Thursday, May 23, 2013

Baked Potato Chowder


I made this today totally on a whim. Someone on Facebook (evil facebook) mentioned cooking potato soup, and for some reason, it just sounded.... right. Considering we currently have a ton of potatoes, and a bunch of bacon in the freezer.... pretty much every ingredient was laying around and needing to be used up.

It's incredibly rich and heavy.... perfect if you're REALLY hungry... which I wasn't... and ended up putting way more in my bowl than I could even remotely handle. But very tasty none the less!

Ingredients

5 baking potatoes
2/3 cup butter
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups milk
1 cup chopped green onions
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
8 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
5 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese, and Romano cheese, mixed
6 ounces sour cream
2 chicken bouillon (I use oxo)

valley of ingredients

Method
Bake potatoes 1 hour in a 400 degree F oven. Scoop out the inside of the potatoes and set aside.
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium low heat. Add garlic and green onions, cook until soft. Stir in the flour to make a roux. Cook about 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually pour in the milk while stirring until all the milk has been added. Bring heat to medium and keep stirring until the soup mixture starts to get thick.Add bouillon cubes.
Add the potatoes, salt, ground black pepper, bacon and cheese. Stir well and continue to heat for about 15 minutes, allowing the flavors to blend. Stirring well, mix in the sour cream until well blended with the soup. Serve immediately.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Cream Sauce


This is my super easy short cut recipe for a cream sauce. I call it a short cut because I use corn starch as a thickener and fancy-pants people don't like that. But whatever, I'm not making a bechamel every time I want something creamy for dinner. ;)

You can really get creative with this, its totally a base so you can throw in whatever:


Herbs
Sauteed Mushrooms
Capers
Sauteed Onions
Asparagus
Spinach
LOBSTER

Really your only limit is your imagination.

Cream Sauce Base

2 Tbsp Corn Starch
1 cup stock (fish, chicken, veg depending on what you are serving it with)
1 cup cream
Salt & Pepper to taste

Mix your corn starch with a bit of the stock in a small bowl to make a slurry. In a pan over medium heat bring your stock to a low simmer. Add cream, and also bring to a low simmer (do not let it boil!!). Whisk constantly and begin adding corn starch slurry. It will start to thicken quickly so keep your eye on it.  If it thickens too much you can thin it a little with a bit more cream, just keep whisking!

Once it starts to thicken you can add your flavorings such as mushrooms or herbs and then season to taste.

Voila! Home made cream sauce!