CIOPPINO On The Cheap

Cioppino On The Cheap

Cioppino is one of my favorite foods. But until recently I only made it on special occasions. That’s because this delicious main dish fish soup was just too expensive for everyday meals.  However, on a recent ordinary cold spring Sunday, I was craving something warm and just couldn’t get Cioppino out of my head. So I set out to find the best ingredients for an awesome Cioppino on the cheap.

To save some cash, I didn’t include lobster, crab legs, or clams.But I used lots of mussels.  In place of  fish fillets, I used Trader Joe’s frozen boneless and skinless Mahi Mahi  Pieces, for which I paid only $4.49 per pound.

My Cioppino On The Cheap turned out absolutely great! A keeper! Hope you like it too!

Recipe note:
This recipe is adapted from Giada De Laurentiis’ Cioppino recipe. Her recipe was a great guide to ingredients and timings.

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1/2 onion, chopped
2 large shallots, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons organic tomato paste
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced organic tomatoes in juice
3/4 cup dry white wine
2 cups clam juice
1/2 cup water
1 bay leaf
1 pound wild caught mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1/2 pound uncooked shell-on very large shrimp
3/4 pound Trader Joe’s frozen Mahi Mahi Pieces, cut into large bite-size chunks
3 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley

DIRECTIONS

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the fennel, onion, and shallots, and saute until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes, and saute for about 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste. Add tomatoes with their juices, wine, clam juice, and bay leaf. Cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until the flavors blend, about 20 minutes.

Add the mussels to the pot. Cover and cook until the mussels begin to open, about 5 minutes. Add the shrimp and mahi mahi. Simmer gently until the fish and shrimp are just cooked through, about 5 more minutes. Stir gently. Discard any mussels that do not open. Season the soup, to taste, with salt, if desired.

Ladle the soup into individual bowls and top each bowl of steaming Cioppino On The Cheap with chopped parsley.

Food shopping note:
Clam juice: I really  like Bar Harbor Clam Juice. It is not too salty, like many of the other brands of clam juice.

Enjoy and be healthy!
~Leni

STOCK – Made with Chicken and Beef Bones and More

I woke up this morning to the wonderful aroma of stock simmering on the stove. It’s been simmering for 14 hours and I intend to let it do so for another 5 or 6 hours. After a total of 19 or 20 hours, great flavor and lots of bone-building minerals and collagen will have leached out of the bones and into the stock.

I’m really obsessed with making stock making these days! It’s so healthy! And it brings me back to the days when my mom made stock in the “deep well” in our gas stove and my grandmother made a clear chicken soup (stock) flavored with dill for every family gathering.

I am excited to share with you my basic bone stock recipe and and a few tips that I have picked up from reading and experimenting these past few weeks.

RECIPE FOR STOCK

• 1 part bones
• 1 part vegetable “formula” (shown below)
• A few additions (shown below)
• Cold filtered tap water to cover contents of pot with 2 inches of water

Note: I use a mixture of bones. In the stock pictured below, I had beef marrow bones, oxtails, chicken backs, and chicken necks. In the future, I would like to add knuckle bones and also chicken feet because they are excellent sources of collagen (which my doctor who is an expert in osteoporosis says is good for bones, though I have not found much literature on this yet). And, if available, I get bones from grass-fed beef and the most humanely raised chickens that have not been given antibiotics or hormones.

For 16 cups of finished stock, I used: 1.5 pounds chicken backs and necks, 1.5 pounds beef marrow bones, and 1 pound oxtails.

Beef marrow bone

VEGETABLE FORMULA

2 parts yellow organic onions
Note: I remove and discard the first layer of the brownish onion peel. Then I remove the inner layer(s) of the brownish onion peel and toss those into my stock pot. Next, cut off the two ends of the peeled onion, and then roughly chop the onion.
1 part carrot, sliced
1 part celery (including the flavorful leaves), sliced

For 16 cups of finished stock, I used: 1 large onion, 3 medium carrots, 2 stalks celery.

Onion skin goes in too!

ADDITIONS
The amounts of these additional ingredients should be proportional to the quantity of stock you are making.

Bay leaves
Whole black peppercorns
Organic lemon, cut in half with seeds removed. Squeeze the juice into the pot, and toss the remaining lemon halves into the pot. Lemon peel is nutritious and flavorful! If you do not have an organic lemon, you can use apple cider vinegar. Note: The lemon (or vinegar) adds acid which helps leech the calcium and other minerals out of the bones – and does not give a lemony or vinegary flavor – unless you use too much.

For 16 cups of finished stock, I used: 1 fresh organic lemon (and next time I’ll try 2 lemons), 2 large bay leaves, and 6 whole peppercorns.

Lemon helps to leech minerals from bones!

DIRECTIONS for making stock — could not be easier — all you need is a big pot and patience

• Bring the contents of the pot to a boil.
• Turn the heat down to a simmer and let the pot simmer, covered, for about 20 hours.  Note: If you do not want to leave the pot simmering on the stove, you can always put it in the oven. For a discussion on the correct oven temperature for simmering stock, see Chowhound. Or if you prefer, use a slow cooker as they do for this chicken stock recipe.
• When the stock has been simmering for hours and the marrow bones will give up their marrow easily, insert a chopstick or blunt knife into the marrow and let the marrow slide out and into the stock.
• When the cooking time is up, remove the bones, most of which will not have much meat on them anymore. I used a pair of thin tongs to remove the dainty chicken bones, but next time I might just tie the chicken (or at least the chicken necks) up in cheesecloth so I would not have to fish out all those little neck bones.
• Pick the remaining meat off the bones and add it back to the pot, or if you wish, reserve the meat for another use.
• Remove the bay leaves, lemon halves, and onion peel, and discard after you have squeezed the stock out of the lemon halves. (See tip below.)
• In the interest of food safety, cool the stock down as quickly as possible (See “Cool Your Stock” shown below.)
• Refrigerate the stock in glass containers, for no more than 2 or 3 days. For longer storage, freeze.
• Right before you are ready to use the stock, remove the layer of fat on top of the stock. (If stock is frozen, warm it just a little in microwave so you can remove the fat.)

The stock making directions in this post do NOT make a clear stock. If you want a clear stock, you need to modify the directions so that you:
SKIM THE FOAM(scum) that forms at the top of the simmering soup and discard the foam. (I read that contrary to wham a lot of chefs say, the foam doesn’t have an affect on the flavor…and since I can’t find any effect, I don’t skim it off.)
Simmer stock UNCOVERED and add water as needed.
STRAIN OUT all the vegetables and REMOVE the meat.

DIRECTIONS FOR COOLING AND STORING STOCK – be sure to read!
Since stock is a nutrient rich medium (a great place for bacteria to flourish), so it’s important to cool your stock quickly.

COOL YOUR STOCK
For food safety reasons, cool your stock quickly! To do this, I  put empty glass storage bowls into a big pan. Then I add ice cubes to the pan scattering them around the bowls. Next I ladle the hot soup into the bowls. Then, I pour cold water over the ice to make an ice-water bath that the bowls with the soup sit in.  After about 1 minute, I stir the stock. After another minute or two, I stir it again, and let it sit until it’s cool enough to refrigerate or freeze.

And when I make a lot of stock at one time – and I mean a lot (about 10 quarts), putting even warm stock into the refrigerator and freezer, is not that great for the refrigerator or freezer ,and it will temporarily raise the temperature of the refrigerator so it’s a bit higher than the safe temperature (40 degrees F and under). That’s not a great idea. So what to do?

So here’s a nifty trick: Throw a few ice cubes of frozen stock from your freezer into each bowl of your freshly made stock that’s been cooled by the method I’ve just described. And, if you are making stock for the first time, use ice cubes of store-bought chicken or beef broth. This ice cube trick helps bring the stock temperature down even more before you freeze it. Just one word of caution about this ice cube trick… For food safety: Always make your ice cubes out of a fresh batch of your homemade stock or an unopened container of store bought broth!

Cool hot food QUICKLY for food safety!

STORE STOCK IN REFRIGERATOR OR FREEZER
Cover the cooled stock and and refrigerate the stock, for no more than 2 or 3 days.
For longer storage, freeze.

I like to have small portions of stock available for later – to use in cooking or as a base for making a single serving of soup. So I always freeze some of the stock in silicone muffin pans. Details of how I do this are given in the post, Silicone Muffin Pans – A Kitchen Staple – But Not For Baking!

NOTES

• Remove the layer of fat on top of your stock right before you are ready to consume the stock as is or use it in cooking.
• Some people make stock in a slow cooker (crock pot) and others make it in a pressure cooker.

MORE INFORMATION

• Chowhound discussion board:  information about making chicken stock ,  making chicken broth from bones ,and beef bones used for stock.
• International variations on chicken stock recipes: whats4eats.
• Tips on making chicken stock, see About.com.
• Chicken feet – for making stock that’s full of gelatin and extra delicious. Here’s how to prep chicken feet for your stock pot.
• Beef – recipe based on Michael Ruhlman’s stock recipe as given in his book, Ratio.

WHAT CAN I DO WITH STOCK?
Just about everything! In upcoming posts, I’ll tell you what I’m doing with mine…

Lebanese-Style Lentil Soup with Kale and Spinach

The calendar says fall and the abundance of summer veggies has tapered off…so it’s time to start making hearty soups again! Yesterday my husband and I had lunch at the Lebanese Taverna where they serve a wonderful Lentil Soup (Shorba Addas) that’s rich in greens (spinach?) and spiced with lemon, garlic, and cilantro. With this soup on my brain today, I picked out a Food and Wine recipe to make a lentil soup like the Lebanese Taverna’s.

But instead of making the recipe as shown, I made the soup using Monamifood Garlic Flavors Cubes, Cilantro Sauce Flavor Cubes, and Zesty Citrus Flavor Cubes – which meant I didn’t have to run to the store for any ingredients; just open my freezer! It made it easier and faster to whip up this soup for a Sunday lunch…and, if you ask me, it made this wonderful soup even more delicious than it was when I made it by following the Food and Wine recipe!

This recipe makes a LOT of soup, so you will have plenty left over to give to friends or freeze – or both!

Ingredients

2 cups small green lentils, picked over and rinsed

* Small (really tiny) green lentils are available in our Whole Foods store in the bulk section. But this variety of lentils is not essential. I have used brown lentils before, with good results.

16 cups water (yes, 16 cups!)

3 tablespoons Better Than Bouillon Organic Chicken Base (or Vegetarian No Chicken Base)

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 very large onions, diced

2 pinches of crushed red pepper

4 Monamifood Smooth and Mild Garlic Flavor Cubes

4 Monamifood Cilantro Sauce flavor cubes

1 Monamifood Zesty Citrus Flavor Cube

1 bunch organic kale (curly variety), stemmed and torn into small pieces

2/3 of a 16-0uncd bag of frozen chopped organic spinach

Directions

In a large stockpot, place the lentils, water, and Better Than Bouillon Chicken (or No Chicken) Base. Partially cover and cook over medium heat until the lentils are barely tender – about 25 minutes. (Do not over cook the lentils or they will split and the soup will be grainy!)

Note: Unless you have two, large (11-inch diameter), non-stick saute/frying pans, you will need to saute the onions in two batches. If you were to put all the onions in one pan, they would steam rather than saute.

While the lentils are cooking, heat 1 ½ tablespoons of the olive oil over medium heat in a large 11-inch non-stick skillet. When the oil is hot, add half of the diced onions and one pinch of the crushed red pepper; saute, stirring occasionally, until the onions start to get lightly browned. Remove the onions from the pan and set them aside.

Cook the remaining onions with a pinch of crushed red pepper in the same 11-inch non-stick skillet. When the second batch of onions start to get lightly browned, add these onions — and also the reserved onions — to the pot with the lentils. Stir to mix.

Continue to cook the soup over medium heat. Add the cubes (Garlic, Cilantro Sauce, and Citrus) and stir the soup while the cubes melt. Taste and add a little more Better Than Bouillon Base, if desired.

Add the chopped fresh kale and cook for about 3 minutes. It will soften and turn a lovely deep green color. Then add the frozen spinach and simmer for another minute or two.

Individually season the soup at the table

Individually season the soup at the table! Just pass a small pouring container (creamer, perhaps) containing a few defrosted Monamifood Zesty Citrus Flavor Cubes and a small bowl with a few defrosted Monamifood Cilantro Sauce Flavor Cubes.

Enjoy and be healthy!

~Leni

BEANS: Black Bean Soup & Stew (the easy way!)

Why beans?

As mentioned in my previous post about beans , Dr. Servan-Schreiber states: “The anticancer diet is principally composed of vegetables (and legumes) accompanied by olive (or canola or flaxseed) oil or organic butter [by organic butter I think he means organic butter from grass-fed cows, which should have much less saturated fat than regular butter], garlic, herbs, and spices. Meat and eggs are optional. They don’t represent the main ingredients of the plate.” (Anti Cancer, page 119)

You may be someone who would like to cook a pot of legumes (beans and split peas) from scratch but somehow you never get around to it. I must admit, as much as I love to cook, I hardly ever cook beans from scratch. The last time I attempted this process, I soaked and drained the beans and then got sidetracked. When I was ready to cook the beans that had been set aside on my kitchen counter, they had already sprouted!

So for now, anyway, I would rather purchase the Whole Foods’ Smoky Adobo Black Bean Soup – found on the salad bar island at my Whole Foods store — than make my own Black Bean Soup from scratch.

BLACK BEAN SOUP & STEW (the easy way!)

Ingredients

Whole Foods’ Smoky Adobo Black Bean Soup

• 100% vegetarian
• Low in fat (2.5 grams per 1 cup serving),
• No saturated fat (0 grams per 1 cup serving)
• Lots of fiber (8 grams per 1 cup serving),
• A fair amount of sodium (680 mg per 1 cup serving) — but less if you dilute this thick soup as explained below

Directions

Here are some of the many wonderful ways you can customize Whole Foods’ Smoky Adobo Black Bean Soup and make it even more interesting and delicious:

• Add a few Tomato & Onion Chutney Flavor Cubes. This gives the soup more nutrition (more veggies plus turmeric and black pepper) and also reduces the sodium per serving.
• If the soup is very thick (as it often is when there’s not much left in the hot soup container from which you ladle your soup), just add a little water to yoursoup before serving. And then top each serving with chopped fresh cilantro.
• Or instead of thinning the soup with water, add a few Zesty Citrus Flavor Cubes – just enough to add a hint of orange and not so much as to make the soup sweet. The lively orange flavor and touch of sweetness tones down the heat (spiciness) and also thins the consistency. I thought this combination was outstanding, especially when topped with chopped fresh cilantro.
• Serve this thick  soup (like a stew) over any cooked grain or some quinoa and then top it with diced avocado and tomatoes.
• Puree this soup in a blender if you want a smooth texture. Or puree some of this soup and mix it with the rest of the soup for a variety of textures.

To freeze for use later:

• I like to freeze small portions of this soup in a regular-size (not mini size) silicon muffin pan. When frozen, just pop the frozen soup “muffins” out and place them into a plastic bag ( the kind for the freezer). Now you have small portions you can use anytime you want a little black bean soup or stew.
• When this soup goes on sale at Whole Foods, you can stock up and sock it away in your freezer. Just remember it’s there!

I hope you enjoy this soup as much as we do at my house.

P.S. I have no interest or relationship with Whole Foods; I just like their soup.

Enjoy and be healthy!

Leni

BEANS: Lentil and Chickpea Soup (Crockpot)

Why beans?

When discussing the anti-cancer diet in general, Dr. Servan-Schreiber in his book, Anti-Cancer, states: “The anticancer diet is principally composed of vegetables (and legumes) accompanied by olive (or canola or flaxseed) oil or organic butter [by organic butter I think he means organic butter from grass-fed cows, which should have much less saturated fat than regular butter], garlic, herbs, and spices. Meat and eggs are optional. They don’t represent the main ingredients of the plate.” (page 119)

For Americans that are used to a meat and potatoes diet, it’s a challenge to create a meal that features legumes (beans, lentils or split peas) and that everyone will enjoy. To that end, I share with you my favorite Lentil and Chickpea Soup. In one variation or another (I almost never make the same recipe twice in exactly the same manner), it’s been a family favorite.

Lentil and Chickpea Soup (crock pot)

This recipe is based on the traditional Moroccan chickpea soup called Harira.

Ingredients

a few tablespoons olive oil

2 medium size onions, finely chopped

4 vegetable or chicken broth bullion cubes

4 cups water (preferably filtered water)

1, 19-ounce can chickpeas (including liquid)

1, 28-ounce can diced tomatoes

• The best flavor, in my opinion, is from the Muir Glen Fire Roasted Tomatoes
• I prefer Muir Glen canned products because they come in white enamel lined cans (no plastic liner)
• If you only have canned whole tomatoes on hand, you can use them, too. Using clean hands, squeeze the tomatoes so that they break apart and the tomato pieces slide through your fingers and into the crockpot. (Doesn’t sound great, but it works well.)

1 slightly heaping teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon Celon cinnamon

• For food safety information regarding different varieties of cinnamon, see the Update in the post, Cinnamon: Steel-Cut Oats in a Crockpot.

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

• When I use chopped cilantro in cooking, I almost always use the cilantro stems too.

1 cup lentils (regular dried lentils from the supermarket are fine), rinsed

• The only lentils I could find in the supermarket were packaged with a flavor packet for making soup. So I used the lentils and not the packet.

2 Smooth and Mild Garlic Flavor Cubes

• My Smooth and Mild Garlic Flavor Cubes were frozen and had been made in a mini muffin tin. The cubes were slightly less than half an inch in height.

cooked quinoa

Additions to add at the table, so everyone can add exactly the amount desired

chopped fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley (curly parsley is OK too)

lemon wedges

• It’s amazing how a few squirts of fresh lemon juice perks up the flavor

smoked paprika (optional)

• Smoked paprika is a marvelous seasoning, which adds a hint of smokiness and lots of vitamin A besides.
• Available at many gourmet stores and from Penzeys.

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

In a large heavy bottom saucepan, over medium heat, heat the olive oil, and when the oil is hot, add the onions. Saute the onions, stirring as needed. The onions are cooked when they are slightly translucent.  Add the cooked onions to the crock pot.

Reconstitute the bullion cubes with the water. Then pour the bullion into the crock pot.

Then add the following ingredients to the crock pot:

chickpeas (including liquid)

tomatoes

turmeric

freshly ground black pepper

cinnamon

chopped fresh cilantro

lentils

garlic flavor cubes

Cover the crock pot and cook on low overnight or while you are at work OR just as long as it takes for the lentils to cook (which is probably just an hour or two on low…but you should test them for doneness and not go by my time estimate, because it’s just an estimate).

To serve the soup…

Place a 3 or 4 heaping tablespoons of cooked quinoa into each bowl.

Spoon a few ladles of soup over the quinoa.

At the table, pass the following flavorings and garnishes…

chopped fresh Italian parsley (or regular curly parsley)

lemon wedges

smoked paprika

salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Enjoy and be healthy,

Leni