Beef Soup

I cooked this beef soup a while ago, just don’t have chance to put the words together on the blog. The recipe is adopted from William Sonoma. Who doesn’t like his recipe and all those beautiful pictures? Never get bored to read his book over and over again.

I did some changes of the recipe though.
Beef Soup

Ingredients :
3slbs of meaty beef
3 large yellow onions, chopped
6 pcs of carrot, peeled and chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
1 cup of tomato puree
1 can of sweet whole corn
1 potato, peeled and chopped
6 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1 lb fresh cremini mushrooms, brushed clean and sliced
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
salt and ground pepper to taste
4 tablespoons of chopped fresh dill
1/4 cup of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
6 tablespoons of sour cream

Place the beef in a saucepan and add water to cover generously. Bring to a boil over high heat, skimming often to remove any foam that forms on the surface. Add about two-thirds of the chopped onions, for about 1 hour. Add the tomato puree, carrot, potatos, whole corn and continue to cook over low heat.

While the soup is cooking, a large sauté pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the remaining chopped onions and sauté, stirring occasionally, until pale gold, 10-12 minutes. Raise the heat to high, add the mushrooms. And sauté, stirring often, until softened, 6-8 minutes. Add the garlic, reduce the heat to medium, and sauté until soft but not brown, about 3 minutes longer. Season with salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoon of the dill.

Remove the beef from the pan and, when cool enough to handle, cut the meat.

Add the mushroom mixture and the beef to the pan and stir to heat through. Season with salt and pepper.

Ladle into warmed bowls and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons dill and the parsley. Top each serving with a dollop of sour cream, if desired.

CHICKEN POT PIE

Lisa my online buddy are hosting Monthly Foodie Multipliers, the theme for this month is CHICKEN! When we talk about chicken, OH yes, I am a chickenaholic. I chose to make some chicken pot pies, not only because I love chicken but the main purpose is to make several of them ahead and freeze them. So when I don’t have time to cook or maybe just to tired, I simply take one out of the freezer and toast it. It’s a very simple and quick meal.

This recipe originally is taken from Joy of Cooking but I do some of modification.

Creamed Chicken

Ingredients:
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced
2 cups chicken stock
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups whole milk, half-and-half, or light cream
3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
2 small celery stalks, sliced
¾ frozen peas
Salt and ground white or black pepper
2 to 3 pinches of freshly grated or ground nutmeg

Note: I used frozen ready mix vegetables to save time chopping or slicing.

Boil chicken and save chicken stock or you can use ready chicken stock
Remove the pan from the head and set it a side
Melt in a large saucepan over medium-low heat unsalted butter, add and whisk until smooth flour
Cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute
Add 2 cups of the chicken stock and whisk until smooth
Wisk in whole milk, half-and-half or light cream
Increase the heat to medium and bring the mixture just to a simmer
Add chicken and vegetables, whisking constantly until cooked
Remove from head and season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg

Flaky Pastry Dough, I used pie crust mix from Betty Crocker. I love this one because it is very simple to follow and save lot of time.

Last thing we need to do is:
Roll pie dough out into the shape of the pan, place on top of the chicken, and tuck the edges in against the pan sides. For a golden brown glaze, brush the top with beaten egg.
Bake until the chicken is bubbly and the topping is nicely browned, 25 to 35 minutes.