CREAMY MUSHROOM SOUP

We’re big mushroom lovers in our house, so I love to use them whenever possible. Here’s a recipe for a delicious, elegant soup that really features that unmistakable mushroom flavor. Enjoy!

INGREDIENT (Serves 6)

1 cups dried porcini or shiitake mushrooms
2 cups warm water
3 tablespoons olive oil
12 fresh cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 sweet onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
1 quart chicken broth
¼ cup heavy cream
½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 cup cooked chicken, cubed
6 large croutons
Parsley sprigs for garnish

PREPARATION

In a large bowl, soak the dried mushrooms in warm water for thirty minutes. Remove from water and slice. Reserve mushroom water.

Heat the olive oil in a medium sized Dutch oven. Sauté the onions until they begin to brown, about 8 minutes. Add fresh mushrooms, garlic and red pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Add the dried mushrooms with any remaining liquid.

Add the chicken broth and bring up to a boil. Lower to a simmer for 20 minutes. Add in heavy cream and half of the parmesan cheese and stir for one minute. Turn off heat.

Using an immersion blender, purée the soup.

To serve, ladle into soup bowls. Garnish with cooked chicken, croutons, remaining Parmesan cheese, and parsley sprigs.




Thanksgiving Leftover Casserole

I went a little nuts this year and made twice as much of everything as I needed to feed my family. Admittedly, I love Thanksgiving leftovers, so somewhere deep in my psyche I knew what I was doing. If you’ve made the classics—turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, some green thing, cranberry sauce, and gravy—then this recipe will work for you. Feel free to sub sweet potatoes for the mashed potatoes or green beans for the brussels sprouts. Basically— just use what you’ve got.

INGREDIENT (Serves 8)

3 tablespoons of butter
1 onion, diced
3 ribs celery, diced
1 large carrot, diced
6 mushrooms, sliced
4 cups of leftover turkey, chopped
2 cups of leftover stuffing, chopped
1 cup of leftover Brussels sprouts, chopped (or green beans)
¾ cup leftover gravy or turkey drippings
1 cup of leftover mashed potatoes
½ cup fried onions for garnish
1 scallion, chopped for garnish
3 tablespoons chives, chopped for garnish
1 cup of cranberry sauce for garnish

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the onion, celery and carrot and sauté for 8 minutes. Add the mushrooms and continue to sauté for three minutes. Add the additional tablespoon of butter if too dry.

Add in the turkey, stuffing, Brussels sprouts, and gravy. Mix all together. Heat for one more minute.

Grease a large baking dish. Add everything from the skillet. Spread the mashed potatoes on top. Sprinkle the fried onions on top of the potatoes. Heat for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and serve, garnishing each dish with scallions, chives and a dollop of cranberry sauce




INSIDE/OUTSIDE STUFFING

Across America, there continues to be the great debate—is stuffing better when it is cooked inside the turkey or just in a baking dish? For most of my family and me, we are definitely inside bird people and find the stuffing to be much moister than when it is cooked outside of the bird. But now everyone is afraid of everything, so if we don’t get the stuffing to just the right temperature we’ll all get salmonella and spend the next week living on tea and toast.

So in order to get that inside bird moistness without actually stuffing the bird, I think I’ve come up with a recipe that is safe, moist, AND delicious.

INGREDIENT

1 tablespoon olive oil
3 large chicken livers, chopped (optional)
3 hot Italian ground turkey sausage links
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large Vidalia onion, diced
4 celery ribs, diced
1 pound cornbread stuffing cubes
¼ parsley, chopped
1 ½ teaspoons poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 cups of chicken broth

PREPARATION

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Cook the livers and sausage until browned, about five minutes. Break up the meats so that there are no large chunks. Set aside.

In the same skillet, melt the butter. Add the onions and celery and cook until translucent, about 8 minutes.

In an extra large bowl, pour in the onions and celery, making sure to scrape down the sides of the skillet to get all the remaining butter. Add in the liver and sausage, cornbread cubes, parsley, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Mix until all are well incorporated. Add in one and half cups of the chicken broth, mixing well.

Scoop all of the stuffing into a buttered casserole dish. Drizzle the last half-cup of chicken broth evenly over the stuffing. Cover the dish and bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.




CHICKEN MOLE SOUP

Making mole from scratch is quite a daunting task. I once took a cooking course in Mexico and there were over 26 ingredients to the recipe. It was fun to do, but sourcing all the right ingredients, not to mention the long cooking process, isn’t always practical. But, there are some fantastic mole pastes on the market. I use the mole poblano from Hernan. It really gives this soup a wonderful, rich flavor. If you like it spicier, add some red chili flakes or cayenne.

INGREDIENT (Serves 6-8)

2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cup shredded cooked chicken
1 can kidney beans
1 can corn
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 ½ teaspoons fresh ground pepper
3 ounces mole poblano paste
2 quarts chicken broth or bone broth
1 cup fresh baby spinach
blue corn chips, crumbled
½ cup queso fresco (chopped into small pieces, for garnish)
Sour cream for garnish

PREPARATION

In a medium sized pot, heat olive oil. Add onion and sauté for 6-7 minutes until they start to brown. Add the peppers, sauté for 2 more minutes. Add in garlic cloves, chicken, beans, and corn and sauté for 1 more minute.

Add the salt, pepper, and mole poblano and stir ingredients. Add chicken broth. Bring to boil, then add spinach and reduce heat to simmer for ten minutes.

Re-season to taste.

To serve, ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with corn chips, cheese, and a dollop of sour cream.




GRILLED SALMON OVER FORBIDDEN RICE

For my taste, rice is always a great side with fish. But, jasmine rice or brown rice can get pretty dull after a while. I like to use forbidden rice (black rice) for both its taste and color. It’s got a lovely nutty flavor, yet isn’t as chewy as wild rice. It also makes for a dramatic presentation.

INGREDIENTS (Serves 4-6)
2 pounds salmon fillet
2 scallions chopped, for garnish
1 cup forbidden rice
salt and pepper

MARINADE
¼ cup white sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
4 garlic cloves minced
2 teaspoons ginger minced
1 cup tamari sauce
3 tablespoons sake
1 tablespoon mirin
1 teaspoon sriracha or other hot sauce

PREPARATION

Season the salmon fillets with salt and pepper.

Combine all of the marinade ingredients in a bowl and whisk until sugars are dissolved.

Place the salmon fillets in a large bowl or Ziploc and pour in ¾ of the marinade, making sure the marinade covers all of the salmon. Refrigerate for 4 hours. (Reserve the remaining ¼ of marinade in the refrigerator).

Prepare the rice as per box/bag instructions. (NOTE: I like to substitute ¼ cup of tamari with ¼ cup of water, but that’s optional.)

Take the salmon fillets out of the refrigerator 20 minutes before you’re ready to grill. Oil your grill pan (or outside grill grates) and heat grill pan to medium high. Place the fillets on the grill pan for 3-4 minutes each side. Discard the marinade from the bowl/Ziploc. Use the reserved marinade that was set aside as a glaze and brush the salmon a few times on each side as it cooks.

Place the rice in the center of a plate. Place the salmon on top of the rice and garnish with scallions.