Asparagus Soup

This is a delicate and pale soup and it is delicious. Serve it with blanched tips of the asparagus, and with a swirl of cream, creme fraish and fesh tarragon leaves.

2 pounds of fresh asparagus

3 T butter

1-1/2 cup thinly slices leeks

3 T. flour or Wondra

4-6 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup light cream

1 T chopped fresh tarragon leaves plus more for garnish

salt and pepper

Cut the tops of the asparagus 2-1/2 inches off the asparagus spears and blanch them in boiling water for a few minutes. They must stay freshly green. Drain them and slice them into 2-4 pieces. Set them aside.

Trim the woody ends of the stalks. Chop the stalks into 1 inch pieces. 

Heat the butter in a Dutch oven. Add the leeks and cook over low heat for 5-8 minutes. Stir in the chopped asparagus stalks, cover and cook for 6-8 minutes longer. 

Add the flour and still well into the vegetables to blend and cook all 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add the stock. Bring to a boil and stir until lowering the heat and simmering for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. 

Cool and puree the food. Stir in the cream and tarragon leaves. 

Serve hot and garnished. 

Note: I got this from The Soup Bible edited by Debra Mayhew. It was suggested to serve cold.

Fig Jam from Dried Figs

 

• 28 ounces dried figs
• 4 cups water
• ½ cup fresh lemon juice
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• Pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions 

• Add the figs to a Dutch oven or large saucepan. Add water and bring to boil. Remove from heat, cover and let stand until figs are plumped. Using a slotted spoon, remove figs and reserve liquid.  When the figs have cooled enough to handle remove and discard their stems with kitchen scissors or a sharp knife.  Chop the figs and set aside.
• Add the lemon juice, sugar and reserved liquid to the Dutch oven and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until slightly thickened. Add the chopped figs and pinch of salt, bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
• Ladle hot fig mixture into jars. If you are canning them, see Savor the Best dot com for her suggestion.  I will be using the fig jam and giving it away with the instruction to refrigerate and use within 3 months. 
• Yields: About 6 cups.

Fig Tart made with Homemade Fig Jam

Getting the Crust ready:

Blend 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour with 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp. salt in a separate medium bowl. In another blend one egg yolk with 3 T. half-and-half (or milk and heavy cream) and 1 tsp.of vanilla or black walnut extract. Finely chop 1/2 c. walnuts. Blend these with the dry ingredients.

Keep one cup of unsalted butter that is cut into small squares in the frig or freezer until you are ready to blend all of the above in a bowl.

You will need at least a cup of your homemade fig jam. Slice 10 moist dried figs. Chop 1/2 cup walnuts.

With a pastry cutter, blend the dry crust ingredients in a large bowl and cut in the cold butter. Make a well in the crust mixture and add the egg/cream. Mix well, continuing to use the pastry cutter. Break up large clumps with your fingers. 

Press the dough firmly into a large fluted quiche pan with a removable bottom, lined or unlined with parchment. Place the pan in the freezer for 15 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove from the pan with the chilled crust. Bake for 15 minutes. Turn the oven down to 350 degrees.

Cover the tart crust with a 1/2 inch layer of your homemade fig jam and sliced figs and 1/2 cup walnuts.

Bake for 50-60 minutes in the 350 degree oven. Cool before cutting.

Butter Chicken in the Instant Pot

Butter Chicken or Murgh Makhani is one of the easiest Indian recipes, especially if you use the IP. It's quick and delicious and you can make it for a crowd.

I have found that many Indian cookbooks are easy on the spice, compared to the Indian restaurant cooking. I would double up the spices when cooking after you've made it at least once, or you've become familiar with the cookbook. This one I used is in the Indian Instant Pot Cookbook by Urvashi Pitre.

Serve it over basmati rice cooked with a few star anise pods and with sides of thinly-sliced cucumbers sprinkled with rice vinegar, cilantro and salt and some fresh naan.

1. 1 14-oz can diced tomatoes (not drained)
2. 5-6 garlic cloves, minced
3. 1 T. minced ginger
4. 1 tsp ground turmeric
5. 1 tsp ground cayenne pepper
6. 1 tsp ground paprika
7. 2 tsp Garam Masala, divided
8. 1 tsp ground cumin
9. 1 tsp salt
10. 1 pound skinless and boneless chicken thighs or breasts
11. 4 oz butter, cut into cubes or 1/2 coconut oil
12. 1/2 c heavy whipping cream or full-fat coconut milk
13. 1/4-1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Remember, you might want to double the spices.

This recipe calls for you to make the sauce, cook the chicken and then save some sauce for later. I think that's great if you are using only a pound of chicken. I cooked two pounds of chicken thighs (about 12-14) and used 2 cups of basmati cooked in 3-1/2 cups water. There was still sauce left over but it's nice to have to sop up with the naan.

Place the first 9 ingredients (half the Garam Masala) into the instant pot. Mix and then place the chicken on top. Lock the lid in place (pressure not venting!) and pressure cook for 10 minutes.  Those of you who pressure cook know that it will take time to come up to seal and pressure. After pressure cooking, let the pressure release naturally, this might take 10 more minutes. So the complete cook is about 1/2 hour.

On a platter or in a dish with rounded or square sides, place the pieces of chicken on top of the cooked rice. Using an immersion blender, blend the sauce in the pot until it is smooth. Add the butter, the rest of the Garam Masala and cilantro. Cook for a few minutes on the saute setting in the IP. The sauce should be saucy, not watery. I actually added a few T of Wondra flour and cooked it until the sauce was thicker.

Pour the sauce over the chicken and rice and sprinkle with extra cilantro.

Yum!

Raisin Pecan Rye Bread

I've often posted recipes for Marjie Lambert's breadmaking book, and this is from her second book, the New Bread Machine book, published in 1999.

This book has 13 recipes for rye breads, and I'm excited to try a few more because rye bread is better for you for these reasons: it contains much more dietary fiber, which helps digestion and keeps you full longer; it has a lower glycemic index, causing a slower rise in blood sugar; and rye provides higher amounts of micronutrients like magnesium, iron, and B vitamins. 

Today, I decided on a fruit rye bread and almost had a disaster. After the first knead, I realized my new bread machine doesn't have an add-in alarm for the dough setting. In addition, the dough ball was knocking the bread machine off kilter on the counter after the first 50 minutes. I thought back through the ingredients and realized that I used only half the water. I decided to start the cycle over and had a sloppy mess in the machine with water spraying all over the inside pan and cover. Ugh. I ended up taking the ball and sloppy dough out of the pan and kneading it on a floured counter surface and plopping the wet mess back in and resetting the machine to mix and knead. I wanted to see how the consistency was AND if it rose after the 90 minutes.

At that point, I needed to mix in the nuts and raisins by hand. I ended up with a shaggy sausage-shaped dough and hoped for the best. I let it rise in the proofing oven for one hour, brushed it with beaten egg and hoped for the best after baking for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. It's not bad but I'll try again and hope for a rounder loaf, possibly baking it in a shaped pan.

1 cup + 2 T water
3 T. vegetable oil
1-1/2 T. sugar 
1-1/2 tsp. salt
3 T. cornmeal
1-3/4 c. + 2 T. bread flour
1 cup + 2 T. rye flour
1 T. yeast
6 T. raisins
6 T. chopped pecans

Place the wet ingredients into the bread maker pan, mix the salt, cornmeal, and flours and place in the pan. Place the yeast and sugar on top. Use the dough setting, adding the nuts and raisins after the first 15 minutes of the cycle. 

One thing that I did differently was mix about 1/4 c. water with a few T. of molasses and soaked the raisins (they were very dry and chewy) and the pecans for 1/2 hour.  I drained them and mixed those into the bread before baking. 

Beer and Balsamic Braised Beef Short Ribs

I bought a great book a few years ago that uses the flavored oils and balsamic vinegars that you see in multiple shops across the country. In our area it's Ripe from the Vine but I have also bought LeRoux, Fiore and Artisan over the years. They all come in dark bottles (they used to be refillable years ago when you visited the shop) and you can sample them before buying. Believe it or not, most of the vinegars are so delicious they are practically drinkable. They last a long time which is good because I often forget about them for fruit, vegetables and desserts.

On the front of the book, The Olive Oil and Vinegar Lover's Cookbook, there is a great list of the current flavors at the time of publication. There are a few more now, like Suyo Cucumber which is delicious with Dill flavored oil. Or Watermelon vinegar with Milanese Gremolata oil on fruit. There is also a series of cookbooks using these vinegars for Italian, Spanish, Greek and Syrian cuisine by the same author. If you use "balsamic" as a search term on this blog, you'll find some great recipes using flavored balsamic.

Yesterday I decided to make Beer and Balsamic Braised Beef Short Ribs in the crockpot. (I use shallow cookers called Magnifique Slow Cookers. They are great for braising and slow-cooking in smaller quantities than the large crockpots. They are also terrific servers on the table for stew, chili, soups, etc. That said, I had to replace my beautiful huge All-Clad when it died and wish I still had it. For this smaller recipe, however, the smaller is a better option.)

I had one package of short ribs which is one pound so I altered the recipe (in the italicized notes)

• 2-3 lbs trimmed beef short ribs (I used 1 lb. or four pieces already trimmed)
• 2 T. EVOO (1 used one)
• 1 large onion (I used 1/2)
• 2 garlic cloves (we love garlic!)
• 1/3 cup Espresso Dark balsamic vinegar (I used about 1/4 cup for flavor)
• 2 T. tomato paste (I used 1 T of the tube-kind that you keep in the refrigerator)
• 2 cups stout-style dark beer (I used a milk stout by Left Hand Brewing that we had on hand)
• 4-6 cups beef stock (I used about 2 cups and did not completely cover the ribs in the pot - they were fine and used the surplus broth for a delicious onion soup. I did not make a gravy but used about 1/2 cup of the broth on top on the dish.)

Sear the short ribs in the oil in the pot on all sides - about 1 minutes each side. Place them aside on a plate. Chop the onion and garlic and add to the crockpot and saute until soft and golden for 5-7 minutes. Add the balsamic and tomato paste to deglaze the pan, scraping bits off the bottom.  Add the ribs, bone-up. Cover with the beer and the beef stock.*

Place the lid on the cooker and cook the ribs on low for 6 to 8 hours. I served them with Basmati rice cooked with cubed carrots and fresh peas. Cover with sauce. 

Espresso Balsamic and Beer Onion Soup

I made a yummy onion soup with the surplus sauce from cooking Balsamic Braised Beef Short Ribs. I sauteed 4 onion - 1 red and 3 white/yellow until golden. I added the broth and slow-cooked for a few hours on high.

Yummy!