Tag: Onion

Is It Soup (time) Yet?

I don’t think of summer as the prime time to have soup. It is a comfort food that can take away the chill on a wintry evening or make a satisfying lunch in the fall. I have to admit that I haven’t made much lately even though I love to make soup.

Then last week, I decided to make soup. It started with the chicken carcasses that were left from a beer can chicken meal. Using carcasses for chicken stock isn’t how I usually roll. I’m more of a whole chicken or collected necks kind of gal. The chicken was delicious and the bones really did smell good and had a fair amount of meat on them so I thought I’d give it a whirl, or simmer to be more accurate.

I started the way I start most stock with onions celery and carrots sweated in a little olive oil. Then I added the bones and about 3 quarts of water (there were a lot of bones). I let it simmer for a couple of hours and was pleasantly surprised at the wonderful smokey aroma that permeated the house. Upon tasting it, the smokiness carried through in the flavor which was coupled with the herbs and spices I had originally used to season the chicken.

What to do with the resulting stock? Soup it is.  In my ongoing quest to use and often reuseDIGITAL CAMERA the food I have on hand I added some leftover chicken from the aforementioned dinner and some grilled artichoke hearts that had also made an appearance at the same time.  Onion and garlic were also part of the flavor profile. Topped with a few croutons it was a most satisfying supper.

Now that the soup gates were opened, I had to make another. I had a small head of cauliflower that was in dire need of being eaten. I also had several containers of vegetable stock I had made earlier in the summer.

DIGITAL CAMERAI went to an old standby and made Cauliflower & Cheddar Cheese Soup. This soup combines potatoes,  cauliflower, onions and garlic simmered together and then spun into a  puree. The addition of some extra sharp cheddar cheese created a creamy and rich bowl of goodness. Topped with bacon (the drippings were used as the base of the soup) and fresh chives, it was delicious. So soup, it’s not just for cold weather any more. In fact, there is Fresh Corn Chowder in my not so distant future….stay tuned.

There’s got to be a lot of soup fanatics out there. Please share your creativity with me…Fall is just around the corner!!

Jambalaya – “Gonna Have Big Fun” In the Midwest

I love New Orleans. In years past I had the privilege of visiting several times. I was always impressed by the food, and the drink, for that matter. My visits, which were to catch up with my best friend who lived there for 7 years, usually consisted of going to the local (read little known hole in the wall) blues clubs and restaurants for awesome red beans and rice, muffaletas and fresh oysters( the best of these were where  the”shuckers” were right below the stage in the same kind of focused groove the musicians above them were). In my visits there I never had jambalaya. I never even thought about until we went to   Heaven on 7 in Chicago. I didn’t eat it there either, but it put Cajun and Creole food on my radar. It is my opinion that this cuisine is very labor intensive, but the results are more than worth the effort.

I recently discovered a fantastic recipe for jambalaya in a magazine. It was wonderful even though it was very labor intensive (cooking a whole chicken to create the stock and chicken for the dish – btw totally worth it) and I wasn’t able to get every ingerdient…who knew that Tasso is not a Midwestern commodity. For the record, I created what I think was an acceptable substitute: A thick slab of the smokiest ham the deli carried, rubbed with creole seasoning, white and black pepper and cayenne. But I digress…

Having made the traditional Jambalya I had the thought that the basic ingredients would make a good soup. That’s where this recipe came from. I was in possession of some fabulous andouille sausage from the Wurst Kitchen in Aurora Illinois. I also had chicken thigh trimmings in the freezer. Another digression: When I’m prepping boneless skinless chicken thighs for the grill, I trim the  ends that are barely connected as well as doing some trimming to create a more even thickness on each piece. I save these in the freezer to use in things, well, like soup….

Jambalaya Soup

1 T. vegetable oil

1 ½ pound andouille Sausage, chopped                                  Creole Seasoning, cayenne, white

1 pound chicken thighs cut in bite size pieces                       &  black pepper to taste

2 cups chopped onion                                                                       1 quart chicken stock

1 cup green bell pepper, chopped                                              1 cup  vegetable stock

1 C. celery, chopped                                                                             ½ C.  rice

5 – 6 garlic cloves, chopped                                                       Crushed Ritz Crackers (yup)

  1. Heat oil in large soup pot. Add the chopped andouille and cook until lightly browned and some fat has been rendered. Remove from pan.
  2. Add chicken to pot and cook, stirring occasionally until lightly browned. Remove from the pan.
  3. Add the onion, green pepper, and celery (a.k.a. The Trinity) to the pan and cook over medium heat until softened and beginning to brown. Add the garlic and cook for 3 – 4 minutes longer.
  4. Add approximately ½ cup of stock to the pan to de-glaze and loosen everything
  5. Add the rice and saute for 2 – 3 minutes. Add the rest of the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for 15 – 20 minutes.
  6. Ladle into bowls and top with crushed Ritz Crackers.

This recipe makes 4 – 6 servings

NOTE: Okay, I know there is no ham in this recipe, and ham is key in any jambalaya recipe (I think “jam” means ham) but you can definitely add it to your version and who knows, I may add it to mine the next time I make it.