Yellow Split Pea soup with Sausage

I received an email requesting this recipe. I served this once at a dinner party. I never really like split pea soup, do to the ham it was always too salty. So a few years ago I started playing with making my own split pea soup. Hope you like it.

Yellow Split Pea soup with Sausage.

Ingredients

1 32oz box of either Chicken Broth or Veggie broth
1 package of Andouille Sausage, sliced and quartered
1 yellow onion, diced
4 carrots diced
4 stalks of celery diced
1 lb package of Yellow split peas
1/2 cup of chopped cilantro, stems removed
1 table spoon olive oil
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of ground yellow mustard
1 cup of 2% milk
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions
Soak yellow split peas overnight.
Rinse the next day and place in sauce pan with enough water to cover by at least 2 inches. Place over medium heat and cook until soft. Drain and place in a blender and puree, adding a 1/2 cup of stock at a time until completely blended and set aside.
In large soup pot place onions, carrots and celery with the olive oil over medium high heat saute until soft. Next add sausage, spices and saute for an additional 5 minutes.
Now add the pea puree to soup pot, lower heat to medium low and simmer for about 60 minutes, uncovered. Now add milk and salt and pepper to taste, simmer for an additional 30 minutes until the soup starts to thicken.
Remove from heat and spoon into bowls and top with cilantro.
Serve with a nice crusty bread.

Enjoy Cooking

Cashew Cookies with Chocolate Chips

Cashew Cookies with Chocolate chips

Ingredients

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 cups of Ghirardelli 60% cacao chips (Green & Black do not make chips)
1 stick unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup raw sugar
3/4 cup of cashew butter, (whole foods)
1/2 cup organic brown sugar
1/2 cup cashews
2 eggs
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 salt

Directions
In a medium bowl shift together flour, soda, powder and salt.
In a large stand mixer cream together the Butters and the sugars until fluffy. Next mix in eggs and vanilla, mix until combined well. At a low speed, slowly add the flour, once all combined, remove bowl from mixer and hand mix in the chocolate chip s and cashews. Cover and let chill for about 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Using your hands roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls, place on a parchment lined cookie sheet, flatten slightly to prevent them from rolling around. Space cookies about 3 inches part. Bake for about 10 minutes or until cookies are firm and start to turn golden brown on the edges. Transfer parchment and cookies to cooling rack.

A variation on this cookies is to use Almond butter and Almonds instead of Cashews.

Enjoy cooking

OMG Chocolate Cupcakes

I was going through my recipe file when i came across this recipe that i had created for a Micheal's Birthday party. I went with another cupcake instead, a butter pound cake cupcake with raspberry filling and the same frosting below, but everyone at work really like this one instead (they tested both), but Michael prefers a non-chocolate desert so i went with the other. I will post the other once i make it again.


OMG Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

4 3.5 oz bars of Green & Blacks 70% Chocolate
3 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temp
3 cups of unbleached all purpose flour
2 cups raw sugar
8 eggs
1 cup sour cream
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract

Frosting
2 3.5 oz bars of Green & blacks 70% chocolate
2 table spoons raw local honey
1 stick of unsalted butter, room temp

Raspberries or Strawberries

Directions

Over a double boiler melt the 4 bars of chocolate, just before they are all melted remove from heat and whisk until smooth and set aside.
Place flour and baking powder in a bowl and whisk together.
In a stand mixer cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Next adding one at a time, blend in eggs. Reduce the speed on the mixer to low and add in vanilla and sour cream. Now slowly add the flour, once all combined pour in melted chocolate. Do this slowly and at a the lowest speed on the mixer. The chocolate should be cool at this time but not completely cool so that it starts to return to a solid.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Place paper cups into muffin tin and fill paper cups. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean. I have on my notes to this recipe that the baking time is between 20 and 30 degrees: it is my oven i have here but do start watching the cupcakes at the 20 minute mark.
Remove from oven and remove cupcakes from pan and place on a cooling rack.

Frosting
As before, melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Let cool a bit before adding the butter and the honey. I use a hand mixer for the frosting, once the chocolate is at the right temp, not to hot or cold, mix in honey first then the butter. Mix until creamy. I then place it in the fridge for a bit to cool and firm up.

Once everything is cool, place a spoon full of frosting on the top of each cupcake, spread it about then place a fresh Raspberry or Strawberry on top.

Enjoy Cooking

Peanut Butter Cookies

Due to the requests here is another cookie.

Peanut Butter Cookie

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup of unbleached flour
1 cup of all natural peanut butter
1/2 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup natural brown sugar
1 stick of unsalted butter, at room temp
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon of real vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt

Optional
Peanut M&M's
Raspberry Jam

Directions

In a bowl whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
In the stand mixer cream together the peanut butter and the butter. Once smooth and fluffy add the raw sugar and brown sugar and mix until creamy and sugar is well combined. Next add in egg and vanilla. Set speed to low on the mixer and slowly add the flour. Once combined, remove from bowl, place on plastic wrap, form into a ball, wrap and chill for at least 4 hours, best over night.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Using your hand roll into 1 1/2 inch balls, place on a parchment lined cookie sheet, flatten slightly. Now here is when you make the optional additions to the cookie; you can leave alone and bake or, insert the M&M's in the center before baking or using your thumb make a dent in the center of the cookies, bake and 2 minutes from the end of cooking time, re-dent the cookies and add jam to the center and return to oven.
Bake for about 16 to 18 minutes, check bottoms to see if they are golden brown.
Remove, transfer to cooling rake.

Enjoy Cooking

Cherries Garcia Chocolate Cookies

I am sure i will need to change the name if I ever use this recipe in a cook book, but these cookies do taste like the Cherry Garcia Chocolate ice cream.

I came up with this recipe about 3 years ago on my quest to make a great chocolate sugar cookie.

These cookies are best warm from the oven with a cold glass of milk.

Cherries Garcia Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups of Green & Black Cocoa Powder
4 3.5 oz bars of Green & Blacks 85% Dark Chocolate Bars
1 3/4 cups of unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/4 cups raw sugar
3/4 cups of organic dark brown sugar
2 cups of dried cherries
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon real vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

Place chocolate bars and 1/8 cup of raw sugar in food processor and pulse to chop into a small bits.
In a bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder.
In a large stand mixer cream together the butter and the remaining sugars until fluffy. Next cream in the eggs and vanilla. Turning the mixer to low, slowly add in the flour mixture, once all combined turn off mixer: you do not want to over mix the dough, it will get tough. Remove bowl from mixer and with a spoon folded in the chopped chocolate and then the cherries.
Roll into a ball, wrap in plastic and chill overnight.

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees
Using your hands roll into about 1 1/2 inch ball, place on a parchment lined cookie sheet, flatten slightly to prevent rolling. Place balls about 4 inches apart. Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes or so: until they puff up and crack. Remove from oven and with the same quick motion as before with the other cookies, remove the parchment and the cookies onto a cooling rack. You will get very good at this in time. The reason is that the cookies keep cooking on the hot cookie sheet.

Note: the baking time depends on your oven, you want the cookies moist but not mush, but then again you do not want them dry either. I have baked these cookies for as little as 9 minutes or as long as 14 minutes, it all depends, but 10 to 11 minutes should be fine.
Also keep the dough chilled until ready to bake: roll enough cookies at a time then bake. You do not want them to sit at room temp for any great lengths of time.

Enjoy Cooking

Chocolate Hazelnut cookies

I have received many request for more cookies, here is another cookie i adapted from a recipe i found in a turn of the century cook book. Below is half the recipe I usually do: i make this the same time i make another cookie that needs 4 egg whites. This should make about 36 cookies

Chocolate Hazelnut cookies

Ingredients

1 1/2 bars of Green & Blacks 85% Dark Chocolate bars
1 cup of hazel nuts
1 cup of unbleached all purpose flour
1/3 cup of raw sugar
1 stick of unsalted butter at room temp
1 teaspoon of real vanilla extract
2 teaspoons of Amaretto
2 egg yolks

Directions

Place hazelnuts into a sauce pan over medium high heat and roast until the skins start to come off and the nuts start to brown on the edges. Remove from heat on cool. Once cool place in the food processor with a table spoon of the raw sugar and process until finely ground. Remove from the processor and place in a large bowl, now add the chocolate to the processor and pulse until shredded, you want very small pieces. Add the chocolate to the nuts. Now add the flour to bowl and toss well.
In the stand mixer cream butter with the balance of the sugar until light. Next add the wet ingredients mix until completely blended. With the mixer on medium speed add dry ingredients slowly; once combined, remove from mixer, work into a ball, dived and place on plastic wrap and form into a two logs about 2 inches in diameter, wrap logs and chill overnight.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Slice logs into 1/4 inch slices, place on parchment lined cookie sheets.
Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes or until edges start to brown.
Transfer cookies on the parchment paper to cooking rack, by now you should be skilled at sliding the cookies off the hot sheet while still on the parchment paper.

Enjoy Cooking

Shallot Pasta

Back from a trade show and i am looking for something warm and homey. I came up with this for the cook book, taking a twist on French Onion soup.

Shallot Pasta

Ingredients

20 Shallots cut in half and thinly sliced
6 gloves of garlic minced
4 table spoons of butter
1 table spoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 table spoons of unbleached flour
1 cup dried morrells
2 cups beef bouillon
1 cup red wine
1 cup Italian Parsley, chopped and stems removed
1 1/2 cups of Assiago cheese
1 pound of dried pasta of choice, I like spaghetti
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a large deep skillet placed over medium low heat melt butter,then stir in olive oil. Next add the shallots, garlic, salt and sugar to skillet stir and cook until shallots turn golden brown, about 25 minutes.
While shallots are cooking heat up one cup of bouillon, once hot remove from heat and add dried morrells.
When you are ten minutes out from the shallots being done start pasta water. Add the remain bouillon to the pasta water.
Once shallots are golden brown add red wine, stir. Once wine has warmed remove 1/4 cup add place in a small bowl and add the flour, whisk until smooth and return the wine mixture to the skillet. At this point the morrell's should be soft, add morrells and bouillon to skillet. Raise heat to medium and saute until the liquids have reduced by half. During this process taste and add salt and pepper to taste.
Cook pasta until al dente; drain reserving a cup of the pasta water.
Once the shallot sauce has reduced by half add the pasta and 1/2 cup of the pasta water to skillet, toss for about 2 minutes and remove from heat.
In a large bowl add 1 cup of cheese and the 1/2 cup of the pasta water and stir. Now add the shallots, pasta and parsley to bowl and toss. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and serve.

Enjoy Cooking

Blue Tortilla Fish Cakes

I got requests for more cookies: I will post more cookies soon.

Now for fish, i love fish and i try to serve it allot but i need to come up with new ways to serve it so i do not hear complaints from Michael. I wanted to make a fish cake one night, and i got started preparing them when I realized, to late to stop of course, that i had no bread crumbs left in the house, then i saw the Blue Tortilla chips and figured why not.

Blue Tortilla Fish Cakes

Ingredients

Cake
1 cup of crushed blue tortilla chips
1 red onion, diced
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped but this time we want the stems, half the leaves are for the sauce and the balance is for the garnish
olive oil
1 jalapeno, diced
about a pound and half of fish of choice, I use either Cod or Catfish
1 large egg
salt and pepper to taste

Sauce
4 oz of goat cheese
3 teaspoon of diced garlic
1 table spoon Worcestershire sauce
4 table spoons Diced Gherkins
2 Shallots diced
4 table spoons olive oil mayo
1 lime, zest and juiced
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Sriracha hot chili sauce, find in the at the Chinese Market

Garnish
1 lime sliced

Directions

cakes
Prehaet oven to 350 Degrees.
Place 1 table spoon of oil into a large skillet over medium high heat, now add the onions, cilantro stems (about 2 table spoons diced) and jalapeno. Saute until soft then remove from pan and set aside.
In the food processor place the fish, egg, salt and pepper to taste. Pulse a few times to combine but not to puree the fish. Next add the onion mixture and pulse a few more time. You want a lumpy texture, not to big but not to small. Remove from food processor and form into patties. Place blue tortilla crumbs into a plate and dredge cakes in the blue crumbs, coat well on each side.
Do a quick wipe out of skillet, add about a table spoon of oil to skillet over medium high heat, place enough cakes in the skillet, but do not crowd. Brown the cakes on each side, do not worry about cooking through, you just want a golden brown color on each side. Place cooked cakes on a wire rack that is on top of a cookie sheet and then cook the remaining cakes, adding more oil to the pan. Once all done, place in oven and cook for about 10 to 12 minutes, until cooked through.

While fish cakes are in the oven, place all the remain ingredients into the food processor and pulse until smooth.

Plate up cakes, spoon sauce over cakes and garnish with limes slices and cilantro.

Enjoy Cooking

Linzer Cookies

One more cookie recipe, then back to other dishes. I could never find a Linzer Cookie recipe that did not come out very dry, also it never tasted like the Linzer Tarts I use to get at this one bakery in Buffalo. So I set I myself to recreating that recipe to the flavor I remember.

Linzer Cookies

2 1/2 cups of Unbleached flour
1 cup of Hazel nuts
2/3 cups of raw sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of cardamon
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 sticks of unsalted butter, diced
1/4 teaspoon of almond extract
1 teaspoon of fresh grated lemon zest

1 cup of raspberry jam
Powder Sugar

Direction
Place all the dry ingredients,plus the nuts into the food processor and pulse until nuts have been finely ground. Next turn on the processor and start adding the butter to the processor a few pieces at a time. Once all the butter is in, add the almond extract and the lemon zest. The dough should be in large moist clumps; remove from the processor and form into a ball: you will need to scrap the dough from the processor bowl. Place ball on plastic wrap and flatten into a disc, wrap and chill for at least 2 to 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

You are going to need a cookie cutters of choice: you will need one large one and one smaller one. I use a trees, one large and one small.

Divided the dough into quarters, working with the first quarter, roll out on a floured board to about 1/4 inch thick. Next using the larger cutter, cut out your cookies, you will need pairs, a top and a bottom. Next cut out the center of one the pairs with the smaller cookie cutter. Place cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. Now baking depends on the size of your cookies, my trees take about 18 minutes in the oven, but i had once made small stars and those took 10 minutes. You want to bake them until the start to turn golden on the edges. Remove sheet from oven and cool and racks for about 5 minutes, then like the OMG Chocolate Cookies transfer parchment and cookies onto racks to cool completely.

Repeat with the balance of the dough, remember to keep the dough chilled until ready to use. Also collect the scraps from each cutting: you should be able to make about a dozen or so paired cookies (tops & bottoms).

Now place the bottoms of the cookies on parchment paper, place the jam into a bowl and stir to loosen up and smooth the jam. Taking a spatula, spread a thin layer of jam on the top of the bottom cookie. Next take its mate, the top cookie with the cut out, and place it on top. Then dust the finished cookies with powder sugar.

There is an additional optional step that you can do. Once the cookies are assembled I take a zip lock bag and place some of the jam in it. I then cut a small end of the bag off and pipe additional jam into the cut out of the cookie, then I dust them with powdered sugar.

Enjoy Cooking

OMG Chocolate cookies

I came about these cookies by making a few mistake; I was trying to make a chocolate sugar cookie, well it did not come out the way i thought it would and with a few tweaks to the recipe I achieved these melt in you mouth chocolate cookie.

OMG Chocolate Cookie

Ingredients

2 bars of green and black 85% dark chocolate bars, 3.5 oz each
1 stick of unsalted butter
2 cups of unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
pinch of salt
4 large eggs
2 cups of raw sugar
1 teaspoon of real vanilla extract
Powder sugar
Can of Green and Blacks Cocoa powder

Directions
In a large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In a double boiler place chocolate bars, broken up and butter; keep over the heat until 2/3 of the way melted, then remove and whisk until smooth.
In the stand mixer place eggs, vanilla and raw sugar and beat until smooth. Now slowly add the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture. The chocolate should be cool enough not to cook the eggs, but just in case add the chocolate mixture very slowly. Once combined and smooth add flour mixture a third at a time. Once all combined, remove bowl from mixer, cover and chill for at least 4 hours, it is best over night.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Next mix equal parts of powder sugar to cocoa powder into a bowl.
With your hands, roll the dough into 1 inch balls, drop into powder sugar/cocoa powder mixture to coat. Place on parchment lined cookie sheets, about 2 inches part, slightly flatten to prevent them from rolling around. Only roll enough at a time to bake, these do not do well if they sit a room temp prior to baking.
Bake for about 12 minutes; once the start to crackle on top and the surface is dry to the touch. You should be able to left the edge of a cookie with a spatula and it holds together. Remove from the oven and with a bit of quickness slide the cookies and parchment paper from cookie sheet onto a cooling rack.
Note: leave cookies cooling for at least 2 hours prior to storing - store in alternating layers of wax paper to cookie.

You can also just roll the cookies prior to baking in just powder sugar as well and they are just as good.

Enjoy Cooking

Walnut Cookies

Here is another simple cookie to make and another one of my favorites.

Walnut Cookies

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups of walnuts
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks of butter, diced
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
1 cup unbleached flour

Powder sugar

Directions
Place walnuts and powder sugar into food processor, pulse to break up the nuts, then turn on the processor until nuts are finely ground. Next slowly add the butter to the food processor, pulsing to incorporate, then full on until smooth. Pour in vanilla and salt while processors is going. Now add the flour, pulsing again until dough starts to form into a ball. Remove from processor and place dough on some plastic wrap, flatten dough into a disc, wrap and chill for at least 2 hours but is best over night.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Remove dough from fridge, unwrap and working with your hand pull off small pieces of the dough and form into 1 inch balls, place the balls onto a parchment line cookie sheet flatten the ball slightly so they do not roll around the sheet. Place the balls about 2 inches apart.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until they start to golden brown around the edges. Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. While on the rack sift powdered sugar over the warm cookies. Once the cookies have completely cooled, roll the cookies in more powder sugar.

Enjoy Cooking

Fruit Crisp

This is a really simple recipe; i just change out the fruit combination based on the season.

Fruit Crisp

Ingredients
Part 1 - the crisp
1 cup unbleached flour
1 cup light brown sugar
2 cup corn flakes
2 cups pecans, chopped
1 stick unsalted butter, diced
Part 2
3 cups fruit of choice
1/3 cup powered sugar
3 table spoons Vodka

Directions

In a large bowl mix together dry ingredients from part one, next using your hands mix in the diced butter. You will crush the corn flakes but that is OK.

In another bowl toss together the fruit of choice with the powder sugar and Vodka, and let sit at room temp for 20 minutes. When i choose the fruit for this recipe, i always mix up the type of fruits: Peaches with blueberries, Apples with raisins, pears with cherries or just a mixed berry. Bananas do not really work nor does any of the tropical fruits.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Now add about 4 cup of crisp to the fruit and toss to combine. In a baking dish pour in the fruit mixture and then top it off with the balance of the crisp.
Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until crisp gets golden brown.
Remove from oven and let cool for ten minutes prior to serving.

Enjoy Cooking

Shortbread cookies

I have been receiving emails requesting more cookies. Those who know and received them from Michael and I, know i bake allot of the for the holidays. This is a very simple recipe that I retooled from a much more ingredient intense recipe. I though these cookies have a simple rich taste so recipe should be simple.

Shortbread cookies

Ingredients
6 sticks of unsalted butter at room temp
7 cups of all purpose unbleached flour
2 cups of raw sugar
2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoons of salt
1/3 teaspoon of real orange extract

Directions

In large bowl whip the butter until creamy, next with the mixer on low, slowly add the sugar. Once all the sugar has be combined with the butter add the vanilla and orange extracts. With the mixer still on low, slowly add the flour and salt. Once the dough starts to come together dump out onto a floured surface and work into a ball; flatten ball into disk, wrap in plastic and chill for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Divided the disk into quarters, working with one quarter at a time, roll out dough until about 1/3 to 1/2 in thick. Using the cookie cutter of choice, i use a fleur de ley, cut out the cookies. remove the scraps and save. Place cookies on parchment cover cookie sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until edges begin the brown. I roll out and bake one quarter at a time. The dough loses it structure if let to rest at room temp prior to baking. Place cookies on cooling rack and repeat the process. As for the scraps, i place them in the fridge through out the process, then combine them and roll them out, cut and bake, I trying not to waste any bit of the dough.

This recipe makes about 50 cookies. You can dip one edge in chocolate or other icings, but i will post those as we get closer to the holidays.

Enjoy Cooking

Pork Empanadas

It is time to break from soups, i will come back to them, but for now here is a great dish that stores well that it can be made ahead to serve during the week.

Pork Empanadas

Ingredients

The wrappers
1 cup unbleached flour
2 cup yellow cornmeal
2 sticks unsalted butter, chopped into small pieces
8 oz cream cheesed, chilled and diced small
touch of salt

Filling
1 pounded of pork, cut into cubes
1 onion, minced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 jalapeno, minced
1 fresh bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground yellow mustard
2/3 cup of diced dried apricots
8 oz cream cheese
1/3 cup diced red pepper
1/4 almonds, minced
4 green onions, minced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped and stems removed
1 bottle of dark beer, 12 oz
salt & pepper to taste

1 egg
2 table spoons of water

Directions
Wrappers
Place all dried ingredients in food processor and pulse to combine, next add butter and cream cheese and turn processor on until the ingredients form into a ball. Shape dough into a disk, wrap in plastic and chill for at least an hour.

Filling
In a large skillet place pork, beer, onions, garlic jalapenos and spices, bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes. Next add the apricots and cook for an additional 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool to warm.
Transfer to food processor once warm, remove bay leaf, and process until coarsely chopped. Remove from processor and set aside.
Next in the food processor add cream cheese, red peppers, almonds, green onions and cilantro, salt and pepper to taste; and pulse to combine. Next add the pork and pulse to incorporate.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Remove wrapper pastry from fridge and cut into quarters
On a floured surface, roll out each quarter, into about 1/8 inch thick dough and cut into as many 5 inch square as you can. Repeat with the balance of the dough.

Place about 1/4 cup of filling into each square, fold over into a triangle and seal edges with a fork. Place on a parchment cookie sheet, whisk egg and water together and wash each of the empanadas.

Bake in the oven for about 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly brown.

Serve warm

Enjoy cooking

Chunky Potato Soup with Sausage

This a twist on your traditional Potato soup: Traditional Cream of Potato soup is is great but I thought it needed something more, a kick.

Chunky Potato Soup with Sausage

Ingredients
8 links of Andouille sausage, 1/4 inch slices that have been quartered
6 cups of water
1/4 cup olive oil
2 table spoons unsalted butter
8 medium potatoes pealed and cubed
8 small red potatoes, cubed
2 medium tomatoes, quartered and seeds removed
1 large onion, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 red pepper, diced
2 leaks, cleaned and diced, just the bottom to the light green part
4 sprigs of fresh Thyme, leaves removed from the stems
2 fresh bay leaves
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
8 cloves of garlic, 6 minced and 2 sliced and placed in a tea ball
1 cup of half and half
1/2 cup Italian Parsley, chopped stems removed
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Place the red potatoes, olive oil and minced garlic in a bowl and toss to coat. Dump on to a cookie sheet and place in the oven and roasted for about an hour, you want them nice a crispy. Remove from oven and set aside.
In a large soup pot over medium high heat place the sausage and brown for about 5 minutes. Remove them from the pot; now add butter. Once the butter has melted add the onions, celery, leaks and red peppers and cook until tender, about 4 to 5 minutes.
Now add the thyme, bay leaves, mustard and cumin seeds, salt and pepper, toss to coat. Next add the pealed, cubed potatoes and the water. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer for about 30 to 40 minutes or until potatoes are soft. 10 minuets prior to potatoes at their desired softness, add the tomatoes. Once potatoes are soft, add half and half, stir to combine, remove the pot from heat. Remove bay leaves and puree all the soup and return to the pot. Now add the sausage, the roasted potatoes, and the tea ball with the garlic. Note: use tongs to remove the roasted potatoes from their pan, do not dumb the potatoes from their roasting pan into the soup pot; you do not want the oil from the pan to go into the soup. Simmer over very low heat, covered for about 15 minutes, stirring a few times during the process. Then remove tea ball. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with the parsley, serve with a baguette and a nice cheese.

There were a few steps to this soup but it is so worth it.

Enjoy Cooking

Parsnip Soup

This a light soup that is perfect for early fall. This does not freeze all that well so i reduced the recipe for four servings.

Parsnip Soup

Ingredients

5 large parsnips, pealed and chopped
2 cups of chopped leaks, the white to light green parts
2 apples pealed, pored and chopped
1 cup of chopped potatoes
2 cups chicken or veggie stock, low salt
3 cups water
1/2 cups half and half
2 table spoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon celery seeds
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a large soup pot over medium high heat melt butter, next add leaks and seeds, then saute for about 5 minutes. Now add parsnips, apples, potatoes, cayenne pepper, water and stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 30 to 45 minutes or until parsnips and potatoes are soft.
Ladle soup into a blender and puree until smooth; return to pot and add half and half and salt and pepper to taste, stir until combined.

Serve with a nice baguette or cheese bread twists

Enjoy Cooking

Black Bean Soup

More soups, it has been quite chilly here in the evenings which makes me want to make soups. This recipe is pretty simple, I had a version of this soup at a place in NYC and i went home and recreated it. Now you can do the long way, by buying the beans, soaking them, then simmering them to get them ready for the soup. Or you can just buy the cans of black beans and have this nice soup in a few minutes verse hours,

Black Bean Soup

Ingredients

about a cup of roast pork left over from another meal, cut into nice size chunks
or you can use about a cup of pancetta, diced
1 table spoon olive oil
1 red onion diced, on the small size
1 jalapeno diced
5 cloves or garlic
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
2 sprigs of fresh oregano, leaves removed from the stem
3 cans of black beans, 15oz size, or 16oz what ever you can find, drained
5 cups of water, less if you want a thicker soup
1/2 cup cilantro chopped and stems removed
Zest of one lime
salt and pepper to taste.

Directions
In a deep pot over medium high heat, brown the pork or pancetta. Once browned remove from pan. Now add the olive oil and the onions and reduce heat to medium. saute until soft, about 2 minutes. Next add the jalapeno, oregano and the garlic and stir for 1 minute. Now add all the spices and stir for an additional minute. Add beans to the pot, along with the water and simmer for about 20 minutes. Toss in cilantro.
Now ladle soup into a blender and blend until smooth. To serve, place the browned meat at the bottom of the bowls, spoon in soup and finish with some cilantro and lime zest.

Enjoy cooking

Chicken Posole

I received an email requesting this soup. It is actually quite easy to make, there is just allot of steps. When making this soup you can actually go in a few different directions. I took me a while to master my basic chicken soup recipe and then i took it to the Posole, which is traditional made with pork. But lets get started;

Chicken Posole

Ingredients

1 4lb whole chicken
4 leg and thigh quarters
4 medium onions - two quartered leaving the root attached and 2 diced
8 stalks of celery, 4 quartered and 4 diced
3 to 4 poblano peppers, diced
8 sprigs of Italian parsley
3 to 4 jalapenos minced
12 to 18 mini sweet peppers, cut into quarter rings
1 medium Jicama shredded
4 15oz cans hominy, drained
6 cloves or garlic minced
1 1/2 table spoons of cumin seeds
1 table spoon fennel seeds
2 table spoons ground cumin
1 table spoon chili powder
1/2 cayenne pepper
2 table spoon oregano
3 limes, zest and juiced
6 radishes, shredded
1/2 red Cabbage shredded
bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped stems removed
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
Place quartered onions & celery, parsley, funnel and cumin seeds, all of the chicken, salt and pepper in a large soup pot. Add water until chicken is covered, bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for about an hour or so, or until chicken falls of the bone. Once at this point remove chicken and let cool so that you can shredded it. Now at this point you can either strain the stock to remove the cooked veggies or what i do is used a wonton screen to just scoop at the onions, celery and parsley and any small bones that fell off the chicken.
Next add the balance of the ingredients with the exception of the radishes, cabbage and cilantro. Cover and simmer for an additional 45 minutes. Also once chicken has cooled enough to shredded add that to the pot as well. Taste for time to time and adjust seasonings per taste.
Once you are close to the end of the cooking place the cabbage and radishes in the bottom of soup bowls. Ladle the soup on top and sprinkle with the cilantro and serve with tortilla chips.
If you are going to freeze the soup for later, you can add the cabbage to the cooled soup prior to freezing, but i would not add the radishes or cilantro.

Now as stated up until the cooking of the chicken you have chicken soup, you can omit all the Mexican spices and add noodles, carrots and the like and you have a nice chicken soup.

Enjoy Cooking

Roasted Potatoes

I know it sound simple but post of the time i have had potatoes they have been really bland or just un-interesting. But potatoes are really simple if treated really simple. The next recipe is just that simple.

Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients

2 pounds diced potatoes, with the skins on, you choose the type of Potato
1/2 cup diced shallots or onions
3 table spoons diced garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon rosemary
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Place all ingredients in a large ziplock or bowl and toss well. Next place on a baking sheet and roast for at least an hour or until golden brown. Serve with your meat of choice.
It can not get any simpler than that.

Enjoy Cooking

Potato Salad, the sequel

Like Slaw, Michael likes potato salad, actually really likes potato salad, so i have several different ways I make it. Here is version number two;

Potato Salad, the sequel

Ingredients

2 lbs of red skinned potatoes, diced skins left on
1 large red onion, diced
2 large red sweet peppers, diced (the long ones)
1 cup of diced Jicama
1 jalapeno, diced
1/2 cup of cilantro chopped and stems removed
4 hard boiled eggs, diced
3 heaping table spoons Dijon Mustard
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons round cumin
1 teaspoon celery seeds
2 teaspoons of salt
about 2 cups of olive oil mayo
3 Andouille sausages, cut in half

Directions
Cook potatoes to almost soft, not too soft or you get mashed potatoes.
While potatoes are cooking, in a small bowl place dried spices and seeds with the vinegar and let sit for about 20 minutes.
In a large skillet over medium high heat place celery, red peppers and onions and sweat them for about 2 minutes or so just about when they are getting soft. We want to get some of the liquids out of the holy trinity. Remove from heat and dump contains of skillet into a colander and let cool.
In a large bowl place diced eggs and the Dijon mustard and whisk until the dried yolks are combined with the mustard. Now add the vinegar mixture and whisk together. Once the holy trinity has cooled add it to the bowl and mix well.
Once potatoes are done, let cool in cold water for about 15 minutes. I change the water about twice during the cooling process.
Using the same skillets place the sausage and crisp them over high heat. Once nice and crisp remove from heat and let cool. Once cool enough to handle, dice in to nice size bits.
Now in the same bowl as the eggs and mustard mixture add the diced Jicama and jalapeno and toss to combine. Next add the cooled potatoes to the bowl and mix well to coat. Let sit for about 15 minutes so that potatoes take in the flavor of the dressing.
Now add the cilantro, toss. Now its time for the mayo, i add a bit at a time, mixing each time until i feel there is just the right amount of mayo. I hate overly mayo'd potato salad, that is why a stated about 2 cups of mayo. Use as much as you like. Once nicely combine, add the sausage to the bowl, give one last toss and serve.

Enjoy Cooking

Lime Zucchini

I bought these really pretty yellow Zucchinis at the farm stand the other day and they just sat for days until i though of away to prepare them. I liked fried zucchini but they always lack a freshness. So it took a few days until i thought about doing them up this way.

Lime Zucchini

Ingredients
2 Yellow Zucchini, sliced about 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick, skins left on
3 limes, zest and juiced
1 egg
4 table spoons olive oil mayo
1 table spoon green Tabasco
1 cup unbleached flour
3 table spoons ground cumin
2 table spoons Paprika
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
Fresh ground black pepper
Veggie oil

Directions
Place sliced zucchini in a bowl with the lime juice, zest and fresh ground black pepper to taste. Let sit for hour, tossing every 10 minutes or so.
In a a bowl mixed together dry ingredients.
In another bowl whisk together the egg, mayo and Tabasco.
In a deep skillet fill with oil to about one inch, over medium high heat.
Next dredge the zucchini in the egg mixture, then the flour mixture and fry until golden on each side. Place on a paper towel to cool.

Serve with a nice salsa or a sour pepper mayo.

Enjoy Cooking

Sesame Slaw

Michael likes slaw so i am always trying to come up with a new one. This is one i came up with today, after i got over the black bear visit. The Bear was cute and all but there was only a mesh fence between me and the bear.

But anyway, i hope you all enjoy this slaw, i really like it.

Sesame Slaw

Ingredients

1/2 a red cabbage, sliced really thin
2 red peppers cut into ribbons
1 medium onion, quartered and thin sliced
3 baby Bok Choy, thinly sliced
1 cup shredded carrots
1/3 cup of Raisins
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 red wine vinegar
2 table spoons Sesame oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon celery seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper, black or pink
1 teaspoon raw sugar

Directions
Place raisins, vinegars, sugar and seeds into a bowl and whisk together and set aside as you cut up the veggies.

Place the balance of the ingredients in a large bowl and toss. Once dressing has set for about a half hour, pour into bowl with the veggies and toss to coat. Let sit for at least a hour at room temp, tossing every 10 to 15 minutes.

That is it, serve at room temp.

Enjoy Cooking