Corn Chower

I know that I have posted versions of this recipe before, but it is just such a favorite of mine.

Especially this time of year when fresh produce is bountiful and in some parts of the land the days are still sunny and hot.

This “raw” corn chower works for me every time!

Click HERE for the original recipe.

My only additon these days is about 1 tsp of smokie paprika in the soup and then another sprinkle for garnish.

Great for a summer lunch or part of a cooling evening meal.

Enjoy

Spicy Chicken Salad with roasted tomato dressing

I will admit that this one is a little more labour intensive as far as salads go, but definitely worth it!

Spicy Chicken Salad with roasted tomato dressing

It has a few components, lettuce, dressing, chicken and “Southwest Salad“.

So, start by cooking up some skinless, boneless chicken breast by the method of your choice.  Or even better, if you should have some leftover cold chicken just begging to be used!

Meanwhile, wash, trim and cut in half a couple of tomatoes.  Put them in a roasting dish skin side down, drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper and put them in the oven at about 350 for about 1/2 hour or till they look like they would be mushy to the touch.

Roasted tomato

Then while all that is going on, whip up a quick batch of “Southwest Salad“ which we have made before on the episode called “Southwest Supper“.

Southwest Salad

Then chop up and wash some nice romaine lettuce as your base.

Once the tomatoes have roasted, let them cool a bit so you can make the dressing.

In a blender or quick chopper of your choice ( even it that means your hand and a fork) chop up:

• roasted tomato
• 1 ripe avocado
• juice of 1-2 limes ( depending on size)
• 1 tbsp smokie paprika
• a few shots of Chipolte Tabasco
• salt & pepper to taste

This dressing is very thick.  If you prefer it less thick,  just add a little water or chicken stock to thin it out.  But notice there is no oil in it, you are getting the fat completely from the avocado ( and that’s a GOOD fat!!)

Now you are ready to assemble.

Cover the bottom of the plate with a nice helping of chopped romaine lettuce.

Then a generous spoonful of  Southwest Salad to one side.

Some cooked chicken to the other side.

Then a good glop of dressing down the middle.

Sprinkle with a little paprika if you like and  there you have it!

Raw Soup – Re-Run Wednesday

What with summer and the warm weather  ( well hopefully where you live anyway!) just around the corner here is one of my favorite soups for re-run Wednesday.

After yesterday’s heavy meat rich offering, this one is SO cool and light it will lift your spirit just eating it!

Raw corn and avocado soup

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Stuffed Peppers three ways

The Chef is a fan of three ways.

You know, when it comes to preparing dishes.    He really likes taking one ingredient and preparing three different versions of the same item.

The other night he made three different coloured peppers stuffed with three different stuffings!

Let’s break down the fillings.

Filling # one:

• corn
• black beans
• cooked rice

Filling # two:

• cooked green lentils
• green olives
• chopped cilantro
• chopped parsley
• 1 clove minced garlic

Filling # three:

• cooked red lentils
• crushed tomato ( or tomato sauce)
• sun dried tomatoes

Feel free to add anything extra that you might like, but these are the basic ingredients.

So make up all these different fillings separately.

I know all that  seems like a lot of work, but just keep the left overs because they make great “salad” accompaniments for your lunch for the rest of the week!!

Cut the peppers in half removing the insides.  Sprinkle with a little olive oil and bake at 350 for about 12 minutes till they are a bit wilted.

Then stuff each pepper with one of the fillings, try to make the colour contrasts interesting.  Or not.

These particular versions are all Vegan, but if you wanted to add some cheese on top to melt in, that would be very tasty too.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until they are heated through.

Stuffed peppers three ways

Enjoy with side salad or other veg.

Left overs salad

I think sometimes people get hung up on what food is supposed to “look like”.

As in they think that there are some kind of rules about what something is, just because you call it something.

Example, salad.

When you say “salad” what immediately comes to mind?  Some kind of lettuce, few chopped carrots or cucumbers, maybe some sliced radish for colour……..

Or maybe you go to chunky potato salad with the obligatory cup of mayonnaise?

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with any of those, but sometimes it is okay to get out of the box.

Came home and needed something to eat.  What to do?

Well, I had some slightly old baguette so I chopped that up into bite size squares and tossed it with some chopped garlic, chopped rosemary and some olive oil.   Then on to a tray and into the oven to crisp up.

What next?

I had a romaine lettuce so I washed it and chopped it up and dried it well.

In the bottom of the bowl that I tossed the croutons in, there was some of the oil, garlic and rosemary left, so I used the same bowl and made a little dressing.

Mostly, it was a Caesar dressing only minus the raw egg and anchovy:

• 1 tsp chopped garlic
• 1 tsp Keen’s hot mustard ( or Dijon)
• a few shots of Worcestershire sauce
• juice of half a lemon
• a couple of twirls of olive oil
• salt & pepper

whisk that up at the bottom of the bowl.

Then add the Romain lettuce and toss with the dressing.   Then add a few handfuls of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

But is that it?  No no no……let’s see what we have in the fridge??

Well, how about some left over roasted cauliflower?  Why not?

I just tossed it into a saute pan for a couple of minutes to take the extreme cold off of it and mellow the flavour a bit.

What else do we have?  Oh, here is some left over South West salad, let’s toss that in too!

All right then, I think we are in business!

We have the lettuce tossed in dressing with cheese, then cauliflower and then the bean salad.  Last but not least, the croutons and toss well and serve!

Perfect any night “Salad”!

What have you got in YOUR fridge that you can call salad?

“Left Overs” salad

South West Supper

We very much enjoy the taste of the South West around our house.  Even if we DO live in the North West.  Maybe that’s why?

Tonight I have made a South West beef stew, a South West salad and some South West corn bread muffins.  All together, you have a South West Supper!

I started with the stew so it would have some time to get acquainted.   I have to warn you that this stew will seem remarkably similar to chili.  That’s cause it most is the same only instead of ground beef I used stewing beef.

So in your dutch oven, brown in a few splashes of oil:

• cubes of stewing beef dredged in a little flour ( or whatever protein you are into)

Once they are browned on all sides, remove to a resting bowl.   Then add to the pot:

• 1 large onion sliced and or cubed
• 1/2 of 1 large red pepper cubed
• 1 small carrot cubed

Try to keep all of these things the same size of cube for consistency.

Cook these till they are nice and sweaty looking and then add:

• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp paprika ( smoky adds more flavour)
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 – 1 tsp chili flakes ( depending on your tolerance)
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar
• 3-4 cloves minced fresh garlic

Feel free to use more or less of anything depending on your taste.

Mix those into the vegetables well, then return the meat to the pot with any juices that may have collected.  Stir it all well.

Then add:

• 1 small tin tomato paste
• aprox 1 cup water or stock

Stir, cover and let come up to a boil, stir again and turn down to a simmer.

Shortly before serving add:

• 1/2 can rinsed black beans

Stir in and turn off heat.

South West Stew

While your stew is simmering you can put together your South West Salad.

Add together is a bowl:

• the other half of the can or black beans
• 1/2 a can of nibblet corn ( keep other half for corn bread)
• the other half of the red pepper diced ( same size as corn and beans)
• 2 green onions ( green part only) sliced on the diagonal
• 1 large handful of fresh cilantro finely chopped
• 1 tsp ground cumin

Toss all that together.

Just before serving add:

• 1 ripe avocado diced
• juice of 1 whole lime
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• S & P to taste

Toss again and serve.

South West Salad

Put these two dishes together with some nice corn bread muffins to soak up the sauce and you’ve got yourself a tasty South West Supper!

South West Supper

Potato corn chowder

Well there isn’t exactly a Fall “nip” in the air around these parts just yet but the days are getting noticeably shorter which makes me turn to comforting foods.

I often feel that Fall and Winter are my preferred cooking seasons because I love hearty soups and stews and what I like to call “Slop on rice” type dishes.  Then again when Spring comes round I’m happy to start cooking lightly but…….out of sight out of mind……so for now my thoughts turn to hearty!

Corn is abundant right now and there are so many things you can do with it but today I made a nice hearty potato corn chowder!

Get out your dutch oven and chop up the usual suspects:

•  1-2 peeled carrots diced
•  1-2 ribs of celery diced
•  1 medium onion diced
• 1 medium peeled regular potato diced

add a splash of olive oil to the hot pan and then add chopped vegetables and cook till they are a bit “sweaty” looking.  Then add some flavouring such as:

• salt & pepper
• pinch of cumin
• pinch of ground turmeric
• pinch of smokie paprika

Or what ever other flavours you are inclined to use.

Cook all of that until it gets a bit of colour on it then add a few cups of stock of your choice or just plain water if you like.

If you have the time, let this stuff simmer until everything is nice and tender.  The longer you leave it the move the flavour develops.  This might not be true, but it adds to the romantic image of fall cooking.

When you getting pretty close to the eating part of the day we can do the next couple of steps.

In a separate pan add a little more olive oil and then add the kernels of a few ears of fresh corn ( you could use canned or frozen but seems silly in corn season!) and another peeled and diced potato. And keep tossing these around until they get a nice little brown on them.  Make sure your potato dice is small enough so the potato will cook!

Then we will add the cream or if you prefer my vegan friends, you can use almond milk instead.  ( actually that’s what I used cause I had lots)   Then we will take the hand blender to it and puree until super smooth.

You could use a blender if you like,  but I find that way too much trouble!

Then when it is nice and smooth turn the heat back on.  I guess I forgot to tell you to turn the heat off!  But if you turn off the heat and let it sit a little, it hurts WAY less if you get splashed!

So turn the heat back on and bring it up to a bubble, meanwhile your corn and potatoes are still getting their the “brown on” next door!

Then when everybody is warm and happy and you are ready to eat.  Add the corn and potato to the creamy soup, stir a little and VOILA!  Potato Corn Chowder!

Potato Corn Chowder

Now if that all seems like too much bother and too many pans and you don’t have an afternoon to mess with this, it would be perfectly reasonable to just toss this all in the same pot, cook it up and then “half blend” it so there is still some lumpy goodness to it.  It’s up to you.

Raw Soup

One of my favorite things to eat in summer time whether I am trying to be “RAW” or not is a nice cold soup of some kind.

My favorite is one I found last summer, a raw corn and avocado soup.  Here’s what you will need:

• 4 or 5 ears of fresh corn on the cob, corn taken off for about 4 cups of kernels 
• 1 large ripe avocado
• 1/4 small red onion or two green onions ( white and green parts) coarsely chopped
• 1 good size handful of fresh cilantro leaves and stems okay too
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chipotle tabasco ( click here to see what I mean ) but DON’T use this if being “RAW”
• 1 pinch sea salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups of almond milk ( raw only if you are being “RAW”)

Toss all this stuff into the blender and whiz it up until it is a nice think creamy soup and then put in the fridge for at least 1/2 hour to chill it down.

Portion it up into bowls and garnish with a few kernels of saved corn, or some finely chopped  red pepper, or a few leaves of cilantro, or a combo of all of them.  I also find that it is helpful to chill the bowls before serving too.

Corn and avocado soup

Delish!!  And surprisingly filling.

Another nice “RAW” soup that I’ve tried is this Gazpacho( click here for recipe ).  This was really nice, however, if you are trying to follow the rules of “RAW” you can not toast the walnuts, they too must be raw and the vinegar is questionable, substitute with 2 tbsp of fresh squeezed lemon juice instead.  Pumpkin seeds would work well as a topping too.

But both of these make wonderful summer soups, “RAW” or not so give them a try!