FREEZING AGAIN? SOUP IS THE SOLUTION

Here we go again. We barely stopped complaining about the heat, that we start again complaining about how cold it is. But this year, it is really really cold. And for me to say that, it means that everybody else is already freezing! Today in the North East, we are going through the third snow storm in a row, and weather predictions are not very encouraging. 

To make you feel better I'll start by posting a recent picture of my famous lentil soup. It was in one of my very first blogs. This is the only soup that my husband eats and what we ate for two days last week. 

           

CAULIFLOWER CREAMY SOUP

This turned out to be a very easy soup to make: it took only minutes. It just needs the time for the veggies to cook, and it's about ten minutes. Preparation is very easy too. I had a head of cauliflower and with the cold weather I thought of using it in a soup. I was not very sure about the result mainly because I never had it before and also because usually boiling cauliflower gives the whole house a certain smell. I looked into some recipes and found that all of them use a lot of butter to have the creamy texture. But butter is not an option for me, especially that I intended to use half and half in my soup. So I went for my obvious solution: add some potatoes. It will make it creamy enough and eventually absorb and offset any odor we might get from the cauliflower. Of course I could not rely on my husband to tell me if it was good or not, but fortunately while making it, the grandchildren came with some of their friends. I offered them some soup. At first they hesitated, but one of them, just to be nice to me, accepted to have a taste. That was all it took. They all loved it and I packed some for their mom to take with her for the two year old who is very picky with her food, but who declared " I like soup" when she tasted it, and she ate the whole cup I served her. You' ll need:

1/2 head of cauliflower cut into florets

4 small potatoes, about 1 1/2 inch in diameter, peeled and cubed, I had red potatoes

3 celery stalks finely chopped 

1/2 bunch of cilantro, leaves and just their stems

1 tbsp cumin

1/2 tbsp coriander

3 cubes chicken or vegetable stock, I used 3 spoons of granules

1 cup half and half

Rinse the vegetables and transfer them to a large pot, add the spices, barely cover them with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and keep cooking until all vegetables are tender. Reserve a couple of florets for garnish. Add the granules and stir. Remove from heat and let cool for a while. Purée the vegetables in a blender or using a hand held mixer. Return the soup to the stove, on low heat. Stir in the half and half and let simmer to combine. Adjust seasoning if you need. Serve topped with the reserved florets and some chopped parsley or grated cheddar cheese, or both for color.
For the other half head of cauliflower, I didn't have cilantro, so I used parsley. It came out equally delicious. As for the garnish, the kids found that dipping small pieces of florets in their cup gave the soup a nice crunch, so this time around I used small raw florets for garnish with the chopped parsley and the grated Cheddar. If you want, you can stir some grated cheese in the soup. I only melted what I had as garnish in my bowl.

                                                 

                                                    

ONE RECIPE, TWO DISHES

I've been away from my blog for a while. I was very busy at work, and cooked just for survival. I mainly made dishes that I can take with me at work for lunch. This made my husband very happy, because these dishes were on the dry side (my husband's favorite), so that I can chop some of the leftovers on a salad to take with me. During the week end, I checked out the kitchen freezer to plan my coming week. I needed some veggies. Dry food (grilled chicken or meat, or anything without any kind of sauce) without vegetables on the side, is not an option for me. I found 3 packages of chicken breasts. That's a start. I decided to compromise: with some I'll cook a dry dish for my husband and some with sauce, just for a change.

I just remembered that the last time we had some friends over I made chicken Marsala, so why not make it today with a twist?

CHICKEN MARSALA WITH A TWIST

                                               

  

I actually made this dish as an after thought. To my husband's delight I announced that we were going to have chicken Milanese today. I had already trimmed the chicken breasts, pounded them thin and started marinating them when I decided to put some cutlets aside to make another dish. Why? Simply because while I was reorganizing the fridge, I found a couple of tomatoes who started to go soft, because I had just bought a box of canned mushrooms, and I still had some dried mushrooms in the pantry. So I thought: tomatoes and mushrooms, can we still call it Chicken Marsala if it had tomatoes in it? I guess we can. I made it and nobody objected, not even the chicken. You'll need:

4 breast cutlets (from 1 chicken breast)

1/2 tbsp onion/garlic frozen mixture

2 tbsp oil

1 large handful of dried mushrooms

1 ( 4 oz) can sliced mushrooms, or 2 cups fresh sliced mushrooms

1 good pinch each dried oregano and thyme

1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes with their juices

1/2 cup Marsala

2 cups chicken stock

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp flour for dusting

First a note: these are the "official" ingredients. What actually happened is that when I thought of making this dish, I had already started marinating the chicken cutlets for the other dish, so I just fished out the cutlets I needed and shook them to remove as much marinade as I could. I also used the leftover mixture of flour and bread crumbs to dust the cutlets before cooking them. I also had chopped fresh tomatoes that I used with the canned diced ones.

So I dusted the cutlets, and in a non stick skillet cooked the onion/garlic mixture, with salt and pepper, in the oil for a couple of minutes, just until tender. Add the cutlets and let cook on one side undisturbed for about 4 minutes. In the mean time, cook the dried mushrooms in the stock until tender and the stock reduced. Turn the cutlets to the other side, sprinkle with oregano and thyme, and let cook for another 3 minutes. I don't want them to brown, just a light yellow. Add the Marsala, let reduce, then add the sliced mushrooms, the cooked mushrooms with the reduced stock, and finally the tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer until all the ingredients come together and the sauce thickens. Serve with rice, pasta or simply toasted slices of bread.

CHICKEN MARSALA, HOLD THE MARSALA

                                                        

I made this dish when we had some friends over for dinner. I knew that they don't drink, and was not sure that they would have easily accepted the idea that when you cook with wine, the wine evaporates and you just get the nice flavor. I didn't want to have a discussion over it. I'll make the chicken Marsala, without the Marsala. Again, nobody objected, and the dish was a big success. I didn't fret about it because I know that when I eliminate one ingredient from a recipe, I always add something else to make up for the one I lost. I just made one mistake: I used too much chicken and my biggest pan was a bit too little for the quantity. You'll need:

2 chicken breasts, sliced in cutlets and pounded thin

1 1/2 tbsp frozen onion/garlic mixture

1 to 2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp dried oregano

1 lb fresh white mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

2 tbsp oil

Flour for dusting the cutlets

1 to 2 tsp chicken gravy powder, optional

Salt and pepper to taste

Start by marinating the cutlets in the onion mixture, with salt, pepper, oregano and lemon juice.  Let stand for 30 minutes. Lightly dust the cutlets with flour. In a non stick skillet heat the oil and start browning the cutlets in batches. Make sure that the cutlets are a very light brown. Remove to a platter lined with paper towels. Next cook the mushrooms in the same skillet until tender. Return the chicken pieces to the skillet. Add some water or chicken stock, and carefully stir with a spatula to deglaze the pan. Let reduce. If using the chicken gravy powder, add it to the skillet and stir to combine until you get a nice thick sauce. Serve.

EASY THANKSGIVING AND CHRISTMAS DINNER, II

Let's finish our menu for both dinners. For those who don't eat poultry, I made two meat dishes for the two occasions. You may think that this is too much work, but, again, as I said, if you get organized from the start, you will not be overwhelmed  and you will have all the time to enjoy the company of your guests. In fact, from where I come from, having people for dinner means that you should not spend your time in the kitchen leaving your guests to themselves. When my grandma or my mom had company everything had to be ready beforehand and they went to the kitchen only to serve the food, or supervise the cook while plating the food. Hors d'oeuvre were ready in the fridge in the serving platters to greet the guests as they arrive. You have to understand how shocked I am when I see on TV programs where people are looking for houses with "an open concept" kitchen, so they can be cooking while their guests are out there. This means that these people usually do not cook, because if they did cook on a regular basis they wouldn't like to have a sofa, or any furniture for that matters, in a space open to the kitchen with all the fumes. Have you seen the hood of your range if it's not regularly cleaned? That would be your sofa in an open concept living space!

To get organized for a big dinner is not that difficult, you only have to plan your menu, chose items that don't need individual cooking or frying, and limit the items that need to be prepared a few minutes before serving. So the best option is to chose a meat dish that can be marinated overnight and cooked in the oven with no hassle. That's what I did on both occasions.

EASY EYE ROUND

                                                      

I often choose this cut of meat because it's lean and when sliced it comes in perfect circles, so it's more attractive for children and you're not going to supervise them while eating to remove fat or cut it for them. I've tried several ways of cooking it until I managed to find the easiest way to do it. For this recipe i had to make it big to serve a lot of people, you can use only one piece of meat. You'll need:

2 beef eye rounds
3 tbsp frozen onion/garlic mixture
Salt and pepper

Rinse the meat and with a sharp knife remove the fat that is usually on the lower part of it. They say it makes it tastier, I don't think so, and it will melt and remain in the pan, so you will have to remove it eventually before you use the liquid to make gravy. So remove it from the start. The flavor will come from the marinade, not from the fat. In a small bowl, mix the onion mixture with salt and pepper, then rub the mixture all over the meat. Transfer the meat to the cooking pan. Chose one that is large enough to hold both pieces of meat without touching, and it should be high enough to reach at least half of the meat height. Cover with aluminum foil, refrigerate overnight. The next day, remove from fridge, let stand for 20 to 30 minutes at room temperature then cook in a 375 degree oven undisturbed for 2 hours (I put it in the oven with the turkey). Remove the foil and let it cook for another 30 minutes. By then it should be browned on one side, so turn it in its sauce and cook for another 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, transfer to a cutting board and cover with foil until it's time to carve it. Slice the meat and arrange it in a serving platter. Use the liquid to make gravy by simply adding a couple of tbsp of flour, whisking it until completely dissolved and thickened. Adjust seasoning and serve in a gravy boat.

EASIEST ROAST EVER

                                                    

While shopping for Thanksgiving dinner I came across a different cut of beef. It was a cut from the side of the beef, where you have the ribs, but these were removed. It was about 16 inch X 10 and 2 inches high. What made me think of it was that it had almost no fat. So I bought it and took my chances. It turned out that I had made a good choice. It cooked very quickly and came out tender and delicious. You don't need a recipe for that. Simply rub it with my usual onion/garlic mix with salt and pepper, but add to it as I did a good pinch of cajoun seasoning. I thought it would give it a kick, and it did. Cover it with foil, refrigerate it overnight and cook it as the previous dish. But with this cut, be careful after you remove the foil: you have to check on it after 15 to 20 minutes, then turn it once and give it no longer than 15 minutes more. It will melt in your mouth.

AND FOR DESSERT....
                     
                                                  

I made an easy Oum Ali (original recipe on 12/3012). This time with hazelnuts, almonds, coconut and 3 (4 oz) container of peaches in syrup I had in the pantry. I prepared it the night before and put it in the oven after I removed the turkey and the meat.

EASY LEFTOVERS FIX

Just toss some chopped lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers, top with slices of meat, white and dark meat from the turkey, each one on a different side, and your favorite cheese, I used Jarlesberg in this one. Use your favorite dressing and voila: you have a chef salad.