Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

We have dear friends from Iowa who have a log cabin in Lake Lure.  They built their cabin here after staying at our rental cottage a few years ago.  They fell in love with Lake Lure and now have their own stunning get-away retreat.  They arrived from Iowa last week with fresh picked corn from home.  You can’t get any more authentic than corn from the heartland of America.  What to do with the bounty?

Why, corn chowder of course.  We have had cool, rainy weather AGAIN!  This was the perfect summer soup.

I have a long history with sweet corn.  It was one of the crops that dotted our farmlands in Michigan when I was growing up.  As teenagers my friends and I spent time in corn fields.  I guess that makes me kind of weird.  What were we doing in corn fields you may ask?

1. It was a great place to park.  Any couple who wanted privacy could find a hide-away under the full moon, hidden next to the stalks.  Very romantic.

2. Carloads of girlfriends loved to stop the car  on the road and run to the fields and gather a few ears to eat.  We usually ended up with field corn meant for cattle.  We were once attacked by a wild pig, but darn it was fun.  We laughed and considered ourselves daring.

3. Corn fields were just a part of our environment.  Still today, I measure the height of the corn by the old adage ” The corn is as high as an elephant’s eye” and know when it is ready to pick. Growing up in corn country, you just knew.

This corn chowder is hearty with a depth of flavor.  I simmered the shorn corn cobs in the vegetable broth mixture for a while to release as much flavor as possible.  Give it a try when you have lots of corn.  It can easily be doubled.

CREAMY CORN CHOWDER WITH BACON

3 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1/4 cup flour
3 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
4 cups vegetable broth or chicken broth
6 to 7 ears of corn, kernels removed and a few cobs saved to flavor the stock
1 1/2 cups cream, 1/2 and 1/2 or milk
Several sprigs of thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
4 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled for garnish

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat.  Add onion, red pepper and garlic and cook until onion is soft.  Add the flour and cook 2 minutes stirring frequently to slightly brown the flour.  Add the vegetable broth and 4 of the reserved corn cobs and cook over low heat for 30 minutes, partially covered.  Remove the cobs and add the celery, carrots, potatoes and corn kernels.  Cook over low heat until potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.  Add the cream, thyme and salt and pepper to taste and cook gently for another 15 minutes.  Serves 6.

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While we were in Washington DC a few weeks ago, we spent a Sunday morning visiting The Phillips Collection of art in one of the row houses in Dupont Circle.  We had decided that we wanted to stay in the neighborhood where our apartment was located.  As much as I admire the Metro System in DC, we found that the Red Line was undergoing an upgrade this Winter and parts of the track were closed.  On Saturday we had experienced delays, overcrowded cars and none of the ease that we had experienced in our previous visits.  Besides that, the morning was very cold, so being close to our warm apartment made sense.

The most well known painting in The Phillips Collection is Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party.  Duncan Phillips, an avid collector of modern art, acquired the painting in 1923.  He had opened his row house in Dupont Circle as an art museum in 1921.  Luncheon of the Boating Party “captures an idyllic atmosphere as Renoir’s friends share food, wine and conversation on a balcony overlooking the Seine at the Maison Fournaise Restaurant in Chatou.  Parisians flocked to the Maison Fournaise to rent rowing skiffs and . . . eat good meals.”   We also ate a good meal in the museum cafe, Tryst.  Chicken and barley soup was on the menu.  Due to the fact that I was still chilled to the bone, that was exactly what I wanted.  Lots of Hmmms later, David said “I know what you are thinking. You want to make this soup when you get home.”  He had it right.

The only decision was finding the right recipe that would be as close as possible to the soup that I had eaten.  Martha Stewart’s recipe won out.  It is full of vegetables and aromatic chicken and broth.  The barley is a quick cooking variety and I had this on the table in no time.  Each spoonful was as good as I remembered.  Even though we are all looking forward to Spring meals, this last hurrah to winter soups is worth your attention.

CHICKEN AND BARLEY SOUP  (Martha Stewart)

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 carrots, diced small
• 4 celery stalks, diced small
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced small
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 5 sprigs thyme
• 1 cup quick-cooking barley
• 5 ounces baby spinach (5 cups)

  1. STEP 1

     In a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high. Add carrots, celery, and onion. Cook until just tender, about 8 minutes. Add chicken, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring, until chicken is opaque at edges, about 2 minutes.

  2. STEP 2

     Add broth and thyme and bring to a boil. Stir in barley. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until barley is tender and chicken is cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes.

  3. STEP 3

     Add spinach and cook until wilted, 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

  Printable recipe

We had the perfect warming soup for the snowy weather that descended on the Southern States.  This winter will surely go down in the history books as one of the coldest and crippling on record.  Schools throughout NC were cancelled from Wednesday onward through the week.  If we had been home in Florida, we would have missed the snowy weather, but we also would have missed spending time with the Grand Kids.  Snow is more fun with kids.

It is a North Carolina tradition to let the three, four and seven year olds clear the driveways of snow.  Or so it would appear from this picture.  Our Grandson Cameron is clearing his driveway while the neighbor boys are clearing theirs.

The trees were covered with ice and we were lucky that we did not lose power.

The tortilla soup that Kristen made was just what we needed to keep the chill away.  She served it with a delicious jalapeno cornbread.  Kristen has a way of taking a basic recipe and making it her own.  The original tortilla soup recipe came from The Neiman Marcus Cookbook.  She added the chilies and adjusted the seasoning.

TORTILLA SOUP

Ingredients:

• 3tbsp. olive oil

• 1 medium onion – large dice

• 1 poblano + 1 cubanelle pepper (or any peppers you wish) – large dice

• 3 garlic cloves – diced

• 1 tsp. coriander

• 1 tsp. cumin

• 1 can chopped green chiles

• 1 28 oz. can peeled tomatoes, chop tomatoes into small pieces

• 1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed)

• 6 oz. of reduced fat cream cheese (¾ of a block)

• 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth

• 1 cup of half and half

• 4 tbsp. lemon juice

• julienned corn tortilla strips (for garnish)

• cilantro – chopped (for garnish)

• green onions – chopped (for garnish)

Instructions:

Heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add onions, season with salt & pepper and saute for about 5 minutes.  Add peppers, season again with salt and pepper and saute for another 5-10 minutes over medium heat.

Add garlic, coriander and cumin and saute until fragrant – 1 to 2 minutes.

Add green chiles, tomatoes, black beans and cook mixture until some of the liquid evaporates (about 8-10 minutes), stirring occasionally.

Reduce heat to medium low and add cream cheese.  Stir until cream cheese is completely melted.  Add chicken broth and half-n-half and cook for another 15-20 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice.

Ladle into bowls and top with tortilla strips, then cilantro and green onions.

Optional soup additions: chicken, sausage (or chicken sausage!), noodles, corn, etc… if desired to soup.  Avocado would also be a nice addition to this soup!

Other Notes: pairs well with corn bread.

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Thomas Keller’s French Laundry restaurant in Napa Valley is among the top 50 best restaurants in the world.  He has won many awards and has established several other restaurants in his illustrious career.  Among them are Bouchon in Yountville, California, Per se in New York City and his more humble establishment, ad hoc, also in Yountville, where a different fixed price comfort dinner is served every night.  I own both his French Laundry Cookbook and his ad hoc at home cookbook.  My favorite is the ad hoc cookbook for obvious reasons.  The recipes are more approachable and simpler in conception.  But they still have the Thomas Keller style.

There is a depth of flavor to all of his recipes because he takes the time to make it happen.

In the case of the split pea soup, he starts by steaming carrots, onions and leeks with a parchment paper lid.  The vegetables are cooked long enough to release lots of flavor.

Chicken broth and a ham hock are added to the vegetables and are simmered gently.  The soup is strained and then the split peas are added.  By this time the broth is full of flavor.

The finishing touches are fresh peas, creme fraiche and mint.  The soup is so nuanced; a smooth rich pureed base, chunks of ham, bright peas, rich cream and fresh mint.  This is a well thought out rendition of split pea soup and I am definitely a Thomas Keller fan.

SPLIT PEA SOUP THOMAS KELLER STYLE

• 3 tbsp canola oil
• 2 c thinly sliced carrots
• 2 c coarsely chopped leeks
• 2 c coarsely chopped onions
• Kosher salt
• 1 smoked ham hock (about 1 pound)
• 3 quarts chicken stock
• 1 pound split peas (about 2 cups) , small stones removed, rinsed
• 1-2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 c peas, either fresh or frozen
• 1/2 c crème fraîche
• Mint leaves

Heat oil in large stockpot/dutch oven over medium heat.  Add the carrots, leeks, onions and a generous pinch of salt.  Reduce the heat to low, cover with a parchment lid and cook very slowly, stirring occasionally, for 34-40 minutes, until vegetables are tender.  Remove and discard the parchment lid.

Sitting at our table on the porch last night, eating this soup was a transcendental experience.  Sometimes there is a combination of ingredients that raise the bar for flavor.  This is one of those dishes.  Anytime you roast vegetables you release great flavor.  In this case the vegetable was cauliflower. The humble head of cauliflower can be turned into a delicious soup.  The original recipe is a winner on the Food 52 website.  The creator of the soup is Bogre, a guy from Connecticut with Hungarian roots; thus the use of smoked paprika in the dish.  The cauliflower is first roasted with the smoked paprika and cumin and then pureed with chicken stock.  This hearty base is then enhanced with sausages and either mustard greens or kale.

I made some substitutions to the original recipe.  A Trader Joe’s has opened in our area, for which I am eternally grateful.  I used their pre-washed Tuscan kale and their brand of turkey kielbasa.  Also I did not have any smoked paprika so substituted regular paprika.  However you tinker with this soup, you will still end up with a winner.  I plan to use cauliflower again as a base for creamy soups.  It has less calories than potatoes, but still imparts a rich, rib sticking goodness.

CAULIFLOWER, KALE AND SAUSAGE SOUP

Serves 6 to 8

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