Lemon Chicken and Vegetable Soup

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been trying to slowly use all of the goodies in our freezer. One of the containers I came across today was leftover chicken. I had tried to make a whole chicken in the crockpot a few months ago. I put the whole chicken into the crockpot, added sliced lemons, and crushed garlic and let it simmer all day. It was so tasty and juicy. It actually fell off of the bones and we had to eat it shredded even though that wasn’t the plan at that time. I froze the leftovers thinking that I would eventually make chicken and dumplings. However, with our attempt to eat a more paleo diet, dumplings weren’t really an option anymore. However, I think this would make an amazing chicken and dumpling base! With dumplings off the table for us, I had to think of something else.

I decided to make a lemon chicken and vegetable soup. First, I chopped one green pepper, 1/4 of an onion, 1 jalapeno, and 3 carrots and sauteed them in chipotle olive oil (for more about specialty flavored olive oils, see my post here).

When the carrots were tender, I added the shredded chicken. The chicken had been frozen in the broth from cooking, but it wasn’t enough to make it soupy. I also added 4 cups of water.

I let the soup simmer for about 40 minutes. I added a tablespoon of chipotle chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon of thyme, and a teaspoon of black pepper.

The final product was very good! The natural broth (I usually buy broth at the store) was amazing. At first, I worried the lemon would be weird in a soup, but it was a nice touch. And what a healthy dish!

French Cheeses: Part I

We took a class on French cheeses tonight. Wait, did you say cheese? COUNT ME IN. Did you say French cheese? EVEN BETTER.

A local business, Wine + Market, prides themselves on selling local products, good wines, and good cheeses. The cheese classes are relatively new for them, but apparently they are a great success. In tonight’s class, we learned about 6 different French cheeses.

We learned lots of random facts like:

Although France has the most kinds of cheese, it is not the largest producer of cheese. The United States is the largest producer, followed by Germany, and then France. Many of the best cheeses of France are not available in the U.S. because of the guidelines about pasteurization. Even though France is not the largest producer, the cheese they produce is valued at a higher price. Additionally, the French cheese market is on the decline, but artisan cheeses in the U.S. is rapidly growing.

Here are the six types we tried and the most interesting fact(s) about each type…

1. Comte – It is the #1 seller for France; they produce 40,000 tons per year. There is a strict rule that if you grate it, it is no longer called Comte.

2. Gruyere – This is a Swiss version of Comte. It has won the International Cheese Award 4 years in a row. In case you are curious, the International Cheese Awards are given in July in England. Vacation, anyone?

3. Morbier – don’t let this ruin your appetite because it was amazing, but this cheese includes a layer of ash and a mold that is also found on the human foot… That line you see in the middle of the cheese (third one from the top) is the ash that is placed between two layers of cheese curds.

4. Delice de Bourgogne – this is a triple cream cheese. What does that mean? It means that it has cream added to make the cheese 75% fat:solid ratio. Double cream cheeses are defined as 64-74% butter fat. This was by far my favorite cheese of the night.

5. Brie de Meaux – surprisingly, this cheese is mostly industrial. And technically, it is the same thing as Camembert but made in a different location. Our instructor also called this the “Prince of Cheese.”

6. Roquefort – This is the #2 seller for France. To be considered Roquefort the milk must come from only three species of sheep (out of over a thousand breeds) who are only fed grass from the region and the cheese must never leave that region during aging (which happens in a cave with breads). There are only 7 producers of Roquefort.

When in France over the summer, our favorite cheese, which was not featured in the class tonight, was Pont l’Eveque. I can’t wait to have that cheese again.

What a delicious evening! Looking forward to the Part II class in May!

 

 

Bonfire steak, sweet potato caprese, and vanilla bean latte snickerdoodles

On a recent trip to get my hair cut, I made a stop by one of my favorite specialty stores in Lexington, Stuarto’s. Stuarto’s is a company that sells specialty olive oils, balsamic vinegars, sea salts, and cane sugars. I’ve even gone to a few of the cooking classes they host which always features their products being used in really creative (and yummy) ways.

When I stopped in, Stuarto himself was there and he introduced me to some of their newest flavors and products. I bought a balsamic vinegar, a cane sugar, and a sea salt. Specifically, I bought black cherry balsamic vinegar, vanilla bean cane sugar, and bonfire sea salt.

At the time I didn’t plan on a food challenge, I was just so excited about the new products. It was on the drive home that I realized I could make a challenge for myself this week and give Joe a break from coming up with ideas. My challenge to myself was to create a unique dinner and dessert. I decided to add in the chipotle olive oil I had purchased on my last visit to Stuarto’s too.

For dinner, I made a bonfire salted steak with chipotle sauteed onions and sweet potato caprese. First, I thinly sliced the sweet potato and popped them into the oven at 350 degrees. I flipped the slices at about 15 minutes into the baking. I waited until they were tender.

I followed all of the “rules” for a perfect steak by getting good steaks at Critchfield Meats and letting the steaks get to room temperature before cooking. I pressed the bonfire sea salt into both sides and then seared the steaks in coconut oil. Why coconut oil? See my post on what I learned about cooking steak at a cooking class with Wild Thyme. After both sides were seared, I placed the steak in the oven to finish cooking. While the steaks finished cooking, I sauteed the onion in chipotle olive oil until tender.

I used the roasted sweet potato rounds as the tomato replacement in a traditional caprese. I placed thinly sliced fresh mozzarella on each round, added basil leaves, and drizzled the black cherry balsamic vinegar over it. I thought the sweetness of the black cherry would go nicely with the sweet potato.

The finished dish was delicious. The timing was off a little with the steaks and the sweet potatoes both requiring oven time. Joe’s assessment was that there was a nice mix of salty and sweet and that the meal was very satisfying.

For dessert, I put my own twist on a classic snickerdoodle recipe. I made three modifications. First, I added two tablespoons of cocoa to the mix to give it a very light chocolate flavor. Second, I added 3 tablespoons of brewed coffee. Last, instead of rolling the cookies in the traditional sugar and cinnamon mixture, I rolled them in the vanilla bean sugar cane.

The end result was very good. The coffee flavor wasn’t quite as strong as I’d hoped. But the cookies were soft and fluffy. I also was a little too conservative with the vanilla bean sugar as I wasn’t sure how far the small container would stretch. This recipe is definitely a “keeper”!