Monthly Archives: October 2014

Vegetable Chowder

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chowder

Chowder (or up North it’s chowda) is a fish or vegetable stew. Traditionally it is made with a creamy, buttery base and thickened with crushed crackers; however I prefer to mash up some of the vegetables. And of course, I add cheese saving the saltines for crumbling on top.

Vegetable Chowder
2 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 chilies, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. thyme leaves
1-2 bay leaves
1/2 c. flour, divided
6 c. vegetable stock
2 ribs celery, diced
2-3 large potatoes, diced
10-oz. bag frozen corn or 6 ears fresh
2 c. fat-free Half&Half
1 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh herbs, chopped for garnish

Heat butter and olive oil in a large pot. Add onions, chilies and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook on medium heat until onions are translucent.

Add garlic, thyme and bay leaves. Continue to cook until herbs and garlic are fragrant – about 5 minutes. Stir in 1/4 c. flour and cook for about 3 minutes.

Add vegetable stock, celery and potatoes. Bring up the heat until the liquid simmers, turn the heat to low and cook for 15 minutes.

Using a potato masher, mash about half the potatoes to help thicken the stew. Add corn and cook until the corn is hot.

Add the Half&Half. Toss the cheese with the remaining flour – this keeps the cheese from clumping – and add to the pot. Stir until the cheese melts. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed.

Garnish with the leftover chopped celery leaves or chopped fresh herbs like parsley or chives.

The chowder serves 8 and is great for vegetarians. Adding a couple cups of diced cooked ham or chicken is an option for those who are not.

While it’s a meal all by itself, adding sandwiches or a side salad will spread this meal to feed 10-12.

Tips: if the chowder is too thick, add milk. To thicken further, add cornstarch to the cheese instead of flour.

Butternut Squash Soup

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Butternut squash soup

I love the crisp cool fall mornings. The dog, cats, chickens and baby calves seem to be more frisky and playful as the season changed. One afternoon last week after a cool rain, I really had a hankering for soup.

I already had butternut squash purchased a week or two before – I was ready for fall well before it began.

I added sweet potatoes to the soup to help thicken and to bring out more color. I was very pleased with the results and will certainly include those when making it again. Carrots would also be a nice addition.

Butternut Squash Soup
2 butternut squash
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. butter
1 onion, diced
2 sweet potatoes, cubed
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 c. chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. thyme
1 c. fat-free Half&Half
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut the butternut squash into halves – not an easy task. Using clean hands, rub a little olive oil over the squash and season lightly with salt and pepper. Place the cut side down on a pan and bake at 425º for about 50 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

Using a large pan or Dutch oven, heat olive oil and butter. Slowly cook onion with a pinch of salt and pepper at medium-low heat until they caramelize – taking at least 30 minutes. Then add garlic, sweet potatoes, broth, bay leaves and thyme. Turn up the heat and stir to combine all ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a low simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes.

With a large spoon, scoop out the meat of the butternut squash and add to the soup. Turn off the heat, remove the bay leaves and purée the soup using an immersion blender or in batches with a food processor. Bring the pot of soup back up to low heat and cook until the soup thickens – about 15 minutes more.

Remove from heat and stir in Half&Half just before serving. Garnish with grated cheese, roasted pumpkins seeds, crumbled bacon or croutons.

Mushroom and Spinach Quiche

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Quiche

I have 27 laying hens. Mostly they are Americaunas or “Easter-egg” chickens, and I have a few Barred Rocks and Buff Orpingtons too. The girls and rooster Henry are pasture-raised. That means they are free to roam wherever they want looking for bugs and other tasty treats. It makes for healthier richer eggs, but it also makes every day an Easter egg hunt. Some of them feel that a tall patch of grass near a bush is a safer place to lay than in the nesting boxes.

I usually sell their eggs and the girls support themselves. We eat the eggs that I won’t sell because they have a peck-mark crack or some are so large they don’t fit into a carton. Those always have two yolks. I had a few saved up and decided to make a quiche.

I wanted to try a new pie crust recipe using wheat flour and olive oil instead of the usual all-purpose flour and shortening. It turned out well and is great for a savory dish like the quiche, but it would not be right for a dessert pie.

Mushroom and Spinach Quiche
For the crust:
1 c. wheat flour plus a little extra
1⁄4 tsp. kosher salt
1⁄4 tsp. black pepper
1⁄4 tsp. baking powder
1⁄4 c. extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp. ice water

Combine dry ingredients in a food processor and pulse a couple of times to mix. Measure the olive oil and add the ice water to it. I usually fill another cup with ice and pour water over it. I let it sit a couple of minutes until it is really cold and then I carefully skim the cold water off the top.

With the processor on, slowly pour in the oil and water mixture. Process until the dough starts forming a ball. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about a minute. Press the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Let it chill for 20 minutes.

Then roll out the dough. Fit it into a pie pan lightly coated with cooking spray. My dough was a little crumbly and separated at the edges, but I pressed it together in the pan. With a fork, I pierced the crust multiple times on the bottom and sides. Bake in a 425º oven for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are golden. Let it cool while you make the filling.

For the filling:
3 slices bacon
1⁄4 c. onions, chopped
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
2 tsp. fresh thyme
2 c. packed fresh spinach
1 c. low-fat milk
1/3 c. fat-free Half-and-Half
4 large eggs
3 oz. Swiss cheese, grated
Salt and pepper

Cook bacon until crisp. I cooked the entire package using 3 slices for the quiche, 3 slices for a salad and the remaining saved for another meal. Reserve 1⁄4 cup of the bacon fat for later to be used in a salad dressing and crumble the bacon for the quiche and the salad.

Cook the onions, mushrooms and thyme in the pan with the residual bacon grease – about 10 minutes. Stir in the spinach and cook until it wilts. Then remove from heat.

Process the milk, Half-and-Half, eggs and a pinch each of salt and pepper in the food processor until smooth. Arrange half the Swiss cheese over the crust, layer the spinach-mushroom mixture and bacon over that and top with remaining cheese. Pour the milk mixture over all.

Bake at 350º for 45 minutes until the filling is set. I usually place strips of foil along the perimeter of the pie after about 15-20 minutes. That will keep the exposed crust from getting too brown. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Warm Bacon Dressing
1⁄4 c. warm bacon fat
1⁄4 c. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
Kosher salt and black pepper

Whisk all ingredients together tasting and adding a pinch of pepper and salt if needed. Crumble three slices of bacon and tear a head of Romaine lettuce into bite-sized pieces. Toss with the dressing and serve.

Sweet Potato Casserole

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Pierogi-Sweet potato casserole

Before I semi-retired and moved to the country, I traveled extensively with my job. Being away from home and family wasn’t fun, but I did enjoy new sites and trying local cuisines. When I visited Chicago, I always liked to dine at a Polish family restaurant that served pierogi. Those are savory-filled little egg-dumpling pouches. My favorites were filled with potatoes and cheese, but they also had meat and sauerkraut fillings. The dumplings are first boiled, then either baked or fried with sautéed onions and garlic and served with a sour cream sauce.

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a pierogi and was delighted when I ran across a casserole recipe that called for them. Apparently, they can be found in the frozen food aisle of most grocery stores – unfortunately not ours. I was very disappointed, but the recipe sounded too good to skip. I didn’t have time to try making the dumplings myself, perhaps another day, so I decided to substitute with sweet potatoes.

Pierogi/Sweet Potato Casserole
16-oz. pkg. frozen potato pierogi (or 2-1/2 lbs. sweet potatoes peeled and cubed)
1 small onion, chopped
1 Tbsp. olive oil
12 oz. chicken sausage, cooked and sliced
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. thyme
2 c. packed spinach, chopped
6 oz. cream cheese, softened
1⁄2 c. sour cream
1 c. chicken broth
1⁄2 tsp. salt
1⁄4 tsp. black pepper
1 c. mozzarella cheese, grated

Cook sausage links until brown on all sides and then remove. In the same pan, sauté onions, mushrooms, garlic and thyme in olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Then add spinach, cream cheese and chicken broth. Slice sausage and add back to pan. Cook until the spinach has wilted and the cream cheese melts. Remove from heat and stir in the sour cream.

Place pierogi (or sweet potatoes) in a casserole dish and spread the sauce to cover. Then top with mozzarella cheese. Bake uncovered in a 400-degree oven for 30 minutes. The casserole is done when the pierogi/sweet potatoes are fork-tender.

The pierogi-inspired dinner came out well. I’m happy to discover another sweet potato recipe since I still have some from the garden, but I will continue to hunt for a local pierogi source. It may just have to be me.

Creating authentic-tasting traditional foods is an art. It will take the patience of multiple trials using advice from experts (like a Polish grandmother). I’ll probably have to find that online, but I love a challenge.