Spicy Thai Chicken and Coconut Soup

We are soup eaters.  In fact, this week we are going to have soup 4 times.  I cooked this soup Monday night, my brother made Stir Fry Soup last night, Andrew is making soup tonight (he was undecided last night about what kind of soup) and Mark is making soup tomorrow night. Mark is going to try his hand at an authentic French Onion soup. Yum!  Then we are going to vote for the best soup of the week.  Like I said, we are soup eaters.  This recipe for Thai soup is easy and tasty and perfect for a weeknight dinner because it comes together in about 30 minutes.  I just sent this to Nancy because she loves Thai food and this is a perfect blend of spicy, sweet, salty and sour. 

The ingredients:
1 Qt (2 cartons) chicken stock
1 stalk of lemon grass, cracked open with the flat side of a knife (or the lemongrass in a tube found in the produce department)
4 limes, juiced plus 1 lime peel (3-4 pieces using a vegetable peeler, no white pith)
1 3 inch piece of ginger peeled and sliced thin
2 small Thai chilies, halved lengthwise (or 2 red jalapenos, sliced thin into rounds)
2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 13 oz. can unsweetened coconut milk
3 tbsp soy sauce (you can add a bit more to taste before serving)
1 tbsp sugar
1 package of sliced mushrooms
½ red onion, thinly sliced into ½ rounds

1 roasted chicken from the deli or 2 chicken breasts, poached and shredded into large chunks
Salt and Pepper, to taste
¼ c cilantro, roughly chopped
5-6 basil leaves, roughly chopped
3 green onions, thinly sliced

The method:
In a large pot: Add the chicken stock, lime peel, lemon grass (or 3 tbsp of lemongrass from the tube), ginger, garlic, and chili’s or jalapenos. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes. In the meantime, shred the chicken and prep other ingredients. Uncover and add the coconut milk, lime juice, soy sauce, sugar, mushrooms, red onions and shredded chicken. Simmer for 5-10 more minutes. Adjust seasoning and add the cilantro, basil and green onions. Serve with udon noodles, cooked al dente or rice. You can pick out the ginger, lime and lemongrass before serving.

Italian Sausage Bread Ring

Hi Nancy,  This one is for you.  I don't have a picture but since you saw this yesterday I thought it would be ok to blog without one this once.  This recipe is more like a technique because you can stuff the dough with all kinds of fillings.  I've done ham and cheese, hamburger and cheese and this italian sausage version.

The Ingredients:
1 loaf of Bridgeford frozen bread dough, thawed according to package instructions
flour for dusting
1 lb. italian sausage (spicy or mild)
1 tbsp italian seasoning
1/2 tsp lawry's season salt
1/2 tsp garlic salt (sprinkle over the dough while rolling out for more flavor)
1/2 tsp pepper
1 c. shredded pepper jack cheese
1/2 shredded mozarella cheese
3 tbsp fresh grated parmesan cheese
1 egg, for egg wash

The Method:
Brown sausage over medium heat.  Break up sausage with the back of a spoon.  Drain fat.  Season with italian seasoning. season salt and pepper.  Mix in the pepper jack and mozarella cheese.  Set filling aside. Roll out the dough (dust board with flour) to 18" x 6" rectangle.  Place the filling along the long side of the dough.  Use all the filling.  Brush the edges with the egg wash.  Roll dough over filling to form an 18" log. Pinch bottom seam to seal.  Place on baking sheet and form into a circle, pinch dough to seal the circle.  Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.  Bake in pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes until golden brown.  Let sit for about 10 minutes before slicing.  You can serve warm or at room temperature.  Enjoy!!!

Mark shows off his thermos

This thermos has come in handy lately.  First, at MasterChef and this week to keep the beurre blanc at temperature.  Mark and I love our thermos.  This is what we do for fun.  Take pictures of our food and kitchen equipment.  Maybe we need to get out more?  Nah. We have fun!

Beurre Blanc

Do you see that yellow puddle of goodness below the fish?  That is a lemon beurre blanc. My first one...ever!  This blog is so not about the fish or the roasted broccolli, which were very good, but not the star of last night's dinner.  It is all about the butter sauce flavored with lemon juice, lemon zest, white wine, shallots, heavy cream and BUTTER.  Did I mention beurre blanc is a butter sauce?  In order to convice myself it was ok to eat a butter sauce with 12 tablespoons of butter for dinner on a Wednesday I had to make sure the fish and broccolli were as healthy as possible.  Given that we had this for dinner last night...I'd say I was very convincing!  Yea me!  So I seared the fish in 1 tbls oil and 1/2 tbls of butter, then finished it in the oven.  Very healthy, right?  I drizzled the broccolli with lemon olive oil, chile flakes, salt and pepper and roasted in a 400 degree oven.  Very healthy...oh yah!  The recipe I used for my first ever beurre blanc is one of Alton Brown's from foodnetwork.com.  The recipe is called Raymond Beurre Blanc.  Not sure who Raymond is but he is a genious.  Alton suggests making the sauce and storing in a thermos until ready to use. That is exactly what I did...since I am now the proud owner of 5 thermos'.

The ingredients:
1 shallot, chopped fine
8 oz white wine
2 oz of lemon juice, zest of one lemon
1/2 cup heavy cream
12 tbsp of cold, unsalted butter, cubed (put in freezer for 5 minutes right before you need it)
salt and white pepper

The Method:
Combine the first three ingredients in a small non-reactive saucepan over medium-high heat until reduces to about 2-3 tbsp.  Watch it at the end because it reduces quickly.  Add the cream to the reduction and bring to a boil.  Reduce for 3-4 minutes.  Reduce heat to low and add the butter, 1-2 cubes at a time.  Whisk continuosly first off the heat and then on the heat until butter fully melts.  Continue adding butter on and off the heat 1-2 cubes at a time until sauce is fully emulsified and a rich consistency.  Season with salt and pepper.  Strain into a thermos until ready to use.

The Real Deal Shepherds Pie

Yum, yum, yum!  This is comfort food to the max for me.  Why do I call this the real deal?  Because the recipe is from my Grandma and she came from Ireland. Ireland has lots of shepherds.  This is what they eat. I've seen many other recipes for Shepherds pie and I always thought "that's not right". So now I will set the record straight.  By the way, the shepherd's in the part of Ireland where my Grandma grew up lwatched over cows because this recipe uses ground beef, not lamb.  This recipe is great to use up leftover mashed potatoes. 

The Ingredients:
1 1/2 pds 80/20 ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce (apparently they had soy sauce in Ireland...wink)
1 tsp Lawry's season salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp flour
1/2 -3/4 cup of chicken or beef broth

3-4 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
salt
pepper
3 tbsp butter + 2 tbsp butter melted (used to drizzle on casserole top)
1/2 cup milk
1 bag of white corn, thawed and dried in paper towels

The method:

First, place potatoes in cold water, bring to a boil and cook until softened, about 15-20 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Next start the ground beef.  Brown the ground beef in saucepan.  Add the season salt and pepper. Add the onions and garlic and cook for 3-4 minutes.  In a small bowl, add the flour, broth (start with a 1/2 cup, add more if too thick), worcestershire and soy sauces,  Whisk until smooth.  Add the mixture to the ground beef.  You should have a thick gravy after 2-3 minutes.  If too thick, add a bit more broth.  You don't want it soupy or your casserole will be runny.  Cook for about 5 more minutes and then turn off heat. Adjust seasonings.

Mash potatoes and add butter, salt, pepper and milk.

Spray 9x12 casserole dish with cooking spray.  Layer the ground beef mixture on the bottom, top with all of the corn and then spread mashed potatoes on the top. Be careful not to "pull up" the corn while spreading the mashed potatoes.  Run a fork lightly across the top of the casserole to create little valleys.  Drizzle with melted butter.  Bake for approximately 30 minutes and then broil for 3-4 minutes until top is golden brown.  Let sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

Apple Chutney. Oh my!

I may be dating myself but I'll always remember Peter Brady, from the Brady Bunch show, lisping Pork Chops and Apple sauce in his best Cagney impression.  When I think of pork chops that line goes through my head every time.  In fact, you can see Peter say this famous Brady Bunch line on youtube.com. 

So what does apple chutney have to do with applesauce?  Think of it as the grown up version of the stuff spooned out of a jar.  Apple Chutney pairs perfectly with pan seared pork chops and elevates a quick week night meat to new heights. Yum!

Ingredients:
3 granny smith apples, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 jalapeno or serrano pepper, minced
1/2 a red onion, chopped
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp jalapeno jelly (optional)
1 tbsp butter
salt and pepper

The Method:
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add the jalapeno and onion and saute until softened. Add the remaining ingredients and cover with a lid.  Simmer for 5-10 minutes until the apples are slighty soft but not mushy.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Master Chef Submission Picture

This Sunday I will attend an open casting call for a new show called Master Chef.  I'e decided to bring Teriyaki glazed Mahi-Mahi with ginger cream sauce and mango salsa.  Mark and I spent the weeked either testing the recipe or shopping for containers to keep the food warm for 4+hours.  Once you get called you only have 5 minutes to plate the dish...no time to reheat or cook.  We found different sizes of thermos food containers that claim to keep food hot for up to 7 hours.  We did a test and tried the cream sauce and rice after 4 hours and both were still hot.  Very cool.  Now, I just need to finish the 10 page application and pack everything up I'll need.  Sunday morning will be a challenge as I have to cook the dish, which included BBQ'ing the Mahi-Mahi before heading out to San Francisco around 9am.