Here in the Pacific Northwest, the skies are blue, cedars and Douglas spruce are tall and snowcapped mountains overlook Puget Sound. It’s perfect weather for sailing, hiking or camping. And at the end of the day, you’re looking forward to quenching your thirst with an ice cold beverage and sharing a hearty meal with friends or family. This white chicken chili comes together very quickly and is perfect with a green salad and a fresh loaf of sourdough bread. So, put on your apron and let’s get cooking!
Ingredients
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
4 ribs celery, diced
½ cup carrots, diced
2 gloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon cayenne
Salt & pepper to taste
3 – 15 oz cans cannellini beans, undrained
1 – 4 0z can diced green chiles, undrained
3 cups shredded chicken (from rotisserie chicken)
Directions:
In a large Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Sauté Onion, celery and carrots and cook, stirring often, until the onions are tender, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, oregano, cumin, paprika, chili powder, cayenne, and cook for one minute until fragrant.
Add cannellini beans and green chiles with their liquid. Bring to boil over medium high heat. Lower the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally until beans are tender, approximately 15-20 minutes. Use a potato masher or pastry blender to mash some of the beans (this helps thicken the mixture).
Add shredded chicken, salt and pepper. Garnish with your choice of shredded Monterey jack cheese, sour cream, cilantro, and diced avocado.
Here in New England, the air is crisp, the smell of wood smoke is in the air and the trees are dressed in fall colors of burnished gold, bright orange and blazing red. When I think of cooking, I think of comfort foods – warm familiar flavors from childhood. (Mac and cheese is one of my favorite comfort foods and is served locally with lobster added to it.) My mother made another favorite – chicken and dumplings with chunks of chicken breast, carrots, celery and onions topped with fluffy dumplings that simmered in the broth. The dumplings were like matzo balls but were made with Bisquick and dropped on top of the soup. (Matzo balls are also a dumpling, but instead of a biscuit type of dough, they are made with matzo meal, a traditional unleavened ingredient, and are dropped into simmering liquid.)
Did you know that nearly every culture has some sort of dumpling? Asian cuisine includes gyoza and shumai. Italians make gnocchi and ravioli. Germans cut pieces of dough into boiling water to make spaetzles which expand in the water and then are sauteed in butter. Recently I made pierogis with a friend who was of Polish heritage. We formed circles of dough and filled them with different combinations of mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, chopped spinach, onions and cheese. Then we folded them over and sealed the half circles with our fingers before boiling them and sautéing them in butter. They were delicious!
Today, I want to share two recipes that you can prepare to fill your tummy and warm you up after spending the day outside hiking in the woods, picking apples or raking leaves. Enjoy!
One day when I did my culinary arts internship in Amalfi, Italy I was assigned to make the gnocchi for the restaurant. We served it with a simple tomato sauce, but it is also good sauteed in butter with sage.
Gnocchi
Ingredients
1 pound potatoes
¾ c. flour
1 egg
1 egg yolk
¼ cup grated parmigiano
2 cups Tomato sauce
Basil
Directions
Cook the potatoes with their skins on by placing them in a pot of water and bringing them to a boil. Remove from pot when they are soft, but not overcooked or the amount of flour required to make the gnocchi will need to be greater and will result in heavier gnocchi. Transfer to a bowl and use a potato masher. Cool to room temperature. Add egg, egg yolk and then flour, blending the ingredients with your hands. Work carefully and quickly as the more you handle the dough, the tougher it will be. You should now have a soft dough that holds together, doesn’t feel sticky and can be easily shaped. Divide dough into sections and roll each one out like a snake. Cut into i-inch pieces and roll on “gnocchi” board or against a fork to imprint design.
Cook in boiling salted water until they float. Remove with slotted spoon. To serve, add to heated tomato sauce to which Parmigiano has been added. Garnish with basil. As an alternative you can sauté gnocchi in butter with sage leaves. Garnish with Parmigiano.
German Spaetzles
Ingredients
2 cups of sifted flour
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
2/3 cup milk
1 ½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
¼ cup butter
Additional 2 tablespoons parsley
Directions
In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except butter and mix until blended. Ake a large spoonful of the batter, and using another spoon, portion off small segments of the dough into a large pot of boiling, salted water. Simmer for about 5 minutes until they float to the top of the water. In a large skillet over medium low heat, melt butter and additional 2 tablespoons of parsley. Using a slotted spoon, remove the dumplings from the boiling water and transfer them to a skillet. Fry until golden brown. Serves 4.
NOTE: These can be combined with fresh, steamed green beans as a side dish or can be served alone or with gravy from Sauerbraten or roast beef.
Steam green beans until tender. Remove from heat and plunge into an ice water bath to stop cooking and retain bright green color. Cut into 2-inch lengths. Combine in a large bowl with mozzarella, and tomatoes. Add basil and dress with extra virgin olive oil. Chill until ready to serve.
2-3 Tablespoons milk Combine all salad ingredients in a large bowl. In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, combine ingredients for dressing. Whisk until smooth. Pour over salad & toss to combine. Refrigerate until ready to se
The weather in New England has been especially hot lately and the last thing I want to do is cook inside on the stove. So, let’s fire up the grill and invite friends over for a summer barbecue! Here is a menu that will please everyone:
Grilled marinated Flank Steak
Salmon filets
Wild Rice Salad
Broccoli Salad
Green Beans with Mozzarella and Grape Tomatoes
Sour Cream Cheesecake with fresh Blueberries
Flank steak: I like to use McCormick’s Grill Mates Monterey Steak marinade which only takes 15-20 minutes to tenderize the meat. Cook over a hot grill until medium rare (130o to 140o) & slice thinly diagonally. I like to serve steak with a Horseradish Sauce made by adding prepared horseradish to sour cream. This sauce is also excellent with salmon.
Salmon filets: Place each salmon filet individually in a square of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Before you close the “pouch,” put a pat of butter on top of each filet, place a slice on lemon on top of the butter, squeeze a little lemon juice on the salmon and sprinkle with fresh chopped dill. Then seal the package by folding the top seam first and then folding up the ends. These little pouches can be placed on a hot grill for 15-20 minutes or they can be cooked in a 350o oven for the same amount of time. They will be so juicy and flavorful!
Salads: The salads remind me of a colorful summer flower garden! They are all vegetarian, and the wild rice one is vegan. Actually the broccoli salad recipe calls for bacon, but I like to use Fresh Gourmet’s Bacon-Less Bits which are plant-based and made from pinto beans. Bacon-lovers will not be able to tell the difference – they’re delicious!
The salads can all be made a day ahead of time and will keep for a day or two covered in the refrigerator. The green bean salad needs to be brought to room temperature before serving as the olive oil may have solidified in the refrigerator, but the other two salads can be served cold. (I first had the green bean salad on the Amalfi Coast in Italy with large, cooked shrimp added to it. What a delicious lunch that was! It would be an excellent way to use any leftovers.)
Dessert: The recipe for the Wild Rice Salad was posted on my blog in February and the Sour Cream Cheesecake recipe was posted on my blog in March 2022 (www.theadmiralschef.com) and is also featured in my cookbook “The Admiral’s Chef: Recipes from a Navy Wife’s World Travels” available from Amazon.
The Broccoli Salad and Green Bean, Mozzarella and Grape Tomato Salad recipes follow this post.
Combine all ingredients and blend until smooth. Pour into greased and floured Bundt pan and bake at 350oF for 40 minutes. Dust with confectioner’s sugar when cool.
2 c. diced vegetables (mushrooms, red bell peppers, and asparagus)
Paprika or cayenne
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Piecrust
Grease a 10-inch pie plate with shortening. Measure flour and shortening in a bowl and use a pastry blender or two knives to cut the shortening into the flour until it is all the size of little peas. Sprinkle the flour mixture with the ice water and stir with a fork until it clings together and begins to form a ball of dough. Dust the countertop with a little flour to keep the dough from sticking.
Remove dough from fowl and knead it just a little to make the dough smooth. Roll it out on the countertop until it is a circle about 2 inches larger that the pie plate. Dust with flour and flip the dough over as needed to keep it from sticking to countertop. Fold the dough in half and then in half again to make a wedge and transfer it to the pie plate. Unfold the dough and fit it evenly into the pie plate. Trim and tuck under the edges all the way around and then flute the edges with your fingers. (Use the thumb & forefinger of one hand and the index finger of the other hand to pinch it into a ruffle)
Filling
Place eggs and cream into a bowl and beat with mixer or whisk until fluffy. Combine cheese with egg mixture and stir until well-blended. Set aside while you saute the vegetables. It is very important to use just a little butter to saute the vegetables. If you use too much butter or if you use olive oil, it may make the filling too soupy and prevent it from firming up in the oven. Transfer the cooked vegetables/meat to the egg mixture and blend. Pour filling into the prepared crust and sprinkle with paprika or cayenne. Place in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes or until center is firm when you jiggle it and the top is golden brown. A knife inserted in the center can also determine if it is solid inside.
The ancient Greeks and Romans first celebrated mothers and motherhood in honor of the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele. There was also a tradition in Europe and the United Kingdom of “Mothering Sunday” which was a Christian festival on the fourth Sunday in lent where the faithful would return to their “mother” church. Eventually, the celebration diverged from its religious roots, and became a day for children to give their moms flowers and gifts. In the United States, Anna Jarvis conceived of Mother’s Day as a way of honoring the sacrifices mothers made for their children after her own mother died in 1905. President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure in 1914 officially declaring the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.
How do you celebrate and pay tribute to your own mother? Flowers, cards, a phone call? Did you know more telephone calls are made on Mother’s Day than on any other day of the year? But, if your mom lives close enough, you might want to consider fixing her brunch. Here is a great menu for that special day:
Asparagus, Red Bell Pepper, and Mushroom quiche
Bacon/sausage
Oven-roasted Red Potatoes with Onions and Rosemary
Fruit salad with bananas, mandarin oranges, sliced strawberries, and kiwi
Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Start by sitting mom down with a Mimosa (orange juice and champagne) or a cup of coffee. Hand her the newspaper, tie on an apron and let’s get cooking!
COFFEE CAKE: Actually, I recommend baking the Sour Cream Coffee Cake a day in advance (recipe follows) so you can save the oven for the Oven-Roasted Potatoes and the Quiche – which are both cooked at the same time and are best served warm right out of the oven.
POTATOES: To prep the potatoes, cut small red potatoes in half or quarter them to create bite-size pieces. Place in a casserole dish, add a drizzle of olive oil, a little thinly sliced onion, salt, pepper, a sprinkle of paprika and crushed rosemary. Stir to coat potatoes. Place in 350-degree oven the same time you put the quiche in the oven. The potatoes can be on an oven rack below the quiche. Stir again after 15 minutes to brown evenly and to prevent burning.
QUICHE: I like to make my own pie crust and generally use a 10-inch glass pie plate. You are free to use a ready-made crust or ready-made pie crust dough. But don’t forget to grease the pie plate with vegetable shortening! Making a quiche provides the opportunity to use leftover vegetables too. I think of combinations of any three items like – spinach, mushrooms, scallions, broccoli, red onions, zucchini, yellow bell peppers, etc. But you can also repurpose left over meats like chicken, sausage, bacon, pepperoni, crabmeat, and salmon. The type of cheese you use can vary as well, although it’s best to use cheeses that melt easily like Swiss, provolone, gruyere, Monterey jack, Colby or mild cheddar. My recipe for quiche follows, but don’t be afraid to be creative!
FRUIT SALAD: Assemble the fruit salad while the quiche and potatoes are baking. I love to use a clear glass bowl for the fruit salad so you can see the colors of the fruit. Slice strawberries, bananas, and peeled kiwis. Add fresh or canned mandarin orange slices. You can also include chunks of fresh pineapple and blueberries, if you like, to create a rainbow of color. My favorite (optional) “dressing” for the salad is a couple of spoonsful of thawed frozen orange juice. Toss and place in refrigerator until ready to serve.
BACON & SAUSAGE: Bacon and sausage can also be cooked in a skillet on the stove over low heat while the quiche.
Today is the third day of spring, although we’re having a late winter storm in New England and the ground is covered with a layer of snow. We are located in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 6A and usually don’t plant our vegetable gardens or annuals until Memorial Day weekend to insure they survive. (The USDA Plant Hardiness map is based on 30-year averages of the lowest annual winter temperatures at specific locations.) But now (well, when the snow melts) is the time to start thinking about adding nutrition to the soil in your raised garden beds. The easiest way to do this is to add a few inches of composted manure or rich topsoil to the garden beds and rake it in. Once your soil is ready, you can begin planting vegetables that relish cool weather like arugula, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, and peas. These vegetables can be sowed directly into the soil and should be watered daily until they sprout. If you don’t water them daily, they can dry out and shrivel up. Once they have grown their secondary leaves, you can add organic fertilizer to the garden. If you add this too soon, it can burn those new, delicate leaves. Vegetables like tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchini, eggplant, green beans, and beets can be started indoors or you can purchase starter plants from your local nursery. These vegetables can be transferred to the garden when all danger of frost has passed.
The Food Pantry in the town where I live has a community garden that grows fresh produce for our shoppers. Occasionally some of the shoppers ask me how to prepare a certain vegetable or what dish they can make with the vegetables.
One of my favorite recipes for early spring vegetables is Pasta Primavera (“primavera” means spring in Italian). This may sound like an Italian dish, but it was actually created by New York restauranteur Sirio Maccioni’s restaurant Le Cirque. It was made famous in an article written for the New York Times by Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey in 1977 which included a recipe for the dish.
I like to use a variety of tender spring vegetables with lots of different colors: peas, asparagus, broccoli, carrots, red and yellow bell peppers, zucchini and scallions. And although you could add them to your choice of pasta and dress with olive oil, I like a light cream sauce that clings to the pasta.
Pasta Primavera
Ingredients:
16 oz penne pasta (or shape of your choice)
Instructions:
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 oz asparagus, cut into I ½ inch pieces
1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
2 cups small broccoli florets
1 small zucchini, sliced
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
2 scallions, sliced at a diagonal
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 cup frozen peas
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Chopped fresh basil
Crushed red pepper flakes, optional
Instructions:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 1 teaspoon salt and pasta to boiling water. Cook for 8-10 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Drain well, reserving ½ cup of pasta water. Pour the pasta back into the pot and cover to keep warm.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the asparagus, peppers, zucchini and broccoli. Sprinkle vegetables with garlic salt and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the cherry tomatoes and scallions and cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until vegetables are tender, but still crisp. Transfer the vegetables to a large plate or bowl.
Make the cream sauce. Place the skillet back on the stove. Melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the heavy cream and ½ cup of Parmesan. Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Cook until smooth. Add reserved pasta water If needed to thin the sauce.
Pour the lemon cream sauce over the pasta. Add sauteed vegetables and peas and gently stir until well combined. Season with salt and black pepper, to taste.
To serve, garnish with chopped basil, extra Parmesan cheese, and crushed red pepper flakes. Serve warm.
In a sauce pan over medium heat, bring water to boil. Add the rice, cover, and reduce the heat to low. Gently simmer for 45 minutes, until the rice is tender and the water absorbed. Let the rice sit, covered, for five minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl and stir in the almonds, cranberries, edamame, red bell peppers and scallions. Add olive oil, balsamic vinegar and honey and stir to coat rice mixture. Serve at room temperature. Serves 6.
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