Vegetarian Chicken & Dumplings

Okay, you got me.  I’m a vegetarian.  I didn't want to bring this up sooner out of fear that you would freak out and assume that all we eat is tofurkey and Morning Star.  Though, I haven't planned out Thanksgiving...  See, I have never been much of a carnivore, but for my first new year's resolution I've given up meat cold turkey {pun intended}.  Honestly, I have had one dream about Five Guys, but other than that it hasn't been terribly difficult.  This may be one reason that you'll see a lot of recipes from Fresh 365, which are also all veggie.  I really love that her posts aren't about making food vegetarian, but just about really good food that is vegetarian.  That's all I can hope for, because life is too short to eat fake meat.

Vegetarian Chicken & Dumplings
Adapted from Fresh 365

4 T unsalted butter
1 large onion, chopped
6 T all-purpose flour
3 T sherry cooking wine

6 cups vegetable broth {4c broth, 2c H20  I don't use broth often enough to save half a box.  Plus, I always feel like the vegetable broth I buy looks too... concentrated.  I know that it isn't, but I like to water it down anyway.  This may effect your NaCl.  In a good way.}
1/2 cup lowfat milk

2 t salt

1/2 t pepper

2 bay leaves
1 t fresh thyme leaves
3 c chopped mushrooms (10 oz)

2 c chopped celery (6 stalks)

1 c chopped carrots
1 c frozen peas

2 T minced fresh chives

Serves 4-6

Dumplings

Now... I've tried Erin's recipe, and I flubbed it up.  Big time.  So, I called upon my good friend Jiffy.  This is a fail-safe way to make easy, fluffy dumplings.

1 box of Jiffy Buttermilk biscuit mix
1/4 cup of milk

1/4 cup water {because I couldn't decide between milk or water}

1/4 cup minced fresh herbs (I used chives, thyme & sage) {just like Erin}
2 T unsalted butter, melted

In a large skillet, heat butter over medium-high heat. Add onion, and sauté until onion begin to brown, about 8-10 minutes. Whisk in the flour and sherry {I was fresh out of sherry), scraping any brown bits of the bottom of the pan. Add the vegetable broth {and water}, milk, salt, pepper, bay leaves and thyme. Bring to a boil {Once, I forgot this step.  Dinner was still amazing.}, and add mushrooms, celery, carrots, peas and chives. Reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Season to taste.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt and herbs. Gently mix in melted butter and milk, until mixture just comes together (DO NOT over-mix or dumplings will be dense). {For reals...}
Drop dumpling batter into the simmering stew by heaping teaspoonfuls (about 15 total). Cover and simmer until dumplings are cooked through, about 15 minutes.  Whatever you do, DON’T uncover while the dumplings are cooking, as steam will escape and you’re dumplings won’t cook properly.

Caramelized Onion & Sweet Potato Tart

Unintentionally, David and I have been making too much pizza lately.  Mostly out of convenience and a lack of properly archiving 20 minute meals...  This is something I need to work on.  Rachael Ray has her 30 minute meals, and Pioneer Woman has her 16 minute meals.  If I try really hard, and am quick with a knife, I can attempt the 20 minute 40 minute meal.  {Let's set realistic expectations for ourselves.}  Instead of risking my phalanges, I  have first decided to conquer the frat boy persona of our oven.  I've recently discovered that if you use puff pastry instead of dough, you can call it a tart, which inevitably sounds fancier than pizza.  Ooo la la.

Caramelized Onion & Sweet Potato Tart
Relentlessly hijacked from Erin at Fresh 365.  Erin is brilliant.  If you don't already, read her blog!

3 T butter
3 medium onions, sliced very thin
1/4 cup white wine
2 T olive oil
2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced very thin
2 t chopped fresh sage
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1 puff pastry sheet, (thawed) {For a party, I've pinched 1 and a half together.  And skipped the cute circles.  Success.  I promise.}
1/2 c grated Pecorino-Romano cheese {Once, I read this at Gruyére.  Great mistake.}

First, pull your puff pasrty out of the freezer and set on floured surface.

In a large sauté pan, heat the butter over medium-low heat. Add the onions, and cook 50-60 minutes, stirring occasionally, until medium-brown and caramelized. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste, and stir in white wine.

In a medium sauté pan, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the sweet potatoes, 1 t sage, salt and pepper. Cook 7-8 minutes, stirring often, until potatoes have softened. {I found it easier to cook these in small batches.}

Preheat oven to 425F. Place the puff pastry on a floured work surface and roll out to an 11” x 11” square. Using a 6” bowl as a guide, cut out 2 circles, discarding the scraps. Place the circles on a non-stick baking sheet. Using a sharp knife, score a border in each circle, about 1/2" in from the edge (do not cut through the pastry). With a fork, pierce all over the pastry inside the score lines. (The score/piercing is done to ensure that the non-pierced edges will puff and inside will remain flat).

Within the scored border of each tart (the pierced section), divide the caramelized onions. Top each with an equal amount of sweet potato, followed by Pecorino-Romano and 1 t of sage.

Bake 15-20 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown.

Note: The caramelized onions & sweet potatoes can be made up to 2 days ahead and refrigerated for quick assembly. {Told you she was a smart.}

Black Bean Soup & Sweet Cornbread

Winter in Austin is a lot like Summer in Scotland, chilly and wet.  Unlike my dad's neck of the woods, where it's currently 12 degrees, Austin in a Autumnal 53.  Even though we don't have a "real" winter, I still use this time of year to turn my oven on all day and make my whole house smell warm and delicious.  January + Sunday = Black Bean Soup.  Goes together like, Le Creuset and Ground Cumino.  {Which is very well, just in case that isn't clear.}

Black Bean Soup
Adapted from Bon Appétit.  Courtesy of Smitten Kitchen.

The original recipe calls for a slow cooker and takes roughly 6 hours.  Not having a slow cooker or that amount of patience, I've made my soup in a Dutch oven on the stove top.  Cook Beware: Check the liquid in your beans every ~45 minutes.  If you are loosing too much liquid, you have your heat turned up too high. Guess how I learned this lesson...

1 T olive oil
2 medium-size red onions, chopped
1 medium-size red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium-size green bell pepper, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 t ground cumin
1 16-ounce package dried black beans
1 finely chopped jalapeno, seeded
7 cups hot water
2 T fresh lime juice
2 t coarse kosher salt
1/4 t ground black pepper

Optional Garnishes:

Creama Mexicana or sour cream
chopped fresh cilantro
chopped green onion

Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions and both bell peppers and sauté until onions are translucent, about 8-10 minutes. Add garlic,  jalapeno and cumin; stir 1 minute.  Add beans and  7 cups hot water. Cover and cook on low-medium until beans are very tender, about 3 hours. Stir frequently adding water when necessary. {I stirred every 30 minutes, which may be the reason I had to add ~6 cups over the 3 hours.  In retrospect, I realize that my heat was too high. I have adjusted this in the recipe.}  Using an immersion blender, blend soup for 15-20 seconds or until the soup has desired texture. Stir in lime juice, salt, and pepper.

Ladle soup into bowls. Spoon dollop of Creama Mexicana into each bowl. Sprinkle cilantro and green onions and serve with warm cornbread.

Serves 6

Sweet Cornbread
Adapted from Jiffy {That's right.}

Okay, this doesn't actually require a recipe, but it's too good not to share.  Sure, I've made cornbread from scratch and it was good.  This, however, is better than good and super easy.

1 package of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
1 egg
1/3 cup of milk
1 T butter
1 T sugar
1/2 finely chopped jalapeno, seeded

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Add butter to a small cast iron skillet and place in oven until butter has melted but not browned.  Mix remainder of ingredients and and pour into cast iron skillet.  Bake 15-20 minutes, or until golden and delicious.

Ginger Fried Rice

My foodie blog obsession began 2+ years ago when I stumbled upon Smitten Kitchen in Real Simple magazine.  I have NEVER had anything but tasty success with any of Smitten's recipes.  I'm sure that more than a few of her adaptations will find there way to this blog.

Also, this is a great time to take note that the most amazing food is generally the ugliest and hardest to photograph.  Somehow, Deb and Mark didn't have this problem... What can I say, I'm a self-proclaimed dilettante. 

Ginger Fried Rice

An adaptation of a Smitten Kitchen adaptation of a Mark Bittman adaptation of a Jean-Georges Vongerichten recipe.  Did you follow that?

1/2 cup peanut oil
2 T minced garlic

2 T minced ginger

Salt
2 cups thinly sliced leeks, white and light green parts only, rinsed and dried {Still no leeks in Austin... subbed onion bulbs, again.}

4 cups day-old cooked jasmine rice {Not having day-old rice, I made rice the morning of and spread it out on a cookie sheet until dinner time.  I love the idea of transforming leftovers, though, we never seem to have any.}
3 large eggs

2 t sesame oil

4 t soy sauce
salt, to taste

In a large skillet, heat 1/4 cup oil over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp and brown. With a slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels and salt lightly.
Reduce heat under skillet to medium-low and add 2 tablespoons oil and leeks. Cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until very tender but not browned. Season lightly with salt.

Raise heat to medium and add rice. Cook, stirring well, until heated through.  Season to taste with salt.
In a nonstick skillet fry eggs in remaining {some of the} oil, sunny-side-up, until edges are set but yolk is still runny. {Hopefully you are trying this recipe on a level oven.  This would help to prevent your eggs from looking like a pokemon character.}

Divide rice among dishes. Top each with an egg and drizzle with 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil and 1 teaspoon soy sauce (and crushed bird pepper from Thai take-out}. Sprinkle crisped garlic and ginger over everything {kiss your $15 red rice cooker goodnight} and serve.

Serves 2-3

Broccoli Soup with Lemon-Chive Cream

For the last few months I have been keeping a special calendar on iCal reserved for new and used recipes.  This isn't a food journal, more like a memory aid to home-cooked dinners of the recent past.  Most of my collection has been adapted from the brilliant minds of genuine cooks or bona fide chefs.  Perhaps one percent of my blog's content will be original, but I promise to give credit when credit is due.  At the very least, I can provide you a small sampling of brilliance thanks to my well-stocked bookmarks.

Most recently, my Dutch oven has had the pleasure of meeting Orangette's Broccoli Soup with Lemon-Chive Cream.  I absolutely love soup, but like anything wonderful and fulfilling, they take a lot of time.  I was able to make this in under an hour; my definition of a weekday meal.  Like most American children, I've always loved broccoli smothered in cheese, but there is something so incredibly satisfying about this clean, bright tasting soup, that you don't miss that pound of Cheddar cheese.


Broccoli Soup with Lemon-Chive Cream

For the soup:
1 T butter

1 T olive oil

2 medium leeks, white and tender green parts only, sliced {Strangely, all the leeks in Austin have disappeared... I subbed with bulb onions.}

1 small yellow onion, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

1 ½ lb. broccoli, both crowns and stems, trimmed and coarsely chopped
5 cups vegetable stock {I used 4 cups veg stock, 1 cup H2O}

1 rind (about 2 inches square) from a piece of Parmesan cheese {Officially renamed "Parmesan Bones."}

¾ t kosher salt, or less if your broth is well salted

For the sour cream:

1 cup sour cream (not low-fat or nonfat)

2 scallions, white and pale green parts only, very thinly sliced
¼ cup minced chives
1 t grated lemon zest

2 T fresh lemon juice

½ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
½ tsp. kosher salt

¼ tsp. pressed or minced garlic

In a small stockpot or Dutch oven, warm the butter and oil over medium heat. Add the leeks and onion, and cook, stirring occasionally, until they have softened and the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook for one minute. Add the broccoli, stock, Parmesan rind, and salt, and stir to mix. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook, partially covered, until the broccoli is tender, about 20 minutes.

While the soup cooks, prepare the cream. In a medium bowl, stir together the sour cream, scallions, chives, lemon zest, lemon juice, grated Parmesan, salt, and garlic, mixing until fully combined. Taste, and adjust as necessary.
T
o finish the soup, remove the Parmesan rind. Using a blender and working in small batches – when puréeing hot liquids, never fill the blender more than one-third full – purée until very smooth. {Alternatively, purée it in the pot with an immersion blender.} Return the soup to the pot, add a few dollops of the cream mixture – I add about 1/3 cup – and stir to incorporate. Taste for seasoning, and adjust as necessary. If needed, rewarm the soup gently over low heat.

Serve the soup with a spoonful or two of the remaining cream on top.

{Don't forget to pull your crusty bread out of the oven!}

Serves 4-6