Leeks and Potatoes

After a long week, I am finally beating that cold that hit me Monday.  Why I tend to get sick at the Holiday's is a complete mystery, but with very few exceptions, every time I get really sick, it's Christmas.  Needless to say, I was not doing quite as much in the kitchen as I would have liked.  Thank goodness I wasn't hosting a Dinner!

Finally, yesterday afternoon, I finally felt well enough to make something, to stand in my tiny little kitchen and create something.  Nothing to crazy mind you.  

Just before the darn cold arrived, I had found several yummy looking items in the produce section of our local Planet Organic, and decided that it was time to put it to good use.  Originally I was crazy enough to pull out leeks, potatoes, cabbage, kale, carrots, onions, mushrooms, garlic and green peppers to throw together a simple meal with few flavors.  Yes, I quickly saw the problem with the few flavors versus my multitude of goodies.  Therefore I decided to pick on item, and then choose a few things to go with it.  The Leeks were calling my name, and from there the potatoes and garlic were a given.  I dug around in my fridge for a moment to locate my homemade chicken stock, and a little bit of heavy cream.  As I was putting everything else way, I was hit by a last minute need to keep out an onion.  From this my new favorite soup (yes, a soup that I actually adore!) was born.

Potato and Leek Soup

If you want more servings, just increase this recipe as need be.  I think it would double, triple, or even sextuple (X6) very well!

1/2 small onion, chopped

1 leek, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 cup chicken stock, or other mild flavored stock

3 medium potatoes, diced small *I used Yukon Gold

1/2 cup heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

In large sauce pot, heat butter and olive oil.  Saute onion, garlic and leeks until fragrant, and golden.  

Add chicken stock, and potatoes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Simmer until potatoes are soft.  Mash lightly, leaving most, and stir in cream.  Heat through, and serve.

Simple, yet amazingly delicious, and all that garlic actually isn't over powering!  Of course, if you don't like garlic, leave it out!

Chicken Noodle Soup

The world must be coming to an end, I'm putting up more than one post in a day.  Heck, that's more than I manage to put up most weeks!  What is the reason for this madness?  A good chunk of Nova Scotia is currently powerless, including my place of work.  Earliest ETA for power restoration, 11:30 tonight, and where I work is one of the lucky places.  Other area's are looking at an ETA of 11:30 TOMORROW night.  Yep, that's right, they're going powerless for two days.  This is what happens when Winter decides to rear her very ugly head, and blow in with hurricane strength winds, snow, and freezing rain.  Tree's have been downed, the landscape is white, and most of all, it's still way to windy out there for much to be happening at the airport.  I'm glad I'm not trying to travel today.  

The good thing here is, I have the day to myself.  The last time this happened, feels like a lifetime ago.  Really, it was just over a week ago, but today it's literally just me and my cats.  My roommate is at his parents, or fiance's, or somewhere.  Not too sure where, and me, I'm all alone in my apartment :)  It's a nice change.  The downside, apparently my body chose today to come down with a bit of a cold.  Here's to hoping that having a restful day will mean that when I get up to head in for an absolutely crazy day at work tomorrow, I'm all better.  Wishful thinking?  Perhaps, but it won't stop me.

So while I wish I was baking and concocting some elaborate meal, I've been vegetating on the couch watching Martha Stewart and snuggling with my kitties.  Though I did stand in the kitchen long enough to whip up a delicious and simple chicken noodle soup.  Within half an hour I had a big bowl of steaming, nutrient stuffed soup sitting in front of me, making my nose run from the warmth.  Now if that doesn't conjure images of sexiness, I don't know what does!  As long as you have stock, pasta and greens (which you could leave out very easily if you either don't have or really don't like), and enough energy to stand for 30 minutes, you too can enjoy some soup.  And on a day like today, even if I wasn't sick, I think I'd have been enjoying a big bowl anyway.

Express Chicken Noodle Soup

3/4 cup rice macaroni, uncooked

2 cups chicken stock, homemade or store-bought

2-3 cups sliced greens of your choice

Cook macaroni in salted-like-the-sea water until nearly al dente.  Drain.

Return to pot with stock and greens.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until pasta are cooked to desired tenderness.

Spoon into a big bowl, and and enjoy the healing properties that can only come from chicken noodle soup.

Veggie Stock

I promised a stock recipe, and I have finally delivered.  Sorry for the absence, however I have been rather busy with three jobs.  Here's to hoping things start to settle back down soon!

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Considering that the colder months of the year have arrived, soups and stews are going to be making appearances on many a supper table.  The foundation for many a good warm up supper is a hearty stock.  Chicken stock, beef stock, seafood stock (don't expect to find that one on this blog) and of course veggie stock.  And really, what could be easier, healthy, or cheaper than to make your own veggie stock.  Well, if you eat veggies on a semi regular basis, and you can bring a pot of water to a boil, you can make veggie stock.  

The best thing about the recipe that I use, is that it's not much of a recipe, and you're using things you would normally just throw into your kitchen garbage or compost bin.  And all you need is a big pot, some water, and a large Ziploc bag. 

So, lets get started.

Vegetable Stock

The very first thing you need to do, is start keeping a large re-sealable bag in the freezer.  From now on, every time you prepare some veggies for your meals and snacks, place all the trimmings, peels, and guts into this bag.  When it's full, you're ready to make stock.

Empty frozen veggie bits into a stock pot.  Add: 1-2 bay leaves, 2-3 cloves of garlic (don't bother peeling), a pinch of salt, and around 10 whole pepper kernels. 

Next add 8 cups of water, and make note of where the water level is.  You'll need to know this for later.  I usually just stick a plastic spoon in, and note where it is on there.  Add another 4 cups of water.  Bring the whole mess to a simmer and leave uncovered.

When about 4 cups of water has evaporated - this is why you took note of the water level before - add another 4 cups in, and again simmer down to 8 cups in the pot.  Do this whole thing one more time.  It seems tedious, but it improves the flavour, which is all that one really wants.  Besides, it's not much work, and it makes the house smell like yummy stock.

After the final reduction, allow stock to cool, strain out solids, and pour into containers.  The used veggie trimmings can now be tossed in your compost or garbage, and the stock can be refrigerated and enjoyed.

Curried Butternut Soup

Have you ever bought something, and then forgotten you had it?  Well, it happens to me all the time, with the most recent items being sour cream and a butternut squash.  Sadly the sour cream didn't survive my bought of forgetfulness, but the squash did!  Thank goodness they last forever.  I don't even know what made me think of that squash, but for some reason I suddenly remembered it while at work today.  Actually, I also remembered the sour cream, and was going to use both, but it was kind of moldy.  Oops!

What to do with that squash though?  I really didn't want to roast it.  But then I thought that I could make a soup...heck, I could even use some of my most recently made stock (recipe still to come).  Looking around, I realized that I had several tins of coconut milk and some lovely red curry paste in my pantry.  A Thai inspired soup suddenly sprang to mind and off to work I went.  The heat from the curry adds such a lovely depth and warmth to the soup, and the coconut milk cools that heat down, and helps give the soup a luscious creamy texture.  

Give it a try, it's a great pick me up for a cold Fall or Winter day - we're back to Fall here, though I'm sure Winter will make another appearance soon enough.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

15 mL olive oil

100 g onions, diced

500 g butternut squash, peeled and cubed

15 mL red curry paste 

250 mL veggie stock

1/2 tin coconut milk

In a large pot heat olive oil over med-high heat.  Add onions and cook, stirring, until softened and translucent.  Add curry paste and stir to coat onions.

Add cubed squash and veggie stock, bring to boil.  Once at a boil, reduce heat and simmer until squash is tender enough to be mashed with a fork.  Using a potato masher or hand blender, mash/puree squash.  Once uniform, stir in coconut milk and serve.

Makes enough for three.