What to Eat with Soup

As I may have mentioned probably every day this month, September is my favorite month of the year for a number of reasons:
1. Temperate Temperatures. I can finally wear my jeans with my t-shirts and be comfortable and occasionally bust out a power cardigan.
2. Back to School. After all these years, I still look forward to buying new pencils; hence, my chosen profession.
3. Earth, Wind and Fire Day. Yes, I was the teacher that sent "September" in as a song request for the morning announcements. What can I say it makes me experience a dance party in my mind and how totally cool is it that you can actually celebrate the 21st night of September as a holiday if you feel so inclined.
4. Start of Soup Season. If there is one food I love, it is soup. So easy, yet so complicated. So calming, so versatile, so satisfying. Try as I may I can never get into chilled summer soups. I have made gazpacho. I have dreamed of vichychoisse. However,  soup does not truly become magical until September when the air chills and leaves tinge, which brings me to this particular post. While soup itself can be a full meal it is sometimes nice to have something to accompany it.

Although soup from scratch is simple and enjoyable, one product I do adore is the Healthy Sisters Soup mixes, little bags with beans and spices that create a tasty soup. They are assembled by women struggling with poverty and unemployment. The program gives them a job and healthy work experience to get them back on their feet. The other morning I took one of my mixes and tossed it in my crockpot with a can of diced tomatoes, onion, pepper, carrots and water and come home to a delicious 6 Bean Organic Soup. This left me time to figure out what to pair with this tasty soup.... Bread and Homemade Ricotta Cheese!

Molasses Bread
Combine 2 cups of buttermilk (I know not a common ingredient but it's used in the ricotta too!!), 1 cup of oats,  1/4 cup of molasses, 2 T oil.

Add 3 cups of flour, 1 T sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt. Mix and let rest 2 minutes. Knead dough while adding about a 1/2 cup more flour.

Divide into to loaves. Sprinkle a baking sheet with cornmeal (or just grease but the cornmeal is great) and place loaves on. I baked my on a pizza stone so if you own one use it!!
Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until browned and crispy on the outside.

Ricotta Cheese
In a pot, combine 1 cup of cream, 4 cups of milk, 3/4 cup of buttermilk and 1 tsp of salt. Bring to a slow boil and cook until curds begin to separate. Stir. Turn down heat to low and cook 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 30 minutes to an hour while curds separate. Line a colander cheesecloth and ladel (don't pour!) curds into cloth. Let sit for 10-15 minutes to drain.

Serve ricotta on still warm bread with hot soup. This combo was so good I ate it for breakfast and lunch the next day! AND... I had ricotta leftover to make dinner the next night, which I will share with you soon!

You Lika da Peppa- Part Dos

After preserving over a dozen jars of pepper jam, my fridge still contained a large quantity of red peppers and what better to do with red peppers than Roast them! Now I love buying those lovely yellow cans of roasted red peppers in the store and eating them with crispy bread and cheese but have never tried to create myself. It was intimidating and seemed time consuming.. how could I possibly get regular fresh peppers to that deliciously slimy consistency that they were in the can? Well, my friends never think those thoughts again because these peppers were a snap!

Simply place 4-5 red peppers on a cookie sheet preferably with parchment or foil. Turn your oven to 325 degrees. Place peppers in oven for one hour. Turn every 20 minutes or so. Remove from oven and cover with a towel for about an hour.
Now this seems like a long time but while roasting these peppers and letting them sit under the towel I multi-tasked and managed to clean my kitchen sink, do laundry, go the gym and do grocery shopping and when I returned these little babies where ready to have their skins slipped! I sliced of the top stem and peeled the skin right off! Then rinse out the seeds and boom RoASTED! You can throw a splash of olive oil and salt on them and eat right away on crispy bread but I took this one further to make a spread.
Now keep in mind the amazing red pepper spread that is to follow can also be prepared with your everyday roasted red peppers from a can as well if you don't feel like getting fancy smancy but let me also say that roasting your own peppers in not only significantly more delicious but also significantly more satisfying.

Roasted Red Pepper Spread
In a food processor or blender, combine 2 cups of roasted red peppers, 2 Tbl of olive oil, 2 tsp of salt, 3 cloves of garlic, 1/4 cup of fresh basil. Blend to a spread.
While preparing this spread, I sauteed some onion, garlic and Italian sausage, then boiled some pasta and wilted some spinach in with the sausage when done cooking. I coated the pasta with roasted red pepper spread and topped with spinach/sausage mixture and asiago cheese... Voila. Dinner.

Two days later with more spread to spare, I smeared toasted baguettes with goat cheese and topped with pepper spread alongside some kalamata olives and wine.



 

You Lika Da Peppa... Part 1

September is my favorite month for a variety of reasons but one of the best of these reasons is the plethora of produce just waiting to be frantically canned or preserved in some manner before the long cold winter comes upon us. My garden is brimming with tomatoes and peppers, trees are becoming heavy with pears and apples  and so I fire up my stove (once again wishing it had six burners), crank the tunes, tie on my apron and cook, cook, cook.

Last week, I put in a request for my little market girl to bring me some peppers from the market for my summer stash of hot pepper jam had been depleted by some hungry boys. Fortunately/Unfortunately, I'm not quite sure what to make of it she procured 3 large bags of peppers for a mere seven bones, enough for pepper jam and so much more. You may notice the part one on this post because I created far to much amazing deliciousness with these peppers than can be described in one post. First, I will share with you what I stored in my little Ball jars in my "Long Cold Winter Cupboard" which I once again wish was larger, ahh the foolish dreams of a food freak!

Hot Peppa Jam
Chop finely 1 cup of jalapeno peppers and 3 cups of sweet peppers (mix of red and green). I highly recommend the use of a food processor for this or it will take you forevverr! Place peppers in a large pot with one packet of Sure Jell and 1 cup of cider vinegar. Let come to a rolling boil ex: you try to stir down that boil and you can't Buster! Stir in 5 cups of sugar and return to a boil. Cook for 1 minute. Put in sterilized jam jars and can. It will set up when cool.

Now you may be asking... What do I do with a jam of hot peppers.. put it on my toast??
Answer: Yes! and more!
1. Best used on crackers with cream cheese or regular cheese
2. On Grilled/ baked fish
3. On grilled cheese, eggs... with a spoon??

And the best part of these little jars of heaven... Gift for a friend? Jam!!  Dish to pass? Pepper Jam!!! Spontaneous Happy Hour with Friends and No Hors D'overes?? Pepper Jam. In fact, the last time this happened to me I had people throwing money at me begging for pepper jam party favors.

Fall-into this HOTT dish

Wellllllllcome Back. Welcome back, welcome back, Hot Dish is back!! And we're approx. ONE YEAR OLD!!!

I really missed all of you on our long summer hiatus. While I've always said there is nothing like a good meaty grilled meal the truth is that I always look forward to coming back inside, heating up the kitchen, putting on a cozy apron and cooking my heart out.
The flavors of fall are so delectable and warm my soul up as much as the turning of the leaves and pumpple picking (pumpkin/apple picking...they're both so good!).

Below you will find the recipe I made for dinner tonight which had fall written all over it. For one, it requires stove top braising which is a HOT DISH as well as warm tasty flavors such as cinnamon, dates, cumin, and olives. Another testament to the warmth of these flavors lie in the fact that this is a chicken dish which I usually consider a white wine opportunity...however the palate called for a full-bodied Malbec!

I am pulling this recipe from the latest issue of Cooking light (my love for this mag. never gets old). It is called "Chicken with Dates, Olives, and Cinnamon" which is descriptive but lackluster. Dan re-dubbed it "Date me a chicken".

Serves 6 (serving=2 thighs and 1/2 c. sauce)

Ingredients:
-12 Bone-in chicken thighs, skinned (at this part I felt like Julia Childs! Where's my pearls?)
-1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
-1/8 tsp. Kosher salt
-2 Tbsp. Butter, divided
-2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
-4 c. sliced onion
-1 tsp. minced peeled fresh ginger
-18 pitted manzanilla or large green olives, quartered
-2 Tbsp. all purpose flour
-1 tsp. ground cumin (okay, the recipe only calls for 3/4 tsp. but I put more in!!)
-1/2 tsp. ground coriander
-1/8 tsp. ground red pepper (cayanne baby)
-1 3inch Cinnamon stick
-2 c. chicken broth
-1/2 c. whole pitted dates, chopped
-3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice (i accidently did not use this ingredient and the dish did not suffer at all, but I'm sure it would be a worthwhile addition)
-1/4 C. fresh basil leaves

Okay, here's the directions. You'll be at this for about an hour and possibly a few minutes more, but it will be worth it.

1. Sprinkle chicken w/ pepper and salt. Melt 1 Tbsp. butter in a good braising pan over medium-high heat. (I used my 12 inch cast iron pan which proved just a bit too small once all the chicken was simmering, but did the trick with a lid on. Cooking Light (CL) reccomends a 10-quart dutch oven. Crossing my fingers that santa will bring me a le creuset dutch oven in the future!)

Add 1 Tbsp. oil to pan and swirl to coat. Add half of the chicken thighs to pan and cook 4 mins on each side or until browned. Remove chicken from pan to rest until later. Repeat (adding butter and oil) for the rest of the chicken thighs.

2. Add Onion and ginger to pan (ps: i also added about 5 carrots here...maybe thats why I didnt have much room at the end. I thought they were necessary, but I'm sure you can live without them. FUN FACT: Wegmans organic carrots last about an eon in your crisper drawer if you dont think you'll use a whole bag right off the bat, don't sweat it. I think I had these babies for most of the summer--I KNOW, obscene--but they werent even leaky or growing things at the time of this recipe).

Saute for 8 mins. stirring frequently (think yummy caramelized onions...ahhhh). Add olives, saute for 1 min. Add Flour, cumin, coriander, red pepper and cinnamon stick, stir to coat and then add broth. Bring mixture to boil, stirring constantly, and loosen any browned bits on the bottom (extra flavor, yo!). Cook for 1 min. Return chicken to pan. Cover and reduce heat to low, cooking 12 mins. Stir in dates and simmer 10 more mins or until chicken is done (technically this should be 180 degrees but you'll know when its done. Feel free to simmer longer if you're worried. The juices and bones will keep it all nice and moist. Stir in the lemon juice here (totally missed this the first time around) and garnish with fresh basil.

BON APPETIT! I served this over egg noodes. CL suggests couscous, but what ever you have will work. Also, I took the time (you can do this while the chicken is in its last few mins of simmering...i had lots of liquid) to reduce some of the liquid and strain the fat off of it, creating a gravy like sauce to pour over the plate. Not necessary but SO NECESSARY.

Glad to be back, get postin' you Hott dishers! I know you have it in you :D.

<3 Megan Mae