Chicken and Dumplings

I had some frozen chicken breasts that needed to be used up as they were starting to freezer burn. This called for some seriously moist cooking. I also have a sore throat, so soup seemed like the best idea to me.

Chicken and Dumplings

3 large half chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
Several chicken necks
1/2 pound carrots
1/2 pound or so mushrooms
1/2 large onion
1 sprig rosemary
several sprigs thyme
2-3 tablespoons chopped garlic
2-3 bay leaves
20 oz. chicken stock
1 cup Bisquick(tm) baking mix
2.5 oz 2% milk
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Salt to taste

Boil the chicken necks in a gallon of water for about an hour, scumming the fat and flotsam from the surface. I put mine in cheesecloth so I didn't have to retrieve bones and skin.

Once the necks have boiled, remove them from the pan and discard (you could retrieve the meat if you so desire - I was lazy).

Chop carrots, onions, and mushrooms into bite-size pieces and add to pan. Add chopped garlic. Let simmer for an hour or so.

Add chicken breasts (still frozen) and simmer until done. Remove each breast and cut into bite-size pieces and return to pan.

About half an hour before you want to eat, add the salt, rosemary, bay leaves, and thyme.

Fifteen minutes before dinner, mix the baking mix, milk, garlic powder and a pinch or two of salt together. Add to boiling soup in teaspoon (or tablespoon) sized dollops, depending on how large you want your dumplings to be. Simmer for 10-12 minutes, turning over halfway through the cooking.

Of course, this won't be enough dumplings for the entire pot; I knew we'd have leftovers and I will make fresh dumplings for them. Double baking mix and milk quantities for a single sit-down dinner. If you don't like the baking mix I used, or can't get it, substitute your favorite. Adjust the fluid amount accordingly.

I'd forgotten how rich and creamy the dumplings make the soup; noodles never quite achieve the same effect. The dumplings just melted in my mouth. The soup was just velvety as we ate. Just what I wanted when I have a sore throat.

Feel free to add celery or mess with the proportions of vegetables in the soup. I just like a very carroty and mushroomy soup, particularly when I don't feel great. If you have a chicken (or turkey) carcass and time to make your own stock, feel free to omit the chicken breasts, chicken necks, and broth -- I only used them because I didn't have the time to start fully from scratch today.

Beef Barley

I love beef barley soup, especially when it is cold out. Well, relatively cold as we're not buried in snow. But the temps this weekend still qualified as chilly.

However, I discovered that I didn't have time to make it like I normally would -- spending eight hours on the stove, unless I wanted to leave the stove on overnight. (Ummm, no, not a good idea). So, I grabbed my trusty crockpot.

Beef Barley Stew

2 lbs beef cut into 1 inch cubes
1 large onion, diced
1/2 to 1 pound carrots
3-4 celery stalks cut into bite-sized pieces
2 portabello mushrooms
1 lb barley
5 cloves garlic, chopped finely
Freshly ground black pepper

Put everything, except 1/2 pound of the barley into a crockpot and cover with water. Start simmering on low.

After at least 6 hours have passed, add the remaining barley and bring the water level back up to ensure everything is covered. Cook for at least two hours.

I like a long, slow cooked beef barley stew. The soup gets so rich and unctuous, like satin on the tongue. However, the barley is very cooked down with no firmness to it. This time, by putting the barley in at two different times, I got my unctuous broth and a delightful presence when I chewed.

Note that I didn't mention salt. I didn't salt the soup until I served it because barley is a salt-hog. And because I was cooking the soup with such a low and slow method, I didn't need it to ensure everything cooked properly. By waiting until serving, the barley didn't get a chance to absorb all the salt. And we could adjust the salt to our individual tastes.

Crock Pot Soups

My hard drive is at least temporarily fixed. I had to reset it to factory settings, which wasn't fun and cost me my archived e-mails and bookmarks!

I love my crock pot. I don't use it nearly often enough, but when I do, I really appreciate having it.

This weekend was supposed to be chillier than last week (which was in the upper 40s). That sounds like time for ham and bean soup for dinner!

Normally I do my soups on the stove, but this time I did in the crock pot -- mostly because I am busily working on the paleography of a 14th century manuscript. So I wanted to be able to ignore the soup until I got hungry.

The soup turned out wonderfully. I soaked the beans for 24 hours because I put them in Friday night and then discovered a social commitment for Saturday. So they didn't go in the pot until Saturday night. I cooked them overnight on low with a country ham bone and some ham. The next morning I turned them to high and added mushrooms, carrots, and celery. Silly me, I forgot the onions. It turned out wonderfully!

The beans were firm and meaty, the ham melted in my mouth, and the veggies were cooked through, but not mushy. I'm looking forward to dinner tonight: leftover soup!

Mushrooms and Leeks

I like mushrooms and I like leeks. So the recipe Fungys in Forme of Cury that combines the two is especially appealing. Especially since it contains my favorite spice blend of all time: poudre forte (strong powder). Since I don't rely on a set poudre forte recipe, that meant I could play!

I will warn you up front that the measurements of the spices is only general as I blended these by smell not by measurement. I was looking for a spicing that would help bring out the piquancy of the leeks and support the savoriness of the mushrooms. Also, this recipe can be made up with more or less cooking broth, depending on if you want something like a soup or something more like a side dish.

Mushrooms and Leeks

1 lb crimini mushrooms (portabellos will work too)
1 lb leeks
1 tablespoon (more or less) ginger powder
1/2 tablespoon (more or less) garlic powder
1 teaspoon (more or less) cinnamon powder
1/2 teaspoon (more or less) coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon (more or less) nutmeg powder
1/4 teaspoon (more or less) mace powder
1/4 teaspoon (more or less) cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon (more or less) black pepper
1 teaspoon (more or less) salt
1-2 cups (more or less) chicken broth

Thinly slice the leeks across the grain into coins, between 1/16 and 1/8 of an inch thick. Hint: Slice the leeks then clean them to get the most grit/sand out of them. As you reach the dark green of the outer leaves, remove them and continue slicing the lighter/brighter green of the inner leaves.

Thickly slice the mushrooms, between 1/8 and 1/4 of an inch.

Place leeks and mushrooms in a pan with spices and add broth. If the dish is a side dish, fill with broth to about 2/3 the height of the mushrooms and leeks (you will bet more fluid from the mushrooms as they cook); if the dish will be a soup, make sure the mushrooms and leeks are completely covered with fluid.

Simmer until the mushrooms and leeks are cooked. You want them to cook for the same length of time to allow the flavors to marry and for the mushrooms to become the dominant flavor in the broth.

I liked how the ginger and the garlic helped enhance the sharpness of the leeks and brightened the dish. The cinnamon, cumin, coriander, mace, and nutmeg balanced the sharpness and supported the meatiness of the mushrooms.

This dish is a wonderful low-fat dish. If you used vegetable broth (preferably not tomato-based) to make a vegetarian version, few carnivores would miss the lack of meat. I made three quarts of this for potluck of 150 people and it was gone by the time 3/4 of the people had gotten through the line!

Serve with bread for a satisfying soup.

Soup starting

That last couple of weeks have been a little challenging. First I was on vacation and got sick, sick, sick. As in sounding like I was hacking up a lung sick -- and I was camping!

Second, I got home and was still sick. Then my partner got home and she got what I had. So chicken noodle soup was the special of the day for this weekend.

Anytime I roast a chicken or debone chicken for another recipe, I immediately make stock. Just chicken and a little salt -- no veggies, no other spices. This way, the chicken stock will be ready to be used anyway I see fit. I can always add the other stuff later.

As I was saying, the chicken broth came in really handy this weekend. I put the frozen broth, a 16 oz bag of frozen peas, a pound of carrots, four celery stalks, a large onion, three bulbs of garlic (keep cloves whole), four bay leaves, a couple of teaspoons of thyme, a teaspoon of black pepper, and a pound of mushrooms in a very large pan. I added five thighs and drumsticks to the mix and covered with water. Then I let it simmer for a couple of hours. After an hour, I pulled the meat, removed the bones, and replaced the meat. I also pulled the top two cups of fluid and set it in the fridge to separate. About half an hour before we wanted to eat, I added the defatted broth and thick country noodles.

The soup was really, really rich with a wonderful, silky mouth-feel. The soup was not really garlicky, probably because I left the cloves whole. I put so much stuff in it that the soup was somewhat stewy (but without a really thick gravy), so it was incredibly filling.

Roasted Chicken and Roasted Vegetable Soup

Well, after I roasted the chicken (see previous post), I had a wonderful idea: roasted chicken and vegetable soup. I didn't want to waste any of the deliciousness that was the chicken.

I took the carcass from the chicken I roasted, pulled off any remaining large chunks meat, then boiled the carcass. I also scraped all the jelly off the serving platter (that's where a lot of the gelatin pools) and added it to the broth . I then roasted up some veggies for the soup.

Roasted Chicken and Vegetable Soup

1 5 lb chicken carcass
4 cups of noodles (thick, dumpling-like noodles work best)
3/4 inch piece of fresh ginger
1/2 pound of carrots
1 large turnip
1 medium onion
3/4 pound of mushrooms (preferably crimini)
1/2 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
3 bay leaves
3 tablespoons of chopped garlic
1 tablespoon of sesame seeds
1/2 tablespoon of ground cumin
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
Water

Preheat oven to 450°F (232°C).

While roasting the chicken, put the giblets and neck in a pan to boil. This can be done ahead of time. Once the chicken is roasted, remove the large cuts of meat from the carcass. Reserve some of the roasted meat for soup; use or freeze the remainder.

Put the carcass and skin in the pan with the giblets and neck and simmer. As the carcass simmers, regularly scum away the froth and fat that collects on the top of the broth.

Chop carrots, turnip, onion, and mushrooms into bite-size pieces. Drizzle olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon of salt over the vegetables and mix until all of the vegetables are coated. Coat a baking sheet with sides with olive oil (a sheet of aluminum foil can be placed in the bottom of the sheet and oiled for easier cleaning). Put vegetables in the sheet. Roast until nearly done, about 1/2 hour or so.

Once the stock has simmered for a few hours, strain the chicken carcass out of the stock. Remove useful meat from the carcass and return to the broth. Add the vegetables and vinegar.

Simmer for an hour. Continue scumming any froth or floating fat. Add noodles and cook until noodles are done. Enjoy!

This soup can be made with roasted potatoes in addition to or instead of the noodles. I don't like my soups too starchy, so I only use one starch. When I make chicken soup, I prefer noodles. When we moved to Spokane, I discovered Country Pasta, a brand of noodles that are much, much thicker than standard egg noodles, at Costco. I love the texture they bring, dense and chewy, almost dumpling-like.

The soup turned out really, really well. The balsamic vinegar really highlighted the roasted flavors of the chicken and vegetables without making the soup sour or tangy. I roasted the vegetables until they were done and they were good, but I think taking them out of the oven while they are still al dente will make the soup a little more flavorful without making the veggies mushy.

Soup, wonderful soup

This last week I came down with a bit of a cold. Mostly it was sore throat and earaches (at least at first). So I did what I normally do when I feel crappy -- I made soup. Not chicken soup, but rather ham and bean soup.

When Julia and I returned home from the holidays, we returned with more than just our holiday gifts. We returned with half of a bone-in country ham. For those who don't know what is so special about country ham, it is salt-cured. Really, really salt-cured.. As in the hams do not have to be refrigerated to be stored and are hard as rocks.

Preparing a country ham is a whole ritual in and of itself. The exterior of the ham must be scrubbed to remove any mold that might have grown. (Note: The mold that grows actually prevents pathogenic bacteria and molds from growing.) Then the ham must be soaked for 12-18 hours to remove the excess salt. Then the ham is baked until done. When we carve the ham, we always save some meat around the bone for soup-making.

Soup is a wonderfully flexible dish; the proportions between meat, vegetables, spicing, etc. can adjusted to available ingredients and individual tastes. The soup bone I used this time had lots more meat than usual.

Ham and Bean Soup

1/2 to 1 pound of country ham with bone in
15 oz. bag of 15-bean soup mix (with flavor packet removed, I just like the mix of beans)
1 medium to large onion, chopped into bite-size pieces
1/2 pound of carrots, chopped into bite-size pieces
1-2 celery stalks, chopped into bite-size pieces
1/2 pound of mushrooms cut into bite-size pieces
2 tablespoons chopped garlic (I just garlic from a jar)
3 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon chopped thyme
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/8 cup white vinegar
Enough water to cover all the ingredients

Soak the beans overnight. Drain. If the beans can not be soaked overnight, then they can be soaked in an oven preheated to 250°F (121°C) for 2-3 hours. In a real pinch, they can be simmered for an hour, then brought up to a boil to cook. Doing so leads to a thinner broth, but firmer beans.

Combine all ingredients and simmer for at least 3 hours, preferably 4-6. Add water as necessary to keep food covered and stir occasionally.

At least an hour before serving, remove the bone(s). I like to get the marrow out of the bones; normally this is done before the bones are boiled, but since they were already cooked through, I wait until near the end. Put some broth in a tall bowl or cup, add the marrow, then use my hand blender to puree the marrow into the broth. Return mixture to the soup. The marrow adds more wonderful richness.

Note that no salt is added to this recipe; the country ham will supply all the salt needed.

For dinner the next evening, we decided to let the soup simmer a bit longer. I had simmered it for three hours after I put the beans in (started everything else while I soaked the beans), but it wasn't quite the consistency I wanted. The beans were firmed that I wanted and the broth wasn't quite thick enough. Another hour of simmering and voila!, the soup was much, much better. Then again, I often think bean soup is better on days two and three. The flavors marry so much overnight and develop a lot of depth.

This recipe can by varied by which vegetables are added (I often only use mushrooms and onions, roasting the vegetables before adding them to the soup, using lemon juice or balsamic vinegar instead of white, or using a sugar-cured ham (though you need to add salt).