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Tag: Thyme

Chicken Soup With Rice and Thyme

It’s deep in the fall and the weather is unusually warm.  But that doesn’t mean you can’t make a great soup.  And what better one then a classic?   This time I will keep it simple but very flavorful.   I had some leftover chicken broth from a previous meal and froze it.  I decided instead of taking that and making stock out of it I would use it as is to be my base for this soup.  It’s basically chicken water but it lended itself beautifully to this recipe.   But if you don’t have any lying around regular chicken sock will work.  I hope you enjoy it! I did!

 

Chicken soup with Rice and Thyme
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
Ingredients
  • 2 boneless skinless chicken breast
  • 4 cups chicken broth(water)
  • ½ cup of rice uncooked
  • 3 ribs of celery
  • 2-3 carrots
  • 1 medium onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Thyme
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. When I say 2 chicken breasts I mean two halves.
  2. Make them good sized ones.
  3. This should still be a hearty soup.
  4. Cut chicken into bite sized chunks
  5. Chop onion
  6. Chop celery
  7. Peel and chop carrots
  8. Chop garlic and separate
  9. In a large stock pot, pilule sauté onion and half of garlic in olive oil
  10. Add celery and carrots
  11. A little thyme
  12. A pinch Salt and pepper
  13. Add chicken and cook till done
  14. While cooking the chicken, cook rice till it's almost done.
  15. When chicken is done, add stock/chicken water
  16. Add bay leaf, garlic and a generous amount of Thyme.
  17. Don't over do the thyme!
  18. It should be prominent but not over powering.
  19. Taste and smell as you add
  20. Salt and pepper to taste.
  21. When rice is almost done add it to the soup.
  22. Cook soup for another 10-15 minutes on medium till rice is fully cooked and soup is fully heated
  23. Chicken should be tender and veggies should still have a little crunch.
  24. If you like softer veggies cook a little longer

Fishes

fisheatingfish

 

Jason had a friend over for bbq the other night and we had a small sea food fest.  We started out with mussels.  I steamed them with a semi sweet dark beer we crafted, order added some pickled ginger, a few sweet pickled pearl onions that we canned a couple winters ago and a little pickle juice to cut the sweetness.  They were amazing!  But the real show stopper was the Branzino (striped bass) and Sea Bass that they bought.  Whole fish, gutted and deboned of course.  Well not totally deboned as that is very hard to do.  We salted and peppered the cavity then put whole sprigs of rosemary and lemon slices, wrapped them up in foil and grilled them for about 12 minutes on each side.   The result was a very aromatic, moist, flaky delicious fish.   The perfume of the rosemary was light, and the lemons kept the fish from drying out – and of course the citrus aspect.  Now most people wouldn’t use such an aromatic herb, and usually I wouldn’t either.   It was one of those happy accidents.  We were going to use thyme, but we accidentally bought the wrong herb.  Oops!  We were all glad we did since there was barely any fish left over for lunch the next day.  Of course now I am craving fish with thyme and lemon.  Guess that means another bbq!!

Tomato Soup in Winter

It may be winter but I thought it was time for a little summer.  So here is my recipe for a roasted tomato soup that will make you warm with the summer sun!

 

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Roasted Tomato Soup
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4-6
 
Ingredients
  • 3-3½ lbs of Roma Tomato's
  • 4 cloves of Garlic chopped
  • ½ cup Olive Oil
  • Salt and Pepper
  • a pinch of Thyme
  • 1 quart of Chicken Stock
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F
  2. Cut tomato's lengthwise
  3. Core tomato's wit spoon saving inside for later
  4. Place on cookie sheet skin side down
  5. Sprinkle garlic in all tomato cups
  6. Salt and pepper tomato's
  7. Drizzle olive oil on tomato's
  8. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until caramelized
  9. Remove from oven and place in pot with chicken stock
  10. Bring to boil and reduce heat, cheap simmer for 15 minutes.
  11. When done blend or use immersion blender to puree
  12. Put back in pot on low heat and serve.
Notes
If you want you can remove the skins after roasting, just wait till they have cooled before you handle them. If you want a creamy soup just add heavy cream when you have put it back on the stove on the low heat. If you want a little thicker soup, cut down the amount of chicken stock by about ¼ cup.

Pumpkin Pie. Or is it?

Another Turkey day has come and gone and we are sad to see it go.  But we have great memories.  We arrived at our destination late so we didn’t get any pictures of what was made.  There was the usual suspects, stuff Turkey by Joe, decease green beans, side effects stuffing, cranberries along with a few new items.  I made Jason’s famous smoked sweet potato/potato mash, there was a refreshing fennel salad, Brian’s sweet potatoes with paprika, Anna made butternut squash with parmesan cheese, fresh parsley and thyme, while Kirk made a lovely whiskey cocktail that had everyone thankful.  Luckily for us Jason did take pictures and made a fabulous pumpkin pie that disappeared faster than giblet gravy!  Or was it a pumpkin pie?  I told everyone I would let them know what was it it but not til after.  So without further ado the secret ingredients in the the pies were Butternut Squash and Brandy.  No pumpkins were harmed in the making of this pie.  We got the idea from The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/video/2012/11/14/dining/100000001903215/pumpkin-pie.html  We thought, hmmmm interesting lets do it! The results speak for themselves.  Two pies gone in no time.  We also had an actual pumpkin pie and it was delicious.  But I think from now on it’s Butternut Squash Pie that will be made in The Lab.

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