Steak Dinner in a Bowl

Steak House Soup
From sister Leanna who got it from Taste of Home

1/4 lb Beef tenderloin, cut in to 1/4 in pieces(I use beef tips)
1/4 c. chopped onion
1/4 t salt
2t olive oil
1 1/2 c. cubed potatoes
1c beef broth
1/4 c steak sauce
3/4 t chili powder
1/4 t ground cumin
1/8 t cayenne pepper
2T minced fresh parsley

In large non-stick saucepan, saute the beef, onion,and salt in
oil for 4-5 min or until meat is no longer pink. Stir in potatoes,
broth,steak sauce and spices. Bring to a broil. Reduce heat; cover
and simmer for 30-35 mins or until potatoes are tender. Garnish
with parsley.

Ok I had to modify this a bit. First it only served two people so I tripled it. I added mushrooms in with the onions. I've never bought steak sauce so instead used equal parts Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce. The spices I only doubled and it was on par with kid's spice tolerance. Not a soup I expect to make again - sorry Leanna. We had stuffed mushrooms with it, which the kids won't touch with a ten foot pole.



Kid Ratings

Christopher Robin
Collin
Isaac	X "seventy-nine"
Annette	X "ten"

Avgolewhat?

Avgolemono
The Soup Book, edited by Anne Sheasby

3 3/4 cu chicken stock
1/3 cu+ long grain rice

3 egg yolks
2-4 tbs fresh lemon juice

2 tbs finely chopped parsley

salt and pepper

lemon slices and parsley sprigs for garnish

Rinse the rice thoroughly.

Pour the stock into a pan, bring to simmering point, then add the drained rice. Half cover and cook for about 12 minutes until the rice is just tender. Season with salt and pepper.

Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl, then add about 2 tbsp of the lemon juice, whisking constantly until the mixture is smooth and bubbly. Add a ladleful of soup and whisk again.

Remove the soup from the heat and slowly add the egg mixture, whisking all the time. The soup will turn a pretty lemon color and will thicken slightly.

Taste and add more lemon juice if necessary. Stir in the parsley. Serve at once, without reheating, garnished with lemon slices and parsley sprigs.

Joni got this book from the library, and then went out for shopping therapy with a friend of hers. Collin and Isaac are spending the night at a church 'camp in' thing, so it's just Annette, CR, and I. We were going to have leftovers, but this soup looked both easy and interesting. I thought the soup was really good: thick, lemony, and ricey. "Avgolemono" apparently means 'egg-lemon' in Greek. The book says you can add more rice if you want. 1/3 cup seemed like plenty to me.



Kid ratings:

Christopher Robin
Annette

Annette has apparently decided to move to a 'five-star' system like the older boys.

Make Mine Minestrone

Minestrone

1 cu (dry) great northern beans

1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
pinch salt

4 cu beef broth
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried marjoram

1 lb lean beef, diced
3 tomatoes, peeled and chopped

4 small potatoes, diced

2 medium carrots, diced
2 medium zucchini, diced

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 lb dry pasta

1/4 cu fresh basil, chopped
2 cups baby spinach, chopped

Fresh grated parmesan cheese

Soak beans in salted water overnight.

The next day, pre-heat oven to 250 F, and saute onion in olive oil with a pinch of salt in a large oven-proof pot for 3-4 minutes. Add garlic and cook another few minutes until onion is translucent and just starts to turn brown. Add beans, including water (at least two cups), and beef broth. Add bay leaf, marjoram, and thyme, and bring to a simmer. Cover the pot, and place in oven. Cook 3-4 hours.

Add beef and tomatoes, and return to the oven for another hour.

Add potatoes, return to oven for another hour.

Add zucchini and carrots, and cook until beans and vegetables are done, about another 30-45 minutes.

Cook pasta almost to al dente, and rinse under cold water. Add pasta to the pot. Add salt and pepper as needed, then basil and spinach, and cook briefly, until the spinach is just wilted. Serve in bowls topped with parmesan cheese.

I think this turned out pretty well. Yes, there's quite a bit of taking it out of the oven and adding stuff, but I'm obsessed with having all the veggies cooked just right. No mushy potatoes, no crunchy carrots. If you don't care, just throw it all in a pot and hope for the best. But don't come crying to me if you die of colonic inversion or something.

Doing long-cooking soups like this in the oven on low is great - no worries about burning or sticking to the bottom of the pot, the potatoes and other bits stay intact because they aren't broken apart by vigorous boiling action. I stole the idea from Cook's Illustrated.

We served it with garlic bread, made from the french bread from a few days ago. I don't have a recipe for garlic bread. I'm sure you can figure it out.


Kid ratings:

Christopher Robin
Collin
Isaac	X "ten"
Annette

It's the Great Pumpkin

Cream of Pumpkin Soup
http://allrecipes.com

3 tablespoons margarine, softened
1 tablespoon brown sugar
4 slices whole wheat bread
1 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Spread butter mixture evenly over one side of each bread slice. Place bread, buttered side up, on a baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until bread is crisp and topping is bubbly. Cut each slice of bread into 8 small triangles or squares.
Saute onion in butter in a medium saucepan until tender. Add 1 can chicken broth; stir well. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes.

Transfer broth mixture into the container of a blender or processor. Process until smooth. (Note: give this a min or two to cool before blending. Really hot liquid spurting out of the blender, down your shirt and all over the wall is not good...I know these things now.)

Return mixture to saucepan. Add remaining can of broth, pumpkin, salt, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, and ground pepper; stir well. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in whipping cream and heat through. Do not boil. Ladle into individual soup bowls. Top each serving with Cinnamon Croutons.

Because I'd read reviews on this recipe, I halved the salt and doubled all the spices. Then after tasting it, I followed other reviews suggestions of adding a bit of brown sugar and cayenne pepper as well. Both additions helped a lot. It wasn't a very 'pumpkiny' tasting soup.



Kid Rating

Christopher Robin
Collin
Isaac
Annette

I also made chocolate cake.

Collin: "Oh cake! What's the cake for?"
"I wanted cake."

A few minutes later enter CR:
"Oh Cake! Is it somebody's birthday?"
"No"
"Is it isn't a holiday?
"No"
"Are we going somewhere?"
"No"
"Why did you make cake?"
"I just wanted cake."

Isaac: "Oooooo caaaakkkkeeee. What's the cake for?"
"I wanted cake."

After Dinner.
Collin: "What are we going to do with the cake?"
"I'm thinking about putting it in a box for ten years."

CR: "What are we doing with the cake?"
"I'm putting it in a BOX for TEN YEARS now go do your CHORES!"

I just wanted cake.

Say "Broccoli"!

Broccoli Cheese Soup

2 heads broccoli, cut into small florets

1/4 cu butter
1/4 cu flour

1 small onion, diced fine
1 small carrot, grated very fine
2 cloves garlic, minced

pinch salt
a few grinds black pepper
1/8 tsp nutmeg
pinch cayenne pepper

1 cu half and half
1 cu milk
1/2 cu buttermilk
2 cu chicken broth

12 oz cheddar cheese

Cut broccoli into small florets, and blanch in boiling water for 1 minute. Rinse with cold water to stop cooking and set aside. This step keeps the broccoli green.

Grate cheddar cheese, then hide it from your wife in the fridge until time to add it to the soup.

Warm milk, buttermilk, and half and half together in microwave until very warm.

Heat butter on medium low in large, heavy pot until melted, then add flour. Stir frequently until a light brown roux forms, about 4-5 minutes, then add the onions, carrots, and pinch of salt. Stir 2-3 minutes, then add garlic and cook a few minutes more. Add nutmeg, pepper, and cayenne. Then add milk, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring smooth between each addition. Add chicken broth, broccoli, then heat until steam and a bubble or two begin to form, but not to boiling. Turn off heat, add cheese by the handful, stirring to avoid clumping. Stir in until the cheese is melted, then check for saltiness.

I managed to mess this up by adding the milk before the onions, carrots, and garlic. So the onions didn't get 'done'. It was pretty good otherwise, though.



Kid ratings:

Christopher Robin
Collin
Isaac	X "ninety-nine"
Annette	X "twenty-nine"

Tonight's bread was whole wheat with honey. The recipe:

Whole Wheat Honey Bread
(Adapted from The Joy of Cooking, 1970-something edition)

1 beaten egg, room temperature
1/4 cu butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 1/2 cu lukewarm water
1/2 cu honey

2 tsp kosher salt
4 cu whole wheat flour
4 cu all-purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast

Sift dry ingredients together thoroughly.

Beat together egg and butter in a medium bowl, add water and honey.

Add liquids to dries and stir together until thoroughly mixed and a dough forms. Rest 15 minutes, then knead for 10 minutes. Let rise until doubled in bulk, then punch down and divide into four parts and form into loaves. Let loaves rise again, about 2 more hours. Bake at 400 F for 10 minutes, then reduce to 350 F for another 25-30 minutes.

Instead of four free-standing loaves, you can divide into thirds and put in 3 5"x9" loaf pans.

This old edition of the Joy of Cooking is my most-used cookbook. Most of the recipes are great, and it's an excellent resource if I ever want to know how to cook something I don't usually cook. Like, say, Raccoon (pg 454). The bread recipes tend to use caked yeast, but I've had perfect results with instant yeast

Chill-Chasin' Chili

Collin was the chef tonight. He has been wanting to make this chili out of his Betty Crocker Kid's Cookbook for awhile now. So he insisted it get in on the soup nights. I'll copy the recipe from the book so excuse the 'kidness' of it.

Chill-Chasin' Chili

1 pound lean ground beef
1 can (14.5oz) diced tomatoes
3 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp red pepper sauce
1 can (15-16oz) red kidney beans
1/4 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

Put the ground beef in the saucepan. Stir with the wooden spoon until beef is broken into small pieces. Cook over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until beef is thoroughly cooked and brown.

Take saucepan off hot burner. Put the strainer over the small bowl. Spoon beef into strainer to drain the fat. Put beef back in saucepan.

Open the can of tomatoes with the can opener. Add the tomatoes (with the liquid in the can), chili powder, garlic salt and red pepper sauce to beef. Stir until mixed. Heat to boiling over medium-high heat, stirring a few times. Turn heat down to low. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring a few times.

Open the can of kidney beans with the can opener. Ad beans (with the liquid in the can) to beef mixture. Stir until mixed. Cook for 20 minutes longer.

Take saucepan off hot burner. Top each serving of chili with the cheese.

We also like to top our chili with sour cream and corn chips. Robin made corn bread, which of course was topped with butter and our favorite honey from Hughes Honey.



Kid ratings:

Christopher Robin
Collin
Isaac	X "One Hundred"
Annette	X "Twenty-five"

We had cornbread with it.

Cornbread

2 cu buttermilk, room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature

4 tbs bacon grease, lard, butter, or canola oil
(in order of preference)

1 1/2 cu corn meal, plus a scant handful (Not self-rising)
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Cast iron skillet

Preheat cast iron skillet in oven at 400 F. Allow at least 30 minutes for skillet to get hot.

Melt bacon grease, lard, or butter, and cool slightly.

Sift together dry ingredients.

Beat eggs, add 2 tbs bacon grease (or other fat), and buttermilk.

Add wet ingredients to dry, and stir just to combine, as you would muffin batter. Do not over mix. Batter will be very viscous.

Open oven, pour in remaining 2 tbs fat, toss in a scant handful of corn meal, then pour in batter. Cook 30-35 minutes, until done.

Remove from oven, cool 5 minutes, then remove to wire rack. Cut into wedges and serve with butter and honey.

To transfer the cornbread to the wire rack, turn rack upside down, place over skillet, hold rack in place with pot-holder-covered-hand, hold skillet handle with another pot-holder-covered-hand, and flip the whole thing over. If it falls on the floor, don't tell your family, just dust it off and serve it anyway.

The extra cornmeal in the pan helps prevent sticking, and makes the crust crunchier. Nom nom nom.

Gumbo gumbo

One Pot Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup oil

1 large onion, diced
1 rib celery, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 tsp salt, plus more to taste
1/2 tsp black pepper

1 lb okra, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried basil

12 oz good andouille suasage, chopped
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken, cut into bit-sized pieces

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
4 cups beef stock
2 bay leaves

File powder, to taste
Short grain rice, about 1/2 cup per person, cooked by whatever method you prefer.

Pre-heat oven to 250 F.

Have everything except the rice and file powder "Mise en place" and ready to put in the pot.

Combine flour and oil in large oven-safe pot over medium-high heat, and stir frequently until a very dark roux forms, about 6-12 minutes. Immediately add onions, celery, red bell pepper, salt, and pepper. Reduce heat to medium, and cook 2-3 minutes. Add okra, tomato, garlic, thyme, and basil, cook 2-3 minutes more. Add andouille and chicken, and cook until chicken is no longer pink on the outside, stirring frequently. Add stock, stirring as you go, then bay leaves. Bring to gentle simmer, cover pot, and put in 250 F oven until chicken is cooked, about 30-45 minutes.

When the chicken is done, remove from oven, and cool - overnight in the fridge is fine, or just until any excess fat rises to the surface. Skim off excess fat, reheat. Taste and add salt if needed, then serve in bowls, adding a pinch of file powder and generous dollop of rice to each bowl.

The above recipe is my own. For the andouille, Adelle's brand is available here and is very good.



Kid ratings:

Christopher Robin
Collin
Isaac	X "fifty-nine"
Annette	X "One" (bites with okra) or "fifty-nine" (bites without okra)

We also had french bread. Here's the recipe:

French Bread
(Adapted from The Joy of Cooking, 1970-something edition)

1/2 cup milk
1 1/4 cups water
2 tbs melted butter

540 grams all-purpose flour, about 4 cups
1 1/2 tbs sugar
2 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast

1 egg white
1 tbs cold water

Scald milk in microwave (45 seconds on high may do it), add water and melted butter. Scalded milk mixture should be at about 90 F.

Sift dry ingredients together in a bowl. Make a hole in dry ingredients and add wet ingredients. Stir thoroughly, but do not knead. The dough will be very wet. Cover with a damp cloth and set in a warm place to rise until doubled, about 2 hours.

Prepare two baking sheet pans by turning them upside down and covering the bottoms with parchment paper. Prepare the oven by placing a pan of hot water in it.

Turn dough onto well-floured surface, divide in half, and roll into two equal oblongs, about as long as the baking sheets, and about 1/4 inch thick, while adding flour as needed to prevent sticking. Again, do not knead the dough. Roll dough along a long end until a long, thin loaf is formed. Do the same with the other part. Tuck ends in and turn loafs onto prepared baking sheets, placed diagonally on the pan, seam down. You'll want to leave a couple of inches for the dough to expand. Pat into a nice even shape, and cut each loaf diagonally, 1/4 inch deep. Set in oven with metal pie tin or shallow pan of hot water until doubled, about another 1-2 hours.

Remove sheet pans from oven, and heat oven to 400 F. Empty out the cooled water from the pan, and return it to the oven while it heats up. Add more boiling water right before putting the bread in the oven. Bake 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 F until done, about 30 more minutes.

About 5 minutes before the bread is finished, stir together egg white and water, and brush loaves with the egg wash. Return bread to the oven to finish cooking, then remove from oven and cool on wire rack.

As it says above, I adapted this from and old copy of The Joy of Cooking that a friend gave me several years ago. Their recipe is slightly more complicated, mostly due to using compressed yeast instead of instant yeast. This bread is much better than the generic 'french bread' in grocery stores, and even (in my not-so-humble opinion) as good as french bread I've had in New Orleans. I came up with the second rise in the oven idea because if I let it rise in the open air, the dough dried out too much. If I covered it with anything, it stuck.

-RN