Mediterranean-Style Chicken Soup

The last couple of weeks have seen the temperature dropping and a lot more people coming down with the coughs and colds often associated with this time of year.  It may be an old wives tale, but there is a lot to be said for a bowl of homemade chicken soup.  In many traditional cultures cooking broths from bones was said to help heal and strengthen the body.  There is also the obvious comfort you get from consuming a steaming hot bowl of soup.  This recipe is one that I have adapted from a book called 'Trupp's Wholefood Kitchen' and is a slight variation on the 'typical' chicken soup recipe.  You can make this as a vegetarian/vegan soup by substituting seasoned tempeh or smoked tofu for the chicken.

What you will need:

• 8 chicken drumsticks
• 1 cup of white wine
• 2 litres of stock (chicken or vegetable)
• 4 medium-sized, firm fleshed potatoes
• 1 large leek, finely sliced
• 4 ripe tomatoes
• 1 handful of green and black olives
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp salted baby capers
• 2 tablespoons of butter (substitute with oil for vegan version)
• 1 pinch of saffron
• few sprigs of fresh thyme
• 4 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

What you need to do:

1.  Rinse the chicken legs (remove skin if desired) and place into a stockpot.  Cover with wine and water, bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer.

2.  Peel potatoes and cut into 1cm cubes.  Remove the dark green leaves and cut the leek in half, and then into 1cm squares.

3.  Melt butter in a large saucepan.  Add potatoes, leek, garlic and capers.  Cook for 5 - 6 minutes over medium heat, and then add to chicken in stock-pot.

4.  Chop tomatoes into 1cm cubes.  Add tomatoes and saffron to stock-pot and bring to the boil.  Cook for 10 - 15 minutes or until potatoes are soft.

5.  Meanwhile, chop thyme and parsley.  Pitt olives if not already done.

6.  Remove chicken legs from stock.  Get rid of any remaining skin and discard.  Remove all meat from the bones and return the meat to the stock.

7.  Add thyme, olives, parsley and season with salt and pepper.

8.  Serve drizzled with olive oil.

Baked Polenta

I really love polenta!  For me it's another one of those comfort foods that I'm happy to eat on its own, or as part of a meal.  While some people find it rather bland, I enjoy the natural flavour. Cooking soft polenta on the stove top can be a bit of challenge, especially if you have young children and may need to leave the kitchen for more than a minute or so.  It does require constant stirring and then there is the inevitable splattering of boiling hot polenta from one end of the stove to the other.  Several years ago I came across a recipe for baked polenta and since then I haven't looked back.  Both my girls love it and you can vary the recipe from plain (or bland as my husband would say) to full of flavour.

The full recipe below is enough for 6 servings.  If I'm using this as part of a meal I often halve the recipe as shown in the dish above, which gives each person about a 2/3 cup size portion of cooked polenta.

What you will need:

• 2 cups water
• 2 cups of chicken stock
• 1 cup of polenta
• olive oil

What you need to do:

1.  Pre-heat the oven to 180 Celsius.  Coat the baking dish with olive oil (I use the olive oil spray).

2.  Add the water and chicken stock.  I generally add the water and then whisk in the stock powder while in the baking tray to save washing up.

3.  Whisk in the polenta.  Place the baking dish in the oven and bake for 40 minutes, uncovered, until it resembles the photograph above.  All the liquid should be absorbed and the top will be golden and crispy at the edges.

Variations:

The recipe above may be simply too bland for some people so there are a few variations below.

• If you want the polenta saltier, add 1 tsp of salt at step 2, or replace the water with stock.
• Add some herbs at step 3.  You can try thyme, which is particularly tasty with polenta, sage or even rosemary.
• After 30 minutes baking, remove from the oven and stir through 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese.  Return to the oven for a further 10 minutes baking.
• After 30 minutes of baking, remove from the oven and stir through 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley.  Return to the oven for the final 10 minutes of baking.

Like rice, the fairly neutral flavour of polenta lends itself well to being served with richer foods.  It works particularly well with braised lentils, casseroles, and we enjoy it as part of our vegetarian baked dinners.

Vegan Baked Dinner

The photo above shows baked polenta served with Pumpkin Roasted with Cumin and Sesame Seeds, Puy Lentils with Rosemary and steamed broccoli with lemon dressing.

Baked Brown Rice Risotto

Brown rice is one of my favourite foods; my husband calls it my comfort food.  I can easily just sit down to a bowl of plain brown rice as I love the flavour and texture.  To me it just feels like I'm eating something that is so good for me.  Many people I know don't enjoy brown rice, preferring highly processed white rice which, although still a sound food choice, doesn't offer the same nutritional value as brown rice.

This risotto is so easy to make and uses brown instead of white rice, making it highly nutritious meal option.  There are many variations and the possibilities are really endless once the basic risotto is made.  I also love that it can be a one pot meal making it a great choice for weeknight dinners.

Basic Risotto Recipe (serves 4)

What you will need:

• 1 cup brown rice
• 1 leek or 1 large onion or 2 small onions, finely chopped
• 2 sticks of celery, finely diced
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (substitute with stock if you don't have or want to use wine)
• 3 1/2 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
• olive oil

What you need to do:

For this recipe you would ideally use an ovenproof dish with a lid that can also go on the stove top.  If you don't have one then you'll need to use a large saucepan or medium frying pan and then transfer into a casserole dish to go into the oven.

1.  Pre-heat an oven to 180 degrees Celsius. 

2.  Fry the leek or onion in some olive oil until it just begins to soften but doesn't brown.  Add the celery and cook until both are soft.

3.  Add the brown rice and stir for one to two minutes.

4.  Add the wine and cook, stirring, until most of the wine has been absorbed.  Add the stock and bring to the boil.

5.  Cover and transfer to the oven.  Cook for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is cooked.

6.  If you are eating plain then leave to stand for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.  Add salt, pepper and/or herbs to taste. If you are adding other ingredients then follow the directions below for different variations.

Tuna Risotto

Make the basic recipe and remove from the oven after 50 minutes.  Drain a large tin of tuna in oil and mix through the risotto.  Return to the oven for another 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and let stand for five minutes.  Add 1/3 cup of chopped parsley and some freshly ground black pepper, mix well and serve.

Mushroom Risotto

Make the basic recipe but at stage two, add one or two cups of chopped mushrooms and some fresh thyme.  Continue the recipe as above.

Italian Porcini and Herb Risotto

Before beginning, add a small packed of dried porcini mushrooms to a cup of boiling water and allow to rehydrate.  Begin preparing the basic recipe.  After step two, remove the mushrooms from the soaking liquid BUT RETAIN THE LIQUID.  Add the mushrooms just before adding the brown rice.  When adding the stock, use the mushroom soaking liquid and reduce the stock amount accordingly (ie. only use 2 1/2 cups of stock if you have 1 cup of mushroom liquid).  At the end of the cooking time, mix through a selection of fresh herbs such as parsley, oregano or basil.

Roast Pumpkin and Pine Nut Risotto

Prepare the basic recipe.  Meanwhile chop some pumpkin into 2cm pieces.  Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.  You can also add herbs if you like.  Roast until golden.  Toast some pine nuts leave aside.  Stir the pumpkin through the risotto after step 5 and add the pine nuts just before serving, or sprinkle on top to garnish.


The variations are only limited by your imagination.  Enjoy.