New York Times' Quick Tomato, White Bean and Kale Soup

We signed up for a Fall CSA from Simpaug Farms in Suffield and we've been using up these beautiful fall vegetables right and left.

With our first batch of kale, which also had some lingering summer tomatoes, onion, and parsley along with it, we made this delicious and nutritious soup from the New York Times.

It includes a melange of veggies - onion, carrot, celery and garlic plus the tomatoes (we chopped a few fresh ones instead of the can this recipe calls for), potatoes and of course, kale. Fresh herbs like parsley, thyme and bay add flavor and white beans add heartiness.   

In addition to sprinkling some Parmesan on it when serving, we threw a big piece of Parmesan rind in it while it simmered, which added some saltiness and flavor. This recipe is bookmarked for sure. We even shared some with Simpaug's farmer Keith and he gave it a thumbs up, too.

Happy harvesting!

Skinny Stuffed Tarragon Lemon Mustard Chicken - Made with Saucy Mama Mustard! And a GIVEAWAY!

We were chosen to take part in Saucy Mama's "Skinny Mama - Cooking with Mustard" Recipe Contest, and as such, a nice big box filled with a variety of Saucy Mama mustards appeared on our front porch not too long ago. We were quite excited to try some new mustard flavors, and the "Smoky Garlic" and the "Tarragon Lemon" flavors especially appealed to us. The contest rules dictated that we had to use one of the mustards to create an original recipe that follows the guidelines of any well-known diet plan.

The recipe we came up with is called "Skinny Stuffed Tarragon Lemon Mustard Chicken," and it is as deliciously flavorful as it is low in calories. The Tarragon-Lemon mustard packs an herbacious punch of flavor with hints of tangy citrus, and the vegetables stuffed inside the chicken keep it moist and fork-tender. Even with a side dish of pretty red lentils, a serving comes in at only 302 calories! It has a mere 3 grams of saturated fat, and the dish is low-carb as well as high in protein, niacin, folic acid and Vitamin A. And did you happen to notice that it only takes about 25 minutes to make??? It's the perfect weeknight dinner!

You may think you'd like to try this at home, but you don't have a bottle of Saucy Mama's mustard handy. We have great news for you - Saucy Mama has offered us an additional three bottles of their mustard to GIVEAWAY! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post by Wednesday March 7th, including your email address, and a random number generator will choose the winner for us.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, this contest is being decided on Facebook. So if you like A Couple in the Kitchen, and our "Skinny Stuffed Tarragon Lemon Mustard Chicken" sounds good to you, please vote for us HERE. Voting starts Wednesday February 29th (Leap Day!) and ends on March 7th. And you can VOTE ONCE PER DAY!!!

Skinny Stuffed Tarragon Lemon Mustard Chicken

(Makes 6 servings)

Ingredients:

6 boneless skinless chicken thighs

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

6 tablespoons Saucy Mama Tarragon Lemon Mustard

1 plum tomato, julienned

2 slices sweet yellow onion, 1/4-inch thick

6 spinach leaves

2 ounces white wine

1 cup fat-free chicken broth

3/4 cup red lentils

Preheat oven to 375. Lay chicken thighs flat on a work surface and season them on both sides with salt and pepper. Pour the mustard into a bowl and gently toss the chicken thighs in the mustard; set aside for 10 minutes to marinate. Once again lay chicken thighs flat on a work surface. On top of each chicken thigh, place one spinach leaf, 3-4 julienned slices of tomato, and 3-4 slices of onion until chicken is covered with vegetables. Roll chicken so that vegetables are encased inside, then place in a baking dish. Add white wine to the dish and cover loosely with aluminum foil. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, removing aluminum foil when there are five minutes left to go. While chicken is baking, place lentils in a medium saucepan. Cover lentils with chicken broth, bring to a boil, stir gently, then loosely cover and cook for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through.

Disclaimers:

We were given 6 bottles of mustard by Saucy Mama/Barhyte Specialty Foods as participants in this contest. We were not otherwise compensated, and the recipe here, as well as any opinions expressed, are our own.
The winner of the GIVEAWAY will supply us with their contact information which we will send to Saucy Mama; GIVEAWAY prize will be shipped directly from Sauce Mama/Barhyte Specialty Foods.

Almost Wordless Weekender

 everything bagel. cream cheese. purple basil microgreens. tomato paste dots.

Shrimp Alexandros for Two

It's Valentine's Day and Amy's home sick with a bad cold and a sore throat. Thankfully, we enjoyed our romantic dinner out over the weekend. Still wanting to make something special, we turned to a restaurant classic for inspiration. Maybe you've heard of Shrimp Alexander, the appetizer of breaded shrimp served in a lemony butter sauce made famous by Morton's the Steakhouse. It's a very good appetizer, but we wanted to make it into a meal, something romantic, something different, something with a Greek twist. Something we've coined Shrimp Alexandros.

Alexandros is a common Greek name that, according to Greek-names.info, derives from the words “alexo” and “andros," which, in ancient Greek, mean “hold off” and “of man” respectively. The name Alexandros was used in Ancient Greece both as a name and an epithet (adjective) describing a person who is unbeatable. That's not to say we think our shrimp dish is unbeatable, rather since we're giving a Greek twist to the dish, we're also giving a Greek twist to the name.

One of the things that makes this a perfect Valentine's dinner is that it works best with more than two hands. One person can take care of coating and baking the shrimp and making the spinach mixture, while the other person can make the sauce. As our motto says, "The couple that sautes together, stays together!"

We loved the crunchy garlicky shrimp atop the bed of spinach with chopped tomato and feta for a contrast of colors and flavors. A soft drizzle of lemony beurre blanc was reminiscent of the steakhouse original. The flavors were not overpowering, but strong enough so even Amy, with her stuffed-up nose, could taste them. This one is going into the "keeper" files - think how much better it will be with a gorgeously fresh summer tomato. Lovely!

Ingredients:

6 colossal (U-12) shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/2 cup panko-style breadcrumbs

1 medium tomato, chopped

1 pound spinach

2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

2 tablespoons minced shallots

1/4 cup white wine

1/4 cup lemon juice

6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

In a large skillet, melt one tablespoon butter with one tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped garlic and stir for one minute, taking care not to burn it. Add the panko and cook, stirring often, about five minutes, until toasted. Transfer the breadcrumb mixture to a separate bowl and set aside. Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter. Dip each shrimp first in the melted butter then into the seasoned panko until shrimp are coated with the breadcrumbs. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 450 degrees for five minutes. In a large skillet, saute the spinach and tomato until the spinach is wilted. Stir in the feta cheese and place the spinach/tomato/feta mixture in the middle of a plate. Place three cooked shrimp on each plate, over the spinach mixture. In a small saucepan, combine shallots with white wine and place over medium heat. Reduce until liquid is halved. Add lemon juice and continue to reduce until liquid is halved again. Remove from heat. Slowly whisk in the butter one piece at a time until well combined. Drizzle the plate with the sauce and enjoy with a chilled, buttery Chardonnay.

Farewell to The Minimalist: Tomato, Fennel and Crab Soup

As you may know, Mark Bittman's New York Times column, The Minimalist, ran for the last time last week. The column was required reading in our house, where, like Bittman, we are proponents of good eating through simple cooking. To that end, we wanted to make one of Bittman's recipes with items we already had or could easily, and cheaply, get. It was the fennel left over from our wild boar roast that pointed us in the right direction. That, a coupon for some crabmeat, and items from our pantry, was everything we needed to make his Tomato, Fennel and Crab soup. This recipe is copied from epicurious.com. We'll miss The Minimalist but look forward to more from Mark Bittman.

Note: The only change we made was to include fewer onions (about 3 cups instead of 3 1/2).

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil

3 1/2 cups chopped onions

2 medium fennel bulbs with fronds; bulbs cored, thinly sliced, fronds chopped and reserved

3 large garlic cloves, minced

2 14 1/2-ounce cans diced tomatoes in juice

2 cups (or more) vegetable broth

8 ounces fresh crabmeat, picked over

Additional olive oil

4 1/2-inch-thick slices pain rustique or rustic whole wheat bread, toasted

Heat 1/4 cup oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add onions, fennel slices, and garlic; sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Sauté until onions and fennel are tender, stirring often and adjusting heat to medium if browning too quickly, about 15 minutes. Add tomatoes with juice and 2 cups broth and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until flavors blend and vegetables are very tender, about 15 minutes. Stir in crabmeat and add more broth by 1/4 cupfuls to thin soup, if desired; simmer just until heated through, 3 to 4 minutes. Season soup with salt and pepper. Divide soup among bowls. Sprinkle each with chopped fennel fronds. Drizzle each serving with oil. Serve with toasts.