Tomato Chickpea Florentine Soup

Well, it looks as though we are heading toward the end of February—finally! The “cruelest month” certainly earned its dismal moniker this year, in my opinion. There is another storm forecast for us, with high winds and another possible 5-7” of new snow. Fine. Let Mother Nature get this all out of her system. To me, March signals Spring and finally, there is a light at the end of this dismal Winter tunnel.

Of course, once warmer weather does arrive, there will be a lot of cleanup around here. Trees lost branches, the gutters have to be replaced because the weight of the ice dams distorted them, my beautiful holly bushes have been decimated by unusually hungry deer and will need to be severely pruned. One thing that breaks my heart is that my beautiful lilac bush was split into several pieces by the weight of snow and ice. I still cannot get close enough to access the damage, but if I am lucky it will have to be cut back to 25% of its original size. I planted this bush the first spring we were here, in 1984, because I had always loved purple lilacs, and because my Gram had always loved them as well (and I loved my Gram). In the last several years, it has been absolutely stunning when in full bloom. I don’t know, if I am able to cut it back (versus replacing it), if it will ever reclaim even a part of its former glory before we leave here, retiring to a hopefully more temperate climate.

For now, however, we have prepared for another snowstorm. I have filled several large jugs of water in case the power goes out again (although I hope that it will not, I am still a little nervous since we had no heat or water for over six days earlier this month). I am keeping the used dishes and cooking utensils washed, and am making it a point to run the garbage disposal every time put something down it. Until the threat of a power loss is over, I won’t use the dishwasher. Several years ago the electricity went out after a particularly nasty summer storm. There were dirty dishes in the dishwasher, stuff in the disposal waiting to be whirled and swept away into the septic, a load of white clothes soaking in the washing machine… and they all stayed where they were for four days until the power was restored. Ick. I learned my lesson that time!

I’ve planned a couple of days of menus and took everything I need out of the big freezer, so if I have to transfer things from the refrigerator to the back porch, it will only be from the smaller kitchen refrigerator/ freezer. I won’t have to open the big freezer, and recent experience has shown that food will stay well in there for up to 5 days.

I also made a pot of soup which can be reheated on the stove and which we also can wrap our cold fingers around mugs of while waiting for the heat to come back on. If need be.

While making dinner the other evening, I opened a can of garbanzo beans by mistake. I was in a hurry, grabbed a can from the dim basement shelves which I thought was coconut milk, and opened it without looking at the label. Pretty stupid move, there. So today I made a tomato-vegetable-chickpea soup for lunch.

This was a very good soup; thick, flavorful and packed with veggies and non-meat protein. Served with a slice of whole-wheat Italian bread, it was a perfect lunch for a blustery winter day.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Tomato Chickpea Florentine Soup

Recipe By: Vicci

Servings: 4

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

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1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 cup thinly sliced carrot

3/4 teaspoon minced garlic

4 cups low-sodium vegetable stock

1 cup water

14 ounces crushed tomatoes -- (canned)

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon dried basil -- crumbled

3/4 teaspoon dried rosemary -- crumbled

9 ounces cooked chickpeas -- approximate amount from a 15-ounce can, drained

1/2 cup ditalini -- or other small "soup" pasta

2 ounces fresh spinach -- chopped

3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper -- optional

4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Heat oil in a 2-quart pot. Add onion and carrot and sauté over medium heat until onion is soft, about 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, then add the stock, water, and tomatoes. Bring to a boil and stir in the brown sugar and herbs. Turn the heat down to simmer, cover partially, and cook for 15 minutes.

Add the chickpeas and ditalini and cook until the pasta is tender, stirring often to prevent sticking. Add spinach, stir, and cook for another minute or two. Season with pepper and divide between soup bowls. Sprinkle with cheese.

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Per serving: 289 Calories (kcal); 8g Total Fat (3g Saturated); (24% calories from fat); 15g Protein; 42g Carbohydrate; 4mg Cholesterol; 304mg Sodium

Butternut Squash Bisque; No-Knead Foccacia Tiles

During the past few weeks we’ve been very busy, and I haven’t had the opportunity to cook nearly as much as I would like. Plans to get together with friends this past weekend gave me a perfect, much needed, “excuse” to plan and cook a special fall menu at the lake house. Unfortunately they cancelled, but since I had already packed and lugged everything down from the farm, I went ahead and made it all just for Jack and me. Good thing, though, because we enjoyed the leftovers very much!

Both the soup and the bread recipe came from the October issue of Better Homes & Gardens. I’ve been enjoying their recipes in the past several months, and they seem to be publishing ones which are more to my taste than any other magazine does at this point.

On the menu was butternut squash bisque, no-knead foccacia tiles, mixed green salad, and apple crumb pie.

I prepared everything but the dessert. I gave up on the pie since I don’t want to make a whole one when it’s only the two of us to eat it! However, I didn’t want to carry all of the apples back home, so I made a quick apple crisp for dessert and some applesauce for the freezer. And now I have a pie crust in the freezer, all ready for Thanksgiving and a pumpkin filling.

First, the Butternut Squash Bisque. Since my garden produced such a bumper crop of butternut squash this past summer, I have become particularly adept at peeling the little buggers. The soup was, otherwise, very simple. Basically I sautéed chunks of squash and onion along with celery and carrot (I used only one half of the amount of butter and added some mild olive oil as well), added vegetable broth, chunks of apple, apple cider, and chopped chipotle pepper. These were cooked until the veggies were very tender, then I ran my hand-blender through it to make smooth. Light sour cream was whisked in and the result was a satin-y smooth, thick soup with an incredibly delicious flavor. The apple added an undertone to the taste of the butternut squash which was quite pleasant. Adding the chipotle was a stroke of genius on the part of the person who developed this recipe, because an underlying hint of smoky fire was nice as well. The only addition I would make next time is to add some thyme. Or maybe sprinkle some chopped fresh sage with the garnishes.

Of course, a soup is naked until the garnishes are added. I thinned a little sour cream with skim milk, drizzled that on top of the bisque then sprinkled smoked Gouda, minced parsley, and chopped turkey bacon. The smokiness of the Gouda and bacon complimented the butternut squash perfectly, and added a nice texture.

Next, the No-Knead Foccacia Tiles. I was intrigued by the name “foccacia tiles”, a no-knead dough that is stretched out to fit in a large baking pan, the dough scored into 6 sections, and each section topped with a variety of items. In the recipe, they suggested a pretty odd topping (thin slices of lime) but also sun-dried tomato, thinly sliced Roma tomato, and pumpkin seeds. I decided on chopped Kalamata olives, roasted red and yellow bell pepper, and thinly-sliced garlic and herbs for on the different sections of my foccacia. Sun-dried tomatoes would have been wonderful, but I couldn’t find the package which I was certain was in the pantry. That happens way too often.

Because it is a no-knead bread, you have to start it a day ahead (in order for the yeast to do its thing), but this is just such an easy method. And although I am a huge fan of carbs, especially in the form of thick, chewy bread, I think that next time I will reduce the dough recipe by 1/3. It seemed to both Jack and me that there was too much bread for the amount of toppings. Although I could certainly have increased the topping quantity, it would have still been a large ratio of bread-to-toppings. But, oh, what a flavor! We ate way too much of this, probably more than twice what we should have, but you just can’t beat fresh-from-the-oven bread. And we both love the no-knead breads since the flavor is so much more developed and complex that those that are done with a quick rise, or even a regular-length rise.

Next up, the salad. This is hands-down Jack’s favorite type of salad—greens, fruit, nuts. I could have added cheese and made him even happier, but there was smoked Gouda on the soup. :)

I have been buying Tanimura & Antle brand of artesian lettuces at Sam’s Club. 25 ounces for about $3.50, which beats the cost of plain bagged spinach in the grocery store. And these are so flavorful and pretty, a mixture of dark red and dark green baby Oak Leaf, Tango, and Gem. I added sliced carrots, dried cranberries, and toasted walnuts, and then a simple Italian vinaigrette. I know that it’s a good salad when Jack eats it without a single “ew, we’re having salad” remark!

As for the apple crisp, I’m not going to post the recipe since I made it on the fly and there are recipes galore for this type of dessert. I did reduce the butter in the topping by half, and added a little canola oil to make it crumbly, because we all know that liquid fats are so much healthier than solid fats, don’t we?!?!

The final gold star on our dinner was, the next day, Jack said (totally out of the blue, as he was supposed to be working on his bank statements): “There was not one part of that meal that was not super-excellent.”

Super-excellent! Even after of 26+ years of cooking for him, I still bask in that kind of praise. :)

Spicy, Chilly Summer Garden Soup

Some days, it’s just too darn hot to do anything. Anything. Including just sitting in front of a fan.

I suppose that I should be grateful that these hot summer days didn’t appear until August, and that up until last night it wasn’t terribly hot in the bedroom at night, and that I have an excuse for sitting in one spot, drinking lemonade, and clearing up a stack of paperwork. But it’s soooooo HOT. :) Complain, complain…

I received an e-mail from Vegetarian Times which included a soup recipe, Farmers’ Market Chilled Salsa Soup. It sounded good, perfect for this kind of a day, and I thought that I would create my own version of this soup. A version containing zucchini, of which I have a huge quantity in the refrigerator and more ready to be picked every day.

My garden is also bursting with peppers-- bell peppers, Anaheim peppers, long green-yellow banana peppers. These needed to be used, too. But the only obstacle was my dear husband. To Jack, soup is not a proper meal. If it is thick and contains chicken or turkey and is served on a frigid winter day, then he will not complain too much about eating it for lunch. I once tried a chilled soup on a hot summer day, about 5 years ago, and that was such a spectacular dud that I never tried again.

Until today.

I could not imagine doing anything near heat today (including using the outdoor grill), and Jack was working outside in the 90+ degree temperatures so I figured that he would feel the same way. Using the VT recipe as a guide, and with the goal of decreasing the amount of vegetables in the refrigerator before more were harvested in the garden, I made what I am calling Spicy, Chilly Summer Garden Soup. I gave it a southwestern flair by adding cumin, lime, and chili peppers. Cool sour cream and spicy salsa spooned on each bowlful made the flavors come together and just sing. But don’t take my word for it.

I set the bowls on the table, Jack looked at me. Cold soup! Horrors!!! But he, too, was quite warm after his outside labors and he took a cooling mouthful. And another. And another! In fact, he raved about this soup so much that I thought he was being sarcastic, and it wasn’t until he asked for a second serving that I realized—he likes it! Wow.

I served this soup with steamed corn tortillas (heated in the microwave to soften, fortunately they didn’t give off too much heat!).

A note: peppers vary widely in spiciness even within the variety. Even within the row in the garden! The one 5” long banana pepper which I used was enough to make the soup very spicy, and Jack added chipotle because he is... crazy.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Spicy, Chilly Summer Garden Soup

Recipe By: Vicci

Servings : 3

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

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7 ounces cucumber -- peeled, roughly chopped

3 ounces green bell pepper -- roughly chopped

2 ounces banana pepper -- roughly chopped

4 ounces anaheim chili pepper -- roughly chopped

1 pound zucchini -- roughly chopped

3 medium garlic cloves -- chopped

4 large green onions -- white and tender green parts chopped

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper -- optional

1/4 cup light sour cream

2 tablespoons skim milk

6 tablespoons salsa

3 tablespoons chopped cilantro -- optional

In a large bowl, toss the cucumbers through cumin. Place about half of this mixture into an 8-cup blender, along with all of the water, and blend until almost smooth. Add the remaining vegetable mixture, in batches, blending all until smooth. Taste and add chipotle, if desired.

Return to the large bowl and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes.

Mix the sour cream and milk until smooth. Divide the soup between bowls, drizzle with a generous portion of sour cream and dollop of salsa. Sprinkle with salsa. Serve.

Yield:

"6 cups"

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Per serving: 179 Calories (kcal); 10g Total Fat (2g Saturated); (45% calories from fat); 5g Protein; 22g Carbohydrate; 2mg Cholesterol; 639mg Sodium

Food Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 3 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates

*Note- the vegetables were weighed after removing the stem end (s) and coring.

Turkey Tortilla Soup

So I was sitting here on the porch a couple of days ago, working on my laptop, and a movement outside caught my eye. I grabbed my camera, which was conveniently on the table beside the computer, and took this photo.

There have been a couple of turkeys hanging around the house lately. They hear the squeaking sound that the birdfeeder makes as I screw apart the top to refill it, and they come running out of the field. I’ll be weeding outside, hear a rustling and a “cluck-cluck” from the holly hedge, and know that I’m being watched. This amuses Jack considerably since the minute he steps outside they run, but I have to be careful that they don’t get too close to me. In their little beady turkey-eyes, I am the provider of meals. They like me.

It was raining, and I had not yet gone outside to refill the bird feeder on that day, and apparently one of the turkeys decided to remind me of my neglectfulness. Or stop by for a drink from the fish-pond. In either case, Spooky was not particularly happy since he considers himself the King of our farm and he has not given these interlopers permission to be here as well. He stares at them very fiercely. He hisses as they walk past. They do not care a bit.

I felt a little badly because in the kitchen, simmering on the stove, was a pot of turkey stock. I had roasted a large turkey breast a couple of days previously and had planned to make a turkey-veggie-rice soup on this rainy day. However, before I got the chance, I found a Cuisine At Home recipe which called to me.

Turkey Tortilla Soup.

I have made several versions of tortilla soup, both chicken and vegetarian, but this one was different and not just because of the turkey. Every other recipe I have made uses baked tortilla strips either as a garnish, or piled in the bowl with the soup ladled over it. This recipe used corn tortillas as a thickener, with no crunchy strips added.

And it used some cream (although we know that I substituted for that!) to make a creamy soup rather than a brothy one.

Now, as I mentioned, I made changes.

• I subbed lowfat half & half for the heavy cream (and I whisked 1 tablespoon of cornstarch into it to thicken the soup even more)
• Decreased the amount shredded cheese and "reassigned" it to being a garnish (rather than melting it into the soup)
• Added avocado, tomato, and chopped fresh cilantro as a garnish.
  
• I also (inadvertently) forgot about the sour cream. :)

This soup was so very good and it will now be our favorite tortilla soup. I’m thinking that I could add cooked black beans next time, but I will keep my garnish of tomato, avocado, and cilantro because those flavors really did well with the soup. And maybe I'll remember to add the (light) sour cream, too.

I used my immersion blender to puree the soup while still in the pot. I love my immersion blender, though I do not use it often. But it saves me having to clean the blender!

Turkey Tortilla Soup


2 T. olive oil
1 1/2 cups onion -- minced
2 T. garlic -- minced
3 corn tortillas (6 inch each) -- cut into 1 inch pieces
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies (101/2 oz.)
4 cups chicken broth
1 t. ground cumin
1 t. ground coriander
1 t. dried oregano
1/2 t. cayenne


2 cups cooked turkey or chicken -- shredded or cubed
1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese -- shredded
2 T. fresh lime juice
Salt and pepper
Sour cream


Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high; add onions and garlic, and sauté 3 minutes. Stir in tortilla pieces and sauté until they are no longer crisp. Add tomatoes, broth, and spices, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat; let cool 5 minutes, then puree soup base in batches in a blender or food processor until smooth. Return soup to pot.


Add turkey, corn, and cream. Bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes, or until beginning to thicken. Reduce heat to medium, sprinkle in cheese, and stir until melted. Add lime juice and season with salt and pepper to taste.


(Cuisine at Home, December 2005, Issue 54, p. 36)
Makes: 8 Cups

Potsticker Soup

It has been a pretty rough couple of weeks here. My cold quickly turned from that into a respiratory infection, which triggered the worst asthma attack I have had in 5 or 6 years. Even though I disinfected everything I touched, Jack caught the same cold and his turned into bronchitis. In fact, I hate to admit it, but I was so miserable that I thought his cough was just a “sympathetic” cough, and didn’t do much about it except throw cough drops at him for a few days…

In the last 10 days or so, I have totally depleted my freezer full of chicken and vegetable stock since I prepared only very simple, quick soups and stews. I actually located a couple of meals in the freezer (I have to remember to make extra and freeze occasionally for situations such as this) which I was able to use as well.

Today, however, looks a bit brighter. Although it sounds like a 1950’s hospital TB ward around here with all of the coughing going on, I realized that I could make it the whole way up the stairs to the second floor without having to stop and breathe. Pretty pathetic.

Back when this all started and Jack was still cold-free, he met with our accountant and, when he arrived home, brought me a huge container of wonton soup from our favorite local Chinese restaurant. I love their wonton soup, and had recently found out that it tasted so good because the owner makes his broth from scratch. Yum. There’s nothing worse than salty, greasy chicken broth. A few days later, on our way home from my doctor appointment, we stopped at the same restaurant and I had the soup again. It just made me feel so much better!

While talking with the owner (Glenn!), he mentioned that he enjoys chicken broth with potstickers as a quick meal. Hmmm. Why had I never heard of this before? Jack and I love potstickers, any kind, and we have found that Trader Joe’s chicken and vegetable dumplings are one of our favorites. However, I had never heard of boiling them in broth, only steaming or pan-frying.

Today, we needed more soup. We are living on soup. As I mentioned earlier, my freezer supply of homemade chicken and vegetable stock had been depleted. As was our supply of cough drops. So I went out to the local grocery store and picked up a few supplies.

The only low-sodium chicken stock or broth which had been suggested to me, and was available at the small store, was Swanson’s chicken stock. Armed with a couple of boxes of that, plus some vegetables and fruit, milk, juice, and cough drops, I came home and took a nap. :)

When I finally got around to moving again, I dug out a package of TJ’s dumplings out of the freezer and went to work. The soup which I made was incredibly simple, but very delicious. The dumplings were more filling than wontons, and I added some vegetables and a few seasonings as well, which made this a well-rounded meal.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Potsticker Soup

Recipe By; Vicci

Servings: 2 Preparation Time :0:20

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

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2 1/2 cups low-sodium defatted chicken broth

2/3 cup water

1/4 teaspoon minced ginger

1/4 teaspoon minced garlic

1/8 teaspoon oriental hot sauce -- (sambal oelek is a good choice)

1 large carrot -- split lengthwise and sliced diagonally

3/4 cup thinly sliced green cabbage -- any kind, but I prefer Napa or Bok Choy

2 large green onions -- slice all but keep the green tops separate (for garnish)

12 whole Trader Joe's Chicken Gyoza Potstickers, unthawed

1 teaspoon arrowroot -- mixed with 1 teaspoon water, optional

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

Bring the broth and water to a boil in a medium saucepot. Add the ginger, garlic, hot sauce, carrot, and cabbage.

Turn down the heat to simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Add the green onion WHITES and the potstickers, turn up the heat to return to a boil, then turn the heat back down, partially cover, and cook until the potstickers are tender (TJ's directions say about 2-3 minutes)

If a slightly thicker broth is desired, add the arrowroot-and-water mixture and stir until thickened. Turn off heat and stir in the sesame oil. Divide between two deep bowls, sprinkle with the reserved sliced green onion tops. Dust with a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper.

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Per serving: 260 Calories (kcal); 4g Total Fat (1g Saturated); (15% calories from fat); 16g Protein; 30g Carbohydrate; 26mg Cholesterol; 1347mg Sodium

Food Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 0 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates

I have to add that Jack loved this soup so much he has requested it for tomorrow, too! :)

Next time I get to the store, I will pick up some snow peas to shred into the soup as well-- I think it would be a delicious addition.

Vegetarian Mulligatawny

I love fun-sounding words and phrases. In my previously-posted recipe, the title of the beans used was Eye of the Goat beans and that unusual name intrigued me enough to make it (of course, I didn’t have that particular bean so I subbed Canary beans, the name of which I find slightly less amusing although much better than kidney).

A few weeks ago I ran across a recipe for Mulligatawny. I have fun saying that name—mulligatawny! Yes, I am easily amused. :) I have never had nor made this soup, but I believe that it was mentioned in the Soup Nazi episode of Seinfeld many years ago. This vegetarian recipe, which was entered in March's edition of No Croutons Required by the author of Asparagus and Raspberries, contained a few vegetables which I happened to have on hand and wanted to use.

I looked up “mulligatawny” online and found a zillion widely varying recipes. Although it seems to be Indian in origin, it is actually British (from when they occupied India and altered a regional soup recipe to use ingredients with which they were familiar). Many of the recipes contained lentils or rice, which the original recipe does not contain and I ended up adding cooked basmati rice at the last minute.

This recipe has a huge ingredient list, and lots of time is spent in preparing the vegetables, but the resulting soup is well worth the effort.

With a 3-4 hour simmering time, as long as you (or a responsible person) is around to give the mixture a stir every now and then, you don’t have to spend all of those hours babysitting it. I went for an hour-long run, and set a kitchen timer to remind Jack to stir it every 20 minutes.

And it made the house smell wonderful, like stepping into the very best Indian restaurant you’ve ever visited. With four hours of simmering (apparently you can get away with three), the fragrance of curry was permeated into our living areas until the next morning (and, believe me, neither of us minded a bit!).

Above shows the curry powder roasting in the oil and butter. I, of course, decreased both of those ingredients from the original recipe. And pardon the old (to say the least) pot. I don’t have a nice Dutch oven at the lake house and I found this in the far reached of the cupboard. I make chili in it occasionally. A nice, very heavy pot which Jack brought into our marriage (noooo, it couldn’t have been a LeCreuset piece, could it?!), but no matter how I tried I could not remove the black from the inside.

I believe that an essential step is lightly sautéing the vegetables in the oil/butter/curry mixture. The vegetables had a chance to absorb this wonderful flavor before the liquid ingredients were added.

I made some changes in the recipe, but the most major change was in the structure of the ingredient list. I am a little fussy when it comes to organization and I have to have recipes organized as well, letting me know the order in which I will be using the ingredients. I find it easier to cook this way.

We spent a few days at the lake house and I packed all of the ingredients and took them with us. I thought that I had frozen corn and lemon juice there only to discover that I did not, so those ingredients were left out. And, because of Jack’s inexplicable aversion to eggplant, I left that out as well. To add more flavor and nutrition, I used vegetable stock instead of some of the water in the soup.

I was unpacking after arriving at the lake house when I realized that I had forgotten the white potatoes. I had an equal amount of sweet potatoes, so I used them instead. I had thought that they may get a little mushy with the lengthy simmer, but I was wrong. In fact, I will now use sweet potatoes whenever I make this, just because they were so good. One last point, I used too much rice (and that has been corrected in the recipe below). The next day, you could have cut the soup into wedges, it was so firm. ;)

* Exported from MasterCook *

Vegetarian Mulligatawny

Adapted from a recipe by Asparagus & Raspberries

Servings: 8

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

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2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder

3 medium potatoes -- peeled and diced

4 small carrots -- peeled and diced

2 large parsnips -- peeled and diced

1 large onions -- peeled and diced

2 whole leeks -- outer layers removed, thinly sliced

2 medium apples -- peeled and diced (Granny Smith apples hold up nicely to the long

simmer)

6 ounces yellow corn

10 ounces eggplant -- diced

1 large red bell pepper -- roasted, skin removed, diced

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp nutmeg

2 large bay leaves

15 ounces canned diced tomato

4 cups water

2 cups low-sodium vegetable stock

8 ounces light coconut milk

1/2 cup fresh parsley -- chopped

1/2 cup pistachio nuts -- chopped

1 medium lemon -- juice only (use some of the peel as garniture)

1 large lime -- juice (use some of some of the peel as garniture)

3/4 cup basmati rice -- cooked

Prepare all the vegetables.

Start by roasting the curry in the oil and butter in a Dutch over medium heat for about 2 minutes (stir constantly so it doesn't burn, you might have to turn down the heat a bit near the end).

Add the potatoes through bay leaves and cook the mixture, turning the heat to medium/low, stirring to coat all with the curry/oil. Make sure that the vegetables do not take color. Then add the canned tomatoes (undrained), water and vegetable stock and bring to a boil before you leave it to simmer, covered, for 3 - 4 hours. Set the lid of the pot ajar a little for some steam to escape (but not too much or the liquid may evaporate and boil away!).

Stir every now and then. This thickens the soup and intensifies the taste.

Add the coconut milk through the cooked rice, blend in with the rest of the soup, and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Serve with a bit of nut-parsley topping if desired, or chopped cilantro, or lime and lemon zest.

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Per serving: 349 Calories (kcal); 12g Total Fat (3g Saturated); (28% calories from fat); 8g Protein; 58g Carbohydrate; 4mg Cholesterol; 233mg Sodium

Food Exchanges: 2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 2 Vegetable; 1/2 Fruit; 2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates

Posole with Eye of the Goat Beans and Shredded Chicken

Not too surprisingly, since I was raised and still live in southwestern Pennsylvania and did not even taste a taco until I was a junior in college, I had not tried posole until this past winter. I saw a recipe, and it looked very interesting, but I had a difficult time locating hominy until I finally found it at… WalMart. This was canned hominy, and I posted about the Posole Rojo a month or two ago.

Since both Jack and I really enjoyed it, when I saw this recipe for Posole with Eye of the Goat Beans and Shredded Chicken, and it used dried hominy, I decided to give it a try.

But, first, from those (like myself) who are uncertain about what posole really is, a Wiki-definition:

Pozole (from Spanish pozole, from Nahuatl potzolli; variant spellings: posole, pozolé, pozolli) is a traditional pre-Columbian soup or stew from Mexico and New Mexico. It is made from hominy, with pork (or other meat), chili pepper, and other seasonings and garnish, such as cabbage, lettuce, oregano, cilantro, radish, avocado, lime juice, etc. There are a number of variations on pozole, including blanco (white or clear), verde (green), rojo (red), de frijol (with beans), and elopozole (sweet corn, squash, and chicken or pork meat).

Hominy itself is pretty interesting—corn kernels soaked in a lime-water solution, then dried and reconstituted. I initially didn’t know what to expect from the canned hominy, but I liked its chewy texture. I found dried white hominy at a Mexican grocery and it looked like the cracked corn in the birdseed mixture we put in the bird feeder. :)

Now this recipe is simple in its preparation, but it also takes some time. The hominy took only 2-1/2 hours to cook, but add in the toasting, soaking, and pureeing the chili peppers, then the actual preparation of the soup itself, and it was a bit time-consuming. Well worth it, mind you, but I am glad that I had my laptop in the kitchen so I could spend the downtime working.

Here is the dried, and cooked, hominy. Really, the cooked version is not as gloppy as it looks. Once the cooking water is drained, or in the case of this recipe added to the posole along with the hominy, the kernels are more... individual.

In my pantry is a package of dried New Mexico chili peppers, some of which I have used ground to in a recipe or two during this past winter, so I used them again for this soup. I find that it’s easy to toast dried peppers when, after they are split and the seeds are removed, they are toasted in a dry skillet with a small, heavy lid to weigh them down and press them flat to the heat.

The shape of the dried chilies indicated that I should soak them in a loaf pan.

I followed the recipe almost to the letter, except (and, yes, there is always an “except”!):

1) I used canary beans instead of those wonderfully whimsical-sounding Eye of the Goat beans.

2) Instead of purchased rotisserie chicken (which contains a lot of fat), I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts which I had poached, cooled in the broth, and shredded

3) I added ½ tablespoon of sugar at the end (the chilies seemed to be a little bitter)

4) I thickened the broth with 1½ tablespoons of arrowroot

We loved this! It was worth every bit of work. The broth is thick and rich and flavorful with the pureed chilies and all of the other ingredients blend together very well. I find that I really enjoy the texture of the hominy, which makes the soup vary hearty. Don’t forget the garnishes because they make the posole. We used shredded cheese, chopped tomato and avocado, and cilantro. This recipe made about 10 cups, so we are looking at a couple of more days of this wonderful stuff. No problem, there!

Also, if you cannot locate dried Anaheim or New Mexico Chilies, I think that Ancho chilies would work as well.

Following is the recipe as I copied it from Laura's post at The Spiced Life

Posole With Eye Of The Goat Beans & Shredded Chicken
Adapted from Heirloom Beans, Steve Sando

For the hominy:
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2/3 cup dried hominy
water

For the soup:
1 medium onion, chopped
4 dried Anaheim chile peppers (New Mexico is fine too)
boiling water to cover the chile peppers
2 T olive oil
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 t Mexican oregano
4 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 15 oz can tomatoes, chopped or whole, drained (or if it is summer use 4 plum tomatoes)
2 cups drained, cooked Eye of the Goat beans (or any pinto type)
1 1/2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
salt and pepper to taste

For the garnishes:
chopped cilantro
fried or soft corn tortillas, to taste (we like the crunch of the fried)
1 avocado, diced
1 lime, sliced into wedges
diced monterey jack or crumbled quesco fresco
sweet tomato relish or maybe some honey and chile pepper flakes
finely chopped onion

Cook the hominy by combining the chopped onion, dried hominy and water to cover by 2 inches in a small saucepan. Bring it to a simmer on medium low heat and cover, reducing the heat. Simmer for 3 hours, adding water if necessary to keep covered, or until the hominy is chewy tender. Season with salt toward the end of cooking. Set aside undrained.

Slit the dried chiles and remove the stems and seeds. Flatten them and toast them in a skillet over medium high heat, about 15 seconds per side. They will blister and lighten in color and become aromatic--but be sure they do not burn. place in a small bowl and cover with boiling water for 20-30 minutes.

Place the chiles into a blender with enough of their soaking water to puree to liquid the consistency of buttermilk.

Chop the onion for the soup. Heat a large soup pot or dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the olive oil and heat it to shimmering. Add the chopped onion with a pinch of salt and cook until translucent. Add the garlic and oregano and cook an additional minute, stirring. Add the chicken stock, chile puree, and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Add the cooked hominy with 1 cup of its cooking broth to the soup. Return to a boil. Add the beans and reduce the heat to maintain a simmer for 20 minutes. Add the chicken and simmer an additional 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add a squirt of lime if you think it needs it.

Ladle the soup into deep bowls and add the garnishes.