a Mighty Minestrone soup

The story: Well to be perfectly frank there is not a whole lot of story behind this particular soup. The general recipe is an emulation of this terrific Italian restaurant's soup, Gusto, which is relatively close to me. The main reason I go to this place is for their spectacular eggplant dishes, of which I can't think of anyplace making better, but the bread and the soup that also comes with the meal is great. The recipe is pretty simple as these things go, though at the time of the making of it I didn't quite have everything I needed, it still turned out well. Sadly for many the height of this popular dish is at the Olive Garden, but as I'm sure more than a few might agree that Olive Garden is to Italian as French Fries are to France. As a side note, while the soup largely freezes well, when it comes to defrosting it does sometimes turn the noodles to mush.

*Image taken from Flikr

The Dish: Minestrone soup

5 cups of water
1 cup of vegetable stock
1/2 cup of carrots (sliced thinly)
1 can of diced tomatoes with the juices
1-2 fresh tomatoes
1 small potato (cubed)
3/4 cup of mushrooms
1 can of white kidney beans
1/2 of a medium onion (chopped fine)
2-3 tablespoons of tomato paste
1/4 cup of organic ketchup (more if you want a richer soup)
1/2 cup of dry macaroni
2-3 teaspoons of red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon of fresh ground sea salt
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
fresh basil to taste
fresh rosemary to taste

Cooking of this dish is quite simple, like most soups. Bring the water and the veggie stock to a boil and then simply add all of the vegetables. The only exception to this would be the potato. The preparation for this is a bit different. First peel the potato and then microwave for 4 minutes or so. This will really help soften it up for the soup. Add the somewhat cooked potato at the same time as the other veggies. Allow this to cook for 10-15 minutes and then add the tomato paste and the ketchup. After this is well mixed into the soup, add the macaroni and let it cook in the soup. Add the salt and pepper, and then the vinegar. Finally add fresh herbs. You might want to add a small amount of corn starch mixed with water into it, if you prefer a thicker soup. Make sure that the macaroni is a little chewy when you serve it, as it gives the soup more texture.

Add a bit of Parmesan Cheese and serve with well toasted fresh Italian bread.


Eat and enjoy!!

Orange Italian Chicken

Okay Story: So I, Kourtney, actually made this dish a while back but we, Gabey and I have fallen so behind in our blogging I thought it was time to catch up. So Gabey was making some udon noodles for dinner he had leftovers so I decided to do something fun. This was originally made for one person but can be easily multiplied for your dinner party.

Ingredients
1 boneless skinless chicken breast
Shallot or onion to taste ( I like a lot of shallot)
2 cloves of garlic
2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning
3/4 cup of your favorite marinara sauce
Udon Noodles
1 large orange- juice and zest
Handful of cashews
2 splashes of Dr. Pepper-----trust me------

The key to making the chicken so yummy is the following: Cook the chicken in all of the above! Saute the shallot or onion and garlic in 1 teaspoon of olive oil for a couple of minutes turn the heat down and pour in your marinara sauce. It is important to turn the heat down so the sauce simmers but does not pop out of the pan. Add Italian seasoning and stir till its well blended. Place chicken in pan and cushion it around the sauce. The sauce will start to become slightly thicker at this point add the juice of one orange and about 1/2 teaspoon of zest (add more if you like). So heres the fun part, trust me on this! Adding two splashes of Dr.Pepper will cut some of the acidity of the orange juice and highlight the sweetness of it. Let this simmer until the chicken is throughly cooked. The Chicken will be tender and flavored with your sauce. Simply add udon noodles and roasted or raw cashews to the pan and let them soak up all the yummy goodness! I promise this wont disappoint!

Beet couscous

The story: As I had mentioned in the previous post I had created a Mediterranean themed dinner for some Israeli friends of ours. This is one of the other dishes that I made for dinner that night. This dish was inspired by an episode of Iron Chef America in which Mario Vitali made this gorgeous couscous dish that I just had to emulate. Interestingly, my adaptation of his recipe had something of a different result. My couscous, when done and plated looked a great deal like pomegranate seeds. Neat huh? The beet juice and chunks of beet used for dish do not really add much in the way of flavor to it, it more for appearance and to have a bit a vegetable in there. Overall the taste itself is rather mild, lacking the usual kick I put in my food, but for that same reason it stands out even more.

Again this is a stock photo, but the dish look exactly the same!


The dish: beet couscous

1 cup of Israeli couscous (israeli couscous is larger and has more texture to it)
3/4 cup of water
1/2 cup of beet juice (I just used the juice from the beets in the can)
4 scallions
1/4 cup of beets
1/2 tsp of garlic
1/4 tsp of ground sea salt
1/4 tsp of ground black pepper

Bring the mixture of water and beet juice to a boil. Add the scallions and beets, and let it continue to boil for another 2-3 minutes. Add the spices, and stir a few times. Lower the temperature to a simmer and add the couscous, cooking for 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Due to the size of the couscous, it takes a bit longer to cook than the regular kind. It also has a more chewy texture to it, and tends to be more clumpy. After the couscous has reached the desired texture, take it off the heat and immediately place in the dish you're serving it in. I used a neat little trick, placing the couscous in a bowl with a wide rim, and then placing another bowl upside down on top of it. Remove the top bowl just before serving. It creates a very clean and solid look for dish.

Eat and enjoy!

Za'ahtar Chicken

The story: So Kourtney and I were having a few of our Israeli friends over for dinner and we were debating what to make. A heavily vegetarian menu was constructed with all kinds of neat things. This is one of them. This was actually the first time I've ever had to cook meat before. I became a vegetarian at the ripe old age of seven, so my meat experience is meager to say the least. Normally Kourtney would be the one to take care of it, but she was at work so it fell on my very capable shoulders. The basic concept behind this dish is one of simplicity, taking a few ingredients and creating a moist chicken dish with a simple and clean flavor. I must say that it was extremely well received by everybody. I must say I'm very proud of that, especially because I could not taste things along the way to make sure they tasted right. Over all this dish have a very Mediterranean flavor to it, with the olives really making the flavor of the olive oil pop. The flavor of the chicken was further accented by some of the other dishes I made, which I will probably write up at another time.

Sadly as it was rather late at night that we sat down to dinner, I didn't get a chance to properly photograph the dish, so this stock photo will have to do.

The dish: Za'ahtar Chicken with olives

2 packages of skinless boneless chicken breast. (a total of six pieces)
2-3 cups of Japaneses panko bread crumbs (important to use these, instead of normal breadcrumbs)
1/4 cup of za'ahtar (approximately)
2-3 tsp of garlic powder
1/2 cup of green olives
1/4 -1/3 cup of olive oil

First preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Take two large bowl, and place the olive oil in one and the bread crumb and spice mixture in the other. Thoroughly blend the spice and breadcrumb mixture until you have a uniform light green appearance. Before dealing with the chicken, take a pan and line it with foil, and then spray it with oil. Now for the chicken. As I dislike meat, I chose to wear gloves when handling the chicken, though in general its smart to do so anyway due to the possibility of bacteria. Take each chicken breast and thoroughly coat it with the olive oil. Next place in the breadcrumb mixture bowl, and coat the chicken. Don't be afraid to press the mixture onto the meat. You may have to refill the mixture bowl a bit during the process. When coated, place the chicken in the pan, and give them a very light spray of oil. Next chop up the green olives and gently place them on top of the chicken. If you just toss them on, you might knock off some of the breadcrumbs, leading to an uneven coat. Put in the oven, let bake for 35-45 minutes, depending on how done you like your chicken. I had it in for around 45 minutes and I was told that it was very tender and juicy. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Eat and Enjoy!!