The Perfect Soup for the Perfect Storm

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

After enjoying several weeks of Indian Summer, I guess we were due for some nasty weather. With Hurricane Sandy coming our way, this weekend looks like it may be a good one for staying indoors and brewing a batch of your favorite one pot meal. Today I made a big pot of one of my favorite cold weather soups - a lighter version of a rich and creamy Chicken and Wild Rice soup that I first became obsessed with at Panera a few years ago. I use much less butter, substitute skim milk for whole, and stock it full of veggies so it's still rich and satisfying, but also healthy enough that I can eat it for days on end without the guilt. And as long as the electricity stays on through this storm, we'll be warming up with this soup all weekend long.

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. skinless chicken breasts
1 quart chicken stock
1 quart water
1 tbsp. olive oil
4 carrots, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 tbsp. butter
1/4 cup flour
1 box wild rice with seasoning packet
2 cups skim milk
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Simmer chicken breasts in large pot with chicken stock and water for 25 minutes or until cooked through.  Set aside and dice into bite-sized pieces. Save broth in pot.
2. While chicken is cooking, saute carrots, celery, and onion in olive oil in large skillet until slightly soft. Set aside.
3. Add diced chicken and wild rice to broth and simmer for 20-25 minutes until rice is cooked.
4. Meanwhile, melt butter over medium heat in skillet used to cook veggies. Add seasoning packet from wild rice and flour and continue to whisk to form roux.
5. Add milk in slow stream, continuing to whisk until mixture is well incorporate, thick and bubbly, about 5 minutes.
6. Add mixture to chicken/broth pot along with veggies. Simmer for 10 minutes. Soup should be slightly thickened and creamy.

Food is Love

Okay, I know food is not supposed to be love. I'm sure it says way too much about my deep dark issues to admit that for me, there is no more personal way I can think of to show how much I care about my family and friends than by cooking them a favorite dish, dropping off extra baked goods, or planning an elaborate meal. This past weekend was my husband's birthday, and since no one is more deserving of a thoughtfully planned and lovingly made meal than he is, I cooked some of his favorites.

Birthday dinner of Cajun Ribeye, Apple
Rutabaga Soup, and Grilled Zucchini Salad

To start, I made a creamy Apple Rutabaga soup from Patrick O'Connell's cookbook "Refined American Cuisine". The soup is the color of "liquid Autumn" according to the famous chef from the Inn at Little Washington. We first tasted it on my 30th birthday when my dear husband took us to the Inn to celebrate and I've made it once a year since then. It takes some time because of all the chopping involved, but it's actually simple to make. The combination of flavors is complex and sweet, with a hint of cayenne at the finish. Just saute 1 cup each of onion, granny smith apple, rutabaga, sweet potato, butternut squash, and carrots in a stick of butter. Then add a quart of good chicken stock and simmer for 30 minutes or so. Strain this delicious mixture through a fine mesh sieve, add 1/4 cup of maple syrup and 1 cup (he calls for 2) of heavy cream plus salt and a few dashes of cayenne pepper to taste.

Next was the main course - a grass-fed Cajun Ribeye steak, his favorite cut of meat. The first time we had a Cajun Ribeye was at Ray's the Steaks in Arlington, and though my version is no Ray's, it's pretty darn close. I'm a filet girl myself. I just prefer the soft texture and not having to fight with any fat. But I do understand that there's something primal and manly about eating a Ribeye once in awhile. Add some Cajun seasoning and plenty of salt, and you'll have hair on your chest in no time.

To balance out all this rich and filling food, I grilled some zucchini and served it with a salad of arugula, heirloom cherry tomatoes, and goat cheese dressed simply in a little lemon and olive oil. It's one of his favorite combinations and always reminds us of summer.

Banana chocolate chip cake
with peanut butter frosting

Deciding on what to make for dessert was more difficult. If you ask him what he wants for dessert, you'll get a list a mile long. Tarte tatin, flourless chocolate cake, mille feuille, tres leches cake, anything chocolate, anything banana...the man does not discriminate against dessert. So this time I decided to combine a variety of his loves and make a banana chocolate chip cake with peanut butter frosting from the most recent issue of Bon Appetit magazine - Fall Comfort Foods. The cake was dense, moist, and not overly sweet. And the frosting. Oh, the frosting. What's not to love about peanut butter whipped with butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla? Nothing, I tell you. Nothing at all.

The meal was delicious, but the best part of all was watching my darling husband's eyes light up with that first spoon of soup, that first bite of steak, that first taste of cake. It may not be healthy to think of food as love all the time, but I think it's okay to indulge every once in awhile. Especially if it's in the form of peanut butter frosting.

The Smell of Homemade Bread in the House

We ran out of bread yesterday. Since school started, we've been going through a lot of bread around here and it's hard to keep up. The first few weeks I was buying the organic, preservative free, whole grain bread from Whole Foods. The sandwiches would come back half-eaten and the bread was always stale after two days. Next I started getting soft potato bread from Giant, which was gobbled up in it's entirety, until I read the ingredients which listed several scary-sounding "dough conditioners". I don't think bread should be made with the same thing I use to keep my hair soft and shiny, even if it does make it delicious. So today I decided that rather than try and find a store-bought replacement for my bread dilemma, I would make my own. I'm a pretty decent cook, so how hard could it be, right?

There is a big difference between being a cook and a baker. You can be a good cook without being precise. If you have a basic knowledge of how things go together, the rest is just instinct and taste. A little too much salt? No big deal. With baking, it's a whole different story. Baking is a science - and I've never been very good at science. The recipe I used is one my mom used to make when I was a kid, so I was expecting it to taste a certain way. It did not taste that way, but it did make the whole house smell amazing for several hours today and both kids did gobble it up (grape jelly for one and nutella for the other). Next time I'll try sticking a little closer to the recipe and not trying to improvise because I don't have the exact ingredients. That smell was pretty incredible - and it was also pretty awesome to watch my kids enjoying a slice of bread I made with love for them. Here's the recipe:

Perfect White Bread
Ingredients:
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 cups milk (whole or 2%, not skim)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon butter
5 3/4 to 6 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:
1. Dissolve yeast in warm water. In saucepan, combine milk, sugar, salt, and butter. Heat over low heat until butter is melted and sugar is just dissolved, stirring frequently. Set aside to cool.
2. In good stand mixer, combine yeast mixture, milk mixture, and 2 cups of flour. Beat well with dough hook, scraping down sides, until smooth. Add the remaining flour a little at a time until moderately stiff. Let machine kneed dough over low speed until smooth and elastic, 4-5 minutes.
3. Place in lightly greased bowl, flipping dough over to get the whole thing greased before covering and letting it rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/4 hours.
4. Punch dough down and turn it out onto lightly floured surface. Divide it in two and shape it into loaves. Put in two greased 8 1/4" standard loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled again, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake for 30 minutes. Brush top with melted butter and continue baking for 15 more minutes or until browned on top and hollow sounding when tapped. Remove from pans and let cool on wire rack. Enjoy!

Eating for A Good Cause. As If I Needed One.

I was "this" close! (plus or minus a little zoom lens action)

Last night I got to (not meet) be in the same room with Anthony Bourdain! Padma Lakshmi! Andrew Zimmern! Carla Hall! plus Jose Andres, Mike Isabella, and lots of other great local chefs at the Capital Food Fight which benefited DC Central Kitchen. On top of the food geek eye candy that was everywhere, add in a weeknight date with my hubby, 60 DC area chefs passing out samples of their signature dishes, an open bar with no lines, and an Iron Chef style competition, and you can imagine what an amazing night it was for me.

Gorgeous desserts on a stick

Mini spicy pork tacos

The food was as beautiful as it was delicious. It was a night for showing off and the chefs did not disappoint. Highlights included savory braised short ribs on a potato puree, hamachi in a spicy Thai chili broth, celery waffles with duck confit and cotton candy (I loved it and it's weirdness, but the husband didn't), carmelized figs with ricotta and honey and gorgonzola panna cotta served in hollowed out egg shells with candied celery and bacon on top.

On top of the over-the-top food, 4 local chefs competed in an Iron Chef battle (won by Jeff Buban from Vidalia) which we somehow snagged ringside seats for. The secret ingredients were honeycrisp apples for the first battle and oyster mushrooms for the second. In a surprise battle, Anthony Bourdain went up against Andrew Zimmern with the unbelievable secret ingredient - iguana! If you have ever wondered what a dead, skinned iguana looks like, well, it looks like a bright pink iguana-shaped raw chicken. Disgusting.

After the iguana competition was over, we headed back out for a final round of drinks and food sampling before the glutenous evening came to an end. One last shredded pork taco. One last mushroom and goat cheese panini. One last lemon cardamom ice cream cone and that oughtta do it.

Comfort Food for Almost Fall

Last Night's Dinner - Shepherd's Pie

I'm a warm-weather girl in almost every way, but I do love the cooler weather for one reason - comfort food. Summer's great for throwing some meat and veggies on the grill, but as soon as the temp starts dropping, nothing makes me happier than dusting off my best comfort food recipes.  This simple and delicious one makes a frequent appearance - Rachael Ray's 30-minute Shepherd's Pie. I follow the recipe as written, for the most part, just throw in some extra carrots and peas and use low fat or skim milk for a slightly healthier, but still rich and comforting, version of this British classic. Try it out and let me know if you agree!

Beige Food Gone Bad

Some days I relish cooking meals for my family. Some days. But most days I dread coming up with something that all four of us will eat and enjoy. I love to cook spicy, flavorful food with whatever's in season at the Farmer's Market. I love to experiment with interesting whole grains and hard-to-find proteins. My husband is happy to come along with me on whatever culinary adventure I am on. My oldest kid, not so much. I don't know how I could have raised a child who only eats beige food, but somehow I managed it. Oh, he does eat the occasional strawberry or slice of watermelon, and he'll choke down a steamed carrot or piece of broccoli with the lure of dessert on the other side (especially if chocolate is involved). But generally, he's the chicken nugget, pasta no sauce, grilled cheese kind of kid. So...when I started looking up recipes for Roasted Butternut Squash Lasagna, I realized that this was my big chance to get my beige food-eating kid on board for the family meal.

The creamy bechamel sauce infused with sage and roasted butternut squash filled the house with a warm, sweet smell. The recipe was easy to follow, but somewhat time consuming because of the time involved with roasting the squash, boiling the noodles, and making the bechamel. 

It was a true labor of love, and it was delicious. Until I took the first bite and I felt the crunch of a tiny shard of glass between my teeth. Did I mention that the Pyrex dish I baked the squash in shattered into a thousand pieces because I accidentally set it down straight on my cold kitchen counter and not onto the range or a kitchen towel to cool? Oh, I didn't? If I hadn't been so giddy with the anticipation of my oldest son actually eating the same thing that the rest of us humans were about to enjoy, I might have abandoned the project when I should have. When a sane person would have. But instead I just moved the beautifully roasted squash out of the way, cleaned up the mess of glass, and powered on.

After the first crunchy bite, I dove across the table to swipe the other offending plates out of the way before someone else got a taste (but not before briefly - very briefly! - considering whether ingesting a tiny shard of glass would outweigh the benefits of my son eating a vegetable). So if you want to try out this delicious fall recipe, and you know how to correctly handle Pyrex glassware, here it is!

Recipe: Butternut Squash Lasagna (without glass shards)

Ingredients:

1 onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 medium butternut squash

10 oz. frozen spinach, thawed (optional)

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup flour

4 cups milk (I used skim, but use whatever's on hand)

15 oz. part-skim ricotta

16 oz. shredded mozzarella

12 cooked lasagna noodles (or use no-cook noodles if you like)

1 tsp. grated nutmeg

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut butternut squash in half and brush with oil and salt. Bake for 40 minutes or until soft and cooked through. Set aside to cool. Turn oven down to 375 degrees.

2. Boil lasagna noodles according to package directions. Set aside in cold water until ready to assemble.

3. Melt butter in large saute pan over medium heat and cook onion until translucent. Add garlic and stir for 1 minute. Add flour and stir constantly until very light brown.

4. Add milk to pan and stir with whisk until thickened - about 5-7 minutes. Add ricotta to mixture and stir until well incorporated.

5. Scoop cooled squash into bechamel mixture and puree until smooth with hand blender. Add grated nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste.

6. In 9x13 baking dish, layer sauce, noodles, sauce, mozzarella cheese, noodles, sauce, spinach, cheese, noodles, sauce, and a final layer of cheese.

7. Bake covered tightly with foil at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for 15 minutes until cheese is lightly browned and bubbly. Cool for 15 minutes.