Main St. Cuisine's Weblog » carrots

Homemade Chicken Soup with Tortellini

mainstcuisine — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 00:24:36 +0000

Friday afternoon I put a whole, roasting chicken into the oven for our dinner that evening. The finished roast chicken is always greeted by hungry tummies (even the pre-schooler enjoys it) and rave reviews by my husband. After waking up to a 26 degree morning (we’re not in San Diego anymore, folks) I decided to use the remaining chicken carcass to make stock and then chicken soup for tonight’s dinner.

You can refer to an earlier post on making homemade chicken stock for the method I used today.

Ingredients

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 carrots, peeled, cut in half length wise & then cut into 1/4-inch slices

3 ribs of celery, cut into 1/2-inch slices

1 bay leaf

2 quarts homemade chicken stock or best stock from your grocer

1 9-ounce package, fresh tortellini (I used www.buitoni.com)

1 1/2-2 Cups shredded chicken

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to tasted

2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped

The finished chicken soup - ready for tonight's dinner.

Method

Place a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add two tablespoons oil to heated stockpot and then add onions, carrots and celery. Stirrng for 6 minutes or until veggies are translucent (careful not to brown) and then add garlic. Stirring for two minutes longer, again being careful not to brown garlic.

Add stock and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, adding tortellini and cooking for 7 minutes. Carefully add in chicken and stir. Cook for 2 additional minutes. Add parsley and stir. Season to taste with salt and ground pepper .

Wrapping up Thanksgiving with homemade stock

mainstcuisine — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:32:49 +0000

Everything but the kitchen sink.

Now that Thanksgiving is over and your leftovers have either become new meals, ie, a tasty casserole or other concoction, it’s great to boil down those turkey bones to make stock that can go into your freezer and be added to dinners down the road.

Frankly, there’s nothing like a well-made stock to add flavor to any meal that calls for it. Of course, most of us have little time to prepare homemade chicken, vegetable or fish stock but if you’ve got the leftover items why not give it a try?

I also think you’re truly geting your money’s worth when you can use every last bit of your Thanksgiving turkey. And, you paid good money for it and of course cooked it to perfection. Making stock is a great way to stretch your food dollar a bit more. I didn’t want to start my post by saying, “In these uncertain times (how depressing), but still…it’s always good to save a few bucks!

Many of you may already have a good recipe, but I’ll share my method just the same. You can also find recipes for stock on www.epicurious.com or www.foodnetwork.com. And, I’ll be using my containers of turkey stock to flavor all sorts of recipes during December, like soups, stews, and various vegetable side dishes.

Ingredients

3 parsnips, whole

4 carrots, whole

4 celery stalks, cut in half (with leaves left on)

3 onions, quartered and unpeeled

1 garlic bulb, top cut off

1 1/2 tbsp whole, black peppercorns

2 tbsp coarse salt

turkey parts with meat left on (I used both drumsticks and wings)

1/2 bunch of fresh, flat-leaf parsley

5 sprigs, fresh thyme

Method

Place ingredients into a 16-quart stock pot and add 7 quarts of water. Bring to a boil and then lower heat. Simmer for four hours, periodically skimming the top. Drain pot and discard solids. Place pot of stock into an ice-bath to cool temperature, stirring contstantly.

Chill overnight in refrigerator. Skim any fat off of top. Divide stock equally amongst freezer containers and store in freezer for two months. Note: label containers with contents and date.

Carrot – Ginger Soup (just seven ingredients)

mainstcuisine — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:29:53 +0000

Just five fresh ingredient to chop.

Halloween is over, though I have few faux tombstones to tuck away into the attic, so for me November means the start of incorporating great tasting soups into my weekly menus. Tonight I’m making a carrot-ginger soup which has only seven ingredients if you don’t seasoning with salt and pepper.

Admittedly, it took me a few minutes to chop the five cups of carrots but it’s not difficult and this soup is quite easy to make. Fresh ginger gives it just a little zing and the end result is a satisfying soup to enjoy for lunch or dinner.

Ingredients

5 1/2 Cups (about 1 1/2 lbs) of carrots, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

3/4 Cup (about 2 stalks) celery, chopped

2 tsp fresh ginger (about 1 1/2 inches long), minced

2 tbsp vegetable oil (I used grapeseed oil)

1 1/2 quarts chicken stock

6 tbsp half and half

salt and pepper to taste

Method

Add 2 tbsp oil to Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and celery and cook until soft (approximately 7 minutes). Add chopped carrots, chopped potatoes, and chicken stock to Dutch oven. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and cover. Cook over low heat for 20 minutes.

In small batches, add soup to food processor or blender. Process each batch until smooth. Return soup to Dutch oven, adding half and half and salt and pepper to taste. Reheat soup over medium-low heat.

Note: You can also add fresh nutmeg to the top of each serving or let your guests grate nutmeg over their bowls if they wish.

mainstcuisine — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:21:58 +0000

I am a huge fan of roasting vegetables. I realize people are inclined to be huge fans of sports, travel destinations, even cars and movie stars (I love all those things too), but when you’re looking for a simple side dish, roasting your favorite veggie answers the call.

Earlier this week, I caught Ina Garten on Good Morning America (all be it in my post-shampoo towel turban offering cheerios to my little guy) and she talked about roasting vegetables and of course, her new cookbook.

: Ina Garten

One of my favorite veggies to roast is carrots. They turn out perfect every time with very little effort. With peeled carrots, cut into 1 1/2 to 2 inch pieces, some good extra-virgin olive oil, coarse salt and freshly ground pepper (just four ingredients, by the way) you can have a delicious side dish in no time. Set your oven to 400 degrees and roast for about 20 minutes.

Note: Do make sure you keep the carrots at about the same thickness after you’ve cut them. Otherwise, you’ll have very uneven roasting.

And, check out Ina on GMA…here’s the link: news.yahoo.com/i/2614.