Soups

• Beef Stew
• Chicken and dumpling soup
• Cream of Chicken
• Garlic Rosemary Cream of Chicken with Rice
• Sweet Tomato Basil Soup
• White bean and sausage soup

Beef Stew

Ingredients

• 1 pkg bacon
• 1 lb stewing beef, cubed
• 1-2 tbsp of olive oil
• 2-3 carrots (weigh this)
• 1 large onion
• 4-6 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp flour
• 4 cups beef stock, reduced salt
• 1 cup red wine, probably cabernet sauvignon
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp liquid oxo
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 2 bay leaves
• 200g mushrooms, quartered
• 2 tbsp butter
• (optional, pick 1) Potatoes, cubed
• (optional, pick 1) 1/2 cup barley

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Bake bacon for 20 minutes
3. Reserve bacon fat in a container and set aside. Crumble bacon and store in fridge.
4. Adjust oven temperature to 300, or preheat the slow cooker.
5. Pat beef dry with paper towel
6. Heat pan over med high heat. When hot, add 1 tbsp of olive oil and cook the beef until browned. DO NOT CROWD the beef. Cook in 2 rounds if needed. Transfer beef to an oven safe pot or slow cooker.
7. Add some bacon fat to the pan, enough to soak up the 2tbsp of flour
8. Add red wine and use to deglaze/capture the flour/bacon fat mixture
9. Add red wine/flour/bacon fat mixture to pot/slow cooker
10. Add beef stock/tomato paste/spices to pot or slow cooker
11. Cook for 2 1/2h. (possibly more with the slow cooker)
12. If using oven, remove the pot at this time. In either case, remove the bay leaves.
13. Take some leftover bacon fat and cook the vegetables until tender crisp. Add garlic during the last minute of cooking, reserving some for the mushrooms. Add this mixture to the slow cooker with 1/2h remaining or 20 minutes on the stove.
14. If using barley, add in 1/2h before the end of cooking. Adjust liquid by an extra 1 1/2 cups to account for absorption.
15. If using potatoes, consider roasting in the oven for the maillard effect and adding at the end.
16. Around 10-15 minutes before the end, cook quartered mushrooms in a pan with butter. Add these as a topping.

Chicken and dumpling soup

1.5 lb (700g) boneless skinless chicken thighs 1 bottle (750mL) white wine (could replace with water or stock 1 carton (32 oz, 946mL) chicken stock 8 oz (227g) white mushrooms 2 bunches green onions 1 lb (454g) carrots 3-4 garlic cloves 12 oz (340g) green beans 6 egg yolks 3/4 cup (177mL) cream 1 lemon flour oil salt pepper dry herbs

For the dumplings

2 cups (230g) cake flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon garlic powder 2 tablespoons melted butter milk or water fresh sage, rosemary, thyme, parsley or any combination thereof

Cut each thigh into 4-6 pieces. Season heavily with salt, pepper and dry herbs, then toss the pieces with enough flour to coat. Cut the mushrooms in half or quarters (remember they'll shrink in half when cooking), thin-slice the onions and reserve the green slices for garnish at the end, peel and thick-slice the carrots, smash and peel the garlic cloves.

Heat a film of oil in a large pot, then lay in the chicken piece by piece to keep them from sticking to each other. Keep your heat high enough to brown the chicken but don't let anything burn — low and slow is fine. When the bottoms of the pieces are brown, you should be able to scrape them off the pan with a wooden spoon and flip them.

When the chicken pieces are brown on all sides, push the chicken over to one side and drop in the mushrooms. Stir the mushrooms around and let them brown a moment. Stir in the sliced onion whites and let them cook for a moment. Deglaze with the entire bottle of wine. Stir in the carton of stock, garlic, carrots and a pinch or two of salt. Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes until the carrots are almost soft.

While you're waiting, slice the green beans into small piece. Separate out the egg yolks (eat the whites for breakfast tomorrow) and beat them smooth with the cream.

When the carrots feel almost done, stir in the green beans — they'll need about 30 minutes total.

Now is when you want to mix up the dumpling batter. Finely chop a big pile of fresh herbs and zest the lemon. Throw all that in with the cake flour, baking powder, salt and garlic powder. Stir in the melted butter until it seems to disappear. Stir in just enough milk or water (no more than a cup, 237mL) to get you a shaggy, sloppy dough — if you over-mix, the dumplings will be tough. Form the dough into rough, small balls.

When the green beans are 15 minutes away, drop the dumplings in the soup, make sure the heat is high enough that the broth is bubbling, cover and let the dumplings steam at least 10 minutes before you check on them. When they double in size and look cooked, they're cooked — don't overcook them or they'll get dense.

Kill the heat and wait for bubbling to stop, then stir in the liaison (yolk and cream mixture). Turn the heat back on to a bare simmer and cook for a couple minutes until you see the yolks cook and slightly thicken the broth — be careful not to overcook or the eggs will go gritty. Taste the soup for seasoning and add any needed salt, a little lemon juice to taste, and the reserved onion greens.

Cream of Chicken

Ingredients

• 1lb chicken breast
• 3 carrots
• 3 celery sticks
• 1 med or large sweet onion
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/3 cup flour
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp parsley
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1tbsp white wine
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• Loaf of bread for dipping

Preparation

• Salt the chicken for 10 minutes, flatten, and grill on the cast iron pan until cooked through. Slice or shred into bite sized pieces and set aside
• Slice carrots and celery, and dice the onion into small 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces
• Melt the butter in a dutch oven
• Over medium heat, cook the vegetables with the lid on for 12 minutes
• Remove the lid and add the flour. Mix until coated and cook for one additional minute
• Add the chicken stock and stir while bringing the soup to a boil
• Turn down the heat to medium
• Add the thyme, parsley, salt, and pepper. Add the tbsp of white wine.
• Cook on medium, with the lid off and stirring frequently, for 15 minutes
• Add prepared chicken and heat through.
• Take off heat and add the heavy cream. Serve immediately with sliced bread.

Garlic Rosemary Cream of Chicken with Rice

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp butter or olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 med carrots, sliced
• 2 med celery stalks, sliced
• 1 leek, green part sliced into quarter rings
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup flour
• 5 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 1 lb chicken breasts
• 1 cup uncooked basmati rice
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary
• 2 bay leaves (omit if making homemade stock)
• 2 cups plain milk
• salt and pepper to taste
• Crusty bread

Preparation

• Salt the chicken and let sit for 10 minutes, then remove the salt and flatten
• Add pepper to the chicken and cook on a cast iron pan until cooked through. Remove and cube into bite sized pieces.
• Melt butter or oil in a large stockpot over medium heat.
• Add onion and saute for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally
• Add carrot, celery, and garlic and saute for 3 more minutes
• Add flour and saute for 1 minute, stirring frequently
• Gradually add chicken stock, stirring frequently
• Add rosemary and optional bay leaves
• Cook on med-low for 20 minutes with lid on, stirring occasionally
• Add rice and cook on med-low for additional 20 minutes with the lid on, stirring regularly to prevent sticking
• 10 minutes before the rice is done, add the leeks
• Remove bay leaves if used
• Add chicken and milk. Heat through
• Add salt and pepper to taste
• Serve warm with crusty bread for dipping

Sweet Tomato Basil Soup

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 large clove garlic, chopped
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 28 oz diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 Tbsp dried basil
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Preparation

1. Heat oil and butter in a large nonreactive pot over medium-low heat.
2. Saute onion and garlic until soft, 8-10 minutes. Take care not to burn garlic.
3. Add flour to onions and garlic, and stir until well coated.
4. Add stock, tomatoes, basil, sugar, salt, and pepper to pot.
5. Increase temperature to medium-high and stir frequently until boiling.
6. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
7. Remove from heat. Transfer liquid to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Puree in batches if necessary.
8. Return soup to the original pot. Add cooked noodles, gnocchi, or serve plain.

White bean and sausage soup

Preface

This is an experimental recipe.

Ingredients

• Ukrainian Sausage
• 2 Carrots
• 2-3 Celery sticks
• Small Onion
• 2-3 Yellow Potatoes
• 1 can white beans (drained)
• 3 cups chicken/vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp Fresh Thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste
• 1/8 tsp Chili Flakes

Directions

• Make mirepoix out of carrots, celery sticks, onion
• dice potatoes
• loosely chop spinach
• Saute Ukrainian sausage, set aside
• Saute mirepoix in 1tbsp butter until tender-crisp, about 3-4 mins
• Add white beans, diced potato, chick/veg stock, seasonings
• Simmer until potato and veg soft, about 20-25 mins
• Blend half the soup, return to pot with the rest
• Add spinach and sausage, heat through until spinach wilts