Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup: Happy Thanksgiving!
November 27, 2008 | Filed Under Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once, Corn, Eggs, Fellow Bloggers, Green Onions, Scallions, Spring Onions, Holidays, Poultry, Soups/Chowders/Gumbos, Thanksgiving, Vegetables | 16 Comments
Yes, more soup. :-) It’s still cold here and I’m still tired and stressed. So, I decided to make more soup, using a recipe I found on Hallo’s blog.
Today, we celebrate Thanksgiving Day in the States. I never had Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup before as part of a Thanksgiving meal, but this is what I wanted to eat. It was definitely a good soup for a weary body and soul like mine. I felt much better after eating it.
What am I thankful for this holiday season? Many things. I’m especially thankful for all of you who stop by my blog with your very kind and encouraging comments. Without you, it would be no fun here.
Paz
Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup
1 litre chicken stock
4 slices ginger
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
4 chicken thigh fillets, skinless, sliced finely
420 grams canned creamed corn
2 cups corn kernels
salt and freshly ground pepper
sesame oil
2 tablespoons corn flour mixed with a little water, optional, to thicken soup
1 egg white, lightly whisked with 1 tablespoon water
Place the chicken stock and sliced ginger into a pot and bring to a simmer so to allow the ginger to infuse into the stock.
Separate the white from the green parts of the spring onions. Slice both finely.
Heat a little neutral oil in a large pot and when it’s come to temperature, add the sliced white part of the spring onion and the ginger. Let this gently sauté for a couple of minutes before adding the chicken pieces - just add a quarter of the chicken at a time. When the chicken has changed colour, add the creamed corn and corn kernels.
Turn the heat up a little and stir this well before adding the stock (strain off the ginger slices). Add half the sliced green parts of the spring onion and let the soup simmer until the corn has cooked through.
Taste and season with salt and freshly ground pepper and a few drops of sesame oil.
If you prefer a thicker soup, then at this stage, stir in the mix of corn flour and water.
Just before serving add in the remaining sliced spring onion greens and while stirring the soup, drizzle in the lightly whisked egg white - this sets as soon as you add it to the soup so it’s important to keep stirring to break it up and get a speckled finish.
Vegetable Soup with Orzo
November 24, 2008 | Filed Under Carrots, Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once, Fellow Bloggers, Green peas, Orzo, Pasta, Soups/Chowders/Gumbos, Sweet Peas, Vegetables | 19 Comments
Oh! The past couple of days have been extremely cold. This past Saturday was the coldest day so far. Freezing.
I wanted something hot. Something to warm me up. Then I remember a simple soup recipe from Haalo (Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once). I’d saved it a long time ago. It was time to pull it out. I liked that the recipe was simple. I like simple recipes. I like no fuss recipes. This was my kind of recipe.
It called for fresh peas. I bought frozen peas, which worked fine. The recipe also called for capsicum. Capsicum? What was that? I had no idea. After looking it up, I found that that it’s a common name in Australia and Britain for pepper. In North America and Canada, it is commonly known as Bell Pepper ( In other countries it’s also known as Cayene Pepper, African Chillies, Tabsco Peppers, Pimiento and more.). Ahhh! Now I understood. One Red Bell Pepper coming up. I love to learn something new from my fellow bloggers.
I prepared my soup. It tasted delicious! I offered some to my mom. At first she was hesitant and then she said, "yes."
She finished one bowl and then asked, "Is there any more soup?"
LOL! Yup! My soup tasted Mmm, Mmm good. We were both warmed up by this simple, delicious Vegatable Soup with Orzo.
Even one of my dogs got in on the action when I left a few drops in the bowl. I turned around for just a second and she reached up on her hind legs and pulled the bowl down to the ground from the table. She quickly cleaned it out with her long tongue. Yup! I’ll say that even the dog enjoyed the soup, too.
Thanks Haalo for this recipe!
Paz
Little bit of soup left in the bowl, before the dog got to it. *sigh*
Vegetable Soup with Orzo
Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once
For two
1 large red onion, finely diced
1 large carrot, finely diced
1 small red capsicum, finely diced
1 large stalk of celery, finely diced
1 zucchini, finely diced
1 large tomato, diced finely
fresh peas
salt and freshly ground white pepper
handful of orzo, per person
I’ve made a very simple vegetable soup and the ingredients should only be used as a guide - feel free to substitute whatever you have on hand.
Place a little olive oil and butter into a saucepan over a medium heat - when butter has melted add the onion, carrot, celery and red capsicum and cook slowly until the vegetables start to soften (you may need to turn the heat down to ensure they don’t colour).
Now add the zucchini and cook until it has started to soften and then tip in the tomato. Wait until the tomato starts to break down before adding the orzo followed by enough boiling water (or stock if so desired) to cover the vegetables by about 2cm/1inch.
Turn the heat up to maintain a boiling temperature and cook for about 5 minutes. Remember to keep stirring so the pasta doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
Add the fresh peas and then taste and season with salt and freshly ground white pepper.
Turn off the heat and cover and let it sit for about 10-15 minutes - during this time the pasta will finish cooking by absorbing the cooking stock but won’t become mushy.
Before serving add a little more stock if it looks a little dry and bring it back to temperature.
Spinach, Tuna, Tomato and Radish Salad for Paz
September 1, 2008 | Filed Under Fellow Bloggers, Fruits, Guest Bloggers, Kalyn's Kitchen, Radishes, Salad, Seafood, Spinach, Tomatoes, Tuna, Vegetables | 32 Comments
Please help me welcome this week’s guest blogger, Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen. Thanks, Kalyn!
Paz
2008 © Kalyn’s Kitchen - All Rights Reserved
When Paz first asked me to be a guest blogger for her while she was recovering from surgery, I planned a surprise and photographed a bunch of food bloggers at the BlogHer conference in San Francisco, all holding signs with get well wishes for Paz. Then I was impatient and shared a couple of photos in my post about the conference, and Paz refused to stay in bed like a good patient, so she saw the surprise!
I believe things happen the way they’re supposed to, so maybe the get-well wishes were better when Paz was first recovering anyway. Now I’m thinking she might be feeling quite a bit better and maybe now she’s well enough to make this simple salad. This recipe is loaded with nutritious ingredients to get Paz back in good shape in no time!
2008 © Kalyn’s Kitchen - All Rights Reserved
Spinach, Tuna, Tomato, and Radish Salad for Paz
(Makes one salad, can be doubled, Recipe created by Kalyn from Kalyn’s Kitchen.)
2 cups washed and dried baby spinach leaves (or arugula)
1/2 can tuna, drained (Italian tuna packed in olive oil is best for this.)
5-6 radishes, sliced
2-3 vine-ripened tomatoes, cut in quarters
extra virgin olive oil, about a tablespoon
juice of half a lemon (or more if you like a lot of lemon)
Arrange washed spinach or arugula on salad plate. Put tuna in the middle of the spinach, arrange tomatoes around the edge, and sprinkle radishes over. Drizzle salad with a bit of extra-virgin olive oil, the squeeze lemon juice over. You can serve with extra lemon slices to squeeze on when you’re eating the salad if desired.
This is one of those salads where all the individual parts combine to make a lot of flavor. Bon Appetit Paz! Thanks for letting me be a guest blogger. I hope you are feeling a lot better by now and will soon be back to some serious cooking and taking photos around New York!
Pollo con Papas a la Florencia/Florencia’s Chicken and Potatoes
June 16, 2008 | Filed Under Argentinean Recipes, Christine Cooks, Cuisines, Fellow Bloggers, From Argentina with Love, Potatoes, Poultry, South American Cuisine | 13 Comments
I’ve written about how Christine’s Sunday Night Whole Roasted Chicken tastes so good that I’m unable to spare a few minutes to take a photo for the blog. I’ve made the roasted chicken several times since writing about it on the blog, and each time, I want to eat it immediately! No time to stop and take photos. Forget that.
Well, I’ve found another winning roasted chicken recipe that Rebecca of From Argentina with Love shares with her readers — Chicken and Potatoes. When I finished making the Chicken and Potatoes, I mustered all my human strength not to eat the chicken immediately. This time I was able to spare a few seconds to photograph the Chicken and Potatoes. Just barely. This simple Roasted Chicken dish was soooo tasty. As Rebecca described, the potatoes did have an extra tang, which made it extra special. She shares the secret to the delicious potatoes in the recipe below.
So… Now, I have two AWESOME roasted chicken recipes. Yay for me!
Paz *excited*
Pollo con Papas a la Florencia/Florencia’s Chicken and Potatoes
Rebecca’s note:
Florencia made this for me as one of my first meals the first time I met her, and I had never tasted anything like it! Since then, it’s one she knows will be a hit, and she makes it anytime we visit. It’s one of the most satisfying meals I can think of–and the simplest to prepare! The secret is the white wine–it gives the potatoes an extra tang.
one whole chicken, cleaned
coarse salt
pepper
one lemon
olive oil
1 cup dry white wine
5 cloves garlic, peeled but still whole
5 russet potatoes, peeled and sliced into ‘fries’
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Rinse the chicken and remove the packet inside. Put the chicken in a baking pan, and drizzle olive oil over the chicken, rubbing it into the skin. Squeeze the juice of the lemon over the chicken, and stuff the lemon halves into the cavity. Salt and pepper the chicken to taste.
Meanwhile, put the cut potatoes in a bowl and drizzle in olive oil, using your hands to mix them around so that they are lightly coated in oil. Salt liberally.
Put the potatoes around the chicken in the casserole dish. Place the garlic cloves around in the potatoes. Bake for about 40 minutes. After this time, pull the chicken out, and pour the wine over the potatoes. Increase the oven temperature to 450 degrees. Return the chicken to the oven, rotating the pan, for about 30 minutes more, testing for doneness using a meat thermometer, 170 degrees.
Berenjena Asada/Grilled Eggplant
June 2, 2008 | Filed Under Argentinean Recipes, Cuisines, Eggplant, Fellow Bloggers, Foods I Never Liked Before Until I Started to Cook, From Argentina with Love, South American Cuisine, Vegetables | 12 Comments
Lately, I’ve been enjoying a relatively new food blog by Rebecca of From Argentina with Love. It’s a lovely blog that gives her experience in Argentina and mouth-watering recipes, and mesmerizing photos.
In one post, she wrote a story about how she and her husband got into an accident with a truck driver. Interestingly enough, later, the truck driver shared his lunch with them — marinated eggplant, which his wife had made for him. Rebecca described it as the best eggplant she’d ever tasted. I very much loved the story and the look and sound of the meal that I decided to make it.
Well, I’m sad to write that my marinated eggplant dish did not turn out well at all. It seemed relatively simple enough to make, but I apparently took some wrong turns on my cooking adventure road. I cooked the eggplant too long and I think I left the fire too high that the poor eggplant practically fell apart. It didn’t look appetizing at all and unfortunately it tasted even worse. I kept it in the fridge for five days before finally acknowledging that it really belonged in the garbage.
Later, Rebecca posted another interesting and easy-sounding eggplant recipe — Berenjena Asada/Grilled Eggplant. I could handle that, I thought to myself. I set out to make it. This time, it was smooth sailing for me. No problems. And my grilled eggplant tasted delicious! Yes!
I’m definitely going to try making the marinated eggplant again. I’m pretty sure that I’ll do a better job the next time around.
Paz
Grilled Eggplant
2 eggplants, washed and cut into 1/2 inch thick rounds
coarse salt
crushed red pepper
oregano
olive oil
Put the eggplant rounds in a roasting pan and sprinkle abundantly with salt. Let them ’sweat’, and then drain them. Drizzle generously with olive oil, and sprinkle with oregano and crushed red pepper. Place on the grill, over indirect heat, until soft in the center — they will appear juicy and have grill marks.
The marinated eggplant that was not meant to be. I will try to make it again.
In the meant time, go here to see what it’s really supposed to look like.
Oven-Roasted, Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus
May 27, 2008 | Filed Under Asparagus, Foods I Never Liked Before Until I Started to Cook, Lucullian Delights, Vegetables | 17 Comments
"This is good!" my mom exclaimed after she took a bite of my oven-roasted, prosciutto wrapped asparagus, courtesy of Ilva’s recipe. She sounded and looked very surprised as she continued to eat it. She’s right: It WAS good.
I mentioned in a previous post that I never used to like eggplants — till I started cooking. Well, you can add asparagus to my list of ‘Foods I Never Liked Before Until I Started Cooking’. Back in the day, I’d purse my lips, scrunch my face and turn away from the offending green spear. I tried to keep asparagus far away from my plate. Today, I love asparagus — especially roasted. In this recipe, the prosciutto added an extra special delicious taste. Yup! It tasted good, indeed. Thanks, Ilva!
Paz
Oven-Roasted Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus
Fresh green asparagus, not too thin stalks
Prosciutto crudo or Parma ham
Extra-virgin olive oil
- Clean the asparagus, snap off the lower part, you can peel it if it is to thick skinned.
- Wrap approximately half a slice of Parma ham around each asparagus stalk, you have to judge yourself as the size of the slices may vary.
- Grease an oven-proof form with a litle olive oil and put one layer of asparagus in it.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven (175°C/347°F) until the ham is crisp and the asparagus has softened. It takes about 10-15 minutes.
Zucchini and Eggs
May 5, 2008 | Filed Under Eggs, Foods I Never Liked Before Until I Started to Cook, Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska, Vegetables, Zucchini | 12 Comments
I found this very easy and delightful Greek recipe on Laurie’s wonderful blog, Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska. I already had the basic ingredients (zucchini, eggs, lemons, onions, feta cheese. and bread) so I made it for dinner. With this simple recipe, I was happy I didn’t have to exert a lot of energy in the kitchen after a long day’s work. The only things missing were the olives and a glass of ouzo but my dinner was still delicious. ;-) Perhaps I shouldn’t point this out but the zucchini slices are supposed to be nicely browned but as I was preparing it, I was too hungry to wait for it to properly brown. It still tasted good — brown or not.
Paz
Zucchini and Eggs
Serves 2 as a main course or 4 as part of an appetizer spread
Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska
2 medium zucchini (1 pound)
3 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup diced yellow onion, 1/4” dice
4 eggs
Lemon wedges
In the same pan, adding olive oil if necessary, sauté the onions, lightly seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper, until they soften and begin to turn golden. Add the cooked zucchini and gently mix the zucchini and onion. Spread the vegetables out evenly over the bottom of the skillet.
Whisk together the eggs, and pour evenly over the zucchini. Sprinkle with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover, turn down the burner, and cook over low heat until the eggs are set. Slide the Zucchini and Eggs onto a serving platter, cut into quarters, garnish with lemon wedges, and serve immediately.
Zafiris serves Zucchini and Eggs with slices of feta cheese, olives, bread, and a glass or two of ouzo.
LiveSTRONG with a Taste of Yellow 2008: Corn Salad
April 14, 2008 | Filed Under A Taste of Yellow, Corn, Food Blogging Events, Salad, Vegetables, Winos and Foodies, Yellow Foods | 20 Comments
The Lance Armstrong Foundation provides the practical tools and information that people with cancer need to to live strong.
May 13, 2008 is LIVESTRONG Day, where different events are held worldwide to raise awareness and funds for the fight against cancer.
Barbara of Winos and Foodies is hosting LIVESTRONG Day event again this year. It’s a way for food and wine bloggers to show support for those battling cancer. Last year she organized the event and 149 bloggers participated. Wow! Wow! Wow! This is what I made last year for the event. Here is the roundup of 2007 entries. Check it out when you can, there are a lot of creative and delicious dishes.
Participants are asked to prepare foods in the color yellow. This year, I put together a corn salad. I love corn and I love bright food colors. Needless to say, I like yellow. For this salad, I mixed corn kernels, red bell peppers, scallions, and cilantro (my favorite! but you can use parsely). Then I added olive oil, white pepper, Kosher salt and some red pepper flakes (gotta add a little heat!). Oh, and some fresh lemon juice, I added lemon juice, too. I love my corn salad — healthy, tasty and colorful yellow. LIVESTRONG Yellow!
If you’re interested in participating in this event, it’s not too late. Please join us. April 19 is the deadline to submit your entry to Barbara. Go here for the guidelines.
I have two extra LIVESTRONG wristbands, which I’d be happy to send to anyone who’d like one. E-mail me if you’re interested. You can find my addy in the ABOUT section.
Thanks, Barbara, for putting this wonderfully supportive event together. If you visit Winos and Foodies on May 13, you can see the list of fantastic enteries that Barbara will put together.
Paz
Ed. Note: Check out the roundup of those who participated:
LiveSTRONG With A Taste Of Yellow Round Up 2008 Part 1
LiveSTRONG With A Taste Of Yellow 2008 - Round Up Part 2
Oven-roasted Carrots
March 18, 2008 | Filed Under Carrots, Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once, Vegetables | 23 Comments
Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once recently made an enticing dish of roasted multi-colored carrots — purple, red, orange, whiteand yellow. When I go to the grocery store, all I ever see are orange carrots. I never knew they came in other colors other than orange. See what I learn from my fellow food bloggers? <very big grin> Well, I didn’t have the other colors but I did have a whole bunch of orange carrots in my fridge. So, I pulled them out to make my own oven roasted carrots. Guess what? I liked it! I really liked it! If I ever find the other colored carrots (maybe at a farmer’s market), I’ll buy them. Thanks, Haalo, for the recipe!
Paz
Oven-roasted Carrots
Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once
Olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Garlic cloves
Orange-infused olive oil, optional
Drizzle them in a little olive oil, then grind over with salt and pepper - toss them well and then lay them out on a lined tray. Stud unpeeled garlic cloves amongst the carrots - these will caramelise in their skins as the carrots cook.
Bake in a preheated 180°C/350°F until slightly softened - turn them after 20 minutes to make sure they cook evenly. I like to keep a bit of a bite to the carrots but you if you like them softer, just cook them for longer.
You can serve them straight from the oven but I like to add an extra touch - a light drizzle of orange-infused Olive oil just lifts the flavour and adds an appealing citrus note.
Weekend Herb Blogging #106: Very Cheap but Very Good Vegetable Soup
October 27, 2007 | Filed Under Cauliflower, Lucullian Delights, Soups/Chowders/Gumbos, Vegetables, Weekend Herb Blogging | 9 Comments
I love the name that Ilva of Lucullian Delights gives this healthy, simple and tasty soup. Love it. I made the soup for a sick family member in the hospital and myself. We loved it. Oh, yeah: And my brother had some. He liked it a lot , too. When I spilled some of the soup on the floor, one of my dogs licked it clean. It seems that she liked it as well. ;-) Thanks, Ilva!
One of the ingredients in this soup, fresh parsley, is such a popular herb. I buy it quite often and would love to be able to grow it on my kitchen window. That would be awesome! I love the fresh green earthy taste of this herb and the fact that it has a lot of health benefits — like it’s rich in vitamin C and A. I like how it can be used in a lot of dishes. Apart from being able to eat parsley, my favorite thing to do with it is to use it as a garnish. That touch of green in my plate makes a big difference to me.
I’m submitting this post for the Weekend Herb Blogging event, which Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen created. This week, Pille of Nami Nami acts as host. Check out her blog for the roundup of other Weekend Herb Blogging posts.
Paz
Very Cheap but Very Good Vegetable Soup
The leaves and stem/trunk of 1 cauliflower
2 big tomatoes
Chopped parsley
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil
- Chop the tomatoes, add these to the pot and sauté for another 3-4 minutes.
- Add water until the vegetables are well covered and simmer for about 15 minutes.
- Blend until it’s on the smooth side, if it’s too dense you add some more water and heat it up. Check if more salt is needed.
- Serve hot or cold.
