Tag Archives: garlic

What’s For Dinner?

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Mike shares one of my favorite recipes, “Curry Sweet Potato Soup,” Enjoy!

Two to three times a week my wife Debbie asks me what I think we should have for dinner. It’s usually on my drive home, usually after a long day at work, and usually when I’ve not committed a single brain cell to consider what I think we should have for dinner. Now some might think this is an odd predicament given how much I love to cook. And it’s true: I love to cook. But thinking about dinner is not something I typically do unless I’m really really hungry. Or sick.

The other day I woke up feeling washed out and not 100%. It was probably because I went out to dinner the night before with a friend and sat at a table near the front door where there was a constant flow of cold air from outside that kept me fairly chilled all evening long. Whatever the reason, the day after I didn’t feel 100% and actually did think about dinner since I needed something nourishing that would bring me back around and set me right.

Debbie had been telling me about these sweet potatoes we had that were just begging to be eaten. I was so washed out by the end of the day that I thought baking them and adding a little butter and salt would be just about perfect. But Debbie had been asking for a curried sweet potato soup that’s a real favorite of ours going back many years. In fact, soups in general are a big hit. Not only are they fairly easy to cook up, but they are nourishing and healing too, something I really needed both of at that moment.

So, as I drove home with my chef’s hat on, I was thinking about how I was going to prepare the soup. What follows is nothing short of a sheer culinary stroke of holistic cooking genius (all due to my wife’s incredible tutelage in all things holistic).

INGREDIENTS
Sweet Potatoes              3 — peeled, washed, and cubed
Garlic cloves                   3 — peeled, smashed, and minced
White Onion                   ¼—peeled and diced
Fresh Turmeric Root      1” — peeled and chopped
Fresh Ginger Root          1” — peeled and chopped
Astralagous Root            4-5 slivered (they look like  tongue depressors)
Curry                               1-2 Tbsp (or to taste)
Pink Himalayan salt         just a pinch
Ground Black Pepper      just a pinch
Soup stock                      2 quarts

Place all the ingredients in a pot filled half full of filtered water, half vegetable or chicken stock, and bring to a boil. After about 20 minutes of everything at a full boil, turn off heat and let soup settle down. Strain all the vegetables from the stock carefully (DO NOT allow any astralagous root to escape) and place in a Vita-Mix or Cuisinart food processor. Add a cup or two of the stock to the blend and blend at high speed until all ingredients are super smooth. Pour the blend back in to the pot with the remainder of the stock and replace the astralagous root. Add curry, salt, and pepper and gently mix with a whisk. Cook on medium heat for another 15-20 (to boil off excess water), add a little butter or milk to give it some richness; even a nice “melty” cheese will work.  Cook another 5 minutes and serve with a crusty bread.

If you’re vegan, vegetarian, gluten-sensitive, or dairy-sensitive, the butter, milk, and cheese can all be replaced with appropriate alternatives like cashew cheese or almond milk. And just omit the crusty bread. The great thing about soups (and I didn’t realize it until after I’d made this soup) is that, pretty much any combination of vegetables that you like can be made into a soup—just experiment. I’ve started thinking about my morning kale smoothies and wondering what they’d taste like with a soupy twist to them.

So, what’s for dinner? Why soup, and you’re invited.

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NOTE ABOUT GARLIC: allow to sit about 10 minutes after you’ve peeled and smashed/minced it so that healing properties of allicin can be fully released.

NOTE ABOUT ASTRALAGOUS: Do Not Eat It or blend it into the soup. It’s not toxic or bad for you (otherwise why would I suggest putting it into the soup?), but it will be a bit like eating bark mulch.

 

Making comfort food in the winter

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chicken mushroom and broccoliCooking is not my thing. What I dread more than the actual cooking is the clean up after the meal. My goal for most meals is to cook a simple, delicious meal with very little clean-up. Therefore, one pot meals are my favorite. Winter seems to scream for stick to your ribs, comfort foods made in one pot. I love them! One of my favorites is a chicken mushroom broccoli dish I’ve been making for years, though I am not sure when I came up with this recipe. If memory serves me, I think one of my roommates from college used to make it and I have twisted it into my own dish.

Anyway, if you need some comfort food, which is delicious and easy to prepare, perhaps you should try this.

Chicken Mushroom with Broccoli

I love our cast-iron Dutch oven for this meal. If you do not have one, simply use a large heavy casserole dish.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp canola oil or other oil that won’t burn at a high temperature
  • Chicken, cut up– enough to feed your family
  • 2 cups of cracked wheat, quinoa, rice or other grain
  • 3 cups of chicken broth (if there’s not enough homemade handy, we use organic, free range, low sodium chicken broth by Pacific or Imagine)
  • 1 cup cream of mushroom soup (again if you don’t have any homemade, we use creamy Portobello mushroom soup by Imagine)
  • 1 cup of sliced mushrooms (be adventurous, use several varieties)
  • 4-6 cloves of garlic cut in half (always let your garlic sit for 10 minutes after it has been chopped/minced/crushed to allow for the chemical reaction that creates allicin, which is the chemical behind all of garlic’s health-promoting benefits –immune boosting, antibacterial, antimicrobial, cardio-tonic, and anticancer. Here’s what happens: a sulfur-based compound called alliin and an enzyme called alliinase are separated in the garlic’s cell structure when it is whole. Cutting garlic ruptures the cells and releases these elements, allowing them to come in contact and they form the magical new compound called allicin. If you don’t wait, you don’t get the healing properties.)
  • 2 cup broccoli, cut up
  • 1 cup of carrots, cut up
  • 4-5 inch strips of astragalous root (they look like tongue depressors) – Not a must, but a great herb for boosting your immune system. I like adding it to all my stews and soups during this time of year, to help us fight off any cold and flu viruses. It is not meant to be eaten, only for releasing its medicinal qualities, so remove before serving. You can find it at a Mountain Rose Herbs or Chinese herbal shops.

Coat pan with oil, sear chicken until skin is brown and crispy, then remove. Pre-heat oven to 375°. Add grain to Dutch-oven or oven proof dish (if using quinoa, wash and soak in water for 15 minutes prior to using, it helps soften it up). Add chicken broth, astragalous root, garlic, ½ of the mushrooms, ½ of the broccoli, ½ of the carrots, and then lay seared chicken (skin up) on top. Add remainder of mushrooms, broccoli, and carrots, then pour cream of mushroom soup on top, cover, and put in oven for 30-40 minutes, until chicken is done and quinoa is cooked.

Enjoy this yummy dish and rejoice in the fact that you only have one pot to clean!