Chicken Sausage and Napa Cabbage Soup with Lebni -Cheddar Biscuits

The spouse is fighting a bit of a head cold. I thought soup, salad, and hot biscuits might help her feel better. I spent the day making stock. For the soup, I added green onion, carrot, chicken sausage, and Napa cabbage. The sausage I used was Hillshire Farm Gourmet Creations Chicken Apple with Gouda Cheese. I've used these twice before, once grilled, another time in upscale beans and weenies. Okay, so I really like these sausages, and the spouse is really good at finding them on sale.

 

For the salad, I used fresh arugula, with julienned baby turnips and baby candy cane beets. I made a date vinegar, sesame oil, and zatar vinaigrette.

 

The biscuits are made with lebni, a Middle Eastern yogurt cheese, and shredded cheddar. It produced a wonderfully tender biscuit, with a bit of the yogurt tang. I was very happy with results. I like to use shaped cookie cutters, to add a bit of whimsy.

 

Recipes

Chicken Sausage and Napa Cabbage Soup

1 quart chicken stock

1 lb. chicken sausage, sliced into 3/4 inch slices

1 cup diced carrots

2 large green onions, sliced thin

3/4 small head Napa cabbage, shredded

salt to taste

 

In a large stock pot, heat stock over medium low heat to a low simmer. Add carrots and onions. Let simmer until carrots are tender. Add sausage, simmer another 15 minutes. Add salt to taste. Add cabbage, simmer two minutes. Serve.

 

Date Vinegar, Sesame Oil, and Zatar

1/4 cup date vinegar

2 tbsp. rice wine vinegar

2 tbsp. sesame oil

1 tsp. zatar

1/4 tsp. course sea salt

 

Whisk together all ingredients.

 

Lebni - Cheddar Biscuits

2 cups flour

1 tbsp. baking powder

2 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

1/4 tsp. course sea salt

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1 cup lebni

4 tbsp. milk

1 cup shredded cheddar

 

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together flour baking powder, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles course crumbs. Make a well in the center, add lebni, milk, and cheddar. Stir in until flour mix is just moistened. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead 10 strokes, re-flouring board as necessary to prevent dough from sticking. Roll out to 3/4 inch thick. Cut out biscuits, place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes, until golden brown. Makes about 15 biscuits.

 

Happy Eating!

Pasta with Radish Green - Walnut Pesto

 

I love my CSA. It challenges me to make the best use of the ingredients. We had gotten some marvelous radishes, with luxuriant greens. I hate to just throw things out, so I look for ways to use everything. I have previously used the carrot greens we've gotten to good effect.

I had a package of tri-color spinach and cheese tortellini in the freezer. I love tortellini with pesto. I made a pesto of radish greens, walnuts, garlic, olive oil, and salt. Hard to describe the radish greens. They have a rich herbaceous taste, with a little bite and some bitterness. They paired well with the walnuts.

I just prepared the pasta as directed, then drained it and tossed it with the pesto.

To go with, I sauteed some beautiful Savoy cabbage with some strips of green pepper and green onion.

Radish Green - Walnut Pesto

3 cups radish greens
2/3 cup walnut pieces
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
2 -3 tbsp. olive oil

Place radish leaves, walnuts, salt, and garlic in a food processor. While processor is running, drizzle in olive oil until pesto has a smooth consistency. It may be necessary to stop and scrape down the sides of the processor bowl once or twice.

German Red Cabbage

For my wine class tonight, we were tasting German wines. So, I decided to make a German style red cabbage. I used the crock pot to slow cook it. It was flavored with apple, red onion, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, caraway, celery seed, black pepper, and apple cider vinegar. I was really happy with it. The spiciness and apple matched really well with a fruity and peppery Riesling.

German Red Cabbage

1 large red cabbage, shredded
2 small red onions, diced
2 Fuji apples, diced
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 1/2 tsp. caraway seed
1 1/2 tsp. celery seed
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
3 pinches ground clove
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

Place 1/4 of cabbage in a crock pot. Layer 1/3 of apples and onions. Sprinkle on 1/3 of spices. Repeat twice more. Cover with last 1/4 of cabbage. Pour vinegar over cabbage. Put on lid, cook on high for at least 6 hours. Stir thoroughly before serving.

Happy Eating!