Tomato Fennel Soup: Light, Tasty and Healthy

I adore those huge bulbs of fennel, slice thin and cooked down until they are sweet and savory. Pair it with some roasted tomatoes and you’ve got a winning alternative to the same old tomato soup.

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Gringo Sopa de Albondigas ala Maven

I just had a yen for meatballs in soup today. And, I wanted to use up a few small packets of frozen ground chicken thigh meat, pork and beef out of my freezer. Hmmmm. Albondigas, of course!

We both love Albondigas. It’s a really light and healthy soup, that is very deeply satisfying, too. And, at this time of the year, it’s very warming. One of the beauties of making it is that you can make a couple zip-loks of extra meatballs that will serve for other dishes later, like spaghetti. Just toss ‘em into the freezer. Voila! A quick - and thrifty - meal on the fly.

One thing that I always keep in the freezer is half pound packages of ground meat. Chicken thigh meat. Pork. Veal. Beef. Venison. With those, I can whip up meatloaf and meatballs, or a killer Sauce Bolognese to Lasagna to chili. Don’t be shy asking the butcher to give you meat wrapped just that way. That’s his job. That’s what you pay for.

Meat balls - Makes about 30 meatballs

1/2 pound each, ground chicken thigh meat, pork and beef.

1/2 cup very finely minced sweet onion

3 baby carrots, very finely minced

1/3 cup finely minced celery (about one small stalk)

1 small clove garlic, finely minced

1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh orange or tangerine peel

1 tsp salt

A couple pinches of ground pepper

1 teaspoon each, finely minced fresh thyme, rosemary, flat leaf parsley

A dash of Italian seasoning

1 thick end slice of whole wheat bread, processed in the food processor to a fine crumb

2 medium eggs, whisked

1/2 cup olive, canola or grapeseed oil for frying

Process the bread to make crumbs. Prep all the veggies. Combine the meat, seasonings, whisked egg, bread crumbs, and veggies and work together with your hands until mixed.

Heat the oil, over medium high heat, in a skillet. Fry the meatballs gently, turning to get fairly even browning. Remove as they brown to paper towels to drain. Freeze those you aren’t going to use.

 

Gringo Albondigas Soup - Serves four to five

Ingredients:

One medium zuchinni, roughly cut

7-10 baby carrots, whole

2 small stalks of celery, roughly chopped

3 scallions, chopped

1/2 large sweet onion, roughly chopped

1 medium sized leek, washed well and chopped

3-4 large shallots, peeled and roughly chopped or left whole, depending on size of cloves

3-4 cloves of garlic. Leave tiny cloves whole. Mince larger ones

About six cups of chicken stock. Use low sodium if at all possible

1/2 cup white wine - whatever you’re drinking

Optional: 2 tablespoons poultry demi-glace, and 2 tablespoons veal demi-glace

2 strips of fresh tangerine or orange peel

3-4 dried bay leaves

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon fresh minced flat leaf parsley

1 teaspoon each fresh minced thyme and oregano

( or substitute dried herbs. you’ll need more of them)

6 tablespoons of oil for sauteeing the veggies.

about 9 to 10 of the meatballs

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a large heavy bottomed pot, with a tight fitting lid, over medium high heat, sautee the veggies in the oil, for about five minutes. Add the stock, wine and seasonings. Cover and cook for about eight minutes, or until the veggies are beginning to get tender. Add the meatballs and lower the heat to simmer. Simmer the soup - covered - for about 40 minutes. Adjust seasonings - add more salt if you must. The addition of the citrus peel reduces the need for much salt. Serve with crusty artisan bread.

This soup makes a great leftover for lunch or dinner later!

-maven       

Light & Healthy: Chicken consomme with herbs

As I was making this wonderfully fragrant and satisfying consomme, I thought about how many ways I could spin it to take advantage of seasonal vegetables and leftover rotisserie chicken - just for example. In fact, I want to try this again with whole wheat dumplings, perhaps some fresh peas and pearl onions.

This isn’t like any boxed or canned chicken broth you’ve ever had. Instead, it’s a riff on a classic French technique for preparing consomme - a very rich, clear chicken stock. It’s simply perfect served in the French manner - hot with a few fresh parsley or thyme leaves - as a starter for a light meal which is a welcome change from all the rich holiday foods we’ve been stuffing ourselves with.

Ingredients:

1 large leek - cleaned thoroughly of sand and grit. Finely chopped

3 large shallots - peeled and minced

3 baby carrots - diced very small or grated

1 rib of celery - very finely diced

1/4 pound of ground chicken (thigh meat is preferrable)

6 cups of low sodium chicken broth

1/4 cup white wine

1/4 cup of finely minced fresh herbs - thyme, *parsley stems, sage and rosemary

1 large clove of garlic - finely minced

1/8 cup parsley leaves

3 tablespoons of grapeseed or canola oil

salt and pepper

In a heavy pot, over medium high heat, add the oil, then the carrots, celery, leek, shallots and garlic. Sauté for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the rest of the herbs and the chicken meat. Sauté for about 5 minutes more. Add the broth and wine. Turn the heat to high, and bring to a low boil, add a tightly fitting lid and reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Now take and strain the entire pot through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl. Discard the boiled veggies and meat. Return the clear consomme to the pot and continue to simmer over low for another 10 to 15 minutes.

You can serve this hot, with a few fresh herbs sprinkled on top, or add whole grain dumplings, whole grain pasta, peas, shredded rotisserie chicken - or even a couple of eggs, whisked and stirred in with fresh herbs like tarragon and chives.

The beauty of this consomme, is that you can make it up and have it one way tonight, and another way tomorrow - and of course, it freezes really well.

I served this with a salad of iceberg lettuce, arugula and cherry tomatoes dressed in a lightened up real mayonnaise dressing. You simply take the mayo - NOT the low cal icky stuff - and whisk it with the juice of one small lemon, a bit of oil, and either some yogurt or milk. Adjust to get the right creaminess so that it will coat the lettuce when it’s tossed. Add salt and freshly ground pepper … and a sprinkle of blue cheese crumbles would be excellent.

As you can see from the photo, I pan-fried slices of a whole wheat bread pudding with dried cranberries that some friends had brought over for dessert the previous evening. Then drizzled a bit maple syrup on those. I think I might make another bread pudding out of some leftover multi-grain artisan bread, and use some wild boar sausage that I’ve got in the freezer. This would really take the bread pudding out the realm of dessert and put it into the dinner column.

This was a perfectly light and healthy antidote to the endless rich holiday meals!

-maven

Peg's Ham n' Eggs: Soups?

Yes, that’s right. Soup. Ever since Truckee Bar & Grill on Moana and Lakeside succumbed to the Great Recession, I’ve been grieving the loss of their amazing, deftly crafted soups on cold autumn days. That’s why my recent experiences with soups at Peg’s Ham ‘n’ Eggs are something of a current obsession. Since they are so close to home on South Meadows Parkway - an easy bike ride - I crave a reliable soup source with the shorter, chillier days.

So far, there hasn’t been even one that wasn’t really, really good.

Before me is a whopping bowl of Beef Noodle. Hot, aromatic, complex and layered flavors. Nice tender chunks of tasty beef and shell pasta in a rich and herbed tomato broth that soothed whatever might’ve been ailing me. The waitress was more than happy to indulge my fussiness about salt, bringing me a small sample of the soup to try.

I’m still sort of carefully finding my way through their soup selections before I decide my favorites, but this has to rank right up there, although the Chicken Tortilla has the early edge.

-maven

Vegetarian and dieters delight: Chilled honeydew melon soup

I’m usually fairly adept at selecting a melon that’s right to eat, but every so often even I get skunked - slicing into one that is simply ho-hum and a bit too under-ripe. This happened the other day, and I was trying to figure out how to use it up anyhow.  Then I had an epiphany - a chilled soup.

I had guests for dinner that same evening, and starting with a chilled fruit soup on a hot summer evening was a refreshing hit. I thought later that this soup would be great to take as a pot luck to a backyard BBQ - just serve it in some clear plastic glasses with spoons.

All you need is a food processor or blender, and about 20 minutes of prep time. Then it’s into the fridge to chill for about an hour.

You will need the following ingredients:

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Springtime Meatball Soup

As I told you in the previous post, this is asparagus season. Since the veal and asparagus soup was such a success, I tried to ramp it up a bit more with chicken fennel meatballs, and the addition of artichoke hearts.

I rather like the artichoke dip that you see at parties these days. It’s garlicky and has that light lemony taste. That flavor combination was what I had in mind when I was developing this soup. I always have a couple cans of water packed artichoke hearts and bottoms in the pantry.

Again, I’m using the Williams-Sonoma veal and chicken stock bases. I really suggest having them in your refrigerator. They add a wonderful depth and complexity of flavor.

I served this for company, and it was a total hit. We drained the pot. I served it with a salad of mixed greens, mango, tomato, onion and my homemade lemon-olive oil-agave nectar vinaigrette  and a crusty bread.

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Veal and Asparagus Soup

The markets are chock-a-block full of nice asparagus at this time of year, and it’s oh so hard to resist it. Having bought a couple of big bundles the other day, I wanted something different than the usual steamed or grilled whole stalk.

Soup seemed like a reasonable answer, and the unsettled - even windy and snowy - springtime weather here in northern Nevada seemed to agree.

I keep several half pound packages of ground meat in the freezer at all times, pork, chicken, beef and veal. The butchers at Whole Foods don’t seem to mind making these up for me, and if affords an incredible amount of convenience and flexibility that enable me to say ‘yes’ to the culinary whim.

With those packages, I can do meatballs, meatloaf, soups, sauces like Bolognese, lasagna and more. This is something that I recommend that you try. It doesn’t take long to defrost a half pound of ground meat on a weeknight, and you’re not left with wondering what to do with a much larger leftover amount of meat. In that sense, it’s also economical.

Lately, I’ve been trying to refine my skill in making clear, broth soups, since they are so nice and light for the coming warmer months - and they’re lighter on the waistline, too. I’m very pleased with the results.

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Butternut squash, apple and curry bisque

Have you been tempted to buy one of large containers of cut up butternut squash at Costco? I did and here’s a great way to use it that everybody in the family will like.

You can easily adapt this to what you have handy, substituting any favorite fall squash, apples, pears or even canned squash or pumpkin.

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1-1/2 cups finely chopped white onion

1 cup chopped carrots

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Easy: White Bean and Mustard Greens Soup

This is a no-brainer on a cold autumn evening. I’d been standing in line to check out at Whole Foods when the woman in front of me plopped nearly 10 glorious looking bunches of bright, fresh mustard greens on the belt. I asked her what in the world she was going to do with so much of it. She told me that it was going to be an important part of the Thanksgiving feast at her house, and that her family just loved them.

We shared our experiences about cooking ‘greens’ and found that we had a lot in common. But I wasn’t going to let those greens get away. I told the cashier to ring up two bunches and that I’d grab them on the way out to the car.

Done.

Normally, I just braise them with some smoked turkey meat but tonight soup just sounded a whole lot better.

This is what I came up with, which is sort of a riff on a Tuscan soup I’ve had elsewhere. The nutrition value of mustard greens and beans if off the charts. And since it’s a lot of fiber and whole goodness, it fills you up without a lot of calories or nasty fats. And you just can’t beat the yum factor.

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Pear soup. Really. Seriously.

Americans just don’t seem to get fruit soups like my Scandanavian relatives did. They’re a wonderful expression of autumn when you have a surfeit of fresh pears and apples in the store.

Today, I was so busy with moving my 92-year-old Mom from the third floor to the second floor, shopping and getting in one last bike ride on a gorgeous fall day that I didn’t want to mess with much cooking while getting ready for some company and trick-or-treaters.

But I did have several Bartlett pears that needed to be used, and a half dozen slices of bacon in the meat drawer. Voila! Dinner.

I guessed it might be a winner when one of the neighbors, taking her brood around for treats, remarked on the heavenly aroma eminating from the kitchen. I knew it was a winner when my family was asking for ‘seconds’.

It went very well with simple grilled cheese sandwiches on whole grain bread.

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What to do with roast chicken and turkey leftovers

Leftover roasted poultry offers up a vertible bonanza of possibilities:

Open face hot chicken or turkey sandwiches on whole grain bread, with a bit of gravy and cranberry sauce. Serve with a nice salad.

Hearty turkey or chicken noodle soup.

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Truckee Bar and Grill: the soup still rocks!

Lionel has finally assumed full ownership from longtime owner, Craig, of the venerable Truckee Bar and Grill in the Moana West Shopping Center, Lakeside and Moana Lane. The deal was in the works for the longest time since a gaming license was part of the deal, and we in Nevada all know how that goes.

I happened to be close to the TBG twice this week and stopped in for a quick bowl of soup.

OMG, the soup at TBG is so consistently, incredibly good it makes you want to throw rocks at all the rest.

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A light vegan/flexatarian meal just right for summertime evenings

We find that these long summer days really do stretch long into the evenings, and our supper seems to find its way to the table about 7:30 or 8:00 p.m. when it’s so nice to sit in the front terrace - surrounded by grapevines and next to a koi pond/waterfall. This area is on the east side of the house, so is cooler by evening.

Mr. Maven told me that he wanted soup and salad for supper tonight and I was happy to oblige.

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Quick and Healthy: Poached Fish Soup

Yikes! There were only two Tilapia loins in the freezer and three of us for dinner. What to do? Fish soup is the answer. Fast, easy, inexpensive and really light on calories and high on nutrition, this one is a no-brainer that can be tweaked to accomodate what you have on-hand.

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Quick and Easy Way to Boost Flavor: Demi Glace

I know times are hard and likely to get harder, but there are a few things that I’ve discovered aren’t worth skimping on. One of these is the Williams-Sonoma Demi Glace from poultry, beef and veal.

These extraordinarily rich concentrated bases add a complexity to sauces, stocks, soups, stews, spaghetti sauce and so much more that it would take hours … and more money, for the home cook to achieve on their own.

One of the great things, over and above the reguarly store brands in that they don’t list salt as the first ingredient. I can’t deal with overly salty foods. I like to be in control of the amounts by adding it myself.

These jars are pricey, I can’t kid you there, but they will last you a least six months in the refrigerator after opening, and a very little bit goes a long way to producing a superior result.

Try one. I do think you’ll become a convert too.