Chicken/4 recipes

Lightened cream of cauliflower soup that swaps heavy cream for nonfat dry milk and a touch of flour. Silky, low-fat, and ready in 35 minutes with a whisper of nutmeg and lemon.

Blueberry risotto with fresh boletus (porcini) mushrooms, white wine, thyme, and butter-finished arborio rice. A Swiss-inspired risotto where wild berries meet earthy wild mushrooms.

Chard-wrapped salmon with duxelles: salmon fillets wrapped in Swiss chard leaves around savory mushroom duxelles, gently poached in wine and chicken stock. A refined dinner for four.

Smoky BBQ baked beans with chicken sausage, collard greens, molasses, and navy beans in a tangy barbecue sauce. A hearty, high-fiber one-pot meal that's on the table in under 30 minutes.

Chicken fried steak Dupree pounds chuck steak thin, dredges in flour and saltine crumbs, then fries crisp and finishes with onion-cream gravy. Classic Southern comfort food cooked in cast iron.

This is a classic bean soup made with smoked ham hock or with a left over ham bone - inexpensive and serves up a crowd.

Silky chilled fennel soup, fennel simmered with shallots and garlic, pureed with lemon and dill, then blended with cool yogurt. A light, tangy, anise-kissed soup served cold as a refreshing starter.

A basic stock made from poultry (usually chicken) that you can freeze and use instead of store bought.

Roasted rack of lamb seared then oven-finished to a rosy medium-rare, served over greens with a fresh mint and balsamic vinaigrette. An elegant, restaurant-worthy main built on a simple pan sauce.

A 10-minute Chinese vegetable stir-fry using whatever veggies you have on hand. Bok choy, zucchini, bean sprouts, and green beans tossed in a quick bouillon glaze. Flexible, fast, and foolproof.

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Cheddar beer vegetable soup with a roux-based broth, mushrooms, and tender-crisp broccoli kept whole and added to the bowl. Two cheeses, one beer, and a soup that lives up to its name.

Cold soups make for excellent summer fare. The best vichyssoise I ever had in my life was at a French restaurant during a Montreal summer. Humor me. Try the soup in the traditional manner but then, if you must heat it up, (sigh), go ahead.

Cheesy creamy garlic soup caramelizes a dozen cloves of garlic with onion, deglazes with white wine, and purées French bread into a velvety bowl finished with cream and Gruyère. A French country soup with serious depth.

Seafood paella this style is a streamlined, home-kitchen riff on the Spanish classic. Rice, chicken, and seafood mingle with red pepper, tomato, and jalapeno for a weeknight one-pan dinner.

Whole-wheat couscous pilaf with chicken broth, hot sauce and fresh parsley. Healthy 10-minute side dish with a touch of heat.