Avgolemono - That One Greek Soup

A while ago I found a recipe for this soup, a delicious, creamy soup that, lucky for me, a gal with lactose issues, is actually dairy free!  It's rich and decadent, but also simple and gentle on the stomach.  This, after a week of my very spicy meals, is a very nice thing!  The problem is, I can never actually remember what it is called, the Greek name eludes me.  My husband finds it amusing that I keep telling him I will make him Avogadro soup, constantly asking if I am actually making him a whole mole of soup or some other such quip (it's a math thing). 

Also, although I swear the original recipe I followed involved spinach in the soup, I can find no recipe that includes it.  My recipe also ends up quite thick, more like a soupy risotto than a soup.  That said, it's so good!!!  Creamy, thick, bright flavor, with healthy spinach making it oh so good for you (ok so it's got rice and egg in it, not exactly low calorie, but at least you'll get iron and protien!).

Avgolemono- Greek Lemony Chicken Rice Soup

As adapted by a non-Greek lover of food, who understands that what she makes is not like what they serve at the local Greek place but still deserves to be made. 

Ingredients:

• 6 cups of chicken broth
• 1/2 cup white rice, orzo, wild rice, or some combination thereof
• 2 cooked chicken breasts (or leftovers from a rotisseri chicken), chopped or shredded
• 6 egg yolks (use the whites to make meringue cookies!)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 5 oz, frozen chopped spinach, or 3 cups fresh
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Bring broth to a boil and then reduce heat and add rice.  Cook rice in chicken broth until the rice is tender.  This will take 12-15 minutes on medium high heat.  Taste to test!
2. Meanwhile, separate and beat 6 egg yolks.  Once the rice is cooked, scoop out at least 1 cup of the broth and slowly add it to the beaten yolks while strirring.  (This step sounds strange and unneccessary, but it is very neccessary!  If you do not do this your soup with look more like egg drop soup than the creamy soup it should be.  This step prevents the eggs from essentially scrambling as they would if you poured them directly in to your pot on the stove.)
3. Slowly stir the egg/broth mixture into your rice on the stove and stir.  Cook about 2 minutes until creamy.
4. Add in the chopped chicken, spinach, and lemon juice and cook until warmed through.
5. Salt and pepper to taste.
6. Enjoy!

This soup does save and reheat, however, the rice will absorb a lot of the liquid, I add a little water to my soup before reheating which does wonders.

Avgolemono is very filling but is tasty with a crusty bread or something light like a side salad.  I do suggest doubling this recipe, you'll want more!

Dairy Free Clam Chowder!

Our family has always made Clam Chowder on Christmas Eve.  It started as a tradition from my French grandparents, who made bouillabaisse - a fish stew- for the holiday.  My father, upon marrying my mother, could not stand the dish and they began their own tradition.

My mother's clam chowder is always delicious, but never the same!  She doesn't follow a recipe and plays around with the ingredients every year adding sweet potatoes, spicy ingredients and other touches as she feels like it.  Our chowder has been orange in the past!  So when we discovered that it was best for me not to consume dairy, she quickly discovered that she could save me a portion of her chowder before she added cream- her last step.

When I got married and left home, I began making my own chowder, but mine is completely non-dairy.  I like the idea that my mother's recipe is the base for mine, but that it can change and grow with each generation. 

Dairy Free Clam Chowder

Ingredients:

• 1 small leek, rinsed and chopped roughly
• 2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 6-8 strips of pepper bacon
• 3 cans of clams, drained
• 1 bottle of clam juice
• 3 carrots, chopped roughly
• 6 potatoes, peeled and chopped roughly
• 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire
• 1 tsp. Tabasco/ hot sauce
• 6 cups chicken broth (more if your potatoes are large or you add optional ingredients)
• a bunch of parsley chopped
• Optional ingredients:  Sweet potatoes, other fish, scallions, shallots, anything that sounds good to you!

1. In a large pot cook bacon then remove to drain.  Pour out all but 1 Tbsp of the grease.
2. Saute onions, garlic, and leeks until slightly soft.  Add carrots for about 1 minute.
3. Add clams, juice, potatoes, broth, Worcestershire, Tabasco, and any optional ingredients you desire.  Cook until all veggies are VERY soft.
4. Either mash by hand or blend the soup with a food processor until creamy.  Crush and stir in bacon and parsley.  
5. Serve with fresh bread and a delicious dessert!
6. Enjoy!

Fall is Here! Split Pea Soup!

Fall has always been on of my favorite times of year.  I love the beautiful colors, I loved heading back to school (this is the first fall since I was 2 that I haven't had school!), and I loved the warm filling fall foods!

One of my favorite fall foods is split pea soup.  When I was young I remember asking my mom what was for dinner one night.  Her answer was "split pea soup."  Joyfully I ran towards the kitchen as I screamed "Hooray!  Slit-see-poop!" and promptly slipped and displeasure behind the couch.  My mother, hearing my strange exclamation looked to see me and couldn't find me anywhere.   When I told my husband, he found my clumsiness hilarious, and slit-see-poop has been our family pet name for this warm favorite ever since!

So here is my recipe for one of my fall favorites.

Split Pea Soup

Ingredients

2 onions, chopped

3-4 carrots, sliced

3-4 stalks of celery, sliced

2 potatoes, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

olive oil

2 bay leaves

2 pounds dried split peas, washed and sorted

16 cups of water

salt and pepper

2 tsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. cumin

1. Heat oil over medium heat in a stock pot.  Add onions, carrots, garlic, and celery and saute until onions are soft.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil, keeping the lid on the pot.  Cook about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the peas and vegetables are quite soft.  Remove lid and let some of the water evaporate until it looks creamy like a typical pea soup.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Note: Don't be skimpy on the salt.  Both the peas and the potatoes with absorb the salt.  Add enough that it tastes good.  I probably added about a Tablespoon.
3. Serve with warm bread or cornbread.
4. Enjoy!

Note:  This recipe can be adapted to make curried split pea soup be omitting the bay leaves and other spices and adding 1 Tbsp. of curry powder.  This is also delicious!

Butternut Squash Soup with Rosemary

This is one of my favorite dishes.  I am allergic to milk, so I rarely get to have creamy foods, and as strange as it sounds, I miss creamy textures.  So after having butternut squash soup for the first time, I decided to make my own.  Most butternut squash soups have dairy in them, but this one is dairy free, and can even be made vegan.

Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients:

• 1 Butternut Squash
• 4-6 cups Chicken or Vegetable Broth
• 1 Onion, diced
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• 2 Tbs. fresh Rosemary or 1 Tbs. dried

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cut the squash in half and remove seeds and pulp (just like a pumpkin).  Lay flesh down in a casserole dish and pour about an inch and a half of water in the bottom. Place in the oven and bake until a fork can easily poke into the flesh of the squash.

2. Remove squash from oven, let cool while you cut onion.  Drizzle olive oil in a large stock pot, add onion and cook on medium high until soft.  Then add squash, carefully removing it from the skin.  (Caution: it may still be rather hot, use hot pads if necessary.) Add broth to just cover the squash in the pot.  Bring to a boil and simmer until the squash is falling apart.  Either mash or blend in a blender or with a hand blender until smooth.  Add Rosemary, salt and pepper to taste.  

3. Enjoy!

Potage Crecy

Tonight's dinner is homemade spaghetti, but as it was from a friend's secret recipe I won't be sharing it.  Instead, here is another of my favorite dishes.

I know a little boy who loves a book called Carrot Soup by John Segal.  It is about a rabbit, who goes to his garden to pick carrots to make his favorite dish, carrot soup, and when he arrives there all of his carrots are gone.  He searches and searches, asking all of his friends, who claim never to have seen them.  He wanders through the story, distraught, while all of his friends sneakily turn his carrots into his favorite soup.  This child loves to giggle at the antics of rabbits sneaky friends and celebrates when rabbit's friends present him with his favorite dish.

In my final semester of college I presented an idea for a French Restaurant to my French class.  I was the chef.  I presented 4 dishes, among which was this carrot soup.  This soup is warm and filling, comforting and thick, and very healthy.  The butter can be left out to avoid fat, but I think it adds wonderful texture.

Carrot Soup

Ingredients:
6 carrots
2 potatoes
1 onion
salt
pepper

1 Tb. butter

1.  Peel and chop carrots and potatoes.  Chop onion.  Put into stock pot and cover with  vegetable broth.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 hours.

2. Puree mixture, butter, stirring as it melts, and add salt and pepper to taste.  Garnish with parsley.

This dish is good with crusty French bread, homemade croissants, or crackers.
Enjoy!

Moroccan Chicken Soup

To me this recipe is synonymous with Grandma's house.  Every time we pulled up she had a pot of this simmering on the stove or a batch waiting in the fridge to be reheated for any hungry grandchildren.

I love this soup because it is full of flavor!  It is warm and soothing, healthy (full of vegetables), and great to make in large batches.  It freezes well and sometimes tastes even better reheated!

This soup takes a little bit of prep work, but it tastes like a gourmet dish, your friends and families will be blown away!

Moroccan Chicken Soup

Ingredients:
1 Tb paprika
3 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 lbs. chicken (I use boneless, skinless, chicken breasts)
2 Tb Olive Oil
2 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp saffron (optional)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 3 inch cinnamon stick
6 cups chicken broth
1/2 of a small butternut squash (I usually use the whole thing!), peeled and diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 zucchini, diced
1 carrot, grated
2 Tb lemon juice

1. Combine paprika, cumin, and coriander in a small bowl.  Cut chicken into strips, toss with 1 Tb of the spice mixture.  Heat 1 Tb oil in a pot on medium heat, brown chicken in the oil, then transfer to a plate.  Add another tablespoon of oil, onions, and garlic.  Cook 5 to 6 minutes until onions are soft and translucent, add all remaining spices, including the mixture made earlier and cook, stirring for about a minute to release flavors.

2.  Add broth, squash, bell pepper, and chicken.  Bring the soup to a boil, simmer for 8 minutes.  Add zucchini and carrots and simmer until all vegetables are tender.  Stir in lemon juice.  Top with more diced zucchini and mint leaves.

Enjoy!

This dish is great fresh and reheated.  It always soothes my sore throats, and is very comforting.  It is good with cornbread!