Herbivorous Høstfest

In Danish, høstfest literally means “harvest party” which is the perfect word for this season with Fall having made an entrance and the air already a bit chillier. As a species that was probably once accustomed to hibernation :D, like most mammals, I suppose an increased appetite can be expected. As for me, the sooner it gets colder I’m craving more filling meals. I’ve always loved eating meat, probably because I am a carnivore by nature 🙂 but after some reflection, I’ve noticed that most of my posts have meat in them. Having noticed this perhaps natural popularity of meat dishes, it’s true that vegetarian food is just as good and often healthier, so I decided to devote this post to vegetarian food everywhere. Here are three of my latest recipes that happen to be completely meat-free.

The melon-cucumber salad is a recipe idea of mine, including the honey mustard vinaigrette, which turned out to be the best part 🙂 The roasted tomato and pepper soup recipe is from the legendary Soup Bible (which can be found on Amazon) and is full of brilliant, if not slightly time-consuming, soup ideas 😉 The bulgur recipe is also a creation of mine and makes use of pretty much exactly what was left in our fridge and cupboards after a week or so of kitchen chaos. The fruity/peppery and honey/salty combinations of flavors seemed to get better after every bite, or maybe that was just me 🙂

The star ingredient in all of these recipes is the miso, which I was finally able to procure at the Chinese grocer. Miso is basically fermented soybeans and as unappetizing as that may sound, it comes in a few different colors and has a pleasant salty taste. It’s a Japanese staple that is full of protein and high in vitamins and minerals. I was able to do some experimentation with the saltish stuff, which helps when you have a chunk since they only sell it in bulk 😀 I think it adds a rich and almost roasted flavor to all sorts of things, including dressings. If you can’t find miso, no worries there, just season as wisely as you wish with salt.

Roasted Pepper & Tomato Soup with Tortellini

Ingredients

8 – 10 tomatoes, on the vine

3 bell peppers, any color

3 sweet peppers, any color

1 Thai chili

3 yellow onions

4 cups vegetable broth

1 box of dried tortellini (with cheese and/or veggie filling)

1 tsp. sugar

1 Tbs. garlic powder

1 Tbs. red or yellow miso (optional)

sea salt & cracked pepper

sunflower oil

(1) Preheat the oven to 230 degrees Celsius (or 450 Fahrenheit). Line a large oven pan with baking paper. Half the onions, tomatoes, and all of the peppers, removing the seeds from the peppers (but not the tomatoes!) (2) Add 2 Tbs. of oil to the pan and then all of the halved veggies, stirring to coat. (3) When the oven is preheated, put the pan on the top rack and let roast until the skins of the peppers have browned and are beginning to peel, about 40-50 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. (4) In a large pot, stir together the sugar, miso, garlic powder, and broth, warming over medium heat. (5) Remove the peels from the onions and the browned skins from the peppers (it’s okay to leave the tomato skins on). Using a blender, puree the roasted vegetables before adding to the soup pot. (6) Bring the soup to a boil and add tortellini, cooking until pasta is al dente, 10-15 minutes. Serve topped with a dollop of creme fraiche, dried herbs, or scrambled eggs 🙂

Serves 6

Spiced Bulgur with Mango, Miso & Pickled  Ginger

Ingredients

(for bulgur)

2 cups bulgur wheat (coarse or finely ground)

4 cups onion (or vegetable) broth

1/2 cup pickled ginger, chopped

1/2 cucumber, peeled & chopped

1 bunch green onions, finely chopped

1/2 cup dried green mango, chopped

1 green bell pepper, seeded & sliced

1 red bell pepper, seeded & sliced

(for dressing)

3 Tbs. yellow miso

2 Tbs. rice vinegar

2 Tbs. olive oil

2 Tbs. apricot jam (or other jam)

3 Tbs. lemon juice

2 – 3 dried chilies (like Pequin or African Bird’s Eye), crushed

1 Tbs. brown sugar

1 Tbs. soy sauce

1 tsp. garlic powder

salt & cracked pepper

(1) Cook bulgur uncovered in salted broth according to package instructions; this usually involves 1 part bulgur to 2 parts broth, for 10-14 minutes or until all liquid has been absorbed. Fluff with fork. (2) In a small bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the dressing, miso through garlic powder and stir well; set aside. (3) Next add all of the peppers, green onions, mango, cucumber, and ginger to the bulgur and mix. (4) When ready to serve, add the dressing and stir until blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Can be served warm or cold.

Serves 4

Melon-Cucumber Salad  with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

Ingredients

(for salad)

1 small honeydew melon, skinned, seeded & cut into chunks

1 cucumber, cut into chunks

6 cups mixed greens (like baby spinach, arugula, & red-leaf)

4 sweet peppers, seeded & thinly sliced

1 red onion, peeled & thinly sliced

(for vinaigrette)

1/4 cup white wine

1/4 cup olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1 Tbs. paprika

1 Tbs. yellow miso

3 Tbs. honey

3 Tbs. Dijon mustard

2 Tbs. milk (or cream)

1/2 Tbs. mustard seeds

1/2 Tbs. onion powder

1/2 Tbs. ground black pepper

1 lemon, juiced

(1) Make sure all the greens are washed and dried before tossing with the peppers, onion, melon, and cucumber. Cover and chill until ready to serve. (2) To make the honey mustard, combine all of the ingredients – white wine through lemon juice- in a sealable jar or tupperware and shake until blended. Can be kept chilled in the fridge for up to 2 months 🙂 (3) When ready to eat, toss the salad again with the dressing and serve immediately.

Serves 4

So those are my offerings to the harvest gods and vegetarians everywhere 🙂

It’s amazing how the earth just grows all sorts of differently delicious plants and countless other things for us to eat. I think being human has never been better 😛

My question:

What is your favorite vegetarian dish to eat?

10.8.12

Red, Rich, Delicious Soup

The colors of Spring are very inspiring at times. In addition to all the wonderfully vibrant flowers popping up in every neglected patch of grass, even the vegetable section at the grocery store seems suddenly brighter these days. The colors appealing to me lately are all the brilliantly rich ones — red, purple, orange — which is what led to the decision to serve up my most recent decoction of red peppers, sweet potatoes, and red onions. Throw it all in a pot, cook for about an hour, blend to smoothness, and you arrive at a conglomerate of flavors. I often forget how wonderful soup is until I make it again, so tasty, healthy, and easy while existing on a comfort level to humans everywhere. Imagine, we’re eating and rehydrating at the same time 😀

This recipe is from one of my favorite cookbooks, appropriately titled the Soup Bible, and is amazingly simple to make and equally delicious to eat (I feel like I use that word a lot)…I may have embellished the original version a bit for reasons of my own creativity (that, and two garlic cloves is never enough). Admittedly, this is a short post as my energy wavers these days in the weeks before I bring this little human into the world, but short is sweet as they say, and the great thing about soup is that it cooks itself, all you need is the right combination of vegetables to begin with (and there are marvelously numerous options to choose from). What results with this blended recipe is a delightfully red soup that has a fresh, peppery initial taste with a round, rich aftertaste.

The star ingredient at work in this soup is the sweet potatoes. I wouldn’t have originally thought they’d be so contributive in flavor, but these ugly-skinned tuberous roots are not only full of nutrition, they add a unique taste to any dish they’re utilized in. Taking the time to peel them in the beginning was tiresome (not to mention messy..) but starting out with vegetables in their raw state is probably the best way to go about making any meal. Another reason they’re the star ingredient is because sweet potatoes are so cheap 🙂 Granted, don’t confuse them with yams (labeled similarly in the States), which aren’t in the same family and are often much starchier. I’m going to try and make use of these rooty relatives of the potato, as there’s a reason they’re considered kitchen staples!

Sweet & Savory Red Pepper-Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients

5 red bell peppers, seeded & coarsely chopped

5 sweet potatoes, peeled & cubed

2 red onions, coarsely chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup white wine

6 cups chicken broth

1 cup milk

salt & cracked pepper

(1) Put all of the sweet potatoes, red onion, bell pepper, and garlic into a large pot. Pour in the white wine and broth until veggies are covered, adding more wine if not. Bring the pot to a boil over medium-high heat. (2) Once boiling, lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 1 hour until veggies are soft and the sweet potato begins to fall apart. (3) Remove from heat and let cool 10 minutes. Using a hand-held blender, puree the soup in the pot until smooth. (4) Stir in the milk and season the soup to taste with salt and plenty of cracked pepper. If desired, serve with toasted bread and/or grated cheese.

Serves 6

So that was my brief excursion into the comforting red and rich flavors of making soup. I froze a portion of this deliciousness for later and I have the sneaking suspicion that just sitting around may make it even more tasty than it already is.

For now, while I can still move with (slow) relative ease, I’ll be cooking more fresh and flavorsome food in attempts to fatten this baby up in the meantime. Ahhh….what a task 😀

My question: What is your favorite red vegetable based on taste?

4.16.12

Soupy Coalescence

“An idealist is one who, on noticing that roses smell better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup…”

-H.L. Mencken

So I’m an idealist then 🙂 or at least a cook dedicated to making better soup, as they say. Cloudy, rainy weather tend to increase the desire for hot, brothy food, but it’s the simplicity of soup recipes that make up the main attraction for me. And with so many cultural and regional variations, one is never short of new ideas. I have made Asian, Jewish, and Italian soups–spicy, salty, and creamy soups and, honestly, I have yet to come across a soup that I don’t like…most likely impossible 😉

Lately I’ve been keen to try out another soup recipe, sort of this idea I had that involves a combination of minestrone and tomato meatball soup; the final version I ended up making was a bit more elaborative than that and included baby pasta (at least that’s what I like to call it), bell peppers, and ground pork. I have newfound esteem for this last ingredient in particular because last weekend I visited a pig farm and got to see the adorable (and probably delicious) piglets that were born there by the hundreds every week. In my modest opinion, pork is cut-rate, lean, and tasty }:-) so I will be employing its scrumptiousness wherever I can.

The star ingredient in this recipe is the crushed tomatoes because it kicks up the flavor of the broth a notch; too much tomatoes will overpower all the other ingredients but the right amount compliments the garlic and peppers in the dish. Adding milk to the soup at the end of cooking gives it a creaminess that I think surpasses the usual broth of vegetable soups. Like everything, the soup needs a bit of seasoning to get to the suitable taste, but I ‘m happy to have come up with another recipe that is both hearty and healthy; now I’m curious to see how long it lasts…

Creamy Tomato Pasta Soup with Peas, Peppers, and Pork Meatballs

Ingredients

(for soup)

1 lb. stellini pasta (‘little stars’) or ditalini

3 cups frozen peas

1 yellow bell pepper, finely chopped

1 green bell pepper, finely chopped

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced

3 garlic cloves, minced

6 cups chicken broth

2 Tbs. lemon juice

2 cups white wine

1 tsp. garlic salt (or powder)

4 Tbs. fresh Parsley, minced

1 can crushed tomatoes

2 cups milk

butter

(for meatballs)

1 lb. ground pork

1 yellow onion, chopped

3 Tbs. fresh Parsley, chopped

3 eggs, beaten

4 garlic cloves, chopped

flour

sea salt & cracked pepper

(1) In a blender combine the ground pork, chopped onion, fresh Parsley, garlic, and the beaten eggs; season with salt and pepper and blend until the mixture is smooth and sticking together. Dusting your hands with plenty of flour, mold the meat mixture into meatballs about the size of small marbles and place on a plate.  (2) Heat 2 Tbs. butter in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the sliced onion and 3 minced garlic cloves; let cook until aromatic, 2-3 minutes. (3) Add 2 Tbs. white wine to the pan and then arrange as many meatballs as it will fit; cook the meatballs in batches until all of them are done, browning both sides (should cook through in 8-10 minutes) and adding tablespoons of white wine as you go to prevent sticking. Set the cooked meatballs aside and cover. (4) In a large pot, heat the appropriate amount of salted water to a boil and add the pasta; cook until al dente and then drain, putting in a separate bowl. Mix in 1 Tbs. butter and cover the pasta. (5) Add the bell peppers to the onion mixture and let cook until soft, about 4 minutes. Return the large pot to the stove and warm the chicken broth and 2 cups of water over medium heat until steaming; add the peas and crushed tomatoes, cooking another 10 minutes. (6) Lower the heat and add the lemon juice and 1 cup (or what’s left;) of the white wine, simmering another 5 minutes. Add cooked pasta to the soup and stir in 3 Tbs. fresh Parsley and 2 cups milk. Remove from heat and serve immediately in bowls with 5 or 6 meatballs and a layer of cracked pepper over the top (can be stored for a rainy day in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks:-)

Serves 8

It’s likely my craving for this steamy food will subside with all the sunny summer weather heading our way, so now I’m thinking something cold, flavorful, and filling…oh, the choices };-)

My question: What was the tastiest minestrone soup you ever had? (and we’ve all had some of this vegetable goodness…) What made it the best?

7.26.11

Oodles of Noodles

When it rains (which is a lot), I find myself craving hot food ]:| This week I wanted to make a noodle dish that contained some of the salty, spicy elements from Asian cooking complete with plenty of broth (…the more the better). Asian food encompasses some of the best hot dishes that involve both noodles and broth. I love the soupy, herbaceous, peppery combinations that can be made from just a handful of ingredients. With a full kitchen at my disposal, I elaborated on my original ideas about the recipe in an effort to make something uniquely flavorful (but still steaming hot!)

The meal I ended up making most closely resembles the Chinese ramen recipe Shōyu which contains soy sauce, chicken/vegetable broth, curly noodles, and green onions. But there is always room for variation and adaption when working with dishes like this since the recipes themselves take on a regional forms depending on the ingredients available.  Many of the recipes are closely kept secrets so I suppose I’m taking my liberty in sharing mine ;] but hey, it was so tasty (and easy!) I felt compelled .

Since the vegetarian version of this dish is a bit lacking, I made my recipe with meat from a rotisserie chicken which I tore into manageable pieces before mixing into the broth. It’s almost too easy (and fairly inexpensive), to buy a rotisserie chicken which is already cooked and already spiced; the only hard (what I mean is messy) part is dividing the chicken up into portions and pulling out all the greasy bones yourself (trust me, if you like crispy chicken skin like I do, the job is not so bad…) One rotisserie chicken makes two meals as well as a hefty snack which I always do right after tearing it all apart because I’m already pretty greasy at that point };)

The star ingredient of this dish is the scrambled eggs. Why? While certainly contributing some texture to the meal (not to mention protein), scrambled eggs taste delicious (de-licious!), especially when topping noodles and curry. Maybe it’s the South African blood in me, but there is something devilishly delectable about eggs in curry, or some combination thereof. My advice for replicating this dish would be to use any fresh ingredients available–asparagus, peas, mushrooms, bean sprouts, celery, onions, cauliflower-anything you can soften and stir-fry will add only flavor (and nourishment:-)

Spicy Chicken Noodles with Green Beans, Green Onions & Scrambled Eggs

Ingredients

2 packets of ramen noodles

1 bunch of green onions, finely chopped

2 cups frozen (or fresh) green beans, chopped

2 cups of rotisserie chicken meat, torn into small pieces

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tbs. dried Basil

1 Tbs. spicy mustard

1 Tbs. soy sauce

1 tsp. sriracha sauce

1 Tbs. rice vinegar

1 Tbs. lime juice

1 Tbs. yellow curry powder

1 cube chicken bullion (or 2 cups chicken broth)

3 eggs, beaten

olive oil

sea salt & cracked pepper

(1) Heat 1 Tbs. of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat; when hot, add the garlic, and 1/2 of the green onions, cooking for 3-4 minutes. Next add the green beans, cooking another 3 minutes. (2) In a separate pot, bring the proper amount of salted water to a boil and cook the ramen until soft, about 3 minutes; remove from heat and set aside. (3) Stir in all of the ingredients from dried Basil through chicken bullion and add 1/2 cup water, mixing well. Let cook 5-6 minutes until the broth is reduced (if the mixture becomes too dry, add some water from the noodles). (4) In a small frying pan, heat 1 tsp. olive oil over medium heat. Pour beaten eggs into the pan and whirl around to make an even layer. Brown both sides of the omelette, flipping once in between (this may get messy, but that’s alright). When done transfer eggs to a cutting board and let cool before cutting into strips. (5) Next, add the cooked ramen and chicken pieces to the vegetables and lower the heat, simmering until heated throughout (and preferably steaming:-). Stir in the remaining green onions, setting aside some for garnish. Serve the meal in bowls, topped with a generous portion of scrambled egg strips, a sprinkle of green onions, and a dot of sriracha.

Serves 4

I don’t think I’m alone when I say sriracha sauce is one of my favorite condiments (if not my favorite); you just can’t beat that bite! As the rain will persist this week, I’ll have to come up with some other meals that are hot and soupy enough to hold me over 😉

My question: What is your favorite form of hot sauce?

Tabasco? Sriracha? Frank’s Red Hot…Chipotle, Green chile, Harissa, Jalapeno…

7.18.11

All in the Garden, All in the Soup

Hello everybody! Still over here enjoying lots of sun (and rain) in Denmark 🙂 Once I get the camera up and running, I will have some relevant pictures to include; this photo is of canola flower fields, which are all over the place here, very yellow and very pretty! This week I was craving comfort food and so I decided to make a soup based off a recipe I found in the soup bible, a marvelous little book that contains hundreds of these recipes }:) Relying on basics, I made the stock from powdered bullion, used only the stems of the broccoli (all the heads we used to make broccoli salad), and threw in all leftover ingredients including a zucchini, potatoes, and a couple of onions.

In my humble opinion, the two things that made this soup as deliciously palatable as it was include (1) texture; and the fact that I found a hand-held blender-type machine I could put directly into the pot to puree all the stems and huge chunks of potatoes on the spot once they’d cooked through. The consistency of soup is often a large part of how tasty it turns out to be and while I’m all for chunky food, I wanted this soup smooth and blended, leaving only a few chunks of potatoes to remind us that it does in fact accommodate a lot of vegetables;) (2) The second thing is of course, cream. At the very end of all this soup cooking, puréeing, and seasoning – I stirred in a cup of cream (that’s right, Danish cream, the good stuff:) which not only gave it a nice color but smoothed out all other tastes to make a creamy, saporous soup that savors nicely as it sits in the fridge. That was probably the best part, leftovers }:]

Creamy Vegetable Soup with Broccoli, Zucchini & Potatoes

Ingredients

2 Tbs. butter

1 zucchini, coarsely chopped

2 onions, coarsely chopped

2 heads of broccoli or 1 lb. broccoli stems, chopped

3 potatoes, scrubbed & chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

6 cups chicken stock

1 cup cream

sea salt & cracked pepper

(1) Melt the butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, stirring until soft, about 4-5 minutes. (2) Add the broth and 2 cups of water, bringing to a low boil. Next, add the potatoes, zucchini, and broccoli/stems. Cover and let simmer over low heat until all the vegetables are soft, 35-45 minutes. (3) Let the soup cool slightly before puréeing, either in a blender in batches or with a hand-held blender in the pot; leave small chunks of potatoes if possible, but be sure to blend all the brocoli. (4) When the soup is smooth, reheat on low; stir in the cream (but make sure that the soup doesn’t boil as the cream will curdle). Season to taste with salt & pepper and serve. Soup is good for two weeks but it probably won’t last that long 🙂

Serves 6

Thanks to our efforts pulling up the garden, I was given a small supply of chive blossoms. They were pretty good, crunchy with a very fresh onion taste and pretty pink petals; I served the hot bowls of soup with a couple of blossoms on top and a sprinkle of pepper. Mmmm…

Tonight our wonderful hostess is making a cauliflower curly flour soup (we just can’t get enough over here }:) Ah, bless the cruciferous vegetables in spring!

My question: What is the best vegetable to use in soup? I just love all the possibilities 🙂

6.15.11

Hot and Sour

Soup, that is 🙂 I suppose I’ve already made soup this month, but it’s long gone so…why not make more? I (sigh, again) packed away the book where I first saw this recipe, so actually making it required a bit more research. After sifting through dozens of different variations of ‘hot & sour soup’, I settled on the ingredients that I wanted to use and cooked an entire batch of this awesomeness on my day off =) Nothing but pleasantries to report there.

Out of all my favorite things that are in this soup, I think the egg is the best (personally I would double it again if I had another go). Since traditional Chinese hot & sour soup (which is the version I think I was trying to follow) includes egg yolks, I couldn’t see any objections. You beat the eggs first, and then drop the mixture into the soup as you stir so it cooks upon entering the broth, forming wispy, milky lines of protein, like cirrus uncinus 😉

If I could offer any advice to people making this soup, I’d say double the broth. Sound a bit extreme? Only in my case. But trust me, brothy soup is better than the parched alternative. I included rice noodles in my version of the soup, noodles that, in their own truculent conspiracy, expanded significantly overnight. It was an easy remedy though, and I ended up buying some five cans of chicken broth (okay…4 cans of chicken broth and 1 can of beef broth) at the superette on the corner and fixed the problem pretty quick. I gotta say, there is something sophisticated, if not sublimely satisfying about having a bowl of hot & sour soup for lunch.

Just for the record, I did add a few innovations of my own in my massive hot and sour soup collaboration. For one, I added fresh ginger, the rice noodles, I doubled the egg, and added a couple of tablespoons of red wine for flavor’s sake. Not exactly conventional :p but hey, I just have this urge to season things with wine, especially while they’re frothing and steaming on the stove 🙂

Asian Hot & Sour Soup with Water Chestnuts, Rice Noodles, and Shiitakes

Ingredients

1 lb. firm tofu, cut into small cubes

8 oz rice noodles

10 cups chicken broth

3 cups water

1 tsp. roasted sesame oil

1 tsp. flour

1 tsp. sugar

2 Tbs. soy sauce

2 Tbs. rice vinegar

1 Tbs. red wine

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 Tbs. fresh ginger, grated

1 can bamboo shoots, drained & halved

1 can water chesnuts, drained & halved

1 package dried shiitake mushrooms

1 bunch green onions, chopped

2 eggs, beaten

1 Tbs. chili flakes

olive oil, salt & pepper

(1) Rehydrate the mushrooms first by putting them in a bowl with about 1 1/2 cups boiling water; stir the mushrooms before covering and let stand for 30 minutes. Afterward, remove mushrooms from the water and slice into strips. Reserve the remaining mushroom water for the broth (2) Bring all of the broth and water to a boil in a large saucepan; add bamboo shoots, mushrooms, water chestnuts, and tofu and bring the soup back to a boil over medium heat. Stir in salt, chili flakes, soy sauce, garlic, red wine, rice vinegar, garlic, sugar, and sesame oil and cover. (3) Cook the rice noodles according to package instructions, rinsing with cold water afterward and moistening with olive oil; cover and set aside until ready to use. (3) Mix the flour with 1/4 cup warm water until dissolved; slowly, pour the flour mixture into the broth while stirring and bring back to boil. As soon as the soup is boiling, remove it from the heat. Drop in the beaten eggs, stirring all the while in one direction. Next, add the green onions and season with salt and pepper before serving.

Serves 6

I always enjoy making enough for a dinner feast, as well as some late night (or late morning) snacking }:) Soup is always the best dish to make, easily improved with liquids, seasoned to taste, and appreciating in flavor the longer it spends on the stove and in the fridge. It won’t last much longer though…

My question: what is your favorite Asian soup? I’m longing for ideas…

5.7.11

On a Cloudy Day All I Want is Soup…

Ahh, don’t get me wrong. Cloudy weather is nice, I mean it’s cold…and brisk and…did I mention cold? But, as my title points out, when it gets cloudy, all I want is soup. But who doesn’t? There’s a reason soup settles so satisfyingly in the stomach; after all, broth is best. Soup is also a genre of food with endless variation. And just for an example: think of your favorite food; now, imagine it as a soup. Eureka, right?! 😉 I could make up soups all day. Any combination of ingredients (fresh or likewise) will work and with some patience, stirring, and a blender, the soup eventually cooks itself.

For this particular soup recipe, I substituted celery root for a normal base of potatoes because…why not? The flavors are similar, but celery root has perhaps a slightly richer (but not starchier) flavor that reminds me of anise. Did I mention celery root aids digestion? After everything is blended, the soup takes on a much smoother consistency, which is perhaps why I was able to pack in the fresh veggies, because you can never have too much of those 🙂

I originally got this recipe from one of my beloved soup books, only to discover I’d packed the book away in one of my many boxes 😦 Now that’s sloppy planning. Luckily I kept track of the ingredients, so I ended up making this soup based on a recipe from a New Hampshire Co-Op. And New England knows blue cheese. Mmmm. In this case, the blue cheese is important as the flavor should be robust enough to enhance the vegetables but not so strong that it overpowers the final dish. I decided upon Maytag blue cheese because I figure I’ll have plenty of time to try the traditional Danish blues 😉

The best thing about all this is that by the time I got around to making the soup, it was late at night and so I had the kitchen to myself and plenty of time to sample pieces off the crumbling block of blue cheese. Remember, you only need a cup for the soup and it’s the chef’s duty to test the ingredients for quality control, at least that’s my excuse!

Creamy Celery Apple Blue Cheese Soup

Ingredients

2 Tbs. Butter

1 head of celery, stem and leaves, chopped

2 lbs. celery root, peeled and chopped

2 yellow onions, chopped

1 golden delicious apple, chopped

6 cups chicken broth

1 cup blue cheese, crumbled

2 Tbs. white wine

1 cup fat-free half & half (or cream/milk)

sea salt & cracked pepper

(1) In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat and add the onion and celery, cooking until soft, 8 -10 minutes. (2) Stir in the broth and bring to a boil; add the celery root, cover, and reduce the heat to low, simmering until the celery root pieces are soft, about 35 minutes. Add the golden apple pieces and let cook another 10 minutes. (3) Remove the soup from the heat, uncover, and let cool. Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender until smooth, returning the entire mixture to the pot. (4) Reheat the soup over low heat; stir in the half & half and white wine, adding the blue cheese a little at a time and mixing until well blended. (5) Season the soup with salt & pepper to taste and add extra chicken broth (or wine) if lacking in consistency. Garnish with celery leaves and serve with toasted bread of choice (can be kept up to 2 weeks in the fridge…)

Serves 6

It is true that soup rarely fails to satisfy. There’s something about a steaming bowl of palatable vegetables and spices that’s the best thing when your hungry and it’s cold outside 🙂 Man do I love blue cheese.

My question: What is the best soup for a cold day?

3.29.11

Season of Soup

So…spring is not quite here yet and, despite what everyone has been saying, Winter is NOT over 😦 which makes me turn again to comfort foods. And one of the best comfort foods ever is soup of course, warm, brothy, easy to digest, and even easy to eat as leftovers days afterward.

I have tried to be creative in my soup choices and so this recipe involves many vegetables currently in season. I used a version that could be served hot or cold (imagine that!) and I made plenty of it so we could eat for days to come. God bless Winter vegetables! 🙂

Mmmmm…

Creamed Summer Squash & Leek Soup with Chickpeas, fresh Basil, & Toasted Bread

Ingredients

6 cups chicken broth

1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)

1 bunch leeks, washed & chopped

2 lbs. summer squash, chopped

1 lb. zucchini, chopped

2 cups fat-free half & half (or milk)

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 bunch fresh Chives, chopped

1 bunch fresh Basil, chopped

5 Tbs. lemon juice

cracked pepper & sea salt

olive oil

sliced fresh bread (like country or herb)

(1) Heat 1 Tbs. olive oil over medium-high heat; when hot, add the leeks and garlic and cook 10-15 minutes until tender; add the squash and zucchini and let the entire mixture cook another 8 minutes. (2) Remove from heat and let cool 10 minutes; working in batches, puree the vegetables in a blender until smooth; return everything to the pot. (3) Add all the chicken broth and chickpeas and mix well. Refrigerate the mixture until chilled. (4) Next, add the lemon juice, fresh herbs, and stir in the half & half until the soup is creamy and mixed thoroughly. (5) Toast the fresh bread and serve with slices. This dish can be served hot or cold, but I think it is best cold 🙂

Serves 8

So as it turns out, I packed the book with this recipe away in one of my boxes, but I had written down the ingredients, so I ended up just winging it entirely. Luckily for me, it is hard to mess up soup.

My question is, what is the best cold soup you’ve ever tasted?

Mine would have to be gazpacho, but that’s just because I love tomatoes…and salsa…and spaghetti sauce, and bruschetta…and, did I mention I love tomatoes? }:-)

02.27.11

Plenty of Minestrone

As it gets colder (and colder…) I begin to crave warm, hearty food like soup. This week I decided to make a version of Hunter’s Minestrone from one of my previously mentioned favorites, Tyler’s Ultimate. In light of the chilly season, I added additional vegetables and herbs in an effort to produce this hearty recipe which I have decided to call: Winter Minestrone, an appropriate title for this rich-flavored soup that is served piping hot, contains several servings of winter vegetables, and provides equally filling and tasty leftovers for days afterward. And what’s wrong with leftovers?

Since the recipe itself is so versatile, I think everyone should try to make a different version of this soup. The base is easy: broth, canned tomatoes, small pasta, and some sort of meat, be it ground turkey or pork sausage, like I used. Other than that, the soup is primarily made up of all its vegetable components. Since the produce section offers plenty of variation of this fare, I wouldn’t restrain yourself to any sort of ‘normal ingredients’; any old root vegetable will do, given it is peeled and chopped into edible portions, and you can add almost any type of greens, potatoes, mushrooms, peppers, etc. to suit your taste. I myself chose to add a few of these green ingredients which included butter beans, red swiss chard, and green heirloom cauliflower; Got to love the veggies 🙂

And you may be thinking that all this is an overload of vegetables and doesn’t sound very flavorful–but I will admit, I have a secret ingredient, and it is Worcestershire sauce. Trust me on this one, if the garlic and tomatoes don’t flavor the broth enough, Worcestershire sauce will definitely enliven the taste with its spicy saltiness. Not convinced after 2 Tbs? Add a couple more, because it only seems to get better 🙂

Just a note, the more veggies you end up adding to your soup, the more broth you’ll be needing at the end. I ended up adding 3 cups of water to the pot in addition to everything else, but it ended up not being enough (so I compensated with more broth…) The noodles will expand some once they’re in the soup a little while, so just add liquid accordingly. I recommend serving the steaming soup with a bit of grated Parmesan or toasted bread but I also discovered it’s a perfectly good snack to eat in the middle of the night, still cold, with half a cracker 😉 That’s why I love making soup, it takes a lot of work initially, but the rewards last for days…depending on how fast you end up eating them!

Winter Vegetable Minestrone

Ingredients

3 stalks celery, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 onions, chopped

1 head Cauliflower, chopped

1 bunch red Swiss Chard (or kale), chopped

1 large can (28 oz) dices tomatoes, in juice

1 can Cannellini beans, drained

1 can Butter beans, drained

1 cup fresh Parsley, minced

10 garlic cloves, smashed & 5 cloves, minced

16 oz (1 lb) ditalini (or small pasta substitute)

1 lb pork sausage, casings removed

1 bunch fresh thyme, minced

8 cups chicken broth

2 Tbs. lemon juice

2 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce

olive oil

sea salt & cracked pepper

(1) Begin by emptying all of the chicken broth and about 1-2 cups of water (depending) into a large saucepan over low heat. Add 10 garlic cloves, smashed with the side of a knife, to the broth; stir in salt & pepper and allow the broth to simmer, covered, 10-15 minutes. (2) Heat 3 Tbs. olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add 5 minced garlic cloves and the chopped carrots, onions, cauliflower, and celery, allowing everything to cook covered until tender, 6-10 minutes. (3) Boil a pot of salted water for the ditalini and cook the pasta according to package instructions until almost done. Drain and sprinkle with salt & pepper before setting aside, covered until ready (add a dash of olive oil if the noodles get dry while the vegetables are cooking). (4) When the vegetables are ready, remove them from the pot and cover to keep warm. Reheat the pot over medium-high heat and coat with cooking spray. Add the pork sausage and cook until well browned, 10-15 minutes, breaking it up into smaller pieces with a fork. (5) When the meat has browned, add the can of tomatoes (with juice), fresh parsley, and lemon juice and allow to cook 5 minutes. Next, add both cans of beans, all of the chopped Swiss chard, and the fresh thyme leaves. (6) Remove the garlic cloves from the simmering broth and combine with the veggie mixture, lowering the heat and allowing the soup to warm until hot and mixed throughout, about 5 more minutes. (7) Right before serving, carefully stir in the ditalini and Worcestershire sauce, seasoning to taste with lemon juice, salt, & pepper. Serve with toasted bread and/or grated Parmesan. Enjoy for days 🙂

Serves 6-8

I can see why the Italians call this type of soup ‘Minestrone’, which translates as  ‘the big soup‘ because, well, it is big, and yummy. That, and it leaves a warm, satisfied feeling in its wake; or maybe that’s just my bell 😉 But hey, on a cold winter night like this one, nothing beats hot broth and vegetables!`

My question: What type of hot soup comforts you the most?

You know, like when you’re awfully sick…for me it’s chicken noodle…ahh, that’s what I must make next, a vegetable chicken noodle soup. Genius }:)

2.11.11