Zest your lemon over it.  Grate (fresh) or shake (powdered) your ginger over it.  Mince up your herbs and sprinkle them on top.  Salt and pepper it

Wrap it up in a nice, tight pouch.  Leave a little room for it to puff up

If you're grilling, transfer the foil pouch to the grill.  I used the high rack with the top closed of my gas grill for 20 minutes.  If you're baking, put it on a rimmed cookie sheet or a roasting pan and put it in the oven like that.  20-25 minutes should do it for the oven, too.

Remove from heat, but don't open that pouch for another 10 minutes or so.  When you open it up, give it the fork test and make sure it's cooked through.  It will be, but if it's not, wrap it back up and put it back on for more time.

Notes:

• Last night, I used skin-on wild salmon fillet that was pre-cut into dinner-sized portions, but any decently sturdy fish will do for this recipe.  It's not ideal for really thin, delicate fish like flounder, and I feel that even though it would work fine for something like bluefish, a really oily fish like that does better grilled with stronger stuff on it than poached in foil. Bluefish and swordfish can stand up to straight grilling anyway.  Use the foil for something that is more likely to fall apart.
• If your bag busts open, the oil and the alcohol are going to make for quite a lot of flame on your grill, but it will be short-lived.  A little leaking from the seams is fine, but try not to puncture the pouch.
• Again, freeze your stinky fish waste if you don't want to smell up your kitchen or attract all the neighborhood racoons to your garbage.  
• Cats love fish skin.  You can use this info to indulge your cats, or to guard your dinner, the choice is yours!

Quiche

I am a terrible speller and could not spell "quiche" until I married a man who prefers to (ironically) pronounce it "quee-chay."  The man teaches me something new every day.

There are much prettier quiches than this elsewhere on the internet, but it tastes good despite its pallor and freezer-fresh crust!  The salad is just lettuce and fresh apricots with a squeeze of lemon.  The drink is half green tea, half pomegranate juice.

You can put anything you like in your quiche, just cook it first.  I feel that quiche benefits from onions or shallots for a little flavor, but I think garlic would taste weird in it.  This one contains bacon and onions. 

Ingredients:

• 1 pie crust (see notes)
• 3 eggs (for a small pie pan.  For a bigger one, use 4)
• 1 cup of milk (for a bigger pie pan, use 1 and 1/3 cups)
• 3 strips bacon
• 1/2 onion
• shredded cheese
• 1 tbs flour (for bigger pie pan, use 1 tbs + 1 tsp)
• 1/2 tsp salt

Method: 

Preheat oven to 350F

Sauté your fillings.  I cook my bacon first, pour off the rendered fat, then use the still greasy pan to cook the onions until translucent.  If you like your onions caramelized, leave them in until they're golden brown

Place filling in the bottom of your pie pan, meat and veggies on the bottom, a couple handfuls of shredded cheese on the top

Beat eggs and milk together.  Beat in flour and salt.  Try to beat out the chunks, but don't worry if you can't get them all

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes, or until set

Let cool before serving


Notes: 

I use frozen, pre-formed pie crust from Whole Foods market because it tastes good and it is easy.  This particular kind of pie crust requires two extra things: a sturdy, rimmed baking sheet underneath it so that you don't end up with egg all over your oven floor and set your smoke detectors off, and 10 minutes of pre-cooking before you fill it.  The edges sometimes fall down in the pre-cook stage because I never use pie weights.  I just stick them back up again with a fork before filling.

My mom uses Pillsbury dough, the kind that's already rolled out and rolled up like a scroll.  This kind is thinner and doesn't require pre-cooking.  You can also make a bigger quiche with it, because it is not already in a tiny pie pan.

If you want to make your own crust, I'm sure it will be delicious, but you should hit up Martha Stewart for that recipe, because I am not experienced at it.

You can make your quiche richer by substituting cream for some of your milk.

If you want your quiche to look pretty on top, melt some butter and drizzle it over before putting it in the oven.  I usually skip this step out of laziness. 

Some good alternate filling combinations:

• Onions and mushrooms with Swiss cheese
• Onions and tomatoes with basil and Parmesan cheese
• A mix of fresh herbs and cheeses
• Spinach and cheddar cheese (Squeeze all the liquid out of the spinach before you put it in!  Also, don't use a ton of it.)

My kid does not eat quiche, or almost any eggs, but I have witnessed her little friends eat and enjoy this, so it's worth a shot.  Especially with bacon.  

Chicken Broth

I make my own broth not because I have all the time in the world, but because:

• It's really, really easy
• It tastes way better than the store-bought stuff
• I believe in using as much of the animal as possible

Sometimes, canned broth is absolutely fine, but if you want to take a simple soup and make it amazing, try starting from scratch!  


Ingredients: 

• Some chicken bones (I'm starting with a fully cooked rotisserie chicken from the supermarket)
• Water
• Salt

Rotisserie chicken = the ultimate lazy mom dinner -- TWICE!  (Chicken night 1, chicken soup night 2)

Method:

Pick the meat off the bones and set aside.  Discard the chicken skin.

You will be amazed how much more meat is on your "used up" chicken skeleton when you actually go and take it off with your fingertips.  Don't use a knife or fork for this.  Do it bare-handed and you'll get more.

Place bones and any brown juices or brown gelatin in a big old pot or a slow-cooker.

Mmmm... hungry yet?  Chicken stock: maybe not the most appetizing photo recipe on the internet.

Cover the bones with water, filling pot up near the top.  Add a tbs salt.  Cover, and bring to a boil.  Lower to a simmer.  Allow to simmer (still covered) for a couple of hours.  If you're using a slow cooker, just set it in the morning and leave it all day.  High or low slowcooker settings will work for this recipe.

This still doesn't look appetizing, so tune in for the upcoming chicken soup and risotto recipes, where chicken broth goes from pallid and gross to totally delicious!

Taste, and salt to taste, or leave that step for later when you're cooking with the broth.

Strain out bones and other solids.  You can strain straight into another pot and start making soup immediately, or into a bowl to keep overnight, or into storage containers to freeze.  If freezing, store in batches small enough that you'll actually use them up next time you need them.  You don't want to thaw and re-freeze this all the time.  If not freezing, use quickly, as in today or tomorrow.  Fresh chicken broth is awesome, but only if it's actually fresh.



Notes: 

• I used to make this with an onion, celery, carrot, and herbs in the broth, but I've decided I like it better plain.  I can then add veggie and herb flavors later that specifically match whatever I want to cook.
• You can boil the chicken skin too, if you want, but it releases a lot of fat.  This can help protect against freezer burn if you're freezing, because you're going to discard the fat eventually, and that is the layer that seals off the surface of your broth.  Just beware that any sauce on the skin is going to flavor your broth, as is any charred flavor, so broth made with skin is stronger tasting than just bones.
• You can make up a small batch with just a few bones, like if you had wings or a bbq chicken leg, just toss that bone in a little saucepan with some water and boil it while you ready other ingredients for your recipe.
• If you have problems with raccoons tearing your trash apart, or if you just don't want your kitchen garbage pail to stink, freeze your chicken waste until trash collection or transfer station visit. I learned that one when we lived on the farm.  Now we freeze all our stinky trash!

Roasted Potatoes

 

Ingredients

• 3 roasting potatoes (I'm using golden ones here, though red potatoes also work well)
• 3 pinches salt
• Olive oil
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 sprigs rosemary (or a couple of pinches of dried)
• A few shakes of dried oregano
• 2 slices of lemon

Preheat oven to 400F

Slice up your potatoes in wedges

Spread in a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil.  You want enough oil to thoroughly coat the potatoes, but not so much that you get lots pooling on the bottom of the pan.  

Sprinkle with salt (2 pinches was about right) and herbs and squeeze the lemon wedges over potatoes.  Mix to coat.

Bake at 400F for about 45 minutes.  Potatoes should be crispy on the bottom and cooked all the way through. I scraped the potatoes off the pan and stirred them around about 15 minutes before they were done cooking, then returned to the oven.

This recipe made about 3 servings.  You can double or triple the recipe, but be warned that the more potato wedges in the pan, the less likely they are to be crispy and crunchy.  If you value that, consider cooking in two pans when you increase the recipe by a considerable number of potatoes.

Intro

A really old picture in which I am probably cooking

Hello, friends!

(As I assume the only people who will frequent this blog are already my friends)

Welcome to my food blog!

It's not so much that I think I'm just that darn good at cooking.  My meals are not particularly creative or original.  Nor do I think the internet needs another cooking blog.  It's more a matter of convenience.  I would love to be able to access my recipes quickly, easily, and anywhere, and to share them with friends without having to write stuff down.  Sending recipes along later generally turns into never for me.  Perhaps a blog can help.



I have wonderful intentions of photographs to accompany recipes, but know that that's likely to fall through most of the time.  We shall see!

An even older picture in which I am definitely cooking.  This girl can stuff a pumpkin!  Yes, you too could be this happy if you follow the recipes here.

A much more recent picture in which I brave the springtime forests to strangle you a wild turkey for dinner.

La mia famiglia.  Actually, my brother's Sardinian host family, farmers and cheesemakers pictured in their home cantina with some horrid foodie tourists.  I got recipes for prosciutto, pancetta, limonchello, and aquavita off of this family.  I also got some tips on when your specialty, black-market maggot-filled cheese is ready (there are little flies hopping all over it)  Serious foodie street cred! 

Recipes will be entered in no particular order.  I'll try to tag them so they're easy to search with keywords like main, gluten-free, or vegetarian-friendly, where applicable.  Be prepared that vegetarian-friendly listings may contain chicken broth, because I like chicken broth better than veggie broth, or even bacon, because it's damn tasty.  It's not because I think bacon is a vegetable, it's because I assume you're smart enough to switch out broths and omit the piggy on your own.  Cooking is all about making it work for you and your family, anyway.

Hope you enjoy!


PS: I may be almost 30 with an advanced degree, but I still can't spell, so go easy on me when I make mistakes.