What's in the Fridge? Soup, that's what!

It should come as no surprise to anyone who reads this blog or has ever taken an Ivy & Devine cooking lesson, I love to make soup when the fridge is full of leftovers. Friday night, Kitty and I had dinner with our friends Sid & Mandy. We had a whole roasted chicken along with some mushroom rice pilaf. That left me with some leftover chicken and some mushrooms. A quick check of the fridge turned up some aromatic vegetables and excess milk (the boys were not here this weekend). A peek in the pantry led me to some brown and wild rice from Rainbow and there you have it...soup. I learned from Kitty that our neighbor, Rachel, was at home taking care of her oldest, Jude, who had recently done a header into a door frame and was sporting some sweet stitches on his noggin. Not to mention the fact that her husband was traveling and she is also a new mom. Tom and his soup to the rescue. This is why I cook. Remember people Food=Love!
Bon Appetit!
~Tom

Smoky Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

1 lb. smoked bacon

½ roasted chicken

32 oz. chicken stock    

32 oz. whole milk

1 cup brown and wild rice mix

2 portabella mushrooms

2 medium yellow onions

4 stalks celery

1 whole garlic pod

1 leek

1 bunch green onions

1 stalk fennel

1 tsp. thyme

2 tsp. oregano

3 whole bay leaves

½ bunch parsley

Black pepper

Sea Salt

Prep

Finely chop parsley, onions, celery, mushrooms, fennel bottom, leek bottom and green onion. Pull chicken from bones and chop into small pieces. Slice bacon into 1” pieces. Slice ¼ though the top of the garlic pod, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and wrap in aluminum foil. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Cook

Place foil-wrapped garlic in oven and cook for 20 minutes. Heat a large stock pot over medium heat and add bacon. Cook until most of the fat is rendered from the bacon and bacon begins to crisp slightly. Add onions, celery, leek, fennel, green onion, thyme, oregano and bay leaves and cook until onion is translucent. Add rice, chicken and mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add chicken stock and mushrooms. Remove roasted garlic from oven and allow to cool. Squeeze the pod over the pot, adding the roasted cloves to the soup. Bring the liquid to a light boil and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook at a light simmer for 30 minutes. Warm milk in microwave and add to the soup. Cook for an additional ten minutes or until soup is hot.

Plate

Serve hot in a shallow bowl and garnish with parsley.

(Serves 8)

Dinner with Sid & Mandy

Yesterday I was really in a mood to cook a big meal (yes, I know that may shock some of you). I sent an email out to the usual suspects and learned that by going to our friends Sid & Mandy's house to cook dinner I would not only be satisfying my urge to cook but also rescuing Mandy from a dinner of hot dogs. Don't get me wrong, I love hot dogs, but it sounded like Mandy was not at all in a mood for Coneys. I had no idea what I wanted to cook, so I went to the market with an open mind. I stared at the fish counter for a while and didn't see anything that struck my fancy, so I meandered over to the meat section. Pork? Nah, I practiced that MasterChef pork dish for a whole week and got burned out on swine. Beef? Just not feelin' it. Lamb? Interesting, but no. Veal? Again, just not feelin' the love. Chicken? Maybe...I just don't know. 

Feeling a bit lackluster about the proteins (I honestly do think like this. Should I go to some kind of meeting?) I wandered over to the produce section and spotted a mountain of Acorn Squash. Now the wheels started turning! Roasted squash...yes. Chicken roasted with rosemary...yes. Mushroom rice...yes. Brussels Sprouts with Roasted Almonds...yes, yes, yes! With a menu in mind and new shoes on my feet, I tore through the store, grabbing up what I needed and even found that whole chickens were on sale for $0.98/pound. That was a sign of good Karma.


Earlier in the week, one of my lobbying clients brought me a load of great beer and a picked a few monster bottles of Abita Andygator to go with the chicken dinner. Kitty get herself all dolled up and fixed her wig just right and we headed out to the wilds of Northeast Jackson.


When we arrived, Sid had whipped up some kind of yummy tapenade to go with the Calmata Olives and bruschetta he had set out for us. We cracked a bottle of Andygator for us boys and a bottle of Parados Malbec for the girls and whipped up a feast. The only thing better than the food was the company and the entertainment provided by 4-year-old Walker, who demonstrated some pretty amazing skill with a light saber. During dinner, we learned that our good friend Monte had won about twenty or so Addy awards that night and naturally celebrated by popping the cork on more Andygator and Parados. I have a feeling that we'll be doing this again quite soon.
Bon Appetit!
~Tom
Chicken Roasted with Rosemary

1 Whole Chicken

½ Stick Unsalted Butter

2 Tbsp. Fresh Rosemary

2 Cloves Garlic

1 tsp. Sea Salt

½ tsp. Black Pepper

2 tsp. Ivy & Devine Poultry Seasoning

1 Lemon

½ Bunch Parsley

Prep

Remove giblets from cavity of chicken and pat dry. Finely chop parsley, rosemary, and garlic. Add rosemary, garlic, black pepper and ¼ tsp. salt to butter and mix thoroughly. Take a spoonful of butter and slide it between the skin and the breast of the chicken. Repeat this process until all of the butter is under the chicken skin. Slightly press the chicken skin so that the butter spreads evenly. Truss the chicken tightly with kitchen twine. Rub in remaining sea salt and Ivy & Devine Poultry Seasoning. Preheat oven to 400°.

Cook

Place the trussed chicken in a roasting dish, preferably with a rack insert. Roast in the oven, uncovered until an instant-read thermometer, inserted into the thigh, reads 160° and the juices run clear (usually 1 ½ hours for a medium sized chicken).

Plate

Allow the chicken to rest for at least 15 minutes. Carve chicken and place on a warm plate. Top with pan sauce and squeeze lemon juice over chicken. Sprinkle with parsley to garnish.

(serves 6)

Pan Sauce

Pan drippings from chicken

Red wine

3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into pats

Pour the liquids from the roasting pan into a saucepan, along with any of the browned bits you can scrape from the roasting pan. Combine with an equal part of red wine and cook over medium heat until reduced to 1/4 of its original volume. Remove from heat and mount the sauce with cold butter, swirling the sauce until the butter is fully incorporated.

Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Almonds

24 fresh Brussels Sprouts

¼ cup salted toasted almonds

¼ stick butter

Sea salt

½ tsp. black pepper

Paprika

Prep

Trim the bottom of the Brussels Sprouts and remove the first couple of leaves. Slice sprouts in half from top to bottom. Finely chop almonds.

Cook

Blanch the sprouts in boiling water for 2 minutes and immediately shock with cold water to stop the cooking. Drain the sprouts in a colander and pat dry with a towel. Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat and add butter. When the butter melts and begins to brown and foam, add almonds and cook for one minute. Add sprouts and season with black pepper. Cook until just tender and the sprouts are slightly colored. Check for saltiness and add sea salt if necessary.

Plate

Serve hot and garnish with a small amount of paprika.

(Serves 6)

Roasted Acorn Squash

2 whole acorn squash

¼ cup olive oil

1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary

Sea Salt

Black pepper

Prep

Finely chop fresh rosemary. Slice squash in half, through the equator, not from top to bottom. Scoop out seeds and cut into rings. Cut rings in half so that you now have crescent shaped pieces of squash. In a large mixing bowl, toss squash with oil and season with rosemary, salt and pepper. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Cook

Arrange squash on a sheet pan so that they are all lying flat and not crowding the pan. Roast for 30 minutes or until fork tender.

Plate

Serve hot.

(Serves 6)

Mushroom Rice Pilaf

1 ½  cups basmati rice

3 cups chicken stock

1 cup fresh mushrooms

1 medium shallot

4 cloves garlic

½ tsp. thyme

2 Tbsp. butter

½ bunch parsley

½ tsp.

Sea Salt

Prep

Thinly slice mushrooms and shallot. Finely chop parsley and garlic. Reserve one sliced mushroom for garnish.

Cook

Heat a large saucepan over medium heat and add butter. When the butter melts and begins to foam, add garlic and shallots and cook until garlic is slightly colored. Add rice and stir until each grain is coated with butter. Add thyme and black pepper and stir until evenly distributed. Add enough chicken stock to cover the rice and stir frequently. Continue adding chicken stock, a small amount at a time until is all absorbed by the rice and the rice is fully cooked. Taste and add salt accordingly.

Plate

Serve hot and garnish with sliced mushroom and parsley.

Coffee Rub Fillet

From the emails I received, I think y'all want the recipes from last night. Well...here you go!


Coffee Rubbed Fillet 

4 thick cut fillet mignon (2”-2½”)

1 tsp. Ivy & Devine Coffee Rub

1 Tbsp. olive oil

4 pats butter

Prep

Allow fillets to come to room temp, rub with Ivy & Devine Coffee Rub and drizzle with olive oil. Preheat oven to 200° and heat plates while prepping and cooking.

Cook

Make sure that your grill surface is very hot. Cook steaks for about six or seven minutes to the side (for medium rare). Cover with foil and allow steaks to rest for five minutes after cooking.

Plate

Place a pat of butter on the hot plate and top with the steak.

White Vegetable Mash

2 Large Parsnips

1 Head Cauliflower

2 Medium Rutabaga

½ Stick Butter

1 Cup Heavy Cream

Salt

Pepper

Prep

Chop all vegetables into 1” cubes.

Cook

Boil vegetables until fork tender. Pour off all but a small amount of the water. Whip* vegetables and slowly add cream until desired consistency is reached (all of the cream need not be used). Blend in butter and salt and pepper to taste.

*An immersion blender is the best way to achieve a whipped consistency.

Sautéed Mushrooms
1 box fresh button mushrooms
4 cloves garlic
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup good red wine
1/2 cup beef stock
1/2 tsp. fresh thyme
1/2 tsp. fresh rosemary
1 tsp. brown mustard
salt
pepper

Prep
Slice mushrooms and chop herbs and garlic.

Cook
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add butter and cook until it foams. Add garlic, mushrooms and herbs and cook until mushrooms begin to soften. Add wine, stock and mustard and cook over medium heat until reduced to 1/4 of original volume.

Plate
Serve mushrooms and liquid from pan over steaks.