Roger’s Bistro Style Chicken, Zucchini, Basil Soup
Years ago I enjoyed lunching in a small French bistro in Sun Valley, Idaho. I do not know how long the restaurant has been closed, but it was long gone by 2001. I especially liked their wonderful chicken and zucchini soup. I did not get the recipe for the soup, but I think I have captured its essence. The following recipe, although easy, will produce a marvelous dinner. Just add some French bread and Chardonnay wine to complete the picture.
EASY RECIPE
Recipe will serve 4 to 6:
Mince one white onion, and sauté it in one table spoon of butter in a big pot at low temperature until soft. Do not brown the onion.
When onion is soft, add to it in the big pot:
3 – 15 oz. cans fat free low sodium chicken broth,
2 – cans water (yep, use the empty broth can),
1 – 15 oz. can crushed tomatoes,
1 – tablespoon minced garlic (more if you like),
½ – cup fresh basil chopped,
½ – cup of good Chardonnay wine (drink the remainder either while cooking or at dinner),
3 – green zucchinis cut into round slices (like a pickle),
1 – yellow zucchini cut into round slices,
Salt and pepper to taste,
Stir the ingredients to mix it up, and then bring the ingredients in the pot to a low boil, then reduce to simmer.
Add to the simmering pot:
1- whole skinless boneless chicken breast, cut into slices.
Bring the pot back to boil and then reduce temperature to a simmer, cover and simmer for 40 minutes or so (add more water if necessary).
Finally, maybe 5 minutes or so prior to serving add a little bit of pasta ( I like to take a small bunch of spaghetti in my hand and break it into smaller pieces – WARNING less is more, you want the texture but do not want to turn it into pasta soup.
Serve the soup with warm French bread and enjoy.
and STUFF
So, while cooking I began to think who could deliver a package across the country faster, a 2011 state of the art electric car or the pony express? OK, maybe it was the wine that prompted the thought, but still the question could make for interesting table talk.
The Pony Express was in business for about a year and a half around 1860 to 1861. The Pony Express cross-county route was approximately 2000 miles travelling from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California. New riders took over about every 75 to 100 miles, and the horses were changed every 10 to 15 miles. There were 165 stations along the trail. The fastest one way delivery was 7 days and 17 hours (to read more go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pony_Express; or www.americanwest.com) .
This year numerous manufacturers have marketed cars exhibiting the current state of the art in all-electric powered cars. Depending upon road conditions, load, and speed, the electric car can travel 62 to 138 miles between charges. Charging time to full charge is 20 hours at the household level of 110/120v, or 8 hours at the much more powerful charge of 220/240v. Various tests have been conducted on the cars under different conditions (to read more go to various manufacturers’ websites for statistics, but remember, for our race the car must be all electric-no hybrids or sneaky auxiliary gas engines). At 55 mph, under certain conditions, the electric car can travel 70 miles between charges. Of course hills, mountains, and weather conditions negatively affect the amount of miles between charges.
I am going to use a fair but nonetheless wild guess and say in our race the electric car will average 60 miles at 50 mph between charges. To travel 2000 miles the electric car will need to be charged 33 times. So without consideration given to slowing down to approach the charge station and speeding back up to highway speed, based purely on straight numbers, and assuming there is a 220/240v charging station every 60 miles, it would take the electric car 12.67 days to travel the pony express trail. Thus, the pony express best time of 7 days and 17 hours would beat the electric car by 5 days! But, to be fair, the average time for pony express of 12 to 16 days would be about equivalent to the electric car. Further, I am guessing the pony express riders were a whole lot more beat up then the driver cruising along listening to satellite radio. Oops-I wonder how much I need to reduce the miles between charges because of the radio, and dang, I forgot about headlamps at night. Oh well, you can figure it out over dinner!
Good Eating and Talking,
Roger
