Hot Soup, Literally - Tom Kha Het

It has been a surprisingly wet and cold summer so far.  Oh, there have been a few hot days here and there, in particular around the 4th of July.  But for the most part, it has been chilly and wet.  To me, cool and damp means soup time.

Soup has the extraordinary ability to warm the cockles of your heart.  This particular soup, however, has the power to warm you from head to toes with it's chili laced goodness.  I speak of the luxurious Tom Kha, basically Coconut Galangal Soup.  Granted you can make it with Chicken (Tom Kha Kai) or Seafood (Tom Kha Thale) and even Amy's Organics makes a vegetable version (Tom Kha Phak), but I prefer the much more subtle flavor of mushrooms, thus this is Tom Kha Het.

It's truly a delightful soup.  Creamy, gingery deliciousness permeated with the tang of lime and lemon grass and laced with the fruity heat of Thai Chilies.  OK, now I am hungry again... so I am gonna sneak another bowl.  Be right back.

Tom Kha Het

(Coconut Galangal Mushroom soup)

2 cups Chicken Stock (or Vegetable)
2 cans Coconut Milk, divided
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 oz Lemongrass, sliced thinly
2 Kaffir Lime Leaves, sliced thinly and divided
4 dried Thai Chilies, seeds removed and thinly sliced
1 inch Galangal, sliced, or rather chipped
2 oz White Onion, diced
4 oz Carrot, cut on the bias
6 oz Napa Cabbage, shredded
8 oz Mushrooms, sliced (if using straw mushrooms, don't slice them)
1 can of Baby Corns, cut into thirds
Juice of 2 Limes
2 TB Nam Pla (Fish Sauce)
1/2 oz Cilantro Leaves

First you need to chop and slice everything up, cause this is a quick soup.

Combine Garlic, Lemongrass, 1/2 of the shredded Lime leaves, Thai Chilies and Galangal in a medium saucepan.

Add Chicken Stock and 1 can of the Coconut Milk.

Place over medium flame and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.

Strain the "broth" into a larger pot to remove the woody Lemon grass and Galangal.

Add the remaining can of Coconut Milk and bring back to a simmer again.

Once the broth is simmering, add the Onion, Carrot, Napa Cabbage, remaining Kaffir Lime leaves and Mushrooms.

Cover and simmer for an additional 15 minutes to cook the vegetables.

Add Baby Corns and simmer 2 minutes longer to warm them through.

Finish off with Lime Juice

and Nam Pla.

Spoon into a bowl and serve with a sprinkling of Cilantro leaves.

Mangia!!
~~

Somethin' For Your Chow Chow To Chow On - Cheesy Vegetable Chews

First, I must apologize for being MIA over the last couple weeks.  Yeah, I posted about Consomme and Eggs in Aspic (Ouefs en Gelee) but that was not without it's difficulties.  My Mac crashed (dead hard drive) so I was forced to bring my old Titanium 500 back into service again.  Yeah right.  The thing is antique and the operating system (Panther) is positively ancient.  Thus, due to the overwhelming amount of Flash all over the net, it was impossible to navigate anywhere or "see" anything.  The two posts I DID succeed in releasing took 3 hours to type up cause I kept loosing my connection through the decrepit airport card.  On top of that, I had to re-learn how to use the old version of Gimp to edit my photos which took an additional couple of hours to process. (sigh) Don't get me started on trying to check Facebook or anything else for that matter. 

I guess I should count myself lucky that the poor old thing worked at all at this point.  Luckily, and finally, I now have a new hard drive in my Aluminum 1.67 and life is good again.  Un-luckily, nothing on my old hard drive was salvage-able, so every photo I have taken is suddenly gone (Insert sound of flushing toilet).  But it is time to stop lamenting and get back to the main topic.

Dog Treats....... (though in a pinch, they are consumable by humans)

Just like humans, dogs need vegetables to stay healthy.  And while most dog foods DO contain some form of vegetable matter, it usually consists for the more questionable "vegetables" such as Potatoes, Corn or Peas; all of which are extremely high in starch.  While I realize that the FDA lumps all of these into the vegetable group, being why school lunches often include French Fries or Tater Tots (Insert eye roll), this is the same organization that deemed Nutrasweet to be safe for human consumption.

FDA charlatans aside, I figured it would be a good way to mix up the textures a little as well.  I have already made 2 hard and crunchy treats as well as crisp yet airy pumpkin treats, so I decided to mix it up a little further and go for a more chewy texture.  This was made infinitely easier by the inclusion of vegetables, though the cheese lent a proverbial hand as well.  :)   Some healthy Quick Oats and that hint of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese along with vitamin A rich Carrot and some vibrantly verdant Spinach and we have a winner. 

Cheesy Chicken Vegetable Chews

1 1/2 cup Barley Flour
1 cup Quick Oats
1/ 4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
2/3 cup shredded Carrot
1/2 cup frozen Spinach, measured after thawing and squeezing out the water
1/2 -3/4 cup Chicken Stock

Combine Barley Flour, Quick Oats and Parmigiano-Reggiano in a bowl, whisk together well.

Add Spinach and shredded Carrot in a blender jar.

Add 1/3 cup of chicken stock and blend into a puree... Add up to an additional 1/4 cup of chicken stock if the mix is too dry to puree properly.

Add the Vegetable/Stock puree to the dry ingredients.

Stir until well combined and a soft sticky dough forms.

Grab a small cookie scoop or a teaspoon.

Spoon small balls of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet.

Fill a small glass cold water and grab a fork.

Dip the fork in the water and then press a crosshatch pattern in the "cookies" just like you would for Peanut butter cookies.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Then store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks,

if you need them to last longer, store in the refrigerator.

I promise - my next post will be human food.... Gruyere scones to be exact.  I realize that over the last couple months about 50% of my posts have "gone to the dogs", but let me assure you, I am steering back towards Human consumables...  LOL

Mangia!!
~~

Commencing Clarification - Chicken Consommé

Consommé may be one of the most misunderstood soups.  It's utterly clear yet brims with intense flavor.  How is this possible?  Why is Consommé so much "thicker" than "stock"?

Put on your life preservers folks, it's time to go a rafting!

Consommé is simply stock that has been clarified by a mixture of ground meat, miripoix and egg whites.  This mixture is added to everyday regular stock then heat is applied.  In the process the mixture forms a "raft" on top of the stock... Through continued simmering, the "raft" combines with the impurities in the stock and traps them in the albumen from the egg whites.  It all sounds complicated.  But trust me, you don't need a degree in food science or advanced culinary education.  It's surprisingly simple

Chicken Consommé

6 cups (about 1.5 Liters) Chicken Stock
1 lb (600 g) ground Chicken
1 Carrot, finely diced
1 Celery stalk, finely diced
1 Leek, finely sliced
3 large Egg Whites
Kosher Salt and Pepper to taste
Tarragon Leaves

Pour the chicken stock into a pot.

In a separate bowl combine ground chicken and diced vegetables in bowl.

Add the egg whites.

Then mix everything together with a fork until you have a big "mess" in the bowl.

Spoon the mixture into the Chicken Stock.

Place the messy mixture over medium heat and bring to a simmer, stir while you are doing this.

You will notice as the temperature rises the chicken/vegetable mixture will begin to rise to the surface and form the "raft".

Once the mix starts to simmer, stop stirring and let the stock bubble up through the "raft", allowing the egg whites to trap everything.

Continue simmering for 30 minutes. (though you can push it to 45)
Remove from the heat and skim off the "raft" (you will want to discard this.  Don't feed it to your dog, cause it contains onion...  Yeah, it's leek but they are closely related, so don't take chances)

Once the raft has been removed, go ahead and pour the Consommé through cheese cloth to endure you have removed all the "bits" of coagulated egg white.

You should have about 5 cups of perfectly clear pale amber liquid.

And there you go...  An elegant Consommé.

You can refrigerate the Consommé in a sealed container for about 1 week.  Do not be surprised if you find that it has gelled.  It is higher in gelatin than normal stock giving consommé a more voluptuous mouth-feel. (it's a good thing) I am only saving out 1 3/4 cups for something else... But the rest was delicious!

Mangia!!
~~

Childhood Flashbacks - Grandma's Meatloaf

In this world filled with foodie delights such as Quail Eggs, Morels, Fois Gras, Fennel Pollen and cuttlefish ink, nothing says lovin from the 40-something generation's oven more so than good ol' meatloaf. I don't know bout you, but I ate it a lot when I was a pup.

Yeah, it's not the most glamorous of dishes. It's not Avant-garde. It's not "Sexy". It's not Chic. It wont be showing up on the menu at a 3 Michelin star restaurant any time soon. Yet it is still adored. So lets give meatloaf it's due.

It brings us back to a simpler time. It's easy to prepare, though it takes time to bake, and darn it, it just tastes good. Simple and uncluttered. It's comfort food at it's best, with it's only possible rival being Macaroni & Cheese. It just gives us a sense of well being.

I was reminded of this when I visited my grandmother this last weekend. For all my experimentation in the kitchen, for all of my passion for Italian food, for all of my fascination over exotic ingredients, and for all of my supposed "refined" taste buds. I LOVE MEATLOAF. Especially my grandmother's meatloaf. So I made her recipe tonight, since I was finally smart enough to copy it down. And I just didn't get enough of it this weekend . ;)

Granted I use slightly different ingredients, but the premise is the same. Grandma uses Lipton Onion Soup mix and V8 juice. I went for the organic/low sodium options. Mainly because Lipton Onion soup contains Hydrolyzed Soy Protein and I need to avoid that as much as possible, and V8 juice is a little high on the sodium.

Grandma's Meatloaf

1 lb 10% ground Beef
1/2 lb ground Lamb
5 oz Vegetable Juice
1/2 cup Panko
1 envelope Onion Dip Mix (I go for Simply Organic brand)
1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, shredded
1 Large Egg
1/4 tsp Garlic powder
1/4 tsp Black Pepper
optional - 1 rib Celery, diced
optional - 1/2 Carrot, shredded

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Crush the Panko in a plastic bag. (cause it's a little to coarse for meatloaf)

Dump everything into a bowl.

Stir with a fork until well combined.

Form into a loaf and place in a roasting pan with a small rack in the bottom for the fat to drain away.

Bake for 45 minutes, then check the internal temperature (your looking for 160 degrees)

Bake an additional 10 -15 minutes if necessary then remove from the oven and tent for 10 minutes.

Slice and serve.

And tomorrow.... there WILL be meatloaf sandwiches. YAY!!

Mangia!!
~~