Chicken Pozole

I realize that today is Valentine's Day and soup might not exactly rank very highly on the list of most romantic foods in the world.  But the rough winter months of New York have taught me that sometimes even the most ordinary of dishes can be romantic, just as long as those dishes are hearty and filling enough to melt away cold cheeks and fingers and noses from the commute home.

And this soup is anything but boring!  It's spicy and warm and, with the addition of a little fresh lime juice, is bright with the flavors of a warmer climate.  Crushed tortilla chips add an unexpected crunch and extra bit of saltiness.  Mix up a batch of margaritas, play a little footsy under the table with your slipper-clad sweetheart, and you have the makings of a delicious, romantic evening!



CHICKEN POZOLE
Adapted from Martha Stewart
Makes 8 servings

This is one of our favorite soups to make in the winter months, as it is hearty and filling without requiring a lot of work to create.  We love adding diced avocado, some freshly squeezed lime juice, and some crushed tortillas just before we sink our spoons into the bowl.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup tomato paste
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
4 cans (14.5 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth
4 cans (15 ounces each) white hominy, drained
6 3/4 cups shredded cooked chicken (2 pounds)
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
Assorted garnishes, such as diced avocado, thinly sliced radishes, and crumbled tortilla chips, for serving

Heat oil in a 5-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add onions; cook until translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Add garlic, tomato paste, chili powder, and oregano; cook, stirring constantly, until evenly distributed. Add 4 cups water, broth, and hominy. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until fragrant, about 30 minutes.

Stir in chicken; season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook until heated through. To serve, divide among bowls, and garnish as desired.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Cinnamon Crema

She's gone.  There are pockets of blinding sunshine peeking through the last hours of Hurricane Sandy's thick rain bands.  We are no longer hunkering down in the soft leather of our couch, praying our windows will be able to sustain the whirling, deafening winds.  The morning light revealed that we are safe, our windows held tight, and we have a highly coveted commodity in our region - power.

As we wait for the damage to be fully recognized and for our days to return to their normal, hectic pace, now is the time for comfort and thankfulness.  It is the time to check on our family, friends, and neighbors.  It is the time to lend a helping hand or warm meal to those who need it most.

Homemade Chicken Stock

At the beginning of the year, I started thinking about the store-bought ingredients I use on a daily basis in my cooking and baking. I focused particularly on the items consuming a large chuck of my grocery bill and brainstormed ways to reduce their cost. For some items, the solution was simply to buy less to ensure minimal waste.

But this solution was not entirely feasible when it came to an ingredient like chicken stock. During the cold winter months, I enjoy throwing together soups and stews a few times each week, sometimes requiring a total of four quarts of chicken stock. At $3.50 a quart, store-bought stock consumed a noticeable portion of my grocery bill, so I decided to try my hand at making a homemade version.

Now on Sunday mornings, I roast a small chicken, then tear the juicy meat from the bones, reserving the meat for upcoming weeknight meals. I place the bones and drippings in my grandfather’s dutch-oven, throw in a few vegetables and seasonings, and the stock simmers away with the afternoon hours. As you might imagine, the flavor of a homemade stock is unmatched, meaning I stretch my stock to last throughout the week, effectively eliminating the cost associated with purchasing store-bought versions.

Winter Chicken Noodle Soup

The remnants of the crippling Christmas snowstorm are still visible here in New York City. The dirty snow drifts slowly melt into the crowded sidewalks, littered with uncollected mountains of trash. As I write, fluffy snowflakes fall steadily outside the living room window. Media outlets are vying to see if the city implements lessons learned from last week’s accumulation. Mike just departed for work, looking especially handsome in his new snow boots and cozy flannel shirt.

And yet this impending snow storm provides a feeling of excitement, the same feeling a child receives on a snow day from school. Once both parties safely return home from work, there is something incredibly romantic about a snowed-in weekend. We stocked our groceries, ran any pressing errands, and now have nowhere to go, nowhere to be for the next two days. We have shelves lined with books, a fancy new Scrabble board, and an endless supply of Mike’s recently bottled hard apple cider.

Such cozy weekends beg for a hearty soup, one with an ability to warm you down to your tippy toes. One of my favorite choices is chicken noodle soup, but the usual bowl can sometimes taste a bit thin. Keeping the classic components of the soup in mind, I created a one-pot version, ensuring every morsel of taste and flavor infuses the resulting soup. The roasting chicken creates the initial layer of flavor, later deglazed with a healthy dose of chardonnay, and eventually the soft, caramelized vegetables drown in flavorful chicken stock.

Butternut Squash Soup with Cream & Spiced Nuts

Today, as most Americans are recovering from a massive food hangover, I will be preparing and serving a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

With the help of my good friend Victoria, and a glass of wine or three, we will serve an entire turkey dinner from my closet-sized kitchen, equipped with two gas burners and a counter top oven.

The key to ensuring this dinner goes off without a hitch has been major planning and plenty of advance prep work. Anything and everything that could be made in advance is sitting, neatly labeled in my half-sized refrigerator.

This soup whipped up beautifully a few days before our actual feast. The recipe yielded more soup than I expected, so I simply froze half for the bitter winter days ahead.

To elevate the soup just a bit for serving, I will add a drizzle of heavy cream and a pinch of spiced nuts, which conveniently can also be made ahead of time.

Now that I am armed with a beautiful appetizer, I can focus my attention on more important matters, like praying the brining bag does not explode all over the refrigerator.