Something new

Here I am at the Natural Products Expo in Baltimore representing Side Mates, a great new product, check it out.

Chicken Soup

So...The mother of all soups, Chicken. With noodle or matzah ball, chunky or not this soup harkens back to the TLC only Mom can give. It is the ultimate comfort food for many of us. This freezes well. Chicken Soup Yield: Makes 6 servings 6 to 9 cups your good chicken stock 1 cup diced chicken, I like dark meat, it doesn’t dry out as much your mirepoix: 1/2 cup diced grated onion ¼ cup diced carrot 1/4cup diced celery 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 4 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks Fresh dill Chopped fresh parsley leaves for garnish 1. Cover the bottom of the pot with either oil or chicken fat and add your vegetables and lightly sauté until translucent. Add your stock to the stock pot and slowly bring to a simmer. 2. Allow to cook until the liquid is reduced by a third and add the fresh dill and bring to a quick boil. 3. Add the chicken and bring to temperature 4. Serve and garnish with parsley. 5. You may add rice, noodles, or almost anything else but in so doing adjust the taste.

Pantry

It was dark when I got up this morning, a harbinger of the season to come. Even here south of the Mason-Dixon Line we are starting to nest and get ready for the cold weather to come. I thought that I would discuss the perfect pantry. This is your basic Pantry list. You can always add to it to reflect your personal palate. Butter, Celery, Salt, Worcestershire, Milk, Carrots, Pepper, Tomato Puree, Heavy Cream, Yellow Onion. Kosher Salt, Tomato Paste, Eggs, Tomatoes, Cornstarch. Crushed Tomato, Dry White, Wine. Crimini Mushrooms, Flour, Canola Oil, Dry Red Wine, Red Onion, Fennel Seeds, Olive Oil, Dry Sherry, Bell Peppers, Mrs. Dash, Rosemary, Chopped Garlic, Shallots, Coriander, Thyme, Chicken whole or pieces, Parsley, Nutmeg, Mustard, rice, Lemon, Cinnamon, Dry Pasta, Baking Potato(russets), Sweet Potato, Red Potatoes, Dijon Mustard, Chopped Garlic, This list covers the basics and may not be complete for your palate. You may choose to add Hot Sauce, I do, I also always have yogurt, sour cream and assorted cheeses as well as nuts, broccoli and other foods that can multi-task. Spices, as with life, you need to understand what works and what doesn’t. If you find that the balance in taste or in mental health start to feel out of whack, make the phone calls you need to make to get the help you know you need. Vegetables are best fresh and should represent what is in the market on the day you are cooking. Recipes will have a notes on what products you need to purchase.

Cream of S'room

When I got up this morning there was real chill in the air, delightful compared to the deadly hazy, hot and humid weather that plagues DC in the summer. My plants are loving life. So here is a recipe that is both comfort food, warm and satisfying Cream of ‘Shroom Yield: Makes 8 servings 2 tablespoons butter or margarine 3 leeks, halved, washed very well and thinly sliced (white and pale green parts only) 2 pounds mixed wild mushrooms, such as Portobello, Crimini and Shitake sliced 2 tablespoons of chopped garlic 31/4 cups (or more) of your chicken or vegetable stock 4 cups of your Béchamel Dry Sherry to taste Melt the butter in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add the leeks and sauté until tender and slightly translucent, about 5 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high. Add the mushrooms and sauté until the mushrooms are soft and dry, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Add your chicken stock and Béchamel, stirring until smooth and incorporated. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until the broth has a nice mushroomy aroma, about 30 minutes. Cool slightly. Working in batches, puree soup in blender until smooth. Return soup to pot add the Sherry and simmer for another 2 minutes. I will admit that I always add a shot or two of hot sauce When I was at dear old Bethany, Cookie made a great Cream of Mushroom Soup with Grilled American Cheese on White Bread on freezing days. It might have been -20 degrees and you had to tramp up and down the hills with your breath freezing to your face but that soup made the trip to the dinning room worth it. Now lets’ face it, soup is mostly water and can take on any flavor that you want. Remember that if you like it, it is good. Don’t worry about the other person. I strongly recommend that you find the flavors you like and then USE THEM. If you like beans and pasta make soups that have beans and pasta. Your chicken, vegetable and veal stocks will impart different basic flavors

I am always amazed by what creative and interesting things are going on in the food world and appalled by others. I can not believe that we eat such garbage sometimes and then complain that we can not find the freshest ingredients in the next breath. When I was at college in Bethany WV the food service featured Belly Bombers made with mystery meat. On the other hand Cookie, the ex-navy cook taught me about Cream of Mushroom soup which was served to hundreds of hungry students in a very limited time. I worked with my fraternity brothers and we had fun. Cookie’s food was filling but certainly not gourmet. The three restaurants of my own in Baltimore taught me how to dance with the food. When you are the personality of the property the pressure can overwhelm you but we had great fun. Being creative everyday is what makes the business soar. We used Portobello Mushrooms, duck and venison in ways that were new for Baltimore. I did some really cool catering. It ranged from small social events like dinner for two at Valentine’s day to major sporting venues including the PGA; where lobster was on the menu to NASCAR where the staple was pulled pork for 50,000 (which I never want to see again) At US OPEN Tennis people paid 8 dollars for a pound of M&Ms. When you feed 60,000 people in one day you have to have your ducks in a row. 15,000 burgers and butter poached lobster were de rigor and had to be done equally well. I had moved up the chain of kitchen command. My restaurants received 3 and 4 stars; I had been on TV and in a book.

It has been a long while and things have had their ups and downs. A good summer with lots of satisfying work in DC, CT and PA. Watch for Cooking with the Kosher Food Dude or simply Kosher Dude, Cooking with the Food Dude and Cooking with the Bi-Polar Chef. All will have general information for that segment's audience and great recipes and pictures. It all starts today!