November 2006 Archives

Ah, fall. When a young woman's fancy lightly turns to... soup. Lots of hot, hearty soup. And sex, of course, but that doesn't really require saying. The days are getting chillier, and the winter squashes and root veggies are starting to come into season, which make excellent soups.

Butternut Bisque

This hearty squash soup is savory, not sweet, but with a hint of spice.

Ingredients
1 small butternut squash
1 apple
14 oz can of chicken broth
2 oz white wine
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp chives, fresh chopped

Directions
1. Halve, peel and clean squash.
2. Slice and core apple.
3. Place squash in ziploc almost completely closed.
4. cook squash in microwave for 7-10 minutes, or until completely soft.
5. cook apple ziploc in microwave for 1 minute or so.
6. Place squash, apple, and enough broth to moisten in blender, and blend until smooth.
7. Pour blended mixture into a medium sauce pan, and add rest of broth, wine, ginger, cinnamon, and red pepper.
8. Bring to a gentle simmer for 5 minutes or so.
9. Ladle into bowls, and garnish with chives.

Duck-Leek Soup

I love leeks.  And garlic.  And shallots. Really, I love the whole allium family.  This is a nice low calorie soup, but the duck fat makes it taste very rich and satisfying.
Ingredients
18 oz chicken broth
1 leek
1/2 tbsp butter
1/4 chicken or duck, smoked, diced
1 tbsp white flour
Directions

1. Wash leek thoroughly
2. Thinly slice entire leek, bulb and leaves.
3. Melt butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat.
4. Toss leek in butter, and cook until limp and slightly transparent.
5. Add flour to pan and toss thoroughly to coat leek.
6. Add broth slowly, stirring constantly to prevent lumps.
7. Add duck and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
8. Serve with a nice german rye bread, or other hearty bread.

Cassoulet

This quick-cooking version of an traditional french country stew is very filling, high in fiber, and great for winter lunches. It can also be made in a slow cooker, if you brown the meat beforehand.

Ingredients
28 oz baked beans
1 lb lamb
4 oz turkey kielbasa
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 cup tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/8 cup garlic, minced or pressed
1/4 cup tomato sauce
2 tbsp blackstrap molasses
2 tbsp rosemary
1 bay leaf
1 tsp herbes de provence or fines herbes
Directions
1. Lightly brown lamb and kielbasa in a large skillet, spraying with cooking spray to keep it from sticking.

2. Add onion, celery, rosemary, herbes d' provence, and half of the garlic. Stir over medium heat until celery and onions are softened.

3. Transfer meat and veggies to large saucepan, and add all remaining ingredients.

4. Simmer over low heat until flavors are well blended or you're dying of hunger. 15 minutes is the bare minimum, but an hour will blend the flavors better.

5. Serve hot, with crusty bread for dipping.

I made another stew last night, fastest stew I've made, and quite possibly the best as well.

I figure now that i've talked it up that much, you'll want a full disclosure of what exactly I did to make it taste so great.

First, I got a new kitchen tool, and I can't believe that I haven't gotten one of these before. A pressure cooker. The direct application of PV=nRT on food. Such gloriousness shouldn't have been missing from my kitchen before. Just remember, read the instructions for your pressure cooker, make sure it's behaving or it can become a very dangerous bomb on your stovetop. This recipe may fill your pressure cooker more than you are comfortable with, reduce ingredients in proportion as appropriate.

In a measuring cup, combine the liquids and first guess at appropriate spicing, including bay leaves.

Start by mincing about 3 cloves of garlic and mincing the 1/2 onion, and making sure the meat is cubed and as defatted as you want it. (The pressure cooker said no fatty meat.) Heat the pressure cooker (open, of course) and put a little olive oil in, toss in the garlic and onion and sautee for a couple minutes. Throw in the meat and brown it some, pour in the liquid and one of the bags of tomatos, turn up the heat and seal the pressure cooker. Once it's at pressure, cook for 20 minutes.

While this is cooking, rinse the fingerling potatos and cut any that are bigger than about an inch square if you desire. When the 20 minutes are up, depressure the cooker, taste the broth and reseason as needed, add the potatos and repressurize the cooker, then cook for 4 minutes. Depressurize and add the carrots and final set of tomatos, pressurize again and cook for 2 minutes. Depressurize, stir, taste, final season and serve.

Hopefully, you've been smart and have a batch of noodles cooking to keep this stew company.

Warning: This will probably server 10 - 12 people easily.

Ingredient List:

1.5 lbs cubed lamb
2.5 lbs cubed beef
1/2 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
Salt, Pepper, Thyme, Basil to taste
2 bags cherry tomatos
2 bag fingerling potatos
small bag baby carrots
1/4 cup Worchestire sauce
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup of a tasty red wine (that's been left on the counter for the last week or so, corked)
1/2 cup of beef broth