Hey guys!
Sorry it has been a little while since I last posted. What can I say? It’s the holidays. Life is full. What I’m loving so much right now is how my friends have been putting in just a little extra effort to get together when we can. It’s awesome. We’re all going to be away or with our families over the holidays, so my friends and I have been making sure that we see each other before we scatter.
Anyway, I thought I’d jump on and post some of my recent soup/stew experiments, all of which have been great successes. A few weeks ago I started to second guess whether posting these recipes was a stupid idea. Who am I, a total cooking newbie, to be posting recipes? And who the heck is going to make them besides, well, me? But then I got an e-mail from my Great Aunt in Delaware. (Aunt Jackie, I hope you don’t mind me sharing it here—it made my day!)
Paige,
I just wanted to tell you, I finally found your Blog page. I enjoyed reading your page. You come across as a very down to earth writer. I could understand what you were saying. The first page I read gave a recipe for Minestrone soup with collards. My first thought was, "What on earth does a little Jewish girl born and bred in New York know about collards and beans?” As it turns out, quite a bit. I made the soup yesterday and it was delicious. Aunt Kit and Cathy tried it, my neighbors and Uncle Bob all said keep that recipe. I just wanted you to know we try to keep up with you and Leah and your careers. Your Grammy must be smiling down on you, especially when you are in the kitchen. Keep me up on your latest recipe.
How cool is that? Best e-mail ever. I sure hope Grammy’s watching! She was an unbelievable cook. So it’s with this in mind that I’d love to continue posting my soup/stew successes. I’ll go in reverse order, starting with what I whipped up this week:
Veggie-Packed Turkey Chili
I had been craving chili since I started this endeavor. But I wanted to wait until it was true chili weather. I got my wish last Sunday during a Chicago blizzard that kept me inside all day long—except for three semi-treacherous trips outside with the pups. I knew that I wanted to make chili with turkey instead of red meat since I’d be having it every night. I also knew that I wanted a chili that packed as many veggies into it as possible—especially corn. So after a little Internet search, I started with this Rachael Ray recipe as my guide. Then, I called my sister to discuss the recipe. (Actually we discussed it over Google video chat.) I needed to talk through it because a) I had never made chili before and b) I knew I wanted to change that RR recipe A LOT. (Um, it didn’t have beans. How can a chili not have beans!? I ended up adding two cans. Score!) Enough of my blathering, let’s get to this fantabulous recipe that is seriously the best chili I’ve ever had. Yep, even better than the famous turkey chili at Deer Valley, which I believed was the best chili on the planet…until I had my own. Yep, I said it. Sorry, DV, you’ve got nothing on me.
FYI: This recipe makes about 10 servings – I froze half.
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 bell pepper, one red and one green, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped (FYI, I’m not a spicy person so I just used a tiny sliver of the jalapeno for flavor. But if you like spicy, knock yourself out and use the whole thing.)
1 bottle Corona or other kind of beer
3 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
2 pounds light meat turkey
1.5 cans (28 ounces each) San Marzano tomatoes (if you can’t find this brand any kind will do. These will just take your chili experience to a whole new glorious level.)
Bag (16 oz) frozen corn kernels
1 can (15 oz) kidney beans
1 can (15 oz) black beans
Directions:
In a deep pot, heat EVOO over medium high heat. Once hot, add the onion, jalapeno, and a little S&P. Sauté for 5 minutes. Add the peppers. Cook, stirring, until tender. Add the spices. They’ll start to toast on the bottom of the pan and become fragrant and make your apartment/house smell delicious. Once this occurs (within a few mins of cooking) add about half the bottle of beer and use a wooden spoon to deglaze the pan. Add the meat and the rest of the beer. Unless you already drank it. Oops. Let everything cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for about an hour. Then add the beans and corn. Continue simmering for at least 15 minutes or as long as an additional hour. Serve with brown rice and a side of roasted kale. At least that’s what I did and it was perfect! YUM!
Red Lentil with Collard Greens Soup
This recipe comes from my friend Ali in Vermont. She’s one of my best friends there and is a genius in the kitchen (last time I was there she made a pumpkin risotto with dried cranberries that would knock your socks off.) Ali’s a vegetarian, so any time I want to know how to cook a new vegetable (I swear, she’s tried them all!) she’s my go-to gal. She sent me this recipe a few weeks ago and I made it that same week. I changed up her recipe a bit (I used chicken stock instead of veggie because that’s what I had on hand) and whereas she used spinach as the green, I used collards because I already had them in my fridge. This recipe is also great for sneaking in tons of veggies. The lentils create a smooth consistency, so adding tons of carrots and celery adds a little chunkiness. (Btw, no worries if you’ve never cooked red lentils before—I hadn’t cooked or eaten them prior to this and they were super easy to make and totally delicious to chow.) Here it goes:
[Makes 4-5 servings]
Ingredients:
EVOO
Medium-sized onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
1 leek, chopped
8 cups chicken broth
2 bunches of collard greens, stems removed and leaves cut into small pieces (no collards? No prob. Ali used 4 cups frozen spinach.)
2 cups dried red lentils (find them in the bulk bin at WF)
Directions:
In a big pot, heat EVOO over medium-high heat. Add onion, s&p, and sauté. Add carrots, celery, and leek. Cook until veggies soften. Add garlic. Sauté for a few more minutes. Add broth and bring to a boil. Add lentils and lower heat to a simmer. About an hour into cooking, add the collard greens. Once they cook down, it’s ready to eat. Or you can keep cooking for another hour or so. Add s&p to taste and dig in!
White Bean, Kale and Chicken Sausage Meatball Soup
You guys, this is a killer recipe. You’re going to love it. I basically combine two of my faves: This one that I invented a few weeks ago and a Barefoot Contessa classic, Italian Wedding soup. Check it out:
Ingredients:
EVOO
1 onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 leek, cleaned (cut it down the middle and rinse out the grit that’s inside) and chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes
6 cups low-sodium organic chicken broth
1-2 cups dried Great Northern Beans
2 bunches kale, stems removed and cut into small pieces
1 pound chicken sausage out of the casings
salt & pepper
Instructions:
Heat EVOO. Add onion, sprinkle with s&p and sauté. Once onion is translucent (a few minutes) add carrots, celery, and leeks. Cook, stirring, until carrots soften. Add garlic. Add tomato paste. Add the tomatoes with juice, the broth, and bring to a boil. Add the beans. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer.
About an hour into simmering the soup, make the meatballs: Preheat oven to 350˚. Cover two baking sheets with foil and spray with cooking spray (the meatballs stick big time if you don’t take these precautions.) Taking about a Tablespoon of the meat at a time, roll in your hands, creating cute little meatballs. Place them on baking sheets. Bake for about 30 minutes until cooked through and lightly browned. (Don’t overcook. They’ll dry out. I’m speaking from experience here.) When they’re done, set aside
Once the soup has been cooking for about two hours, add the kale and the meatballs. Cook until the kale cooks down and then it’s ready to eat. Bon appetit!
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