Ok, yes. I do eat a lot of pasta.

I know pasta is kind of boring--but doesn't it look wonderful?

This one is whole wheat spaghetti with olive oil, fresh garlic, jalapeño, lots of both green and yellow zucchini, spinach, basil, oregano, salt, & pepper. I would eat this again right now. Actually, maybe I should go do that.

Cooking the freezer: chicken soup (again)

So the roast chicken we made last October (side note: holy crap, October??) has served us well for an astoundingly long time. Witness yesterday, when I dove into the freezer to pull out our remaining two frozen leg-thigh chunks.

We were out of frozen chicken broth, but that's ok. Veg broth is pretty much always kicking around at our house, and it works just fine for our purposes. Maybe the broth was a little thinner and less gelatinous than chicken broth; so what? It's still delicious. Plus there were actual chunks of chicken, which, you know, make up for it pretty well.

The last time I made freezer chicken soup, it turned into a chowder. This time, I went more toward the French-feeling chicken-mushroom bisque area. I mean, it's not really a bisque (or French), but the ambiance fits. I did, however, use my favorite trick for instantly turning brothy soups into cream-of-awesome: cream cheese.

Chicken, mushroom, & cream cheese soup

onion, shallot
butter
a carrot (& stick of celery if you have any)
half a jalapeño if you need to use one up
a big handful of mushrooms
water &/or vermouth to deglaze
cooked chicken
vegetable broth
salt, pepper, paprika, mustard powder
cream cheese
fresh cilantro/parsley/chives for garnish

First, chop up your onion and shallot and sauté them in butter over medium-high heat. I used half an onion and half a shallot, but it would be fine to mess with the proportions a bit. Mince your jalapeño; scrub and dice your carrot; slice your mushrooms. Add each vegetable to the pot as you finish chopping. Throw in a pinch of salt and let everything brown for five minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Then (or earlier, if the pan gets too hot) add a splash of water or dry vermouth and stir/scrape to deglaze any brown bits sticking to the bottom. This will cool down the pan a bit, so you can leave it to bubble for a minute.

If you happen to be using frozen cooked chicken, you can do what I did and put it in a container of hot tap water to quickly defrost. Then prep your chicken by picking it off the bones, discarding skin and fat, and shredding the meat with your hands. Really get in there so you don't miss any bits and pieces stuck in between the joints. I used most of one chicken leg/thigh combination for two servings of soup; you can use as much as you like.

Add the chicken to the pan. Season with salt, pepper, paprika, and a bit of mustard powder; stir to mix. Then add about two cups of vegetable (or hey! maybe you have chicken!) broth. Mine was frozen, so I just threw the whole chunk into the pot and let it defrost in the heat.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and let simmer for about ten or fifteen minutes, or as long as it takes to reduce the soup to your preferred texture. I covered my pan to start, but cracked the lid for the simmer, since I wanted to let some liquid evaporate off. This worked admirably. By the end of cooking, you should be left with a beautiful golden-brown broth full of mushrooms and chicken. Lovely.

Now for the finishing touches. First, turn the heat down to low. Add a chunk of cream cheese to the pot and stir to distribute. The cream cheese may look a bit grainy at first, but as it heats, it'll melt right in. This won't thicken the broth much at all, but it'll definitely make it more creamy and delicious. Taste for seasonings, and you are done.

Serve your soup with cracked black pepper and chopped herbs on top. I had cilantro, which seems a little odd in retrospect, but was very tasty at the time. Parsley or chives would also work well.

Toast is also an excellent plan.

Tortellini to the rescue

Pasta: it's the default "oh no it's 8:30 and I must eat right now!" food. It's fast, easy, and cheap; on the other hand, it's usually not exactly the most protein-ridden food available. So it's a good thing I stashed a bunch of this premade pesto & ricotta tortellini the other day.

For the sauce, I just sautéed as many vegetables as I could fit in the pan--shallot, garlic, jalapeño, mushroom, grape tomato, zucchini, orange bell pepper--with olive oil, basil, salt & pepper, and a big handful of fresh parsley. Dinner accomplished!

Homemade chips yeah!

Look what I made! Homemade tortilla chips! EXCITEMENT.

Ok. This was 1. ridiculously easy 2. reasonably fast 3. both cheaper & fresher than just buying a bag of chips and 4. available without going to the store. A win on all counts!

Homemade tortilla chips

corn tortillas
olive oil/a flavorless oil of your choice
salt

Preheat the oven to 400F. While you're waiting for it to heat, prepare your chips.

Brush a tortilla lightly with olive oil. Stack another tortilla on top; repeat. When you have a stack of about six or eight tortillas, get out a sharp knife and cut the stack into sixths.

Arrange the tortilla pieces in one layer on a cookie sheet, spacing them just a bit apart so the heat will circulate around all their edges. Scatter salt over the prepared pan, and put it into the now-preheated oven.

Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the chips are just beginning to turn golden brown. When your chips are done, put them on a paper towel-covered wire baking rack. Immediately scatter a bit more salt over the finished chips; they'll absorb the flavor much better while piping hot. Let your chips cool while you bake a second pan.

When you have baked, salted, and cooled all the chips you want to eat, you are done. Hooray!

Now you can eat them. I recommend salsa, guacamole, or nachos. We had ours for dinner, with a gigantic pan of messy enchiladas based on the recipe in the original Vegetarian Epicure.

I made my chips plain, because I knew we'd be dipping them in some highly spicy salsa. However, if you want to make seasoned chips, you can sprinkle a bit of paprika, chili powder, cumin, or lemon juice over the chips just before you put them in the oven.

Chips! Hooray!

Pea pasta

I can't stop eating the spring peas, you guys. It's a good thing I don't have to.

Pea pasta

fresh peas!
garlic
veg broth
salt, pepper
cheese or other dairy business
immersion blender
lemon wedge to squeeze
pasta of your choice

Saute chopped garlic in olive oil until it begins to soften. Add plenty of shelled peas and cover with a couple cups of vegetable broth; salt and pepper. Simmer gently until the peas are cooked through and everything smells fantastic.

Now bust out your immersion blender and blend that sauce. You may need to add some more liquid to do this, depending on how much broth has evaporated off. You may also need to cook the sauce down if it's too watery. Ah, the vagaries of cooking.

John wanted to blend parmesan into the peas, so we did. This was not the best plan, however, because grating cheeses melt in a sticky and stretchy manner. I strongly prefer a cream/goat/cottage cheese approach. Or ricotta. Or, you know, just use cream. Cream is good.

Eat with plenty of delicious pasta and a lemon wedge squeezed over your plate. Maybe even get some zest in there. Massive amounts of fresh black pepper are also great.

I had mine with a chunk of cream cheese buried in the middle and left to melt for a minute or two. An optimal plan.