Sabbatical

To my (few but) loyal blog followers....

I love the whole idea of a blog and my intent in beginning this was to try and demonstrate that you CAN cook a decent meal for your family while having a busy life....and I think I "started" to do that... however, I was trying to do the blog at the same time as finishing my family cookbook, work full time, have two teenage children and be a somewhat decent wife to my husband....I realized that what was NOT getting done was the cookbook.  I am probably over half way complete with putting down our family favorites, many of my Mom, Grandmother and Great Aunt's recipes and what has become our family favorites in a format that I could print in a relatively small quantity and give to family members, new neices, new (soon to be) daughter-in-laws etc.  SO... I have decided to suspend the blog...not quit but take about 6 months to spend my free time heads down with testing and finishing the cookbook process.  My goal is to get it published in some form before summer is over (my real goal is July 4th but that may be ambitious). 

So...thanks for checking in with me on this...and if you are interested in recieving a copy of the cookbook, send me a comment and I'll put you down for one - trust me it won't rival Martha Stewart but it will be filled with great recipes that I know work every time....and perhaps a little bit of family history surrounding the recipe.  My daughter Jenny named it..."Pass the plate and share the love".  Let me know if you want a copy, and I'll be back blogging (and hopefully taking better pictures than currently) in a few months.

Good cooking to you all...
Frances

Scallops in Sage Cream

Another busy week around our house with a wonderful birthday party for my Mom (85^th) in the middle.  I made a resolution to try and blog more – honestly I’m doing the cooking it is just getting time to sit down and write about it!  We did have a couple of meals I tried this week that while they were certainly edible, were not “blog worthy”….that is the term my kids have coined when they like a meal well enough for me to include it.  The week was not a total loss on the food front -  we started off last Sunday night with a magnificent pasta dish I will tell you about below.  When every person at the table gave me either an “outstanding” “awesome” “delicious” or “amazing” I think it qualifies as blog worthy!  I am also going to try later this week to include a couple of new things we tried over the holidays that went over well – they are certainly not limited to Christmas or New Years entertaining. 

Scallops in Sage Cream

1-1/2 lbs sea scallops

¼ tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

3 Tbsp olive oil, divided

½ cup chopped shallots

¾ cup heavy whipping cream

6 fresh sage leaves, thinly sliced

Hot cooked pasta

Sprinkle scallops with salt and pepper.  In a large skillet, sauté scallops in 2 Tbsp oil for 1-1/2 to 2 minutes on each side or until firm and opaque.  Remove and keep warm.  In the same skillet, sauté shallots in remaining oil until tender.  Add cream; bring to a boil.  Cook and stir for 30 seconds or until slightly thickened.

Return scallops to the pan heat through.  Stir in sage.  Serve over hot pasta (we used fettuccini).

NOTES:  This is absolutely a recipe where you need to have all of your ingredients prepped and ready by the stove.  Also, if you can’t find fresh sage, make this another time…it is mandatory.  A note on scallops – buy the frozen if you can’t find fresh.  They worked just fine here.  This is absolutely delicious and easy to prepare.  If you are entertaining with this, I'd just have everybody bring their drink into the kitchen because it's only about 10 minutes to prepare and needs to be eaten soon after.

Hot Soup!

I hope wherever you are it is warmer than where I am.  Atlanta has had this amazing stretch of arctic like weather…and we don’t deal with it well.  I have not gotten my morning walk in for over a week due to temperatures in the teens.  I’m hoping for warmer air soon.

In the winter I usually have a soup dinner every week to 10 days.  I think there are a variety of benefits – its easy; its usually economical; it gets my kids eating vegetables they might not eat if served individually and it just feels good!  I’ve done two soups recently that both turned out well and I have them below.  The Chicken Corn Chowder easily made enough for two meals or to freeze.  The tomato was just right for 4 full bowls along with some crusty rolls.  I would recommend them both and I think you will enjoy.  If you have someone at your house that doesn’t like Blue Cheese – try the  tomato soup anyway….it really just gives it a nice flavor and I used a mild blue.  You could not really distinguish the taste.  I love blue cheese and would actually go for a stronger variety of blue next time.

Cheddar, Chicken and Corn Chowder

3 slices bacon, diced

1 cup chopped onion

½ green bell pepper, chopped (I used red)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

3 cups chicken stock

1-1/2 cups unpeeled cubed red potatoes (about 2 medium)

1-1/2 cups corn kernels, fresh or frozen

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 cups milk

2 cups cubed cooked chicken

1 cup seeded, peeled chopped tomato

½ cup grated cheddar cheese

¾ teaspoon salt (I used more)

Freshly ground pepper to taste

In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp.  Transfer bacon to a plate leaving 1-tablespoon drippings in Dutch oven.  Add onion, bell pepper and garlic and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes.  Add stock and potatoes and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes  Stir in the corn.

In a bowl, blend flour and milk.  Stir into soup.  Increase heat to medium-high and stir until thickened, about 5 minutes.  Reduce heat to medium-low and add chicken, reserved bacon, tomato, cheese, salt and pepper.  Simmer uncovered until flavors are blended and cheese is melted, about 15 minutes longer

This was published in “The Big book of Soups and Stews”

Spicy Tomato and Blue Cheese Soup


"Michael Symon's Live To Cook" by Michael Symon

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:


2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium red onion, finely chopped


Kosher salt


4 garlic cloves, sliced


1 28-oz can San Marzano tomatoes, with their juice


1 1/2 cups Chicken Stock


3/4 cups heavy cream


2 tablespoons sriracha sauce


1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves


1/2 cup Roth Kase Buttermilk Blue cheese ( I could not find and used a mild, creamy blue)

Heat the olive oil in a 4-quart pot over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion and a three-fingered pinch of salt and sweat for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to sweat for 2 more minutes. Add the tomatoes, their juice and the stock and bring to a simmer. (I added a little more salt here too). Add the cream, sriracha sauce, and oregano and simmer for 45 minutes.

Pour the soup into a blender, add the blue cheese, and blend until smooth, working in batches if needed.

Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean pot, taste, adjust the seasoning if necessary, and reheat to serve. The soup will keep, covered in the refrigerator, for a few days.

If you are like me and didn’t know what Sriracha sauce was, it is a spicy Asian sauce, similar to Tabasco.  I could not find it (but am still looking after I read the great reviews online so I’ll keep you posted), therefore I used Texas Pete which I had in the cabinet. 

Both of my kids and Greg l loved this soup …. It will definitely go into the “soup rotation”… I hope you enjoy.