Corn Chowder

What about this cold snap that is pretty much taking a hold on up and down the east coast.  Even my family down in Miami is experiencing 30 degree temperatures and that's not even funny!  I thought that my corn chowder recipe would be perfect for these cold days.  It's perfect as a meal by itself or along side your favorite panini!

I made some croutons to top ours off.

Corn Chowder

Ingredients:

1 - 1# bag of frozen corn (I use about half to 3/4)
1 stick of butter

1 TBSP of olive oil

1 small onion - diced

2 carrots - peeled and diced

2 celery stalks - diced

2 Idaho potatoes - diced

6 cups of chicken stock

2 cups of half and half
1/4 cup of flour

1 clove of garlic - minced

6 sprigs of fresh thyme - leaves only
salt and pepper
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Directions:

Melt the butter in the bottom of a soup pot or dutch oven over medium heat.  Add the olive oil and the garlic and saute for a couple of minutes, add the carrots and celery for about 5 minutes and then add the onions and salt and pepper all the veggies (few shakes of each).  Cook until vegetables are soft.  Sprinkle vegetables with flour and stir coating all very well.  Add in the fresh thyme and the chicken stock and bring to a boil.

Add the half and half and the potatoes and boil hard for approximately 10 minutes until the potatoes break down and soften.  This will help thicken the soup.  Add the corn and cook for another 5 minutes.  Add more salt and pepper to your taste and grate in a pinch of nutmeg.

Croutons

Use day old Italian bread (about a half loaf) - cut into cubes.  Heat olive oil (a couple turns of the pan) in a large frying pan, add the bread and Italian seasoning, parmesan cheese, garlic powder.  Cook until toasted and serve atop the chowder!

Enjoy!

Lentil Soup

Featured Chef - Joseph Mironti

Cousin Joseph Mironti sent me this recipe.  It's for a large group of people because he shares it with co-workers!  Way to spread the weatlh and luck Joseph!  Joseph is another Mironti Boy who loves to cook.  Boy, we were lucky when we married these Italian boys.  Nothing like a husband who not only loves to cook but is good at it.  Joe owned a popular pizzeria up in Syracuse at one time but opted to sell it because it took too many hours away from his family once the boys came along.  Joe has a lovely wife Sharon and two handsome sons - Michael and Brandon. 

My mother makes her soup very similar to this - the recipe handed down from my grandmother.  We used to call it "Good Luck Soup."  My grandmother would make us eat it every New Year's Day.  Boy is it good especially with a piece of Italian bread in your other hand!

As Joseph stated to me it is very hard for us to write recipes.  Italian women in our families just talked about a pinch of this or that and that is how we learned.  I think it will be fine because really it's all about how you like your food to taste.    If you don't want this much soup just cut it in half.

Lentil Soup Ala Giuseppe

Ingredients

3 Gallons of water
1 tsp kosher salt
5 lbs of Dried Lentil Beans rinsed
2-3 lbs Kielbasa type meat chopped ( be creative ie : summer sausage, cheriso)
6 stalks of celery chopped
4 cups Carrots chopped
2 large Spanish Onions chopped
8 med size white potatoes peeled and chopped
2 cloves of fresh German garlic chopped fine
1/2 cup fresh Italian Parsley coarsely chopped
16 oz can of Tomatoes Puree
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Bring water to a boil in a very big pot. Add lentils and cook stirring occasionally for 45 minutes. While lentils are cooking fry chopped kielbasa in a separate pan about 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients except puree and cook for 30 minutes. Add puree and salt and pepper to taste cook until the lentils crack open and it gets all nice and creamy.

Enjoy!
Thanks Joseph - we can't wait to try some!

New Year's Day SideKicks!

Featured Chef - Cindy Syracuse

Other than being my sister-in-law as we both married a Mironti Boy..... Cindy is married to Neno and has two handsome young Mironti boys of her own, Dylan and Tyler!  Cindy is an accomplished marketing executive for Burger King Corporation and has earned great accolades over the years with many successful projects and promotions.  Cindy travels not only the country but the world through her work for Burger King Promotions.  Cindy has a real knack for entertaining and can create great tablescapes too! 

Cindy sent me these two great sidekicks that would go great with ham or any entree on New Year's Day. 

Corn Casserole

Serves 8
Ingredients:
1- 16 oz. can creamed corn
1 -16 oz can of whole corn
8 oz. sour cream
1 egg
1 stick of butter - room temp
1 box of Jiffy corn mix
Directions:
Drain whole corn.
Mix softened butter and cream corn with sour cream and egg.
Beat in the corn and jiffy mix
Pour into pyrex dish
Bake covered - 45 minutes at 375 degrees, uncovered 15 minutes until brown.


Pineapple Souffle
Serves 6
Ingredients
1 can pineapple- not drained. (Cindy indicates when she makes the single recipe she uses
crushed, when she doubles the recipe, she uses crushed and whole
pineapple)
4 cups cut-up bread into cubes(1 loaf of bread)- with or without
crusts. You can substitute whole wheat bread for white
1 stick of butter room temp
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 cup of sugar
Directions:
Cream the butter and sugar in mix master, then add the eggs. Add
remaining ingredients. Will look syrupy.
Pour into greased 6x6 pan.
Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees

Thank you Cindy!  I can't wait to try these!