Chicken Pot Pie

This dish is amazing on a cold and rainy night, just like the one we are having here in L.A. It is comfort food at its finest! You can make homemade crust ( I usually do) but if you are under the gun, a little help from the Pillsbury Dough Boy is a perfect substitute, just make sure it is the buttery pie crust!
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
2 carrots peeled and cubed
1 thinly sliced leek
2 parsnips peeled and cubed
1 cup  frozen or fresh blanched peas
10 1/2 oz. heavy cream
1 3/4 oz. flour
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
Salt and pepper to taste

First of all, get your pie crusts in the individual sized pie tins. I feel the individual pie tins make this meal particularly special, like you made them just for that person! Put the crust in the fridge while you are preparing the filling. Keeping the crust cooled is extremely important when baking!

Now it's time to get the veggies peeled and cubed. I love parsnips, they are my favorite of the root vegetables and they go perfectly with this creamy and hearty dish!

You can blanche the peas on the stovetop or just heat them a bit in the microwave, they will be baking in the pie so not too much, you don't want mushy peas!

Heat up the butter in a nice sized saucepan and then get the leeks sauteing, making sure they are limp, about 5 minutes.

I like to cube the chicken and add it in, just make sure to wash your hands thoroughly afterward, no one wants to serve food poising with their dinner! 

Once the chicken is pretty well cooked through, about 10 minutes because it is in such small pieces, get those root veggies in there, so they can begin to soften.

Add in the flour and let it bubble while you keep stirring it. Then you can toss in the chicken broth and herbs and cook until it starts to thicken.

Get that heavy cream in once the chicken mixture has thickened, reserving 1 tablespoon for glazing the top of the pie. Then get those delicious peas in there and let it cook for a minute.

Pre heat the oven 400 and pull the pies out of the fridge. Make sure to put a baking sheet in as well so the heat is distributed evenly and your pies will bake properly! Top off the pies with the remaining crust, pinching the edges, brushing the top with cream and then cutting slits in the top so the pies have a heat vent! Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the top is nice and golden!

Let them cool and enjoy!!!!

Zucchini Soup and Homemade Croutons

I love zucchini! My grandmother and I once made a zucchini chocolate cake, which was delicious and my grandfather didn't know the mystery ingredient until after he told us how much he loved it! For the wintertime, zucchini soup can't be beat on a cold day. It's fast and easy and if you want to make it vegan, just omit the cream and make it with veggie broth!

Ingredients-
4 zucchinis trimmed and sliced thin
2 shallots chopped
1 medium onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic minced
1/4 teaspoon thyme
6-7 fresh sage leaves
1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary
Salt & Pepper to taste
3-4 cups of broth-either vegetable or chicken
1/3 cup heavy cream
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
Milk to thin the soup if desired

In a dutch oven, heat up the olive oil and get the onions and shallots sweating! In a food processor, slice up the zucchinis extra thin ( if you don't have one, you can slice by hand, just prep before you start the onions. After about 5-7 minutes of letting the onions sweat, add in the zucchinis and let them saute for another 5-7 minutes.

In the meantime, mince the garlic and get your herbs together. You can add the sage leaves in whole because they will be blended or you can coarsely chop them before adding to the soup.
Once the zucchini is nice and soft put in the garlic and herbs, plus some salt and pepper. Let it saute again for another two minutes.
Add in the broth and simmer for 20 minutes.

After the zucchini has been simmering in the broth, remove from the heart and blend in batches. You can use a food processor or blender, but make sure it is nice and pureed before putting back in to the pot.
Add the cream and a little milk if you want to thin out the soup some more. *To make this vegan, just omit the cream and use vegetable broth and you are good to go*

Allow another 10 minutes of simmering and then you can serve the soup nice and hot with a some homemade croutons. It's great to throw in the thermos for lunch at school or on the go!

Homemade Croutons:

Ingredients:
Some old baguettes
Olive Oil
1/3 Parmesan cheese
Red Chili Flakes
Cracked pepper

Get your oven going at 375 and begin to cut up the old bread into cubes. You can toss the bread cubes onto the cookie sheet and heat them up for about 5-7 minutes.

In a bowl toss in the cheese, pepper and chili flakes, mixing them up . You can omit the pepper and chili flakes but I like a little spice on my croutons.

When the bread has been toasted, throw in another bowl with some olive oil to coat. Don't overdue the olive oil, you just want to get the croutons a quick coat.
Then transfer the bread to the bowl with the cheese mixture and toss together.

Return the bread cubes to the cookie sheet, laying down some foil to keep the clean up easy and pop back into the oven for another 5-7 minutes.

You can serve them fresh with the soup and they will last for the week!

Applesauce Cake

My grandmother would make this delicious cake for me and I thought I would share it. I added dried figs and cherries because they looked so amazing in the store and that's the beauty of this cake, it's wonderful for the fall and winter because any dried fruit will be tasty!

Ingredients:
Cake-
2 cups chunky applesauce
2 cups brown sugar
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 stick unsalted butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup dried cherries
1/4 dried figs
1/4 golden raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons Amarula (or Bailey's or any cream liquor)

Glaze-
2 cups confectioner's sugar
1/3 cup of butter
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla (or maple extract)
2-3 tablespoons water

To start off preheat the oven to 350. Cream the butter and add the sugar. Mix in one egg at a time and the vanilla until fluffy. In another bowl sift the flour, baking soda, and salt.It's important to sift not only because it mixes the dry ingredients, it also refines the flour making your cake silky soft.

I like to add in the spices when the wet and dry ingredients have been mixed, but if you want you can mix them in the sifted flour mixture. Then add the applesauce one cup a time to the creamed butter sugar, alternating between the dry mix and applesauce. The applesauce makes this cake extra moist and the chunks of apples in the cake are just so sweet!

Now you will need to fold in the dried fruit and nuts. I like to add Amarula, a sweet liquor made from Elephant fruit to the mix, but if that is unavailable, Bailey's or any cream liquor will do.

Use an 11 inch bundt pan that has been greased and floured, This is especially important because when you let the cake cool, you want it to easily slide out of the pan! Pop it in the oven for 40-45 minutes, Be sure not to over bake! When the top is firm but still puffs back up after touching, the cake is ready!

Let it cool for at least an hour. About a couple minutes before sliding the cake out of the pan, get your glaze going. Melt the butter in a medium sized pot and then add the sugar, one cup at a time, whisking them together, add the vanilla and a table spoon of water at a time until you reach a glaze consistency that you like, I prefer a little heavier glaze but the more water you add the lighter the glaze will be. You can also use maple extract if you want that fall flavor to you cake, but I would only put a teaspoon in and taste before adding the other 1/4 teaspoon! Now you just have to slide the cake out of the bundt pan, drizzle your glaze over the cake, garnish with some chopped nuts and whole dried figs and you have a delicious, moist, fall and winter cake!

Homemade Tomato Soup

I seem to be on a soup kick and loving it! Here's my homemade tomato soup recipe. I love to dip a crusty delicious truffle grilled cheese with this soup!

Ingredients:
3 lbs. of Roma tomatoes par boiled, peeled and seeded
4 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 medium onion chopped
14-16 basil leaves coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese
1/4 stick of butter
1/3 cup of whole milk
Salt & Pepper to taste
Olive oil for sauteing

To start off with, this soup has a bit of prep work but it is worth it. Firstly, time to get those tomatoes going. In a large saucepan fill it 3/4 full of water and bring to a boil. Score the bottoms of the tomatoes so that after par boiling the tomatoes the skins will peel off quickly and easily.

Once the water begins to boil, put the tomatoes into the saucepan in batches, not overcrowding. Make sure to turn them over in the water so all sides get boiled.

Let them boil for about a minute or so and when the skins begin to shrivel take them out with a slotted spoon. Allow the tomatoes to cool before peeling them. While you are letting the tomatoes cool down, chop 1 medium onion and mince 3 cloves of garlic. After the tomatoes are cool, peel the skins off and cut them in half, taking out all the seeds. Set the tomatoes to the side and get the oil heated in your soup pot on medium heat. Once it's heated toss in the onions and let them saute for 5-7 minutes.

Then drop in the minced garlic for about half a minute, letting it heat up a bit before adding the peeled and seeded tomatoes. Give the tomatoes a little time in the pot with the onions and garlic, about 2 minutes and then add in the broth, simmering for 30 minutes.

Coarsely chop the basil and pull out your food processor or blender. Once the 30 minutes are up, transfer over in batches the soup and blend, tossing in the fresh basil leaves. You can puree the soup or pulse to have a coarser consistency. Then it goes back in the pot, keeping the heat low. Add a quarter of a stick of butter , the two tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and about 1/3 a cup whole milk. Salt & Pepper to taste, then let it simmer for another ten minutes.

I like to get my grilled cheese going while the last simmering is happening, and I love to use Italian truffle cheese on a crusty sourdough bread. Top the soup off with a sprinkle of Parmesan and some shredded cheese (again, I used the truffle cheese). Dip that sandwich and enjoy!

Apple Butternut Squash Soup

Creamy with a touch of tang, this lovely winter soup will make any cold day brighter! Perfect for the rainy weather we are having right now! I like to make a crispy grilled cheese with white truffle cheese and sourdough bread to serve along with this soup.


Ingredients-
2 Granny Smith apples-peeled,cored, and cubed
1 Butternut squash-peeled and cubed (you can also get it at the store already cut and cubed for you, I would recommend the larger bag or buy 2-3 of the small bags)
1 white onion-grated
1/2 cup of half & half
3 cups of chicken broth (you can use vegetable broth if you want to make it veggie)
1/4 tablespoon flour
Fresh Rosemary and Thyme
Salt and Pepper


There is a lot of chopping and grating to be done, so get to it! I usually get the apples done quickly, you can use fancy machines to peel and core but I just use a regular old peeler and then my handy knife. The squash can be a beast but if you cut it in quarters it is a bit easier to handle! Once the apples and squash are all chopped up, grate the onion and start heating up the soup pot on medium heat. 
Melt the butter in the pot and saute the onions for about 3 minutes, then add the apples and squash. Stir up a bit and then add the fresh Rosemary and Thyme. I like to just pick the herbs off the stems (don't put in the stems or people are going to think they are eating pieces of bark). Rosemary is a pretty overpowering herb so don't go crazy, 2-3 stems should suffice. I recommend the fresh herbs since it will blend up nicely and make the flavor even more fresh and delicious than dried herbs. Saute for 5 minutes.
Before adding the broth, put in the flour and mix well! This will help with the thickness of the soup. Then add in the chicken broth, stirring as you pour it in. Turn the burner down to low. Do not boil the soup first and then turn it down. Let it simmer for 30 minutes.
Once the thirty minutes are up get out your blender or food processor and start blending up! I like to do the soup in batches so as not to overload the blender and to get a consistent creamy texture. Return the soup back into the pot and add the half&half, simmering for another 5 minutes and then "Soup's On"!

Everybody Loves Latkes

Latkes just may be one of my most favorite things. Making them can be a process, but the end result is a plate full of amazing! I like to serve them with a brown sugar sour cream which can be made super fast and was such a hit at Hanukkah Dinner that we decided you could dip your fries in it!

Ingredients:

Latkes-

3 Russet potatoes peeled and shredded 

1 white onion grated

3 eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour or matzo meal or a combination of both!

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup peanut oil for frying (but you may need more, that's just to get your pan frying started!)

*cheesecloth or a ricer to strain out the excess water in the potatoes*

Brown Sugar Sour Cream-

1 regular size container of sour cream

1/3 cup maple syrup 

3 tablespoons brown sugar 

Flour to thicken

Make the sour cream before hand so it can chill in the fridge. Just combine the sugar, maple syrup, and sour cream with a spoon, mixing well. To thicken the mixture, add a tablespoon at a time of flour, mixing till you get the consistency that you want. Then just stick it in the fridge till serving time!

If you have a food processor, get that baby out and start shredding! If not, a hand grater is just fine. Potatoes have a short shelf life before they begin to brown, so if you know you take a long time grating, have a bowl of cold water on the side to put the shredded potatoes in. You'll have to strain the potatoes to make them ready for frying anyway(or you get  a soggy mash if you don't) so let them sit until your oil and onions are ready. 

In a large bowl combine the flour (or matzo meal or combination of both) and salt. Beat the three eggs and have them ready to mix into the flour mixture for when the potatoes are all shredded. I like to take the onions and saute them in butter before combining all the ingredients, it seems to make them melt into the latkes and who doesn't like butter? You can just heat up the butter in a small sauce pan, and saute till the onions are translucent but not brown(they will be brown when they get all fried up). Add the onion to the egg /flour mixture and then begin to heat up the peanut oil.

Make sure to use a large skillet for the frying and use medium-high heat. Squeeze the potatoes through the cheese cloth or ricer (paper towels work fine but you won't have as dry of potatoes and the latke mix can get sloshy by the last frying) and combine them into the mix. I like to use a nice wooden spoon to mix all the ingredients and it's a good way to measure out the latkes. 

When your oil is nice and hot slide in the latke mix from the spoon. Be careful not to stand too close or you may get some oil splash back!. I like to flatten the latke patty so it's about two inches in diameter and just fry till golden on each side. You want them to be nice and crispy on the outside, soft and delicious on the inside.

Keep the process going, transferring the latkes that have been fried up onto a plate lined with paper towels so the excess oil can drain out. Pull out the sour cream from the fridge and some applesauce(you can make homemade or dress up the store bought kind with a dash of cinnamon and ground cloves-be sparing with the clove, it is a powerful spice!) and serve!  

Enjoy!

Potato Leek Soup

Do you want something thick and hearty for when it's cold outside? Well, search no further! This Potato Leek Soup will fill you up with deliciousness and tempt you to go for seconds!

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter 
2 leeks, halved and sliced thin
1 medium onion, grated
4 cloves garlic, minced 
6 - 8 yukon gold potatoes, thinly sliced 
4 cups chicken broth (if you want to be veggie just substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth)
2 cups heavy cream 
2/3 cup parmesan 
salt & pepper

*goat cheese and olive oil to garnish*

First order of business, wash all your veggies, making sure the leeks do not have any grit left in them. Then get to chopping! Make sure to cut off the green stems of the leeks, cut the stalks in half and then cut again lengthwise. After that, just slice the leeks thinly. I like to grate the onion so that the flavor melts into the soup. 

On the stove heat up about 3 tablespoons of butter in a dutch oven or large soup pot (make sure it is big enough to house all the ingredients or you will have soup overflowing out of the pot!) You don't want to brown the butter, just get it melty enough that when you toss in the leeks and onion, it will sizzle and saute. While the leeks and onion are cooking, get the garlic minced and start slicing the potatoes.
Once the leeks are limp (about 5-7 minutes) and the onions are translucent, drop in the garlic and let it saute for about 2-4 minutes. By this time, your potatoes should be all sliced up and ready to get tossed into the pot. Make sure to mix in the potatoes with the sauteed leeks, onion, and garlic. 

After mixing well, add in the chicken broth, but do not add it all at once! Slowly pour in till the potatoes are just barely covered by the broth. You want the soup to be thick and rich! Leave the potatoes on medium heat for about 15 minutes, but make sure to keep an eye on the soup, testing the texture of the potatoes so that when they are nice and soft you can begin the mashing. I like to use the bottom of the ladle (less clean up when you use only a few utensils) but you can use a masher if you like. 

When the leeks and potatoes are nice and mashed up, pour in the cream, stirring over low heat. Add the parmesan cheese 1/3  of a cup at a time, so it doesn't thicken too quickly, with salt and pepper to taste. Let it sit on the stove for another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally so that it doesn't scorch the bottom of the pot. 

Serve the soup with a side of crusty bread, topped with a taster of goat cheese and a  drizzle of olive oil. This will taste even better the next day!