Waldorf Salad On Croissant

I used non GMO (OMG) chicken breasts. It always feels good to do something healthy for my body once in a while.

Serve on croissants sliced in half to make the perfect brunch sandwich.

5 chicken breasts
1/2 cup (75 g) sliced almonds
1 celery stalk
1 cup (1/2 grappe) white grapes
1 granny smith apple
1/2 cup (25 cl) crème fraiche*
1 tbsp (càs) dijon mustard
salt
cayenne pepper (piment d'espelette)
12 croissants

Dice the chicken breasts and sauté in olive oil. Chill.
Toss with diced apple, sliced celery, and halved grapes.
Mix dijon mustard into sour cream and pour over the salad.
Sprinkle with almonds and cayenne pepper.

*The closest thing to real crème fraiche is light sour cream. Some recipes call for mayonnaise or fromage blanc. I thought mayonnaise sounded too heavy this morning, but you can probably do a mixture of any or all of these creamy sauces depending on the flavor you're looking for.

Pure Hearts Make Better Soup - Rotisserie Chicken Soup

"Anyone who tells a lie has not a pure heart, and cannot make a good soup." - Ludwig van Beethoven

This winter my hubby invented the best soup ever! I was feeling under the weather, and the moment he saw me miserable, the big soft teddy bear in him came out. "What can I make you for dinner?" he asked. It's uncanny, every time I catch a cold the first symptom to present itself is laryngitis. So naturally, the first thing I want to eat is a nice soothing soup. Rob's Rotisserie Chicken Soup is not super complicated but the order you cook the ingredients may surprise you. Follow his advice, start with the little veggies, their tender juicy flavor is worth the extra attention...

Rotisserie Chicken Soup
olive oil
1 onion
2 carrots
1 branch of celery
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 rotisserie chicken
18oz (500g) noodles

Heat your olive oil, simmer the diced onion, carrot, and celeri until soft. Add the chicken broth and rotisserie chicken and bring to a boil. Add the noodles. Serve when the noodles are tender.

*Looking for an extra challenge? - If you would like to make this recipe from scratch, you can start with a small whole chicken. Butter the chicken and roast in the oven using either a roasting pan or roasting bag to contain all of the juices. After an hour of roasting use all of the juices and the chicken parts in your soup.

Worries Go Down Better With Soup - Harvest Cream Soup

A friend stopped by for a coffee, stayed a while, and fortunately we had some harvest cream soup to fill up our bellies with steaming hot vitamins before we had to send him back out in the cold. This soup is amazing, great presentation and creative blend of flavors!

HARVEST CREAM SOUP

1 onion

1 stalk celery

1 leek

2 cloves garlic

1 large bulb celery root

4 cups milk

1 tsp (càc) olive oil

1 fresh lemon

salt

pepper

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CHESTNUT PURÉE

2 shallots

2 cloves garlic

1 sprig thyme

12 chestnuts

salt

pepper

2 cups water

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GARNISH

1 slice of celery root

1/2 carrot

1/2 turnip

2 chestnuts

Dice the vegetables. Crush the garlic. Sweat the first four ingredients with a bit of olive oil at a low temperature so that they get soft but not brown. Add celery root and sweat for 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Add milk and then add water to cover, and simmer for 45 to 50 minutes.

Puree the mixture in a blender with 1 teaspoon olive oil and the juice from the lemon. Strain through a fine mesh strainer.

To prepare the chestnut puree, peel and chop the chestnuts. Crush the garlic. Saute shallots, garlic, thyme and chestnuts over medium heat for 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add water and simmer until tender. Puree the mixture in a blender, adding water to adjust consistency.

For the vegetable garnish, dice the veggies, and cook them slowly in olive oil until they're tender.

Serve even portions of cream soup into 8 bowls, swirl a spoonful of chestnut puree into each bowl. Garnish and serve.

Home Is Where Your Heart Is - Rizotto d'Été

Possibly the first real French recipe I ever made on my own. This dish won my heart and I made it over and over again all summer long. During that first experiment I mis-read the recipe book and prepared peas (petits pois) instead of green beans (haricots vert). A still make it with peas over a decade later!

My friends and I decided to get together and make a 'nice' meal. I toted my french cookbook first to the grocery then to my friend's house with a large paper grocery bag in tow.

I lined up all of my ingredients and I started to chop. Ah! that calming repetitive action. One by one releasing the fragrance of each vegetable.

For me this dish is the essence of traditional French cuisine. Delicate and hardy, subtle and fragrant, simple and memorable. It stands alone as a main dish accompanied by fresh warm crusty Italian bread loaded generously with soft unsalted butter in stark contrast with the chilled dry white wine.

The peas can still be replaced by parboiled green beans sliced cross wise into 1/4 inch (6mm) lengths. Or they could equally be substituted by rapidly sautéed baby artichokes or baby asparagus.

As the Mirepoix begins to simmer the luscious scent wafts throughout the neighborhood making all the neighbors jealous. The smell of celery and onion alway reminds me of my mom's homemade stuffing. That glorious smell of home, of warmth, of love.

Mirepoix

The Mirepoix is an aromatic base for many dishes.
Warm 1 tbsp (1 càs) olive oil in a heavy saucepan over low heat.
Add a carrot finely chopped, an onion finely chopped, a small celery stalk finely chopped, and a pinch of herbes de provence.
Cover and simmer stirring occasionally.

Rizotto d'Été

INGREDIENTS

2 cups (300g) Arborio rice (rizotto)
4 cups (1 L) broth, boiling
1 cup (100g) fresh peas (or frozen)
1/4 cup (60g) unsalted butter
1/4 cup (60g) freshly grated Parmesan cheese

PREPARATION

Prepare the Mirepoix in a heavy saucepan. Add the rice and stir with a wooden spoon over low heat until all the grains are coated with oil and opaque.

Over medium heat, add the broth and stir constantly until the rice is tender, 20 min. Stir the peas into the rice. The rice should be almost liquid but not quite pourable. It is usually necessary to add a little more liquid before removing it from the heat to achieve this consistency.

Off the heat, stir in the butter and then the cheese. Serve in a deep soup plate.