Rustic Vegetable Soup

  » By Keith Prickett

June 9th, 2008 - Posted in Dinner, General, Soup | Leave a comment (0)

YUM!  I am exited to share this recipe with you.  I really loved cooking and especially loved eating this soup.  It warmed my insides and had a wholesome texture that brought back memories of visiting my Grandma.  The unique flavor of leek, heartiness of cabbage, and healthy carrots I feel make this soup a quick and easy meal that you can make and enjoy for the whole week — or feed a large family or group of friends.  It’s a light soup but it still filled me up.  Rachel said that it needed some potatoes, so next time I think I’ll add those.  Here’s what I did:

Ingredients:

• Olive Oil
• 3 long celery stocks diced
• 3 large carrots chopped
• 1 large white or yellow onion chopped
• 1 large leek chopped (white portion)
• 1 whole green cabbage
• (Rachel suggest 2 or 3 medium potatoes)
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• Sea Salt and Freshly ground pepper to taste
• 2 teaspoons chili powder for a kick
• 64 oz chicken broth or vegetable broth for vegetarian/vegan
• Water

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large stock pot over medium
2. Add all the vegetables and heat them up until they begin to get soft (about 5 to 10 minutes)
3. Add the broth
4. Cover the rest of the vegetables (as needed) with water
5. Bring the pot to a slow boil and let it simmer for 20 minutes.
6. Serve the soup in a big bowl with some fresh Italian bread and garnish with some parsley.

I hope you enjoy it!

Toasted Barley and Butternut Squash

  » By Keith Prickett

October 28th, 2007 - Posted in Chicken, Dinner | Leave/read a comment (2)

I’ve been reading a cookbook: Nightly Specials: 125 Recipes for Spontaneous, Creative Cooking at Home. I love how they combine simple recipes and ingredients to make delicious foods! I’ve already made a few things out of it including “Toasted Barley and Butternut Squash” and “Coffee Barbecue Sauce” with chicken. There are plenty more delicious-looking recipes in this book (like the Chicken Pot Pie), and since it’s only a loaner from the Library I think I’m going to have to buy it:

Well anyway, I promised you a recipe with my homemade chicken broth and I keep my promises. The Toasted Barley and Butternut Squash looked really good in the book’s picture and it was good! It uses homemade chicken stock and maple syrup, but my wife said to use less maple syrup next time — it was a little sweet for dinner.

I didn’t actually use butternut squash, since I didn’t have any. I grew a small garden outside my duplex this year and had an acorn squash plant. From that ONE plant I must have harvested over 25 acorn squash and so I had plenty to spare!

One last note, this dinner goes GREAT with the pumpkin dinner rolls! Try it tonight!

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 cup barley
• 2 cups of homemade chicken stock
• 1 large Acorn Squash (the recipe actually calls for butternut squash, so use that if you have it)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tsp total of Kosher salt and whole pepper kernels ground
• 3 tablespoons of maple syrup (the recipe calls for 3, I’d reduce it to 1 tablespoon next time)
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Melt the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat
3. Add the onion and cook until it starts to brown
4. Add the raw barley and cook it for about 3 minutes
5. Pour in the hot broth, stir and simmer uncovered until the broth is absorbed and the barley is tender (about 40 minutes)
6. Take your squash (chopped into cubes) and oil and toss in a bowl. Season it with the salt and pepper, toss again.
7. Turn it out onto a cookie sheet in a single layer and roast it in the oven until tender (about 15 minutes).
8. Add the syrup and other spices and stir.
9. Roast for another 10 minute
10. Now, stir the squash into the barley, serve and enjoy!

I hope you enjoy it!

Salt-Free Homemade Chicken Broth

  » By Keith Prickett

October 20th, 2007 - Posted in Chicken, Dinner | Leave/read a comment (2)

As you may have noticed I don’t use salt that much. I like to use unsalted butter, and I rarely put salt in anything I bake. I found that it is not necessary to add salt in order to have a delicious flavor. When I went on a salt-free kick way back when, I realized that chicken bouillon and store-bought chicken broths have a LOT of sodium (along with pretty much every thing else you buy at the grocery store). So I decided that I would try to make my own; This was also after wondering what I would do with the chicken carcass I had just cut-up or bbq’d.

This is a great way to use a whole chicken after you take what you want from it. I found that a whole chicken can make a whole weeks (depending on your family size) worth of meals if you use the whole thing (as opposed to just using the meat: breasts, thighs, and legs). I actually used this broth in a recipe I’ll share soon! Here is my very simple recipe (which you can extend to use any flavors you want):

Ingredients:

• A whole chicken (cooked=brown chicken broth, uncooked=white chicken broth) with breasts and other meaty-parts removed based on preference
• 1 Tbsp ground pepper or 15 whole peppercorns
• Enough water to fill your pan and cover the whole chicken.
• 1 Medium Onion
• Optional: 3-4 Celery, 3-4 Carrots cubed.
• If you’re not weird like me, 1/2 tsp salt.

That’s it, it’s a really basic list of ingredients.

To prepare:

1. Cut the chicken into manageable pieces and so that it fits into your pan. I use a big soup pan. It probably held about 8-cups of water or more.
2. Put the chicken into the pan.
3. Fill the pan with water.
4. Turn the oven on high until the water boils, then reduce to medium or high enough to let the stock simmer.
5. Next, use another pan to fry the onion, which you have chopped into eighths.
6. When they are starting to turn slightly brown throw them in the pot with the chicken.
7. Add the pepper (and salt if you must).
8. Optional: Add the carrots and celery
9. Simmer and stir occasionally for 3-4 hours. The broth will be reduced to about half of the original volume, so keep that in mind for your proportions.
10. When you’re done simmering you can use a strainer or a cheese-cloth like device to strain the broth and use as desired.

After I strained it I thought for a while about what to do with the bits of chicken pieces, carrots, and celery. I decided to remove all the bones and non-meat chicken pieces and then turn the rest into a soup. You can do what you like with it, have fun!
I hope you enjoy it!