This recipe caught my eye as soon as I started looking through Real Simple: Easy, Delicious Meals (which I got cheeeeeap with a rare 50% coupon from Borders!). It's not too hard, even though I am not super-experienced at making soups (or at, um, putting them in blenders and not having the soup almost explode everywhere). I couldn't use a nonstick Dutch oven, which I would have preferred, but other than that it went pretty smoothly. And it was delicious. I'd definitely recommend it!
I'm including the other recipes I made to go with the soup, or rather, that the soup was made to go with. The chicken enchilada recipe is one my dear friend Rachel gave me years ago, and the chocolate silk pie is from my sweet friend Erin, and was given to me as part of her bridal shower gift to me.
I discovered that I had only two tortillas to work with, rather than the required eight, so instead of rolling the enchiladas up, I added the chicken and onions to the sauce on the stove, spread all the (now very chunky) sauce in a 9 x 13 pan, put the two tortillas on top, and covered the whole thing with sharp cheddar cheese. I baked it for the recommended amount of time, and then added a couple minutes of broiling on low to sort of give the cheese a nice crust. What this ended up doing was to fuse the cheese and the tortillas together, which was kind of cool, I thought, though completely unintentional. So if you run out of tortillas, you can do it that way, or you can do it the way I've done it every other time I've made this recipe and just roll them up like always. :)
One thing to note on the pie: the chilling time of 5 - 24 hours. I definitely mis-read that as a 2, not a 5, and had grand plans of the pie being ready just as dinner was over. Not so much. But it was ready at around 9:00, which is when everyone wanted to eat dessert anyway. And it was delicious. Thanks, Erin and Rachel, for providing me with these wonderful recipes!
Smoky Corn Chowder, from Real Simple: Easy, Delicious Meals
Serves 6 (I guess depending on how generous your servings are, this could be true, but I found it served 4 quite adequately. I think 6 would have been a stretch.)
8 ounces sliced bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (I broke the bacon up after it was cooked - cutting raw bacon is just too messy and ineffectual)
1 large sweet onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 10-ounce packages frozen corn (I couldn't for the life of me find 10-ounce packages, so I bought two 16-ounce packages and used just half a cup from the second package)
3 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup half-and-half
Kosher salt and black pepper (I used table salt - I'm sure Kosher would be better but as I am not totally familiar with the differences I'm gonna say don't worry about it)
4 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
1. Cook the bacon in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
2. Spoon off and discard all but 2 tablespoons of the drippings and return the pan to medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic, paprika, and red pepper and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.
3. Stir in the corn, broth, and half-and-half and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Transfer half the soup to a blender and puree until smooth. Return to the pot and stir in 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper.
4. Divide the soup among bowls and top with the scallions and bacon.
Chicken Enchiladas, from Rachel Bechtel
Sauce:
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can chopped green chilis (chilies? how do you pluralize this word??)
1 cup sour cream
Other ingredients:
1 package cooked chicken (I used Trader Joe's cooked cubed chicken breast - I think it was 1 pound - and it was just right)
8 soft tortillas, burrito size (see above)
1/2 onion, chopped
3 cups shredded cheese of your choice (I used sharp cheddar)
1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Combine sauce ingredients in saucepan over medium heat until hot and bubbling.
3. In each tortilla, put a small amount of chicken, sauce, cheese, and onion. Roll up tortillas and place in 9 x 13 dish, seam side down.
4. Top with leftover sauce and cheese.
5. Bake for 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and edges of tortillas look cooked.
Enjoy!
French Silk Pie, from Erin Nesbit
1 ready-made crust - Oreo is best
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
6 oz. semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup refrigerated egg product (next to eggs in grocery store)
whipped cream and/or chocolate curls, for garnish (optional)
1. In large mixing bowl, beat sugar and butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 4 minutes or until fluffy.
2. Stir in melted and cooled chocolate chips and vanilla.
3. Gradually add egg product, beating on high speed and scraping sides of bowl constantly until light and fluffy.
4. Transfer filling to crust. Cover and chill for 5 to 24 hours.
5. Garnish with whipped cream and/or chocolate curls.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Heaven Desired
Just read this from The Valley of Vision this morning, and it's just...wonderful.
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Heaven Desired
O my Lord,
May I arrive where means of grace cease
and I need no more to fast, pray, weep, watch,
be tempted, attend preaching and sacrament;
where nothing defiles,
where is no grief, sorrow, sin, death, separation, tears,
pale face, languid body, aching joints, feeble infancy,
decrepit age, peccant humours, pining sickness,
griping fears, consuming cares;
where is personal completeness;
where the more perfect the sight the more beautiful the object,
the more perfect the appetite the sweeter the food,
the more musical the ear the more pleasant the melody,
the more complete the soul the more happy in its joys,
where knowledge is full of thee.
Here I am an ant, and as I view a nest of ants
so dost thou view me and my fellow-creatures;
But as an ant knows not me, my nature, my thoughts,
so here I cannot know thee clearly,
But there I shall be near thee,
dwell with thy family,
stand in thy presence chamber,
be an heir of thy kingdom,
as the spouse of Christ,
as a member of his body,
one with him who is one with thee,
and exercise all my powers of body and soul
in the enjoyment of thee.
As praise in the mouth of thy saints is comely,
so teach me to exercise this divine gift,
when I pray, read, hear, see, do,
in the presence of people and of my enemies,
as I hope to praise thee eternally hereafter.
O my Lord,
May I arrive where means of grace cease
and I need no more to fast, pray, weep, watch,
be tempted, attend preaching and sacrament;
where nothing defiles,
where is no grief, sorrow, sin, death, separation, tears,
pale face, languid body, aching joints, feeble infancy,
decrepit age, peccant humours, pining sickness,
griping fears, consuming cares;
where is personal completeness;
where the more perfect the sight the more beautiful the object,
the more perfect the appetite the sweeter the food,
the more musical the ear the more pleasant the melody,
the more complete the soul the more happy in its joys,
where knowledge is full of thee.
Here I am an ant, and as I view a nest of ants
so dost thou view me and my fellow-creatures;
But as an ant knows not me, my nature, my thoughts,
so here I cannot know thee clearly,
But there I shall be near thee,
dwell with thy family,
stand in thy presence chamber,
be an heir of thy kingdom,
as the spouse of Christ,
as a member of his body,
one with him who is one with thee,
and exercise all my powers of body and soul
in the enjoyment of thee.
As praise in the mouth of thy saints is comely,
so teach me to exercise this divine gift,
when I pray, read, hear, see, do,
in the presence of people and of my enemies,
as I hope to praise thee eternally hereafter.
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Pork Chops with Pears and Gorgonzola
Here is another wonderful recipe from the Cooks Illustrated booklet of tear-out recipes I bought last winter (I think it was called 30 Minute Suppers Winter 2010...I've been looking for this year's version but haven't found it, and I'm not sure if it's a regular thing - hope so!). Their recipes have tons of helpful hints like amounts of time to brown meat and things like that - I've learned a ton just from following the recipes exactly.
I've made this three or four times and will probably continue to make it often. It's easy and really, really good! (Text copied directly from the tear-out card, except where I've made comments in italics.)
Sauteed Pork Chops with Pears and Gorgonzola
Serves 4
4 bone-in rib or center-cut pork chops, about 1 inch thick (I only use center-cut - the bone-in ones don't give you as much meat, though they do look pretty. I also would probably get 6 pork chops for four people. I like leftovers and opportunities for seconds, and the sauce is plenty for 6.)
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 firm pear, cored and cut into 3/4-inch wedges (see note below) (I use 2 pears if I'm serving 4 people, 1 pear if I'm serving 2.)
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth (If you only have regular chicken broth, it works fine - just maybe use a tiny bit less salt at the end.)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese (see note below)
1. Pat chops dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Cook chops until well browned, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer to platter and tent with foil.
2. Toss pear with sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in bowl. Add pear slices, cut-side down, to empty pan and cook until golden and beginning to soften, 1 to 2 minutes per side. (My pear slices usually aren't big enough to keep them on one particular 'side' or another, so just go with 3-4 minutes total and the "golden and beginning to soften" indicator.) Add broth and simmer until pears are softened, about 2 minutes. Transfer to platter with pork.
3. Continue to cook until sauce is slightly thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Off heat, stir in butter and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon sauce over pears and chops. Top with cheese. Serve.
Test Kitchen Note: Bosc pears, a firm, russet-colored variety, work great in this recipe. For the boldest flavor, use an assertive blue cheese such as Gorgonzola or Roquefort.
(This is me again.) I've served this with mashed potatoes a couple of times, and once with rice and a fruit salad. It isn't as heavy as you'd think, so it isn't overwhelming with a starchy side dish - the pears keep it lighter.
Let me know if y'all try it!
Edited to add: I took a few iPhone pictures...they're not great photography or anything but I always find it helpful to be able to see what the final product looks like when I'm cooking! Even though the "after" picture has the pork chops pretty much smothered in pears. Oh well.
Pre-cooking
Finished product
I've made this three or four times and will probably continue to make it often. It's easy and really, really good! (Text copied directly from the tear-out card, except where I've made comments in italics.)
Sauteed Pork Chops with Pears and Gorgonzola
Serves 4
4 bone-in rib or center-cut pork chops, about 1 inch thick (I only use center-cut - the bone-in ones don't give you as much meat, though they do look pretty. I also would probably get 6 pork chops for four people. I like leftovers and opportunities for seconds, and the sauce is plenty for 6.)
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 firm pear, cored and cut into 3/4-inch wedges (see note below) (I use 2 pears if I'm serving 4 people, 1 pear if I'm serving 2.)
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth (If you only have regular chicken broth, it works fine - just maybe use a tiny bit less salt at the end.)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese (see note below)
1. Pat chops dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Cook chops until well browned, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer to platter and tent with foil.
2. Toss pear with sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in bowl. Add pear slices, cut-side down, to empty pan and cook until golden and beginning to soften, 1 to 2 minutes per side. (My pear slices usually aren't big enough to keep them on one particular 'side' or another, so just go with 3-4 minutes total and the "golden and beginning to soften" indicator.) Add broth and simmer until pears are softened, about 2 minutes. Transfer to platter with pork.
3. Continue to cook until sauce is slightly thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Off heat, stir in butter and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon sauce over pears and chops. Top with cheese. Serve.
Test Kitchen Note: Bosc pears, a firm, russet-colored variety, work great in this recipe. For the boldest flavor, use an assertive blue cheese such as Gorgonzola or Roquefort.
(This is me again.) I've served this with mashed potatoes a couple of times, and once with rice and a fruit salad. It isn't as heavy as you'd think, so it isn't overwhelming with a starchy side dish - the pears keep it lighter.
Let me know if y'all try it!
Edited to add: I took a few iPhone pictures...they're not great photography or anything but I always find it helpful to be able to see what the final product looks like when I'm cooking! Even though the "after" picture has the pork chops pretty much smothered in pears. Oh well.
Pre-cooking
Finished product
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Snow Days and Narnia
In case you hadn't heard, the East Coast has had quite a bit of snow lately. I had two days off work (Brandon had three), and in that time I've been reading a lot of Narnia: finishing up The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, reading The Silver Chair (I think I read the whole thing yesterday), and starting The Horse and His Boy. Oh, they're such great stories. I'm currently watching the BBC version of Prince Caspian/The Voyage of the Dawn Treader which, though extremely dated and filled with bad effects (or no effects at all), holds a special place in my heart. I like to sort of mix the new Disney-fied Narnia movies with the BBC ones in my head and combine them into one perfect movie. I realize that doesn't work for everyone, and lots of people have strong negative feelings about one set of movies or the other, but oh well.
During our snowbound days, I made several different variations of pancakes (a rough segue I know, but Narnia makes me want to cook from scratch and eat rustic food, so there you go): these Yoghurt Pikelets, which are my personal favorite (especially rolled up with vanilla yogurt inside), some Bisquick blueberry pancakes, and the Pioneer Woman's sour cream pancakes (from her cookbook). (Except I didn't have a full cup of sour cream, so I used half a cup and supplemented with vanilla yogurt, omitting the vanilla extract later in the recipe.) Oh, and I added blueberries to those too. I was very excited to discover that I had a pint of blueberries still fresh in the fridge!
Y'all, those sour cream pancakes were awesome. A little fluffier than I usually like (I love thin, stackable pancakes), but the flavor was amazing. And then when I added vanilla yogurt, the rest of the fresh blueberries, and a bit of honey, and made them into 'tacos' for dinner (yeah, it was a carby day, though we did have eggs and bacon at brunch), well, wow. It was a good day, food-wise.
Tomorrow I'm going to be starting a job where I cook fairly often, and I'm super excited about it. I'll try to take pictures of what I make, and post recipes of the more successful dishes. It'll be a challenge to make not just a main dish but often a side dish and a dessert three or four days a week, but it's something I've wanted the chance to do for a long time. Hopefully it'll give me more reasons to blog!
One last Narnia-related comment: the theme music for the BBC version is one of the most evocative pieces of music I've ever heard. It brings back my childhood like nothing else: memories of spending hours putting together my map-of-Narnia puzzle (the same map that we now have framed over our fireplace, though not in puzzle form), staging mock battle-planning sessions from Prince Caspian with my dad, and constantly dreaming that I could somehow make it into Narnia myself. I love Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings, but nothing will ever be as special to me as the world of Narnia. I sometimes forget that until I venture back in.
During our snowbound days, I made several different variations of pancakes (a rough segue I know, but Narnia makes me want to cook from scratch and eat rustic food, so there you go): these Yoghurt Pikelets, which are my personal favorite (especially rolled up with vanilla yogurt inside), some Bisquick blueberry pancakes, and the Pioneer Woman's sour cream pancakes (from her cookbook). (Except I didn't have a full cup of sour cream, so I used half a cup and supplemented with vanilla yogurt, omitting the vanilla extract later in the recipe.) Oh, and I added blueberries to those too. I was very excited to discover that I had a pint of blueberries still fresh in the fridge!
Y'all, those sour cream pancakes were awesome. A little fluffier than I usually like (I love thin, stackable pancakes), but the flavor was amazing. And then when I added vanilla yogurt, the rest of the fresh blueberries, and a bit of honey, and made them into 'tacos' for dinner (yeah, it was a carby day, though we did have eggs and bacon at brunch), well, wow. It was a good day, food-wise.
Tomorrow I'm going to be starting a job where I cook fairly often, and I'm super excited about it. I'll try to take pictures of what I make, and post recipes of the more successful dishes. It'll be a challenge to make not just a main dish but often a side dish and a dessert three or four days a week, but it's something I've wanted the chance to do for a long time. Hopefully it'll give me more reasons to blog!
One last Narnia-related comment: the theme music for the BBC version is one of the most evocative pieces of music I've ever heard. It brings back my childhood like nothing else: memories of spending hours putting together my map-of-Narnia puzzle (the same map that we now have framed over our fireplace, though not in puzzle form), staging mock battle-planning sessions from Prince Caspian with my dad, and constantly dreaming that I could somehow make it into Narnia myself. I love Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings, but nothing will ever be as special to me as the world of Narnia. I sometimes forget that until I venture back in.
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