French Onion Soup

Ingredients

• 6 tbsp butter
• 3 lbs onions
  • Mix of yellow, Vidalia, shallot, red, etc
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup Sherry
• 64 ounces chicken or beef stock
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp cider vinegar
• Crusty bread
• Gruyere cheese

 

Method

1. Melt butter. Sauté onions until soft.
2. Reduce heat, caramelize for 1-2 hours. Stir frequently. If liquid evaporates, add a teaspoon of water and continue until golden brown.
3. Add sherry. Scrape up any browned bits. Simmer until alcohol burns off.
4. Add stock. Put thyme and bay leaf in strainer. Bring to a boil, then simmer for a minimum of 20 minutes. Remove thyme and bay leaf.
5. Add fish sauce and cider vinegar.
6. Ladle a small portion into ramekins. Add a slice of bread. More soup, another bread, cheese. Broil until cheese is golden brown.

 

Chili

Everyone needs a good chili recipe. Chili is not something that we make very often in this house, but when we do, we want it done right. Here is an excellent chili recipe that we recently found. We have made a few subtle alterations to go with our tastes.

Notes: Use the huge soup pot, it makes a LOT!

Ingredients:
2 lb Ground Beef
1 lb Hot Italian sausage (no casing)
3, 15 oz cans Chili beans, drained
1, 15 oz can Chili beans in spicy sauce
2, 28 oz cans Diced tomatoes with sauce, pulsed quickly in the blender
1, 6 oz can Tomato paste
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 Green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 Red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 Jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
1 TBSP Bacon bits
4 cubes Beef boulion
1/2 cup Beer
1 cup Golden Tequila
1/4 cup Chili powder
1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
1 TBSP Minced garlic
1 TBSP dried Oregano
2 tsp ground Cumin
2 tsp Hot sauce
1 tsp dried Basil
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp ground Black pepper
1 tsp Cayenne pepper
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp White sugar
For Serving:
8 oz Cheddar cheese, shredded
Tortilla chips
Corn Bread (see here)

Directions:

• In the large pot, brown the ground beef and sausage. Drain excess fat.
• Add in the remaining ingredients (except those for serving). Stir well.
• Cover and simmer on low heat for at least 2 hours, or longer if you have time.
• Serve topped with Cheddar cheese. Use tortilla chips and corn bread for dipping.

Tortilla Soup

We were recently in Jamaica for a little relaxing getaway.  While we were there, one of the restaurants served Tortilla soup as part of a Mexican buffet.  My husband fell in love, and I was tasked with the mission of finding a recipe for Tortilla soup that we could make at home.

The natural first step is to google it, which I did. This recipe from Chow stood out right away since it looks, color and texture wise, very similar to the Jamaican version. We tried it out, and it was great!  No need to change anything, except some steps.  We did end up throwing the whole base in the blender when we finished to smooth things out, and we doubled the recipe so we would have leftovers.

Tortilla Soup
Total time: About 3 hours
Total cook time: About 2 hours
Ingredients:

4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, medium diced
1 small carrot, peeled and medium diced
1 medium celery stalk, medium diced
1 medium red bell pepper, medium diced
1 medium garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoon ground coriander
2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
64 oz (2 quarts) Low-sodium chicken broth
2 cup water
2 cup (~19 oz) canned crushed tomatoes
3 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
10 (6-inch) corn tortillas, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 cups shredded (1.5 lbs), cooked chicken (a whole rotisserie chicken or boiled breasts/thighs shredded with the kitchenaid)
1 cup heavy cream
Kosher salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Shredded Monterey Jack cheese, for topping
Sour cream, for topping
Tortilla chips, for topping

 

Directions:

• Prepare all of your ingredients ahead of time.
• Heat oil in a large soup pot.
• Add in the onion, carrot, celery, and bell pepper. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
• Add in the garlic, chili powder, coriander, cumin, oregano, paprika, and cayenne. Cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
• Add in the chicken broth, water, crushed tomatoes, measured salt and pepper. Stir well then bring to a boil.
• Add in the corn tortillas, stir, then reduce heat to low. Simmer, allowing the tortillas to break up for about an hour.
• Carefully, working in batches, process the soup in the blender to smooth it all out. Return to the soup pot.
• Add in the chicken and heavy cream. Return to medium heat, and allow everything to heat through. About 15-20 minutes.
• Serve topped with additional salt, pepper, Monterey Jack cheese, and sour cream to taste. Top with tortilla chips.

This recipe did describe how to make little fried tortilla strips with the leftover corn tortillas, however, we were way to lazy to do this the day that we made the soup. Here are the instructions anyway.

For the tortilla strips:

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
4 (6-inch) corn tortillas
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat until shimmering but not smoking (about 350°F on a deep-frying/candy thermometer), about 6 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, stack the tortillas on a cutting board. Cut the stack in half, then cut crosswise into 1/4-inch strips; set aside. Line a baking sheet with paper towels; set aside.
3. When the oil is ready, add half of the tortilla strips and fry, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and crisp, about 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to the prepared baking sheet and season with salt and pepper. Repeat with the remaining tortilla strips; set aside.

Uncle Bud’s Oven Stew

2 lbs Round steak or chuck steak, cubed
1 large carrot, sliced thickly
1, 4oz. can water chestnuts, drained and sliced
2 celery ribs, sliced thickly
2 onions, sliced into rings
6 oz. mushrooms, chopped
1/2 tsp sweet basil
1/4 tsp pepper
3 TBSP flour
1 TBSP sugar
1 TBSP salt
1, 16 oz can tomatoes, pureed
1 cup burgundy wine

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 325 F.
• Put meat and vegetables into large casserole, or oven safe pot.
• Sprinkle with basil and pepper.
• In a small bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.  Sprinkle mixture over the meat and vegetables.
• Pour tomatoes and burgundy over all. Stir lightly.
• Cover and bake for 4 hours.

Get a Husband Brunswick Stew

A man’s stew! From all recipes.

Brunswick Stew

Total cook time: 3+ hours

1 TBSP olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1.5 lbs ground pork
1.5 lbs ground beef
3 lb whole chicken, cooked and deboned
3, 14.5 oz cans whole peeled tomatoes, pureed
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup Hickory BBQ sauce
1 tsp+ Hot Sauce
1 green pepper, whole
3, 14.7 oz cans creamed corn
salt and pepper, to taste]

Instructions:

• Heat the olive oil in a skillet.  Add onions and celery and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
• Add pork and beef and cook till browned. Do not drain.
• Transfer the mixture into a large pot over low heat.
• Stir in chicken, tomatoes, ketchup, and BBQ sauce, and hot sauce.
• Add the green pepper, whole.
• Cook for 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until thickenend.
• Stir in the creamed corn, and salt and pepper to taste.
• Cook for an additional 1 hour stirring occasionally.
• Remove the green pepper, finely chop, and stir back into the stew.

Nonna’s Chicken Soup

Nonna’s Chicken Soup

6 Large Cans College Inn Low Sodium Chicken Broth (or can use 4 cans if you want a little less)
1 Medium to Large Onion (cut in 4 pieces)
3 Stalks of Celery (chopped)
1 Package Baby Carrots
1 medium Broccoli head
1 Medium Russett Potato (cut in half)
1 whole cut up chicken – you can use any other kind of chicken meat too… thighs taste yummy (use less chicken if only using 4 cans)

Plus:
Ancini di Pepe pasta – .055 cups per ladel of soup

Instructions:

• Bring broth to a boil, add chicken and continue to boil lightly for 45-50 minutes.
• Add vegetables and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and let simmer 1 hour.
• Using a slotted spoon remove chicken and place in a separate bowl.
• Pour remaining soup through a colander into a large bowl.  Remove the potato halves and discard.
• Put separated vegetables into a blender to puree.
• Add vegetable puree, and broth back to large pot.
• Remove chicken from bones and add to the soup.

Once your soup is done.  Ladle out the servings that you want into a smaller pot.  For our soup mugs, use 5 ladlefuls per mug. Cook until pasta is cooked, about 15-20 minutes.