Seafood Chowder

What can I tell you about this seafood chowder? It contains plenty of chunks of halibut, mussels, clams, salmon, lobster, and potatoes all smothered in a rich, creamy broth, sprinkles with parsley and chives and accompanied by fresh homemade biscuits. Sounds simply and delicious enough, right? Multiply that by 450 portions, plating to serve out of a temporary tent set-up on a parking lot.

Peanut Soup

Peanut Soup
oil
1/2 large white onion, finely diced
2 large stalks celery, thinly sliced
2 large carrots, finely diced
1 red pepper, finely diced
1 stalk lemongrass, sliced
1 red chili pepper, diced
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
4 cups vegetable broth
3 cups coconut milk
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 Tablespoons freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
sliced green onions, for garnish
shelled peanuts, for garnish

Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the vegetables and allow to sweat (no color) until softened slightly. Stir in the lemongrass, chili, and cornstarch. Stir in remaining ingredients, Bring to a boil, then simmer lightly until thickened and vegetables are softened. You can make this thicker or thinner by reducing further or adding more broth.

If you haven't tried peanut soup, you definitely should! It may not sound the most appetizing, but if you are a peanut butter lover, you will love this savory take on it. It is filling and leftovers make a nice sauce as well. 

Cream Of Asparagus Soup

Cream of Asparagus Soup
1 Tablespoon oil
1 bunch asparagus, tough ends cut off, cut into 1 inch lengths
1 small white onion, medium dice
water to cover
salt, to taste
ground black pepper, to taste
garlic powder, to taste
ground ginger, to taste
freshly squeezed lemon juice, to taste
1 can (370mL) evaporated milk (I used 2%)

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and asparagus and sweat over low heat, covered, without browning for about ten minutes until vegetables are slightly softened, but still vibrant. Add enough water to just cover the vegetables and bring to a boil. Stir in some seasonings. Simmer until vegetables are tender, but not mushy. Blend the mixture, use a blender that can hold hot liquids for a really smooth texture or a handheld immersion blender. Gradually stir in the milk while blending. For a really smooth texture, pass the blended soup through a sieve or chinois. You can make this soup as smooth as you'd like or keep some texture in it. You can also reserve a few asparagus tips for garnish. Bring the soup back to a boil, adjust seasonings, and stir in lemon juice. Once reboiled, this thick soup will burn or curdle easily so it is best to serve immediately or keep at a very low simmer. 

If you want a green soup, you have your choice of cream of broccoli or split pea, or this cream of asparagus soup, which is a combination of the two preparation techniques. It is prepared much in the same way as cream of broccoli, but is thicker and a less vibrant green like split pea soup. I just used the skills I learned from my soup course to make up this soup. Adjust the seasonings as you wish, I like the hint of ginger but you could spice things up with some cayenne, fenugreek, or whatever you wish. Use as much or as little as you wish. I used the juice of half a lemon, which adds a little taste but not too much tang. You can substitute whipping cream for the evaporated milk, which will make a heavier, richer soup, but evaporated milk imparts a similar texture with less calories and fat. This recipe makes about half a liter, enough for 4-6 small appetizer servings or 2-4 larger main course servings. 

Sun-Dried Tomato and Bean Bisque

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. 

Hearty Vegetable Soup

Hearty Vegetable Soup
3 small white onions, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
1 small zucchini, diced
1 small eggplant, diced
3 small potatoes, diced
stalk of choice, to cover
1 can yellow wax beans, drained
1 can green wax beans, drained
1 can stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 cup cooked, chopped carrots
salt, spices, and seasoning as desired
2 cups cubed leftover cooked meat, if desired
approximately 1 cup leftover seasoned mashed potatoes

Heat a little oil over low heat in a large pot. Add the onion, celery, zucchini, eggplant, and potato and allow the mixture to "sweat" for twenty minutes or so to marry the flavors together. Stir in the stalk and heat to a boil. Stir in the beans, tomatoes, carrots, seasoning, and meat. Boil until vegetables are tender. Stir in mashed potatoes and heat to thicken. 

The snowy, cold days approaching are the perfect time to enjoy bowlfuls of warm, hearty, delicious soup. With imprecise soups such as vegetable, no recipe is needed, but here is a formula for a very flavorful and nutritious soup I came up with that is quick and inexpensive to make, and a great way to use up some leftovers. Switch it up as you please. This makes a large batch that can easily be saved and reheated. 

Vegetable Bean Purée Soup

Full of nutrients - no  chewing involved. I must admit, it isn't the prettiest color, but sometimes looks can be deceiving. And if you can't chew, you're probably not too worried about presentation anyway.

Vegetable Bean Purée Soup
1/2 cup liquid (leftover cooking water from vegetables, plain water, or vegetable broth)
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables (I used carrots, peas, corn, and green beans)
1/4 white onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 cup mixed spring greens
salt, pepper, Italian seasoning to taste
1 can dark red kidney beans (540mL/19 ounces), undrained
butter, Parmesan cheese, hot sauce, or any other flavors as desired to taste

In a medium saucepan, bring the cooking liquid, vegetables, onion, and garlic to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for five minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the greens and seasonings. Purée using a hand-held immersion blender until smooth. Add in the can of beans with liquid and purée again until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use, or bring the pot to a boil to hear soup thoroughly. 

Lamb Stew

This is a really new recipe my parents decided to try to surprise me, based on something they saw on television (and surprisingly not on a cooking show). We rarely eat lamb, and this stew contained some other unique flavors as well. However, there is a special component to this dish. Of course the stew could just be made as is, but the real interesting technique will be shared tomorrow, which makes this a complete dish. 

Lamb Stew
1 1/2 pounds lamb pieces, cut into one inch cubes
salt and pepper to season
1/2 slab bacon or turkey or chicken bacon, sliced in small pieces 
1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, with liquid
4 cloves garlic, minced or finely chopped
3-5 medium white potatoes, cut in one inch cubes
2 carrots, sliced
1 large onion, roughly diced
2 stalks celery, chopped (optional)
1 cup small olives (optional)
1 1/2 cups red wine

The day before serving:
Season lamb with salt and pepper and combine with the bacon. In a separate bowl, combine the tomatoes, garlic, potatoes, carrots, and onion, and celery and olives if using.
Create three layers in a 5.5 quart (approximately) Dutch oven or large pot - a third of the meat, followed by a third of the vegetables, and repeat. Pour the wine over top, as well as any other spices you would like to add, depending on your personal tastes (cayenne pepper, fennel, cinnamon, coriander, bay leaf, basil, rosemary, mint, etc.). Cover and refrigerate overnight.

About 3 1/2 hours before serving:
Preheat oven to 400◦F. Bake stew, covered for 30 minutes, then reduce temperature to 275◦F and bake for an additional 2 1/2 hours. Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes before serving (unless you are in a hurry). 

Just a few hints and tips on this dish: we found this dish incredibly salty. It is the combination of seasoning the lamb, the salty bacon, and the canned tomatoes. I would recommend using much less bacon and more lamb, using fresh tomatoes or a can for extra liquid with no salt added, only seasoning the meat with pepper, or a combination of these steps. Adding more potatoes would also bulk the dish up and absorb some of the salt. There can be plenty of flavor coming from a variety of your favorite spices. The wine adds an interesting depth of flavor, but I am no wine expert, so I cannot advise you on what type of red wine is best. This is definitely a stew, not a soup, so be sure to keep the vegetables and meat chunky. 

Dumplings

Dumplings
1 cup all-purpose (plain) flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon granulated (white) sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Cut in the butter until crumbly. Stir in milk to make a soft dough. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto a boiling soup or stew. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes with lid closed. Makes about 8-10 large dumplings.

Large, fluffy, moist and buttery dumplings are the perfect accompaniment to a piping hot bowl of soup or stew. They are also very convenient because they easily cook right on top of the stew. It is so quick to whip up a batch of them - much quicker then rolling and cutting biscuits. The recipe can easily be altered to change quantities. Although these biscuits only contain a small amount of butter, they are fairly rich. 

Potato Pork Casserole

The other day we decided to try something a little different for supper. Since pork chops were on sale, we decided to try a pork dish. We don't typically eat pork all that often. I am not a huge pork fan myself, but if pork chops are cooked tender enough so that they aren't tough and dry, I enjoy them. My mother remembered a simple pork casserole recipe she used to make years ago, which my father found and decided to make. The recipe is simple, just lay out pork chops in a casserole dish, layer them with sliced potatoes, cheese, and pour one can of cream of mushroom soup over top. My father did do a few things differently though. He pre-browned the pork chops, just fr a bit of extra flavor and to ensure they cooked, just five minutes per side. He also used a block of fresh cheese cut up, instead pf just slices. The original recipe serves four and calls for four pork chops, but he cooked six. The recipe turned out quite well, except for the potatoes. I guess they should have been sliced thinner, because after being in the oven for an hour at 325◦F immersed in bubbling sauce with the pork chops, they were still very hard. The pork was cooked perfectly at this point, but not the potatoes. Fifteen more minutes of cooking was only drying out the pork, and doing nothing for the potatoes, so they had to be microwaved separately. However, once together, the dish was quite tasty, and the pork chops were certainly tender and moist. The dish would have been even better with some fried onions and mushrooms added to the sauce. So next time, we will either make the potatoes really thin, or parboil them beforehand. 

Mom's Quick Soup

This is a quick soup my mother whipped up today for lunch tomorrow using ingredients she had on hand. It is certainly nothing special or difficult to make, but it sure is tasty. She simply took the vegetables she had on hand and made them into soup with some pasta - no meat, because there was no leftover meat on hand. The vegetables featured in this soup are: onion, carrots, peas, and potatoes  There are some fettuccine noodles boiled in chicken broth - and there you have some tasty soup! Quick, easy, nutritious, and something good to warm you up on a chilly Fall day. My grandmother is a big fan of soup, she could eat it everyday. My mother enjoys soup on occasion, but not everyday. I also really like most soups, but I would not want it everyday. I guess you know who the real soup fans are when they eat hot soup on a hot summer day, which my grandmother is known to do, and I have also done on occasion. Soups are an easy, quick, tasty, and hearty meal to have anytime really!

Cajun Salmon (Restaurant Food)

Here is another restaurant food review post from a recent trip. This is Grilled Cajun Salmon with tropical fruit salsa, with corn on the cob and a side of roasted red pepper and tomato soup. If I could sum up this meal in just one word it would be spicy. The meal was very tasty and flavorful, but quite spicy; luckily I like a good amount of spice, though I certainly can't handle extreme spice. The main feature here is the salmon, which was rubbed generously on both sides with a dry Cajun spice rub, and grilled to perfection, with the bottom being close to blackened, but not quite as charred as most blackened fish usually is. The salmon was topped with a tropical fruit salsa that also contributed a fair amount of heat. Like most salsas, the vegetables (or fruits, in this case) are chopped and blended together with many spices and seasonings. It was difficult to determine the exact fruits used in the salsa, but I definitely did detect strawberries and a few different types of melon. I believe there was also some pineapple, some papaya, and maybe even some tomato, but I can't be sure. Whatever was in it, it was certainly tasty. The salmon came with your choice of side, including fries, salad, rice, or soup of the day. The soup of the day was roasted red pepper and tomato, which sounded pretty good to me, even if it was a fairly warm day outside. The soup was quite spicy, and the taste of roasted red pepper certainly came through. The soup wasn't extremely soupy, but not too thick either, just the right consistency. This was the only part of the meal I did not finish, not because it wasn't good, but because my tongue was already on fire from the Cajun salmon and fruit salsa, and I was already warm enough. The vegetable side that accompanies many meals is often overlooked, but considering I wasn't expecting anything with my salmon (nothing else was listed on the menu), I was pleasantly pleased. Maybe the vegetable that comes with the salmon differs depending on what is in season, but I was quite glad I got corn on the cob with mine. I'm not sure exactly how the corn was cooked, definitely not grilled, probably just boiled. It was spread with just the right amount of butter, and sprinkled with salt, pepper, and a hint of garlic. The entire meal arrived piping hot, and I could not wait to dive in!

Creamy Vegetable Rotini

This is what I made for supper today. It is quick and simple, but quite tasty. The recipe came from a little booklet I had. You can easily vary this recipe in many ways to suit your tastes. Here are the basic options, choose what you would like from each of the following items listed. You will also need 1 Tablespoon cooking oil and 2 1/4 cups water.

2 cups mixed fresh or frozen vegetables (any kind)
2 cups uncooked pasta (rotini recommended, or anything similar in size)
1 can (10 ounces or 284mL) cream soup (I used cream of celery)
four portions of protein (meat, fish, beans), if desired
spices and seasonings, as desired

Now all you do is heat the oil in a large pot or skillet. Cook the protein as needed, and precook the vegetables as well if you think they need it (especially when using fresh). Once they are fairly soft, and the meat is cooked, add the water and soup and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, add the pasta and cook until tender, stirring often. This takes about 15-20 minutes. All of the water should be absorbed, and the dish should be somewhat creamy from the soup. It's that simple!

Here was my combination: meatless with fresh green beans, mushrooms, and carrots, with rotini and cream of celery soup. This is a quick dinner you can have on the table in half an hour with just a little prep work.

Broad Bean Soup

Since we were asked to look after a friend's large garden while they are away, and were told to help ourselves to whatever we wanted. Well, actually we were encouraged to pick any vegetables that were ready. The garden is fairly big and varied, it includes peas, beans, lettuce, cabbage, rhubarb, carrots, squash, tomatoes, etc. Upon our last visit, we discovered that the broad beans were ready and plentiful, so we had to pick them. Now, what exactly do you do with pounds of broad beans, especially if you have never even eaten broad beans before? They aren't exactly the kind of vegetable you eat fresh and raw, they also aren't very exciting just boiled and served either. My father, who used to eat a lot of broad beans as a child, came up with the idea to make broad bean soup. My grandmother often makes a really good bean soup, not with broad beans but with other beans. So my father kind of used this idea to make something similar. He boiled up a lot of broad beans with some carrot, onion, sweet potato, and some other ingredients. Once cooked, he pureed it with a hand blender. The result was a thick, broad bean soup. It was relatively bland, a few garlic cloves, or other spices would have probably helped it out a bit, but we didn't have any on hand (this soup was a spur of the moment thing). Also, the chopped onion was added near the end, so it did not get pureed. I kind of like the little extra texture this added, but my father wasn't a fan of it. We also debated whether or not to add pasta, but as it was a side dish, decided against it. A little spaghetti or other pasta would have been good in it though. Overall, it's not a bad soup, just not one you can eat large quantities of in one sitting. And it certainly solved the problem of what to do with all of the broad beans. But we still have some beans left. Any ideas?

Turkey Noodle Soup

Even though the weather is starting to get a bit warmer, and there are no longer snowy, cold days, it is still nice to have soup. Today was actually a pretty good day for soup, as it was miserable and rainy outside, with a slight chill and some dampness in the air. We also made this soup to use up the leftover turkey from Easter that we had in the freezer. This soup is basically just a standard chicken noodle soup recipe, but we used turkey because that is what was on hand. The soup contains chicken broth, ground black pepper, chopped onion, sliced carrots, potato, peas, turkey pieces, and spaghetti noodles. It is a nice, classic soup, hearty, but not too heavy, and is a great treatment for colds and the flu. This soup could be served with any hearty bread, biscuit, sandwich, or crackers, weather homemade or store-bought. Basically all you need is a little something for dipping and enjoying on the side, which could be anything from pita bread, to a croissant, to cheese crackers, to a grilled cheese sandwich. When we have the time, we like to serve our homemade soup with homemade biscuits, which I will feature tomorrow.

Vegetable Bean Soup

This is the delicious soup that only my grandmother can make, which we enjoyed for supper tonight. It is a vegetable bean soup with noodles. We have a name for it, which I can think of numerous spellings for, none of which are correct. It is pronounced "fa-zoo-ey", but I have no idea where that name came from. Although she has not divulged the exact secret recipe, and the soup is always a little different each time it is made, here is the basis of it. It starts with chicken broth and a lot of fresh vegetables, along with some canned vegetables and canned beans. The vegetables always include carrots, celery, and sweet potatoes, but often other vegetables are added as well. The vegetables are simmered in the chicken broth until tender. The mixture is then pureed into a smooth, thick vegetable soup. This is when seasonings, such as ground black pepper and parsley, are added, along with spaghetti noodles.  Then the mixture is cooked again just until the pasta is tender. This soup is a bit difficult to describe, and it seems pretty simple, but it is so so good! It would be a nice starter vegetable soup without the pasta, but the pasta makes it a bit more substantial and good for a meal. The amount of pasta can easily be adjusted, as can the type of pasta. This soup is great with a slice of thick, homestyle bread. The soup also freezes quite well. My grandmother tends to make a batch of this soup for us every time we visit her or she visits us. She also brings some other delicious baked goodies with her too. I always look forward to my grandmother's delicious cooking!

Mac and Cheeseburger Casserole

Here is an easy, all-in-one, family-pleasing casserole. It combines all four of the food groups, and makes a complete meal. It is tasty and quick and easy to prepare. Then just put it in the oven and relax until dinner time! This dish is very convenient because although the meat and vegetables require a quick precooking time, the pasta does not. There is enough liquid in the casserole to fully cook the pasta while it is in the oven. Just make sure you use a short, quick-cooking pasta shape. The pasta is far from al dente, but still slightly firm.If you are used to very tender pasta, you may want to add a bit more liquid and increase the cooking time, or try precooking the pasta, and just baking the dish for a short amount of time.

Mac and Cheeseburger Casserole
1 pound (500 grams) extra lean ground beef
2 cups thinly sliced fresh mushrooms
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
2 cups uncooked macaroni (or other short pasta)
1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes, with juices
1 can (284 mL) condensed cream of mushroom soup
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup grated cheese (I used marble)
Optional Add-Ins: 1 cup chopped red and yellow peppers, 1/2 cup chopped celery, one Tablespoon chili powder.

Preheat a large skillet with a little oil over medium heat. Add the beef and cook thoroughly. Push the beef to the sides of the pan and put the mushrooms, onion, and celery and peppers, if using. Sautee until softened, about five minutes.
Place mixture in a large, oven-proof casserole dish and add the remaining ingredients except for the cheese. Cover and bake at 400◦F for 50 minutes, until pasta is tender. Sprinkle with cheese and let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Chicken & Rice Dinner

I found this recipe in a little booklet designed to promote a brand of soup, since every recipe in it uses soup. They all seemed quick, easy, and tasty, so I decided to try one for supper tonight. This one was a 20 minute chicken, rice and vegetable skillet. However, I changed the recipe around a bit. I used regular rice instead of instant, so I cooked it separately on top of the stove, and then mixed it in with the chicken and vegetables when they were both cooked. I baked the casserole in the oven instead of simmering it in a skillet. I also precooked the chicken in the oven too. I used a frozen vegetable blend of broccoli, mushrooms, beans, carrots, and onion. So this dish didn't end up being a 20 minute one pan meal, but it was still easy and convenient. And most importantly, yummy! The entire family enjoyed it, and it will make good leftovers for tomorrow.

Chicken & Rice Dinner
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 can (10 ounces/284 mL) cream of chicken soup (regular or reduced fat)
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon paprika (optional)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups uncooked instant rice
2 cups frozen vegetable mixture 

HEAT oil at medium-high in large skillet. Add chicken, cook until browned - about 10 minutes; set chicken aside. Reduce heat to medium.

COMBINE soup, water, paprika and pepper in skillet. Heat to a boil, stirring often.

STIR in rice and vegetables. Top with chicken. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat until chicken is cooked through - about 5 minutes. 

Turkey Soup With Oat Dumplings

What could be better to warm you up on a crisp fall day other than a hearty bowl of soup? I got this recipe from a cooking magazine, although it used chicken. Since we had some leftover turkey pieces in the freezer and a few cups of stock I made with that turkey, I decided to make turkey soup. This is basically a traditional soup recipe with onions, carrots, and potatoes. Here, you also get the bread and soup all in one dish with the oat dumplings. The soup gets added flavor and tenderness from initially sauteeing the vegetables in butter, instead of just adding water/stock and boiling them. This also makes for quicker preparation, so the soup doesn't have to be simmering on the stove all day. Only for an hour or two. The soup turned out warm, spicy, and delicious; and the dumplings were tender and fluffy.