Archive for the 'Recipes' Category

Seasons are a vibrant part of life in New England and as a home cook, I am happy to have them dictate my food. Summer means grilling, keeping the heat out of the Tilty-Floored kitchen, using ingredients we pick up at farmer’s markets. Once the crisp nights come, I am pleased to warm the house from the stove rather than the oil burner. I bake bread and make soups that last my family several days. The smell lingers in our small farmhouse.

This soup is a new favorite for us — very easy to make and so freaking delicious. I’ve never actually had tortilla soup before, but I’ve seen it on menus, and Southwestern and Mexican flavors are among my favorites. I created this recipe using flavors and cooking methods I know from making enchiladas. The result is rich, with a little heat and quite nutritious.

I can’t say enough about how delicious this soup is.

Tortilla Soup
1 whole chicken breast, bone-in, skin on
1 large sweet onion
4 cloves (or, like a whole head) fresh garlic, crushed, chunked
3 bell peppers — red, yellow, orange or whatever’s on hand, chopped
1 very generous handful fresh cilantro, chopped
5 or so green onions, white parts only, chopped
1 can good white corn
1 can green chiles
1 can red kidney beans (I used Trader Joe’s.)
1 can roasted red tomatoes (I used Trader Joe’s fire-roasted with chiles — YUM!)
Lots of ground oregano* and cumin
4-5 cups good chicken broth
Splash of cider vinegar, about 1/4 cup, or to taste

Package good quality corn tortillas
Oil for frying
Salt and pepper

*ground oregano is better than plain dried. It can be found in Latin speciality stores or markets with good Latin foods sections. In a pinch the dried will work.

1) Lightly oil the chicken breasts and season with salt, pepper, oregano and cumin. Roast at 350 degrees until almost completely cooked, but just slightly under. Remove and allow to cool.

2) While the chicken cooks, prep the remaining ingredients. Set a saucepan over medium high heat and sweat the onions in olive oil. I like to do it pretty hot so they carmelize a little. Add peppers and heat through until just starting to sweat.

3) Add garlic, green onions and cilantro. Stir and monitor heat. Again, I like it hot enough to get a little caramel going, but don’t burn anything. When it’s good and hot, add the tomatoes and chiles and then the corn and kidney beans.

4) When all of that is hot, add chicken broth to cover. This worked out to a box and a half of the good organic stuff. Add what seems right to you. Simmer about 30 minutes, keep testing for doneness. (And check in on the chicken breasts so you don’t overcook!)

5) Fill a small saucepan with corn or vegetable oil, about 1/4 inch deep. Slice corn tortillas in shreds, slice again into thirds or so, until you have a stack of pieces about a half inch long. Fry in oil until crispy, drain on paper towels and salt while still hot.

6) As the soup simmers, pull the meat off the chicken and shred into chunks and add to soup. Pour the extra pan juices in there, too.

7) Add tortillas to soup. Eventually they’ll get soft, and by the second time you bring out the soup they will have started to distinigrate and add a nice flavor and thickness to the broth. I like to keep some crispy to serve on the top.

I am so sorry that there are no pictures. Recipes are much better with them, but until the laptop situation is sorted out I’m going to have to proceed without. My apologies.

Don’t be afraid of Hollandaise. Or of poaching. It’s easy.

Pile o’Veggies

Rough-chop:
2 zuchini
2 summer squash
1 large sweet onion
3 large cloves garlic
handful small sweet tomatoes
handful rosemary

splash balsamic vinegar (I use white)
salt, pepper, lemon

1) Rough-chop all the vegetables. Start with the onions and saute in olive oil until just carmelized. Turn up the heat and add the squash and chunks of garlic. Last, add tomatoes. You want to cook at a high enough heat that the veggies get a nice dark carmelization on them. Add spalsh of vinegar, rosemary, salt pepper and lemon at the very end. Set aside.

Hollandaise Sauce
2 egg yolks
1 stick butter, melted
salt, pepper, squeeze of lemon

1) Set a heatproof bowl over simmering water. When the bowl is hot, add egg yolks and start to whisk. Add butter in a constant stream, whisking as you go. Squeeze lemon, salt pepper. Leave over very low heat while you do the eggs. If the sauce separates, just add a little of the hot water to it and wisk it back up.

Poached eggs

Set a low saucepan of water over very high heat. Season water with salt and at least 1/2 cup white vinegar, more if you’re using a big pan. When the water is at a hot boil, crack an egg into a custard dish. Lower the dish gently into the water letting the egg cook a little in the dish for a few seconds, and then tip it over so the egg floats in the water. Use a slotted spoon to turn it a little to keep the white together. When the white is completely set, remove the egg to paper towels to drain. The yolk should be hot and liquid, the white completely solid.

Assembly:

Toast thick-cut slices of whole grain bread. Set them down on the plate, spoon vegetables over. Add poached egg to the top, spoon Hollandaise over that. Serve with extra bread for dipping.

(Sorry for the crappy picture.)

It’s finally here — that time when the good stuff is everywhere in the markets, fresh and green and relatively affordable. Piles of green and vibrant red and even rich purples and sunshine yellows. Summer eating is simple, fresh, unadorned.

A few weeks ago I asked the Food Whore what I should have for dinner. I’ve been asking her that for years. “What should I have for dinner?” I say and she pops back with something and then I go figure out how to make that.

“Polenta,” she said a few weeks ago.

“Poly-who?”

I know what it is — a corn mush of sorts, from Northern Italy. I’d just never had it or made it before and couldn’t begin to imagine the best way to go.

“And vegetables,” she added.

I experimented, looked through a couple of Italian cook books, and then hit the market for what vegetables appealed.

I knew plain polenta would not be for me, so I used my favorite aromatics of onion and garlic, cooked it in brothe instead of water, and added a lot of fresh parmesan cheese. Unfortunately Schmoop in the snugli isn’t a fan of the running food processor so tonight I had a chunk of un-shredded cheese left. I decided to chop it and add the chunks. The result was devestatingly good.

I’ve made this dish three times now, with a variety of vegetable combinations. Tonight I sent the girls looking for herbs in the garden and they brought me back basil and parsley, which went beautifully well.

The end result was colorful, lush, delicious. I did not add a protein. The polenta is a complex carb and the veggies are, of course, veggies. You could easily add chicken if you wanted to, but I loved it without.

I apologize that there is no photo. I am working out how to reliably post pictures to this blog. Until then, I’m going to continue to write about food and hope you’ll forgive me for the lack of images to go with it.

P.S. FYI the girls won’t eat this. Ren eats peas and rice and Mare picks out the vegetables she finds least offensive but won’t go near the polenta. So I can’t plug this one as kid-friendly.

A Pile of Vegetables and Polenta, Inspired by the Food Whore

Polenta
1 tablespoon minced onion
3 cloves chopped garlic
4 cups chicken stock
1 3/4 cup polenta grain
Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

1) Sauté the onion in a large, heavy-bottomed sauce pan until soft. Add garlic and cook another minute or two.

2) Add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add a dash of salt.

3) Pour the polenta in slowly, whisking rapidly as you go. Keep whisking until it’s all in and then lower the burner to a very low, slow simmer and leave the polenta there while you make the Pile of Vegetables.

Pile of Vegetables
Couple of cloves of garlic, chunked
At least four of the following, chopped: Squash, eggplant, mushrooms, onion, cauliflower, asparagus, fresh peas, green beans or sugar snaps, spinach, grape or cherry tomatoes, peppers

Dash of balsamic vinegar (I used white, it was delicious)

Fresh leaves of parsley, basil, oregano

Juice of 1 lemon

1 cup chicken stock

1) Saute chopped onion, then garlic over low heat. I add mushrooms right away because they release liquid that helps to flavor the rest. Add the vegetables in batches with longer cooking time items first. (Eggplant, peppers early. Fresh peas or cauliflower toward the end.) Salt and pepper after each addition. Deglaze the pan (add liquid to bring up the stuff off the bottom of the pan) once or twice with vinegar.

2) Once all the veggies are in, add chicken broth, cover with lid and simmer until veggies are tender. In the last 30 seconds of cooking, add a handful of fresh herb leaves. Squeeze fresh lemon juice over all.

3) Turn your attention back to the polenta, which should be hot and smooth. Shred fresh parmesan in, and add a thumbful of butter. Chop a chunk of the parmesan into small cubes and add those last.

Serve by putting polenta down and serving vegetables and pan juices over the top.

Lentil and bean recipes to come, but I just haven’t been craving them lately.

What I craved today was Spaghetti Carbonara. Which is very convenient because I am under orders to gain weight. (So far this preganncy is right on target with all the others. In no time I’ll be up 60 pounds and wondering where that third ass came from.)

Spaghetti Carbonara is an Italian-American dish in the purest sense. It originated in the mid-20th Century and seems likely to have gained the height of its popularity from the rations of eggs and bacon that Americans distributed in Italy in World War II.

It’s easy, rich, very fast, very cheap and popular with the kids. We serve it with a simple romaine salad. Use very fresh eggs and real parmesean.

The big fear with carbonara is that the pasta won’t really cook the eggs. In my experience, it does. Almost instantaneously. In fact, when you add the hot pasta you want to keep it moving so you don’t get scrambled eggs. The sauce should be hot, thoroughly cooked, and smooth.

Spaghetti Carbonara

1 pound dry spaghetti, cooked in large pot of boiling salted water
2 fresh eggs
1/2 pound bacon
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup finely grated parmesean cheese
chopped fine parsley, if on hand
salt and pepper to taste

1) Cook the spaghetti. While it cooks, cut the bacon into small chunks and put in a fry pan over medum heat. When the bacon is starting to brown and be crisp and the fat is mostly rendered, add two coves garlic, chopped into chunks. (Wait until bacon is almost done. If you add too soon, garlic will burn.) Toss until bacon is crisp and garlic is soft, then remove from heat.

2) Beat eggs in a large heatproof bowl unitl they are incorporated and smooth. Add pepper and a little salt. (Easy on the salt as you will be using salty bacon, too.)

3) As soon as pasta is cooked, drain and add to the bowl with the eggs. Toss quickly to coat. The hot pasta will cook the eggs, but you need to keep the whole thing moving to avoid scrambled eggs.

4) Add bacon and garlic and all pan drippings. (If you feel there is too much fat, drain some, but you need a little of it to flavor the eggs.)

5) Add parmesean. After it’s all tossed, add parsley.