Broccoli-Cheddar Soup

Found this recipe in yesterday's Chicago Tribune.  It comes from author Jodi Picoult. I made it for dinner last night and it was very warm and tasty.  Instead of chicken broth I used my homemade vegetable broth that I made using bits of leftover veggies I'd saved in the freezer.

Broccoli-Cheddar Soup

 Ingredients:

3 cups chicken broth
1 onion, chopped
4 cups broccoli, chopped
Dash of garlic powder
1 tsp thyme
2 bay leaves
4 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp flour
½ tsp salt
2 cups milk
2 cups shredded cheddar
Slices of crusty bread

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, mix chicken broth, onion, broccoli, garlic powder, thyme, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 10 minutes, or until vegetables are soft.

2. Remove bay leaves and pour mixture into a food processor. Pulse until smooth, approximately 1 minute. Reserve in a bowl.

3. In the original saucepan, melt butter. Whisk in flour, salt, and a little pepper until a thick paste forms. Add milk and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Add cheddar; stir until it dissolves.

4. Pour in broccoli mixture and cook until blended. If necessary, add more chicken broth to thin. Season with additional salt and pepper. Serve with bread for dipping.

Mary's Caesar Dressing

We all know and love Papa's Caesar Salad, but here is Mom/Mary's easier spin on the favored classic.  She has made it several times to RAVE reviews!!!

For 1 C dressing:

Juice of 3 limes* or 1/3 cup
1 t kosher salt
2/3 C olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 eggs, coddled
fresh ground pepper
dash Worcestershire sauce
1/4 C minced anchovy fillets (in oil, drained)

Combine lime juice and salt to dissolve salt, set aside. Combine oil, garlic, eggs, pepper, Worcestershire and anchovies.  Whisk juice and oil mixtures and alternately add to/toss salad until lettuce is coated. 

Before dressing lettuce, toss freshly grated Parmesan cheese (use best available) throughout leaves. For 10 servings, which dressing recipe will serve, 1 to 1 1/2 C of cheese is sufficient.

*Can use lemon, but lime is used in original Caesar dressing recipe (of Mexican origin!).

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

This recipe comes from Grandma/Nana/Flo/Mom/Mana.  She said it was one of their favorites more than four decades ago. It is delicious and very similar to a coffee cake available at the Corner Bakery.  She said that the wonderful aroma that fills the house as it bakes is tempting her to try it again!

 

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

3/4 cup sugar

11/2 tsp. cinnamon

Combine in a small bowl and set aside

3/4 cup  butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

3 cups all  purpose flour

1 1/2 cup sour cream

3 eggs

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla 

 

Beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, and vanilla, beating well.  Combine dry ingredients and add with sour cream.  Beat well.  Grease 10 inch tube pan spread half of batter in pan. sprinkle with 1/2 of nut mixture . spread evenly with rest of batter and sprinkle with rest of nut mixture.  Bake 60 to 65 minutes at 350 degrees until cake pulls away from side of pan.  Cool completely before removing from pan.

Auntie Mary's Irish Brown Bread

This is Mary McIntyre's authentic Irish brown bread recipe, sent to me a few years ago by her niece Grace Galligan Dunleavy!

Dry ingredients:
1 cup flour
3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 tbsp oat bran

1 tsp wheat germ

1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs sesame seeds

Wet ingredients:
1 egg
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 F
Combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients.
Using a fork, slowly combine wet and dry ingredients.
Pour into circular cake pan or deep rectangular pan (brown bread is only sold in these shapes in Irish grocery stores!).
Make an X across the top of the batter and sprinkle with more sesame seeds.
Bake until toothpick comes out clean, around 50 minutes.

Amazing accompaniment to tea. Goes great with jam, butter, ham, or cheese. Slainte!

Alexis Strathmann's Corn Casserole

We all know and love Aunt Margie's Corn Casserole, but I thought I would post another one from our friend and almost-sister Alexis.  She made it on Saturday for Meghan's 30th Birthday Celebration and it was delicious along with pico from Caitie, guacamole from Maureen and tacos from Colleen.

To the below recipe, Alexis added onions, red, yellow and orange peppers, sharp white cheddar, and green chilies, but you could really add anything you want.

1 package frozen whole kernel corn
1 can creamed corn
1 box Jiffy Corn Muffin mix
3/4 cup melted butter
2 beaten eggs
2 tbsp sugar
1 cup sour cream

Combine all ingredients together in a bowl and mix together.

Grease a 9 x 9 baking dish (Alexis has used 8 x 8 and a bread loaf pan and both were fine) and pour in mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. It should start to brown on top when its about ready.

Fish “Psari” Plaki

My Greek friend who shared her Greek roast chicken with us recently passed this fish recipe along. I can't wait to try it out!

Kristy Vahaviolos Kyriakopoulos' Fish “Psari” Plaki

1 large can of whole peeled tomatoes, cut roughly

1 large white onion, cut in long slices

½ cup dry red wine

¼ - ½ cup olive oil

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 teaspoon Oregano

2-3 lbs of a white flaky fish like flounder, cod or tilapia

 

Preheat oven to 375°.  In a Dutch oven, add roughly cut peeled tomatoes (I just take cooking scissors and chop them up roughly in the can), onion, wine, olive oil and seasoning and cook for 1 ½ hours, stirring every 20 minutes or so.  Add fish and cover with tomato mixture.  Cook for 20-30 minutes depending on how thick the fish is. Also, I often use frozen fish (like the kind at Whole Foods) and you can pop the frozen fish fillets in with no need to defrost and it still comes out fabu!  Serve with rice and/or some hunks of country bread and feta on the side.

Variation: Add small potatoes and a small bunch of parsley in the beginning

Greek Roast Chicken

My friend Kristy is Greek-American, and she is married to a man from Greece. I made a roasted Greek chicken for dinner the other night, and so I asked her for her recipe. Here it is!

Kristy Vahaviolos Kyriskopoulos' Greek Chicken

Whole Chicken
6-8 whole cloves of garlic
oregano
salt & pepper
1 lemon
4-5 potatoes
olive oil

Clean and rinse chicken then place it in a large roasting pan. Peel, cut and slice (lengthwise, creating long moon-shaped slivers4-6 slivers appx per potato) potatoes and add to pan. Clean garlic cloves and throw them in pan. Lightly dust whole chicken and potatoes with oregano...depending on how big the chicken is, that's how much oregano...a light dusting, you don't want the whole chicken completely covered in oregano, but well dusted. Season with salt and pepper (kosher salt is best if you have). Squeeze whole lemon over chicken and potatoes and then drizzle, quite heartily, with olive oil. I probably use 1/4 cup in the end. If you don't, it won't be as Greek tasting...don't ask how or why, but if your chicken and potatoes are well coated with oil, the chicken will have crispy, deliciously seasoned skin and will be slightly browned, and the potatoes will be well cooked but not falling apart, with the edges softly cruchy (seems oxymornic, but get it right and you will see what I mean)! I put it all in a 375 oven for almost 2 hours, turning potatoes every 30 minutes or so and swishing around the pan juices too (no need to baste). Then I serve the chicken and potatoes with a hunk of peasant bread, a sliver of feta and a glass of red wine (yes, this hearty dish seems to go well with red...try it!)...and if you close your eyes, you think you are in Greece!