Butternut Squash Soup

It's getting chilly outside!  Time for some soup, not the usual soups you would think of like chicken noodle, vegetable beef, or chili.  Oddly enough I had on hand a beautiful butternut squash.  (I had planned to peel, chop, toss with olive oil, salt & pepper and roast it to have as a side dish.)  Not so fast, this is going to make a savory soup that I've never made before.  So here goes.

 

This recipe is from the Whole Foods website:

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 cups cubed butternut squash, *fresh or frozen
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (I used homemade stock)
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

*Butternut squash is kinda tough to peel and chop!  Be careful!  Peel the squash with a vegetable peeler, then using a sharp knife, chop into segments and then into chunks.  The squash has seeds that will need to be cleaned out.

Heat oil in a large soup pot. Add carrot, celery and onion. 

Cook until vegetables have begun to soften and onion turns translucent, 3 to 4 minutes.

 Stir in butternut squash, thyme, chicken broth, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until squash is fork-tender, about 30 minutes. (Note, I also added two bay leaves)

Use an immersion blender to purée soup. 

Alternatively, let the soup cool slightly and carefully purée in batches in an upright blender. 

Lastly, I stirred in a little half and half to make it creamier.  

Serve warm as a starter--how about for Thanksgiving Dinner?

This is yummy!

Enjoy friends!

Cassoulet -- My Way

Today is cloudy, cool, and rainy!  A perfect day for some comfort food.  I had some big fat chicken legs in the fridge and some canned great northern beans, so cassoulet!  This is a much simpler method for making cassoulet. So here goes.  Oh, one other thing, I have fresh herbs growing in pots on my patio and you definitely need fresh herbs for this recipe.  Actually it's not so much a recipe as a process.  Let's get cooking!

First brown the chicken legs in a skillet.  I have recently been using coconut oil for cooking and baking.  (No, it does not taste like coconut--its just healthy clean pure oil.)

While the chicken legs are browning, chop up some onion, carrots, celery, and garlic.  I used half a large white onion, two stalks of celery, two large carrots, and two cloves of garlic.

Other stuff you will need...

Take the chicken legs out and place them on a plate.  Add the chopped onion, celery, carrots, and garlic.  Saute for a minute or so until fragrant, add salt and pepper.   Chop some fresh rosemary and thyme--about a tablespoon of each.  Add to the vegetables.

Next pour in a can of chicken broth and a can of tomatoes.  I used San Marzano tomatoes that I canned last summer.

Place the chicken legs on top of everything, cover, and place in a 350 degree oven.  Bake for about one hour.

Drain and rinse two cans of great northern beans, or navy beans, or canellini beans, pour over the chicken.  Add more chicken stock at this point if it looks too dry.  Sorry, this photo is sideways!!

Back into the oven for another 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, 3 tablespoons of butter, and some chopped flat leaf parsley -- about 3 tablespoons.  Mix the parsley into one cup of bread crumbs.

Remove the dutch oven and uncover.  Sprinkle the bread crumb parsley mixture over the chicken/bean/veg mixture.  Drizzle the melted butter over the crumbs.  Place back in the oven uncovered for another 10 minutes or until the bread crumbs are golden brown.

Serve each person a chicken leg (or two) with some of the crispy crumbs, beans, and vegetables.  A slice of buttered bread goes well with this dish.

Enjoy friends!

Chicken Pot Pie

So, chicken pot pie, the ultimate comfort food!  

There's really no recipe, so just follow along with the photos.

Chop carrots, onion, celery, and mushrooms, add some frozen peas.

Season with salt and pepper.  

Saute in some olive oil and butter until the vegetables are tender.

Add a can of cream of chicken soup and mix well.

Alternately, you can sprinkle in some flour, stir, and add chicken stock, 

cook until it thickens.

Chop up some cooked chicken, this is a good time to use a rotisserie chicken from the deli.

Add the chicken to the vegetable mixture.

Since I like easy clean up, I lined the casserole dish with some non-stick foil.

This is a sheet of puff pastry, thaw it out, unroll, and place it on top of the vegetables in the casserole.

Bake at 350 degrees F. until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbly.

Serve and dig in.

Enjoy friends!

Teriyaki Glazed Chicken KaBobs

I ran across this recipe for chicken KaBobs on The Iron You blog. The photo and recipe sounded amazing and I had all the ingredients on hand.

Ingredients 

Serves 6

¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup white wine
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon white vinegar
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
bamboo skewers 
2 lb free-range chicken breasts, cut into 1½-inch chunks
Ground black pepper to taste

I added some vegetables to the KaBobs.  Button mushrooms, green peppers, and onion.

The chicken chunks bathing in the marinade

Toss the vegetables with some olive oil, salt, and pepper

Drain the marinade off the chicken, do not save the marinade.

Soak bamboo skewers in some water,

thread the vegetables and chicken on

the skewers

Grill until the chicken is cooked and vegetables are tender

Directions

In a small saucepan, over medium heat, add soy sauce, white wine, water, honey, white vinegar, ginger and garlic. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and let simmer for 5 minutes.

Turn off the heat and let cool for at least 10 minutes.

In a shallow sealable container or in a large Ziplock bag, combine chicken chunks and teriyaki marinade. Cover or seal and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes
(marinate overnight for fullest flavor).

Remove the chicken from the marinade and skewer onto bamboo sticks
that have been soaked in water for 5 minutes.

Heat a grill or a grill pan to medium-low heat
(if you’re using an outdoor grill lightly oil the grill grates).

I strongly recommend low-temperature cooking so that the teriyaki marinade
can glaze without burning black.

Grill the chicken kebabs, until golden brown and cooked through, about 10 - 12 minutes turning regularly, until juices run clear.

Transfer kebabs to a platter, top with chopped cilantro and serve.

This recipe is courtesy from the  "The Iron You"  Isn't their photo beautiful?  And the recipe is delicious!!!!

Enjoy friends!!

Bierocks aka German Hamburgers (Bieroch)

Bierocks are a staple food item found mainly in towns with strong German heritage.  (I learned from my mother in law, how to make them.)  Bierocks are basically a meat/cabbage mixture filling inside a sweet roll dough. They are a great main dish, or in smaller sizes, an excellent appetizer. These reheat well, so make a large batch and freeze for later. There are recipes on the internet where cheese was added, or heaven forbid a frozen dough was used which the old German ladies would never do.  I made the filling last night and tonight I am finishing them by making the dough, filling them, and baking.

I have an earlier post from December 2011, which, much to my own amazement, included FROZEN bread dough.  So here's the real deal the way it's supposed to be done! My German grandmother would be proud.
This recipe makes a huge amount of dough.  I couldn't fit all of it in my stand mixer! You may want to make 1/2 of the recipe.

• DOUGH:
• 10 to 11 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 package (1/4-ounce) active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2-1/2 cups water
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter, cubed
• 2 eggs
• FILLING:
• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 2 pounds shredded cabbage, cooked and drained

Directions

1. For dough, in a large bowl, combine 4 cups of flour, yeast, sugar and salt; mix well and set aside.
2. In a saucepan, heat water, milk and butter just until butter melts. Remove from heat and cool to 120°-130°. Combine with flour mixture; add eggs. Using an electric mixer, blend at low speed until moistened then beat at medium speed for 3 minutes. By hand, gradually stir in enough remaining flour to make a firm dough.
3. Knead on a floured surface about 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down; let rise again until almost doubled.
4. Meanwhile, for the filling, brown beef with onion, salt and pepper; drain. Mix together with cabbage; set aside. Divide the dough into fourths. Roll each piece into a 15-in. x 10-in. rectangle. Cut into 5-inch squares. Spoon 1/3 to 1/2 cup filling onto each square. Bring the four corners up over the filling; pinch together to seal. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Place on greased baking sheets.
5. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until brown. Yield: 24 servings

Look at these bad boys!  The dough turned out perfect, and they baked to perfection.  I used 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 unbleached flour for the dough..

Enjoy friends!

Chile Verde (Green Chili with Pork)

I do not claim to be an expert on authentic Mexican cuisine.  We first had this Green Chili in a restaurant in New Mexico many years ago.  They served it like a soup/stew with a tortilla on the side to sop up the soupy goodness of the dish.  So this is how I have been making it for years.

We are avid "chili growers" in our small garden--the main purpose being to have chiles to make salsa and chili verde. The classic version features big chunks of pork shoulder, but today I had left over shredded pork shoulder, so that is what I used.

Basic ingredients:  Pork shoulder cooked and cubed or shredded, roasted  anaheim chile peppers, green taco sauce (which includes tomatillos), onion, garlic, and chicken stock/broth.

l

The close up of the anaheim chiles, from last summer's garden, which were roasted over hot coals, placed in freezer bags and frozen until time to use them.  This method is really slick because the tough skins of the peppers slide right off after they defrost.

After the peppers are peeled and seeded, chop them up -- or you can use canned green chiles.

Warm some mild olive oil in a dutch oven pan.  Add chopped onion, diced garlic, and the chiles.  Saute until the vegetables are tender.

Sprinkle in about 2 tablespoons of flour and stir to combine--this will be the thickener.

Next pour in chicken stock and stir and cook until it is thickened to your liking.

The cooked, shredded pork is added. 

Mix it all up and season with salt, pepper, cumin, cilantro, and a dash of ground cloves. 

(I repeat, a DASH of ground cloves).

Let the chili verde simmer slowly for up to an hour.  Adjust seasonings and add more chicken stock.

Serve with warm flour tortillas and lots of napkins!

Enjoy friends!