Hybrid Stews and Soups

A few weeks back I went out to the country and got my cook on in a pretty major way. My first goal was to make a hybrid coq au vin/Mexican stew. I didn't really follow a recipe, but I did take the basics of a coq au vin (bacon, chicken, wine, mushrooms and pearl onions) and combine them with various fresh and dried peppers, thyme, garlic, and red pepper. The result was quite pleasing. I would actually add additional peppers next time I make it, but the basic depth of flavor of the stew broth, the tenderness of the chicken, and overall tastiness made this dish a total success in my opinion.

That same country time also found me fooling around with another soup recipe. This was one was an artichoke cilantro soup with red onions and lemon. At this stage I was softening everything up before blending it all together. I actually made a few further additions and changes to the dish the next week, adding red lentils to thicken it up and to disperse the too lemony element that came about because I used the juice of one whole lemon when half probably would have sufficed.