April Daring Cook's Challenge - New Brunswick Stew

Kitchen shears are my new favorite utensil.

Why are they my new favorite utensil?  Well, I was having a wrestling match with a 3lb chicken and it was winning - until I remembered the kitchen shears. The beautiful, sleek, seriously sharp kitchen shears. They sliced right through those chicken bones with ease and grace as if to say why have you been struggling with this for the better part of 20 minutes? Weakling.

Lesson one: Don't underestimate the kitchen shears.
Lesson two: Read a recipe before you buy the ingredients - or you could just do what I did.

I bought all my ingredients (so I thought), set aside a night to cook and serve the meal, and of course, left no time for errors or extra runs to the supermarket. Then, just as I went to start cooking at 4:30 Monday afternoon, I realized I should have bought 3lbs of chicken breasts, some quantity of 3 other meats, lima beans and a can of whole peeled tomatoes. I had none of the above, but I did have plenty of homemade chicken stock in my freezer. I thought for a few minutes, decided I would cut my chicken into pieces, use the ground sirloin that I already had defrosting and just flat out make my own recipe. I know I was supposed to use one of the two recipes provided by the Daring Cook's Host but I was out of time and options. I made it up as I went and it came out quite good. Hopefully the Daring Kitchen police won't be too angry. 

Not-Even-A-Little-Bit-Traditional Brunswick Stew

New Brunswick Stew is a modern adaption of Brunswick Stew (squirrel stew). It replaces squirrel with rabbit and also includes several other meats like pork and chicken. I've eaten rabbit once before but I've never cooked it. Unfortunately, there is no butcher in Binghamton and short of killing your own that's the only place you'll find rabbit meat. I did check Wegmans just in case but when I asked if they could order it for me, the kid working behind the meat counter looked at me as if I was seriously disturbed. The answer was obviously: no crazy lady, we don't sell cute, furry, backyard animals. I even tried to get a friend to hunt one for me. He hunts plenty of deer and other animals but declined on the rabbit citing them as too cute and furry. By this point I officially felt like a horrible, soul-less person trying to kill cute and furry animals. I gave up and went with chicken and beef.

 I used homemade BBQ Sauce because Jason made 7 quarts of of it from the Dinosaur BBQ cookbook. In case you are wondering 7 quarts is a TON of BBQ sauce and we've been doing everything short of drinking it to try to use it all up. I encourage you to use the Paul Purdome Chicken Seasoning because it really is the best. I use it on everything but if you can't find it you can replace it with hot paprika, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. Serves 6-8

1 onion

2 leeks chopped

1 lb boneless chicken breast

1 lb chicken thighs (bone-in)

1 lb lean ground sirloin

4 cups chicken broth (I used homemade)

Paul Purdome chicken seasoning 

red cayenne pepper

2 bay leaves

28oz butter beans

1 14oz can diced tomatoes in juice

1 1/2 cups spicy BBQ sauce (see headnote)

1 pound frozen green peas

10oz frozen baby corn

A few tablespoons flour (I used whole wheat pastry but white is fine)

kosher salt

pepper

In a large dutch oven (mine is 5 1/2 quarts), sauté the onion and leeks in olive oil until just soft

add the chicken and season generously with chicken spice. Cook about 5 minutes, flipping the pieces half way through.

Remove chicken to a plate and set aside.

Add ground sirloin to the pan and cook until just brown but not cooked through

Add chicken back to the pan

Add chicken broth, bay leaves, and a dash of cayenne pepper.

Cover and bring to boil.

Cook for about 25 minutes until chicken is cooked through and easy to shred.

Remove chicken pieces and shred the meat. Remove the drumstick and thigh bones and return shredded meat to the pot.

Add beans, BBQ sauce and diced tomatoes.

Simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes.

At this point it will still be pretty thin.

Put a few tablespoons of the flour in a small bowl and whisk in about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of liquid from the pot. When the mixture is smooth stir it back into the pot and continue to simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes. If it's still too thin repeat the process and simmer for another few minutes. 
Remove the bay leaves and throw them out.

At this point I covered it and turned off the heat for about a half an hour to wait for my friends to come over. This step isn't necessary but it did help thicken it up a great deal. 

If you skip this step then just stir in the peas and corn, cook until both are hot and serve.

If you choose to let it sit like I did, add the peas and corn and bring it back to simmer until heated through.

Serve with a good chunk of crusty bread. The leftovers store well in the fridge and freezer and taste even better the second day.

French Onion Soup

In the past I may not have expressed my love for Cooks' Illustrated as much as I should have. 

Those six yearly issues might as well be my bible. I love that they don't just publish a recipe. They test it out over and over using different variables, ingredients and techniques. They walk you through their results and they explain why they did or did not like each variation. Basically, any recipe you find in those glossy pages is pretty much guaranteed to work.

Let's back track to Christmas break for a second. I'm probably the only college student that travels with cooking utensils including, but not limited to, french press, coffee, several cookbooks, candy thermometer, cookie press and other things I obviously need for weeks away from home. (Seriously??). At any rate while I was going through the cabinets and packing up my stuff to go home I noticed 4 little blue crocks for french onion soup. My dad declared he had no idea where they came from and I could have them. I jumped at the thought of making my own french onion soup and eagerly tucked them between layers of clothing in my suitcase.

Flash forward again to my house in Binghamton. I now have these dumb little unnecessary single-use bowls taking up precious cabinet space in my tiny kitchen. The least I could do was use them at least once so I turned to my trusty Soups & Stews issue of Cooks' Illustrated. I read through the article and following recipe, wrote my shopping list, invited some guests, and broke out the dutch oven.

One supermarket trip, a quick run (literally) back for some forgotten thyme, and six hours later and we were enjoying delicious hot crocks of melted, cheesy, onions.

I'm not going to pretend this is quick and easy. It's not. It's a lot of time and work. Yes, I am aware that chicken soup takes almost as long but I really love chicken soup. I think my adversity to making this again has more to do with my indifference to actually consuming it than the effort it takes to make it.

Don't get me wrong, the soup came out fantastic and I'm happy I made it. I just don't often crave french onion soup, so it's not worth all the work. Plus those dumb little crocks really don't fit with my dislike for single-use kitchen gadgets. In fact, I think I'm going to give them back when I move in May. Thanks anyway Dad - and don't worry I know french onion is your favorite. I'll make you some when I dump these things back in your kitchen.

French Onion Soup

As written and published by Cook's Illustrated January 1, 2008. Serves 6.
Sweet onions, such as Vidalia or Walla Walla, will make this recipe overly sweet. Be patient when caramelizing the onions in step 2; the entire process takes 45 to 60 minutes. Use broiler-safe crocks and keep the rim of the bowls 4 to 5 inches from the heating element to obtain a proper gratinée of melted, bubbly cheese. If using ordinary soup bowls, sprinkle the toasted bread slices with Gruyère and return them to the broiler until the cheese melts, then float them on top of the soup. We prefer Swanson Certified Organic Free Range Chicken Broth and Pacific Beef Broth. For the best flavor, make the soup a day or 2 in advance. Alternatively, the onions can be prepared through step 1, cooled in the pot, and refrigerated for up to 3 days before proceeding with the recipe.

3 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 3 pieces
6 large yellow onions (about 4 pounds), halved and cut pole to pole into 1/4-inch-thick slices
Table salt
2 cups water , plus extra for deglazing
1/2 cup dry sherry
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups beef broth
6 sprigs fresh thyme , tied with kitchen twine
1 bay leaf
Ground black pepper
1 small baguette , cut into 1/2-inch slices
8 ounces shredded Gruyère cheese (about 2 1/2 cups)

1. For the soup: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Generously spray inside of heavy-bottomed large (at least 7-quart) Dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray. Place butter in pot and add onions and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, covered, 1 hour (onions will be moist and slightly reduced in volume). Remove pot from oven and stir onions, scraping bottom and sides of pot. Return pot to oven with lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until onions are very soft and golden brown, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours longer, stirring onions and scraping bottom and sides of pot after 1 hour.

2. Carefully remove pot from oven and place over medium-high heat. Using oven mitts to handle pot, cook onions, stirring frequently and scraping bottom and sides of pot, until liquid evaporates and onions brown, 15 to 20 minutes, reducing heat to medium if onions are browning too quickly. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until pot bottom is coated with dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes, adjusting heat as necessary. (Scrape any fond that collects on spoon back into onions.) Stir in 1/4 cup water, scraping pot bottom to loosen crust, and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times, until onions are very dark brown. Stir in sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes.

3. Stir in broths, 2 cups water, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust on bottom and sides of pot. Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes. Remove and discard herbs, then season with salt and pepper.

4. For the croutons: While soup simmers, arrange baguette slices in single layer on baking sheet and bake in 400-degree oven until bread is dry, crisp, and golden at edges, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

5. To serve: Adjust oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. Set individual broiler-safe crocks on baking sheet and fill each with about 1 3/4 cups soup. Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle evenly with Gruyère. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly around edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Simple Chili

About 3 years ago I decided I wanted to make chili. I don't know why, it's not something I had ever really liked or eaten before. For some reason I was convinced that If I made it myself I would like it. I guess it also seemed like something that I could make super healthy without sacrificing flavor. I really didn't know much about it and had no interest in following an actual chili recipe. They were mostly beef (I wanted turkey) and usually had some "secret ingredient" like beer or cacao or cinnamon powder. I wanted simple, fresh, with a chunky tomato sauce. I figured it couldn't be that hard; hot peppers, turkey, beans, tomatoes, fresh cilantro and whatever spices I could find in the cabinet. Thus, my turkey chili was born. Little did I know it would turn out so well! 

Over the past couple years I've made adjustments, adding fresh onions and garlic and perfecting the spices, but basically my recipe has stayed the same. Of course I'll tweak it now and again depending on my guests and what I have in my fridge; more spicy, less spicy, beef, turkey, peppers, carrots, etc. When it's just for me I stick to my original.

Recently, I picked up the last issue of Cook's Illustrated entitled "Soups and Stews". Not surprisingly they had an article about testing chili. I scanned the recipe expecting some ground breaking idea or crazy secret ingredient but it turns out their recipe is as basic as mine. In fact if I wasn't 100% certain that I created my own, I would think that I had used theirs. With an increased sense of confidence in my own chili recipe, I decided that's what I would make for Super Bowl this sunday.

Lisa's Simple Chili

I never ever measure any of the spices that I put in here. I just pour things in until it tastes right. In an effort to record this for y'all to at least get approximate, I measured them (gasp, I know) when I made this today. Still amounts are not exact because it will depend on your personal tastes and the freshness of your spices. Just taste it as you go and remember you can keep adding as needed, but you can't take it out. Too much salt or too much heat and there isn't too much you can do.

Note on chili powder: The best, freshest flavor comes from grinding your own, but I have an enormous quantity of super potent hot chili powder from my trip to India last year so I use that. If you're not into grinding your own, then store bought (in a jar or bulk) works fine you just might need to increase your quantity.

Note on hot peppers: The seeds and the spines are the hottest parts of the pepper. I leave them in because I want a lot of heat. If you are not big into spicy, removing the seeds will keep it on the mild side. Also make sure to chop the peppers fine. No one wants a giant piece of habanero pepper landing on their tongue (ouch!).

Serves 12-16.

Olive oil

1 onion, chopped

couple cloves of garlic, chopped

6 serrano chili peppers, chopped fine

3-6 habenero peppers, chopped fine

2lbs lean ground turkey (94/6)

56oz plain crushed tomatos in puree

28oz diced tomatos in juice

~30oz dark red kidney beans

~30oz black beans (or 15oz black beans and 15oz small red beans)

2 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2-1tsp coriander (cilantro)

half a bunch of fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped

Heat about 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large (~7qt) pot. Add the onion and hot peppers. Cook until onion softens a bit and becomes translucent. Add garlic and cook until it browns just a bit. Add the ground turkey stirring and breaking it up with a wooden spoon (you might need just a bit more oil).

Once the meat has browned a bit (but not cooked through), add the crushed and diced tomatoes, beans, and spices.

Cover the pot, and bring to a boil.

Turn down to a simmer and cook covered for about 30 minutes.

Remove the cover, taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. 

Stir in fresh cilantro and cook uncovered until thickened (about 10 minutes or so).

Serve with plain greek yogurt (or sour cream), shredded cheese and whole grain tortilla chips.

Can be made up to 3 days in advance and refrigerated. Reheat on the stove in a covered pot. Also freezes very well.

Chunky Lentil Soup

The first time I made lentil soup I used two of Heidi Swanson's recipes; one from her cookbook Super Natural Cooking and this one from 101cookbooks. I used them more as references than recipes and made it up as I went. I've since made variations on this soup a few more times and at this point it is so different I would say I could call it my own. It's warm, chunky, comforting and perfect for a cold, snowy, evening. Feel free to add or remove vegetables as you see fit, it really is a soup where anything goes. I would, however, definitely recommend a dark leafy green.

Chunky Lentil Soup

I didn't really measure anything but I will do my best to write down approximate measurements here. It came out pretty chunky and a little less soupy so if you want more broth and less stew/risotto increase your chicken broth. The soup will continue to absorb liquid after it cooks. I used lacinato kale because it happened to look good in the market and has sturdier rough texture but regular green kale, mustard greens, collards or spinach would work just as well. Serves 4, makes great leftovers, and freezes well.

3/4 french lentils

3 cups water
1 tbls olive oil

1/2 large onion, chopped
2-3 cups low sodium organic chicken broth

14oz (1 can) Organic diced tomatoes
Splash of dry red wine

1 small bunch dark leafy green, chopped (see headnote)

a couple handfulls shitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
garlic powder, pepper and salt to taste
grated parmesan cheese, greek yogurt, and/or hot sauce for serving

Bring lentils and water to a boil, cook until just tender, about 20 minutes.
Add mushrooms and a splash of water to a large pan cover, cook until just softened, set aside.
In a separate pot saute onion until soft add diced tomatoes and chicken broth and wine, bring to a boil, lower heat and let simmer. Add lentils and any remaining cooking water (should be very little if any). Stir in chopped kale.
Add garlic powder and let simmer covered, about 10 minutes more. Kale should be wilted but not mushy, lentils should be soft but retain their shape.
Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve garnished with grated parmesan or a spoonful of non-fat plain greek yogurt and drizzle of hot sauce.

Grießnockerl

These are versatile little semolina dumplings that I usually put in my mom's chicken soup to make grießnockerlsuppe but I also like them in place of rice or pasta to soak up sauce.

30g soft salted butter

1 egg at room temperature

dash of salt

1 package nockerlgrieß* (this is just 250g of course semolina and either one can be used depending what's available in your area.)

1. stir the egg into the butter.
2. mix in salt and the entire package of nockerlgrieß
3. refriderate mixture for an hour or so to let it expand a bit
4. bring a large pot of water to a light boil (too aggressive and they will just fall apart)
5. Simmer gently for 20 mintues
6. turn the heat off and let sit for 10 minutes (this is crucial to expansion and fluffiness)
7. Make sure they have expanded exponentially and even taste one. The first time I made these I was afraid to let the water boil too much and ended up not letting it get hot enough. They didn't fluff up very much and were heavy like little lead balls. If they don't have a light consistency like a matzo ball then cook them a little longer.
8. Eat immediately or freeze to use later.

My Mom's Chicken Soup

Today was our last Saturday water practice for the season and it was cold. 3 hours outside in 25 degree weather is just not pleasant and it took me a good majority of the drive home (30 minutes) to regain feeling in my hands. Good thing Max and I had planned to make a big pot of chicken soup today. It's really more of a broth I guess since I strain all of the chicken and vegetables out of it but that just makes it all the more versatile since it can be used as a base for other soups or risottos. It's really quite simple to make and as long as you have about 4 and half hours (half hour of prep work and cleaning up and 4 hours to waste while it cooks) to spend at home then you're set. Usually I like to keep mine simple with just some thin noodles or grießnockerl, but lately I've also been adding steamed greens such as turnip or mustard greens, small white beans and even some crumbled chicken sausage (no skin).

Mom's Chicken Soup

Makes about 2 litres

1 5lb or 2 2 1/2 young chicken (skin on, giblets removed)

3 Medium onions (skin on)

3 Large carrots

3 Stalks of celery

1 Large or 2 small parsnips

1 Bunch of parsley

1-2 Tbls olive oil

3-4 Litres water

Heat olive oil in a large stock pot.

Add chicken(s) skin down and brown on both sides

chop onions, carrots, celery, and parsnips into large chunks, add to pot.

Add water a litre at a time until chicken and vegetables are just covered (I start with 3 litres and add up to 1 more as it cooks.)

Add Parsley and cover.

Bring to a boil and then down to a steady simmer.

Let simmer for about 4 hours. After about 1 hour I add some or all of the remaining litre of water if it has reduced a lot. Do not add water after two hours as it will water down the flavor.

When the soup is done strain it through colander or large mesh strainer. Set chicken and vegetables aside. Pour soup into mason jars and let stand on the counter to cool to room temperature. The fat will rise to the top as it cools so when you put it in the refrigerator it will harden. I like to leave it in the fridge overnight and then skim the fat off with a spoon in the morning.

Meanwhile, separate the chicken from the bones and vegetables. It can be saved and frozen to add back to the soup. I like to make chicken salad instead to eat for lunch all week.