Fun Mexican Tortilla Soup

  The 'fun' lies in that I served this with tostadas rather than tortilla strips. Wahoo! I get my kicks in the most simplistic of ways. But my kids had fun dipping and crunching the tostada into the soup. They did not, however care for chopped avocado-- that was optional (but delicious to the adult palate).



8 cups chicken broth
1, 14 oz can chopped tomatoes, with juice
3 boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 poblano chili pepper, charred or roasted to remove skin, chopped fine
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
a very small pinch cinnamon
Salt to taste
1, 15 oz can pinto beans
5 green onions, sliced thin
Handful of chopped cilantro

1 avocado, cubed with lime squeezed over top
Shredded sharp cheddar or Mexican cheese
8 tostadas

  1) Char or roast the pepper, stick into a Tupperware, cover tightly and allow to steam the skin from the pepper. Remove the skin and chop.

2) Pour the chicken broth and tomatoes into a large soup pot and slip the chicken breasts in. Bring to a simmer and cook until the chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Remove the chicken and set aside to cool.

3) Add the chopped pepper, cumin, oregano and cinnamon to the soup and simmer. Taste and season with salt. Chop the chicken into small dice. Just before serving, add the beans, green onions and cilantro, bring to a simmer and serve. Top with cheese and avocado and a tostada.

Serves 6

Vegan Chili (and you would never know it)

Snowed in for the past few days, I was making due with what I could find stashed away in the cupboards and freezer. Chili seems appropriate, but I had no ground meat. I riffled through the freezer and, way at the bottom beneath a half used bag of petite pois, I found Morning Star Farms Ground Vegetarian Beef. 


I have used this in Shepard's Pie before and had great success with it. Luckily, it worked in this recipe, too-- after a day of sledding, the kids licked their bowls clean.


1tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large onion, diced
2 fat cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 pound vegan ground (minced) beef
1 bottle amber beer (I used Saranac, Sam Adams would be good, or Bass Ale in the UK)
1/2 square (1/2 ounce/15 grams) unsweetened chocolate
28 ounce/795 grams tin crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cups/450 ml water
2 beef or vegetable bullion cubes
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoon chili powder
dash of oregano
dash of thyme
14 ounce/400 grams tin red kidney beans, lightly drained
Crushed red pepper flakes to taste (optional)
Sea salt to taste

1) Heat the oil in a large pot, add in the onion and garlic, cook until soft then add in the vegan beef and cook for just a moment. Now add in the beer and bring to a simmer then add in the unsweetened chocolate and allow to melt. Stir, then add in the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, water and bouillon cubes, and all the spices, just not the beans, red pepper flakes, or salt. Bring to a simmer, lower the heat so that it just occasionally bubbles. Cook uncovered for at least 30 minutes, but up to several hours (just watch the liquid level and add more water of needed). 30 minutes before serving, pour in the beans, continue to cook then season with red pepper flakes and sea salt, if needed.

I served with Fritos, shredded sharp cheddar cheese and plain yogurt (rather than sour cream)-- although this changed it from vegan to lacto-ovo, it was still pretty tasty.


Makes 6 bowls.

3 Bean Soup with Kale

I love any sort of bean soup: Brazilian black bean, classic navy bean, Mexican pinto bean, Italian cannellini or middle eastern chickpea-- I love them all, indiscriminately, regardless of their ethnicity-- I'm super open-minded like that.

To this bean soup I added a bunch of chopped kale. It made the soup prettier, tastier and way healthier. My four kids didn't mind the kale a bit and gobbled down the soup, with big crusty wedges of buttered bread, for dinner last night.

Because I always forget to soak my beans over night, and don't like to use canned beans in soups, I am giving this recipe starting with dried beans. If you would rather use canned, do by substituting 4, 14 oz cans beans for the 1 pound dried. Or, if you are really good, soak the beans overnight and start the recipe at step 2.

1 pound/half kilo mixed, dried beans, picked through
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 fat carrot, chopped
1 big baking potato, peeled (or not) and chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium onion (any color), peeled and chopped
1 red bell pepper, trimmed and chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste (puree)
2 twigs fresh rosemary plus one fresh bay leaf, tied with butchers twine
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
4 cups kale, stems removed, leaves chopped
Stock or water to cover by 3 to 4 inches (several quarts)
14 ounces/380 grams sausage-- any type you like-- I used a smoked sausage, chopped into small pieces

1) Prep the beans: Place them into a large stock pot and cover in water by six inches. Bring to a simmer (not a boil) and cook gently for 1 hour. Drain and begin soup recipe.

2) Place everything except the kale and sausage into a large stock pot. Cover with stock or water by three inches, cover and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for 1 hour this way, then add in the chopped kale and sausage and simmer for 30 minutes longer. Remove the rosemary and bay-leaf, then mash the soup with a potato masher to break everything up slightly, not pureeing it. Taste to see if it needs salt. Serve with crusty bread.

Makes 10-12 servings

Crockpot Chicken Chili

This is simple and makes your house smell delicious! Great for parties or for when you will be out most of the day. If you don't have a slow cooker, simmer very gently (covered) on the stove top for a couple of hours.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion (any color), minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds/1 kilo ground chicken
1 pound/500 grams spicy chicken sausage (squeezed from their casing like toothpaste) Make sure it is raw, not smoked or partially cooked-- it should be squishy.
3, 4-oz/122 grams tins chopped green chillies, mild or spicy, not drained
1 pound/500 grams fresh or tinned tomatillos, chopped
3 teaspoons cumin powder

1 pint chicken stock

3 tablespoons Wondra or regular flour
2, 15oz/420 grams tins white beans (canellini, navy, northern, garbanzo) not drained

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro/coriander

Pickled jalapenos, chopped
Sharp white cheddar, shredded
Fritos or tortilla chips

1) Turn the crock pot on high. In a very large pan, saute the onion and garlic in olive oil for just a minute or two then add in the ground chicken and chicken sausage-- breaking the meat up as you go. You are simply getting this stuff hot, not thoroughly cooking it. This is the safest way to cook with a crock-pot-- have everything HOT when it goes in. Add the chillies, tomatillos and cumin to the pan to heat through. Now, shake the chicken stock with the Wondra flour, then pour in the pan and bring to a simmer, stirring often.

2) Dump this whole mess into the hot crock-pot, cover and bring up to a gentle simmer, then turn the pot down to low, keep covered and cook for a few hours.

3) 1 hour before you would like to serve, add in the undrained beans, stir to combine. 15 minutes before service, stir in the cilantro/coriander.

Serve with chips, chopped jalapenos and cheese along side. Makes about 8-10 bowls.

Autumn Squash Soup with Sage

Autumn is such a cool time to be a cook. Pretty much no matter where you live in the States, there are seasonal foods to be found; more obviously found than in other months, anyway. 

Pumpkins are an incredibly under-utilized vegetable here in the States. In Europe, the squash are found in endless savory dishes this time of year in restaurants and in home kitchens. In fact, it is rather unusual to find pumpkin in a sweet dish across the pond. 

Last year at Thanksgiving time, being the only Americans in our little, English village I felt it my duty to bring some pumpkin pies into my daughter's 4th grade class. Not one of the 27 children had ever heard of using pumpkin in a pie. Some had had it in entrees when they had traveled to Italy, France or Spain on holiday, but none had eaten it as a dessert; and none of the children wanted to that day, either.

Lucky for me, English school teachers are extremely strict (Pink Floyd's, Another Brick in the Wall, was really not that far off), the class teacher insisted that every child try the pumpkin pie. 20 of the children loved it, 3 felt ambivalent, and 4 spat it out. 

I took those ratios as a compliment.

So, taking a cue from the Europeans, I developed this recipe for pumpkin and acorn squash soup. It is not at all sweet, rather savory and velvety. The Pecorino croutons add so much to the final dish-- they are most definitely worth making.

Soup

1 acorn squash, halved, seeds and stringy membrane scooped out, flesh and skin cut into cubes

1 pie pumpkin (small pumpkin, about the same size as the acorn squash), processed as above

1 large yellow onion, peeled and halved

1 head garlic, top cut off to expose some of the cloves

Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

1 and 1/2 quarts (1 and 1/2 litres) chicken or vegetable stock

8 leaves fresh sage

Sea salt to taste

Heavy cream (optional)

Croutons

1/2 baguette (preferably a day old)

EVOO

Grated Pecorino cheese, or Parmesan

Cayenne pepper

Popcorn or fine salt

Pre-heat oven to 375F (190C). Scatter the squash, pumpkin, onion and head of garlic, skin side down across a baking tray and drizzle over EVOO.

Bake for about 45 minutes, until fairly soft. Remove from the oven and allow to cool, then peel the skins off. Toss the cooked vegetables into a soup pot with the stock and bring to a simmer.

 Chuck the sage leaves into the soup (you don't need to tie them together, I just thought was a pretty shot). Simmer all-together for 20 minutes, then puree with an immersion blender (or transfer to a blender and puree).

While the soup is simmering, cut the old bread up into small squares and toss with EVOO, cheese, cayenne and a bit of salt. Bake in that hot 375F oven for about 10 minutes, then toss and continue to bake for 5 minutes more.

Just before serving, drizzle some heavy cream on top (of you like), place a few croutons strategically in a spot and serve hot.

Makes 2 quarts (2 litres), serves 6

Borscht

When I was about 10 my mom took me to Russian restaurant for dinner. This type of cuisine was remarkably unusual in our small, suburban Ohio town.  Although housed in a strip mall, I remember that the place seemed exotic; the way it was decorated, the patterns and colors used. 
I also remember trying Borscht there for the first time. Borscht- that Russian soup made famous because of its deep, beet-red color. My mother tried to convince me to order the chicken Kiev, rather than the Borscht, but I insisted on the soup. Secretly, I was as surprised as she when I realized that I loved the Borscht.
Although I don't often make it, (it rarely comes to mind, when thinking of seasonal soups), I am always happy when I do. It is lovely.
This recipe I made with cubed beef in the soup-- this is delicious and makes the dish heartier, but if you want to save time (and a cow), skip that step and don't use the beef roast.

4 quarts beef stock
1 and 1/2 pounds lean beef roast (optional)
1 bunch (2 large and 2 small) fresh, raw beets, trimmed of leafy tops
1 bunch (roughly 7) parsley roots, peeled (see pic below) or 1 parsnip
3 large leeks, trimmed of the dark green
Half head cabbage, sliced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Sea salt


2 tablespoon fresh, chopped dill
1/2 cup sour cream

1) Place the beef roast in the beef stock, cover and bring to a very gentle simmer. Cook over low heat until fork tender, about 2-3 hours. this can be done the night before and stashed (beef AND stock) in the refrigerator until ready to use.

2) At the same time, wrap the beets in foil and place on a roasting tray. Roast in a preheated oven for 30 minutes, then add in the parsley root and leeks. Roast for 30 minutes more. Remove from the oven and allow to cool, then peel the skin from the beets. Cut all the vegetables up into chunks. While you are waiting for the beef to cook, mix the dill weed into the sour cream and stick back in the fridge.

3) When the beef os very tender, remove from the stock, place on a plate and allow to cool. Add the roasted vegetables and sliced cabbage into the stock and simmer for 20 minutes. Once cool, chop or shred the beef into very small pieces. Now, blitz the soup and vegetables with an immersion blender or puree in a blender, return to the pot to heat, add in the lemon juice and season with salt.

To serve: Ladle Borscht into bowls, pile in some beef and dollop in some sour cream. Serves about 10.

Soupe au Pistou

We are all familiar with pesto, right? Okay, well pistou is simply the French equivalent. It is fresh basil, garlic, olive oil, cheese and tomato (there's the difference) mashed together, classically in a mortar and pestle, or whizzed up in a food processor. Soupe au pistou is French vegetable soup with a dollop of pistou dropped into the soup just before serving. It is garlicky, herby and marvelous.

Pistou
1 medium clove garlic, peeled
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 medium tomato (slightly smaller than a tennis ball), halved, the seeds/goo squeezed out, chopped
1 big handful of fresh basil leaves
3 ounces (100 grams) hard, aged cheese, like Mimolette or Old Amsterdam, grated
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Mash the garlic with the salt in a mortar and pestle. Add in the tomato chunks and mash. Drain off any accumulated liquid, add in the basil and continue mashing. Last, add in the grated cheese and oil and combine. Can be made up to 2 days ahead and stashed in the refrigerator.



Soupe
8 cups vegetable stock
2 small leeks, using only the tender white to light green bit, chop and wash
1/2 cup chopped fennel bulb (including fronds, if you like-- pretty!)
1/2 cup chopped, peeled potato
3/4 cup fresh peas (or thawed frozen)
1 small zucchini, trimmed and chopped
1 tin cannellini or navy beans, drained

Shlamp the stock and leeks into a soup pot and bring to a simmer. Cook gently for 15 minutes, then add the fennel and potato chunks. Cook 10 minutes, then add in the peas, zucchini and beans. Bring to a simmer then cook for about 3 minutes, so that the peas are tender but still bright green. Serve up in pretty bowls with a dollop of pistou on top and some crusty bread on the side.

Makes 4 entree size servings

Fresh Noodles with Poached Salmon and Shrimp

If you can find fresh, thick noodles, like Udon, in an Asian store, snap them up! They are infinitely better than the dried type—thick and chewy and really satisfying. If you do not have access to fresh Asian noodles then use dry Udon and if you cannot find Udon at all, use fresh linguini.

What you place on top of the noodles is completely up to you and your taste buds. I like seafood (salmon and shrimp here) but poached chicken would be nice or grilled, rare beef slices would be delicious, as well. Going all veg would be the healthiest choice—and tasty, too.

Broth

1” piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into thick pieces

2” piece fresh lemon grass, white part only, smashed with the back of a knife

2 heaping tablespoons (dessert spoons) white miso paste

2 teaspoons fish sauce

1 tablespoon sake or dry white wine
Pinch of red pepper flakes

3 cups water

Noodles to serve 2 (dependent upon which type of noodle you are using)

1 6 oz. filet salmon

4 large shitake mushrooms, stem removed and sliced

½ pound shrimp, shelled and deveined

2 heads bok choi (pak choi), sliced

4 thin green onions (spring onions), sliced up to the dark green part

Soy sauce to taste

1) Place all the broth ingredients into a pot and bring just to a gentle simmer, reduce heat to low and allow to steep.

2) While the broth is steeping, bring a large pot of water on to boil and cook the noodles to package directions until al dente (be careful not to over-cook). Drain and set aside.

3) Poach the seafood and veg: Turn the heat up under the broth, bring it to simmer and place the salmon and shitakes into the broth, simmering for 3 minutes, then add in the shrimp and continue to simmer until the shrimp turn pink (3 minutes or so). Remove from the broth, cover to keep warm and set aside. Also at this time, pick out the ginger and lemon grass—discard. Now add the bok choi into the broth, remove the pan from the heat and cover. Leave covered for 5 minutes to steep.

4) Toss the sliced green onion into the broth with the bok choi. Place the noodles into 2 bowls and pour the broth over and lay the seafood on top. Drizzle with a bit of soy sauce and serve warm.

Serves 2

Gumbo

Gumbo is one of the hardest recipes to get down on paper. It seems as if there are no two gumbo recipes alike, and everyone has an opinion on what makes a good gumbo and, if you are talking to someone form the deep south, they use their great-great granny's secret Creole recipe. Gumbo can be intimidating to make, until you realize that the most important aspect of making a really good gumbo is to cook with your heart, not your head. That sounds trite, but in no dish is it more important to follow your heart, than in making a rich pot of gumbo. 

Put into the gumbo what you like—shrimp, crab, fish, chicken, sausage, duck. Use roux if you like (I do), but skip it if you want to and thicken the gumbo with okra or filé powder (one or the other, never both). I think good stock is important, but many recipes call for water instead.

Below is my recipe for gumbo—feel free to change it around and make it your own. If you've got a favourite gumbo recipe, I'd love to see it-- post it in the comment box!

4 ounces (about ½ cup) vegetable oil

4 ounces (about ½ cup) flour

8-10 cups good chicken, fish, or shellfish stock

2 tins chopped tomatoes (including juice)

8 ounces boneless, skinless chicken thighs, chopped

8 ounces smoked sausage (Andouille is the best, of you can find it), sliced

1 and ½ cups fresh okra slices (or frozen)

1 large onion, chopped

2 green peppers, chopped

1 cup chopped celery

Seasoning: Cajun or Creole mix, or black pepper, cayenne pepper, thyme, bay leaves, mustard powder, paprika

1 pound raw shrimp, shelled

1) Combine the stock and tomatoes into a large stock pot and bring to a gentle simmer. Add in the chicken. While that is going on, make the roux: Whisk the oil and flour together over medium to medium-low heat. You must be vigilant—watching, and stirring your roux constantly until it is the color that you like—I prefer a light roux and this takes close to 45 minutes-- the darker you like it the longer it will take-- and don;t take your eyes off that roux! Once it is the color that you like, dump in the chopped veg (the holy trinity-- green bell peppers, onion and celery), to stop the cooking process and soften the vegetables. Stir the vegetables around for a bit, off the heat (if the roux is threatening to burn), then add this mess into the pot of stock/tomatoes/chicken and bring to a simmer, stirring. This will flavour and thicken the gumbo.

2) Cook the sausage in a pan sprayed with non-stick spray (or a bit of oil) until just browned up a bit, set aside. In the same pan, dry cook the okra until not stringy (this will get the slimy goo out of the okra), set aside. You can skip this step, just make sure to cook the okra in the gumbo for at least 60-90 minutes to render it goo-less.

3) Whew! Now add the sausages and okra into the gumbo, stir and add in seasoning to your liking and any salt you may want. Last, add in the shrimp and simmer, gently until they are just pink and cooked—anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes. This is the last step and should not be done until everything else in the pot is cooked to your liking and you are ready to serve up the gumbo-- cooking the shrimp for too long will make them tough.

Gumbo is best made a day ahead, ‘cured’ in the refrigerator overnight, and reheated the next day (or day after that). Serve with white rice, chopped green (spring) onions and hot sauce. Serves 8

Maryland Crab Soup

I met my husband while I was attending culinary school in Baltimore, Maryland. He worked for a lumber yard. It was love at first sight and he asked me to marry him on our first date (truly). 
Baltimore is a cool city. I like the fact that it is still rough around the edges, down to earth and not too glamorous; sort of like my husband.


The food I associate most with maryland is crabs. I love crab-- catching them, cooking them, picking them and eating them: Crab cakes, crab and saffron pasta, crabmeat salad, and my favourite, crab soup. Tomato based with lots of veggies in it and plenty of old Bay Seasoning. Never mind that it's healthy, eat this because it is tasty.

4 cups (32 fluid ounces) fish or crab stock or bottles of clam juice
4 cups (32 fluid ounces) beef stock
1 X 690 gram jar tomato passata (2 and 1/2 cups tomato puree in the US)
2 stalks celery, chopped fine
1 carrot, peeled and chopped fine
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped fine
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
1 cup fresh or frozen green bean pieces (not whole) or lima beans
1 to 1 and 1/2 pounds crab meat including any juice (you can substitute mild white fish if you like)
2 X 1/2 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning

1) Place the first 6 ingredients into a large pot and bring to a simmer. Cook gently for 20 minutes, then add in the rest of the veggies and crab (or fish). Bring back to the simmer and cook until the veggies are cooked, as well as the fish, (if you are using rather than crab and starting from raw)-- flake the fish apart. Season with Old Bay, starting with 1/2 tablespoon then adding more if you like.

Serve hot! Tastes great the next day or the day after that.

Bean with Bacon Soup

This is one of my favourites from way back. I usually make it with dried Cannellini beans, but didn’t have any soaked. I whipped this up, using a tin of beans, in 30 minutes—leave out the carrot and it would be ready in half that time.

1 tin Cannellini beans (or Navy, or Pinto), drained

The same tin refilled with chicken stock or water or vegetable stock

1 shallot, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 small carrot chopped small

1 teaspoon tomato paste (puree in the UK)

1 sprig rosemary

2 slices smoked bacon, cut into small pieces (omit to make this vegan)

½ teaspoon liquid smoke (optional but tasty)

Dump everything into a soup pot, bring to a simmer and cook gently for about 20-30 minutes, until everything is soft. Mash with a potato masher or puree with a stick blender. Serve hot!

Makes about 2 servings

Hippy Stew (Azuki Beans with Caramelized Leeks and Quinoa)

Azuki beans are hugely popular legumes in Japan and other parts of Asia; second only to soybeans (edemame). Interestingly, they are use primarily in sweet dishes, like Youkan (a jellied candy made from azuki bean paste and sugar), but they don’t have a sweet flavour themselves—they taste very similar to other red beans. 

Quinoa, originally cultivated in South America, is sort of like a grain or cereal, but not quite. It is a great source of protein as well as packed with essential amino acids and fiber—this is an excellent food for vegans.

Combining these two lesser-known ingredients makes for a complete meal—super nutritious and even better, super tasty!

Of course, being the carnivore that I am I couldn’t serve just this stew—I griddled up some locally produced sausage and snuggled them down on top. If sausages are not your thing, Hippy Stew would be fabulous served along side grilled chicken.

1 cup dried azuki beans (soaked overnight) or 2 tins azuki beans

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 leeks, trimmed of dark green part, washed and chopped

1 fat carrot, peeled and chopped

1 cup quinoa, washed

3 cups (24 oz) vegetable or beef stock (or water with bouillon cubes)

1 tablespoon tomato paste (puree in the UK)

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

1 cup chopped parsley (yes, a whole cup)

1) If you are using dried beans, soak them overnight, drain and simmer for 30 minutes, drain and have on hand for the stew. If using tinned azukis, drain and have ready.

2) In a large soup pot or wok, heat the oil. Once it is hot and quivering, add in the chopped leeks and carrot, don’t move too much at first, you wan them to colour, turn golden and caramelize—just don’t allow them to burn. Saute for a few minutes. Now, add in the quinoa, stir and toast for just a moment in the caramelized veg. Pour in the stock and stir, cover and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for 10 minutes, then add in the beans, tomato paste and red pepper flakes (if using), continue to simmer until the water is pretty much absorbed and the quinoa is tender (10-20 minutes longer).

Remove from heat and toss in the parsley. Season with salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Serves 4-6

Grammy’s Chicken and Noodles

Is there any dish more universally comforting than a steaming bowl of chicken and noodles? Long ago (and still in some areas of the world) it was a celebratory dinner made when the tough, old hen stopped laying eggs (poor dear) and, after a long, gentle bath in aromatic water was transformed into the most beloved, savoury supper. In Asia, the addition of a knob of fresh ginger or a stalk of lemon grass may be added, and in Slavic countries it would be more likely served with dumplings rather than noodles. In any case, at it’s heart, a slowly simmered chicken strikes the same ring of nostalgia in our stomachs—Home.

I love my mom’s chicken and noodles. She uses the same simple recipe that her mother used (and her mother’s mother before her). Very few ingredients and several hours of hands-off cooking, yields the most sublime finished dish. It is a classic.

1 Chicken

Chicken stock or bouillon cubes and water

1 yellow onion, cut in half, skin left on

8 ounces (220 grams) fine egg noodles (or noodle of your choice)

1 tablespoon, freshly chopped tarragon

1) Place the chicken into a deep soup pot and cover with chicken stock or water with equivalent chicken bouillon cubes, and the halved onion (leaving the skin on the onion will produce a more golden stock). Cover and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook ever-so gently for about two hours—but cook longer if you like, topping up with more water or stock as needed. This can all be done in the crockpot, on high setting, starting with boiling stock, and cooking all day (your house will small divine!).

2) Carefully pull the chicken (which will probably have fallen apart by now) out of the soup pot. Make sure to get all the onion, bits and bones left behind. Allow the stock to cool, then skim off the fat from the top. Pull the meat from the bones, shredding by hand as you go—discard the skin, bones and onion.  This can all be done ahead of time and refrigerated for up to a day.

3) Bring the skimmed stock to the boil and add in noodles. Bring back just to a simmer and cook according to package directions until al dente. Add the chicken meat back in to the soup along with the tarragon and season with salt and lots of black pepper.

Serves 8

Market Day Potato and Leek Soup

This soup is a generous soup; it can be as simple or elaborate as you like, and is almost impossible to screw up. Make it with salted water rather than chicken stock and it is vegan. Follow the recipe below, finishing with diced, smoked ham and shredded mature cheddar cheese and it is a stand-alone meal.

3 pounds potatoes (any type, the fresher the better), peeled and cut into chunks
1 and 1/2 pounds fresh leeks, (trimmed of very dark green bit and mustachey looking end), washed and cut into thick rounds
Chicken or vegetable stock or salted water

Finishing options: Cream, diced, smoked ham, grated mature cheddar cheese, crunchy croutons


Drop the potatoes and leeks into a deep soup pot and cover with stock or salted water to come 3 inches about the veg. Simmer until soft, about 30 minutes. Puree with an immersion blender, or transfer to a food processor and process. Alternatively, go way old school and mash with a potato masher for a chunkier soup.

Finish with a drizzle of cream (or milk, if you'd rather) and a scattering of ham, cheese and/or croutons. Let the kids add in the bits that they like, as if they are making the soup 'theirs'

Hard to say how many this serves, a lot depends on the pot you use. In my pot it made enough for 8 servings.

Avgolemono Soup (Greek Lemon and Egg Soup)

I first had this soup when I was 20, at Steve's Greek restaurant in Boston's Back Bay area. Ordering it because it was cheap, and I was a poor student, I wasn't expecting much more than sustenance. What I got was a culinary epiphany-- soup that tasted like summer. The slight sourness of lemons, the richness of egg yolks and the savoury belly-warming flavour of chicken stock. It was the best soup I had ever tasted.
If you've never had this soup, and you like sauce Hollandaise, try this-- you will love it.

8 cups (about 2 litres) chicken stock
1/2 cup (1/2 teacup) long grain rice
1/4 cup lemon juice (juice os 2 lemons)
Zest of 1 lemon, finely minced
1 tablespoon (1 soup spoon) corn starch/corn flour
4 egg yolks
Handful of chopped, fresh parsley (optional)

1) Bring the chicken stock to a strong simmer and add in the rice. Cook according to package directions. Pssst- you will not be draining the rice.

2) While the rice is cooking, whisk together the lemon juice, lemon zest, corn starch and egg yolks in a small bowl. Two minutes before the rice is done, snag a ladle of stock out of the pot and slowly whisk it into the bowl of lemon/egg yolk. Whisk continuously. Add in one more ladle, doing the same. Now remove the pot of stock/rice from heat and whisk the bowl of lemon/egg/stock into the chicken stock. Place back onto a low heat, just to heat up and thicken a bit but do not simmer from this point on, or the egg yolks in the soup could brake and end up looking sorta' like scrambled eggs. Stir in the parsley and serve at once.

Makes 8 cups yummy soup.

Artichoke Soup with White Truffle Oil

Like most vegetable soups, this is remarkably easy to make. A decadent drizzle of white truffle oil at the end, absolutely makes this soup sing! 
P.S. Jerusalem Artichokes are neither artichokes nor from Jerusalem... go figure.


To watch JennyB demonstrate this recipe click here

1 and 1/2 pounds Jerusalem artichokes
1/2 lemon
2 shallots, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 floury potato, like a baking potato, peeled and chopped into chunks
1 and 1/2 litres chicken stock (6 and 1/4 cups)
3 tablespoons (soup spoons) cream- single, heavy, whipping- your choice (optional, but good...)
White truffle oil (get the best quality you can afford- this makes a big difference)

1) Peel the Jerusalem artichokes with a vegetable peeler. Save the peels and put the prepared 'artichokes' into a bowl filled with water and the juice of 1/2 a lemon. Cut each art. into thirds.

2) Dump the art. peels into the chicken broth and simmer for 2 minutes, remove the peels, saving the stock.

3) In a clean soup pot, over medium high heat, saute the shallot and garlic in truffle oil for just a moment, then add in the potato chunks and and the chopped arts., pour over chicken broth and bring just to a simmer. Cook for 20-30 minutes, until the vegetables are very soft. Puree everything with a stick immersion blender, or go way-low tech and mash with a potato masher (for a chunkier version), pour in cream, stir. Do not let the soup come back to a boil after the cream has been added. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt, if desired.

Ladle the soup into pretty bowls and drizzle with truffle oil. Add a bit more cream on top, too if you like.  Serves 6

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

Hot and sour, healthy and nourishing—this is such a great soup to serve for dinner on the days that you're felling any of the following: Blue, bloated, healthy, skinny, apprehensive about bikini season, generally optimistic. It soothes and encourages all moods, and tastes like something you would pay top dollar for in a swanky restaurant.

*6 cups good quality chicken broth (homemade is best, but a good tinned type is okay, too)

1 stalk lemon grass, outer layer peeled off and discarded, the rest trimmed and sliced very thin

1 small red bird’s eye pepper (Thai pepper), sliced thin (keeping the seeds will add more heat, discarding them will give it less kick)

3 green onions (scallions, spring onions), trimmed then sliced thin

1 teaspoon salt (only if using no-sodium broth, if the broth already tastes salted, skip this)

2 teaspoons sugar

*¼ cup good quality soy sauce

3 tablespoons cider vinegar

Juice of ½ lime

2 heads Bok Choi (Pak Choi), sliced into thin strips

Handful of frozen, shelled edemame

2 parcels Udon noodles (or Soba—could also use angel hair)

18 Thai Chicken Meatballs (raw) 

* This ingredient is critical to the dish— Use the best quality you can get your hands on

1) Make the soup by placing the first 9 ingredients into a large pan or wok. Bring to a simmer and allow to gently cook, uncovered for 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. May be made up to this point and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, then reheated.

2) Bring the soup to a strong simmer, add in the raw meatballs and the noodles, bring back to a simmer and cook for about 6 minutes, then add in the frozen edemame, bring back to a simmer and cook 2 minutes more, until the noodles are tender (the meatballs take only a few minutes to cook). Throw the bak choi (pak choi) into the soup, stir and cover with a lid. Turn off the heat and allow the greens to wilt in the soup for 5 minutes.

Ladle into large bowls, garnish with chopped mint or cilantro (coriander), if desired.  Serves 4-6

Beef Daube (French Beef Stew)

Called a Daube in reference to the pot this stew is traditionally made in, a daubiere, this is a lush, rich beef stew that is fabulous served with broad egg noodles, or crusty bread rolls. It is easy to make, just allow the time required to slowly simmer (3 hours) This is a great weekend dish (reheating the left-overs for lunch later in the week).

Click here to watch JennyB demonstrate how to make this recipe!

5 pounds (2 kg), lean stewing beef, cubed
2 tablespoons olive oil, more if the pan gets dry
4 leeks, washed, trimmed and chopped
2 stalks celery, trimmed and chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
1 head garlic (about 10 cloves)
1 bottle dry white wine
2 cups beef stock (tinned, homemade or bouillon- if you must)
1 tin chopped tomatoes, juice and all
1 big squirt tomato paste (puree)
1 bouquet garni (bunch of fresh herbs- parsley, thyme, bay leaf- tied together in a bouquet)
One 12 to 18 inch long piece of orange zest, or 2 tablespoons chopped zest
Chopped olives of your choice to garnish

1) Brown the meat, in batches, in a big pan. Make sure the pan is hot, set over medium-high heat, before you begin to brown in the olive oil. Do NOT crowd the pan!!! Remove browned (not cooked) meat to a plate to collect the juices.

2) After you have browned all the meat, tip the chopped onion, celery and garlic into the pot and saute for a minute or two. Pour in the bottle of wine (glug-glug), the chopped tomatoes, and the beef stock. Bring just to a simmer, then add in the carrots.

3) Pre-heat the oven to 300F (150C) and assemble the stew: In a large oven-proof pot (with a lid--preferably a clay pot), place the browned beef chunks and all their juices. Pour in the wine/beef stock/vegetable mixture, squirt in the tomato paste (puree) and snuggle in the bouquet garni, then the zest. Stir, cover tightly, then place into the oven and braise slowly for 2 hours.

4) After 2 hours, ladle out 1 cup of stew stock, stick in the fridge to cool completely to room temp, then shake in a jar with 1/4 cup flour. Pour this back into the pot and continue to braise for 1 hour more.

Garnish with chopped olives, of your choice, fat egg noodles and crusty bread. Serves 8-10

Caramelized Onion and Potato Soup

Snowed in for the past 4 days, this soup was developed out of necessity. I wanted to make a leek and potato soup, but found all we had was yellow onions and a few potatoes. I had simmered up the bones of a roast chicken the other day and so had the makings of a simple, tasty and cheap soup. Caramelizing the onions is not at all difficult, but it does take time and an old-fashioned pot (read: not non-stck). Be patient, it is worth the effort.


1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 small yellow onions (or 2 medium), peeled and sliced thin
2 tablespoons dry sherry
3 quarts good quality chicken broth (homemade is best, but whatever you've got hanging around)
2 large potatoes (whichever you got), peeled and cubed
Cream -optional

1) Pour the oil into a large soup pot and set over medium-low heat. Add in the onions and stir to coat with the oil.

Cook ever so gently, stirring every few minutes...

 until the onions are golden and caramelized- this will take about 20 to 30 minutes. You want a golden fond to develop on the bottom of the pan, but do not want to burn the onions- don't be tempted to raise the heat, this is a slow process. If the pot get's too dry and the onions stick too much, spoon in a bit of water, just don't do this too often or the onions will braise rather than color and caramelize.

2) When the onions are ultra soft and caramel in color, add in the sherry and scrape up all the fond (golden/brown bits on the bottom of the pot). Next, add in the stock and then the potatoes. Simmer until the potatoes are very soft (about 15 minutes) then remove from heat and puree with an immersion blender or in a standard blender or food processor. Finish with cream if you like, taste for seasoning, add salt if you wish and serve hot (a scattering or Gruyere croutons would be fabulous).

Makes about 3 and 1/2 quarts. Great made a day ahead and reheated as needed.

Chicken Curry with Lime Pickle

Are you absolutely craving exotic flavours about now? Man, I am. Anything other than bread, thyme, sausage, potato and turkey. The spicier, the tangier, the better. 
My husband and I went out to an Indian place last week and liked it so much we went back two nights later with our friend, Erin. 
We are completely in the dark when it comes to all foods Indian. Sweet, sour, salty, bitter; there are so many complexities and facets to that country's fabulous cuisine. 
The highlight of our two visits to the restaurant was a dish that used lime pickle. In our ignorance we had never heard of it, but learned that it is a common condiment on Indian tables. The taste is utterly unusual: First it is sour, then salty, finishing off with a distinct lime bitterness. Lovely.
Lime Pickle is found jarred in every major grocery store here in England, quite possibly in America, too. If not, any Indian grocery store would certainly stock it. If you are inspired, there are hundreds of Lime Pickle recipes on the internet.
It is the lime pickle that makes this simple curry sing.


Marinade
2 hefty soup spoons plain yogurt
3 hefty soup spoons lime pickle
Juice of 1 lime

2 pounds chicken breast chunks

Curry
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2" piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped fine
2 teaspoons Garam Masala (or more is desired)
1 teaspoon curry powder (hot or sweet)
1 tin plain, crushed or chopped tomatoes, with juice
Crushed red pepper flakes, if desired

1) Mix the yogurt, lime pickle and lime juice together in a bowl and toss in chicken chunks. Stir to coat all the chicken with the marinade, cover and set in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes but up to 2 hours.

2) Make the curry sauce (can be done a day ahead and stored in the refrigerator): Saute the garlic and ginger in vegetable oil until soft. Add in the Garam Masala and curry powders- saute a few moments more. Pour in the crushed tomatoes, reduce the heat and allow to gently simmer for 10 minutes- crushing the tomatoes with the back of a fork. Hold off on adding any salt or red pepper flakes until after you have added and cooked the marinating chicken.

3) When ready to eat: Steam some basmati rice. While that is cooking, grab a wok and pour in a bit of vegetable oil. Add in the marinating chicken and all of the marinade. Saute at a high temperature for 3-5 minutes, keeping the chicken in constant motion. Now, add in the tomato curry sauce. Stir well, cover and reduce heat. Simmer gently for roughly 10 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Taste to see if you like the heat and/or salt-- if not, add more of either now.

Serve with hot, steamed Basmati rice, naan bread and 'Almost Palak Paneer'. Serves 4