Chicken Soup

I am putting this up at Marc's request.  He no longer is able to reliably find good chicken soup, as good as Grandma made it!  So now he needs the recipe.  I will add some suggestions at the end of what to throw into the soup to make it more than broth with some vegetables.  A hint: if you're going to add some sort of starch like rice, quinoa or noodles, you can make them separately and let them cool.  When you add them to the nuclear hot soup, it cools it down nicely.

Chicken Soup

1/2 tbsp butter
2 ribs celery
2 large carrots
2 parsnips (or one really large one)
1 medium onion
1 quart chicken broth (I like the Pacific organic low sodium)
1-2 cups diced chicken breast
1/2 to 1 tsp salt (optional)

Prepare the vegetables in whatever size you prefer.  You can slice, leave the celery largely intact as spears, or do like I do and mince them all up in the food processor so they're unrecognizable and you don't notice you're eating any nasty chunks of celery.  Melt the butter in your stockpot, then saute the vegetables until tender in the butter. Add broth, chicken and salt and simmer for 20 minutes.

Optional:

I like to use rotisserie chicken (the whole thing) to make this up.  If you use the rotisserie chicken, you won't need the butter.  I strip the meat off the chicken and chop it, then add to the soup.

You can get a Napa cabbage, rinse thoroughly and shake dry, then slice into shreds and thrown them in the soup to simmer.  The cabbage doesn't change the flavor, but it adds texture and bulk and makes the soup more substantial..

Alternatively, you can add rice, matzo balls, noodles, quinoa, etc. at the end.

What makes this soup so awesome is the Grandma Elaine innovation of putting parsnips in it. Thanks, Elaine!

Amazing squash recipe!

I happened to see this in a Concord Monitor article when visiting Uncle Donald this past week.  He let me bring it home and I tried it today.  Yum!  I also read about the book "Fat Chance" in the same article, and have already purchased and finished it.  Pretty good book, though I've read even more amazing ones over the past couple of years.

Spice Winter Squash and Plantains (or Bananas)

4 tablespoons oil

2 bananas or ripe plantains (suspect plantains will be less mushy)

1 pound butternut squash cut into 1 inch cubes 

1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

2 tablespoons Sriracha

1 tablespoon cider vinegar (I used pomegranate vinegar this time)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 to 1 cup water

1 small bunch fresh cilantro (optional)

Heat the oil in a medium to large skillet.  While it's heating, peel the plantains (or bananas) and cut into 1/2 inch thick disks, placing immediately into the skillet to brown on both sides.  Remove to a paper towel to drain.  Put the squash in the skillet and brown on all sides, then remove them from the pan and set asides as well.  Add onion for a few minutes and saute, then add garlic and continue cooking until the onions start browning.   Add spices, Sriracha and vinegar to the onion and garlic and stir.  Add back the plantains and squash and stir.  Add 1/2 to 1 cup of water to moisten the mixture and stir in the cilantro if you're going to add that as well.  Cover the skillet with a lid, reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally and adding a little more water as needed, until squash is soft.

Serves 8 portions, about 1/2 cup in size.

This is pretty spicy.  You can always cut back on the Sriracha if you want, or use any other chili pepper you have available.  I've got two plantains ripening and will definitely make this again when they're ready!  I think I'll also bring a toned down version to the next Thanksgiving dinner I attend.  It'll separate the men and women from the sissies!