Eating Well on Menu Monday

Eating Well magazine is one of my favorites, and I spent some time last week thumbing through a few old issues. I was looking for a specific recipe, but came across a few others to try this week.

Monday - Chicken and Asparagus w/ Melted Gruyere, whole grain medly
Tuesday - Grilled tuna, cucumber and black-eyed pea salad, focaccia
Wednesday - Stuffed turkey burgers, sweet corn, green salad
Thursday - Loaded Twice-baked potatoes, Ceaser salad
Friday - Jessi's choice - she'll be home by suppertime (yea!)


So tonight I made the chicken recipe and it was so good! If my table manners hadn't been refined by years of maturity, I might have licked my plate. Now I didn't have fresh tarragon, and I checked around town to no avail. I always recommend using fresh if possible.

Chicken & Asparagus with Melted Gruyere
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients
8 ounces asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces


⅔ cup reduced-sodium chicken broth


2 teaspoons plus ¼ cup all-purpose flour, divided


4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1-1 ¼ pounds), trimmed


¼ teaspoon salt


½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper


1 tablespoon canola oil


1 shallot, thinly sliced


½ cup white wine (I buy those 4-packs of tiny bottles of white wine to use in my cooking. There is just a tad more than half a cup in those, and it's pretty decent wine.)


⅓ cup reduced-fat sour cream


1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon or 1 teaspoon dried


2 teaspoons lemon juice


⅔ cup shredded Gruyère cheese (This costs about a zillion dollars a pound, so I think a Swiss or Parmesan would be an acceptable substitute.)

1. Place a steamer basket in a large saucepan, add 1 inch of water and bring to a boil. Add asparagus; cover and steam for 3 minutes. Uncover, remove from the heat and set aside.


2. Whisk broth and 2 teaspoons flour in a small bowl until smooth. Set aside.


3. Place the remaining 1/4 cup flour in a shallow dish. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and dredge both sides in the flour, shaking off any excess.


4. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes per side, adjusting heat as needed to prevent scorching. Transfer to a plate and cover to keep warm.


5. Add shallot, wine and the reserved broth mixture to the pan; cook over medium heat, stirring, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low; stir in sour cream, tarragon, lemon juice and the reserved asparagus until combined.
Return the chicken to the pan and turn to coat with the sauce. Sprinkle cheese on top of each piece of chicken, cover and continue cooking until the cheese is melted, about 2 minutes.


Nutrition Information
Per serving: 306 calories; 15 g fat (6 g sat, 6 g mono); 91 mg cholesterol; 7 g carbohydrate; 31 g protein; 1 g fiber; 298 mg sodium; 343 mg potassium.
Nutrition bonus: Selenium (36% daily value), Calcium (25% dv).
1/2 Carbohydrate Serving
Exchanges: 1/2 starch, 4 lean meat, 1/2 fat

Soup Day! (part 3)

I had two meatless soup recipes that were new to us that I wanted to try.
Both looked good for the freezer as all ingredients freeze well, but since they were new recipes, I only made a single batch of each. Good thing.
The first is a pumpkin soup from Emeril. Greg was channel-surfing one night last week (don't you hate that?! Just pick and show and watch it, for Pete's sake!) and found Emeril making a fairly healthy Thanksgiving meal on the "green" channel. He humored me and left the TV alone while I watched the program. After seeing him make this pumpkin soup, I asked Greg if he would try it if I made some. He said he'd "try" it. That meant he was pretty sure he wouldn't like it, but again, he'd humor me.
So last night for supper I thawed some turkey mignons and warmed up some green bean casserole, along with a crunchy focaccia bread. While Greg grilled the turkey, I whipped up the pumpkin soup.
Emeril's Wegmeyer Farms Pumpkin Soup
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients:
1 (2 pound) pumpkin, halved and seeds removed and saved
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 plus a pinch freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/4 cup chopped celery
2 tablespoons minced ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
31/2 cups vegetable stock
3 tablespoons pumpkin seed oil
15 to 20 small sage leaves, fried
Method:Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Place the pumpkin cut side up on a parchment lined baking sheet. Season with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper. Invert to the cut side down, and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Place in the oven and roast until the skin is golden brown and the pumpkin is tender, 50 to 60 minutes.
Spread the pumpkin seeds on a foil lined baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake in the oven with the pumpkins for the last 15 minutes of baking time, stirring once to prevent sticking.
Remove pumpkins and seeds from the oven and allow to cool. Once cool enough to handle, use a spoon to scoop the pumpkin flesh from its skin and set pumpkin aside until ready to use. Discard the skin. Set seeds aside for garnish.
Set a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and, when hot, add the cinnamon and allspice and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add the onions, carrots, celery and ginger, to the pan. Saute, stirring occasionally, until lightly caramelized, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic, reserved pumpkin and vegetable stock to the pan. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook the soup for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft.
Remove the soup from the heat and process with an immersion blender (*or in batches in a blender) until smooth. Season with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and pinch of pepper.

I could tell immediately it had too much allspice, but I like to follow a recipe the way it's written the first time I make it, then I know what modifications to make next time. I did try to "doctor" soup with a few drops of white truffle oil in each bowl, but that didn't really help.
If you click on the link above the recipe, you'll be able to view a video of Emeril making this soup and see what he does differently from what's printed in the recipe. I should have watched it last night. The show this recipe was featured on will be aired again tomorrow night on the Planet Green channel.

Now for a much more successful recipe, Creamy Asparagus Soup. To get this recipe I simply Googled for it and looked at three or four before settling on this one.
Creamy Asparagus Soup
Ingredients
2 lbs asparagus
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
5 cups chicken broth
Leaves of 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp dry vermouth
A squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper
Method
1 Cut tips from 12 asparagus 1 1/2 inches from top and halve tips lengthwise if thick. Reserve for garnish. Cut stalks and all remaining asparagus into 1/2-inch pieces.
2 Cook onion in butter in a 4 or 6-quart heavy pot over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened. Add asparagus pieces and salt and pepper to taste, then cook, stirring, 5 minutes. Add 5 cups broth, thyme, and simmer, covered, until asparagus is very tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
3 While soup simmers, cook reserved asparagus tips in boiling salted water until just tender, 3 to 4 minutes, then drain.
4 Purée soup in batches in a blender until smooth. If you want a very creamy texture, you can put the purée through a food mill or press it through a sieve. Transfer to a bowl (use caution when blending hot liquids), and return to pan. (The hand blender meant I didn't have to transfer hot soup from pan to bowl to pan. I didn't strain or use the food mill at first, but after a few bites of strings from the asparagus, I changed my mind.)
Stir in cream. Stir in vermouth and a squeeze of lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. (I did add the vermouth and lemon juice, but it's really good without it, so I'm going to say those ingredients are optional.)
Garnish with asparagus tips. Serves 4-6.
Adapted from a recipe in Gourmet magazine.

Folks, this is good! I garnished my lunchtime bowl with a dollop of sour cream. Yum! If you click on the link above the recipe, there are photos, too.

That's it for "Soup Day" for now. The freezer is well-stocked against these chilly and wet days we're having every week. As I sat and sipped my hot soup for lunch, I laughed at the rain!

Asparagus has been used from very early times as a culinary vegetable, owing to its delicate flavour and diuretic properties. There is a recipe for cooking asparagus in the oldest surviving book of recipes, Apicius's 3rd century AD De re coquinaria, Book III. (reprinted from Wikipedia).

I just discovered this tasty gem a few years ago when Greg's sister-in-law took a chance and gave us some fresh spears from her garden. I went ahead and roasted them on the grill, and a new love was born. I had eaten asparagus one other time in my life, but it was mushy and disgusting, and I carried that bad memory with me since childhood.

Of course it's best fresh, and we're in the peak of the season right now. Tonight I tried this recipe that came to me via Kalyn's Kitchen, but is from Simply Recipes.

The asparagus was cooked perfectly - tender and crisp. The lemon added a nice hint of zing. Yum!

I have purchased some asparagus to plant in my own yard - hopefully in a couple of years I'll be able to share my bounty, too!

Asparagus

Preparation time: 10 minutes.

1 bunch of medium sized asparagus, about 1 lb

2 Tbsp of the most exquisite extra virgin olive oil

2 Tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon lemon zest - freshly grated lemon rind

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Prepare the asparagus by rinsing them thoroughly, break off any tough, white bottoms and discard. Cut into 1 to 2 inch sections, slicing the asparagus at a slight diagonal.

2 Fill a medium sized saucepan half way with water, bring to a boil. Add the asparagus and reduce heat slightly to a simmer. Parboil the asparagus for exactly 2 minutes. Drain the hot water.

While the asparagus are still hot, toss them in a bowl with the olive oil, Parmesan, and lemon rind. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm or room temperature.

Note that when you are working with so few ingredients, it's important to make sure they are of the highest quality.

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/