Chicken Stock

Chicken Stock is the base for almost every soup I make.  I will sometime use chicken stock from the store, but it is really easy and tasty to make a very flavorful chicken soup base.

Chicken Stock

Ingredients:
5 pound chicken – I tend to use the chicken that I will use in a soup, so thighs work great
Big swirl of Olive oil
14 oz carrots
14 oz celery
8 cups water
5 cloves garlic
1 TBS Thyme
1 TBS Oregano
Salt and Pepper to taste

optional:
1 TBS Hot Hungarian Paprika
Ginger to taste

Directions:
Place Chicken and a big swirl of Olive oil in a pot, salt and pepper chicken and start browning.  I leave the skin on the thighs, I want the fat and skin browned for flavor.  Brown/cook chicken for about 15-20 minutes, the chicken will release liquid because I am not searing it, I am just cooking it and browning it a little.  Add carrots, celery, onions, and garlic.  Mix together and let cook a little longer, about 20-25 minutes at this point.  Then add 8 cups of water and the thyme, paprika, and oregano.  Cook for 2 hours on med to low.  As in all my recipes I recommend tasting and adjusting as you need.  I don’t know if my oregano is fresher, older, stronger, or weaker, than yours, so taste things along the way and adjust as needed.  You have permission to experiment, in fact it’s a requirement!
If you want clear stock, remove all the veggies, bay leaf, and chicken.  Continue to cook down, to intensify the flavor.  You want to be left with about 8 cups of clear stock.  It’s sort of funny, you start out with 8 cups water, but with all the ingredients you end up with about the same and all the flavor or the carrots, celery, spices and chicken left in that water.  Even with some cooking down, I seem to be at 8 cups.  Which for me is perfect, because that’s about how much stock I need for most of my soup recipes.

My favorite adaptation to this recipe:  Remove only the chicken, pull out the bay leaf, and then immersion blend all the veggies into the soup base.  This is great if you’re making a creamed soup or stockier/heavier soup.

Save Chicken, debone, and use in recipes as desired.

 

Salmon Cakes with Remoulade Sauce ala Lyssa

So, I love salmon and I am always looking for ways to cook it, that are different.  Here is my take on Salmon Cakes.  This recipe is not Low Carb/Primal, as it does have bread crumbs, honestly I am getting ready to try it again without the Panko, I have moved to using sautéed shredded carrots in my meatloaf to make it Low Carb/Primal, I think the same would work here.  Really the egg is the binder, but the carrots would add bulk.  If using sautéed carrots, sauté them until they are soft, with the onions, bell pepper, and parsley.  You will want to add about 1 cup of the shredded carrots.

Ingredients

• 1 lb Fresh Raw Salmon
• 1/2 Cup Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 cloves garlic
• 1 Small onions chopped
• small diced red bell pepper (1 small pepper)
• 1/3 Cup minced Italian (flat leaf) parsley
• 3 Tbsp chopped fresh dill
• 1 Tbsp Finely chopped fresh chives, for garnish
• salt to taste
• freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 lemon, zested
• 2 Cups Panko breadcrumbs (*or 1 cup sautéed shredded carrots)
• 1 Cup Canola Oil

Remoulade Sauce

• 1/2 Jar capers
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
• finely chopped parsley leaves
• 2 Tbsp Worchestershire
• chopped fresh dill
• 2 Tbsp Stone ground mustarD
• 1 Cup Mayonnaise

Directions

1. Sauté onions, bell peppers, garlic, till soft, in olive oil. Trust yourself for the amount of oil.
2. Skin 1 pound of salmon, cut into chunks.
3. Add parsley, dill, cayenne pepper, chives, salt and pepper to sauté pan with aromatics. Sauté a little longer till parsley starts to wilt. Cool as you chop salmon.
4. Mix fish with sautéd aromatics and herbs. Beat eggs, mix into fish and then add Panko (If you are using the *sautéed shredded carrots just mix them in with the sautéed aromatics) and lemon zest. Mix thoroughly.Allow to sit.
5. Make Roumalade. Mix all ingredients together and let sit in fridge till cakes are done.
6. Add Canola oil to pan, make patties of fish and fry each side for about 4-6 minutes, per side.
7. Serve on fresh salad. Drizzle Roumalade over cakes and salad.