Daring Cooks - September 2011 - Stock to Soup to Consomme

Peta, of the blog Peta Eats, was our lovely hostess for the Daring Cook’s September 2011 challenge, “Stock to Soup to Consommé”. We were taught the meaning between the three dishes, how to make a crystal clear Consommé if we so chose to do so, and encouraged to share our own delicious soup recipes!

I'm the kinda girl who saves chicken carcasses...I'll admit it. I come from a long line of soup makers, what can I say? So when this challenge came up, it was pretty easy to figure out what I was going to do. I rescued some of the bones from the freezer, threw in some celery, onions, a full bunch of parsley, a tablespoon or so of peppercorns, thyme and rosemary, turned the burner on and away we went. I found the key was to fill my pot with bones, tuck in the veggies (sauteed in another pan until soft), sprinkle the seasonings, and then add cold water to the top of the pot.  I let it cook for 4 hours, then strained it.  I used about half of it in the soup and I still have half left over to try and turn into consomme this week (I know, I'm late, but the consomme wasn't mandatory!)

Bubble...bubble...

I was really happy to have my fat-separator measuring cup to help get the fat out of the stock before I used it (apparently there was a lot of skin and fat in with the bones that I froze).

A handy tool

The broth itself was rich and satisfying, with a lot more flavour than I would have expected considering it was just bones and veggies.  I had to add quite a bit of salt to the soup, but it wasn't lacking for depth of flavour otherwise.



Chicken Florentine Soup

• 2 whole chicken breasts
• 8 cups chicken stock
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt to taste
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 28-ounce can tomatoes, undrained
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 Tablespoon dried basil
• 2 bunches spinach, washed, stems removed and chopped
• 1 cup small dried GF pasta (or you could use rice or quinoa, if you prefer)

Poach chicken breasts in stock until fully cooked, then chop up in little pieces.  Reserve stock.

In the bottom of your soup pot, saute carrots and onions in the olive oil until soft.  Add garlic and saute for a further 2 minutes, being careful not to burn it.  

Add tomatoes, stock, bay leaves, basil, salt, pepper and pasta (I used GF orzo, but you can use pretty much any small GF noodle). Cook until the noodles are al dente.  Add chicken, and chopped up spinach.  As soon as the spinach is wilted, adjust the seasoning if necessary, and serve the soup!

The finished product!

Daring Cooks - August 2011 - Appam and Curry

Appam, Sri Lankan Lamb Curry, and Carrots with Tropical Flavors

Toasting the spices...mmmmmm!

Mary, who writes the delicious blog, Mary Mary Culinary was our August Daring Cooks’ host. Mary chose to show us how delicious South Indian cuisine is! She challenged us to make Appam and another South Indian/Sri Lankan dish to go with the warm flat bread.


For starters I got very, very excited about the chance to make a gluten-free flatbread. My hubby realized he has a significant sensitivity to wheat almost a year ago now, so there's been little-to-no bread baking around here, and no naan (which I love!)


Secondly, I love curry...pretty much all curry (Indian, Thai, white-trash...you name it).  So all-in-all, I was pretty happy about the challenge for August. Within 2 days of it being posted online, I decided THAT WOULD BE THE NIGHT.


Unfortunately, I decided about 10:00 in the morning.  What I didn't recognize was that the second stage of the appam recipe involved letting the batter stand for 8 - 12 hours.  (I know, I know...I should have read it all the way through, but I just got so excited...).  So instead, the raw rice got only 2 hours to soak, and then the batter got maybe another 6 to ferment.  It made for a much thicker batter than it should have been, and as a result, the appam were...well, GLUEY.  Yuck. I will have to try this again when I have the right amount of time, because I think, cooked correctly, they could have been quite tasty.






As for the curries, I made the Sri Lankan lamb curry.  It was just delicious, although a bit of a pain as the only lamb stew meat you can get around here is BONE-IN, great for flavour but a whole lotta work if you actually want to EAT it. I thought the curry was delicious, but my husband and son thought the curry was actually too mild for their tastes (personally, I think the fact they wanted theirs on rice was at fault.  Everyone knows rice neutralizes about half of the flavour of things!)


The run-away surprise hit of the dinner, though, was the "Carrorts with Tropical Flavors" side dish that was offered. You would think it was just a carrot salad, but it was SO much more than that, with the creaminess from the coconut milk and the savoriness and depth from the curry leaves and the shallots.  Mmmmm...needless to say we made it again for company the same week and we will make it again often in the future!

Quinoa Pudding

Dessert...or breakfast...?

Whew...that was a bit of a long break while the rest of my life took over!

I'm back now, and trying to get back to posting regularly.  Have you missed me?  No...?  Well, then I'll have to make you something sweet to make it up to you!

I bought a couple of bags of quinoa on sale at Costco a week or two ago (because we seem to be going through it like water around here) and I was looking for new ways to use it.  A quick search led me to Cannelle et Vanille, and this recipe. I made a couple changes to better suit my tastes and the ingredients I had in the house.  And instead of topping it with macerated strawberries, we just stirred in a little raspberry jam, which was also delicious!

At the moment I'm telling myself it's healthy so I can eat it for breakfast* tomorrow...

QUINOA PUDDING
Adapted from Cannelle et Vanille

• 2.5 cups homogenized milk
• 1 cup heavy cream (not optional)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• jam or jelly of your choice

Rinse your quinoa if necessary (ours is prewashed, so I never bother with this step).  Bring milk, cream, sugar, vanilla and salt just to a simmer, then add quinoa.  Heat at a simmer for approximately 30 minutes, stirring regularly.  As it simmers, the milk will form a skin, which you can just stir back into the pudding.  The milk will also reduce and thicken up as the quinoa cooks.

After 30 minutes (or when the quinoa is cooked to your liking), turn the heat off and let it cool until it isn't scalding (my kids liked it still a bit warm).  Scoop into bowls or cups and top with a spoonful of jam or jelly, which you can mix in for some fruitiness.

*(Right...like there will be any left by breakfast tomorrow...)

Sweet and Sour Bean Salad

Pretend you see red kidney beans...ok?

This recipe has been in my family for generations...literally.  My grandmother used to make it, my mother did, and now it's all on me.

There's a reason, though, that this has been handed down...it's worth making! If you've never made a mixed bean salad before, this one will become your "go-to" as well...you can count on it! This last time I made it we were out of kidney beans so I used navy beans instead.  Most beans work well, except black beans, which tend to dye the whole salad a very unappetizing color.

SWEET AND SOUR BEAN SALAD

• 1 can garbanzo beans (chick peas)
• 2 cans kidney beans
• 3 cups cut green beans, steamed
• 3 cups cut wax beans, steamed
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped celery (optional)
• 1 cup chopped red bell peppers (optional)
• 1/3 cup oil
• 2/3 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1 Tblsp. GF Worcestershire sauce

Drain beans. Add celery and onion.  Combine oil and vinegar and add sugar and seasonings.  Combine dressing and vegetables and toss lightly.  Marinate overnight in the fridge.  Drain before serving, if desired.

Save your ice cream pail for this one!

Roasted Veggies - Carrots and Cauliflower

Carrots -- delicious!

These vegetables had mixed results.  The carrots were SO good...for vegetables, as my kids say!

The cauliflower was a bit of a "fail" with my family, at least in part because roasting it seemed to bring out the "cabbagey taste", as my husband described.  All the blog posts I saw seemed to indicate it would get sweet and nutty, but that's not what we got.

To roast the veggies, it's really more of a method than a recipe.  It's a matter of cleaning, peeling (in the case of the carrots), and cutting up some veggies, a toss with some olive oil and salt and pepper, and then tuck them into a hot oven (425 - 450F) for 20 minutes or so.  I would suggest checking them after the first 10 minutes, and then every 5 minutes thereafter.

Once the veggies are tender, and a little browned, they are done and ready for noshing. Eat your veggies!

Cauliflower -- fail?