Now that mom is no longer with us, I feel I have lost my strong ally in the kitchen battles. She was open to suggestions and to any innovation I would come up with, and ready to try anything new. It's been only two weeks, and not only I missed her from day one, I already feel that I have to go through an uphill battle with my husband to make him more flexible when it comes to food. His taste is so traditional that even if he was open minded years ago and willing sometimes to cautiously try new dishes every now and then, lately he is entrenching himself in a very rigid position and reverted back to his old eating habits. His diet consisted mainly of meat, cheese and bread, now he almost eliminated all of the meat, and added waffles and corn flakes. I'm trying my best to convince him not to go to the dark side and follow me to a healthier lifestyle. So it's not so much new recipes, but special menus that I'm using to entice him and convince him to eat what I am serving. The main idea is to build the menu around an item he loves, then add side dishes that he may be willing to try, one or two, not more. I think the same principle can be applied to a difficult child too. I've seen many of my friends children refusing food at home, but eating up anything I serve them.
So the menu today is built around chicken Milanese. The fried tender chicken breast cutlets are everybody's favorite. I'll add to that some sauteed asparagus (both on previous blogs), and for the something new to try: a creamy asparagus soup. This way I'll catch two birds with one stone: I'll give my husband asparagus that he loves, and finish up the 2.25 lb bag of asparagus I have in the refrigerator.
CREAMY ASPARAGUS SOUP
The main reason I thought of this soup is the huge quantity of asparagus I bought. Two pounds is a lot of asparagus if you are only two people, and you are not inviting some friends. The bonus? It is snowing today in New York. What better than a creamy soup to keep you warm in such a weather? I thought I can make a creamy soup without adding any fat or cream. How? you may ask. Just as I make the creamy lentil soup, but with different ingredients. It was easy, and it came out perfect. You'll need:
1 lb asparagus, hard tip removed and cut into 1 inch pieces
3 to 4 small potatoes peeled and cubed
2 tbsp frozen onion/garlic mixture
1/2 bunch dill (about 1/2 inch in diameter, it's winter, bunches are smaller)
1 tsp oil
Vegetable or chicken stock, about 4 cups (enough to cover the potatoes), or water
Salt and pepper
Reserve a few of the asparagus tips for decoration.
In a large pot cook the onion/garlic mixture in oil until translucent. Add the potatoes, stir, then add the stock. Sprinkle some salt and pepper if you are using water. Let cook until the potatoes are tender, then add the asparagus and dill. Cook until all the vegetables are done, then remove from the heat and let stand for 10 minutes, just so that you can puree the veggies. With an immersion blender beat the soup until smooth. You can also do that in a regular blender. Return the soup to the pot, adjust seasoning if need be. If you sauteed the other pound of asparagus to serve with the chicken cutlets, you can cook the asparagus tips in the same skillet in two tbsp of water. If you are only making the soup, you can cook the tips in a tbsp of water in a glass bowl in the microwave. Serve the soup topped with a couple of asparagus tips on top.
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