herbiehancock

It's still soup weather here in North Central Montana and I'm making the best of it! I knew I wanted soup for dinner the other night, but couldn't think of what kind to make, so I do what any normal person would do in that circumstance and went to the Internet! It wasn't long before I found the perfect thing... New England Clam Chowder.  I wanted to make bread bowls to serve it in, so went to my favorite baking site King Arthur Flour for this recipe. Although the recipe calls for using sage and thyme, I left it out and made a plain dough. The bread bowls were good, but a very soft bread. Next time, I'll make a more crusty bread. If it's still soup weather where you live, I hope you'll give this a try!  PRINT RECIPE New England Clam Chowder 1 T bacon grease ¼ red onion, finely diced 2 small stalks celery, finely diced ½ cup white wine 1 (8 oz) bottle clam juice 2 (6.5 oz) cans minced clams (do not drain) 2 medium red potatoes, ½” dice ½ tsp black pepper ½ ...

Enter here for a chance to win a $65 certificate to CSN Stores! You may have seen these little boxes at the store and wondered what the salted codfish inside looked like. I forgot to take a picture, but it looks just like filleted and skinned dried fish! Since the fish has been preserved in salt, it must be soaked in water before using. The fish is simply covered with cold water and refrigerated for at least 24 hours. The water should be changed three or four times during that period. After the fish has been rehydrated, it's ready to cook. I used half the fish to make Portuguese Kale and Salt Cod  Chowder. I'll use the other half to make something else, so stay tuned.  Along with linguica and potatoes, the salt cod made a hearty and delicious chowder. I used homemade chicken stock for a rich flavor.  Have you ever cooked salt cod? What did you make? PRINT RECIPE HERE Portuguese Kale and Salt Cod Chowder  (adapted from The New York Times ) 1/2# boneless, skinless sal...

The trees are bare here in North Central Montana. The temperature dips down into the teens at night and barely sees the 40’s during the day. Antelope and deer season are in full swing and we’ve had a few days of light snow. Already this year we have wild game in the freezer and there’s no better way to use some of that meat for a hot, comforting bowl of Venison Stew. It seems that I can’t make a small amount of soup or stew and by the time I’d finished, we had enough for a few dinners and a few lunches (and the last bit for my breakfast this morning)! One of the good things about this stew is that as delicious as it was on the first night, it only got better as the days went along. I was prompted to make this after seeing Debbie’s blog, The Friday Friends , when she made Tyler Florence's Ultimate Beef Stew, which she served over mashed potatoes. I put potatoes in my stew, but I think either way would be great. If you make this (and you can substitute the venison with beef stew me...

We usually eat dinner right about 6 o'clock. More often than not, I don't have a clue what I'm going to cook until an hour before that. Oh, I may have already thawed some venison or chicken breasts and I always have fresh veggies and a potato or two, but as far as the finished dish... nope... it's even a surprise to me. My gardener went to Wal-Mart the other day for some fishing lures (you can never have too many lures, you know) and came home with a bag of frozen, cooked shrimp. I asked him get the frozen raw shrimp next time, because I think the already-cooked shrimp is rubbery. Turns out, the cooked shrimp was one sale. My gardener loves nothing if not a sale. I thought our soup days were over for a while, but it was cold and rainy yesterday and I was ready to eat something warm. I remembered the shrimp in the freezer, so made this soup, which was as good a soup as I've eaten anywhere. I used a mandoline to slice the carrots and sweet potatoes, so they didn't...

I found a recipe for Sweet Potato and Lentil Soup that sounded so good.  Hmm, I have lentils, so I went to the store for sweet potatoes. Come dinnertime, I got the lentils out of the pantry and scooped out a half-cup.  They screamed at me "We are not lentils... we are split green peas!!"   Holy cow... when I read lentils, in my mind's eye I saw the bag of split green peas in my cupboard and thought I was all set.  I wasn't sure about mixing split green peas and sweet potatoes.  I was afraid I'd end up with a soup whose color would remind me of something I'd already eaten and upchucked.   Sorry. Change of plans... no lentils in this soup, but it turned out lovely... made with one of the most nutritious vegetables around... sweet potatoes.   Sweet potatoes have as much beta-carotene (Vitamin A) as 16 cups of broccoli.  They are a great source of Vitamin E... and fat free.  Most foods high in Vitamin E are high in fat (vegetable oils, nuts...

Wal-Mart (one of Havre, Montana's two  grocery stores) advertised half-hams for $1.43 per pound.  My gardener asked me to get one so he could smoke it.  He loves ham... me, I'm kind of ehhh, I'd rather have a cigar. It was a warm day last Saturday (got clear up to 41 degrees).  My gardener brought a pack of little white papers into the kitchen.  Then he cut some ham off the bone and started wrapping it up in the paper.  He licked one end of the paper and struck a match and started smoking this homemade  ham cigarette! I said, "What are you doing , son???" He said, "I told you I was going to smoke this ham." The last I saw him he was downtown licking the movie house windows. Aww, you know I'm kidding.  My gardener got the smoker out and put that ham in there and four and a half hours later we had the most beautiful smoked ham you ever saw! Plans were to have it for dinner with some stuffing (yes, Stove Top) and braised cabbage.  While I was s...

Soup weather has arrived and I'm happy! Nothing better than a bowl of hot soup when it's cold and windy outside! I started this soup by searching for "potato soup" (what else?) on the internet (where else?) . I settled on one, but like with most recipes I find, by the time they come off the stove or out of the oven, I've changed them up so much it's not even the same recipe anymore! When soup weather arrives in your hometown, give this quick, easy, and tasty soup a try! PRINT RECIPE HERE

We had a fairly cool summer and our tomatoes didn't start ripening until a few weeks ago. Well, three days ago the temp dipped to freezing. We heard the forecast, so picked the rest of the big ripe tomatoes, which I froze, and these little cherry and pear tomatoes. I've been looking forward to soup weather! I washed the tomatoes and removed the stems. And into a pot they went along with celery, onion, garlic, carrots, bay leaves, jalapenos, bacon, bell peppers, salt, pepper, cumin, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and white wine. It doesn't take long for the tomatoes to start to break down... this is a shot after about 10 minutes on the stove. At this point I put a lid on the pot and let it simmer for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, the soup looked like this and was ready to strain. I put everything through a food mill... ... there were too many seeds left in the soup, so I strained it again through a sieve. I took two of the little biscuits that come in a roll and diced ...

Having been born and raised in Massachusetts, I just wouldn't be true to my roots if I didn't make New England Clam Chowder at least once a year!  And I need to start using some of this corn we picked and froze last year because before I know it, it'll be time to harvest more corn!   This recipe comes together easily using diced red potatoes, bacon, canned clams, onions, corn, Half and Half, and some butter and flour to thicken the broth.  This was the perfect balance between those too-thin and too-thick chowders that I don't like.   If you were born in New England (and even if you weren't!) try this recipe for an authentic, rich and creamy chowder full of clams and potatoes with the smoky flavor of bacon - you won't regret it!  Print the recipe

I wanted to make an oxtail ragu, but heck, I didn't even know what a ragu was and I really wasn't sure what an oxtail was, but I wasn't going to let that stop me. Oh yeah. Easy, huh? Oxtail... A tail from an ox. But what is an ox? I mean, really. Come to find out an ox is a castrated bull. Wait, I thought a castrated bull was a steer! Well, it is. Huh? Okay, here's the scoop. A steer is a castrated bull that is under four years old. At the age of four, the steer becomes an ox. Well, he might not become an ox, but after the age of four years he's referred to as an ox. I guess it's kind of like: child, teen, adult. Maybe. Without the castration thing going on. Ragù is an Italian term for a sauce that is meat-based. Traditionally, a ragu is served with pasta. A ragù is usually made by adding meat (in this case, oxtail) to a soffritto (a mixture of chopped onions, ,celery and carrots), which is simmered for a long time with a little tomato sauce. Finely chop the ve...

Friday. You look in the fridge and find tomatoes, zucchini, cabbage, celery, bell peppers, carrots and squash. You had every good intention of using all of it this week. You've minced, choppped, boiled, seared, braised, broiled, fried, roasted, sauted, grilled, stewed, brined, mocrowaved, steamed and poached. But on Friday, there they are. Limp zucchini, cabbage with spots, mushy tomatoes... you get the picture. Really. I can't be the only one who opens the fridge door on Friday and has food tumble to the floor. I can't be the only one who picks it up and tosses it toward the back of the fridge, hoping it will lodge somewhere between the package of tortillas and the dill pickles. Tell me I'm not the only one. You got to use this stuff or lose it. I mean, it won't last forever (thank goodness). Time to make soup! Start with a Ziploc bag with frozen turkey broth. This is a good way to store soups and broth by the way... put it in a Ziploc, let the air out and freeze...

I like reading Kevin's blog, Closet Cooking . He always has an interesting dish prepared using combinations of flavors that I might not think of. I really liked how the ingredients in his Roasted Cauliflower and Red Pepper Farro Salad sounded. Salad, hmm... I'm still in soup mode! So, using his recipe for inspiration, I created this Nutty Roasted Cauliflower Soup . Cut up a head of cauliflower, two carrots, 10 cloves of garlic and one onion. Roast at 425 F for 40 minutes or until browned. Toast one cup of walnuts and put them into a food processor. Give them a whirl until they look like... ... this! When the vegetables have roasted, put them into a saucepan with chicken broth, wine and roasted red pepper. Simmer until the vegetables are tender. Using an immersion blender (aka trolling motor) blend the soup until creamy. Add one cup of half-and-half and heat through. I really liked the way this soup turned out. It smells delicious and has a nutty flavor, and although creamy...