I know that’s a bold statement for someone who spends hours and hours in the kitchen. However, of all the food groups (and yes stuffing is a food group), stuffing is the one! It evokes emotion.

Warm and fuzzy emotion!

For as far back as I can remember, all of my Thanksgiving memories, include this glorious side dish. Turkey, I can take it or leave it. But it’s just not Thanksgiving to me without stuffing!

I do believe where you grew up has something to do with it! I grew up in New England and our Thanksgiving dinner included the following:

• Roast Turkey with Stuffing (inside the bird)
• Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
• Creamed Onions
• Maple Brown Sugar Baked Acorn Squash
• Mashed Turnips
• Gruyere Cabbage
• Deviled Eggs
• Black Olives & Celery
• Cranberry Sauce
• Sometimes we’d also have Scalloped Corn, green peas or glazed carrots.

Flash forward to the early 90s when I moved from New Hampshire to Georgia. Thanksgiving Dinner took on a new look.

• Roast Turkey (sometimes deep fried) and Baked Ham
• Cornbread Dressing (plus I always made a side of stuffing too)
• Baked Mac ‘n’ Cheese
• Summer Squash Casserole
• Sweet Potato Casserole
• Mashed Potato Casserole
• Green Bean Casserole
• Corn Casserole
• Buttermilk Biscuits
• Deviled Eggs
• Cranberry Sauce

My current-day menu is now a wonderful blend of my New England childhood favorites with some delicious Southern comfort food classics!

Herb Browned Butter Stuffing however, will remain the sentimental favorite! It’s the one holiday side dish that my Shelby requests each year. Here’s how I add the LOVE to this heavenly dish!

The Stuffing Ingredients

Bread Cubes

Bread cubes are the foundation of this recipe and you’ll want a nice variety. You’ll want about 1 1/2 – 2 pounds of bread or about 12 cups of cubes. I find whole French or Italian Loaves, Ciabatta, Brioche, or even dinner rolls or bagels cut or torn into bite-sized pieces work well. Try for at least two different types of bread.

Here’s How To Make Bread Cubes for Stuffing.

The Herbs & Aromatics

When it comes to herbs & aromatics, the list of ‘add-in’ possibilities are abundant. For this recipe I begin with butter and fresh herbs. Lots of butter and chopped herbs that are slowly sautéed until the most fragrant rich browned butter aromas begin to dance around your kitchen.

As with the fresh herbs, a nice variety of diced veggies really gives your stuffing texture and personality. Traditionally onion and celery are the base of classic stuffing recipes. I use a large onion and a whole head of celery, about 3 cups diced of each. They are cooked down in the herb butter until tender.

For this recipe I also include leeks, mushrooms and garlic. All of that herb butter flavor is building throughout each layer.

Optional Veggie/Fruit/Meat Add-Ins

You can also add apple, fennel, carrots, dried cranberries or apricots, roasted chestnuts, water chestnuts, toasted pine nuts, sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, or olives.

Sometimes I add sausage or diced bacon. I also love Oyster Dressing where fresh shucked oysters are added before baking.

There are so many flavor combinations and directions you can take this stuffing.

The Broth

I traditionally use a nice rich chicken broth for my stuffing. However, you could certainly use veggie broth for a vegetarian stuffing.

You’ll want 4- 5 cups of broth, start with 4 and add more if needed. Once you add the broth to the sautéed aromatics, bring the mixture to a boil. This further incorporates all that buttery herb love.

The last step before baking is to gently fold in the dried bread cubes. The mixture should be quite moist. Transfer to a 3 quart or 9×13 baking dish and bake at 350 degrees F. for about 45 minutes or until the top and edges are nicely browned and crispy.

Herb Browned Butter Stuffing of Love is the perfect balance of buttery crispy edges with an herby soft center. It’s delicious and you’ll want to include this dish on your Thanksgiving menu!

Don’t forget to follow us @LemonyThyme on Instagram and Facebook! And check out our latest TikTok videos and Pinterest boards too!

All my best,
xo Libby

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Herb Browned Butter Stuffing of Love

Herb Browned Butter Stuffing of Love is the perfect balance of buttery crispy edges with an herby soft center. It’s delicious

Course Side Dish

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

For the Bread Cubes

• 2 pounds or about 12 cups crusty bread cut into bite-sized cubes (french or Italian loaf bread works great, as does Ciabatta, Brioche, dinner rolls or bagels). fully dried

For the Stuffing

• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups finely chopped fresh herbs (parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme)
• 1 large diced onion about 3 cups
• 1 head diced celery about 3 cups
• 1 stalk sliced and rinsed leek about 1 1/2 cups
• 1 pound sliced button mushrooms about 3 cups
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 5 cups chicken broth
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

For the Bread Cubes

• Cut or tear bread into bite-sized pieces. Spread onto baking sheets and either air dry for 1-2 days, loosely covered with a clean tea towel. Or oven dry at 275° F. for 45-60 minutes until very hard and dry, but not browned. Can be done up to 2 days in advance (or can freeze bread cubes for 2-3 months).

For the Stuffing

• Grease 3 quart or 9×13 casserole with butter. In a large stock pot or dutch oven, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add in chopped fresh herbs and sauté until butter is golden brown and very fragrant, about 8-10 minutes.
• Add in the diced onions, sauté for 4-5 minutes. Add diced celery, sauté for 4-5 minutes. Add in sliced leeks (be sure to clean well first by soaking in water) and mushrooms, sauté for another 8-10 minutes or until all veggies are cooked through and tender. Add minced garlic and cook 1 additional minute. Stir in 4 cups of chicken broth (reserve 1 cup) increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
• Gently fold in dry bread cubes and continue to stir until all are coated well. Bread cubes should be soaked with broth (without broth pooling in bottom of pan). Add additional cup of reserved broth if needed. I always go for more moist than dry.
• Transfer stuffing to greased baking dish. Bake at 350° F. for 45 minutes or until edges and top are crispy deep golden brown and center is hot. If making ahead, cover tightly and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Allow to come to rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before baking.

The post Herb Browned Butter Stuffing of Love appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

When you have family from New Orleans come into town during Crawfish season, it can only mean one thing!

We’re having a Crawfish Boil!!

And what a glorious boil we had.

But in the end, that 40 pound sack of crawfish was more than we could eat in one sitting and that’s how Crawfish Étouffée came to be.

The Crawfish Boil

I’m no expert on Crawfish boils, I’ll leave that to my husband’s side of the family.

But I have learned that there’s a system and precise timing and incredible layers of flavor building in that gigantic pot!

• Start with a rolling boil of crawfish boil seasoning
• Add in the potatoes
• Followed by heads of garlic, celery, onions and lots of lemons
• Then add the corn on the cob, mushrooms and then finally the crawfish
• Cook the crawfish for 5 minutes
• Extinguish the flame and allow the pot to rest while the mixture soaks in the spicy seasonings
• If I recall correctly our soak was 20 minutes.

We all sat (or stood – apparently that’s a crawfish boil thing too) around our paper lined table peeling and eating and laughing and enjoying the first chance to be together in over a year.

The last time we saw this NOLA crew was at Mardi Gras 2020, just before covid sent us into lockdown.

It was a bit like a scene from Forest Gump!

We sat around the table peeling the last mountain of tiny shellfish trying to decide what ‘crawfish’ dish we would make the next day.

So many choices, but looking into the beautiful bowlful of tail meat it was declared, we shall make Crawfish Étouffée.

The Crawfish Étouffée

We read dozens of étouffée recipes, including several in Nick’s beloved “Talk About Good” cookbook that belonged to his grandmother.

In the end we incorporated a little of this and a little of that to come up with our own version of Crawfish Étouffée.

The Process

Like many Cajun or Creole dishes you begin with a roux made with flour and fat.

Traditionally Cajun and Creole roux is made with oil which allows it to cook longer developing the deep rich color. Because I wanted to keep this dish ‘lighter’ I opted for butter which is used in the French version.

Our target was ‘peanut butter’ color and if roux came in a dozen shades we’d be somewhere near the middle.

Making a roux takes patience and a good stirring arm. It’s meant to be a slow process to allow the incredible flavor to build. We used 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup of butter and ours took about 15 minutes, cooking over low heat.

Meanwhile (aka while Nick stirred the roux), I sautéed the Holy Trinity, equal parts of diced celery, onion, and green bell pepper – we used one cup of each and 2 cloves of chopped garlic.

Recipe note: to all my cajun family and friends please don’t scold me, but I don’t like green bell peppers and more importantly they don’t like me. So I replaced bell pepper with diced poblano pepper and they worked beautifully.

Once the roux reaches the desired color, its stirred into the tender sautéed veggies, along with one cup of chicken broth and a tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley.

This mixture is brought to a gentle boil, then reduced to low before folding in the the crawfish meat. We had exactly one pound of crawfish tails leftover, which was the perfect amount for 4 servings of Crawfish Étouffée.

While crawfish tails plucked from a giant pile sitting on your backyard picnic table is preferred, for this dish you can replace freshly boiled crawfish meat with a pound of frozen crawfish tails or shrimp, both of which are readily available.

They won’t come seasoned so you’ll need to add cajun seasoning when you add in the broth.

How to Serve Étouffée

We served our Crawfish Étouffée over white rice topped with a generous sprinkle of sliced green onions.

The tender crawfish tails are bursting with cajun spices! However, the buttery roux and veggies balanced the heat.

I can’t wait for our next crawfish boil, but I’m equally excited to see what crawfish recipe we try next.

There’s crawfish bisque, crawfish pie, crawfish gumbo, fried crawfish, creole crawfish, jambalaya with crawfish…..

Don’t forget to follow us @LemonyThyme on Instagram and Facebook! And check out our latest TikTok videos and Pinterest boards too!

All my best,
xo Libby

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Crawfish Étouffée

The tender crawfish tails bursting with cajun spices were balanced by the buttery roux and veggies. The perfect post-crawfish boil meal.

Course Entree

Cuisine Cajun

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

For the Crawfish Etouffee

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup diced yellow onion
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 cup diced green bell pepper or substitute fire roasted poblano pepper (skin removed)
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 Tablespoon fresh parsley finely chopped
• 1 pound seasoned crawfish tails add 1 teaspoon cajun seasoning if using frozen
• salt & pepper to taste

To Serve

• 1 1/2 cups uncooked basmati rice prepared according to package instructions
• 2 green onions thinly sliced

Instructions

For Crawfish Etouffee

• Melt butter in a skillet over low heat. Stir in flour, continue stirring until roux reaches the color of peanut butter. Note: the roux will continue to cook in pan if you're not using immediately.
• Meanwhile, saute onion, celery, green pepper and garlic in 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high until tender. Add cooked roux to veggie mixture along with one cup chicken broth and fresh parsley. Bring to a gentle boil and stir to combine. Reduce heat to medium-low and fold in crawfish tails. Cook for 2-3 minutes until heated through. Season with salt & pepper to taste.

To Serve

• Serve Etouffee over cooked white rice with a generous sprinkle of sliced green onion.

Here are a few pics from Mardi Gras 2020.

The post Crawfish Étouffée & A Crawfish Boil appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

When I looked into the eyes of my beautiful new fridge I saw shelves and drawers overflowing with ingredients that begged for a chance to play nicely together.

The result of nonstop cooking for a week straight.

Have you seen our March Meatball Madness posts??!

When I studied the contents it became blatantly obvious that my fridge and my well-being needed a big pot of soup!

I’m going to make this a relatively wordless Wednesday post. After all we are just making soup! Even if this Spring Thyme Green Minestrone soup is extra special in my humble opinion. The recipe below is more of a guide, there is plenty of room for making this your own between the fresh veggie choices, the type of herbs and seasonings, the beans and pasta, even what you swirl into your bowl.

Fresh Basil Pesto and/or grated parmesan cheese swirled into this veggie packed soup is delicious and boosts the green factor.

This Spring Thyme Green Minestrone soup is packed with nutrients making this a healthy choice for any meal. It also makes a giant batch so it’s the perfect way to Share the Love with your friends and neighbors.

Don’t forget to follow us @LemonyThyme on Instagram and Facebook! And check out our latest TikTok videos and Pinterest boards too!

All my best,
xo Libby

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Spring Thyme Green Minestrone

This Spring Thyme Minestrone Soup is packed with nutrients making this a healthy choice for any meal. It also makes a giant batch so it's the perfect way to Share the Love with your friends and neighbors.

Course Main Course

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 10

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

Veggies

• 8-10 cups fresh veggies, diced or sliced such as: carrot, onion, celery, leek, fennel, shallot, jalapeno, spinach, kale, asparagus, zucchini, cabbage, broccoli
• 2-3 cloves garlic minced
• 8 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cans white beans, drained & rinsed such as: butter beans, great nothern beans, cannellini beans
• 1/2 cup fresh herbs, fine chopped such as: parsley, rosemary, thyme, basil, cilantro
• 2 Tablespoons freshly grated ginger
• 2 Tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 pound ditalini pasta cooked al dente and reserved
• 1/2 cup basil pesto optional, to swirl in soup for serving
• freshly grated parmesan cheese optional, to grate onto soup for serving

Instructions

• In a large stock pot or dutch oven, heat 2 Tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add in your 'hard' vegetables, like carrots, onion, celery, garlic, fennel, leeks, shallot, jalapeno. Saute until almost tender, about 10 minutes. Then add in your 'soft' vegetables, like spinach, kale, asparagus, zucchini, cabbage, broccoli. Continue to saute for another 5-7 minutes.
• Add vegetable broth, beans, and fresh herbs. Bring to a light simmer then add the ginger, lemon juice and seasonings. Adjust to taste. Simmer for about 10 minutes to allow the flavors to mingle.
• Meanwhile prepare ditalini (or other favorite small pasta) al dente. Reserve.
• To serve. Place some cooked pasta in bowls. Ladle in hot soup. Swirl with basil pesto and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Enjoy! Don't forget to Share the Love!

The post Spring Thyme Green Minestrone appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

But that’s just the beginning of this flavor journey.

Fire roasted tomatoes, fresh lime juice, chili powder, cumin and oregano elevate the creamy black beans, making this hearty chili a super flavorful vegetarian meal.

When serving this chili, don’t skimp on the toppings. Sour cream, sliced avocado, radish and jalapeño, fresh cilantro and lime all bring nice bright flavors.

Vegetarian Black Bean Chili is a delicious and satisfying meal. It’s perfect for when the weather starts to turn towards fall and the leaves remind us that Winter is coming.

I love all kinds of soups, stews and chilis. I rounded them up HERE for your viewing pleasure. Are you a black bean fan? Our Black Bean Puree is amazing, if I might say so myself!

Have you got a favorite cool weather go-to comfort food? I’d love for you to comment below.

Enjoy!!

Don’t forget to follow us @LemonyThyme on Instagram and Facebook! And check out our latest TikTok videos and Pinterest boards too!

All my best,
xo Libby

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Black Bean Chili

Black Bean Chili begins like many of our soup and chili recipes….with a medley of carrots, onions and celery. But that's just the beginning of this flavor journey.

Course Main Course

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

For the Chili

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2 carrots peeled and diced
• 2 celery stalks diced
• 1 yellow onion diced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 Tablespoons chili powder
• 2 Tablespoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground oregano
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 3 15-ounce cans black beans drained and rinsed
• 1 15-ounce can fire roasted diced tomatoes
• juice of 1 lime
• salt & pepper to taste

For Serving

• 1 lime cut into wedges
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 avocado diced
• 1 handful fresh cilantro
• radish & jalapenos sliced

Instructions

For the Chili

• In a large pot or dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the diced carrots, celery and onion and saute until just tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic for 1 minutes then add the spices and stir to coat vegetables. Add the broth, black beans and tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove 3 cups of soup mixture to a blender and puree, then return to soup pot. Season with salt, pepper and lime juice to taste.

For Serving

• Serve in bowls and top with a dollop of sour cream, diced avocado, fresh cilantro, sliced radish and jalapeno and a squeeze of fresh lime juice.

The post Vegetarian Black Bean Chili appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

The next time you visit your local Farmers Market have this recipe in the back of your mind.  In fact if you arrive near the close of the market, which means the ‘prettiest’ veggies will have been picked over, you’ll often find farmers willing to let their remaining produce go at a reduced price.  Perfect for making a giant batch of Farmers Market Minestrone Soup which allows you to {Share the Love}.

When I make this beautiful soup I like to use a couple cooking methods to get to the end result.  I most always start my soups with a mirapoix (trio of diced onion, carrots, and celery) sauteed in a heavy bottom pot.  For this batch I also diced and sliced up an assortment of squash varieties and a few tomatoes and oven roasted them.

Roasting veggies allows them to begin to caramelize adding flavor and texture.  A wonderful combination in this tomato based soup.  Whether tomatoes are abundant at the market (the rain has pushed them back in our area) or whether you use canned tomatoes (preferably No-Salt Added), the end result will be amazing.

There are so many variations to Minestrone Soup.  I wanted ours packed with nutrients and protein so I added red kidney beans and white beans.

I also cooked up some Ditalini pasta as an optional add.  When making a giant batch of soup that inevitably will be reheated a couple times (or frozen), I like to keep the pasta separate so it doesn’t go from dainty to daunting (not to mention sucking up all your glorious veggie broth).

We’ve decided starting each week with a pot of Farmers Market Minestrone Soup will not only keep us happy, but make for some very tasty (and healthy) lunches.

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Farmers Market Minestrone Soup {Share the Love}

Course Soup

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 8 -10

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 4-5 assorted summer squash medium diced
• 2 Tbl. olive oil divided
• 1 large onion diced
• 3 carrots diced
• 3 celery ribs diced
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 1 28- ounce can diced tomatoes no-salt added
• 1 28- ounce can crushed tomatoes
• or can use 5 lbs. fresh tomatoes skins and seeds removed
• 1-2 cups vegetable broth depending on desired thickness
• 1 Tbl. dried oregano
• 1 Tbl. dried basil
• 1-2 ears of fresh corn kernels or 1 cup frozen
• 1 14- ounce can red kidney beans rinsed and drained
• 1 14- ounce can Great Northern white beans rinsed and drained
• 6 oz. dried small pasta such as Ditalini
• freshly cracked pepper to taste
• Parmesan cheese grated for topping

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat shallow baking sheet with cooking spray.
• Toss diced squash and zucchini in 1 Tbl. olive oil and spread in a single layer on baking sheet and roast for 10 – 15, until just beginning to brown.
• Meanwhile cook pasta according to package instructions and set aside. In a Dutch oven or heavy bottom pot, add 1 Tbl. olive oil and saute onion, carrots, and celery over medium heat until just tender, about 5 minutes. Add in the garlic and stir until fragrant about 1 minute. Add in tomatoes, broth, oregano and basil. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer for about 5 minutes.
• When squash is lightly browned add to the soup, along with the canned beans. Adjust seasoning to taste and heat through, stirring occasionally.
• When ready to serve add about 1/2 cup of cooked warm pasta to the bottom of individual soup bowls. Top with hot Minestrone Soup. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.

The post Farmers Market Minestrone Soup {Share the Love} appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

All my favorite soups begin the same way….with a classic Mirepoix (onion, carrot and celery).  For our Cream of Tomato Soup, the mirepoix is primarily a flavor enhancer.  In the end it’s pureed, but I couldn’t help but leave some texture in our creamy bowl of comfort. 

With all this ice, snow and cold weather blanketing much of the US, comfort food seemed like the right way to go.  And who doesn’t love a creamy bowl of tomato soup, with a swirl of Basil Pesto and a side of….cheese?!  Fresh Baked Mozzarella Cheese Sticks baby.  I’m working on this post as we speak.

Because we talk.  Or at least I talk to you :)

There’s a reason we combine tomatoes, basil and mozzarella in dishes.  Every bite of this soup reminded of this fabulous combination.  The richness of basil pesto delivered a bit of sinful savory to an otherwise  flavorful low fat, low calorie soup.   Cream of Tomato Soup delivers…

Comfort
Tomato love
Fresh flavor
Familiar warmth.

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Cream of Tomato Soup {with Basil Pesto & Mozzarella Dunkers}

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Ingredients

• 2 Tbl. olive oil
• 1 medium onion finely diced
• 1 carrot peeled & finely diced
• 1 celery stalk finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 2 Tbl. all-purpose flour
• 8 Roma tomatoes peeled & diced, or one 28-ounce can diced tomatoes with juice
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 2 Tbl. chopped fresh basil or 1 tsp. dried
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 3 cups chicken broth use vegetable broth for vegetarian version
• 1/2 cup cream
• salt & pepper to taste
• Fresh Basil Pesto see recipe link in post
• Baked Mozzarella Cheese Sticks see recipe link in post

Instructions

• Heat olive oil in Dutch oven over medium heat. Sauté onion, carrot and celery until just tender, about 5 minutes. Add minced garlic and sauté an additional minute.
• Dust veggie mixture with flour and stir to combine.
• Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, sugar and broth. Bring soup to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low and allow to simmer gently for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Remove from heat. Using an immersion blender or working in batches, puree the soup leaving some texture. Stir in the milk and reheat on low without allowing to boil.
• Serve in soup bowls with a swirl of fresh basil pesto and a side of mozzarella dunkers.

Notes

Total time for Mozzarella Dunkers is 1 hour 30 minutes, but can be prepared ahead and baked just before serving.

The post Cream of Tomato Soup {with Basil Pesto & Mozzarella Dunkers} appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

I took a popular Chinese Take-Out dish and turned it into a healthy make at home meal.  Our Kung Pao Chicken Soup is not sodium or MSG laden.  Instead it’s packed with fresh aromatic ingredients and some classic Asian flavors.

Kung Pao Chicken Soup is best prepared in a wok, since the ingredients are stir fried.  It’s large bowl shape helps to evenly distribute heat requiring a minimum amount of oil for cooking.  However if you don’t own a wok, any heavy bottom pot will work.

Classically Kung Pao Chicken is a hot & spicy dish.  Depending on how much heat your chili peppers bring, you may want to add a squeeze of sriracha sauce to give your soup a little extra kick.

Kung Pao Chicken Soup falls nicely into our Healthy Choices category and is a perfect easy weeknight meal.  While your chicken marinades, you slice and dice the veggies.  Then into a hot wok for some quick stir-fry action.  Enjoy!!

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Kung Pao Chicken Soup

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

For the chicken marinade…

• 8 ounces boneless skinless chicken breast cubed
• 1 tsp. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. corn starch
• 1/2 tsp. rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp. brown sugar

For the soup…

• 2 Tbl. high-heat oil such as peanut or sunflower divided
• 2 diced jalapeno peppers stems & seeds removed
• 2 diced red Fresno chili peppers stems & seeds removed
• 2 celery ribs sliced
• 1 small onion diced
• 1 medium carrot julienned
• 1 cup cabbaged chopped
• 1/2 cup peanuts
• 2 scallions thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 1- inch fresh ginger grated
• 1 Tbl. soy sauce
• 1 Tbl. sesame oil
• 1 Tbl. rice wine vinegar
• 3 cups chicken broth
• sriracha hot sauce & fresh cilantro to serve

Instructions

For the chicken marinade…

• Combine cubed chicken with marinade in a non-reactive bowl for 20 minutes.

For the soup…

• Heat wok or heavy bottom pot over high heat. Add 1 Tbl. of peanut oil and marinated chicken. Stir-fry until chicken is golden brown, about 2-3 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from pan and reserve.
• If needed add additional 1 Tbl. of peanut oil and stir-fry the diced veggies for 2 minutes. Add peanuts, ginger, garlic and scallion and cook for an additional minute. Return chicken to pan.
• Add soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar and chicken broth and heat through.
• Serve with sriracha hot sauce and fresh cilantro.

The post Kung Pao Chicken Soup appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

I took yesterday off from work to cook.  That was the sole purpose of my day and I was in heaven.  I’ve shared often that my work family loves to eat.  In fact, everyone either loves to eat or loves to cook (or both).  Which makes for some great special occasion spreads.  Today we celebrated Mardi Gras with a giant pot of Chili Gumbo and a platter of Mardi Gras Wings.  It was a good day.

I was a bit nervous at the thought of making gumbo.  I had some true Cajuns to feed and by no means wanted to compete with what they grew up on.  That would require making roux, from ingredients not already in my pantry (fee-lee, fii-lee, fo)…which would inevitably require me to leave my house and my pj’s.  Remember, I took the day off to avoid such things.

So instead I first sought out a gumbo recipe that would utilize some of the pounds and pounds of Andouille sausage in my freezer.  Long story short, we helped rescue a Trader Joe’s freezer truck filled with bacon and sausage.  It was the least we could do.

So while looking for a recipe that didn’t require file powder, I stumbled upon this beauty for Chili Gumbo.  Great flavor combinations that came together easily.  I highly recommend this recipe, which got a thumbs up today from my work family.

Did I mention I was cooking to feed my entire work family?  The Chili Gumbo recipe listed below is doubled from the original and easily fed twenty people.

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Chili Gumbo

Prep Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Total Time 2 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Servings 20

Author adapted from Abbie Argersi via Food52

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 dried Guajillo chilis
• 1 dark beer
• 30 ounces Chicken Andouille Sausage or favorite
• 2 Tbl. olive oil
• 3 Tbl. ground cumin
• 2 lbs. ground beef
• 2 onions diced (about 4 cups)
• 4-5 jalapeno peppers diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 4 celery ribs diced (about 2 cups)
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 4 Tbl. chili powder
• 1 30- ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1 14.5- ounce can diced tomatoes
• 3-4 cups beef broth
• 3 Tbl. red wine vinegar
• 3-4 Tbl. Cajun seasoning according to taste

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place flour in a baking dish. Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until golden brown, stirring every 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, remove stems and seeds from dried peppers and chop them fine. Place in bowl and pour in beer. Set aside.
• In a large skillet place Andouille sausage in one-inch of water. Heat over medium heat, turning once until water evaporates. Remove sausage and slice them. Brown them in oil then remove from the pan. Add cumin to pan and toast for one minute before adding ground beef. Season beef with salt & pepper and brown. Remove from pan and reserve with Andouille.
• Add the onions to the pan and cook them for 5 minutes. Add in celery, jalapenos and garlic; cook mixture until just softened. Add the vegetable oil, toasted flour and chili powder; stir for 3-4 minutes.
• Add in diced tomatoes, chilis and beer, and cooked meats with their juices. Add 3 cups of beef broth, red wine vinegar and 3 Tbl. Cajun seasoning (or more to taste). Simmer for at least 30 minutes. If too thick, add additional cup of beef broth.
• Serve with cooked white rice, lime wedges, fresh cilantro, and Louisiana Hot Sauce

The post Chili Gumbo appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

Beef Bourguignon.  Boeuf Bourguignon.  Beef Burgundy.  I think we grew up with this dish.  No, not the first two.  My Mom made beef burgundy often.  The cuts of meat may have started out a bit tough requiring extra cooking love, but the end result was melt in your mouth wonderful. This year’s Christmas Eve Prime Rib was as good as any we’ve had in the past.

Prime Rib has become a Christmas Eve tradition.  Three consecutive years of repeat behavior qualifies as a ‘tradition’ in this house.  We always have more than we can eat.  That is the plan after all.  We LOVE our leftovers, and deciding how to repurpose them is a challenge we look forward to.  Yesterday we decided on Beef Bourguignon.

When it comes to tender meat, braising is where it’s at.  The process is relatively effortless, yet turns out the most tender and flavorful results.  Always reading and absorbing what the masters have worked so hard to perfect, I’ve become a bit of a geek and I mean that in the most affectionate way.  Cooking is an art and also a science.  That’s when we’re at our best in the kitchen.

My Mom was a newspaper editor.  Our kitchen table was her home office.  No matter where we lived, mom gave Sarah and I the bedrooms.  She claimed the kitchen.  We both have elementary school drawings of Mom.  Beautiful, with big hoop earrings, hair tied up in a knot, a glass of burgundy (Gallo Brand sold by the jug), and a Tareyton cigarette burning in the ashtray.  She was passionate.  About everything.  We were often whisked out of bed in the middle of the night to ‘catch’ a story.  And if there wasn’t a story that week, we became the story.  Mom had such a gift with words and fought for every story.  She would have been a masterful blogger with life experiences I’ll never achieve.

I described ‘mom’ at the kitchen table to and the response was “you may be the modern version.”  I’d love to be that.

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I’m Libby with Lemony Thyme and the voice behind this blog, however I learned the fundamentals from a variety of sources.  When I started this blog 2+ years ago, my family was supportive yet cautious.  I’ll tell you more about that but first I must introduce a staple recipe, Slow Braised Beef Short Ribs.  Fall off the bone beefy goodness.

Both of these pictures were taken pre-Lemony Thyme.  Just any given night celebrating food and capturing the moment with the click of a cell phone.  From time to thyme I scroll through the thousands of photos I have archived.  Is there a recipe we need to recreate for the blog?  A gem in the rough?  Or a picture of a midnight snack that warrants a sober revisit?

I stumbled upon these photos, taken on two separate occasions, and was reminded of how much I adore Slow Braised Beef Short Ribs.  When I first threw out the idea of starting a blog, as I said previously, some were supportive yet cautious.  Cautious about sharing too much.  Sharing exact ingredient measurements is unfathomable to some.  The early view was that our site should attract people like us, home cooks who know their way around the kitchen.  Throw out some recipe inspiration and quality pictures and let individuals create their own versions of our dishes.  I understood where this was coming from, yet I quickly learned that offering recipe inspiration WITH details would allow budding food enthusiasts (like our kid) to utilize our recipes.

Lemony Thyme will always be a work in progress representing our love for food and food photography.  I’ve put in a request for Slow Braised Beef Short Ribs so that I can picture them again, but this time with my big girl camera.  More importantly, I’m ready to enjoy these melt in your mouth short ribs, perched on a bed of mashed potatoes with pan gravy so unctuous I’m certain I’ll call out….for more.

Print

Slow Braised Beef Short Ribs

Cook Time 3 hours hours

Total Time 3 hours hours

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 5-6 beef short ribs
• salt & pepper
• 3 slices bacon
• 1 onion large diced
• 2 carrots sliced
• 1 celery rib sliced
• 2 cups rich beef stock
• 1/2 cup good but not great cabernet or pinot noir
• 2 Tbl. Worcestershire
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
• Season a large Dutch oven by laying 3 slices of bacon across bottom over medium heat. Cook bacon until crispy, remove bacon and pour off all rendered fat. Reserve bacon for another dish or enjoy as a pre-dinner snack.
• Season short ribs with salt and pepper, then add to Dutch oven; brown on all sides & edges, 2-3 minutes per side. Remove and add onion, carrots and celery to pan and saute until tender, about 5 minutes.
• Add wine and deglaze pan, scrapping all brown bits with wooden spoon. Return short ribs to pan, nestle in vegetables. Add beef stock to bring liquid up to just over half way up the ribs. Then add garlic, Worcestershire, and thyme.
• Cover pan and braise in oven, checking every 1/2 hour to insure slow burble (not boil). Reduce heat accordingly. Total cooking time approx. 3 hours or until meat is tender and pulling away from bone.
• Serve short ribs on a bed of mashed potatoes or mashed cauliflower for a low-carb option, with a ladle of pan gravy.

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