Thai Chicken and Shrimp Soup

My friend Dougie's nephew is the chef at the Kinkell House Hotel and Restaurant. I've been there for lunch several times and the food is always wonderful but the soup today was amazing! Jimmy is a really nice guy and was only too happy to share the recipe that he brought back from a trip to Ireland. So grab your blender and prepare yourself for a visit to food heaven!!

In a blender combine:
2 red chiles
a 1 inch piece of ginger root
4 cloves of garlic
a bunch of coriander ( I suppose this means to your taste)
3 juiced limes
These will blend to a paste. Fry the paste in a bit of olive oil for a couple of minutes.

Add to the paste:
2400g of coconut milk (approx. 85 oz. or 5.25 pints)
1 pint of chicken stock
Reduce the soup for a few minutes.

Add to the soup:
precooked noodles
precooked chicken
precooked shrimp
The amount of these last 3 ingredients is up to you.

Serve and die in your own bliss!

 

Sara's Apple Cider Pork Roast

Sara Unangst put this yummy recipe on Facebook. It was a real hit at my house tonight. I especially like the 'tang' that the apple juice gives the veggies. The only thing I did differently was to use a whole quart of applejuice.

Ingredients:
1.5 to 2 lb boneless pork blade roast or sirloin roast
2 TBS cooking oil
1.25 cups apple cider or apple juice
2 tsp instant beef bouillon granules
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp black pepper
3 medium red potatoes cubed
3 medium carrots, cut into 2 inch pieces
3 medium parsnips, cut into 2 inch pieces
1 large onion cut into wedges
1/4 cup flour

Directions
- Brown the meat on all sides in hot oil, drain off fat.
- Place cut veggies into crockpot
- Add meat to crockpot (cutting to fit if necessary)
- Mix cider, bouillon granules, mustard, and pepper together. Add to crockpot
-Cook on low heat 8-10 hours, or cook on high heat 4-5 hours.
- For gravy take juices from crockpot plus enough water to equal 1.5 cups. Put in a saucepan. Stir 1/3 cup cold water into flour. Stir into juices in pan. Cook and stir over medium heat until thick and bubbly.
- Serve and enjoy!

Banana Bread Bundt Cake

You guys! Banana bread cake! 

 

- 3 cups flour (half of it whole-grain, if you'd like) 

- 2 tsp baking powder 

- 1/2 tsp salt 

- 1/4 tsp allspice 

- 1/4 tsp nutmeg 

- 3/4 cup butter (1.5 sticks), room temperature 

- 1/2 cup light brown sugar 

- 1/4 cup white sugar (or honey) 

- 2 tsp vanilla extract or 1 tsp ground bourbon vanilla 

- 2 eggs, also preferably room temperature 

- 3-4 ripe nanners 

- 1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt 

- 3/4 cup chocolate chips 

Sift together the dry stuff: flour, baking powder, salt, allspice, nutmeg. 

Beat butter until fluffy. Beat in the sugars and vanilla. 

Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each. 

Mix in the well-mashed bananas. 

Add half of the dry stuff into the wet, and mix well; then add the sour cream and mix again. 

Add the rest of the dry and blend it all together. Stir in the chocolate chips. 

Pour everything into a well-greased bundt pan. (Standard 12-cup size.) Rap the pan on the counter a couple of times to discourage bubbles. Smooth the top with your spoon. Then use it to go to town on the batter bowl. 

Bake in 350-degree F (175 C) oven for a total of about 60 minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test. You might check it after 40 minutes or so, in case it's getting too brown and requires a natty little tin-foil tent. 

Cool ten minutes before removing from the pan. Then all bets are off. 

Glaze, If You Want It: 

- About 3 tbs butter 

- Something like 1/2 cup of sugar (more, if it's powdered) 

- Lots of cocoa powder, or a big piece of dark chocolate 

- About 3 tbs of hot water 

- A dash of vanilla 

Starting with the butter, gently melt everything in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly to melt the sugar. Give or take some of the quantities above for the right flavor/consistency; as long as it's not too watery, you're good. Remove from heat and place the pan in cold water to cool it down a bit (keep stirring). The cooler it is, the thicker it gets, so that it acts like glaze and is less inclined to simply run down the sides of your cake and puddle underneath it. Don't let it cool so far that it stiffens, though! Brush the glaze over the whole cake. Put the cake in the fridge to set the glaze. Special thanks to Missy Wiechmann for the inspiration!

Herbed Salmon Ball

1- 14 ¾ oz can of salmon

1- 8 oz pkg of cream cheese, softened

1- clove of garlic, pressed

½ C. small curd cottage cheese

¼ C. minced onion

1 tsp. fines herbes, crumbled

½ tsp. thyme, crumbled

1 C. chopped parsley

Drain salmon. Remove skin and bones. Combine all ingredients except salmon until well blended. Stir in salmon. Form into a ball. Chill 3 hours. Mixture will be soft. Place in serving dish and surround with crackers.

Venison goulash

An autumn dish for cool autumn nights! 

- 2 lbs (800g) venison shoulder, cubed 

- flour seasoned with salt & pepper 

- oil for frying 

- 2 onions, peeled & sliced 

- 5 garlic cloves, minced 

- 1 chopped chili or a few shakes of powder (arbol has a nice, rich flavor) 

- 2 chopped tomatoes 

- fresh mushrooms (wild are the best! It's the season for them, after all) 

- 1-2 tbs paprika powder 

- 1 rounded tsp thyme 

- 1 cup (230ml) broth, preferably beef or game 

- splooshes (maybe 5 oz? 100ml?) red wine 

- 5 oz (150 ml) sour cream 

- assortment of fresh herbs, like parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme (no kidding!) 

- shot of Kräuterschnaps / herb liqueur 

1) Dredge the meat cubes in the seasoned flour mixture and fry 'em up in batches so that they're browned on all sides. You'll probably have to replenish the oil between batches (the flour soaks it right up). Remove from the pan. 

2) Sauté the onions in the same pan (meat juices, yummy!) for a minute or two before adding the garlic, chilis/chili powder, and paprika. After those start becoming soft (maybe one more minute), add the tomatoes and mushrooms. 

3) Return the venison back to the pan and add the broth, wine, and herbs 

4) Bring to a boil; then turn it waaay down. Add the Kräuterschnaps, and let it simmer for about an hour uncovered, stirring occasionally, until everything starts to thicken 

5) Stir in the sour cream in the last 10 minutes or so. Serve with Spätzle, or rice, or ribbon noodles, or potatoes... or just eat it out of the pan! Great with the rest of the same red wine used for cooking.

Mustard BBQ Sauce

- 1 cup yellow mustard
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbs butter
- 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbs lemon juice
- 2 tbs brown sugar
- some shakes of cayenne

Put everything in a pot and let it simmer together for 20-30 minutes. This is just the right amount of time for the oven or grill to pre-heat while you thaw the meat...

Be sure to stir frequently and keep it on low heat - butter can burn!

Makes enough to slather about 4 big pieces of meat.

Excellent on oven-roasted chicken legs. I'll bet it would be divine on pork!

"Firey Furnace" Potato Soup

- cubed, washed, unpeeled potatoes 

- onion & lots of garlic, chopped 

- possibly a whole, chopped jalapeno 

- chicken or veggie bouillon or broth 

- spices: black pepper, thyme, nutmeg, cumin, cayenne 

- a bit of sea salt 

- 1 red bell pepper and 1 large tomato, chopped 

- 1 cup milk or cream (or some mix of both) 

Set potatoes in a saucepan of water (or chicken broth) to boil. 

Sauté the onions & garlic, and possible jalapeno; add to soup. Add spices. 

Bring to boil, then turn down to bubbling. 

Cook until everything is tender, then puree it all.* (I have a Pürierstab, i.e. one of those nifty, hand-held, blender-on-a-stick things apparently found in every German kitchen. It's great!) 

Replace on stove, let simmer on low heat while you sauté the peppers & tomatoes. Let them get nice and tender, then add to soup. 

Warm up the milk and add it, too. 

Taste; you may need more spices, including salt. (Sea salt is less bitter than the iodized, I like it muy mucho.) 

Let everything steep together for 15 minutes or so. Yam, yam! 

I bet some bacon crumbles on top would be wonderful, too! 

If you don't want to mess with the pureeing bit, you can simply leave the potato chunks whole and thicken everything with 1/3 cup flour dissolved in 1 cup cold milk. Slowly whisk flour-milk mixture into the soup instead of dumping it in all at once; then continue as directed.