Potato Corn Chowder

My mother-in-law and her husband brought us some potatoes from Idaho last time they were in town. I've been wanting to try her Potato Corn Chowder but I couldn't get her on the phone tonight to get the recipe. I had a recipe for Summer Corn Soup I wanted to try but the corn cobs I bought had already started to mold. So this recipe is very loosely based on that. I really liked it! I knew this recipe was a keeper when I saw Bobby get up to go get seconds. He is not a huge soup fan.

Potato Corn Chowder

• 4 cups whole milk
• 1 can of corn, drained
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 1 large carrot, peeled, thinly sliced
• 1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
• 3 potatoes, peeled and diced
  
• 1 garlic clove, pressed
• 2 cups water
• 2 large fresh thyme sprigs
• 2 fresh rosemary sprigs
• 1 bay leaf
• Ground white pepper
• 4 thick bacon slices, diced
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• sour cream

Preparation

• Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; sprinkle with salt and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes (do not let onion brown). Add potatoes, carrot, celery, and garlic; cook until vegetables are soft, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes. Add 2 cups water, herb sprigs, bay leaf, and milk. Increase heat and bring to boil. Cover partially, reduce heat to low, and simmer 20 minutes to blend flavors.
• Discard herb sprigs and bay leaf. Cool soup slightly. Working in batches if necessary, puree about 2/3 of soup and add back to pot. Season soup to taste with salt and white pepper. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.

Garnish

• Cook bacon in small skillet over medium heat until crisp. Using slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain. Transfer to small bowl. Mix in pinch of cayenne. DO AHEAD Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.
• Rewarm soup over medium heat. Divide among bowls. Sprinkle garnish over, top with a small dollop of sour cream, and serve.

Lemon Chicken Noodle Soup

I found a recipe online for a lemony chicken noodle soup. I loved the idea, but wasn't crazy about the recipe as it was written, so I decided to adapt my favorite chicken noodle soup recipe from my friend Annie. I love the way it turned out!!

Lemon Chicken Noodle Soup

3 chicken breasts (or 1 whole chicken)

2 cans chicken broth

3 stalks celery – chopped

½ onion – chopped

parsley (I use about 1 tsp.- can add more or less)

thyme (I use about 1 tsp.- can add more or less)

salt and pepper

1 tsp. fresh garlic

2-3 cubes chicken bouillon

4 carrots – chopped (can add more)

frozen peas (as many or as few as you want)

8-10 oz. home-style wide noodles (can use cooked rice instead)

zest of one lemon

juice of 1/2 lemon

red pepper flakes (to taste)

1 can cream of chicken soup

Place the 3 chicken breasts in a large pot and cover with chicken broth and 3-4 cups water. Add celery, onion, carrots, parsley, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes. Remove chicken and shred it before returning it to the pot. Add 2 or 3 cubes chicken bouillon, carrots, frozen peas, noodles (or cooked rice), lemon zest and juice, red pepper flakes, and cream of chicken soup. Heat through.

Cream of Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese

My mom used to make me Campbell's Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese when I was a little girl. And I remember eating it once or twice at my best friend Annie's house. Her mom Phyllis has always been so good to me. So I have wonderful memories of this dinner as a kid when it was a bit chilly outside.

So when I saw this recipe for Cream of Tomato Soup on Smitten Kitchen, well, I knew it was just what I was looking for.

This recipe was in fact "adapted" from the recipe I found on Smitten Kitchen, but in no way do I believe it to be an improvement. I used garlic instead of shallots. I had garlic on hand, not shallots. I think shallots would have been better. I skipped adding the brandy or sherry that is called for in the recipe, and I believe I used light brown sugar instead of dark brown. Sometimes it's just not worth an extra trip to the store, you know what I'm saying? For the grilled cheese I used sourdough bread purchased the day before from Panera (OH YEAH.) and medium cheddar cheese.

Cream of Tomato Soup
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

2 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes packed in juice, drained, 3 cups juice reserved
1 1/2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tsp minced fresh garlic
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Pinch ground allspice
2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups chicken stock, homemade or canned low-sodium
1/2 cup heavy cream
Salt and cayenne pepper

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 450°F. Lined rimmed baking sheet with foil. With fingers, carefully open whole tomatoes over strainer set in bowl and push out seeds, allowing juices to fall through strainer into bowl. Spread seeded tomatoes in single layer on foil. Sprinkle evenly with brown sugar. Bake until all liquid has evaporated and tomatoes begin to color, about 30 minutes. Let tomatoes cool slightly, then peel them off foil; transfer to small bowl and set aside.

2. Heat butter over medium heat in large saucepan until foaming. Add garlic, tomato paste and allspice. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until shallots are softened, 7 to 10 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, until thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds. Gradually add chicken stock, whisking constantly to combine; stir in reserved tomato juice and roasted tomatoes. Cover, increase heat to medium, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, to blend flavors, about 10 minutes.

3. Pour mixture through strainer* and into medium bowl; rinse out saucepan. Transfer tomatoes and solids in strainer to blender; add 1 cup strained liquid and puree until smooth. Place pureed mixture and remaining strained liquid in saucepan. Add cream and warm over low heat until hot, about 3 minutes. Off heat, stir in salt and cayenne. Serve immediately. (Soup can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Warm over low heat until hot; do not boil.)

I also recently learned how to can. I mean to make a post about my recent canning efforts complete with recipes, but I make no promises. Only because typically when I promise to write about something on this blog, I don't follow through. Anyway, this applesauce recipe is so awesome! If I'm not careful, we could burn through all this applesauce in a week. And I used a lot of apples for this!

Autumn Apple Sauce
found on Epicurious

I used mostly McIntosh, with a few of the following: Granny Smith, Gala, Honeycrisp.

8 assorted apples (i.e., Rome, McIntosh, Royal Gala, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, and Red Delicious)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 cup fresh apple cider
1/2 cup sugar
1 cinnamon stick (3 inches long)

1. Peel, core and cut the apples into large chunks, tossing them with the lemon juice to prevent discoloration.

2. Place the apples and remaining ingredients in a large, heavy pot; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover partially and cook until apples are very tender, about 15 minutes. Uncover the pot and cook 5 minutes more.

3. Remove the pot from the heat and discard the cinnamon stick. Coarsely mash the apples with the cooking juices. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate, covered, until ready to use, up to 5 days.

Then I just processed them using a water bath canner for fifteen minutes.

Roasted Red Pepper and Potato Soup

I stumbled across a recipe that my friend Erin of The Sisters' Cafe brought to cooking club years ago. I remember I loved it and filed it away to use later. Well, I made it tonight for dinner and it was even better than I remember. I had to make some changes when I found that I was out of coriander and forgot to purchase cilantro. I liked it so much I may just keep making it this way!

I thought that my kids might get kick out of the bread bowls. They did, but not enough to want to eat the soup. So I spent most of my dinner hour negotiating bites with both daughters. But that's really no different than any other night. Sigh. Bobby loved it, though. I REALLY loved it. I ate about three servings! Should have bought the 1/3-less fat variety of cream cheese!

Roasted Red Pepper and Potato Soup
adapted from Erin's recipe in the 2nd SAA cookbook

1/2 large onion, chopped
2 T oil
1 jar roasted red peppers (undrained, chopped)
1 T jarred jalapeno slices, minced
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
(erin's recipe called for 1 tsp coriander, which I had to leave out)
5 diced peeled red potatoes
32 oz. chicken broth
2 T minced Italian parsley (recipe called for cilantro
1 T lemon juice
8 oz. cream cheese

Saute onions, roasted red peppers, chilies, cumin, (coriander), and salt in oil. Cook, and stir for 2 minutes. Stir in diced potatoes and broth. Birng to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Stir in parsley (or cilantro, if using) and lemon juice. Cool slightly. Put half of soup mixture in blender with all of the cream cheese. Blend until smooth. Return blended mixture back into the soup and reheat.

Mmmm... Gazpacho

Gazpacho

Ingredients

• 1 hothouse cucumber, halved and seeded, but not peeled
• 2 red bell peppers, cored and seeded
• 4 plum tomatoes
• 1 red onion
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 23 ounces tomato juice (3 cups)
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup good olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Roughly chop the cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and red onions into 1-inch cubes. Put each vegetable separately into a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. Do not overprocess!

After each vegetable is processed, combine them in a large bowl and add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix well and chill before serving. The longer gazpacho sits, the more the flavors develop.

Potato Leek Soup

Delicious! Served these with parmesan toasts- also from Ina's new cookbook.

Roasted Potato Leek Soup
Serves 6 to 8

From "Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics," by Ina Garten

2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch chunks
4 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts, cleaned of all sand (4 leeks)
1/4 cup good olive oil
-- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 cups baby arugula, lightly packed (I used frozen spinach actually, thawed and drained)
1/2 cup dry white wine + extra for serving
6 to 7 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
3/4 cup heavy cream
8 ounces creme fraiche (I used sour cream, since I can't creme fraiche in my area)
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese + extra for garnish
-- Crispy Shallots, optional (see recipe)
Instructions: Preheat oven to 400°.

Combine the potatoes and leeks on a pan in a single layer. Add the olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and toss to coat the vegetables evenly. Roast for 40-45 minutes, turning them with a spatula a few times during cooking, until very tender. Add the arugula and toss to combine. Roast for 4-5 more minutes, until the arugula is wilted. Remove the pan from the oven and place over two burners. Stir in the wine and 1 cup of the chicken stock and cook over low heat, scraping up any crispy roasted bits sticking to the pan.

In batches, transfer the roasted vegetables to a food processor fitted with the steel blade, adding the pan liquid and about 5 cups of the chicken stock to make a puree. Pour the puree into a large pot or Dutch oven. Continue to puree the vegetables in batches until they're all done and combined in the large pot. Add enough of the remaining 1 to 2 cups of stock to make a thick soup. Add the cream, cream fraiche, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper and check the seasonings.

When ready to serve, reheat the soup gently and whisk in 2 tablespoons white wine and the Parmesan cheese. Serve hot with an extra grating of Parmesan cheese and Crispy Shallots, if using.


Crispy Shallots (I didn't make these because I forgot to buy shallots at the store, but I bet they would have tasted wonderful!)
Makes about 1/2 cup


1 1/2 cups olive oil or vegetable oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 to 6 shallots, peeled and sliced into thin rings
Instructions: Heat the oil and butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat until it reaches 220° on a candy thermometer.

Reduce the heat to low, add the shallots, and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, until they are a rich golden brown. The temperature should stay below 260 degrees. Stir the shallots occasionally to make sure they brown evenly. Remove them from the oil with a slotted spoon, drain well and spread out to cool on paper towels. Once they have dried and crisped, they can be stored at room temperature, covered, for several days

Hungarian Goulash

I spent a week in Budapest in 1999 when I was on my study abroad trip. Dr. Peer took us for delicious Hungarian goulash and I've been looking for a decent and authentic recipe ever since. I thought this one looked promising. I was really happy with the outcome, but unfortunately I can't even remember what it tasted like when I had it. 1999 was a long time ago!

The pictures look like crap. I tried to improve them, but I think I ended up making them look worse! I love the idea of dumplings in a hearty stew. They are delicious. I think it's really important to have decent paprika. I used a small food processor to grind the caraway seeds, but they never got very fine. I found the recipe from simply recipes, and she insists that once you drop the dumplings into the stew and cover the pot with the lid, you don't even think about lifting that lid for 15 minutes or it's all over!

HUNGARIAN GOULASH
Goulash

• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 4 cups onions, thinly sliced
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tbsp caraway seeds, toasted and ground
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sweet Hungarian paprika
• 1 teaspoon spicy Hungarian paprika
• 2 Tbsp minced fresh marjoram leaves
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 Tbsp tomato paste
• 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 1/2 pounds chuck roast, cut into 2-inch cubes (remove excess fat)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Dumplings

• 2 cups cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 Tbsp melted butter

1 In a large covered sauté pan, heat the olive oil and sauté the onions and sugar until caramelized. Add the garlic and caraway seed. Cook another minute.

2 Add the sweet and spicy paprika, marjoram, thyme and bay leaf. Sauté another minute, until fragrant.

3 Add the tomato paste. Deglaze with the vinegar and the stock and add the pieces of beef, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Cover and cook until very tender, about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

4 To prepare the dumplings, sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Combine with the milk and melted butter, mixing lightly. After the stew has cooked until tender in step 3, drop the dumpling batter by (heaping) teaspoonfuls into the simmering stew. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Once you have covered the pan, do not uncover while the dumplings are cooking! In order for them to be light and fluffy, they must steam. If you uncover the pan, the steam will escape and the dumplings will boil instead. After 15 minutes, test the dumplings with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean, the dumplings are done.

Serves 4 to 6