Winter Cooking
When seasons change, I always start thinking about dishes I will cook that I haven’t done in awhile. It’s finally what passes for winter in Texas now (4 days of increasingly moderate weather in the 60’s to 70’s followed by one or two -at most- of freezing temps with or without ice) and I’m thinking of winter foods. One that is a staple in my house is a Chicken Noodle Soup that has potatoes with the usual veggies and is creamy. I adapted it from a Cooking Light Soups and Stews book. Here goes.
Chicken Noodle Soup
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped celery
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
6-8 cups fat free chicken broth
4 cups diced red potato
1/2 rotisserie chicken, shredded
1 cup evaporated skim milk
4 oz. uncooked egg noodles
In a Dutch oven, saute onions, carrots, celery, and garlic seasoned with salt and pepper in oil over medium high heat for about 5 minutes or until softened. Sprinkle with flour and poultry seasoning and stir for one minute. Add potato and enough broth to cover completely. Bring to a boil, lower heat and partially cover. Cook 20 minutes or until potato is tender. Add chicken, evaporated milk, and noodles and cook for 10 minutes or until noodles are cooked.
When I was with my family over Christmas, my Mom and I got to reminisce about the dinner parties we used to do for each other before she and my Dad moved to Kansas City. We would find wonderful recipes and really try to make the dinners elegant. We had such fun. She told me that she thought my Orange Chicken was one of the really good dishes she remembers. I hadn’t thought of it in years, so I came home and looked it up in the old New Orleans La Bonne Cuisine book from the 1970’s. The cover of my book is long since torn off so I don’t know the exact publication date, but my friend Will Crocker did all the photography in the book and that’s good enough that I’d want it even if it didn’t have some great recipes. The interesting thing about the book is that it’s a collection of recipes from local New Orleanians, as well as some from some of the famous restaurants. You have to be careful because some of the folks (on purpose?) were really vague and non-specific in their instructions, and I noticed a few seem to have missing ingredients. I’ve had to really soft shoe around some of them to make them work. But the Orange Chicken is great. I’ve done it with a whole chicken cut up and with only chicken breasts, and it works equally well with either.
Orange Chicken
Juice of 1 lemon
1 fryer chicken, cut up
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups orange juice
1/4 teaspoon oregano
Pour the lemon juice over the chicken pieces. Sprinkle with garlic salt, pepper, and cinnamon. Let stand for 30 minutes. In a large skillet, heat the butter and olive oil. Add the chicken pieces and brown them skin side down. Turn the pieces over, add the orange juce, and sprinkle with oregano. Cook over low heat for 45 minutes until chicken is cooked and sauce has thickened. Serve over rice.
I’m going to go looking for more winter soups. They are always wonderful and homey. If I find any good ones, I’ll post. Enjoy!
Mmm, chicken noodle soup. This one’s a keeper. Is any comfort food more comforting. The answer is: No.
Comment by Sophie — January 8, 2009 @ 7:42 pm
Thanks, Sophie. I hope you enjoy this one. It’s a little different. More to come.
Comment by Cynthia — January 9, 2009 @ 9:58 am