• Beyond Guacamole: Low-Calorie Avocado Soup

• French technique makes food creamy

• Chicken and Parmesan-Parsley Dumplings with Swiss Chard

• Root Vegetable Tagine with Lentils

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Beyond Guacamole: Low-Calorie Avocado Soup



By Steve Petusevsky

From Health magazine

This recipe makes a flavorful, smooth-textured soup; serve with toasted bread.
Makes 4 servings
Prep: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
  
2 ripe peeled avocados
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 (4-ounce) can or jar chopped green chiles
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon lime juice
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Fresh cilantro and/or crushed tortilla chips for garnish

Instructions:

1. Cut the avocados in half, and remove the pits.

2. Spoon avocado into a blender, add the remaining ingredients (except garnish), and puree until creamy. Chill the soup for up to 2 hours before serving, or serve immediately. Cover leftovers with plastic wrap, refrigerate, and use within 2 days. (serving size: 1 cup)

Nutrition:

Calories 194
Fat 16g (sat 3g,mono 10g,poly 2g)
Protein 3g
Cholesterol 3mg
Calcium 58mg
Sodium 396mg
Fiber 7g
Iron 1mg
Carbohydrate 14g
 

French technique makes food creamy

Making what  chefs call a liaison is usually taught in French technique classes at culinary school. A liaison is nothing more than mixing a warm liquid with egg yolks so that the egg yolks coagulate slowly and thicken the sauce making it rich and creamy. The danger, of course, is that you add the hot liquid too quickly and you scramble the eggs. But with a little practice, a liaison is a useful technique every cook can master. It's great as a base for making ice creams and puddings and for thickening soups and sauces.

I learned to make a liaison some 30 years ago from a chef/professor in a Greek cooking class at the Culinary Institute of America.

Chef Dimitri, who was already 80 years old when I was a student, was a small gentleman with a huge moustache. He could whip up the perfect liaison every time and never ended up with scrambled eggs. He had us practice the technique making Greek Egg and Lemon Soup.

This creamy, tart, golden yellow soup is like slurping a bowl of warm sunshine. It is traditionally made from chicken stock, however it is equally delicious made with vegetable stock. It is also typically made with white rice but you can substitute orzo if you prefer.
 

Parmesan-and-parsley dumplings simmering in rich chicken stock help thicken this sauce. If you don't have the time to make your own stock, use two pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts simmered for a half hour in three quarts of chicken stock. Just dice the chicken breast when cooked, and save the broth for the body of the dish. From The Whole Foods Market Cookbook

Ingredients
1 whole chicken fryer (about 3 1/2 pounds)
4 quarts water Parmesan-Parsley Dumplings
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1 pound carrots, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch
   pieces
1/4 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes
4 cups Swiss chard, rinsed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Method

Place the chicken in an 8-quart stock pot, and add water. Bring to a boil; cover and simmer for 45 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked. Remove the chicken from the pot, reserving the stock. There should be about 14 cups of stock remaining. Allow the chicken to cool at room temperature until it's cool enough to handle. Discard the skin; remove all of the meat from the bones, and cut into bite-size pieces. To prepare the Parmesan-Parsley Dumplings: In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, cheese, salt, pepper and half the parsley. Stir in the egg, mixing well. Slowly incorporate the milk into the mixture. Bring the reserved stock to a boil. Add the garlic, onion, carrots, sweet potatoes, and red chili flakes. Simmer the stock for 10 minutes. Add the cooked chicken. Using a spoon, scoop up the dumpling dough into walnut-size pieces. With a spoon, carefully lower each piece of dough into the simmering stock. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes; do not lift the lid. The sweet potato and dumplings will slightly thicken the stock as they cook. Stir in the Swiss chard, disturbing the dumplings as little as possible. Cover; simmer for 5 minutes, or until the chard is wilted. Garnish with the remaining parsley.