Posted on 12/30/2020 5:45:34 PM PST by Jamestown1630
One of our members suggested that for the January cooking thread, we do Soup. So here we go.
One of my favorite soups is a Sausage-Bean-Spinach soup; I can’t recall where I found the recipe, but we first made this on a very cold day after Christmas, for some friends who had attended the local Christmas Bird Count, and it was a hit - it’s a very stick-to-the-ribs dish:
Sausage, Spinach and Bean Soup
8 oz. Hot Italian Sausage, casing removed (or your favorite sausage - I usually use one of the little 'chubs' of hot sausage)
1 tsp. Olive Oil (this doesn't seem right - I think I probably used more)
5 cloves Garlic, minced (Yes, 5; you may want to tone this down to personal taste)
1/2 tsp. dried Red Pepper flakes (or, again, to taste/tolerance)
2 10-oz packages of fresh Spinach, torn (Baby Spinach is good here)
2 15-oz cans of Great Northern Beans, undrained
1/4 cup unsalted Butter
1/2 c. shredded Parmesan Cheese
2 plum Tomatoes, diced (can use canned)
2 T. chopped Parsley
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
3 cups Chicken Broth
Brown sausage in hot oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat for 10 minutes, breaking it up and stirring until it crumbles and is no longer pink.
Add garlic and crushed red pepper, and saute 2 minutes. Add spinach and saute 2 minutes, or until wilted. Stir in the beans and cook 1 minute. Add broth, and bring to a boil. Add butter, cheese, tomato and 1 T. parsley.
Cook until thoroughly heated. Stir in salt and pepper. Sprinkle each serving evenly with 1 T. parsley.
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We recently purchased some demi-glace from a company called ‘More than Gourmet’, and while perusing their website, we found this recipe for Roasted Cauliflower and Gorgonzola Bisque. Haven’t tried it yet, but it looks good (I think you could use any good stock for this):
http://www.morethangourmet.com/recipe-roasted-cauliflower-and-gorgonzola-bisque
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You always need something to go with soup, and Dale Calder recently demonstrated what looks like a very easy recipe for Scottish ‘Baps’, a sort of roll:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaSZoCHUg3U
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The other night, we happened to hit on this video about Eddie Goldfarb, the toymaker. He’s a great testimony to remaining intensely interested in something that really engages you, if you want to live a long, high-quality life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sKKan_Q9VU
I wish everyone a very good New Year, despite what we've faced in the past one, and no matter what the next one brings. Onward!
(The painting at the top is entitled 'La Soupe', by the French painter Bouguereau):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/_Bouguereau
-JT
Pan Con Tomate / Serves 1 to 2
ING 1 pan de cristal or ciabatta 1 ripe tomato, preferably Cherokee Purple Extra-virgin olive oil Coarse sea salt
METHOD broil uncut bread 1-2 min on sheetpan, turning once, just until crunchy on the outside. Transfer to a cutting board.
When cool enough to handle, slice the bread in half as for a sandwich. Return to the pan, cut sides up and toast until golden and crisp, 1-2 min.
Cut the tomato in half through its equator (not from top to bottom). Gently rub the cut side of the tomatoes against
the cut sides of the toasted bread to evenly coat the surface with a thin layer of tomato juice and pulp.
Generously drizzle olive oil all over the tomato-coated side of the bread and tilt to let the oil run into the craters of the toast.
Sprinkle with salt, slice into smaller pieces, and serve immediately.
Aliska! We haven’t seen you in awhile. Welcome back!
I will have to look up Scotch Broth.
Soup is whatever you want it to be:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/chicken-soup-from-rotisserie-chicken-52631041
A lot of the Chinese soups, like Egg Drop or Hot and Sour, are pretty easy, tasty, and don’t require much but boiling.
Oh my! These are going to be made Monday. You always have the most delicious appetizer recipes. Thank you : )
Glad you liked the recipe.
Thank you! Scotch Broth made with lamb (no subs) barley carrots not sure what else.
Thank you. That is the nicest picture, he is a very handsome mule! There is just something about mules.
Everything can be made in a 5 quart soup pot.
Cut up and brown 2 chicken breasts in 1 tsp olive oil
(or use 2 cups cooked diced chicken)
Heat 3 tbls. Olive Oil and butter add 6 or more crushed garlic cloves,
salt and pepper, 1/3 cup flour to make a light roux.
Add 32 oz carton of chicken broth, 1 tsp. Better than Boullion chicken.
1 ½ to 2 cups milk or heavy cream, chives.
Add cooked chicken and about ½ cup cooked white rice.
I almost always make this when I have leftover white rice and chicken.
Also sometimes add a shake or 2 of Vegeta chicken seasoning.
A very fast soup to make. Serve when the chicken and rice are hot.
5 qt. soup pot
2 tbls. Butter, 1 medium onion finely chopped
Brown the onion
Add 1 lb butternut squash, already cleaned and baked in chunks.
1 qt chicken broth
8 oz. raw cut up small potatoes
1 tsp smoked sweet paprika
Salt, pepper, onion powder, I tsp. Vegeta seasoning
Cook on low covered for about 40 minutes,
Use a potato masher to break things down.
Cook a little more if there are big chunks and mash again.
Turn off heat, add 1 cup or more heavy cream and serve.
Thanks. Bkmk.
THE DRINK OF PATRIOTS: AS AMERICAN AS APPLE CIDER
Tun’s Tavern ^ | July 3, 2015 | FRANK SWIGONSKI
FR Posted on 1/3/2021, 4:38:08 PM by SamAdams76
Apples were among some of the first crops grown in colonial America. Potted seedlings and bags of apple seeds were brought over on the Mayflower. The Bible-thumping Puritans were not teetotalers. Apple orchards in colonial America usually meant one thing: hard cider.
The apple tree is an unusual plant. It’s what’s called an “extreme heterozygote,” meaning the fruit it produces is highly varied from one plant to another. Even seeds planted from apples that fell from the same parent tree will yield offspring trees that produce completely different tasting fruit. Nowadays, we tend to think of apples as perfectly shaped, shiny red orbs that make for a healthy snack. As anyone who has tasted a wild apple can tell you, not all apples are good for eating. The different breeds of cooking and eating apples that we know and love today (Red Delicious, Granny Smith, etc.) are the result of centuries of apple roulette: finding that one special tree that produced an apple with perfectly formed skin, size and sweetness. Orchards of these varieties of apple aren’t planted from seed — they are grown from grafts, genetic clones of an original “freak” tree that produced apples perfect for eating or cooking.
However, just because the majority of apples were inedible doesn’t mean colonists left them alone. Apples that were too bitter or acidic to eat were frequently made into cider. In fact, this is likely what American colonists had in mind when they brought apples with them to the New World. The dearth of established apple orchards in North America meant that most of the apples would be grown for cider production. Producing cider from the apple harvest had the added benefits of helping preserve the harvest over winter by creating cider vinegar, which was useful for pickling vegetables for long-term preservation.
American geography is well suited to growing apples, which are native to areas of similar latitude on the Eurasian continent. Perhaps more importantly, the climate of the colonies wasn’t suited to growing any other alcohol-producing sugar sources such as barley (for beer) or grapes (for wine). Fermented beverages were an important source of safe drinking water, and cider was thus a staple in the colonial American diet. By the mid-1700s, the average American was drinking 35 gallons of hard cider a year. Men, women, and children would even drink it for breakfast.
As the colonies spread westward, no single man was more famous for bringing cider to the frontier than John Chapman. Contrary to what you probably learned in elementary school, Johnny Appleseed, as he is known in popular culture, didn’t just plant apple trees and strew apple seeds willy-nilly across the country. Chapman was an entrepreneur and prototypical land speculator. He followed the Ohio River system westward through modern day Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Illinois, planting apple orchards along the way. By staying a few years ahead of the expanding population settlements, Chapman was able to sell his orchards to pioneer families for a considerable profit. The orchards promised a steady supply of income and cider, a source of sustenance, and clean drinking water, and also helped entrench American settlements in the Midwest.
The popularity of cider in America grew as the nation’s territory expanded. George Washington even served up 144 gallons of hard cider during his first successful campaign bid to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1758. John Adams drank cider for breakfast when he was serving as president. Cider’s popularity and association as the drink of “everyday Americans” reached its zenith in 1840 when William Henry Harrison was elected president, having run on a “log cabin and hard cider” platform that resonated with voters.
Cider’s former popularity in American culture is almost entirely lost — cider today is viewed as a kind of “soda for grown ups.” Its unfortunate decline as an acceptable beverage can be attributed to the deleterious effects of the Temperance movement, and competition from more urban-friendly fermented beverages like German lager beer. As Americans rediscover a rich historical drinking culture that was nearly eradicated by Prohibition, more craft ciders are appearing in the market.
There is perhaps no more patriotic way to celebrate Independence Day than to try this extremely American fermented beverage. Luckily, there are plenty of quality American options available for drinking on the Fourth of July (and they’re not just Woodchuck or Angry Orchard). Crispin is widely available in most of the United States and they produce a good variety of flavors with different degrees of dryness. If you’re not a fan of the soda taste, look for a dry or semi-dry apple cider. Farnum Hill, which may be hard to find (it’s mostly sold in New England specialty beer stores), describes their flagship cider as “radically dry.” Farnum Hill’s cider is sold in corked bottles, like champagne. For West Coasters and anyone else who likes hops, CiderRiot! in Portland makes a hard cider brewed with ale and wine yeasts, local apples, and Yakima valley hops. Like many of the finest American traditions, our fondness for hard cider was appropriated from somewhere else, in this case England. CiderRiot! pays homage to the English origins of America’s cider drinking traditions. Some of the finest hard ciders around, such as Samuel Smith’s Organic Cider, are still produced by the Brits today, and are an essential ingredient in the famous British beer cocktail, the snakebite.
If you’re looking for something to drink this weekend, I would humbly suggest a nice American dry cider. It will quench your thirst, improve the American economy, and remind you of your patriotic roots. Stay away from the British stuff though, unless you need something to dump in Boston Harbor. Cheers, and happy Independence Day.
How do you cut up and bake your butternut squash?
I’ve always been intimidated by taking those things apart.
I have to use a cleaver they are very hard. I just quarter one, clean out all the seeds with a spoon, cover each chunk with foil, not too tight, and put on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for an hour or until poked with a sharp knife to be sure they are soft but not mushy. Then I let them cool, use a peeler knife to cut off the rind and freeze in a foodsaver bag, one bag with enough for one pot of soup. Usually cut the cooled pieces into smaller chunks. So easy to make a pot of the soup this way. Plus I had a lot of squash this year.
Thanks. I once actually peeled one by hand and chopped it up with a big knife.
Later, I thought a cleaver and mallet would do a good job ;-)
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Cinnamon Bread
ING lb loaf frozen bread dough (or make your own), stick butter, unsalted, 1/2 cup sugar, 2-3 tb cinnamon.
Glaze 2 cups conf, 2 tb butter, melted 2 tsp vanilla 4 tb whole milk
METHOD Thaw loaf as per pkg - best to thaw in refigerator overnight. Once thawed, let rise in glass bowl or pan in a warm spot, about 2 hours til almost doubled in size. Make four large horizontal slits in loaf close to the bottom, but not all of the way through. A bread knife works best.Melt the stick of butter and put it into a shallow pan. Dunk dough into melted butter, making sure butter gets onto every surface and into the crevices.
Now quickly roll buttered in cinnamon-sugar mixture on sheetpan. Apply thickly and deeply into crevices, use all of the cinnamon-sugar. Next, place dough in well-buttered oblong baking dish. Cover with a towel, and let rise for about 30 min.
FINAL Bake 30 minutes. Serve hot with glaze on the side, or cool a bit and spread glaze on top. Can also serve a ramekin of apple butter as a dip.
Glaze Combine and blend ing to thoroughly mix.
This is so easy to make. I make something similar found on youtube called Cinnamon pull apart bread. I add chopped pecans. I roll out the same frozen bread dough, spread butter on the sheet, add the cinnamon and sugar mix, and pecans, cut into wide strips about 10 for a loaf, stack the strips in 3’s. Cut the strip stacks in 3 inch sections or so. Tilt your buttered loaf pan, stack the strip piles. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at least an hour and then bake. It all comes out as one loaf and I make the same icing. It pulls apart great for small sections. You are right about the 15 seconds for reheating and I wrap in wax paper first.
Anya’s Borscht
5 qt. soup pot and a large saute pan
Ingredients –
1 carton 32 oz beef broth (I use Pacifica)
1 carton beef Bone broth
1 tbls. Better than Boullion beef seasoning
5 medium sized potatoes peeled and medium cut
½ of a small green cabbage, diced small and thin
5 fresh beets peeled and shredded
1 big onion
3 tbl olive oil and a splash of white vinegar
1 big sweet onion
3-4 medium tomatoes diced
1 big garlic head
Salt, pepper, 1 tsp. sugar
4 bay leaves
6 or so whole peppercorns
Put the broth and the Better than Boullion in the soup pot.
In a non-stick skillet saute the cabbage in a tbls of olive oil for 5 minutes.
Add cabbage to the soup pot, no heat yet.
Saute the shredded beets in the 3tbl. Olive oil and the
splash of vinegar for about 15 minutes.
Add to the soup pot.
In the skillet and a tbls. Olive oil, saute the chopped onion about 5 minutes, add the chopped tomatoes and saute another 5 minutes.
Add to the soup pot. Add 1 large head of garlic peeled and crushed.
Add Salt, pepper, and sugar
4 bay leaves
4 or 5 whole black peppercorns
Cook on low for 2 hours. Serve with a spoonful of soup cream in the bowl.
As authentic as you can get – although she makes her own beef bone broth.
Freezes well in small containers just don’t add any sour cream until you serve it.
My 5 gallon bucket has beans, rice, corn bread fixins, dehydrated onions/veggies, and a jar of this-in case there's no refrigerator.
I have never tried Borscht, but this sounds really good. I have printed it off to try when hubby’s beets are mature this spring. I’m always looking for recipes besides pickled beets.😉
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