Welcome to Mid Week Wednesday!  I have nothing exciting in my life to report except… work work work and some upcoming travel to the DC area.  So I thought I would get right to the point and chit chat about some homemade whole wheat chicken noodle soup that very well might loosen your socks.  I don’t want to come right out and say that it will knock your socks off but I am pretty sure they will be loosened.

A simple concept for sure – packed with flavor and missing all the sodium!  What a treat.  I can honestly say that the results were spectacular as I was only able to get one bowl of soup from the huge pot.   Let’s just say Mrs. Zesty and family enjoyed this one.

Ingredients

• 3-4 lb Whole chicken ( roasted and separated)
• 1 Tbsp Butter
• 2 Cups carrot ( chopped)
• 1 Cup Celery ( chopped)
• 1 Cup Onion ( chopped)
• 1 Tbsp. Olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. Ginger
• 1 Tsp. Dried Thyme ( optional )
• 2 Cloves garlic
• 4 Cups chicken stock ( I used Organic Chicken stock )
• 3 Cups water
• 1 Tbsp. Salt
• 2 Bay Leafs
• 1 500g Bag Egg noodles

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare the chicken to be roasted.  Clean the cavity, salt the inside, add a bay leaf to the cavity and splash a dollop of butter on top.





2. Roast until cooked through and browned nicely 9 about 20-25 mins/lb.  Remove from roaster and let cool





3. In a large saucepan preheated to medium heat, add the olive oil, onion, garlic and ginger







4. Let the onion cook down for a few minutes until becoming translucent



5. Toss in the carrots and celery and continue to cook for 7 minutes.





6. Pull all the chicken off the bird and chop into small pieces and set aside.



7. In the sauce pan, start adding your flavor – dried thyme and remaining bay leaf.
8. Toss in the chicken
9. Add the chicken stock and water and let simmer for 45 minutes.



10. Stirring occasionally and testing the seasoning adjust prior to adding the noodles
11. Drop in the noodles and stir to mix.



12. Let the noodles cook through another 10 minutes.



13. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: I think the best thing about this dish is that is freezes well and will last the whole week for lunches and or suppers.  Drop it off to your friends or just eat it all yourself.  This is true comfort food that doesn’t take long to make and is super easy.

The Mandolin Slicer Winner

Let’s put our hands together and rise off the chairs for Georgeann from Hurst, TX. Also, the coupons have a few extra days before they expire so make sure you pick up your own mandolin for the kitchen.  Thanks for everyone who entered the contest.  I believe the turn out was successful.  Georgeann – your mandolin is on it’s way.  Make sure you tell me what you think.

I hope you enjoy the chicken noodle soup.  This was my first time using the whole wheat egg noodles.  I did enjoy them and would likely do it again.  In hindsight I would reduce the number of noodles next time for the amount of broth.

I hope you have a great Wednesday.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

Did the post title grab your attention?  When I heard this was on the menu as one of the courses for Football Sunday I could not help but feel my mouth water.  I do love ravioli but when you add bacon – it simply kicks this up to an all new level.  What I found pleasantly surprising about this dish was the pea sauce.  It may sound unique and different but it tastes amazing.

Today was an absolute zoo at both work and the house and I find the time keeps flying by during the whole day.  I am working at 10 and 11 o’clock every night as it is the only real time I have.  We are really coming down to the crunch with the house and I am trying to schedule everyone at a particular time to work with our completion date of December 10th.  Between you and me I am not so certain we are going to pull it off.  The bank representative is coming out on Tuesday for the final walk through for his completion report.  If all goes well we will do the final draw of funds on Thursday.  I will keep you posted throughout the coming days on this saga but for now we better get onto the food.

Zesty in law really stepped it up a notch on this one. I think you will love this recipe if you have the time to prepare it.

Ingredients

Filling

• 1 Tsp fresh black pepper
• 1 Tsp salt
• 1/4 Cup minced onion
• 1/2 Tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 Tsp dried rosemary
• Sirloin 3/4 lb, finely minced
• 1/4 Cup mushroom duxelle – 1 cup mushrooms, finely minced and slowly cooked with 2 Tbsp butter until mixture is reduced and dry. This mixture is a great thing in the fridge to boost flavors to food and sauces.

Ravioli

• 1-1/2 Cup all purpose flour
• 2 Eggs

Pea and bacon Sauce

1. 1 Cup fresh or frozen peas
2. 1/2 Cup heavy cream
3. 1/2 Tsp minced garlic
4. 1 1/2 Tbsp minced onion
5. 1 Small pinch Herbs De Provence
6. 1/4 lb Bacon minced and crisped.

Method

1. In olive oil slowly cook first five ingredients until onions are soft then add minced sirloin. Cook until meat barely cooked. Add mushrooms and cool mixture.





2. For ravioli make well with 1 cup flour on counter and break eggs into the center.  Mix eggs and slowly incorporate the flour. There should be excess flour, use as needed. Knead until a clean finger poked into the mass comes out clean and easily.



3. Shape by rolling into thin using a machine, adapter or hand.



4. Cut in to shapes and add stuffing. Wet edges and seal.







5. Dry the noodles slightly. Cook in plentiful water that has been well salted.
6. For sauce crisp bacon, drain paper towels and set aside.
7. Soften onion and garlic, add herb mixture.



8. Add peas and cream and simmer about 3 minutes, do not let reduce to much.





9. Puree mixture or pass through a fine sieve and reserve the sauce. Add bacon just before saucing the ravioli.





10. ENJOY!

Well I am heading out to the house tonight to check in on progress.  I hope you have a great Wednesday.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

Happy Wednesday! As I write this, I am still in Antigua and was able to take some more pictures of the beautiful scenery while out at lunch yesterday. The weather has been excellent as well as the food. I tried to take a couple of pictures of my lunch at “THE STICKY WICKET“.   Cricket is very popular here and this place is connected to the ever famous Stanford 20:20 Stadium. I attached the pictures near the end of this post.

Well remember how I promised to feature some baked goods this week?  This post will not let you down!  Before we begin, lets talk about these little morsels of goodness.  I first had these when I was a little grasshopper compliments of my grandmother who, as you might have guess by the title of this post, was French.

To describe galettes, they are like biscuits but with a tighter texture and more compact. The addition of a little bacon fat make these “UNBEATABLE“.   Whether you push a little indent in the middle of these for some molasses, smear some butter on them or dip them in your next over easy egg yolk – you will fall in love with these and possibly become addicted.

These are not the easiest treat to make as they are a cross between a homemade biscuit (which are pretty simple) and a homemade roll ( which can be time consuming due to the kneading process).

Ingredients

• 4 Cups white flour
• 2 Tsp. salt
• 1 Tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 Cup butter (plus a little bacon fat if you have some)
• 1/2 Cup-3/4 Cup ice cold water

Method

1. Preheat Oven to 400 F.
2. Add the first 4 ingredients into a large mixing bowl and combine well.
3. Add enough cold water to make it stick together.
4. Let stand 1/2 Hour.
5. Knead dough (2 minutes) then cut into small chunks.
6. Once in small chunks, begin to knead each piece and shape into a small circle as if you were making rolls.
7. Place on an non greased cookie sheet and bake until golden brown (about 20 minutes)



8. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: When working with dough, there is a fine line with “over – working” the dough which will cause the galettes to be tough. Take your time and experiment and when in doubt, under work the dough and you will be OK in the long run.

I really hope you enjoy the family pastry and I hope you try it in your kitchen.

Antigua: Day 2

A view outside the Sticky Wicket

A closer view outside the Sticky Wicket

A view inside the Sticky Wicket

Warm Foccacia bread to start

The Sticky Wicket wrap and Fries ( avocado, beans , chicken, tomatoes... yummy)

A shot from the field grass

The back entrance to the wicket

The Cricket Field

Have a great day

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty