Wild Rice, Sausage & Corn Soup

          As my mother explained it, wild rice was very precious and expensive because Native
Americans had to paddle out in canoes to harvest it as it grew in ponds and lakes in Minnesota and Canada and can you imagine how difficult and much time that would take!   So we ate it sparingly.  My dream of true wealth as a child, was to have an entire bowl of steamed wild rice in a bowl with a large pat of butter on top, seasoned with salt and pepper.  Ocassionaly I would sit side by side with my mother and do just that.  Even today, when I want to pamper my appetite, I do the same. 
          I have never met a dish with wild rice in it that I didn't like.  While living in Jordan, a Minnesota expat, served a rich, flavorful wild rice and sausage casserole for Thanksgiving. The ingredients were even harder to come by in Jordan - no ponds or lakes that grew wild rice and the right canoes, hard to come by, let alone pork sausage!  This Minnesotan who couldn't imagine Thanksgiving without it, had boxes of wild rice mailed to her from the states, which is how we expats endured being so far from American grocery stores.  We would bring the strangest things back with us from visits to the states - my most ingenious was what I called my "pork products bag" which held frozen bacon, pork roasts, hotdogs and tenderloins.   Because of our diplomatic passports, our bags weren't examined at immigration. I could have walked through with two pigs in tow but chose to bring in the already butchered products.
        This soup sings autumn harvest to me, but whether autumn, winter or cool spring it hums with the nutty flavor of the rice, the smokiness of the sausage and the sweetness of the corn and carrots.  The addition of the half and half lends a creaminess to this unusual soup and makes it one of my top 5 favorites!  

Wild Rice, Sausage & Corn Soup
6 cups chicken broth or water with chicken bouillon
3/4 cups wild rice
3 1/2 cups frozen or fresh corn kernels, thawed
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
10 ounces fully cooked smoked sausage (such as kielbasa,
       cut into 1/4 inch cubes)
3 carrots, peeled, diced
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups half and half (or 3/4 cups milk & 3/4 cups cream)
Chopped fresh chives or parsely for garnish

     -Bring 3 cups broth to simmer in heavy medium sauepan, over 
       medium heat.  Add wild rice and simmer over medium-low
       heat, until all liquid evaporates and rice is almost tender, 
       stirring occasionally, about 40 minutes.

     -Meanwhile, blend 1 3/4 cups corn and 3/4 cups chicken broth
       in blender until thick and smooth.  

     -Heat vegetable oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. 
       Add sausage and saute until beginning to brown, about 5
      minutes.  Add onion and carrots and stir 3  minutes.  Add
      remaining chicken broth and brings oup to simmer.  Reduce 
      heat to low and simmer about 15 minutes.

    -Add cooked wild rice, corn puree and remaining corn kernels
      to soup.  Cool until wild rice is very tender and flavors blend,
      about 15 minutes longer.  Mix in half and half.  Thin soup
      with more chicken broth, if desired. Season soup with salt and
      generous black pepper.

    -Ladle soup into bowls.  Garnish with chives or parsley and
      serve.

                                                    Chop and dice ingredients for soup

Here it comes...delicious, rich and satisfying!

PERSNICKETY P.S.

**There is a hierarchy in products used to add chicken flavor to soups that I like to share.

    Listed in order of richest and tastiest:

         1 - Homemade chicken stock - if you happen to have or want to make it!

         2 - "Better than Bouillon" (stock paste) my favorite and voted best by American

               Test Kitchen.  Found in stores by the soup section in small glass jars.

         3 - Boxed Chicken Stock (not broth)

         4 - Knorr Chicken Bouillon Cubes

         5 - Canned or boxed chicken broth

         6 - Other brands of bouillon cubes

    (Be careful when using bouillon cubes:  they are very salty so taste your soup before

       adding additional salt.)

**You can use any type of smoked sausage, pork, beef, turkey, combo.  If you don't have

    sausage, diced, cooked bacon would be a good substitute.  What you want is the

    smokey flavor from the meat.

**If you don't have wild rice, brown or even white rice may be substituted, but you miss

    out on the nutty flavor that the wild rice adds.  If you must substitute, cook the rice

    separately and stir in with the rest of the mixture just before serving.

Lime Curd Cake

   

        Is it Lemon Bar Cake?  Is it coffee cake with lemon?  It is Key Lime Cake?  Those are the questions my tasters asked when they sampled this cake.  But they all agreed they needed another bite or two or three to be sure.  I told them,  I just like to call it Lime Curd Cake because these 3 simple syllables define it and are kind of fun to say.  With a surprising tart center of Lime Curd, the lime packs a punch of brightness to the ridiculously moist center of a sour cream coffee cake batter.
      "Curd" used to seem an unfortunate name for a delicious combination of fruits, eggs  and butter that make cakes, cookies, puddings and scones  irresistible!  When uttered, the word conjured curdled milk or curds and whey and unpleasant lumps of spoiled something or other to my mind.  But upon tasting my first lemon curd the name became imbued with delicious imaginings. I have since discovered the Quebecois dish, poutine which features cheese curds and all unpleasant associations have been wiped from my thoughts!

Sour Cream Coffee Cake:
1 cup butter (or 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup vegetable
                            shortening)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups lime curd (recipe below)

     -In a mixer, cream butter and sugar together for several minutes on high speed until smooth.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating at high speed.  Add sour cream and vanilla.  Beat 1 minute.

     -Combine flour, salt and baking powder.  Fold into wet ingredients just until mixed and all dry ingredients are wet.  Do not beat together vigorously as the mixture will become too dense.

     -Grease and flour bundt pan.  Spoon in 1/2 of cake batter into the pan.  With the back of a spoon, create a trench about 1/2 inch deep in the batter, then spoon in 1 cup of the lime curd into the trench evenly around the pan.  Gently spoon the remaining cake batter over the lime curd filling and smooth the top of the batter.

      -Bake in oven preheated to 350 degrees for about 50 minutes.  Test cake for doneness with a clean knife and bake another five minutes if any wet batter adheres to the knife.  Check again for doneness.

      -When baked, remove cake from oven and allow to cool upright for 10 minutes.  Invert cake onto cake plate and allow to cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.

      -Drizzle glaze by spoonfuls along the top of the cake, allowing glaze to run down the sides of the cake.

      -To create an Irish themed cake for St. Patrick's Day, place rainbow colored ribbon candy strips decoratively on the top and sprinkle with gold sugar.

Lime Curd:
2 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
pinch of salt
1/3 cup fresh lime juice or Key lime juice
zest of 1 lime
1-2 drops green food coloring
3 tab. butter

     -In a medium, heavy-bottomed, non-aluminum saucepan, place sugar, salt, eggs, juice and zest.  Combine the ingredients together with a whisk until smooth.

    -Place pan over medium heat and stir mixture with a wooden spoon or whisk until the mixture thickens and almost starts to boil, about 4 -5 minutes.  Remove from heat and add the butter.  Stir until smooth. Add the food coloring, if desired to create the green color.

    -Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Keep curd in the fridge in an airtight container.  Keeps in the fridge for 1 - 2 weeks, but can be frozen for a few months.

Glaze:
    -Combine 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar with 1 tab. fresh lime juice and about 1 tab. water.  Stir together until smooth then place in microwave for 30 seconds and stir again, to help the sugar dissolve.  Glaze should be about the consistency of pancake batter.  Add more powdered sugar if necessary and mix.  

                                       Lime curd is not naturally green, but can be dyed to
                                                         celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

                                                       A rich, dense, sour cream cake.

Gold sugar gilded slice with a tunnel of lime curd!

PERSNICKETY  NOTES:

     **"Do not overbeat batter" needs to be repeated.  This moist dense cake will be too flat and heavy if you do so.  Just fold in the wet ingredients to the point where the dry ingredients are incorporated, then leave it alone.

 **I like to use a combination of butter and shortening in this cake as well as in some pastries for though the butter flavor is much butter than that of shortening, butter alone tends to create a heavier product.

   **This recipe is my standby for a quick delicious cake.  I first sampled it filled in the center with a cinnamon sugar mixture and pecans, then experimented with apple and then cherry pie fillings in the middle.  Over the years, my different renditions have paired it with various fruit or berry fillings and jams.  A chocolate center or even caramel would not fail to impress or those might be used as sauces or frosting on the top.  It is a true versatile winner and should be a staple in everyone's recipe collection!

Irish Brown Soda Bread

       A quick and very easy Irish bread with no finnicky yeast involved to scare you off!  It's also an easier option when you don't have yeast on hand or don't want to wait for the dough to rise.  The leavening agent in soda breads is, as you may have guessed, baking soda! This brown version, made with brown things such as whole wheat flour, brown sugar, wheat bran and wheat germ, is hearty and healthy and is much tastier than the more common white soda bread. It has a robust, nutty flavor. But be careful how much you eat at one sitting as your system may not be used to to all the fiber coming through!

      This recipe came to me by way of my daughter who loves all things healthy - she is a true foodie and an excellent cook, but always burns the wheat germ at least once in the process of making this bread so watch it constantly as it toasts. I always slather my bread with an abundance of Irish butter when my daughter's back is turned - I'm not sure she doesn't do the same whern I'm not looking!

Brown Soda Bread:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons toasted wheat bran
3 tablespoons toasted wheat germ
2 tablespoons old-fashioned oats
2 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter,

         cut into pieces
2 cups (about) buttermilk

        -Preheat oven to 425°F. Butter 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. Combine first 8 ingredients in large bowl; mix well. Add butter; rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles fine meal. Stir in enough buttermilk to form soft, well-mixed dough. 

       -Transfer dough to prepared loaf pan. Bake until bread is dark brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Turn bread out onto rack. Turn right side up and cool on rack.

      -Serve with Irish or unsalted butter, jams and

honey.

                         Dry ingredients include whole wheat

                                 flour, germ and bran as well as oatmeal.

Mix dry ingredients with buttermilk until

all dry ingredients are incorporated.

Don't forget the butter!

PERSNICKETY  NOTES:

       **This bread is often preferred at room temperature and not

warm out of the oven like a lot of breads.  It makes wonderful, crunchy toast too.

Shepherd's Pie

      Is it a pie?  Where's the defining crust?  Where's the shepherd and why do the Irish claim it?  Who cares - it's a rich, delicious, soul-satisfying dish that we don't have to wait for St. Patrick's Day to enjoy!  Sampling shepherd's pies about Ireland and England and even in the Staes at Irish pubs, this recipe is our absolute favorite.  With a hearty depth of flavor and the sharp bite of the Irish cheddar, I've never met a recipe to equal it.

      Our children had always wanted to visit Ireland, one island we had missed in our rompings about Europe so on one occasion when our flight from Tel Aviv back to summer vacation in the states had a particularly hard landing in Shannon - resulting in a delay -  I marched the kids out the front door of the airport and right back in again, and said,  "There, now you've visited Ireland"  What did they expect - that we would show them the whole world?  But we didn't get away with it and years later found ourselves eating shepherd's pie in various pubs, driving on the left side of the road, running into the hedgerows lining the narrow country roads and having a delightful time in a tiny rental car.  Even the dingy pub at the end of the street, recommended by our hostess, could not dampen our appetites.  Staying at the self-proclaimed "oldest thatched cottage in Ireland" in County Laois we were directed to the pub - just the first of many.  I should have ordered the pie - the corned beef was tough and leathery.  

Shepherd’s Pie
1/4 cup butter
1 pound ground beef or lamb
1 cup chopped onion
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
4 ounces fresh sliced mushroosm
1 bay leaf
2 tab. flour
1 cup rich beef stock
1/2 cup red wine
1 tablespoon tomato paste
pinch of nutmeg
2 tab. minced fresh parsley (or 1 tab. dried)
1 pound potatoes, peeled and cut in half
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup grated Irish cheddar, such as Dubliner
         or a sharp Wisconsin cheddar.  

          -Lightly grease a 6-cup baking dish and set aside.

          -Melt 2 tab. butter in a large sauté pan over medium high heat.  Add the meat and brown, about 3 minutes.  Add the onions, carrots, 1 tsp. salt and ½ tsp pepper and continue stirring for 2 minutes.  Add the mushrooms and bay leaf and cook until their liquid is absorbed, about 4 minutes. 

         -Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, until
starting to color, about 1 - 2 minutes.  Gradually
add the stock, wine and Worcestershire sauce and
bring to a simmer over medium-low heat.  Cover
and simmer until thickened, about 20 - 25 minutes.

          -Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

          -Meanwhile, place the potatoes in a medium pot and cover with salted water.  Bring to boil and simmer until fork-tender.  Drain in a colander and return to the pot.  Over low heat, mash the potatoes until very smooth.  Add the remaining 2 tab. of butter, 2 tsp. salt and ½ tsp of pepper and mash to incorporate.  Add the heavy cream and mix well.  Remove from the heat.

          -Remove the pot with the meat from the heat.  Remove the bay leaf.  Spoon into the prepared dish and cover with the mashed potatoes, smoothing the top of piping in a decorative design.  Sprinkle the cheese over the top and bake until browned, 10-15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and serve immediately.  Serves 8.

                                     Spoon prepared meat filling into baking dish. 

          

                         Pipe, spoon or spread potatoes over meat filling and 
                                               sprinkle liberally with cheese.

PERSNICKETY  NOTES:
     **Different variations of Shepard's Pie include peas or green beans.
  This one features mushrooms, but those may be left out and other
  vegetables added.

     **If you do  not like to use wine in cooking,  just increase the beef stock
  to 1 1/2 cups and add a tablespoon of vinegar, which will add the acidic
  edge the wine adds.

     **Taste the meat mixture for seasoning before spooning into the 
  casserole.  The natural salts found in the broth and wine can make the
  mixture a bit too salty, so start with less salt and add more if needed
  once all the ingredients have simmered together.  

    **For rich beef stock, homemade is the best version, but not many of
  us want to take the time to make it but if you already have it on hand or
  frozen, that would be the first choice.  Otherwise, the paste brand, "Better
  than Boullion" is the next best choice.

Chicken Chimis

      

       Though my son-in-law claims that all Mexican dishes taste the same, that is alright with me!  However, I don't believe he has made a career, as I have of eating everything Mexican I could get my hands on and befriending everyone with the cooking of Mexican foods inclination I could meet.
        It all started for me in far-from-Mexico, Utah - though it was at one time part of Mexico, and a small restaurant by the  name of The Yucca, in my very provincial little town. We children used to laugh at the name but found it anything but "Yucky".  That is where my love affair with the taco began and the attraction has never waned. 
       Our father, would conduct an annual "anything you want to eat night" and buzz around the town to buy each of his 6 children's favorite dishes while Mom stayed at home cooking those things requested that only she could make.  I usually requested tacos from The Yucca but ordered her cheesecake for dessert - always eager to placate the hand that fed me, though in truth, she probably wished we all preferred something that had to be brought in.
      The first time I heard the name chimichanga, I supposed it must be some sort of dance, and in truth, my taste buds did a little dance when I first tried one at a restaurant called Chi-Chis which has like many restaurant chains "had it's day, then went away."  I will be ever grateful to them for introducing to me the concept of flour tortillas filled with a Mexican spiced chicken filling and deep fried then topped with the predictable toppings that ticked all the boxes to a Mexican appetite.

Chicken Chimichangas

3 ½ cups shredded cooked chicken

1 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can chopped green chiles

2 tab. cornstarch

1 ¼ cup chicken stock

salt and pepper

8 large flour tortillas

1 1/2 cups grated cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese

     -In large skillet, sauté onions and garlic in 2 
        tab. oil until very soft. Add chiles, chicken, 
        salt and pepper. Sprinkle cornstarch over
        chicken mixture and add chicken broth. 
        Cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Cool.
        Stir in cheese.

    -Lay a flour tortilla on a work surface in front  

        of you.  Place 1/3 - 1/2 cup filling in the middle

        of the tortilla.  Fold the two outer edges of the

        tortilla over the filling.  Then fold the bottom

        edge 2/3s of the way up over the filling. Finally,

        roll the tortilla over itself so the filling is 

        completely encased and the seams are facing

        down on the work surface.    Secure bottom 

        edges of tortilla closed with a toothpick if

        desired.  Continue until all tortillas are filled.

    -Heat 2 inches of oil in a medium heavy bottomed

        saucepan to 375 degrees or until a small piece

        of tortilla dropped in the oil browns within

        30 seconds.  Place the chimis, seam side down

        in the pot and fry 2 - 3 minutes, turning at 

        least once, until they are evenly golden brown.

        (Frying in a deep fryer is also an option)

  -Serve warm with pico de gallo, salsa, sour

cream, guacamole, tomatoes, and green onions.

                                       Chicken, onion, chili, garlic, cheese filling.

                                Place large spoonful of filling in center of tortilla

                                             Fold each side of tortilla over filling

                                         Fold bottom half of tortilla up over filling

                                     Roll tortilla completely encasing the filling


PERSNICKETY NOTES:
**Yes, you can make your own flour tortillas and it is immensely gratifying and quite easy.  Eat one hot right off the griddle with a bit of butter......mmmm!  Go to my post called, "Flour Tortillas with Beef and Peppers" to find the recipe.

**To make this recipe even easier, use packaged grilled chicken pieces or rotisserie chicken shredded.  Add to the other ingredients at the place specified in the recipe.

**Rather than deep-frying my chimis, I often cook them in a skillet in 1 inch of  hot oil and then turn when golden to cook the other side.  Remember, the filling is already cooked, so you don't have to cook them long, just long enough to make the tortilla crispy and golden.  If you place them seam side down in the shallow oil they will keep their shape with a little guidance from a spatula without a toothpick to secure the edges.

**These are delicious at room temperature as well and easy to pick up like a wrap to eat.  Dip the end in your favorite Mexican condiments.

**Black beans, corn, diced avocado, cumin, chili powder might be added to the chicken filling, according to your taste.  This is a "purists" version above.