Family Bites

French Country Chicken Soup

Although the calendar says it's spring, the weather outside is certainly trying to tell me otherwise. Meaning, the charcoal barbecue is staying indoors for just a little bit longer, and soup is making yet another appearance at our dinner table.

This one perfectly bridges the gap between the two seasons though, because although it evokes comfort and a sense of heartiness, it's loaded with seasonal vegetables and spring flavours, like fresh baby spinach, new potatoes, and fresh (or frozen) peas. 

Jackson's just about had it with the soup scene in our house, and I can hardly blame him. But if I can get away with quick-cooking, one-pot meals for just a little longer, I'm willing to embrace it. After all, there needs to be an upside to this wacky weather. You understand, don't you?

French Country Spring Soup, adapted from Chatelaine

• 6 cups chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons dried tarragon
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1" pieces
• 6 baby potatoes, sliced in half
• 3 leeks, white parts only, washed and thinly sliced
• 2 cups fresh (or frozen) peas
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Pour the broth into a Dutch-oven set over medium-high heat.

Whisk in the Dijon, tarragon and nutmeg.  Add the chicken, potatoes, leeks and peas and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer for 30 minutes.

Remove the lid and add the spinach and cream. Cook for an additional ten minutes, and season with salt and pepper, if desired.

Serve immediately with warm baguette.

 

Potato and Shrimp Chowder

Last week I was consumed with the idea of making a chowder. If I had to guess, I would say the word was mentioned on Downton Abbey at some point, leaving an impression in my mind so strong it almost bordered on obsessive. For days, all I could think about was the pot of bubbling milky soup I wanted to make as soon as I handed in a batch of writing assignments and a party project.

That day was last Friday, and when the boys came home from school in the afternoon I was greeted with cries of "What smells so good?" Unfortunately, for one of them, the smell was far superior to the taste, but the other lapped it up with such enthusiasm I almost thought the dog might be eating at the table. Rob and I agreed with him, although I'd like to think we were a little more refined in our consumption.

If I had a pot big enough, I would triple this recipe and make enough for us to eat for several days on end (sorry, Jackson).  I also wouldn't hesitate to serve this to guests with a loaf of crusty bread and a simple green salad. It's comfort food at it's finest, and should be shared with your favourite people.  Even if they think it tastes like dirty socks.

Shrimp and Potato Chowder

This recipe is adapted from one of my other favourite soups, my Corn and Cheddar Chowder.

• 1.5 lbs new potatoes, diced and unpeeled
• 4 cups water
• 1 tablespoon dried dill weed
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 5 strips of bacon
• 1 small onion, peeled and diced
• 1/2 red pepper, diced
• 3 celery stalks, trimmed and diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 lb. shrimp, peeled and de-veined and cut into 1" pieces
• 1 cup of frozen corn
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 10 grinds fresh ground pepper

 

Clean the potatoes and cut into a large dice.  Place them in a soup pot and cover with the water, dill and salt.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Place the bacon in a skillet set over medium heat and cook until crispy.  Remove to a paper-towel lined plate, and drain all but 1 tablespoon of the fat from the pan. Add the onion, red pepper, celery, carrots, and shrimp, and cook until the vegetables are softened. Crumble the bacon.

Once the vegetables have cooked add them to the potatoes.  Also add the bacon, corn, milk, and cream. Bring to a boil and allow to bubble for 7-8 minutes.  Add the chili powder and black pepper and stir well.  Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.  Check the seasonings, and serve warm.

 

Vegetables and Bacon (and Meal Planning Monday)

I'm sitting at my desk wanting to write, but not exactly sure what to write about it. It's the day I would typically share my weekly meal plan with hopes of inspiring you to organize your dinners for the coming days, but to be honest, are many people really going to adhere to a plan this week?

I've made one, and if you're really interested it consists of the following: two nights worth of soup, one night of fried vegetable rice, a frittata which will allow me to hide use up the vegetables the kids didn't want to eat this week, and lastly, a meal of apple and cheddar paninis with a side of salad. This salad specifically, although I'm fairly certain the boys won't go near it. 

As I typed this out I realized that it's mostly a vegetarian meal, which seems perfectly fine to me, although I'm sure Ben will try to convince me to add bacon to something. If the photo below is any indication, he's a little obsessed with all-things pork, and yesterday he was able to sample a chocolate-bacon confection that ellicited few words, but two big thumbs up.

The lack of meat in our plan works well though, as I'm sure we'll get our fill this weekend. Christmas Eve is to be a meal made up of many things, least of which is my annual tourtiere. There is some poultry making an appearance on Christmas Day, and then we eat another holiday meal on the 26th. Yes, I do think the planned vegetarian fare is in order for the coming days, don't you?

Smoky Vegetable and Lentil Soup

This soup was a hit with the kids.  Probably more than any other soup I've made so far.  It's simple and flavourful and completely nourishing.  And while this is meant to be a vegetarian soup, I have made it with bacon as well. To do that, eliminate the olive oil and butter in the recipe, and start the dish by cooking up 1/2 cup chopped bacon.  Then continue with steps 2 - 6.

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 leeks, washed and thinly sliced
• 2 celery ribs, trimmed and diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1 1/2 cups green lentils
• 1 small sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 2 cups water
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Set a dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the olive oil and butter.  

2. Once the butter has melted, add the leeks, celery and carrot and cook until softened but not browned, about 5 minutes.

3. Add the smoked paprika and stir to incorporate in the vegetable mixture.

4. Add the lentils and sweet potato and cover with the vegetable stock and water.

5. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat, cooking for 30 minutes or until the lentils are tender.

6. Season with salt and fresh ground pepper, desired.

 

 

 

Soup Sundays: Sausage, Kale and Potato Soup

The Toronto Santa Claus parade is this afternoon.  I'm not sure how we got to the almost-winter-holiday stage of this year already, but when the jolly red guy embarks on the city, I feel that we can officially consider ourselves in merry-making mode.

This holiday season is a little different for me.  I'm slightly less prepared than I usually am at this point, but only because I feel that I don't need to be so hurried.  For the first time in five years, I'm going to be working from home in December, and not inside the frazzled spaces of a catering company.

If you can, imagine gathering your entire immediate family into your too small kitchen, and while you're all tired, a little grumpy and slightly anxious, you band together to prepare nine Thanksgiving dinners. In one day.  I don't mean dinner for nine.  I mean nine separate dinners, each for 10 or more people. That's what it's like to work in catering over the holidays. Only you repeat the scene for 25 days in a row.  

This year my December will be spent working in the confines of my tiny kitchen, and at the new wooden desk Rob built for me.  I probably didn't mention it here, but I'm now the Food Editor over at SavvyMom.  In addition to the parties I work on there, and the blog I write, I'll also be overseeing the EatSavvy section of the website. I'm thrilled to be part of the team there, and I'll try to keep you abreast of all the fun things we do in that space.

So while I may not be prepared in the gifting sense of the holidays, I am organized in the food sense.  My freezer is filling up with cookies and just as importantly, soups. It can be a task to keep the family eating well in the busy days leading up to Christmas, but with frozen soups lined up like toy soldiers, I feel ready for the challenge.  

 

Sausage, Kale and Potato Soup  (adapted from Epicurious)

The original recipe called for the use of water in this soup.  I really think it's completely enhanced with the addition of a good quality or homemade chicken stock.  I also added a few red pepper flakes which didn't bother the kids at all, but did add a slight amount of heat to the dish.

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 4 red potatoes, peeled and diced
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups water
• 6 sausages (sweet Italian or Chorizo)
• 1 pound kale, ribs removed and leaves cut into thin slices

Cook the onion in the oil in a dutch oven or large pot set over medium heat, until soft and translucent, about  3 minutes.  Add the potato, and stirring occasionally, cook for 4 minutes.  Add the stock and summer until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove the casing from the sausage and place it in a nonstick skillet set over medium high heat. Using a wooden spoon, break the meat up into small pieces and cook until golden brown.  Transfer to paper towels to drain.

When the potatoes are tender, add the sausage to the pot and simmer 5 minutes.  Add the kale and cook until tender, another 5 minutes.

Season if desired and serve with crusty bread.

Soup Sundays: Country-Style White Bean and Noodle Soup

I've had this idea that working from home was going to consist of quiet days in front of a crackling fire, laptop in hand and a pot of soup lightly gurgling in the back burner of the stove top.  That romantic notion quickly turned into a realistic one by the third day I was here, and to be perfectly honest it's been a more challenging adjustment that I would've thought. However, despite my days not looking as book-worthy as I had envisioned, I wouldn't change it for anything.

What is true about my working days though, is the ability to have that pot of soup in the works all day long. Sometimes I let it simmer on the stove far longer than necessary, for it perfumes the house with scents that no store-bought product can compare to.  The flavours develop over time and if I keep the heat low enough, it's ready for eating the minute someone is hungry.  

This isn't to say that all of my soups spend hours languishing in my favourite pot.  In fact, there are plenty of days that I need a meal in a minute, and I wished I had something healthy and hearty to serve up quickly. Thankfully, this white bean and noodle soup is the answer to that problem. 

Made in a similar way to good old-fashioned chicken noodle soup, the vegetables cook until tender but not browned, the stock and spices are added, the noodles cooked and the beans tossed in.  From start to finish this can be made in twenty minutes.  For real. I know most twenty minute meals aren't actually less than forty to put together, but I promise you this one is.

This is a simple soup.  One I'm certain my boys could make.  So feel free to play with the size of the noodle and the variety of bean.  Turn this into a toddler meal by using small round or tubular pasta, or fancy it up by adding a little heat if that's your thing.  Your family won't miss the addition of the chicken and whatever you do, definitely pack this in the lunchbox.

Country-Style White Bean and Noddle Soup

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 carrots, peeled and diced
• 3 celery ribs, trimmed and diced
• 3 cloves garlic, grated
• 1 litre good quality vegetable stock
• 4 cups water
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves 
• 3 handfuls whole-wheat egg noodles
• 2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed

Add the oil to a dutch oven or soup pot and set over medium heat.  Add the carrots, celery and garlic and cook until tender, but not browned, about 6 minutes.

Cover the vegetables with stock and water, add the thyme and bay leaves and bring to a boil.

Add the noodles and lower the heat to medium.  Cook for eight minutes, or until the noodles are soft.

Add the white beans and heat through.  Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper if necessary.

 

Soup Sundays: Meatball Soup

This week's soup is courtesy of Jackson, who's been dying to make something like this ever since he saw it tucked within the pages of one of my food magazines.  I was a little skeptical, as only a few days before he declared soup the worst food ever made, and begged me not to serve it to him anymore.  For those of you still in the toddler or little kid phase, please note that age nine is fraught with mind-changes and personality confusion. 

           

I could see what appealed to him about this particular soup though.  It's like eating nachos in a slurpy bowl of broth.  There's turkey meatballs, black beans, crisp corn, smoky chili powder and cumin, all garnished with sour cream, cheddar cheese and tortilla chips.  I had a few leeks and celery ribs that were past their prime, so we tossed those in along with a few potatoes, which Jackson thought would enhance the dish.  I think he's right.

Jackson's Meatball Soup (heavily adapted from Cooking Light)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 lb. ground turkey
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 cup panko
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and grated
• 1 cup chopped leeks
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup diced potatoes
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• To garnish: Sour cream, grated cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese, tortilla chips

Combine the ground turkey, egg yolk, panko, salt, 1/2 teaspoon each chili powder and cumin, and garlic in a mixing bowl and combine well.  Shape the meat into golf ball-sized meatballs and set aside.

Heat the oil in a dutch oven set over medium-high heat.  Place the meatballs in the pot and cook until browned, about 3 minutes per size.  Do this in batches if necessary.  When all of the meatballs have been seared, transfer them to a plate and set aside.

Add the leeks, celery, potatoes, corn and beans to pot.  Season with remaining chili powder and cumin and stir to combine.  Cook for 2 minutes.  Add the stock and water and bring the pot of soup to a bowl.  Turn the heat down to medium-low and partially cover the pot with a lid.  Allow to cook for 20 minutes.

Add the meatballs back to the pot and cover.  Cook for an additional 10 minutes.

Check the seasonings of the soup and add more chili powder, cumin or salt if desired.

Ladle into bowls and garnish with sour cream, grated cheese and tortilla chips. 

 

Soup Sundays

"It is impossible to think of any good meal, no matter how plain or elegant, without soup or bread in it."
    ~ M.F.K. Fisher

I was recently asked by Babble.com for my thoughts on which food all moms should know how to cook.  It was an easy question for me to answer, and my response was the following:

"I think every mom should know how to make a pot of homemade soup. Even if they just have one great recipe in their back pocket, they should make it often. Soup can be served all year round, it's economical, can feed a crowd if needed, and allows you to easily make a dinner (that wasn’t likely to happen otherwise) using almost nothing but vegetables."

I stand by that statement and truly believe that few foods are as versatile, and comforting, as soup. I am certain it's as close to the perfect family food as possible, and while my boys don't crave soup quite the same way I do, it is definitely a meal I know they will eat whenever it's presented to them. 

Because of this, I'm launching the new Soup Sundays series.  Each week, on Sunday, I will share a new recipe for a favourite soup, chowder, potage, broth or bisque. Some will be made with meat and others will be purely vegetarian. There will be chunky soups and soup purées, ethnic soups and old-fashioned soups, and there will be soup garnishes; a list of items to grace the top, or side, of your warm and fragrant slurpy dinners.

The right sidebar of the Family Bites homepage will feature links to all of the soups I've made/will make, including the story of why I started making so many soups to begin with. Let's get started, shall we?  What is your favourite kind of soup?

 

Pumpkin, Sweet Potato and Black Bean Purée

• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 large onion, peeled and diced
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 3 sweet potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
• 3 cups of black beans (cooked or canned)
• 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree (canned or fresh)
• 1 Tbsp. garam masala (or cumin)
• 2 tsp. salt
• 8 cups chicken or veggie stock

Place the butter and the oil in a large pot or dutch oven, and melt over medium-high heat.  Add the onions and garlic and saute until the onions are translucent and slightly browned.

Add the sweet potato, pumpkin, black beans, salt and garam masala and stir to combine with the onion mixture.

Cover with 4 cups of stock and bring to a boil.

Reduce to a simmer, cover and allow to cook for 30 minutes to 1 hour, or until the beans and sweet potatoes are fork tender.

Puree using a regular or immersion blender.  Add the remaining stock and stir well.

 

 

 

Butternut Squash Soup with Gruyère Croutons

Happy Friday!  And to my Canadian friends, happy long weekend. Our French classic dinners were a hit this week. The soup was probably the most liked meal, followed by the chicken with 40 cloves of garlic and brussle sprouts with lardons. I wanted to take a photo of that meal for you but sadly I chopped more than just the veggies, and my thumb was rendered usless as I sat and contemplated whether I needed to get stitches or not (I didn't). Rob finished cooking the meal for me, and unfortunately there was no photo.

But there was a quick one of this soup. Creamy butternut squash soup topped with an oversized sage crouton and gruyère chese. Heaven in a bowl, and the quintessential fall dish, if you ask me. The kids even liked it, which really is the ultimate sign of dinner success in my books.

As I was eating my soup, I thought this would also make for a great first course at a dinner party. Maybe before a nice beef dinner. Then I thought about serving in small shot glasses with mini sage and gruyère crisps, which really is a mighty fine idea, the more I think about it. I'm tempted to do it this weekend, and will let you know if it's a winning idea or not.

Butternut Squash Soup with Gruyère Croutons

For the Soup:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cups chopped leeks (white and light green parts only)
• 2 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 3 apples (McIntosh), peeled, cored and chopped
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 2 tablespoon maple syrup (optional)

For the Croutons:

• Crusty bread, sliced into 2" thick slices
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
• 1 cup grated gruyère

Warm the butter, olive oil and leeks in a large stockpot uncovered over low heat for 15 minutes, or until tje leeks are tender. Stir occasionally, scraping the bottom of the pot. 

Add the squash, apples, salt, pepper, water and stock to the pot. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook over low heat for 30 to 40 minutes, until the squash and apples are very soft. Process the soup with an immersion blender, or purèe it coarsely in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade.

Pour the soup back into the pot. Add the maple syrup and enough cream (you may not need the entire 1/2 cup) to make the soup the consistency you like; it should be slightly sweet and quite thick. Check the seasonings and set aside.

To serve: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Ladle the soup into serving bowls, and place the bowls on a large baking sheet.  Butter the bread slices and top each with the chopped sage and gruyère.  Place a large crouton on the top of each soup bowl and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the bread is crusty and the cheese is golden brown. Serve hot.

 

 

 

Soup of the Week: Cabbage, White Bean and Bacon

I'm sure by now it comes as no surprise that my cooking style lends itself to rustic homey foods.  In fact, if I'm completely honest, a lot of what I make is inspired by what I imagine I would be eating if my family was dining in the French countryside each night.  Some people like to choose their meals by what's in season (and I'm fan of that too), and others base meals on a meat versus veggie equation, but when I cook I wonder if what I'm serving would be found on the chalkboard menu of a European farmhouse.  Ridiculous, I know.

Soup is one of the foods that I know for a fact I would cook up if my family lived in rural France.  In fact, when I did live there the family I worked for ate soup every single weeknight.  Each and every one.  It was always a puree of vegetables served alongside a wooden platter stuffed with crusty bread, pungent cheese, deli meats and small glass vessels of yogurt.  There was no deviating from this menu and it was only on the weekends that heartier dinner fare was consumed.  

Imagine how easy meal planning would be if you served the same foods for dinner each night?  The soup changed based on what was in season at the market, naturally, and the mid-day meal was one of meat and vegetables, so the evening supper was something simple.  I often tell Rob (all the time, actually!) that we should try to eat like the French family I lived with, for one week.  We would make breakfast, lunch and dinner exactly as I remember them to be, and see how we did.  Wouldn't that make for a fun series of blog posts?

 

Cabbage, White Bean and Bacon Soup

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 2 shallots, peeled and minced
• 4 cups cabbage, shredded
• 2 cups mini red potatoes, washed and diced
• 4 carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 cups white beans (canned or dried but cooked)
• 1/2 lb. bacon, diced
• 6 cups water
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons dried sage
• Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Place the butter and the oil in a large pot or dutch oven set over medium heat, and melt the butter.

2. Add the shallots and cook for 3-5 minutes, or until they are soft and translucent.

3. Add the cabbage, potatoes and carrots to the pot and stir to coat the vegetables lightly with oil.  Cook for five minutes.

4. Add the beans, bacon, water, bay leaves and sage to the pot.  Bring the soup to a boil, cover and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for one hour.

5. Season with salt and pepper, if desired, and ladle into bowls.

Farmer's Market Soup

Saturday mornings have developed a sweet little pattern for us.  Rob heads out for his weekly round of golf and the boys I walk the dog, read the paper, and then take off for the market.  

Busier than ever, our little market has grown over the past few years, and now includes vendors who sell cured meats, fresh baked breads, roti and Indian pastries.  Each week we purchase a few of the spicy chicken and beef parcels, then walk the rows and rows of glorious garden goods, while loading up our baskets.

It's all perfectly fun, and something the kids seem to enjoy almost as much as I do. We eat our purchases over the course of the week, and are often left with just a little bit of everything by the time Thursday or Friday comes around.

While none of it is enough for a real meal for the four of us, when combined together it makes our farmer's market soup: a collection of seasonal produce and herbs, baby potatoes and beans.

This isn't the boys favourite meal.  In fact, they tolerate it but would never ask for it.  I think the key to getting them to accept it, is to only put in items that I know they're familiar with.  If I threw something unknown in the pot, it would ruin the entire meal for them.  Kids are so funny, aren't they?  As long as all of the vegetables in the pot are recognizable, they will eat this soup.  

Farmer's Market Soup

• 3-4 small red potatoes, washed and diced
• 3-4 carrots, peeled and diced 
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 medium onion, peeled and diced
• 1 bunch kale, stems removed and chopped
• 1/2 zucchini, thinly sliced and quartered
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
• 4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup feta, crumbled 

Place the potatoes and carrots in a large stock pot with the bay leaf and 1 teaspoon of salt and cover with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, cover with a lid, and reduce the heat to a simmer.  Cook for 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork tender.

While the potatoes are cooking, heat the butter and olive oil in a small skillet set over medium high heat.  Add the onion and kale and saute until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.

Once the potatoes are cooked, add the onion and the kale to the pot.  Add the zucchini, tomato, beans, oregano, basil and vegetable stock and stir well.

Bring the soup to a boil again, reduce the heat, and allow it to simmer for 10 minutes. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper if desired.

Ladle into bowls and top with crumbled feta.  Serve with crusty bread.