italian sausage soup with tortellini

if you make only one soup before spring fully takes hold, this is the one to make. seriously, make it.

i was looking for a recipe for a hearty meal kind of soup, and i've got to say that this one hits the mark. i've made it several times without posting because to be honest, i couldn't get a decent picture of it. with the new camera we got for christmas, food photos are much easier! (thank you, pat and tom!)

this soup is a bit time more time consuming than some dinners, but it's that easy kind of time consuming when you get to walk away for 20-30 minutes at a time and get something else done. (which is, of course, my favorite type of time consumption - being able to do lots at once.)

first up, the ingredients:

1 lb sweet italian sausage, casings removed (over here, i just use the ultra lean local sausage...and i can highly recommend going LEAN - it's still delicious!)
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 cups beef broth
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup red wine
4 large tomatoes - peeled, seeded and chopped (tip: slice a cross-corss on the top of each tomato and drop them into boiling water for a couple seconds. when you take them out, the skins will come right off)
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
1/2 T packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 T dried oregano
8 oz tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups sliced zucchini
8 ounces fresh tortellini pasta (i usually use a ricotta-spinach version)
3 T fresh chopped parsley

now your to-do list:

brown sausage in a 5 quart dutch oven. remove the sausage and drain. if there are drippings, save a little bit and then saute the onion and garlic in them in the dutch oven. if you don't have any drippings, use the smallest amount of olive oil possible instead.

stir in the beef broth, water, wine, tomatoes, carrots, basil, oregano, tomato sauce, and sausage. bring to a boil then simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.

skim any fat from the soup (i don't get any with my lean sausage), then add in the zucchini and parsley. simmer covered for 30 minutes, adding tortellini in the last ten minutes or so.

depending on your beef broth, you may need a little salt.

and TIP: only add as much tortellini as you think you will consume in your first sitting. add any remaining tortellini the next night when you reheat it on the stove. (otherwise, the tortellini sucks up all the liquid!)

ENJOY!

spinach and sun-dried tomato pasta

if you ever need to whip something up quick, this is the recipe to use. the flavor to time ratio is working in your favor here. it's all about the sun-dried tomatoes so if you're a sucker for them (like i am) then jot this down:

ingredients:
1 8oz package of uncooked penne pasta (gluten-free if you're into that sort of thing)
3/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth
12 sun-dried tomatoes (the kind that are soaked in oil), drained and chopped
2 T pine nuts
1 T olive oil
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bunch fresh spinach, rinse and torn into bite-sized pieces (or i just used a bag of baby spinach)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

directions:
cook penne according to its instructions and set aside. (make it al dente - don't overcook it!) in a skillet over medium heat, lightly toast the pine nuts and set aside. heat the olive oil with the red pepper flakes and saute the garlic for about a minute, until tender. mix in the spinach and cook until just about wilted. pour in the chicken or vegetable broth and stir in the sun dried tomatoes and pine nuts. cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. toss with the cooked pasta. serve with parmesan cheese.

as usual, i found this recipe on allrecipes.com. you can see the original here. (i modified it slightly based on the ingredients i had on hand.)

sweet and spicy chicken, asian style

i'm a sucker for meals like this in a restaurant. i know they're not the best for you when you're out and about, but relatively speaking, this recipe isn't too bad for you.  oh yeah, and it's delicious!!

ingredients:

1 T brown sugar
2 T honey
1/4 cup soy sauce (gluten-free of course!)
2 tsp chopped fresh ginger
2 tsp chopped garlic
2 T hot sauce
salt & pepper to taste
2-3 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
~1T olive or vegetable oil

directions: mix together brown sugar, honey, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and hot sauce in a small bowl. lightly salt & pepper the chicken. heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. brown chicken on both sides and cook until *almost* cooked through. set aside. add sauce to the hot pan and stir constantly until reduced and thick (but not quite sticky). add chicken and further cook until chicken is cooked through and sauce is sticky and thick.

serve with steamed rice and a green vegetable like snap peas. enjoy!

braised balsamic chicken

one year ago today was the last day i was a united states resident. lots of wonderful things have happened since then and one of them is that i've cooked more in the last year than in the last five before that combined. during that time, i've learned to appreciate things like my global knives more than ever before. 

the christmas of 2006 was the first that i was a homeowner. i was hot to trot to rid myself hand-me-down kitchen gadgets so i asked me parents for the essentials: knives, pots and pans, mixing bowls, stuff to fill my kitchen gadget drawer. by december 26th, the knives were the clear winner. at the time (and against my dad's protests) i figured the "kitchen essentials" calphalon-for-target pots and pans were winners, too.  they were exactly what i had asked for, after all.  and they were winners.  for about a year or two.  since then, i've been cursing myself for selling my parents' hand-me-down revere ware pots and pans set. (for only $20 on craigslist - ouch! what i would give now for a copper-bottomed set.)

i started paying attention to what people really liked in the kitchen and i kept hearing le creuset over and over again. with a gift certificate we got for our wedding, we bought our first piece last month.  a second is being shipped as a christmas gift from my dad. i have to say that everyone was right. i really really really like this stuff. 

the first recipe made in our beautiful new pan is a new one and based on braised balsamic chicken. 

it takes: 

4 chicken breasts, give or take

ground black pepper to taste

1 clove garlic, chopped finely

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, thinly sliced

1/3 cup good quality balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup chicken stock or white wine or water

1 can diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 

(i estimated on all the spices, used fresh basil, and added in anything else that i thought would be tasty)

directions: season the chicken breasts with pepper. heat olive oil in a skilled and brown the chicken and onions. add the rest of the ingredients and simmer until chicken is cooked through and no longer pink (~10-15 minutes). take care not to overcook the chicken.  goes well with rice or roasted potatoes and broccoli.

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taco salad

okay, brace yourselves. i'm going to post a photograph that is so terrible that it's going to make you not want to make (or eat) a taco salad ever again. now that i've warned you, let me also say that the bad photo is just that - it's a bad photo. the salad itself is actually quite delicious.

usually when i make chili dave and i are content to eat it for a couple of days. but by the time there's about one meal left in that crock pot we're ready to move on to something else. that's when i decided to make a "taco" salad.

really, it's pretty easy. i threw together lots of what you would expect to see in a taco salad:

-iceburg lettuce
-chopped tomatoes
-corn
-black beans
-chopped avocado
-chopped sweet onion
-shredded cheese
-jalapenos

then i spooned out some of that leftover chili (warmed), sprinkled some broken tortilla chips on top, and served a bit of french dressing on the side. i made the french dressing by throwing the following ingredients into a food processor:

-3/4 cup olive oil
-1/2 cup ketchup
-about 1/2 cup sugar (i added this last and added it slowly, tasting as i went)
-1/4 cup vinegar
-1/2 small onion, chopped
-1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
-1/2 teaspoon paprika
-1/4 teaspoon salt

told you it was bad!

holiday breakfasts: eggs florentine and delicious crepes

let's face it - we all overindulge over the holidays. (okay, maybe YOU don't, but I do!) as if there was any doubt, my last couple of posts over the holidays proved it. usually, when i think of that overindulging i think of appetizers, desserts, and eggnog.

this year, we took indulgence to the next level by adding breakfast! i have to say that it was totally worth it.

first up is a modified version of eggs florentine. this one doesn't have any hollandaise sauce, but it does have cheese mixed into the steamed spinach. a gluten-free english muffin was topped with the cheesy spinach mixture and poached egg for a truly delicious combination. and yes, that's salt and pepper that i added with a side of perfectly ripe avocado.

for christmas, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law got me a fabulous cast iron crepe pan. i've always been a little afraid of crepes (making them, that is, not eating them), but new years day morning seemed the perfect time to try out the new pan and the new recipe(s). we substituted gluten-free flour (a blend of rice and corn) for the standard wheat flour and filled our crepes with three different fillings: cheese, banana and honey, and cinnamon and sugar. YUM. seriously. this was breakfast perfection on a plate.

there's one little problem with justifying indulgent breakfasts over the holidays: when they're so good you make them again and again all year, you can't really claim the holiday excuse. oh well - these day-starters are so delicious that it's worth it.

christmas yumminess

there was yumminess to be had on christmas in cheltenham this year. to start the morning out right, we had my grandfather's christmas morning casserole. it has the perfect balance of egginess, cheesiness and sausage and is enhanced by a secret ingredient. i think my grandparents might kill me if i posted the recipe on the internet, so you just get a picture:

christmas dinner was a fabulous stuffed beef tenderloin (uk speak: beef fillet). dave and i have often complained that there's no good beef in england, but i have to say that this proved our theory wrong. if you pay an arm and a leg for a butcher to cut you a good cut of meat and then you cook it at home (so as to avoid a restaurant cooking all the flavor out of it), you CAN have a great steak in the uk!

this is another recipe i'm not allowed to share on the internet, but here are some pictures:

the goods

thank goodness for cooking twine

ready to go!

the final product!

as an aside, this stuff makes just about the best leftover beef sandwich you can imagine: