Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

This soup is too good, and too simple NOT to make!

lWe roasted a chicken last week, and of course, I couldn't wait to make stock!  My freezer is getting full of large ziplock bags, laid flat,  full of carefully dated stocks.... I just can't help myself!  Fresh, homemade chicken stock is just too easy to make to NOT do it!  Once you taste it compared to store bought, well, it's just not in the same universe!
I made this soup with leftover meat from the roasted chicken, and wild rice for some crunch.  I added some fresh baby spinach at the end for color and just a bit of herbal flavor.  Total time on the stock was about 4 hours - but most of that unattended on the stove simmering - maybe 10 minutes hands on time.  Same for the soup - really no time at all - and boy did the house smell AMAZING!!!  I brought most of it up to my daughter on the Cape, but saved enough for two lunches for Lynne and I.  Had it today, in front of the fire, watching House Hunters International, and the snow falling outside..... life is VERY good!

Stock Ingredients:
1 picked chicken carcass from a roasted chicken
5 carrots, peeled, and cut into 5 or 6 pieces
1 onion, cut into 6ths, skin on
4 celery stalks, chopped into about 6 pieces
1/2 fennel bulb cut into 5 pieces
1 tsp each thyme, oregano, basil, one bay leaf
5 cloves garlic, smashed
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

simmering stock - yumm!

1/2 tsp salt to taste
pinch red pepper flakes
( I added some leftover roasted potatoes and onions for flavor)
6 or 7 qts water - or fill large sauce pan to top.  Add water as broth reduces, but let it finish about 20% lower than it started to concentrate flavors.

Simmer all of the above for about 3 or 4 hours, till chicken falls apart, and broth is light brown in color.  Pour through colandar to strain out larger parts, discard any solids.  Save liquid, can be frozen in freezer bags for several months.  Use for soup, risotto, or anything you would use store bought stock for.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

6 qts chicken stock
1 Onion, chopped
5 Carrots, peeled, and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
5 Stalks Celery, chopped into 3/4 inch pieces
3 cloves garlic, smashed, and minced
1 tsp salt - to taste
1 and 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 and 1/2 cups wild rice
1 cup baby spinach

Add all ingredients except the spinach to large soup pot, and simmer for about 2 hours, till rice absorbs liquid, and is still a little al dente.... add spinach about 1/4 hour before serving.  Serve and enjoy!!

Victoria's Linguine with Clam Sauce...... YUM!

My daughter made this for us during our visit to the Cape this weekend....it was really fast and easy, and incredibly tasty. She is truly a chip off the old block!  I think the only thing I enjoy more than cooking is watching my daughter cook....

Anyway, here is the recipe - simply cook the linguine to the box instructions.  This recipe served 4 comfortably.  Can I say though, that the seafood market by my daughter on Cape Cod is totally amazing!  We got 3 lbs of little necks and a pound and a quarter of absolutely gorgeous tuna for only $27 bucks!  The Tuna was only $9.95 a lb, and in that day!  gonna pan sear it in Sesame Oil tonight....yum..

Ingredients:

3 lbs fresh little neck clams
1 pkg Campari Tomato's quartered (Slightly larger than Cherry Tomatoes, which can be used if you can't find Campari)
1 onion, diced fine
6 slices bacon, cooked till crisp
1 cup white wine
6 cloves garlic, crushed and diced
1/4 cup, packed, chopped flat leaf parsely
2 large pieces of jarred roasted red pepper, diced rough.
Pinch of red pepper flakes

Instructions:

Simmer the sauce....

Cook bacon in large saute pan, remove bacon, saving drippings, and place on a paper towel on plate to drain.  Pour off excess drippings, leaving only about a tbs.
Heat water, and cook pasta to instructions - should take about 20 minutes total.
Add onions and garlic to drippings, and saute over medium high heat till tender, about 5 minutes.
Deglaze pan with white wine, stirring to get up the brown bits.
Add tomatoes, and let simmer for about 5 minutes till they release their liquid and start to break down.  Add clams, and bacon,  and cover over medium heat for about 6 minutes, till opened.
Uncover, add parsley, a pinch of pepper flakes, and the roasted red peppers and let simmer till pasta is done - about 5 or 6 minutes.  A bit of white wine can be added to add liquid volume if need be, but it should be fine.

Serve clams and sauce over linguine, and DON'T forget the crusty bread for the amazing sauce!  I served this with an awesome French Grenache mix that really complimented the mild spice of the sauce.

Garlic, Mushroom, Chicken Pizza

Made this yummy pizza the other night - fast, simple and really good!  I use an Emile Henry pizza stone that you can build the pie right on without pre-heating it, which is VERY handy!

Anyway, here it is:




Ingredients:

1 bag whole wheat pizza dough
1 tbs olive oil
1 pkg shitaki mushrooms
1 pkg sliced baby bella mushrooms
8 cloves of garlic, rough chopped
3 tbs butter
1 cup pre cooked diced chicken
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan or other hard cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Pre heat oven to 475 degrees

In a medium sized skillet, saute garlic in butter, till butter and garlic begin to brown.  Scoop out garlic, and set aside.  Add mushrooms to butter, and saute until just beginning to soften.  Add chicken to warm, then remove and set aside to cool.

Roll out dough on stone till entire stone covered.
Brush crust with olive oil, and pre bake for 5 - 7 minutes, till just starting to brown, remove from oven.  If crust bubbles up, it's ok, it will settle when you take it out.

Spread garlic evenly over crust, then mushroom chicken mixture.  Sprinkle parsley evenly, then the cheese.  Bake for another 5 - 8 minutes till crust browns, and cheese melts.

Enjoy!

Rigatoni with Tuna, Fetta and Black Olive Vinaigrette

Lynne made this for lunch today - very tasty, very simple.   Got a pretty nice shot of it with my new camera.  Hopefully my food pics are going to be incrementally better!  Have a ton of new plans for the blog this year- I want to do a make over and make it a little more reader friendly, and I want to start adding instructional video's... lots of big plans!  Plus, look for my line of spice rubs, coming soon!

Anyway, here is the recipe:

12 ounces whole wheat Rigatoni or Penne pasta
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbs capers, rinsed, chopped
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted if need be, and roughly chopped
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsely, 2 tbs reserved
3 tbs fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
2 6oz cans tuna, drained
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. While that is cooking, heat 3 tbs of the oil in a large skillet over medium low heat.
Add garlic, cook till soft, about 3 minutes.
Add capers and olives, cook will warmed - about 3 minutes
Stir in parsely, cook till wilted, about 1 minute.
Remove from heat, add lemon juice, red and black pepper, and remaining oil, stir until well coated.

Drain pasta, rinse under cold water to separate.  Divide into bowls,  top with tuna, olive vinaigrette and feta. Sprinkle a little parsely over for garnish and serve.  Serves 4

Ravioli with Spinach, Pancetta & Sage

Lynne made this tonight, and it was really good!  Took about 15 minutes total.  She got the recipe off the Birds Eye vegetable website - we used ham instead of pancetta, fresh sage from the garden, and BAM, quick, simple awesome weeknight dinner!.

INGREDIENTS

·         1/2 cup diced pancetta*

·         2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

·         2 tablespoons olive oil

·         3 tablespoons butter

·         1 box (10 oz) Birds Eye® Chopped Spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

·         1 pound cheese ravioli, cooked according to package directions

·         2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage

·         Grated Pecorino Romano

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS

1.     Cook pancetta and garlic in olive oil and butter in a 12-inch skillet over MEDIUM-HIGH heat until pancetta is crisp.

2.     Add spinach; season with salt and pepper and cook until the spinach is cooked through, about 4 minutes.

3.     Add ravioli and sage; cook for 2 minutes or until heated through.

4.     Serve with Pecorino Romano.

KITCHEN TIPS

Bacon can be substituted for the pancetta

Asparagus and Potato Egg Bake

Lynne made this for my Mother In law's birthday brunch.  It came from the May, 2007 Oprah Magazine recipe... and was really, REALLY good.  Lynne, as a rule, does not change anything in the recipe's that catch her eye - unlike me, who simply can't help myself from adding SOMETHING...lol  - makes for interesting conversation when we are cooking together!  So this is straight from the magazine.  Simple, yet great tasting, this dish was the hit of the day!  It was also AWESOME reheated for lunch the next day ( with a little hot sauce added..... lol, sorry honey!)

Ingredients: 

1 Tbsp olive oil, plus or minus
1 lb Asparagus spears - try to get the really thin ones, woody ends snapped off.
1 small white onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
8 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt,
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 cups shredded plain frozen hash-browns ( about 1 bag)
2 cups shredded FRESH Parmesan cheese ( about 8 ounces)

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a 1.5 qt souffle  or baking dish with olive oil, set aside.  Cut off top 3 inches of Asparagus spears, set aside tips.  Cut remaining bases into 1" pieces and set aside

2) Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion, and garlic, and cook until soft and translucent, about 7 minutes.  Add Asparagus base pieces, increase heat to med high and cook till warmed through, and bright green, about 3 - 4 minutes.  Set aside.

3) In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, salt and pepper.  Stir in potatoes, cheese, and reserved onion mixture.  Transfer to prepared dish and arrange Asparagus tips over top in neat pattern.

4) Bake until firm and light golden brown, about 45 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!  This is a really nice brunch dish, or just an interesting breakfast dish for a lazy Sunday morning!

Pumpkin Ice Cream

Pumpkin Yumminess!

Meant to make this for the holiday, but clearly never got around to it.  This recipe is AMAZING and really simple.  I HIGHLY recommend adding the brandy - it gives the flavor a nice depth.  Use a scoop of this over hot apple pie, and you will think you died and went to heaven.....

There is the recipe.  Again, you need an ice cream maker - I have a Cuisinart, that retails for about $50 bucks - and is WELL worth it!

Ingredients: 

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup half and half
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
5 egg yolks
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup canned pumpkin filling
1 tbs brandy or cognac....optional, but recommended

Instructions:

1. In a 3 qt sauce pan, combine the half and half, cream and brown sugar.  Cook over medium heat, whisking to dissolve the sugar, for about 4 minutes, until mixture is warm, steaming and bubbles form around the edge.  Do NOT boil.  Remove from heat.
2. In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks, pumpkin pie spice and salt together until smooth.  Whisk about 2/3 cup of the hot cream mixture SLOWLY into the egg mixture, until smooth.  Poor egg mixture back into hot cream mixture.  Add vanilla, pumpkin mixture and brandy.   Heat gently, whisking often till smoothly blended over med heat until warm and steaming, and the mixture coats a spoon - again, do NOT boil or simmer.  This only takes a couple of minutes.
3. Pour mixture into separate bowl, and cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming.  Refrigerate for at LEAST 3 hours, preferably overnight,  till chilled.  Alternately, put the bowl in the freezer, whisking often to stir and cool, and it will be ready to churn in about an hour. The mixture should be cool to cold. 
4. Pour the mixture into the frozen bowl of the ice cream maker, and churn until the proper ice cream texture.  Pack into a freezer safe container, and enjoy!!!