It's an Inside Job

When it comes to healing...it's always an inside job. It only shows up as a physical thing when we've ignored the emotional signals. Pain is a friend showing you that something needs your attention. Deal with it before it shows up as illness. Be grateful that it's there. Otherwise we would never know that anything was wrong.

The Comfort of Soup

Making soup is always a good thing because you can eat for days and it's so easy and versatile. Just start with some sauteed onions, add your main ingredient like beans, rice, vegetables, poultry or fish, plus some water and/or stock and let it simmer until done. You can then enjoy a cup or bowl without thinking of cooking. Just accompany it with a hunk of fresh bread and/or a salad and your meal is just minutes away.

Chicken Soup With Bok Choy

What would healing be without a little chicken soup? This recipe is a step by step instruction on a basic soup but with a little eastern twist – in keeping with the Zen theme of this month’s cooking article – bokchoy. In addition, rather than boiling a whole chicken to make the broth, this recipe sautés chicken thighs and shallots for a richer, fully flavor. Follow this recipe as a starting point and then feel free to implement any of the suggested variations.Ingredients – Makes about 6-8 servings





6 bone-in chicken thighs
1 small shallot – finely minced
1 clove garlic – finely minced
1/4 cup flour for dredging the chicken
¼ cup olive oil
2 teaspoons chicken base *
2 quarts water
1 large sprig fresh parsley (including stems)
1 teaspoon tomato paste or 2 - 3 tablespoons crushed tomatoes (optional – but great for added color and flavor)

* Chicken base is a concentrated paste that is wonderful for adding flavor to any broth. They come in small glass jars by the chicken broth in most supermarkets, available in beef, seafood and vegetable.Instructions


Instructions

• Place large stockpot over medium heat and heat until hot but not smoking and add olive oil.

• Season chicken with salt and pepper and dredge in flour (shake off excess) and brown on one side (about 2 minutes). Turn and add the garlic and onion and cook for an additional minute or so, or until the onion softens. • Add the water, bring to a boil, lower the heat to simmer, add parsley and cook for about an hour until the meat begins to fall off the bone. Remove the meat and set aside.

• Add the base one teaspoon at a time, stir and check the broth. If too watery, add a bit more base until you reach the desired flavor. Add the tomato and stir.

• In the meantime, remove the meat from the bone and add to the stockpot.

• Chop the bokchoy horizontally in ¼ inch slices and add to the pot.

• Cook for an additional 5 minutes or just until the bokchoy is softened but still has a bite to it.


• Serve in individual bowls and finish with fresh chopped parsley

Variations
Add carrots, celery, leeks, escarole, or other favorite as a substitute for the bokchoy, or combine a number of vegetables for a chicken vegetable soup

Add rice, pasta or dumplings (or even gluten – free dumplings – see recipe below)

Gluten – Free Dumplings

1 cup gluten – free flour (You will need 1/4 tsp Xanthum Gum if not already in flour blend)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt + ½ tsp pepper
½ cup whole milk
1 egg (beaten)
4 tbs canola oil

Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, milk, and canola oil. It should look like course. Add some fresh chopped parsley if you like or any additional seasoning you may want. Using a teaspoon scoop out small ball size portions of dough and add to the simmering broth. Don't overcrowd the dumplings. Cover and cook for about 10. Dumplings should be light and fluffy.





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A Note From the Chef

The Healing Kitchen

I didn’t always know that the kitchen was a healing place. As a child, all I knew was that it felt good when I was there. The kitchen was where abundance always reigned, where tantalizing aromas from steaming pots on the cook top drew me in, and overflowing platters held any number of treasures ready to satisfy my hunger in an instant. It didn’t matter what the outside world looked like; the kitchen was neutral ground, a place of respite from life’s little annoyances - from scraped knees to aching hearts – a soothing balm that simply nourished.


We’ve all heard it said that it’s the journey, not the destination, where the true prize waits. Now, as an adult and professional chef, I often wonder if we’ve lost some of the kitchen’s inherent magic when our focus is on the finished dish rather than on the process of preparing it. Does the real soul of the kitchen evaporate when we approach cooking as a chore rather than a pleasure?

There are few things in life that offer multiple gifts as readily as the kitchen. Good food is the most obvious, but it’s the more subtle contributions that most surprised me, becoming clear only after years of observation. I didn’t realize that as I was stirring a sauce, chopping an onion, kneading the dough, or performing any number of tasks that cooking demands, that I was really practicing an ancient meditation. Cooking, by its very nature, requires one’s full attention. Any deviation produces almost instant consequences – burnt sauce, a cut finger, a forgotten ingredient…

Over the years, I began to recognize that cooking was a practice of presence my otherwise cluttered mind so desperately needed. When I cook, my mind is still, relaxed, focused only on the task before me – because it has to be. This is the true gift of the kitchen, comfort for a tattered spirit, a place to rest and regain strength, while it provides sustenance for the body.

The idea that I could be training my mind in the art of meditation and still end up with something wonderful to eat just never ceases to amaze me. What could be more loving, more nourishing, more healing than this? This is cooking as a form of spiritual practice – the Zen of the kitchen – a perfect blend of the practical with the profound, and the gift of both.

Chef Silvai

Don't Bring Me Roses

As much as I love receiving flower-especially roses-mushy cards and going out to dinner, I don’t especially like it on Valentine’s Day or any of the other predictable times of the year when those things are expected. Surprise me and you’ll always tug at my heart.


So what does one do when they want to say “I love you” whether it’s to a beloved, a child, a sister, brother, neighbor or friend? Lots of things I suppose, but few say it better than a home cooked meal, made with loving hands with pure intent…at least in my opinion.

And it doesn’t even matter if you’re a klutz in the kitchen. What matters is that you are choosing to make and share a meal with someone or for those you love. You are devoting your time, focused with loving energy to create something real, something memorable. Excited and inspired you begin by looking through all those cookbooks you bought and left on the bookshelves and promised yourself that someday you’d explore. Or maybe you’ll dig amongst back issues of Bon Appétit and House and Garden. You could further your search online and discover a world of great cooking sites…all in pursuit of the perfect menu…one you can actually cook. And all the while you’re having a ball, completely energized by all the possibilities.

So you make a list-we’re all good at this-before you go shopping-we’re good at this too. And if you’re really having fun, shopping turns into another adventure, one of shapes, colors, textures and aromas. It’s the excuse to enter the local gourmet shop and taste a whole variety of exotic cheeses and choose whatever you like; to buy a bottle of a delicious, expensive dipping sauce or condiment and a crusty loaf of the best baguette. You can treat your senses to a bunch of fresh rosemary or dill, parsley or sage and buy the freshest slice of fish or meat available. You can enter the wine store and buy that special bottle; the bakery and bring home a decadent, delicate dessert-one you wouldn’t attempt to make yourself, beautifully wrapped in curly ribbon around a pristine white box. You bring all your purchases home and you feel like a king or queen. This is abundance-a full refrigerator.

Making a meal deserves to be so much more than a simple act of mundane necessity. When undertaken as an act of celebration, meal preparation bestows its true gifts, an experience that nourishes both the body and the soul-a cherished ceremony-available to all- regardless of means or training. Loving intent becomes the secret ingredient, the elixir, if you will, that transforms a simple meal into a sacred experience. It’s the gift you give yourself and all those you love.

May you love today, tomorrow and every day,

Chef Silvia

Sherried Shrimp with Roasted Peppers and Angel Hair Pasta

This recipe blends some of the best flavors on earth (or in heaven) in a simple, yet creative way. It's a wonderful dish for that special someone that loves shrimp, pasta, roasted peppers and a terrific marinara sauce. In the process, the cook learns to make some basic staples that can be used for an unlimited number of other dishes. If shellfish is a problem, try it with chunks of salmon. You can also substitute the pasta with rice pasta.





Serves Two

1/2 lb Angel Hair (or other thin pasta)
2 cups basic marinara sauce (see below)
1 doz large shrimp; cleaned and deveined
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 fresh garlic clove; finely chopped
Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1 roasted pepper; unseasoned and torn into filets (see below)
1/4 cup sherry
1/4 cup cream (optional)
Fresh slivered basil (for garnish)


In a medium sized saute pan, add the oil and the pepper flakes followed by the shrimp. Let cook until they just begin to turn pink (about one minute) turn, add the garlic and cook for a few moments and follow with the sherry. Cook for a minute, add the marinara sauce, the pepper filets and the cream. Stir and blend together, move shrimp to one side and add the pasta,season with salt and pepper and toss it with the sauce. Plate pasta onto a platter or indiviual plates and top each dish with the shrimp and a bit more sauce. Finish with the basil.

Basic Marinara Sauce

1 16 oz can crushed tomatoes
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 shallot (or small onion) finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 sprig fresh basil (stems in tact)

Place a medium saucepan over medium heat and add the oil. Heat for about a minute or until the oil is hot but not smoking. Add the onions and cook until carmelized (about one minute). Add the garlic and the pepper flakes and cook for a few moments and follow immediately with the tomatoes and the basil. Stir,bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and it's ready to use.



Roasted Red Bell Peppers

Though the recipe abovd requires only one pepper, roast more if you like and dress them as instructed below to enjoy alone, in sandwhiches or on other dishes

4-5 large red bell peppers (yellow or orange are great and sweet too)

Wash and dry peppers
Place on a baking sheet or rack about 4-5 inches from broiler or directly on a grill
When the skin of the pepper in dark brown, as has loosen itself from the pepper, it is ready to be turned
Continue turning each pepper until each side is browned
Place peppers inside a brown paper bag (this will absorb the liquid) and set aside to cool
When cool enough to handle, peel off the browned skin, remove the core and all seeds.
Tear into filets and toss with a bit of extra virgin olive oil, finely chopped garlic, fresh choppped flat leaf Italian parsley and salt and pepper.

One Step at a Time

When attempting to do a task, any task that you’re not familiar with, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. This usually happens if you think too far ahead. You get nervous just thinking about it and that’s the whole point. It’s all in your mind-and this is true for everyone. So let’s take a big breath and take one step at a time. We’ve all heard this advice many times and it’s just as true today as it was yesterday and it’s especially true in the kitchen. You can’t put the icing on the cake until you bake it first…or something like that.