Sunchoke Soup

Sunchokes can vary in color from pale brown to white, red or
purple (this is the first time I've had ones that weren't white)

Sunchoke - what is a sunchoke?  Would it help if I told you it was the same thing as a Jerusalem artichoke?  No?  I didn't really think so.

They ARE the same thing but if you've never heard of one you've likely never heard of the other. They are actually a root vegetable or tuber that are native to North America and were cultivated by Native Americans long before the Europeans arrived here. They come from a plant that looks very similar (and is related) to the sunflowers we're all used to seeing - and no, even though they're also called a Jerusalem artichoke they aren't from Jerusalem nor are they related to an artichoke.

Now that that's out of the way, what DO they taste like? Well, they LOOK kind of like a knobby pink-skinned ginger root and have a sweet, nutty flavor, reminiscent of water chestnut, though MUCH better than a water chestnut. Oh, and they make one of the best soups I've ever had, there's that part, too.

I first heard of them about ten years ago when one of our local stores used to sell a lot of Melissa's brand products. They had these little bags of them sitting there and I saw them and couldn't figure out what they were. I read the label and decided I had to try them. That started my love affair. When the store stopped carrying them, I went for several years without seeing them. Then about three years ago I ran across them again at a farmer's market in Millerton, NY and have gone back every fall since just to pick up more. I found them again at the winter farmer's market in Coventry about a month ago and this past weekend found them at the farmer's market up in Northampton (if you couldn't tell, we like going to farmer's markets!). I even bought ten pounds last year from a guy on eBay up in Oregon! I guess I'm trying to say that though they're not EASY to find, it's easier than it used to be - and it's well worth the time!

Now, on to the recipe.


Ingredients

Peeled sunchokes

• 3 shallots - peeled and chopped (or if you're out of shallots like I was this time, try using a large onion instead)
• 3 cloves - roasted garlic chopped 
• 2 ribs celery - medium dice 
• 2 pounds sunflower chokes - peeled and medium diced (just like potatoes, you do NOT have to peel sunchokes as long as they are scrubbed well so if you prefer not to peel them, by all means, don't)
• 1 quart chicken stock 
• 1 pint heavy cream 

  

  Ingredients ready to go in the pan

• 1 tbsp thyme - chopped (fresh is best but if you don't have it on hand, dried will work just fine)
• 1 tsp salt 
• 1 tsp black pepper 
• 2 tsp canola oil
  
  

  

  Diced sunchokes - they actually look a lot like potatoes at this point

Directions

1. In a saucepot add oil and shallots (or onions), garlic, and celery and sauté for 2 minutes
2. Add sunchokes and sauté for 3 minutes

   

   Sunchokes, celery, shallots and garlic being sautéed

3. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil

   

   With added chicken stock

4. Reduce to a simmer for about 30 minutes or until sunchokes are soft 
5. Add fresh thyme and blend with a hand blender until completely smooth (alternately, you can pour a small amount at a time into a blender and puree there, repeating as necessary until it's completely blended) 

   

   Using a hand blender to puree the soup

6. On low heat, blend in heavy cream and return to a boil

   

   Add the cream and blend

7. Season with salt and pepper and serve (add more to taste as needed - and if you use homemade chicken stock like I do you will probably need additional salt)
8. Serve hot and enjoy!
   
   

   

   
   

French Onion Soup (Pressure Cooker Version)

What's for dinner?  French onion soup and a grilled cheese sandwich.  Comfort food!

I've been watching the weather, which I think is something that people are prone to do this time of year here in New England, and I knew that we had yet another snowstorm on the way. That, plus my wife bugging me to do it, made me decide to make a batch of french onion soup.

I'd already made the beef stock earlier in the week so we both knew I'd be making the soup soon but the bad weather sealed it. Since both my wife and son are home today because school was cancelled, that gives me someone to share it with and having a nice hot soup to eat seems to make the storm somehow not QUITE as bad (though I'd take no soup and 70 degree weather anytime).

My wife had also shared the fact that I would be making french onion soup on her blog and that led to requests that I post the recipe, which is why I'm typing this now.

I haven't posted any recipes using the pressure cooker before so I hesitated to post this one but the requests she received made me change my mind. Until a couple of years ago I had never used a pressure cooker myself - but decided I wanted to try it. I received mine as a gift (thanks to my wonderful in-laws!) and it's one of the most useful gifts I've ever had. I typically make some form of stock (usually chicken) at least twice a month. I use it (the stock) in many recipes and if you've ever made chicken soup with homemade stock, you'll never go back to the store bought kind again. It's also invaluable if you like making beans of any kind - the cooking time is cut in half (at least!) which frees up time for doing other things.

In short, if you've never used a pressure cooker, it's a worthwhile investment to make. They're huge time savers, not expensive, and if your concern is safety (who hasn't heard stories about one blowing up and leaving a mess everywhere?), the ones made today are very safe. If you have concerns about that, here is an article you can read all about how safe the newer generation of pressure cookers are.

So, enough about pressure cookers and on to the recipe! The majority of the steps in this recipe are NOT done using the pressure cooker, but since it is used in one of the steps, I'll tell you exactly when you need to put the lid on and seal it - otherwise, the "pan" I refer to is the pressure cooker pan, however it's NOT being used as a pressure cooker unless I mention otherwise.  Because of this, if you don't own a pressure cooker or prefer not to use one, in the one section I'll point out, you could simply cook the mixture NOT under pressure for a longer period of time to achieve the same results.

Sliced onion - this is the amount you should have from about five large onions

If you have a mandoline, it will 

make slicing the onions MUCH

easier. You want them as thin as

possible to cut down on cooking

time which makes it an ideal task

for a mandoline.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp butter

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 5 cups yellow onions, thinly sliced (about five large onions)
• 1 tsp salt
 
• 1 tsp sugar 
• 1⁄2 cup of dry white wine

• 8 cups beef stock 
• 4 tbsp butter (for roux)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 
12 French bread slices – about 3/4” thick, sprayed with olive oil and toasted
. You may want more depending upon how many you like in your soup (or you can use croutons, if you prefer)
• 
Swiss or gruyere cheese - you want enough slices to cover the bowls of soup later, so the amount depends on how many bowls you'll be having. You can also use either slices or shredded (or if you have a block as I did, you can use a vegetable peeler to slice thinly)

 Directions

1. Preheat the pressure cooker on medium-low heat, then add the butter, oil and onions

   

   Onions in the pan and ready to cook

2. Soften the onions, stirring occasionally in the pan covered with a normal lid or pressure cooker lid (NOT sealed) until the onions become translucent (about 15 minutes)

   

   Softened onions ready to start browning

3. Turn the heat to low, remove the lid and add the salt and sugar and stir frequently until the onions have turned a uniform brown (about 20 to 25 minutes)
4. While doing this (or before if you prefer and simply set aside): in a small, separate pan make the roux by adding the butter and flour and stirring on medium heat until all of the butter has melted and the flour has been fully incorporated. Continue stirring occasionally and watching carefully until it turns a tan color. Turn off the heat and set aside
   
   

   

   Making the roux

5. Pour the white wine into the pan with the onions to deglaze them. Cook while stirring until the liquid has evaporated, then add the beef stock (if you can use homemade stock, the flavor will be much richer, however store bought will work just fine)

   

   Browned onions with the wine added and reduced

6. CLOSE AND LOCK THE PRESSURE COOKER. Turn the heat to high until the pressure cooker has reached HIGH pressure. Turn down the heat and let cook for five minutes (under pressure). When time is up, turn off the heat and either let cool or help it along by putting under running cold water until it's cool enough to open (at this point, I tend to help it along by putting under the running water because the smell is so wonderful I want to eat it sooner rather than later). This is the ONLY step actually using the pressure cooker - so if you prefer NOT to use one, you can simply let it simmer for about an hour instead to achieve the same results.

   

   After removing the lid of the pressure cooker

7. Taste and adjust for salt and pepper seasoning (if you used homemade stock, then you will most likely need to add additional salt) then take a ladle of soup and pour it into the pan where you made the roux (the flour and butter mixture)
8. Whisk together the roux and the soup you just added to it 

   

   The roux and soup mixture before adding to the pan

9. Pour the roux/soup mixture into the pressure cooker pan, on medium heat WITHOUT the lid and simmer together for a few minutes
10. Turn off the heat and pour the soup in bowls
11. Place the toasted french bread slices (or croutons) on top of the soup then put the slices of cheese (or grated cheese) on top of the bread

    

    Adding the bread to the soup. This was actually a leftover homemade
    baguette, sliced, painted with olive oil and added herbs, then toasted.

12. Place bowls on a cookie sheet and put it under the broiler (on low if you can control the broiler temperature) for approximately three minutes or until the cheese has melted and is bubbly

    

    Slices of swiss cheese added on top of the toasted bread

    

    Straight out of the oven

13. Remove from the oven and enjoy!! (be careful, the soup will be VERY hot!)

Pumpkin Soup

Incredibly yummy pumpkin soup topped with sour cream and chives

Maybe I've simply led a sheltered life, but until a few years ago I had never eaten anything made with pumpkins other than pumpkin pie (unless you count the Dunkin' Donuts inundation we get at a certain time of year with all of their muffins and donuts).

I had no clue exactly how versatile the pumpkin is - nor did I realize that in certain parts of Italy, the pumpkin is a staple in cooking and has been for centuries. I learned all of these things when I bought a cookbook a few years ago that has hundreds of recipes for using pumpkin. Who'd a thunk it? Pumpkin, this staple of pies in thousands (if not millions) of households every Thanksgiving, ALSO in hundreds of different recipes? I certainly never would have realized it!

One of those hundreds of things I hadn't tried until recently was pumpkin soup. Pumpkin and butternut squash can be used interchangeably and I have certainly made many different versions with butternut squash but for some reason I simply hadn't tried it with pumpkin.

I've since remedied that! Unfortunately, at this time of year here in New England, I had to settle for canned pumpkin (I much prefer roasting and pureeing a whole pumpkin myself but that's difficult to do when there are none to be had!). Even with canned pumpkin, it was still a hit even with my 17 year old that swears he hates pumpkin (he had two bowls!).

If you try it, let me know what you think in the comments.

Prepping the ingredients - I made a double batch
since it was going with us to a dinner party

Ingredients: 

• 1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
• 1 cup chopped onion (approx. 1 medium onion)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced 
• 2 tsp mild curry (I use the Penzey's Sweet Curry exclusively - other curries can be WAY too hot for my wimpy palate)
• 1 tsp salt (use more or less to taste) 
• 1/2 tsp coriander 
• 1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper 
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground dried rosemary
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• dash nutmeg  
• 3 cups chicken broth 
• 15 oz. can pumpkin 
• 1 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup light cream or half and half 
• sour cream and chives for garnish 

Stirring in the spices after sautéing the onions and garlic

Method: 

1. Melt the butter in a large, heavy bottomed pan
2. Sauté the onion until soft (about two to three minutes)
3. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant (about 30 seconds to one minute) 
4. Add curry, coriander, salt, black pepper, rosemary, cinnamon and nutmeg and cook for one minute to toast the spices
5. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil

   

   Stirring the chicken stock into the onion/garlic mixture

6. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for 20 minutes 
7. Stir in the pumpkin, cream, applesauce and sugar. Bring back to a simmer and cook for an additional five minutes 

   

   Stir in the pumpkin, cream, applesauce and sugar

8. Either use a stick blender and blend well in the pan or allow to cool for ten minutes or so and pour into a blender in small batches and blend until creamy. Combine all batches from blender and stir well

   

   Using a stick blender to combine all the ingredients until smooth

9. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and chopped chives

   

   Ready to eat!

White Chicken Chili

White chicken chili served over rice, with a side of homemade cornbread.
As Alton Brown (my culinary hero) might say, "That's good eats!"

We had chili quite a bit when I was growing up - but never with chicken. It was always the red chili with plenty of beans and hamburger. I still love it that way but as I've gotten older I've also gained an appreciation for that other kind of chili - white chicken chili.

My wife is a sometime vegetarian but even she'll eat this - and my son much prefers it to a red chili. I'm not certain I could honestly say that I PREFER the white over the red, but suffice it to say I'm a fan of both and for some reason the chicken version at least SEEMS a bit healthier (which could very well be all in my mind).

So, here is how I make mine. Keep in mind that all of the spices can (and should) be adjusted to suit your tastes. We are not fans of hot and spicy chili (or hot and spicy anything else for that matter) in our house but I have plenty of friends that believe the hotter the better in the food department. Because of that, I'm aware that this recipe even more than many of my others needs to be adjusted to allow for the taste preferences of your household.

Likewise, I use homemade chicken broth and beans that I've soaked and cooked myself rather than from a can. Feel free to use canned broth and beans if that's what you prefer or have time for!

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked chicken (Use more or less depending upon how much chicken you want in the recipe as opposed to beans. I used leftover chicken from a whole chicken I had cooked earlier in the week. If you buy rotisserie chicken from the store, this is a good way to use any leftovers. You can also bake, roast or poach chicken specifically for this purpose if you want. If you poach it, use the leftover liquid in place of the chicken broth further down in this list.)
• 1 tbsp olive oil (garlic infused if available, plain is fine if not)
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 whole cans green chilies, chopped
• 1 pound navy beans, soaked per directions on the bag - OR - 2 (14.5-ounce) cans white beans
• 8 cups chicken broth (4 cups if using canned beans or precooked beans)
• 1 whole roasted jalapeño or 1 whole chipotle, sliced (the best directions I've seen for roasting your own peppers are here - and if you're a wimp like all of us here in our household remember to remove the seeds)
• 2 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• salt and pepper to taste

Optional ingredients

• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 tbsp cornmeal
• grated cheddar cheese, to taste
• sour cream for garnish

Directions

Sautéing onions and garlic

1. Pour the olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan on medium heat
2. Add onions and cook until just turning translucent (about two or three minutes)
3. Add garlic and chopped chilies and cook until fragrant (about a minute)
4. Add the cumin, coriander, chili powder and paprika and cook for another minute to toast the spices
5. Add the chicken stock and beans and bring to a simmer
6. If using uncooked beans, cook for two hours or until the beans are tender (if you are using canned beans, cook for about twenty minutes until heated through)
7. Stir in the chicken and roasted jalapeño
8. Add the cornmeal to the cup of milk and stir well (this step and the next are optional - I like the flavor and texture it adds to the chili. It thickens it at the same time. If you don't like cornmeal or if your chili is thick enough feel free to skip both)
9. Pour the cornmeal mixture into the chili and stir well (optional - along with previous step)
10. Serve chili in a bowl topped with cheddar cheese (or your choice of cheese) and sour cream. If you have cilantro on hand, maybe a slice of lime or some tortilla chips and salsa it would also make an excellent finish!

My wife loves her chili served over white rice. I had never heard of it before but I have since seen it served that way in a few restaurants as well. Now, we always have it that way and I have to admit it makes it even better!