Copycat Panera Bread Broccoli Cheese Soup

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Copycat Panera Bread Broccoli Cheese Soup
Posted by: ChefTom in Categories: Panera Bread, Recipes.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup melted butter
2 cups half-and-half
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 pound fresh broccoli
1 cup carrots, julienned
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
salt & pepper, to taste
8 ounces grated sharp cheddar

Directions:
Saute onion in butter. Set aside.
Cook melted butter and flour using a whisk over medium heat for about 4 minutes. Be sure to stir frequently.
Slowly add the half-and-half, continue stirring.
Add the chicken stock whisking all the time.
Simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the broccoli, carrots and onions. Cook over low heat until the veggies are tender, about 20 minutes.
Add salt and pepper.
 
By now the soup should be thickened. Pour in batches into blender and puree. Return the puree to the pot and place over low heat, add the grated cheese; stir until well blended. Stir in the nutmeg.

Serve.

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It's A Day for Leftovers Chicken/Potato Salad

Like many home cooks, I am rather adventurous and always looking for new ways to add zing to my leftovers.  I am one of these people who doesn't mind eating leftovers two or three times in a row; especially if it is something I have thoroughly enjoyed eating.  That said, I am always looking to vary the tastes of my meals, because I enjoy eating.  And, I like looking for new flavors. So I am inclined to experiment with combinations that are not always the norm.

When I have leftovers,  I always like to see if I can improve on them or vary the taste.  I like to entertain, so I make dishes for myself with a view toward whether guests will like what I make.  So tonight, I decided to combine some leftover chicken salad with the potato salad I made a couple of days ago.  I'm not even sure you could call it a recipe, however, the dish turned out well.  It was fairly quick and offered some fascinating flavor combinations, because I added items I already had in the kitchen; pecans, olives and blue cheese.

Chicken Potato Salad

1 cup leftover chicken
1 cup leftover potato salad
1/4 cup chopped olives
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
Cracked black pepper


Combine all ingredients gently.  Put on a bed of Romaine lettuce leaves or whatever salad greens you have.  Sit down and enjoy with a glass of white wine.


Serves 2

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Beef Stroganoff Family Style

In a family with growing children, the cook, who is usually mom, has to rack her brain about what to fix for dinner every day.  When my children were younger, they did not want anything the least bit exotic.  The food had to taste good and look like something they would want to eat.   Did you ever notice how children have a way of turning up their noses in the most peculiar way when they are figuring out how not to eat something?  As a mother, you can almost see the invisible wheels turning in their minds.

Often, I had to think of familiar foods and yet something uncommon so the adults would not get tired of eating.  There is nothing like eating the same boring meals over and over.  So naturally, I began to put a kid-friendly spin on many of the recipes I enjoyed so they would be savory and yet satisfy everyone in the family.  Here is one recipe I altered.  It is easy and takes very little time to prepare.

Beef Stroganoff Family-Style

1 large onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced
½ pound lean ground beef
½ pound lean ground turkey
1 small can mushrooms
1 tsp crushed dried oregano or Italian seasoning
1 tsp salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 can cream of mushroom or celery soup
1 cup light sour cream
1 Tbs olive or vegetable oil

Add oil to a deep heavy skillet or Dutch oven.  Sauté onion, garlic and ground meat in medium hot oil for about 3-4 minutes until browned, stirring frequently to break up the beef and turkey.  Add the next 4 ingredients and cook on low heat for about 5 minutes.  Drain off excess oil if necessary.  Add soup and simmer for another 10 minutes.  Stir in sour cream.  Serve over egg noodles.

Serves 4-6

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Simple Super Bowl Potato Salad

Since my computer went down a couple of days ago and I promised 30 recipes in 30 days, I am adding another today.

Sometimes I just want simple tastes, like this "Super Bowl" inspired potato salad.  The other foods you serve will probably have lots of seasonings, so this potato salad will not compete with them.  It has only 4 ingredients and is easy to make. I used Idaho potatoes for this recipe, however, I have used red or white potatoes.  I also leave the skins on.  It's up to your preference.

Potato Salad

1 lb potatoes, well-scrubbed

1 teaspoon garlic salt

2 Tbs minced onion

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup mayonnaise

Cut potatoes in cubes and place in saucepan with cold water to cover.  Add 1 teaspoon garlic salt ti water.  Cook on high till water is boiling; about 8 minutes.  Lower heat and simmer until done; about 7 more minutes.    Drain and cool.  Mix potatoes, minced onion, mayonnaise and salt and pepper. 

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Fried Catfish Nuggets for the Super Bowl Crowd?

Wow!  Had technical problems with my computer-tied to my phone service for a couple of days  This is the recipe for day 24 which should have been yesterday.

There's no way I could possibly share a 30-day recipe collection without including a favorite food of mine.  CATFISH!  And, in particular; fried catfish nuggets!  Growing up in Annapolis, Maryland, we could fish for catfish in the clean waters of the Severn River at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.  There was no pollution.  So even though catfish were called "bottom-feeders," the Bay and the river were so clean, the risk
of contamination was so extremely slight, that it was unheard of.  Now, of course, I get farm-raised catfish raised in certified waters.  I buy whole catfish or fillets or even pieces (nuggets) from my local supermarket.

I can eat it anytime and any day of the week.  Since I could eat half the whole batch below by myself, I would have to cook a lot for a Super Bowl crowd.  Catfish for four people is my limit.  So you might have to consider whether you want to have fried catfish for your Super Bowl crowd, too.  You don't want to have to spend all your time in the kitchen while everyone is watching the game.  You would no doubt have to keep replenishing the platter.

Fried Catfish Nuggets

2 lbs catfish fillets or nuggets
1 cup yellow corn meal
½ cup crushed Panko (Korean or Japanese bread crumbs)
1 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1 tsp dried parsley
Vegetable or Peanut Oil

If you have fillets, cut them into 1 inch pieces or nuggets.  Mix cornmeal, Panko, salt, pepper and dried seasonings in a thick brown paper bag.  Drop nuggets into bag and shake until well coated.  

Heat oil to hot in a large heavy skillet (cast-iron is my favorite).  Fry catfish in batches in a single layer.  Do not crowd.  Cook until golden brown; about 2-3 minutes on each side.  Drain on brown paper bag or newspaper covered with a paper towel.

Serve with homemade dipping sauce.

Homemade Dipping Sauce

1 cup mayonnaise
3 Tsp dill relish
Couple of dashes of hot sauce

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Dad's Baked Chicken for Sunday Dinner

On many Sundays at home, my dad would cook his specialty; baked chicken.  It was a simple recipe and yet very tasty and comforting.  He just cut up a chicken, put the pieces in a roasting pan and in a short while, they were ready with no fuss. The dish always turned out well.  This is  a whole meal in itself.  Just add green beans or peas or broccoli.

Baked Chicken

Ingredients

! chicken, cut in pieces

Garlic salt and pepper

Garlic powder, optional

1 onion, cut into slices and separate into rings

4-6 carrots, cut into thirds or  large chunks

4-6 potatoes, cut into chunks

1/2 stick butter or margarine

1 cup hot water

About 2 Tbs flour

 Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Sprinkle chicken all over with garlic salt and pepper; add garlic powder.  Sprinkle flour lightly over the tops of the chicken.  Dot butter over all pieces.  Arrange carrots and potatoes around the chicken.  Add seasonings.  Put onion rings over chicken and veggies so flavor will penetrate. . Pour water into pan.  

Bake 30 minutes in the hot oven basting every 5 minutes or so with the remaining water combined with the pan juices.  Remove chicken and vegetables to a platter.  Make gravy from pan juices, if desired.

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Mom's Bread Pudding-The Perfect Comfort Food

One of the all-time comfort foods is bread pudding.  So many things have changed about food since I grew up.  One thing remains--the memories of the smells coming from the kitchen when I came home from school.  And, a favorite was bread pudding.  Now, my mom would make tapioca pudding and rice pudding.  Neither of which ever gave me the kind of satisfaction I got when I ate her bread pudding with what she called "hard sauce."  Way yummy. The smell of cinnamon and nutmeg.  I could hardly wait to finish dinner so I could get to the dessert.  The recipe for  Day 23 is:

My Mom's Fabulous Bread Pudding.

Ingredients


2-3 cups stale bread
1 quart scalded milk
1/2-3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (163 C).  Tear bread into small pieces. Pour milk over bread crumbs and raisins; set aside to cool.  Beat eggs.  Add butter sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla.   Place bread and raisins in a buttered casserole dish.  Pour milk and egg mixture over bread.  Make sure bread is submerged.  Bake for an hour.  Serve warm with hard sauce.



Hard Sauce


1 stick butter (1/2 cup), softened

2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbs hot water

Cream butter, add sugar, vanilla and water and  beat well until creamy.  Put on bread pudding.  Refrigerate unused sauce.

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