Start your Holiday meal with a tasty, flavorful soup from Minnie's kitchen.
Minnie Mouse's Smoky Cheese Soup
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped carrots
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary, or 1/4 teaspoon dried, crushed
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
4 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
6 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
8 ounces smoked Cheddar cheese, grated
1/4 cup dry Sherry
1/2 small red bell pepper, cut into fine dice, for garnish
1/2 small zucchini, cut into fine dice, for garnish
1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion,
carrots, celery and the rosemary. Cook until softened, about three minutes.
2. Stir in the white pepper, paprika, and the flour. Cook, stirring
constantly, without browning, for two minutes.
3. Slowly whisk in the stock, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer
gently, partially covered, for 20 minutes.
4. Add the cheese and cook, stirring, until the cheese melts and the soup is
smooth. Add the Sherry.
5. Serve hot, garnishing each portion with a sprinkling of diced red pepper
and zucchini.
Yield: eight servings.
Source: The New York Times magazine
Try this delicious bread recipe from the Levy Restaurant Group, operators of
Fulton's Crab House and the Portobello Yacht Club.
Pumpkin Cranberry Bread
1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
1 cup sugar
14 cup water
2 large eggs
14 cup vegetable oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
12 teaspoon salt
14 teaspoon baking soda
14 teaspoon ground cinnamon
14 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup picked-over fresh or frozen cranberries
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a loaf pan. In a large bowl, with an
electric mixer, beat together pumpkin, sugar, water, eggs and oil. Sift in
flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and spices. Stir just until batter is
smooth. Stir in cranberries and spoon batter into loaf pan, spreading evenly.
Bake bread in middle of oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a tester
comes out clean. Cool in pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Turn bread out onto
rack and cool completely. Bread may be made 4 days ahead and chilled,
covered. Makes 1 loaf.
Create a special Gingerbread House to decorate for the Holidays using this
recipe from Chef Erich Herbitschek, Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.
Gingerbread Spice Dough
6 3/4 C. flour
1 T. cinnamon
1 1/2 t. ginger
1 t. ground cloves
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. salt
1 1/4 C. packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 C. molasses (a 12-oz jar)
1 C. margarine
In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients. Set aside. In a heavy pot
combine the sugar, molasses and margarine and cook over medium heat, stirring
constantly, until margarine is melted. Add this syrup to the dry ingredients.
Stir with a wooden spoon until you have a stiff dough. Refrigerate until
dough is slightly cooler than room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Turn the dough onto parchment paper, and
roll to 1/4 inch thick. Cut, using templates and remove the dough around the
pieces. Keep the pieces on the parchment and transfer to a baking sheet. Bake
7 to 15 minutes (longer for larger pieces) or until firm and brown around
edges. Remove from oven and slide paper and gingerbread onto cooling rack.
Sugar Windowpanes
2 C. sugar
4 T. water
3 T. lemon juice
Bring all ingredients to a boil over medium heat. When the mixture reaches
300 degrees on a candy thermometer, remove from heat. Spoon onto parchment
paper, creating two Mickey Mouse-shaped heads and two rectangular windowpanes
slightly larger than the actual window openings. Cool.
Royal Icing
2 lbs powdered sugar
6 T. meringue powder
2/3 C. warm water
Mix all ingredients at low speed until fully incorporated, then beat at high
speed 7 to 8 minutes until very stiff. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside
until ready to use.
Disney Magazine, Winter 2000-2001
