Curried Cream of Chicken Soup

This is from The Silver Palate Cookbook. It is simple, delicious, and a touch out of the ordinary, both because of the curry flavor and the "cream" method which calls for half-and-half but is just as good with regular milk!

Step 1:
6 tablespoons butter (I use 2 tablespoons)
2 cups minced onions
2 carrots, peeled and chopped

Cook over low heat, covered, until tender.

Step 2:
2 tablespoons curry powder
5 cups chicken stock
6 parsley sprigs
1 chicken, quartered
½ cup rice
Salt and pepper to taste

Add all. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover. Simmer until chicken is done. Cool chicken in stock. Remove meat from bones and dice it.

Step 3:
1 cup half and half (I use milk, either whole or 2%, depending on what I've got around)
10 ounces frozen peas, defrosted

Remove fat from broth. Strain soup through strainer.

Put solids and 1 cup stock in food processor and puree. Return to pot and add milk. Stir in reserved stock until soup reaches desired consistency. Add chicken and peas and simmer for 15 minutes or until peas are done. Season to taste.

Foodie Art Friday

Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, Woman Cleaning Turnips, ca. 1738
via Wikipedia

The Oxford Companion to Food by Alan Davidson

The Oxford Companion to Food by Alan Davidson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I've had this book for some time and have had a lot of fun randomly dipping into it now and than. Being the sort of family that we are, we have also spent a lot of time looking up answers to food-related questions in it.

In search of breakfast reading (and possibly inspired by the fellow who read the OED in a year), I recently began flipping through the alphabet. Reading whatever caught my eye on the next letter's page has been amusing, educational and surprisingly literary given the sometimes wide-ranging references.

I have no time limit but am going to see how long it takes me at this leisurely pace to read the whole thing. I'll update when I've finished a letter of the alphabet (Q or U will surely be one of the first, won't they?).

Cuisine Approximate: Asian BBQ Chicken

June 4

Arriving home tired and ravenous, I mix half a cup of hoisin sauce with a tablespoon each of Vietnamese chilli sauce, grated ginger, light soy sauce and lime juice, plus a teaspoon of five-spice powder and a crushed clove of garlic. I toss four chicken thighs in it, then tip the lot into a roasting tin and bake for half an hour. What emerges is 'cuisine approximate'--a rough copy of something I remember eating long ago, sticky and dark, not quite Chinese, not quite Vietnamese, but nevertheless utterly delicious. I haven't the energy to cook rice, so I wipe my plate with bread.

Nigel Slater, Kitchen Diaries II

Versatile, simple, easy, quick.

Utterly fantastic!

This hit my taste buds where they live and I have made it several times.

Sometimes I had fresh ginger. Sometimes I didn't. Sometimes I had garlic. Once, to my eternal shame, I didn't. (I know. A house without garlic is an abomination before the Lord. Let us never speak of this again.)

And honestly I somehow completely missed his mention of five-spice powder until I was typing this out.

This recipe also highlighted just how different various brands of hoisin sauce can be. I maintain there is no such thing as a bad hoisin sauce. However, there are some that are definitely more to my taste than others. Part of the interest has been experimenting to see which I like best.

I'll be honest though. Most of the interest has been in the eating.

Cable Car Cocktail

Again from our trusty Old Mr. Boston book. I first tasted this at my daughter's home and then had to go buy some spiced rum so I could make it for myself.

Cable Car

2 ounces spiced rum
3/4 ounce triple sec (I use Cointreau)
3/4 ounce lemon juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup

Combine all in a cocktail shaker, add ice, and shake. Pour into a cocktail glass.

(You are supposed to run a lemon wedge round the rim of your glass and dip it in cinnamon sugar before pouring the cocktail in ... but that's not how I roll ... too sweet.)

100 Grilling Recipes You Can't Live Without by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison

100 Grilling Recipes You Can't Live Without: A Lifelong Companion by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I have several of the Jamison's cookbooks and have always enjoyed using them. This one, however, is disappointing in several ways.

Many of the recipes are repeated from other cookbooks. Although I suppose the fine print in the book description says "best of" somehow that isn't what I expected.

However, let's say it is fair for a "lifelong companion" to have the Jamison's favorite recipes in it. What makes this a "lifelong companion?" Who knows? Because their own commentary is extremely brief. Extremely. Brief.

My other main problem is that there are a lot of very exotic recipes for being a basic "100 you can't live without" or "a lifelong companion." Somehow Elk Backstrap Medallions with Purple Onions and Plum Sauce seems an odd choice to make the cut, as do Grilled Duck Breasts with Armagnac and Lavender Honey Glaze or Blue Corn and Green Chile Pizza.

Skip this and get one of their more complete cookbooks instead such as Born to Grill, Smoke & Spice or The Big Book of Outdoor Cooking and Entertaining.

Note: This was received from the Amazon Vine program.

No More Brown Cut Fruit!

I read about this in Cook's Illustrated a while ago. If you don't want cut fruit to brown, toss the pieces into honey water. It works better than acidulated water (water with lemon juice in it).

They used 2 tablespoons of honey to one cup of water, dunked the fruit for 30 seconds, and it didn't brown for 8 hours.

I have been using a more casual approach since I'm not a cooking magazine.

I just squeeze some honey into a bowlful of water (no measuring) and toss in the apples while I'm cutting. I drained them later and put the extra slices into a plastic bag in the fridge. They were perfectly good for lunch the next day.

I also used this on potatoes I was cutting up for a gratin.

And I never noticed any extra sweetness, probably because there is relatively little honey to water with my method.

Creamy Italian Dressing

I've never cared one way or the other about Italian Dressing which probably only goes to show that we didn't have it when I was growing up. My husband, however, did and when I tried out this Cook's Country recipe he was delighted. I, too, was delighted despite lack of previous experience. It is a delicious salad dressing.

I pass it along to you in case you are similarly delighted.

Note: I didn't care about a smooth texture and did care about not having to wash my food processor (have I mentioned lately how long it's been since my dishwasher has worked?). So I skipped that part and just whisked instead. Whatever you choose will be just fine.

Also, don't worry if you've let the dressing sit more than 4 days. Magazines have to put those warnings. Be realistic. Take a sniff, stir it up ... if it looks ok, it most probably is.

Creamy Italian Dressing

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

Whisk vinegar, Parmesan, shallot, garlic, oregano and pepper flakes in small bowl. Microwave until cheese is melted (vinegar will look cloudy) and mixture is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Let cool.

Process mayo, sour cream, basil, and vinegar mixture in food processor until smooth. With motor running, slowly add oil until incorporated, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper. Serve. (Dressing can be refrigerated in airtight container for 4 days.)

Now That's Tasty ...

A quick heads-up for two products that we've been enjoying a lot.

Blue Plate Mayonnaise
I never heard of Blue Plate before until Cook's Illustrated did a tasting that placed Hellman's, our household standard, in third place. Frankly, I'd been unhappy lately about the change in Hellman's texture which has become less like real homemade mayonnaise (yes, I used to make it all myself, folks) and more goopy.

I'd seen their #2 pick, Duke's, praised and tried it out some time ago but was unimpressed. There was some odd aftertaste, or was it an odor, that bothered me.

I kept an eye out for Blue Plate and was both surprised and gratified to find it at Krogers of all places.

I was also very gratified to find it was more like the homemade mayonnaise I'd always loved, with a faint tang of lemon underlying the main flavor.

HEB Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream
Like Matt, I feel like a mega-jerk for reviewing an ice cream that is not available everywhere, but I just had to tell you about HEB's limited edition Mexican Chocolate. We don't have an HEB around here, more's the pity, but we do have their high end grocery, Central Market.

I love their HEB brand ice cream and have always wished they carried more than four or five flavors. Saturday I noticed a few Limited Edition brands and tried the Mexican Chocolate. It is a creamy milk chocolate with a swirl of thick cinnamon syrup (that is the consistency of a frozen chocolate syrup swirl). It packs a cinnamony punch that blends perfectly with the mild, sweet chocolate. If you can get your hands on this, try it out.

Linguine with Broccoli

I originally posted this in 2010. However, it deserves another look, especially for those looking for meat-free meals during Lent.

This originally came from one of Craig Claiborne's series of cookbooks which were compilations of his NY Times columns. It was Ed Giobbi's creation. Somehow I misplaced the recipe and was pleased to find it again in the library's copy of Eat Right, Eat Well, The Italian Way. The recipe is brilliantly and simply conceived. In brief, one cooks the pasta and the broccoli at the same time ... without having to use a big pot of water.

Linguine with Broccoli
STEP 1   
1    bunch fresh broccoli

Cut off flowerets and peel stems. Cut flowerets into 2-inch lengths, slicing large ones in halves or quarters. Wash and set aside.

STEP 2
4    tablespoons olive oil
2    tablespoons coarsely chopped garlic
      Hot pepper flakes to taste (optional)

Put oils, garlic, and hot pepper in a large pot. Turn up heat and add broccoli.

STEP 3
2-1/2    cups water (approximately. I sometimes use almost twice as much, depending on the pasta)
1/2    pound linguine or spaghettini, broken into 2” lengths
        Salt and pepper to taste

When oil is hot, 1 cup of water and pasta. Stir thoroughly. If pasta is not well mixed at the beginning, it will stick together.

Add salt and pepper, stir, and cover. Cook over medium heat, stirring very often, taking care that pasta doesn’t stick together or to pan. Add water gradually as needed.

Cook pasta to al dente. Takes about 10 minutes.

Lent and Fasting from Meat on Fridays

From American Catholic:

Abstinence forbids the use of meat, but not of eggs, milk products or condiments made of animal fat.

Abstinence does not include meat juices and liquid foods made from meat. Thus, such foods as chicken broth, consomme, soups cooked or flavored with meat, meat gravies or sauces, as well as seasonings or condiments made from animal fat are not forbidden. So it is permissible to use margarine and lard. Even bacon drippings which contain little bits of meat may be poured over lettuce as seasoning.

I was looking for this for another reason, actually, but it applied to the question our retreat group was asking about providing a Friday lunch including Tomato Basil Soup made with chicken broth.

I think the main reason, though I now have lost the place I originally read this, is that the original intent of fasting from meat is that we are fasting from ... flesh.

It is because Christ put on flesh to become man that we fast from it in penance for what He went through on our behalf.

A lovely connection isn't it?

At least it is to me.

And to have to dig into each ingredient turns it into an exercise in scrupulosity for me. I like that they make it easy for us that way.

I've always cooked with those sorts of guidelines for Friday fast days (heck, every Friday is a fast from meat at our house). So it's nice to see it spelled out ... no need for any vestiges of guilt when I put a bit of lard in our refried beans for those nachos!