Chicken Mushroom & Collard Green Stew

January 5, 2020January 5, 2020Leave a comment

I needed some inspiration. I’d been craving some flavorful soup for weeks now. I was flipping through some of my old food magazines. I came across a recipe that looked fairly good. I read through it, went to the grocery store and worked out my gameplan.

I did use the skeleton of this recipe and made some changes as I do. I will include the original recipe from Cooking Light, if you’re interested. I will walk through my process below.

Ingredients:

4-5 slices, thick cut bacon

Olive oil

1-2 chicken breasts, chopped into 1″ chunks

Salt

Pepper

Garlic powder

Onion powder

4 cups sliced preferred mushrooms

1-2 medium carrots, sliced

1-2 stalks of celery, sliced

1 medium onion, diced

4-5 garlic cloves, chopped

2 bay leaves

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

4 tbsp unsalted butter

1/3 AP flour

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup 2% milk

2 cups low sodium chicken broth

1/2 tsp dry mustard

3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1-2 cups chiffonade collard greens

4 cups wild rice

Mise en place! Chop up everything now. Once the recipe gets going it will make things a lot easier for you. There will be some multi-tasking involved. The measurements above are fairly guesstimated but you can see the amounts.

Render the fat from the bacon (not pictured) and set the bacon to the side to be used later as garnish.

Depending on how much fat you rendered you may need to add a glug of oil to the pot. Brown the chicken, SEASON THE CHICKEN, it is okay if it is not cooked through completely at this point. Set the chicken aside.

Add the mushrooms and stir. If your pot starts to dry out add another glug of oil.Cook the mushrooms down. Remove the mushrooms and set them aside.Add your mirepoix to the pot plus the garlic and bay leaves. Allow the vegetables to soften, not caramelize. Add vinegar and stir, allow to reduce. Return chicken and mushrooms back into the pot. Turn the heat to low.In a pot, melt butter over med-high heat. Add flour and whisk quickly. Carefully and slowly add the milk/cream/stock, whisking constantly. You want this to be smooth, no flour chunks. After you pour in about half of the liquid and you have a slight thick but smooth sauce, pour in the remaining liquid and stir. Bring to a boil then reduce to low. Season this simply with salt, pepper and dry mustard.

Add the chiffonade collards to the pot, the hot liquid will gently wilt the collards without over cooking them. They’ll keep that pretty green color. At this point you want to stir to combine and TASTE TASTE TASTE. Add what you feel you may need; I wound up adding more salt and pepper plus some garlic and onion powder.Add parsley and remove bay leaves. Make sure you get them all, bite into one and you’ll curse yourself out. I chopped the bacon and some parsley for garnish.

The recipe from Cooking Light (it’s a good magazine, I recommend it)

Spinach and Artichoke Chicken Manicotti

December 30, 2019January 5, 2020Leave a comment

I intended on boiling the handy dandy boxed noodles but I felt compelled to make the noodles. The last time I did that I just made some simple pasta noodles. When I went to the Googles to find some inspo I saw a technique that I’d never heard of which meant that I obviously have to try it.

Additionally the supermarket only had an insanely large container of ricotta. The Googles said it was easy so I said ‘what the hell?”

And it was!

I’m not writing up a lengthy post. I think the pictures are largely self explanatory. I didn’t use any precise measurements aside from the manicotti and the ricotta, which I’ll link to if anyone feels adventurous.

Fresh ricotta

Fresh manicotti

I winged this meal. I didn’t know what was happening until I was basically ready to assemble.

The following are the components:

I cooked up ground chicken thighs. I seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika and a bit of chopped garlic and shallots.

Chopped spinach (frozen) and chopped artichoke hearts

I used a can of crushed tomatoes. I seasoned it up with the usual suspects and my personal tricks. Season your sauce as you like or use your usual.

Shredded mozzarella.

I mixed the ricotta with the spinach and artichokes. I seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, parmesan and crushed red pepper.The rest is just assembly. Make sure you place them seam side down. Bake at 350 until nice and bubbly then make sure your cheese gets nice and melty 😍

This was my first time using this crepe-pasta technique. I did an amazing job with the flavors. I think it’s more suitable for a light recipe. This is hearty. I think I would have preferred an ordinary noodle. Either way this was amazingly yummy!

Worth every step!

🐷.

Mason’s Munchies: Beef and Chorizo Lasagna

June 4, 2019Leave a comment

Curried Pumpkin Coconut and Shrimp Soup

November 20, 2017August 11, 20193 Comments

There are so many layers of flavor here from the mirepoix, to the curry, to the coconut, to the potent shrimp stock and of course, the pumpkin. This is a hearty, homey soup perfect for Autumn!

There are quite a few steps but don’t let this intimidate you. Organize your ingredients, your tools and get to work! I always say, work smarter not harder. Tackle one thing at a time in the order that you will be working. If you are roasting your fresh pumpkin, get that out of the way first. While that’s happening, you can get your shrimp stock simmering. Once you have everything lines up, just bang it on out!

Ingredients:

8 cup fresh chopped, roasted pumpkin (3-4 C canned pumpkin)

1 large onion

3 celery stalks

2 large carrots, or 3-5 smaller carrots

4-6 garlic cloves

1-2 lbs shrimp, deveined (save shells)

1- 13.5 oz can of coconut milk

6 tbsp preferred curry powder

5 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp black pepper

Worcestershire sauce

kosher salt, to taste

If you are using fresh pumpkin, roast this first. You can follow the steps here.
Peel your shrimp and place the shells in a pot, cover with water
Prepare your mirepoix
1. Roughly chop celery, carrot, onion
Throw any peels, tops, etc. in the pot with the shrimp, stir.
1. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer, this will be your shrimp stock
  Shrimp shells, onion peel, celery stumps, carrot peel and heads
Over medium heat, soften the mirepoix. Season with salt and pepper.
Add the pumpkin, add your spices plus salt and pepper
Drain the shells and peels from the stock
Add 3-4 cups of shrimp stock, stir
Reduce to simmer for 10-15 minutes
Using an immersion blender, food processor or regular blender
Return to your pot, bring to a boil and reduce to simmer
Add the coconut milk and 1-2 splashes of Worcestershire sauce
Taste, taste, taste! Adjust your spices as needed. My family likes bold spice and flavor, you may want a little less or a little more. This is where you taste and adjust.
Add your shrimp, stir and close the lid. Your shrimp will gently poach in the soup liquid.
Allow to simmer for another 20-30 minutes

Optional:

Top with pepitas, drizzle of coconut milk or chopped mint or cilantro!

Creamy Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

October 15, 2017October 21, 20171 Comment

It is my favorite season of the year. Time for boots, scarves, pumpkin spice everything and hearty, comfort food. I decided to whip up a soup this Sunday. I am hosting my nana and my aunt and I figured comfort food would be the way to go. This was my first time working with gnocchi and in true form I chose to make them myself instead of buying them from the store. Fortunately, it was not a tragedy. This soup is super flavorful and pretty damn easy to make! Feel free to use store bought gnocchi! I am not Ina Garten. Use what you want or what you got!

Ingredients:

Large Onion

Celery

Carrots

4-5 cloves of garlic

Chicken

3 cups of half and half

1 ½ containers of low sodium chicken stock (32oz)

Kosher salt

Thyme

Rosemary

Three handfuls of fresh spinach

Splash of fish sauce

Splash of Worcestershire

6 tbsp unsalted butter

½ cup of flour

Prepare your chicken as you prefer. I chose to roast three bone in chicken breasts at 400 degrees. I shredded the meat. Feel free to use your preferred cut of chicken or even a rotisserie chicken.
Over medium heat, sautee your carrots, celery and onions until they’re softened. Towards the end add the garlic. Remove from the heat.
Melt the butter and add the flour to create a roux.
Add the half and half, stirring constantly.
Add the chicken broth.
Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer, this will thicken.
Season to taste. I used thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, garlic and a couple of splashes of Worcestershire and fish sauce to deepen the savory flavor.
If cooking: Remove your chicken, allow it to cool. Chop or shred. Add this to the soup.
Taste and adjust your seasonings.
Add gnocchi
Add your spinach and allow it to wilt.
Allow this to simmer
Top with chopped tomato

Weeknight Chicken and Dumplings

August 30, 2017August 30, 2017Leave a comment

The weather has dropped suddenly in Washington, DC and it has been feeling like Autumn all week. I couldn’t wait to make a nice homey comfort dish. Chicken and dumplings is a favorite in my family.

When I have the time and energy, I prefer to make a huge batch starting with homemade stock. But today is Wednesday. That is not a Wednesday meal for me. Tonight, I adapted it to suit a weeknight meal. Mostly homemade but the broth got a helping hand from some store-bought reduced sodium stock. We’ll punch it up, though, no worries.

I like to add garlic and herbs to my dumping dough for an added layer of flavor. Feel free to adapt and adjust to suit your preferences.

Autumn, here we come!

Ingredients:

4-6 boneless chicken thighs

Four stalks of celery

One med-large onion

3-4 carrots

4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 32 oz container of reduced sodium chicken stock

Fish sauce

Worcestershire sauce

All-purpose flour

Kosher salt

Black pepper

Crushed red pepper

Garlic powder

Rosemary

Bell’s poultry seasoning

Season chicken with salt and pepper.
Brown chicken thighs, do not cook through, over med high heat.
- I used four boneless, skinless chicken thighs. You can use whatever chicken you prefer, though. It’s also easy to scale the recipe up or down.
- Be careful with breasts as they tend to dry out if not handled properly.

Chop your vegetables
Remove chicken thighs from heat
Add veg and salt and pepper
Add a 1/2 container of reduced sodium chicken broth, stir and scrape up the bottom of the pan
Add remaining 1/2 of the broth, fill container with water and add that to the pot as well
Bring to a boil, add the chicken
Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer.
While the chicken is simmering, in a large bowl add 2.5-3 cups of flour, add about 2 rounded tsp salt, plus black pepper, garlic powder and rosemary to taste (or any other herb that you prefer).
Add ice cold water a few tbsp at a time. Stirring in the center of the bowl. Slowly incorporating flour from the perimeter, almost like making pasta.
- Do this just until the dough comes together. If it is too wet add more flour, too dry then add more water.

Dump the dough onto a floured surface. Sprinkle with flour and gently knead to make sure it’s not sticking. Press, or roll, the dough to about a 1/4″ thickness. Cut into your desired shape.
Your chicken should be ready and tender after 20-25 min. Remove from stock, shred using two forks. Add back to the pot.
Taste your broth, add salt and pepper as needed. I also add about 1/4-1/2 tsp of Bell’s poultry seasoning, two splashes of fish sauce and a couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce. Taste and adjust.
Bring to a boil. Gently stir while you add your dumplings one by one. You don’t want to have big ol’ clumps of dough.
- If you prefer a slightly thicker consistency, I create a slurry of corn starch, splash of Worcestershire and cold water.
Once added and incorporated, allow to simmer for at least 10-15 min