Chicken Bone Broth- ancestral medicine

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I recently purchased a book, Nurishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, a fascinating and controversial tome filled with anthropologic studies on nutrition and recipes following traditional methods. From fermenting foods to raw meat, this book covers many interesting dietary theories. The book is very controversial for its praise of animal fats and discouraging of vegetable oils and homogenized pasturized dairy, I can definitely imaging my vegan friends flipping a lid over this. Either way, I've found it to be a great read and can see the common sense in the recipes. My first attempt was bone broth. So, here we go down the schmaltzy road to CHICKEN SOUP WITH RICE. 

In my first attempt at broth I rushed into it a bit too enthusiastically and refused to reread the recipe. I used a roasted chicken carcass, a fresh organic chicken, beef bones, spinach, a bag of shredded Brussels I had lying around, organic carrots, celery, an onion, bay leaves and apple cider vinegar. At some point I threw in herbs my mom gave me. This was a slight disaster, so far as, the spinach and herbs dissolved into a green paste mixed in with the meat and small bones. Definitely use a cheese cloth bag to keep herbs separate. 

Attempt #2- I started with an ORGANIC chicken and two ORGANIC chicken feet from Whole Foods, because we are cooking out all the amazing minerals in the marrow of the bones it must be of the highest quality.  Covering the chicken with cold filtered water, I added a 1/4 of apple cider vinegar and let it sit for 30 minutes, I finally read the dang recipe. 

Then I added the celery, peeled carrots and bay leaves. A quick press of the button on my crock to 8hr and was finished and free to fold some laundry. 

8hrs or 2 playoff football games later- the celery had practically melted away, so I removed what I could and added more celery, carrots, sautéed onion, garlic, new potato chunks and pepper (no salt yet!) to make my morning prep easier, let's be honest I only give myself fifteen minutes to get ready, I separated as much cooked chicken as possible into a jar and refrigerated it. Then I reset the crock to 8hrs. 

  

6:45 this morning- the entire house smells of garlic and chicken, or HEAVEN. 

I grabbed my new ceramic travel mug and added some chicken from the fridge, leftover rice from Saturday's dinner, broth from the crock and selected a few carrots and potatoes. There it was, gorgeous chicken and rice soup that took practically no effort and will feed myself and the man for at least three days. 

Vegan Miso with Brown Rice and Spinach

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Tonight's winter supper offering is simple and yet not. Rich miso broth and lots of nutritious spinach with tummy filling tofu served over brown rice.

I used a brown rice miso paste, roughly 2 tb paste for 2 cup of water, with about two tablespoons of finely choped onion. Simmer and use a whisk to break up miso into water. Add frozen or fresh spinach and half a sheet of nori (the paper for sushi) and continue to simmer. Add a dash of soy and chili garlic paste depending on your salt and heat preference. Then finally toss in a cup of small cubes of tofu, I used firm tofu but the roommate uses medium. Cook until tofu is hot and spoon over brown rice.

Feel free to sub the rice with noodles and add zucchini or broccoli.

I think this will be my new winter staple. It only took about 10min total!

Creamy Almost Cheesy Vegan Broccoli Soup

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I love cream of broccoli soup but just looking at it gets my intestines in a bunch. What better challenge for me than to veganize this delicious winter dish. In Tal Ronnen's vegan cookbook he uses a cream made from cashews. It's the kind of thing that needs to be prepared ahead of time. Not my style. I'm a fly by the seat of her pants kinda cook. But I figured why not run with the cashew idea but make a fine meal out of it. SUCCESS. Sure it's not super super milky cream but it added a toothy texture that I really enjoyed. The recipe as a whole is easy and fairly quick.

INGREDIENTS:

2 large heads of broccoli cut into chunks. Peel and cut stems as well.
1 large yellow onion chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 zucchini chopped
1 celery stalk chopped
2 cups of raw cashews - processed into 1 1/2 cups of meal.
16oz vegetable stock
1/4 cup of nutritional yeast
1-2 bay leaf

In a stock pot, over medium high heat, saute the onions and garlic in a bit of olive oil. When the onions start to become translucent add the broccoli, zucchini and celery. When the broccoli starts to brighten, add the vegetable stock, salt and pepper, and a bay leaf.

Add your raw cashews to a food processor and blend until there is a fine meal.



Add the meal to the soup along with the nutritional yeast and cook until the vegetables are soft.




Blend the soup in batches in either a blender or food processor and add back to the pot.




Serve with a slice of crusty bread and try to resist licking the bowl when it's all gone.

Easy Vegan Enchilada Tortilla Soup

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I find it a bit ironic that I set out to make this soup for one of the guys in my band, who was sick, and I am now the one sniffling as I type. Oh well, I'm just glad that it turned out so delicious. It all started with my craving for mole enchiladas and spiraled into a hearty vegan triumph. The spicy sweet hot flavors of roasted corn, mole and peppers were just what the doctor ordered.

I am definitely making this again.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

chopped red onion
1 zucchini chopped
1 bag of frozen roasted corn (or a can of white corn)
1 bag of sliced frozen roasted peppers (or fresh)
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1 can of black beans
2 cups of crushed tomatoes
1 small can of enchilada sauce
1/4 cup of mole paste
1tbs vegetarian bouillon
dash of cumin
2tbs of brown sugar
4 blue corn tortillas
a few tablespoons of veg oil for frying
salt y pepper to taste

Saute the onions, garlic and zucchini until the onions are translucent. Add the frozen corn, peppers, black beans, tomatoes, enchilada sauce and 4-6 cups of water. Give that pot a stir then add the enchilada sauce, bouillon, mole, brown sugar and cumin. Let it boil for a bit to let the veggies soften and the tomato flavor to mellow out. About 30-45min

Meanwhile, heat up a frying pan with some oil. Cut your tortillas into strips and fry up in the oil. Drain and set aside.

Give the soup a taste. If it needs salt add that. You might need to add a bit of water if it is too thick. It's all about preference. Serve and garnish with the tortilla strips and some chopped green onions or, if you eat dairy, a dollop of sour cream.

NOTE: I think this would be great in a crock pot. Just add all of the ingredients, set it and forget it.

Band Aid

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My band-mate James needs a bit of band-aid (sorry had to go there) in the form of some healing soup. So, I'm spending the day doing my usual research. Trolling the depths of fellow food blogs for the perfect soup for poor Jimmy. He's a southern boy so I'm thinking something spicy and rich to kick that cough right out. Like a Tom Ka Gai with tangy sour broth and aromatic lemongrass stalks, but I'm trying to make more of my recipes accessible. After all, not everyone can just pop down to LAX-C the Asian mega-market in Chinatown. So, then I turned my attentions to other spiced soups, landing on tortilla. I had planned on making enchiladas for Lost on Tuesday but ended up making pesto tortellini. Bingo! My larder is jam packed with the perfect ingredients to make tortilla soup. I think I'll start with the onions, frozen roasted corn, black beans (might include the starchy juice from the can), the canned green chilies, and chopped zucchini. Here's the twist, I'm thinking I'll either add enchilada sauce or pick up some jarred mole, that is if the mole isn't packed with gnarly trans-fats and corn syrup.

While I'm at it, I'm thinking I'll whip up some johnny cakes, or corn cakes. I missed my dosing of pancakes on Shrove tuesday and need my fix. When I was a kid my mother would make us buttery corn pancakes that were so naturally sweet you didn't even need syrup, but that didn't stop us from drenching them in the 'syrup' my mother made by microwaving frozen blueberries with just a touch of maple syrup. The liquid from the soft blueberries mixing with the maple for a just-sweet-enough flavor.

Why isn't it 5 already so that I can get home and cooking?! I'll let y'all know how it goes.

Easy Non-Dairy Scallop Celeriac Chowder

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Recently, I became intrigued by celeriac, or celery root. Such an odd little veg that reminds me of a creepy little root baby like a mandrake from Harry Potter. I bought one at Whole Foods and took it home. After researching this ugly little feller I discovered that it is often treated like potato, think scallops and mashed, only it is lower in carbs than the potato (2g per oz for the celeriac compared with 6g per oz for potato). I figured that I would try using it in a chowder, as I on a whim, purchased frozen sustainably caught scallops and the light bulb went on. Did someone say CHOWDAH? So here she is, a simple and fairly quick chowder with celery root, celery, carrots, and scallops.

INGREDIENTS

1 celery root cubed

1 carrot chopped

2 stalks celery chopped

1 white onion chopped

1 bag of frozen scallops

White wine

bouillon

thyme

bay leaf

flour and "butter" for roux

and salt and peppa'

optional soy creamer

Unpeeled celery root with little celery growing from top

peeled, scrubbed, and ready to go.

Sliced up

Cubed and ready for the pot

Carrots for some color

So start with sauteing your onions in a little butter or oil. When the onions are translucent add 4Tb of Earthbound and 4Tb of flour. Mix together to create your roux, the paste that will thicken your soup. Then add 2 cups of white wine, 4 cups of water, bouillon and the chopped vegetables. Turn the heat up to high. Throw in some thyme, fresh or dried, the bay leaf and your scallops. Boil for a bit with the lid off. This will reduce the soup into a rich broth.

Here's where things get personal. And by personal I don't mean 'gloves off.' I keep checking the soup, tasting, salting and adding to it. So, add some pepper corns maybe, and a tsp of salt. If you think it needs more yummy wine flavor add another cup. At one point this weekend while making a batch I using Schlitz and Louisiana Hot Sauce to give it a southern flavor. The boys really loved that one. I've also added a swig of soy milk to make it creamy like clam chowder.

There you have it. Once the celery root is soft and tender the soup can be done.

Vegan French Onion Soup with Mediterranean Baked Tofu Sandwiches

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I love French Onion Soup, I mean really really love it. As I slowly work my way into the depths of becoming a vegg, I think that figuring out this dish will be key to my survival. I invited my David, newly vegetarian, to come over and watch me fuddle my way through creating a robust beefy broth without the bovine. To add a bit o' protein to the dinner, I decided to make a baked tofu sandwich. Wow. I mean WOW. The sandwich was one of the best things I've ever made, almost as good as the French Onion soup.

THE SOUP

After searching the internet, extensively, looking for ways to create beefy flavor with common ingredients I found my solution. Vegemite. So for the stock I went with my good ol' standby Better Than Bouillon Vegetable and added to it 2 teaspoons of Vegemite.

Ingredients:

6 large yellow onions thinly sliced

(I cried a ton slicing onions. Seriously how to the pros do it? I had to take several breaks. My poor roommate was gassed out of the living room it was soo bad. Ahhh but worth every tear.)

2 cloves of garlic chopped

6 cups of veg stock

1/2 cup of wine (I went with $3CabSav)

2 teaspoons of Vegemite (dissolved in stock)

1 bay leaf

The leaves of 3 twigs of thyme

1/4 tsp sugar

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper

(optional: sliced french bread and swiss cheese slices or vegan swiss)

1. Saute the sliced onions over medium high heat in a bit of olive oil. This is going to take some time. Just plug in the iPod and jam out as you stir. I used some of this time to prep the marinade for the tofu.

2. After about 10 min add the sugar and continue sauteing until the onions turn brown. Patience folks. Wash some dishes. Slice your bread. Preheat the oven for the tofu.

3. Once the onions are golden brown add the garlic and saute for a minute.

4. Add the wine, broth, bay leaf, and thyme. Deglaze the pan a bit to get the golden flavor into your soup.

5. Cover and simmer for 30min.

6. Uncover. Smell that!!!! Remove the bay leaf and serve the soup. Here is where I added the classic slice of french bread and a slice of swiss cheese. I put the bowls in the oven for a few minutes until the cheese had melted. Careful removing them from the oven, as they get wicked hot. Thankfully, my brother and sister-in-law bought me the OveGlove for Christmas.

7. Eat!

The Sandwich

These sandwiches were easy, healthy and completely delicious. I had baked tofu for the Satay a few weeks ago and wanted to try making a Mediterranean version to use in sandwiches or to replace chicken.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup balsamic

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup red wine

2 cloves of garlic

handful of Italian parsley

2 tsp of thyme

Salt and pepper

1 Tbs Dijon

1 pkg firm tofu

1 tsp sugar

handful of baby greens

tapenade

Preheat ya' oven at 350

1. Add the vinegars, oil, wine, garlic, parsley, thyme, salt and pepper to your food processor and give it a whirrr. Transfer the mixture to a bowl

2. Cut the tofu into 1/2" slices of the small side. Add the slices to the marinade and let sit for 30 min or longer.

3. Place the tofu slices on a baking sheet and bake until each side is golden.

4. Take the marinade and transfer to a small saucepan. Add mustard and sugar.

5. Simmer until the sauce has thickened and reduced in half. Transfer to bowl and stick in the freezer to cool.

6. On slices of french bread, spread a thin layer of vegenaise, then a thin layer of tapenade. Add a layer of baby greens and place the tofu steaks on top. Drizzle the sauce over the tofu and serve.

Spicy Quick Corn Chowder

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It's raining out there and I figured it was the perfect opportunity to make chowder. After perusing the aisles of Trader Joe's after the gym, I looked positively frightening with my red face and sweaty tank top, I found fire-roasted frozen corn. Corn chowder indeed! I went home and checked the veggie bin, found some rather sad celery, carrots and a half of an onion. Gave the little suckers a chop and I was ready to go.

Ingredients

One bag of roasted corn nibblets
one bag of white corn nibblets
two carrots
one half white onion
2 celery stalks
4 cups of vegetable stock
1 Tsp Cayenne
1-3 TBS of chipotle hot sauce to taste.
1 TBS sun-dried tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic, smashed
2 Bay leaves


Saute your vegetables in a bit of olive oil and pepper until the onions are translucent.

Add 4 cups of vegetable stock, corn, sun-dried tomato, garlic and bay leaves.

Cook until vegetables are tender. Then, in batches, puree in blender until smooth.

Return to the pot and simmer. Add a dollop of Greek yogurt or soy creamer to give the soup a creamy flavor.

Then add cayenne, chipotle and salt to taste.

Serve and drizzle with a touch of chipotle. Enjoy!

Matzo Ball Soup

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Ahhhh Matzo Balls. Tasty tender little balls of joy. Now a shiksa (non-Jewish gal) like myself isn't going to enter any contests for Matzo ball soup. But dang'it I do think I make a mean soup for Jew and Gentile alike. This batch turned out great and I hope that I don't eat it all so that I can take a taste to my Jewish co-workers for a real test of my cookery. I didn't have enough eggs to make the double batch of balls that I was hoping to, so, tomorrow I will have to make the second round of balls.

So let's get down with it!

Ingredients:
3 carrots chopped
3 celery stalks chopped
1 red onion chopped
1 peeled potato chopped
tbsp of butter or Earthbound
Vegetable stock or Better Than Bouillon- 4 quarts?
6 sprigs of fresh thyme. otherwise a tablespoon of dried
3 bay leaves.

Matzo Balls:
8 large eggs
2 cups matzo meal
1/2 cup veg oil
1/2 cup water
2 tsp salt
big ol pinch of pepper

My roommate brought me carrots from her mother's garden, crazy looking, like something out of a Czech horror movie about veggie babies that come to life and torture their adoptive parents.

Melt butter in your biggest pot. Add salt and pepper. Saute the veggies till the onions are almost transluscent. Right about now your roommate will come in declaring that it, "Smells just like Thanksgiving!" Well my dear that's because onions, celery, and butter are the foundation of a good stuffing.

Once the veggies are nice and smelly add the veggie stock. I kept adding till I got to about 2/3 of the pot full (you don't want to overflow once the balls get dropped). Then add the de-stemed thyme leaves and bay leaves

While the broth is a'boilin' start yer balls. Sorry for the redundancy of "balls" but I really can't think of a better term and if it makes you giggle then all the better.

Crack your eggs into a bowl and add the water, oil, salt and pepper. Mix well.

Fold in the matzo meal until smooth. Then throw that bowl into the fridge for an hour to set up.

One hour later: remove the bowl from the fridge and lets get to ballin'
Make sure your hands are squeaky clean and spoon out some of the mix. Roll it around your palms until you have a 1 to 1 and a half inch ball. Drop it into your stock that is at a rolling boil.

Once you've dropped all the balls in, boil for a few minute and then reduce to a simmer.

Try not to stick your face in to the fragrant broth, it might leave a mark. You don't want to walk into work, yet again with third degree burns on your face, only to have your coworkers ask, "Hey what's up with your face?" You hang your head, "Mazto ball soup." They look at you with concern and stiffled laughter, "Ohhhh cooking again huh?"

Check back in a few minutes. BOOM you've got tender floating balls of yummy happiness. Sounds a bit like a Japanese drink or something huh?

Ukrainian style Borscht

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Finally! After living in Los Angeles for almost 7 years, I have finally had a taste of that elusive Veselka borscht. Perhaps time has altered my taste buds but this gigantic pot of bubbling borscht has certainly hit the spot. This has been an almost epic journey, with last minute ingredient runs and constant tasting to track the development of flavors. After reading countless recipes on Epicurious, AllRecipes and other sites, I "threw away" the recipes and just went for it. As much as I, and my poor non-meat eating roomie, would have wanted this to be vegetarian, beef is a must for the flavor of this to match that of Veselka's. Let's start our journey into the center of the beet...

Beets are a magical root. Just look at the little sucker. It looks like a heart and indeed has cardiovascular benefits. Rich in iron, folates, fiber and anti-oxidents, this powerhouse is great for detoxification of the liver as well as preventing colon cancer. Honestly, anything with color this rich is going to be good for you.

Ingredients:
1 red beet with greens
2 golden beets (the tend to be smaller)
1 half of a white cabbage shredded
1 large red onion sliced
2 cloves of garlic chopped
4 carrots shredded
3 celery stalks chopped
1 sweet potato peeled and cubed
1 bone in chuck
2 beef bouillon cubes
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
5 bunches of dill
small handful of black pepper corns. maybe 20?
6 bay leaves
1 small can of tomato paste

Let's do this.

I first wrapped the beets in foil and put them into a preheated oven at 375 for maybe 45 min, or until they were tender.

While the beets were baking I started boiling the beef in a gigantic pot filled with about 4 quarts of salted water. I added the bay leaves and pepper corns.

Saute in olive oil or Earthbound the veggies. I did this in batches since my pan couldn't possibly manage them all at once. So, I did the onions and garlic first, then the potatoes and carrots, followed by the celery. I added it all to the pot.

Once the beets were done I peeled the skin off with the back of a knife and started grating. Man was this painful. This entire recipe left me with cuts and burns all over my hands. So, please be careful and wait for the dang beets to cool a bit. To save time try baking the beets the day before. After grimacing my way through the beets I added them to the pot along with the red wine vinegar. This is where you can control how sour your soup is. At first I had only added maybe a few tablespoons but after tasting decided that it could use more.


Pull the leaves off of the dill and add to the pot. The fragrance is amazing.

It was right about now that I tasted it. NO flavor. Bummer. So, I ran across the street to the ethnic grocery store to grab some beef bouillon. While at the store, I remembered that I never added tomato paste or cabbage. Borscht with no cabbage?!!! Travesty. So, bag of forgotten ingredients in hand, I risked life and limb crossing the boulevard and hoofed it to the kitchen.

Cabbage shredded, I sauteed it and added to the pot along with the tomato paste. I pulled out the meat bone and shredded the beef off of the bone and added the meat back to the pot.

NOTE: I had completely forgotten my greens!! Clean and remove the leaves from the stalks and chop. Saute in a pan with a tad of salt and pepper. Once it cooks down add to the pot.

Then I dissolved two bouillon cubes in some of the pot juice. I was ready to let it boil down on a low heat with the lid off.

And boil down it did. The veggies softened and the broth was rich and red from the beets. Just remembering it is making me hungry as I sit in my cubicle noshing on the free pizza knot from a co-worker's birthday pizza lunch. If it weren't for the salad and knots I would be one sad lactose-intolerant.

Anyhoo, I went back to check on the pot after an episode of Vampire Diaries, yes that show. (Figured I'd give those little CW teens a try. Not half bad.) The soup had boiled down a good inch and the color had deepened in color and was smelling up a yummy Ukrainian storm. SOOO GOOD!! It was like I had given birth to a yummy soup baby and was a proud mommy ready to send pictures to everyone I know. I am one screw loose from carrying a picture of the soup in my wallet. Garnish it with a sprig of fresh dill and ENJOY!!