I know, I know...it's been a looooong time since we've posted here at Cafe Huss. I admit, I sort of hit "cooker's block" if you will. Hopefully that will change with the new year!
My excitement started about two weeks ago when Marily went to Puerto Rico. I spent a lot of my free time watching my new favorite shows on BBC America: The F Word & Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. On one of The F Word episodes, Ramsay prepared chicken fricassee that looked delicious. I have since cooked it twice and I think it's delicious! Not sure why that one didn't make the blog yet...but maybe you'll get a post next time ;-)
Marily has been feeling a little under the weather since our return from frosty Chicago. I wanted to make her some soup but she wasn't in the mood for her norm, asopoa. I did some research and found this French chicken soup recipe that looked tasty and she agreed. We can thank the movie Julie & Julia for my new found interest in French cooking (Sharmi, we can't wait to try those recipes when your mom gets here!)
The only adjustments I made were using olive oil to saute the chicken (rather then cooking spray) and adding about4 cloves of garlic, simply crushed with the side of a knife (I added the garlic in with the onions during the prep). What we felt really made the recipe was the fresh pesto and freshly shaved Parmesan cheese. Don't skip out on either of these or you'll be doing your taste buds a complete disservice! You can pick up a block of Parmesan cheese at the grocery store (don't even think about using grated).
Oh, and don't forget some fresh buttered French bread.
Here is the recipe I used to make fresh pesto, rather then buying it from the store. It was simple to make and oh so delicious:
Since this is a French style chicken soup, pistou is prepared with the same ingredients as a pesto with the exception of pine nuts. I didn't realize this until I was writing this post and was doing research. So, needless to say, I prepared the soup with the pine nuts. It certainly doesn't take away from the dish...if anything it might give it a variation on the texture, but if you wanted to be authentic, skip the nuts.
Enjoy!
