04: Smoked Salmon Chowder

Hey week four and we are still doing it! I would have normally gotten bored by now  and started making chili dogs and street tacos. But it does sort of make it easier having a menu/theme for one night of the week.  We make these soups on Sunday in case you were wondering. Our idea is to NOT recreate the normal cast of characters or anything on Pinterest.

Also we live in the Northwest so yeah there is going to be a Smoked Salmon Chowder. But this one is pretty good. Not to heavy although it is rich. Brothy but does have a little body. It was nice. You should make it.

Easy to prepair.

40 Minutes cooking time  

Give us 10 rating: ★★★★☆

Source: epicurious.com  

Smoked Salmon Chowder
Serves 6

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 medium leeks, white and light green parts only, rinsed and sliced (about 3 cups)

1 garlic clove, minced

1 large russet potato, peeled and cubed

1 large stalk celery, chopped

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 cups chicken broth

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 cups milk (any fat content)

8 ounces smoked salmon, flaked

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons chives, chopped

The mise en place minus the chicken broth and milk.

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over low heat. Add the leeks and garlic and sauté them for 2 minutes.

Add the potato, celery, salt, and pepper and cook over medium heat for about 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Add the broth and simmer until the potato is tender, about 15 minutes.

Add the tomato paste and milk, then the salmon, and bring the mixture back to a simmer for a few minutes (but don't let it boil, or the milk will separate).

As it simmers, stir in the cream.

Remove from heat, garnish with the chives, and serve

03: Southwest Chicken Chili

03: Southwest Chicken Chili

Give us 10 - Soups / Stew

Southwest Chicken Chili
Serves 6

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 1/2 cups diced onion

1 ½ cups diced tomatillos

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups diced fresh tomatoes

2 cups cooked shredded chicken

1 tablespoons ground cumin

1 teaspoons ground ancho chile pepper or mild chile pepper

3 cups chicken broth

2 (15 oz) cans pinto beans, undrained

Small bunch of cilantro

Fresh limes for squeezing into your chili

Salt and black pepper

Shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese, for topping

Sour cream, for topping

In a large pot heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the onion, a pinch of  salt and cook until translucent.  Add the tomatillos and cook for a few minutes. Next add the tomatoes and garlic cook for another few minutes.  Now pour in at least two cups of the broth, beans the cumin, ancho and chicken. Adjust the amount of liquid to your liking. Simmer until heated through about fifteen minutes. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper and additional cumin or ancho chili powder.

Serve adding cheese, sour cream and cilantro.

02: Simply Classic - Rainy Day Beef and Barley Soup

Give us 10 - Soups / Stew

02: Simply Classic - Rainy Day Beef and Barley Soup

The final product, not too bad.

Easy to prepare.
2 Hours mostly inactive\cooking time
Give us 10 rating: ★★★☆☆
Source: Simply Classic: A New Collection of Recipes to Celebrate the Northwest 

available at Northwest bookstores or here amazon.com

Week number two brings us a Beef and Barley soup from the Junior League Cookbook of the Northwest called Simply Classic. I was disheartened when I learned that the Junior League is not affiliated with the Justice League of America. Other than my juvenile disappointment Simply Classic is a great resource.

The preparation was very simple basic soup technique, browning the meat then the vegetables and aromatics add the liquids etc...If you are looking for a classic and fairly straightforward Beef and Barley soup this should suffice. You notice we only give it three out of five stars. The soup was okay bordering on good but it wasn't great or fantastic and it won’t be in a normal soup rotation in our menu.

This makes up the bulk of the prep.

Rainy day beef barley soup
Serves 8

1 1/2 pounds beef round steak, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
2 cups onion finely chopped
1 Cup carrots, diced
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 - 14.5 ounce can beef broth
1 - 14.5 ounce can chicken broth
1/2 cup pearl barley
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

Sprinkle beef with salt-and-pepper. Place 1 tablespoon oil in Dutch oven and ground beef until no longer pink. Transfer to a bowl. He remaining oil in same pot, add onion, carrot and celery. Cook, stirring, until vegetables are softened, about five minutes. Stir in mushrooms, garlic and thyme, cook five minutes more. Combined beef and chicken broth with enough water to equal 6 cups. add to pot along with barley and beef. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer until beef is tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Add more water, if necessary, during the cooking time. Sprinkle with parsley just before serving.

Side suggestion, we served Sour Cream and Green Onion Drop Biscuits along side the soup. This is a recipe that I have developed for many different applications.

These turned out nice if I do say so myself.

Sour Cream and Green Onion Drop Biscuits

• 2 cups AP flour (can use 1 cup white, 1 cup whole wheat)
• 1 tsp. Baking Powder
• 1 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 tsp. Kosher Salt
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup minced green onions (green part)
• 1/2 a stick of butter melted in the microwave

Heat oven to 425 degrees

In a bowl mix the dry ingredients along with a whisk until well combined. Measure out the milk, add sour cream to the milk and stir.  Add the milk mixture, melted butter and green onions to the dry ingredients. Mix with large spoon until well combined. Do not over mix. 

With a small portion scoop drop the dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet (I got 15). Cook 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

If you make the soup or the biscuits leave a comment, let us know.

Enjoy!

01: Cook’s Illustrated Best Chicken Stew

 Give us 10 - Soups / Stew

01: Cook’s Illustrated Best Chicken Stew

Medium to Hard to prepare

1 Hour 45 Minutes active\cooking time  

Give us 10 rating: ★★☆☆☆

Found here at Food.com

We decided to go with a Cook’s Illustrated for our first recipe in the Give us 10 Soups/ Stew series. Cook’s Illustrated is a wonderful resource of repeatedly tested recipes designed for the home cook. I am a big fan of Cook’s Illustrated and had great respect of the magazine and used to study their recipes and highlight, literally, the cook’s notes and techniques. I have learned a lot from the magazines and the television show America’s Test Kitchen.  

Unfortunately, our first at bat was not stellar.  First of all it took a lot more steps and ingredients to make something as simple as chicken stew unless you have anchovy paste on hand and an extra pound of chicken wings you just want to throw out.  Cook’s Illustrated Best Chicken Stew also took almost 2 hours to cook and was only decent. For all of the steps taken to ensure deep flavor and umami such as soy sauce anchovy paste and white wine it just didn’t hit it out of the park.

The one thing I think that this recipe nailed was the stew consistency. It had great body. This recipe will not be making it into regular rotation.  However some of the before mentioned umami techniques will.

• Jason

Amy's Take:

Snowflakes? Check. Sunday afternoon coziness? Check. Chicken Stew seemed like the perfect way to kick off this experiment. 

Maybe were were not hungry enough (we call that the Dinty Moore effect*) maybe it was the recipe. Meh. I agree with Jason the consistency was right, but the flavor just was not there.

The kids were non- plussed, they gave it a 3.

For all the time and noise in the kitchen it did not seem worth the time.

• Amy

* Dinty Moore Effect- comes from a family legend where my Aunt and her kids were on a road trip and STARVING and some stew from a can really hit the spot. So when her kids begged to have it at home- let's just say, it was not the same.