Barefoot Bloggers: Pappa Al Pomidoro

It's time once again for another "Barefoot Bloggers" recipe. This time Natalie from "Burned Bits" got to choose the recipe, and she chose this classic Italian tomato soup with lots of basil that is thickened with......bread!!!!! This soup was not only easy to make but delicious. I made it exactly as written--although I DID peel the carrots. I guess I'm not quite as rustic as Ina. The soup was great even without the carrot dirt. Don't skimp on the basil--you'll be sorry if you do! Enjoy!

INA GARTEN'S PAPPA AL POMIDORO
from her Back to Basics cookbook
Serves 6

1/2 C good olive oil
2 C chopped yellow onion (2 onions)
1 C medium-diced carrots, unpeeled (3 carrots) NOTE: I peeled.
1 fennel bulb, trimmed, cored, and medium-diced (1 1/2 cups)
4 t minced garlic (4 cloves)
3 C (1-inch) diced ciabatta cubes, crusts removed
2 (28-oz) cans good Italian plum tomatoes
4 C chicken stock, preferably homemade
1/2 C dry red wine
1 C chopped fresh basil leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 C freshly grated Parmesan

For the topping:

3 C (1-inch) diced ciabatta cubes
2 ounces thickly sliced pancetta, chopped
24 to 30 whole fresh basil leaves
3 T good olive oil, plus more for serving
Salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, fennel, and garlic and cook over medium-low
heat for 10 minutes, until tender. Add the ciabatta cubes and cook for 5 more minute. Place the tomatoes in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process just until coarsely chopped. Add the tomatoes to the pot along with the chicken stock, red wine, basil, 1 T salt, and 1 1/2 t pepper. Bring the soup to a boil, lower the heat, and allow to simmer, partially covered, for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375˚F.

For the topping, place the ciabatta cubes, pancetta, and basil on a sheet pan large enough to hold them in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil, sprionkle with salt and pepper, and toss well. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 to 25 minutes, until all the ingredients are crisp. The basil leaves will turn dark and crisp, which is perfectly fine. reheat the soup, if necessary, beat with a wire whisk until the bread is broken up. Stir in the Parmesan and taste for seasoning. Serve hot sprinkled with the topping and drizzled with additional olive oil.

Barefoot Bloggers: Coq au Vin

In an effort to get myself to post more regularly, I have joined a group called"Barefoot Bloggers" -- a group of people who love to cook and bake and also looooove that Barefoot Contessa . Every month two members of the group each pick a Barefoot Contessa recipe and members make it and write about it on their blogs. The first recipe this month was selected by Bethany of this little piggy went to market..... . It is Coq au Vin. I have never made Coq au Vin but I have always thought of it as a chicken stew. Imagine my surprise when I pulled out my "Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics cookbook "and opened to page 115 to read the Coq au Vin recipe. In her notes before the recipe, the Contessa says that for years she had tried many times to make Coq au Vin with disappointing results until her TV producer told her that it's just beef bourguignon with chicken and she thought, "So it is!" So it is, Ina, although many of us just call beef bourguignon beef stew. So anyway, here is Ina Garten's Coq au Vin--or, for those of you who are intimidated by French--chicken stew in wine.

I followed this recipe exactly as written, which I often do when trying a recipe for the first time. I used brandy, not cognac. Actually, the only thing I didn't do was to light the brandy on fire. I'm not that daring. I'm not sure if it was "good" brandy as Ina instructed, but at $6.99 a bottle, how good could it really be? Nonetheless, the dish turned out great! The only change I would make in the future is that I would remove the chicken skin from the chicken after I browned the chicken. Ina didn't tell me to, so I didn't, and the stew had a lot of fat in it that I removed after it was done. It would have been much easier and probably just as good to get rid of the skin after the browning process and have less fat to skim off after the dish was done. The Coq au Vin was delicious---the chicken was fall-off-the-bone moist, and the gravy had a great flavor that I don't think would have been there if not for the $6.99 brandy!

INA GARTEN'S COQ AU VIN
from her Back To Basics cookbook
Serves 6 (according to Ina)

Good olive oil
8 oz good bacon or pancetta, diced
2 (3- to 4-pound) chickens, each cut into 8 pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound carrots, cut diagonally into 1-inch pieces
2 yellow onions, sliced
2 t chopped garlic (2 cloves)
1/4 C Cognac or good brandy
1 (750-ml) bottle good dry red wine such as Burgundy
2 C chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 bunch fresh thyme sprigs
4 T (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided
3 T all-purpose flour
1 pound frozen small whole onions
1 pound porcini or cremini mushrooms, stems removed and thickly sliced

Preheat the oven to 275°F.

Heat 1 T olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove the bacon to a plate with a slotted spoon.

Meanwhile, pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Liberally sprinkle the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. After the bacon is removed, add a few of the chicken pieces in a single layer and brown for about 5 minutes, turning to brown evenly. Remove the chicken pieces to the plate with the bacon and continue to add the chicken in batches until all the chicken is browned. Set aside.

Add the carrots, onions, 1 T salt, and 2 t pepper to the pot and cook over medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the Cognac, stand back!, and carefully ignite with a match to burn off the alcohol. NOTE: I DID NOT DO THIS STEP AND THE DISH TURNED OUT GREAT!! Put the bacon, chicken, and any juices that collect on the plate into the pot. Add the wine, chicken stock, and thyme sprigs and bring to a boil. Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and place in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is just no longer pink. Remove from the oven and place on top of the stove.

Mash 2 T of the room temperature butter and the flour together in a small bowl and stir the paste into the stew. Add the frozen onions. In a medium saute pan, melt the remaining 2 T butter and cook the mushrooms over medium-low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until browned. Add to the stew. Bring the stew to a simmer and cook for another 10 minutes. Season to taste. Serve hot.