chicken corn chowda – combat dreary with dairy!

it’s cloudy, it’s cold, it’s windy, it’s off-n-on rainy and it’s november. it’s also a night where I have some hours with just the catties, and I always feel that time is best spent making food. it’s doubly rewarding to have a nice hot meal ready for when pony comes home from work.
we had a couple ears of corn in the fridge on the verge of not being so great anymore, so soup was the obvious choice. and while corn chowder is nice, I think it’s even nicer with chicken or turkey. tonight I used turkey because they had big ol’ leg/thigh combos on at the store for super cheap. inexpensive dark meat? sign me up!

also, before I get to the good part, I feel I need to honestly say that I absolutely used two recipes on foodnetwork to figure out how I wanted to attempt this meal. one was paula’s which I used as a guide for ingredients, and the other was tyler’s, which I used more for the method… though mine is different from both in the end. often when I’ve never made something before, or haven’t made it in a long time, I’ll seek out some recipes as a refresher or rough guide, then adjust to my own taste.
okok, on with the good show:

a good wooden spoon of butter (maybe 1/3 C? maybe 1/2 C?)
1 tbsp oil
1 small onion, diced
3 sticks of celery, diced
1 leek, cut in half and sliced into thin semi-circles (I could do a whole post on how to clean/cut leeks, so look it up if you’re not sure)
3-5 cloves of garlic, minced
a good glurg of white wine (say, 1/3-1/2 C)
1 tsp dijon mustard
several cracks of black pepper
thyme – 4 sprigs chopped, or 1 1/2 tsp of the dry stuff
3 C chicken stock (or veg if you wanna do this meat-free)
chicken or turkey, cooked and shredded – for turkey, a leg and thigh was lots. for chicken, 8 or 10 thighs… or 4 thighs and 2 breasts maybe
5-6 medium-sized new potatoes, cut into bite-size chunks
3 ears of corn or 3ish C frozen corn
1 zucchini, sliced into semi circles
2 C whipping cream
1/3 C flour or cornstarch

. a couple hours before you want to make soup, crank yer oven to 375 and get your chicken/turkey in there (in an uncovered dish with pepper and poultry seasoning on it) and bake for an hour. let it cool and then begin your soup!

. chuck the butter and oil in a big pot on medium-low heat
. add the onion, celery, leek and garlic. let these get all glossy, but not brown. stir every couple of minutes
. when the veg is translucent and lovely, add the thyme, pepper, mustard and wine. allow to simmer for a few minutes
. add the chicken/turkey, potatoes and chicken stock. slap a lid on it and let it simmer for a good half hour

. meanwhile, if you’ve got corn still on the cob, get it off. the easiest way I know is the guy fieri way (what a FN heavy post this is): get two bowls, one really big, the other small and with a flat bottom. tip the small bowl upside down into the big bowl. rest one end of corn on the smaller bowl and use a big knife to carve off the niblets in one motion. as you do this, the corn falls into the big bowl, and not all over your counter. happy days!
. add the corn  and zucchini to the soup mix and let simmer for ten minutes
. in a big cup or bowl or something, whisk the flour/starch into the cream until it’s all smooth. pour this into the soup and stir constantly as you do to avoid lumps (especially if you’re using corn starch)

. if it’s too thick, add a little milk to thin it out, or some more chicken stock
. let everything come up to a gentle boil and then shut ‘er down. it’s all done, and in the most fabulous of ways!
. serve it nice and hot with some really nice buttered bread and a green salad or all by it’s thick, creamy, hearty self

also, if you wanted to get really decadent, you could add 2 C grated cheddar and 1/4 C chopped green chilis or pickled jalapeños just before serving. so much savour, so much flavour!

Mint Cocoa Cookies – think chewy girl guide… oh my!

a while back I stumbled upon a very simple idea: mint chocolate cookies.

I was perusing the local downtown bakery, erwin’s, on a lunch break. I felt terribly lucky after sampling a few of these baddies: dark chocolate and a minty chewy/soft loveliness… the most basic, unflowery way I could describe these. anyway, since starting my new job at a coffee shop that shall remain nameless (though I’m sure lots of you know where and what it is) and overhauling the baked-goods menu, I knew I wanted something similar to this awesome cool-weather treat.
enough banter and on with the goods!

spread before you is:

1 1/4 C unsalted butter at room temp
2 C sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp peppermint extract (for the love of god, not spearmint… unless you want toothpaste cookies…)
2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt plus a little more… so more like 3/4 tsp
3/4 C to 1 C good cocoa, dutch processed works

. cream the soft butter with the sugar
. add the vanilla, peppermint extract and eggs and mix

. in another bowl, add all the dry ingredients together. you may want to sift in the cocoa or sift the whole mix before adding it to the wet ingredients. cocoa has a lovely way of being all clumpy and difficult to incorporate…
. dump the dry into the wet and stir to combine
. wrap the bowl with cling film and let it hang out in the fridge for an hour or so

. crank yer oven to 325.
. take the dough out of the fridge and use a spoon to scoop bits of it onto a cookie sheet. you could make them into balls and squish them down with your hand if you like round cookies, but I like mine rustic and fat so I bake ’em as they fall to the pan: wonky
. bake for 10-15 minutes or until the edges are done but the middle still looks a bit undercooked… though it’s really not

these should end up being soft and chewy on the inside and just slightly crunchy around the edges. if that’s not happening for you, try baking them at 300 or at 350 for different amounts of time to get the right texture

enjoy your weirdly refreshing, house and heartwarming mint cocoa cookies!