Showing posts with label spring recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spring recipes. Show all posts

Sunday, January 19, 2025

Lemony Spring Vegetable Chicken Soup

This Lemony Spring Vegetable Chicken Soup is a light, flavorful bowl of comfort food, with tender chicken, asparagus, new potatoes, carrots and peas.

Food Lust People Love: This Lemony Spring Vegetable Chicken Soup is a light, flavorful bowl of comfort food, with tender chicken, asparagus, new potatoes, carrots and peas.

This recipe is adapted from one in delicious. magazine from 2023. The original recipe was supposed to be accompanied by a gremolata made from the hard stems one trims from the asparagus because they aren’t typically edible. 

This is a fabulous idea except that right when I get home from the store with asparagus, I cut off those ends and discard them. Then I put my asparagus in a jar or glass with water in the fridge door, much like cut flowers. A trim assures that the asparagus can suck up some water, which keeps them lovely and fresh for much longer than normal. If only I had seen this recipe first! 

Cut the ends at angle for better uptake of water. 

So, two days later, when I did trim more to make the gremolata, I had to use tender ends instead. (I also substituted green onions for parsley).  No idea how the woody ends would have tasted but my gremolata was lovely. I’m leaving the original instruction in case you have woody ends you’d like to use. Let me know how it turns out! 

Lemony Spring Vegetable Chicken Soup

Use the vegetable amounts as a suggestion. If you have a few more potatoes and asparagus or a few less carrots and green peas, it doesn’t matter. Go with what you’ve got. This is a protein rich soup with one chicken breast per serving. 

Ingredients to serve 4
For the soup:
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 small skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 1 lb 9 oz or 600g total)
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to finish dish
11 1/2 oz or 325g new potatoes, preferably Jersey Royals, scrubbed and sliced into thick coins
10 1/2 oz or 300g spring carrots, scrubbed and sliced into thick coins
1/2 cup of 120ml dry white wine
4 cups or 946ml chicken stock
10 1/2 oz or 300g asparagus, before trimming
7 oz or 200g petit pois or small sweet peas, defrosted if frozen
Juice 1/2 lemon

For the asparagus gremolata:
Trimmed ends asparagus in soup ingredient list
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 spring onions, green part only, sliced finely, plus extra for garnish, if desired
2 small cloves garlic
Zest 1 1/2 lemons
Juice 1 lemon

To serve:
Asparagus gremolata
4 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt or sour cream (one for each bowl)
Lemon zest
Finely sliced green onions, if desired

Method
First thing, we’ll start the gremolata. Snap or trim the woody ends from the asparagus. Cut the spears in halves and set aside, then finely slice the woody ends into discs. Put the discs in a small sieve over a bowl and sprinkle with salt to soften them a little. 


Put the green onions in another small bowl, then use a microplane or fine grater to grate the garlic and the zest of 1 1/2 lemons into it. The zest of the other half of the lemon can be used as garnish on the finished dish so definitely zest them both and set one quarter aside for serving. 


Season the chicken with the sea salt and black pepper.


Heat half the oil in a shallow sauté pan or casserole with a lid then add the seasoned chicken breast to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until all the breasts are a lovely golden brown.  


They will still be raw inside but don’t let that worry you. We will finish cooking them in the soup later. Transfer the breasts to a plate and set aside. 

Add the remaining oil to the pan, followed by the sliced potatoes and carrots. 


Fry for 5 minutes, stirring frequently, then add the wine. 


Cover for a few minutes to allow the carrots and potatoes to just about cook through, then take of the lid and leave the wine to bubble until it is reduced by half (about 4 minutes.)

Pour in the chicken stock and bring up to a simmer. Nestle the chicken in the pan (it should be fully submerged in stock), then cover and simmer gently for 6 minutes.


While the chicken simmers, finish the gremolata by mixing the salty sliced asparagus with the green onion/lemon zest mix. Set aside.


When your six minutes of simmering are up, stir the peas and asparagus into the soup. 


Cover and gently simmer for 2-4 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. 

Add the lemon juice and a good few grinds of black pepper.


Divide the soup into four bowls, one breast each, and top with lemon zest and some green onions, if desired. 

Serve the gremolata and yogurt or sour cream on the side so everyone can add a dollop of each to their bowls. 

Food Lust People Love: This Lemony Spring Vegetable Chicken Soup is a light, flavorful bowl of comfort food, with tender chicken, asparagus, new potatoes, carrots and peas.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are serving up comfort foods! Many thanks to our host, Sue of Palatable Pastime. Check out all the links below. 

 
We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.



Pin this Lemony Spring Vegetable Chicken Soup!

Food Lust People Love: This Lemony Spring Vegetable Chicken Soup is a light, flavorful bowl of comfort food, with tender chicken, asparagus, new potatoes, carrots and peas.

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Thursday, February 28, 2019

Fresh Rhubarb Steamed Sponge Pudding with Rhubarb Sauce

This fresh rhubarb steamed sponge pudding is a light springtime recipe, highlighting the gorgeous pink tart rhubarb that is available now. This sticky dessert takes a while to cook but it's mostly hands off time. Wait till you bite into its soft sponge with tart topping! Totally worth it.

Food Lust People Love: This fresh rhubarb steamed sponge pudding is a light springtime recipe, highlighting the gorgeous pink tart rhubarb that is available now. This sticky dessert takes a while to cook but it's mostly hands off time. Wait to you bite into its soft sponge with tart topping! Totally worth the effort. The glossy pink rhubarb on top of this steamed pudding is a welcome bit of color on a dreary cold day.


As an expat parent raising two daughters in foreign lands, I felt a great responsibility to make sure that they learned about the culture and traditions of the countries where we were lived. After all, one of the most valuable lessons we can take away from living overseas is that our way of doing things is not the only way; it may not even be the best way. We learn and we grow as we expand our borders.

I also considered it of grave importance to teach them about their own American heritage and cultural roots from the sweet joys of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to the reasons we value the democratic system and should always exercise our right to vote. This challenge was further expanded by our mixed origins. My husband is British, which meant that, as the person who cooks most of the meals in our family, when it came to passing on food traditions, it fell to me to cover both.

A typically British dessert, steamed sponge puddings were not part of my childhood menu. For that matter, neither was rhubarb! I remember seeing it first in a fruit and veg market in Sydney when I was 24 and wondering to myself, what sort of strange celery was this? My husband, on the other hand, grew up with both.

The first steamed pudding I ever made, and still make to this day, is one we call Granda’s Dumpling. It was shared with me by a dear friend and it is her father’s specialty. It's perfect for Christmas, a pudding full of mixed fruit that reminds me of a very moist fruitcake. For spring, a lighter sponge pudding with rhubarb is more appropriate.

Meanwhile, I've also made up for lost time on the rhubarb front. If you have ready access to rhubarb, you might want to check out some of my other rhubarb-y recipes:


Fresh Rhubarb Sponge Pudding with Rhubarb Sauce

The glossy pink rhubarb on top of this steamed pudding is a welcome bit of color on a dreary cold day.  My recipe is adapted from .delicious magazine, (UK) March 2009 issue. In all, you will need 14 1/2 oz or 480g of rhubarb but I have given the amount divided below to make the recipe easier to follow. No rhubarb? Substitute whatever seasonal fruit you have on hand and adjust the sugar accordingly. This pudding with serve four greedy people and six with more restrained appetites.

Ingredients
For the pudding:
2 1/2 oz or 70g rhubarb, trimmed
3 tablespoons golden syrup (See Note)
1/2 cup or 100g sugar
7 tablespoons or 100g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing the pudding basin
3/4 cup or 95g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup or 57ml milk
2 large eggs
Grated zest 1 lemon
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract

For the rhubarb sauce:
12 oz or 340g rhubarb, trimmed
1/8 cup or 28g sugar – or more to taste
Grated zest and juice 1 orange
Good pinch salt

To serve: pouring or whipped cream

Note: Golden syrup can be purchased in the international aisle of most large grocery stores. Substitute a cane syrup or amber corn syrup if you cannot find any.

Method
Rinse and dry the rhubarb.

Cut your choicest pieces of rhubarb into lengths that will fit nicely in the bottom of a 4+ cup or 1 liter pudding basin. Cut the rest of rhubarb into bite-size pieces, put it in a medium-sized non-reactive pan and set it aside.

Butter the pudding basin and then add the rhubarb to the bottom, curved side down. Drizzle the golden syrup over it.



Note: If you don't have a pudding basin, you can substitute a stainless steel mixing bowl. It should have a small lip.

Using your electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter together until they turn light yellow and fluffy. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition.

Beat in the lemon zest and vanilla.

Sift in your flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. then add the milk. Fold them both in gently.



Spoon the batter into your buttered pudding basin.


Cover the basin with folded parchment paper and secure it with kitchen string. Tie the ends of the string together to create a handle with which to lift the basin and trim any excess parchment.


Put the covered basin in a large pot. Add hot water to the pot till it comes two-thirds of the way up the side of the basin.


Bring the water to a gentle boil then cover the pot and lower the flame to simmer. Simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Check the water level occasionally and add more as needed.

Meanwhile, make the rhubarb sauce. Add the caster sugar, the orange zest, orange juice and a pinch of salt to the pan where you've saved the cut rhubarb.

Gently cook for 5-10 minutes over a medium until the rhubarb softens and turns saucy, stirring from time to time. Taste the sauce and add a little more sugar, if necessary. Set the rhubarb sauce aside to cool.

Once the pudding steaming time is up, carefully remove the basin from the pot, using your string handle. Set it on a wire rack.

Remove the baking parchment and leave to cool for five minutes, then run a knife around the edges of the sponge pudding. Isn't it amazing how a steamed pudding browns?

This fresh rhubarb steamed sponge pudding is a light springtime recipe, highlighting the gorgeous pink tart rhubarb that is available now. This sticky dessert takes a while to cook but it's mostly hands off time. Wait to you bite into its soft sponge with tart topping! Totally worth the effort. The glossy pink rhubarb on top of this steamed pudding is a welcome bit of color on a dreary cold day.
Turn it out on a serving dish.

This fresh rhubarb steamed sponge pudding is a light springtime recipe, highlighting the gorgeous pink tart rhubarb that is available now. This sticky dessert takes a while to cook but it's mostly hands off time. Wait to you bite into its soft sponge with tart topping! Totally worth the effort. The glossy pink rhubarb on top of this steamed pudding is a welcome bit of color on a dreary cold day.


Serve with rhubarb sauce and, if you'd like, pouring cream.

Food Lust People Love: This fresh rhubarb steamed sponge pudding is a light springtime recipe, highlighting the gorgeous pink tart rhubarb that is available now. This sticky dessert takes a while to cook but it's mostly hands off time. Wait to you bite into its soft sponge with tart topping! Totally worth the effort. The glossy pink rhubarb on top of this steamed pudding is a welcome bit of color on a dreary cold day.


Enjoy!

Pin this Fresh Rhubarb Steamed Sponge Pudding! 

Food Lust People Love: This fresh rhubarb steamed sponge pudding is a light springtime recipe, highlighting the gorgeous pink tart rhubarb that is available now. This sticky dessert takes a while to cook but it's mostly hands off time. Wait to you bite into its soft sponge with tart topping! Totally worth the effort. The glossy pink rhubarb on top of this steamed pudding is a welcome bit of color on a dreary cold day.
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