Since he’d made the soup during the day, I was in charge of the lobster preparation. I considered just boiling or broiling them with butter but they were smaller tails and I wasn’t sure how sweet the meat was going to be. Then I remembered we have picked up some challah rolls at the Grain Train in Petoskey over the weekend. Voila- the lobster roll! I used a recipe from Eating Well as my base.

Lobster Salad on Challah buns

Ingredients

Directions

1. Heat broiler.

2. Cut lobster tails in half using a sharp knife or kitchen shears. Brush meat side of tails with olive oil

3. Place, cut side up, under broiler. Broil 3-5 minutes, until shells are turning red, and meat begins to brown on top. Flip and cook another 2 minutes until shells are bright red and meat is opaque. Remove and let cool.

4. Combine celery, mayo, lemon juice, shallot, mustard, tarragon, salt, pepper and garlic powder in a bowl.

5. Bring a small pan of water to a boil. Add sugar snap peas, cooking just until peas turn bright green. Drain and let cool slightly.

6. When both the lobster and peas have cooled enough to handle: remove lobster meat from shells and chop coarsely. Slice the peas width-wise in to thin pieces.

7. Combine peas and lobster with the dressing. Refrigerate at least 20 minutes for flavors to meld.

8. Slice challah rolls and toast lightly (either under broiler or in toaster/toaster oven). Pile high with lobster salad and dig in!

Because the lobster meat wasn’t particularly sweet, I added a little sugar to the dressing. This is definitely a taste preference and would vary depending on the type of lobster. This lobster was from South America and the shells were more tan/brown than you might be used to seeing on American East Coast caught lobsters. Whether this difference is because it was a different kind of lobster or simply the season of the catch, I felt it needed a little sweetness boost.

Chris’s SuperSpecial Tomato Soup

If you are my mom, don’t like lobster or really like tomato soup, you probably skipped right down to this section. Unfortunately, I don’t have a recipe for this soup. Ha-HA!

Here are some basics, though:

1 28 oz can stewed tomatoes
1 carton Imagine creamy tomato soup
1 small can tomato sauce
Onion
Celery
Carrots
Sage
Thyme
Basil
Cilantro- fresh!
Dried hot pepper flakes (small amount, optional)
salt & pepper
Garlic
Corn (1/2 can)
Olive oil & butter
fingerlings, red skins or other thin-skinned potatoes

Small dice the celery, carrots & onions. Saute in equal amounts olive oil and butter in a large stockpot.

Add seasonings (no measurements here) but Chris says mostly sage, then thyme and basil. He adds some cilantro now but most comes in after its been simmering.

Add tomato products & potatoes (which have been sliced in to thin rounds, maybe quartered first). Bring to a boil then reduce and simmer 20 minutes. Add corn and rest of fresh cilantro. Continue cooking about 5 minutes more.

Options: Add water with tomatoes for a thinner soup. Or add cream for a creamier soup. You can also mash up the stewed tomatoes a bit and/or blend some of it with an immersion blender. We don’t do that because I don’t have one. Yet.

We have also made this with wild rice instead of potatoes- that needs to cook longer or be pre-cooked and added towards the end.

Originally, Chris was going to add some kale to the soup as apparently he really likes it. Then he forgot. So, I made Kale Chips, using this recipe from Steamy Kitchen. We just added them to the top of the soup bowls but you can eat them out of hand too.

Basically, tear a couple cups of kale in to small pieces. Dry very thoroughly using a salad spinner. Spread on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Toss with a bit of olive oil (a teaspoon or so?). Bake in a 350 degree oven about 10 minutes until kale is crackly but not browning. Season with salt as per the recipe, OR use something like Maple Sugar Garlic Pepper, our latest go-to for all things that normally would get salt (i.e. popcorn, baked sweet potato fries, bread and butter (that is all Chris, I might add)). We might have to start rationing this, a jar purchased in Vermont on our honeymoon, until I find a more local source. Next time we go to Vermont, possibly as soon as this August, I’m going to buy 6 jars or more.

Chris loves Indian food. Loves it. He’d never partaken of the tikka masala, the tandoori, the naan (etc) until I took him to a place in Grand Rapids with some friends. Good Indian but by no means comparable to the two places I know best, both located in Metro Detroit.

Sadly, in all this time we’ve been tgoether, I still haven’t been able to take him to either of those places (I also recently learned that Priya in Troy has new owners and is no longer very good or very clean).  For now, we have made do with regular trips to Sindhu in East Lansing. If this place were on the west side of campus instead of at the Epcot Center World Tour Plaza* (uh, Hagadorn Plaza) on the east side of Michigan State University, we’d probably be eating there weekly.

I tend to vary my choices there but usually get chicken biryani or some chicken dish which is not on the restaurantdb.net website menu so I can never remember what its called until I get there. Chris always gets chicken tikka masala. He’s obsessed, I think.

Not having a tandoor oven at home, its almost impossible to recreate the flavors for this dish as you get in a restaurant. Awhile back, I made chicken tikka masala from almost-scratch, a recipe I’ve repeated a few times since then. But on this President’s Day, despite having a 3 day weekend, I didn’t have the motivation or time to do a full court press. Plus, I was watching the Olympics! And knitting because that is my new hobby.
So, I used a jar of tikka masala simmer sauce. I wish I could tell you which brand I used but I threw out the jar already. It wasn’t great and I can say that it was not the Seeds of Change brand. We do like that one although there is not enough to cover 1 lb of chicken, in my opinion (I add yogurt or cream at the end). I had just a bit of the tandoori spice mix from the spice shop in Ann Arbor so I sprinkled that on the chicken before sauteing it.

My main focus tonight was on the side dish. Normally, we have rice and/or naan. However, over a month ago, I bought Chris a book about Indian cooking at home- using only 5 spices. I thought this would be perfect for him to try out as Indian food can quickly become complicated with many spices, frying seeds, grinding and mixing, etc.. Since, a month later, no Indian has magically appeared on the nights when it was his turn to cook, I grabbed the bull by the horns (or the book by the covers) and picked something out.

The five spices required in 5 Spices, 50 dishes are: coriander seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, ground cayenne and ground turmeric.  At our last trip to Whole Foods, I picked up the coriander seeds and also some cardamom pods (green) because I like to add those to the rice. We already had everything else in stock. Side note: my spice “rack” is out of control.

This particular recipe uses 3 of the five spices.

Railroad Potatoes

(Slight modifications, as noted, from original in book)

DirectionsSlice potatoes in to quarters then crosswise in to 1/4 inch slices. The original called for red skins and smaller chunks but this is what I needed to use up and hello, Olympics are on!

Make the tadka: Heat oil in large deep pan or wok. When oil begins to smoke, add mustard seeds and cover with a lid.  Once seeds stop spattering, add turmeric and stir. Then add onions and potatoes, salt and cayenne. Toss together, cover and cook over medium heat about 10-15 minutes.

Railway/road potatoes in all their yellow glory!

The book calls these Railway Potatoes because the author’s mother often made these up and served them during train trip vacations. For travel purposes, I think smaller potatoes and lots of onion would be fabulous on bread- just like she described.

One modification I should have made was using less salt. I got two cups of onion out of 1/2 an onion but the recipe suggested a whole onion and perhaps the extra salt would have been okay. Not that they weren’t good but they were a little saltier than I prefer.

A tadka, for the uninitiated is how the flavor of the spices get in to the oil (and hence in to the food) while also bringing out the best of those spices. Because you are working with hot oil, its important to have all your ingredients ready before you heat the oil, just like with Chinese stir-fry.

A quick note about my discovery of this book: I originally entered a contest to win it from the food blog Food on the Food. When I didn’t win, I ordered it from the ubiquitous Amazon. There are a lot of books that use 5-7 spices for making Indian food. I have no idea if this one is the best but I have several recipes marked and I believe that most are more authentically Indian that Chris’s beloved chicken tikka masala. I have the feeling this is the kind of food our old neighbors used to make, the stuff that made us want to just barge in over there on a nightly basis as the aromas filled the hallway of our building.

If any Michigan readers visit Food on the Food, try not to get too jealous. Tammy’s regular descriptions of her farm share, her fish share and all the locally available meats, cheeses, and the like make me pout. Instead, plan a trip to the Boston area using her posts as a travelogue guide- just be sure to get a hotel room with a kitchen so you can cook on your vacation. (Seriously, we are thinking of doing something like this next fall on a honeymoon anniversary return to Vermont).

**I am reminded of a childhood trip to Epcot Center when they had this International Village thing (at the time only 10 or so countries) where you could walk from section to section, visiting Mexico, France, Morocco and more in just steps. That is what I think of when I go to Hagadorn Plaza: sushi, Italian, Indian, Chinese, Mediterranean and even Jimmy John’s, all in one strip mall.

One final picture, a little Photoshop goof that came out really cool looking although I probably wouldn’t eat anything that looked like this:

Daring Cooks: Pork Chicken Satay

Marinade

• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, grated
• 1 tablespoon ginger root, grated
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Protein/meat

1 pound of chicken breasts, cut into thin strips

In a food processor or blender, dump in everything except the chicken and blend until smooth.
Cover chicken with marinade. You can place the pork into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill.  If using wooden or bamboo skewers, soak your skewers in warm water for at least 20 minutes before preparing skewers.

Gently and slowly slide meat strips onto skewers. Discard leftover marinade.

Broil or grill a 3 – 4 minutes per side on a hot grill or grill pan or until the edges just start to char. Flip and cook another 3 – 4 minutes.

Peanut Sauce

• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 3/4 cup light coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic-chili paste, or to taste (highly recommend at least this much)
  

Mix the brown sugar, cumin, coriander, red pepper flakes and garlic-chili paste in a small bowl. Add soy sauce and lemon, mix well.  Over low heat, combine coconut milk, peanut butter and soy-lemon seasoning mix. Mix well, stir often.  All you’re doing is melting the peanut butter, so make your peanut sauce after you’ve made everything else in your meal, or make ahead of time and reheat.  Adjust seasoning as needed at this point.

I used chicken instead of the pork that Amy originally used. When I think satay, I think chicken. Plus, we had pork for dinner last night.

Chris’s verdict: home run, make this again*

Because I am incredibly lazy and because during the marinating time, I ran to the pharmacy which took too long and I got home after the MSU game started, I skipped skewering and just laid my strips out on to the foil for going under the broiler.

My other major change: I added more peanut butter after tasting. We use Simply Jif, a low salt/low sugar peanut butter. After melting, the sauce felt too thin and also not very peanutty. I think this might be due to the reduced salt along with the competition from the other strong flavors.

Served with shiitake mushrooms and bell pepper stir-fry (soy sauce, sesame oil and a dash of fish sauce) and rice seasoned with cardamom.

I imagine this sauce would go well with any protein. The vegetarians will just want to skip the fish sauce. I can’t offer any substitutes but I can say to not add more soy sauce. You may need to adjust your salt as fish sauce has a fair amount. I use low sodium soy sauce and didn’t any salt to any part of the dish.

*Lucky for Chris, I had a whole extra chicken breast that I tossed in the marinade after dinner. He’ll have a nice treat tomorrow.

Down the hatch!

One of many variations on a theme but significantly different enough to make me want to post the recipe.   

While on Christmas vacation, Chris and I dined at a place called the Dock Cafe in Stillwater, Minnesota, overlooking the frozen St. Croix River.  It was a total guess and a lucky one in the end. Good food and it was 1/2 price wine night. After much dithering, I went for the wild mushroom risotto with pancetta. It was very good and very filling- I couldn’t get through even half of it especially as I wanted to save a bit of room for dessert.  The nice thing about this risotto was that it was creamy without a lot of added creamy fats like cream, butter and cheese.   

I did not recreate that risotto for dinner tonight but I was inspired by it.  I have made risotto with mushrooms on many previous occasions, hence the post title. I also have a nice mushroom noodle thing with ground meat that shares much in common with this dish.  

Ingredients   

Directions   

1. Saute bacon in large pan until crispy. Remove to paper towel-lined plate to drain. If necessary, drain some fat from pan leaving approximately 1 tablespoon.   

2. Heat broth or water to simmering in a separate pot (or in the microwave like I did)   

3. Add sliced mushrooms, sprinkle with salt and cook over medium-high heat until thoroughly cooked down and most of liquid has come out of mushrooms. Remove from pan and cover to keep warm.   

4. If necessary, add olive oil or some bacon fat back to pan. This step is only necessary if the pan is pretty dry.   

5. Add onions, celery and garlic to pan, season with salt, pepper and thyme.. Cook until softened and onions have slighltly yellowed.   

6. Add arborio rice and stir to combine. Add apple brandy (or other liquor/wine or even just broth or water) to deglaze pan. Scrape bottom of pan to pick up any tasty bits.   

7. Once most of liquid from step 6 has been absorbed, begin adding 1/2 to 1 cup of broth or water to pan at a time, stirring continously until mostly absorbed then adding more liquid.   

8. Continue adding broth or water until rice reaches desired doneness. Ideally this should be al dente- with a slight bite- but its mostly a matter of personal preference.   

9.  Return mushrooms and bacon pieces to pan along with 1 teaspoon thyme.10. Stir in 1/4 cup cheese blend. This step is also optional but as this is not a very brothy risotto, I think it adds a nice punch while keeping the mix somewhat creamy.  

I’m now a convert.

At least when I have the time.  It cooked much faster and actually used less broth than usual.  

• The apple brandy was a fall purchase during a visit for cider and donuts. We sampled the wines, learned that neither of us are big fruit wine people then decided to buy the brandy, mostly for cooking purposes. I was also envisioning making a sangria type thing in the future.  I had only used it once before, for an apple dessert dish that did not turn out, through no fault of the brandy.  Tonight, I used it because primarily because the bottle was already open and I didn’t want to open a bottle of white just for this dish. 

• The apple flavor was pretty subtle in the end dish but on the whole, it felt more warm than when I make it with wine. A good pairing with the thyme and bacon.

• I updated my Facebook status during the cooking of this dish and received a comment from a friend to stop posting about food because I was making her hungry, even though she’d just ate.  As it happens, she’s a vegetarian and wouldn’t be able to enjoy this particular dish but, her comment did make me think about how to adapt for the non-meat eaters.  I am not a big fan of the fake bacon but if you are vegetarian and like it, then go for it. I would suggest replacing the bacon fat at the beginning with some butter though. Mushrooms cook up better in animal fats than vegetable fats like olive oil, in my opinion. Combining equal parts olive oil and butter would also probably work- I often go that route to saute onions when I’m making plain(er) risotto.  If you are a vegan, you are on your own.

My Christmas Present!

Earlier this week, I tweeted about prepping for a pork stew in the slow cooker. I cut the veggies and combined things in plastic containers so that come morning, Chris could just toss things in, season the pork and set the crockpot on low. I would get home from work around 5 pm which would be the right time to take the pork out and shred it then serve.

It all worked perfectly. But.  But.

It was not tasty. Not at all.

Fatty/greasy broth and you could barely taste the aromatics (allspice and thyme plus garlic and ginger). This recipe was one of several I’d pulled from a copy of Food Network TV magazine. Last Sunday I’d made a chicken chili, using a recipe in an advertisement for crockpots and it was delicious. In fact, I’m going to make it again this week since my slow cooker is small and I had to halve the original recipe so I have extra everything.

But this pork stew was not good. We tried adding salt/pepper. We tried adding various acids to cut the fatty taste. I added fresh herbs. Nope, nada, nothing. I put the whole thing in the fridge as we were going to the movies. Now, its sitting in there, hogging my slow cooker insert with a not very appetizing layer of congealed fat on top. Mocking me.

So…. it was with great apprehension that I went forward with my plan to make this Barley stew tonight. I have been itching to use my new Le Creuset pot, I had all the ingredients and no real purpose for the shiitake mushrooms than this recipe. It was time to bite the bullet.

Now, I’m going to have to make a third recipe from the magazine to break the tie.

This soup was fantastic.

It smelled amazing in the pot, especially when I was toasting the barley and mushrooms.

This smelled divine!

The carrot added some sweetness which was balanced by the earthy mushrooms and just slightly bitter kale. This will defiinitely go on the repeat list.

Carrot-Mushroom Barley Soup

Ingredients

Directions

1. Bring carrot juice, 3 cups water and mushrooms stems to a boil in a saucepan

2. Heat olive oil and two tablespoons butter in large pot over medium heat. Add mushrooms and barley, stirring to coat. Cook approximately 5 minutes, until barley is toasted.

3. Add onion, celery and rosemary, season with salt and pepper. Cook until onions are translucent, about 2 minutes.

4. Add carrots and cook 2 more minutes.

5. Increase heat to high and add half of carrot juice, omitting mushroom stems. Bring to a boil and cook until most of liquid is absorbed, about 6 minutes.

6. Add remaining carrot juice, kale and ginger, stirring to combine. Cook until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes.

7. Stir in remaining two tablespoons butter.

8. Serve!

Notes: Everything took longer than listed but that could just be me being conservative and trying to work out the best temp for my new cast-iron pot.

I added more rosemary, probably doubling to 1/2 teaspoon. I still didn’t notice it being strong in the end product but if you don’t like rosemary, stick with the original.

The recipe indicates this makes 4 servings at 333 calories each. I can’t imagine eating a full one-quarter of the pot-full of soup. Both Chris and I had big bowls and I still divided the rest up in to 3 more containers which felt like a lot of food per person. I also question the nutrition analysis based on this have 4 tablespoons of butter and two of olive oil.

Final Product- Look at those colors!

Ah-ha, I ran this recipe through Nutrition Data’s analyzer and it came back as 495 calories per serving, assuming we divide the total by 4. Thus, the calories listed at 333 are probably right for the size of serving I had and I would call the “serves 4″ an error.

This was a great first dish for the Le Creuset- next up will have to be something from the newly arrived Art of French Cooking since Julie & Julia inspired the purchase to begin with.

**Full disclosure: those last two pictures are Photoshopped. I was playing with Actions and that last one, Sunshine, perfectly described how this soup stew tasted to me. Also, it counteracts the high noise levels becuase I was shooting in horrible light and had to boost the ISO.

Because the appointment went over the lunch hour we decided to eat before shopping. After walking through the entire store, we realized that if you just turn right immediately upon entering, you can go along the wall and come in to the deli area. In this area, you can buy whatever you like and go eat it in a small cafe area. I made a salad and Chris opted for the hot buffet.

Duly nourished, we started shopping. Our mission was to get things we couldn’t get in Lansing and focus on healthy stuff. We still came home with a block of cheese and 2 bottles of wine (reminds me, we might need to start drinking this stuff soon- our rack is full again). We also picked up some Key West Pinks, the only shrimp Chris will eat, a number of bags from the produce section and 2 packages of gourmet sausages: pork andouille and a chicken chorizo from Sausages by Amylu.

Right away, with a planned focus on eating more rice in my future, I knew I’d take the andouille sausage to make some jambalaya. Not that I have the slightest idea what goes in to an authentic jambalaya except rice.

Internet to the rescue! Except, there are thousands of recipes for jambalaya using various proteins, mostly. Ideally, I would have made a shrimp and sausage combo but someone was supposed to work on deveining the shrimp earlier and did not. I ended up scanning about 10 recipes and then just winged it.

Jambalaya

Ingredients

Directions

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat in a large pan (like the everyday pan from Calphalon).

Once oil is warmed and shimmering, saute onion and garlic until onions are lightly golden. Add salt, pepper, cayenne and thyme to onions. Cook just enough to release aromatics in herbs.

Add bell pepper and cook for another minute or two.

Add rice and stir to coat, allowing the rice to absorb some of the oil. You can let this cook for 1-2 minutes until you smell the nutty fragrant of toasted rice.

Add tomatoes and water or broth along with bay leaf and bay seasoning. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer 20 minutes or until rice has absorbed most of liquid.

Add sausages and corn, allow to cook until sausages are just cooked through.  Serve garnished with fresh parsley or cilantro.

Notes:

1. Corn, as noted in ingredient list, is optional. I only used it because we had some leftover that needed to be used within 24 hours.

2. The sausages I used were pre-cooked so they just needed to be heated up at the end. If raw sausages are used, I’d suggest cooking them in the pan first then using the drippings to cook the onions, etc.

3. Adjust cayenne pepper to your taste and also the heat in the sausages.

4. If I’d added shrimp to this, I would have used more Old Bay Seasoning. Usually when we boil shrimp, we use Bay Seasoning and pickling spice. Chris is in charge of this process so the exact ratios aren’t known to me. But, the Old Bay is required, I’m told.

Directions

Wash and cut vegetables so all are the same approximate size. I prepped each veggie separately and placed them in sections on 2 shallow pans. Toss vegetables with olive oil and a pinch of salt. Roast vegetables in 375 degree oven for 30 to 60 minutes, stirring occasionally. By keeping the vegetables separated on the pans, I was able to remove them as the finished. In my oven, the shallots and carrots finished first, then the parsnips, followed by the potatoes and beets.

As vegetables finish, add to a bowl. For the beets, you will need to remove the skins then cut in to quarters or eighths. Golden beets don’t bleed as much as regular ones so you could peel and slice first. When all vegetables are done, mix well and let cool to room temperature or refrigerate until ready to serve.

To make dressing, mix oil, mustard, vinegars, maple syrup, salt and pepper in a container and whisk or shake well to combine. Alternatively, you could mix all ingredients except oil in the bowl of a blender. Blend at medium speed and slowly drizzle oil in to create a creamy emulsion.
When ready to serve, toss vegetables with 1/4 cup dressing and top with goat cheese crumbles. Best served at room temperature or slightly warmed. I also think that this could be served warm/hot by heating the maple syrup, vinegar, seasonings and mustard over medium heat then combining with the oil right before serving, like a glaze-vinaigrette combination.

You will have leftover dressing- imagine the possibilities! I suspect that some of our leftovers will be reduced in to a lovely glaze for roasted pork loin. Store in the fridge until you decide.

I’ll try to add a picture here later, after its all ready to be presented at lunch. What I can tell you right now, is that my house smells good- maple syrup and roasted shallot smells are wonderful!

I love salads and I wish I made them more often. Nothing too fancy, just a mix of lettuces, some chopped veggies and a little crunchy topper. I sometimes think about more advanced salads or non-traditional salads like the roasted beets and goat cheese type that I love. For awhile Chris was making me a salad several days a week and bring it to me at work. But that goes in streak and we’ve been on the “off streak” for a while now.
So, tonight, with no protein in the fridge looking to be cooked, Chris mentioned he’d cooked some chicken earlier in the week for salads so maybe I could do up salads. And it sounded pretty good to me.
Clearly, there is no recipe involved here. We had a bag of romaine and a plastic box of field greens. I took a few cups of each and combined them with diced carrot, bell pepper, green onion, red onion* (sliced very thin), and tomatoes. Add to that a handful of dried cranberries and another handful of sweet n’ spicy pecans from Trader Joe’s and we had ourselves a salad. My one rule: Always, always always re-wash your lettuces. Even if the bag says ready-to-go! Between internet horror stories of frogs in bags o’ lettuce and occasionally floppy texture of bagged lettuce, its worth the extra step, in my book. At the very list, your salad will be fresher tasting with more crunch.

I also like to a salad as above but with sunflower seeds, a bleu cheese crumble and ranch dressing. A favored variation of the green lettuce salad is spinach, mandarin oranges, red onions* and a lite Caesar style dressing. Both of these seem to combine all my favorite flavors and textures.

Normally, I like to add my dressing to the bowl and toss it all together. You use less dressing this way without any bald spots in the salad. I didn’t do that tonight because I didn’t know what variety Chris would like. Of course, we ended up both using the  same kind: Asiago peppercorn!

The best thing about making this salad today is that it was the first opportunity to use the salad bowl and tossers given to me as a wedding shower gift.

So cute!! I feel like I need to have a salad party now! And a pizza party since we also got a pizza stone. And I still want to have a pasta party sometime to use my pasta attachments for the Kitchen-Aid.

To go with the salad, I, at the last minute, decided to make some bruschetta. I just brushed a couple slices of bread (multi-grain artisan) with garlic olive oil, topped them with diced tomato and a little shredded cheese and dried basil then under the broiler for 2 minutes.

*I swear that red onions have gotten a lot hotter over the last few years. These are supposed to the best suited for salads but man oh man sometimes they haunt me all day. I am hoping this is a variation in onion varieties and not a sign that I am getting old.  To get around this, I find that the thinner the slice, the easier for my esophagus.

Turkey-Wild Rice Soup with Fancy Carrots

The skeleton recipe for this was from a Paula Dean magazine but I only used it for approximate ratios.

Directions

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in large stockpot, over medium-high heat.  Add onions, carrots, celery and garlic, stirring to coat with oil; season with salt & pepper. Reduce heat to medium and cook vegetables until slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Add broth, turkey,dried herbs and rice. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and simmer 20 minutes. Check broth level and add more if necessary, depending on how thick you want it. Add fresh thyme, stir in cream and let cook about 5 minutes more. Season to taste.

This made for a thick soup. It was brothy, not overly creamy but not a lot of broth compared to the  turkey and rice. Just something to bear in mind.

An ideal go with: seeded bread sticks or cheesy toast.