Ham and white bean soup with lentils

I have a beautiful ham bone leftover and wanted to make soup today. The weather has been cold and lousy here and soup always warms the house. Most soups are fairly simple to make, but this one in particular is so easy.

Here's my recipe for ham and white bean soup with lentils:

1 diced onion
1 C. each-chopped carrot and celery
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 ham bone (if you don't have a ham bone, use a couple ham hocks)
2 cans white beans
5 C. (40 oz.) chicken stock
1/2 C. rinsed lentils
large pinch of each-salt and pepper
1 bay leaf

Saute onion, carrots and celery in olive oil for 2-3 minutes in a large soup pot. Add ham bone, white beans and chicken stock. Stir to combine, add lentils, salt, pepper and bay leaf. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and cook for at least an hour. If cooking longer, reduce heat and simmer until ready to eat.

Chicken with leeks and mushrooms

I was busy cooking all day today and by the time dinner rolled around I had no idea what I was going to make!

I knew I had a package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the fridge, some leftover chopped leeks and half used can of diced tomatoes, here's what I came up with.

1/2 C. chopped leeks
1 Tbs. olive oil
4-5 boneless skinless chicken thighs
salt and pepper
Greek or Italian seasoning
1/2 C. canned diced tomatoes with juice
3-4 mushrooms, quartered
1 cube frozen garlic
1 C. chicken stock
splash of white wine (optional)
1 bay leaf
splash of light cream (about 2 Tbs.)

Saute leeks in olive oil in a high sided nonstick pan on medium high heat for 2-3 minutes until leeks begin to soften. While leeks cook, season each side of chicken with salt, pepper and Greek seasoning. Add chicken to the pan and let brown for 1 minute per side.

Add tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic cube, chicken stock (white wine if you are using it) and bay leaf. Stir to combine, cover pan with a lid and reduce heat to medium low. Simmering for 15 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated and chicken is tender. Add a splash of light cream and cook another 2 minutes uncovered. Serve with couscous.

My kids loved this dish and couldn't believe I had just made it up. Give this chicken a try, it will certainly be made in our house again!

Garlicky white beans

We ate out a couple weeks ago and had the most delicious plate of very garlicky white beans. I figured these wouldn't be too hard to make at home and I was right. A bowl of these with a nice arugula salad would make a delicious dinner and my kids loved them too.

Here's the very simple recipe:

2 pieces bacon, cut into small pieces
½ finely diced onion
1 10oz. can white cannelloni beans, drained
3-5 cubes frozen garlic
1 tsp. Italian or Greek seasoning
1 bay leaf
8 oz. chicken stock
splash of white wine (optional)
salt and pepper
3 Tbs. chopped fresh Italian parsley for garnish
grated Parmesan cheese for garnish


Saute bacon in a deep pan for 4-5 minutes on medium high heat until it turns crisp. Remove grease from pan and sauté onion for 3-4 minutes. Add drained beans, garlic, Italian seasoning, bay leaf, and chicken stock and cook for 5-6 minutes uncovered on medium heat until most of the liquid has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley and Parmesan cheese before serving.

Vegetarian chili

I made this vegetarian chili for a client earlier this week and it was possibly the best one I've ever made.

Here's the recipe:

It makes a lot, about 10 C.

1 large diced onion
2 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 C. diced button mushrooms
1 can black beans
2 cans pinto/red beans
3 cans diced tomatoes with Italian herbs
2 C. frozen roasted corn (from Trader Joe's, if you can't find it, regular frozen is fine)
4 Tbs. chili powder (or 1 packet chili seasoning)
1 diced zucchini
1 large peeled and diced sweet potato
kosher salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbs. cornmeal

Saute onion for 2-3 minutes in olive oil in a large pot. Add mushrooms and continue cooking for another minute. Add drained beans and tomatoes. Stir to combine and add frozen corn and chili powder. Finally, add zucchini and sweet potato, and a good pinch of kosher salt and pepper. Cover and let simmer on medium low for 25 minutes. Season to taste, add cornmeal and continue cooking until ready to serve.

I served this with a side of jalapeno corn bread and homemade guacamole. If you like it spicy, add a little Tobasco sauce before serving.

Fusilli with sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts, lemon zest and asparagus

I am doing a corporate function tomorrow and prepared this dish for one of their meals. I wanted to share this delicious pasta recipe with you.

1 box fusilli
2 bunches fresh thin asparagus
1 C. thinly sliced sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
1 C. toasted pine nuts (Trader Joe's sells them pre-toasted)
zest from 1 lemon
2 cubes frozen garlic
kosher salt and pepper
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 bunch fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
pinch of red pepper flakes
grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Boil pasta in salted water. While pasta cooks, lay a steamer over the pot and steam asparagus until just bright green, 2 minutes max. Plunge asparagus in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Remove from the bowl and slice into 2" pieces. Toss in a large bowl with sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts, lemon zest, frozen garlic, olive oil, and a big pinch of salt and pepper.

Cook pasta until al dente 10-12 minutes. Drain and add to bowl, and toss to combine. Finally, add a handful of parsley and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese if desired. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Serve warm.

Other add-in's that would be delicious:
pitted kalamata olives
fresh baby spinach
grilled shrimp

Pork medallions with lemon & peas, and zucchini coins.

I have a pork tenderloin and was looking for a new way to prepare it. Here's my recipe for pork medallions and zucchini coins, they're both easy to make and really delicious.

Pork Medallions:
1 (1 lb) pork tenderloin
1/4 C. olive oil
seasoned flour (1/2 C. flour mixed with 1 Tbs. Lawry's season salt and 1 tsp. black pepper)
1/2 C. white wine or chicken stock
juice from 1 lemon
1 Tbs. capers
1 C. frozen peas
1 C. sliced mushrooms (optional)

Cut the tenderloin into 1/2" thick slices. Heat oil on a large nonstick pan on medium heat. Dredge pork in seasoned flour. When the oil is hot, cook dredged pork for 1-2 minutes per side. When the pork is cooked, remove from the pan, and keep warm in a covered plate. Add white wine or chicken stock, lemon juice, capers, (mushrooms-optional) and peas to the pan, cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 1 minute. Pour sauce over pork and serve with warm crusty bread and broiled zucchini coins.

Zucchini coins:

Preheat oven to broil.

Thinly slice a zucchini, lay pieces on a foil lined cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil, cracked pepper, kosher salt and a pinch of grated Parmesan cheese.

Cook for 3 minutes or until cheese has just melted. Turn oven off and keep in oven until ready to eat.

Baked pasta with spinach, fennel and truffled pecorino

We had some friends over for dinner tonight and as it was last minute, I had to find something to make from the pantry. Here's what I threw together from my pantry.

ingredients:
1 box pasta ( I used elbow macaroni)
1 head fennel
1 box creamed spinach
1 C. fresh mushrooms
2 cubes frozen garlic
olive oil
truffled pecorino cheese
1/4 C. cream cheese
Panko breadcrumbs


Preheat oven to 450. Line a cookie sheet with either a Silpat mat or aluminum foil. Remove the top from 1 head of fennel. Quarter and thinly slice the fennel. Add it to the cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and add a pinch of kosher salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes.

While the fennel roasts, boil 1 box of pasta.
While the pasta boils, microwave 1 box of creamed spinach.

Heat a large nonstick pan on medium high heat. Add 1 Tbs. olive oil and while the oil heats, rinse and thinly slice a handful of mushrooms. Saute the mushrooms in the pan, add a pinch of kosher salt and pepper and 2 cubes of froze garlic. Cook for 2 minutes. Turn off heat, and add roasted fennel, creamed spinach and 1/4 c. grated truffled pecorino cheese. If you don't have this on hand, you could use a drizzle of truffle oil and a handful of grated Parmesan or Pecorino cheese instead. Add 1/4 C. cream cheese (the chive cream cheese would be good in here too) and stir until melted.

Drain pasta and add to pan, stir to combine and place pasta and vegetables in an oven proof casserole dish. Sprinkle top with bread crumbs, a drizzle of olive oil and a small handful of the grated truffled pecorino cheese.

Bake at 400 for 10-12 minutes or until breadcrumbs are golden brown.

We enjoyed this with a salad that our friends brought over.

This dish was surprisingly delicious and I was glad to use up some of the foods from my pantry and freezer.

Enjoy!