Roasted Vegetable Soup and Peanut Crusted Chicken

Well we just saw our good friends Derek and Theresa off, back to Helena, what a fun weekend.  We did a lot of cooking and I have a backlog of posts for you, which I was going to try to post all at once, but I think I will just get them up slowly.  This post was dinner Friday night, for just the two of us, before our friends got into town.  I thought that peanut crusted chicken sounded amazing, but for me it kind of fell flat.  Next time I would try adding some spices in with the breading, maybe some cayenne or something to give it a little kick, because frankly it was just kind of bland.  This wasn't too difficult for me to remedy, seeing as I eat ketchup on just about everything, Logan ended up dipping his in the soup, which was excellent.  Very easy as far as skill goes, but it does require a decent time commitment, just because of the roasting of the veggies.  To blend the soup, an immersion blender is very helpful, much easier than having to split it up in batches into a food processor or stand up blender...but whatever you have will work just fine.

Roasted Vegetable Soup

6 beefsteak tomatoes, halved and cored

2 leeks, white and light green parts only

2 carrots, sliced

4 garlic cloves

2 T olive oil

S&P

2 cans vegetable broth (I used veg bouillon cubes)

1 cup water

basil for garnish

Preheat oven to 425.  Combine tomatoes, leeks, carrots, garlic and oil in a roasting pan or baking sheet.  Season with S&P.  Spread in a single layer and roast until veggies are tender, about 1 hour.  

Peel off tomato skins.  Transfer veggies to a large sauce pan, add broth and water; bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  

Blend the soup with an immersion blender or work in batches to blend in a regular blender, until very smooth.  Serve, garnished with basil.

Peanut Crusted Chicken Breasts

1 T olive oil

3/4 cup roasted unsalted peanuts

3 slices white bread torn into small pieces (I used wheat)

S&P

2 large eggs

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

(I halved the breading part of the recipe and only used one egg and I had plenty to coat 4 chicken breasts)

Preheat oven to 475.  Combine peanuts and bread in food processor and blend until coarsely ground.  Transfer to bowl and whisk in the oil, 1 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.  Lightly beat eggs and season generously with S&P.  Add chicken and turn to coat.  Dredge in peanut mixture, transfer to baking sheet.

Bake until crust is browned and chicken is cooked through, 10-15 minutes.

Again you'll need something to spice up the chicken or maybe just a dipping sauce to give it some flavor...does ketchup count as a dipping sauce?? I think so! :)

Logan Rating:

Chicken-**

Soup-***** (Thats right the FIRST FIVE)