Goulash

Nic made this great dinner last night while I was at the gym, struggling through an intense speed workout. My marathon is in just over three weeks so I'm trying to get in more quality time in my running shoes, which means a little less time in the kitchen.

Nic took the liberty of substituting the bacon from the original recipe with salami. I wouldn't have thought to do that, but it was tasty. This is a great, hearty winter meal, but I have to say it didn't taste quiet like what I remember eating in Hungary...probably because they don't use salami. I also told Nic to reduce the amount of caraway seeds from the original recipe because they're not my favorite.

I like my goulash over egg noodles, but you could serve it over mashed potatoes or with crusty bread or even on it's own like a soup. We halved the recipe, and it was plenty for a dinner and a lunch for the two of us. And it reheats very well, like pretty much any soupy-stewey food.



Goulash
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, which Adapted from Gourmet

Ingredients:

1 cup of salami, finely diced (or 5 slices bacon, chopped)
3 lbs. boneless chuck, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 tbs. vegetable oil
4 medium onions, diced finely
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbs. paprika
1 tsp. caraway seeds
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup tomato paste
5 cups beef broth
1 to 5 cups water or beer (preferably beer, use the smaller amount for stew, the greater amount for soup)
1 tsp. salt
2 red bell peppers, finely diced

Directions:
-In an 8 quart heavy kettle, cook salami (or bacon) over moderate heat, stirring, until crisp and transfer with a slotted spoon to a large bowl.
-In the fat remaining in the kettle, brown chuck in small batches over high heat, transferring it as browned with slotted spoon to bowl. (If there is not enough fat to brown the beef, add a small amount of neutral oil, like vegetable or canola.)
-Reduce the heat to medium and add 2 tbs. vegetable oil. Add onions and garlic and cook until golden, stirring occasionally.
-Stir in paprika, caraway seeds, and flour and cook 2 minutes.
-Whisk in vinegar and tomato pasta and cook 1 minute.
-Stir in the broth, beer (or water), salt, bell peppers, bacon, and chuck and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Simmer the goulash, covered for 60 to 75 minutes, stirring occasionally.
-Season with salt and pepper.

Stracciatella: Egg Drop Soup w/ Spinach

You know why I love soup? You can't mess it up. Well maybe you can, but as of yet I haven't figured out how to. For example this soup was delicious, but I originally put some chicken bits in it that didn't really taste that great (actually I think it was the texture that bothered me). So I just fished them out. Don't worry I washed my hands first. So now I have chicken salad and "Italian egg drop soup." That's what Mark Bittman likened this soup to on the Bitten blog Recipe of the Day post yesterday. I'm not sure what is particularly Italian about it, except for the cheese and the name, but it is a great, comforting soup recipe that comes together in no time at all. Perfect for a cold winter night when you are feeling a little under the weather.

Also, I would like to point out that I one-upped Rachel Ray here, and this was a 15 minute meal, served with Greek salad and a wine someone brought as a hostess gift this weekend that was called "Woop Woop"--I kid you not.

That's all I have to say. I'm all talked out after my long narrative yesterday, which apparently amused a lot of people because it has the most views of any post I've ever written, unless you count the Homemade Pepper Spray post, but I don't because I discovered that people were getting sent to it by Google when they were sincerely trying to figure out how to make Homemade Pepper Spray. Something tells me they didn't stick around for long when they realized I just accidentally sauteed some jalapenos.


Stracciatella
Adapted from Bitten blog

Ingredients:
6 cups chicken stock
1 garlic clove
4 eggs
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese (I used Romano)
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of ginger
3 to 4 big handfuls of fresh spinach
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:
-Put 5 cups of the chicken stock into a sauce pan and bring to a boil.
-Wack the garlic clove with the side of a knife and add that to the stock.
-In a mixing bowl, combine the other cup of chicken stock, the eggs, cheese, nutmeg, and ginger and whisk together until completely combined.
-Cut up the spinach into thin strips.
-When the chicken stock comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium high and add the egg mixture and the spinach and cook until the egg clumps together in small curds and the spinach is wilted.
-Season with salt and pepper and garnish with additional cheese or fresh Italian parsley.

Homemade Pepper Spray and Black Bean Soup

Does anyone know what happens when you try to soften jalapeño peppers by sautéing them for a few minutes in a pan? You fill your kitchen with a noxious gas somewhat akin to pepper spray. In fact, I'm fairly sure if you could figure out how to bottle it, you would have a self-defense mechanism. The sad thing is that I vaguely remember learning this lesson once before, albeit with crushed red pepper (used in a rub on steak and then thrown on a stovetop grill), but I still managed to repeat the mistake when I was making jalapeño-chedder cornbread last night. I was working from a recipe that called for canned chilis and since those are soft, I thought I should soften the jalapeños I was substituting for them. Then I sneezed and wheezed for the next hour.

The worst part is that the cornbread was HORRIBLE. I realized something was wrong with the recipe when the dough came out like soup, so I tried adding another cup of cornmeal and some flour. Even that wasn't enough though. After more than an hour in the oven, the cornbread was more like spoonbread. The flavor was good, but it was not cuttable or crumbly. Nic tried to make me feel better by saying, "Cornbread is hard to make." But let's be honest. It really isn't.

Luckily, dinner was not a total disaster because the black bean soup I made was a success. The soup turned out really delicious and was much easier to make than the cornbread. Added bonus it's really healthy, and if you use vegetable broth (I didn't have any in the pantry), it is even vegetarian. I'm sure it would be great served with, say, a slice of cornbread. Or something like that.

Black Bean Soup
Makes 4 dinner servings

Ingredients:
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic minced
glug of olive oil
1 jalapeño, minced (and deseeded if you want a milder soup)
1 tomato, diced
3 (15 oz.) cans black beans
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:
-Heat a large pot with a glug of olive oil on medium heat. Sauté the bell peppers, onion, and garlic for 5 minutes, just until the start to soften. Add jalapeño, tomato, black beans, and broth.
-Bring soup to a boil over medium-high heat, then lower the heat and simmer 15 minutes.
-Season with chili powder, cumin, and salt.

Cream of Mushroom Soup From Memory

I have an addiction to the Food Network. If Nic wasn't ferociously defending the remote control, it is the only channel I would watch. I don't like all the shows--a certain perky lady that adores acronyms kind of gets to me--but shows like Iron Chef and Good Eats absolutely enthrall me. I get mad when someone changes the channel during the commercial.

But even though I watch a lot of cooking shows, I almost never make anything I see made. I don't know why. I take some of the general advice I get on the shows, like Alton Brown's explanation of why brining makes meat more juicy, but I never feel compelled to make what I see made. Until this mushroom soup.

To be honest, if I hadn't found out my parents were coming to visit with only 24 hours notice, I probably would have never made this either. Without ample menu-planning time, I panicked. I had nothing prepped so I had to make whatever it was I was going to serve after work. And I had to buy anything I needed on the way home. I had the recipe for apple pizza lying around from when I searched for every recipe requiring apples known to man after coming home with 20 pounds of apples a few weeks ago. But apple pizza does not qualify as a meal. My solution to foods that don't quite cut it as a meal is usually to add a mixed green salad with a bunch of junk on top. But even with the salad this was looking pretty shabby. Then I remembered watching Barefoot Contessa a few days earlier, and she made this awesome cream of mushroom soup that didn't look too hard to make. A quick Foodnetwork.com search later, and I had the recipe. I gathered my belongings from my cube and left work to go grocery shopping.

Two metro stops later I realized I forgot the recipe. And if you remember from earlier posts, my apartment=Internet dead zone. So I had to recreate it from memory. The good news is I didn't forget any major components and the soup was really delicious. It was creamy without being overwhelmingly rich, and I was surprised how flavorful the stock turned out. Nic apparently doesn't like mushrooms (who knew?), but he ate two bowls. But you are probably starting to think that all I ever make is soup.


Cream of Mushroom Soup
What I remembered from this recipe

Ingredients:
5 oz. fresh shiitake mushrooms
5 oz. fresh baby portobello mushrooms
5 oz. fresh cremini mushrooms
glug of olive oil
1/2 lb. butter (1 stick)
1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
2 carrots, chopped
handful of fresh thyme
kosher salt
black pepper
2 leeks, chopped (dark green tops removed)
2 tbs. flour
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup half-and-half
1 cup heavy cream

Directions:
-Wipe the mushrooms with a damp paper towel. Do not submerge them in water; they will get tough. Remove the stems and set aside the caps. Roughly chop the stems.
-Stock: Heat a glug of olive oil in a large pot. Add the mushroom stems, onion, carrot, and thyme. Add a dash of salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat until the vegetables soften. Add 6 cups of water and bring the stock to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 30-45 minutes or until the stock tastes flavorful. Strain and reserve the liquid and return just the liquid to the pot. You should have 4 cups of stock. (Add some water if you have less.)
-While the stock is cooking, in a large saute pan melt the stick of butter. Add the leeks and cook over medium low heat until the leeks start to soften and brown, about 15 minutes. Slice the mushroom caps in1/4 inch slices. Add the sliced caps to the browned leeks. Cook until the mushrooms are tender, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the mushroom-leek mixture and stir to combine. Cook for 1 minute. Add the white wine and scrape the bottom of the pan to deglaze. Let the mixture sit on low heat until the stock is cooked.
-Add the mushroom-leek mixture, then the the half-and-half and the cream to the pot with the stock. Salt and pepper to taste. Heat through, but don't let the soup boil.

Pumpkin Soup w/ Savory Whipped Cream

That, right there, is a big bowl of delicious. As you can probably tell, I've been making a lot of soup lately. This pumpkin soup, however, is hands down the best. I don't think it would quite cut it as a meal on its own, but it is an impressive starter for company or an otherwise boring meal. And it is really easy. (My friend Taylor pointed out that I say everything I make is really easy. But that's because it is!) The nutmeg and ginger bring out the flavor of the pumpkin, and the cream cheese with the sautéed onion and leek round out the soup. The savory whipped cream and roasted pumpkin seeds are a perfect topping and make it look that much prettier, but if you don't have the time/inclination/spare calories feel free to skip this step. The soup will still taste great. I don't know where I'm eating Thanksgiving dinner yet, but this will definitely be making its way to my (or my host's) table.

Before the recipe, a few words to the wise: Make sure you adequately salt the soup. The first time I made it, I used low sodium chicken broth and didn't realize how much salt I had to add to compensate.

And a note about the sugar pumpkin: to get 2 pounds of pumpkin chunks you need a three to four pound pumpkin--which is not that big, about the size of your head. Unless your head is really big. You also need a really good peeler for the pumpkin skin. If your peeler is dinky, you're going to have to use a paring knife. I've done it both ways, but Nic was anticipating a trip to the ER when I used the paring knife. He went out and bought a good peeler soon thereafter.

Pumpkin Soup
Makes 8 servings, as a starter

Ingredients:
soup
olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 leek (white only), thinly sliced
2 lbs. (about 6 cups) sugar pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks
6 cups chicken broth
salt/pepper
1 1/2 cups cream cheese
3/4 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

savory whipped cream topping
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sour cream
pinch of salt
pinch of ginger
pinch of nutmeg
roasted pumpkin seeds

Directions:
-Heat enough olive oil to sauté onion and leek in a large pot. When the oil is hot, sauté onion and leek for about 5 minutes or until they start to become translucent.
-Add the pumpkin chucks and the chicken broth. Season with a little salt and pepper. Bring the soup to a boil on high heat, then reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes.
-This is a good time to salt the pumpkin seeds you removed from your pumpkin and put them in the oven on 450 degrees for 5-10 minutes to roast.
-Remove the soup from the heat. (If you want a thick soup, remove a cup of the broth before continuing.*) Stir in cream cheese, ginger and nutmeg. The cream cheese won't completely dissolve, but don't worry, the blender will take care of it.
-Blend the soup in batches until all of it is blended. Stir it all together and taste. Add additional salt, ginger and nutmeg to taste.
-To make the savory whipped cream, first whip the heavy cream with a hand or stand mixer (or a whisk and some upper body strength) until it thickens into the consistency of... well whipped cream, of course. Fold in the sour cream, salt, ginger and nutmeg.
-Top bowls of soup with a dollop of the savory whipped cream and roasted pumpkin seeds.

* I left all 6 cups of broth in when I made my soup. But why not just use 5 cups to begin with if you want thick soup? Because, at least in my pot, it wouldn't cover the pumpkin.

Ugly Delicious

Recently one of my friends told me that my photos were really improving on this blog, which made me happy because I spend considerable time trying to get a decent picture and sometimes eat a cold dinner as a result. But I have to say, some foods just aren't photogenic. They're like that awkward 12-year-old with braces and a nose that grew faster than the rest of their face. Sure they have redeeming qualities, but looks ain't one of 'em.

For example, this sausage and bean soup is really delicious. It's warm and comforting and a little bit spicy because of the sausage and red pepper flakes. There was a hint of cheesy flavor from the rind of romano cheese that cooked with the broth--which had a lot of flavor because of the vegetables and the white wine used to deglaze the pan.

Maybe if I had a photographer from one of the glossy food magazines and some awesome rustic looking bowl to serve it in, this soup could look beautiful. Perhaps it's just an ugly duckling. But I don't want to be shallow, not everything has to be pretty. There's room on my blog for ugly delicious food too.

And as a final pitch for this soup: Nic was totally hating on the idea when I told him what I was making. He wanted me to take out his portion of the sausage so he could eat it plain. The cabbage was his main problem. I have to give him credit, last time I used cabbage in a meal it WAS terrible. But I insisted it would taste good, and made him just suck it up and eat it. Yesterday, a day after the soup was made and eaten, he told me out of the blue, "You know that soup really was good." I win.

Sausage and Bean Soup

Ingredients:
6 Italian hot sausages, casings removed and cubed
1 huge leek (or 2 regular leeks), white part only, sliced thin
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
2 carrots, chopped roughly
2 celery stalks, chopped
3/4 cup white wine
1/2 head of cabbage, sliced thin
2 cans navy or cannelloni beans, drained
1 bay leave
scrubbed rind from parmesan or romano cheese
pinch red pepper flakes
salt/pepper

Directions:
-Cook Italian sausage over medium-high heat in a large sauce pan. Remove the sausage from the pan when cooked through, leaving rendered fat. Cook the leeks, onion and garlic in the same pan over medium heat until translucent. (Add a little olive oil if necessary.) Add carrots and celery and cook until the vegetables start to soften. There should be some browning on the bottom of the pan.
-Use white wine to deglaze the pan, scraping the bottom to release the brown bits. Add cabbage, beans and bay leave and cover with water by about one inch. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and add the cooked sausage.
-Simmer for about 30 minutes, then taste. Add salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste. Continue to cook for up to 30 minutes more or until the broth is flavorful and you're ready to eat.

So let me know about some ugly delicious food you make in the comments.

Tried and True: Beef Stew

I almost missed Tuesday's Tried and True! I got distracted baking a cake for my friend's birthday tomorrow and some "power" muffins for carbo-loading for my half marathon this weekend. (Guess what the next few posts will be?)

But here is one I've been holding on to for awhile. This is not a fast recipe, since it has to simmer for a long time, but it is really easy. My mom used to make something similar, but she used veal (eek!). I can't bring myself to use the veal, although it is a lot more tender.


Beef Stew
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. beef
3 tbs. olive oil
5 cloves minced garlic
2 tbs. flour
2 3/4 cups stout (2 bottles Guinness)
1 cup beef broth
6 small potatoes (3 large russet potatoes), cut into 1" cubes
3 shallots
2 carrots
1 6oz. tomato paste
1 tsp. cardamom
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tbs. parsley
salt/pepper
2 cups green beans

Directions:
-Heat oil in large saucepan on medium-high heat. Brown beef on all sides. Add garlic and simmer for a few minutes. Add flour and mix in.
-Add stout and beef broth. Bring mixture to a simmer. Add potatoes, shallots, carrots, paste and seasoning. Reduce to low and simmer for 3 hours or until beef is very tender. Add green beans for the last 30 minutes.

Serve with crusty Italian bread or mashed potatoes.

Potato Soup

Fall is finally starting to set in here, and nothing is better than a hearty soup when the weather starts to cool down. When I told my friend Carrie I was planning on making this, she suggested putting some corn in--it was a delicious addition! As I was starting to cook, Nic told me that potato soup was one of his favorite things his mom made, so that's a lot of pressure. (She had carrots in hers, but I'm not so much a fan of cooked carrots.)

Luckily, I got a thumbs up for this soup. The homemade croutons that were supposed to go with it? Burnt to a crisp, and I am still sitting in a grey fog. Whenever I turn my oven on, bad things seem to happen...

Ingredients:
4 slices turkey bacon
2 leeks, sliced thinly
1 medium white onion
2 cloves garlic
2 tbs. butter
1 tbs. olive oil
3 tbs. flour
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
5 cups diced potatoes
1 1/2--2 cups whole milk (depending on how thick you want your soup)
1-2 cups corn
1 tbs. chopped parsley
salt/pepper

Directions:
Chop the bacon, cook in large saucepan on medium heat. Add leeks, onion, butter, and oil. Cook until the leeks and onion are tender. Mix in the flour. Stir in chicken broth and potatoes, continue stirring until the soup starts to thicken. Cover and simmer on low heat until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. If you want a creamier (as oppposed to chunkier soup) take 2-3 ladels of the soup and blend until smooth. Make sure to leave the lid of the blender askew so the heat can get out. Put the blended mixture back in the pot. Add milk, corn, and parsley. Continue cooking until the soup is warm again. Garnish with parsley and shredded cheddar cheese.