Cajun Jambalaya

I thought it only fitting to make something Cajun for dinner on Fat Tuesday.  Well, that was my original intention.  I thought I'd get a jump on things and make part of it last night, and finish it off tonight when I got home from work.  I had some leftover soup in the fridge for last night's dinner anyway.  Like I said, that was my original intention.  Once I got started with this Jambalaya there was no going back.  I got caught up in the moment.  Once that spicy aroma filled the air, I decided that soup could wait another day, and... who cares if we celebrated Fat Tuesday on Monday!  So Monday night was Jambalaya night.  I figured heck, this recipe serves four people anyway, we can have leftovers tomorrow.  Again, that was my intention, but Paul sort of fell in love with this Jambalaya.  He truly got into the spirit of Fat Tuesday and overindulged.  At the end of the night there was only one serving left.  I tucked it in the fridge and promised him that he could finish it off tonight.  Guess who's having soup?

Rethinking Split Pea Soup

Disclaimer:  I am not a pea soup aficionado.  I don't have much experience with pea soup.  For years I didn't think I liked pea soup. (That was a learned behavior)  For years I wouldn't try pea soup because I was told by my mother that I wouldn't like pea soup. (She HATED even the sight of pea soup). Then one day about 15 years ago I made a ham.  When we finished eating the ham, my husband said, "You've never made me pea soup.  Why don't you make pea soup with the ham bone?"  I looked at him like he had four heads.  "I don't do pea soup, you foolish man, where have you been the last 15 years of our marriage?" was my reply (or something like that).  He insisted that pea soup was delicious and I could not possibly dislike a food that I have never tasted.  I begrudgingly agreed to make my first pea soup.  I decided on a recipe that I found on the back of the bag of split peas (I was not being very resourceful).  He was happy, but I was not particularly impressed.  Truth be told, it wasn't awful, it was just a bit pea-ish, and peas have never been my favorite vegetable.  So every two years or so, usually prompted by a ham bone, I would make Paul some pea soup.

This past Christmas I made a delicious ham for dinner.   After days of eating ham morning, noon and night, and Matt and Lauren went home (Lauren loves ham like nobody's business - sorry Lauren, your secret is out), I stuck the ham bone in a freezer bag and popped it into the freezer for safe keeping.  Last week I found that ham bone and decided to commit myself to making a better pea soup.  I'd been analyzing why pea soup doesn't do it for me (besides being pea-ish).  Then it dawned on me.  It's sort of one dimensional and I object to its pasty texture.  I started researching pea soup recipes and decided to use Ina Garten's recipe as my starting point.  I've come to trust Ina, except when it comes to her use of butter and salt...it can be over-kill for me. 

I have to say, this soup was a winner!  Maybe pea soup purists would scoff at it, but this is exactly what I wanted my pea soup to taste like.  I will be making it again for sure, but I won't be waiting two years this time.  If you like pea soup, give this recipe a try.  If you don't like pea soup, suspend your belief and broaden your horizons and maybe, just maybe, you'll be a convert like me.

Creamy Broccoli Soup, Without the Cream

So if you are like most people, you are in the midst of holiday mode.  Almost everyone deviates from their usual eating habits this time of year.  Shopping and eating on the run, the inevitable treats that invade the office, parties and social gatherings can wreak havoc on the diets of the most disciplined eater.  It's always good to have a few light dinner ideas to counteract the evils of holiday indulgences.

This broccoli soup is a perfect antidote for a day of bad eating.  I find myself making a soup like this for a light dinner after Paul spends a Sunday afternoon with the boys watching football.  Watching football really means eating wings, nachos, pigs in a blanket and drinking beer.  He's not usually hungry for dinner on those days, but at 7:30 or 8:00pm he's looking for something to fill "his empty spot".  A bowl of soup served with a crusty bread does the trick.

Summer Fresh Corn Chowder

Sometimes a vegetable just speaks to me.  It tells me what it wants to be.  This corn was so fresh the kernels looked as if they were going to burst.  It just screamed corn chowder to me.  Seriously, it must have screamed because I would never even think of making soup in the summer with the exception of something cold like gazpacho.  Corn is one of those vegetables that I only buy in the summer.  Its silk has to look fresh, shiny and yellow.  Corn is best when it is eaten within hours of being picked.  Since I have no control over how long the corn takes to  get to my market,  the rule of my kitchen is to cook the corn the day it come into the house.  I usually serve corn on the cob when I BBQ or maybe in a clam bake.  This corn deserved to be center stage, hence my decision to make a hot soup in the summer.  I figure to have a truly fresh corn chowder, you have to make it when the corn is at its best.  So that's exactly what I did and it did not disappoint.

Green and White Chicken Chili

As I begin to  write this post, I have to channel my thoughts in another direction, as my inspiration for this dish flew out the window last Sunday is no more.  I no longer can give this recipe the name that inspired me to write this post.   So let me back up and you will understand my dilemma.   Two weeks ago Paul hosted the Jets - Patriots game at our house.  I made pulled pork for the occasion.  A few hours before game time I thought to myself...how stupid!  I should have made something more "Jets-like" like a green pepper studded white chicken chili, you know, the Jets colors?  I like to be thematic.  Well,  it was too late to change the menu so I made the pulled pork anyway.  I bridged the gap to the football game by calling it pigskin sliders, with Jets green and white coleslaw, and bake-those-Bostons baked beans!  The beverage rule for Jets games is this: it must come from a green bottle.  Traditionally that would be beer.  It was blasphemous, but I also served Zinfandel, which goes nicely with pulled pork, and adheres to the green bottle rule.  The Jets won, so no harm was done.

As the week went on, I still had that chili in my head.  Maybe the fact that it's been the coldest, snowiest winter in God knows how long, or that the mountain of snow piled outside my kitchen window is now about 5 feet high, or maybe because the weatherman is talking about another midweek winter storm...maybe that's why I'm thinking of chili?  We were not hosting the Jets-Steelers game, but I decided that I would have to be prepared with a Green and White Jets Super Bowl chili, just in case they pulled off a win, which as we all know, they did not.

Mind you, I am not a football fan.  I did not slip into a deep depression like some people did; I've moved on.  So that idea of chili that was intended for the Super Bowl party will live on. Why?  Because it is a great winter meal that you will enjoy, and a break from traditional red chilies.

I spent the better part of a day searching for fresh poblano chiles. I can find them easily in the summer, but this time of year it is hit or miss.  Wholefoods is your best bet to find them around these parts.  If you want to know a little more about chili peppers,  this is an interesting site.    This time, I also made this chili with one of my favorite ingredients....COSTCO roasted chicken.  Yes, you heard it.  If you are new to this blog, you will learn that I think COSTCO chickens are a time-saving, all around efficient convenience as I use them in countless recipes.

This recipe is an adaptation of a  Cooks Illustrated, White Chicken Chili.  No, they don't use COSTCO chicken, the chicken is cooked in the chili. I have made it several times and is quite delicious.  It is just more time consuming and the flavor of chili does not suffer if you take my shortcut.  They have you brown the chicken, cook it in the sauce, wait for it to cool enough to handle and on and on..  Quite frankly, I think my version is just as good and takes half the time. Try it for yourself, then you decide.  This recipe is made with ease if you use your food processor.  If you don't have one, you'll need to do a lot of fine mincing, and will eventually have to use a blender or an immersion blender.

Inspired Cooking, Beef Daube

Santa really listened to me this year.  I had a short list of cookbooks that I've been eyeing and boy, did he deliver!  I have an ever growing collection of cookbooks.  I haven't actually counted them, but I think it would be safe to say I have close to 100.  The first cookbooks I ever bought were the Gourmet Cookbooks, Volumes 1 & 2.  I remember how excited I was when I ordered them and had my name embossed in gold on their covers.  That was almost 35 years ago.   They still sit on my bookshelf and now have a lot of company.  I honestly think that they were the last cookbooks I bought for myself.  Over the years, I've received most of my collection as gifts.  I love getting new cookbooks.  This Christmas I've added four more to my collection.  I was excited to receive Nigella Lawson's Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home, Ready for Dessert: My Best Recipes, by David Lebovitz and Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table.  A gap was also filled in my Ina Garten collection, after receiving Barefoot Contessa Parties!

I was inspired by our recent NY blizzard to dive into Dorie Greenspan's new book, Around My French Table.  This book is beautiful.  What else can I say?  The photographs are gorgeous.  It has made me look at French cooking in a whole new way.  It is one of those books that I will want to cook through the recipes, cover to cover.  Now I know why it is listed in the Top 10 cookbooks of 2010.  Thank you Lauren.

With almost 2 feet of snow on the ground,  and a quiet day alone, I thought I would make a comforting stew.  Matt and Lauren were spending the day in the city and I knew they would be hungry and cold when they returned.  I can pretty much count on Matt being hungry anytime he comes home for a visit.

Mexican Chicken Soup, Simple and Delicious

I'm always on the lookout for a good soup recipe.  This time of year, I tend to make soup on Sundays.  I do this for a couple of reasons.  First of all, the as the days get shorter, I burn out earlier.  It's quite a phenomena.  Not having to think about dinner on a Tuesday or Wednesday night is a real gift.  I tend to like soup even more the second time around.  I'm not a fan of leftovers, but soup is an exception.   Another reason why I like to make soup on a Sunday, is because football makes dinner planning difficult.  Actually, it makes planning anything difficult.  As you might guess by that remark, I am not a fan.  Paul is.  Enough said.

This Mexican chicken soup has become one of my absolute favorites.  It's got a spicy kick, it's hardy, and its just plain good.  Oh, and I forgot, it's easy to make.  Once again, I bow down to Ina Garten for coming up with this creation.

Roasted Butternut Squash ... (and Friends) Soup

I don't know why it took me so long to discover butternut squash, it just did.  I don't remember my mother ever cooking it when I was a kid.  Looking back on my childhood, it would be fair to say we were a squash-less family.  We ate our vegetables, but they were more along the lines of string beans, peas, carrots, and broccoli.  Mostly frozen vegetables were served in our house, with the exception of holidays.  Holidays always commanded fresh vegetables.

When I moved out of my parent's home,  I headed west to California, the land of fresh vegetables. While living in Santa Cruz,  I had a brief stint with vegetarianism.  I had an open mind and found the joys of fresh produce: artichokes, arugula, lettuce that was not iceberg, brussel sprouts and squash.  I also learned that there were many ways to cook vegetables as well. Vegetables could be more than an obligatory lump of green on your plate. I discovered one of my favorite ways to cook winter squash was roasting.  Roasted butternut squash has a wonderful depth of flavor and can stand on its own.  It doesn't take much of leap to know that if you take that roasted squash and puree it with some broth, you'll have the start of a really good soup.  Add a few other ingredients to the mix and you'll have something special.

End of the Season Gazpacho

My beloved tomato plants took a severe beating in yesterday's storm.  I'm not sure whether it was the wild wind or the deluge of rain, but they look like hell.  The ground is covered with tomatoes.  I am going to glean what I can and hope that the remaining soldiers can hang on a bit longer until the season's first frost.

Earlier this summer I experimented with some gazpacho recipes.  I decided that I like my gazpacho to have some texture and chew.  For that reason, I loved Ree Drummond's gazpacho.  Her technique of adding finely diced and minced vegetables to the pureed vegetables worked perfectly for me.

This gazpacho is a wise way to use up some of those extra tomatoes and random veggies you may still have in your garden.  It tastes fresh and clean and is relatively quick to make. Just be sure you leave enough time to chill it before serving.  If you are good with your food processor, you can do most of your dicing and prep with it.  Just be sure not to pulverize the veggies.  Do the dicing in small batches.  Serve the gazpacho as a first course or have a big bowl for dinner.  If there are any left-overs, it makes a delicious lunch although I must warn you the raw garlic becomes more pronounced.

Manhattan Clam Chowder Rules!

It has been my experience that one either thinks of oneself as a Manhattan clam chowder person or a New England clam chowder person.  It is rare to meet someone with equal admiration for both.  Sure, a curious mind may be drawn to "taste the other side", but one's allegiance usually brings them right back.
But how is it determined?   I was thinking it is much like the nature vs. nurture debate.  Are we born  "tabula rasa" and our experiences determine what we become?  Or are we genetically predisposed, a product of our ancestors?  Or....is taste, just a matter of taste....????
I grew up on Long Island, 20 miles from Manhattan.  Both my parents were raised in NYC.   My mom always made Manhattan clam chowder. I don't know of anything else.   My mom did not always write her recipes down.  This is pretty darn close to her recipe.