Warm food for the soul

So here are yesterday’s recipes... After a nice day of skiing, Michel and our guests came back home tired and happy, so I had to prepare a post-ski, warm and comforting food ;)

To begin:

Yummy Warm Brie

1green onion
2tsp (10 mL) butter
1pears, diced
Pinch salt
Pinch cinnamon
1/4 cup(50 mL) pear juice
3tbsp (45 mL) chopped pecanpecans
1tbsp (15 mL) brown sugar blend
1tsp (5 mL) chopped fresh thyme
1tsp (5 mL) cider vinegar
1round Brie cheese

Thinly slice green onion, keeping white and green parts separate.
In nonstick skillet, melt butter over medium heat; fry pear, white part of onion, salt and cinnamon for 5 minutes or until pear is softened.
Add pear juice, pecans, brown sugar, thyme and vinegar; boil, stirring often, for 5 minutes or until no liquid remains.
Place Brie on ovenproof serving dish; top with pear mixture. Bake in 350°F (180°C) oven for 10 minutes or until cheese is softened. Let stand for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with green part of onion. Serve with fresh bread and don't count the calories while eating!



Then, we continued with...

Butternut soup

2 lb of butternut squash
4 cloves of garlic (don’t peel them)
3 T olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 large onion
3 T butter
2 T thinly cut ginger
2 t curry
1 L chicken or veggie broth
Lime quarters and yogurt (optional)


Preheat the oven at 190C (375F)
Cut the squash in half and brush each part with the olive oil; brush the garlic cloves with oil as well. Put some salt and pepper over.
Put the garlic on a baking sheet, and put the squash halves upside down, over the garlic.
Bake the squash for about 45 min (until the meat is tender).
Take the squash and garlic out of the oven and let them stand for about 10 min – and then peel them. Put them aside.
In a large cooking pot, sauté the onions in the butter for about 10 min, until tender.
Add the ginger and curry and cook for another 1 min.
Add the garlic, squash and broth and bring to boil. Reduce the heat and let it simmer uncovered for 10 min.
Put the mixture in the blender and blend well.
Serve it hot as is, or with the limes and yogurt.




Then, the main course...

Chicken with grilled veggies

4 peeled carrots, cut in two lengthwise
4 peeled parsnips (white carrots), cut in two lengthwise
4 small leeks, cut in two lengthwise
8 small potatoes (finger potatoes are great)
4 T olive oil
Salt and pepper
125 ml fresh herbs (thyme, sage, basil, chives, rosemary – or any mixture of those)
2 t lemon zest
Garlic, thinly chopped
4 pieces of chicken, with the skin (I used chicken legs and it worked great)

Preheat the oven at 190C (375F)
In a large bowl, put all the veggies and pour the olive oil, as well as the salt and pepper over. Mix them well, so all the veggies are coated with the oil. Put them on a large baking sheet.
In a separate bowl, mix the garlic, herbs, zest, salt and pepper.
With your fingers, peel off the chicken skin from the meat and put in about 2 T of the herbs mixture; close the skin
Put the chicken on the same baking sheet as the veggies and cover with aluminium
Cook in the oven for 45 min; for the last 10 minutes, uncover and put the oven to “broil”, so the chicken becomes crispier.






According to the recipe, you can serve the chicken with the following sauce, but I haven’t tried it:

250 ml chicken broth
80 ml balsamic vinegar
3 T cold butter

Bring to boil the broth and the vinegar and then let it boil until the mixture is reduced to about 180ml
Take it off the heat and add the butter; whisk it well.
Serve immediately

So tadaaaaam! That was yesterday’s feast! We drank some excellent red wine and finished with a delicious desert from Adonis. ;)

Now it's time for some exercice!