Non-Dairy Fish Chowder

When I was in the southwest of Ireland, I had fish soup at the Scariff Inn. It didn’t have any dairy in it and appeared to have been thickened by pureed potatoes. Going by taste, I tried to recreate the recipe. It’s not exact, but pretty close to what I ate. Ingredients: 2 tbsp olive…

Anita's Prize-Winning Chili

This chili recipe won in a cook-off while stationed in California when I was in the Air Force.  Since that time I’ve substituted ground bison for the ground beef due to my allergy. Ingredients: • 1 lb. coarse ground bison • 1 onion, chopped • 1 green bell pepper, chopped • 1 red bell pepper, chopped…

Louisana Gumbo

My long-time friend from Louisiana gave me this recipe. I have evolved it through the years, using ingredients I could find (which varies, depending on the part of the country). Ingredients: • 1 pkg. smoked sausage, sliced • 1 pkg. chicken legs • 1 lb. snow crab legs • 2 lb. large shrimp, peeled •…

Pork Pozole

Tom Douglas is a big name in the restaurant business here in Seattle. His chefs recently started preparing dishes for Lish (an online meal delivery service). Last week, I tried the Smoky Pork Pozole and loved the flavors! I knew I had to try and recreate it. Most of the recipes I found online used…

Lamb Stew

Yield: 6 servings Ingredients: 2 lamb shanks 1 medium onion, diced 3 large carrots, cut into chunks 1 large stalk celery, diced 4 medium potatoes, cut into chunks 4 cups water salt and pepper to taste 1 bay leaf 1 tsp. thyme 1/2 cup frozen green peas Directions: Put lamb shanks in a crock pot…

Chickpea Stew with Spanish Chorizo

Make ahead….the longer this sits, the better the flavors! Ingredients: 4 cups chicken broth 2 (14 1/2-oz) cans chickpease (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained 1/2 tsp thyme 1 bay leaf 2 tbsp safflower oil (or other high heat oil) 4 oz diced pancetta (if you can find thick-cut pancetta, thick bacon ends work well, too)…

Lamb and Chickpea Soup with Kale

Tonight I made a soup of my own making, borrowing snippets of other recipes as a base, then adding my own ingredients to come up with something new to us. This is a wonderful soup that is much different from the traditional lamb stew recipe. Ingredients: 1 lamb shank 4 cups chicken stock 2 cups…

Vietnamese Spicy Eggplant & Mint Soup

I recently had a wonderful soup at Long’s Provencal Restaurant in downtown Seattle. It was so good, I knew I had to try to replicate it at home. I tried doing a search for it online, but no luck…so, I came up with my own recipe and it tastes pretty darn close to the one…