Creamy Chicken Orzo Soup

Orzo, is a type of short-cut pasta, shaped like a large grain of rice. You can make some delicious salads and soups with orzo. One of our recent favourites is this Creamy Chicken Orzo Soup. It comes together pretty quickly and is very filling too. I only made half the amount of the recipe and it was perfect for all three of us. You can even add mushrooms or celery to this. If orzo is not available you can use mini macaroni or any other type of short cut pasta.

Creamy Chicken Orzo Soup Recipe

Serves 5-6

(Recipe from here)

Ingredients:

Olive oil -2 tbsp

Boneless Chicken breast - 450 gm

Garlic - 1 clove minced

Onion - 1/2 cup, diced

Carrots - 1/2 cup, diced

Dried Sage - 1/4 tsp

Dried Parsley - 1 tsp

Dried Oregano - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp or to taste

Chicken broth – 4 cups

Water - 2 cups

Orzo - 1 cup

Heavy cream – 1 cup

Green onions - 1/4 cup, diced

Method:

• In a large pan heat olive oil over medium heat. Add chicken breast and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook until no longer pink in the middle, about 6-8 minutes per side. Remove from heat and shred.
• In the same pan, add garlic, onions, and carrots and cook for about 5 minutes until aromatic.
• Add in sage, parsley, oregano, salt, and pepper and cook until onions are translucent, another 3-5 minutes.
• Pour in chicken broth and water and bring to a boil.
• Add in orzo and cook on a low boil for about 10 -15 minutes or until orzo is tender.
• Lower heat and add chicken back in, and heavy cream. Let simmer 5 minutes until bubbly and thickened.
• Top with green onions and serve warm.

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Chocolate and Coffee Mousse Entremets’ with Chocolate Mirror Glaze

As always an intention of a short break somehow gets extended to several months!! After a great eight weeks of summer vacation we came back last month. By the time I settled down, my son’s mid-term exam had started! Anyway to compensate for the five month long gap, today, I have come up with a lengthy dessert post for you all :) :) 

An entremet or entremets is in modern French cuisine a small dish served between courses or simply a dessert. It is a multi-layered mousse-based cake with various complementary flavours and varying textural contrasts. Entremets are the perfect dessert for someone who likes a little bit of everything. This dessert consists of a brownie base, two types of mousses and a mirror glaze. The recipe is long, but with a little patience and planning ahead of time, it is quiet easy to make. As you all know I am a huge fan of making individual desserts and hence I set this in small dessert rings but you can just as easily set it in an 8 inch cake ring or loose bottom cake tin. This was an experimental trial for our wedding anniversary last month. Both the mousse recipes are from previous posts of mine. This is the first time I am trying my hands on chocolate mirror glaze. We really loved the different textures and flavours in this dessert. Do try this on your special day and let me know the outcome....

Chocolate and Coffee Mousse Entremets’ with Chocolate Mirror Glaze Recipe 

Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients:

White sugar - 1 cup

Butter - ½ cup

Cocoa powder - ¼ cup

Vanilla essence - ½ tsp

Eggs - 2

All-purpose flour - ¾ cup

Baking powder - ¼ tsp

Salt - ¼ tsp

Walnut halves - ¼ cup

Method:

• Melt the butter or margarine and mix all ingredients in the order given.
• Bake at 350˚F (175˚C) for 20 to 25 minutes in a 9 x 13 inch greased pan.
• Once the brownie has completely cooled cut out 6 rounds with small dessert rings (I used 2.5” rings).

Coffee Mousse

Ingredients:

Egg yolk - 1

Sugar - ¼ cup (50g)

Corn flour - ¾ tbsp 

Warm milk - 1/3 cup (80ml)

Vanilla essence - ¼ tsp 

Instant coffee - ½ tbsp

Rum / Coffee Liqueur - 1 tbsp (optional) 

Gelatine powder - ¼ tbsp 

Cold water - 1 tbsp 

Whipping cream - ½ cup (120g), 35% fat, chilled

Method:

• Stir egg yolk with sugar until creamy and pale yellow coloured. Stir in corn starch. Gradually whisk in the warm milk until completely combined.
• Place the yolks mixture into a small saucepan and cook over low heat while stirring until boils and thickens.
• Remove from heat and stir in vanilla essence and instant coffee. Let it cool.
• Dissolve gelatine in 1tbsp cold water and let it swell for about 5 to 10 minutes. Place over low heat just until the gelatine dissolves and then pour it over coffee mixture. (You can also add 1tbsp of rum or coffee liqueur to the mix if you prefer)
• Whip the cold whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Gradually incorporate into coffee mixture.
• Pour this mixture evenly on top of the brownie layer in the cake rings and refrigerate until set while you are making chocolate mousse. 

Eggless Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients:

Milk - 1 cup

Cocoa powder - 1 tbsp

Cornflour - ½ tbsp

Sugar - 2 tbsp

Gelatine -1 ½ tsp

Cooking chocolate - 40gm, grated

Coffee powder - ½ tsp

Vanilla essence - ¼ tsp

Cream - ½ cup, whipped till fluffy

Method:

• Mix cocoa powder and cornflour in ¼ cup milk in a small bowl to a paste.
• Boil the rest of the milk with sugar in a heavy bottomed pan.
• Add cocoa and cornflour paste to the boiling milk, stirring continuously.
• Add grated chocolate. Cook on low heat for 3-4 minutes till chocolate dissolves. Add coffee and remove from fire.
• Put 3 tbsp water in a small pan. Add gelatine. Dissolve on low heat. (For china grass mix it with 1 cup water and heat till it dissolves).
• Mix gelatine solution with the chocolate custard. Chill in the freezer for about 20 minutes till a little thick but not set. Beat the thickened chocolate custard.
• Beat cream and essence till slightly thick and fluffy. Add whipped cream to chocolate mixture. Mix gently.
• Pour this mixture evenly on top of the coffee mousse layer in the cake rings.
• Freeze these rings really well while you are preparing the mirror glaze. 

Chocolate Mirror Glaze:

Ingredients:

Sugar - 210gm

Water – 1/3 cup / 75g

Cocoa Powder - 70g

Thick Cream - ½ cup + 4 tsp / 145g

Gelatine - 3 tsp

Cold Water - 3 tbsp

Method:

• In a medium bowl, bloom gelatine in cold water and keep it aside.
• In a saucepan, combine 1/3 cup water, sugar, thick cream and cocoa powder. Combine everything with a balloon whisk and cook on medium heat and slowly bring it to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes stirring continuously until mixture slightly thickens.
• Remove chocolate mixture from the heat and whisk in bloomed gelatine until thoroughly combined.
• Pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, and allow mixture to cool to lukewarm before using. Stir the glaze occasionally as they cool, so they don’t form a skin on top.
• Remove mousse from freezer and carefully slide the mousse from the dessert rings. Place it on a parchment lined cookie sheet, elevated off the sheet using small jars or cooling racks.
• Pour glaze generously over mousses, taking care to ensure there are no bare spots left. Allow the excess glaze to drip off for 5 or 10 minutes, then gently scrape the edges to remove any remaining drops.
• Carefully transfer cakes using a small offset spatula to cardboard cake rounds or small pieces of parchment paper for easy movement.  
• Transfer the glazed mousse to the fridge to set for a few hours before serving.Any leftover glaze can be scraped up and refrigerated in an airtight container for later use. When you are ready to use it, warm the chocolate glaze to lukewarm. Strain it through a fine mesh strainer before using, otherwise tiny air bubbles will show on the glaze.

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