Bean & Spinach Turkey Soup

Life is like a ten speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use. – Charles M. Schultz

Pot 'o goodness.

Did you have a hangover after the holidays? I did, but it wasn't from booze. Mine was leftovers. You know, the ones that seem to hang around far longer after a holiday than one would want...

So what causes the worst holiday hangover? The Bird. The 50 pounder we all feel compelled to roast. There it sits – glaring at you from the refrigerator every time you open the door.

This recipe helps deal with some of that meat you rightly didn't want to waste. It dispatches 3 cups of the beast from your icebox.

If you’re sick of making turkey noodle (or rice) soup with some of those leftovers, try this slightly different recipe. It’s chock full of healthy things and it doesn’t require a lot of additional purchases. Spinach might be one, which isn’t really much to purchase at all.

Everything else you most likely have already sitting in your cupboard. I know I did, and my pantry is getting a bit thin. I used black beans because that is what I had. You could also use Romano or even kidney beans.

This recipe even uses up a little of the excess dried bread you bought for making stuffing. What recipe helps you use up that? The reason it is used is to add some “body” to the soup liquid. Otherwise soups can be a little “watery” in mouth-feel.

The result of your very minimal effort is a very fast dinner that is very filling and satisfying. And you’re in and out of the kitchen in 20 minutes. That’s no lie. It’s hard to believe but true.

So if you still have some turkey in your fridge or freezer (I bet you do...), break it out and get rid of it. It's certainly no chore to have to eat this!

Bean & Spinach Turkey Soup

Prep: 5 min  |  Ready in 20 min  |  Serves 4-6

1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion

2-3 garlic cloves, chopped

28 fl. oz. can diced tomatoes, with their liquid

28 fl. oz. chicken stock (use the tomato can to measure)

19 fl. oz. can black beans, rinsed

3 cups pre-cooked turkey, chopped

3-4 cups spinach, chopped

1/4 cup dried bread crumbs

1/3 cup grated parmesan

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried chilli flakes

salt* and pepper, to taste

Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for about 3 minutes until they start to become translucent. While they soften, chop the turkey and set aside.

Add the tomatoes, chicken stock, beans, turkey and spinach. Bring to a gentle boil and let cook for 5 minutes.

While the soup simmers, process some dried bread into fine crumbs in a food processor. Add the bread crumbs, parmesan, oregano, chilli and black pepper. Let cook for a couple minutes more. Then taste for salt and adjust.

Serve with a little grated parmesan at the table.

* Taste for salt at the end. The chicken stock and parmesan already carry a lot of salt.

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Crusty “Artisan” Loaves

I am an artist you know ... it is my right to be odd. – E.A. Bucchianeri

I had a difficult time with this bread. Not making it, but naming it. I usually consider any bread that doesn’t come pre-sliced in a bag from the store as somewhat artisan. But there are different definitions for what the word means.

For example, these answers are both from Answers.com. They sort of sum up the two ideas.

Before first rise.

1. Artisan food is food produced by non-industrialized methods, often handed down through generations. Tastes and processes like fermentation are allowed to develop slowly and naturally rather than curtailed for mass-production. Artisan producers are aware of the source of their raw materials and are also aware of the different local conditions which have given rise to particular regional specialties. Artisan production methods involve more simple yet practiced skills.

2. Artisan food is made specifically for aesthetic or beauty purposes with emphasis on presentation and display as well as the various disciplines of cooking like bakery, butchery, pickling among others.

Let’s call them hardcore and soft core. Both answers get to the heart of doing whatever you’re doing for the love of it. Hardcore extends back through the whole process. Soft core is because you want to make something that’s pretty or unusual.

After first rise.

I almost called this “artsy” bread. But artisan sounds so much nicer.

I wanted to make bread (tomorrow is Easter Sunday) that had a delicious flavour, crusty exterior and unusual shape. That’s where the artsy part comes in to play. Anyone can make a double domed loaf, but something weird? That takes some doing.

To accomplish this when I shaped the bread I stopped before making into a tight, round ball. The shaping was sort of based on a pughliese shaping technique. But not seeing it the whole way through allowed the bread to change shape as it rose.

The result, sone very weird, artsy and artisan loaves. Perfect for a celebratory table. You need bread for tomorrow. Make this recipe.

Just make sure everyone knows the shape is on purpose!

This is the blow-apart I write about.

Crusty Artisan Loaves

Prep: 15 min  |  Rise 3.5 hr  |  Bake: 35 min

2 cups water

2 tbsp brown sugar (or white)

1 tbsp yeast

1-1/2 tsp salt

4 cups unbleached flour

1 tbsp olive oil

Heat the water to 110-115°F. Any more has the chance of killing the yeast.

Place the water, brown sugar and yeast in a large bowl. Proof the yeast until creamy and bubbly – between 10-15 minutes.

Once the yeast has “proofed” add the flour and salt. Bring together in the bowl, then transfer to the counter and knead for 5 minutes. The dough will still be moist, but not sticky.

Oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, turn it to oil the top and then let rise in a warm place until doubled. This will take about 2 hours. After the 2 hours, punch the dough down and knead briefly on the counter. Then divide in two.

Shape each piece into a sort of triangle. Roll the dough up into a log by starting at the wide side and rolling to the triangle tip. Then take the ends of the log and cup underneath to shape into a roundish loaf. 

Don’t make it completely tight and round. Leave it loose enough so it will open up when it rises again. (This gives you your “artsy” shape.) Place on parchment on a sheet pan. Let rise for an additional 1.5 hours or until doubled.

Preheat the oven to 450°F with a pan of water on the bottom rack. Just before placing the loaves in the oven dust with flour.

Bake the loaves for 35 minutes, removing the water pan after the first 10 minutes.

Let the loaves cool on a rack. As they cool, the crust will tighten and crack in a most pleasant and attractive way. Almost artsy, one might say!

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Deliciously different pesto

It is thrifty to prepare today for the wants of tomorrow. – Aesop

I made 1/2 a recipe because there was only two of us.

I’ll be glad when I can start relying on the garden as opposed to the grocery store for dinners. It hasn’t been put in yet, but the weather is definitely turning, so soon the seeds will be in the ground.

It’s pretty easy to get sticker shock when you go to buy vegetables at the the grocery store. Big sticker shock.

But if you’re clever you can still find a deal or two. I “bought cheap” at the grocery store on Sunday, and now have to deal with my purchase. The purchase was a bunch of cilantro. I believe it was $1.29. Pretty cheap.

So what can you do with so much cilantro? I usually think of making Thai food, but that uses a few tablespoons at most. So there’s lots left to deal with, but how? Pesto. Cilantro is quite common as an ingredient in pesto, usually paired with walnuts instead of pine nuts. 

It’s essentially just a substitution of two ingredients in regular basil pesto. If you have a favourite recipe just substitute the cilantro for the basil, and walnuts for the pine nuts. But now I have to deal with a bunch of pesto. Alas, first world problems.

I found a reference online about stuffing chicken breasts with pesto so I thought the same could be done with thighs. Why not? The recipe was simplicity itself, just the chicken, pesto and some salt and pepper. 

I believe this would be stunning rubbed between the skin and meat of a turkey if anyone is thinking of roasting one for Easter. Hint, hint...

I served this dish with a variation on one of my all-time favourite Italian recipes: pasta with pesto, green beans and potatoes. If you’ve never tried that combination before you have no idea what you’re missing. It’s a well-worn page in my copy of Marcella Hazan’s “Classics of Italian Cooking” recipe book.

I had no green beans so substituted Romano beans and the cilantro pesto for the basil variety. You have to only cook the potatoes until “al dente.” Still a little crisp. Heat the beans in the same water with the potatoes for the last 3-4 minutes of cooking time. It's always good to not dirty a pot.

Cilantro Walnut Pesto

Time: 10 min  | Yield: about 1-1/2 cups

1/2 cup walnuts, toasted if you wish

3 cups chopped cilantro

6 garlic cloves

1/2 cup parmesan

1/2 tsp salt

about 1/2 cups olive oil

Combine all the ingredients except for the olive oil in a food processor and purée. With the motor running pour in enough olive oil to make a loose mass. By that I mean it moves fairly easily around the bowl.

Remove to a covered dish and refrigerate until ready to use.

Cilantro Walnut Pesto Chicken

Prep: 5 min  |  Cook: 40 min  |  Serves 4

8 chicken thighs, skin on and bone in

8 heaping tsp pesto

salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Loosen the skin on each chicken thigh. Place 1 tsp of pesto between the skin and meat and smooth it around so it covers the inner surface. Season each thigh with salt and pepper.

Place the thighs bone-side down in a hot dry sauté pan and let brown until the release easily. Chicken fat will render out while it fries. There is no need to add oil.

Turn and repeat on the pesto side, taking care not to break the skin free of the thigh. The chicken will release when it’s ready.

Place the thighs in an oven-proof baking dish and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Serve with the potato bean side dish described above.

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Salsa Chicken

Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires. – Lao Tzu

Yesterday I did something I haven’t done since last fall. I was outside doing some work without feeling the need to rush inside to keep warm. Yes, it seems that spring has finally “sprung” in Nova Scotia.

We actually have 2 crocuses in bloom in one of our beds by the road. We used to have several very early ones that bloomed tight against the warm foundation of the house. But digging to put in the well line last year seems to have killed them. They were there since I was a very small child. A bit sad...

Simpel, fast & ready for the oven.

But life must go on, and the march of time stops its progress for no one. Before you know it we’ll be dining al fresco, and thoughts of this last loooooong winter will be but dust in our memories.

So you need to be prepared, right? That’s what this recipe is: something that you can assemble with no fuss, stick in the oven and then head back outside onto your deck.

It doesn’t hurt that this uses a jar of salsa to impart all kinds of Latin (“summer”) flavours. That means you don’t have to assemble a lot of different spices to get the effect.

This recipe deals with one of the dreaded leftovers of the kitchen - fresh cilantro. Use a very ripe avocado, often marked down for quick sale. Don’t use a hard one. They don’t have the same buttery consistency.

This recipe bakes covered for an hour, and then 1/2 hour uncovered. In that time the acidity of the salsa makes the chicken fork tender. It literally can be cut with just your fork.

So as our thoughts start to dream of warm weekends and drinks with friends on the deck, it’s time to think of recipes full of summer flavours that don’t take a lot of work. Cooking smart means you can spend more time enjoying your friends rather than trapped in the kitchen.

The avocado sauce is a must, and a revelation. I bet you’ll find many other uses for it over the coming summer. I'm thinking pork for sure, and maybe even on burgers. Just wait until you taste it!

Salsa Chicken

Prep: 10 min  |  Bake 1.5 hrs  |  Serves 4

8 chicken thighs, bone in and skin on

500 ml can chunky salsa (your choice)

1/2 tsp ground cumin, optional

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cracked black pepper

2 limes

Avocado sauce

1 avocado, very ripe

1 cup cilantro, chopped

3 garlic

2 tbsp lime juice

salt, to taste

vegetable oil, see recipe

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Place the chicken in an oven-proof non-metallic baking dish. Sprinkle with coriander (if using), salt and pepper. Pour the salsa over the chicken. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour.

After the hour, increase the heat to 425°F, uncover the chicken and bake for another 30 minutes. If you wish, you can run the chicken under the broiler for a couple minutes to brown even further.

About 15 minutes before the chicken is finished, make the avocado sauce. Place the avocado, cilantro, garlic, lime and salt in a blender. Use one of the limes listed in the ingredients. Pulse until well broken up. 

Then, with the motor running and the pour top open, slowly add in just enough vegetable oil to make a sauce. Don’t use too much or the sauce will get oily. Just so it looks like a dipping sauce.

Serve the salsa chicken on rice, with a good dollop of the avocado sauce on top and a wedge of lime on the side.

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Crispy Italian Portobellos with Pasta

The husband who decides to surprise his wife is often very much surprised himself. – Voltaire

You have to admit, these look pretty tasty.

There’s surprises, and then there’s “surprises.” Some welcomed, some not so much... 

This falls into the first category. Who would think that you could make a delicious dinner with a few mushroom caps, a couple eggs, some bread crumbs and a little cheese?

My spouse and I attended a fundraiser for a client of mine on the weekend, Ross Creek Centre for the Arts in Canning. For the past three years I have designed the posters for Two Planks & A Passion Theatre as pro bono work.

The night consisted of an auction and dinner served by a Valley caterer. Part of the dinner were breaded portobello mushroom caps. They were pretty darn good. Almost as good as the shrimp...almost.

Since I’m shameless for stealing (I mean “adapting”) ideas from anywhere and everywhere I decided to try to replicate them at home. It seemed like an easy enough task. Some jacked-up bread crumbs, bound breading, etc...

The recipe calls for four caps for two, but I was eating alone so
I made three. Don't shame me... I'm a gourmand and admit it.

And it was. Actually I believe, breaking my arm patting myself on the back, mine were better. They turned out deliciously with a nice, crispy crust.

The only “problem” was what to serve with them. I knew it should probably be pasta because I made the breadcrumbs Italian flavoured. I did not choose a tomato-based sauce. The reason was I already had 3/4 of a sauce sitting in front of me after breading the mushroom caps.

I took my cue from Carbonara. The final technique when you make Pasta Carbonara is to mix an egg and milk into the hot pasta, cooking it in the process. Well, the egg dip was just sitting there. Why waste it?

This vegetarian dish is surprisingly quite filling. In fact, I didn’t feel the need to have anything else (much) in the way of snacks through the evening. I suppose, there was a gut-load of carbs in the pasta.

The meaty mushroom caps were crispy and delicious and the pasta turned out beautifully. If you’ve never had carbonara I know where there’s a really good recipe. The search box for my blog is at the top right...

This one’s a keeper, and it’s so very easy. I have a vegetarian friend – and many others – that would love this, I’m sure.

Crispy Italian Portobellos with Pasta

Prep: 10 min  |  Cook: 15 min  |  Serves 2

spaghetti or linguine for 2

1 tbsp olive oil

4 portobello caps, stem removed

Italian bread crumbs (below)

1/4 cup flour

2 eggs

2 tbsp milk

1/2 tsp oregano

pinch salt

1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

Italian bread crumbs

1 cup grated dried bread (I used brown bread)

1/4 cup grated parmesan

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp powdered garlic

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cracked black pepper

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Heat the oil in an oven-proof skillet and keep warm.

Mix together the ingredients listed for the Italian bread crumbs on a plate. Remove 2 tablespoons of this mixture and set aside. In a soup bowl, beat the two eggs until broken up. Place the flour in a plastic bag. Now you’re ready to do bound breading!

Coat a mushroom cap in the flour, dip in the egg making sure it’s well covered, then coat in the bread crumbs. Place gill-side up in the warm skillet. Repeat with the remaining caps. 

Place the skillet in the hot oven. Bake the caps for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

To the remaining egg mixture, add the milk, oregano, salt and pepper.

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and place back in the pot. While the pasta is still hot, slowly pour in the egg mixture, stirring constantly.

Serve two caps per person. Top the pasta with half the reserved bread crumbs and some grated parmesan.

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