Location:
My apartment
Attendees:
Brent, Jeffrey, Joshua, Julie, Laura, Mandy, Matt, Sebastien, Tiffany, me
Menu:
Radishes with butter and salt, cheese, crackers
Napa cabbage salad with fresh buttermilk dressing (dressing by Josh, and srsly: new favorite salad ever in the world)
Yukon gold gratin with goat cheese (cuz I care about FOOD)
Sunchoke soup with toasted pumpkin seeds
Green pea soup with tarragon
Sweet potato soup with buttered pecans
Salted brown butter Rice Krispies treats (solely because I was craving them, not in fact a generous gesture)
64 calories!Entertainment:
Who needs it when you have such amazing company? We did get a stellar turtle impression though.
The Soup:
First, a haiku:
Dear Food Processor,
Thank you for chopping onions
So I didn't cry.
Second: Sunchokes are zero fun to peel. Jerusalem artichoke? More like JERKusalem artichoke, amirite? Case in point: check out this little monster, straight out of Guillermo del Toro's imagination:
BUT: The sunchoke was my favorite soup of the eve. Oooooooobaby it was interesting and different and scrumptious and oooooooobaby. If it runs for president of my tummy, I'm gettin' out the vote. (That may be the stupidest sentence I've ever written, so I'm leaving it.)
The green pea was my second favorite. I likely should have smoothed it out a bit more, but my beloved immersion blender ELECTROCUTED me for a second and I was instantly twice-shy. I happen to adore tarragon, even though it always tastes slightly fishy (you know, like ketchup). But even more than that, I've been so all about peas lately. I've bought fresh ones, I've bought frozen ones, and it never matters; you can always count on them to be tasteeeeeeeee.
The sweet potato was nice too, but a little...sweet. I like my sweet potatoes heavily tempered with savory to balance that junk out, and I thought this recipe would do it. It was good, yes. But not quite up to the other two IMHO (there may be folks who disagree). There's the awesomeness of making three soups, though (on a school night, no less): You've got multichances to make good.
Let's get back to numbering.
THIRD: Holy cats. Today, February 25th, 2010, might be the best day of my life. Why? Because I tricked Jeff into doing my grocerying for me. None of this would've been possible sans that, for rlzies. I now present the most glorious thing I've ever come home to:
I'm attempting to talk Jeff into spending his non-blogging time starting an errand service called Jeffy-Do (because he always DOES!!!), and I think Sebby's on board too. This could be a Cincinnati miracle.
AND!! Jeff and Julie got me an amazing new apron and Findlay Market gift certificates. It's been a while since I've been genuinely overwhelmed, but this was genuinely overwhelming. So many hugs and kisses and hugs and kisses and hugs and IOUs going out to my lovelies.
So: all in all a wonderful night. I'm clam-happy and ready to bust out three more and then live on crackers and sparklewater for a month or two.
Oh, and you should totally at least make the sunchoke and the pea soup below. There's no excuse for not making the pea soup as it takes, like, 20 minutes in toto. That jerkusalem stuff, though: uhhhworthit.
Sunchoke soup with pumpkin seeds
Adapted from Bon Apetit, November 2008
8 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
2 pounds sunchokes
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped leek (white and pale green parts only)
2 garlic cloves, chopped
7 cups (or more) vegetable broth
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Pumpkin seeds, toasted in a dry skillet
Mix 8 cups water and vinegar in large bowl. Peel one sunchoke at a time (and it'll take some time), and place in vinegar water to prevent discoloration.z
Melt butter in your soup pot over medium heat. Add onion, leek, and garlic; sprinkle with salt and sauté until soft and translucent, about 12 minutes. Meanwhile, drain and rinse sunchokes, then cut into 1-inch pieces. Add to onion mixture and sauté 5 minutes. Add 7 cups vegetable broth, increase heat to high, and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until sunchokes are very tender, about 1 hour.
Puree soup with an immersion blender or in batches in a regular blender. Stir in cream and season to taste with salt and white pepper. To serve, garnish with toasted pumpkin seeds.
Green Pea soup with Tarragon
Adapted from Bon Appetit, April 2009
2 16-ounce packages frozen petite peas, divided (do not thaw)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups sliced shallots
4 cups vegetable broth
3 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon, divided
crème fraîche as an accompaniment
Place 1 cup peas in microwave-safe bowl; set aside. Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and sauté until golden and almost tender, about 7 minutes. Add remaining peas, 4 cups broth, and 2 tablespoons tarragon; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and boil until flavors blend and peas are tender, about 7 minutes. Puree soup with an immersion blender or in a regular blender until completely smooth.
Cook reserved 1 cup peas in microwave until warm, about 1 minute.
To serve, garnish with crème fraîche, a spoonful of the microwaved peas, and a sprinkle of fresh tarragon.
Sweet Potato soup with Buttered Pecans
Adapted from Gourmet, November 1992
For the soup
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped leek, washed well and drained
2 large garlic cloves, minced
3 large carrots, sliced thin
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 pounds sweet potatoes
a 1/2-pound russet potato
5 cups vegetable broth
3/4 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
crème fraîche as an accompaniment
Make the soup:
In your soup pot cook the onion, the leek, the garlic, and the carrots with the bay leaf and salt and pepper to taste in the butter over moderate heat, stirring, until the vegetables are softened. Add the sweet potatoes, peeled, halved lengthwise, and sliced thin, the russet potato, peeled, halved lengthwise, and sliced thin, the 5 cups broth, the wine, and the water, simmer the mixture, covered for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are very tender, and discard the bay leaf. Puree the mixture with an immersion blender or in batches in a regular blender until it is very smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Make the buttered pecans:
In a skillet cook the pecans in the butter with salt to taste over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, or until they are golden brown, and transfer them to paper towels to drain.
Divide the soup among bowls and top each serving with a dollop of the crème fraîche and some of the buttered pecans.
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