Tan Tan Udon

The other day I really wanted to cook something with bok choy in it. So after searching the interweb, I came across this recipe that looked super good. 

Besides the bok choy it has udon noodles, which is another item I had been wanting to cook, sausage, sesame oil, and broth. 

Turns out, it was a winner! 

Everyone loved it and asked for seconds and thirds. We had to cut them off when they asked for fourths. Looks like there is only one serving left in the fridge. 

I'll have to distract them with something else when it's time to eat :)

Tan Tan Udon

adapted from taste with the eyes

1 lb all natural sausage (as spicy as you like it)

2 T sesame oil

1 t chili paste (i used a red curry paste)

1 T garlic, minced

1/2 c chives, chopped

32 oz chicken broth

1 c cream

1 c milk

udon noodles

bok choy

trim off the stalks from the bok choy and cut into ribbons. these will really cook down, so you will want a lot. I probably had about 5 cups cut up.

place in boiling water until tender (about 5 min).

drain and place in an ice water bath to shock. once cooled, drain again and set aside.

meanwhile, brown sausage and once cooked through add sesame oil, chili paste, garlic, and chives.

cook for one minute.

next add broth, cream, and milk. bring to a boil then simmer.

cook udon noodles according to package. everyone loves the noodles, so cook a lot!

now you are ready to assemble:

scoop some noodles into a bowl

add some bok choy on top

ladle the hot soup over and dig in!

Broccoli & Cheese Soup

A tasty, creamy, comfort soup for these chilly nights.

Broccoli & Cheese Soup
adapted from Pioneer Woman

1 onion, Diced 

1/2 c olive oil

1/3 c flour 

2 c milk 

2 c chicken stock

2 heads broccoli

1/2 head cauliflower

1 c carrots

1 pinch Nutmeg 

salt

pepper
red pepper flakes

3 cups Grated Cheese (mild Cheddar, Sharp Cheddar, Jack, Etc.)

Heat oil in a pot over medium heat, then add the onions. 

Cook the onions for 3 to 4 minutes, then sprinkle the flour over the top. 

Stir to combine and cook for 1 minute or so, then pour in milk and chicken stock. 

Add broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and spices.

Cover and reduce heat to low. 

Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. 

Stir in cheese and allow to melt.

Then either serve as is, or puree with a stick blender.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

It's hard to go wrong with making up a soup recipe. There aren't a lot of rules to making soup. I was pleasantly surprised how well this one came together. We'll definitely be making it again, especially since I now believe that winter is never going to end this year!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

1/4 c oil 1 onion, chopped
1 t garlic, chopped
1/2 t cumin
1 t coriander
1 t salt pepper
1 box chicken broth
2 small cans chopped green chilies
1 can white beans (pinto or garbanzo)
2-3 chicken breasts big handful of crushed tortilla chips
1 c corn

heat oil in soup pan.
cook onions until tender.
add garlic and spices and cook for 1 minute.
add broth and bring to a boil.
add chicken breasts.
simmer until chicken is cooked through.
remove chicken and shred into bite-sized pieces, then return to soup.
add beans, chilies, corn, and crushed chips.
serve once heated through and top with cheese, sour cream, avocado, cilantro, more chips.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Soup definitely warms the soul on a cold winter's day. And it has been mighty cold around here lately. This recipe comes from my childhood church cookbook.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

1/4 c olive oil
1/2 c chopped onion
1/2 c chopped celery
1 c shredded carrots
1/2 c flour
1 t salt
pepper
2 14 oz cans chicken broth
2 c wild rice (or white and wild mixture)
2-3 chicken breasts
1 c half and half

Heat oil in large pot.
Add onions, celery, and carrots and cook until tender.
Sprinkle with flour, stir and cook for 1 minute.
Add broth and cook until mixture comes to a boil.
Add in rice, chicken, salt and pepper.
Reduce to a simmer and cook until chicken and rice are done.
Remove chicken and cut into bite-sized pieces then return to pot.
Add half and half.

Jesse's Chili

Fall came right on cue this year. School started, the temperatures dropped, the sun has been playing hide and seek. Perfect weather for chili. This is my brother Jesse's recipe. It is super simple, quick and easy.

Jesse's Chili

1 lb hamburger
1 onion
1 can black beans
1 can baked beans
1 can crushed or diced tomatoes
salt
pepper
cilantro
lime juice

Brown the hamburger and onion.
Dump in everything else to your liking.
Bring to a simmer.
Top with favorite toppings.
Serve with corn bread or garlic bread or fritos.

Thai Coconut Curry Soup

(photo by: Antonis Achilleos for Bon Appetit)

I found this recipe in a picture-less little black and white booklet sent out by Bon Appetit magazine as a thank you for ordering their magazine. Well, there was one picture. It was on the front. And it was this soup. (Side note: If you are a food magazine editor, or you ever become one, here's my request of you--always, always, always include a picture of every recipe! In my experience, if it doesn't have a picture, I don't try it. It's too hard to imagine how yummy it might be with just a list of ingredients. Just sayin'.)

So out of that booklet of 50 or so recipes, this is probably the only one I will try because the picture sold it before I ever saw the ingredient list. It looked like it might be coconut milk based, and I saw that little lime wedge. I love coconut and lime together. So I found what page the recipe was on and decided to give it a try. The list is loooooong, but it's not hard.
And it tasted just how I'd hoped it would. If I had this in a restaurant, I would be completely satisfied! So thanks Bon Appetit for this picture at least!

Thai Coconut Curry Soup
adapted from Bon Appetit

2 T oil
3 T chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 T minced lemongrass
2 T minced fresh ginger
2 T Thai yellow curry paste
2 T curry powder
1 t hot chili paste
2 cans coconut milk
5 c chicken broth
2.5 T fish sauce
2 t sugar
3 c snow peas
1 sweet potato, cubed
1 lb rice vermicelli noodles
3/4 lb skinless, boneless chicken thighs, thinly sliced
1/2 c red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 c green onion, thinly sliced
1/4 c cilantro
3 red Thai bird chiles, thinly sliced
1 lime, cut into wedges

Heat oil in large pot over medium high heat.
Add onion, garlic, lemongrass, and ginger. Stir until fragrant, about 1 min.
Reduce heat to low and add curry paste, curry powder, and chili paste.
Add 1/2 c of the coconut milk and stir for 2 min.
Add remaining coconut milk, broth, fish sauce, and sugar. Bring to a boil.
Add sweet potato and chicken.
In a separate pot, bring some water to a boil and add rice noddles. Cook until done, about 5-7 min. Drain.
Add snow peas to the pot with the chicken and cook until heated through.
Divide noodles among serving bowls. Cut with scissors if too long.
Pour hot soup over noodles.
Garnish with red onion, cilantro, green onion, chiles, and lime wedge.

Panera Tomato Soup

Have you tried Panera's creamy tomato soup with asiago croutons? 

If you have, then you know how each bite makes you moan with satisfaction. 

It's creamy and spicy and cheesy and expensive! 

I can't afford to take my family to Panera every time I crave this winter-time soup! 

So that's why I've come up with my own knock-off version of it. 

And it tastes pretty darn similar if I do say so myself. 

Here it is.

Heidi's Panera's creamy tomato soup

Coat bottom of large sauce pan with olive oil over med-high heat.

Add small chopped onion and cook for 5 min.

Add spices: 1/4 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, 1/2 T chopped garlic.

Remove from heat and stir.

Add 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes and put back on the heat.

Add 1 tsp sugar and 1 tsp salt.

Add 2 cups of water.

Bring to a boil and let simmer about 15 min.

Add 4 oz cream

(note: if it tastes too acidic, you can try adding a 1/4 tsp of baking soda)

The above by itself is pretty good. But if you ask me, this soup is all about the croutons.

What I did was buy a good foccacia bread that is topped with as much asiago cheese as you can find. (Or I suppose you could buy a loaf of Panera's Asiago bread, but then you might as well go ahead and buy yourself some soup while you are there.) Cut the bread into one inch chunks and spread them in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, toss, and bake in a 200 degree oven until they are dried out and crunchy.

Top them on your soup and you could garnish with asiago or parmesian cheese.

If you try this and you've had Panera's version, let me know what you think. What would make it better?

Chicken and Dumplings

I made Chicken and Dumplings recently from a recipe I found over at Simply Recipes. The dumplings turn out nice and fluffy. We like to cut them open and put butter on them. I made a few changes from their recipe, but theirs is pasted below.

Chicken and Vegetables:

• 1 large roasting chicken (5 to 6 lbs), cut into 2 legs, 2 thighs, and 2 breast pieces, each with skin removed; back, neck, and wings hacked with a cleaver into 1 to 2 inch pieces to make stock
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, cut into large chunks
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt
• 3 celery stalks, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 6 boiling onions (smaller than regular onions, larger than pearl onions), peeled and halved
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, or chicken fat from the cooked chicken
• 6 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 Tbsp dry sherry or vermouth (optional)
• 1 Tbsp of heavy cream (optional)
• 3/4 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
• Ground black or white pepper

Dumplings:

• 2 cups cake flour (can sub all-purpose flour)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tbsp butter, melted
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup minced fresh herb leaves such as parsley, chives, and tarragon (optional)

Method

1 Make the stock.
Heat olive oil in a deep (at least 4-inch high) large skillet or 6-qt Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add hacked up chicken pieces - the back, neck, and wings - and onion chunks (not the boiling onions). Sauté until onions soften and chicken pieces lose their raw color, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low, cover, and continue to cook for about 20 minutes. (While chicken stock pieces are cooking, bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a kettle.) Increase heat to to medium-high, add the 6 cups of hot water to the chicken pieces.

2 Poach the chicken in the stock.
Add skinless chicken parts (legs, thighs, breasts), 2 bay leaves, and 3/4 teaspoon of salt to the stock and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat; continue to simmer, partially covered, until broth is flavorful and chicken parts are just cooked through, about 20 minutes. Remove chicken parts from the pan and set aside. When they are cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones in 2-inch chunks or strips. Place a strainer over a large bowl and pour the broth through it, straining out the solids from the broth. Discard the solids. Skim and reserve the chicken fat from broth (a fat separator works great for this task) and set aside 5 cups of broth, reserving extra for another use.

3 Make the dumpling batter.
While chicken is cooking, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Add (optional) chopped fresh herbs. Add melted butter and milk to the dry ingredients. Gently mix with a spoon until mixture just comes together. (Note: do not overmix! or your dumplings will turn out too dense.) Set aside.

4 Make the stew base, assemble the stew.
Heat reserved chicken fat (or butter) in the pan you had used to make the stock over medium-high heat. Whisk in flour and thyme; cook, whisking constantly, until flour turns golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisking constantly, gradually add sherry or vermouth, then slowly add the reserved 5 cups of chicken stock; simmer until mixture thickens slightly, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the vegetables, simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in chicken and optional cream; return to a strong simmer. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

5 Add the dumplings.
Drop dumpling batter into the simmering stew by heaping teaspoonfuls, over the surface of the stew. Cover and simmer until dumplings are cooked through, about 15 minutes. Once you have covered the pan, do not uncover while the dumplings are cooking! In order for them to be light and fluffy, they must steam, not boil. Uncovering the pan releases the steam. If after 15 minutes they are still not cooked through (use a toothpick or skewer to test) cover pan again, and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes.

Gently stir in peas and parsley. Ladle portions of meat, sauce, vegetables, and dumplings into soup plates and serve immediately.

Serves 6 to 8.

(my changes.....bought chicken stock and used frozen chicken breasts. No sherry or vermouth)