Three Mushroom and Paprika Soup

Happily, after several weeks of talking about this fantastic soup recipe that I had run across and was just dying to put my own twist on, Lisa was able to come over this weekend for some culinary adventures. She's one of my favorite people to cook with, because we both love experimenting and are both absolutely rubbish at following recipes to the letter. (I mean, they're more like guidelines really...) We certainly did pick a perfect day to make a pot of soup; today was gray and misting some kind of unfriendly ice-fog all morning, making the kitchen the perfect place to be.
I had a fantastic time catching up with Lisa, talking about books, nerdery, cutlery and how ridiculously delicious and perfectly carbonated La Croix Coconut sparkling water is. Don't believe me? Just try it. It is the perfect way to use fresh summer flavors to get rid of the mid-winter blahs. (Delicious plain, but also one heck of a drink mixer!)

We started the day with a wonderful adventure to the co-op for supplies, and ended up expanding our menu considerably based on the temptation of some particularly excellent looking produce (see the Broccoli Romanescu Risotto recipe that I'll be posting in the next blog entry. It was scrumptious!)

Now on to the details. If you're going to make this soup, and I really hope that you do,  here is what you are going to need:

• 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 lb button, crimini and shiitake mushrooms, stems trimmed and thickly sliced (I overestimated a bit here because of them stems. Also, I just love mushrooms and more is better, right?)
• olive oil
• unsalted butter
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, diced
• 1/4 cup red wine
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 Tbsp Spanish paprika
• 1/2 - 1 tsp black pepper
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 Tbsp fresh dill, loosely chopped
• lemon slices, sour cream and additional dill to garnish

 

Saute onion and garlic in large pot in 2 Tbsp each of butter and olive oil until softened. Add mushrooms, increase heat and sauté until most of the moisture has  evaporated. (Depending on the mushrooms, this may take a good while).  Stir in wine, lemon juice, paprika and pepper. Cook until wine has nearly evaporated, and then add stock. Bring just to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes. While simmering, whisk together soy sauce and cornstarch and add to the soup to thicken. Just before serving, finish soup with cream and fresh dill. Garnish with lemon slices and sour cream.

Now, when I make this soup again, I probably will use a little bit of heat, and toss in a bit of cayenne pepper. Not too much, because I don't want to overwhelm the mushrooms, but I feel like a little bit would have been perfect alongside the earthy mushrooms and fresh dill flavor. 

Salad with Prosciutto and Gorgonzola

At my family's holiday table, there is one salad that keeps coming back year after year. It's really a pretty simple salad, with a few bold flavors that combine for a bold, crunchy, Italian flavor that is sure to be a crowd pleaser. It is a bit tough to pin down a recipe for this salad, because it just sort of comes together (as a team effort usually). All of us siblings are usually in the kitchen asking "is that enough prosciutto? I should add more, shouldn't I?" or "pass the gorgonzola, I'll just add the rest of the container. I wasn't going to do anything with the leftovers anyway..."

So as you're putting this together in your own kitchen, keep that in mind, and remember that you can add as much (or as little, but where's the fun in that?) as you like. 

It starts with chopped hearts of romaine with some thinly sliced red onion mixed in. Add some mixed greek olives, crumbled gorgonzola cheese and sliced prosciutto that has been lightly fried until crispy. I've intentionally left the amounts out here, so that you can make this salad for one or for your next big party. As a guideline, I usually use about 1/2 medium onion with 1 bag of romaine hearts, 1/3 pound prosciutto, and 6 ounces of gorgonzola. I buy the olives in bulk at the local specialty market olive bar, and you can add as many or as few as you like.
To make the dressing, combine ~2 parts olive oil with ~1 part red wine vinegar, add salt, pepper, powdered mustard and oregano. Sweeten the dressing with a bit of honey. For about 1/2 cup total dressing, use approximately 1 tsp mustard, 1Tbsp oregano and honey to taste.

Chicken Saltimbocca

I'm not ready to admit that winter is here. Granted, this year it has been a long time coming. Summer held on long past its expiration date, and then the mild far weather lasted far longer than I had any right to expect it to. I mean, 50 degrees in January? In Minnesota? But now it is snowing, and we've gone from record setting high temperatures back to somewhere in the single digits... sigh.

But, if it it going to be cold outside, then we had better have some real comfort food. Translated, that means crispy chicken cutlets, seasoned with sage and prosciutto and finished with a decadent sauce. The perfect accompaniment to this decadence is some skin on garlic mashed potatoes. Scrumptious. 

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
• 1 egg
• salt and pepper
• fresh sage leaves
• 4 slices prosciutto
• extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbsp capers in vinegar
• 2 artichoke hearts canned in water, quartered
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 - 1/3 cup white wine
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp butter

 To make the chicken cutlets, place the boneless, skinless chicken breasts into a 1 gallon heavy duty ziploc bag with a bit of water (to prevent tearing the chicken). Pound the chicken breasts one at a time, until they are evenly thin with a rolling pin.

 Beat one egg, brush on both sides of the chicken and lightly dredge in flour. Season both sides with salt and pepper. In a large frying pan, heat olive oil over medium high heat.

 Brown chicken on both sides. Because it is quite thin, it will cook through quickly. Don't overcook it, or it will become tough.

 Lay the sage leaves across the top of the chicken, then cover each cutlet with 2 slices of prosciutto.

Add garlic to pan, return chicken, prosciutto side down. Cook just until prosciutto begins to brown. Turn chicken. 

 Deglaze pan with white wine, add lemon juice, capers and artichoke heart quarters. Let sauce cook down for a couple minutes, and finish with butter.
Serve with garlic mashed potatoes, and enjoy!