Chicken soup with fennel and onion
Dec. 11th, 2010 06:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
petroniaCampbell's chicken noodle, canned - it would have been bland if I'd gone with plain broth and milk/cream, I think. Fennel behaves like celery, except the leaves look like dill, and the whole tastes delicately but persistently of aniseed. Not sure why I bought the thing given that I'm neither fond of celery nor of aniseed, rolling, but it turned out delicious in the end.
1 head of fennel
1 medium onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp annatto powder
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 bay leaf
salt, pepper, fennel seeds etc. to taste
Chop fennel and onion into smallish chunks. Chop garlic coarsely and heat with the butter until it starts to sizzle, then add the annatto powder and mix well. (Or you can use achiote oil to begin, if you have any or know how to make it. The purpose of this stuff is 10% flavour and 90% just to make the end result look nice and golden instead of pale and blah. XD;) Turn the heat down to medium and stir-fry the chopped onion and fennel until they go soft and translucent. While stirring, add the curry powder, bay leaf, and other seasonings.
At this point I halved the vegetables, since I was just feeding myself, reserving the rest for another day's soup. If you want to go ahead and serve 4, add two cans of Campbell's condensed chicken noodle, plus two cans of milk, and simmer/stir on low heat until flavours are combined. Or, if you have a working blender and want to go that route, puree the vegetables with clear chicken broth and half-and-half cream (you'll probably also need more salt, in that case). Take out the bay leaf before you do, though.
1 head of fennel
1 medium onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp annatto powder
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 bay leaf
salt, pepper, fennel seeds etc. to taste
Chop fennel and onion into smallish chunks. Chop garlic coarsely and heat with the butter until it starts to sizzle, then add the annatto powder and mix well. (Or you can use achiote oil to begin, if you have any or know how to make it. The purpose of this stuff is 10% flavour and 90% just to make the end result look nice and golden instead of pale and blah. XD;) Turn the heat down to medium and stir-fry the chopped onion and fennel until they go soft and translucent. While stirring, add the curry powder, bay leaf, and other seasonings.
At this point I halved the vegetables, since I was just feeding myself, reserving the rest for another day's soup. If you want to go ahead and serve 4, add two cans of Campbell's condensed chicken noodle, plus two cans of milk, and simmer/stir on low heat until flavours are combined. Or, if you have a working blender and want to go that route, puree the vegetables with clear chicken broth and half-and-half cream (you'll probably also need more salt, in that case). Take out the bay leaf before you do, though.
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no subject
Date: 2010-12-12 12:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-12 12:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-12 06:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-12 02:53 am (UTC)But I don't have any annatto. Is there a good substitute?
no subject
Date: 2010-12-12 10:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-13 06:49 am (UTC)In Tagalog, this translates into achuete which is used in almost everything needing a red color, yea, even unto the spaghetti sauce (!!!!!!!).
Typical Pinoy holiday fare:
- spaghetti with sweet tomato sauce (using sliced hotdogs in lieu of ground beef)
- fruit salad, in all its variations
- FRUIT CAKE, ad nauseam *grin* People have been known to re-gift unwanted cake to penurious relatives or minor government officials.
- ham, be it bone-in, round, or pear-shaped. THERE MUST BE HAM.
Then families add various other dishes as tradition dictates. But these things must be part of the Christmas feast, or it's not Christmas in the Philippines. *grin*