Chicken Noodle Soup

Nothing feels better when you're under the weather than an nice, piping hot bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup. I'm not sure if there is any truth to chicken noodle soup speeding up recovery when suffering from a common cold, but folk wisdom has said for centuries that it does. All I know is that it tastes good and my mom was a master at making a very simple, tasty version entirely from scratch. Here is the recipe–it comes in two steps: the first step describes how to make the chicken stock and cook the chicken, the second step describes how to finish the soup.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup (Hühnersuppe)

STEP I

Ingredients for making chicken stock and cooking chicken:

1 4-lb. chicken, rinsed well, innards removed

10 cups water

1-2 stalks celery, cut in large chunks

1-2 carrots, cut in large chunks

1 large onion, cut in large chunks

2 bay leaves

1 tsp. salt

Preparation:

Put the chicken and all other ingredients in an 8-qt. stockpot, fill with water to cover the chicken (approximately 10 cups), and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer on very low for about 1 1/2 hours.

Remove the chicken and let it cool slightly before deboning. Strain broth and discard all of the vegetables. Return the strained broth to the pot. You now have the clear chicken stock and cooked chicken to make the chicken soup you will actually eat.

STEP II

Ingredients for finishing chicken soup:

all the chicken stock from the first step

2 stalks celery, sliced

2 carrots, sliced or diced

1 tsp. salt (or a little more to taste)

pepper to taste

To the chicken broth add celery, carrots, diced chicken meat, salt and pepper. Bring everything to a boil and simmer on low heat for approximately 20 minutes until the fresh vegetables are tender.

Meanwhile bring a pot of water to a boil and cook egg noodles according to package directions. Serve a scoop of egg noodles with each bowl of chicken soup. Makes about 10-12 generous servings.

Tip: Keep noodles and soup separate, so the noodles don't get soggy but stay al dente. Occasionally, my mom served the soup with rice (buttered rice… she always used butter for cooking…) which is very good, too.

Hello Snow!

Big surprise when waking up this morning: it had snowed! Not a huge accumulation, of course, it is after all only October 10, but enough to cover all the roofs and lawns in a thin blanket of white. Our dogs, Lenny and Louie, had a very surprised look on their faces when I let them out the door into the yard. I think they had forgotten what snow was!

Now they're back in the house, everyone is still asleep, but the first pot of coffee is brewing and I'm thinking about making some nice cauliflower-cheese soup. My favorite recipe for this soup comes from Molly Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook. The only ingredient in it that I don't use is caraway because my husband doesn't care for it. Other than that, the recipe is just to our liking. Try it for yourself!

Cauliflower-Cheese Soup

Ingredients:

1 large potato, peeled and diced (about 2-3 cups diced)

1 large cauliflower, cut or broken into florets (put aside 2 cups of florets)

1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped

3 medium cloves garlic, peeled

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

1 1/2 tsp. salt (I like kosher or sea salt)

4 cups water

2 cups (packed) grated cheddar (plus extra for garnishing each serving)

3/4 cup milk (I find whole milk tastes better, though lowfat is okay)

1 tsp. dill

1/2 tsp. caraway seeds (I always leave them out…, but instead a sprinkling of freshly cut parsley for garnish is nice)

black pepper to taste

Preparation:

Place potato, cauliflower (except for the 2 cups reserved), carrot, garlic, onion, salt, and water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer until all vegetables are very tender. Purée in a blender or food processor, and transfer to a kettle or Dutch oven.

If you like a little texture in your soup, set aside 2 cups of the cauliflower florets and steam them reserved until just tender. Add these to the purée along with all remaining ingredients. Heat gently, and serve topped with a little extra cheese.

Fish Stew

An Italian restaurant we visit occasionally serves a delicious fish stew called zuppa di pesce. It's chockful of salmon, shrimp and scallops that swim in a sea of flavorful broth that beckons to be soaked up with crusty bread. Since I've been spending a major part of this week serving leftovers from last weekends party and I still had more than a pound of already poached salmon in the refrigerator, I decided to make my own version of fish stew to use the fish before it turned bad. I added a bag of frozen shrimp and a bag of frozen scallops that I had in the freezer and, even though fresh always tastes better, I thought a stew would be a tasty way to prepare the frozen and the already poached seafood.

My brother-in-law Tim recreated his own version of the restaurant's fish stew a few years ago and it is delicious. I had his recipe and another one from a cookbook to get me started, but ultimately I had to use what I had on hand. The resultat: really good! So here's the recipe:

Fish Stew

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 lb. mushrooms, sliced

1 cup onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1-1 1/2 lbs. salmon, poached

8-oz. bag of frozen shrimp

12-oz. bag of frozen scallops

1 14-oz. can diced tomatoes

2 14-oz cans chicken broth

1 cup dry white wine

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. dried basil

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Heat butter and oil in a 4-6 qt. large pot over medium high eat. Add mushrooms, sprinkle several pinches of salt on top of mushrooms, and sauté for a few minutes. When the mushrooms start drawing water, add onions and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are tender. Add salmon, shrimp and scallops and stir. Add diced tomatoes with juices, chicken broth, wine, oregano, basil and pepper. A couple of good cranks with the peppermill will be fine. Bring mixture to a boil and immediately turn down heat to a low simmer. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until flavors have blended. If using fresh fish, simmering the stew may be increased to 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.

Suggestion: Our Italian restaurant–and my brother-in-law Tim–also add fresh chopped asparagus to the soup. That is really good. If you choose to add asparagus, just cut fresh spears into 1 1/2-inch chunks and add to the soup during the last 10 minutes of simmering.

Hunt for the Perfect Overnight Waffle

A waffle is like a pancake with a syrup trap.

–Mitch Hedberg, comedian–

If you have, like me, searched high and low for the perfect waffle recipe, look no further because I have arrived in waffle heaven. And as soon as you make the recipe following below, you will be there, too. The waffle batter is prepared ahead of time–at our house that usually means at night–and used for breakfast waffles in the morning. I stumbled upon it at gourmet.com, and lo and behold, it actually is a Fannie Farmer Cookbook recipe. This is the best waffle recipe ever if you like tasty waffles that are crisp on the outside. The only comment I have to make is that the batter is very thin and will not bake properly in a Belgian waffle maker; however, it is perfect for a traditional or classic waffle iron. So, without much further ado, here is the perfect waffle recipe:

Overnight Raised Waffles

Ingredients:

1/2 cup warm water

2 1/4 tsp. dry yeast

2 cups warm milk (I like using whole milk)

1/2 cup melted butter

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 tsp. baking soda

Preparation:

Use a large mixing bowl because the batter will rise considerably. Start by mixing the warm water and yeast in the mixing bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes. Then add the milk, butter, salt, sugar and flour and mix until all the ingredients are blended well. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit overnight at room temperature.

In the morning add the beaten eggs and baking soda to the mix and stir. To bake waffles, pour about 1/2 cup of the very thin batter onto a hot waffle iron and bake. Serve immediately and top with fresh fruit–berries are delicious–and maple syrup. Makes about 7 seven-inch round waffles. Any unused batter can be stored for a few days in the refrigerator.

Mixed Veggie Medley

When I woke up this morning, I felt like consuming something light and clean. A look into the fridge revealed a number of great-looking veggies, so the idea of a nice fresh juice came to mind. I knew Emily would appreciate it, too. This is not an inexpensive juice, but the taste is definitely worth the effort. So much goodness in one little glass!

Mixed Veggie Medley

Ingredients

4 large carrots

4-5 apples

1-2 cucumbers

2 stalks celery

1/2 head broccoli (about 3 cups)

1/2 bunch Italian parsley

Preparation

Wash all produce, cut into pieces small enough to run through a juicer, and juice. Makes approximately 1 quart of fresh, delicious juice.

Sweet Corn Soup

The first time I had corn, raw, I was fifteen and my parents had decided to take my brother and me on a week-long fall vacation to a farm in Bavaria. Being big-city kids, my brother and I enjoyed being outdoors and helping with the harvest at the time. The day we helped with harvesting corn, I remember sitting on top of a huge pile of corn on the trailer the tractor pulled off the fields at the end of the day. But before leaving the fields, the farmer we stayed with peeled an ear and handed it to me, saying, "eat." I dug my teeth into the corn and thought it was quite tasty. Up until that day, I didn't know people could eat fresh corn. Actually, I didn't know anyone who ever ate fresh corn. Corn, in my experience, was fed to the animals. At least in Germany.

Many years later, after having moved to Minnesota, I found out that most people in this part of the world spend the time from mid-July to mid-August eating corn-on-the-cob almost every day–more or less. Corn-on-the-cob, heated for only a few minutes in boiling water, then slathered with butter, salt and pepper or sprinkled with a little Parmesan cheese, is a staple in our house every summer. We eat so much that the ears quite literally start coming out of our ears, and by the time we're tired of corn, the season is over, and, satiated, we can wait and anticipate the new crop next year.

Today, I found myself in the kitchen with a scant dozen ears that I wanted to transform into something other than corn-on-the-cob. My sister-in-law Julie has a wonderful recipe for corn chowder that is out of this world, but I thought it would be a bit heavy for the high temperatures and humidity we've been experiencing this weekend. I settled on a recipe for sweet corn soup that I found in Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food. According to the girls, it's delicious–they already had seconds. What I love about it is that the ingredients are simple, the soup is easy to prepare, and it is tasty.

Sweet Corn Soup

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 very large sweet onion (roughly 2+ cups chopped)

10-12 ears of fresh corn

salt (I like kosher and/or sea salt)

2 qts. water

Preparation:

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat, but be careful not to brown the butter. Add the chopped onion and sauté until the onion is softened and translucent, about 15 minutes. Yes, the onion will quite literally swim in butter, but that will all change once the corn is added.

Meanwhile, chuck the corn (cut the kernels off the cobs). After the onion is softened, add the corn and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add salt liberally. Then add the water.

Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Boil soup for a few minutes, no more than five minutes. Turn off the heat and puree in batches to desired consistency. Adjust seasoning with salt if needed. Yield: about 3 quarts.

Fresh Basil Pesto from the Garden

It's been pretty much three months since I last blogged, but tonight's dinner was just too fabulous to pass up writing about. We've been busy with construction in the house and family visiting from Germany, so there was not a lot of time left for me to blog. It's good to get back into the swing of things and record memorable meals for posterity.

I have made basil pesto many times, but I don't recall the last time I thought it was really outstanding. Tonight's pesto was the best I recall from recent years. Maybe it was the unbelievably fragrant homegrown, organic basil that made the difference–or the time I took to meticulously toast the pine nuts or the high-quality organic extra-virgin olive oil I used. Whatever it was, tonight's pesto was better than any pesto I remember. So it's worth writing about. Try it for yourself. Indulge, and let the goodness of summer explode on your taste buds!

Fabulous Fresh Basil Pesto from the Garden

Ingredients:

2 cups tightly packed fresh basil (equals about 4 cups lightly packed or 2 oz.)

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

1 very large clove of garlic

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (a very generous 1/4 cup that is!)

and more freshly grated parmesan cheese to sprinkle over the meal

Preparation:

I do have a mortar and pestle, but enjoying the convenience of modern kitchen equipment, I always make my pesto in the food processor.

Add the first three ingredients–basil, pine nuts and garlic–and chop coarsely. Then, while running the food processor blade on the continuous setting, slowly pour in the olive oil. Add the cheese and, voilà, your pesto is ready to be tossed with hot pasta. Serve in pasta bowls and add a sprinkling of freshly grated parmesan cheese on top. Enjoy!

By the way, pesto can be frozen as long as the cheese is not added. So, if you plan on freezing your pesto for later use, freeze it without adding any cheese and add the cheese after your pesto is defrosted. Pesto is also good on sandwiches. My favorite sandwich consists of two slices of sprouted grain bread, pesto smeared on both slices, and 1/2 avocado and a sliced tomato sandwiched in between. That's yummy! Yield: about 1 cup of pesto.