Chicken-Pumpkin-Curry Soup

If you were following my tweets yesterday, you already know some of what I was doing. Since my experimentation succeeded, here is a rough guide to making Chicken-Pumpkin-Curry Soup.

I had the rough idea for this recipe in my head, thinking the three flavors would go well together. Plus we had them and I do need to get some of these pumpkins used. So I went googling on recipes for reassurance, but I didn't like parts of anything I found. So I just made it up as I went along. Note that I had this cooking much of the day, but I will include some tips for shortcuts along the way.

Making the Base Stock

I wanted chicken pieces for the soup and a good flavorful base, so my first step was actually to cook a "stock" that I strained. You can skip this step and use premade stock or bullion cubes dissolved in water and add leftover chicken pieces or browned cut-up chicken breasts or whatever works for you in the end step.

Rough ingredients (vary to suit your preferences and supplies):

• two whole chicken legs with backs--skin on and bones in (or more if feeding a crowd)
• black and white peppercorns
• sprigs of fresh rosemary, thyme, sage, and curry
• several blades (or whatever they're called) of fresh chives
• a couple handfuls of pumpkin guts (strings and seeds)
• greens off a leek
• salt
• water to cover

Throw it all in a pot and let it cook on low heat until the meat is falling off the bone. Strain it, putting the liquid aside for later.

Once cool enough to handle, pick the meat off the bone and break into small chunks. Save for adding to the soup later.

Prepping the Pumpkin

The recipes I found reading online either used canned pumpkin or baked the pumpkin in halves and made puree that way. Part of my goal with making this soup was to use one of the fresh pumpkins, so canned or my ready-made puree weren't ideal for this round. I certainly didn't want to waste my energy or electricity on the puree process when I planned to have a soup pot simmering on the gas all day (sure wish we had a wood stove I could do this on).

What I did instead was to cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the stringy guts and seeds. A couple handfuls of that went straight into the stock pot already started.

Then DH helped me out and we cut the pumpkin into huge chunks that were easy to handle. We peeled the tough skin off with potato peelers then cut into smaller chunks that would fit in the soup pot better. We put these aside in a clean dishpan for when I needed them later. Shortly before putting them into the pot, I put water into the dishpan to rinse them off.

Making the Pumpkin-Curry Base Soup

If you are like me and using a fresh pumpkin, you may end up with far more of this than you need for your meal. It is easier to freeze and store at the end of this stage instead of once the final soup is assembled (takes up less space).

Ingredients

• Curry powder (how  much depends on your taste, the curry's strength, and how much pumpkin you have)
• A couple onions chopped or sliced coarsely
• A little butter, margarine, or oil for starting the onions and curry
• Garlic
• Pumpkin prepared as above (or puree or canned if you haven't the fresh to use up or are lazy)
• The base stock prepared as above or the alternative ready-made stock or bullion (how much depends on how much pumpkin you have and how wet you want your soup... it is easier to add more later than to cook it off, but more will help the pumpkin cook faster)
• A few apples, peeled and cored (I used six small ones but it was a lot of pumpkin)
• Some carrots, peeled (they help with the color if your pumpkin is a little pale and add more nutrients. could be skipped)

1. Make sure you start with a pot large enough for all the stuff you plan to put into it.
2. Melt the butter or margarine or heat the oil in the bottom of the pot.
3. Throw in the onions and let soften a little.
4. Add the garlic.
5. Put in the curry powder, stirring and watching the heat to avoid burning. Doing this with the curry powder releases the flavor. You can add more later, but it won't be as good if it hasn't had this step.
6. Pour in a little of the stock to keep the paste from burning.
7. Throw in some of the pumpkin chunks and stir them around in the paste. Not sure how important this step is, but it's what I did.
8. Add the stock and the rest of the pumpkin chunks. Do not worry if the stock doesn't cover all the pumpkin. I would worry more if it did ebcause it would be awfully wet. Mine was maybe halfway up initially and had to cook it down for a while.
9. If there is room in the pot (there wasn't for me), add the carrots and apples.
10. Cover and let simmer, stirring occasionally. Add left out ingredients, if any, when the pumpkin has collapsed enough for it to fit.
11. When everything has softened enough to stir easily and be somewhat mushable with your spoon, consider the moisture amount. If it is really wet, you might want to remove the lid and let it cook down for a while. It will splatter less and be less likely to burn if you cook down before completing the next step.
12. Blend everything until creamy. I used my staff blender directly in the pot. I did have to take it off the stove because my cord wasn't long enough. If you aren't lucky enough to have one of these heat-tolerant pot-safe blender sticks, you'll need to transfer it to a regular blender or food processor or mash by hand and have chunky soup.

Note that I ended up with something like 8 liters of soup base. But I did use a whole pumpkin of a very meaty type.

Assembling the Final Soup

• Pumpkin-Curry base soup
• A can or so of coconut milk or a creamy alternative like cream or soy-cream substitute. Coconut milk is really a great choice because the flavor complements the rest of the soup well
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Your chunks of chicken resulting from the first step or a time-saving alternative

Take enough of your soup base for the number of people you want to feed. Heat slowly and mix in the coconut milk. If you have any issues with the creaminess, you may want to blend again, but that wasn't necessary for me. The coconut milk mixed in fine once it was heated up.

When satisfied no blending will be needed, add the chicken. (Not that blending the chicken would really hurt anything.. just seems odd to me)

Season to taste.

Vegan or Vegetarian Alternative

Obviously you won't want to use chicken and chicken stock if preparing for vegans or vegetarians. The alternative is quite simple. Use a vegetable stock base instead of chicken stock--either vegetarian bullion or a homemade stock. It would also be an option to just skip to the pumpkin stage and just use a little water and add more other vegetables for flavor, such as celery, leeks, parsnips, or whatever you want. Those vegetables would then just be blended along with the pumpkin to give the final creamy result.

The soup will be delicious even without chunks of chicken or something in it. We add that because DH is a very hardworking man and it helps him feel fuller. You could use chunks of tofu or something if you wanted.

Serving Suggestions

As you probably noticed from the picture, I served with a spoonful of sour cream on each portion and bits of fresh chives. We had some coarse bread on the side.

Although I liked the combination of the soup with sour cream, DH did not. Some whipped cream (NOT sweetened or with vanilla in it!) would be another choice if you like the looks but not the flavor.

Of course you can also just serve it plain, with or without the bread.

Vær's'god (sorta means "Enjoy the meal" in this context although the literal is "be so good")

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Tongiht we are having stuffed zucchini boats, bex-style. So this is more a recipe than my actual process of doing it. When I do it, there are tons of extended breaks.

Stuffed Zucchini Boats--Bex-Style

• Large zucchini or a couple mediums
• Ground meat (beef, pork, a mix, whatever you have or is cheapest)
• Loose rice
• Some salsa
• Salt and pepper
• An onion and optionally a chopped pepper
• Grated cheese

1. Wash the outside of the zucchini.
2. Cut the ends off and cut it in half lengthwise.
3. Scoop out the seeds and get rid of them.
4. Scrape out the inside of the zucchini (putting your scrapings into a bowl) until you leave a shell about .5cm thick in smaller zucchinis up to about 1.5 cm thick in baseball bat sized ones. Leave a little extra towards the ends, where there isn't peel to reinforce it.
   
5. Put the halves cut-side down on a dishcloth or papertowels to drain while you do everything else (and probably take a few breaks).
6. Use a staff blender to turn the zucchini scrapings into mush.
7. Peel the onion and cut it into large chunks. Add them to the zucchini mush and again process with the staff blender.
8. Add salt, pepper, salsa (probably at least a tablespoon per person you are feeding, but vary according to your preferences and the strength of the salsa), rice (I use about a cup [2.5dl] for a giant zucchini), and meat.
9. Mix it all together with your hands, a spoon, or an electric mixer. I think hands are easiest.
10. Turn the zucchini shells over and salt the insides. Put them on an oven-safe dish or cookie sheet. Use something with a little depth, because they will ooze a lot of liquid in the oven.
    
11. Spoon in the stuffing.
12. If you have too much stuffing, you can bake the extra in hollow peppers, onions, or just in a dish. But it may need some water added, because normally the rice sucks up the juices from the zucchini.
    
13. Cover with foil.
14. Bake at around 350 (175C) for an hour probably. If you aren't sure when you want to eat, you can always put it in at a much lower temperature to get it started. The time varies depending on the size. You can tell it is done by the color of the meat and by the shininess and softness of the zucchini boats.
    
15. Remove the foil and cover with grated cheese.
16. Turn the temperature up to grill, or broiler, or high or whatever works for you and bake until the cheese browns and bubbles.
17. Serve.
18. Since the boats include meat, vegetables, and rice, you really don't need a side dish.
19. This goes well with a nice glass of red wine!

Note: You can vary the seasonings and meat extensively. This is just the one that usually goes over best with visitors and is easiest.

Zucchini Galore!

In case you haven't figured it out by now from tweets and other comments, we planted a lot of zucchini this year. I like it, DH has gotten used to my creative uses of it and loves zucchini bread, and we give some to friends. This year I am even selling some of our overstock at the roadside. (5 DKK each. sold 2 so far.)

Friday I prepared a few zucchini for freezing. I use the grater attachment to my mixer to grate it. Then I put a plastic bag in my pyrex measuring cup to measure 2C portions for freezing. 2C is the right amount for a single batch of zucchini bread (which makes 2 loaves unless I use a really big loaf pan). The portion is also great for other purposes. DH has to get the machine out and put it away, but without it I wouldn't be able to process near as much.

What do I do with all this zucchini? For one thing, I make a lot of zucchini bread. This is the recipe I use, which I got from my mother.

Zucchini Bread (Cake)

• 3 beaten eggs
• 1 C vegetable oil or apple sauce
• 2 C sugar
• 3 t vanilla
• 2 C grated zucchini
• 3 C flour
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t baking powder
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 C soaked raisins, nuts, or coconut (optional)

Mix it all together and put into greased and floured loaf pans. Bake in a preheated over 350F or 175C for 1 hour.


I've done some experimenting with this recipe. For one thing, it is too sweet for danes. If using sweetened applesauce, I use HALF the called for sugar. Because we got a good deal on brown sugar and have lots of it (it is cheaper than white the way we got it), I use brown sugar.

Applesauce is preferred to oil for two reasons: it is healthier and the resulting bread is moister and tastes better. If you do use oil, be sure to use one that is a neutral taste. Neither olive oil or grapeseed oil is a good choice for this. Rapeseed (canola) and corn oil work fine.

Another healthiness improvement I often make is replacing part of the flour with oatmeal. This eliminates some of the wheat (I have an allergy but it isn't severe) and increases the fiber content of the cake. Replacing 1/3 of it is pretty much unnoticeable to the eater. Half works pretty well, if I remember right, but is more noticeable. I've also swapped portions out with whole wheat flour at times.

I have also baked these as cupcakes or muffins instead of loaves on several occasions. They take about 15-18 minutes in the oven that way. This is great for single portion servings, whether for visitors, a road trip, or freezing. It also eliminates the need to grease and flour, although my silicon loaf pan does that as well.

Speaking of freezing, these freeze really well. When I baked it Saturday, we kept a slightly larger loaf out for eating and froze the second smaller one. I wrapped the one to freeze in two layers of foil, labeled it with the contents and date, and put that into a plastic bag in the freezer.


Other Uses

At some point, I will be making stuffed zucchini boats for dinner. We usually use giant zucchini for this one. I will post the recipe for that at that time, because I have to make it up. I did this from memory in Danish the other day for my mother-in-law but I'd rather be making it at the time.

Zucchini and onion, seasoned with salt and pepper and optionally garlic, sauteed on a pan with olive oil is a GREAT side dish. We had that the other night with pork chops, oven-baked potato boat fries, and bernaise sauce. It is also good when you add mushrooms.

Pasta! Zucchini and other vegetables are great on pasta. I usually prefer fresh for this and will cut it into small pieces.

I add grated zucchini to all sorts of meat and one-dish meals. It is a great stretcher for the meat and a good way of getting more veggies into the diet. My burrito recipe recommends it. The thing with zucchini is that it takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it with. So it is easily disguised. Want more substance in that meat and tomato sauce for spaghetti? Throw in a bag of grated zucchini! It will mix in with the meat and your man, even if he is grumpy about veggies, is unlikely to notice!

I also use zucchini (either sliced fresh or grated frozen) in my pork chop-rice-tomato casserole. I think that was the use of the first one out of the garden this year.

Cut into sticks, zucchini goes great with carrot and celery sticks for dipping into salad dressing. I make a homemade salad dressing sometimes with sour cream, chives, parsley, and other stuff. It is great for that. You can also use it in salads either sliced or cut into half-moons or chunks.

That's all I think of for now. Feel free to contribute your own zucchini favorites in the comments!

Making Mint Jelly: Parts Two and Three

I first posted about making mint jelly in the end of June. Obviously I'm a bit behind updating the situation.

We took one liter of the mint juice and followed the directions on the package pectin. That mixed the powdered pectin into a little bit of sugar. And then that was stirred into the cold juice in the pot. Once it was boiling, we added the rest of the kilo of sugar. Then we simmered as directed.

We cleaned jars out with boiling water and preservative stuff that I don't know how to translate. Basically we were following the package directions. We also added some green food coloring in the hopes of making our jelly more green.

We poured everything into the jars and let sit overnight.

It didn't gel.

So while I was still asleep, DH poured all of it back in the pot. He then added another package of pectin. And repeated the cleaning procedure.

That time it set. Unfortunately it is kind of brownish in color. I think it is because the mint that we use often has a reddish tint.

DH hasn't tasted it yet. I hope it is edible, because I'm making more.

This time I am using apples for at least part of the pectin. Our apple tree bloomed very heavily this year and started a number of small fruits. However, the strong winds this week have blown a number of them off the tree. I started collecting the other day and finished this morning. So although small apples are washed in the pot along with a lot of mint.

My reading says that the less ripe fruits have more pectin. Seeing as these are very far from ripe, I expect to get a lot out of them. So I added water to cover the mint and apples. Once it is boiled to falling apart, I will strain it and the juice straining system that DH borrowed from his parents. We used it the other day for the currants that I picked.

The point of this is to say that if you want to do it without fruit, use twice the required amount of pectin.

I will let you know how a version with apples goes.

Making Mint Jelly: Part One

This is the first time that we are trying this, and we haven't even finished yet, so don't try to follow this recipe until I posted a final part that says it actually worked.

We have tons of mint in our garden. One day DH asked curiously, "Can we make mint jelly?"

I said I didn't know, but we started hitting the recipe books. We found one recipe in Chile that called for cooking a large quantity of green apples then adding mint flavoring. That wasn't quite what we wanted, so I set to work online. The recipes that I found fit into two classes, using apples as a base and using purchased pectin. After discussion with his mother and some look in the stores, we decided to try the second method.

So I started the first phase today. I collected lots and lots of mint. No, I didn't measure it. It was probably five or six large handfuls of very tall mint stocks. I used one of those slightly curved, two-handled knives to chop the mint. I put that in a pot with about 2 L of water.

I let it simmer for couple hours. When DH got home from work, we brought up to a boil, then turn it off. Then he put it down in the workshop to cool.

The packets of pectin called for 1 L of cold juice each. To that they add a kilo of sugar. So I need to strain my liquid and get it cool.

Figuring out the best way to strain it took some experimentation. I decided to use wine bottles with screw on lids for storing the juice until we feel like making the jelly (hopefully this weekend). What I did was use a large spoon with holes in it to remove the majority of the mint pieces. I lost some liquid that way, but mint is cheap and water is not that expensive. I put a coffee filter into a funnel in the top of the wine bottle. Then I ladled in the liquid, trying not to get too much leaves with. When I got to the bottom, I just scraped all of it into the filter.

The result of this effort is probably close to 2 L of mint-flavored water. It took me three filters, but the first one was part of my experimentation process. DH took the bucket of mint pieces that I took out the other spoon outside to the compost.

Now, we let it cool and see what happens.

Bexican Style Burritos

This is something I make pretty often. DH really likes it and it works out well for a make-a-little-at-a-time meal. It is also easy to adjust when we eat because the last minute prep is just 20mins or so in the oven. I even made a vegetarian variant when our friends from Germany were visiting. So here is how I make it. You'll want to adjust the ingredients to your taste or diet. Adjust the preparation process to your own health and limitations.

Ingredients

• a package of ground beef or other meat
• a big onion or two smaller ones
• a jar of mushrooms or fresh ones
  
• a can of red kidney or chili beans (optional)
• a can of peeled tomatoes or fresh ones
• one fresh pepper
• salsa (I usually buy cheap ones for putting inside and save better ones, if we have them, for topping)
  
• a bag of grated cheese
• enough tortillas for 2 each person or enough for all the filling you are making. I usually use one package of 8 smaller tortillas or 6 larger tortillas to make 2 days worth of burritos for me and DH
• sour cream and salsa to put on the table for people to use
  
• any other veggies you want (zucchini is good either grated from the freezer or fresh in chunks. a can of corn is really good in it but DH doesn't care for corn)
• salt, ground pepper, and other seasonings to taste

1. The night before, if you remember, get the ground meat out of the freezer. Also ask DH to get out the big lidded saute pan usually used for this. Any lidded frying pan will do. The lid is for covering while simmering slowly or between cooking rounds. If you forgot the night before, do it as early in the morning as you are functional enough. The meat is likely to need to be defrosted in the microwave in this case. Allow for a long rest after getting the pan out (OUCH!).
2. Get the canned goods and onion out of the workshop.
3. Take a break.
4. Coarsely chop the onion. Be especially careful with the knife if it is a migraine day like today.
5. Take a break.
6. Clean and coarsely chop the pepper. Remember the extra knife caution.
7. Be sure you are remembering pain killers because there is no way you can finish in time for dinner if you forget. Also make sure the meat is getting thawed enough for cooking. Give it more time in micro to defrost if needed.
8. Rest up really well and give the pain killer a chance to kick in.
9. Turn up some music because the next step takes longer and the distraction helps cope with the pain and keep your mood up.
10. Put oil and a single piece of chopped onion in the pan and turn it up high.
11. While waiting for it to start sizzling, open and rinse the jar of mushrooms and can of beans. Be careful with the open can--those edges are sharp and just as dangerous as knives.
12. When the onion piece starts sizzling, put the rest in. Stir them around regularly with the wooden spatula until they start looking a little translucent.
13. Add the meat and break it up with the spatula. Cook it until about half browned.
14. While the meat is browning, rinse out the meat tray and pour the water into the dog bowls and add dry food to soak. Stir the meat more.
15. Once the meat is about half browned, add ground black pepper and chili powder to give it more taste.
16. Open the can of tomatoes, biting back the scream from the pain of using the can opener (it worries the dogs and doesn't really help anything). Be especially careful of the sharp edges. Do NOT drain it, but stick a knife in and cut up the tomatoes a little bit.
17. As soon as the meat is browned, put the lid on, turn off the burner, and go crash for a while. You deserve it.
18. Realize suddenly that it is way past lunch time and you should have had some. Go scrounge something up whether you want it or not. Feed the girls too.
19. Put the pan on the slowest burner and turn it on low. Add the rest of the filling ingredients--beans, peppers, tomatoes, any other veggies you are using. Also add some cheap salsa if you can open the jar without hurting yourself too much (banging the side of the lid gently on the counter sometimes helps. Otherwise you need to pry it open with something to break the seal if it is a new jar). Stir everything together. Salt it and stir again. Fresh tomatoes and zucchini, if you use them, increase the need for salt. But just do some for now--you can taste test it later.
20. Cover the pan and leave it to simmer for an hour or so, going back to stir once in a while.
21. Make sure you actually remember to go stir it.
22. If it seems really juicy, you have two options. You can let it simmer uncovered for a while or you can thicken the juice with cornstarch paste. Which I do depends on time and what I feel like.
23. Once you think the mix has cooked long enough and you've dealt with the juice, turn it off and let it cool down a bit so it is easier to work with. Take a rest while it cools.
24. Once it is cool enough to work with, find an oven-safe dish that is about as wide as the tortillas. Then start rolling burritos.
25. To roll a burrito, put it in the pan. Then put a pinch of grated cheese in the middle of it. Add a few scoops of filling in a line across it. Top with a little more cheese. Roll it into a tube. Flip the open side down.
26. Repeat until out of tortillas or filling, taking breaks as needed. With time, you'll get a good feeling for dividing it up right. Initially or if you need a certain number, it might be useful to divide the filling up into approximate portions before putting into the tortillas to be sure it works out about even.
27. Cover the top with lots of grated cheese. Then cover the pan with foil. Put it in the refridgerator or a cool place until time to eat. This recipe would work fine for preparing the day before using.
28. About a half an hour before you want to eat, get out the pan of burritos and put it in the oven. Turn the oven on to around 200 degrees C (375-400F). It is fine to put the burritos in before the oven is hot--that way they warm up to the temperature slowly while the oven does. If your oven is really slow, you may need a little longer to heat it.
29. After 15-20 mins, remove the foil so the cheese can melt and brown. When that has happened, remove from the oven.
30. Serve with sour cream and salsa. It has a lot of vegetables in it already, so you don't really need more. However, if you want it, a salad or rice goes nicely with this. I've even put rice into the burritos when I've had leftovers or wanted to stretch the meal to more people. Rice in the filling is especially useful for giving it more substance for a vegetarian recipe.
31. Leftovers reheat nicely in the microwave.
32. Hope someone else does the dishes or let them sit for the next day--there is no way you can do both this and the dishes in the same day! But you can do them the day you eat leftovers. ;-)

Questions anyone?