Herbed Tomato, Garlic, and Noodle Soup and some CHANGES

Hey there!

Long time no see!

Well, I guess I've been a little lazy, and definitely BUSY, but I'd like to just get right back into the swing of things with this recipe I made the other day. It is the middle of bone-chilling winter here in New York, and I had a horrible cold last weekend, so I wanted to make some sort of a soup to help me weather the sniffles. Now, if you know me at all you will know I am a hoarder of all things cookbook, and I have a million of them, but one of my most recent acquisitions is a Williams Sonoma Cookbook called Pasta Soups & Salads. I know, the lack of a comma in between Pasta and Soups irritated me to no end until I figured out that it was literally a ton of recipes about pasta INSIDE of soups and salads. WooAAhhh!

I don't usually mess with pasta. No joke. I mean, it always kind of seemed like a cop-out dinner. It was the dinner of shame and not glory, especially when you're working on some sort of thesis or something and you just can't stomach the idea of doing more work just to feed yourself, so you just plop a cup of pasta on the stove. Awesome. But no glory.

This soup, though, was glorious. There are noodles in it, which is yummy when you are really sick, and there are tomatoes, which are not yummy in the winter, but I made do. And of course there is a ton of garlic. If you do not like garlic, I recommend cutting the amount down. However, garlic is really good for you. Some of the benefits I found here include:

• a treatment for acne
• a natural antibiotic
• a powerful antioxidant

Rock on, garlic!

Well ok, so here's your recipe. Not many pictures because I got so swept up in blowing my nose and drinking DayQuil every five minutes, making for the most psychedelic cooking experience of all time.

Herbed Tomato and Garlic and Noodle Soup

3 qt water
2 tsp salt
4 oz dried elbow pasta
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small red onion, peeled and minced
1/4 c. garlic cloves, peeled and minced
3 tomaoes, peeled and seeded or 3 c. canned chopped tomatoes
4 c. Chicken stock
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp chopped fresh chives
1.5 tsp chopped fresh oregano
1.5 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1/4 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
salt and freshly ground pepper

1. In a lrg pot over high heat, bring the water to a boil. Add the 2 tsp salt and the elbow pasta and cook until done. Drain pasta and toss immediately with 1 tbsp of olive oil.

2. In a lrg pot over med. low heat, warm the remaing 1 tbsp olive oil. Add onion and garlic and saute slowly, stirring, until the onion is soft, about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes, chicken stock, parsley, chives, oregano, thyme, rosemary and simmer for 20 min. Add pasta, vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until pasta is heated through, about 2 min.

I made provolone and chive grilled cheese sandwiches for this, but you can do whatever. YAY!

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In some other news, there are going to be some changes to this blog. I am going to start posting a little more of the other things I do, including sewing, local restaurant critiques, and even the occasional "What I wore" post where I spend a chunk of time discussing fashion and what I think about it.

It'll be fun. Stay tuned.

Turkey Chili a la Eugenia

So after waiting forever for Eugenia to write this post, I have decided to.
This is a very, very tasty and easy chili made with Turkey...good for a warm day, a cold day, or whatever! Yay Chili!

Ingredients:

1 really large onion, or 2 medium onions

1.5 lbs turkey, ground

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 can tomato paste

1 can chicken broth

1 can kidney beans

salt

pepper

oregano or other spices to taste

1. Fry the onions in some butter until lightly browned. Add the turkey and cook all the way through.

2. Spoon this meaty onion mixture into a saucepan. Add the (drained) can of diced tomatoes. 

3. Add everything else. Stir madly! Well, maybe not so madly...you don't want chili everywhere, do you? No. Just in your tummy. Don't fret, it will be....soon.

4. Okay...now, heat everything up to a simmer, and simmer uncovered for about fifteen minutes. To serve, spoon it into bowls, shred a mountain of cheese on top, and sprinkle in some Fritos. Voila! The easiest dinner ever! Make a ton and eat it for weeks!

White Beef Stew with a little bit of Everything

(That's me!)

I am a firm believer in every story having a happy ending, or at least having an unhappy one for a good reason, which is usually that a happier ending is on the way. (I like to think of myself as an optimist in this way.) What does this have to do with my cooking blog, you may ask? Let me tell you.

I was trying to make this recipe tonight, and had bought all the ingredients yesterday... EXCEPT, I had forgotten red wine and beef stock. Ok, no tragedy, you're thinking. WRONG. My cut of meat was also only 1.3 lbs, not the required four, and I was out of pepper. I was beginning to panic, because I had this meat sitting thawed in my fridge, and I really needed to do something about it. 

So, I did what all good chefs must do at some point or another. I grabbed the seat of my pants and flew. Unfortunately, there are not too many pictures in this post...it it hard to take pictures while holding the seat of your pants.

For this recipe, you need:

A cut of meat, like a tough cut of roast or some stew meat, about 1.3lbs ;)

1/4 c. tequila                 

dash of white cooking wine                  

salt and pepper to taste

1.5 tsp stone ground mustard                  

2 medium bay leaves or one large            

 1 Tbsp. thyme

1 large onion, coarsely chopped             

3 medium potatoes, coarsely diced             

2 cloves garlic, minced                    

8 medium carrots, peeled and coarsely cut

1 c. water to start, more to be put in later                    

a pinch of allspice                  

1 tsp. of flour

1. Heat up the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Pour a little bit of olive oil into a dutch oven or large pot, and brown the meat on all sides. Then, add your 1 c. water, minced garlic, tequila, cooking wine, thyme, allspice, half the mustard, and a dash of salt and pepper to the pot. Bring this to a boil and then cover it and stuff it into the oven for about 1 hour. 

Here are some suggestions as to what to do with your hour:

-Mooch some books.

-Find some local farmers and food.

-Get fabulous!

-Make a puzzle of a fish or a rearing horse.

3. Ping! Your time is up! Pull the pot out of the oven. Be careful, it will be super hot. I know this because my hands are covered with burn marks made by not remembering this simple fact! Place the pot on the stove, on low heat, and if you have a really large chunk of meat (like I did), take this time to pull it out and cut it into stew-sized chunks, then add it back into the stew. Add the carrots, onions, and potatoes, then add just enough water to almost cover it all. 

4. Add in the rest of the mustard (you can add more if it still tastes bland to you) , the bay leaves, salt and pepper to taste, and the flour. Stir this all together well, then cover and let simmer until the potatoes and carrots are soft, about 40 min - 1hr. Keep tasting the stew during this time. I am a big advocator of the taste test... how are you supposed to fix it if you have no idea what you are really cooking?? 

5. When done, ladle into warm bowls. Garnish with a sprig of thyme, and serve with black bread. (if you have none of that, settle for rye.)

This is a super light, almost soupy stew. I hope you like it! I am glad to finally be reaching the end of our long, Rochester winter, myself. This stew is like the trailing end of a series of thick, hearty stews I have made this winter.

Bon appetit, from Lili "Whatever I happen to have on hand" P.