Quick Chicken and Dumpling Soup

It's that time of year when sneezing and coughing abound and facial tissue sales spike.  The husband and I had been lucky that we'd avoided any creeping crud (it's been spreading around work like wildfire).  But alas, I finally fell victim this week.  And now that I'm on the upswing, the husband is now getting sniffly.  This called for some chicken soup, and asap.

The best spot to look for this sort of recipe is one of my favorite websites/magazines - Cook's Country.  Their recipes can be a bit putzy sometimes, but because they test them to the extreme, you know they will always turn out fantastic.

Of course, to get the best flavor I should make the stock from scratch and spend all afternoon on the soup.  That doesn't appeal to me when I'm 100% healthy, let alone when I'm feeling under the weather.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that they had a quick chicken and dumpling soup, and it was exactly what I was looking for.

After mixing up the dumpling dough, the husband commented how messy it was going to be to make the dumplings.  Then I had a eureka moment - put the dough in a Ziploc bag, cut the corner off, and squeeze out little dumplings.  I used kitchen shears to cut the dough as it came out, and it worked perfectly.  Far less messy than the alternative and it made for equally-sized dumplings.  One word of warning - make sure to keep the kitchen shears just shy of the edge of the bag to avoid cutting plastic into the soup.  Of course, if you used a real pastry bag with a tip, this wouldn't be a problem at all.

The soup was super simple to make and it turned out wonderfully.  Here's hoping that this chicken soup speeds our recovery!

Quick Chicken and Dumpling Soup
(from Cook's Country)
Makes ~6 servings

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup water
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
Salt & pepper
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 onion, chopped fine
2-3 carrots, peeled and sliced thin
1-2 celery ribs, sliced thin
8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1 rotisserie chicken, skin discarded, meat shredded into bite-sized pieces (about 3 cups)

Whisk flour, water, eggs, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper in bowl, set aside.

Melt butter in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook onion, carrots, and celery until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.  Stir in broth and bay leaves and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, until vegetables are tender, 10-15 minutes.

Remove lid of pot.  Stir in chicken and season with salt and pepper; return to simmer.  Scoop dumpling dough into Ziploc bag and trim off corner (roughly 1/4 inch).  Working quickly, squeeze dough out and cut with kitchen shears to create dumplings and drop into soup.

Simmer, until dumplings are set, 1 to 2 minutes.  Remove bay leaves.  Season with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!

Broccoli Cheese Soup

I stumbled upon this recipe while looking through my hoarded Cook's Illustrated magazines, and it piqued my interest.  Broccoli Cheese soup always sounds good but I dislike the amount of cream that typically goes in it (I prefer to get my extra calories from a stellar dessert!)

What's great about this soup is that there isn't any cream!  It tastes rich enough without it (with no real calorie bombs) and the broccoli is the star of the soup with good flavor. 

The article in the magazine explains how they came to this final recipe (so it really doesn't need any extra fiddling!)  I was surprised about the addition of baking soda, but there's science behind it.  When you cook broccoli for a long time, it can begin to taste sulfurous, due to isothiocyanates, which is obviously never an ideal flavor.  The added baking soda staves off that nasty flavor.

 And this was another opportunity to use my favorite appliance - an immersion blender - whoo hoo!

I decided last minute to make croutons to top off the soup and to give it some textural contrast.  What better bread to use than my favorite local artisan rosemary bread?  The croutons turned out fantastic (I'd ask the husband what he thought, but he's busy swiping croutons from the bowl and munching away.)

A bite of this creamy, flavorful soup with a crispy crouton is the perfect remedy for the dreary days of November!

Broccoli Cheese Soup
(from Cook's Illustrated)
Serves 6-8

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 lbs broccoli, florets roughly chopped into 1-inch pieces, stems trimmed, peeled, and cut into 1/4 inch thick pieces
1 medium onion, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
2-3 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tsp. dry mustard powder
Pinch cayenne pepper
Table salt
3 c. water
1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 c. low-sodium chicken broth
2 oz. baby spinach (2 loosely packed cups)
3 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (3/4 cup)
1 1/2 oz. Parmesan cheese, finely grated (about 3/4 cup), plus extra for serving
Black pepper

Croutons
~ 6 slices of bread of choice (I used a rustic, artisan rosemary bread)
3 Tbsp melted butter or olive oil
1 tsp garlic powder
Pinch salt 

1) Heat butter in large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When foaming subsides, add broccoli, onion, garlic, dry mustard, cayenne, and 1 tsp salt.  Cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 6 minutes. Add 1 cup water and baking soda.  Bring to simmer, cover, and cook until broccoli is very soft, about 15-20 minutes, stirring once during cooking.

2) Add broth and 2 cups water and increase heat to medium-high. When mixture begins to simmer, stir in spinach and cook until wilted, about 1 minute. Blend soup with immersion blender or in batches with regular blender.  Add cheeses and reheat briefly, stirring, to melt.

3) Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Cut bread into 1/2-3/4 inch cubes.  Mix melted butter or olive oil with garlic powder and salt.  Toss with bread cubes until they're coated.  Pour out on a rimmed baking sheet, place in oven. Bake for 15 minutes, stir and bake until dry and crispy (10-15 minutes more).

4) Top soup with freshly grated Parmesan and homemade croutons.

Enjoy!

Mid-Summer Corn Chowder

Corn - a favorite summer food (especially for us Midwesterners!)  It was on sale at our local grocery store, and although we adore corn-on-the-cob, I wanted to try something else with fresh corn and this recipe was just the thing.

This is a great healthy recipe that's perfect for when you have lots of summery produce laying around, just waiting to be eaten.  Unlike most chowders, it doesn't use cream or anything for the smooth texture, so it's waistline-friendly.  It also makes a decent amount, so we had a tasty lunch to bring to work for a few days (always a plus).  I got this recipe from a vegan cookbook (my favorite), but I made it non-vegan with some chicken broth and added cheese.  However, it's easily made vegan/vegetarian and it's superb either way!

In addition to the garnish of tomatoes and basil, I also sprinkled on some queso fresco cheese, and it was even more delicious.  The fiance suggested some small (cubed) roasted rosemary potatoes for a different additional garnish, and I will try that sometime as well.

Mid-Summer Corn Chowder with Basil, Tomato, & Fennel
(adapted from Veganomicon)
Serves 6-8

6 ears fresh corn, husks and silk removed
3 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced finely
1 large onion, cut into fine dice
1 small bulb fennel (about 1/2 pound), diced
1 stalk celery, chopped finely
1 large carrot, diced
1 pound white, waxy potatoes - Yukon Gold is a good one (about 2 medium-sized), peeled and diced
1 tsp dried thyme (the original recipe called for 2, but thyme can be so pungent so I reduced it to 1)
2 quarts vegetable and/or chicken broth (or a fresh corn stock that I was too lazy to make)
Salt and pepper to taste

Garnish:
1 pound tomatoes, seeded and chopped finely
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, tightly rolled and chopped into thin strips
Queso fresco or panela cheese, diced/crumbled

On a large cutting surface or in a large bowl, hold an ear of corn by the thicker end and run a sharp knife carefully down the length of the ear, close to the cob, to slice off the kernels of corn.  Repeat with the remaining ears.  Note that kernels will fly all of the place, so have a nice, big work space.  Use the non-sharp side of the knife to 'milk' the cob to get the little bits and juice that you couldn't get while slicing off the kernels.  Set aside the kernels, break each cob in half to use in the corn stock, or add to the soup when simmering.

Preheat a large soup pot over medium-high heat.  Saute the garlic in oil for 30 seconds, then add the onion.  Stir and cover, sweating them for about 5 minutes. Add the carrot and celery, stir, cover, and cook for another 2 minutes.  Add the fennel, stir, cover, and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes; then add the chopped potato, stir, cover, and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the stock, salt, pepper, and thyme, stir, cover, and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat to medium and allow the soup to simmer, covered (with lid tilted so a small amount of heat can escape), for 45 minutes.  Turn off the heat and set aside to cool until only slightly warm.

Puree the bowl of soup with an immersion blender.  If you would like it to be a bit chunkier, reserve half of the soup, un-pureed, in another bowl, and puree only half of it.  Reheat all soup in pot until hot enough to serve, add tomatoes, and basil, and cheese (if using), and serve.

Enjoy!

French Onion Soup

The past few weeks have been rather challenging at work...ridiculously busy.  There hasn't been much time for making/baking (sadness).  However, there was a bit of time this weekend and some yummy comfort food was in order!  I'd been talking about making French Onion Soup for ages, and finally did it.

The results were fantastic.  This dark, sweet, and savory soup is just perfect for these gray and rainy (and uninspiring) days of late.  I'm a sucker for caramelized onions anyway, but feature them in soup and I'm a happy gal.

I used some local artisan rosemary bread to toast, and then some local cheese (Beecher's again!) to broil on top.  VERY flavorful and a perfect combination, as I had hoped.  I don't have any large oven-proof soup bowls, so I couldn't broil everything directly together, but making little toast crouton thingys worked great.

The only downside?  It only made four servings.  So, next time I'll definitely double the batch!

French Onion Soup
(adapted from the French cooking class at Cook's World - Chef Philippe Thomellin)
Serves 4

1 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 tsp. canola oil
3/4 lb. thinly sliced onions
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp flour
1 quart beef broth
1/2 cup red wine
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp. ground sage
salt and pepper to taste
1 loaf of your favorite crusty bread, sliced into 1" slices, toasted
1 cup grated gruyere cheese (or favorite cheddar or mild blend)

In a heavy 4 quart saucepan or Dutch oven, melt the butter with the oil.  Add the onions, & stir to coat with the oil.  Cover the pan & cook over medium heat for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are tender and translucent.  Uncover pan & raise heat to medium-high and stir in sugar.  Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions have turned an even, deep golden brown.

Lower heat to medium and stir in flour.  Cook slowly, stirring continually, for a minute or two, to brown the flour lightly.  Remove from heat.

In soup pot, heat beef broth with herbs, and stir in onions.  Deglaze onion pan with wine.  Pour into soup pot with other ingredients.  Stir and simmer for 30-40 minutes to develop flavors.

When done, preheat broiler.  Toast bread.  Remove from oven, and divide grated cheese and top bread.  (If you need more cheese - add it!  I'm always a proponent of more cheese!)  Put back in oven and leave under broiler until golden and bubbly.  Ladle soup into bowls and top with giant cheesy crouton.

If you have ovenproof mini crocks, ladle soup in, top with toasted bread and sprinkle on cheese.  Broil until golden and bubbly.

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato and Rosemary Soup with Apple and Cheese Biscuits

Earlier this week, I was looking at some of the produce in my kitchen and there was an overabundance of sweet potatoes.  Hmmm... What to do with them?  Something new and different.  Poking around on the interwebs, I found this recipe on The Food Network, from Giada De Laurentis - Creamy Sweet Potato and Rosemary Soup.  It had a short list of ingredients, and was simple - all the makings of something tasty that really allows the ingredients shine.  Perfect.

You might have picked up on my recent obsession with biscuits.  But, is that really such a bad thing?  I think not!  Bring on the flaky, buttery goodness!  I do really enjoy a biscuit with my soup (if you hadn't noticed), so that was a natural pairing.  But I wanted to add something for a flavor to compliment the soup.  Hmmm... I really liked the local Beecher's Cheese I added last time.  What else though?  Apple!  It always pairs well with sweet potatoes.  I wasn't sure if the apple would affect the leavening or flakiness at all, but I was curious to try this idea out.  I did some research for any existing recipes, but didn't find any like I had imagined.  Great chance to test my hypothesis of awesomeness, and I'm pleased to report that it turned out well.  All the flavors in the biscuit are extremely subtle and just give you a hint and a pleasing aftertaste, but don't overwhelm the buttery and flaky biscuit.

All in all, an easy and tasty meal.  There was only one slight mishap involving the pureeing of the soup... (or user error, if you will.)  I don't yet have an immersion blender in my kitchen, so I had to utilize a regular blender.  I ladled in a small batch in the blender and it blended with no problem, and then I poured it out into another large bowl.  I ladled in a bit more this time, and pressed the button - bam!  The boyfriend and kitties came to investigate the noise and found me cursing and orange goop splattered everywhere.  Oops.  Learning experience!  (Or more motivation to get an immersion blender)

Despite my little lesson, the soup and biscuits turned out beautifully and I adore the flavors.  This will definitely be on my soup standards list!

Creamy Sweet Potato and Rosemary Soup
(from Giada De Laurentis - Food Network)
4-6 servings (1.5-2 cup serving size)


3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 large or 6 small shallots, thinly sliced
2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds (about 2 to 3) sweet potatoes, peeled, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 (6-inch long) stems fresh rosemary
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
3 tablespoons maple syrup

Edit 2/9/14: To make it really easy, peel the sweet potatoes and then shred them in your food processor.  It's fast, easy, and cooks quicker!

In an 8-quart stockpot, melt the butter and oil together over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook until soft, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes, rosemary and chicken broth. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the sweet potatoes are very tender, about 20 to 25 minutes. Turn off the heat and remove the rosemary stems (leave the leaves). Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture until smooth and thick. If you don't have an immersion blender, you may puree it by ladling, in small batches, into a food processor or blender.  If using this method, be careful with the hot liquid in the blender as the top may blast off!

Whisk in the mascarpone cheese and maple syrup until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Keep the soup warm over low heat until ready to serve.

Apple and Cheese Biscuits
(adapted from Cook's Country)
~12 biscuits

8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter
4 Tbsp lard (or shortening)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 apple, peeled, and grated
lemon juice
1/2 cup grated Beecher's (or cheddar, or other cheese of choice)
1 1/4 cups buttermilk OR substitute (Stir 1 Tbsp + 3/4 tsp lemon juice or white vinegar into 1 1/4 cups milk. Let stand at room temp for 10 minutes until thickened)

Cut butter and lard into 1/2 inch pieces and refrigerate until chilled.

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper.  Whisk dry ingredients in large bowl.  Peel apple and grate (on large whole box grater) into a bowl.  Sprinkle with lemon juice, to prevent browning.  Then drain apples in fine-mesh strainer/sieve set over bowl.  Press liquid from the apples, to avoid soggy biscuits!

Cut in chilled butter and lard with pastry cutter until the mixture is coarse and butter is the size of small peas.  Stir in grated apple and grated cheese.

Stir in buttermilk until just combined.  Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead briefly, 8 - 10 times, to form a smooth cohesive ball.  Cover with plastic wrap (or wax paper or parchment paper) and roll to 3/4 inch thick.  Using biscuit (or cookie) cutter dipped in flour, cut out shapes and arrange upside down on prepared baking sheet.  Gently gather scraps and re-roll to 3/4 inch thick to cut remaining biscuits and place on baking sheet.

Bake until biscuits begin to rise, about 5 minutes, then rotate pan and reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees.  Baking until golden brown, 10 - 12 minutes more.  Transfer to wire rack and let cool 5 minutes.

Enjoy!

Kale, Bean, & Sweet Potato Soup with Rosemary-Cheese Biscuits

Anyone else all sugared out from holiday sweets?  I am.  However, I can't...stop...eating...them!  Something healthy was in order.  Enter a favorite soup of mine that fits the bill - Kale, Bean & Sweet Potato Soup.  It's veggie-loaded and freezes well for "emergency lunches."

Don't you feel less sugar-blasted already?

For this soup, I wanted a tasty, carb-y accompaniment.  I had been buying this fantastic rosemary bread from a local bakery, so I knew the flavor profile I had in mind.  However, since I'm not quite ready to be nursing a needy starter (two furry, needy kitties are quite enough, thanks), I needed another option - biscuits!  I'm an avid Cook's Country reader, so I just tweaked their recipe by adding some rosemary and a local favorite cheese - Beecher's.

I also decided to try using lard for the first time, and I must say that the results lived up to my expectations - amazing!   I don't have any biscuit cutters (yet), so I thought I'd make it fun by using some flower and heart shaped cookie cutters.  Who says biscuits always have to be round??

I would ask the boyfriend what he thinks of the final result, but he's too busy noshing on the biscuits to tell me.

Kale, Bean, & Sweet Potato Soup
(adapted from Martha Stewart Living)
~ 6 one and half cup servings

1 head of garlic
Olive oil
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 leek, rinsed, white and light green parts chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 parsnip, peeled and chopped (I cut out the woody center)
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into small cubes
1 bunch of kale (I used half green, half purple in this batch)
1 can white beans, drained
6 cups chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 425 degrees.  Pull off almost all of outer skin of garlic (leaving some to hold the cloves together), and cut of top so all of cloves are exposed.  Drizzle couple of teaspoons of olive oil over it so it soaks into the garlic.  Wrap in aluminum foil and cook until soft and darkened (about 40 minutes).  Remove garlic from oven, let cool, and squeeze out roasted cloves.

Place large pot over medium heat (I use my big soup pot, but smaller ones would do).  Add olive oil and heat.  Add rosemary, leeks and onion and cook until translucent.  Add roasted garlic, sweet potato, carrot, parsnip, and celery, stirring until potato pieces begin to soften.

Add kale and cook until it begins to wilt.  Add chicken broth and cook until vegetables are tender.  Add beans, and salt and pepper to taste.  Cook until heated through.  Ladle out into bowls and serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Rosemary and Cheese Biscuits
(adapted from Cook's Country)
~12 biscuits

8 Tbsp (1 stick) unstalted butter
4 Tbsp lard (or shortening)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, minced (I may add a bit more next time)
1/2 cup grated Beecher's (or cheddar, or other cheese of choice)
1 1/4 cups buttermilk OR substitute (Stir 1 Tbsp + 3/4 tsp lemon juice or white vinegar into 1 1/4 cups milk. Let stand at room temp for 10 minutes until thickened)

Cut butter and lard into 1/2 inch pieces and refrigerate until chilled.

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper.  Whisk dry ingredients in large bowl.  Cut in chilled butter and lard with pastry cutter until the mixture is coarse and butter is the size of small peas.  Stir in minced rosemary and grated cheese.

Stir in buttermilk until just combined.  Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead briefly, 8 - 10 times, to form a smooth cohesive ball.  Cover with plastic wrap (or wax paper or parchment paper) and roll to 3/4 inch thick.  Using biscuit (or cookie) cutter dipped in flour, cut out shapes and arrange upside down on prepared baking sheet.  Gently gather scraps and re-roll to 3/4 inch thick to cut remaining biscuits and place on baking sheet.

Bake until biscuits begin to rise, about 5 minutes, then rotate pan and reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees.  Baking until golden brown, 10 - 12 minutes more.  Transfer to wire rack and let cool 5 minutes.

Enjoy!