Mike's Table » Soup & Stew

Fried Chicken and Andouille Gumbo

mike — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:46:03 +0000

When Mardi Gras rolls around, I think of three dishes: King Cake, Jambalaya, and today’s meal: gumbo. If you’ve never had a good gumbo, you’re missing out–it is one of those quintessential Cajun/Creole stews that every chef can put their own personal touch on. The one commonality across them all is that it will keep you going during the winter months being so rich and hearty.

In this particular rendition, I chose a classic combo: chicken and andouille sausage (compared to a lighter, butternut squash-centric version I did in the past).

A whole chicken is poached to make a fresh batch of stock, then shredded, strongly spiced, fried, and combined with fried, smoky andouille sausage. The stew is thickened with both okra and a nutty, smoky, milk chocolate colored roux. Simmered with a mix of some classic Creole vegetables and spices yields an incredibly intense stew that tastes incredible. The gumbo takes on a nice,… click to read more…

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Indian Spiced Pear & Butternut Squash Soup

mike — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:00:37 +0000

Every time of year brings memories of a few dishes with it that we all quietly pine for. Autumn and butternut squash is that mystical combo for my wife and I. In general, butternut squash soup is a pretty simple and straightforward thing, but to keep this from becoming something we grow tired of, I like to change it up every time I make it. In this case, I wanted a light starter as a prelude to a bigger dinner, but still something big and bold on flavor.

This soup was a delicious way to start a meal. It looks deceptively simple (like any other butternut squash soup), but has a surprisingly complex flavor. The pear added an almost unnameable but distinct tangy sweetness while the peppers and assortment of spices lent an incredibly full flavored back drop to the whole experience. I didn’t want to stick with the usual assortment of “pumpkin pie spices” that seem… click to read more…

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Bean and Quinoa Chili

mike — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:00:46 +0000

After having finally tried my hands at making beans the real way rather than from a can, I’ve been meaning to do it again because man oh man were those good. I wanted to do something more than just feature beans as a side dish though, so I decided to try to make them the star of one of my favorite meals: chili. Since this wasn’t going to be loaded up with beef like I’m used to though, I thought I needed to ensure there was still a good amount of protein, so in addition to the beans, I also added some quinoa after seeing the two together.

Now I realize this meal could have gone all vegetarian, but I couldn’t help myself–I live in swine country, so I used a bit of pork for seasoning (some chorizo and fatback) to enrich the flavor of the dish. The result was really spectacular–the beans… click to read more…

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Chipotle, Cheddar, and Chorizo Corn Chowder

mike — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:00:43 +0000

I love when corn is in season. I tend not to cook with it all that much–I usually just grill it by the day and eat it straight off the cob. But after seeing this chipotle corn chowder, I knew I had to do something similar. I originally planned to replicate the recipe as is, but as I started making changes, I found I was tending to add a bit of a South American flare to it, so I ran with it.

Now I had no interest in making a soup–I wanted a chowder, and a chowder needs a bit more body to it. So to add a thick, starchy base, I opted for green plantains instead of the usual suspects like roux or potatoes (although I did add a bit of corn meal, but hey, its a corn chowder, so that’s different, right?). Melting cheddar into the soup towards the end also added a bit more… click to read more…

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Sweet Potato Beef & Peanut Soup

mike — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 06:00:02 +0000

I was intrigued when I first read of an African Sweet Potato Peanut Soup. Firstly, I know close to nothing of African cuisine, secondly, I love peanuts, and thirdly, I hardly ever use peanuts outside of breakfast/dessert applications (usually as peanut butter, yum!), so really, there was a lot to this that caught my eye. Of course, tinkering with the soup a bit here and there, I’m not sure if its quite the same African peanut soup any more, but its definitely a keeper.

Somewhat to my surprise, this soup reminded me of red Thai curries I’ve had before. The sweet potato base of the soup gave a great heartiness while the mix of ginger, peppers, peanut, and coconut added that creamy/tangy/spicy blend of flavors that so strongly evoked thoughts of Thai for me. Was it precisely what I intended? No. Was I disappointed? Definitely not. I would describe this as a sweet potato version of panang… click to read more…

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Seco de Carne con Tamarindo (South American Tamarind Beef Stew)

mike — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 06:00:38 +0000

During the later parts of pregnancy, my wife has had a thing for beef. Being the spectacular husband that I am, I happily catered to this craving. I kept getting stuck on stewy/braise kind of dishes, so in looking for something new and interesting to try, I came across something that fed my stew craze while bringing something new and interesting to the party. In this case, this beef stew (called a “seco”) has Ecuadorian/South American roots, flavored in a big way with tamarind.

My initial concern was that this would just greatly resemble chili and be nothing super exciting (and don’t me wrong–I am nuts about chili…its just not what I was aiming for this go around). Not so. This was very distinct and simply awesome. I am a lover of all beef stews, and this one really stood out for me. Why? The tamarind! I love the stuff–it has this sweet/sour/citrusy taste that’s very… click to read more…

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Roasted Garlic Chicken Soup

mike — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 06:00:08 +0000

Garlic isn’t one of those things that gets the spotlight very often, and there’s no good reason for it because it seems that just about everyone enjoys it (have you ever met someone who doesn’t just love garlic bread?). I mean granted, your breath won’t be making you any friends for a while after, but you’ll feel happier for having indulged in your garlic craving, right? Whatever the case, this soup is where one my favorite supporting flavors (its probably in almost every meal I prepare ) finally gets its time in the sun: roasted garlic chicken soup.

I really enjoyed this soup. It was simple in flavor, but surprisingly interesting. You might think you have garlic nailed down, but the soup showcases it in such a way that you really get to appreciate a fuller profile of garlic than you might otherwise. There’s a combination of lightly sautéed cloves of garlic as well… click to read more…

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Lamb Goulash

mike — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 06:00:38 +0000

In researching goulash, I came to appreciate that this dish is like chili–not in terms of flavors, but in terms of the heated arguments about how no matter what you’re approach, whatever you’re doing is not authentic and is simply wrong. So since I was clearly doomed to fail from the get go, I figured I might as well take some liberties with it anyways, right? However it’s made though, this stew is just the thing to warm your bones this winter.

Purists would argue that goulash is not a place for tomatoes or peppers and that all such flavor should come from the paprika (since if you didn’t know, unlike most others, this dish is very much about the paprika). I avoided the former but not so much the latter–I enjoy eating peppers more than I enjoy the approval of purists. I also furthered my love of squash by including some butternut squash in the… click to read more…

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Butternut Squash Gumbo

mike — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 06:00:36 +0000

Creole cooking is a wonderful thing–you’ve got traditional Mediterranean influences (e.g. French, Spanish, Italian) strong, zesty southern elements (e.g. Carribean, American), and even African flavors. Its one of those styles of cooking that brings a whole lot of great stuff together to make something truly amazing. I wanted to take a classic Creole dish (gumbo) and see if I could spin it in a way that would fit my Thanksgiving menu by adding a bit of autumn to the mix (via butternut squash) as I thought it would be fun change from butternut squash soup.

Now for those of you haven’t had gumbo before, the first thing you need to do is correct this immediately. Seriously! Gumbo is almost stew like–thick, hearty, smoky, spicy, and full of a wide variety of things that’ll warm your bones. Some like to load their gumbo up with poultry (duck, chicken), others beef (veal, brisket), some pork (andouille sausage, hocks), others… click to read more…

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Chili Molé

mike — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 06:00:30 +0000

I absolutely love chili. Honestly though, who doesn’t? A meaty meal with lively south-western/Mexican inspired flavors are sure to please anyone. Winter brings out the chili cravings in me, but I’ve already shown you a fiery chili once before, so I thought I’d try to mix things up a bit and bring you a new twist on this favorite meal of mine. Rather than the usual approach to chili where the focus is on a variety of dried peppers, I opted to work with a large variety of fresh peppers (so be calm Texans, I know this isn’t an authentic chili!), and to make things a bit more interesting, I also chose to steer this to have decidedly Mexican flavors by working in the major components for a strong set of molé flavors. And so Chili Molé was born.

Now like I’ve said, I love chili, but this one gets a big wow! It beautifully met the… click to read more…

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