Chicken Vegetable Soup

I made this today and it is quite tasty. It’s my own recipe. I generally don’t like fennel, but it’s quite good in soup.

Chicken Vegetable Soup

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 chicken breasts
• 1 onion
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped or mashed, as you please
• 1/4 teaspoon chopped/ground fresh ginger root
• 1/2 jalapeno pepper
•  about 1 cup chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 cup split green peas
• 8-10-ish cups of water, or however much broth you want.
• 2 cups chopped cabbage
• 1 carrot
• 1 stick celery
• freshly-ground mixed pepper
• about 1 tablespoon Kosher salt
• as much fresh ground black pepper as you like
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1/2 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds

Heat the olive oil on medium in a soup pot. Chop up/slice/grind your ingredients as you please. Add the onion, garlic, jalapeno, ginger, and chicken to the oil. Grind some mixed pepper on top. Stir it occasionally. Once it’s cooked a little, add the tomatoes, oregano, basil, and fennel and let it cook until it’s saucy. Add the peas, cabbage, carrot, celery and water. Let it simmer, covered, on medium-low for about 2 hours. Add the salt and pepper as you please. Cook it for another 15 minutes or so, then let it cool and eat.

If you have room in your pot, add a zucchini.

Like many soups, it’s even better the next day.

Spinach Salad with Fennel, Beets, and Balsamic-Lemon-Pomegranate Dressing

My roommate Jono makes this; it’s sweet and tangy and has a ton going on. the body of the spinach, cheese, and nuts, and the richness of the beets and pomegranate flavors lend complexity to the sweeter notes.

• 2 red beets, roasted (or 1/3 to 1/2 of a can)
• 1 package baby spinach
• 1 /2 package mache or spring greens
• 4 inches fennel bulb, halved and sliced as thin as possible
• 1/2 – 1 c walnuts, chopped a bit (not too much) and toasted in a small saucepan (no oil) until they start to smell like toast and just barely change color
• 1 – 1 1/2 c slices of tangerines (about 3 tangerines)
• 1 1/2 small fuji apple, cored, sliced into 1/8 slices, and then sliced thinly
• 1/3 cup (about 3 inches) good-quality, firm, crumbly bleu cheese (should have a musty odor when broken)

Ahead of time, roast beets (cut off greens 1 in away from tops, place in a Pyrex or stoneware dish that has a lid, drizzle with olive oil, and roast, covered, on 350° for 1 hr – 1:20)

Chop all other salad ingredients; toss; top with dressing (below) and several turns of freshly ground black pepper; toss again.

For dressing, whisk together “to taste” these ingredients in a jar and then “shake the shit out of it” (or place in food processor):

• 3/4 c olive oil
• 1/4 c balsamic vinegar
• 1-2 cloves garlic
• barely a pinch of sea salt
• 2 tsp pomegranate molasses
• lemon juice to taste (1-2 Tbsp)
• 1-2 Tbsp stone-ground mustard (something spicier – stone-ground with horseradish is fine)
• 2 tsp honey (or agave nectar)