Recipe for the best Butternut Squash Bisque soup that I've ever had!

Last night I was trying out several new recipes. One of them was a keeper! Due to popular demand of my friends, lol... here is the recipe. Enjoy...

Butternut Squash Bisque Soup

Ingredients:

1 1/2 to 2 lbs butternut squash, peeled (skin cut off), seeded, and cut into 1 to 1 1/2 inch chunks.

Seeds:

Save seeds for roasting (olive oil, salt pepper, 425 degrees until brownish) or throw them into your compost with the skin and stringy pulp.

Try buying squash with a long trunk, that is where the meat is and has less seeds. Cut off skin.

2 Tbls unsalted butter (Land O Lakes has a great taste)

1 leek, white and light green parts only, cut in half lengthwise, sliced thin, and washed thoroughly in a colander to remove any and all dirt.

Salt and Pepper

4 C's vegetable broth (store-bought or make your own stock by bringing a variety of vegetables to a boil. Don't worry about skins or even cutting them nice. Once at a boil, then simmer until all the life is out of the veggies, easy!) --Then I like to strain it using a cheesecloth and throw away these bland veggies who gave all their goodness to your stock!

1 or 2 Cups water

3 fresh sprigs of thyme

1 fresh sprig of lemon thyme (lemon variety optional, I grow herbs, so it was convenient).

2 Bay leaves

Pinch of cayenne pepper (These are easy to dehydrate if you grow them, otherwise, just use store-bought out of the herb section)

Sour Cream, or whatever garnish you desire (optional).

Instructions:

Note: The reason this soup is so flavorful is because it is done in layers, layers of flavor. So, don't skip a step and put everything into one pot all at once, because it will not turn out as good.

1. Place squash in a bowl, cover and microwave until fork can easily poke squash, 15 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Set aside when done.

2. While the squash is cooking, melt butter in Dutch oven (I used an enamel coated cast-iron one). Add squash, leek and 1 tea salt; cook on high, stirring occasionally, until squash pieces begin to break down and brown fond (browned squash bits stick to sides or bottom of pan) forms in bottom of pan, 10 to 13 minutes to get the squash brown.

3. Add 2 Cups vegetable broth and scrape the bottom and side of pot to loosen and dissolve fond. Add remaining 2 Cups of broth, 1 C of water, thyme sprigs, bay leaves, and cayenne. Bring back to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until leeks are fully tender, 7 minutes. I low-simmered mine for an additional 25 minutes to get more flavor concentration, however, it is not necessary.

4. Remove and discard bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Working in batches using your blender only 2/3rds full -- not more-- and process in batches until smooth, 2 minutes.

5. This step 5 is optional, it depends on how thick or runny you like your bisque. I did not need to do step 5 because I like a thick bisque. Return soup to pot and bring to simmer, thinning with up to 1 Cup of water to desired consistency. If you want to make it more decantant (for me it becomes too rich if I do this, but you can use heavy cream or cream fresh instead of this last cup of water; --or warm up the cream and place it in a gravy boat so that it can be poured into the soup as desired by taste). Cream can make pretty decorative patterns in soup too. The heavier the cream, the less likely it will curdle, i.e.: milk you would have to take more care in warming up than the cream.

6. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

7. (Optional) Serve with dollop of sour cream, pistachio's, chives, cilantro, fried leeks or onions. This time I used sour cream, chives, cilantro and pistachios. Next time I will fry leeks, yum. ;-) I can share that recipe too, if anyone wants to fry some leeks!

Note: These pictures I took today because we had the leftover soup for lunch. I didn't get a picture of the finished soup Saturday night. We noted that this soup was even better today as leftovers than the eve I made it!

Light a candle and Enjoy! Lol, I found this unique candle on the internet and thought it was cute. It was at: http://www.100candles.com/items/item_8359.htm for anyone interested.

Chicken N Dumpling’s: Recipe

I will tell you, the secret to my comfort soup is all in the stock!

Chicken N Dumpling’s is a well known comfort food. Recently I had a friend ask me to make it for her, like she does whenever she is sick and I had requests for the recipe, so here it is:

Ingredients:

One cheap whole chicken

3 Lg roughly chopped carrots

3 roughly chopped celery sticks

3 Lg roughly chopped onions

2 Leeks, washed well (can have sand in grn part), roughly chopped

4 smashed whole garlic cloves 

1 tsp Blk pepper

1 1/2Tbl Sage

1 Tbl Thyme

2 tsp Poultry Seasoning

3 Bay Leaves

48 oz. Can of Chicken Broth (if not salt-free, don’t add salt until the end of cooking to do it by taste)

More Ingredients for second phase of cooking:

3 lg Skinless Chicken Breasts

12 Skinless Chicken Thighs (w or w/o bone)

Two Lg carrots, chopped

3 stalks of celery, or I use the very center Heart of the celery that looks yellowish w it’s leaves and all, chopped

Two Lg onions, chopped

One Leek, washed well and chopped

Dumplings (see bottom of this post for recipe) 

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Throw top eleven ingredients into a very large stock-pot on the stove-top. Pour water into pot just until the whole chicken is covered w liquid. Put lid on pot and bring to a boil; turn down to simmer and cook for 2-4 hours.

3. Meanwhile, salt and pepper chicken thighs and breasts. Put on a grill drip pan and roast on 450 degrees until done (about 40 min’s). 

4. While chicken cooks, prep your new vegetables by cutting into the size you desire in your soup.

5. Once chicken in the oven is done, take out to cool or use cooking gloves and cut up into bite size pieces, set aside.

6. Pour the drippings that were caught into an oil separator measuring cup (the fat goes to the top), the spout is at the bottom to only get the good drippings, leaving the fat on top to discard. Once the fat has separated, pour the good drippings into the stock pot w the stock-broth, discard the top fat. Or if you choose the freezer method bc you do not have a grease separator: pour the drippings and fat into a glass measuring cup and put it into the freezer, after the fat has separated and moved to the top, use a turkey baster to suck off the top liquid layer of fat and discard. Then add only the good drippings to the stock pot.

7. Take the stock-pot off the stove and ladle some of the stock into a colander over a very large bowl. You are separating the tasteless over-cooked chicken and vegetables from the very tasty stock. The chicken and vegetable flavors are now in the broth. Return stained broth to the stock pot and discard the over-cooked mixture.

8. Put the newly cut up vegetables into the stock-pot w the stock-broth, return lid to pan, and cook until the vegetables are almost done (don’t over-cook them and make them mushy).

9. Once you think the vegetables are about done, turn up the heat to get your broth boiling, then turn heat back to a simmer and add/drop your dumplings into the hot broth, it does not take long to cook the dumplings. Note* My dumplings are floured to keep my broth more like soup, however, if you want a thicker broth, add more flour by really heavily drenching your dumplings in floor at this stage. You can also lightly sprinkle it in careful to stir and not cause lumps.

10. Add the cut-up Chicken Breasts and Thighs to the stock pot and warm the meat up.

11.Taste, add salt according to your families taste. Note, remember if you used salt-free chicken broth. If you did not, there will be a lot of salt in the broth, so add sparingly and to taste. Serve.

Note: For Dumplings:

Use 2 cans of refrigerator biscuits (from the grocery for a short cut), tear them into thirds and flour them or the following recipe:

Dumplings:

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons cold butter (You can use shortening instead)
1 cup buttermilk

Instructions:

1. In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda, mixing well.

2. Cut in shortening using a pastry blender or a large fork (pastry makers mix in the shortening using their hands - if you want to try, dip your hands in ice cold water for a minute, then dry your hands first; it's important not to melt the butter.)

3. Add cold buttermilk, a few spoons at a time, mixing the dough from the outside in with fork until a soft dough forms (do not over mix - about 2 minutes total). You may need to add a small amount of buttermilk or flour to adjust the consistency of the dough due to flour storage conditions or humidity in the environment. Add liquid if the dough is very dry and crumbly after it has been mixed; add flour if the dough is very sticky.

4. Roll dough out on a work surface which has been lightly sprinkled w flour to prevent sticking. Roll dough out.

5. Cut into rounds like biscuits. Tear round into a third and dip into flour.

How to make Oxtail Stew in a Slow-Cooker: Recipe

A comfort food that is great in the cold months is Oxtail Stew. This is a dinner that screams comfort like a toasty favorite cozy coat or a warm fire.

The little ox tails may look funny, but the meat is so tender and yummy. Cooking with crockpots and with meats like this is so forgiving. The choices of ingredients are basically whatever you have in your refrigerator. Some people use beans; I have seen eggplant, and potatoes. I usually do not use these, but your options are not limited. Also, if you do not have enough oxtails to cook an entire meal, you can add a mixture of meat like a pot-roast cut into pieces to this recipe.

 So what are these funny little guys, and how do you cook them?  

Ingredients:

• Beef oxtail  
• White flour
• Salt
• Freshly ground Black pepper
• Butter or olive oil
• Favorite vegetables like: (sliced carrots, celery, cabbage, onions, leeks, green beans, tomatoes, bok choy, mushrooms, parsnips, turnips or you can use frozen bags of a mixture of vegetables.)
• Red wine
• Chicken or Vegetable stock (canned or in a resealable container by the soups).
• Savory herbs (like 3  smashed garlic cloves, 2 bay leaves, thyme, sage)

Directions:

1.    Sprinkle white flour on both sides of the oxtail. Shake off excess. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and a pinch of ground black pepper on each side of the oxtail. Set aside.

2.    Melt 1 Tbsp. butter for each oxtail in the frying pan. Place oxtails in frying pan. Brown on one side. Turn oxtails over with tongs and brown on the other side. Remove pan from heat.

3.    Place browned oxtails in a single layer on the bottom of the crock pot or a heavy baking pan.

4.    Add 1/2 cup per oxtail of your favorite vegetables. Do not stir.

5.    Add 1/2 tsp. of fresh herbs per oxtail of your favorite savory herbs (I use 1/2 tsp of thyme, 1/2 tsp of sage of fresh herbs from my garden. (If using dry herbs which are more potent, then cut the amount by one third: One teaspoon to One Tablespoon bc there are 3 Tsp in one Tbl); to the whole pot: a total of 3 garlic cloves, and 2 bayleaves--remove bayleaves before eating). Pour 1/2 cup per oxtail of red wine over the ingredients (about 2 C’s for 3 lbs. of oxtails). Add enough chicken or vegetable stock to barely cover the oxtails and vegetables (about 2 C’s for 3 lbs.).

Crock Pot Slow-Cooker Method

6.    Place lid on cooker. Turn on "Low" for 8 hours.

7.    Turn off cooker. Allow to sit for 1/2 hour. Separate the liquid from the solids and use a fat separator to remove the fat, or chill the cooking liquid for several hours so that the fat solidifies, making it easy to remove. If you are making ahead, at this point you can just put the stew in the refrigerator (let come to room temperature first), with the oxtails still in it, and let it chill overnight. The next day, scrape off the fat, reheat and then remove the meat from the dish.

8.    I pour the remaining liquid and vegetables through a strainer. This liquid is great stock! I prefer to throw away these overcooked tasteless vegetables away (however some cooks skip this next part of cooking new vegetables and keep these). I sauté’ all the desired new vegetables in the pan the meat was browned in. The juice and oil from the meat is very tasty. Once the onions are translucent (a few min’s), I add enough of the reserved stock to cover the vegetables, cover w lid until carrots, or turnips can be pierced w a fork). Add vegetables to the meat. You can pour the remaining stock in w the dish, or serve in a gravy boat, so your family can add as much broth as they like.

9.    If any of your vegetables of choice are leafy greens like: kale, collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, spinach or broccoli, you want them to be bright green, so throw in right before serving to not overcook them.

10. Remove from crock pot slow-cooker and serve with corn bread.

*Note a short cut to a fast meal in a bind: throw all your ingredients in a crockpot, meat on bottom, put on lid, turn on low, leave for the day and come home to a meal. This is not as delishious as the above, but it is a quick fix. ;o)