Black Bean & Corned Beef

I got this recipe from Cooking.com and made a few changes to it. I'm on their emailing list and get an appealing recipe about 25% of the time.

This soup was real hit at work this week! It was pretty easy to make, about a 2 on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most challenging. This is also a surprisingly light soup even with the corned beef. Maybe my favorite aspect of this soup is the beautiful colors! Black bean, Yellow corn, Red bell peppers, Green jalapenos and cilantro, and the Orange carrots makes it nearly a ROYGBIV in a bowl.

A couple of shopping and prep tips:

• When buying the corned beef be sure you buy from a service deli counter. Look for it to be sliced from a bottom round cut which will be leaner than if it is from a brisket. It should look like the piece pictured here. The brisket cut is what you see in the meat case around St. Patrick's Day. You want the leaner bottom round cut so the fat doesn't make the soup too heavy. Have your slices between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. Be picky with your meat! I always have been.
• For a great way to slice up the bell pepper check out this tip http://www.joyfulabode.com/2008/11/11/how-to-cut-a-bell-pepper-the-easy-way/. 
• When you prep the jalapeno be sure to wear rubber gloves and don't ever, no not ever, touch any body part before removing the gloves. 

• If you have a Trader Joe's in your area be sure you buy the canned yellow corn from there. It is the best canned corn you'll ever buy, I like it much better than any frozen corn I've had and it is darn near as good as fresh off the cob. I know it is just canned corn but I'm huge on this one. 
• When you drain and rinse the black beans be sure you do it in the sink, I made a black mess when I missed.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons of cooking oil
• 1 onion, chopped, yellow, red, white, doesn't matter
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced diagonally, about 1/4 inch thick
• 2 celery stalks, sliced about 1/4 inch thick, up to and including the leaves, they add great flavor
• 1 red bell pepper, diced, see the note above for prep tip
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 cups of water
• 1 quart of chicken stock (Costco's house brand is good and a good value)
• 1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained (15 or 19 ounces, doesn't matter)
• 1 can of Trader Joe's yellow corn if possible, if not available just make do with the big green guy or store brand
• 1 fresh jalapeno pepper, diced, seeds, rib and stem removed. See the note above before messing with the jalapeno
• 1/2 pound of deli sliced corned beef, cut into 1/2 inch wide strips. See note above about shopping for the corned beef
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of red or white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro. You can use Italian parsley if you don't care for cilantro, but I can't imagine why

METHOD

1. In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat.
2. Add the onion, carrots, celery, bell pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
3. Cook, stirring occasionally, just until the onions begin to soften, no longer than 10 minutes.
4. Add the water, broth, and the remaining teaspoon of salt.
5. Bring to a boil.
6. Reduce the heat and simmer until the vegetables are tender but still firm, don't overcook!!! Nothing worse than mushy veggies. No longer than 8 minutes.
7. Stir in the beans, corn, and jalapeno.
8. Simmer for 5 more minutes.
9. Remove the pot from the heat and add the corned beef, vinegar and cilantro. Stir and allow the last 3 ingredients to warm, about 5 minutes
10. Serve.

If you make the soup ahead of time, wait to stir in the corned beef, vinegar, and cilantro until you're ready to serve. Otherwise, the corned beef will leach into the broth, the vinegar will lose its bite and the cilantro will turn brown, an ugly brown.

Scallions Ginger Chicken & Egg-Drop Soup

I came across this recipe on epicurious.com. I took this soup to work as part of a pot-luck our department had on Tuesday. This soup is very light and has a real nice flavor from the ginger, a nice enough tang that I didn't need to add any lemon zest or juice. I was concerned that the amount ginger the recipe called for would be overpowering but that was not the case. As you'll see this is a very simple, straightforward recipe with a small number of ingredients. The recipe called for chicken breast but I used thighs instead because I find thigh meat has better flavor and remains moist for a longer time if you re-heat the soup once or twice.

Oh, almost forgot about the Egg-Drop part of the recipe. I have tried a few different ways to get the egg to result in nice silky threads like the better Chinese restaurants and my success has been minimal. The only time it worked was when I very slowly poured the eggs through the tines of a fork while my son stirred the broth. This approach broke the egg mixture up through the tines and resulted in very nice threads of egg. Unfortunately I didn't figure out that this should be the very, very last step in the cooking process and done just before serving otherwise the longer the soup remains heated the more the egg threads congeal and it doesn't look anywhere as nice but still tastes good. A co-worker suggested I should record this process and put it on YouTube, hmmm, means a new video recorder in needed.

INGREDIENTS


6 scallions (green onions for us simple folk) with some of the green tops cut off
2 cups of water
1 1/2 cups of chicken broth
1 (2 inch) piece of ginger, peeled and sliced thin
2 skinless and boneless chicken thighs
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon of white pepper

METHOD

1. In a soup pot mix the water, broth, ginger and 3/4 teaspoon of salt.
2. Smash 3 of the scallions with the back of a large wooden spoon and cut into 2 inch pieces.
3. Drop the smashed & cut scallions into the soup pot and bring the mixture to a simmer.
4. Place the chicken and poach at a bare simmer, uncovered, until just barely cooked through, 10-12 minutes.
5. Remove the pot from the heat and transfer the chicken to a cutting board.
6. Let the broth steep covered for 10 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, chop the remaining 3 scallions into random pieces 1/2 inch to 2 inches and shred the chicken.
8. Remove the scallions and ginger from the broth and discard. 
9. Turn off the heat.
10. Add the beaten eggs by pouring very slowly through the tines of a fork while your third hand stirs the broth while the egg is added.
11. Stir in the chopped scallions, shredded chicken and white pepper.

You can provide sesame oil for drizzling on the soup but I don't because most people use too much and the soup becomes overwhelmed.

Cheddar Cheese & Jalapeno Soup

I was supposed to make this soup last week to bring in on Friday. But had a terrible night Thursday and didn't get more than an hour of sleep so I stayed home Friday. Whatever was causing me problems was gone by Friday afternoon so I was good to go for the weekend and got this soup made Sunday night. So we've got Soup On Monday!

This is a really great tasting soup. This was one that I could have just kept eating and then licked the bowl clean. I found this recipe on a website called copycat.com. This site specializes in providing recipes of dishes from well known restaurants. I've tried several of them and have had success with all of them. Check them out and let us know what you think. This recipe is formally titled "Gallagher's Cheddar Cheese Soup", I'm not familiar with who the Gallagher is or if it is a restaurant somewhere. I don't recall Googling it when I first found the recipe, if anyone knows anything please comment.

This recipe was very easy to make, so easy I felt guilty not doing more. The surprising thing in this recipe is that it uses cheese spread, the jarred stuff, rather than real cheddar cheese. I may try it with real cheddar the next time I make it but it tastes so good with the cheese spread I question the wisdom of changing but who knows it may be better with real cheddar. Hey maybe Velveeta!

The flavors that really stood out for me were the mustard and cayenne pepper. The mustard was very subtle but added a great zing and the cayenne really added a good bite and had a little delayed impact. 

INGREDIENTS for 8 servings

2 cups of water

1/3 cup each of finely chopped carrots and celery

1 cup of finely chopped green onions

1/2 cup of butter

1/4 cup of flour

1 medium size white onion, chopped

4 cups of milk

4 cups of chicken broth

1 15 oz jar of pasteurized process cheese spread

Add salt and black pepper to taste

1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon of yellow mustard

1 8 oz can of diced pickled jalapenos

METHOD

1. In a soup pot over high heat combine the water, carrots, green onions and celery. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Set aside but do not drain.
2. In a large stockpot melt the butter over medium heat and add the onion. Saute for 1 minute then add the flour blending well.
3. In a large saucepan bring the milk and broth to a boil.
4. Whisk the milk-broth mixture into the flour-onion mixture in the large stockpot with a wire whisk.
5. Stir in the cheese, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, mustard and the cooked veggies including the water in which they were cooked.
6. Bring to a boil and serve immediately.

This soup was not as thick as I thought it would be so don't be surprised if it comes out that way for you too.

Posole with Chicken and Tomatillos

With a hectic couple of weeks I have not brought soup for almost two weeks. The last was a White Bean and Ham Hock recipe that I have yet to blog so I'm behind in my work. Anyhoo, this week got to Thursday and I wanted to bring in something so I settled on a good, tasty and pretty easy recipe, Posole with Chicken and Tomatillos. 

As I've mentioned before when a recipe calls for chicken and chicken stock I boil a whole fryer in a tall pot and de-bone the chicken for the meat and use the stock as called for in the recipe instead of store bought. To the chicken pot I add a couple of cut-up carrots and stalks of celery along with an onion, a couple of bay leaves, dried oregano and dried basil. I strain the stock and have plenty for the recipe and usually some leftover to freeze.

Here's the recipe for 8 servings using store bought stock. For the large quantity I bring to Wednesday Soup At Work I double the recipe and use the boiled chicken I note above:

1 pound of tomatillos

6 cups of chicken stock

2 cups of chopped onion

3 pounds of shredded chicken

4 chopped garlic cloves

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and julienned

1 can of white hominy (30 oz), drained

juice from 1/2 of a lime

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 cup sour cream

8 lime wedges

Remove the husks and stems from the tomatillos and boil them until they are tender, about 10 minutes. Drain the water and process the tomatillos until they are smooth. An immersion blender is the best tool for this but using a standard blender is fine.

Meanwhile, into the stock add the onion, chicken, garlic, jalapeno and hominy. Bring the mix to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer 35 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove the chicken from the bones shred and set aside. Stir in the pureed tomatillos, the lime juice and salt to taste. Cook the stock mixture for 5 minutes until heated. Stir in the chicken and heat the entire mix.

Serve with the cilantro, sour cream and lime wedges.

Lamb & Lemon

I got this recipe from the little book I bought at Cost Plus World Market. Titled "1 Stock, 100 Soups" written by Linda Doeser. It was a really good find as far as cook books go, it was written and published in the UK so the measurements are in both metric and standard measures so that's kind of fun. The premise of the book is that all 100 soups use a vegetable stock described at the beginning of the book. It is a pretty involved stock recipe with a large number of ingredients including onions, leeks, celery, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips, and parsley. I'll post the full recipe soon. This is not the first time I've used a recipe from this book but it is the first time I've used the vegetable stock.

I love lamb in just about any form. Braised lamb shanks and grilled chops are my favorites. The lamb and lemon soup was a pretty easy recipe with just a few ingredients. Cooking time was about 1.5-2 hours which is longer than most of the soups I've made but the lamb needed to be stewed, probably not 1.5-2 hours so I shortened mine to about 1 hour because the lamb didn't need to be cooked that long to be tender.



I really liked the flavor of this soup. The lamb gave it a heartiness that was just right and I usually add some lemon juice to many soups because of the nice tang it gives so this one was right up my alley. If you try it let me know what you think.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup of flour
1.5 lbs of boneless lamb cut into cubes
3 tablespoons of olive oil
5 cups of vegetable stock
2 carrots cut into chunks
2 onions cut into quarters
1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice
salt and pepper

METHOD

1. Put the flour into a plastic bag and season generously with salt and pepper. Add the cubes of lamb and shake to coat.
2. Heat the oil in a large soup pot. Add the lamb after shaking of the excess flour. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently for 8-10 minutes until lightly browned all over.
3. Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to a boil.
4. Add the carrots, onions, and cayenne pepper, season with salt and pepper and bring back to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour until the meat is tender.
5. Beat the egg yolks with the lemon juice in a bowl. Remove the pan from the heat and heat and whisk a ladleful of the hot soup into the egg mixture, then add it to the pan.
6. Return the pan to very low heat and heat through, gently stirring, do not let the soup boil.

Backyard Gardens Are Fun!

Our garden is getting into summer shape. We've got four tomato plants doing real well. Two of them are growing through our wire box cover! Bertie's tomatillos, she has four of them going, look like they are going to be real bountiful. That means lots of red salsa this summer, good thing we've been saving jars. Our lettuce and spinach have lasted longer than we expected, probably because it hasn't gotten real hot yet.

There is a great sense of satisfaction in harvesting baskets of three different types of lettuce for a week's worth of salads. I also get a big kick out of snipping leaves of lettuce for Tommy's sandwich wraps for his lunches during the week.

Having herbs is also great. You can spend $2-$4 for a few leaves of basil, dill or oregano at the store. We've got peppermint, rosemary, thyme, basil, dill and fennel going so far. For dinner tonight I made some pesto with our basil. Two cups of basil, 1/4 cup of pine nuts, 3 garlic cloves, 7 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 tablespoons of grated parmesan, salt and pepper. You roast the garlic cloves unpeeled for about 5 minutes and then add the pine nuts for just under 2 minutes. Remove the garlic and nuts from the pan. Let the garlic cool th and then unpeel them. Add all the ingredients to your food processor and run into a paste. You're done. How cool to go out and snip off a couple of cups of basil and have it on your table for dinner!

Speaking of pine nuts! Holy crap, I'm going to be a pine nut farmer! $35 a pound for cripes sake.

If you've got a garden going let us know what you have going on.

Easiest Soup I've Made - Sauerkraut & Sausage

I found this recipe in a little book I bought at Cost Plus - World Market. The book is titled "1 Stock, 100 Soups". It was written in the UK so the measures and some terminology are quirky but there are quite a few good soups. The one stock is vegetable and all 100 soups are based on it. The recipe for the vegetable stock has an extensive list of ingredients and yields 4 cups. For the Sauerkraut & Sausage soup I used a boxed vegetable stock to save some time but look forward to making the vegetable stock soon.

I made this soup for Bertie and Tommy a few weeks ago and it was really good. I ate sauerkraut quite a bit growing up because of my Mom's German heritage. I always ate it but wasn't a huge fan so I was surprised at how much I liked this soup. My wife, Bertie, also loved the soup which was surprising because she had never had sauerkraut before so I was encouraged about the soup's potential for popularity. Last week I ran a poll for what soup to make and I included this soup in the list of candidates. Surprisingly this soup finished second in the polling. With that vote of confidence I decided to bring it in this week.

This makes 6 servings

INGREDIENTS
32 ounces of sauerkraut, drained
1 pound of kielbasa or other cooked sausages, sliced into 1/2 inch to 1 inch pieces
2 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon of flour
1 tablespoon of paprika
1 quart of vegetable stock, more if you prefer to thin the soup
2/3 cup of sour cream
Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

1. Melt the butter in a large pan over low heat
2. Add the flour and paprika and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes
3. Turn off the heat
4. Gradually stir in the vegetable stock a little at a time until fully incorporated and the mixture is smooth
5. Bring the flour and stock mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly
6. Add the drained sauerkraut and sausage pieces
7. Season with salt and pepper to taste
8. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer low for 30 minutes
9. Remove the pan from the heat and mix in the sour cream right before serving