Cheese Tortellini Kielbasa Soup

I got this recipe from Cameron who got it from epicurious.com. It’s one of our favorite cold-weather soups. I’ve done several versions of this, and actually like it better without the beans. Sometimes, I use orzo or leftover boiled white rice if I don’t have tortellini available. Because I usually make my own chicken stock, I end up cooking this soup as soon as I’ve removed all the impurities that float to the top.

Ingredients:
1 9-ounce package cheese tortellini
1 packaged fully-cooked smoked kielbasa sausage, thinly sliced
1 15-ounce can cannellini, or white kidney beans, rinsed, drained
1 bunch kale, thoroughly washed, roughly chopped
1 medium-sized fresh fennel bulb, roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsps fresh thyme, chopped
1/2 tsp dried crushed red pepper
10 cups chicken stock
1 cup Asiago cheese or Parmesan cheese, shaved
salt, pepper, olive oil

1. Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Sauté garlic until golden, onions until translucent, fennel until soft and kielbasa is brown, about 12 minutes.
2. Add broth and bring to boil. Stir in thyme, kale and cannellini. Reduce heat to low and simmer until kale is wilted, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Add tortellini to soup. Simmer until pasta is just tender but still firm to bite, about 5 minutes. Ladle soup into bowls. Serve and let your guests top it with cheese.

Where to eat in Houston, Texas: Burn’s Bar BQ

What would you do if you had a five-hour layover in Houston? If you’re like me, then you’d grab your backpack from baggage claim, call 411 for information, ask the airport information clerk and the po-po for directions and finally convince the cab dispatchers to find Burn’s Bar BQ so you can eat a decent rack of ribs.

We’ve followed Anthony Bourdain’s advice before and ate chapulines, or crickets, in the market of Oaxaca, Mexico. We’ve tried nose-to-tail eating at St. John’s in London. Eating barbecue from one of his favorite barbecue joints in Houston was just too easy.

We paid a total of $74 for cab fare to and from the airport to eat three kinds of barbecue with potato salad, white bread and pickles at Burn’s Bar BQ. Our entire order cost us less than $15. It took 45 minutes to eat everything. It wasn’t the first rack of ribs we’ve ever had that tasted as good, but man, was it all worth it! Talk about dedication to my meat.

Burn’s Bar BQ is at 8307 De Priest Street off Williamsdell Street in Houston, Texas. They can ship a big order of ribs to your city if you call 281/445.7574.

Amy Ruth’s Home-Style Southern Cuisine

113 West 116th Street between Lenox and Adam Clayton
212/280.8779
about $60 for two, without drinks, without tip

Chef Carl Redding opened the restaurant a year after his grandmother, Amy Ruth, passed away. They’re not kidding when they say that they offer home-style cooking because you can taste the love in their collard greens and in the gravy of their mashed potatoes. The honey-dipped fried chicken was to die for, flavorful both inside and out. I couldn’t have enough of the crispy skin and even the white meat was tasty.

I looked forward to ordering the spareribs but they were overdone; swimming in sauce and mushy like bad soup. I like my meat when they easily fall off the bone but I also like gnawing on some actual ribs, not softened bones.

They ran out of macaroni and cheese when we visited so we ordered a side of string beans instead which were so overcooked they weren’t crunchy nor buttery. Their fried okra was excellent but as soon as they cooled down, the batter became chewy and inedible. I had two slices of the corn bread and somehow, they made up for the restaurant’s shortcomings.

Beef Bourguignon

Adapted from Everyday Food

Ingredients:
1 1/5 pounds of boneless beef chuck roast, cut into chunks
4 slices of bacon
4 small carrots, peeled and cut into smaller pieces
a handful of small red potatoes, peeled in the middle and boiled until half-cooked
crimini mushrooms and pearl onions, roasted
1 large onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 sprig of thyme
2 tbsps rosemary
1 sprig of parsley
1 cup of red wine
1 small can of tomato paste

1. In a Dutch oven, cook bacon over medium-low heat until browned. With a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside.
2. Raise heat to medium and brown beef cubes in bacon fat, in batches to avoid overcrowding. Transfer browned beef to a bowl.
3. Bring to a boil 1/2 cup water in the same pot while loosening the brown bits at the bottom of the pan. Reduce liquid to a few tablespoons.
4. Add garlic and onions. Cook until softened. Add tomato paste and cook for another minute. Add the beef back with the bacon, rosemary and thyme. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until meat is tender, about 2 hours. Add water to avoid drying up.
5. Add carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, pearl onions and parsley leaves until warm and carrots are tender. Season with salt and pepper.

Where to eat in Chicago

Chicago was cool, both literally and figuratively. I was bummed to pack my winter jacket in New York on Friday when it wasn’t even cold, but as soon as the wind hit us when we stepped out of O’Hare, I was thankful I didn’t put fashion ahead of function.

Friday night was all about Persian food at Noon-O-Kabab. Four of us split the lamb shank and the koubideh kababs with eggplants, borani, hummus, warm pita bread and a bottle of Shiraz. The entire meal was a nice welcome greeting. I haven’t seen Anna and Mike since we all met up in Manila last year.

Saturday was Colombian at Brasa Roja where we watched the lady behind the counter shovel charcoal into the rotisserie pit. Our chicken was all salty goodness together with the arepa (Colombian corn pancakes but Salvadorian pupusas are so much better), plantains plus rice and beans and the bowl of broth peppered with chicken neck and liver.

We also stopped by Izumi for some Japanese to tie us over until dinner. The blue fin otoro and their uni were very satisfying. They also had flying fish roe in black, which I’ve never seen before. We also ordered a flight of sake and a glass of plum wine.

Sunday brought us Scandinavian brunch at Tre Kronor: salmon quiche, corned beef sandwich, crabcakes and a hefty onion soup. Their Danish pastries were to die for.

Dinner was with other anesthesia residency applicants at Meritage, a New American spot that served pretty impressive monkfish and barracuda.

Monday was Mexican at Lindo Michoacan for some awesome chorizo and carne asada tacos. We had to eat something while waiting for the boy to finish his actual interview at the hospital.

The tacos alone made us crave “gourmet” hotdogs at Hot Doug’s.

We stayed with Anna in Albany Park and we were within walking distance from a lot of restaurants offering ethnic cuisines. Chicago is just like New York City in that way–the streets are just cleaner.

Where to eat in Chicago:

Noon-O-Kabab, 4661 N Kedzie Avenue, 773/279.8899
La Brasa Roja, 3125 W Montrose Avenue, 773/866.2252
Izumi Sushi Bar & Restaurant, 731 W Randolph Street, 312/207.5299
Tre Kronor, 3258 W Foster Avenue, 773/267.9888
Meritage Cafe & Wine Bar, 2118 N Damen Avenue, 773/235.6434
Lindo Michoacan, 3148 W Lawrence, 773/539.6627
Hot Doug’s Inc, 3324 N California Avenue, 773/279.9550