Feb 23 2010

Delicious Thai Chicken Soup

Posted by Ree | The Pioneer Woman in Step-by-Step Recipes

For today’s Tasty Recipe, Erika sent me a link to a delicious sounding soup submitted by thekitchenpixie last September. The name was enough to rope me in: “Thai Chicken Soup with Cilantro-Infused Rice“. Who could possibly resist that?

The ingredients were simple (and I happened to have them all on hand), so yesterday I whipped up a batch.

I’ll give my verdict below. Meantime, here’s how you make it.

Here’s what you need.

Mushrooms, too. Forgot to put ‘em in there.

Begin by dicing up some chicken breast. I made the pieces a little on the small side.

Next, roughly chop an onion…

And a few stalks of celery. Mince up some garlic, too, while you’re at it.

Now heat some olive oil in a large pot.

Throw in the chicken, onions, celery, and garlic…

And stir them around for a minute or two.

Next, pour in 7 cups of water.

Then bring it to a nice simmer and leave it cooking for about 20 minutes.

Now comes the secret ingredient: lime juice! Who’d a thunk it? Pour it right on in there.

Also add the cherry (or grape, in my case) tomatoes…

Next, thinly slice the mushrooms…

And throw them into the pot.

Next comes a whole buncha cilantro…

Stir it around and add 2 teaspoons of salt.

Next, add a good teaspoon of red pepper flakes.

*Note that this quantity does result in a nice, spicy (but not overpoweringly so) soup. If you’re a little frightened of the heat factor, add 1/2 teaspoon at first, then work your way up.

Stir it all together and allow this to cook for an additional ten minutes.

While that’s cooking, let’s make the rice! Pour 1 cup of rice into a saucepan…

Add 2 cups of water and a dash of salt.

Bring it to a slow boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and place on the lid. Leave for about 8 minutes.

With a couple minutes of cooking time remaining, throw in a couple of sprigs of cilantro…

…Then place the lid back on and cook for a couple more minutes.

Serve the soup in a bowl…

With the cilantro-infused rice on the side.

The idea is that you take a little rice…

And dump it into the soup.

Then, as you’re eating the soup, if you find it’s too spicy you can just dump in a little more rice to offset the heat.

Perfect!

THE VERDICT:

I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious this soup was. I loved the ingredient list, but I wondered how flavorful it could be, cooking for such a short time. But honestly, the salt content is perfect…and the lime juice is absolutely delicious! It adds just a tiny bit of tang and dimension. The tomatoes are delicious, too—though they’re awfully hot right out of the pot.

The spice factor is all there—I think I’d back up to 1 teaspoon if I were serving it to kids or company whose spice tolerance was lower. But it was perfect for me.

This really was a treat, and it couldn’t have been easier!

Thai Chicken Soup with Cilantro-Infused Rice

Feb 22 2010

Meet Deborah

Posted by Erika (TK) in Meet the Member!

Meet Deborah Mele, also known here as italianfoodforever. And those photos above are her recipes here at Tasty Kitchen. Yes, every single one, as of this writing.

With entries for drinks, salads, canapes, soups, main courses, desserts, and of course, pasta, you can theoretically print out her entire Tasty Kitchen recipe box and have an Italian cookbook in your hands.

Deborah also has her site, Italian Food Forever, where she shares cooking tips, cookbook reviews, travel journals, and of course, more recipes. She says that although she may not be Italian by birth, she is undeniably Italian by heart. While she does occasionally branch out, almost everything she prepares at home is either Italian or inspired by Italian ingredients, like her Panettone French Toast with Caramelized Apples below.

It was in Italy that Deborah says she “learned to prepare everything from breads to pastas, and anything in between.” Or, as we say here, from soups to nuts. Which, incidentally, she’s managed to combine in one bowl, in her Creamy Porcini Chestnut Soup pictured below.

While Deborah believes in making everything from scratch in her own kitchen, she also understands that this may not always be possible for those who have limited time in their busy days. Mindful of that, she offers ideas for cutting steps whenever possible. But sometimes, shortcuts are unnecessary, and her Quick and Easy Zesty Sausage Pasta below is a 30-minute meal that tastes like it was simmering for hours.

Deborah maintains that the essence of Italian cooking is simplicity, using the freshest seasonal ingredients and basic cooking techniques to bring out the natural flavor of the food. And she shares many such simple, basic and incredibly heart-warming recipes, like the Warm Goat Cheese In Tomato Sauce pictured below. It really doesn’t get any simpler than that.

We’re truly happy to have Deborah here. From demystifying panna cotta to gorgeous dishes like those Herbed Goat Cheese Mini Flans that I can’t stop thinking about, Deborah has so much to offer us, and she does so in such a generous way.

So let’s jump right into the part where we ask her questions, and get to know the lovely Deborah Mele a little better!

Q: What do you enjoy most about cooking?
A: I love cooking with ingredients that inspire me and that are usually fresh and locally grown. When we are spending our yearly 6 months in Umbria overseeing our farmhouse rental, I visit the outdoor markets almost every day and look for my inspiration for what I will cook that day from the seasonal local ingredients I find there.

Q: Any favorite chefs or food celebrities? Who inspires you?
A: The person who inspired my love of cooking the most would have to be my Italian mother-in-law, who never measures anything and who taught me that being a great cook was as much from the heart as it was from the head. Of course, if one loves Italian cuisine, it is impossible not to be inspired by such celebrities as Marcella Hazan, Mario Batali, or Lidia Bastianich.

Q: What is your go-to dish or meal?
A: Pasta, of course! I LOVE pasta because I can create an amazing sauce in the time it takes to cook the pasta and have a meal on the table in less than 30 minutes.

Q: What if you had to eat something right now and had only 3 minutes to get it ready? What would it be?
A: It’d be a peanut butter and banana sandwich (a childhood favorite I never outgrew).

Q: Give us one of your favorite kitchen tips that you wish you’d always known.
A: That when making bread, weighing your ingredients is much more accurate than measuring them.

Q: What gives you the most trouble in the kitchen?
A: I am embarrassed to admit that I do not like—and am even nervous about—deep frying. I always worry I will end up with my entire kitchen on fire!

_______________________________________

Thank you for answering our questions, Deborah! And since cooking truly is a matter of the heart, thank you for sharing yours with everyone.

For more of Deborah, her cooking, travels, and her great love for the Italian kitchen, head to her site, Italian Food Forever. Her passion for food is such a joy to experience.

Feb 19 2010

How to Bake Spaghetti Squash

Posted by steamykitchen in Kitchen Talk

I just came back from a week of blissdom at the famous Rancho La Puerta spa in Tecate, Mexico, where they’re known for their invigorating hikes and healthy, low-calorie, mostly vegetarian gourmet meals. It’s a place where you go to recharge, restore and get back in touch with how wonderful nourishing food tastes and feels.

Don’t get me wrong, I missed my meats like crazy (a few of my co-conspirators and I snuck out for a beer and taco run … twice).

Since I’ve been home, I’ve been trying to keep a little of that Rancho La Puerta experience with me, and I’m specifically talking about enjoying healthy vegetarian dishes.

A spaghetti squash is a pretty intimidating pain. It’s large, heavy and when uncooked, you’d need a hack saw to pierce through its thick skin. But pop that baby in a 375F oven for 40 minutes to 1 hour (until you can easily pierce it with a paring knife) and it will look like this:

Grab knife and cut it all the way around:

Then open it up:

Scoop out the seeds:

Then use two forks to lift the strands out:

Oops. I must’ve forgotten to take off the sticker on the squash:

Gently scrape until all the squash is gone:

And now you’ve got a mound of golden, tender strands, ready to do whatever you please.

You can simply toss it with a little bit of butter or olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.

Or, you can sauté some chopped onions until softened in a bit of olive oil. Then add the spaghetti squash, season with salt, minced parsley, a quick squeeze of lemon and just toss until warmed through.

Add just a sprinkling of grated cheese, and feel good knowing that you’re doing good for your body.

_______________________________________

Jaden Hair is a food writer, television personality, and food photographer based in Tampa Bay, Florida. Find more of her recipes on her blog, Steamy Kitchen, where you can also read more about Jaden’s new book, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook, and the rave reviews it’s received!

Feb 17 2010

The Theme Is … Main Dish Salads!

Posted by Erika (TK) in The Theme Is...

To atone for all the sinful chocolate I inflicted on you last week, today we’ll talk about salads. Healthy, hearty, satisfying Main Dish Salads, like Ree’s Ginger Steak Salad pictured above. The kind that even some serious eaters might be willing to consider a full meal.

Main dish salads are a great meal option that tend to get overlooked, or relegated to “exclusively for ladies luncheons” status. Which is unfortunate, because a main dish salad has a lot going for it. It’s often a one-skillet meal (if at all), and most of it can be prepped ahead of time. Because of that, it can get thrown together in a flash, and you can easily change it up by simply changing the dressing. It’s also an all-food-groups-in-one meal, often including the protein, veggies, dairy (cheese), healthy oils, and sometimes fruit all in that one salad bowl (easy clean up, too!). It also covers almost all of the different tastes in the flavor rainbow: salty, sweet, savory, even bitter, creamy, tart, crunchy, and silky. (Those last two are more textural, but our flavor rainbow is friendly like that.)

Apparently, main dish salads also cause you to make up phrases like “flavor rainbow.”

So let’s look at some of the wonderful salads we have in Tasty Kitchen. There are lots of different ideas here, and hopefully you’ll find something that inspires you.

First, let’s look at this Grilled Chicken Salad with Chipotle-Lime Vinaigrette from Natalie (Perry’s Plate). It has grilled chicken, cotija cheese, avocado, red onions, spicy-smoky chipotle, corn … help me, I might start talking about rainbows again!

Or you can skip the usual salad greens altogether and use crunchy green vegetables instead! Like this Crunchy and Cold Bean Salad from jenmenke. She says that it keeps for several days in the refrigerator, and actually tastes better with age.

I don’t know. I’m not sure this would last days in my house. I might end up sneaking a bite or two from the refrigerator every half hour or so.

Now, let’s say you have kids who are suspicious of anything that’s too … green. If so, The Noshery’s got just the salad for you. Here’s a Pecan Encrusted Chicken with Apple Salad and PB & Maple Dressing that just might be a hit with the entire family, kids and picky eaters included. It’s got crunchy chicken tenderloin, apples, carrots, maple syrup, and peanut butter.

If you’re in the mood for something simple with Asian flavors, Kelsey Barnard shares her Oriental Chicken Slaw. Trust me. This is absolutely delicious. Light and crunchy, and full of wonderful flavor.

Of course, main dish salads don’t always have to include meat. Here’s a vegetarian Quinoa Taco Salad from goodlifeeats, using crunchy, nutty quinoa to put a healthy spin on the typical taco salad.

And there you have it! Those are just a handful of the great main dish salads you can find here.

So, where do main dish salads fit in your weekly menu? Do you wish you could serve them more often, but are afraid that might not go over well with everyone else in the family? (I’d be in that group.) Do you already have them in your regular lunch or dinner rotation? Do you have any favorite salad ingredients? (I like mine with a simple vinaigrette, a bit of cheese, something sweet like halved grapes or figs, and with a nice crunch from toasted walnuts, pecans, or cashews.)

Check out the Main Dish Salads category and see if something in there strikes your fancy. I hope you find some good ideas, or at the very least, let me off the hook for the chocolate overload last week.

I may have to find another way to make up for “flavor rainbow,” though. Stay tuned.

Feb 15 2010

Meet Amy

Posted by Erika (TK) in Meet the Member!

Meet Amy Johnson, known here as missamy. You might recognize her pretty face as the one behind She Wears Many Hats, a blog she started less than a year ago. Which probably means you could add The Flash’s headpiece to her list of hats. Prior to becoming a full-time stay-at-home mom, Amy was a […]

Feb 11 2010

Happy Chinese New Year!

Posted by steamykitchen in Holidays, Looks Delicious!

This Sunday is not only Valentine’s Day. It’s also Chinese New Year—the Year of the Tiger! Since the Chinese calendar is based on the solar and lunar patterns, every year the holiday falls on a different day. Luckily, the color red is popular for both Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year. It’s good luck […]

Feb 10 2010

The Theme Is … Chocolate!

Posted by Erika (TK) in The Theme Is...

Because love is in the air, and everyone knows that chocolate is the universal language of love. Oui? I have to confess that today’s theme was both incredibly enjoyable and difficult at the same time. Enjoyable because I spent six hours looking at all things chocolate, with emphasis on the word “chocolate.” And difficult […]

Feb 8 2010

Meet Maria (and Josh!)

Posted by Erika (TK) in Meet the Member!

Today, it’s a special two-fer at the Tasty Kitchen Blog: not only will we get to meet Maria of TwoPeasAndTheirPod, but we’ll also be meeting her husband Josh, the other half of “The Cooking Couple.” Aren’t they a cute pair? Maria Lichty is an Illinois native who moved to Utah for college. There, she […]

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