Lately I have been really enjoying a wide variety of soups. I don't know if it is the cold weather or my grandmother's influence, but soups have become one of my new favorite appetizers/entrées/sides. I have also learned how to make some great soups. One important technique is to sweat the mirepoix (diced vegetables, usually 50% onions, 25% celery, and 25% carrots used to provide flavor) first, without adding color, which allows the vegetables to lend their flavors better in the soup. Traditionally bisques were thickened with rice, but today roux is often used to avoid the grainy texture. Puréed vegetable soups nowadays are also referred to as bisques, as this soup is.
Sun-Dried Tomato and Bean Bisque
oil
1/2 white onion, small dice
3 coves garlic, minced
1 small stalk celery, small dice
1/2 carrot, small dice
1 small jar (120mL) sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, diced
1 can (590mL) red kidney beans with liquid
vegetable broth or water
bay leaf
paprika
rosemary
ground pepper
kosher salt
Heat a little oil in a medium soup pot over medium heat.
Add the onion, garlic, celery, and carrot and sweat for a few minutes until the onion turns translucent, do not brown. Stir in the tomatoes and beans. Simmer for 20 minutes or so until vegetables are cooked and tender, but not mushy. Add broth or water as needed to thin soup out to desired consistency. You may make it as thick or thin as you like, I kept mine fairly thick. Season to taste, then purée all, some, or none of the soup, depending on what type of texture you would like to achieve. I coarsely puréed all of mine. Bring back to a simmer and adjust consistency and seasonings.
Note: The liquid from the beans provides most of the necessary liquid for this soup. If you would prefer not to use this salty liquid, use water and season to taste or a vegetable stock or broth. Any type of stock or broth may be used if there is no need for the soup to be vegetarian/vegan-friendly.
This is a quick vegetable side dish I made using simple vegetables you can easily find this time of year. It really isn't a complicated recipe, but many people don't think of pairing parsnip and celery. Their flavors certainly do complement each other, with the celery being slightly bitter and the parsnip nutty and sweet. They also cook well together because you can large dice them both, and the parsnip is cut small enough to cook quickly and the celery is large enough to refrain from becoming mushy. Celery sweetens when cooked properly, and I much prefer it to raw. Parsnips are very hard and crunchy raw. The two vegetables are different colors as well.
To cook them, I melted a little butter in a frying pan, then sautéed them along with some minced garlic. Toward the end I seasoned to taste with salt, freshly ground black pepper, and dried rosemary, though any herbs and spices would bring a little more freshness to the dish.
This post may be coming a little late, considering turkey dinners with stuffing and all the trimmings tend to be most popular during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season. But here is the stuffing I made for our New Year's turkey feast. Stuffing is a good, basic dish to know how to make, and can be used in a wide variety of dishes - chicken, turkey, goose, duck, even pork and fish. It can also take on a range of flavors - add some cranberries, nuts, or other vegetables. Stuffing is an incredibly easy dish to make, almost as easy as those box mixes, which seem to be popular, but just cannot beat the flavor of homemade. Some homemade recipes just don't seem to turn out great, so it is important to find a really good one. This is a really good one, in my opinion anyway. I'm not really a stuffing fan, I never eat the boxed mixes and have tasted and not really cared for some homemade versions, but this one I love. It's definitely got the typical stuffing seasons, along with a few vegetables and plenty of bread - and it is a bit on the wetter side, just the way I like it!
Turkey Stuffing
1/2 cup clarified butter
1 medium white onion, small dice
2 stalks celery, small dice
one pound stale white bread, in small cubes (use baguette, French, Italian, sandwich, rolls, or a combination)
1 egg, beaten
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
salt and pepper, to taste
1 1/2 cups turkey or chicken stock (use less if you like a drier stuffing)
Heat the butter in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and sauté, without browning, until onion is translucent and vegetables are quite soft.
Meanwhile, toss together the bread, egg, parsley, thyme, rosemary, and seasonings together in a large bowl. Stir in the vegetables and butter from the pan. Pour the stock over top and mix in.
Place mixture in a buttered 9x13 inch rectangular dish or casserole dish of similar size and cover with foil. The stuffing can then be refrigerated if prepared in advance.
Bake covered at 350◦F for 45-60 minutes until hot. Stuffing is pretty forgiving if you put it in a little late or need to keep it in longer while the main course is still being prepared. It also reheats well. Makes approximately eight servings.
Chicken pot pie is a classic comfort food, and a great way to use up leftovers - both chicken and vegetables. Once the prep work is complete, it really does not take long to put together and is such a homey, warm, and soothing dish. Here is my recipe for a big batch of chicken pot pie. I pictured it here before I put the biscuit crust on top so you can easily see the different colors and textures from the inside.
Classic Chicken Pot Pie
2 cans cream of chicken soup (590mL each)
2 can-fulls of water
3 stalks celery, chopped
1/3 cup all-purpose (plain) flour
1 3/4 cups milk
2-3 cups leftover cooked carrots (or use frozen)
1 package fresh mushrooms, chopped (250 grams or 8 ounces)
1 small bag frozen peas
1 small chicken (or use half of a turkey), cooked and diced
4 cups biscuit mix
4 large eggs
2 cups milk
In a large saucepan, bring the soup, water, and celery to a boil. In a small bowl, stir together the flour and 3/4 cup milk. Stir into soup, stir in remaining milk, and bring to a boil again. Boil until thickened and creamy. Stir in the carrots, mushrooms, and peas. Spread the chicken pieces in the bottom of a large pan. Pour the soup mixture over top and stir together. Cover pan, and bake in the oven at 350◦F for about half an hour, until warmed thoroughly.
Meanwhile, mix together the biscuit mix, eggs, and milk in a large bowl. Once pie is warmed, pour this batter over top and spread evenly. Bake for an additional thirty minutes, or until biscuit is golden and cooked through.
You can feel free to vary the vegetables in this recipe to suit your personal tastes - onions, potatoes, and beans are always good. Also adjust the seasoning and spices as desired. You can of course use your own biscuit recipe for this, but you will need a large batch and the biscuit mix is just convenient and fast. The trick to properly cooking the biscuits is to ensure the base is hot before putting the biscuit dough on top.
Celery Cauliflower Quiche
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 cup chopped cauliflower florets
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 large eggs
1 cup 2% milk
2 Tablespoons tahini
2 Tablespoons whole wheat flour
2 Teaspoons wheat germ
salt, pepper, and paprika to taste
Preheat oven to 375◦F. Place the vegetables in the bottom of a 7 or 8 inch round glass ovenproof bowl. In a medium bowl, beat together remaining ingredients. Pour over vegetables. bake for about 45 minutes until just set - quiche should not be jiggly but still moist.
You couldn't really find a quicker and easier quiche recipe than this. The celery and cauliflower make a different but yummy flavor combination. If you prefer softer vegetables in your quiche, pre-steam the vegetables. This is a crustless quiche, but the small amount of flour and wheat germ help thicken the custard and form a thin layer on the bottom. This made two servings for me, though they were hearty main course servings. As a side dish, it could easily serve four.
This is another tasty dish I enjoyed at a restaurant while on vacation. It is a simple seafood chowder, a common dish you can find as an appetizer in many restaurants. No two chowders are ever the same, and whether a chowder is good or not can only be defined by your personal tastes. Of course there are also many different kinds of chowder - such as seafood chowder and corn chowder, not to be confused with cream soups, such as cream of mushroom, chicken, tomato, etc. Cream soups and chowders are similar, but not the same. Cream soups are usually fairly smooth and thinner than chowders, and are often just one simple flavor pureed with cream added. Chowders are typically thicker and chunkier, with a nice medley of different ingredients. Chowders vary in thickness and creaminess, depending on how much cream, milk, water, and stock are used. Some chowders are very chunky, while others aren't quite as hearty. Some chowders are very spicy, others are mildly flavored. Some chowders focus on just a few ingredients, while others contain many different additions. I have not actually tasted that many different chowders, but the reason this one stood out to me from the menu was the variety of generously portioned seafood the chowder contains. This chowder had cod, lobster, mussels, and shrimp, possibly even other seafood I have forgotten as well. It contained quite a bit of celery in large slices, slightly too much and too large of a cut for my liking. The carrot in the chowder was much better - finely copped, and not too much of it. I like a few vegetables in my seafood chowder, but I prefer the focus to remain on the seafood. This chowder was nicely spiced, and the right thickness, but a little too rich. The richness didn't bother me for a small cup of chowder, but I would never be able to eat a whole bowlful of this. Overall, not a bad chowder, it certainly had plenty of seafood, so I can't complain!
