Chickpea Soup with Sausage

This is a bit of a variation on a Recipe of the Day, posted last week by Mark Bitten. It’s the kind of soup that lends itself to variation and he has a few suggestions posted. I used spicy Italian sausage, but any good sausage would work.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 pound sausage
• 1 medium onion, peeled and diced small
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 19 ounce tins of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 6 cups of liquid, chicken stock, vegetable stock, water or any combination.
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat saucepan on medium and add olive oil. Add the sausages and cook through. Remove from pan and cut into thin slices.
2. Drain off excess fat, leaving about 1 tablespoon. Add onions and saute until translucent: about 5 minutes.
3. Add wine to deglaze pan, stirring to scrape up any browned bits stuck to the bottom.
4. Once the wine has evaporated, add the carrots, celery and garlic. Saute for five minutes, stirring frequently.
5. Add the chickpeas, chicken stock and the thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the chickpeas and vegetables are soft, at least 20 minutes longer.
6. Remove about half the chickpeas and vegetables, and carefully puree in a blender, adding cooking liquid as needed.
7. Return the puree to the pot, and stir; add the sausage, and re-heat, adding more water if the mixture is too thick.
8. Taste, adjust seasoning and serve, drizzled with the olive oil.

Written by Ian McKenzie on March 17th, 2008 with no comments.
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Browse Inside “Mission: Cook” by Robert Irvine

Browse Inside this book Get this for your site

Written by Ian McKenzie on February 16th, 2008 with no comments.
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Mediterranean Chicken with Roasted Red Peppers

Written by Ian McKenzie on February 12th, 2008 with no comments.
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Beef Stock

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
• 6 pounds of beef bones
• 1 bunch parsley
• 2 medium onions, quartered
• 2 cups water, plus more as needed
• 2 medium tomatoes,fresh or canned,
• 2 large carrots
• 2 stalks celery
• 3 sprigs pf thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 3/4 coarse salt
• 8 whole peppercorns

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 F. Put the oil in a roasting pan and heat briefly in the oven. Add the bones to the oil in the pan, toss to coat and roast for 35 minutes.
2. Add the onions, carrots, celery, leek, garlic and parsley to the pan tossing them all to coat with oil. Roast 30 minutes longer.
3. Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the bones and vegetables to a clean stockpot. Drain off as much of the fat as possible.
4. Place the roasting pan over medium-high heat and add 2 cups of cold water and boil briefly. Scrape up all of the browned bits into the water.
5. Transfer the liquid to the stock pot and add enough cold water to cover. Bring slowly to a boil, skimming off all of the froth that forms. Lower the heat and add tomatoes, thyme, bay leaves, cloves and salt. Simmer uncovered for 6 to 8 hours adding water as necessary just to cover the ingredients, skimming as necessary.
6. Add peppercorns for the last 15 minutes.
7. Strain the liquid into a large bowl through a colander lined with a double layer of dampened cheesecloth. Gently press the solids to extract all of the liquid, and discard the solids.
8. Pour the stock into containers for storage and label and date them. The stock will “keep” for up to 3 days in a refrigerator, and up to 6 months in a freezer.

Written by Ian McKenzie on February 4th, 2008 with no comments.
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BREAKFAST FRITTATA

Prep and Cook Time: 20 min.

Ingredients:

• ½ medium onion, minced
• 4 medium cloves garlic, chopped
• ¼ lb ground lamb or turkey
• 3 tablespoons chicken broth (divided)
• 3 cups rinsed and finely chopped kale, (stems removed)
• 2 eggs
• 3 egg whites
• salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat broiler on low.
2. Heat 1 tablspoon broth in a 9-10 inch stainless steel skillet.
3. Sauté onion over medium heat, for about 3 minutes, stirring often.
4. Add garlic, ground lamb or turkey, and cook for another 3 minutes on medium heat, breaking up clumps.
5. Add kale and 2 tablespoons chicken broth. Reduce heat to low and continue to cook covered about 5 more minutes.
6. Season with salt, pepper and mix.
7. Beat eggs, season with a pinch of salt and pepper, and pour on top of mixture evenly.
8. Cook on low for another 2 minutes without stirring.
9. Put under broiler in middle of oven, about 7 inches from the heat source, on low, so it has time to cook without the top burning. When it gets firm it is done, about 2-3 minutes.

Written by Ian McKenzie on January 26th, 2008 with no comments.
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Homemade Crunchie Bars

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup light corn syrup
• 6 tablespoon water
• 2 tablespoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups melting chocolate

Directions:

1. Well grease a 9 by 13-inch pan with butter.
2. Add sugar, corn syrup and water to a deep, heavy bottomed saucepan. (Make sure the saucepan is big enough as the mixture will bubble up when the baking soda is added.)
3. Bring the mixture to a boil, without stirring and cook until hard crack stage: when the temperature on a candy thermometer reads 300 degrees F. This should take about 10 minutes. During the cooking process, if there are any sugar crystals on the sides of the pan, brush the sides of the pan with a clean pastry brush dipped in water.
4. Remove from heat and working quickly, add the baking soda, whisking to incorporate. The mixture will bubble up quite a bit when you add the baking soda so be very careful not to touch the hot toffee.
5. Immediately pour into the prepared pan. Let cool and set completely before touching.
6. Put the chocolate into a bowl set over simmering water. Gently stir the chocolate until completely melted.
7. Break the toffee into pieces and dip into choclate to coat.
8. Set pieces on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place in a cool place until the chocolate hardens. Store in and airtight container at room tempurature.

Written by Ian McKenzie on December 24th, 2007 with no comments.
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A Chocolate Christmas

Written by Ian McKenzie on December 21st, 2007 with no comments.
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Maple Chicken

Serves 2
Prep time: 5 minutes
Total time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2  boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 teaspoons butter
• 1/4 cup apple juice, cider or white wine
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves removed and chopped
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Heat butter in a large skillet set over medium-high heat; add chicken breasts and sauté until golden.
2. Add apple juice, maple syrup and fresh rosemary. Cover and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
3. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Simmer sauce until thickened and spoon over chicken.

Written by Ian McKenzie on December 11th, 2007 with no comments.
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TV chef James Barber dies

I’m the oldest of six sons. Mom had us boys working in the kitchen from an early age and I could cook enough to keep from going hungry or spending too much money at McDonald’s.

However, it was James Barber who whet my appetite for possibilities of what meal preparation could be. It was never pretentious, but always from delicious.

I have notebooks full of notes taken while watching The Urban Peasant. Some are just a list of ingredients with no indication of quantities or how they are to be used. There are still dishes I prepare that I first saw cooked by James.

“As far as we can tell, James was sitting at the dining room table, he was reading a cookbook, and he had a pot of soup simmering on the stove. So he definitely left this world in a way that he would have wanted to, but I think he would have been pretty upset about the timing,” she told CBC News.

CBC.ca Arts - TV chef James Barber of The Urban Peasant fame dies

Written by Ian McKenzie on December 3rd, 2007 with 1 comment.
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Butternut Squash Risotto

Ingredients:

• 1 small butternut squash (about 1-1/2 lbs.)
• salt and pepper
• 1-3/4 c. chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/2 c. water
• 1 small onion, chopped (about 1/2 c.)
• 1 large garlic clove, sliced thinly
• 1-1/4 t. fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 3 T. unsalted butter (or olive oil, for non-dairy eaters)
• 1/2 c. arborio or other good quality risotto rice, like carnaroli
• 1/4 c. dry white wine
• 3 T. chopped fresh chives
• garnish of chopped fresh chives and shaved Parmesan

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 F. Halve squash lengthwise and discard seeds. Peel one half and cut into 1/4-inch dice. Salt and pepper the remaining half and place it, cut side down, in an oiled shallow baking pan with diced squash also seasoned with salt and pepper. Bake squash in middle of oven, stirring diced squash occasionally, until tender and browned lightly, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool the squash, then scoop out flesh and chop coarsely.
2. In a saucepan, bring broth and water to a simmer and keep it warm. In another saucepan sauté onion, garlic and ginger in butter or olive oil over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened. Stir in rice and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, about 1 minute. Add wine and cook, stirring, until absorbed. Stir in 1/4 c. of the warm broth and cook at a simmer, stirring constantly, until absorbed. Continue simmering and adding broth, about 1/4 c. at a time, stirring constantly and letting each addition be absorbed before adding the next, until about half the broth has been added.
3. Stir in diced and chopped squash and continue simmering and adding broth in the same manner until rice is tender and creamy-looking but still al dente, about 20 minutes. Stir in salt and pepper to taste, and chives. Top with Parmesan curls.

Serves 4.

Written by Ian McKenzie on November 28th, 2007 with no comments.
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