Memories and Reminders - Turkey, Bean and Pasta Soup

Yep, I went back to Rachael Ray's Hearty and Healthy 3 bean minestrone.  But this time I used ground turkey :)

Today's Players

To recap for those viewers at home today's players are 2 cartons store bought chicken stock (16 oz each), 4 carrots, 4 stalks of celery, 2 onions  ( 1 chopped and 1 quartered),  6-8 bulbs of garlic, 12 tomatoes, 1 15-oz can each garbanzo, kidney, and cannellini beans, 2 rinds of parmesan cheese, sprigs/stalks of parsley, rosemary, and thyme (darn.  all  I need is sage I can sing that song....fooey), 1 lb fresh ground turkey, and 4 slices of prosciutto.


Somehow this time I managed to use only 2 burners and the oven and I am NOT complaining!

Since the stock has to simmer for one hour before you can add it to the soup, I set that up first in my brand new 12-qt stock pot.  In went the 2 cartons of chicken stock - 8 cups total....to that I added 4 cups of water.  Then went the "fortifying" ingredients: 2 carrots cut in half; 2 celery stalks cut in half, 2 rinds of parmesan cheese and the peel from 1 lemon (he was camera shy so isn't pictured above), and 2 stalks each parsley, rosemary, and thyme tied together in a bundle.  Simmer for 1 hour - timer set.

Next are the tomatoes since they need to roast for abt 30 minutes. This is where the memory part comes in - as I am picking the tomatoes off the vines, I flash back to being 8 years old at my grandmothers house and picking fresh tomatoes off her plants -there is no other smell like it. Stickers removed, rinsed off, and into my roasting pan they go along with the cloves of garlic.  Pour some olive oil over the lot and then sprinkle salt and pepper.   Toss it altogether and put it in the 500 degree oven.

We now come to the meat and beans portion of this blog.  Give the bottom of your pot or dutch oven a couple of "turns" of extra virgin olive oil and heat for a little bit.  Add the prosciutto and heat for a couple of minutes.  Next in goes the chopped onion.  Once that is soft, add the turkey, breaking the pieces with a wooden spoon until the chunks are no about the size of a kidney bean.  After the turkey is browned, add the chopped carrot and chopped celery and cover 10 minutes to let the vegetables sweat......Here's where the reminder portion comes in.....

As I am draining the beans the smoke detector goes off.....I check the stock pot...nothing...nothing in the soup pot either....so I turn on the fan and go open the front door to the house (the smoke detector is 4 feet from the door) and start moving the door back and forth to get the air moving...*whew* the beeping stops ....as I am doing this I look into the kitchen...there is a very visible "smoke" coming from the oven....so I rush over and turn the oven off - there was only 3 minutes left and the tomatoes had already split.  In my absence from wafting the "smoke" out the front door....the beeping starts again....for the next oh I don't know 30+ minutes I am dashing between opening windows..mixing ingredients .....back to the door movement....turning on ceiling fans... checking back to the door movement....and finally the incessant beeping stops.....to be replaced by the occasional "Hey you idiot!  My battery is low!" beep.

Where was I?  Oh yeah, draining beans....add the beans to the soup pot and stir.  Once mixed, start ladling in the stock.  Don't forget the tomatoes.  Remove them from the oven and mash them gently before adding to the soup pot.  I don't like skins in my soup, so I removed the skins before mashing....I'm also not fond of seeds in my soup, so I did my best to pull the tomato meat off and leave the seeds behind. Stir the whole kit-and-kaboodle and bring to a simmer.  Let it simmer for 10-15 minutes and then turn off.  Make sure to let it cool completely before putting it in the fridge.

Why the fridge you ask?  Because I finished this at 6:30 and my husband lets me know he is in fact going over to a friend's house when he told me 30 minutes ago he wasn't.  That's fine.  I didn't feel like standing up any longer to cook the pasta anyway......

To be continued.......

At Home Chinese Dinner Revisited - Chinese Braised Shrimp, Broccoli and Noodles

My husband like the braised beef so much I thought I would try it with another protein - shrimp, but I wanted a veggie this time also, so I added broccoli.  For this giant dish I used my wok :)

Today's Players: - same as last time except for the shrimp
1 lb  raw 35-40 ct frozen shrimp - defrosted
1 -  Manischewitz Egg Noodles Fine (12 oz pkg)
1 10-oz bag steam-ready broccoli
1 clove garlic - crushed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1/4 tsp five-spice powder
2 1/2 tablespoons oil - I used sesame
1/2 cup soy sauce - I used low sodium
1/2 cup chicken broth - again, low sodium
2 tsp cornstarch
4 tsp water

1.Defrost the shrimp according to packaging - then peel


2. Steam the shrimp according to packaging - make sure to drain the excess water from the broccoli before adding to the dish


3. Cook the noodles in salted boiling water until just tender, then drain and rinse under cold water - to stop the cooking

4. Mix together the garlic, salt, ginger, five-spice powder and add to the thawed shrimp - I used my hands to make sure the shrimp get the spices all over

5.  Heat the oil and saute the shrimp over high heat for until pink - abt 4-5 minutes


6. Mix the soy sauce and chicken broth together and add to the shrimp


7. Mix together the cornstarch and water - stir thoroughly - and stir into the shrimp.  Stir and cook beef until the sauce is smooth and thick.

8.  Gently fold (so as to avoid a massive mess) the noodles, mix well and heat through


9.  Gently fold the broccoli into the dish.


10. Serve immediately



This time the majority of my prep time went to peeling the shrimp.  After that it was a piece of cake and it turned out ok.  The shrimp absorbed a lot of the salt from the soy sauce, so I think when I make this again I might cook the shrimp separately and add them with the broccoli at the end.

At Home Chinese Dinner - Chinese Braised Beef and Noodles

Recently my friend CRS asked me to take on the challenge of making Chinese take-out at home.  I finally have been able to obtain the ingredients and am happy to say that my husband was very happy with the results!

This is the recipe I used:Chinese Braised Beef and Noodles

The Players

Today's players:
1 lb  Angus Beef Steak Sirloin Top Fillet
1 -  Manischewitz Egg Noodles Fine (12 oz pkg)
1 clove garlic - crushed
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1/4 tsp five-spice powder
2 1/2 tablespoons oil - I used sesame
1/2 cup soy sauce - I used low sodium
1/2 cup chicken broth - again, low sodium
2 tsp cornstarch
4 tsp water
6 green onions, sliced

1. Cook the noodles in salted boiling water until just tender, then drain and rinse under cold water - to stop the cooking

2. Cut the beef into very thin slices - to make this easier I took the advice from my friend WL to put the beef in the freezer for a few minutes before slicing

The spices - ginger, garlic, 5-spice, and salt

3. Mix together the garlic, salt, ginger, five-spice powder (my husband noted there were actually 7 spices listed on the bottle he bought even though it was labeled five spice powder), and add to the sliced beef.

4.  Heat the oil and saute the beef over high heat for 2 minutes

5. Mix together the cornstarch and water - stir thoroughly - and stir into the beef.  Stir and cook beef until the sauce is smooth and thick.

6.  Gently fold (so as to avoid a massive mess) the noodles, mix well and heat through

7.  Add the green onions and stir - again avoiding mess - and stir another minute

Our final product

8. Serve immediately

The prep time on the recipe said 10 minutes.  The person who wrote this recipe must be a whiz with a knife.  It took me 15-20 mins just to chop the beef (thank you Kelsey Nixon's show on knives).  The measuring of the spices and chopping/measuring of everything else took little time which I love.    I think it took me 30 minutes total to make a wonderful meal that my husband loved and we have enough for another meal, since the original recipe is for 4-6 ppl and there are only 2 of us.

For me, the only thing missing is a veggie from this dish but you can easily steam some broccoli which would be a great addition...not sure there is enough room in the pot for anything else.

Edit: leftovers - specifically the noodles - are salty.  probably because they soaked up more salt overnight.  When I make this again I will most likely reduce the salt from 1 tsp to 1/2 or 1/4 tsp.