Daring Kitchen December - Something in a Croute

I've been ridiculously busy in the last little while. When the Workaholic gives me a hard time for not synching my calendar, I simply reply, "I haven't even had time to blog!" He then understands the gravity of the situation. If it weren't for the Daring Kitchen Challenge (and my constant threat of being kicked out for non-participation) I wouldn't even be blogging today. The challenge didn't really appeal to me right away, but I figured I could do some tweaking to make it more for me.

The 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Simone of Junglefrog Cooking. Simone chose Salmon en Croute (or alternative recipes for Beef Wellington or Vegetable en Croute) from Good Food Online.

I'm allergic to fish. And I didn't really want to have beef. And then there's the problem with chicken that I prefer thighs and they don't really fit into crusts. And then the Workaholic isn't a big fan of mushrooms. What does this leave me with? Spinach. Feta. Sundried tomatoes and a bit of black olives. All of this in a crust of puff pastry. As mentioned before, I've been crazy-busy the last little while, so I'm not about to make my own pastry if I don't have to. I bought the only pastry in the store, which I think was the wrong kind. Oh well. It's what's for dinner. And it wasn't that bad. Actually, it was pretty decent.

Epinards en Croute (Spinach pockets)
1 c cooked spinach, drained of liquid
3 Tbsp cumbled feta
1 tsp tapenade (black olive paste)
3 Tbsp sundried tomates, marinated in oil, chopped
pinch cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
1 package puff pastry

Mix all ingredients except for pastry in a bowl. Roll out pastry, slice into 8ths. Divide spinach mix evenly over 4 slices of pastry. Top the pastry with remaining slices. Bake at 200° for 20-25 minutes until tops are golden brown.

Chicken Soup for the Rain

As you may have gathered by now, we are in the middle of an unseasonably wet summer in Germany. It's not raining again, it is raining still. Sometimes I don't understand our perceptions of food and weather. In cold weather, we eat warm soup. Yet in South East Asia, the temperatures are hardly polar, yet they still eat soup. Maybe it's just because soup is good. I like soup a lot & I often lament the fact that Europe sees soup solely as an appetizer. Granted, there is the potage or stew, but it's not the same - it's thicker & not quite as messy. I love phô in all its forms and would immediately marry the man who takes me to a phô restaurant on a first date. OK, maybe not, but he'd score huge points, in spite of broth in his beard.

The idea was to grill the chicken for the soup. It's summer. I'm supposed to grill things. In spite of the rain, or perhaps because of it, I'm not going outside to use the BBQ. I'll use a frying pan instead to brown my meat.

Grilled Chicken Soup

2 chicken thighs, cut at joints
2 Tbsp red miso
1 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp red wine
1 tsp neutral oil
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp minced ginger
1 Tbsp minced lemon grass
100 g mushrooms, chopped
500 ml chicken stock
1 dried chilli
90 g cooked soba noodles (1 prewrapped roll)
100g spinach, cooked or frozen
2 green onions
handful chopped cilantro

Create marinade of miso, garlic powder & wine. Add chicken, score legs lightly to allow marinade to penetrate. Set aside.

Over medium heat, warm oil & sautee garlic, ginger, lemongrass & mushrooms. Add chicken stock & chilli, lower heat to simmer & cover.

In frying pan over med-high heat, brown chicken, skin side down, turning to brown evenly. Chicken will not be cooked through before you remove from heat.

Place chicken in soup mixture. Allow to cook until cooked through.

Shortly before serving, add cooked spinach, (if using frozen, allow to thaw in soup), add noodles, onions & cilantro.

As in winter, I was grateful for a warm broth. I'm not grateful for the mild winter of July, but all things considered, at least it's a mild winter. I think I should just move to Spain.