Creamy Chicken Soup

Creamy Chicken Soup

I intentionally titled this post creamy chicken soup rather than cream of chicken soup, which was the original name. The first time I made it, I told the kids we were having Cream of Chicken soup for dinner. They kept waiting for me to break out the can of Campbell's. They were disappointed.

My quest for this soup started a few years ago, when Bob and I had dinner at a very well-known restaurant about 100 miles north of where we live. They served a creamy chicken soup that Bob has not forgotten. He kept wanting to drive back there, just for that soup, even though they only serve it one day a week (which turned out to not be an especially convenient day for us to go there). I figured it was far cheaper and easier just to figure out how to make it.

I started with a recipe from the Food network, and adapted it from there. It's not an especially healthy soup, but it's wonderful and comforting for special occasions. This was our Christmas Eve dinner this year (well, part of it) and it was hugely popular.

Creamy Chicken Soup
1/2 cup butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 medium carrots, chopped
4-5 mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
7 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon thyme
1 bay leaf
2-3 cups cooked, diced chicken
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 1/2 teaspoons sherry
1 tablespoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion, celery, carrots and mushrooms. Saute until the onions are translucent. Add the flour and cook, stirring for about two minutes until well mixed.

Pour in the chicken broth and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Add spices and mix well. Lower the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Stir in the chicken and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat. Whisk the cream, sherry, and salt into the soup and season with pepper to taste. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Serve immediately.

Notes:
I've used a variety of types of chicken in this recipe. I've made it with rotisserie chicken from Costco, a fresh chicken boiled at home, and various breast and thigh pieces that I had boiled.

Boiling the chicken takes a little more work, but it gives you a lovely broth that you can use in the soup. I usually start the process the day before, cleaning out the chicken and then boiling it for about an hour. Then I store it in the fridge over night, which makes it easy to skim off a fairly healthy layer of fat before you start cooking. When I used rotisserie chicken, I made broth using chicken base, which gave the soup a little bit of a synthetic taste. Another option would be to use rotisserie chicken with canned or boxed chicken broth.

Keep in mind that your chicken/broth choice will influence the amount of salt you use. If you use chicken base, add it a little bit at a time (tasting between additions) or you'll oversalt it. If you made your own chicken broth, a tablespoon will be about right.

Oh, and if you have fresh herbs, by all means use them.

Greek Salad

This recipe is such a favorite that I'm shocked I've never posted it before. This was our Sunday afternoon lunch today. I don't remember how I discovered Greek salad, but it is one of the best things in the late summer tomato season (right up there with tomato sandwiches, tomato tarts, and bruschetta. It's dreadfully easy to make, can be modified at least three different ways, and almost everyone likes it. It's also pretty healthy. What more could you want?

I've listed the standard recipe here. Obviously, avocados are a great addition. A few sweet or red onion slices dress it up a little bit as well. I've eaten in in Greek restaurants with torn lettuce pieces. I prefer it on the simpler side, but one of the many beautiful things about this salad is that you can modify it any way you want.

Greek Salad
4-5 roma tomatoes, diced in chunks
2-3 cucumbers, peeled and diced into chunks
2-3 tablespoons feta cheese, crumbled
2-3 tablespoons of your favorite vinagrette salad dressing (today we used Bernstein's Cheese Fantastico; when we use that dressing I like to add a splash of balsamic vinegar. Newman's Own balsamic vinagrette is also delightful)
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and serve. You'll want to serve it in a bowl, as it gets quite juicy after a few minutes. That juice is especially delicious sopped up on a piece of crusty bread.

Baked Potato Soup

This is not the healthiest recipe you'll ever make. But it's luxuriously delicious, and it's not as fat-filled as it looks.

The name says it all--this soup tastes just like a loaded baked potato, primarily because it has all of the same ingredients. We tried this for the first time a few months ago, and it has quickly become a family favorite. And if you bake the potatoes ahead of time, it's a pretty quick meal as well.

I combined a couple of recipes I found online to create my own version. It serves 6 to 8 generously.

Baked Potato Soup
4 baked potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 pound bacon, cooked until crisp and crumbled (reserve a couple of tablespoons for topping)
3 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup flour
7 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter
4 green onions, sliced thin, with a couple of tablespoons of them reserved for topping
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, grated (reserve a couple of tablespoons for topping)
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Melt the butter in a large pot or dutch oven. Whisk in the flour until completely mixed, breaking up any lumps. Slowly add the milk, stirring into the butter mixture gradually. Bring to a simmer and let cook on low for about ten minutes, until soup is thick and bubbly, stirring frequently. Add the potatoes, green onions, sour cream, salt, pepper and cheese, reserving some of the bacon, onions and cheese for topping. Cook over low heat until  well heated, about ten minutes. Sprinkle each serving with cheese, onion and bacon.

Chile Verde

I know that those of you who are still hanging around thought I was gone for good. But I'm back. At least for a minute.

This recipe was so easy that I didn't think there was any way it could taste good. I found it on Food.com when I was looking for a way to use a pork loin roast in my freezer. I was taken in by the easiness of it and figured we would choke it down somehow. It had the very romantic name of Crock Pot Mexican Pork., promising that it's "a low-fat way to serve Mexican." Now if that doesn't entice you to make it, I don't know what will!

In the meantime, I should tell you that one of Bob's specialty dishes is called Chile Verde. He has spent years acquiring the recipe and adapting it to perfection; when he makes it, it seems like he slaves for hours. And the result is truly amazing. He often makes a very large batch because he knows we'll want more.

Back to my story. I am not kidding when I say that I made this dish in five minutes in the morning before I went to work. I was late. I had forgotten that it needed to be done. So I threw it all in the crock pot and wondered what else we could eat for dinner if it didn't turn out (but at least I wouldn't feel guilty about the unused roast in the freezer anymore).

When I came home after work that night, my daughter Sara said, "I didn't know you knew how to make chile verde." I quickly insisted that it was a different dish. But even I had to admit that it smelled an awful lot like Bob's chile verde. Later, we discovered that, except for not having any potatoes in it, it tasted an awful lot like chile verde. So I've named it after Bob's famous dish, even though we all recognize and accept that it's just Mom's emergency substitute.

Chile Verde
1 pound boneless pork loin roast, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 20-ounce jar salsa (I used Pace mild)
4 ounces chopped green chiles,drained
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

In a 4-quart slow cooker, mix together the pork, salsa and green chiles. Cover and cook on low for six to eight hours or until pork is tender. The original recipe calls for 1 can of black beans, which you can add to the slow cooker, turning the stew up to high and heating for five to ten minutes. I didn't add the beans, because we as a family do not necessarily agree on which kind of beans we prefer.

The recipe also calls for sprinkling the stew with the cheese. We ate it with tortillas, with the cheese and a little squirt of sour cream on top. We ate it all, and we'll make it again!

Lo Mein

In my never-ending quest for easy meals that are also tasty, I came across this little gem. It's originally from Rachael Ray, although I've modified it just a bit here. Lo mein is without a doubt Bob's favorite Chinese entree, and he usually makes a more elaborate version. But even he gave this one a thumbs up (each of us agrees that dinner always tastes better if the other person cooked it).

I was surprised to find that the 30 minute prep time estimated in the recipe is actually pretty accurate--15 minutes for chopping and making the sauce and another 15 minutes for cooking it and putting it together. I think this was universally popular at our house, and is destined to be a regular on our menu.

Lo Mein
Sauce:
3 rounded tablespoons hoisin sauce (you'll find it in the Asian section of your grocery store)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons of water
1/4 teaspoon Sriracha sauce (Sriracha sauce is a Vietnamese hot sauce. It's very hot, but I felt it should be used in this recipe because it is, afterall, Asian food. The original recipe just said hot sauce and called for 2 teaspoons. I put in 1/2 teaspoon and it was a little too hot for us. So proceed at your own risk; tabasco sauce is somewhat more mellow than Sriracha, so you might want to add a little more, depending on your tastes).

Noodles:
1 16-ounce package of spaghetti (this was one of the things I loved most about the recipe; no bewildered looks from the staff at the Asian market when I asked them what kind of noodles I needed for lo mein. I already had maybe 20 pounds of it in my basement!)
1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided
2 large eggs, beaten
3 chicken boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thinly sliced into strips
Black pepper
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 inches fresh ginger, chopped or grated
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
6 green onions, cut into 3-inch lengths then sliced lengthwise
1/2 pound mushrooms, chopped (the recipe calls for shitakes; we don't care for shitakes all that much so I used regular button mushrooms)
1 red bell pepper, cut into quarters, seeded, the sliced
1/2 pound shredded cabbage

Directions
Mix together sauce ingredients and reserve.

Bring pasta water to a boil, ad a little salt and cook spaghetti according to package directions.

While noodles cook, heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large, nonstick skillet over high heat. WHen oil ripples, add beaten eggs and scramble them to light golden brown. Remove and reserve.

Season the meat with salt, pepper and coriander. Heat the remaining vegetable oil to a ripple, then add meat and stir-fry 4 minutes. Push meat to the side and add ginger, garlic and veggies. Stir-fry veggies 2 minutes, then drain and add pasta and eggs back intothe skillet. Pour sauce over the spaghetti and toss to combine. Turn off pan. Toss 30 seconds and let the liquids absorb.

A couple of notes: the original recipe calls for 3 thin cut pork chops, thinly sliced into strips. I think this would be delicious and would make it a heartier meal. I didn't include it in my version this time.

Also, we've found that powdered ginger works every bit as well as fresh ginger, but the fresh ginger will make your house smell great, so it might be worth the few cents and few minutes it takes to use it.

Ham Stacks

Here's another fairly simple sandwich-as-a-meal idea. It's pretty involved for a sandwich, but is robust enough for dinner (and is easy in comparison to most other evening meals). Forgive the crumbs. Somehow at the time I thought they would make the sandwich in the photo look oh-so-appetizing.

This is another idea Bob gleaned from one of the many restaurants where he has worked. You will need the following ingredients:

Sliced French bread (we usually buy it from Costco, but you could also use Texas Toast or any other thick-sliced, fluffy bread)

Softened butter (we find that magic butter is perfect for this)

A small amount of grated parmesan cheese (we use 1/2 to 3/4 cup to make sandwiches for all of us, but you may require far less)

Deli sliced ham (we buy black forest hams and slice them ourselves, but you can just as easily ask the deli to shave it for you). You'll need about 1/8th of a pound or maybe just a little more per sandwich; I actually weigh it out on our kitchen scale and measure about 2/10ths of a pound per sandwich

Sliced Swiss cheese

Sliced tomatoes

Clean, torn lettuce leaves

Homemade thousand island dressing

You'll find that the method for making this sandwich has many similarities to our BFB recipe.

1. Butter one side of each slice of bread. It probably goes without saying, but you'll want two slices per sandwich. Sprinkle a bit of grated parmesan cheese on top of the butter and press it into the butter so it will stick (I use the back side of a small metal spatula to do it). For an example of what this should look like, see here. Set the bread aside for a few minutes.

2. Put the ham into small "stacks" or piles, portioned for each sandwich. Set the stacks aside.

3. Put the bread slices cheese side down on a hot griddle (I usually set it at 350 degrees). Let them cook for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the griddle and set aside.

4. Put the ham stacks on the griddle and let them cook until they turn ever so slightly brown. Then flip them over (keeping the stacks intact) and place a slice of Swiss cheese on top. The cheese should more or less cover the ham. Leave on the griddle until the cheese has melted, then carefully remove, keeping the ham and cheese in their "stack" formation.

5. Assemble the sandwiches. The cheesy side of the bread goes to the outside; place the ham on the inside of one slice of bread and the lettuce and tomato on the other side. Drizzle with homemade thousand island dressing (see below).

Don't be intimidated by the homemade dressing. It takes no more than five minutes to make, and includes ingredients that you are almost certain to have in the fridge. We usually put all of the makings on the counter and let everyone make their own. Here's the dressing recipe:

Thousand Island Dressing

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons sweet pickle relish
1 teaspoon finely minced white onions
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 dash black pepper

Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Stir well. Place dressing in a covered container and refrigerate for several hours, stirring occasionally so that the sugar dissolves and the flavors blend.

Pasta Carbonara

A disclaimer: This is not the pasta carbonara I learned to make in Italy. That pasta carbonara was basically scrambled eggs and bacon over pasta. Don't get me wrong; it still has a special place in my heart. This version, a recipe I learned from Bob, is a fancier and more indulgent sister. It's a family favorite. It's rich enough to just be an occasional treat, but it's delicious enough that you'll want to make it again and again.

Did I mention that it's also pretty easy to put together?

Pasta Carbonara
8 slices of bacon, diced
1 bunch of green onions, sliced
½ pound of mushrooms (12), quartered
1 package of spaghetti noodles (8 servings)
1 pint of heavy cream
1 cup grated parmesan
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Cook the spaghetti according to package directions. Cook the bacon until crisp; drain. Add the green onion slices and mushrooms and sauté into butter (we usually reserve a few green onion slices for a garnish). Add heavy cream, parmesan, salt and pepper to taste. Cook until thick. Toss the drained noodles in the carbonara sauce. Top with a little grated parmesan and sliced green onions.Serves 8.

Clam Spaghetti

I am not exaggerating when I tell you that putting this dish together is easier than opening a bottle of Ragu.

This pasta dish has a very light flavor (except for the somewhat copious amounts of garlic). It's a lighter pasta than either red sauces or cream sauces--just perfect for the end of a busy day.

Clam Spaghetti

2 Tablespoons butter
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
dash pepper
2 six-ounce cans minced clams, undrained
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
8 ounces spaghetti, cooked and drained

Melt the butter in a large frying pan. Add onion; saute until it's transparent. Add the garlic and saute until it turns brown (but before it turns bitter). Add salt and pepper. Add clams and white wine; simmer for 4-5 minutes. Toss with hot spaghetti and top with parmesand cheese.

Pasta Salad

I think it's fair to say that this photo doesn't do the salad justice. But use your imagination.

I invented this salad back in my older single days. It was great for potlucks and other social gatherings. It's evolved under Bob's influence. I believe I used to use chicken; it tastes much better with ham. And I'm now not allowed to make it without sufficient amounts of red onion.

This is another very quick and easy meal that's easy to whip up after work. It's also a lovely side dish. You aren't required to use the colored rotini, although we always do (another Bob innovation) because it's much prettier that way.

I was originally pretty fastidious about using only Bernstein's Cheese Fantastico as the dressing. But these days I use whatever Italian dressing is on the pantry shelf or on the fridge, and it seems to work out just fine. Our family loves this, and it really couldn't be any easier. It's a great use of leftover ham. We also often use relatively thick-sliced packaged ham.

Pasta Salad


1 15-oz. package of multi-colored or plain pasta
2 cups diced ham
1 ½ cups diced cheddar cheese
1 ½ cups frozen corn
1 ½ cups frozen peas
½ cup minced red onion

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, rinse and cool. Combine other ingredients in a large bowl. Add pasta and stir until mixed. Mix 1 ½ cups mayonnaise with ½ cup Bernstein’s Cheese Fantastico salad dressing to make dressing; pour over salad mixture and blend until evenly covered.

Honey and Black Pepper Beef

True confessions: I recently started a new job. After working from home for seven years, I'm back in the office from 9 to 5 (well, actually 7:30 to 4:00 or maybe a little later). The first week I worked, dinner times were, shall we say, highly informal at our house. But last week I realized that I really missed cooking dinner every night. More than that, I miss having everyone around the table for at least one meal a day. I convinced myself that I could find meals simple and fast enough that I could make them, even in my post-work state. And you know what? I was right.

This recipe comes from one of my new favorite cookbooks, Homestyle Asian. It honestly took me somewhat less than 30 minutes to put it together (okay, I have to admit that Bob cut the meat up before I got home). It was delicious. We served it over jasmine rice. There were no side dishes, but perhaps we'll work up to that in the coming weeks.

We made a number of revisions from the original recipe. The book calls for 2 pounds of round steak. Bob found some boneless ribeyes on sale that were heavenly; we used two of them, cut into strips. I think any cut of beef that doesn't require long cooking times to become tender would work. I couldn't see our bunch eating snow peas, although that was part of what initially attracted me to the recipe. So I used broccoli, which looked and tasted great. I also put in some red bell pepper strips for color. As a bonus, they also added great flavor. I think my favorite part was the sauce--some sweetness from the honey, some heat from the pepper and some soy to tie it all together.

Honey and Black Pepper Beef
1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
2 pounds round steak, cut into thin strips
1 large onion, sliced
1 pound or so of trimmed broccoli florets
1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat the wok until very hot. Add 1 tablespoon of the oil and swirl it around to coat the side. Stir-fry the beef in batches over high heat. Remove and drain on paper towels.

Reheat the wok and add 1 tablespoon of the oil and stir fry the garlic, onion, broccoli and peppers until softened. Remove from the wok and set aside.

Add the honey, soy sauce, oyster sauce and black pepper to the wok. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes or until the sauce thickens slightly.

Increase the heat, return the meat and vegetables to the wok, and toss for 2-3 minutes or until well combined and heated through.