Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

A few months ago my husband made his second trip to Finland for business.
While he was there this last time his colleague made him a home cooked
meal which included Jerusalem Artichoke Soup. Jim said the soup was
excellent and had Mika write down the recipe for us so we could make it
when he got home.

We looked for Jerusalem Artichokes at the market the last two times
we went but we had no luck finding them. Then this past week, while on
vacation, our friends James and Marsha sent us a text message saying
that their Aunt had some Jerusalem Artichokes and they were bringing
them home to us - yipee!

Jim made the soup last night and it was very good!
Here is his colleague's recipe.


Mika's Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Herb Oil

1kg Jerusalem Artichoke
1/2-1 cup white wine
1/2-1 cup heavy cream
some cooking liquid from artichokes
salt


Clean artichokes and cook in salt water (a lot of liquid) until soft

Take 1 cup of cooking liquid and set aside.

Drain artichokes

Peel the skin off of the artichokes.

Mash coarsely by hand (you can use a potato masher)

Add first 1/2 cup white wine and 1/2 cup cooking liquid

Add salt if needed

Mix and cook couple of minutes in low heat

Add 1/2 cup heavy cream

Mix, If too thick add another 1/2 cup of the cream, cooking liquid, and white wine
but only if needed.

Keep warm


Herb oil sauce:
Olive oil so much that you are able to make thick, runny sauce
Fresh coriander leaves (handful)
Fresh basil leaves (handful)
Fresh parsley (handful)
Salt (just a pinch)
Ground Black pepper (just a pinch)

Use kitchen blender to make the sauce

Serving
Add soup to bowls, drizzle 1/2-1 table spoon of herb oil sauce on top of the soup


TIP:
Save rest of the herb oil and use it for garlic bread.

Thanks to Mika, Marsha and Jim here is the Jerusalem Artichoke Soup.







Delicious!

Caramelized Chipotle Chicken

I have really enjoyed cooking with Chipotle Chiles lately.
They add such a nice,smoky flavor with heat that goes well
with so many dishes. Here is the latest recipe I made with
Chipotle Chiles.

This recipe for Caramelized Chipotle Chicken
is from Epicurious.

Ingredients
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
8 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup)
2 medium onions, chopped (about 2 cups)
1 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo (from a 7-ounce can)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 whole chickens (about 3 1/2 pounds each), each cut into 8 pieces
print a shopping list for this recipe


PreparationHeat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Cook garlic, stirring constantly, until golden, then transfer with a slotted spoon to a plate. Reduce heat to medium and cook onions, stirring occasionally, until golden-brown, about 15 minutes.

Add garlic and remaining ingredients, except chicken, to skillet with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce is slightly thickened, about 25 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450°F with rack in middle.

Coat chicken with half of sauce, then roast, skin side up, in a 17-by 11-inch heavy 4sided sheet pan 25 minutes. Remove from oven and brush with remaining sauce, then continue roasting until chicken is cooked through and well browned in spots, 20 to 25minutes more.

** I cooked my chiken in one of those oven bags to lock in the flavors.
The chicken turned out great! It was very tender with yummy flavors. As you can tell we really enjoyed the sauce.

Chocolate Cheesecake

I was watching the TV one evening and caught the
Chocolate Heaven episode by Nigella Lawson.
I sat impressed as I watched her create this amazing
Chocolate Cheesecake. She made it look so easy that I
immediately bookmarked the recipe on my iPhone with
the hope that I would be able follow her directions
and make this marvelous cheesecake.

For the recipe click on this link:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/chocolate-cheesecake-recipe/index.html

I made this Chocolate Cheesecake recipe ( several weeks ago) and was happy to find that it was fairly easy to make. It is really three steps: the graham cracker crust, the chocolate cheesecake filling and the chocolate sauce topping.







This is a great recipe especially if you are a chocolate cheesecake fan!
It turned out great!

Thanksgiving Day

My husband's family came down from Chicago to
spend a few days with us. It was nice to be
surrounded by family for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Of course we made turkey but here are some of the other dishes we served for
Thanksgiving Dinner.

Sweet Potato Casserole with a
cranberry, pecan, brown sugar
crumble on top.



Apple, Cranberry and Fennel Dressing
This is a picture of the good stuff in the Dressing - sorry I forgot to take a picture of the end product.


Cranberry, Pear Chutney




I made a green bean side dish that had shallots, bacon, almonds and balsamic vinegar.

And for dessert we had Pumpkin Pie, Apple Pie and a Chocolate Tart.

Make Ahead Turkey Gravy

The count down begins ~ only 12 days until Thanksgiving!
The "Arduinos" are coming down from Chicago
and I am excited to host Thanksgiving this year.

I am going to do my best to get ahead so that I don't
feel rushed when everyone arrives.

Todays project: Turkey Gravy

I started by browning two large turkey wings in a
Dutch oven with a little oil, salt and pepper.
Then I removed the turkey wings and set them aside.
I quartered 2 medium onions, a few carrots, a few
parsnips and celery. I put them in the Dutch oven
with a little butter and cooked them for about
7 minutes. Then I added a cup of white wine
and stirred all the vegetables and wine together.
Next, I added 4 cups of chicken broth, two sprigs
of fresh rosemary, some fresh sage leaves and
three cloves of garlic. I put the turkey wings
back into the mixture and allowed all the
ingredients to cook on low heat for about 45 minutes.
Pour the ingredients through a strainer keeping only
the liquid. I plan to freeze the gravy so that all
I have to do on Thanksgiving Day is add a little
butter, flour, salt and pepper.




Yeah, the gravy is made. Now I need to decide what I can make next.

Mushroom Lasagna

We took out the pasta machine yesterday ~
It has been a while but we were up for
the challenge of making lasagna noodles.



Just a few weeks ago we were in NY for my
brother's wedding! The reception was at
this excellent restaurant called the
Gramercy Park Tavern. One of the appetizers
they served was this very delicate mushroom
lasagna. It was outstanding and I would love
to taste it again but I don't know when I will
be back NY.

So, I figured if I can't go there and get it
I would try to make my own version of mushroom
lasagna. That is why the pasta machine was put
to use this weekend ~ we had to start with
homemade noodles.

For the filling, I chopped up baby portobello
and shitake mushrooms. I sauted the mushrooms
with some shallots. Then I added white wine
and cooked the mixture for another 5 minutes
until the liquid was absorbed. In a bowl,
I poured this mixture and then added chopped
parsley, grated parmesan cheese
and the white part of one egg.
After everything was combined it was pretty easy
to start layering my lasagna.



Instead of adding pasta sauce in between the layers I added a half
white wine and half chicken broth mixture.

Here is the end result:


The lasagna was excellent, however, it was not the same flavors as
the lasagna we had at the Gramercy Park Tavern. I will have
to do a little research and see if I can find out what type
of mushrooms they use and some of their key ingredients.

Brioche French Toast with Raspberry Puree

We stopped by this little market yesterday to pick up a
few things and I noticed that they were selling
packages of Raspberries for $1.49. What a great deal!
I picked up some for our Sunday morning breakfast.
My husband made Brioche French Toast with Raspberry Puree.




Scrumptious!