From what I've read, traditionally a zuppa bianca is creamy from the white beans in it, often part of them being blended to thicken the soup. I didn't want to use that many beans in mine, so I thought I'd try my own spin on the soup and it came out fantastic!
I started with homemade stock that Justin had made the day before.
I'll remind you again - SAVE ALL YOUR VEGGIE ENDS AND BONES! Every time we cut off broccoli stems, carrot ends, onion ends, herb stems, and leftover bones we throw them into a Ziplock bag and stick 'em in the freezer. Sooner or later you've got a full bag and you can put it all in a stock pot, add water, and make your own stock! It's so easy, you're using every bit of the vegetable, and it's worth it to make homemade stock!
I also wanted to add anchovy, pepper, fennel and mushrooms to my zuppa bianca... also not traditional as far as I can tell, but man, they were a killer, tasty addition! Served it up with some crusty bread and that was all you needed! It might have been good with a little fresh Parmesan grated onto it, but we didn't have any.
This recipe makes a huge batch... you could probably half the recipe and it'd be fine, but being that I made it in a huge batch, that's the quantities I'm throwing at you. I say make a huge batch and you can freeze the leftovers to pull out later when you don't feel like cooking. That's what we do.
I love punk rock. But there's a lot of old music that I really love too - I think I can sing more songs from the 60s than most people who lived through the 60s... though drugs might have something to do with that for a lot of folks. So when punk bands cover songs from the 60s, it's no surprise that I usually love them. (I never even stood a chance with the Gimmes.) So let's listen to the Adolescents covering Eric Burdon and The Animals' "House of the Rising Sun"... the only song I was ever able to play on the organ, but probably can't now. Plus... how many punk songs can you name with a harmonica solo? -jen
ZUPPA BIANCA Time: about 1 hour Difficulty: Easy Makes:
1 pound ground spicy Italian sausage
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 anchovies packed in oil
1 cup diced celery (about 2 large stalks)
1 cup diced carrots (about 2 medium
1 cup diced fennel bulb (about 1 medium), reserve 1/4 cup of the fronds, chopped
1 cup diced green bell pepper (about 1 large)
2.5 cups diced onions (about 1 large)
3 cups diced crimini mushrooms
1.5 tablespoons minced garlic (about 5 medium cloves)
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon salt plus extra
1 cup dry white wine
3 quarts chicken stock
2 cups 1/2" cubed potatoes (about 1 large potato), skin on
1 can (14oz) white beans, reserve liquid
3 cups chopped kale (remember to remove stems)
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup chopped basil
1/3 cup chopped parsley
lemon wedges
In a large stock pot over medium-high heat, brown the Italian sausage. Remove sausage and set aside. Leave 2 tablespoons of the sausage fat in the pot, discard the rest. (That was all I actually got out of my sausage, but some sausage is fattier than others.) Add olive oil and the anchovies to the sausage fat in the pot and cook 1 minute. Add celery, carrots, fennel bulb, bell pepper, onions, mushrooms, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, white pepper and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring intermittently, until vegetables begin to soften and onions are just turning translucent. Add white wine and cook another 2-3 minutes. Add chicken stock, potatoes and the liquid from the beans (don't add the beans yet). Turn heat to high and bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Simmer until potatoes are tender, about 10-12 minutes (fish one out and test it). Once potatoes are tender, add cooked sausage, beans, kale, heavy cream, basil, parley and the reserved chopped fennel fronds. Taste the soup and add salt or pepper if necessary. Serve each bowl with a wedge of lemon to squeeze onto the soup.
We've been making soup about once a week. Throughout the week, we often have roasted vegetables several times and will often make a salad of some sort. So when we're preparing vegetables, we've taken to saving things like the ends of carrots and onions, the stems of herbs, all of our vegetable "scraps", and storing them in a Ziploc bag in the freezer. Then Justin makes stock out of them and we make a delicious vegetable soup. Usually they're broth-based soups, but we felt like going with a cream style this week, packed full of vegetables (and bacon, which is totally optional). Came out so rich and delicious! We make large batches at a time so that we have lunches for work. You can cut the recipe in half if you're not looking for quite so much.
The awesome thing about soups like this, is that you can customize the vegetables to whatever you like. Don't like mushrooms? Axe 'em and add cauliflower instead. Don't like bell peppers? Axe 'em and add potato instead. I think most of our soups end up created just using whatever we have leftover in the fridge.
To go with our soup, for no particular reason except to rock, is The Marked Men doing "All In Your Head". -jen
CREAM OF VEGETABLE SOUP Prep Time: 20 minutes (35 if using bacon) Cook Time: 20 minutes Difficulty: Easy Makes: about 14 cups
5 tablespoons butter (6 tbsp if not using bacon fat)
3 tablespoons olive oil (4 tbsp if not using bacon fat)
2 cups crimini or button mushrooms, diced fine
2 cups broccoli florets (about 1 medium crown)
1.5 cups yellow onion, diced fine (about 1 medium onion)
1.5 cups carrots, diced fine (about 3 medium carrots)
1 cup celery, diced fine (about 3 large stalks)
1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced fine (about 1/2 medium pepper)
1/2 cup poblano pepper, diced fine (about 1 medium poblano)
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
2/3 cup flour
6 cups chicken broth
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
salt, to taste (bacon adds a lot of salt on its own, as do most chicken stocks, so taste your soup before adding salt!)
Place diced bacon into a cold stock pot. Turn heat to medium-high, and cook until crisped, about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Using a slotted spoon, spoon out the crisped bacon and drain over paper towels. Set aside. Drain all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat from the stock pot.
Add olive oil and butter to stock pot (still over medium-high heat). Add all vegetables and saute until tender, 10-12 minutes. Add the rosemary, thyme and marjoram to the vegetables and cook 1 more minute. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir until flour absorbs oil and is no longer white. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Whisk in the stock and turn the heat to high. Whisk continuously until soup begins to thicken a little. Once it begins to thicken, add heavy cream, white pepper, black pepper and the crisped bacon. Stir continuously until soup comes to a boil, then remove from heat. Add salt to taste and serve.
Justin's made an Eastern-European style cabbage rolls a few times and we have a recipe for them here. But ever since he did, I was thinking of other things we could stuff cabbage rolls with... and I instantly craved an egg roll-type pork filling. Today I finally remembered to make it, along with a chopped vegetable Asian style salad.
Wow. I first posted this using a song we already used. That was smooth. Let's go with something different.... and angry. Paint It Black doing "Labor Day". Because sometimes... it feels like a nine to five death march. -jen
ASIAN CABBAGE ROLLS Prep Time: 15-20 minutes Rest Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 35 minutes Difficulty: Medium Makes: About 12 rolls
1 pound ground pork
whole Napa cabbage leaves
1.5 cup Napa cabbage, chopped fine
1 cup mushrooms, chopped fine
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup bean sprouts, chopped
1/3 cup green onions, chopped fine (2-3 medium onions)
On a large cutting board or your counter, use a rolling pin to flatten the whole cabbage leaves, one
leaf at a time. This will help with the rolling process. Make sure to break down the ribs. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
In a large bowl, combine all remaining ingredients. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or as long as overnight. Drain off any excess juice. Lay two cabbage leaves out, slightly overlapping with the stems nearest you. Measure 1/4-1/3 cup of the meat mixture and place in the center of the leaves. Starting with the stems, carefully roll-up over meat, tucking sides in as you go.
Place rolls seam-side down in a 9x13 baking dish. (Line with foil for easier clean up!) Cover tightly with foil and bake at 400 degrees F for 30-35 minutes, until pork is cooked thoroughly (160 degrees).
Serve with Asian Dipping Sauce (recipe below).
ASIAN DIPPING SAUCE (It's like pot sticker sauce!)
Split cumbers in half length-wise. Using a spoon, scoop out the seeds and discard. Dice cucumbers. Add remaining ingredients and toss. If you can make this ahead of time, the taste improves after it rests a while.
This soup came out a little like a cross between tortilla soup and a Mexican minestrone... way tasty! I was pleased with it. Just enough heat to hit, but not enough that you break a sweat because your tongue is on fire. I made mine tonight with the beef broth leftover from our Slow Cooker Chile Colorado. But if you don't want to do two nights of awesomeness, well... I guess you can just add some store-bought beef broth. I did, however, also use the leftover chile sauce from that recipe... so really, why not just make the Chile Colorado first, freeze your broth, and make this soup when you run out of Colorado!?
I chose a little ska in Spanish for my recipe with Sublime singing "Chica Mi Tipo". -jen
*If you're trying to watch carbs, you can totally eliminate the masa harina and the soup will just less like a tortilla soup and more like a minestrone.
In a large stock pot, heat oil over medium-high. Add diced onion, Anaheim, poblano, jalapeño, carrots, mushrooms and garlic. Cook for 7-10 minutes, stirring frequently, until vegetables are tender and onions are translucent. Add corn and tomatoes and cook another 2 minutes. Add the beef stock, beans, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper, lime juice, chile sauce and cilantro. Bring to a boil.
While soup is heating to boil, mix masa herina and hot water in a medium-sized mixing bowl with a wire whisk until masa harina is fully incorporated. With the wire whisk, whisk into soup and bring back to a boil. Turn heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
This was the dish we made to go along with our Parmesan & Basil Zucchini. Normally we just throw the seasoned chicken in the oven, but I felt like something extra to go with it the night I made this. I was originally just going to saute the mushrooms and onion, but then decided to make 'em saucy. Pretty quick and easy! We don't do carbs a whole lot with our dinner, but with this sauce, I wished I'd made some rice or barley or even mashed potatoes to go along with it.
I'm gonna whip out a little old school punk here - Justin will be pleasantly surprised, as this is more to his liking. I can't even tell you why this song just popped into my head as I was wondering what to post. All I know is... whenever I think of FEAR, I think of Lee Ving (lead singer) in the movie Clue, as Mr. Boddy. I love that movie. Sad side note, Eileen Brennan, who played Mrs. Peacock, just died a few days ago. So maybe this song is apropos after all. Here's FEAR, "Living in the City". -jen
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil (for easy clean up) and drizzle a little olive oil over the foil or use some non-stick cooking spray on it.
Pat chicken thighs dry with a paper towel. Pull the skin back and with your choice of seasoning (seasoning salt, Mrs. Dash type seasonings, or just make your own "house" seasoning with salt, pepper and garlic powder), season the meat under the skin. Lay the skin back over the thigh evenly and season the top of the skin, as well as the bottom of the thigh. Place on prepared baking sheet and bake at 450 degrees F for 30 minutes, or until juices run clear. (Adjust time for smaller or larger thighs.) Let rest 5 minutes before serving. Note: Baking at this high of a heat crisps up the chicken skin nicely!
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, combine butter and olive oil over a medium-high heat until hot. Add chopped mushrooms and onions. Saute 5-7 minutes or until onions are just turning translucent. Add garlic, sage and tarragon, cooking an additional 1-2 minutes. Sprinkle flour over vegetables, stirring to coat, and cook 3 more minutes. Whisk in chicken broth, Worcestershire and heavy cream (which is optional, it just lends a little more creaminess to it). Continue whisking over medium-high heat until sauce thickens. Turn to a low heat and whisk in sherry. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste. (If you use a cooking sherry, it's salted and you may not require much more salt in the sauce.) Remove from heat and serve over baked chicken.
It's been a little while since I've posted a Rancid Recipe (such a delicious sounding title, to be sure). Today's music selection was inspired by a dream I recently had that Tim Armstrong and I were taking a class on identifying Hollywood celebrities. We both failed miserably, told the instructor that it was a bullshit class, and left to watch the movie "High Fidelity" with my brother. I don't know what the dream means, but it put me into a Tim Armstrong music kick: Op Ivy, Transplants, Tim Timebomb & Friends, his solo stuff, and of course, Rancid. Apparently, they knew from the very first show what it was all about.
The idea for this recipe popped into my head about a month ago, transformed a lot during late
nights of intoxication, Food Network, and conversation, and finally came into existence splendidly last night. Do you have any idea how tickled I am when a recipe from scratch turns out perfectly with no need for alterations?! Of course you don't, because you're not dining in my house (but perhaps you SHOULD be, Rancid members?) The stranger in my head does a little dance when this happens and there was dancing last night, by glob! It's a little time consuming (the recipe, not the dancing in my head), but well worth the time! The combination of mushrooms, onions and apples was killer!
I think some of the ingredients in this recipe need a little explanation, though. It does contain wild rice, as the title states, and I learned something - there is no correct way to cook wild rice. I got mine out of the bulk bin at my local co-op and followed the instructions on the dispenser: 2 cups liquid to 1 cup wild rice. I did exactly that, and the rice came out a little crunchy. I loved it. Justin didn't care for the consistency at all. So researching wild rice, I found that different suppliers process it differently and you can't always cook two different brands the same way. Basically, it's preference. Do you like it crunchy or do you want to cook it until the rice bursts open and is softer. Your call. You have to just follow the instructions on the one you purchase and adjust according to your preference.
The lion's mane mushrooms are my next ingredient to discuss. These obviously are not sold in your local supermarket (as Food Network often likes to tell its watchers about exotic foods). We can sometimes find them in our co-op or local organic stores, but we mostly buy them in the summer at our local farmers markets. And while you could use regular button mushrooms, crimini or portabello mushrooms for this recipe, there's no way you're going to get the same flavour out of them. Lion's mane was first described to us as having a lobster flavour. If you look them up on Wiki, it says when cooked, they have the consistency of seafood. Well, I sort of agree and disagree with both. Once that's in your head, that's what you think of (and now I put it in your head), but really, I'd just say they have a very rich, earthy flavour. They're awesome. If you like mushrooms and have never tried these, seek them out. It'll be worth it.
And so we move on to the musical stylings of my favourite band, Rancid, bringing us their song, "Last One To Die". As they wrap up their tour (which we very sadly don't get to see, again, because we're poor and live behind the Redwood Curtain) and prepare for a new album to come out, I think to myself - maybe they will be the last ones to die. -jen
3/4 cup oyster mushrooms (you can use all lion's mane if you like)
1 cup yellow onion, diced (about 1/2 of a large onion)
2 cups apple, peeled and diced (about 2 medium apples of your preference - sour or sweet, either would be tasty)
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
salt and pepper to taste
Rinse wild rice to remove loose hulls and strain the water out. In a medium sauce pan, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium-high heat. Add rice and brown, stirring frequently for 2-3 minutes. Add water and stir in chicken base, sage, tarragon, celery salt and black pepper. Bring just to a boil, then put a lid on the pan and lower the heat to a simmer. Cook without removing the lid or stirring for 50 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest for 10 minutes. (If you don't like crunchy wild rice, you may want to use 1 more cup of water, 1 more teaspoon chicken base, and a little more of each herb) and cook until the rice grains burst, about 60 minutes, then drain any remaining water from rice.)
While rice cooks, in a large saute pan or skillet, heat 3 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil over a medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, onion, and apples. Saute for about 7 minutes, or until the onion becomes slightly translucent. Add sage, tarragon and salt and pepper (I used about 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 a teaspoon black pepper), and cook for a few more minutes. Remove from heat and add mixture to wild rice.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, F. Carefully cut a pocket into the pork chops with a sharp knife,
making sure not to open the ends or the back side. Place each chop into a gallon-sized Ziplock bag and pound flat.
Season the outside of the pork chop (both sides) with salt and pepper. Drizzle a little olive oil on a sheet pan (we always cover ours with foil for easy clean up.) Stuff each pork chop with as much of the wild rice stuffing as it will hold and carefully lay the stuffed chop on the baking sheet. Place in the oven and cook at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes, depending on the thickness of your chop. Best to use a meat thermometer and cook until pork reaches 140 degrees F, then let rest. The carry-over will bring it to a safe 145 degrees.
Here's the thing about this recipe - you can go all out and do the whole thing: marinated chicken, whiskey caramelized onions and mushrooms, whiskey cheese sauce, and it'll take a few hours, but be well worth it! Or... you can only go half ass and make it quick! You could just marinate the chicken and bake it, easy enough. You could make the onions and mushrooms to stuff in the chicken breast, and pass on the cheese sauce. Or throw the whiskey onions and mushrooms on a burger. You could just make the cheese sauce to go on some veggies, or nachos, or pasta or whatever you want to put cheese sauce on. I'm trying to say it's versatile! And only as complicated as you want to make it. But it was smokey and rich... delicious.
I could see this being good with a variety of whiskeys. I used Jameson, because that's what we like to drink. Jack would be good. Use whatever you like to drink... and I highly suggest shots while cooking.
So tunes to go with it... some SoCal punk we were just introduced to and really enjoying - The Sparring. Check out their Facebook page for tour dates, news and new music! But first... enjoy their video for "Straitjacket". -jen
1-2 teaspoons minced garlic, depending on taste (we love garlic)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
a few good cranks of fresh cracked black pepper
4-6 chicken breasts
2 cups Whiskey Caramelized Onions And Mushrooms (see recipe below)
2 cups shredded Smoked Gouda cheese
Whisk all ingredients together. Butterfly chicken breasts and place one at a time in a Ziploc bag and using a mallet or bottom of a sauce pan, pound the chicken out to 1/4" thick. Then place all the butterflied breasts into the Ziploc and add the marinade. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (for quick clean up) and coat foil with non-stick cooking spray. Lay the butterflied chicken breasts open on the foil and on one half of the breast, sprinkle a layer of smoked Gouda. Top with a big mound (about 1/2 a cup) of the caramelized onions and mushrooms, then sprinkle another layer of Gouda on top. Fold the breast the other half over the stuffing like a taco. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until chicken has reached 265 degrees. Cooking time is going to vary depending on size of chicken breasts. (We use a leave-in thermometer, they're awesome.)
WHISKEY CARAMELIZED ONIONS AND MUSHROOMS Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 30-40 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Yields: about 4 cups
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, julienned
16oz of sliced crimini mushrooms
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced ginger
3 shots of whiskey
Heat butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add onions and mushrooms, Worcestershire, brown sugar and pepper flakes. Toss to coat, then let cook for about 10 minutes, stirring once or twice. When onions start browning, turn heat to low and add garlic, ginger and whiskey. Let cook an additional 20 minutes or until all liquid has evaporated and onions have caramelized, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
(If you're going to make the cheese sauce below, you can remove the caramelized onions and mushrooms and just use the same skillet - no need to even rinse it out. That's flavour!)
WHISKEY AND SMOKED GOUDA CHEESE SAUCE
Time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Yields: about 2 cups
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 and 1/2 shots whiskey (divided)
1 pint (2 cups) heavy cream
1 cup chopped Caramelized Onions and Mushrooms (optional)
dash of cayenne pepper, depending on taste
1.5 cups shredded smoked Gouda cheese
salt and pepper
In a skillet or sauce pan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add flour and whisk for 3-5 minutes. Whisk in 1/2 a shot of whiskey and heavy cream. Add Caramelized Onions and Mushrooms (if you choose to) and cayenne. Continue stirring until sauce begins to thicken. Once thickened, turn off heat and stir in shredded cheese, one handful at a time, until melted. Stir in 1 shot of whiskey. Add salt and pepper to taste if needed.
I like my creamy soups real thick... like a gravy! Justin, however, prefers his a bit thinner, and that's how we usually make them. This time around, I decided I was in the mood for a thick-ass soup. Really, this could simply be used as a chicken pot pie filling if you wanted, because that's pretty much what it is. Ohhhh... but it was so good! I think I need to heat up some leftovers while I type this up.
You'll note that I used frozen peas & carrots in the recipe, when everything else is fresh. I purposefully did this simply because the frozen peas and carrots ALWAYS make me think about pot pies... that 1950s retro thing, I dunno. I also wanted to be really productive and bake some pie crust to sprinkle on top, but I got lazy (and intoxicated) and went with crumbled crackers instead. And lastly, it seemed like a pain to write this in the recipe, but it calls for 1 cup + 2 tbsp butter. Well, I actually used the chicken fat from baking chicken for those last 2 tablespoons instead of butter, to help lend a little extra chicken awesomeness to it.
NOFX's "Mattersville" came to mind as I was thinking of how homey this
soup was. I haven't thought about this song in a little while, it makes
me laugh. -jen
CHICKEN POT PIE SOUP Time: 45 minutes Difficulty: Medium Yields: About 12 cups
Bonus pic! Deformed bell pepper with alien pods bursting
open inside of it!
1 cup + 2 tablespoons butter
1 large orange bell pepper, minced (about 1 cup)
1 medium yellow onion, minced (about 2 cups)
3 stalks celery, finely diced (about 1 cup)
8 oz package of mushrooms, diced
1 heaping tablespoon minced garlic
1 cup frozen peas & carrots mixed
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
2 teaspoons rubbed sage
1 teaspoon savory (it's an herb, for those of you not familiar - it's optional)
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup + 2 tablespoons flour
4 cups whole milk
4 cups chicken broth (homemade preferable for super chicken flavour!)
2 cups cooked chicken, cubed
Add salt to taste (some broths are saltier than others)
In a large stockpot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper, onion, celery, mushrooms, garlic, peas & carrots. Cook until tender (about 10 minutes with that many veggies). Add thyme, sage, savory, paprika, white pepper, cayenne pepper and lemon juice. Stir in flour, coating all the veggies, and cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes. (It will be paste-like.) Add the milk and broth all at once and whisk until the roux (flour/butter paste) is fully broken down and there are no flour lumps. Continue stirring until the soup just begins to boil, then turn heat to low and add chicken. Taste soup at this point and add more salt if necessary. Remove from heat and serve with crumbled crackers on top.
So this is an older recipe from five or six years back that we decided to resurrect and revitalize. My brother, Drew, always raved about this one since it's creamy, cheesy, pasta goodness with some awesomely spiced chicken so this remake is for him. I used some penne that I had around the house but you could use some fettuccine or whatever you prefer. Also, the mushrooms and sun dried tomatoes are optional and can be added in quantities to your liking or not at all if that's what you prefer.
For musical accompaniment, The Vandals with Urban Struggle. Cause it's the Vandals, that's why. - justin
BLACKENED CHICKEN ALFREDO Prep time: 20min Cook time: 25 min Difficulty: Medium Serves: 4-6
Enough water to boil 1 lb of noodles
1lb of noodles
1 lb boneless skinless chicken cut into 1 inch cubes or thin strips
1 tbs blackened seasoning
4 tbsp butter
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1 cup diced yellow or white onion
1/4 cup diced sun-dried tomatoes
2 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 cup white wine (I used a pino grigio)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon zest
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 tsp Kosher salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 cup shaved or shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 chopped green onions
Toss the chicken and the blackened seasoning together in a gallon ziplock and set in the fridge. This can actually be done as early as the day before cooking if you really want to get those flavors in there.
Salt your pasta water generously and bring it to a rolling boil and add your pasta of choice. Bring it back up to a boil and drop it to a low boil for 10 min, or until al dente. Drain and set aside.
When you drop the noodles in the water, bring a cast iron pan up to heat over a medium burner and add 2 tbsp of the butter and let it melt. Add your chicken that had been sitting in the blackened seasoning and let it blacken. The milk solids in the butter, along with the spices in the seasoning, will turn dark and blacken as the chicken cooks. Try not to move it around too much before the surface touching the skillet has time to caramelize a bit. If it doesn't blacken completely, don't fret. You're going to smother it in alfredo later anyway and it's going to taste awesome so no worries.
When your chicken has cooked, remove and set aside. Return the pan to the heat and add the mushrooms, onions, and sun-dried tomatoes. Saute for 3 minutes or until onions become translucent. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute more. Add the wine, lemon juice, and lemon zest and simmer for 5 minutes, using a spatula or wooden spoon to scrape up all the brown bits from the bottom of the skillet. Add the chicken that was set aside, the heavy cream, kosher salt, and ground black pepper and bring the heat up till the cream is at a low boil. Allow it to reduce by 1/3.
After the cream sauce has reduced and thickened, kill the heat, stir in the butter, Parmesan and the pasta. Mix well and allow the pasta to absorb some of that sauce. Serve it up with the chopped green onions served on top and with a couple of slices of the sun dried tomato if you like!
We should have carved our traditional pumpkins last night because it was Halloween, but instead, I ended up carving up a Red Kuri squash. Actually, I didn't carve it up, because I couldn't get my damn knife through the thing! So I had to wait for Justin to get home from work to cut it for me. There was intoxication involved and I figured I should give up while I was ahead and still had all my fingers. Those suckers are thick (the squash, not my fingers... or maybe my fingers too)!
Thoughts on Red Kuri squash: my favourite squash we've tried so far! I had to taste it after roasting it for the soup, and with just some olive oil, salt and pepper, it had this rich, delicious, buttery flavour. Not as sweet as some squash is, and I knew it was going to be perfect in soup.
Exploring different types of squash this fall has been a lot of fun, and this Red Kuri's been sitting on our table, waiting to be used. Squash-leek soup sounded great, but I didn't really want the thickness of traditional squash soup, I wanted a thinner, brothy soup. I just happened to have the other veggies in the fridge and they needed to get used up, but they were a really great addition, I liked having something to chew instead of a smooth soup and I would definitely recommend them (though you could easily leave them out if you chose). If you're looking for a thicker soup, you could very easily just cut the chicken broth back by half (or more, depending on the consistency you're looking for). The soup was quick and basic, but perfect for the cold, wet night we had. I wanted it to have just a little heat in it, so I used some white pepper and cayenne pepper, but if you're not into heat, you can leave them out.
I've been on an Against Me! kick for the last two weeks, and I had several of their albums thrown on my playlist on repeat while making this... so it was a no brainer for music! This is one of mine and Justin's all-time favourites, "What We Worked For". -jen
RED KURI SQUASH-LEEK SOUP Prep Time: 1 hr, 15 minutes Cook Time: 5-10 minutes
Difficulty: Medium
1 Red Kuri squash
olive oil
salt & black pepper
8-oz crimini mushrooms, diced
1 orange bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup very small broccoli florets
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 large leeks, greens removed and whites diced
2 quarts chicken stock (or vegetable stock if you prefer)
1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Quarter the squash and remove seeds and membrane. Rub enough olive oil over the exposed flesh to coat, and then generously salt and pepper them. Bake at 425 degrees for one hour. Set aside. Remove skin when squash has cooled enough to handle.
In a stock pot, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, bell pepper, broccoli and minced garlic. Saute until softened, 5-7 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
Heat 2 more tablespoons of olive oil in same stock pot, over medium-high heat. Add leeks and saute until tender, 10-12 minutes. Puree leeks, squash and broth together. (If you have an immersion blender, you can add squash and broth to pot and blend. If not, remove leeks from pan and place in a blender with the squash and enough broth to puree, then pour back into stock pot with any remaining broth.) Add the sauteed mushrooms, pepper and broccoli. Stir in sage, white pepper and cayenne pepper. Heat to serve.
In keeping with Justin's summer theme on the last post, I made this fantastic summery vegetable salad with a homemade Italian dressing. I'd been feeling like raw veggies lately, and one thing with veggie salad is that it's usually cut into large pieces that you can fit two, maybe three veggies on the fork. I wanted this salad chopped a little smaller so that I got all the flavours with every bite. It reminds me of a large-chopped relish. But it was really good... especially after it sat refrigerated overnight. And it's versatile! The first night, we just ate it in a bowl. The next night, we sprinkled it onto lettuce greens. I was thinking it might be tasty warmed and served on crustini, too!
When we make olive oil and vinegar based dressings, we usually just whisk all the ingredients together and you get big bits of dried herbs. It's always good, but I was thinking about the dressing packets you can buy at the store, so I took all my dry dressing ingredients and blended them into a fine powder with our herb grinder and then used the stick blender to blend it into the oil. It came out good, so you could do it that way... but for the ease of those without herb grinders or stick blenders, I posted regular blender instructions
As soon as I started thinking about posting this salad as a summer salad, I got The Atari's "Boys of Summer" song stuck in my head. Well really, it's Don Henley's song, I guess, but it's their version that got stuck on repeat. It's a little poppy... but so was the original, and I still like that one too. :P -jen
ITALIAN CHOPPED SALAD WITH DRESSING Time: 15-20 minutes prep Difficulty: Can you handle a knife? Serves: About 6, as a side dish
3 medium zucchinis (about 2 cups), large dice
2 carrots, large dice
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1 orange bell pepper, large dice
1 cup crimini mushrooms (about 7), large dice
1 medium shallot, diced
3 green onions, diced
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 and 1/2 cups mozzarella (12oz), diced
1/2 cup rough chopped green or kalamata olives
1 can (15oz) garbanzo beans, drained
1 can (15oz) red kidney beans
3 teaspoons capers, drained
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 and 1/2 cups Italian Dressing (see recipe below)
1/4 cup pepperoni, diced (optional)
Place all ingredients into a large bowl. Toss with dressing. Serve at room temp. Note: I'd have put some fresh herbs in this if I'd had any on hand, but since I didn't, I didn't want to put it in the recipe. Maybe 1/4 cup chopped basil or flat leaf parsley.
ITALIAN DRESSING Time: 7 minutes Difficulty: E-Z Makes: 1.5 cups
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Accent or MSG (optional)
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup olive oil
In a blender, combine all dry ingredients and vinegars. While blending, remove the middle spout of your lid (most blender lids have these) and very slowly drizzle in the olive oil so that ingredients emulsify.
My favourite soup is Cream of Mushroom, and I made one not too long ago. It was good... but it really wasn't what I was craving. The first cream of mushroom soup was with Crimini and White Button mushrooms. It was a little on the thin side. While it was great, I was wanting something that was a little thicker like a chowder, and I knew I wanted some more hearty, flavourful mushrooms. Since our local Farmer's Market has started up, we headed to it. Tons of mushrooms grow in the redwood forests here, so we get an awesome variety to choose from. I grabbed some Lion's Mane, which the vendor said had a lobster-like flavour, and that's not a bad comparison! And we also got some Maitakis, which are also real earthy and crunchy. The Knorr's Vegetable packet that I used threw me off. I had a few sitting in the pantry for quick dips, but I wondered how it would be as a seasoning? Using such great mushrooms, I was a little hesitant to use a pre-packaged mix in the soup... afraid it'd ruin the whole thing. But I took a gamble, used it, and actually love the way it came out.
Consistency came out so perfect. It's not too thick that it's like gravy, but it's also not got that coat-your-tongue thing like heavy cream based soups. The mushrooms were all al dente and meaty. So if you like thick, rich chowdery soups, this recipe is for you. And we can't stop talking about what kind of other things we can add to it that would be awesome - adding crab or lobster would be delicious, bacon would be great, some roasted poblano pepper would give it a southwest taste. It'd be perfect for a clam chowder, just add potatoes and clams and maybe some celery. And if you like the thinner soups, our Cream of Mushroom Soup, Mark I would be the one for you!
We've had a Swingin' Utters album playing in the car all week, and
Justin's been digging on this song a lot, so it's been running through
both of our heads - "Next In Line". -jen
CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP, MARK II
Top Left - Maitaki, Top Right - Lion's Mane, Bottom - Crimini
8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
1/2 pound Crimini mushrooms, chopped
1/2 pound Lion's Mane mushrooms, chopped
1/2 pound Maitaki mushrooms, chopped
2 medium shallots, diced (about 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup flour
4 teaspoons wet chicken base
4 cups water
1 cup Half & Half
1 packet Knorr Vegetable Recipe Mix, 1.4oz
2 tablespoons dry sherry
dash of cayenne pepper (optional)
1/4 teaspoon Accent/msg (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
In a stock pot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and shallots. Saute until tender, 5-7 minutes. Sprinkle flour over vegetables and stir until incorporated. Cook for 5 minutes.
Add chicken base to mixture, then whisk in water, Half & Half, and Knorr Vegetable packet. Turn heat to high and stir constantly until soup has thickened. Remove from heat and stir in sherry, cayenne, and Accent. Add salt and pepper to taste.
I guess we've been in a soup mood lately. Cream of Mushroom is one of my favourites and I'd been wanting to make a batch for a while. This batch I decided to do thinner than usual because I wasn't feeling like a gravy-esque soup, just something brothy and a little creamy.
I don't know why this song got stuck in my head when I was thinking of what to play. And so... with no connection whatsoever to Cream of Mushroom soup, here's Camper Van Beethoven with "Take the Skinheads Bowling". I could only find one link to the original video! They didn't even have it on Youtube, very odd! -jen
CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP
4 tablespoons butter
6 ounces crimini mushrooms, chopped
6 ounces button mushrooms, chopped
1 shallot, finely diced
1/2 red bell pepper, finely diced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
4 tablespoons flour
4 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons sherry
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dry thyme
1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup heavy cream
In large sauce pan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Saute crimini and button mushrooms, shallot, bell pepper and garlic until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Stir in flour and cook another 3 minutes. Add chicken broth and whisk until flour is dissolved. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Soup should thicken. Then add sherry, Worcestershire, thyme, sage, and cream. Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for another 5 minutes and serve.
I love making stuffed mushrooms all kinds of different ways! Mushrooms rock! Usually I do a crab-cheese-breadcrumb stuffing, but last night we had some leftover spinach in the freezer and I was thinking of going a little creamy with it. I've tried doing creamy stuffed 'shrooms before using cream cheese, but I didn't really care for the way it came out... a little too rich and stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth. Thinking there must be a better way, I tried a bechamel and cheese sauce and I loved how these came out! They might even be better than the crab stuffed 'shrooms! Oh man... now I'll have to try making crab and spinach stuffed mushrooms using this recipe!!!
How about a little Face to Face doing a cover of Popeye! Eats your spinach! -jen
1.5 cups frozen spinach, thawed (squeeze all the juice out! Do it!)
2-3 tablespoons fresh, chopped basil (love having the AeroGarden!)
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
non-stick cooking spray
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.
Using your hands, gently tug the mushroom stems away from the caps, careful not to break the caps, and dice the stems finely. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over a medium-high heat and saute the mushroom stems, diced shallots and garlic until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 3 minutes. Quickly pour in the milk and whisk to remove all lumps. Continue whisking until sauce becomes thick, another 3-5 minutes. Add the cayenne pepper and salt and pepper to taste (I think I used about a teaspoon of salt and probably 1/2 a teaspoon of black pepper.)
Once the sauce has thickened, remove from heat and add about 1/2 of the shredded Fontina, stirring until the cheese is entirely melted. Stir in the spinach and the basil until entirely incorporated, then add the remainder of the cheese and set aside.
In a small bowl, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in the microwave. Add the Panko to the melted butter and toss until entirely coated.
Spoon the spinach mixture into the mushroom caps. Since the mixture is creamy, you don't want to go too far over the top of the cap or it will just ooze and melt when you bake it. Top each mushroom with a generous portion of bread crumbs, gently pushing the crumbs into the spinach mixture. Place mushrooms on the prepared baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes, until breadcrumbs are golden brown.
I'm a guy who loves game meat. My former father-in-law and myself used to raise chickens and rabbits for meat. We had coveys of quail that nested and fed in his backyard. Wild turkey roosted in the trees down by the river where the deer also bedded down during the heat of the day. Wild pig rooted on the hillsides up the ridge. Needless to say that I've had my fair share of game meat. Pig roasts were common for weddings or graduations and when folks took a deer or a bear, there was often a cookout that followed.
A few months back, I'd picked up a couple of whole, trimmed rabbits from a local butcher who carries them and I finally decided to pull one out and do something with it. It's been getting colder here of late and a nice hearty stew seemed like the perfect thing to do with a rabbit. I figured the slow cooker would be a perfect way to break down the meat off the bones and impart a good savory flavor to the meat as Jen isn't too fond of the "gamey" taste of many wild meats. Personally, I like it. It also helped me clean up a few leftover veggies I had sitting around and I made up some barley to serve it over. A great old-timey comfort dish. Jen said it reminded her of some sort of hunter's stew so that's what I decided to call it.
Note: If you have an aversion to eating Bambi, Thumper, or any other cute, cuddly woodland creatures, poultry may be substituted for rabbit but your cooking times will be much shorter. Probably no more than 6 hours or so.
A little Jawbreaker "West Bay Invitational" seemed apropos as I would gladly have invited everyone to the West Bay, or Humboldt since I then wouldn't have to drive, to a kick-ass party where I would serve much cerveza and plenty of rabbit stew. With kick-ass live music of course. - justin
Hunter's Stew
Time: 8-9 hours
Servings: 6-8
Difficulty: Easy
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 cup shallots, chopped
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
1 tbsp garlic, minced
2 tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp seasoned salt
1 tbsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp Chinese Five Spice
1 tsp Herbs De Provence
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
1 cup very dry sherry
1 whole 3lb rabbit, trimmed (paws, head, fur, skin, tail, and innards all removed)
1/2 cup wild rice
1/2 cup red wine
1 cup fresh scallions, chopped
1/3 cup of raisins
Thickening the Broth
Liquid from the slow cooker
1 cup chicken stock
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
Get your oil, shallots, carrots, celery, mushrooms, garlic, kosher and seasoned salts, black and cayenne peppers, Chinese Five Spice, Herbs de Provence, basil, 2 cups chicken stock, water, and dry sherry in the slow cooker and set it to low for 8 hours. Every 2 hours, turn the rabbit if the liquid doesn't cover the entire animal (we have a 7 qt slow cooker so my liquid left half my rabbit exposed). After 6 hours stir in the rice, red wine, scallions and raisins. After 7 hours, remove the rabbit and pull the meat from the bones. Most of the meat is located in the hind legs but don't forget the back straps, the shoulders, and the breasts hold a good bit of meat as well. I find the easiest way is to pull as much meat off with a fork as possible and use your hands for the rest, once the meat has cooled a little, that is.
Add the pulled meat back to the slow cooker for the last hour. When the 8 hours is up, place the butter in a skillet over medium high heat and melt. Add the flour and cook for 2 minutes or until the roux is a light brown color. Strain the liquid from the slow cooker into the skillet, add the last cup of chicken stock and whisk quickly until thickened. Add the thickened sauce/gravy back to the veggies and meat in the slow cooker and serve over rice or barley.
This came out to be such a tasty, home cookin' kinda meal! We'd just had the whole chicken in the freezer for a while, not sure what we were going to do with it. Justin had mentioned brining it. But I left work early today and decided I was cooking up a meal. We had a lot of the stuff on hand - that's often inspiration enough for us... trying to see what we can use up in the fridge and still create something fantastic. We had the garlic sourdough bread, the leftover corn bread, we had onions and lemon... so I really just picked up a few odds and ends to complete it.
Oddly, we weren't really listening to much music while cooking this tonight. So as I posted this, I had this random stream of thoughts that made their way to Rage Against the Machine's "Bulls On Parade" in a ridiculously long, out-of-the-way though process. Punk? Well, not really, though I can think of a handful of arguments on how you could call Rage punk. But I get to break my own rules whenever I want. And if I want to post some Rage, I'm gonna post some Rage! :) -jen
ROASTED SAGE CHICKEN
1 whole chicken (about 5 pounds)
1 cup sage butter (recipe below)
1/2 a lemon, quartered (use other 1/2 in butter below, zest whole lemon first)
1 large carrot stick
1/2 a medium onion, quartered
1-2 celery sticks
a handful of fresh parsley
a handful of fresh basil
salt and pepper
butcher's twine
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Make sure all innards are removed from chicken cavity. Generous salt and pepper the chicken cavity. Stuff lemon, carrot, onion, celery, parsley and basil into cavity.
Tie legs tightly together with butcher's twine. Then gently lift the skin from the chicken and using your hand, rub a generous amount of sage butter under the chicken skin. Rub remaining sage butter over entire outside of chicken. Place chicken in a roasting pan and cook for about 90 minutes, or until the breast reaches 160 degrees F and juices run clear.
SAGE BUTTER
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temp
1 heaping tablespoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons fresh sage
2 teaspoons parsley, chopped
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1/2 a lemon
several cranks of fresh cracked pepper
MUSHROOM SAGE STUFFING
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1.5 medium-sized yellow onions, chopped
3 cups roughly chopped crimini mushrooms
1 cup chopped celery
5 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt
several cranks of fresh cracked pepper
6 cups stale bread, cubed (I like 4 cups sourdough, 2 cups cornbread)
3/4 cup chicken broth
2 eggs, beaten
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Melt butter over medium-high heat and add onions, mushrooms, and celery. Saute until tender, 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in sage, parsley, salt and pepper. Set aside to cool.
In a large bowl, combine bread, chicken broth, and beaten eggs. Mix in sauted vegetables.
Pour into a buttered 9x13 baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 425 degrees F. Remove foil and continue baking for an additional 30 minutes.
This recipe makes a huge batch... you could probably half the recipe and it'd be fine, but being that I made it in a huge batch, that's the quantities I'm throwing at you. I say make a huge batch and you can freeze the leftovers to pull out later when you don't feel like cooking. That's what we do. 
