Chicken Soup -- You'll Never Eat Canned Soup Again

Chicken soup with carrots, celery, red bell pepper & whole wheat ziti served in a covered dish made by Taylor Smith Taylor, one of many twentieth-century Ohio dinnerware makers.

One of the natural by-products of roast chicken is chicken soup. Another roast chicken, another batch of chicken soup. I tend to make a relatively small batch of soup. One of the reasons making soup gets a bad name is because we tend to make a bucket of soup and then get tired of it.

This is an easy recipe but not a quick recipe -- although most of the time you are ignoring it.

INGREDIENTS

The broth:

• The remains of a roast chicken. Ours usually has the wings and a leg or two left on it. The more meat left on it, the more meat your soup will have.
• 1 large carrot cut in 2 inch pieces, wider parts split in two
  
• 1 or two stalks of celery cut in 2 inch pieces
• 1/2 a medium onion cut in quarters
• a handful of fresh parsley
• 2 or 3 bay leaves broken into pieces. If your bay leaves have been sitting around for awhile, use more of them.
• Salt & pepper.
• Water to cover.
  

The soup:

• 2-3 cups chopped vegetables of your choice, e.g. carrots, celery, mushrooms, bell peppers, etc.
• 2 servings of a starch, e.g. noodles, potatoes, rice, dumplings, gnocci.
• More salt and pepper if needed.

PREPARATION

1. Break the chicken carcass into pieces, breaking a few bones in the process.
   
2. Place the broth ingredients in a large saucepan or stock pot and cover with water.
3. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 hours.
4. Let cool until safe to refrigerate.
5. Refrigerate until cold -- I usually do this overnight.
6. Scoop the fat off the cold broth and discard.
7. Remove the large pieces from the broth and put aside.
8. Strain the broth through a mesh strainer to remove the rest of the solids.
9. Rescue the meat from the solid pieces and return it to the broth.
10. Discard the rest of the solid pieces, they have given their all to the broth.
11. Bring the broth and meat back to a boil and add the chopped vegetables and starch. Note: you may want to stagger adding these ingredients depending on how long they need to cook. I like to put the starch in raw so it soaks up some of the broth and thickens the soup.
    
12. Simmer until everything is done to your liking.
    
13. Adjust the seasoning. You may need to add more salt at this point.
    

Can one vary this? Certainly. Add garlic. Use an herb other than parsley. Do this with a turkey carcass. Add peanut butter and you have ground nut stew, a West African dish. Add a Granny Smith apple and curry powder and you have Mulligatawny. Add a little extra water at the beginning and you can save some of the broth for other uses. Just don't use too much water or the broth will be weak.

You may be starting to note a lack of tomatoes in this blog. Yes, you could add a can of tomatoes to this soup and in previous years I may well have. But I am now allergic to tomatoes and use them very sparingly. I'm also allergic to onions but there are some things I am unwilling to give up!

Napa & Mushrooms "Orientale"

Many meals around here comprise a serving of meat and a nuked veggie. Veggie boredom has set in. To add variety, sauté a mixture of veggies with a splash of salad dressing. Tonight's combo is sliced mushrooms, napa cabbage, and Newman's Own Lighten Up Sesame Ginger Dressing to add an Asian tang. This was a great side dish for roast chicken.

(By the way, tonight's episode of easy chicken roasting experiments used the same method as discussed in an earlier post but setting the temperature at 425° and the timer for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Done to a tee!)

Ingredients for two servings:

• 4 oz. sliced mushrooms
• 4 cups Napa cabbage, sliced thin
• vegetable oil for sautéing
• 1 Tbl. bottled sesame-ginger salad dressing

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a sauté pan on medium high.
2. Saute the mushrooms until slightly browned but not until they release their liquid.
3. Add the sliced cabbage and saute approximately 1 minute.
4. Toss in the dressing and heat through.
5. Serve immediately with a slotted spoon to drain excess liquid.

Tangy, tasty and it's not another nuked bag of green beans or corn niblets!

Tuna à la King for a Cold & Rainy Night

We didn't do the big grocery shopping trip this weekend -- too busy watching DVDs of a British series that never hit our public TV station -- so it was scrounge around to find something quick but warm and tasty. A couple of frozen patty shells, an envelope of tuna, and a can of fat-free evaporated milk became a warm and tasty treat.

INGREDIENTS for two large servings:

• 2 frozen patty shells (These are little crowns of puff pastry, the most well-known made by Pepperidge Farm and available in the supermarket. Toast will do in a pinch.)
  
• 2-3 cups diced fresh vegetables (For example, tonight's combo was 1/2 vidalia onion, 1/2 large red bell pepper, 1 stalk celery, and 1 carrot.)
• 1 can fat free evaporated milk.
• Olive oil for sautéing the vegetables
  
• 2 Tbl. butter
• 2 Tbl. flour
• Salt, pepper, and nutmeg
• 1 envelope of tuna (5-7 oz.) (If you use canned tuna, make sure it is well drained.)
• 2 Tbl. curly parsley or other fresh herb, finely chopped
  

PREPARATION

1. Cook the patty shells as indicated on the package. Try to time these so they are done when the sauce is ready.
2. Sauté the finely chopped vegetables in the olive oil until they are slightly softened and a bit translucent.
3. Meanwhile, make the cream sauce. Melt the butter in a sauce pan big enough to hold all the ingredients. Add the flour a little at a time while whisking to avoid lumps. Cook for about 1 minute to cook the flour.
   
4. Gradually add the evaporated milk, whisking while you do so.
   
5. Add salt, pepper & nutmeg to taste. You now have a cream sauce.
   
6. Stir the tuna, sautéed vegetables, and parsley into the cream sauce and let cook for about one minute, stirring to prevent it from scorching on the bottom. If it does scorch a little, just leave the scorched part on the bottom of the pan when you serve.
7. Serve the tuna à la king over the patty shells.
   

Voila. Altogether, including preheating the oven and chopping the veggies, this took about 25 minutes.

Trust but Verify. Unless it's Chicken.

In the case of chicken, don't trust anything but your eyes. Don't trust recipes. Don't trust a thermometer. Trust your eyes after you have massacred the chicken with a knife. Undercooked chicken is as dangerous as a pit viper!

I'm on a quest to find a relatively foolproof way to roast a broiler/fryer; one that's not much harder than picking up a precooked chicken at the grocery store. So, with whole chickens on sale this week, I decided to try a method that seemed likely.



The recipe said, wash & season the chicken, put it on a rack in a cold oven set for 400°, and let it cook for 1 hour. I had rubbed the outside of the chicken with olive oil and sprinked it with salt and lemon-pepper. To assure a moist result, at 30 and 50 minutes I opened the door and quickly misted water in the oven with a spray bottle.

After one hour I removed the chicken and stuck in my quick-read thermometer to make sure the chicken had reached the recommended internal temperature of 165°. It had. I'm showing the thermometer in the breast but I also checked a thigh. Clear juice came out of the hole the thermometer made.



But when I picked up the chicken, pink juice poured out. When I cut into it, even the breasts were slightly pink inside. Back to the drawing board.

Luckily, we were only feeding two tonight. I nuked the breast meat for 90 seconds to make sure it was done but not tough. It stayed moist and was quite good.

The rest of the chicken went into a pot of water with parsley and green onions to boil for a soup base. It's bubbling away right now.

So, what do you suggest I try next? Shall I raise the temperature or extend the time?

Quick Pork & Veggies in One Pot

Pictured in a covered vegetable dish made by American Limoges of Sebring, Ohio. Shape: Triumph. Decoration: Vermillion Rose.

Pork loin, Brussels sprouts and red bell pepper.

This supper is tasty, colorful, and quick to put together. It uses a few tablespoons of bottled salad dressing and minced garlic to add flavor. The combo below can serve as a framework for any similar combination of vegetables, meat strips, and salad dressing, each tasting very different.

Resist the urge to throw the garlic in too soon. You don't want it to burn!

Ingredients for two servings:

2 boneless loin pork chops
12-20 Brussels sprouts (depending on size)
1/2 large red bell pepper
3-4 Tbl tangy bottled salad dressing. Pictured made with Newman's Own Lighten-Up Sun Dried Tomato Dressing
2-4 cloves garlic
2 Tbl olive oil

Preparation

1. Slice the pork into thin strips, easiest done while they are only partially thawed
2. Toss the pork strips and salad dressing in a bowl to marinate while you do the other steps
3. Cut the bottoms off the Brussels sprouts and cut them in half, discarding any leaves that are dark and readily fall off
   
4. Seed and cut the red pepper in bite-sized squares
5. Finely mince the garlic

Cooking

1. Heat the olive oil in a large sautée pan (with lid) on medium heat
2. Sauté the sprouts for about three minutes
3. Add the red pepper and sauté for a minute or two
4. Add the garlic and sauté for one minute
   
5. Add the pork and sauté for 5 minutes
6. Cover, turn the heat down to medium low, and let simmer in its own juice for another 2 or 3 minutes.

When the sprouts are softened but still a bit crunchy, serve.

So, Mom said, "What's a Microplane?"

I'm very lucky to have a proofreader in the family. If you see a mistake here, it's most likely because Mom hasn't caught it yet or I haven't kept up with her corrections. Recently, after seeing me mention one, she asked, "What's a Microplane?"

Now, I'm a kitchen gadget junkie of the first order and I've accumulated lots of kitchen toys over the years -- some useful, some just taking up space. The Microplanes fall into the useful category. In fact, the Microplane has made zesting a lemon a 30-second job around here.

I have three different sizes of Microplane but if you are considering getting your first, I'd recommend the one in the middle of the picture. It works equally well for grating cheeses and citrus zests. I've had mine for several years and throw it in the dishwasher. It seems just as sharp as ever.

In finding the link to Microplane for you I discovered they have a full line of gadgets! More to lust after. Maybe I should help the economy? Oh, no! They have an outlet link with seconds! Bill, honey? Hide my wallet!

Cinnamon Crumb Cake

When I first moved away from Connecticut in the 1970s, I longed for the cinnamon snack cakes that weren’t available in my new home. So, with much trial and error, I developed this recipe for a dense and moist cinnamon crumb cake. It’s best made with a stand mixer and baked in a bundt pan. It’s a firm cake more akin to a coffee cake or pound cake. It travels well. If you need to carry a cake to work, this one can be stood up on its side in a book bag without falling apart!

Preheat oven to 350° Farenheit.

BATTER

Add ingredients one at a time. Mix thoroughly between each addition.

• 1 stick margarine, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 8 oz. sour cream

Sift together:

• 3 cups of flour (measure the 3 cups before sifting)
• 5 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

Alternate adding dry ingredients to mixer with

• 1/4 cup milk

Mix together thoroughly. Batter should be almost thick enough to creep up the beaters.

CRUMBS

Work with your fingers:

• 1 stick margarine
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 Tbl Cinnamon

The crumb mixture will resemble moist beach sand.

ASSEMBLY

1. Grease & flour the bundt pan.
2. Layer in 1/3 crumbs, 1/2 batter, 1/3 crumbs, 1/2 batter, 1/3 crumbs.
3. Pat gently to seal the last layer of crumbs to the batter.
4. Bake about 40 minutes.
5. Let the cake cool at least 30 minutes before removing it from the pan.
6. Slice to serve.