Ribollita!!!!!!! I have been waiting years to make this!

   While my wife and I were on our honeymoon in Tuscany, I had this fantastic, hearty soup and I loved it.  I must have had it three or four different times at 3 or 4 different restaurants.  All were slightly different.  This weeks vegetables made me think about it again, and of course, I put my own twist on it (mostly to use the vegetables that I had on hand). 

Ribollita

1 medium onion (large dice)
3 stalks celery diced
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced peppers (I had a wide variety from   the market this week)
1 medium yellow squash
1 cup tomatoes diced
1 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 cup chopped Cabbage
3 small leeks (I had these and decided to throw them in!)
3 cans chicken stock
2 cups marinara (homeade is of course better.  I made mine with last weeks tomatoes)
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp dry oregano
fresh basil  (I used a LOT, but use as much as you like)
Salt and Pepper
2 cans cannellini beans
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 cups crusty bread cubed

Okay...that is a LOT of ingredients.  At least more than most of the stuff I make.  I cooked my onion, carrot, celery and peppers in a little olive oil until they started to soften.  I then added my tomatoes, squash, garlic, leeks, red pepper flakes and oregano.  After a bit I added my white wine and then chicken stock, and my cabbage.  I let this simmer for quite a while until all the vegetables were tender. 
    At this point I stopped since I wasn't planning on serving it until the next evening.  I let it cool and put it in the fridge over night. 
    The next day I added my beans and  heated it back to a simmer, I added my marinara and basil and simmered for another hour or so.  Lastly, I added my bread and simmered until the bread, sort of , fell apart.  (I cut the crusts off mine as I thought it would help).  This should be VERY thick.  Hardly a soup at all. Serve in a bowl topped with a bit of parmesan cheese and a drizzle of good olive oil. 

RESULTS:  This came out very, very close to what I remember in Italy.  However,  my cabbage was still quite crunch...I couldn't believe that.  If I didn't have the cabbage, I think Kale would have been a much better substitute for the original "Black Cabbage" that most Ribollita recipes call for.  Also, some tomato paste right after sauteeing the onion, carrot, celery and peppers would have made a big difference.  My final result wasn't quite tomato-ee enough.  Still a very good, hearty soup. 

This weeks Haul of Vegetables

Here is the list of our items for the week:

1 head of cabbage
leeks
cherry tomatoes
tomatillos
Squash
Cucumber
Carrots
and a few "Scratch and Dent' tomatoes that Kevin gave me!

     I have been wanting to make "Ribollita" for a while now.  It is a really hearty Tuscan vegetable soup with cabbage, white beans and day old bread.  You top it off with marinara so I will use my tomatoes for that as well.  I fell in love with Ribollitta in Italy while on my honeymoon and have always wanted to try my hand at making it.  They use black cabbage, but I have never seen or heard of that around here so green will have to do.  It can't be that different.....right????    I think I will try that this week.  My in-laws are coming so I can't be too creative in the kitchen.  They are classic Pennsylvania Dutch and aren't very adventurous. 

Basket Tomorrow...but a great dinner tonight

Grilled Marinated Swordfish, lemony basmati rice, and green beans.  Some friends gave us some swordfish steaks and I decided they would make a nice quick dinner tonight. 

Swordfish
Swodfish steaks
Mirin
Soy sauce
garlic
Ginger
Lemon Juice

  I mixed all the marinade ingredients together and marinated the fish in it for about 4 hours.  I got my grill good and hot and grilled them until barely done through. 

Lemony Basmati Rice
1/4 cup diced onion
1/4 cup diced carrot
3/4 cup basmati rice
1 cup Chicken Stock
2 TBS Lemon Juice
1 tsp lemon zest
Pinch of salt

I sauted my carrot and onion until soft and then added my rice, stock, salt, zest and Juice.  Bring to a boil then cover and set on low heat for 20 minutes.  Fluff with a fork and serve.

This was very good.  I only wish the rice had a bit more lemon flavor.  Next time I will put a bit more zest and lemon juice.  It was a very nice, light dinner.

Pasta Caponata......sort of.

  Here is how this one came about.  I have said before that I watch entirely too many cooking shows.  On several I saw them make caponata as a dip and I thought to myself.....I bet that would be great as a pasta sauce.  We got several eggplants , some tomatos and some peppers in our basket this week so I was off and running.  Not a traditional caponata, but made with what I had on hand.

Caponata

3 small eggplants diced (skin left on)
1/2 small onion
1 small bell pepper
1 medim tomato diced
1/2 small can tomato paste
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup red wine
1 TBS red wine vinegar
1/2 cup green olives
1/2 cup fresh parsley
1/4 cup almonds
good olive oil!

   First of all, it was supposed to be pine nuts not almonds, but have you seen the price of those things!  No way.  I like almonds better in my pesto so I thought what the heck.  First I sauted my eggplant, onion, and bell pepper in olive oil until well softened.  I then added the chopped tomato and tomato paste and cooked it a bit to carmelize the tomato paste.  I then added the red wine (mostly because I had an open bottle sitting there and thought it could only help).  I transferred all of this to my food processor.  I added about 1/2 of the olives,red wine vinegar, lemon juice, parsley,  and the almonds and pureed.  I added this back to my pan. Rough chopped the remaining olives for texture and added them.  I then added my pasta, tossed it together and served.  Really nice.  I feel like it was missing some flavor, but I couldn't put my finger on it.  I think I might try it as a dip soon with some pita chips. 

Sorry forgot to take a photo! Chicken Corn Chowder

   As a photographer, by trade, you would think I would remember to take photos of the recipes I make.  I forgot to do it with this one.  We got a LOT of corn in our last basket and some red potatos and some onions so that sounds like corn chowder to me.   I even went so far as to make my own chicken stock for this one. 

Chicken Corn Chowder
4 Chicken Drimsticks
1 qt chicken stock
2 cups sweet corn
2 cups red potatos 1/2 inch dice
1 small onion diced
2 carrots diced
1 pt. half and half
salt and pepper

   For this one, I boiled the chicken legs until they were done and then used the water and bones to make my stock, with a little celery, carrot, onion, water.  Oh ya...I roasted the bones first.  I diced up the chicken and set it aside. 
    

A Guatemalan Dish.....Jocon. LOVE IT!

Okay...I did NOT want to make salsa with my tomatillos.  I love it, but it was just too easy and boring.  I posted that I wanted to make something different and a friend said to try "Jocon".  So I did.  Here is how it went.

Jocon

3 boneless chicken thighs
1 can chicken stock
1 cup tomatillos (diced)
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1 bunch cilantro
1 small onion
2 corn tortillas (soaked in water then drained)
1 jalapeno pepper
1/4 tsp cumin (optional)
salt
pepper

Okay...first I put my can of stock and about 1 cup of water in a pot.  I added some cilantro stems, some cumin and the chicken and simmered it until the chicken was done.  Skim off any foam on top as you go. 

As that is going, I toasted my seeds in a small pan and put them into my food processor (DO NOT DO WHAT I DID).  You will be much better served to use a coffee grinder and grind these into a fine powder.  My food processor did not get it fine enough.  After that, I added my tomatillos, onion, jalepeno, cilantro and tortilla to the processor and pureed until as smooth as I could get it.  I added a bit of the stock the chicken was cooking in to make it blend better.

When the chicken was done I removed it from the pot and strained the stock.  I added my tomatillo mix to the pan and thinned it out a bit more with the stock.  I shredded the chicken and returned it to the pot, and simmered it for about 20 minutes more.  I then seasoned with salt and pepper and served it over rice.  Garnish with cilantro and enjoy.  I WILL BE MAKING THIS AGAIN.  I LOVED IT!

note:  in this I used several items from my basket.  Tomatillos, onions, and jalapenos.  I think I might try some fried green tomatillos next.  Kinda like a friend green tomato....How does that sound to you?