Summer Soup

Soup is normally a cold-weather, winter sort of dish. It's warm and comforting when it's cold outside--not usually something you want to eat when it's hot.

Today, however, it was pouring. I nearly drowned driving home. I couldn't get to the gym because the roads were flooded. I was cold(ish) and wet and warm, simple soup sounded like the best plan for dinner.

For a summer soup, you need summer ingredients: yellow squash and zucchini, mysterious long beans, tomatoes, and chicken.

I cooked the chicken until done in a large pan with a splash of olive oil:

and garlic:

Then added the sliced squash, beans (cut in half), a can of tomato soup, a can of water, and a can of diced tomatoes:

Brought it to a boil (and this is where the chicken got dry, I suspect: I cooked it too long. Should've just brought it to a boil and called it good):

Finally, the rain paused, and I dashed outside to grab some basil to top it off.

The chicken was a bit dry, but other than that, the soup was just what I was hoping for: fresh, light summer flavor in a warm, rainy-day comfort food. Success!

Summer Spaghetti

Of all the dishes I cook, pasta is the one I make most often. I'm always fiddling and fooling with my sauces and pastas. The variations range from minimalist (diced tomatoes and garlic) to rich (alfredo sauces) to just plain weird (macaroni and tuna fish, spaghetti with fennel and sardines).

I like all of them. The Dear Devoted Husband, however, has--to put it nicely--mixed feelings about some of these experiments. Really, all he wants from life is a thick meat sauce, emphasis on the meat. A jar of meaty Ragu would suit him just fine.

So, every once in a while, I cater to his tastes, and just make a spaghetti with meat sauce. (Un)fortunately, I can't seem to make a pasta dish without fiddling with it somehow.

Today I present Summer Spaghetti--a meat sauce, yes, but a late-June-ramping-up-into-the-height-of-farmers'-market-season meat sauce. There's meat in this sauce--slightly more than a pound of hamburger from Downing Family Farm--but that is most certainly not all.

Ingredients: Fennel, canned tomato sauce, tomatoes, Czech Broadleaf garlic, summer squash, zucchini, onion, basil, oregano, hamburger, olive oil, and spaghetti (the basil and oregano are mine; everything else, excluding the canned sauce, olive oil, and spaghetti, was acquired at the Cherry Street Farmers' Market):

Heat a splash of olive oil in a large skillet:

Add one young onion and several cloves garlic, chopped:

Add about one pound of ground beef (I could get by with less, but the DDH insists this is the perfect amount):

Meanwhile, boil some water and add spaghetti:

Cook according to package directions.


Drain the spaghetti once cooked:

Chop the summer squash, zucchini (one small of each):

and fennel (maybe a quarter or half of a large bulb):

When the ground beef is cooked through, drain:

 Add another splash of olive oil to the skillet:

Add the summer squash, zucchini, and fennel to the skillet:

Then add some tomatoes:

If using grape tomatoes, like here, you can toss them in whole; larger cherry or full-sized tomatoes could be chopped first. If you prefer the tomatoes to be incorporated into the sauce smoothly, you can chop the grape tomatoes, but I love warm whole little tomatoes like that.

Cover and let cook on low:

while you tear the basil and oregano leaves and some fennel fronds:

Once the tomatoes and squashes have softened, add the cooked beef:

tomato sauce:

and herbs:

 Add the cooked spaghetti:

And mix well to coat:

Serve with a salad (here, greens, cherry tomatoes, fennel, and balsamic vinegar):

And enjoy.

The sauce definitely consisted of more than meat and pureed tomatoes, but neither of us complained. The DDH did not quietly push any little vegetable pieces to the side of his plate; he didn't make a face and say, "No, it's good, just...what's in it?" It's good. It's spaghetti. With meat sauce. And it's delicious.

A Note: The DDH has put up with my farmers' market habit for a little more than a year now, usually quite patiently, but he did raise an eyebrow when I started branching out into getting meat there. The hamburger here is quite a bit more expensive than at Sam's Club. When eating this meal, however, he kept remarking on how delicious the meat is:

 'Cause it is. So I think it's worth it, at least sometimes.

Yum yum yum.

Goodbye, June. Hello, July.

Berries.

Start with some blackberries:

Add a little sugar:

Microwave:

Whip some cream and sugar:

To top the blackberries:

What is more summer than that?

Pan-Seared Chicken Breasts in Lemon and Chive Pan Sauce

 Boneless skinless chicken breasts make frequent appearances on our dinner table, mostly because they're so versatile.They go in salads, pasta or rice dishes; they form a canvas for an array of delicious sauces.

So when Cook's Illustrated claimed they had discovered a better way to cook these babies, I was all ears. Essentially, they cooked the chicken breasts, covered, on low heat in the oven, then finished them on the stove top. And man. They were right. These were the best chicken breasts ever in the history of chicken breasts. They were meltingly tender on the inside and still crispy-seared-delicious on the outside. The Darling Devoted Husband and I were wowed. And really, I'm a pretty good chicken cooker, most of the time--I rarely serve the sort of dried-out chicken leather that makes people hate eating healthily. These were still better than anything I'd made before.

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 275 degrees. Use a fork to poke the thickest half of each of 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (6-8 oz. each; trimmed of excess fat) five to six times. Sprinkle each breast evenly with about 1/4 teaspoon salt. Place skinned side down in 9x13-inch baking dish and cover tightly with foil. Bake:

until thickest part of the breast registers 145 to 150 degrees, 30 to 40 minutes.

Remove chicken from oven:

and transfer, skinned side up, to paper towel-lined plate and pat dry with paper towels.

Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in 12-inch skillet:

 
over medium-high heat until smoking.

While pan heats, whisk 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, and 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper:

with 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted) in small bowl. Lightly brush top side of chicken with half of butter mixture. Place chicken in skillet, coated side down, and cook until browned, 3 to 4 minutes. While chicken browns, brush with remaining butter mixture:

 Using tongs, flip chicken, reduce heat to medium, and cook until second side is browned and thickest part of breast registers 160 to 165 degrees, 3 to 4 minutes:

 Transfer chicken to large plate and let rest while preparing pan sauce (if not making pan sauce, let chicken rest 5 minutes before serving):

For the pan sauce, add 1 medium shallot, minced (about 3 tablespoons):

 to the now-empty skillet and cook over medium heat until softened, about 2 minutes:

Add 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour:

and cook, stirring constantly, 30 seconds. Add 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth:

increase heat to medium-high, and bring to a simmer, scraping pan bottom to loosen browned bits:

Simmer rapidly until reduced to 3/4 cup, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in any accumulated chicken juices; return to simmer and cook 30 seconds:

Off heat, whisk in 1 tablespoon juice from 1 lemon:

1 tablespoon minced fresh chives (I substituted green onion):

and 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, chilled:

season with salt and pepper:

Spoon over chicken and serve immediately.