Potato Soup

I used to make potato soup with just onion, milk and potatoes…this recipe is has evolved dramatically, and so has the flavor. I love the subtle onion taste that the leeks leave, and with the addition of the celery and carrots, it really kicks up the flavor dramatically. On top of this, when you cook the vegetables in chicken stock and then puree them into a nice thick creamy soup, it makes it simply sinful. This recipe is a little unusual for potato soup, but I must insist on the use of the carrot and celery as it adds so much flavor, although it does change the color from a perfect creamy white to a lightly yellow tint, it’s worth the sacrifice. If you want a more hearty soup, skip the blender and serve it as a rich, chunky vegetable soup.

Potato Soup

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
4 Leeks, thoroughly cleaned green parts remove, and finely chopped
3 Carrots, peeled and diced
3 Celery Stalks, diced
2 Cloves Garlic, Finely Minced
6 Russet Potatoes, skinned and cut into ¾ inch cubes
1 Teaspoon Dried Thyme
8 Cups Chicken Stock (Or vegetable stock for a vegetarian soup)
Salt & Pepper
2 Cups Heavy Cream
Bacon, for garnish (optional)

In a large stock pot over medium high heat add the olive oil and leeks and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Next add the carrots, celery, and garlic, and a good pinch of salt and pepper, continue cooking until just softened, about 5 minutes more. Next add the potatoes, thyme, and chicken stock. Bring to a simmer, turn down heat and continue to cook until all the vegetables are very soft, about 30 minutes or so. Remove the soup from the heat and use a stick blender to puree the vegetables into a fine smooth soup. Add the heavy cream and bring to a simmer, season to taste with salt and pepper. To serve, pour into bowls and add a generous amount of crispy bacon bits. If you are making this a vegetarian dish you can garnish with some fresh green onion, chives, or thyme.

Lychee Martini

I absolutely love the flavor of lychee, it's so unusual and indescribable I'm not even going to try. It's a fruit native to China, and has a very short season as a fresh fruit in the US, about 7 weeks to be exact. I have only been able to find fresh lychee's at the Asian super marked during the later part of summer.

For this cocktail I had to resort to a canned lychee, and used the syrup as part of the flavoring. It's light, refreshing, and in-between citrus and peachy in flavor. You must use a very high quality vodka in this drink, as the lychee has a very light flavor, and anything less than top shelf would definitely overwhelm the delicate, delicious flavor of the lychee.

Lychee Martini

3 Ounces Good Vodka

3 Ounces Lychee Juice (from the can)

Lychee, for garnish

Shake the vodka and lychee juice in a cocktail shaker full of ice until very cold, strain into a martinin glass, garnish with lychee's and serve immediately.

Braised Lamb Shanks

This is a really easy lamb recipe to make, especially if you are not very familiar with making lamb. It’s very similar to pot-roast in preparation, the oven does all the work for you. A lamb shank is the lower part of the leg, and is very tough, but after braising for a couple hours becomes delicious and tender. I have had lamb shanks at restaurants many times and thought it would be fun to make them for dinner this week, and they turned out great. I just used a basic recipe of red wine, broth and some veggies for the braising liquid. I served mine over a bed of my delicious mashed potatoes with oven roasted asparagus.

Braised Lamb Shanks

4 Lamb Shanks
Salt & Pepper
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Small Yellow Onions, or 1 Large, diced
2 Stalks Celery, diced
2 Carrots, peeled and diced
2 Cups Red Wine (full bodied)
2 Cups Beef Stock
1 Tablespoon Dried Rosemary
3 Garlic Cloves, crushed
2 Bay Leaves

Season the lamb with salt and pepper. In a large dutch oven, heat the oil until just smoking and then sear the meat until golden brown on all sides, remove from the pan and set aside.
Add the onions, celery, and carrots and sauté until just tender and onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the wine and bring to a boil, scraping up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Next add the stock, rosemary, garlic cloves and bay leaves and bring to a simmer, place the meat back into the pan. Cover and bake at 350 degrees until meat is tender and almost falling off the bone, about 2 hours. Remove from oven and take meat out and cover to keep warm.
To make the gravy, remove the bay leaves from the liquid and puree with a stick blender, or in a regular blender. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve along side of the lamb.

Steak and Potato Salad

It seems that I have been eating really hearty meals the last couple weeks, and wanted to do something healthy, but filling at the same time for dinner this week. I created this delicious salad with mixed greens, avocado, tomatoes, grilled potatoes, and skirt steak. It turned out just like I imagined it…light, but filling, and a nice combination of flavors with the fresh summer and fall veggies mixed together.

Steak and Potato Salad

1 ½ Pounds Skirt Steak
1 Pound Mixed Greens (I used the pre-washed bagged mix)
2 Carrots, julienned
2 Stalks Celery, sliced thin
2 Tomatoes, cut into wedges
2 Avocadoes, cut into wedges
1 Pound Small Red Potatoes, cut in half
½ Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
½ Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil, plus more for the steak
1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
½ Teaspoon Salt & Pepper, plus more for the steak
½ Teaspoon Sugar

To prepare the steak, brush liberally with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper, let sit covered at room temperature for one hour. In the meantime boil the red potatoes for about 10 minutes, or until just tender, drain and cool.
Heat a grill pan over high heat, brush lightly with oil and grill potatoes until lightly charred, remove and brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper, set aside to cool. Next heat grill pan until smoking, add steak and cook for 3-5 minutes per side over high heat or until medium rare. Place steak onto a clean plate, cover and let rest for at least five minutes. Cut steak at a diagonal into ¼-inch thick slices.
To make dressing whisk together the vinegar, olive oil, mustard, salt & pepper and sugar until well combined.
To assemble the salad, arrange greens , veggies, and steak onto a plate and then drizzle with the dressing, serve immediately.

Apple Crisp

I had some apples in my fridge that I had forgotten about, I was going to make apple sauce to go with a pork dish, but decided that an apple crisp would be so much better. I love the crumbly slightly crunchy topping with the lightly sugared and spiced apples, it’s truly a match made in heaven. Normally I would have served this with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream, but since it was an unplanned dessert, I had to go without.

Apple Crisp

6 Tart Apples
1/3 Cup Sugar
2 Tablespoons Flour
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
1 Cup Oatmeal
1 Cup Brown Sugar
½ Cup Flour
1 Stick Butter

Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees. Skin, core and slice apples into ¼ inch thick slices and place into a large bowl. Next, sprinkle with the apples with the sugar 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon, mix to coat. Place apples in a medium sized greased baking dish.
To prepare the topping combine the oatmeal, brown sugar and ½ cups flour. Add butter and using your fingers or a fork blend in the butter until the mixture comes together and forms large crumbs. Sprinkle topping over apples.
Bake the apple crisp until apples are tender and topping is golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes before serving.

Hamburger Casserole

I have been a little under the weather this week and just couldn’t make it to the store to get groceries to make dinner the other night, so I took a trip trough the pantry and the freezer and came up with this recipe. My friend Tina used to make this for me when I lived in Boise many years ago and I always enjoyed how simple and flavorful it was, so I thought it would be the perfect recipe for me while I was not feeling well, but still ravenously hungry. I don’t make many casseroles, but always enjoy them when I do because they are so easy and flavorful, I secretly think that the fifties house wives were much smarter than we are now because of their easy all-inclusive casserole recipes. Thanks Tina for this delicious and easy recipe!

Hamburger Casserole

12 Ounces Pasta, penne or egg noodles work the best
1 Pound Ground Beef
1 Small Yellow Onion, chopped
8 Ounces Cream Cheese
3 Tablespoons Sour Cream
1 15 Ounce Can Tomato Sauce
1 Teaspoon Salt & Pepper
1 Cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded

Cook pasta until almost al dente, drain and reserve. In a large skillet cook the hamburger and onion together until the hamburger is browned, then drain. Next mix together the pasta, ground beef & onion mixture, cream cheese, sour cream, tomato sauce, and salt & pepper until well combined. Place mixture into a medium sized casserole dish and sprinkle the top with the grated cheddar cheese. Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes until bubbling and top is golden brown, let rest for a few minutes and serve.

Pumpkin Waffles

I have been so busy with work I haven’t been able to get into the kitchen this last week, it’s killing me! I had today off and have been wanting to try out a pumpkin waffle recipe and thought that would be perfect for breakfast today. I’m not a big fan of belgium waffles, so I used a traditional waffle iron and they turned out really soft, moist and delicious. This recipe can be used with a belgium waffle iron as well, so just use whatever you have on hand. I think you could even make pumpkin pancakes with this batter, the ingredients are pretty similar to pancake batter, maybe I will give that a try next time.
I was going to make a cinnamon flavored whipped cream for the topping, but was too lazy, so I melted some butter over the top and drizzed them with a little honey, perfection!

Pumpkin Waffles

2 ½ Cups Flour
1/3 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
½ Teaspoon Salt
2 Teaspoons Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
4 Eggs
1 Cup Milk
1 Cup Buttermilk
1 15 Ounce Can Pumpkin
6 Tablespoons Butter, melted

In a large bowl mix together all the dry ingredients with a whisk, set aside. In a second large bowl whisk together all the remaining ingredients until well combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients, whisking until completely incorporated.
Pre-heat your oven to 250 degrees (to keep waffles warm while you make them)
Pour the appropriate amount of batter into your greased and pre-heated waffle iron and cook according to the manufactures directions, place waffle in oven to keep warm, and repeat until all batter is used.
Serve with warm maple syrup, or honey.