Mexican Inspired Chicken Soup

Last night I made broth from the roast chicken carcass. I covered the pieces with water and threw in my usual stash of frozen leftover carrot ends, onion ends, and celery stops, a few peppercorns, some salt, dried parsley and thyme. I let it simmer for a few hours, partially covered, then strained it and put it in a few glass jars in the refrigerator.

Tonight I pulled it out and skimmed off the hardened fat. As I threw it in the garbage, I kept thinking there must be something I could do with it. This is the curse of being a frugal cook: everything is expected to serve a purpose! Later when I made the creamed chicken, the recipe called for leftover fat from broth but I'd already tossed it! Oh well. Next time...

I was definitely winging it on the soup and it turned out great. Of course, that probably means I can never make it again but the more I wing things successfully the more confident I get about winging it again another time. Maybe the day will come when I get rid of all my cookbooks! But for now, my modus operandi (?) is to peruse a half a dozen similar recipes and then start cooking. Starting points for this included a Tortilla Soup recipe from "Feed Your Family on $10 a Day", the soup "formula" from "How to Cook without a Book" by Pam Anderson, and a few other community cookbooks (one of my favorite things to buy at used bookstores, recipes from real non-professional cooks!).

2 Tbs oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, peeled and chopped (ends and peels used to replenish my stock supply!)
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 yellow zucchini, quartered lengthwise then sliced
1/2 cup frozen green beans
a bit of leftover diced red peppers from my freezer stash
1 15.5 oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 15.5 oz can pinto beans
1/4 cup rice
1/2 tsp cumin
6 cups chicken broth
1 tsp dried parsley

Heat the oil and saute the onion and garlic a few minutes, until softened. Add the other vegetables and saute another few minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer 25 minutes until the rice is done.

Taste and add more cumin, salt, pepper or whatever as so much depends on what your broth tastes like to begin with. Store bought broth tends to be very salty for my taste--and I love salt! But my homemade broth is a bit different every time, depending on how I cooked the chicken (if I'm using cooked chicken bones instead of a raw whole chicken, my other standard) and what stash of vegetables I had in my big old tub of "vegetables for stock" in the freezer.

So use this recipe as a starting point and an inspiration. Use peas instead of green beans, green zucchini instead of yellow, a bit of leftover yellow or orange or green pepper instead of red, throw in some sliced olives, add a turnip or rutabaga, use different beans or no beans, add a chopped potato or another can of a different kind of bean instead of the rice. Don't like Mexican food? Use other spices intead of the cumin--or use nothing. Soup is the easiest thing to start making without a set recipe. I thought about adding the leftover Potatoes Romanoff to the soup, for example, to make it a creamier soup and I may do that if no one eats the leftover potatoes tomorrow. I also saw a comment on a cooking group about making up your favorite potato salad recipe with mashed potatoes rather than diced and I thought "Hmmm... I wonder what it would taste like if I started with the Potatoes Romanoff rather than plain mashed potatoes!

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Roast Chicken, Potatoes Romanoff, Cooked Carrots

Another favorite dinner here, simple yet delicious. And the leftovers provide the building blocks for more meals.

For the Roast Chicken I melted 1/4 cup of butter with a couple of cloves chopped (big pieces!) garlic and the juice from a lemon that I picked moments before, as well as some salt and pepper. I quartered the lemon after squeezing it and stuck it in the chicken, along with some fresh rosemary from the garden. I put it breast side up in a roasting pan and poured the flavored butter over it, then sprinkled paprika over it all and stuck it in the lower part of the oven at 375 for an hour and 15 minutes.

In the meantime, I mixed up the Potatoes Romanoff and put them in the oven 1/2 hour before the chicken was done.

I also cooked up the basic cooked carrots tonight, but added a bit of Dijon mustard for a change. I thought they were tasty with the extra zip but the kids complained.

It's hard sometimes to balance the desire to explore and the need to just put good-tasting food on the table. Experimenting can get expensive (if it's a total flop) and leads to frustrated meal-mates at times. At least they loved the chicken!

Chicken Alfredo over Pasta

When I originally started this blog, my thought was to keep a record of what I cooked, not just record new recipes. Last night's dinner was "barely" cooking. As were sitting around with a nice bottle of Blackstone Cabernet that my friend had brought over discussing what to fix for dinner, pasta was high on the list because my daughter had been requesting it. But I didn't feel like a big heavy dinner. I also had some leftover roast chicken from the night before (baked with honey, mustard, and butter poured over the pieces) and thought a chicken Alfredo would be good. My friend ran home to grab a package of Knorr's Alfredo Sauce mix, which I'd never used before, while I put the water on to boil and chopped up a cup or two of chicken.

The sauce was made by mixing the powdered mix with milk and then simmering. We added the chicken at the end to warm it up. I cooked up some farfalle (bow ties or butterflies) pasta and made up a quick salad of chopped Romaine with store-bought Caesar dressing.

It was really quite good! The sign of a well-loved recipe in this house is when one or both girls want to eat it for breakfast--and the leftovers were gone by 10am this morning.

Easy Appetizer with Hearts of Palm

I love hearts of palm but about the only thing I've ever done with them is slice them and put them on green salads. I first ate them when I was about 15 and my parents and I went to El Salvador. We took a freighter from Vancouver (WA) down to Acajutla. The ship's food was, uh, interesting. That first breakfast they brought a couple of fried eggs and bacon, but the plate had at least 1/4" of grease on it. Those eggs must have been deep fried! After that I learned to just ask for bread (freshly baked) and jam for breakfast. The rest of the meals were good, as I remember.

We wanted to walk around Acajutla, which took about 5 minutes to go from one end to the other and then we had to wait for the launch to take us back. It was very hot, very dry and dusty, and we were all thirsty so we went into a bar (the only public establishment there was). Dirt floor, wooden tables, outside latrine behind a shower curtain. The beer was cold but the Coke was warm, being stored outside. I imagine they had limited refrigerator space and used that up for what the sailors wanted! My dad took pity on me and let me have my first beer so I could have something cold. Sailors from various ships were all there as it was the only place to go. Some Greeks danced and broke a glass and the woman that ran the place came out yelling at them because she had young kids and didn't want them walking in the glass. Then some soldiers filed in and sat in the back. After they all walked in, they shut the doors and locked them. We were evidently there for the duration of their entertainment so I watched my first (and so far only) strippers, one of them shooing her kids off the stage when they got in the way. Certainly not quite the cultural experience my parents had probably planned upon (beer and a strip show) but one we laugh about now.

A day or so later we left the ship to go stay in San Salvador at a hotel, seeing all kinds of other things but none that quite matched the strip show. We ate in homes for the most part. My dad did business down there so knew quite a few people and they invited us over for family dinners. My first paella was eaten in one home. And the first hearts of palm salad in another.

Long introduction to a short recipe... It's funny how a specific food item can trigger so many memories. I'd love to hear your favorite hearts of palm recipes! In exchange, I offer a simple easy appetizer.

Take thin strips of ham that are about 3x5 inches and spread cream cheese on them. I used some vegetable flavored cream cheese that had a little kick to it. Lay the palm heart down on it and then roll it up. Slice into 1" pieces and serve.

Roast Lemon Chicken in the Crockpot

Last year I learned that making balls of foil for a whole chicken to sit on in the crockpot helps the chicken be more "roast" like and less falling apart. I like the convenience of the crockpot, but I really like making whole chickens, but had been unhappy with the way they came out before learning this trick.

Today I put the whole chicken on the foil balls, rubbed it with a bit of butter, squeezed a lemon onto it, then sprinkled with salt, pepper, thyme, and paprika, as well as some fresh parsley. Covered it up and cooked it on high for about 6 hours.

Postscript: I ended up pulling this out of the crockpot and roasting it at 400 for about 10 minutes to get the skin crisp. It was quite good!

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Roasted Root Vegetables

When I went to link to the roast vegetables recipe I made at Thanksgiving (and again last night for a dinner party) I realized I never entered it! This is the easiest way to prepare winter vegetables, totally flexible in terms of what you put in, how you cook it, and so forth. My favorite kind of "recipe" these days. Here's what I did last night, but you can mix up the vegetables with whatever winter and root vegetables you'd like.

1/2 butternut squash
3 carrots
2 onions
2 parsnips
3 turnips
oil
fresh rosemary or thyme, about 1 Tbs leaves
salt and pepper to taste

You want about 2 pounds of hard vegetables, cut into 1" cubes roughly. I've used acorn squash, rutabagas, and sweet potatoes in various combinations with the vegetables listed above.

Mix them all with a bit of oil and/or melted butter. Put them in a roasting pan.

I've cooked them two different ways, depending on what else I was serving. However you cook them, stir them now and then and roast until at least soft, and browned a bit is even better. If you're in a hurry, roast them at 500 degrees for at least 30 minutes. If you're not in a hurry, roast them at 425 for up to an hour. The timing is rough. You have to just watch them, stir them, stick a fork in them now and then and see how they're doing.

Last night they got done before the rest of the meal, but they didn't suffer from sitting in the oven another half an hour on low staying warm.

Chicken Barley Soup

I often freeze chicken or turkey broth in 1 cup portions for rice and other recipes and 4 cup portions for soups like this. If I have time, I cook the broth for several hours until it's thickened and then I can "reconstitute" it when I thaw it and cook with it, sort of my own condensed broth.

As with many soups, this is flexible. I added the parsnip because I had one leftover from making roasted vegetables for a dinner party last night. Feel free to use less of something if you're shy of it or something different if you have something to use up, like my parsnip. You could also substitute a bunch of leftover mixed vegetables you've saved up and frozen or a cup or two of frozen mixed vegetables that you've bought.

6 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup barley
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 turnip, peeled and diced
1/2 cup diced onion
1 celery stalk, diced
salt and pepper to taste

Bring the broth to a simmer and add the barley (after rinsing). Simmer slowly for 20 minutes, then add the rest of the ingredients and simmer another 20-30 minutes. Taste and adjust, of course.

Potato Pancakes aka Latkes

This time of year, latkes are on the brain. However, I started making them when my kids were little and I was just looking for an easy, cheap dinner. Potato pancakes and applesauce, usually with a bowl of soup, made a great favorite dinner. Of course, now I've been to several Hanukkah dinners and had them served with applesauce, sour cream, and --the latest addition--cinnamon and sugar. But whether you're Jewish or not, they make a fun, easy, cheap dinner.

Potatoes will turn a greyish color if left exposed to the air, so it's best to not peel and grate these ahead of time. If you really need to, you can peel and grate them and let them sit in cold water, but be sure to drain them extra well if you do.

3-4 potatoes
1 egg
1 Tbs flour
1 Tbs cream or milk
salt and pepper to taste
oil for frying

You don't need a lot of oil, just 3-4 Tbs. You can start heating the oil in the pan after you peel the potatoes if you can grate them fast enough. I use my KitchenAid mixer attachment but the "Salad Shooter" works well too, judging from watching some friends.

Peel and grate the potatoes. Squeeze as much liquid as you can from the grated potatoes and then wrap them up in a towel or a few layers of paper towel. Meanwhile mix together the egg and milk. Add the potato and mix, sprinkling with the flour, salt and pepper and mixing well.

When the oil is hot enough, drop a large spoonful of potato in and then flatten it with a spatula. Let it cook, turning around now and then so the sides cook evenly, until lightly browned underneath and then flip over. Flip it carefully so you don't spatter hot oil! Brown on the other side and then put the pancakes on paper towels or brown paper to drain a bit. If you're not serving them immediately, pop them in a 300 degree oven--but they're best served as soon as possible.

Roast Chicken, Roast Potatoes, Brown Sugar Carrots

There is nothing like the smell of a whole chicken roasting in the oven. Last night was swim team practice, meaning I had to walk the girls down to the pool at 5:15 and pick them up again at 6:45. A friend was stopping by for a glass of wine at 5:30, here in town to teach a seminar up in San Ramon today. I had the chicken in the oven before she got here, choosing to do a slow roast at about 300 degrees. I bought the 3-chicken pack at Costco so pulled the innards from all of them and threw the various parts into my "for chicken stock" bag in the freezer, rinsed them all, and popped two into gallon size freezer bags. For the third one, I picked a lemon off one of my trees and cut it in quarters and put 3 of the pieces plus a few garlic cloves inside. I sprinkled salt, pepper, and paprika on the bird and popped it in the oven, breast-side up on a rack.

When I checked it later, there was nothing to baste it with. Is it only me who seems to end up with no juices coming out? I poured a cup of water on it so I could use that for basting as time went on.

I was also cooking roast potatoes and some cooked carrots. The potatoes I cut up into 1/2" pieces and tossed in a bowl with a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, minced garlic, and paprika. The carrots are simply simmered until soft, then mixed with a bit of butter and brown sugar.

I was able to visit with my friend, with just a few breaks to throw the pan of potatoes in the oven, baste the chicken, and start the carrots at one point. My friend declined the dinner invitation, as she wanted to do some prep work back at her hotel but commented several times on the aromas of everything.

Even though I threw the necks and all that into the freezer, I decided to make a light stock with what I had--or would have soon. I started a pot of water to simmer with some potato and carrot water I'd saved earlier in the week, and as I cut up the chicken I added the wings (which no one wanted), some onion and carrots and celery, and then the fresh carrot water from tonight to the pot. I threw in a few peppercorns, a bay leaf, and some thyme and after dinner finished cutting all the meat off the chicken and threw the rest of the bones in the pot and covered with water. Let it simmer until nearly bedtime. Tomorrow night will be soup night.

The chicken was good and some of what was left was made into chicken quesadillas for breakfast (seemed reasonable to me!) and a chicken sandwich for my lunch. The rest will probably show up in the soup if I have any left over after tomorrow' s breakfast. I have the leftover roast vegetables from Thanksgiving bagged in the freezer and a few turnips in the refrigerator, plus some leeks out in the garden. My mouth is already watering!

Onion Soup

I bought some beef base at Costco. I've never made beef broth--never end up with many beef bones somehow. But I do like making a soup now and then with a beef base rather than a chicken base and a good onion soup is one of my favorites.

I began by skimming several recipes. It is, of course, basically sauteed sliced onions, beef broth, and if you want to do the "French" part, put a slice of toast and cheese in each bowl and broil until melted. All had you cook up the onions, some in butter and some in oil and butter; some for 30-45 minutes, others faster. Some had garlic added at the end. Some had Worcestershire (always tempting!) Some had you add flour before the broth. One had cognac, one white wine, one brandy, and one sherry added with the broth. One actually had a can of cola added and I have to admit just the uniqueness tempted me. (Plus they had a great cartoon of a woman looking for a greeting card and asking "Do you have one that says 'Stop cooking for 5 minutes or I'll leave you'?" Most had thyme. Some parsley. One actually used chicken broth but I guess I'm too much of a traditionalist for that! I actually skipped the toast and cheese part, but noticed the cheese ranged from Gruyere to mozzarella to Parmesan.

So what'd I do? This:

1/4 cup butter
4 medium yellow onions, sliced thinly
1 clove garlic, minced
6 cups beef broth from beef base
1 pinch dried thyme
1 sprig fresh parsley
1/4 cup sherry

Melt the butter and saute the onions until soft and just slightly browned, about 30-45 minutes. Add the garlic and saute another few minutes. Add the broth, parsley, thyme, and sherry. Bring to a boil then reduce to just barely a simmer, with a bubble breaking the surface now and then, about 10-15 minutes.

I remember making some a long time ago with a can of tomatoes and a mixture of chicken and beef broth and that was good too.

I skipped the toast tonight but this is great with either a piece of toast or some croutons and some sort of cheese on top broiled until melted.