Kolbasz, Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Mushrooms, and Roasted Beets and Carrots

I've detailed how I like to make my own sausages and cured meats.  Of course making them means I get to eat them.  While I try not to, I still end up sticking with a couple of tried and true combinations for meals to utilize them.  When I get to pair a sausage I made with something that came from our garden then things are even better.


This past fall was the second time I'd tried my hand at raising Brussels sprouts.  We finally got some this spring.  I think the key, at least in our area, is to plant them in the fall and hope they over winter well.  Since we had a very mild winter this year the Brussels sprouts did well.  The first picking yielded 18 lovely sprouts.  I already knew I would be making Brussels sprouts with bacon and mushrooms but I hadn't decided on anything else.

Brussels sprouts fresh from the garden

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Mushrooms


18 Brussels sprouts
1/2 lb bacon, cut in 1/2 inch lardon
8 oz sliced mushrooms
salt
pepper


Trim the Brussels sprouts and slice in half.  Steam until almost done, about 3 minutes.  Fry bacon in skillet until desired doneness and remove from skillet.  Use bacon grease to cook the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper.  When the mushrooms are halfway done, add the Brussels sprouts to the skillet cut side down.  Cook until the mushrooms are done and the cut side of the sprouts has gotten some color.  Add the bacon back to the skillet and stir/shake to get everything combined.  Leave on the heat long enough to reheat the bacon.  Serve and enjoy.

Kolbasz, Brussels sprouts with bacon and mushrooms, and roasted beets and carrots

As fate would have it, we were in a small local shop that usually has a table near the checkout full of wines that are only $7.50 that we usually take a look at.  For a good cooking wine or just an every day table wine you don't have to get a high priced wine.  Save the high priced stuff for special occasions.  One  of the wines was a Hungarian red wine with the name Bull's Blood.  The name intrigued me so I had a look at the label.  It said it was good with grilled meats and spicy foods.  A light went off as I thought about the kolbasz I had made a few weeks ago.  Surely a Hungarian wine would go well with a Hungarian style sausage.  That settled the protein part of the meal to go with the Brussels sprouts.


Roasted beets was something I'd been wanting to try so this seemed like a good opportunity.  The good wife has liked beets as long as I've known her, whether they were canned or pickled.  I'd never cared for them.  I started growing them because she wanted them for making pickled beets.  I'm a fan of the home canned beets.  I'd also sliced beets and grilled them with good results.  I just hadn't oven roasted any.  This past fall I'd planted a mix of seeds to try different varieties, alas, they didn't produce as well as the Detroit Reds had.  That said, I did have a golden beet and a red and white beet that had gotten to a decent size.  I used them to try roasted beets and added some carrots from the store as we'd finished the ones we'd grown.


Roasted Beets and Carrots


2 - 3 beets
2 - 3 medium carrots
olive oil
salt
pepper


Cut the beets and carrots into cubes of the same size.  Put in bowl and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Put on baking sheet and put in 425F oven for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and toss then return to oven for another 15 minutes.  The beets and carrots should be tender and slightly caramelized.


I put a small rack on the baking sheet and put the kolbasz in with the beets and carrots for the last 15 minutes.  This reheated the kolbasz and crisped the casing up nicely.  Not surprising at all is the fact that a Hungarian red wine paired well with a Hungarian style sausage.\


I hope you try at least one of these at some point.  They are all easily done and quite tasty.  Let me know what you think of them.


Uncle T

Lasagna with Brussels Sprout and Endive Salad

Way back in the time when I was dating my good wife, I decided to cook for her.  I like to say that my cooking sealed the deal to win her over.  On that occasion, I fixed lasagna, garlic bread, and a lemon ice box pie.   The lasagna recipe I used was one I'd gotten from my mother, I don't know where she got it.  It has evolved over the years as I tend to cook it according to how I want it to taste.


Last week was the good wife's birthday and she requested the lasagna for her birthday supper.  She also wanted fresh hot bread and a salad.  In the end, I also ended up making cupcakes to go with the meal since cupcakes are easier to share with friends and neighbors.  The cupcakes will be a separate post.


Before I get into the recipes, I'll give a word of warning.  We are not Italian and if you want to take exception to the recipe just know, I'm not going to change it.  If you  think it should be a certain way, start your own blog.  That was brought on by reading too many complaining comments on other blogs. 


For the salad, I had to come up with something different because the good wife wanted something other than the usual mixed greens with additions.  I got to looking in my garden at what was left from the fall planting that could be used for a salad.  What I had was Brussels sprouts, endive, and kale.  I went with the Brussels sprouts and endive which I'm sure you figured out from the title.  Since the Brussels sprouts are raw, this is a good way for people to try them since many that don't like  them are put off by the smell of them cooking.  Since they are thinly sliced, they'd never know they were Brussels sprouts unless you tell them.  I dressed it with a lemon vinaigrette.  I also don't use the standard proportions for a vinaigrette.

Brussels Sprout and Endive Salad

Brussels Sprout and Endive Salad


14 Brussels sprouts
1 small head of endive
6 - 8 slices of bacon, cooked
1/3 cup almonds


Thinly slice the Brussels sprouts and place in a large bowl.  Cut the endive leaves from the ribs and slice to the same width as the Brussels sprouts and add to the bowl.  You want to end up with equal amounts of the Brussels sprouts and the endive.  Chop or crumble the bacon according to how done you cooked it and add to the bowl.  Run the almonds through the chopper until they are small chunks and add to the bowl.  Toss the contents to mix well.  Just before serving add the lemon vinaigrette.  Serves 4.


Lemon Vinaigrette


1 lemon
olive oil
1 pinch kosher salt
1 - 1.5 tsp mustard, which ever you have on hand


Squeeze the juice from the lemon into a small jar.  Pour in olive oil until you have twice as much olive oil as lemon juice.  Add a healthy pinch of kosher salt and the mustard.  Put the cap on the jar and shake to combine.  Pour over salad and toss until you get the salad coated without it dripping off.


Lasagna


1 lb hot Italian sausage
2 15 oz cans diced tomatoes
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1/3 bottle of Merlot or red wine of your choice
6 - 8 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, diced small
2+ tsp salt
2+ tsp pepper
3+ Tbs Italian seasoning
2 bay leaves
12 oz cottage cheese
2 eggs
fresh pasta sheets or dried lasagna noodles
shredded mozzarella cheese


I package my hot Italian sausage as bulk but if you have linked sausage remove the casing.  Brown the sausage in a pot making sure to break it up into small pieces.  Remove the sausage from the pot.  Add the garlic and onion to the sausage grease and sautee until the onion is translucent then add the tomatoes and tomato paste.  Stir to combine.  Add  the 2 tsp salt and pepper and the 3 Tbs Italian seasoning and stir.  Taste and adjust if desired.  Stir in the wine and bay leaves and return the sausage to the pot.  Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cover.  The longer you let it simmer the better it gets. 


In a small bowl, combine the cottage cheese and the eggs.


Make the fresh pasta sheets or prepared lasagna noodles according to package directions.


Spoon a little of the meat sauce onto the bottom of the pan.  Lay down a layer of pasta sheets/lasagna noodles being sure to over lap well.  Spoon half of cottage cheese and egg mixture onto pasta and spread evenly.  Top this with a good layer of the shredded mozzarella cheese.  Pour in half the meat sauce.  Repeat the layering process.  Bake for 45 minutes in a 375F oven until bubbly.  I used a glass pan this time so it took a bit longer.  Let it sit for 10 minutes then cut and serve.

Lasagna hot from the oven

The bread was made using the same recipe I've adapted from a technique/recipe from Artisan Bread with Steve.  Most of his recipes vary a bit depending on the type loaf but I found one that I can tweak a bit to serve for several different uses.

Hot crusty bread

The good wife enjoyed her birthday supper and the boy declared the salad the 2nd best he'd ever had.  The best he said came from a restaurant and was as much about the presentation as the actual salad.  The flavor from Brussels sprouts and endive only a few hours from the garden was out of this world.  I'm making a variant of this salad using kale and store bought Brussels sprouts for Easter dinner to see what difference we can taste.  We also determined that it had been close to 5 years since I've made lasagna.  I'll have to make sure to keep it further up in the rotation.

Time to dig in

I hope you give one or both of these a try.  I think you'll like them both.  If  you try them, let me know what  you think.  Remember, have fun in the kitchen.


Uncle T

Corned Beef for Saint Patrick's Day

Saint Patrick's Day in the US is far different than it is in Ireland as I understand it.  Here in the US it seems to have devolved to encompass three things, parades, green beer, and eating corned beef and cabbage.  The Irish view the day as a time for reflection and time to get together with family. 


The good wife and I both have a bit of Irish genetics according to the DNA results but that is about as far as our Irishness goes.  We did enjoy going to the Saint Patrick's Day parade when we were stationed at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX.  San Antonio has one of the largest parades in the country and is something to see.  After the parade was a day of entertainment by various musical and dance groups at the amphitheater on the River Walk.  We've not made it to the local Saint Patrick's Day parade since we know it will not compare to the one in San Antonio.


I don't know what to say about green beer other than, NO.  I mean, if you want to drink something to connect with Ireland why not drink a pint of Guinness?  The last number I heard was that there would be 13 million pints of Guinness drunk on Saint Patrick's Day.  That certainly makes more sense than green beer.  If a Guinness isn't your thing, rest assured that Ireland produces other beer styles that should suit any taste and many are readily available in the US.


Now for the corned beef.  Even today, with Ireland making its mark in the Foodie scene, beef is not a big deal.  The Irish are more about pork and lamb, not to mention seafood.  I did run across a mention of corned beef in Ireland from long ago and it was in the list of things served to a high ranking man as a means to impress him.  Beef just wasn't consumed much since so when a cow was finally slaughtered it most likely went to the well to do folks. 


Corned beef became an American Irish thing during the great Irish immigration periods into the US.  It was procured from Jewish delis and was inexpensive and when served with cabbage and potatoes provided a cheap filling meal.  Usually brisket is the cut of choice for making corned beef but any part can be used.  From such humble beginnings do some fine traditions spring.


Most corned beef in the US is sold in the weeks leading up to Saint Patrick's Day unless it is found at the deli counter to be sliced for sandwiches.  Yes, I know there are Jewish delis in New York that are famous for their corned beef sandwiches but I'm talking about corned beef as the cornerstone of a large meal.  While commercially produced corned beef is better than nothing, you are at the mercy of their recipe and whatever spice blend they include to cook with it.  Much better flavor and control can be had be making it yourself.


The corned beef I made for this year was made using a 5 lb chuck roast.  I used the brine recipe out of Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn.  Most everything used in the brine is likely in your house already or is readily available.  The only specialty item is the pink salt, aka sodium nitrite, and it can be found at some specialty stores though I get mine from Butcher and Packer.  The beef sits in the brine for 5 days in the refrigerator and you have corned beef.  Here is the curing recipe from Michael Ruhlman's blog, Curing Corned Beef.


In the interest of time, I cooked mine in the pressure cooker this year.  We had a meeting to go to so couldn't take the time to slow cook it.  I had the good wife dump the brine and replace it with plain water to alleviate some of the saltiness about mid-morning.  After I got home, I dumped that water and put the corned beef in the pressure cooker.  I added water to just cover the meat and added 20 grams of my homemade pickling spice.  The pickling spice was based on the one in Charcuterie.  40 minutes of pressure cooking later we had hot corned beef.

Corned Beef, Cabbage, Roasted Potatoes

The cabbage was easy to do.  I put an onion, quartered then sliced, in a hot skillet with 3 Tbs of butter and let the onion cook while I sliced the cabbage.  Once the cabbage was sliced I laid it on top of the onion in the skillet then added 1 3/4 cup of the cooking liquid from the corned beef.  After the cabbage had steamed a bit I stirred it all around to get the onion and cabbage mixed together and made sure all the cabbage had time in the cooking liquid.  No need to add salt or pepper because there was plenty of flavor from the butter, onion, and corned beef cooking liquid.

Cabbage ready to plate

Since potatoes are the usual thing to go with corned beef and cabbage, I decided to go with roasted potatoes.  These were just cubed, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper and put in a 425F oven for 20 minutes.  After the 20 minutes the potatoes were tossed/stirred about the pan and back in the oven for another 15 minutes.


So, with the exception of the time required to brine the beef, this was a quick easy tasty meal.  It's definitely worthy of being used more than one day a year.  Besides, the corned beef you don't eat with the meal can be sliced and made into sandwiches or some variation.  I'll have a separate post about a variation to a corned beef sandwich.


I encourage you to try to make your own corned beef and just taste the difference.   Visit Chef Ruhlman's blog and make the corned beef and then look around for other things to try.  If you make your own, let me know how it turns out.


Uncle T

A Sausage Saturday

In the post about the pork shoulder bacon I mentioned that due to the workmanship on the boneless pork butts I was only able to get one good slab per butt.  While that was disappointing, it did leave me with 17 pounds of pork trim with which to make sausage.  Since we eat a fair bit of sausage, the question became what kind of sausage do I want to make?


One of  the places I get sausage recipes from is Sausage Recipes and Formulations.  One of the things I like about this site is that not only are the formulations shown in both standard and metric measurements but many of them have the percentage of the overall recipe for each ingredient.  This lets you scale the base recipe up or down and still end up with a good product.  I ended up choosing a new sausage to try, kolbasz.  As I understand it, kolbasz is a Hungarian sausage that is eaten by itself or used as a component in many recipes.  Basically it was presented as a spicy smoked kielbasa type sausage.  Some research and correspondence with a person of Hungarian decent has shown that the recipe is not like it is in Hungary.  It seems the Hungarians cold smoke the kolbasz so that it dries and ends up with a texture similar to Spanish chorizo.  So, if you follow the same recipe I did be advised that the sausage won't be a traditional kolbasz.  At best we can call this Americanized kolbasz.

Kolbasz ready to hang for 24 hours.

Another site I use is The Spicy Sausage.  I've had good luck with their recipes and decided to go with a bratwurst recipe.  They have several so I picked the one that was for an amount of meat that matched what I had available to use.  After making the sausage mix, I fried up a sample as usual and both the good wife and I thought it a bit bland.  This resulted in adding more ingredients and more mixing until I got a product we were happy with.  Sadly, my hunt for a bratwurst recipe continues.

Freshly linked bratwurst

Finally, I went to Let's Make Sausage and chose their Northern German Mettwurst.  This was the first time using this recipe and we are both pleased with the results.  I followed the recipe with just minor deviations.  Many of the ground spices called for I had in whole form so I used a bit more to make sure I had enough once it was ground.  I probably ended up with slightly more of those spices than was called for in the recipe.

Fresh mettwurst ready to hang before smoking

The kolbasz recipe called for it to hang in a 60F place for 24 hours prior to smoking.  I made this first so it could hang and I could smoke it after we got home from church on Sunday.


The next in line was the bratwurst.  I did it 2nd so it could hang for an hour or so before being packaged.  I ended up with an odd number of bratwust because I kept some out to grill as brat burgers for supper on that Saturday night.

Bratburger with home made sour kraut

The mettwurst I made up and did the test fry but waited until Sunday to stuff it since it didn't need to hang as long before smoking.  Sitting in the refrigerator over night just let the flavors meld a bit better.


Smoking the kolbasz and the mettwurst was another experiment.  I decided  to try some wood salvaged from a neighbors Dogwood tree to smoke the sausage.  I ended up with mixed results.  The Dogwood made good smoke and gave the sausage good flavor which is the good result.  The less desirable result is that Dogwood burns hotter than I thought so some of the fat rendered out of the sausage and now they each have a little fat pocket under the casing.

Kolbasz, on the left, and mettwurst ready to smoke

A few nights after packaging the smoked sausage I cooked up one of the kolbasz with some home made sour kraut and nokedli (Hungarian version of spätzle).  This was an awesome supper.  Even with some of the fat rendering out because the smoker got too hot the sausage was still juicy and flavorful.  I will definitely be making this sausage again.

Nokedli, home made sour kraut, and kolbasz

Sausage is something that is easy to make and you can tailor it to suit your tastes.  You don't have to have a grinder or a stuffer either since there are many sausages that are meant to be used as a bulk sausage or as patties.  You can get ground pork from the store to make a small batch to see if you like a recipe before committing to making a 5 - 10 pound batch of sausage.

5 lbs of sausage ready to link.  I think this was the mettwurst.

Both the kolbasz and the mettwurst recipes are tasty and given how well the samples that were just pan fried patties tasted I believe they would do well as a grilled patty rather than a smoked link.


If you have a favorite sausage recipe let me know so I can try it out.


Uncle T

Kimchi Pizza

Yes, you read that right, kimchi pizza.  A couple of years ago, someone told me about seeing a kimchi pizza on an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.  Thankfully, Food Network puts those shows online so I was able to find it.  Here is the video if you want to watch it, Pizzeria Lola.  The place it comes from is up in Minneapolis which is a bit too far away.  So, if I wanted to have kimchi pizza I'd have to make it myself.


One of the problems that came up was the use of Korean sausage.  I spent a year in Korea courtesy of the US Army and never saw any sausage.  Searching online didn't offer any help other than finding a  recipe for a Korean blood sausage.  I may have to try it because it is very different from European style blood sausage that I usually make.  I decided it was Korean sausage simply because a Korean made it.  So, I watched a couple of times and wrote down the ingredients and started experimenting.  In the end, I came up with what I call Korean sausage that works for the kimchi pizza or as a patty to make a kimchi burger.


Korean Sausage

3 lb ground pork

4 – 5 Tbs Korean hot pepper flakes

3 Tbs(rounded) ground fresh ginger

2 – 3 Tbs ground fresh garlic, minced

2 Tbs kosher salt

1 Tbs black pepper

1 Tbs sugar

Mix well and allow to sit for at least an hour to let the flavors fully meld.

Kimchi Pizza


Pizza dough
8 oz Korean sausage
8 oz diced tomatoes
kimchi, drained and chopped
2 - 3 green onions, cut lengthways
1 - 2 Serrano peppers
sesame oil
toasted sesame seeds
Sriracha sauce


Prepare dough according to your recipe.  Put the diced tomatoes on the pizza.  Pinch off small pieces of the sausage and scatter over the pizza.

Put on a layer of kimchi.

Put on the Serrano pepper and onions.  Drizzle with sesame oil.  It's a little hard to spot the peppers because I rehydrated some of my dried Serrano peppers and the ones I used were red.  The heat still comes through.

Bake according to pizza dough instructions.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds and drizzle with Sriracha sauce.

For a regular crust pizza I use this recipe, 10 minute pizza dough.  I have a baking stone in the oven that heats up  as the oven heats up.  As you can see in the pictures, I use parchment paper on my pizza peel to help the pizza slide off neatly.  I've used flour and cornmeal but they tend to leave a mess in the oven and if you go a little overboard with toppings the pizza can still stick to the peel.  Parchment paper alleviates the problems of a mess to clean up and a sticking pizza.


Naturally, I use kimchi I make.  If you want to make your own the instructions can be found here, Kimchi.  If you don't want to make your own then use any good kimchi.


This is a wonderfully tasty and hot pizza.  If you are a fan of heat then you'll like this pizza.  If you make it let me know what you think.


Uncle T

Shoulder Bacon

I've had people ask me personally and I've seen the question asked online; why make your own bacon?  That is usually followed by the comment that it is available in seemingly infinite varieties at the grocery store.  It comes down to two reasons, I like making my own stuff and taste.


I started learning how to process an animal some time after I killed my first deer.  I took it to a local meat processor and paid to have it done.  The cost back then was far less than it is now even taking inflation into account.  However, I wasn't pleased with the packaging, how it was cut, and overall workmanship.  The workmanship part was the fact that they hadn't scraped the bone dust off the various cuts.


Fast forward a few  years and I'm an Army Food Inspector trained in conducting red meat inspections to ensure contractual compliance with USDA guidelines.  Part of that training was attending a red meats course that was conducted at the Veterinary Services schoolhouse at Fort Sam Houston.  The main instructor for that class was the head of the Standardization Branch of the USDA.  The course taught us the proper names of the important muscles, the landmarks for dividing the carcass, and how to go from a hanging carcass to retail cuts of meat.


A natural outgrowth was making sausage out of what I killed.  After all, I do use as much as possible of each animal.  Mostly I made bulk sausage for breakfast.  Making other types will be the subject of a separate post.

Shoulder bacon fresh from the smoker

After I retired from the Army and had settled down I got interested in charcuterie.  One of the best references I have found for that is Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn.  It has clear explanations of the techniques and reasons behind each type of charcuterie and excellent recipes of many types.  I use the basic bacon cure as found in their book.

I found out a few weeks back that my source for pork bellies was no longer carrying individual bellies and I don't have room for a case of bellies.  Since I was about out of bacon I had to resort to what I had done in the past, use pork shoulder butts.  I bought boneless butts since they were on sale and cheaper than the bone-in butts.  The downside was the plant workers are a little less careful than I'd be removing the blade bone.  I was only able to get one good slab from each butt though I was left with 17 lbs of pork to use to make sausage.

Shoulder with cure and Sriracha sauce applied, ready for the refrigerator

Shoulder with cure applied, ready for the refrigerator

Now comes an experimental part of this production.  After I'd weighed out the cure and rubbed into the smallest slab and had it in the vacuum bag ready to seal I had an idea.  I put about a 1/2 cup of sriracha sauce on each side to help flavor the meat while it cured.  I let it cure for a week and it was ready to smoke.  The bacon was rinsed after pulling out of the cure as usual and dried.  I even rinsed the sriracha bacon because I didn't want the surface to be too salty or the sauce to burn while smoking.  The bacon was smoked using cherry wood to an internal temperature of 150F.  After I brought it in, I rubbed a thin coat of sriracha sauce on each side.  Once that dried I rubbed on a second coat.  Once the second coat dried it was wrapped and put in the refrigerator to chill for a few days.

Sriracha bacon on the slicer

A couple of mangled slices were fried up after all the bacon was sliced.  I will say the sriracha bacon is a keeper.  You don't get much heat but the sriracha flavor comes through with just a hint of heat that builds as you eat more.  After eating her sample, the good wife wanted to know why I hadn't done this before.

Sliced shoulder bacon

As a disclaimer, I'll add that adding sriracha to bacon is not original with me.  I first saw it in commercial bacon when we were visiting our son when he lived in Kansas City.  That bacon looked like they'd just squirted some sriracha sauce on top of the sliced bacon before they sealed the package.

I vacuum seal my bacon to hold the cure close to the meat.  This is not necessary to make bacon at home.  All you need is a Ziploc bag and a pan to put it in.  The difference is that with the Ziploc bag you'll need to flip the bacon daily to ensure good contact with the cure and resulting brine.  If you don't have a smoker you can either add a bit of liquid smoke to it as it cures or forego the smoke and just cook it low and slow in the oven until it reaches 150F.  If you have a grill, you can set it up for indirect cooking and use it as a smoker.  I've done that many times.  There are some good videos on Youtube showing you how to make your grill a smoker.

Give making your own bacon a try.  You'll be amazed at the difference in flavor.  Plus, you can experiment with different flavor combinations to suit your tastes.  If you make it, let me know how it came out.

Uncle T 

Kimchi Chicken Soup

Yeah, I know, you're thinking this is an odd combination.  It did start as one of those let's see how this works kind of things.  I think I've mentioned before that we do a calorie restriction diet two days a week.  During the Fall and Winter our meals for those two days tend to be soups.  This soup has the benefit of being filling while consuming less of it.


Usually when I'm making soup for a fast day I pick kale or bok choy from the garden and add it to whatever broth and protein I've selected.  Add some sautéed sliced mushrooms and you have a quick flavorful soup.  When using bok choy I'll usually season the chicken or shrimp with Korean red pepper powder to add some heat and an Asian flair to the soup.


As you know, I make my own Kimchi and for the past two years I've made it from bok choy grown in my garden.  I did buy a large nappa Cabbage from our favorite international grocery and  made some with that while waiting for the time to fully harvest the bok choy.  Once the freeze threatened I harvested  and converted the bok choy to kimchi.  Once all the fermentation was done, I dumped both jars into a large bowl and mixed them thoroughly and put the mixture back in the jars.  That gave me two gallons of mixed nappa and bok choy kimchi.


We had been out running errands and didn't get back to the house till after dark.  So, instead of putting on my head lamp to go pick some kale, I decided to throw in some kimchi.  This is lighter and less hot than my standard kimchi soup but still filling.  I've fixed it twice and neither of us has finished our bowl.

Steaming Hot Kimchi Ckicken Soup

The written recipe is combined and should make four bowls for a normal meal with a little something extra on the side, like a bowl of rice.


Kimchi Chicken Soup


2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
8 oz mushrooms
5 cups chicken broth
18 oz kimchi
3/4 cup kimchi liquid
3 Tbs sesame oil, divided
salt
pepper
garlic powder


Slice the chicken breast into three strips each and then slice about 1/4 thick.  Set on plate and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Slice the mushrooms and place in hot skillet with half of the sesame oil in it, season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  While the mushrooms are cooking, put the chicken broth, kimchi, and kimchi liquid in a pot and turn on medium heat.  When the mushrooms are done, transfer to the pot.  Add the  rest of the sesame oil to the skillet and when hot, add the chicken.  Cook the chicken till brown on that side then flip.  Once the chicken is done on both sides add to the soup.  Stir to combine.  Bring the soup to a simmer, if not already there, and simmer for 15 minutes.  Serve hot.


See, quick and easy.  My batch had more than the good wife's and the whole bowl came to just under 400 calories and I ate about half of my bowl.  This is a flavorful filling soup that you ought to try, especially if you are a fan of kimchi.  If you give this a try let me know what you think.


Uncle T