Over the weekend, my house was filled with soups.
On Friday, I decided to make a recipe out of the cookbook I will be reviewing this week: The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook. The review comes out on Thursday, so stay tuned! Since the weather turned back to more seasonably cold temperatures, I figured a soup recipe was in the cards.
So, I decided to make Butternut Squash Soup, North Africa Style.
Continue reading “Cold Days Are For Soups”
This recipe can be found in Parties!, page 221.
By the time New England reaches late November, Fall is in full swing. In my area of New England, the leaves are practically gone from the trees. Bare trees will cover the landscape until mid-May when the new leaves start their lives.
This time of year always makes me want to cook “fall favorites” as I call them. Pumpkins, apples, squashes, nuts, etc fill my kitchen. And this weekend’s recipe was not exception. This one included two “fall favorites”: butternut squash and apples! Not much else would say “fall recipe.”
Continue reading “Recipe #19 Butternut Squash and Apple Soup”We are in the midst of our first truly “cold day” of the season. Usually, at this point in November, we are seeing temperatures in the high 40s and up to the low 60s. However, today the high is supposed to reach only 36! Much too cold for this time of year here in CT.
While I was glad to finally be able to acceptably wear a sweater to work today, all I can think about is wanting to stay home, under blankets and sip warm tea.
I think this week, I’m going to make a soup recipe. Even though by Friday, the weather should return to more seasonable temperatures.
While I used the recipe out of Make it Ahead, this recipe is included in ALL of Ina’s cookbooks. It is the same recipe, regardless of which cookbook you use. Also, since it is repeated in each book, it will only be counted as one recipe. For more information on how I determined the number of recipes I will be making for this project, please see my first couple of posts. These can be found using the Archive feature on the homepage.
I finally did it!
I made Ina’s Homemade Chicken Stock recipe! This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a few years and I finally had a chance to do it. I will say, that buying stock at the store is so much easier….and worth it! But, I’m still glad I had this experience. Now, I just need to use it all up within in the next six months!
I have a few photos that document the process that I will post below. But first, my review.
For the most part of making this recipe, things are easy. No peeling vegetables, no chopping or dicing. Just slice things in half and toss into the pot. Then bring it to a boil and simmer for four hours. However, it did take over over an hour to come to a boil even on high heat!
The real work starts AFTER the simmering. It’s when you have to strain everything. First I took a slotted remove to remove some of the larger pieces and that worked okay. I transferred everything into a stainless steel bowl and as it got full, I dumped it into a new garbage bag. That was tricky….and messy.
Once the larger pieces were removed, I poured the contents of the pot over a fine mesh sieve over another stainless steel bowl. More mess was met! Once it was cool, I took a one-cup measure glass and scooped up stock and poured it into the containers. That wasn’t very messy, but a little time-consuming.
After letting the stock cool completely, I put some in the freezer and left some in the fridge for now. I did taste the finished stock and, surprisingly, it was pretty bland. I know can see why Ina adds a lot of salt and pepper to her recipes that call for stock.
While it was fun and and interesting experience, I don’t think I’ll be doing it again. It’s very costly and time-consuming. Not to mention the mess it makes! Maybe, in the future, I’ll cut the recipe in half and make less….that may make things somewhat more manageable.
Here are the pictures with captions.
I hope it turns out that this was worth the effort!
From Modern Comfort Food, page 104.
With the release of Ina’s latest cookbook last Tuesday, I knew that this week’s cooking HAD to feature a recipe from it. So, I decided on a classic: Ultimate Beef Stew.
Let me first say, that I am not usually a fan of beef in any capacity except a hamburger. I’m not really sure why. I guess it’s a texture thing for me. Like, I don’t think I’ve had a steak in like 6 years and even then it was while I was in college and had chicken-fried steak once a month.
So why would I make a beef stew as the first recipe out of the new cookbook?
Well, we already had the beef in the freezer, so my wallet got to keep some of its money. Also, the photos of the recipe in the cookbook are so enticing that I just had to make it.
And let me tell you: I wasn’t disappointed!
While the recipe did take longer to prepare than I thought because of all of the chopping and prep work, it was worth it! The stew cooks in the oven for over two hours, which allows the meat to cook properly without getting dried out. Both the meat and vegetables were so tender when it was ready.
There were some things about this recipe that I didn’t like. First, it would take quite some time to prep alone. I would say before you even put it in the oven, you need a good hour to an hour and a half to cut everything and cook what’s needed on the stovetop. Also, like many of Ina’s recipes, the stew had a strong pepper taste throughout. And I only seasoned the amount she recommended when she recommended to do so. In fact, it was so peppery that my nose started to run!
Eating the leftovers the next day did take out some of the overabundant pepper taste, which was great for me.
Overall, this recipe was a hearty one-pot meal that surprisingly had fewer dishes than expected.
