CSA Pickup Week Chicken Soup

I started the day thinking I would just be making my normal chicken soup with carrots and barley or pasta. I had and still have a good supply of carrots but then I thought it didn't make much sense to have all these other wonderful vegetables on hand and just use carrots. When I make soup, I don't mess around. I usually make a soup big enough for those who like stuff and those who like broth to have dinner and leftovers for lunch.

For the broth:
In a stock pot, cover with water: a whole chicken, a peeled onion or two, 3 big peeled carrots, the center of your celery (you know the leafy part in the middle that you aren't going to eat) or 2-3 ribs with leaves, 2 big cloves peeled garlic, 10 peppercorns, 3-4 bay leaves, a tbsp salt, and a Parmesan rind, if you have one.

Start it on low, and gradually turn it up over the first hour to a simmer. Simmer for 2-3 hours or until your chicken is almost falling apart. Remove chicken and strain, discarding all the broth flavorings. Set aside the chicken for de-boning.

Soup:
You can add any vegetables you like, you can even sautee them in a little butter first, but be sure to add them incrementally according to how fast they cook. Carrots, potatoes, root vegetables, first. They usually take 20-30 minutes longer than other vegetables to cook.

Here is my soup in order of things added, everything cut into a medium dice: Carrots, Swiss chard, including stems--cooked 25 minutes, 2 summer squash, a can of diced tomatoes, a medium onion sauteed in butter along with 2 cloves of garlic (minced), and in the last ten minutes I added some frozen green beans that I had on hand, some dried thyme from my share, 1/2 cup Israeli cous-cous and the deboned meat from the chicken. I adjusted my seasonings with salt, pepper, and some balsamic vinegar at the very end.

Cilantro, Greens, and Chicken Noodle Bowls

This is another quick dinner. Soup or salad is a perfect way to use greenhouse greens. I also added other vegetables that I had in the fridge. You can use a rotisserie chicken and boxed broth or you can make your own stock and shred the chicken, reserving whatever stock you don't need for another day.

Cilantro, Greens, and Chicken Noodle Bowls
1 whole chicken, de-boned and roughly, shredded
1 gallon stock or broth
1/2 cup carrots, sliced
1 tbsp diced ginger or 1/2 tsp ginger powder
2 cups joi choi
1 cup tatsoi
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
3-4 large mushrooms sliced
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
3-5 tbsp tamari
1 lime
2 bunches green onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, sliced thin
2 packages ramen noodles, seasonings thrown in trash

Everything, except lime, tamari, noodles and green onions goes into a large pot until greens are wilted. Season with tamari and lime to taste. Once pot is just to a boil, add noodles and green onions. Turn off heat, serve when noodles are soft.

I love Sriracha--others in my family, not so much, so I add it at the table.

In a Hurry Chicken, Tatsoi, and Noodle Bowl

In a Hurry Chicken, Tatsoi, and Noodle Bowl:
2 chicken breasts, sliced thin
handful tatsoi
handful joi choi
2-3 tbsp tamari
2 tbsp chives, chopped
2 tbsp ginger, minced
4 cups chicken stock
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp olive oil
1 package ramen noodles, seasoning packet in trash

Brown chicken in pot with olive oil and ginger, 4-5 minutes. Add broth, tamari and sesame oil. Bring just to a boil, add greens and simmer. When greens are wilted, add noodles, chives and remove from heat. Serve with Sriracha for the adventurous.

Big Mouth Beef, Carrot, and Potato Stew

The potatoes and carrots in this dish are storage crops from our CSA and I really just wanted to make something to use them up before they began turning back into plants with leaves again. I bought the beef already cut up, labeled as stew meat, at Costco so I decided to keep everything else roughly the same size. Soup bones are getting harder to find and my storage space is pretty limited for freezing broth. I do make my own broth! Really! But... I also keep a lot of chicken stock in my pantry. Some people, like the three people who are going to read this, may wonder why I use chicken stock instead of beef. There are several issues with beef stock, and what is legally allowed to be called beef stock. You can find a good introduction here. I just fill up my pot with what I need to use up and go from there.

Big Mouth Beef, Carrot and Potato Stew:
Lard or rendered saved fat of your choice (Yes, you can use olive oil, too)
2-3 lbs stew meat
carrots, peeled and cut in half (10-20 small-medium carrots)
potatoes, quartered (8-12 small-medium)
onion, quartered
2 cloves garlic, sliced
4-6 cups chicken stock or broth
2-3 pieces Parmesan rinds
salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar

Brown meat with fat in pot. After meat is browned, add carrots, onions, rinds, broth and garlic. Cook over medium heat until carrots are slightly softened, add potatoes, cook until potatoes are done, seasoning to taste with salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar. I usually use about 2 tbsp. balsamic, I like that it adds a bit of acid to the dish.

Pasta e Fagioli

Wednesdays are pretty hectic for me, and I had to do some grocery shopping to compliment my upcoming Italian-themed Easter menu. I still need to go back to the store, at least twice. I was looking for some Italian items that our store didn't have, and in the midst of my grocery store wandering, I decided to make pasta e fagioli for dinner tonight. I had never made it before but it is a quick, meatless meal if you are looking for one. It is the perfect pantry meal and I'm out of homemade vegetable broth, plus the canned tomatoes are too precious. However, the carrots from my CSA are in this dish!

Ingredients:
1 medium carrot  finely chopped
1 rib celery finely chopped
1 small-medium sweet onion, finely chopped
2 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1c datalini
2 bay leaves
2-3 sprigs fresh herbs (I used rosemary and thyme but I bet basil and oregano would be good, too)
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 quart broth (I used Pacific Vegetable, feel free to use anything you like)
1 16 oz. can tomato sauce (you could use cooked down canned tomatoes, run through a food mill)
2-3 pieces of Parmesan rind
salt
pepper
olive oil

In a pot, heat olive oil, add carrots, celery and onion, cooking on medium until onion is translucent stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper. Add garlic and cook for about a minute. Add broth, tomato sauce, herbs and Parmesan rind, bringing to a boil for about 4-5 minutes. Add datalini. Reduce heat when datalini is about half way to al dente and add beans and bring to a boil again, stirring frequently, about 2 minutes. You can use water to thin it, but I purposely wanted mine thick. Shut off burner, adjust seasonings and allow to cool. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

Personally, I could have done without the carrot, or  used grated carrot and maybe added in a 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan at the end.

Vegetarian Potato and Celeriac Soup

This can be made with any kind of broth, I just happened to use vegetable broth. It was made with the contents of my March 19th CSA share. It is a great way to use celeriac, especially if you are not sure what to do with it. I don't think many people can tell the difference between celeriac and potato when they are both in a soup, but if it is good, who cares, right?  We also ate the spicy baby greens from the share with the leftover Strawberry Poppy dressing, goat cheese, cranberries, apples and slivered almonds.

Ingredients:
1/2 large onion, diced
3 tbsp butter
1 celery root (celeriac) peeled and diced
4-6 medium potatoes, peel and cubed
4 cups broth or stock
1/2 c cream or half and half
salt, pepper, and thyme to taste

Add butter and onion to pot and cook on medium heat until onions begin to slightly brown. Add celeriac, cooking with onions for about 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add about 1 cup stock or broth and allow it to come just to a boil, add potatoes. Make sure it is barely boiling, add the rest of the stock and bring it to a simmer. Cover, reducing heat if necessary. When potatoes are soft and celeriac cooked, add cream and seasonings to taste.