Let’s cook!

Boeuf Bourgiugnon Soup

1.5 lbs package of quality beef stew meat

2 teaspoons cornstarch

3 tablespoons olive oil

8 oz white button mushrooms, quartered

3 carrots, finely chopped

3 shallots, minced

2 celery stalks, coarsely chopped

3 0z pancetta, chopped

2 tablespoons tomato paste

5 thyme springs

1 bay leaf

1 cup Burgundy wine

8 cups chicken stock

2 cups of water

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

12 oz cooked egg noodles

salt and pepper to taste

Season the beef with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Coat with the cornstarch.

Heat olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium heat. Lightly brown the beef on all sides and transfer to a bowl.

Add mushrooms to the pot.

Cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the beef.

Add the shallots, celery, pancetta, and chopped carrots to the pot. Cook until caramelized, about 8 minutes.

Stir in tomato paste.

Return the beef and mushrooms to the pot.

Raise the heat to high. Add wine. Cook, scraping up brown bits with a wooden spoon, until slightly reduced.

Add stock and water.

Add thyme and bay leaf.

Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered for 2 1/2 hours.

Time to plate. Add cooked egg noodles to a bowl. Top with boeuf bourguignon and then finish the chives as a garnish.

Here is a close-up:

Happy Cooking!

Let’s cook!

Roasted Potato and Leek Soup

2 pounds Yukon Gold Potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

4 cups chopped leaks, white and green parts

1/4 cup olive oil

3 cups baby arugula, lightly packed

1/2 cup Pinot Grigio

6 cups chicken stock

3/4 cup heavy cream

8 oz creme fraiche

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

4 shallots, peeled, and sliced into rings

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine the potatoes and leeks in a bowl.

Add the olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and toss to coat the vegetables evenly. Pour the vegetables into a roast pan and spread evenly.

Place in the oven and roast for 45 minutes turning them with a spatula a few times during cooking. Time to make the crispy shallots. Heat the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat until it reaches 220 degrees (15 minutes for me).

Reduce the heat to low, add the shallots, and cook for 30 minutes.

Remove the shallots from the pan and let cool on a plate lined with paper towels. Once they have dried you will use them for the soup. You could also use bacon for this.

Back to the roasting, after 45 minutes of cooking add the arugla and toss to combine as best you can. Roast for 5 more minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and place the vegetables in a dutch oven over low heat.

Using the white wine, deglaze the roasting pan and be sure to scrape up any crispy roasted bits sticking to the pan.

Pour the wine and bits to the dutch oven.

Add 5 cups of chicken stock.

Using your handheld immersion blender, puree (if you don’t have one of these tools, you can use your blender or food processor).

Add the cream.

Add creme fraiche.

Whisk to combine well. Add pepper and salt to taste then Parmesan cheese. Cook on low for 5 more minutes.

Time to serve. Here is the soup naked.

Here is the soup dressed with the crispy shallots and grated parmesan cheese.

And the close-up:

Now you have the perfect soup for a cold winter night. If you are a fan of potato soup, then please give this a try.  Even Jen, who is typically not a big fan of vegetables, said this was probably one of the best soups I have made yet!

Happy Cooking!

Let’s cook!

Shrimp and Fingerlings with Tomato Broth

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 cups finely chopped onions

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

1-14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes

2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (you can use less if you don’t like it spicy)

1 cup Pinot Grigio

1-8oz. bottle clam juice

3 cups of water

8 ounces fingerling potatoes, cut into 1/4 inch thick rounds

1 pound peeled deveined uncooked jumbo shrimp

Heat oil in a large dutch oven. Add onions and saute until tender, stirring often, about 10 minutes.

Add garlic and paprika.

Stir for 2 minutes.

Add can of tomatoes with juice.

Cook for 20 minutes and be sure to stir frequently. Add rosemary and crushed red pepper.

Stir well and then add wine. Cook until liquid evaporates completely about 10 minutes.

Add clam juice.

Then 3 cups of water.

Bring both to a high boil. Add potatoes, simmer until almost tender, about 10 mintues.

Add shrimp, simmer until cooked through, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Time to serve. There is nothing better to me than sourdough bread and a soup like this. Here is how I did the plating:

Here is the close-up:

This might not be a quick meal for a weekday but for me cooking is a great way to remove stress from work. I am looking forward to my lunch tomorrow!

Happy Cooking!

Let’s cook!

She-crab Soup

4 cups whipping cream

2 cups fish stock

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsalted butter

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 pound crabmeat

Sherry

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

salt and pepper

In a large pot combine whipping cream, salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, and simmer for 1 hour.

When the cream has simmered for 40 minutes, melt butter in a large pot over low heat.

Once the butter has melted, add the flour.

Stir until smooth.

Add fish stock.

Whisk together until mixture has thickened.

Add mixture to the pot of cream.

Add lemon juice.

Add crabmeat.

Add nutmeg.

Stir well and let cook for another 5 minutes.

Time to serve. Ladle into a bowl and add a spoonful of sherry.

I used fresh chives as the garnish.

Bread was included to dip into the soup and to also help clean the bowls.

Here is a close-up:

This is a great soup to freeze and enjoy later! Since most of Jen’s family lives in Maryland, I think made her a little home sick.  She could not stop raving about how much she loved the she-crab soup!

Happy Cooking!

Let’s Cook!

Tomato and Rice Soup

2 cups celery, diced

2 cups water

3/4 cup of brown rice

2 teaspoon chili powder

1 4 ounce can diced green chilis

2 28 ounce cans of crushed tomatoes, blended smooth in the blender (or you can combine as is for a chunkier soup)

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 white onion, diced

1 jalapeno, diced (you can leave the jalapeno out if you are not a fan of spicy)

1 cup light sour cream

1 cup shredded Monteray Jack Cheese

1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese (I bought the 2 cup bag of Monteray Jack and Cheddar mixture which works just as well)

1/2 cup green onions, chopped

Add celery, white onion, jalapeno, chili powder, rice and water to a large pot or Dutch Oven.

Stir well to combine.

Allow the mixture to come to a boil.  Then cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Now, add tomatoes, garlic powder and green chilis to the mixture.

Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes to allow the flavors to mix.

Turn the heat to low and add cheese, sour cream and green onions to the mixture.

Make sure the burner is still on low as it is VERY IMPORTANT to keep the mixture warm but do not let it boil.  Heat for 5 minutes, stirring regularly, to help melt the cheese and combine the sour cream.  It is ok if there are still some cheese shreds visible. 

Time to plate.  Here’s how I served the soup.  I’m not as good with the garnishes as The Cooking Husband is, but this soup is so tasty it doesn’t need much to make it look good.

And, here’s the close up view:

Now you have a new way to make Tomato soup!  I served the soup with some crusty French bread and it was the perfect compliment.  The recipe does take a while to cook (about 60 minutes total cook time) but the ingredients are simple yet delicious.  Thomas’ favorite part of this meal is the soup ALWAYS tastes better the next day, so he will have a treat when he takes this to work for lunch tomorrow.  Thanks for checking out my post–it is nice to give The Cooking Husband a break every once in a while! 

Happy Cooking!

In the immortal words of The Cooking Husband…Let’s get to cooking!

Gazpacho

6 Roma tomatoes, diced

2-4 scallions, diced (we had a big scallions so I didn’t need to use as many)

1/2 green pepper, diced

1/2 red pepper, diced

1 medium to large cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced

1 teaspoon olive oil

3/4 teaspoon prepared horseradish

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon or a few small sprigs of thyme, finely chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced through garlic press

Salt and pepper to taste

Sour cream and avocado for garnish if you choose

Start by chopping all of your veggies for the soup.  Trust me, this takes a while.  I started with the scallions.

Next, I peeled and halved the cucumbers to make it easier to seed them.  They should look like this when you are done.

Next, dice the cucumbers into small cubes.

Next come the red and green peppers.  I prefer to use about half of each pepper so that they do not overpower the soup, but if you like lots of bell pepper flavor, feel free to use more.

After that, time to tackle the jalapeno and garlic.  I chose to take all of the seeds out of the jalapeno, but you can control the amount of heat you want in your soup.  Remember for jalapenos, a majority of the heat comes from the seeds and the inner membrane of the pepper, so if you like it really spicy, feel free to leave in the seeds.  For the garlic, just put it in the press and combine in the same bowl as the diced jalapenos.

Finally, time for the tomatoes.  I like the Roma tomatoes a lot as it is easier for me to dice these up and not have the pieces come out too big.  Whew…it still took a little bit of time to slice up all 6.

Now that you have all of the intensive prep work done, time to make the shrimp.  I purposefully left this as an additional topic as the gazpacho is still really good without it, for those out there with a shellfish allergy, but it definitely adds a little something extra.

Sauteed Shrimp

15-25 medium shrimp, shelled and devained without tails

Lemon juice to taste

White wine to taste

1 Tablespoon of butter

Salt and pepper to taste.

Start by heating the butter in your pan, and once it is melted, add the shrimp.  Go ahead and add the lemon juice and wine as well as the salt and pepper.  Let everything cook until the shrimp is pink and opaque throughout.  The lemon juice and wine is to your taste.  I probably added about 1 1/2 Tablespoon of lemon juice and about a Tablespoon of wine.

While the shrimp are cooking away, let’s go ahead and get started on the cornbread.  Once the shrimp achieve the proper color and consistency, remove from the heat and set to the side.

Jalapeno Cornbread

1 package Cornbread mix

1/3 cup of milk

1 egg

2 Tablespoons of butter, melted

1 jalapeno, diced

Unlike The Cooking Husband who has my Nan’s super secret from scratch Jalapeno Cornbread recipe, I’m not too proud to use the cornbread mix for something that isn’t the star of the show.  Per the package, add the cornbread mix, milk, egg, and melted butter to a bowl and mix until just combined.  I added the jalapenos at this time.

Grease a cake pan with cooking spray, and then pour the batter in.  Put in the oven at 400 degrees and cook for 16-18 minutes until golden brown.

Now, it is finally time to finish the soup and put everything together.  Take all of the tomatoes, jalapenos, garlic and thyme, and half of the cucumbers, scallions, green and red peppers and add them into the blender together.  Once you get everything in there, add the oil, chili powder, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper and I also added a little celery salt to ours to give it a little extra something.  Blend until almost smooth, so there are no noticeable chunks.  (Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of this step).  Now, you will take the other half of the scallions, cucumbers, and bell peppers and add the shrimp to the mixture.  I cut the shrimp into quarters so that everything was roughly the same size.

Once you have this mixture combined, you will add half of what is in the bowl to the mixture from the blender, and save the rest to add as a garnish on the top.  Here’s a picture of how the final plating looked.

And a closeup of the mixture on top

Gazpacho is a great summer soup, especially on a hot day, since it is served cold.  Best part is that the soup ALWAYS tastes better the second day, and since we had a little leftover, this is what Thomas will be eating for lunch tomorrow.  The Cooking Husband will be back to posting tomorrow.  Please try this recipe and let me know how you like it–you will be glad you did!

Happy Cooking!

Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 pound shredded, cooked chicken

1 – 15 ounce can whole peeled tomatoes

1 – 10 ounce can enchilada sauce

1 medium onion, chopped

1 – 4 ounce can chopped green chile peppers

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups of water

1 can chicken broth

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon salt and pepper

1 bay leaf

1 package of frozen corn

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

vegetable oil

1 lime

1 avocado

8 corn torillas

Mash the tomatoes in a bowl.

Place chicken, mashed tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into the crockpot.

Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf.

Stir in corn and cilantro.

Cover and cook on low setting for 6 to 8 hours.

When you get home preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly brush both sides of the corn tortillas with vegetable oil.

Now I put my corn tortillas in the oven whole and not cut into strips but if you would like to cut them into strips do so before you put them in the oven. Bake the corn tortillas for 10 – 15 minutes.

Time to plate.

Slice the avocado and lime. Add the avocado to the soup and top with corn tortilla chips. Here is the bowl:

And here is a close up of the soup:

Now there is your chicken tortilla soup made in the crockpot. Jen was very excited for me to get home and now I wonder if she was excited I was home or if she was ready to eat since I made her smell dinner cooking all day. Oh just wait until tomorrow

Happy Cooking!

Chicken Noodle Soup

1 package of chicken breasts or chicken breast tenderlions

1 cup chicken broth

1 onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

4 stalks celery, chopped

2 large cloves garlic, minced

2 handfuls shredded carrots

2 chicken bouillion cubes

1 tablespoon poultry seasoning

1/2 bag of egg noodles (Jen prefers the smaller ones)

salt and pepper

In a large pot, add 6 cups of water and chicken and bring to a boil and cook the chicken for 20 minutes (for regular chicken breasts, boil for 30-40 minutes depending on the size).

While the chicken is boiling get another pot out and start more water boiling for your egg noodles (we use the medium style). Chop your celery and mince your garlic.

And the bell pepper:

And the onion:

Once the chicken is done, remove from the pot but don’t empty the water we need it.

In the pot where the chicken was removed, add bouillion cubes, chicken broth, veggies minus carrots, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper.

l
While the veggies start to cook shred the chicken.

Now add the chicken and carrots to the pot of veggies.

Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 10 more minutes. The noodles should be done now, time to add the noddles and soup to a bowl to make this meal complete.

And there you have it, homemade chicken noodle soup. Just think the next time someone is sick and you say, “Hey I will bring you my homemade chicken noodle soup” ah yeah just think of the brownie points you be scoring!

Happy Cooking