Detoxing From A Diet-Destroying Holiday Season
First, if we look at the jiggle under my arms where toned triceps once were, we will remember the gobble of the Thanksgiving turkey that ushered in this joyous season. Organic, dry-salted, roasted and covered in a layer of bacon, it was the best tasting bird that I have ever suffered Thanksgiving food coma for.
Plus, with an engagement party that weekend and a birthday party for a family friend, there was no time after Thanksgiving to recover from the festivities with rabbit food and long runs outdoors. I mean, I was virtually force-fed fajitas by my friend’s mother at the engagement party, even though I had eaten dinner prior to my arrival. And, well, I voluntarily scraped the bowl clean of the artichoke dip at the birthday party the next day.
After Thanksgiving, I usually practice about a day of oatmeal eating to compensate for the cholesterol building up in my system, before jumping the following week into an annual round of birthday celebrations for yours truly. A fancy dinner in LA of five courses of fish almost fooled me into thinking we were doing something healthy. That was until a lunch of quail salad and homemade sausages and polenta two days later set me back about a week’s worth of calories.
Moving now to my ever-expanding hind side, in 2007 it will be a fond remider of the progressive dinner party hosted by me and three lovely ladies to welcome in the season. Swedish meatballs, clam dip, cassoulet and cheesecake fed and fattened up about 40 famished friends.
The weeks wore on, and as they did the old food and booze consumption increased while the gym diminished to little more than a memory. The days before and after Christmas saw me with plates of lamb and risotto, prime rib and scalloped potatoes, tamales and kale, French dip sandwiches, pecan pies, and more cheese than I can remember. Eating became such a sport that wine started to flow like Gatorade and I needed coaches on the sidelines to get me back in the game after dinner in time for dessert.
I have to say, as much as I thank God for food on the table, I also thank him for gym membership specials in January and the opportunity to start each January 1st with a clean slate and a clean plate. The holidays are as financially draining as they are waist-widening, and recovering from them with clear soups and vegetables is as beneficial for the wallet as it is for the liver. Not to mention that the taste buds are so shot by January, it takes a detox diet just to begin to appreciate the flavor of food again.
Even though January means I have to watch both what I eat and spend while coaxing my thighs back into my skinny jeans, it doesn’t mean that I plan on wallowing in a land of bland. On the contrary, those clear soups of my favorite Asian countries are bursting with flavor, they're low in fat (if you hold the coconut milk), and they can be made spicy enough to sweat out all the toxins. A few weeks of detox and although I may not be back in the skinny jeans, I might be back in the eating game, with only 11 months to go until holiday season 2007.
Made with salt and pepper, rice noodles, onion, garlic, cilantro, lemongrass, shiitake mushrooms, sweet potato, baby bok choy, chicken broth
Serves/Makes: 6
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
- salt and pepper
- 1 pound thin rice noodles such as meifun
- 1/2 medium onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 bunch cilantro
- 1 stalk lemongrass
- 4 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms
- 1/2 large sweet potato
- 4 baby bok choy
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 2 limes
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon garlic chili sauce (more if desired)
- 2 green onions
- 1 medium carrot
Heat half the vegetable oil over medium high heat in a wok or large soup pot. Cut raw chicken breasts crosswise into 1/2 inch thick strips. Season meat with salt and pepper. Add chicken to hot oil and saute until cooked through. Remove to a plate and let rest while preparing the rest of the soup. While chicken is cooking place noodles in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Let noodles soften in water for 15 minutes while preparing rest of soup.
Cut onions into 1/4 inch wide slices. Peel garlic and slice thin. Trim ends from lemongrass and remove outer layer or two. Using the dull end of a chef's knife, whack lemongrass many times down the length of the stalk to slightly crush and bruise, this will help release the flavors during cooking. Cut stalk into 4 inch long pieces that can easily be removed from soup later. Rinse cilantro and remove stems from leaves saving stems. Chop stems into 1 inch long pieces. Once chicken has been cooked and removed from pan, add remaining oil.
To oil, add onion. Saute for about 2 minutes to soften. Add garlic and saute another minute. Add cilantro stems and lemongrass and saute for about 1 minute.
Meanwhile, slice mushrooms 1/2 inch thick. Peel sweet potato and cut into 1/2 inch cubes. Trim ends from bok choy and slice crosswise 2 inches thick. To pot add chopped and sliced mushroom, bok choy, and sweet potato. Saute for a few minutes to wilt bok choy. Add chicken stock and bring pot to boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until sweet potato is tender.
While soup is cooking, slice green onions on an extreme diagonal, peel and great carrots, and roughly chop cilantro leaves. Set aside for garnish. When potatoes are almost ready, add chicken back to pot to reheat.
Add lime juice, fish sauce and chili sauce or to personal taste to finished soup. Remove any visible pieces of lemongrass. Drain noodles in a colander. Place a handful of noodles in the bottom of each soup bowl. Ladle hot soup on top of noodles in each bowl. Garnish each bowl of soup with about a tablespoon each of grated carrot, sliced green onions, and cilantro leaves.
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1 comments
I can personally vouch for the flavor/punch/warmth of this delicious soup! Amy "threw" this together with the assistance of her younger brother after our family returned from a fun-but-"damp" day tasting wine in the Napa Valley. It's my new favorite!
Comment posted by Mom
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