Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We had a fantastic time at our little St. Pattie's Day/board game party this weekend. Every one enjoyed the food, company and hysterical games. If your old Taboo box is gathering dust, be sure to bust it out the next time you have company over.

On to the menu! To start, I set out a plate of mini-shepard's pies, an Irish cheese plate (with green grapes, of course) and a zucchini carpacio. The shepard's pies were a big hit, and even ended up getting reheated once the party dragged into the wee hours. For the main course we had this lamb stew and a side of my grandma's cabbage and noodles. I tend to use a light hand with the salt when we have guests over, since I don't know their preferences, but I think these both could have used a little more seasoning. For dessert we munched on the Oreo truffles, which everyone LOVED. We also had tons of Irish beer and this green punch. The punch is dangerous, since you can't taste the alcohol at all, so be warned!

Also a big thanks to Debby over at A Feast for the Eyes, for this very sweet award:

I always enjoy Debby's blog and her comments. She has been a great friend! This award is for the following:

"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated."

I want to pass this along to Foodie with Little Thyme. She is a mom, wife, runner, and of course, is always full of great recipes and delicious food. Please go check her out!

Hope you all have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day! Go kiss someone Irish!

Lamb Shank Stew with Russet Potato Top

Slightly Adapted from Tyler Florence

1 cup AP flour

salt and pepper

3 lamb shanks (appx. 24-oz.), cut into pieces

2 tablespoons EVOO

4 garlic cloves, chopped

4 carrots, peeled and cut into coins

1 large onion, roughly chopped

1 bay leaf

1/4 bunch of thyme

2 cloves

3/4 bottle (750ml) red wine

4-5 cups low sodium beef broth

1 cup barley

6 russet potatoes

Garlic-Parsley Butter:

10 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt

1/2 bunch flat leaf parsley, leaves chopped

1 stick unsalted butter

• Preheat oven to 350℉.
• Place flour and a liberal amount of salt and pepper on a plate.
• Dredge lamb pieces in flour and shake off excess.
• Heat oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat.
• Brown lamb pieces on all sides, the set aside.
• Add garlic, carrots, onion, bay leaf, thyme and cloves to pot, and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until veggies are slightly browned.
• Add beef stock, wine and barley.
• Add lamb back to pot, cover and roast in oven for 2 hours.
• Garlic-Parsley Butter: Make while stew is cooking.
• Using the back of a knife, mash together garlic, salt and olive oil, to form a paste.
• Mix with parsley.
• Melt butter in a sauce pot and add garlic-parsley mixture.
• Cook over low for 5 minutes, then set aside.
• Peel potatoes and cut in half lengthwise (submerge in cold water if not ready to use immediately, to keep from turning black).
• After stew has cooked for 2 hours, remove the lid and place potatoes on top (you may have to cut the potatoes to make them all fit).
• Place pot back in oven to cook for 45 minutes.
• Baste the potatoes with the garlic butter, and return to oven to cook for an additional 15 minutes, or until potatoes have cooked through.

Green Punch

2 (12-oz.) cans frozen limeade concentrate

2 (12-oz.) cans frozen lemonade concentrate

3 liters sprite

1 (750ml) bottle rum

2 quarts lime sherbet (All I could find was rainbow, which didn't affect the flavor, but I did add in a few drops of green food coloring to intensify the color)

• Combine first 4 ingredients, then stir in sherbet.
• Serve cold.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

As most of you who have been reading my blog for a while will know, I like to follow recipes. I make little tweaks here and there to fit my own personal tastes or for convenience sake, but in general, I'm a stick to the rules kinda gal. I think of cooking like playing the piano. It can be a wonderful, creative outlet for some people (my husband being one of those talented beings), but you gotta learn how to read the music before you will ever be able to create songs of your own.

It's the same thing with cooking. You have to know the basics before you start tossing things together, or else you risk coming out with something so bad the dog won't even eat it. Most of the time, I'll let the professionals do the heavy lifting. Then I will happily take the credit for their hard work. :)

Last night though, I got this mad crazy idea to do my own soup recipe. I must have read like 6 recipes for soups that all had one ingredient in common - butternut squash - then I took what I liked from all of them, threw it in the pot and said a little prayer to the big guy. Let me tell you, I should be sure to play the lotto this week, cause Lady Luck seems to be paying me a visit! The soup was good! I mean really pretty darn tasty. I'm probably more shocked than anyone. Except for maybe Mom (she was the one I used to call when I couldn't figure out how to make scrambled eggs).

This soup blends together roasted butternut squash, apples, sage, chicken broth and Marsala wine. Nothing too fancy going on, and I stuck with classic combinations (like clinging to the pool wall when you are learning to swim). Oh, and this starts with bacon. How bad can something be when it starts with bacon?! If nothing else, having this soup come out so delicious felt like moving up from the Little Tikes Big Wheel to a pair of training wheels. Not quite to the big girl two-wheeler just yet, but I'm headed in the right direction!

Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

5-6 cups butternut squash, peeled and cubed (this was 2 small squash for me)

olive oil

salt and pepper

3-4 slices of bacon, chopped

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

4 sage leaves, or a whole sage sprig

2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1/4 cup Marsala wine

1/4 cup heavy cream

• Preheat oven to 400℉.
• Place cubed squash on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and mix together.
• Roast squash for 40-50 minutes, then set aside.
• In a large pot over medium heat, cook bacon through, then set aside. Leave oil in pot.
• Add additional olive oil if necessary, then add onions and cook till translucent (8-10 minutes).
• Add garlic, sage, apples and squash and saute for a few minutes.
• Add broth and simmer over medium for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Lower heat to low, add Marsala and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
• Remove sage leaves or sprig.
• Add salt and pepper.
• Take the soup off the heat, and puree using a immersion blender or by transferring soup in batches to a blender. (We like ours a little chunkier, so I left some pieces of apple. This worked well and the apples had that baked apple texture).
• Stir in cream.
• Top individual servings with bacon.

New Orleans ain't so proud of me....

So the other day when I told you about the amazing fig cake, I neglected to mention the disaster that was the beginning of that meal. A little embarrassing considering we had company over (don't worry, they are good friends and are always given a fair warning that they will be used as guinea pigs). Most of my friends up here have never really had good southern cookin', so when given the chance, I like to introduce them some of my favorites. Since today most of the southern world will be spilling out huge pots of gumbo, I thought this would be the perfect time to share with you my own gumbo experience, and hope that yours will go much better! :)

I should go ahead and let you know that I really have no credentials to be cooking southern food, except for the fact that I've eaten my fair share. I grew up in north Florida, which is a combo of traditional southern types but also a lot of beachy, typical Florida people. Mom is from Tampa & Dad is from the backwoods of North Carolina. So I guess that heritage makes me half qualified. I didn't really get into my "southern roots" until I spent 4 glorious years in the wonderful town of Oxford, MS. People, you just don't get more southern than Ole Miss. If you've never been down there, I suggest you pull up next year's football schedule and book a ticket. You will be happy you did.

Anyways, I've already introduced the majority of my yankee friends (my husband was actually dubbed a "super yankee" by my best friends since he is from Canada) to things like biscuits and gravy and red beans and rice, but I thought I would do something a little more intense for dinner the other night. In the spirit of Mardis Gras, I decided to make a chicken-andouille sausage gumbo.

First off, I had to take apart a whole chicken - which I have no idea how to do. Good thing the chicken was just shredded to bits in the end because it was looking a little scary by the time I was done attempting to butcher it. I boiled the chicken down, creating a really nice stock, and then things began to get a little crazy. The recipe called for cooking oil and flour until it turned a dark caramel color. Well in about half the suggested time, mine had turned totally black (see the picture!). Ooops. Everything else went fine, but this black gunk made the whole dish taste bitter and slightly oily. It also stuck to everything and made for a serious clean-up session.

It's so disappointing when something so labor intensive and promising turns out like this. But I wanted to share since experiences like this, although unpleasant, are just part of learning to cook. Guess I have to get a little more in touch with my southern roots before I try something like this again! I'm not going to post the recipe, because at this point I don't know if it was me or it that caused the debacle, but if you would like it please let me know and I would be happy to add it for you. The one good thing that did come out of this meal, aside from the wonderful company, was some great made-from-scratch cornbread that I will share with you soon!

Hope everyone gets a big slice of King Cake today served up along side of a Hurricane (and no hangover tomorrow)!

Beef and Butternut Squash Stew

The weather is so sneaky. It had just barely started to warm up here last week, and now it's back to freezing again. After spending a few days in sunny Orlando, I was beginning to think that winter might just be heading out the door. Ha! It doesn't look like the coldness will be leaving us anytime soon. Plus, we are headed back up to Toronto this coming weekend, so I have a feeling we will be getting more than our fair share of winter weather.

The one (and pretty much only) good thing about the chilly weather is that you get to sit in the comfort of your heated home eating soul satisfying soups and stews. That's exactly how I plan to cope the next few months. So I decided to give another one of Giada's soup recipes a try after my last attempt didn't go so well. I've had this bookmarked for forever and am so glad that I finally tried it. It is very hardy with big, beautiful chunks of butternut squash. The sweet squash, savory meat, tangy sun-dried tomatoes and herb combo make for a very unique flavor. This dish just feels special because of how many layers of flavor it has. You would never know that it was easypeasy to whip up. This is also pretty economical for those of you who aren't so sure the stimulus bill will pull us out of this funk.

Beef and Butternut Squash Stew

Adapted from Everyday Italian - Giada De Laurentiis

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, minced

2 pounds of stew beef, cut into 2-inch cubes

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons AP flour

1 cup Marsala wine

1 pound butternut squash, peeled and cut into 2-inch cubes

1/4 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

3-4 cups beef broth

2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, chopped

rice, optional

• Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large soup pot.
• Add onions, garlic, rosemary and thyme and saute for about 2 minutes, or until the onions have begun to soften.
• Toss beef with salt, pepper and flour, then place in pot over medium-high heat.
• Cook beef until browned, about 5 minutes.
• Add wine, and using a spoon, stir-up the browned bits on the bottom of the pot.
• Add squash and tomatoes.
• Add just enough broth to cover the squash.
• Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 1 hour.
• Adjust salt and pepper to taste, garnish with parsley and serve over rice, if desired.

Italian Wedding Soup

I love the canned Italian wedding soup you can find at any grocery store. The mini-meatballs, bits of pasta and flavorful blend of herbs are an awesome combination. So when I saw Giada making this soup, I knew I had to try it. I figured if the soup won me over coming out of a can, it would have to be amazing when made with my own two hands.

Unfortunately, I made a few changes to this recipe that I think kept it from being as glorious as I had hoped. The soups flavorings were all delicious, the real problem was with the meatballs. They weren't flavorful and were very tough even though I was careful not to overmix them. Obvioulsy I wasn't careful enough! I also made the mistake of just using ground beef because that was all our grocery store had (yes, I pretty much hate the grocery stores in my area. Whole Foods - why must you neglect us UESiders and position your stores in every other area of the island??). So the meatballs ended up tasting like balled up hamburgers. Less than stellar. This is what I get for messing with Giada!

I will try this one again and actually follow recipe to a "t," because the base of the soup was delicious and very flavorful. It was also really pretty with the green pieces of escarole and little strands of egg and parmesan. In the meantime, if anyone has any meatball tips I would love to hear them!!

Italian Wedding Soup

Slightly Adapted from Everyday Italian - Giada De Laurentiis

Meatballs:

1 small onion, grated

1/3 cup chopped Italian parsley

1 large egg

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1 slice white bread, crust trimmed and torn into small pieces

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

8-ounces ground beef

8-ounces ground pork

pepper

Soup:

12 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 pound escarole

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan, plus more for serving

salt and pepper

cooked macaroni noodles (optional)

• Meatballs: In a bowl, stir to combine the onion, parsley, egg, garlic, salt and bread.
• Stir in the cheese, beef and pork.
• Shape the mixture into 1-inch diameter meatballs and place on a baking sheet.
• Soup: Heat broth in a large pot over medium-high heat until it comes to a boil.
• Add meatballs and escarole and simmer for about 8 minutes, or until meatballs are cooked and escarole is tender.
• Whisk together the eggs and cheese and gradually stir into broth using a fork to create thin strands for about 1 minute.
• Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Add in noodles and top with Parmesan, if desired.

Irish Onion Soup

I made this the other night when our friends came over for dinner (and some very intense Rock Band sessions!). It's been really cold in nyc for the past few weeks, so soup has never been more appropriate. I'm a big fan of this one because it is a take on a classical French onion soup, but instead the onions are braised in Guinness and the bread topper is smothered in melted Irish cheddar. 

The soup was really flavorful and the cheesy crouton made it substantial enough to serve as a main course. I also love serving things in individual dishes. It just makes for a fun presentation. Unfortunately, I did have a few hiccups with the timing of the recipe. The onions took WAY longer to cook than the recipe called for (they said 15 minutes, I cooked them for like 40 and they still weren't as cooked as I would have liked). Aside from that, and the fact that my eyes are still watering from cutting up so many onions, the soup is a cinch to pull together and everyone seemed to really like it. Especially the men, this is definitely guy food.

Irish Onion Soup

Adapted from Easy Entertaining - Michael Chiarello

Yields 6 Servings

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

5 garlic cloves, minced

8 yellow onions, or about 8 cups, thinly sliced

salt

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped

1/4 cup sherry vinegar

1 1/2 cups dark beer (Guinness)

6 cups beef stock

6 slices country break, cute 1/2-inch thick, lightly toasted

1/2 pound Irish cheddar, thinly sliced

• Heat olive oil in a pot over high heat and add onions and garlic.
• Season with salt and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often.
• Reduce heat to low and continue cooking onions, stirring occasionally, till they are golden brown, about 45 minutes.
• Add thyme, vinegar and beer and cook until beer is reduced by half.
• Add beef stock, bring to a simmer, and cook for an additional 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, preheat the broiler.
• When soup is done cooking, ladle servings into individual, oven-safe bowls.
• Top each serving with the bread and cheese.
• Broil the soups until the cheese it totally melted and slightly browned.
• Serve immediately.

Baked Potato Soup for the Soul

For the past few days I have been feeling a bit under the weather. It started like the usual, somewhat manageable, seasonal cold that I always get when it becomes chilly out. But after running outside in the snow for a few hours on Sunday morning at the GOTR event, my little cold has turned into a full fledged can't-get-out-of-bed illness. Yuck!

Naturally I'm in no mood to really eat anything, let alone cook something. As cooking something would mean standing up, which is not exactly feasible at the moment. Luckily I made a huge pot of this soup a few days ago and we are now surviving on the leftovers. Baked potato soup is always delicious, but especially so when you aren't feeling so hot. I actually made this recipe for the first time when I had just started college. I remember it so well because it was one of my first attempts at cooking something more complex than mac and cheese. Needless to say it was a total disaster because I neglected to stir it while it was cooking and the whole bottom half of the soup burnt to the pot. Lesson learned - thou shalt stir soup (duh!).

The soup is thick, rich and filling. I can also vouch that it makes awesome leftovers. Potatoes, cheese and bacon - need I say more?

Baked Potato Soup

4 Baking Potatoes

2/3 cups AP Flour

6 cups Milk (I used skim)

1 cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Salt

1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper

1 cup Reduced Fat Sour Cream

3/4 cup Green Onions, chopped

6 Bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

• Preheat oven to 400℉.
• Scrub potatoes and pierce each with fork.
• Bake potatoes in oven for 1 hour or until tender.
• Cut potatoes into chunks and send through a food mill with the coarse attachment (no need to peel), or peel and coarsely mash by hand.
• Place flour in a large dutch oven and gradually whisk in milk.
• Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly (about 8 minutes).
• Add mashed potatoes, 3/4 cup of cheese and salt and pepper to taste (the recipe called for only 1 teaspoon of salt, but I ended up adding about 3 teaspoons total), stirring until cheese melts.
• Stir in sour cream and 1/2 cup green onions and cook over low heat for 10 minutes (do not boil), or until thoroughly heated.
• Serve each individual serving with additional cheese, onions and bacon.

For those of us who can't eat anymore turkey...

I don't know about ya'll, but I can't fit another bite of turkey, ham or potatoes into my mouth. We've eaten nothing but leftovers for days, and I find myself having cravings for something simple and healthy, like a salad -- I'm craving salad, something must really be wrong with me!! Thank goodness there is a month between Christmas and Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, with my mom and Magga doing all the cooking for both my side and my husband's side of the family. No small feat - especially since all 12 of us (and 3 dogs) stayed under one roof!

Now that we are back home (we were in GA for all the festivities), and want nothing to do with anything heavy and rich, we will be eating lots of this soup. It's my husband's grandma's recipe for miso soup and it is soooo good! It's very satisfying and comforting, but is still light and healthy, which is exactly what we need for our turkey day detox.

We are lucky enough to live right around the corner from a Japanese grocery store (Katagiri), so we were able to find the exact ingredients that hubby's grandma recommended. Although we have no clue what they say since all the writing is in Japanese, she showed us the boxes and we just went and got the same one. So that is what I will do for you too... Miso is on the left and Dashi on the right.

Usually when we make this soup it's very flexible with no real specifications on how much to add of what. We tried to give exact estimates of what you should add, but know that you really can eyeball when making this and don't bother getting out the measuring tools. Add as much tofu, mushrooms and green onion as you prefer.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and stayed far, far away from any malls! :)

Miso Soup

Courtesy of Bachan

2/3 cup White Miso (Amano Shiro Miso, Organic - recommended)

Water

6-8 Shitake Mushrooms, stems removed and sliced

1 packet of Dashi 

6-8 ounces of Firm Tofu, cut into small cubes

White Rice**

Green Onions, thinly sliced

• Place miso into a medium sized pot.
• Add just enough water to cover miso.
• Cook over medium heat, and stir until paste is dissolved and there are no clumps.
• Add sliced shitakes.
• Cover, stirring occasionally, and bring to a boil.
• After water boils, stir in dashi and tofu until well combined.
• Cook for a few minutes then remove from heat.
• When serving, place desired amount of white rice in in bowl, fill with soup and garnish with green onions.

** When cooking white rice, a great tip is to rinse the rice before cooking to remove some of the starch. Just fill a bowl with the uncooked rice, add water and swirl around with your hand. Drain the water and repeat until water no longer appears milky white. Your rice will then cook up beautifully.

Tuscan Ribolita with Tomato Garlic Bread

Everybody pull out your slow cookers yet again, I have a heck of a soup for you to try. It's hearty and warm and will give your house the most mouth watering smell. Forget lilac, I want a ribolita candle. It's also very quick to throw together and is fairly healthy considering it is totally meat-free and has lots of veggies and beans (you know how the song goes...).

I made this the other day when the hubby and L had another one of their little jam sessions, and  we all thought it was completely soul satisfying and perfectly flavored. The hubby even said that it was better than the soup he gets for lunch most days at Hale and Hearty. Considering these are on just about every corner of NYC, my culinary ego is feeling a little puffed today. :) This is the first recipe I've made from this cookbook, so I will definitely be going back for more.

I normally serve a soup up with some kind of sandwich or salad, as I usually don't find soups satisfying enough on their own. Every meal needs something to literally bite into, not just sip, in my opinion. But the bread cubes in the ribolita really do the trick and make it hearty enough in its own right. Nevertheless, I made up some toasted bread and rubbed it with tomato and garlic to serve alongside. For something so simple, it sure tasted good and the tomatoey bread was a great compliment to the soup.

Tuscan Ribolita

Adapted from Slow Cooker - Willams-Sonoma

1/4 cup olive oil, plus some for drizzling

2 yellow onions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup tomato paste

8 cups chicken or vegetable broth

6 cups canned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 bunch kale or savoy cabbage, coarsely chopped

4 carrots, coarsely chopped

2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, minced

Salt and pepper

3 cups day-old crusty bread

Parmesan cheese shavings (optional)

• Warm olive oil over medium heat in a frying pan.
• Add onions and garlic and cook for 5 minutes, or until softened.
• Stir in tomato paste and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
• Add broth to the pan and bring to a boil.
• Remove from heat once the liquid begins to boil.
• Place beans, kale, carrots, celery, and thyme in slow cooker.
• Add 2 teaspoons of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper.
• Add in the broth.
• Cook in slow cooker for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low.
• Stir bread into soup about 10 minutes before serving.
• Season to taste with additional salt and pepper.
• Optionally, each serving can be drizzled with olive oil and parmesan shavings.

Tomato Garlic Bread

Slices of crusty bread (I used ciabatta)

Garlic cloves, peeled

Tomatoes, halved

EVOO

Coarse Salt

• Lay the slices of bread over a grill pan for a few minutes on each side until they are toasted and have nice markings.
• Rub each piece of toast with a garlic clove then the cut side of the tomato half.
• Drizzle with a little bit of olive oil and follow with a sprinkle of salt.

I'm Back!!!

We made it through the wedding and honeymoon and everything was absolutely picture perfect! The weather was the absolute best for the wedding and we practically spent two weeks in paradise without a drop of rain. After being gone for 3 weeks though, I'm glad to be home and back to our puppy and "real lives."

I'm also glad to not be eating any more restaurant food! After so many days of heavy food and constantly feeling full, I was passing on the delicious banana french toast and craving a bowl of plain rice krispies for breakfast. The food was utterly amazing, but seriously, there is only so much that a person can take before they just want a pb&j for dinner.

So now that we are back and have somewhat woken up from our time change coma, I decided to make the one thing I craved the whole trip but couldn't find anywhere -- grilled cheese. Of course I made our favorite grilled cheese, but since my blog seemed to be feeling a bit lonely over the past few weeks I wanted to make something new too. Hence, this hearty tomato soup. I mean who doesn't love grilled cheese and tomato soup?

The soup was a cinch to put together, even the whole transferring hot soup to a blender and back again, which honestly had me a bit hesitant since I've been known to cover an entire room in margaritas before. The consistency turns out really lovely, kinda thick without being chunky, and gets a bit of creaminess from the added sour cream (which I added instead of creme fraiche). The lemon also added a nice freshness to the soup. The weird thing to me was that it didn't taste much like tomato soup. I thought it would have been much better with a stronger tomato flavor, perhaps the addition of tomato paste would have helped? It tasted more like a pureed veggie soup, which is good in it's own right, but not what I was expecting or craving on this particular occasion. Overall, I would say give this one a pass unless you have some ideas on how to create a stronger tomatoey taste.

Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful well wishes!! It means the world to me - and all of your hopeful thoughts must have worked because everything was a total dream!!

Please visit the link below for the recipe:

Giada's Hearty Tomato Soup with Lemon and Rosemary

Adapted from Everyday Italian - Giada De Laurentiis