Cooking and Cinema

Short Stories, Film Reviews, and Recipes

Category: Cooking advice (Page 1 of 3)

Baked Blackened Chicken and Potatoes

August 30, 2021 /
One-Pot Meal Without an Instant Pot

The idea for this blackened chicken one-pot meal came from the 1997 edition of the Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker.

You can still find it on eBay, but I don’t think the 1997 version is online. The original recipe includes a small section describing how French villagers used to prepare this dish.

Before going to church, the townspeople would bring their potato and chicken casseroles to the baker to cook. The baker reserved space in the bread ovens for the town’s meals every Sunday.

After church, they picked up the casseroles, grabbed a few baguettes, walked next door for 2 cases of Châteauneuf du Pape, and headed home to enjoy lunch, laughter, and intoxication with their loving family.

The original vinaigrette was bland, and it made the potatoes a little greasy. The basil vinaigrette in my recipe does not include salt and pepper, but the teaspoon of blackening seasoning makes up for it. You can experiment with different oil and seasoning mixtures or rely only on olive oil with salt and pepper.

Ingredients

4lbs chicken breasts pounded flat

1 Yellow Bell Pepper

2 Sweet Banana Peppers

½ cup sliced sweet white onion

6-8 Oregon Gold Potatoes

½ cup fresh basil

4 Tbsp+ 1 tsp blackening seasoning

1 Lime Juiced

1 tsp Dijon mustard

⅔ cup + 1Tbsp Olive oil

Blackening Seasoning (Medium Heat)

1Tbsp ground black pepper

1 Tbsp oregano

½ Tbsp onion Powder

½ Tbsp garlic powder

1 Tbsp paprika

2 tsp salt

2 tsp ground mustard

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

¼ tsp Cayenne

  • This makes ½ cup of blackening seasoning, but you’ll only need around I Tbsp for each chicken breast.

Instructions

  • Coat a large (10.5×14) casserole dish with baking spray. Slice the potatoes, bell peppers, and white onions as thin as possible. Arrange the potato slices evenly and cover with bell peppers and onions.
  • Blend the basil, lime juice, Dijon mustard, and 1 tsp blackening seasoning in a food processor for 30 seconds. Add the olive oil slowly until the mixture emulsifies.
  • Coat the chicken with the blackening seasoning and heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a cast-iron skillet. Sear the breasts for two minutes on each side. Drizzle half of the basil mixture over the spuds and peppers.
  • Place the breasts on top of the vegetables and distribute the banana peppers around evenly. Pour the basil vinaigrette over the chicken.
  • Bake in a preheated oven at 375°F for 70-80 minutes.
  • Set aside on a cooling rack and wait five minutes before eating

The potatoes can overlap each other but try to cut them the same size to cook evenly. You can use Russets, red potatoes, or gold potatoes, but gold potatoes and red potatoes hold their shape, and Russets tend to break apart.

I like the flavor of potatoes with the skin on, but you’re welcome to rip their skin off. This is a meal I try to make quickly, and sometimes laziness gets in the way of my tater prepping duties.

You can use practically any vegetable: tomatoes, zucchini, cauliflower, carrots, or rutabaga (maybe not). The last time I made it I used the red potatoes I grew, but this time, only the banana peppers and basil are homegrown.

Pouring the vinaigrette over the vegetables before adding the chicken ensures even baking and tastier peppers, onions, and potatoes.

Cover the chicken thoroughly with the vinaigrette. A glass pourer helps you estimate how much you use for each breast. I put some banana peppers on top of the chicken and added more dressing, but the peppers get a little crispy on the edges. I like slightly charred peppers (I still cut off the burned spots), but you can spread the pepper rings around and leave them off the chicken.

Several years ago, I interviewed with my left hand for the part of “thing” for the Addams Family movie, but the casting director said I was the worst hand model she had ever seen.

“Too much hair near the wrist, and the hand veins are too prominent and puffy,” she said. “Come back and see me when you‘ve shaved those wrists and flattened those veins. Ok, sweetie?”

That was a disappointment, but my hand had starring roles in a Liquid Plumber commercial, an online Glock handgun ad, a magazine ad for an air freshener that causes impotence, and an online video for a health and wellness supplement that has disturbing and uncomfortable side effects.

Cooking and Gardening for American Slackers Part II: Roasting Garlic and Browning Butter

June 1, 2021 /
I inherited this skillet from my Grandma. It’s older than me and doesn’t require too much oil, since it has over fifty years of seasoning.

If you love garlic in your food but aren’t fond of fresh garlic’s aftertaste, try roasting the garlic. Roasting garlic reduces the power of the pungent bulb, but most recipes require lengthy cooking times.

If you have time to cook it for one or two hours, oven-roasted garlic produces the best texture and flavor to spread on toasted bread or add to an uncooked dip.

Garlic’s flavor and potency can be traced back to its family history; it’s in the same family as onions and lilies. However, elephant garlic varieties are unrelated to garlic and grouped with the leek family.

Quick Garlic Roasting

You can avoid cooking garlic in the oven by toasting it in a cast-iron skillet. Slow-roasted garlic is best if you’re eating it as a spread, but the quicker method is ideal when you’re adding it to sauces, stews, or baked meals. All you need is olive oil, a cast-iron skillet, and one head of garlic.

One head of garlic separated into bulbs (leave the skin on)

1tsp Olive oil

Instructions: Coat the cast-iron pan with olive oil and heat on medium. When the pan is hot, add garlic bulbs and spread out. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes a side until skin is blackened and garlic is soft.

Even vampires can consume roasted garlic.

When the garlic has cooled, peel off the skins and add to your favorite soup, stew, or Italian sauce. I’ve also used the quick roasting method for chicken cacciatore, tomato sauce, beef stew, baked manicotti, and gumbo.

In the summertime, I make basil pesto more frequently with a large crop of sweet basil growing next to my backdoor. I use fresh garlic in pesto when I going to heat the sauce, but for pesto going over fresh mozzarella and tomatoes, or another cold salad, I add roasted garlic.

With roasted garlic in pesto, the parmesan and basil flavors are more apparent.

Oven Roasted Garlic

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

Slice off the top of the Garlic head and place in an oiled casserole dish. Drizzle 1Tbsp of olive oil (you can also use chicken stock or water) over the garlic, cover with foil, and bake for one hour.

Browning Butter

Do you prefer homemade cookies over grocery store cookies? If you have working taste buds, brain activity, and a pulse, you probably said yes. It’s easier to spend three to six dollars for pre-packaged cookies loaded with preservatives and remnants of old peanuts (from making another snack product), but brand-name cookies have as much flavor as distilled water.

They’re expensive for flavorless matter, but they often have an advantage over homemade recipes. They stay soft longer. Homemade cookies taste delicious straight from the oven, but they begin to dry out the next day. To solve the problem, you can brown the butter before adding it to the batter.

Don’t let a small band of elves (Keebler’s indentured servants), working out of a tree, produce a better cookie than you. Why do people feel comforted having elves making their cookies and Christmas presents? Have you seen how easily they can kill an orc with a bow and arrow? They’re too violent to be good bakers.

Heat one stick of butter (sliced butter melts faster- it covers more surface area) over a skillet on medium. When the butter is completely melted, increase the heat to medium-high and stir with a wooden spoon or whisk to avoid sticking.

After 6 to 8 minutes, the butter should start browning and foaming. Remove from the heat and allow to cool before adding to the cookie batter.

Espresso Chip cookies are tasty and fattening. I’m glad I polished my tea kettle for the cookie photo shoot. Man, that thing is shiny!

Espresso Chip Cookies

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup baking cocoa

1 ½ cups brown sugar

¾ cup granulated sugar

½ tsp salt

½ cup vegetable oil

1 stick salted butter browned and cooled

3 large eggs

1 cup Espresso chips

½ cup ground walnuts

1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 325°F

Mix the dry ingredients in a metal bowl: flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda.

Mix the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vegetable oil in a mixer on medium until the mixture resembles clumpy sand. Slow the mixer down to low speed. Add the eggs, one at a time (spaced thirty seconds apart), and the vanilla extract.

Add the flour mixture one cup at a time until the batter is blended. Add the expresso chips and walnut last. Place 2Tbsp blobs of cookie dough on a greased cookie sheet and cook for 10-12 minutes. Cool cookies on a cooling rack.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Grandmother's house needs some pruning.

After the Thanksgiving Feast, Try Enchiladas

November 29, 2020 /

Instead of settling for turkey sandwiches or one of those gut-busting casseroles you’ve seen on a lousy cooking show where they cram turkey, gravy, cranberry relish, green bean casserole, yams, stuffing, and mashed potatoes into a large baking dish, top with bacon, country ham, gouda cheese, balsamic reduction, and Metamucil, you can make enchiladas.

I’m against wasting leftovers and feel guilty when I have to throw away food, but if I’d rather feed my trashcan than consume something repulsive created by Chef Cletus.

One enjoyable alternative to throwing away leftovers is to toss the food (or place it in bowls) into your backyard. You’ll attract the local wildlife that will appreciate a late Thanksgiving feast.

Make sure that the food is in a direct line of sight from your windows. Wait for the bunny, fox, deer, or wharf rat to munch on your bait and take a shot with a high-powered rifle or crossbow.

After a little gutting, skinning, and slicing, you’ll have another delicious meal that you can use to fatten your in-laws before they head back to Key West. The circle of life or maybe the food chain is incredible when you take an active role. Now, back to reality and enchiladas.

This recipe is based on one that my Dad uses to make enchiladas the day after Thanksgiving. I don’t remember the name of the fifty-year-old book it comes from, but I call it the brown 1970s Mexican Cookbook with gold lettering and multiple stains.

I’ve tried several homemade and restaurant enchiladas, but this one is my favorite.

Before trying the recipe, here are a few suggestions:

  • After cooking the sauce, don’t add the sour cream until you’ve taken the pot off the heat. The sour cream will curdle if the sauce is too hot.
  • When you fry the corn tortillas, set the burner between medium and medium-high. You don’t want to fry them too long, or they’ll get rigid and difficult to fold.
  • If you have extra corn tortillas, you can cut them into sixths and fry them for 2 minutes for homemade corn chips. Add salt when they’re still hot.
  • You can use chicken, turkey, or scrambled eggs (the original recipe calls for 7 large eggs scrambled), but I’ve only made them with chicken and turkey.
  • Avoid wearing lederhosen or parachute pants when you’re making enchiladas. An unexpected grease fire can be painful if your britches aren’t fireproof.
  • Seize the day, save the whales, smell the roses (they may be dead after last night’s freeze), maximize your potential, take out the garbage, clean the gutters, spot weld that hole in Grandpa Manson’s operating table, and give fleece a chance.

Turkey Enchiladas

12 Corn tortillas

2 cups shredded turkey

1 cup finely diced white onion

2 ½ cups shredded Oaxaca cheese

1 ¾ cups vegetable or peanut oil

Tomato Sauce

2 large cans whole tomatoes (or 10 to 12 fresh tomatoes)

4 cloves fresh garlic

4-8 Jalapeno rings (or 2 fresh jalapenos)

After cooking sauce, stir in ½ tsp salt and ½ cup sour cream.

Instructions

  • Set your oven to broil and cook the tomatoes, peppers, and garlic on a greased cookie sheet for 12-15 minutes. You can also put them on a lined pan on an outdoor grill set to medium-high.
  • Allow the vegetables to cool for five minutes and blend (in a blender- not a food processor) for 2 minutes. Add the diced onions to an oiled skillet and sauté for five minutes. Set aside to cool.
  • Heat oil in a cast-iron skillet and cook tortillas, one at a time, for 10 seconds on each side. Place the tortillas on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess grease.
  • Heat a tbsp of vegetable in a deep skillet, on medium-high, and heat the tomato puree, frequently stirring, until it begins to thicken. Remove from the heat and stir in salt and sour cream.
  • Set up a cutting board on the counter near the stove. Spray a deep casserole dish with cooking spray and set it aside. With a pair of tongs, dip the cooked tortillas into the tomato sauce and place them on the cutting board.
  • Add 2 tbsp turkey, 2 tbsp cheese, and a tsp of cooked onions to the tortilla and roll into a tube. Place the rolls seam-side down in the cooking dish. You should have 2 rows of tortillas with six in each row.
  • Pour the tomato sauce on the rolls. Top with the remaining 1 cup of cheese.
  • Bake the enchiladas for 30 minutes at 350°F.
  • Serve them while they’re piping hot!

Tips for Growing Fresh Basil: Frequent Decapitations

August 24, 2020 /
Enjoy the sun while you can. Soon, you’ll be pulverized into pesto or simmering in marinara sauce.

Chop Off Their Heads, and the Herbs Will Grow! from Morris Peplo (amateur gardener, jai alai enthusiast, hang glider pilot, and landscape artist focusing on exotic fungi)

Basil Chopping

Basil is an excellent herb to grow in the summertime, but if your plants are growing straight up without forming a broad base, you should consider decapitating them. Pruning is a kinder term, but this is a cooking and cinema site that reviews horror films, and I thought head-chopping was more characteristic of the site’s contents.

It’s best to lop off the heads when the plant is only a few months old, but you can prune basil at any time. If you live in the south, your basil may continue to produce leaves until October. In North Carolina, we usually get the first freeze around Halloween, and the herb won’t survive too many nights that dip below 43°F.

Some gardeners are hesitant to prune plants like herbs or vegetables and would rather have nature run its course. There’s nothing wrong with that method if you like small harvests, but several edible plants like peppers and herbs will produce more if you crop off the lanky stems.

A 6 foot Fuji Apple Tree reduced to a sad-looking nub.

Tree Stunting

On the subject of plant mutilation, I recommend decapitating fruit trees that may be too large for your yard. Some apple varieties can grow 17-20 ft. high and around 6 ft. wide. That’s fine if you have plenty of space in your yard and enjoy picking fruit with a ladder.

For backyards and community gardens, you don’t need to simulate an orchard layout to grow healthy fruit trees. I have Fuji and honey crisp apple trees in my backyard that were cropped before being planted.

My backyard is pretty small, but I have stunted apple trees, a fig tree and paw-paw tree on espalier lines, and seven blueberry bushes. The apple trees look more like shrubs or miniature trees that a Hobbit would be proud to own.

Both of the trees were over six feet tall and 18 months old. I could barely cram them in my Honda Civic for the ride home, and I remember the tip of the Fuji poking into my AC vent on my dashboard.

Yes, I realize that a wise man would chop the trees before shoving them in a compact car, but I like driving with branches scraping the back of my head. I really feel closer to nature.

It was like the trees and I had become one being. No, that’s rubbish. I’m lazy, and I appreciate challenges and suffering. I hope no one left the site when I started sounding like a weirdo, but the longhair music playing in the background was affecting my judgment…

I replaced the love tunes with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. It fits for this post since some of Zappa’s work focuses on food. His early masterpiece, “Call Any Vegetable,” is an excellent selection when you’re shucking corn with your loved ones, peeling spuds, extracting pine nuts, or thrashing wheat.

If you’re making homemade snow cones with the family, “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow” is a good choice (and a valuable lesson for young children), and when you’re butchering a pig, cow, chicken, or squirrel, I think “Uncle Meat” is an ideal background song.

Fig espalier with cordon style

Back to Dismembering Fruit Trees

If you buy a fruit tree that’s under two years old, you’ll need to remove ¾ of the trunk. It seems extreme, but the pathetic, nubby, stick in the ground will eventually develop into a miniature tree. Your cropped tree should be about eighteen inches tall.

When you plant the runt, you should also trim the roots. If the root ball is bound in burlap, cut it off. The burlap can hinder the root’s growth. You want the roots to grow freely, but by trimming the roots, you can limit the space that the roots will occupy when the tree is more mature.

You might have to wait for two weeks or more before you see any growth on your Charlie Brown Christmas stick. My trees began to form branches after sixteen days, and it is agonizing to wonder before the tree grows if you made a bad decision.

If you’re patient, the sticks will turn into healthy trees. Fruit trees are not instant gratification plants. My apple trees have another year before they’ll produce fruit, and my paw-paw (a fruit tree native to North Carolina) will not produce for eight or nine more years.

However, my blueberry bushes produced edible berries after two years, and if you want a shrub that grows and flowers quickly, blueberry bushes may be for you. I had a massive harvest from my blueberries this summer.

My family and friends were happy to get baked goods, and I managed to feed a family of comical mockingbirds also.

Basil’s Recipe 9

May 17, 2020 /

Green Tomato Salsa

Ingredients

2 cups Diced green tomatoes
1 cup Diced Roma tomatoes
1 cup Corn
¼ cup Diced fresh jalapeno
1 tsp Cracked black pepper
2 Limes juiced
1 tsp Lime zest
1 tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Lemon juice
2 Tbsp Fresh Garlic
1 Tbsp Fresh Cilantro

Instructions

Mix all ingredients and refrigerate for 1 hour before eating.
Serve with tortilla chips or toasted pita.

Besides making fried green tomatoes, this is my favorite recipe to use green tomatoes. I made it for Basil’s in 2011, and I make it every summer when I grow tomatoes.

Unfortunately, cilantro doesn’t grow well in Eastern NC. After a month in the summer heat, the cilantro bolts and begins transforming into coriander.

Homegrown tomatoes and jalapenos work best, but it will probably take a month before most of you have fresh tomatoes or peppers.

Grocery store tomatoes are almost inedible now, but a farmer’s market (if you can find one) might be the best place to find tomatoes.

Basil’s Recipe 8

May 17, 2020 /

Beer and Cheddar Bread

Ingredients

3 cups Flour
1 Tbsp Baking powder
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Garlic powder
2 Tbsp Sugar
12 oz Beer (lager or amber)
2 ¼ cups Cheddar cheese

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Mix all ingredients in a metal bowl except beer and cheddar.
Stir in beer and fold in the cheddar.
Form the dough into a log.
Place on a greased cookie sheet.
Bake for 50-55 minutes.
Insert a toothpick. If it’s dry, the bread is done.
Let cool ten minutes before slicing.

This is a quick bread recipe that uses baking powder rather than yeast. As far as I know, there isn’t a baking powder shortage in grocery stores.

There’s a yeast shortage, but I’ve taken care of that by growing my own yeast in a large number of sanitary fish tanks. I should have enough yeast to fill a thimble in three months. Just Kidding.

I made this bread nine years ago at Basil’s to compliment a chili recipe developed by Kenneth Fields. It’s perfect with chili but also goes well with creamy soups like potato and cajun stews like gumbo.

Try to use a lager or amber for the beer. A dark stout, gose, or light beer will not work well with this bread. Also, avoid heavily spiced or flavored beers.

Something like pumpkin spice pilsner or artichoke ale should be set aside for your friends who lost their taste buds from a tragic Pop rocks and Pepsi incident.

Anarchist Fortune Cookies

February 29, 2020 /

When your extended family rolls into town to visit, do you enjoy dining with them at a Chinese restaurant? Have any obnoxious family members embarrassed you at the restaurant by making a scene or saying something inappropriate?

I have to answer yes to both questions. Szechuan Gardens, a restaurant in North Carolina I visited for over twenty years, served incredible Chinese food. My extended family was often treated to Szechuan’s, and as for the second question, I was usually the family member who made the embarrassing scene possible.

I didn’t disappoint the family by saying something profane or disturbing, it was my shenanigans that caused a ruckus. Until I was eleven or twelve years old, I had a bad habit of unscrewing the salt shaker tops and placing them back lightly before I left a restaurant.

I don’t know why. I guess I was a slightly-rotten kid. I never witnessed the outcome of my anti-social acts, until I dined with my Uncle and his family at Szechuan’s.

When I finished stuffing Mushu Pork in my mouth, I absentmindedly fiddled with the salt shaker and performed the disastrous act that came right out of the Anarchist Cookbook.

My Uncle reached for the salt shaker and dumped a quarter-cup of salt over his General Tso’s chicken. He looked right at me and said, “It was You.” My Mother and Sister joined in with my Uncle in angrily explaining the evils of “over-salting” someone’s food.

I never performed the NaCl overdose on anyone’s food again. When I was caught in the act, I wished that a distraction would divert the family’s attention away from me. Something like a stumbling waiter, a drunken manager, or a batch of insulting fortune cookies would do.

They Kicked Me Out of the Fortune Cookie Writers’ Guild

If you receive any of the following fortunes after cracking open that cookie, don’t blame the server. Unless he or she claims to be the author of the messages.

This paper is printed on 100% recycled poison.

Many have died to bring you this message.

You have the mark of the devil behind your left ear.

After you finish eating that cookie, your soul is mine.

Reading tiny messages on paper is the first step to not being a complete moron.

While you were enjoying an authentic Chinese American meal, I put sugar in your gas tank.

Steal this fortune…and the salt and pepper shakers, the silverware, and the nifty gas lamp.

In the past, you couldn’t contract syphilis from a fortune cookie, but the future is now.

Have you heard the one about the priest, the rabbi, and the one-eyed pianist?

Do you have a high tolerance for pain? A strong stomach?

No animals were harmed in the making of this cookie, but plenty of animals were killed.

There will be blood is not just the name of a movie.

This cookie had one day left before retirement.

How often do you get diarrhea from eating fortune cookies?

Don’t eat the paper, Einstein!

How many woodchucks does it take to urinate on a fresh batch of fortune cookies?

For a good time, call Bruno.

As the years pass by, your hairline will recede.

Basil’s Recipe 7: Pork Carnitas

February 23, 2020 /

Ingredients

3lbs. Center Cut Pork Loin
2 tbsp Kosher Salt
2 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Cumin
2 ½ tsp Oregano
1 cup Yellow Onions diced
¼ cup Olive Oil
2 ½ tbsp Fresh Garlic
4 quarts Chicken Stock
¼ cup Lime Juice
½ tsp Cayenne Pepper
2 tbsp Black Peppercorns
1 tsp Fresh Thyme
½ cup Fresh Basil

Instructions

Cut pork into ½ inch pieces and coat with salt, chili powder, cumin, and oregano. Cook in a large pot on medium-high heat with olive oil about 2 minutes per side.

Remove pork from the pot and set aside. Add onions, cook for 5 minutes and add garlic.

Cook 2 minutes and add chicken stock, lime juice, cayenne pepper, and black peppercorns.

Add pork, bring mixture to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and add fresh herbs.

Cover pot and cook for 2 ½ hours. Stir every 10 minutes.
Heat oven to 400°F.

Remove pork from the pot carefully with tongs and place it on a lined baking sheet. Pour ½ cup of liquid from the pot over pork and bake for 20 minutes.


Remove pork from the oven and pull apart with tongs.

You may be frustrated with the same old’ recipe you use for Taco Tuesdays or Tortilla Thursdays. If you are, try making Pork Carnitas. It takes more time to make than the average taco-meat recipe, but it’s worth it.

If you refrigerate the sliced pork after you’ve covered it with the spice rub for 4-6 hours before you sear it, it’s even better. Yes, the recipe already takes 3 hours to complete without waiting another 6 hours to cook.

However, pork benefits from a longer marination period. The meat is tougher than a beef tenderloin or chicken. It can sit overnight in the refrigerator if you prefer to prep it the night before.

After stewing the pork for 2 ½ hours, it’s critical to bake it in the oven for 20 minutes. The meat is easier to pull apart with tongs, and the extra baking time crisps the meat and gives it the right texture.

Serve the carnitas with taco shells, tortillas, hoagie rolls, or kaisers.

They’re delicious in a soft tortilla with sour cream, shredded cheddar, pico de gallo, and diced cilantro.

Save the cooking liquid if you have leftovers and want to reheat the cooked pork later. Add some of the liquid to the meat when you store it in the refrigerator and save the rest for re-heating the pork.

Basil’s Recipe 6: Fresh Gazpacho

February 15, 2020 /

Ingredients

2 Large Tomatoes diced
1 chopped Green Pepper
1 tbsp Fresh Garlic
½ cup Olive Oil
3 cups Beef Broth
1 diced Cucumber
1 ½ tsp Salt
½ tsp Paprika
¼ cup Fresh Basil
¼ cup Fresh Parsley
3 tbsp Lemon juice
½ cup Tomato Paste

Instructions

Blend all ingredients in a food processor except 1 tomato and cucumber.

Add tomato and cucumber and refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.

Serve with 1 tbsp toasted breadcrumbs and 1 tbsp fresh parmesan.

If you’re tired of making the same old soup recipes, try this fresh Gazpacho. When I served this soup for Basil’s in 2005, some customers were reluctant to try a cold soup.

Once they tried a bowl of the tangy, refreshing soup, they changed their opinions and became Gazpacho fans. The fresh herbs make a huge difference. The dried versions of basil and parsley will not give the soup the same punch.

If you want to make a vegetarian version of the soup, substitute vegetable broth for the beef broth. You can also prepare the soup in a more traditional manner by blending the toasted breadcrumbs (use 1 cup) with the vegetables.

This will give the soup a thicker consistency, but I prefer serving the breadcrumbs and cheese on top.

There are infinite versions of Gazpacho. Some are spiced up with hot peppers and cumin, while others add white beans to the soup.

Try adding other fresh vegetables and herbs, and you can adjust the heat by adding fresh jalapeno the recipe.

I think the soup is better without adding heat or spices because the cucumber, tomato, and green pepper flavors are more prominent.

Basil’s Recipe #5: Cilantro Chicken Soup Over Rice

February 9, 2020 /

Ingredients:

2 tbsp Olive Oil 1 cup Diced Red Onion
4 cloves Roasted Garlic
⅓ cup Fresh Cilantro
½ cup Cold Water
1 tsp Salt
1 ½ tsp Cracked Black Pepper
3 ½ quarts Chicken Stock
4 cups cooked Rice
1 slice of Lemon
1 tbsp Shredded Fresh Parmesan
1 tbsp Sour Cream

Instructions:

Heat olive oil in a skillet and cook onion for 4 minutes- until translucent.

Purée cilantro, roasted garlic, salt, pepper, and ½ cup of water in the processor for 30 seconds.

Combine cilantro mixture, onions, and chicken stock in a large pot and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to simmer and cover. Cook 22 minutes and remove from heat.

Serve over bowls with ½ cup warmed rice.

Top with sour cream and shredded parmesan. Place a lemon slice on the side.

Serves 4-6

I made this soup in 2009 as a soup du jour, and after receiving a lot of positive feedback, I featured it on the monthly chef special.

You can roast the garlic in the oven, or you can toast the garlic, with the skins on, for 10-12 minutes in a skillet on medium-high heat.

Cooking the garlic in the oven makes it tender and creamy, but since you blend it in a processor, its consistency isn’t important.

Leftover chicken is ideal for this recipe, but you could buy a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store if you don’t have cooked chicken on hand. I don’t recommend using canned chicken for this recipe (or any other) since the flavor’s disturbing, and it resembles cat food.

Since the recipe is inexpensive to make, it was perfect for the recession times of 2009. It’s a great soup for any season, but if you see another economic downturn coming, break out your cilantro chicken recipe. It will ease your financial blues. Enjoy!

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