Happy Hygge

Winter arrived early this year. It will be a week tomorrow. A week of shoveling, shoveling again, and shoveling some more. Heavy, wet, icy, and unyielding until you scoop it up and it slides back down onto the sidewalk. The lake path is compromised. There are paths that will not be cleared again until the spring. It feels like late January, early February without the warm memories of the holiday behind us and the hope of spring ahead of us. We decided to confront it full on and have a hygge gathering with the neighbor clan. The invite went like this:

Hello everyone - welcome to winter.  It kind of sucks already, so we are having a Hygge festival on Saturday around 5:30 or 6:00.  What is Hygge?  It's basically the Danish concept of "cozy."  Please read this Jim Walsh article:

 http://www.minnpost.com/arts-culture/2013/12/our-hygge-moment-how-danish-cultural-concept-can-help-cut-through-dark-minnesot Candles, soup, drinks, tunes, neighbors.  That is all you need.   Please let us know if you can make it - all are welcome in from the cold and dark! We will make different kinds of soups.  Feel free to bring any side dishes, wine, beer etc.  I will have some brewski's on hand too.

The best response came from across the alley, "I did not know you can grill soup."

We served recipes that have shown up here before, beef barley soup, and pumpkin cookies and a few that are in rotation in my kitchen but previously unpublished. Read on for my recipe for Chicken and Potatoes Curry soup, and links to Sweet Potato, Carrot, Apple and Red Lentil Soup and my pursuit of the Cossetta's maple vinaigrette.

Chicken curry soup with potatoes

This is a collection of three recipes blending into one. Substitutions abound but here is how I go about making it.

The Chicken

5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

3 large carrots, peeled and chopped into large pieces

1 yellow onion chopped into large chunks

2-3 stalks of celery chopped into large chunks

2 tablespoons Taco Seasoning mix, recipe below

Taco Seasoning mix

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1 1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon black pepper

Combine chicken thighs, carrots, celery, onion and taco seasoning mix in a large bowl. Place on an aluminum foil lined rimmed baking sheet and cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 375 for 1 hour. Reserve juices, discard vegetables and coarsely chop chicken. The chicken can also be prepared in a crock pot on high for 3 hours or low for 5.

Indian Potatoes

5 large russet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch cubes

Indian spice mix, recipe below

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon garam masala

1/2 teaspoon salt 

Heat 3 tablespoons vegetable oil in a 12-14 inch skillet until hot and shimmering, add spice mixture and saute in oil for 30 seconds, add potatoes and stir to coat.  Add 1/3 cup of water, cover and reduce to a simmer. Check potatoes after 12 minutes. If they are tender remove from the heat otherwise cook for another two minutes. Additional water can be added at this time if necessary.

Curry Sauce

Purchase a jar of Thai Kitchen brand Red Curry Paste. Follow the directions on the back of the jar. It will ask you to add a can of coconut milk, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar,  1 to tablespoons of fish sauce and 1/4 cup of Thai basil. I always add the fish sauce. Add the reserved liquid from the chicken and additional chicken or vegetable broth/stock depending on how soupy or stew like I would like the final product to be. Stir in the prepared chicken and potatoes and allow flavors to blend on low heat for at least 30 minutes.

Serve with Sriracha sauce.

Sweet Potato, Carrot, Apple and Red Lentil Soup

Maple Vinaigrette

Meredith’s Shower ™

The last of the Hendricks children, Meredith,  is getting married in March. This weekend friends and family gathered to celebrate our bride-to-be and I put forth an offering to my patron saint of extended family, and the official patron Saint of Scotland, Saint Andrew. I thought that it was fitting that Meredith’s Shower™  should fall on the same week that Scotland had a referendum regarding independence . The Scots voted to stay with Britain just as I would always vote to stay with Clan Hendricks.

The following is the menu that was served. There are links where the recipe has already been shared online.

 I must give credit where credit is due. Moe vetted out and prepared the Farro Salad and Meghan brought the amazing Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars. 

My Spinach Feta triangles really have no specific recipe. I combine two boxes of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well squeezed out with 14 ounces of good greek feta and then I just follow the directions on the back of the phyllo box.

 The spinach salad is inspired by the Spinach Cranberry salad from Cossetta in Saint Paul. If you have not been to Cossetta since their recent expansion you need to treat yourself to a field trip. As I have yet to successfully recreate at home their Maple Rice Wine vinaigrette I  buy it there. I substitute diced Swiss cheese for the cost prohibitive imported parrano Italian cheese, throw in some dried cranberries and the Maple Glazed Pecans from the Tartine cookbook. I think the pecans may be my 2014 teacher gift. I cannot say enough wonderful things about the Tartine cookbook. It is the source of my croissant recipe, fruit gallette crust and the lemon bars.

The Menu

Spinach Feta Triangles

Fresh Fruit and Vegetables

Spinach Salad with Cranberries, Glazed Pecans, Swiss cheese and Maple Vinaigrette

Roasted Shrimp Salad with Dill, Cucumber and LemonPepper Vinaigrette

Farro Salad with Roasted Corn, Red Pepper and Red Onion

Quinoa Salad with Apple, Fennel and Arugula

Lemon Bars

Apricot Crumble Bar

Brownies

Spiced Pumpkin Cookies

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars

The Recipes

Fruit Preserve Crumble Bars

Adapted from Ina Garten's Raspberry Crumble Bars

2  sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/3  cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
10-12 ounces fruit preserves, I like raspberry or apricot
Confectioners' sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on medium speed just until combined. With the mixer on low, add the vanilla.

Sift the flour and salt together and, with the mixer on low, slowly add to the butter mixture, mixing until it al comes together in large crubles. Turn the dough out on a board. Lightly pat two-thirds of the dough evenly on the bottom of a 9 inch square baking pan, or my favorite the 7 x 11 inch pan, and about 1/4-inch up the sides. Spread with the jam, leaving a 1/4-inch border. Evenly distribute the remaining crumbles of dough on top of the jam, covering most of the surface. Bake the bars for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Cool completely and cut into bars. Sprinkle lightly with confectioners' sugar.

Pumpkin Cookies

1 cup of butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 cup cooked or canned pumpkin or squash

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

Frosting

¼ cup butter

½ cup brown sugar, packed

1/8 teaspoon salt

¼ cup milk

2 cups powdered sugar

Heat oven to 350 F degrees. Grease 2 cookies sheets

To make cookies: In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar at medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add egg.  Beat until blended. Beat in pumpkin and vanilla. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating just until blended.

To bake cookies: Spoon heaping teaspoons of dough onto cookie sheets. Bake one sheet at a time for 11 to 13 minutes, or until the tops feel firm: These cookies are cake-like and require a little longer baking time than most cookies.) Repeat with remaining dough. Immediately transfer to wire rack. Cool completely.

To make frosting: Place butter in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30 to 40 seconds, or until melted. Stir in brown sugar and salt. Microwave  on HIGH for 1 to 2 minutes, or until sugar is dissolved. Cool to room temperature.

Transfer to mixture bowl. Beat in milk on medium-low until blended. Continue beating and slowly add enough powdered sugar to make a smooth and creamy frosting that is the right consistency for spreading.