Barefoot Chicken Chili

In which the author displays her astounding lack of knowledge of a very popular food that every child raised on Brady Bunch and Partridge family re-runs really should know.

"Chicken Chili" made its way onto the Barefoot Bonus list this week, much to my delight. I have been wanting to taste chili for a very very long time, but somehow never did. For those of us born and living outside the US, chili is one of those dishes that you hear about and see in movies or on TV but never really stumble across. I know that Superbowl Sunday would not be complete without it (or is that the World Series?). I know that you can have it on a hot dog. I bet Harry made some for Sally. I'm sure all the Desperate Housewives have their own recipes. And surely Alice made a pot for the Bradys on their 3-ep Grand Canyon camping trip. But I have never tried it. I can't even remember seeing it on a restaurant menu in various trips to the US, although maybe I wasn't paying attention....

So yesterday, I began chopping onions and capsicums and garlic and tomatoes, for a slowish stove-top simmer before throwing in some oven-roasted chicken. The resulting stew was spicy, and packed with flavour. I really liked it, and would not hesitate to serve some up to friends for a casual meal. With some corn chips and sour cream on the side, it's perfect. Come to think of it, it is great "day after the night before" type food. However the kids were a little more luke-warm about it. Maybe it was too spicy for them, or maybe Hannah Montana doesn't eat chili, so they don't have the right TV references. As for my husband, who has slightly more chili experience than me, since he has eaten exactly one or two chili dogs, he wanted to know "Where's the meat? Where's the beans?". Blank looks from me, which prompted me into a quick bit of Wiki-research:

Did you know:

- Chili is the official dish of Texas (we don't have an official dish here, although someone is trying to sell Coat of Arms potato chips at the moment - flavoured with kangaroo and emu, would you believe?)

- Unnamed chili purists say "if you know beans about chili, you know chili ain't got beans" (guess who will be sharing that witticism tonight?)

- Secret chili ingredients can include peanut butter, bananas, pineapple, and cola. Not in this house.

Chicken Chili

adapted from "Barefoot Contessa Parties" by Ina Garten

4 cups chopped yellow onions (3 onions)
1/8 cup good olive oil, plus extra for chicken
2 cloves minced garlic

2 red capsicums, cored, seeded, and large-diced
2 yellow capsicums, cored, seeded, and large-diced
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon dried chili flakes, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
2 800g cans whole peeled plum tomatoes in puree, undrained
1/4 cup minced fresh basil leaves
4 split chicken breasts, bone in, skin on (I used 4 marylands instead)
Chopped onions, corn chips, grated cheddar, sour cream

Cook the onions in the oil over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the capsicum, chili powder, cumin, chili flakes, cayenne, and salt. Cook for 1 minute. Crush the tomatoes by hand or in batches in a food processor fitted with a steel blade (pulse 6 to 8 times). Add to the pot with the basil. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Rub the chicken breasts with olive oil and place them on a baking sheet. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast the chicken for 35 to 40 minutes, until just cooked. Let cool slightly. Separate the meat from the bones and skin and cut it into 3/4-inch chunks. Add to the chili and simmer, uncovered, for another 20 minutes. Serve with the toppings, or refrigerate and reheat gently before serving.

A Warm Bowl of Cheddar Corn Chowder

Well I'm back from kicking up my heels up north, and in my absence, Sydney has slid back into winter. Today was 16C and poured with rain for most of the day. It was the type of day when all you want to do is curl up on the couch with a book - I am reading the "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" and am completely entranced. Happily it was also a great day for soup and as luck would have it, this week's Barefoot Blogger choice was a corn chowder. Chowders make the occassional appearance on Australian menus, mostly at seafood restaurants, but it is not a soup I have ever made before, or knew much about before today:

According to Wikipedia, chowder is a type of soup enriched with salt pork fatback (or bacon in this case) and thickened with flour and often featuring seafood. Apparently the word chowder comes from the cooking pot in which the soup is made, known in French as a chaudière. The word "chowder" came from Newfoundland where Breton fishermen — who would throw portions of the day's catch and other available foods into a large pot — introduced the word, and perhaps the soup itself. So, with the lesson out of the way....

The recipe below was easy to make and created a tasty soup that was very filling. Happily the kids all lapped it up. After giving half the chowder away and serving six for dinner, I still had enough soup to fill a box for freezing for another day. So, unless you are expecting a regiment to arrive at your place sometime soon, half the recipe would be more than adequate for most families. Incidentally, I skipped the half and half called for in the recipe because I just didn't think it needed to be any richer. And watch out before you add the salt - if your stock is salty you might not need any.

Thanks to Jill of My Next Life for the pick - it was a perfect choice for my day. If you feel like joining in and cooking some of the Barefoot Contessa's wonderful recipes every fortnight, join in Barefoot Bloggers.

Cheddar Corn Chowder

from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten

250g bacon, chopped
1/4 cup good olive oil
6 cups chopped yellow onions (4 large onions)
60g unsalted butter
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
12 cups chicken stock
6 cups medium-diced white boiling potatoes, unpeeled (1kg)
10 cups corn kernels, fresh (10 ears) or frozen (1.5kg)
2 cups half-and-half (1 cup cream and 1 cup milk)
8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated

In a large stockpot over medium-high heat, cook the bacon and olive oil until the bacon is crisp, about 5 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and reserve. Reduce the heat to medium, add the onions and butter to the fat, and cook for 10 minutes, until the onions are translucent.

Stir in the flour, salt, pepper, and turmeric and cook for 3 minutes. Add the chicken stock and potatoes, bring to a boil, and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. If using fresh corn, cut the kernels off the cob and blanch them for 3 minutes in boiling salted water. Drain. (If using frozen corn you can skip this step.) Add the corn to the soup, then add the half-and-half and cheddar. Cook for 5 more minutes, until the cheese is melted. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Serve hot with a garnish of bacon.

The Most Beautiful Beef Borscht

A few weeks ago, we were down in the Australian Alps and had a late lunch with kids and friends at Crackenback Cottage. It was freezing cold, and we all arrived starving and a bit knackered. Any parent will tell you that hunger and exhaustion never brings out the best in children, but the restaurant was warm, they had a big maze outside that kept the kids occupied and we all settled in for a lovely afternoon. On the menu was borscht. As a good Aussie girl, I love beetroot in a way that probably mystifies the rest of the world, so there was no question that I would both order and enjoy this soup. But even that predisposition does not explain how much I loved this soup - it was really fabulous. We asked the waitress to ask the chef if there was any possible way that we could have the recipe. Usually I would never be so cheeky as to ask, but it was that good. The chef replied via the waitress that the recipe came from "Snowflakes and Schnapps" by Jane Lawson.

I had looked briefly at this new cookbook in the shops, but had (stupidly) dismissed it because I thought that we don't get enough cold weather here to justify it. But, on this particular day my luck was in and I got given the book as a present (thankyou!). This is one of those cookbooks that is so pretty, with a gorgeous embossed cover and great handfeel to the paper, it could spend its life sitting on a coffee table looking completely glamourous but never being used. That would be a terrible waste of some wonderful recipes.

The borscht is one of those slow cooked meals that brings to mind the maxim that "all good things take time". My butcher was out of beef short ribs, so I used osso bucco instead, a switch that didn't make any difference to the final soup. I also subbed white cabbage in for red - the beetroot juice means you would never know. The beets and the meat mixture both need two hours to cook separately before being combined. By this stage, the beets are so soft they can be peeled using a knife and fork to lift / cut off the skin. I then grated them in my food processor, rather than deal with random splotches of beetroot juice all over my kitchen from hand grating. The end result is delicious, and I still have two or three tupperwares of the soup in my freezer. Perfect winter sustenance!

I am sending this one over to Deb at Kahakai Kitchen for her Souper Sunday round-up. Head over there on Sunday for a bowl of something good.

Borscht With Horseradish Cream
from "Snowflakes and Schnapps" by Jane Lawson
serves 6-8
600g beetroot
1 tbl olive oil
1kg beef short ribs
1 large brown onion chopped
1 large carrot finely chopped
2 tsps carraway seeds
4 garlic cloves finely chopped 1 tsp ground allspice plus 1/4 tsp extra
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried porcini mushrooms, crumbled
3 litres beef stock
400g tinned chopped tomatoes
1/2 small red cabbage, shredded
1 tbl cider vinegar or red wine vinegar
1 tsp soft brown sugar
1 large handful chopped dill
Horseradish cream
125g sour cream
1 tbl freshly grated horseradish or bottled horseradish

Wash beetroot well, then place in a large saucepan and cover generously with water. Bring to the boil and cook for two hours or until the beetroot are tender through to the centre. Cool the beeroot in the cooking liquid.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Cook the beef short ribs in batches until browned all over, then remove to a plate. Add the onion, carrot and carraway seeds to the pot andcook over medium heat until the onion is golden. Add the garlic, 1 tsp allspiceand the bayleaf and cook for 30 seconds. Return the beef to the pan and mix in the mushrooms, stock, tomatoes, cabbage and vinegar. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 2 hours or until the meat is very tender. Turn off the heat, remove the ribs and allow to cool slightly before shredding the beef and discarding the bones, and returning the beef to the pot.

Remove the beetroot from the cooking liquid, saving it. Peel the beetroot (either wearing gloves or with a knife and fork), then grate (a food processor may be useful here). Pour the cooking liquid through a sieve lined with paper towel to collect any little gritty bits, into the beef pot. Add the beetroot, stir and bring to the boil. Add sugar, extra allspice and sprinkle with dill. Season to taste.

Combine sourcream and horseradish, then serve a dollop on each bowl of soup.

Beef Bourguignon for Julie and Julia

When I worked in TV, the rule of thumb at production meetings was that three examples of something proved it was a trend and therefore a story (one was a fluke, two was a coincidence, but three was a trend). On the basis of this extremely scientific and journalistically thorough (you reckon?) method, I am going to claim a trend in food and cooking saving people from midlife crises. So far in the last year or so, I have read a pile of books that all revolve around a similar theme: bored / sad / lonely person dives into new experiences with food / cooking and emerges happy / healthy / stronger and often in love.



And now this topic is making it to the big screen with the film adaptation of "Julie and Julia". While I haven't seen the movie yet, it is based on the blog by Julie Powell, where she spends a year working through the 500+ recipes in Julia Child's "Mastering The Art of French Cooking". The book is very charming and the movie should stay that way, since it is directed by Nora Ephron. Nora wrote one of my favourite foodie novels ("Heartburn"), a thinly veiled memoir allegedly about the collapse of her marriage to Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame, as well as directing a long line of romantic comedies.


To celebrate the release of the movie, this recipe for Beef Bourguignon was published in the most recent Food Network magazine, and comes from a French restaurant that was a location in the Julie and Julia movie. While I wish I could have travelled to NY to enjoy the beef in situ, it was warm and hearty and delicious for a cold Sydney night. Bon appetit!

Beef Bourguignon
adapted from Food Network

6 strips thick-cut bacon, chopped
1.25 kg stewing beef, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
2 medium carrots, diced
2 medium onions, diced
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
2 cloves garlic
1 sprig fresh parsley, plus more for garnish
1 10cm piece celery stalk
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 cup brandy
2 cups burgundy, cotes du rhone or other dry red wine
2 cups beef stock
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup pearl onions, peeled
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup quartered button mushrooms

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Heat a 6-to-8-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat; add the bacon and cook until lightly browned. Remove with a slotted spoon to a large plate, leaving the drippings in the pot. Pat the beef dry with paper towels; season with salt and pepper. Add the beef to the pot in a single layer (do this in batches); sear for 3 to 5 minutes, turning to brown all over. Transfer with a slotted spoon to the plate with the bacon.

Add the carrots and onions to the pot and cook until softened and slightly browned, 7 to 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, make a "bouquet garni": Tie the thyme, bay leaf, garlic, parsley and celery together with twine (nestle the garlic in the celery stalk).
Return the bacon and beef to the pot. Add the flour and stir for a few minutes until the meat is coated. Stir in the tomato paste. Add the brandy and cook until reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add the red wine; cook until reduced by half again, about 10 more minutes. Add the stock and bouquet garni; bring to a low boil. Stir gently, then cover and transfer to the oven; cook until the meat is tender and cooked through, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the pearl onions and cook until slightly softened, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and 1/4 cup water; cook until the water evaporates and the onions are browned, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms; cook until slightly softened and golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper; set the skillet aside.
Remove the meat from the pot with a slotted spoon. Let the sauce sit for a few minutes, then skim off the fat and discard. Return the meat to the pot. Add the pearl onions and mushrooms; heat through. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley. (For better flavor, make the dish a day ahead.)

Winter Pear and Blueberry Crumble

Today is Barefoot Thursday and today's Barefoot Blogger challenge is a peach and blueberry crumble. Sorry to say, however, I did not use peaches. Crumbles are a real favourite with me. Any time of year and any flavour. I would have loved to be serving you up the Barefoot Challenge of a peach crumble today, but there are no peaches around here for at least another four or five months. And even if I could have found them, they probably would have travelled further than Captain Cook. So I am giving you an adapted winter crumble with pears subbing in for the peaches. Lucky for me, it worked beautifully. The sweet and juicy pears were balanced by the lemon zest and the sprinkling of tart blueberries, while the crunchy topping gave a great texture contrast to the melting fruit.

This was very delicious. So good in fact, that if I had had leftovers, I might have been tempted to put some on my muesli this morning. Good thing I got it outof the house pronto! I suggest you do the same, or you may wind up with crumble in your muesli too.

The Barefoot Bloggers are slowly working their way through the cookbooks of Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, who specialises in completely achievable AND completely delicious food. This recipe was picked by Aggie of Aggie's Kitchen. Thanks Aggie.

Pear and Blueberry Crumble

adapted from "The Barefoot Contessa at Home" by Ina Garten

For the fruit
1 kg ripe pears
2 tsp grated lemon zest
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup plain flour
1 cup fresh blueberries

For the Crumble
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
125g cold unsalted butter, diced

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Peel the pears, slice them into thick wedges, and place them in a large bowl. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, granulated sugar, and flour. Toss well. Gently mix in the blueberries. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes. Spoon the mixture into ramekins or custard cups.

For the topping, combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the butter is the size of peas. Rub the mixture with your fingertips until it’s in big crumbles, then sprinkle evenly over the fruit. Place the ramekins on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and back for 40 to 45 minutes, until the tops are browned and crisp and the juices are bubbly. Serve warm or at room temperature. If you want to make these early, store the unbaked crumbles in the refrigerator and bake before dinner. Serves 5 to 6.

Lamb and Apricot Tagine Because Baby It's Cold Outside

Sydney was 6C (42F) this morning, or more scientifically, "bloody cold". I know that there are other parts of the world where this would be considered positively balmy. But not here. The coldest morning on record in Sydney is 3C, so we are not far from the record. Meanwhile, I have been giggling to myself all morning about the Prime Minister trying to make himself sound like an ordinary Australian by pulling out some very old-fashioned sayings. Among them:

"fair shake of the sauce bottle", "rough end of a pineapple", "fair crack of the whip" and "don't come the raw prawn". It is particularly amusing because from him it all sounds so forced, however, I do love a bit of our old-fashioned slang. Which then, with the weather made me think that it was "cold as a witch's tit". I had presumed that this was an australianism, but a quick bit of internet research suggests not. In fact, the expression is amusingly explained on inmyopinion.org (whoever they may be) as "Witches don't freeze since they have to travel high speed on their brooms. Thus their nipples get very cold." Now there's a thought to carry with you today....

I made this lovely tagine earlier in the week, having read about it on the blog of the baking queen herself, Dorie Greenspan. The tagine was a good warming meal, however the leftovers were fantastic. Next time I will make this a day ahead then store it in the fridge to let the sauce flavours develop before I serve it. After a day of rest, the sauce has turned into something that is pretty high on the lick your plate clean scale.

PS I have a final question: why does the US call coriander cilantro, but still call the seeds of the herb, coriander seeds?

LAMB TAGINE WITH APRICOTS AND ALMONDS

from Dorie Greenspan

Makes 4 servings
2 chicken bouillon cubes or 1 3/4 cups chicken broth

1/4 pound moist, plump dried apricots

About 6 tablespoons olive oil

About 1 3/4 pounds boneless lamb shoulder, fat removed, cut into cubes about 5cm on a side

4 medium onions, peeled, trimmed and coarsely chopped

4 cloves of garlic, peeled, trimmed, germ removed and finely chopped

400g can diced tomatoes, drained, or 4 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded and crushed

1 tablespoon coriander seeds, cracked (I do this in my mortar and pestle)

2 pinches saffron

1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

About 1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves

1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds

Couscous or rice, for serving

Centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 160C.
If you're using the bouillon cubes, drop them into a medium-size bowl and pour over 1 3/4 cups of boiling water; stir to dissolve. If you're using chicken broth, bring it to the boil, then pour it into the bowl. Add the apricots to the bowl and let them soak and plump while you prepare the rest of the tagine.

Put the base of a tagine, a heavy, high-sided skillet or a Dutch oven over medium-high heat and pour in 3 tablespoons of the oil. Pat the pieces of lamb dry between sheets of paper towels, then drop them into the hot oil - don't crowd the pan; work in batches, if necessary - and brown the meat on all sides, about 4 minutes. Lift the meat out of the pot and onto a plate with a slotted spoon. Season the lamb with salt and pepper. Pour out the fat that it's in the pan, but leave whatever bits may have stuck to the base.

Return the pan to the stove, adjust the heat to low and add 2 more tablespoons of the olive oil. When the oil is warm, stir in the onions and garlic and cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, just to get them started on the road to softening. Add the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, and continue to cook, stirring often, for another 10 minutes, adding a little more oil, if needed. Add the chicken bouillon/broth to the pot as well as the coriander, saffron - crush the saffron between your fingers as you sprinkle it into the pot - ginger, cumin, cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of the chopped cilantro leaves. Stir to mix and dissolve the spices, season with salt and pepper and spoon the meat over the base of vegetables. Top with the plumped apricots, seal the pan with aluminum foil and clap on the lid. Slide the pan into the oven.

Bake the tagine for 60 minutes before carefully lifting the lid and foil and scattering the almonds over the meat. Recover the pan and allow the tagine to bake for 15 minutes more. (NB If you are not serving straight away, hold the almonds until you are about to serve, then mix in and sprinkle with the last of the coriander).

Coq Au Vin Blanc and Incontrovertible Rules of Life

A few weeks ago, James Valentine (self described "peddlar of whimsy") proposed a series of absolutely irrefutable incontrovertible rules of life on his radio show. They are the sort of thing that everyone should know and which would make life easier for all of us if they were observed universally. The sort of thing that people should be punished for not observing, or at least given a death stare. Among them are:

1. Move to the back of the bus. It’s public transport. If you move to the back of the bus, more public can be transported.
2. Let everyone get off the train before you attempt to get on.
3. Same goes for lifts.
4. Don’t litter. Clean up your own rubbish.
5. No more than two abreast on a footpath.
6. And don’t amble in busy city streets.
7. Stay seated until it’s your turn to exit the plane.
8. Don’t crowd the luggage carousel.
9. Keep your shoes on in the cinema (surely no one thinks they should take off their shoes....)
10. If you are there first, you should get served first.
11. Return your shopping trolley.
12. When buying goods, have your payment ready.

All pretty obvious one would think. But they did make me ponder what I would include on a similar list of food related suggestions that make life easier:

1. Supermarkets should not be allowed to redesign the placing of food in their aisles more than once a decade (Bread has moved three times in the last year in my local supermarket. Grrr.)

2. If you are given a choice, buy fruit and vegies unpackaged (they are generally cheaper and better environmentally and you can pick out the best produce.)

3. If you are not going to eat them the next day, freeze and label your leftovers. No doubt a frantic weeknight will come around when you are very grateful for your little stash of meals. Even if everyone in the house gets something different for dinner.

4. Empty your fridge weekly of all science projects collecting in the vegetable crisper (the night before garbage collection is a good time).

5. Long slow oven braises are perfect anti-stress meals. Do all the work up front and then chill out for an hour or two, preferably in the bath, while the oven does the work.

Which brings me to this lovely Coq au Vin Blanc, courtesy of Cuisine Magazine's May 2009 issue. Lightened up with white wine instead of red, shallots instead of onions, and chicken stock replacing the beef stock, it was really delicious. And make sure you have some really good bread on hand, as these sauces deserve to be sopped. By the way, if you have any rules of life to add, please send them to me as a comment.

I am also sending this over to Deb at Souper Sundays. Have a look at her

offerings - perfect choices now the weather is getting colder.

Coq Au Riesling

from Lauraine Jacobs in Cuisine Magazine, May 09

1 large chicken

3-4 tbls flour

2 tbls olive oil

30g butter

3-4 medium shallots, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic crushed to a paste

375 ml Riesling

375 ml chicken stock

small bunch French tarragon, coarsely chopped (I stupidly forgot this)

150g sliced button mushrooms

4 tbl cream

parsley to garnish

Preheat oven to 190C. Cut the chicken into 8 or 9 pieces and lightly dust with flour. Heat the oil and 1 tbl butter over medium high heat in a heavy casserole pot. Add the chicken in batches and fry on all sides until the skin is crisp and golden (don't worry about cooking through). Remove chicken and add the shallots and garlic, and fry them over medium heat for a couple of minutes. Return the chicken to the pot with the wine, stock, tarragon, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer, then cover and cook in the oven for 1 1/2 hours.

While the chicken is cooking, brown mushrooms in a little oil, then add to the chicken with the cream for the final ten minutes in the oven. Remove the pot from the oven, and lift out the chicken and the mushrooms to a serving platter. Boil down the sauce to thicken a little, then spoon it over the chicken and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup For The Barefoot Bloggers

This week's Barefoot Blogger challenge had me on firmer ground than the mac 'n' cheese or the turnover challenges - wild mushroom soup is something I know and love and have prepared many times before. In fact it is one of my favourite dinner party soups so I felt confident that this was going to go well.

The challenge was chosen by Chelle of Brown-Eyed Baker, and promised to be a nice change from some of the other Barefoot cooking we have been doing. Unfortunately (sorry Chelle), I wound up having a few unexpected issues with the recipe:
- sadly I couldn't find cremini or porcini mushrooms fresh around here (you usually only see them dried and they cost about the same as a tank of petrol), so I substituted swiss brown mushrooms for the cremini.
-my mushrooms also came caked in a little mud, and since I have had gritty mushroom soup before (not something that I would recommend), I disregarded the first instruction and rinsed them under running water. Unfortunately, I think that having the wrong mushrooms and then rinsing may have impacted the flavour of the soup.
- I used a lot less butter (2 tbls) in cooking the leeks than Ina recommends, but I think this was OK - the leeks and mushrooms all cooked and browned nicely.
- I used only half the cream Ina recommends - I was worried the soup's flavour would be completely overwhelmed by the cream unless I held back a little.
- While I followed the recipe, I generally don't like to thicken soups with flour, and with so much cream in the recipe, I suspect the soup would have quite thick without the flour.
- Once I had finished cooking, my soup had a little bit of oil rising to the surface. I tried to skim this off but could not get rid of all of it. You can see it around the edge of the bowl in the photo - not sure what I did wrong there??

Enough moaning - the flavour of the soup was good, and darling husband who loves cream of mushroom soup declared that it was "delish". I, however, will be sticking to my favourite recipe for mushroom soup which is similar to Ina's but with a lot less cream. You can see how the other members of the Barefoot Bloggers went here.

Wild Mushroom Soup
from The Barefoot Contessa at Home by Ina Garten

150g fresh shiitake mushrooms
150g fresh portobello mushrooms
150g fresh cremini (or porcini) mushrooms
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1/4 pound (1 stick) plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, divided
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1 carrot, chopped
1 sprig fresh thyme plus 1 teaspoon minced thyme leaves, divided
2 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts (2 leeks)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup half-and-half (half milk and half cream)
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

Clean the mushrooms by wiping them with a dry paper towel. Don't wash them! Separate the stems, trim off any bad parts, and coarsely chop the stems. Slice the mushroom caps 1/4-inch thick and, if they are too big, cut them into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

To make the stock, heat the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large pot. Add the chopped mushroom stems, the onion, carrot, the sprig of thyme, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and cook over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until the vegetables are soft. Add 6 cups water, bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Strain, reserving the liquid. You should have about 4 1/2 cups of stock. If not, add some water.

Meanwhile, in another large pot, heat the remaining 125g of butter and add the leeks. Cook over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until the leeks begin to brown. Add the sliced mushroom caps and cook for 10 minutes, or until they are browned and tender. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the white wine and stir for another minute, scraping the bottom of the pot. Add the mushroom stock, minced thyme leaves, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the half-and-half, cream, and parsley, season with salt and pepper, to taste, and heat through but do not boil. Serve hot.

The Ugly Can Be Beautiful Too...Chorizo Soup

I'm a great believer in being open to what the universe delivers you. This soup happened completely by chance. I had left some old food magazines lying around, and my husband was flipping through one (very odd behaviour from him; our house is full of food magazines and I don't think I have seen him even cast a glance at one). Next thing, he had spotted a soup that I never would have picked, and asked me to make it for him. And I did. And it was sensational.

And the reason I would not have picked it? It is called Sausage, Butter Bean and Cabbage Soup. Not very appealing in my opinion. Maybe better to have been called Spanish Winter Soup or something even more poetic? Anyway, this is a soup that I will make again as it ticked all the boxes for maximum flavour and minimum effort. It came to us via the "Vogue Entertaining Cookbook: Short Order + Seasonal" Autumn / Winter 2001.

"Sausage, Butter Bean and Cabbage Soup"

adapted from "Vogue Entertaining Cookbook: Short Order + Seasonal" Autumn / Winter 2001.

1 large onion, peeled and diced

olive oil

400g sliced chorizo sausage

1/4 whole cabbage, outer leaves discarded, the remainder shredded

2 tbl tomoato paste

1 bay leaf

4 cups chicken stock

400g can butter beans, drained

4 medium tomatoes diced

3-4 tbl finely chopped parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Fry the onion in a little oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring until soft. Add the sausage and cook stirring until some of the fat is released. Pour off any excess, add the cabbage, and cook, stirring until it wilts.

Add the tomato paste and the bay leaf, cook over low heat for several minutes, then add the stock. Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Stir in the beans and tomatoes, season to taste and heat the beans and tomato through. Stir in parsley before serving.

Time For A Pie

As the cold weather persists, I find my little tribe hankering after good, old-fashioned rib sticking food. And first among their favourites, especially for the younger daughter, is a chicken pie. There is nothing quite like the crisp texture of pastry alongside a warm moist chicken filling. In Bowral, The Gumnut Patisserie makes the most scrumptious chicken pies, and we buy up big any time we are down that way. Sadly, we haven't been to the Southern Highlands in a long time. Alas, the freezer is empty but a Jamie Oliver pie recipe from Jamie's Dinners has caught my eye....

Despite generally approving of Jamie, his shows and his causes (especially the school food), I have had mixed success with his recipes. Maybe it is because I like a bit more precision in my instructions, or maybe it is the difference between produce in Australia and the UK, but I have had a bit of a hit and miss relationship with him. This pie was good, and we all enjoyed it, but it is not the ne plus ultra of chicken pies, despite its modest name. It is, however, worth making especially since the filling can be made up to two days in advance of final cooking and eating. Meanwhile, I will continue my search for the ultimate chicken pie, and report back later. Incidentally, I left out the pork sausages and I didn't thicken the sauce enough (how loose is loose?), so maybe that was where I went wrong....

The Best Chicken and Sweet Leek Pie With Flaky Pastry

adapted from "Jamie's Dinners" by Jamie Oliver

Olive oil

Butter

1 kg boned and skinned chicken legs cut into pieces (I used chopped thigh fillets)

2 medium leeks, trimmed, washed and cut into 1cm rounds

2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped (I also added a couple of chopped potatoes)

3 sticks of celery, finely sliced

a handful of thyme

2 tbls flour

1 wineglass of white wine

285 ml milk

255g good pork sausages

500g puff pastry

1 egg

Preheat oven to 220C. Take a large casserole pot and add a lug of olive oil and two knobs of butter. Add chicken, leeks, carrot, celery and thyme and cook slowly on the hob for 15 minutes. Turn the heat right up, add the flour, and stir for a couple of minutes before adding the wine, a wineglass of water and the milk. Season with a little salt and pepper, then cover with a tight lid and allow to simmer very slowly on the hob for 30-40 mins or until the chicken is tender. Stir from time to time to stop the bottom sticking. The sauce should be loose but quite thick. If it is too liquid, let it simmer a little longer with the lid off until it thickens. At this point you can let it cool and keep it in the firdge for a couple of days or eat it as a stew.

Pour the chicken mixture into a pie dish. Squeeze the meat out of the sausage skins, roll it into little balls, brown them in a little oil, and sprinkle them over the stew. Roll out your pastry to 1/2cm thick. Lightly beat egg with a fork, and brush over the rim of the dish. Lay pastry over the dish, and trim to fit, then egg-wash the top of the pastryto make it go golden. Lightly criss-cross the pastry with the back of a knife to help the pastry go crispy and flaky. Cook the pie in the centre of the oven for 30-40 minutes, until golden on top. Jamie suggests serving with sweetcorn and mash.

Beef Casserole for a Cold Night

Sydney has been unseasonably cold this week, with maximums of 14C and worse. While I know that the rest of the world must look at this and laugh, Sydney is almost uniquely unprepared for weather like this. Houses are designed to catch draughts and stay cool, and big open plan rooms are sometimes hard to heat. To make matters worse, the shops are already stocking what they call "first summer"; nothing makes me feel colder than looking at little cotton tees in July.

So, it is weather like this that makes me want to stay home, do the crossword and put something in the oven for a few hours. I am convinced that a casserole helps warm the room as well as providing dinner, or maybe I have just been seduced by the fabulous smell that drifts from my kitchen when I leave something cooking for a couple of hours...

This recipe comes from Belinda Jeffrey's 100 Favourite Recipes. It is what I consider to be a lovely old-fashioned tasty casserole; the sort my mother used to make at this time of year. It serves 4-6 depending on your appetite, so I usually have a nice box of it to freeze, and it does freeze well. It is also very easy to reheat, if you are the type to cook on a Sunday afternoon for the following week. Hope this makes you nice and warm!

Beef, Mushroom and Red Wine Casserole
adapted from Belinda Jeffrey's 100 Favourite Recipes
2 tbls olive oil
350 g slab of bacon cut into small chunks, rind reserved
1.5kg blade or chuck steak cut into 5cm cubes
1 large onion, finely diced
4 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 1/2 tbls plain flour
2 tbls brandy
2 cups red wine (Belinda suggests Shiraz)
1 bay leaf
2 tsps fresh thyme
2 1/2 cups chicken or veal stock
olive oil
18 spring or pickling onions
250g button mushrooms

Preheat the oven to 180C. Heat the oil in a casserole pot, then add the bacon and fry gently until it is pale golden. Remove from the pot and put aside.

Increase the heat and add some of the beef chunks. Fry the beef in batches until it is browned all over. Remove beef from the pot and put aside. Reduce the heat a little and add onion and garlic (and a little more olive oil if you need it). Cook these for a few minutes until they start to smell fantastic and the onion is becoming translucent. Next, sprinkle on the flour and cook it, stirring constantly, for another couple of minutes.

Return the beef to the casserole pot, and toss it with onion, garlic and flour. Pour in the brandy and red wine, and give it all a good stir. Scrape up any of the nice brown bits from the bottom of the pan for extra flavour. Add the bacon chunks, rind, bay leaf, thyme and a grinding of black pepper to taste. Pour in enough stock to cover the meat, then press a piece of baking paper onto the surface. (This will keep the pieces of meat at the top of the casserole nice and moist; they can get a bit dry and tough otherwise.) Cover the dish tightly, then put it in the oven and cook it for two hours.

After 1 1/2 hours, heat a little oil in a frying pan, and saute the onions until they are golden, then set aside and saute the mushrooms. Stir onions and mushrooms into the casserole, then return it to the oven for another 15 minutes or so. When the casserole is ready remove from the oven and scoop out the bacon rind and the bay leaf. Garnish with a little parsley, and serve with potatoes and salad.

++ Instead of serving with potatoes on the side, I like to cook potatoes and then add to the casserole with the onions and mushrooms. I love the way they sop up the juices!

Blue Eye Cod and Vale Joan Campbell

Without realising how timely I was, I had picked a Joan Campbell recipe to cook this week. Joan Campbell passed away a couple of weeks ago at the grand old age of 95. In food circles in Sydney, she was a legend, spanning both catering and journalism, as well as cookbook writing. As a teenager, I used to pore over her work in Vogue Entertaining, and still have a well-thumbed collection of the annual cookbooks they published. Amongst the faux French pretentious food that was being peddled at the time, her recipes distinguished themselves as dependable and delicious. Many of the recipes I learnt from her, I still make decades later. If you ever find them in a bookshop, titles from Joan Campbell that are worth buying include: Five Minutes in the Kitchen and Bloody Delicious.

The recipe below comes from "From Market to Table: Recipes and Ideas for Fresh Produce" by Joan Campbell and Barry McDonald. It is quick and easy, and even my kids loved it. If like me, you have nights where you want something satisfying that can be cooked inside 30mins, this is a good pick. Blue eye is a lovely white fish; feel free to substitute any other white fish that looks good to you (thicker fillets are better than thin for pan frying). Don't be afraid of the celeriac or the fennel; after cooking, both are very mild flavours. In fact this recipe might be a good way to introduce new vegies to your table.

Hope you enjoy.

Blue-Eye Cod With Winter Vegetables
adapted from "from Market To Table" by Joan Campbell and Barry McDonald
1 cup peas (frozen are OK)
8 baby pencil leeks, trimmed (look a bit like spring onions, with a milder taste)
125g butter (depending on your taste and your arteries, feel free to halve this)
salt & pepper
4 x 180g fillets of blue eye cod
1 tsp grated lemon rind
1 clove crushed garlic
1/4 cup white wine
2 baby fennel, trimmed and shredded finely
1 cup celeriac, peeled and sliced

Cook the peas in boiling salted water for 3-4 minutes until bright green and tender. Drain and set aside. Cook leeks in a separate saucepan of boiling salted water for 3-4 minutes until tender. Drain and set aside.

Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Season the fish fillets and cook for 1-2
minutes. Turn the fish over and sprinkle with lemon rind, garlic and wine. Cover and cook over low heat for four to five minutes, or until just cooked. Remove from the pan, cover with foil and
keep warm.

Place the fennel and celeriac in the frying pan. Cook over medium heat stirring occassonally, until tender. Add the leeks and peas to warm through. Serve with the fish.

Serves 4.