Sichuan Carrot Soup

Ever since I had it at the now defunct Sunroom spin-off (the one formerly on Odana), I've been wanting to attempt a Sichuan carrot soup. And now I've done it! ;) This version from The Art of Doing Stuff is a pretty decent version. I included the directions for making it on the stove top, but I did it in the crockpot. Let's see. I left out the sugar, as per usual, and I at least doubled, if not tripled, the red pepper flakes. It is afterall Sichuan, so it should be on the the kick-your-ass end of the spicy spectrum. I may not have added the milk at all, and if I did, it would've been plain almond milk. I also threw in some leftover roasted chicken. I pureed it with a stick blender, but I kept a few of the carrot chunks since I'm not a huge fan of completely pureed soups.

Egg Bakes

This winter, I've been a wee-bit obsessed with egg bakes in the crockpot. I tried a feta and mushroom one. I don't have any photos of that one, and I found it a bit bland.

Next, I tried a sort of Mexican one with black beans, chicken, salsa, garlic, tomatoes, and spices. I didn't really use a recipe, but it was delicious. I'll finish off the last of it tomorrow morning.

Summer Dinner

Jim and Mike visited my humble abode for a lovely dinner earlier in the summer. The boys brought a Southwestern chopped salad with cilantro dressing that I'd seen on Pinterest. The Garden Grazer is responsible for the recipe. This is the first time I've encountered it, but it boasts some wonderful vegetarian recipes.

Southwestern chopped salad

Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro-Lime Dressing

SALAD

Ingredients

Large head of romaine
15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 large orange bell pepper
1 pint cherry tomatoes
2 cups corn (I used frozen, thawed)
5 green onions
Creamy Cilantro-Lime Dressing 

Lunch at Chautara

Lamb palungo

I had the pleasure of lunching at Chautara recently. I'd heard they were closing in July, so I was determined to get there before they left. From the waitress, I learned that they'll be closed for 6-9 months, but then are moving into the Shakti space next door. This was a welcome discovery since I'm very fond of Chautara. Their fish dishes are especially lovely.

Dorowot

I was resisting the colder temperatures by creating a tropical-looking drink. (It's actually a red wine spritzer with a sprig of rosemary in a pretty glass.)

Dorowot or doro wot is an Ethiopian chicken stew in a spicy tomato sauce. To get the flavors just right, you really need to use berbere, an Ethiopian spice blend, and nit'r qibe, Ethiopian spiced butter. I might purchase some berbere online to have on hand in the future, but this time, I wasn't able to find it in any local markets.

Instead, I used the 365 Days recipe (see link below) because I'm still infatuated with my crockpot. (I know. I'm a late convert to this trend.) I added carrots during the last hour--so they didn't completely break down--as an homage to Buraka's yummerly version. (Buraka also gets a nod for introducing me to dorowot.) I also tossed in a few handfuls of spinach for a little green. 365 Days' spice blend left a little to be desired, so I used the Saveur berbere recipe as a guideline. I didn't, however, go through the whole process of toasting the spices and grinding them into a powder. I just tossed them into the crockpot, using fresh ginger instead of powdered. Oh, and I omitted the hard-boiled egg because that combo doesn't appeal to me--and because I didn't feel like boiling eggs.

I used this recipe from 365 Days of Slow Cooking and this one from Saveur.

The Brussels sprouts were sauteed in olive oil and granulated garlic. Slivers of prosciutto were added at the end because I didn't want the prosciutto to get tough from overcooking.

Adventures in Stock Land

<in Julia Child's voice> You start with the vegetables (celery, onion, carrot, garlic).

Then you add a pile of sage that's been hiding in your freezer for longer than you want to admit.

And then you toss in a carcass of some sort (I believe it was fowl in origin), also dredged from the frozen depths of the freezer.

Sweet Potato Black Bean Chicken

In this picture, it looks like a bit of a hot mess, but this Latin chicken with sweet potatoes and black beans from the Crockpot Guys (I saw it several other places online, too; not sure where it originated) is marvelous.

A couple of notes:
-I roasted a whole chicken separately in the slow cooker with a different marinade (an Asian marinade leftover from hoisin-glazed meatloaf).
-I omitted the red peppers and chipotle chiles in adobo because I didn't have any of the former and because I do not like the latter.

Greek Egg Lemon Soup w/ Chicken and Spinach

I first encountered this Greek specialty at Nick's. (Shout out to Nick's!) They have it a few times a week, and I'm told that the matriarch of the family makes it. I love that. Avgolemono is the proper name, but I have the damnest time saying it. The Real Simple recipe (see below) employed only egg yolks, but other recipes don't seem to require that.

 

As a general rule, I don't like separating eggs. Not because it's challenging, but because I rarely end up using the remaining part. And I abhor wasting food. So I threw in the entire egg.

I encountered a small texture obstacle. Initially, I thought it was because of using the whites in addition to the yolks, but now I think it's because the soup was too hot. You're supposed to prevent it from boiling when you add the eggs. Despite the strange texture, it tasted phenomenal.

Oh, and I tossed in spinach for a little extra nutritive power. Go, go, iron and calcium!

Serves 4 | Hands-On Time: 15m | Total Time: 30m

Ingredients

• 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/3 cup orzo
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1 1/2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• kosher salt and black pepper

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, bring the broth to a boil. Add the pasta and boil until tender, 8-9 mins.
2. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks. Gradually whisk in 1 cup of hot broth. Add the egg mixture to the saucepan, reduce heat to medium, and cook, stirring, until thickened, 5-7 minutes.
3. Add the chicken and lemon juice to the saucepan. Season with ½ tsp. salt and ¼ tsp. pepper.

Roasted Chicken, Brussels Sprouts, + Wild Rice Blend

This was yet another slow cooker experiment. I used this recipe from Stephanie Dea's A Year of Slow Cooking blog. The Brussels sprouts were simply chopped and sautéed in olive oil, onions, and garlic. And the wild rice blend from Trader Joe's came to life in my rice cooker. (I also usually add broth or bouillon to brown rice and whole wheat cous cous to add a little flavor.)

Coq au Vin + Concord Grape Juice

Last week, I made an easy version of coq au vin and Concord grape juice with grapes from my backyard. To simplify the coq au vin, I used rotisserie chicken that I'd frozen, but even making it with regular chicken is dead simple. Who knew such a swanky-sounding dish is actually a breeze? I served it over whole wheat cous cous with steamed haricots verts (those slender French green beans). Delish.

Here are some shots of making the grape juice:

A thoroughly blurry shot of the coq au vin. (Sorry. I think I was too hungry to hold the camera still.)

Rata-tat-touille

Glossy veggies all oiled up and ready for roasting

So I'm very proud of this ratatouille. I had scads of eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, and zucchini, and this dish is a go-to in that situation. In the past, the vegetables became too mushy when I cooked them on the stovetop, so roasting them was a revelation. My dinner guests didn't dig eggplant, so I pureed it and added it as a thickener. I also added chicken and grated parmesan to spice up the leftovers.

Finished product

Recent Greatest Hits from the Kitchen

Sesame-encrusted salmon

Chicken schwarma with stuffed mushrooms and grilled asparagus