Ajiaco con pollo (Colombian chicken and potato soup)

It's a perfect day for soup: a cold rainy Sunday in December, just after Christmas.  Today I'm trying to recreate my significant other's mother's recipe for ajiaco con pollo.  This chicken and potato soup is a hearty staple of the capital city in Colombia, from whence my beloved Leo originated.  In doing some quick online research, most recipes refer to the soup simply as ajiaco, and there are several variations of the recipe.  I have decided to follow the notes that Leo took down while helping his mom to make the soup and try for an authentic Bogotan feel.  One variation from these notes is that I am using cubed butternut squash instead of pumpkin (In the frozen aisle at the grocery store: "I don't see any pumpkin." "Well here's some butternut squash, do you think that would work?" "Yes! I love butternut squash!" Case closed.). 

The staple ingredient which "makes" the soup is papa criolla amarilla, or yellow creole potatoes.  These small yellow potatoes are very sweet and have a creamy texture, and dissolve into the soup.  Like all potatoes, they are of Andean descent and are considered one of the best in Colombia.  They may be available at fancier food stores, at Latin groceries, and online.

Ingredients

-3 lbs chicken breasts, trimmed of fat and sliced in half lengthwise
-one small to medium sized garlic bulb, peeled and crushed
-one medium yellow onion, peeled and halved
-1 lb papa criolla amarilla
-4 large red potatoes, skin on, cubed
-1/2 lb frozen cubed butternut squash or pumpkin
-8 mini extra-sweet corn cobs
-one bunch green onions
-1 chicken bouillon cube
-1 bay leaf
-salt, to taste
-capers
-rice, cooked separately
-fried plantains
-can also be served with avocado, sour cream, and spicy aji


Begin by combining the chicken, onion, garlic, bay leaf, bouillon cube, and salt in 8-10 cups of cold water (you can always add more if need be).  I'm using my All-clad stockpot.  Heat all of the ingredients over low heat until they come to a boil.

    Meanwhile, cube your red potatoes.  Once the soup boils, remove the onion.  Add the red potatoes and the corn cobs and return to a boil.  When you can easily pierce the red potatoes with a fork, add the papa criolla amarilla and the butternut squash.  Allow the chicken to cook thoroughly, then remove, shred (with forks or hands), and return it to the soup.  Simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until the soup thickens to the desired texture.  Just before serving, slice up your green onions and toss into the soup for a little bit of crunchy texture and bright taste.  Serve the soup with rice and fried plantains on the side, and add capers as per personal preference to each bowl.  This is a superbly savory and comforting soup with a simple execution.   

See also: Ajiaco: Colombian Chicken and Potato Soup (Serious Eats)

Venison Chili

Venison is a uniquely sweet meat, low in fat with lots of high quality protein.  It's always had a very special place on my menu.  Some of my earliest memories are running up to my father on a cold autumn evening as he comes home from a long day of deer hunting.  "Daddy, did you get one? Did you get one?!"  I would peer into the back of his old T100 pickup, gazing at the noble animal who would fill our freezer and our bellies, and anticipate the story of the hunt at the dinner table.

It takes a special talent to cook venison without messing it up- its low fat content makes it prone to drying out (as I have learned to my chagrin).  That's why my version of venison chili is an excellent introduction to cooking with deer; the other ingredients and the long, slow and low heat cooking keeps it moist.  When obtaining venison, it helps to either be or to know a hunter, but it is available in some stores and online.

Ingredients
2 lbs ground venison
1 lb canned crushed tomatoes
15 oz canned black beans (no salt added)
15 oz canned red kidney beans (no salt added)
1 green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1 medium sized onion, diced
1 cup frozen corn
1 tbsp vegetable oil
fresh chopped cilantro, to taste
4 large cloves of garlic, crushed
ground black pepper, to taste
chipotle chili powder, to taste
2 tbsp ground cumin

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.  In an oven safe pot large enough to hold all of the above ingredients, saute the pepper and onions in the vegetable oil over medium low heat until the onions begin to soften and become translucent.  Add everything else in no particular order and stir well together.  Cover and transfer to the oven.  Allow to cook for about 2.5-3 hours.  Serve hot with grated cheddar (or whatever cheese your heart desires and your palate deems appropriate).


 

Potato and Barley Stew in Turkey Broth

Don't throw away that turkey carcass from Thanksgiving!  Instead, use it to make a rich and satisfying broth.  I had a lot of potatoes and barley, so I decided to use my home-made turkey stock to make a thick stew.  This recipe does take a lot of time but minimal effort is required (other than if you were the one who cooked the Thanksgiving turkey).

To make the stock, I simply put the carcass in a pot large enough to hold it, covered it with water, added two bay leaves, quartered an unpeeled onion and tossed that in too.  I covered the pot and brought the whole mix to a simmer over very low heat for hours on end.  I was at home all day, so the total time simmering probably ended up being around four or five hours.  If you don't want to wait that long, keep in mind that the longer you can keep the bird in the water, the more flavorful your stock will be (although seriously, I think my five hours was a bit overkill).  I'd say no less than two hours simmering.

Remove all solid detritus from the broth.  This is easier said than done- even after spending five or ten minutes with a slotted spoon, a couple of small bones escaped my efforts.  If you don't mind making a larger mess, strain the broth through a fine sieve into another bowl or pot.  This should nearly eliminate all unwanted debris from your broth. 

From here, you have some options.  You could freeze the broth for future use in soups or gravy, or you could go right ahead and use it immediately.  This is what I did.  I decided not to salvage the bits of meat from the carcass, as I sampled some of it and found the texture wanting.  In any case, I had all the turkey flavor I could want in my broth.  I chopped about six potatoes into bite-sized pieces and added them to the broth, followed by roughly a cup and a half of pearl barley and a cup of frozen corn. 

For seasoning, I used black pepper, a bit of cayenne pepper, and cumin.  I stirred everything together and allowed it to continue simmering for about an hour and a half.  Both the potatoes and the barley thicken the soup tremendously, and they make for a filling meal.  The corn adds notes of sweetness to the palate.  I'll admit, I was dubious about how exactly this recipe would turn out, fearing a bland and mushy end result.   I was pleasantly surprised at the first mouthful.  The simpleness of the recipe brings out how lovely the texture and delicate flavor of barley really is.  The potatoes were a nice complement, adding substance and a contrasting mouth-feel.  My turkey broth lent richness and a holiday flavor over it all; cumin and cayenne added a touch of excitement.  Easy and flavorful, this one was a winner.

Smoked Ham and Lentil Stew

What's one to do with the bone from a perfectly good roast smoked ham?  I had plenty of the latter left after mine and Andrew's private Thanksgiving feast this past Sunday, as Andrew had rather zealously brought home a twelve pound ham for the two of us.  A good deal of it went into two separate pot pies and several ham sandwiches, but still- I had the bone.  And of course, being the soup lover that I am, I knew exactly what to do with it.
     This is an extremely simple and satisfying recipe.  It consists of simply combining all of the ingredients into a large pot for about two and a half hours and results into a filling, hearty meal.  As a bonus, not only did I have all the meat on the bone, but I had roughly a pound or two left from the fatty end of the ham itself.  This significantly bolstered the recipe in terms of volume, flavor, and filling ability.



Ingredients

1 lb lentils, rinsed
1 leftover ham bone
1-2 lbs ham, cubed into bite-sized pieces (and trimmed of most of its fat)
3 medium potatoes, cubed into bite-sized pieces 
2 large onions, coarsely chopped
1/2 lb baby carrots, chopped into bite-sized pieces
6 cloves fresh crushed garlic
12 cups water
black ground pepper, to taste
cumin, to taste

Reserving the cubed ham pieces, combine all of the above ingredients and stir well into a large pot.  Bring to a simmer, and simmer over low heat for about two hours and thirty minutes, occasionally stirring.  This allows the ham bone to turn the water into a delicious ham stock, and for the cook to be able to strip the bone of any stubborn pieces of meat.  Remove the bone and allow it to cool after this time has passed, and add your reserved ham pieces.  Once the ham bone has cooled, salvage what meat you can and put it into the soup, discarding the rest.

That's really all there is to it- low heat and patience yields one of the few recipes that I have ever made that doesn't require seconds to make me feel full.
 

The Soup Review: Yook Gae Jang (Korean Beef and Scallion Soup)

This is one of my favorite dishes of all time and is the inspiration for my own spicy noodle soups.  Enoki mushrooms, scallions, egg, clear noodles (dak myun), and long ropes of chewy yet tender pulled beef come together in a wonderfully spicy-savory broth.  Today's rendition was courtesy of the Wooram Korean restaurant found in the Edison H-Mart.  Red pepper figures heavily into this hot soup in both dried and paste form, so it is not for the faint of heart, nor those prone to heartburn.  In doing a little research online, there are variations in what goes in(of course), but I think that I prefer this type.  Bean sprouts, mushrooms and fern bracken are possible ingredients, and the egg can be cooked separately.  If you ever have the chance to eat and/or cook this soup... do it!

Homemade Vegetable Stock and Soup

 Inspired by some celery and carrots laying about in the fridge that I knew weren't going to be eaten otherwise, I decided to have a go at making homemade vegetable stock.  And then from stock, to soup.  I first brushed with vegetable oil and then roasted the vegetables (onion, garlic, celery, carrot) in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  It took just over half an hour for the skin on the carrots and celery to start bubbling; a bit of charring is fine too.  I used a whole garlic bulb; slice the top of it off to facilitate the later creation of garlic paste.  Roasting the vegetables really boosts their flavor in preparation for some long, slow simmering.  Once the vegetables are finished roasting, put all of them into a large enough pot (or in this case, saucepan).  Keep the skins on, as this will also enhance the broth's flavor.  Cover the vegetables with water and add a bundle of fresh herbs tied together with cooking twine.  I used thyme, basil, and sage, which grow in my little container garden.  Add one bay leaf, bring to a boil, and simmer for a nice long time. 

I decided to keep it all covered, instead of letting the water boil off, since I was planning on using it shortly thereafter and saw no sense in just having to add more water to the soup.  Two or three hours later, I removed all solids from the broth with a slotted spoon into a colander positioned over a large bowl.  The garlic I reserved on the side in a smaller bowl.  All other vegetables were pressed with a wooden spoon to extract the last of their juices into the large bowl, to be reunified with the broth in the saucepan.  These vegetables were then discarded.  The garlic was squeezed out of its skin (the skin discarded) and mashed into a paste with a fork.  This paste then went back into the broth.  I stored the broth in a tupperware container until I was ready to make vegetable soup.

Soup Ingredients

1 lb carrots, tops discarded and sliced
8 oz baby portabella mushrooms, sliced
1 cup frozen corn
1 lb canned diced tomatoes
8 oz kale greens
4 cups homemade vegetable broth*
3/4 cup low sodium chicken broth (optional: if omitted, this soup becomes vegan)
2 tbsp black ground pepper
1 tsp dried oregano flakes
1 squirt Sriracha sauce (optional)
water, to cover vegetables

*There are very good vegetable bouillon cubes available at the grocery store; I had some of my mother's excellent vegetable soup this past weekend and she had used bouillon.  I cannot speak for its sodium content, however.

To make the soup, place all of the above ingredients except for the kale into your pot, stir, and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for 1 hour or until carrots are soft, stirring occasionally.  Add kale and stir in, cooking for an additional 10 minutes.  Serve hot.

I was extremely pleased with the results of this soup, and I think you will be too, if you try to use this recipe!

 

Hearty Beef Stew

I must say that this is truly one of the tastiest recipes that I have worked with.  Beef stew is best made with chuck steak, a flavorful cut that is perfect for long and slow simmering.  Its connective tissue and high amount of marbling helps to thicken the stew.  Grocery stores often do sell it pre-cut in chunks for stew, but it is better to buy a whole steak if you can and do your own cutting to ensure more evenly sized pieces (about one and a half inch cubes).  I unfortunately had no choice in the matter when I went to the grocery store- there was only the pre-cut option.  Most of the pieces were smaller than I would have liked, and there was little consistency in the actual size.  At least it was the correct cut of meat, and it is convenient to not have to do your own chopping.

I pulled the recipe almost directly from Cook's Illustrated, with only a few minor changes.  A bit more garlic, for instance, and I used a cabernet sauvignon as opposed to a drier red wine.  They also recommended waiting to put the vegetables in halfway through the cooking time, but the first time I tried this, I ended up having to cook the whole thing an extra hour because the potatoes and carrots were still quite crunchy after only one hour.  This is very likely due to my oven being very old and inefficient, so if you have a more modern appliance, you may want to follow Cook's Illustrated's lead unless you like very mushy vegetables.

Ingredients

3 lbs chuck steak, chopped into 1 1/2 inch cubes
1 lb red potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
1 lb baby carrots
2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
1 cup thawed frozen peas
1 cup dry (and/or) full-bodied red wine 
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
3 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp flour
5 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
2 bay leaves
fresh or dried thyme, to taste
ground black pepper

If you are feeling up to the task, pearl onions are a wonderful addition to this stew.  I meant to try to add portabella mushrooms this time, but I forgot that I had them in the refrigerator.  I'm sure that they would be delicious, too.  A dutch oven would be perfect for this; alas I do not yet have one.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.  Liberally season the beef with black pepper.  Heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil over medium high heat until it has a lovely shimmer to it.  Working in batches, brown the meat on at least two sides.  Tongs are very helpful for this.  The reason you should work in batches is that if each cube of meat doesn't have a bit of breathing room around it, they will not brown.  Instead, they will steam, turn gray, and become tough.  It takes about 4 minutes for smaller cubes to brown, and I only flip them once (regardless of size).  Keep an eye on them; don't entirely rely on the timer.  About halfway through browning the beef, you will need to add another tbsp of oil to the pot.  Put the browned cubes in a bowl to the side once finished.

Now, turn the heat down to medium low, add the last tbsp of oil, and add your onions, scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to dislodge all of the browned bits left over from the meat.  Once the onions have softened (about 4 to 5 minutes), add the garlic and stir for about 30 seconds.  In goes the flour.  Keep stirring and mixing everything together for another minute or two, at which point the flour should become a light brown.  Add the wine, stirring everything together and again scraping the bottom of the pot, until the wine begins to thicken.  At this point, gradually stir in the chicken broth.  Once all the liquid is in the pan, put your thyme and bay leaves in, and bring to a simmer.  Add the beef, carrots, and potatoes; stir and bring to a simmer once more.  Cover and put in the oven for two hours.

At the end of the two hours, take the pot out of the oven and stir in the frozen peas.  After about five minutes, the stew will be ready to serve.  Enjoy!

PS- This recipe works very well for venison stew meat as well.  I treated the venison in almost the same manner; browning time was decreased by a couple of minutes, and I allowed the stew to cook for three instead of two hours.  All other steps were identical, and the results were fantastically delicious!