Homemade Chicken Soup – from a bag

Posted on December 24, 2017 by melsmosaic

Had just been on one of the deadly shopping trips to Costco. You know, where you have a list of a few things and then your cart ends up being oddly full. Well one of the things that ended up as part of the cart contents was some (Israeli) pearl couscous. I happened to actually read the recipe on the back of the bag and it sounded really good. I was in the mood for some soup that day so figured I’d give it a try.

Couscous Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

1/2 cup each chopped onion, carrots and celery
4 cups chicken broth
1 tbsp minced ginger
2 cloves (or more, of course) garlic, minced
1 tbsp lemongrass paste, optional
2 cups cubed rotisserie chicken
1 cup pearl couscous
2-3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
S&P
3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

In large stock port, add onions, carrots and celery with 2 tablespoons broth. Saute 5 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Stir in ginger, garlic and lemongrass. Add remaining broth, chicken and couscous; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Add lemon juice, S&P; garnish with parsley before serving.

This soup was great! And so easy. Since you buy a rotisserie chicken, that work is done. The taste from the lemongrass and ginger just give it such a nice twist from traditional chicken soup and I love pearl couscous. Great recipe to have on hand for winter. I also had lots of leftover so froze them. Oh, also added more chicken broth and some water when I had leftovers the next day (before freezing the rest). The couscous soaked up some of the broth, but to me that just meant more soup!

Pasta Sauce on a Whim

Posted on February 26, 2015 by melsmosaic

Last Saturday was just cold, snowy and blah here in DC and all I wanted was some great pasta sauce. Why buy the stuff? Decided to grab a bunch of stuff and see what I could put together based on the rough research I did on cooking the stuff. Came up with the following ingredients (don’t have exact measurements on any of these):

-canned tomatoes
-onions
-olives
-garlic
-spices
-bay leaves
-fennel seed (almost forgot that one)
-red wine
-S&P
-olive oil

Threw them all in a pot and brought them to a boil then simmered them over medium heat for about 30+ minutes.

Final result was a delicious, chunky sauce with tons of flavor.

Served it over spaghetti squash with some seared shrimp.

Tomato and Arugula Pasta Sauce

Posted on December 24, 2014 by melsmosaic

Got to enjoy a pasta sauce I hadn’t had for awhile the other night. It has tons of veggies and is super simple to make — Spaghetti with Fresh Tomatoes and Rocket (Arugula) or Spaghetti con Pomodori e Rughetta from The Top One Hundred Pasta Sauces by Diane Seed.

Ingredients:

1 lb spaghetti

10 oz red ripe plum tomatoes — I use a lot more

4 cloves garlic

2 oz rocket (arugula) — about 1/3 cup chopped — I used about 2-3 times this much

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

Salt & Black pepper

Directions:

Skin the tomatoes by first plunging them into boiling water for a few minutes (I have always skipped this step).

Chop finely (I keep them in chunks) and place in a large bowl together with the finely chopped garlic and coarsely chopped rocket (arugula). Add the olive oil and S&P to taste and leave for at least 2 hours.

Post 2-hours:

I was in charge of the sauce…got to enjoy some nice homemade pasta.

Cook the pasta as usual, drain and stir in the sauce.

No-Recipe Stew

Posted on October 23, 2014 by melsmosaic

Last Sunday I finally had the time to break in my new kitchen (just moved). So wanted to make something fun. And, the night before I opened a bottle of red wine that did not merit being finished. I don’t really want to waste wine therefore determined I would just cook with it. It had been a windy, sort of cold day around DC, so determined I wanted to make a stew-like meal. I did some research online and didn’t find anything that truly struck my fancy so got creative and put together my own thing.

Ingredients (all quantities are some/non specific):

-chicken (sliced or cut into pieces)
-cannellini beans
-stewed/canned tomatoes
-mushrooms
-kale
-red wine
-onion (used a red one)
-garlic
-thyme (had some fresh stuff on hand)
-water
-S&P

I sauteed the garlic and onion for a few minutes then added the chicken and sauteed that until it was cooked. After that I added the balance of the ingredients and cooked it over low heat for about an hour — I was in no hurry.

It was a very tasty stew, lots of flavor. I served it with a quality-of-a-name Zin, Zinzilla. It was a nice wine!

Explore in the kitchen! Never hurts to have fun and try something new.

Let’s Get Crack(er)in’

Posted on November 27, 2013 by melsmosaic

Pre-dinner, appetizers, crackers. Go to store, reach for X box. Get home, open cardboard then bag (or just rip open the bag of pita chips — don’t lie). Why must we always do this?

I am crafting ideas for an event in a couple weeks and wanted to do a test pilot recipe for homemade super crisp crackers. Did some googling and an Alton Brown recipe came up on Food TV‘s site. How can you go wrong with Alton? I used the basics and threw in some lemon zest and vodka to complement some of the fish I aim to serve the crackers with.

Ingredients

5 ounces whole-wheat flour
4 3/4 ounces all-purpose flour, plus additional for rolling

<used all whole wheat because I was out of regular!>
1/3 cup poppy seeds
1/3 cup sesame seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
1 1/2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
3 tablespoons olive oil
6 1/2 ounces water
<used 1.5 ounces vodka and 5 ounces water>
added 1.5 teaspoons lemon zest

I went with the awesome Penzey’s dry lemon peel for my zest that I wanted to add. Add water, 15 minutes later, voila!

Then, you just mix the dry ingredients, blend in the wet ones, knead a few times and break into 8 small balls of dough.

You let them sit for 15 minutes then roll them out to desired thickness, based on what kind of cracker you’d like.

Put the entire piece of dough in the oven. You’re supposed to flip them half way but I love baking stuff on oven-proof racks to avoid the flipping need. After 6-15 minutes, depending on what you choose (based on Alton’s specs), take the crisps out of the oven, let cool, then break into desired size of crackers.

The recipe (online) got rave reviews. I think my effort to put my own flavor into it altered it a bit in an off way (the vodka made them a bit ‘soggy’) but they are still darn edible. I just always love tweaking things. But, give them a try! Very easy to make and a fun alternative to store-bought crackers.

You say dolmades, I say dolmas

Posted on October 29, 2013 by melsmosaic

In the end, they’re all the same. I was making dolmas the other night for a supper club, for the 2nd time in about 8 years because they are a food that I do not enjoy preparing but thought I’d give them another try. I have wondered about the difference in the two names so did a bit of research. And, it’s not rocket science. Based on various sources, dolmas OR dolmades is just the plural form of dolma. So on we go.

I checked out several recipes and after weighing my options I went for Tyler Florence’s.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/dolmades-stuffed-grape-leaves-recipe/index.html

I made a couple substitutions because I had them on hand and they wouldn’t alter the taste too much:

-almonds vs. pine nuts

-veggie vs. chicken stock

-dry vs. fresh dill

So to begin, prep the onion, fennel, lemon zest.

Saute the onion, fennel, nuts, zest and rice…ahh, smells good. Then add some stock and when done stir in dill, parsley, S&P.

Then you blanch the grape leaves. I think this is what the recipe I used years ago didn’t have me do so that caused tearing (both ripping and water coming out of my eyes from frustration) issues. You do that for 5 minutes.

Then the true work begins. Get those leaves separated. Have one ready, put about 2 tablespoons of mixture in the center, be strategic in rolling (all in the recipe), then place in a dutch oven. You roll and roll, then roll some more. Eventually you run out of filling.

You put the pot on the stove, put some stock to cover the dolmas half way, some olive oil and lemon juice.

They cook for about 30-40 minutes and voila! I was a bit disappointed in mine. The rice wasn’t quite done, but I didn’t determine this until too late. I made, I ate, I will next time and thereafter forever enjoy them from elsewhere (aka restaurant or storebought).

Hot Temps Mean Refreshing Dinners

Posted on July 16, 2013 by melsmosaic

Washington, DC (All Summer) — It’s mid-July, I’m in the DC-area. What does that mean? HOT temps. And, it’s only going to get worse. This Thursday is going to be high 90s without factoring in the humidity. So, easy-to-make, refreshing dinners are the best way to go.

My brother told me about an Alton Brown Grilled Mahi Ceviche recipe that was top-notch, and it sounded great. Since it’s grilled you don’t have to remember to throw the fish in the lemon and/or lime juice many, many hours ahead of time. Just two and then you throw it on the grill. Decided to pair that with some easy oil-based coleslaw, chips, salsa and guacamole.

For the Mahi, you just put some basic ingredients together and let them sit for a couple hours. I bought the Mahi chunks from Trader Joe’s because they were half the price of the steaks!

After a couple hours, pat the fish dry and throw it on the grill.

You keep the ‘marinade’ from the fish, heat in on the stove, and eventually use it again on the fish.

For the ‘slaw, I grabbed a great bag of broccoli slaw mix from Trader Joe’s — super easy! No cutting or chopping required for the base. I did chop some cilantro and garlic and for the dressing, just did a quick vinaigrette of:

-lemon juice

-lime juice

-cumin

-coriander

-olive oil

-hint of chili powder

-S&P

Next step was prepping the pre-made guacamole (because the avocado would have required electrical equipment to mash). I always add some spice to the packaged stuff:

Now, it’s dinner time!!!! Mahi, coleslaw, tortilla chips, salsa, guac, red wine. All to wrap up a great weekend.

As I enjoyed this dinner, I kept thinking the guac was off. Well, I was house sitting and used what appeared to be salt for the guac. Yes, I was right when it tasted sweet the first time and added some more of the fine crystals. It finally occurred to me to taste the stuff. Oh, I was adding sugar not salt. Note: Sweet guacamole IS NOT good.