Month: October 2015

Avgolemono (Greek Egg Lemon Chicken Soup)

| mrscheryllacy

Ah, the tang of lemon in a creamy soup…one of those surprisingly invigorating tastes that lingers in your mind until the next time you are blessed to have this dish. There are many versions out there; some good, some not so good and some that you always wish you could recreate. I was introduced to this soup about 14 years ago and it became an instant favorite. I remember going to a couple greek restaurants and ordering it with such excitement for the culinary delights to come. Then when putting my spoon into the bowl and excitedly bringing to my lips, my excitement changed into “BLEH”! These soups lacked lemon, the creaminess of the egg yolks folded in properly, the flavor – of well, anything. Hence my quest to find the perfect avgolemono for my family. And maybe this strays rather far from the original recipes intention, but you won’t be sorry once you start making it at home as well.

Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup of fresh lemon jui20151025_132328ce
  • 8 cups chicken broth
  • 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
  • 1 medium carrot, diced (about 1/2 cup)
  • 1/2 cup diced onion
  • 1 tsp crushed/diced garlic
  • 1 cup chopped cooked chicken
  • 1/2 cup orzo pasta
  • 4 egg yolks

Instructions

  • In a large saucepan over medium heat, add about 1/2 T of olive oil.
  • Once oil is hot, add the garlic. Cook for about a minute.
  • Then add the onion. Cook for about 1-2 minutes.
  • Add the chicken. Cook for another 1-2 minutes.

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  • Add the chicken broth, carrots, orzo, pepper and lemon juice.
  • Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes until the orzo and carrots are tender.

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  • Remove 1/2 cup of soup and gradually pour into the egg yolks. Whisk.
  • Stir back into soup.

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  • Heat soup thoroughly but do not let boil so the eggs to do solidify.
  • Serve.

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Ideas

  • Chicken – like so many of my recipes, you can cook the chicken yourself, get it from a can or cut pieces from a rotisserie chicken to make this. Whichever is easiest for you.
  • Carrots – are tricky. If you just cook them normally they’ll probably still be quite crunchy when everything else is ready. Stick your carrot(s) in the microwave for about 1 minute before cutting up.
  • Lemon slices – Feel free to garnish with lemon slices.
  • Serving – this goes great with pita bread, french bread or crackers. Make a meal out of it, or just have a small appetizer sized bowl.

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Blueberry-Orange Quick Bread

| mrscheryllacy

Who doesn’t enjoy a nice dessert or breakfast quick bread? This is a variation of the breads that most of us are familiar with like banana nut, zucchini, date nute, and so many more. My husband is allergic to nuts, so I do not use them with this recipe, but you can. I’ve added that optional information on how much and the way to prep them. Here’s to a quick and easy (and delicious) bread to add to your recipe repertoire. Enjoy!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour20150808_162934
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 2/3 cup buttermilk
  • 6 T (3/4 stick? unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 1/3 cup orange juice
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 T grated orange zest (optional)
  • 1-1/2 cups blueberries
  • 1/2 cup toasted pecan, chopped coarse (optional)

Instructions

  • Heat oven to 375 degrees.
  • Coat a 9×5 inch loaf pan with vegetable oil spray.
  • In a large bowl, add the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

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  • In a separate bowl, whisk the buttermilk, melted butter, orange juice, egg, and orange zest.
  • Fold the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula.

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  • Mix until just moistened. Do not over mix.
  • Add the blueberries and pecans (if using).

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  • Pour mix into loaf pan.
  • Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached. About 55-60 minutes.

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  • Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
  • Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack for about 1 hour.

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Ideas

  • Flour – I prefer unbleached (why add more to your food than necessary), but use what you have.
  • Buttermilk – If you don’t have any, you can make some in your kitchen with regular milk. It’s best to have buttermilk though. Add either 1 T of white vinegar or fresh lemon juice to 1 cup of milk. Let stand for about 5 minutes.
  • Orange juice – if you have oranges and can squeeze them for the juice, this is best.
  • Pecans – toast them in a frying pan. Heat to medium and toss them often. Cook for about 5 minutes.
  • Cooling on wire rack – I don’t like to get grooves on the bottom of my bread, so I place a paper towel on top of the rack.

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Quick Cream of Asparagus Soup

| mrscheryllacy

Ah, asparagus. This is a vegetable I have loved since I was a child even though I couldn’t pronounce it. For most of my childhood, I called this delicious vegetable “fat grass”. Growing up, we grew green asparagus in our yard. Late Spring and early Summer were ideal times for picking. I use the term “picking” lightly in this case as you do not actually pick asparagus, but use a sharp knife to cut the stem as close to the ground as possible. It was always important to pick the asparagus as soon as it was ready until the days started getting too hot. If you missed a stalk, it would grow quite tall, then flower and seed. Once this started happening, the picking was essentially over until the next year. Of course, once the really warm weather was upon us, we’d let all the remaining stalks go to seed so that we’d have another great year of picking to look forward to.

As I have loved asparagus my whole life, I’ve had a difficult time eating it unless it was steamed and with a little salt on it. This is for no other reason than that I felt it was absolutely perfect that way so why cook it any other way. I no longer live in a place where I can have an asparagus patch in my yard and I have to buy it from the grocery store. I still love to steam my asparagus, but nothing is quite like picking it and having it on your dinner table an hour later. So I began looking for other, but still simple, ways to prepare asparagus. Here is my version of “cream” of asparagus soup. It’s simple, tasty and not really creamy, but you’ll love it anyway. Enjoy!

Ingredients 20150726_195312

  • 1-1/2 cups of chicken broth
  • 1-1/2 lbs of asparagus
  • 1/2 c 2% milk
  • Salt and pepper

Instructions 

  • Rinse the asparagus.
  • Snap off the “hard” ends of the stalk but holding the middle of the stalk with one hand and the thick end with the other. Bend and the stalk will snap just above the “hard” end. Throw out the “hard” ends.
  • Steam the asparagus until it is softened (could be cut with the side of a fork).
  • Cut the asparagus into about 1-1/2 to 2 inch sections.
  • Put 1 cup of the chopped asparagus aside.
  • In a blender, add the chicken broth and the remaining asparagus.
  • Attach lid and begin to blend, starting at a low speed.

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  • Bring up to medium (or high, depending upon your blender) speed and blend until well mixed.
  • Turn off the blender.
  • Pour soup into a stockpot. Using medium heat, bring the soup to a low boil.
  • Pour in the milk, salt and pepper and the reserved asparagus stalks. Stir well.
  • Return to a low boil and add salt and pepper (per your preference).
  • Turn off the heat.

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Instructions – Serving

  • In small soup bowls, scoop several of the reserved asparagus sections from the pot and place into the bowls.
  • Ladle soup over the asparagus.
  • Serve.

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Ideas

  • If you are a traditionalist and prefer to use heavy cream, please do so. This would still be 1/2 cup.
  • Breaking off the hard part of the stalk isn’t necessary (to most people). This is why you will often have asparagus at a restaurant and have hard, chewy sections that you basically don’t or can’t eat. You can leave them on if you want, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
  • In lieu of extra salt at the end, use a little more of the chicken bouillon seasoning powder.
  • Steaming – My mother bought me this great vegetable steamer so I can just pop them into the microwave. It works great and shortens prep time considerably.
  • Serve with a nice warm baguette for more of a meal than an opening course.

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