Sunday’s Chicken Soup…

Tuesday’s Chicken Soup…

Anyway, these really cool friends sent a batch of this incredible Albondigas meatball soup home from work with my husband.  So for a few evenings we reheated the soup, plus I took some to work for lunch.  What didn’t I do?  I didn’t take any photos darn it.  My friend was cool enough to share her recipe with us.  I think this would make a great superbowl entree.  It’s not finger food, but the meatball and the peppers make a hearty dish, but not heavy.  That way you can taste some of the other offerings.

We topped the soup with some arugula – it has a bright green color and adds another peppery note to the soup which has a few already.  At work, I tossed some fritos on top for some crunch and fun, but without the garnish, it works well too.  The meatballs are both chewy and dense, but not too heavy.  Just heavy enough to be hearty with the peppers.  Though pepper is the main taste, and there is heat, it’s not too warm.  My son ate it, and he’s not a fan of too much heat, in fact, he finished the container off for us.

We had a full house – both of the kids were home and the fiancee was at dinner too, so I brought out the leftover kumquats for a tasting.  My daughter died laughing over the name and then refused at first to eat it.  She wanted to peel the skin which I said was the best part.  My son and the fiance popped them in their mouths without a second thought, but my daughter really had to get herself ready.  Then she was fine until the tart juice squirted in her mouth making her pucker.   Later I thanked her for being adventurous – it’s fun to try something new, don’t you think?

My husband and I picked up apples from a grower’s warehouse with plans to make applesauce.  They were only open one day until 3:00.  My husband got off work at 2, but I lost my keys and wasn’t able to get to him until 2:25.  We made it with about ten minutes to spare, but people were still showing up when we were done. I took advantage of the overflowing apple baskets in the diningroom to create a slaw that is pretty fresh.  I have a mandolin, and so took a hunk of green cabbage and shaved the cabbage down.  I also took thin hunks of apples and then shaved them too.  I made the dressing using some of the candied kumquats, the kumquat simple syrup and whisked it with some orange flavored oil and white wine vinegar.  It’s a fresh light salad – but as my daughter says -”It’s Slaw!”

This time we took some chicken from our roast chicken the other night and added pasta, some broccolini, a few herbs, smash some galic and voila – dinner is served.  This is a good college kid meal, you can change up the pasta, the veggies, substitute the oil with broth to make it a little lighter.  Swap the lemon with white or red wine vinegar for a little different.  We stood side by side at the stove cooking this dish.  When we were done, I asked my son if he thought he could do it all over again, and he assured me that he could.

Tonight’s chicken was lemony goodness and very easy to prepare.  I’m a fan of just a few steps to great food, the oven does most of the work here, slowly roasting to perfection.  My husband is a big poultry fan.  When we go to restaurants, often I will order a steak and my husband some chicken or turkey.  It never fails that the server will swap our plates and give my husband the steak and me the chicken. We taste off of each other’s plates though, so in the end it doesn’t matter.  He won’t swap this though.  I had to let him chew the bones a little before I put them in the freezer so that he could pick off every morsel of chicken left behind.

Today’s chicken we bought fresh from the market yesterday.  You tell them what you want and they will bag it and even skin, bone and cut it up for you all in a few minutes.  They’re really fast.  I bought two whole chickens and a couple of whole breasts split along with some sausage.  The chicken was free range, from a local farmer and that made me happy.  It’s more expensive than the grocery store, but very tasty and local, so I pay a little more for better quality. These chickens were not frozen before I got to them.  One chicken we had for dinner, the rest went into the freezer for later.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take a photo of after I roasted the chicken.  My daughter was leaving for school and I cut a hunk of cooked breast off, and sent it with her to have in her salad for dinner.  I have a before photo that shows how I pulled the skin away from the chicken and stuffed the lemons and rosemary in between the skin and the meat.  You may need to use a knife to start the slit, but after you get it separated you should be able to slide your hand right in.

I sliced the lemons and slid them flat in between the skin and meat.  The two ends of the lemons went into the cavity.  I snipped bunches of rosemary from my plants that I have growing in pots in the diningroom.  Then I tore the leaves up and smashed them before shoving the rosemary in around the chicken.  A couple of branches went into the cavity as well.  I poured a little olive oil over top of the chicken and just smoothed it all around.  A sprinkle of salt and pepper as desired and bake in the oven uncovered at 375 until the thermostat reaches about 165.

I hope every one enjoys their day and thanks to all those working today to make our lives easier. My daughter is a working waitress. Be extra nice to your waitress today if you eat out. She’s missing the family dinner, but needs the money for school. We miss her, but we understand. God bless us everyone. Happy Holidays to all, from Winter solstice through Happy New Years and every holiday in between.

The last couple of weeks I’ve been eating brussels sprouts every other night.  Rhoads Farm still had brussels sprouts at North Market this week, and we bought another quart.  The vendor told me that they get their seeds from Europe, that give them a less bitter brussels sprout.  I can tell you that ours are delicious and not bitter at all. My kids aren’t fans because I traumatized them with frozen and then boiled brussels sprouts.  I think there’s no competition – now is the time to get brussels sprouts and cook them up the best way from fresh.

For a brighter brussels sprout, give it a quick blanch, really quick so they don’t get soggy.  You can skip that step, but it does brighten up the plate. I like the pancetta, sliced thinly and less grease than the thick cut bacon. I also add pine nuts because I think they go well, and some garlic.  The white wine vinegar lightens it up a little and will get all the carmelized bits from the bottom of the pan. This is pretty darn tasty.  My husband and I eat brussel sprouts as a dinner snack on those nights we are looking for something quick and not so heavy.  Now’s the time to go out and get those fresh brussel sprouts right off the stalk from your local farmer.  (Excuse the photo – it’s from my IPhone).

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of brussels sprouts – stem removed and sliced in half
• 3 slices of pancetta
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/8 cup pine nuts
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

In a simmering pot of water, blanch the brussel sprouts very quickly. It should just turn a little brighter and take it out and drain in a colander.

Meanwhile fry the pancetta in a dutch oven on the stovetop.  When the pancetta is crisp, remove to a paper towel, add in olive oil (if you use bacon and have enough fat, you may not need more oil) to heat.  Toss in chopped garlic, and pine nuts.  Stir until lightly browned and add in drained brussels sprouts.  Splash the white wine vinegar over the pan and with a wooden spatula, scrape at the bits carmelized on the bottom and toss the ingredients.  Place in the oven at 400 for about ten to fifteen minutes until browned.

There are a lot of nice late fall veggies in this potato soup hopefully making it nutritionally filling as well as warming you up on a cold day.  I cut the broccolini into thirds.  The bottom third of the stalk, I put away in the freezer for when I am making vegetable broth.  The middle third I used for the soup and the top third I stir into the pot after steaming in white whine vinegar.  I love having the whole veggie to bite into a nice morsel in the mostly smashed potatoes and celeriac broth. The celeriac I peeled and diced into bite size pieces to fill about 2 cups.  I rough peeled the potatoes – because I’m a fan of skin and had both yellow and redskins – diced to make two cups.

The soup starts with bacon and ends with bacon crumbled over top along with a swish of chopped rosemary.  The bacon came from my favorite butcher, and doesn’t have the nitrate thing going on. The rosemary is part of a present I am giving away for Christmas.  The plants are shaped like a Christmas tree, but they are growing out, so I trim them back and hold on to the leaves and try to find ways to use them.  Throwing rosemary bits into the soup was a wonderful way to do that.

Ingredients:

• 3 slices bacon
• 2 cups diced celeriac (peeled first)
• 2 cups diced potatoes (rough peeled)
• 1 small onion diced
• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 2 tbs white wine vinegar
• 1 bunch broccolini
• 1 cup half and half
• rosemary (chopped)

Directions:

1. In the bottom of a stock pot, cook bacon until crisp.  Remove to paper towel and let drain.
2. Add 2 tbs olive oil to pan.  Throw in onions, potatoes, celery root and the middle third of the broccolini until onions are translucent.
3.   Add in the vegetable broth.  Simmer until the vegetables are soft.
4. While the veggies are simmering in a separate pan – heat up 1 tbs of oil and saute the top third of the broccolini.
5. Splash the white wine vinegar over the broccolini and toss until steamed.
6. When the potato mixture is soft, use an immersion stick to blend the vegetables together into a rough mash.
7. Add in the cream and rosemary.  Toss in the broccolini and serve with bacon crumbled over top.

I do like using local ingredients – so instead of Bourbon, I used OYO whiskey made by Middle West Spirits located in Columbus. When Middle West Spirits puts out the word they’re releasing some of the good stuff, if we are in need, my husband will call to reserve a couple of bottles and run over after work to pick it up.

My recipe came from Andrea the proprietor of  Food Embrace. These cookies are chewy, and dense and if you look at mine, not so pretty because I just dropped dollops down without thinking about making it pretty.  I’m a dollop kind of person so that works.  The dark color comes from the molasses and the spices. I love that there isn’t a lot of butter or oil and it uses unsweetened applesauce (I used my own home made, so it’s local also).  These are tasty cookies, and a great alternative to the usual holiday fare.

Ingredients:

In a mixing bowl, combine:

• 1/2 cup whiskey (or bourbon)
• 1/3 cup Molasses
• 1/2 cup Unsweetened Applesauce
• 2 tbs Unsalted Butter, room temperature
• 3 tbs Packed brown sugar

In a separate bowl combine and whisk together :