Chicken Cheese Chowder

 

      Most Sundays were "soup and scones" day when our children were growing up.  There was no debate over the scones.  Fried and puffy homemade bread dough was always welcome as long as the butter, honey and jam were served as condiments.  But the soup???   A matter for debate between distinct and differing palettes.  So to make it less of a tedious task of talking one child out of her favorite soup and convincing another that mulligatawny is delicious, I gave in.  Yes, I gave in and made two soups, sometimes three to keep peace in our home.  Perhaps that's what it takes - soup for peace.  But this soup was almost always the first choice and spread peace throughout the land!

       Discovered in a random cookbook, as a young cook I thought chicken couldn't hurt and would round the soup out into a full meal - and so the chicken was added to my version of the recipe  (along with some sort of bread - rolls, crusty French or ciabatta.)

      Cheesy, cheese soup is the over-riding theme and the slight crunch of the vegetables add a spark of contrast to the creaminess.  The chicken - keep it tender - swims flavorfully among the rest of the ingredients and the crunch and nuttiness of the garnish toppings are just the things to add interest to this simple but very satisfying soup.

Chicken Cheese Chowder

3 tablespoons butter

1 cup finely chopped or grated carrot

1/2 cup finely chopped celery

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

2 cups rich chicken broth

2 cups milk

1/3 cup flour

8 slices American cheese (room temperature)

1 cup grated cheddar cheese (room temperature)

1 1/2 cups cooked and shredded chicken

salt and pepper to taste

dash of cayenne pepper

dash of paprika

chopped chives or green onion and parmesan crisps

           for garnish

       -In a medium saucepan, saute carrot, celery and onion in melted butter until soft (5 minutes).  Stir in flour and cook over medium heat for 1 minute.  Add broth and milk and cook and stir frequently until thickened and bubbly.  Remove pan from heat.

       -Add American and cheddar cheese and let sit on top of soup for 5 minutes to temper.  Return pot to medium-high heat and stir cheese into soup until melted.  Add shredded or cubed chicken and heat soup through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Add cayenne pepper to taste.  To serve, garnish with paprika, chives or green onion and paprika crisps.

To make Parmesan Crisps:  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.  Place a heaping tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese on baking sheet and repeat with the remaining cheese, spacing them apart.  Bake for 3 - 5 minutes until golden and crisp.  Cool completely and crush crisps to garnish top of soup in their serving bowls.

Saute onions, carrots and celery in butter.

Let cheese sit on top of soup to slowly melt 

about 5 minutes.

Melt parmesan cheese in oven or skillet

 to make crisps.

Garnish soup with chives or green onion

 and crushed Parmesan crisps.

PERSNICKETY  NOTES:

     **You can use leftover chicken or packaged cooked chicken 

          pieces or rotisserie chicken for this recipe.  I most often 

         cook my own chicken and if you want to do the same, this 

         is how I do it: 

          Thaw frozen chicken pieces, 2 breasts, several tenders or 

         4 thighs (boneless), or any combination thereof.  (You will

         need 1 1/2 cups shredded chicken for this recipe) Heat 

         oven to 350 degrees.  Melt 1 tablespoon butter or place 1

         tablespoon oil in bottom of baking dish or pie plate.  Place 

         chicken in the dish, salt and pepper lightly then cover with

         foil.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Chicken will remain moist and

         tender with this technique.

     **Try using cubed ham, smoked sausage or crumbled, cooked

         bacon to switch it up and give the soup a variation on flavor. 

     **As I always note for my soups, when using chicken broth or stock

         or bouillon, I suggest the following scale for the best flavor

         in your soup.  And boy, can a natural chicken flavor make a

         huge difference!

            #1 - Home made chicken stock

            #2 - "Better than Bouillon" stock paste

            #3 - Boxed chicken stock

            #4 - Canned chicken broth

            #5 - Magi Chicken bouillon cubes

            #6 - Knorr's chicken bouillon cubes

            #7 - Other chicken bouillon cubes

Potato Garlic Soup

 

  

      Most Sundays were "soup and scones" day when our children were growing up.  There was no debate over the scones.  Fried and puffy homemade bread dough was always welcome as long as the butter, honey and jam were served as condiments.  But the soup???   A matter for debate between distinct and differing palettes.  So to make it less of a tedious task of talking one child out of her favorite soup and convincing another that mulligatawny is delicious, I gave in.  Yes, I gave in and made two soups, sometimes three to keep peace in our home.  Perhaps that's what it takes - soup for peace.

     Case in point - as one of my husband's duties as an attache in the Middle East, we hosted various political and military leaders for dinner and social events.  One of our visitors with a colorful, dubious past, (let's just say, he was once thrown out a second story window) adored one of the easiest soups I made - a simple roux based, chicken broth and cream with boursin cheese melted in. We still call this soup today by this man's name.

      I'm glad he wasn't included in the weekly conference as to which soups we should have, because with his influential political clout I would definitely have to make it (forget what my children wanted.)  Suffice it to say that on every visit to this man, my husband took a package of Boursin cheese for him, which wasn't available in the markets of his hazardous community.

      This following soup is one I would have chosen, had I ever had the chance to suggest one.  Creamy and velvety with a rich potato and garlic flavor base, the crunch of the garlic chips adds a nice contrast to the texture, and the cheese is just enough to suggest that something else is going on here, creating a simply, tummy-purring meal!

Potato Garlic Cream Soup

3 tablespoons butter

3/4 cup finely chopped onion

1/3 cup finely chopped carrot

3 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 head of garlic, papery skin removed and top 1/3 cut 

          off and discarded.

1 bay leaf

5 cups chicken broth (or water with rich chicken

          bouillon.)

4 large potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters

       (white or Yukon gold potatoes recommended)

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup cream

2 tablespoons minced fresh chives

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

salt and pepper to taste

1 1/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thinly, lengthwise

       -Saute onion and carrot in butter until soft over medium-high heat.  Add garlic and saute 2 minutes more.  Add chicken broth or water with bouillon, bay leaf, garlic head and potatoes.  Cook, covered until potatoes are tender over medium heat (about 30 minutes).  Remove from heat, discard bay leaf and garlic head and let rest 10 minutes.

       -Take garlic head and squeeze each garlic clove into the soup mixture - discard skins.  Add milk to potato and broth.  Blend in food processor, with immersion blender or in blender until smooth.  (Leave a few potatoes on the side and mash roughly to make the soup chunkier, if desired, then add back to soup mixture.)

        -Return to heat and stir in cream at room temperature.  Set grated cheese on top of hot soup for 5 minutes before stirring, to allow the cheese to temper to the heat of the soup, to prevent separating. Stir in cheese and heat until cheese is melted and soup is hot.  Add parsley, salt and pepper to taste.

For Garlic Chips:

       -Heat oil and garlic in 10-inch skillet over medium heat.  Cook, turning frequently, until light golden brown, about 3 minutes (do not brown  darkly).  

       -Using, slotted spoon, transfer garlic to plate lined with paper towels.  Sprinkle lightly with salt.

       -Serve soup warm with garnish of chopped chives, garlic chips and a drizzle of garlic olive oil (or plain olive oil.)

Ingredients for soup.

Fried Garlic Chips

Serve soup with chives, garlic chips and 

sprinkle of olive oil.

PERSNICKETY  NOTES:

     **Garlic becomes bitter if allowed to brown.  When sauting or frying

         garlic,  remove it from heat when it just begins to color.

     **As I always note for my soups, when using chicken broth or stock

         or bouillon, I suggest the following scale for the best flavor

         in your soup.  And boy, can a natural chicken flavor make a

         huge difference!

            #1 - Home made chicken stock

            #2 - "Better than Bouillon" stock paste

            #3 - Boxed chicken stock

            #4 - Canned chicken broth

            #5 - Magi Chicken bouillon cubes

            #6 - Knorr's chicken bouillon cubes

            #7 - Other chicken bouillon cubes

Chicken Freekeh

 

      Ummmm - toasty, nutty, crunchy and smoky - that's what my first experience with freekeh said to my palette and I had to find someone to teach me how to prepare it!  Easily done in Tunisia and Jordan where the grain, durum wheat, was indigenous hundreds of years ago.  I had no idea I was eating what Moses and the Children of Israel might have eaten when manna and pigeons were no longer provided!

      Freekeh (also spelled frikeh or farik) is a cereal made from green durum wheat that is roasted and the bran rubbed off the kernels and sun-dried to give it its uniform flavor, color and texture. The Arabic name, "farik" means rubbed.   After drying, the kernels are cracked into smaller pieces that look like green bulgur.

      One ancient recipe is not very different from the modern versions, often prepared with chicken or lamb. A Baghdadi cook book from the 1200s instructs ancient cooks to fry meat in oil, braise with water and cinnamon bark.  Coriander, cumin, and cinnamon are also stirred in with the Freekeh.  These ancient Levantities said it first - it's just taken a long time for western cultures to repeat it!   A Tunisian soup "chorba't frik",  made with freekeh - a broth soup, with the freekeh acting much like barley would, is still considered a national dish.

      I suppose we could say, it's time for us westerners to catch up.  I have served this to friends who weren't quite sure they were ready.  But some of us were born ready and just regret we didn't know about freekeh sooner!

Chicken Freekeh

2 cups freekeh

2 chicken breasts with bones and skin

5 chicken thighs, boneless

1 yellow onion, quartered

3 cinnamons sticks

4 bay leaves

6 cardamom pods

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped

1/2 pound ground beef or lamb

2 teaspoons 7 Spice chicken seasoning

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 cups skinned whole almonds, or slivered 

1/2 cup pine nuts

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

       -Rinse the freekeh in a strainer and set aside.

       -Pour 2 tablespoons olive oil in bottom of a pot and heat until shimmery.  Add the chicken pieces and brown over medium-high heat until browned on both sides.  Cover the chicken with water and add the yellow onion, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, cardamom and 1 teaspoon of salt.  Cover with lid and bring to a boil.  Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes.

     -Remove chicken from the pot, reserving liquid and set aside until chicken is cool enough to handle.  Remove the skin and break the meat into large pieces, removing the bones.

      -Bring the reserved chicken stock back to a slow simmer.  Add more purchased chicken stock if needed to equal 4 1/2 cups or add water and rich bouillon.  

     -Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large saucepan and add the red onion.  Saute until beginning to soften, then add the lamb or beef and cook until browned.  Stir in the cleaned freekeh.  Add the 1 teaspoon of 7 Spice chicken seasoning and 1 heaped teaspoon of salt and stir through.  Add 4 cups of hot chicken stock and bring to boil.  Lower the heat to low, cover and simmer for 40 minutes.

     -Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a medium frying pan over medium heat and add the almonds and cook until lightly toasted.  Remove almonds from the pan and repeat with the pine nuts.  Remove from the pan and add 2 tablespoons butter.  Add the chicken pieces, 1 teaspoon of 7 spices (or ground cinnamon) and 1/2 cup hot stock.  Bring to the boil and stir for 1 minute to reheat the chicken.

     -Spoon the freekeh onto a large serving patter.  Place the chicken and chopped parsley on top and scatter with nuts.  Serve warm with yogurt sauce

(recipe below).

Yogurt Sauce:

     Combine 1 1/2 cups plain yogurt (not Greek), 3/4

     cups finely chopped English cucumber, 1/3 cup

      finely minced fresh mint and parsley, 2 finely 

     minced garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon lemon juice,

     salt and pepper to taste.  Let chill about 30

     minutes.  Serve as a condiment to Arab meat 

     dishes.

Simmer chicken and saute onions with beef.

                

Add freekeh to onion/beef mixture.

Pile freekeh onto platter, place chicken

pieces on top then garnish with nuts

and parsley.

PERSNICKETY  NOTES:

**Freekeh can be found in most grocery stores now (and for sure in Arab markets).  It is carried by Whole Foods, Walmart, Harris Teeter, etc.  It comes boxed in the grain aisle near the rice and other grains.  It can also be ordered online:  https://www.amazon.com/Ziyad-Green-Wheat-Freekeh-Gram/dp/B00ECMLTS4/ref=sr_1_8?dchild=1&keywords=freekeh&qid=1610730012&sr=8-8

**7 Spices is an Arab combination of spices often used in Chicken and lamb dishes.  You can order it already prepared:  

https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Spice-Lebonese-Zamouri-Spices/dp/B000GHJL20/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=7+spice+mixture&qid=1610729762&sr=8-9

Or make it yourself (recipe below) or simply add an estimated amount of the various spices to your dish to approximate the amount required.

7 Spice Mixture:  

2 tablespoons ground black pepper, 

2 tablespoons ground cumin,

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1 tablespoon ground cloves, 

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

**The beef or lamb is optional in the recipe.

**The nut garnish on top is one of my favorite parts of the dish.  Try adding shelled pistachios as well to the combo.

Speckuloos Cookies

       One of my outings as a young newly married expat in a small German village, was to walk in to the town to the small store where they had bins of butter cookies in the shapes of crescent moons and stars,  that were delicious in their simplicity.  A win-win:  walk to buy cookies and the cookies to reward my efforts!

       Speculoos lay claim to several origins, Belgian (speculoos), Dutch (speculaas), German (spekulatius), in English (spiced shortbread cookies). The first time I saw speculoos boards was in Germany and I was enchanted with the hand-carved molds for cookies and over the years I purchased a few,  And later on, discovering them in the shops in the Alsace Region of France, I bought them as well as carved rolling

pins for my daughters.  I rarely use the molds for more than decoration.  And I rarely make the cookies.  But when I do I have such fun molding them and savor the simple delicious flavor of the butter coming through gentle warm spices in an uncomplicated cookie.

      Similar to gingerbread - minus the ginger and molasses - the spices shyly shine as they meld mildly in your mouth.  This is a recipe to make for the fun of it! I'm just sorry you don't have a charming village to walk to, to buy them!

Speculoos

1 1/2 cups room temperature butter

1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups flour

milk (as needed)

       -Cream butter and sugar together in mixer until smooth and well-blended.  Stir in baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, vanilla extract.

       -Gently stir in flour until tell just blended and dough comes together, adding a tablespoon milk or more as needed to moisten all the ingredients.

        -Press dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for 2 hours to allow flavors to develop.

       -Set dough out on counter, covered for 30 minutes, to soften.  Roll dough out on lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch to 3/8 inch.  Cut dough out with cookies cutters, or roll dough with well-floured carved rolling pin, and cut into printed shapes.  Or if using a mold board, flour well and firmly press dough into carving on board, leveling dough off to a uniform thickness, about 3/8 inch thick.

       -Place cookies on greased cookie sheet or sheet covered with a silpad or parchment paper.  Bake in 

350 degree preheated oven for 15 minutes, until cookies have darkened slightly and appear set.

German cookie presses and rolling pins.

Roll dough out to 1/4 inch thickness.

Rolling pin cookie molds

Press cookie dough into floured

cookie molds.

Place molded cookies on cookie sheet.