I Heart Gumbo

More Soup . . . Baby Lima Soup with Chipotle Broth

2009-02-15T18:15:00.000-08:00

OK, so I'm on a soup kick lately. It is probably because the husband, kiddo, and I have all been sick for most of the last month. The weather here in Atlanta has been pretty crazy -- it will be freezing for a week, then in the 70s for a week -- it is no wonder we have all been sick. Having said that, there is something about a nice hot bowl of soup that warms me through and makes me feel better. This is a super simple recipe that won't take you long to make and tastes sooo good!

Baby Lima Soup with Chipotle Broth
Recipe Courtesy of Heidi Swanson at 101cookbooks.com

Ingredients:
1 pound dried baby lima beans, picked over and rinsed
10 cups water (or chicken broth)
1 head garlic, top lobbed off to expose the cloves and loose skins removed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, halved top to bottom and sliced into thin crescents
1 to 2 chipotles in adobo sauce
2 teaspoons fine-grain sea salt
Squeeze of lime juice (optional)

Rinse the beans, then combine them with the water/broth and garlic in a heavy soup pot. You might think putting a whole head of unpeeled garlic in the pot is strange, but just go with it. Bring the beans to an active simmer and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, until just a touch al dente and not mushy or falling apart. Test their doneness by tasting; you really can't tell any other way.

Heat the olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat, add the onion, chipotles, and 2 teaspoons of the adobo sauce, and sauté over medium high heat for 3 to 4 minutes, just until the onion starts to soften. You can always add more adobo sauce later for a spicier soup; just don't overdo it on the front end.

Add the salt and the onion-chipotle mix to the pot of beans and simmer gently for about 5 minutes to blend the flavors. The broth should be thin, so add more water if needed. Add more salt and more adobo a bit at a time if the flavors aren't popping. Finish with a squeeze of lime if you like. I usually remove the garlic head at this point or serve around it.

Serves 6.

Nutella Cheesecake Brownies

2009-02-15T18:13:00.001-08:00

There is not too much I can say about this recipe other than YUM! I bought some Nutella the other day when I was at Publix and went searching the internet for something to make with it. I found this recipe posted on Alpine Berry's blog and I am very pleased with the results. I did make a change to the recipe that was posted, and that was to omit the sugar from the cheesecake layer. I wanted the cheesecake layer to retain a bit of the tangy bite that the cream cheese added, and it did.

Yum! These brownies are so decadent!!

Nutella Cheesecake Brownies
Recipe Courtesy of Alpine Berry

Ingredients for brownie layer:
10 tbsp butter (5 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1/4 cup Nutella
2 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup natural cocoa powder

Ingredients for cheesecake layer:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened at room temp.
2 large eggs
1/3 cup Nutella

Preheat oven to 325F. Line a 9x9 inch square pan with parchment.

To make the brownie layer...
Combine butter, Nutella, eggs, and sugar in a large bowl and mix well. Sift in flour and cocoa powder and mix until well combined. Pour batter into your prepared pan and spread evenly. Set aside while you prepare the cheesecake layer.

To make the cheesecake layer...
Mix the cream cheese, sugar, eggs and Nutella until well combined. Pour over your brownie batter.

Bake at 325F until the cheesecake looks set, about 40-45 minutes. Allow brownies to cool completely in the pan before cutting.

My New Favorite Salad

2009-02-12T09:54:00.000-08:00

I was watching Nigella Lawson last month and I knew I would love this salad from the moment I saw it. It is a super simple recipe that packs a powerhouse of nutrition and tastes so yummy! The dressing is bright and adds a nice acidic contrast to the avocado and the crunchiness of the pepitas were a nice against the creaminess of the avocados. The smoked salmon just put the whole thing over the top and tasted so good with the dressing and added a nice bit of salt to the dish. I have made this several times over the last month, but just for me -- the only comment I got from the husband the first time I made it was "Tangy" as he went looking in the refrigerator for something else to eat. It makes a really change of pace from the same old salad for lunch, just make sure to keep the dressing in a separate container and mix right before eating because the spinach will get soggy if you mix it in too early.

Baby Spinach, Avocado, and Pumpkin Seed Salad
Recipe Courtesy of the Food Network and Nigella Lawson

Ingredients:
10 cups baby spinach leaves, washed and ready to use
1/2 cup green pumpkin seeds (AKA pepitas)
2 (small to medium-sized) avocados
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lime, zested and juiced
1/2 teaspoon salt
Fresh ground pepper, to taste

Directions:
Put the spinach leaves and pumpkin seeds into a large salad bowl.

Halve the avocados and then remove the stones. Spoon out the flesh over the salad leaves and pumpkin seeds.

Mix the olive oil, lime juice and zest in a small bowl. Add the salt and whisk to emulsify.

Pour the dressing over the salad, and then gently toss everything together using your hands. Take care not to mush the avocado pieces.

Anyone Want Some Soup?

2009-02-05T16:42:00.000-08:00

Sorry that it has been a while since I have posted anything. I have been pretty busy at home and work and to make things worse, I have been sick all week (which is why this post does not have a picture). Since I have not been feeling well, I thought some hearty soup was in order and when I opened my new "Cooking Up A Storm" cookbook, I found exactly what I was looking for.

First a bit about my new cookbook. I first heard about the "Cooking Up A Storm" cookbook on NPR. As soon as the story was over, I called my sister-in-law and asked her about it, to which she responded yes, she was thinking about getting it also. It is so popular that it took me a month to get my copy in the mail! If you are not from New Orleans, this cookbook is the closest thing you will get to having good, local, home cooked New Orleans food. It is chocked full of stories about people searching for recipes of all kinds that were lost during Hurricane Katrina. The bookstores here in Atlanta will not have any copies in stock (I called all of them and asked), but you can get it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Borders online.

So back to my soup. I wanted to make something that would be quick and easy and would not require a trip to the grocery store (which did a good job of narrowing my choices to a few). I get to page 57 and see the ingredients list for the "Crawfish and Corn Chowder" and luckily I have everything on the list already in my house. I know many of you may not have crawfish in your freezer and that is OK, you can substitute ham or shrimp or just leave the meat out altogether. I am luck enough to usually have some peeled crawfish in my freezer (I get a few packs of them every time we go to New Orleans because I cannot find them here in Atlanta).

This is super easy to make -- chop some veggies, sauté them for a few mins, then put in some stuff in the pot and let it simmer, then put in the rest of the ingredients and let it finish cooking for a bit. I am happy to report that the soup was just what the doctor ordered; a bit salty from the chicken broth, a bit sweet from the corn, loaded with potatoes and juicy tender pieces of crawfish - YUM! I can't wait to try more recipes from this cookbook!

Crawfish and Corn Chowder
from Cooking Up a Storm, Recipes Lost & Found from the Times Picayune of New Orleans

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped (I used a few of the most inner stalks, they are the sweetest)
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 bay leaf
t teaspoon chopped fresh thyme or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 (14 oz) can stewed tomatoes with their juice
3 cups chicken or vegetable broth
6 to 8 new potatoes, quartered (I cheated on this one and used simply potatoes)
1 1/2 cups corn (fresh or frozen)
1 pound peeled crawfish tails
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley (for garnish)

Directions:
Warm the oil over medium heat in a 3 quart saucepan and sauté the onion, bell pepper, celery, and carrot until the onion is golden. Add the bay leaf, thyme, and garlic and continue cooking for 1 or 2 minutes, until the garlic is fragrant. Add the tomatoes and broth and bring to a boil; then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the potatoes and continue cooking until tender, about 20 minutes.

Stir in the corn and crawfish and simmer until the corn is tender, but still crisp, about 5 minutes. Remove the bay leaf. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, garnish each bowl with parsley.

Roasted Edamame Salad

2009-01-17T16:39:00.000-08:00

On an impulse, I bought some Edamame while I was grocery shopping. I brought it home and stashed it in the freezer . . . and there it sat. I had not idea what to do with it, so off to the Food Network's website I went. I stumbled across a recipe by Alton Brown that looked interesting and the fact that I already had all of the ingredients made it even more appealing. The resulting dish had a nice bright flavor from the basil, and the tomatoes provided some nice color and a bit of sweetness (I had some Campari tomatoes, which is as good as it gets for fresh tomatoes in Atlanta in January). This makes a healthy and filling lunch and tastes even better the day after it is made.

Roasted Edamame Salad

Ingredients
12 ounces fresh or frozen shelled edamame, about 2 cups
1/2 cup fresh corn kernels, about 2 ears of corn
1/4 cup finely diced scallion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup chopped fresh tomato
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the edamame, corn, scallion, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper into a 13 by 9 metal pan and stir to combine. Place on the middle rack of the oven and roast for 10 to 15 minutes, just until the edamame begins to brown. Remove from the oven and place in the refrigerator until completely cool, approximately 30 minutes.

Add the tomato, basil and vinegar to the edamame mixture and toss to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning, as desired. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Recipe courtesy of the Food Network and Alton Brown

Fondue on New Year's Eve

2008-12-31T15:05:00.001-08:00

I generally prefer to stay home on New Year's Eve and have a simple meal and be tucked happily in bed to ring in the new year. I suggested to my husband that we have a simple fondue for dinner. The fondue was served with roasted vegetables, warmed freshly baked bread, and a bit of meat to satisfy the carnivores at the table. I found an easy fondue recipe on the Food Network website and just roasted the veggies with a bit of olive oil, some salt, and a few grinds of freshly ground pepper. YUM!

Happy New Year! I hope everyone has a healthy and prosperous year. :)

White Wine Fondue

1 pound shredded Swiss cheese*, at room temperature
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 clove garlic, halved
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
French bread, cubed, for dipping

Toss cheese and flour together. Rub a fondue pot or saucepan with the cut garlic. Add broth and wine. Heat over medium heat until hot but not bubbling. Add lemon juice. Add cheese mixture and stir until cheese melts. Season with nutmeg. Keep warm. Serve with bread cubes for dipping.

*Use only natural, aged Swiss cheese, such as Emmentaler, natural Gruyere, or Raclette.

Recipe courtesy of Sandra Lee and the Food Network

No Knead Bread

2008-12-31T05:41:00.000-08:00

I was a bit skeptical when I read about this on The Kitchn website, but I tried it and it is so yummy! I made it in time to go with Sunday dinner and it is just as easy as described in the recipe. This bread has a truly wonderful crust and is light on the inside. When you take the bread out of the oven, it crackles for about ten minutes. My family was very impressed when I told them that I had baked it from scratch.

No-Knead Bread
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

Directions:
1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.
Recipe courtesy of the NY Times: No Knead Bread Recipe

Mmmmm Gumbo!

2008-12-29T15:36:00.000-08:00

I thought it would be fitting that my first post is about the Gumbo I made on Saturday. After a big Christmas dinner on Thursday, it was nice to have something simple and comforting. It turned out pretty good, which is always a plus (I was a bit disappointed in the sausage I added). Since both of my parents are from Louisiana (specifically they are both from Gretna), Gumbo is one of those things I just know how to make - I never use a recipe, so I had to sit and think about what I did to put the recipe together. There are several ways people like their gumbo; filé or no filé, okra or no okra, smoky sausage or spicy sausage, etc. I made this Gumbo with okra, andouille sausage, but no filé. Pretty much, as long as you like it, you have made it right! I know there are some people out there that may disagree with my, but that is my two cents! The actual recipe is at the end of the post.

First, I started on Friday by making a stock. I usually plan for when I want to serve Gumbo so I can make the stock from scratch. I usually add whatever vegetables I have available in the vegetable drawer when making the stock. This time, the stock was flavored with garlic, onions, green onions, leeks, red bell peppers, green bell peppers, fresh parsley, and a few celery stalks. After a quick rough chop on the vegetables, they went into the pot along with a rotisserie chicken (tip: using an already roasted meat on the bone makes a really tasty stock). I covered everything with water and added a bit of salt plus some fresh ground pepper, turned the stove on medium heat and let it simmer for about an hour-and-a-half. When it was done, I cooled it and stashed it in the refrigerator overnight.

On Saturday afternoon, I took the stock out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature, then strained it. I put the pot back on the stove and added some roux, then my fresh veggies and sautéed for a minute. Next, I added the stock and brought it up to a boil, then lowered the temperature to simmer. I added a few bay leaves and some okra and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, I cut up the sausage into bite sized pieces and cooked them in a frying pan for a few minutes. Next, I added the chicken and sausage and about 10 minutes before serving, I added the shrimp. Voila, Gumbo! I hope it does not sound too complicated, and if you do not have the time, there are plenty of great chicken broth/stock products available at the grocery store that you could use to cut back on the time.

Chicken, Sausage, and Shrimp Gumbo

1 medium sized chicken cooked, removed from the bones and broken into pieces (I usually buy a rotisserie chicken to use for my gumbo and just pick the meat off the bones, but you can always buy raw chicken and bake or boil it)
1 pound sausage (such as andouille or kielbasa) cut into ½ inch pieces
1 pound medium sized raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped bell peppers
2 cups frozen okra (more or less depending on how much you like okra, and if you don't like okra you can omit it)
3 bay leaves
9 cups chicken stock (or canned chicken broth)
½ cup chopped green onions
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp vegetable oil
½ cup flour

In a large pot, combine the oil and the flour over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring slowly and very regularly until the roux is a dark brown color (like the color of chocolate) - please note that this may take a while. Add the onions, celery, and bell peppers to the pot and cook until they become soft (maybe 4 – 5 minutes). Slowly, add the chicken stock and bay leaves and stir until everything is well combined, then add the okra. Bring the mixture to a boil and reduce the stove temp to medium-low and simmer for 45 mins to 1 hour. Meanwhile, heat a frying pan and add 1 tbsp vegetable oil and then the sausage. Cook the sausage until well browned and then transfer the sausage to the pot. Add the green onions, chicken, and shrimp, then cook until the shrimp are cooked through (about 5 mins). Serve and enjoy.

If you would like for the gumbo to be a bit spicy, add ¼ tsp (or more) of Cayenne pepper to the pot when you add the chicken stock.

Taking the Plunge. . .

2008-12-19T11:29:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking about doing this for a while, so here I go. I really ejnoy getting in the kitchen and seeing what I can whip up. My right-hand-woman, is my friend Kym. She and I usually collaborate on menus and dishes, sharing successes and failures. My left-hand-man is my four year old son; I can't walk through the kitchen without him getting out the step-ladder and asking to help.

I start this blogs a a funny time. I broke my stove last week. I never liked it, but it came with the house we bought. I have one of those ceramic top electric stove tops and I dropped a heavy stock pot on the edge of it and chipped the edge. I did not think it was a big deal until I put the pot on the burner, when I heard a crack and saw that the stovetop was now cracked from top to bottom. It still works, so my husband and I are going to wait until the beginning of the year to look for a new one and we are ging to take the opportunity to switch to a gas stovetop.

I am going to get back in the kitchen this weekend and do some last minute Christmas baking and candy making, so check back next week to see how it went.