Chinese Corn and Cabbage Soup

Appetite for China is one of my new favorite cooking blogs since I'm trying to cook some more Chinese recipes.  This recipe is the perfect segway since Mom and Dad Merschat had their first mini-crop of shiitake mushrooms!  We made it this weekend in Barnardsville and my favorite part of this soup is the fresh, sweet corn... delicious late summer/early autumn soup!

INGREDIENTS
8 dried shiitake mushrooms (or substitute fresh shiitake mushrooms)
2 ears sweet corn
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 cups shredded Napa, Savoy, or green cabbage
1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
2 teaspoons sesame oil (or substitute chili oil if you’d like a spicy soup)
Salt and pepper to taste
2 scallions, shredded

1. If you’re using dried mushrooms, soak them in warm water for 10 to 15 minutes. Squeeze out the excess water and discard the stems from the shiitake mushrooms. Thinly slice the mushroom caps.

2. Working one by one, lean an ear of corn against the slide of a large sturdy bowl. With a serrated knife, carefully cut off the kernels while moving the knife away from you. (If you do this on a cutting board, the kernels will likely fly in all directions.) Set the kernels aside and save the cob.

3. In a large pot, bring the stock to a boil over high heat. Add the corn cob and allow it to simmer for 15 minutes so the soup can extract some of the corn flavor. Add the corn, cabbage, mushrooms, and carrot and simmer for another 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the sesame oil, then salt and pepper to taste. Top off with shredded scallions and transfer to serving bowls.

Gazpacho

Another summer favorite that we served at our dinner party this weekend was gazpacho using the tomatoes and parsley from our balcony garden!  Our favorite recipe is in Joy of Cooking, but the only thing we tweak is substituting the green bell pepper for red bell pepper.  I just don't like the bitter taste of green bell peppers.

Here's the recipe on page 99:



Note: It's delicious with a couple slices of garlic toast.  Just press as many garlic cloves as you want into a bowl, mix some olive oil into the garlic, spoon it onto some sliced baguette, and pop it in the oven or toaster oven until it's toasted!

Simple Chicken Stock

So you're probably thinking "why would I make my own chicken stock when I can just go to the store and pick up a can?"  Oh, you do not know what you're missing!

We got this recipe from the knife skills class at L'Academie de Cuisine in Bethesda that we took a couple years ago.  It has changed our culinary lives.  Not only do we debone all our own organic, free-range chickens (which is cheaper than buying chicken parts piecemeal), but we also use this delicious chicken stock in all our recipes.  The flavor of the stock provides much more depth than the canned stuff... it automatically steps the food up a notch!

INGREDIENTS
4 pkgs chicken backs or 3 large pkgs chicken wings
(We use the carcasses of 3-4 chickens after we take off all the good stuff)
5 carrots, each cut into 4 pieces
3 stalks celery, each cut into 4 pieces
3 leeks, white par only, cut in half and rinse
3 onions, cut into large pieces
handful of black peppercorns
4 bay leaves
1/2 cup fresh parsley or parsley stems
1/4 cup dried thyme

1. Place all ingredients in large pot
2. Cover with cool water
3. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce heat to a simmer
4. Simmer at least 2 hours
5. Strain (see below)
6. Divide up into 1 cup containers and freeze until needed

Here are some pictures of our ghetto straining method just in case you don't have cheese cloth (or don't feel like buying any).

Pour stock into colander in a big mixing bowl.

Then find a strainer with little holes to catch all the little herb bits.

Let cool and skim off fat before freezing.  This makes a lot and lasts us a few months.  Trust me, it's worth it.

Butternut Squash Soup with Cranberries and Pumpkin Seeds

This is a great soup to warm you up after you come in from the winter weather!  It's also a good meal to have after you get a couple wisdom teeth pulled (like Michael did today).  This recipe is a little more savory than most butternut squash soups I've tried and a welcome addition to our meal rotation.

Recipe from SweetPaul:

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, peeled and sliced
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
2-pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
1 large potato, peeled and cubed
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 leek, only the white part, sliced
3 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup cream
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 tablespoons dried cranberries
3 tablespoons toasted pumpkin seeds, to serve

Heat oil in a large saucepan and fry onion and garlic until soft.
Add butternut squash, potato, carrots, leeks and stock.
Bring to a boil and let the soup simmer for 30 minutes.
Pour the soup into a blender and blend until smooth.
Pour into the pan and add cream.
Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper.
Serve soup with dried cranberries and toasted pumpkin seeds.

On a personal note, this recipe was a PERFECT way to use up the butternut squash, onions and potatoes we brought back from the Merschat's garden last weekend!  AND the homemade chicken stock we made a couple months ago worked perfectly... and freed up some space in the freezer.  I love this recipe!

Russian Cabbage Soup

Healthy, easy and DELICIOUS soup! I'm going to make some tonight.

You will need:
1 1/2 pounds ground lean beef
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
4 cubes beef bouillon
2 medium carrots, shredded
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper (at least)
2 quarts water, divided
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped (I usually put in more)
1 head cabbage, cored and cut into 1-inch wide strips

How you make it:
Crumble the ground beef into a large pot.
Add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef bouillon cubes, carrots, onion, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper.
Pour in 1 quart of water, and bring to a boil.
Stir to break up the beef while heating.
Once the soup comes to a boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes over low heat.

Pour in another quart of water, and return to a slow boil.
Add garlic and cabbage.
Simmer for 25 minutes, until cabbage is tender.
Ladle into soup bowls to serve with some warm, crusty bread! (You can also put a dollop of sour cream in the bowl too - YUM!)