Category: Recipes (Page 38 of 55)

Edible Phoenix is part  Edible communities, a nationwide movement to support buying local food products. They provided this soup recipe which appeared in a recent issues of their magazine. The soup comes from Executive Chef Edward Farrow of Café at MIM. He met farmer Carl Seacat of Seacat Gardens while working at a previous restaurant and kept in touch. Chef created this light and healthy soup to showcase the wild Italian arugula grown at Seacat Gardens.

 Ingredients

• 4 ounces The Meat Shop bacon, small dice
• 1 medium sweet onion, small dice,
• 4 stalks of celery, small dice
• 2 carrots peeled, small dice
• 1 Anaheim chile, small dice
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small bunch thyme, leaves only
• 2 sprigs of sage, leaves only
• 1 gallon vegetable stock
• 6 ounces white tepary beans, cooked – see note
• 6 ounces brown tepary beans, cooked – see note
• 1½ pounds Seacat Gardens arugula leaves (no stem)
• 2 lemons
• 2 limes
• Salt to taste
• Crostini (recipe follows)
• Arugula pesto (recipe follows)

Cook bacon slowly over moderate heat to render as much fat as possible. Add onion, carrot, celery and chile, and cook until translucent. Then add minced garlic and herbs. Sweat slowly for 5 minutes, making sure you gain no color on the vegetables. Add the vegetable stock and beans. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add 1½ pounds of Seacat Gardens arugula to simmering liquid. Stir vigorously and turn off fire. Squeeze the juice of both citrus into soup. Season with salt to taste. Serve with grilled crostini spread with arugula pesto.

Serves 16; recipe may be halved.

Note:  tepary beans are small firm beans native to Arizona.  You can substitute navy beans, lentils or other small legumes.

Crostini

• 1 baguette (thin loaf of French bread)
• Olive oil

Slice baguette at an angle. Brush with olive oil and grill over medium heat until toasted, a couple minutes.

Seacat Arugula Pesto

• ½ pound Seacat Gardens arugula leaves (no stems)
• ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano
• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts or walnuts
• 1 medium garlic clove, minced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Purée all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

For more Soups of the Week Click Here

About Pamela Hamilton, Publisher and Editor of Edible Phoenix

Pamela Hamilton has enjoyed living, food shopping and dining around the world. She established Edible Phoenix magazine to celebrate the abundance of the Valley season by season. “There are so many amazing people quietly establishing and carrying on food traditions in the Valley who are passionate about what they do, but you have to really look to find them.  Often they don’t have the support they need.  One of my jobs is to unearth these ‘hidden gems’ and to get their stories out to the general public.”

Pamela is the Governor of the Southwest region for Slow Food and is a member of Les Dames D’Escoffier. She is a past co-leader of Slow Food Phoenix and currently serves as Treasurer for the local chapter. Pamela serves as a board member for Community Food Connections and is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals. She was formerly a management consultant and holds a Bachelor degree from Stanford University. Click here to learn more about Edible Phoenix.

About Savory Choice Broths

 Click Here for More Soups of the Week

We met Gwen through Edible Phoenix – the local magazine about the slow food movement. The day we met, she introduced me to a great new secret restaurant. She is one of those fun, Texans who shares with you whether you put your fork in your mouth or not.  Try her hearty, spicy, and chunky with chicken and vegetables, this is not your typical tortilla soup, though it has many of the same flavors.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1-1/2 cups chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 cups corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
• 1 cup seeded and chopped tomato
• 1 jalapeño, minced (remove seeds for less heat)
• 2 (4-ounce) cans chopped mild green chiles
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon ancho chile paste*
• 2 teaspoons Mexican oregano**
• 2 teaspoons chile powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 3 cups chopped cooked chicken breast (about 3/4 pound)
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons cold water

Garnish:

• 2 cups fried thin tortilla strips
• 3 large avocados, peeled and chopped
• 6 tablespoons sour cream

 Method

1. Melt butter in a stockpot over medium heat.  Stir in onions and cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Stir in garlic.  Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are soft, about 2 to 3 more minutes.
2. Stir in corn, tomatoes, jalapeño, green chiles, and spices, cooking another minute or so. 
3. Stir in chicken stock.  Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Stir in chicken and cilantro.  Bring to a boil. Whisk cornstarch and water together.  Whisk into boiling soup.  Reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes.  Taste and season with salt if needed.
4. Ladle into warm soup bowls.  Garnish with fried tortilla strips, avocado chunks, and a tablespoon of sour cream.

Serves 6

*To make ancho chile paste: Remove stems and seeds from 3 ancho chiles. It’s a good idea to wear disposable latex gloves to protect your hands from the heat of the chiles.  Toast chiles in a dry skillet over medium heat until fragrant, about a minute or so.  Place chiles in a bowl and cover with 1 cup of boiling water and 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar.  Rehydrate for 20 to 30 minutes.  Puree chiles in a blender with just enough of the soaking liquid to make a thick paste (think tomato paste consistency). Yields approximately ¼ cup of paste.

**Mexican oregano is not the same herb as the more common Mediterranean oregano.  Look for Mexican oregano on the Mexican food aisle of your grocery.

About Gwen

Born to journalist parents, it was only a matter of time before Gwen, a professionally trained chef and Certified Culinary Professional, settled into a rewarding food writing career. An honors graduate of the Scottsdale Culinary Institute, she honed her cooking skills in commercial kitchens such as the renowned Boulders Resort in Carefree before trading her chef’s knife for a pen. She is the author of three award-winning cookbooks featuring renowned U.S. resorts. She has taught cooking classes across the country and her recipes have been featured in various newspapers and magazines across the country. She currently writes restaurant reviews and two regular monthly food columns for PHOENIX Magazine and as well as feature stories for Edible Phoenix, two of which are featured in Edible: A Celebration of Local Foods, by Edible Communities, released in May of 2010. Gwen regularly dishes about food and travel on her blog, www.penandfork.com.

Ok, big time now folks. Lee Hillson is not only one of the top Chefs in America but, most of all, a really great guy! Talk about funny. He serves it up at T-Cooks in the Royal Palms Resort & Spa in Scottsdale and we had the opportunity to shoot a TV segment with him in September 2010.  Now he has provided us this wonderful soup. Try it out check out Heidi and Lee cooking together next week on AZTV7/Cable 13 at 9am (or the next day on our website).

Lobster Stock

Ingredients:

• 4 each 1# Lobster
• 1/2 cup Brandy
• 2 cup Mirepoix (diced celery carrot and onion)
• 4 tbls. Tomato paste
• 2 tbls. Olive oil
• 4 qt. Chicken broth

Remove the heads (Split) and claws off of the lobster. Boil the tails for six minutes. Remove the meat from the shell and reserve. Crush the shells, heads and claws (by hand or in a food processor). Start by sautéing the shells in oil. Add your mirepoix and tomato paste. Cook until the vegetables start to soften. Deglaze with brandy and reduce (Be careful of the flames whenever you deglaze with alcohol). Add the chicken broth; bring to a boil and then simmer for 45 minutes.  Strain through a sieve.

Ingredients:

• 4 qt. Lobster stock
• 2 pt. Heavy cream
• 2 cup Fennel
• 1/4 cup Brandy
• 1/4 cup Pernod
• 2 head Fennel
• 2 each Carrot        
• 4 cloves Garlic
• 1 each Onion      
• 2 sprig Tarragon
• 2 each Star anise and bay leaf

Sauté the chopped onion, garlic, carrot and fennel until soft. Add one star anise, bay leaf and tarragon. Deglaze with the brandy and Pernod. Add the lobster stock and reduce by half. Strain.

In a separate pan bring the one-cup of fennel and cream to boil. Reduce by half. Add this to the reduced lobster stock, puree and season to taste. Strain through a sieve and serve with the lobster meat that has been diced and a little whipped cream.

Serves Six.

About Lee Hillson

Lee Hillson has gained both local and national notoriety with this elegant and rustic interpretation of Mediterranean cuisine as well as his generous donation of both time and talent to countless charitable organizations. Lee began his career at 16 when enrolling in culinary school at Bournemouth and Poole College in England. He joined Hyatt in Austin, Texas then returned to London to be the Chef de Partie at the Roux Patisserie then to Hintlesham Hall in Suffolk, England as the Pastry Chef and later Sous Chef at this European award-winning, fine dining restaurant. In 1998, Lee became Executive Sous Chef at Alva Restaurant, Vanderbilt Hall in Newport, Rhode Island. Within a few short months, he was appointed Executive Chef at what was ranked as one of the country’s top five restaurants by Country Inn Magazine. Lee came to Arizona as Sous Chef at T-Cooks in 2000 and became Executive Chef of T. Cooks at the Royal Palms in August 2005. In 2008, he was invited to battle Chef Cat Cora on Iron Chef America. With Hillson at the helm, T. Cook’s was voted the most popular Phoenix/Scottsdale restaurant by Zagat’s: America’s Top Restaurants in both 2006 and 2007.

 Click Here for More Soups of the Week