Minestrone Soup

Since the weather started cooling off, I've been in the mood for SOUP. Every lunch and dinner, all I want is soup, soup and more soup.

Minestrone has always been a favorite of mine, but I've never made it! I finally decided it was high time that I did.

So on a lazy Sunday afternoon, I made a batch of this for work day lunches. It is SO delicious and I know that it freezes beautifully. Make a few batches for your fridge, and then put a few more in your freezer. To thaw from your freezer, just put on your countertop overnight. In the morning, just put it in your refrigerator to store until you are ready to heat it up. This soup is hearty, flavorful and just so comforting.

So get yourself a slice of fresh Italian bread and a bowl of this hot soup and watch the bright red-orange leaves float to the ground outside your window.

Ingredients
Adapted from Epicurious.com, originally from Gourmet Magazine, March 1993

1/2 pound (about 1 1/4 cups) dried white beans such as Great Northern, picked over and rinsed 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 pound pancetta (Italian cured pork belly, available at Italian markets and specialty foods shops) or sliced lean bacon, chopped (I used bacon)
1/3 cup olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 large carrot, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 rib of celery, cut into 1/2-inch dice
3 garlic cloves, chopped fine
2 zucchini, scrubbed and cut into 1/2-inch dice (I used one very large zucchini)
1/4 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 pound boiling potatoes
4 cups shredded green cabbage (preferably Savoy) (I omitted)
1/2 pound kale, rinsed, drained, stems discarded, and the leaves chopped (about 6 cups)
a 28-ounce can tomatoes, chopped coarse and drained well
4 1/2 cups chicken broth (preferably low-salt)
2-3 springs rosemary, chopped (I added this)
2-3 springs thyme, chopped (I added this)

Directions

In a large bowl let the white beans soak in enough water to cover them by 2 inches overnight or quick-soak them. Drain the white beans, in a saucepan combine them with enough water to cover them by 2 inches, and simmer them, uncovered, adding more water if necessary to keep them barely covered, for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until they are tender. Add the salt and simmer the white beans for 5 minutes more. Remove the pan from the heat and let the white beans stand, uncovered.

In a heavy kettle cook the pancetta in the oil over moderate heat, stirring, until it is crisp and pale golden, add the onion, and cook the mixture, stirring, until the onion is softened. Add the carrots, the celery, and the garlic and cook the mixture, stirring, for 4 minutes. Add the zucchini, the green beans, and the potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch dice, and cook the mixture, stirring, for 4 minutes. Add the cabbage, kale, rosemary and thyme and cook the mixture, stirring, until the cabbage is wilted. Add the tomatoes and the broth and simmer the soup, covered, for 1 hour.

Drain the white beans, reserving the liquid, in a blender or food processor purée half of them with 1 cup of the reserved liquid, and stir the purée and the remaining white beans into the soup. Simmer the soup, uncovered, for 15 minutes, thin it if desired with some of the remaining reserve liquid, and season it with salt and pepper. The soup may be made 3 days in advance and kept covered and chilled, or frozen. Reheat the soup, thinning it with water as desired.

Twice Baked Potatoes with Tarragon

I made this recipe along with my Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding for Christmas dinner. This recipe paired perfectly with the beef and was such a wonderful diversion from a traditional mashed or baked potato. This is also a wonderful side dish that you can make a few hours ahead. You can get the potatoes ready in advance (filling and all), set them aside for a bit, and then put back in the oven right before you are ready to serve. If you are wanting a "different" potato dish to serve, I urge you to try this.

Ingredients
Source: Williams-Sonoma Bride & Groom Cookbook, page 180

4 medium russet potatoes (I used 5)
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup milk
kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
3 Tbsp crème fraiche or sour cream (I used sour cream)
1/3 cup chopped fresh tarragon (I used a bit less then this)

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prick the potatoes with a fork and rub with olive oil and sprinkle with 1 tbsp water. Wrap each potato in aluminum foil and bake for at least 1 hour or until the potatoes are fork tender. Remove the potatoes when ready and unwrap. Leave the oven on.

when the potatoes are cool enough to handle, halve them lengthwise. Scoop out flesh into a saucepan and set the skins aside. Mash the flesh with butter, milk, and salt and pepper to taste. Reheat over low heat and stir in the Crème fraiche or sour cream. Remove from heat and stir in the tarragon.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip with the mashed potato mixture. Pipe mashed potato mixture into each potato skin until filled evenly to the top. If you don't want to use a pastry bag, you can also fill the potato skins using a spoon. Place the filled potatoes on a baking sheet and bake until golden on top, about 15 minutes. Serve at once.

Pheasant Braised in Red Wine

First of all I want to wish my readers a very happy belated Thanksgiving! Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to get to post during the holiday since I was busy making a full Thanksgiving feast for about 30 people but I want you all to know that I was thinking about how blessed I am to have readers of my little blog! So thank you and I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

So recently my dad went hunting for pheasant and did very well. As a result, he gave me a beautiful fresh pheasant to make for dinner. I wasn't sure what to do with it in all honesty, but pheasant is just such a comforting meat to me so I wanted to make a really hearty meal of it. So I decided to braise it using red wine.

The pheasant came out great. Every piece was very tender and flavorful. If you've never had pheasant I urge you to try it, however it really doesn't taste much different from chicken and if you needed to sub out chicken that would obviously be fine. But this was a great variation from braised chicken and I really enjoyed it. Perfect for those cold winter days that lie ahead!
Ingredients
Adapted from this recipe by Good Things Catered, originally from Williams-Sonoma

1/3 c. all-purpose flour plus 2 Tbsp, divided
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 pheasant, broken down
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 c. red wine
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried thyme
2 fresh rosemary sprigs
1 bay leaf
About 5-6 small/medium potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
Directions
-Preheat an oven to 375 degrees.
-In a large bowl, combine 1/3 c. flour, salt and pepper. Add the phesant and toss to coat evenly.
-In a Dutch oven over medium heat, warm the olive oil to almost smoking.
-Add half of the chicken and brown on all sides, 3 to 4 minutes total.
-Transfer to a plate.
-Brown the remaining pheasant and transfer to the plate.
-Add the onions to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 5 minutes.
-Remove the pan from the heat and add the wine.
-Set the pan over high heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, to reduce, about 5 minutes.
-Return the pheasant to the pan and add the garlic, parsley, thyme, bay leaf and potatoes.
-Bring to a boil, cover and transfer to the oven.
-Cook until the chicken is very tender, about 45 minutes.
-Season with salt and pepper and remove the bay leaf, pheasant and potatoes.
-Place Dutch oven over medium high heat.
-Add flour and whisk to combine, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 2 minutes.
-Pour thickened braising sauce over chicken and serve immediately. Serves 4.

Herb Roasted Balsamic Potatoes

With an abundance of beautiful red potatoes I picked up at the Farmers Market last week, I decided to make a simple side dish to go with dinner. These were very easy to make and a great way to use up some leftovers. They were also extremely flavorful with the herbs standing in the forefront. Absolutely use whatever herbs you want, as well! These are just the herbs that I chose because I had them on hand, but the great thing about this dish is that it would suit most any herb, dried or fresh!

Ingredients
About 4-6 Red Potatoes, quartered, skins left on
1/2 shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
aprox. 2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
aprox. 1 tbps. extra virgin olive oil
about 5 fresh sage leaves, minced
1 - 2 tsp herbs de provance
a pinch of dried rosemary
salt
pepper
Directions
Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, toss all ingredients together until the potatoes are completely covered in all of the herbs and vinegar. Pour into a greased baking dish and cook, uncovered for about 45 minutes or until fork tender. Also, make sure to toss the potatoes a few times during the cook time.

Roasted Peanut Potatoes

When I saw this recipe on Tastespotting, I was really excited to try it out!!! I'm always on the hunt for new side dishes, and this seemed to fit the bill perfectly.

These potatoes were so easy to make, and were perfectly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The flavors all work great together. They are really a great side dish, and they look pretty too! Additionally, they paired perfectly with Thai Turkey Burgers! Definitely a winning recipe!

The original recipe called for par boiling the potatoes first, but I thought that would be quite unnecessary. Why dirty another pot?! So I simply tossed them with the sauce and then roasted them for about 45 minutes and they came out perfect!

Ingredients
Adapted from Dutch Girl Cooking

1 pound potatoes (I used about 5 small/medium potatoes)
3 tbsp peanut butter
5 tbsp chicken broth (I didn't measure, but I know I used less then this!)
1/8 tsp ground ginger (I used freshly minced ginger...about a tbsp. worth)
1/4 tsp curry powder
1 small chili pepper (I omitted)
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 garlic clove
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp oil
1/8 tsp sesame oil (I added this)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wash and peel potatoes and cut them into 1 1/2" pieces. Place in large bowl and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients until everything is combined and a nice think sauce forms. Pour over potatoes and toss to coat completely.

In a baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick spray, add potatoes and bake, uncovered, for about 45 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender. Additionally, toss potatoes 2 or 3 times during the course of cook time.

Roasted Rosemary Potatoes

It's no secret that Rosemary is one of my favorite herbs to use. It just brings so much savory flavor to whatever dish your making, that I always have some fresh on hand. In fact, I love it so much so that I have little baby rosemary plants growing on my windowsill. Starting things from seed has ever been one of my strong points, so I'm hoping this works out for me.

Anyways, when I saw these Savory Roasted Potatoes on One Perfect Bite I knew I needed to try them! They were really, really good! The rosemary (as always) brought a lot of flavor and made the potatoes really shine, although next time I'm definitely going to use more! I used 1 full sprig this time, but next time I will definitely be using 2! These were also a cinch to make which is always good on a weeknight! I'm definitely saving this recipe, it is one I will most definitely be making again!

I'm going to keep the recipe as is, but keep in mind that I decreased the measurements of everything because this was just for my husband and me. I used about 4-6 medium/small potatoes which was still way too much for just us! I pretty much just eyeballed all of the ingredients which ended up working well.
Ingredients
Source: One Perfect Bite
Originally from Fine Cooking Magazine

3/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons Chicken broth
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
4 pounds red-skinned or Yukon gold potatoes, cut in 1-inch dice

Directions
Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, whisk mustard, olive oil, chicken broth, garlic, rosemary, salt, and pepper until combined. Add the potatoes and toss to coat. Dump potatoes onto two greased large rimmed baking sheet and spread them in a single layer. Roast, tossing with a spatula a few times, until potatoes are crusty on the outside and tender throughout, 50 to 55 min. Serve hot.

Braised Chicken with Rosemary and Potatoes

(sorry for my crummy pictures...I was way too excited to eat!)

For years I have been wanting to make braised chicken. Whenever I saw it on Food Network it just looked so appetizing but I never had the appropriate 'cooktop to oven' cooking vessel. So for Christmas this year my husband got me an awesome enameled cast iron dutch oven! My first use of this great present was, of course, braised chicken. I am a huge fan of the Good Things Catered blog so I went there first for a recipe where I found "Chicken Braised in White Wine". It sounded good, and I had most of the ingredients.

I can't even begin to tell you how great this dish was. It is hands down my absolute new favorite way of preparing chicken. It was just so flavorful and the potatoes were cooked so perfectly. Everything in this dish blended perfectly together and it just felt so provincial and comforting. I think that the addition of the fresh rosemary really added a lot to the already great flavors. Honestly, this dish was heavenly and I can't wait for next weekend so I can make it again! I had to a adapt this dish a bit (ie. using boneless chicken breasts...which I was a little worried about using...but they came out sooo good!) to make it fit what I had on hand/make it more to my tastes, but I just loved how it came out!!!

Ingredients
Adapted from Good things Catered, originally from Williams-Sonoma

1/3 c. all-purpose flour plus 2 Tbsp, divided
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
3 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
2 c. white wine
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried thyme
2 fresh rosemary sprigs
1 bay leaf
About 5-6 small/medium potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Directions
Preheat an oven to 375 degrees. On a plate, combine 1/3 cup flour, salt and pepper. Add the chicken and toss to coat evenly. In a Dutch oven over medium heat, heat the olive oil to almost smoking. Add the chicken and brown on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes total and transfer to a plate.

Add the onion to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and add the wine. Set the pan over high heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, to reduce, about 5 minutes. Return the chicken to the pan and add the garlic, parsley, thyme, rosemary, shallot, bay leaf, salt, pepper and potatoes. Bring to a boil, cover and transfer to the oven. Cook until the chicken is very tender, about 45 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and place chicken and potatoes on a separate plate. Place Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add flour and whisk to combine, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Pour thickened braising sauce over chicken and serve immediately. Serves 2.

Note: During the cooking time in the oven, the sauce thickened itself up beautifully, so I omitted the last couple of steps and did not make a separate braising sauce to pour over the chicken.

Baked Potato Soup

I've been wanting to try this soup because my husband always orders it when we go out. And since we had a small blizzard yesterday, I thought it would be the perfect time to try it! I loved this recipe. I mean, what's better than cooking onions in bacon grease? While it's not exactly low-cal, this is a really fantastic soup and just pure comfort food.

INGREDIENTS
Adapted from www.Allrecipes.com

• 4 bacon strips, diced
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 2 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed (I used about 4 smaller potatoes)
  
• 1 cup half-and-half cream
• 1 green onion, chopped
  
• Shredded Cheddar cheese
• Minced fresh parsley

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large saucepan, cook bacon until crisp. Drain, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings. Set bacon aside. Saute onion and garlic in the drippings until tender. Stir in flour, salt, basil and pepper; mix well. Gradually add broth. Bring to boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes, cream and green onions; heat through but do not boil. Garnish with bacon, cheese and parsley.

Creamy Potatoes Au Gratin

My husband loves Potatoes Au Gratin and has been asking me to make them for him for a while now, and for some reason I have always put it off. I mean, I like them but they aren't my favorite. Well, this past Saturday I got down to business and made my husband the potatoes that he loves so very much! I found this great recipe on www.allrecipes.com and we both really enjoyed them. I think I will start to make them more often. They were really easy to make and the flavors really blended well together. It was a great comfort dish and was a lot easier to make and better tasting than I expected.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 russet potatoes, sliced into 1/4 inch slices
• 1 onion, sliced into rings (I diced them)
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Butter a 1 quart casserole dish.
2. Layer 1/2 of the potatoes into bottom of the prepared casserole dish. Top with the onion slices, and add the remaining potatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. In a medium-size saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Mix in the flour and salt, and stir constantly with a whisk for one minute. Stir in milk. Cook until mixture has thickened. Stir in cheese all at once, and continue stirring until melted, about 30 to 60 seconds. Pour cheese over the potatoes, and cover the dish with aluminum foil.
4. Bake 1 1/2 hours in the preheated oven.

Crash Hot Potatoes

I got this recipe from http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/crash-hot-potatoes/. After reading many rave reviews, I decided to serve them with my Chicken & Wine. They were really good, but I'm not going to "rave" over them. They were seasoned potatoes. They were good, but nothing to write home about. My husband enjoyed them. I served them with some low-fat sour cream.

Ingredients

Small, red potatoes (as many as you want to serve...I did 6 for 2 of us and my husband ate 4 and I ate 2)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Any herbs you want to use...I used an italian seasoning herb mix

Directions

Cook potatoes until fork tender. Generously drizzle Extra Virgin Olive Oil over a large baking sheet. Place potatoes on sheet giving room between each potato. Using a potato masher, press down on the potato. Drizzle olive oil over potatoes, and sprinkle with salt, pepper and herbs. Bake 450 degrees for about 20-25 minutes until crispy and starting to brown.

Pierogi

Ahhh pierogi. What can I say? These little dumplings of happiness might possibly be my favorite food ever...thus my blog's name (and I'm just about 100% Polish and what's more polish than pierogi?). I should have made this my first post but didn't get around to making my little pierogi until this past weekend. I play around with recipes/ingrediants quite a bit in an effort to find "The best pierogi recipe ever" and I may have found it with this one. The dough was fabulous...and the potato "stuffing" was great. This one is definately for the archives. My husband devoured these little pierogi! Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from http://www.allrecipes.com/

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pierogi-Polish-Dumplings/Detail.aspx

(Comments in italics are my notes!)

INGREDIENTS
Sauerkraut Filling (I didn't make the sauerkraut filling this time around...My husband and I perfer potato!)
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 cups sauerkraut, drained and minced
salt and pepper to taste

Potato Filling:
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cups cold mashed potatoes
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white pepper

I also added quite a bit of chopped sharp cheddar. Adds a nice bite!

Dough:
3 egg
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder

DIRECTIONS
To prepare the sauerkraut filling, melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the drained sauerkraut and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then remove to a plate to cool.

For the mashed potato filling, melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir into the mashed potatoes, and season with salt and white pepper.

To make the dough, beat together the eggs and sour cream until smooth. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder; stir into the sour cream mixture until dough comes together. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until firm and smooth. Divide the dough in half, then roll out one half to 1/8 inch thickness.

Cut into 3 inch rounds using a biscuit cutter... I find that the large end of a drinking glass works just as well, if not better!
Place a small spoonful of the mashed potato filling into the center of each round. Moisten the edges with water, fold over, and press together with a fork to seal. Repeat procedure with the remaining dough and the sauerkraut filling.

You can now freeze your Pierogi. I put them on wax paper on a baking sheet and freeze for about 20 minutes or so. Then I put them in a larger air-tight container and layer them between wax paper. They freeze very well.

To cook pierogi (frozen or not) Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add perogies and cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until pierogi float to the top. Remove with a slotted spoon. In a seperate pan, melt about 1/2 stick of butter. Add about 1/2-1 cup of chopped onions and cook until traslucent. Add boiled pierogi to pan and fry until golden brown on each side. Serve with sour cream or just eat them plain! Enjoy!

Pierogi Education

You might be wondering why I'm refering to Pierogi in what appears to be the singular when it really should be plural. Well I was brought up in a Polish household always referring to pierogi as pierogi..never "Pierogies". While my parents aren't from Poland, their parents are. My parents both speak Polish but never taught it to my brother and I....so i'm not Polish-speaking wiz. I just know a few basics. But to help me explain the plural vs. singular for Pierogi, I went to Wikipedia which explains it as follows:

"Pierogi are usually small enough to be served several or many at a time, so the singular form is rather rare; people usually talk about several of them. This has affected forms of the word in different languages. In Polish, pierogi is plural, pieróg being singular. Other Slavic languages follow the same scheme, with Russian vareniki the plural of varenik and Ukrainian varenyky the plural of varenyk (both derived from the root varit', "to boil"). --Wikepedia under "Pierogi".

So, this being said, the title of my Blog doesn't make much sense...Le Petit being Singular and Pierogi being plural. However...I didn't think it made sense to have an American blog entitled "Le Petit pieróg" when most (if not all) Americans call a pierogi a pierogi. In addition, "Les Petits Pierogi" sounds odd to an American reader, in my opinion. Plus I'm combing French and Polish which makes absolutely no sense at all....so my blog title is a little quirky and gramatically incorrect, but hey, it's my blog and I can do what I want!

Hopefully this is all you ever wanted to know about pierogi!