When the weather outside is frightful, let your dinner be delightful. Winter made itself known last week, with snow, rain and wind all across the country, and it seems like everyone is coming down with something. But there is nothing more successful at combating the cold than a bowl of hot and hearty soup. We’ve gathered an assortment of ChefsLine chefs’ soup recipes here that promise to warm your tummy and your heart this holiday season. And we’ve also put together a list of soup basics that will help you make the most out of your soup recipes. Stay warm, stay healthy, and have fun cooking!

The Classics:
Vichisoisse
A Parisian staple, the leeks and potatoes are certain to satisfy the palate as well as bolster your immune system.
Escarole and White Bean Soup
This is a soup born in the Tuscan tradition, featuring white cannellini beans that are packed with proteins and hardy greens loaded with vital vitamins and minerals.
The Ultimate Chicken Soup with Perfect Knaidlach
Nourishing chicken soup from scratch never tasted (or made you feel) so good as when you add much-loved matzoh balls to the mix.
Maryland Crab Vegetable Soup
Crabs are big in Maryland, and this recipe has such a loyal following you know it has to be good.

Use What’s In Season:
Buttercup Maple Squash Soup
Winter squash makes for great soup, and this recipe really represents the flavors of the holiday season.
Cauliflower Squash Bisque
Another elegant use of squash and other vegetables. Healthy eaters never had a better reason to rejoice.
Thai Pumpkin Soup with Chile and Lemongrass
This soup is a fusion of the flavors of winter with the powers of peppers, ginger and garlic to fight off colds that so many people simply swear by.
Winter Vegetable Soup with Barley
Loaded with all the good stuff, and if you like you can add a meat of your choice to make it even more hearty.

The Basics:
Instant Miso Soup
Miso is an effortless but nutritious treat. Add tofu for extra protein.
Chicken Stock
When you start from scratch, you’ll be happy to have this one in your repertoire.
Vegetable Stock
Of course, you don’t need meat to make great soup.

Tips:
1. Take your time with soups (and sauces), if you have it to spare. If you are at a high altitude (2000 feet above sea level or higher), you may want to take even more time to let the soup cook, since water boils at lower temperatures. In fact, you will actually get a better soup if you make it ahead of time (a day or two), since the flavors become richer. It’s also a great opportunity to remove fat from the soup, since once it’s refrigerated the fat coagulates, rises to the top, and is easy to scrape off.
2. Although great soups begin with homemade stock, it’s not always practical, and if we only had soup from scratch we wouldn’t have soup very often. Broth from a carton or can as well as bouillons are perfectly good options when planning soups. Sometimes fresh ingredients are unavailable or inconvenient, so keep in mind that canned and frozen veggies are still pretty high quality, namely peas, beans, corn, artichokes, etc.
3. Serving soups in warmed bowls will keep it hot while you sip it.
4. Wine and beer make good soup ingredients, but a little generally goes a long way.
5. Use caution when adding spices and salt, because you can always add more but it’s difficult to remove the flavor elements after they’re in there. Most of your intense flavor components can be added toward the end of the cooking time. If you do over-spice the soup, you can simmer raw potatoes in it to absorb some of the excess flavor.
6. When preparing stocks and consommes for clear soups, keep in mind that almost as important as richness in flavor is its transparency. Don’t stir the stock, and keep the heat low. To further clarify it for consomme the next day, you can make a clearmeat mixture of lean low-fat meat, egg whites and mirepoix (finely chopped carrots, celery and onions) and heat the cold stock back up gently with that. The clear meat mixture will float, and will act like a magnet for particles that cause a clear soup to become cloudy. Remove and discard the clear meat mixture.

Grilling season doesn’t have to be about burgers, ribs and steaks. Almost anything can be cooked outdoors, so jump on the opportunity to cook outside again, especially since the weather ought to be getting better and better as summer progresses. Cooking outdoors is fun, and is extremely easy when you are prepared.

And one of the very easiest foods to grill is, believe it or not, whole fish. Whether the fish comes from the fishmonger or the end of your fishing pole, follow a couple of simple preparatory suggestions and you’ll be grilling whole fish anytime the sun comes out. So get ready to put a fresh fish twist on the old 4th of July cookout.

If you’re not too comfortable with a boning knife, have no fear. Grilling whole fish requires minimal carving.

My favorite fish to grill include trout, snapper, bass, sea bream, just about any medium-sized whitefish will do, as well as some smaller fish like mullet, bluefish, mackerel, and butterfish.

Salmon is also a great choice.Avoid flounder, sole, fluke, cod and similar fishes because they can be too delicate.

When selecting your dinner, select a fish with clear eyes, shiny scales and a non-fishy smell. Once you’ve got your hands on a fresh whole fish, here are the 10 easy steps to grill it:

1. Clean the fish: de-scale it by scraping the dull side of a knife against the grain of the scales until it’s smooth. Cut off the fins with a pair of kitchen shears and discard. Then cut along the entire bottom of the fish, remove the guts and discard. Rinse the fish clean.
2. Score the fish with 1/2 inch-deep cuts on both sides, about 1-2 inches apart. This helps the flavors of the marinade (and smoke if applicable) to better penetrate the meat of the fish.
3. Marinate the fish for 1-3 hours in your choice of marinade. If you are using a marinade that is acidic (i.e. with lemon juice, vinegar, etc.) only marinade for 1 hour to avoid “cooking” the fish (as in ceviche).
4. Preheat the grill, or let charcoal ember to flame-less white briquettes.
5. Brush the clean grill and fish with a thin layer of canola oil, peanut oil or any other neutral-flavored oil with a high smoke point, to prevent the fish from sticking.
6. Remove the fish from the marinade and wipe it clean to prevent the fish from sticking (save the marinade). Salt and pepper both sides. Optionally, you can stuff the inner cavity of the fish with herbs and pieces of lemon).
7. Grill the fish for 7-12 minutes (depending on the size) in the hottest part of the grill (unless serving salmon rare – 4-5 minutes). Optionally, you can also dip some rosemary or dill sprigs in oil and use them as a bed to grill the fish on if sticking is a concern.
8. Turn the fish over gently with one or two large spatulas. Optionally, you can turn it over onto a large piece of aluminum foil and then slide it onto the grill.
9. Baste the fish with the leftover marinade, and let it grill about as long as the first side.
10. Carefully remove the fish from the grill and place it onto a serving platter. Serve with grilled lemon and enjoy!

Once the fish is cooked it will flake easily away from the spine (again, rare salmon is a special case), and it should be simple enough to avoid any of the smaller bones. You can run a knife along either side of the spine, and then you should be able to slide the knife under the cooked fillets with no problem.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact one of us on the cooking hotline!

Have fun grilling!

Karen in Little Rock has been getting cracks in her fresh baked bread recently, and she wonder what she could be doing wrong.

First off: cracks in bread are normal, and even desirable, especially with certain flours, like rye. But there are techniques you can use to avoid or minimize them.

The cracks are a result of two things: heat and moisture. More specifically, the moisture in the dough steams, lifting the bread and stretching the glutens. While this is happening, of course, the crust of the bread is becoming firm from the direct heat (gelatinization): that can cause cracks.

You might prevent the cracks on the side of the loaves by scoring the top of the loaves with a sharp knife. The bread dough inside the loaf will then push out the cut you made as it rises, usually with a beautiful effect.

The cracks may also be caused by cooling the bread too rapidly, so you might cool them the way you cool cheesecakes to prevent cracks: turn off the oven, leave the oven door ajar, but leave the bread in the oven for another 15-20 minutes. Otherwise, set them on top of the stove to cool, away from any drafts.

The flour could also be the cause the cracks. Each brand of flour has a slightly different gluten ratio; some crack more than others. Are you using the same flour as you always have? And be sure not to use too much flour, just enough to get the dough to ball together.

The temperature of the dough is an important factor. Slightly colder dough takes longer to heat in the middle than warmer doughs, so after the surface has begun to harden the middle will rise and cause cracks. To prevent them, allow your bread to reach room temperature, or even a little warmer, before putting them in the oven.

Also, you may try kneading the dough less, especially if you are used to kneading very thoroughly. Well-kneaded glutens may rise faster than surface gelatinization can occur, causing cracks. The surface hardens, the bread rises some more, the surface hardens again, the bread rises some more, etc. I have, however, seen cracks in no-knead bread, so there are no guarantees.

You can also put a pan of water in the oven to steam while the oven is preheating and while the bread is baking. The steam slows the gelatinization of the surface, allowing the dough more time to finish rising before it hardens, and also giving the bread surface more spring. Professional artisan breadmakers have steam jets in their large rotating ovens just for this purpose.

On that note, you can brush water and/or vinegar on the surface for a similar effect. Note the beautiful bubbles on the extra-crispy crust created by vinegar.

I hope this helps. Please feel free to contact ChefsLine again with all your cooking and baking questions, let us know if the above techniques still don’t cure the cracks in your bread.

Have fun baking!

Heads up, guys: 30 days until Valentine’s Day. Don’t let it sneak up on you, because you can bet your girlfriend remembers, or that girl you have a crush on who comes into the coffee shop every morning. Good planning can be as essential for a pleasurable Valentine’s Day experience as it is for Christmas, birthdays, or anniversaries.

Whatever sort of plan you come up with, whether it’s dinner out, a romantic meal at home, dancing, what have you, it might be good to keep in mind that, ideally, the night ends with your lover in your arms. So I would like to share a couple of dessert cocktail ideas with you that make you feel as good as they taste.

Ginger Blueberry Champagne Cocktail

These drinks include phytonutrients proven to boost overall health and well-being, and which also offer the promises of increased libido and improved sexual performance.

The trick is to plan ahead, so when you catch a cab home from the couples slow dance marathon you already have the ingredients ready for your Valentine’s Day ’09 nightcaps. You’ll also be planning ahead for the next morning, when you won’t be hung over.

Fresh Ginger Blueberry Champagne Cocktail:
Ginger contains blood-thinning and belly-calming elements, and prevents nausea. Plus it’s got a wonderful zesty spiciness that leaves just a touch of a burn after each sip.

Blueberries are a ‘superfruit,’ containing tons of antioxidants, dietary fiber and micronutrients, most notably manganese, vitamin B6, vitamin C, and vitamin K. Together the ginger and blueberries create a remarkable cocktail with beautiful color.

To prepare this cocktail, make a simple blueberry syrup by combining 1 cup of water, 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 cup of blueberries (fresh or frozen) in a small saucepan and bringing it to a rolling boil for 2-3 minutes. Then press the syrup through a screen strainer with the back of a spoon and allow it to cool. Extract the juice from the fresh ginger root by putting it into a garlic press or grating it and then pressing the grated pulp in a screen strainer with the back of a spoon as you did the blueberries. For each cocktail, combine 4 tsp of the blueberry syrup, 1 tsp of the ginger juice, 1 Tbsp orange juice, and 2/3 cup of champagne. Serve in a champagne flute.

Chocolate Chile Rumtini

Chocolate Chile Rumtini:
It should be no secret that chocolate stimulates. It increases circulatory and brain activity, and triggers heightened sensitivity and feelings of euphoria. If you attribute the spicy burn from chiles to powerful nutritive effects, then your instincts are spot on. Chiles (chili peppers) contain capsaicin, a cancer-fighting anesthetic that also acts as an anti-inflammatory and kills the bacteria that cause such health problems as stomach ulcers.

To make a Chocolate Chile Rumtini:
Gently simmer 3-4 small dried red chiles in 3/4 cup of cream and 1/4 cup of sugar. The longer you keep it heated the hotter it will get. Gently melt 8 oz of dark (bittersweet) chocolate in a double boiler with 1/4 cup of sugar. Remove from heat. Swirl together the chocolate and chile cream so that you get a defined swirl shape and pour the mixture into ice cube trays. Freeze for at least an hour. Pour 1/2 cup of vodka and 2 Tbsp chocolate liqueur over ice and shake or stir thoroughly. Pour the alcohol over the chocolate chile crème “ice cubes.” You may substitute rum for the vodka, and may garnish the rim of the glass or drink with cocoa, mint, cherries or cinnamon.

So this Valentine’s Day, or any time you want to make the most of a cocktail celebration, try either or both of the above cocktails. You’ll thank me in the morning.

For more on healthy cocktail combos, check out this Women’s Health article. And have fun cooking something up for V-Day.

Do you like chocolate? Yes? Do you like chocolate with cream? Or ice cream? Do you like chocolate with caramel? Or chocolate with nuts? How about chocolate with cherries? Or raspberries? Mint? Cream cheese? How about chocolate with rosemary? Thyme? Lavender? Or cayenne? Do you like chocolate with mustard?

If the last few options made you feel a little apprehensive, read on.

Cocoa nibs are a great addition to a salad

Chocolate is no less suited for cooking with savory than butter or fruit. But allow me to rewind here a moment, to explain that, in professional kitchens in the U.S., two major categories exist – pastry, i.e. pastries, desserts and sweets; and savory. i.e. everything else. And, for some chefs, never the twain shall meet, while some other chefs enjoy crossing over, dabbling and experimenting, seeing what works (and what doesn’t) by trial and error. As it turns out, there are many ingredients that help make successful dishes on both sides of the paradigm. And chocolate is irrefutably one of them.
Cooking with chocolate ought not be a cause for pause. After all, chocolate’s friends in the bakeshop – butter, sugar, flour, cinnamon, vanilla honey, etc. all cross over into the savory kitchen quite nicely, don’t they? What chocolate brings to savory dishes is complexity and depth. The cocoa butter brings texture and mouthfeel, and the cocoa solids bring color and richness. A cook can choose a chocolate for his dish much in the same way he chooses a wine to cook/pair with his food. And there are just about as many options.

It may be noted that a little bit of chocolate goes a long way, although there are some daring chefs who deliberately push the envelope when marrying chocolate with savory dishes. It should also be pointed out that cooking with chocolate doesn’t necessarily mean sweetness on your plate. Although cooking with sweet components, chocolate included, is often desirable, good bittersweet chocolate is actually not very sweet at all and won’t generally make your dish taste any sweeter.

Chocolate is a Fundamental Element in Mole Sauce

Question: So what does chocolate actually bring to a savory dish? Short answer: depth and complexity. Long answer: Chocolate consists of two very potent components, the cocoa solids (i.e. cocoa powder) and the cocoa butter (i.e. white chocolate). The solids are bitter and dark brown, and act like a starch, absorbing moisture and thickening liquids. The cocoa butter adds silkiness, lushness and mouthfeel. In fact, because chocolate has such a low melting point, it can give the sensation of cooling your mouth because it uses the heat energy of the tongue. Very cool indeed. (On a related note, chocolate also has a very low smoke point, meaning it burns easy, and once you burn chocolate, or most anything else for that matter, you can’t really get rid of the burnt flavor. Word to the wise.) Despite chocolate’s richness and complexity, however, you may be surprised at how mellow it makes food taste. It goes well with nearly anything, and yet possesses none of the qualities of the food it goes so well with – sourness, saltiness, pungency, sweetness. Almost like good bread.

Most people already know that chocolate is a psychoactive material, because of the caffeine (stimulant), theobromine (cousin to caffeine), tryptophan (antecedent to serotonin), and phenethylamine (natural amphetamine). Cooking with chocolate is comparable to cooking with wine, beer or spirits – not only are there noteworthy effects on the flavor and texture of the food, but the food itself has more of an effect upon the person eating it. Chefs, avid restaurant goers and foodies all around understand that great food has only so much to do with nourishing the body. It’s about enjoying life as much as possible. And cooking with chocolate can leave one feeling very high on life.
Mole poblano is probably the best-known chocolate dish (most sauces called moles actually don’t feature chocolate at all), and is traditionally served over chicken, but can be served over pork, beef, venison, even fish. And here chocolate is reunited with one of its oldest friends: the chile. Native South American tribes, including the Olmecs, the Incas, the Aztecs and the Mayans, used chocolate, usually as a beverage, with chiles, vegetables, meats and other savory elements long before Europeans began utilizing chocolate. Fact is, chocolate was not originally defined as a dessert ingredient until much later. Only as the distinction between desserts and the world of savory, nonsweet foods became more and more defined over time did chocolate eventually join the ranks of such foods as sugar, honey, and many fruits as fundamentally dessert-oriented. (Interesting side note? Cacao beans were also used as currency by Mayans as late as 400 AD in Guatemala – 3 cacao beans could buy you an avocado, and for 100 beans you could buy a turkey.)

Tips for introducing chocolate to your dinner:

• If a recipe you are using calls for flour, substitute up to 25% of that flour with cocoa powder.
• Put a small piece of bittersweet chocolate at the bottom of a bowl of hot soup or chili. As it slowly melts, you can experiment with how much chocolate you like with each slice of your spoon.
• Add a tablespoon or two of melted chocolate (or cacao nibs in lieu of nuts, if your recipe calls for them) to a buttery sauté.
• Try using rosemary, thyme, lavender, cayenne, olive oil, or some other ingredient normally associated with savory cooking, to your favorite chocolate dessert.
• Be aware, water can make chocolate seize (stiffen and lump suddenly), but you can usually unseize it if you stir it vigorously enough.
• Use good chocolate. It’s worth the extra cost.