Tag Archives: carrots

Chicken Vegetable Soup & Cheesy Garlic Biscuits

Perfect for a cool (or cold) evening’s dinner. Fresh vegetables, dark meat chicken, stock, and Cheesy Garlic Biscuits (instead of crackers) make this a satisfying meal for any member of your family!

Chicken Vegetable Soup

2 quarts chicken stock
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 large carrots, cut into coins
3 ribs of celery, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
2 medium onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium potatoes, peeled, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

In a 350F oven, roast off chicken thighs. Remove and allow to cool, then cut into bite size pieces.

In a soup pot, heat olive oil until just smoking. Add onions and garlic, and toss to coat. Cook 2 minutes, then add celery and carrot. Stirring occasionally, cook for 4 additional minutes. Add potatoes, Italian seasoning, and stock. Bring to the simmer and add chicken. Allow to cook for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serves: 8.                        

Cheesy Garlic Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup skim milk
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup Mozzarella/Cheddar/Monterey Jack cheese blend, shredded
1 tsp garlic powder
3 tbsp melted butter

Preheat oven to 450F.

In a mixing bowl, place flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir to combine. Add milk, mayonnaise, sugar, and beat on high speed until batter is smooth. It should not be pourable thin , it should be spoonable. Using a rubber spatula, fold in 3/4 cup cheese shreds.

Lightly grease 12 muffin tins (you may also use the liners if desired, or a silicon muffin pan). Spoon enough batter to fill each tin no more than 1/2 way (they WILL expand as they bake).

In a small bowl, combine melted butter and garlic powder. Using a brush, lightly paint the top of each biscuit with mixture. Then, using the reserved cheese, sprinkle the top of each biscuit.

Place on rack in the middle of the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool slightly on a wire rack before removing from pan. Serve warm with soups, roasts, stews, or broiled meats.

Makes 12 biscuits.

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Potage Aux Carottes with Balsamic Reduction

Continuing with the “French Connection,” Potage Aux Carottes is merely “Carrot Soup.” Thickened with rice instead of cream or flour, this is great served hot on a cold winter day, or served chilled on a hot summer day. An excellent way to get your veggies, and the balsamic reduction adds a sweet, yet savory tang that has to be tasted to be believed!

Soup:

1 tbsp olive oil
6 scallions, white part with a most of the green, cleaned and thinly sliced
4 cups peeled carrots, thinly sliced
2 tsp dried thyme leaves, crumbled
1 tsp cracked black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
6 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup brown rice
Sea salt

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat for 30 seconds. Add scallions and carrots and cook, stirring until carrots are softened, about 7 minutes. Add thyme, peppercorns and bay leaves and cook, stirring, for an additional minute. Transfer to pot. Add hot stock and stir well. Bring to simmer.

Stir in rice. Cover and cook for 35-40 minutes or until rice is to your liking and carrots are tender. Discard bay leaves.

In food processor or blender, puree soup in batches.* Season to taste with sea salt. Ladle into serving bowls drizzled with Balsamic Reduction swirls.

Balsamic Reduction:

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp dark molasses

To make balsamic reduction, combine the vinegar and molasses in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook, and stir occasionally, until the amount is reduced by about half and the mixture is of a maple syrup consistency. This should take about 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, cover and refrigerate to further thicken as it cools. When ready to serve your soup, drizzle each serving with a swirl of the balsamic reduction

* N.B. –  if you’ve never processed soup in a blender before, please for safety’s sake, cover the lid and spout with a kitchen towel before pulsing the blender on. Hot soup can be painful, and it will find a way out of the container!

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Beef Daube Provençal

Beef Daube Provençal is basically a fancy way of saying a rustic beef stew served over noodles. The above shot is shown served with the Gorgonzola Asparagus Slice (recipe here) – please see note at the bottom of the recipe. It’s one of the more complicated recipes I’ve chosen to share, but the flavours are indescribably yummy!

2 1/2 lbs beef chuck, sliced thin, then into cube sized pieces and patted dry with paper towels
2 to 2 1/2 lbs beef short ribs
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
4 whole cloves
1/2 tsp cracked black peppercorns
1 750 mL bottle Shiraz, or any medium (not too sweet/not too dry) red wine
4 slices thick cut pepper bacon
Kosher salt
2 tbsp tomato paste

The day before:
In large bowl with a tight fitting lid, combine all ingredients except bacon, salt, and tomato paste. Toss to combine, then cover and refrigerate overnight or for up to 2 days.

The day of:

Drain, reserving vegetables, meat and liquid separately.

Preheat oven to 300F.

In medium skillet, cook pepper bacon over medium-high heat until crisp. Drain thoroughly, crumble and reserve. Remove all but 2 tbsp of fat in the pan.

Reduce heat to medium. Remove whole cloves from reserved vegetables, discard, and add vegetables to pan and cook, stirring until softened, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a 5 quart baking dish. Increase heat to medium-high and brown meat in batches on both sides, about 5 minutes per batch.

As each batch is completed, transfer meat to the baking dish. Sprinkle bacon crumbles and salt over each layer as completed. Once you’ve finished with the meat, add tomato paste and reserved liquid to skillet and heat, just to the boiling point, scraping to release any fond (fond is French for “base” and commonly refers to the browned bits and caramelized drippings of meat and vegetables that are stuck to the bottom of a pan after sautéing or roasting) which have adhered to the pan. Pour over the contents of the baking dish. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until tender.

Remove bay leaves and discard. Serve over hot noodles.

Serves 8, quite generously.

N.B.: The photograph shows it with the Gorgonzola Asparagus Bake, which is a meal in its own right. If you choose to serve these two together, it can easily serve 12-16 individuals, with some leftovers remaining!

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Red Wine Beef Stew

Red Wine Beef Stew

2 lbs of beef roast (such as London Broil) cut into 1″ cubes
1 lb carrots, cut into coins
1 lb fingerlings (new potatoes), or potatoes cut into a 1″ to 1.5″ cube
2 medium (or 1 large) onion, finely diced
2 large garlic cloves (or more), minced
1 750ml bottle of good red wine*
1 tsp each of rubbed sage, oregano, and thyme
2 bay leaves
1 quart of fresh water**
cornstarch

In a large pan, brown the cubes of beef (they’re not to be cooked through). If you have too many for the pan, do them in stages as you’ll want them to brown, not steam. After all have been browned, return to the pan, and add onions, garlic, sage, oregano, thyme, water, bay leaves and wine. Bring to a simmer, covered, and cook for 1.5 to 2 hours, making the beef tender. After 1 hour, add your potatoes. 30 minutes later, add  your carrot coins.

Combine cornstarch with cold water and stir to combine. How much you’ll need to use depends on (1) the volume of liquid you have in your stew and (2) the thickness you wish for it to be. Remove the bay leaves, then add the cornstarch/water mixture to the pot and stir to combine. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes to cook the starch thoroughly.

Ladle into bowls, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve alongside fresh Rustic Herb Bread.

* It can be jug wine, but be sure it’s the kind you would drink. As it cooks down, the flavour intensifies, and if it’s bad tasting wine, that too will intensify.

** Yes, “Fresh” Water. Water that has been placed through a filter and let sit on the counter is not “fresh.” Bottled water is not fresh. If you do not wish to use tap water, run it back through your filtration system again. Water loses oxygen as it sits, and there is a difference in the way it cooks.

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Guilt Free Soup

Guilt Free Soup

1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 large carrots, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
4 tbsp. Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. butter
2 c. vegetable broth
1 lb russet potatoes, diced
2 tbsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 cups skim milk

In a soup pot, sauté onion, garlic, carrot, and celery in 1 tbsp olive oil until tender (about 5 minutes). Add broth, potatoes, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper; cook 15 minutes. Add milk and cheese; heat until almost boiling.

Serves 4.

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Mini-Carrot Cakes

Mini Carrot Cakelettes

2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups canola oil
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or real vanilla extract)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 cups self rising flour
3 cups finely grated carrots

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream sugar and oil until smooth (5-7 minutes). Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add remainder of ingredients, making sure to stop and scrap down the sides of the bowl.

Turn into prepared muffin cups, heart shaped baking pans, or mini-bundt pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool and remove from pans. Makes 30 cakelettes.

Now, when you’re working with something like shredded carrots and intricate molds such as the mini-bundts, there will be some cakelettes that simply will not loosen and come out in one piece. Have no fear, do what any good chef would do — Improvise!

Layered in a martini glass with sugar free, fat free vanilla yogurt, this makes for an elegant and tasty trifle. And no one need know this was a “mistake”!

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