Soupruary

English Onion vs. French Onion

2011-02-28T06:28:00.001-08:00

Deathmatch!
No soups were harmed in the making of this blog post.

I'll add text to this one of these days. This is just to prove it HAPPENED.

Soupruary 27th: Selfish Coconut Noodle

2011-02-28T06:27:00.000-08:00

Better than whatever drugs James Franco's on (allegedly).

Location:
Casa de Rich

Attendees:
Bill & Leslie (and Theodore & Liam), Ken, Josh, me

Menu:
The old standby ginger fried rice
Baby heirloom tomato and cucumber salad
Coconut noodle soup
Some super good pumpernickel (doesn't really go with the theme, but good enough to mention)
Gelato from the glorious Dojo (Vietnamese coffee and Fior de Latte flavors. I die.)

Entertainment:
The Oscars? Okay, I guess we shouldn't really call them entertaining. Wah waaaaaaaaaaaah. (Whatever, we all know they were bad, but I still love them for no justifiable reason. And James Franco. Leave James Franco ALONE, you guys! He's my imaginary BFF.)

Unlike the Oscars, the bread wasn't STALE. (...I'll show myself out.)

The Soup:
Once again I had plans for today's soup. In honor of the Oscars, I was planning to make a Wolfgang Puck recipe so we could all pretend we were at the Governor's Ball. I unilaterally decided to cast that aside in favor of making a big bowl of precisely what I wanted.

Let's discuss a different Oscar instead, one who hasn't betrayed our trust so deeply and often:

“Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.”
-Oscar Wilde

But, then, is that so bad? Allow me to posit that it's not, for—just like Oscar Wilde—“I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.”

Thankfully, I think the others agreed. Bill said "While you're eating it, you're thinking about your next bite," and Leslie proclaimed she could eat it every day. I tend to agree.

This soup was so creamy it made me feel like a total lush, in a good way. It was also herby and fresh and vaguely Southeast Asian, which is possibly my trifecta of food descriptors.

The vegetables here are infinitely adaptable. You could make it with pretty much whatever you'd like, or leave them out altogether (you know, if you don't like delicious things).

A brief note: I didn't have time to make my own seitan, but Upton's Naturals brand (available locally at Park + Vine) is so good that it doesn't matter too much. I highly recommend both their traditional style (which I used here) and their Italian sausage style (which I crave fortnightly).

When I make it again, which I will, as this soup just screams I'M WORTH IT at the top of its lungs, I'll add some more heat. Trusty old Saigon Market was out of my favorite little Thai bird chiles today, so I had to make do. I'd also make more broth. I underestimated the massive amount of noodlage I'd end up with, which—don't get me wrong—I was pretty okay with, but the broth turned out dang delicious. I kind of wanted to turn it into lotion and rub it into my skin (Oh, lord, this is getting bad. I'd better stop writing.).

Selfish CocoCoconut Noodle Soup

Base paste:
3 serrano chiles, seeded
3 cloves of garlic
a thumb-sized piece of ginger
3 stalks of lemongrass
1/4 teaspoon coriander seeds
a handful of cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
just a dash of olive oil

Soup:
dash of wok oil
1 quart vegetable stock
2 14-ounce cans coconut milk
1 package of medium rice noodles
4 heads baby bok choy
1 bunch of broccolini (or of chinese broccoli if you'd prefer)
two big handfuls of snow peas
1 package traditional style seitan
juice of 1 lime (or to taste)
Soy sauce to taste
Handful of mint leaves
Handful of cilantro leaves

Put all base ingredients in a small food processor (my beloved Magic Bullet works great for this) and whiz until smooth.

Place your soup pot on medium heat with a dash of wok oil. Add the paste and fry until it smells really super good, about a minute. Add broth and coconut milk and bring to a simmer.

Meanwhile, prepare rice noodles by placing them in a pot, covering with boiling water, and letting them sit there until they're tender, then drain and shoot them with cold water to prevent them from overcooking. Rice noodles love sticking together, so make sure you move them around a lot while they're soaking.

Add vegetables to the broth, and crumble in the seitan. The vegetables don't really need to cook long--you want them still tasting nice and fresh. Add in the noodles, and punch up the broth to taste with lime juice and soy sauce. Serve immediately, sprinkled with mint and cilantro leaves. You could serve a lime wedge with it, as well, or add scallions. OR A POACHED EGG (Oh, man, I just blew my mind. I can't wait till next time!).

Soupruary 26th: Egg Drop Noodle

2011-02-26T11:14:00.002-08:00

I wish I ate meat; I could have made Year of The Rabbit Soup.

(BARF! Why does "Rabbit Soup" sound SO much more disgusting than "Rabbit Stew"?? (Yoops, a quick Google search revealed that Rabbit Soup, or Polievka z Králika, is a classic of Czech/Slovak cuisine. Guess I'm not very good at respecting my heritage. (Wait, "z" is a WORD in Czech? Really truly a WHOLE WORD? I gotta learn this language. (OVERBOARD!))))

Right, so, Chinese New Year party at Nick and Leigh's in Finneytown! They throw this party every year, and are 100% dedicated to making it ridiculously fun for everyone there.

Even fun for Stormtroopers!

They lay out this massive spread of Chinese food, have air hockey and pool and pinball, give everyone little envelopes full of fake Chinese money to gamble with, have "horse" races

I was this little piggy's jockey. I lost pretty, pretty bad.

and a Slinky race,

and end the night with a hilarious and entertaining auction.

Every year the auction items are related to the animal for the year, and the bidding is blind--the items are all concealed in paper bags.

Someone ended up with some wine and a Rabbit wine bottle opener; someone payed like 700,000 in fakebucks for a bunch of carrots.

The youngest (and probably cutest) bidder.

I mean, seriously, these people can throw a party. You wouldn't have found a more heartwarming locale in Cincinnati tonight.

Here's to Nick and Leigh!

Special thanks to Josh for documenting the night so well!

Anyway, I brought soup! My initial plan was to make wonton soup (a childhood favorite), but everything I read about it made me think it would absolutely not transport well. Maybe I'll make some wonton in, like, April (the next possible time I'll be able to look a soup pot in the face after this month).

This baby took about 15 minutes per pot to make--how crazy is that? It wasn't amazing or anything, but it was totally edible, as evidenced by the 6 quarts of the stuff that were consumed. It's always good to have a dish like this in mind: something to warm you up and fill you up in no time at all using ingredients you probably have around the house. Plus, pretty healthy! And, lately, I'm down for anything that functions as a noodle-delivery system.

Authentic? Not even a little bit. But hey, it wasn't really the Chinese New Year, either.

"It WASN'T?!?"

Egg Drop Noodle Soup
adapted from Gourmet, February 2002

5 cups light vegetable broth
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons medium-dry Sherry
1 thumb-sized knob of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 nest of fresh fine egg noodles (about 2 oz)
4 ounces firm tofu, diced
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons sesame oil
sriracha, to taste
2 scallions, thinly sliced

Plase first five ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and keep at a steady simmer for five minutes or so to get the garlic and ginger flavors infused into the broth.

Add noodles, tofu and peas, and cook until noodles are tender, (two to three minutes depending on the type you have).

Using a spoon, swirl the soup so that it's a little cyclone in your pot. While continuing to swirl, slowly drizzle in the eggs. They should cook into ribbons in about a minute.

Stir in sesame oil, and top with scallions. Season to taste with soy sauce and sriracha. Best served immediately, but it travels pretty well too.

Soupruary 25th: Mushroom Noodle

2011-02-26T11:14:00.001-08:00

Mushroomy! Noodly! That's all I need to know.

Ken, Josh and I enjoyed a hurried soup with some bread and cheese before dashing off to the wonderful opening at the Contemporary Arts Center, featuring the current work of local artist Jimmy Baker and an extensive Keith Haring retrospective.

Very classy, very Friday, very Cincinnati.

The Soup:
The plan all along was to make a recipe my darling mother sent me for Creamy Hungarian Mushroom soup. All the ingredients were purchased and prepped. It was THE PLAN. The recipe called for mushroom broth, so I decided to make my own rather than purchase a box of it. About half way into that, my mind started viewing at the plan a little differently.

See, Plan, you were a good plan. A great plan, even. It's not you, it's me. It's my fault I've been making so many creamy soups lately. It's my fault I made a broth so decadent on its own that it seemed a crime to add potatoes and cream. It's my fault I wanted noodles so hard today that I would have sold my car for some spaghetti. Don't feel bad, plan. I'll come back to you someday.

It's me and you forever, mushroom broth. I'll never leave you or replace you, for better or for worse.

Making the broth. Nasty-looking, no?

The rest of the soup, eh, whatever. It wasn't anything special. It was just precisely what I wanted at the time. So if you need a mushroom broth, y'all, MAKE THIS ONE. K?

Mushroom Broth
adapted from Gordon Hamersly's recipe for Food & Wine

1/4 cup olive oil
1 pound white mushrooms, finely chopped
8 ounces crimini mushrooms, finely chopped
2 portobello mushrooms, stems and caps chopped
1/2 Spanish onion, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
2 cups dry white wine (I used a torrontes)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup dried mixed wild mushrooms ( 1/2 ounce)
1/2 teaspoon herbes de Provence or thyme

In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the white mushrooms, crimini mushrooms, Portobello, onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until the mushrooms release their liquid, about 5 minutes.

Add the wine, soy sauce, dried mushrooms, salt, herbes de Provence and 6 cups of water and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to moderate and simmer until the liquid is reduced to about 4 cups, about 1 hour.

Pour the broth through a fine strainer into a heatproof bowl. Strain again, leaving any particles at the bottom of the bowl.

Mushroom Noodle Soup

dash of olive oil
8 oz sliced button mushrooms
8 oz sliced crimini mushrooms
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 quart mushroom broth
4 oz homemade egg noodles
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
shredded Parmesan, for garnish

Heat up the olive oil in your soup pot over medium-high. Add mushrooms and garlic and sweat for about five minutes. Add broth, egg noodles, paprika and thyme, and cook until noodles are tender. Season to taste with pepper and salt if necessary (I only added pepper, as the broth was salty enough). Serve with shredded Parmesan.

Soupruary 24th: Creamy Potato Dill

2011-02-24T10:40:00.000-08:00

Adam says I use too many exclamation points. Therefore, I'm going to pretend this is a movie and an exclamation point equals an eff bomb and I need a PG-13. This soup was secondsable!

Location:
My re-messed apartment (I think I've pushed my poor dishwasher a little too hard; it's mega on strike at the moment.)

Attendees:
Adam, Ashley, Joshua, and me

Yep, I made this dumb bowl.

Menu:
Romaine with homemade bleu cheese dressin'
Creamy Potato Dill soup
Girl Scout Cookies HOORAY! (It was delivery day in the office today--yet another reason to adore Amelia.)

Entertainment:
Ashley gave us the gift of a description of her incredible dream from last night. I won't go into detail, but let's just say cotton-candy pink and blue things came out of her and she blamed it on eating too much soup. There was a positive message, though: She was okay with it because she was surrounded by friends. Awwwwwww.

The Soup:
A while back, I took a lil facebook poll to see what soups people might like to try this year, and my friend Aileen suggested "Creamy Potato Dill." Having only just come around to liking dill within the last few years, I decided to give it a try. Having made quite a few potato soups in my day, I chose to cook intuitively, and I must say it turned out fairly close to what I had envisioned.

Creamy (but not too heavy), subtly dilly (lavender's blue), and perfect for a relaxing night sitting in front of the television with your friends, watching Scott Pilgrim vs. The World for the 50 millionth time. (It's actually hilarious...hilarious.)

You could also make this without the dill, or switch up the herb for, say, rosemary (or whatever you like/have on hand). This is just a standard, easy, super adaptable method--and you'd probably be okay with dried dill, too.

I peeled the potatoes because I wanted a really smooth consistency and color (the leeks and dill gave just a wee touch of green), but you could make it more rustic by leaving on the skins and blending it up less.

Remember to be be wary of over-pureeing here, too: You don't want those potato starches turning into glue on you.

So here's pretty much what I did to make...

Creamy Potato Dill Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 leeks, sliced, white and light green parts only
3 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
5 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
3 sprigs dill, 2 chopped, 1 reserved for garnish
1/4 cup low-fat milk, or to taste

Heat olive oil over medium low heat in your soup pot. Add leeks and a pinch of salt and cook for about 10 minutes.

Add potatoes and garlic, give it a good stir, and let cook for another 5 minutes or so.

Add chopped dill and water to just cover. Turn up to high until boiling, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Blend with an immersion blender until very smooth. Add milk, then blend to combine, adding more if necessary to reach desired texture. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with bits of fresh dill.

Soupruary 23rd: Mushroom Potato with Roasted Poblano

2011-02-23T10:31:00.001-08:00

A security blanket for your tummy.

Location:
My place, where I'm attempting to propagate the notion that the Flable is really just my first step toward minimalism (nicely complimented by my stark walls)

Attendees:
Ashley, Erin, Julie, and me

An admittedly low-quality photo, but because there are fewer
photos of Erin in existence than there are of Bigfoot, I'm using it.

Menu:
Raw vegetables and Sweets & Beets with gua-cah-mo-lay
Lime cilantro slaw
Mushroom Potato Crema with Roasted Poblano

Entertainment:
It was, like, venting central up in here. Very girltime. Very cathartic.
On nemeses: "We should make them be friends and then DESTROY THEM."
On exes: "My Valentine's gift to myself was to unfollow ___ on Twitter."
The name of the wine Julie brought made me giggle.

Bieber stickers = endless entertainment.

Ashley should be a professional photobomber.

The Soup:
Julie loves the shrimpless version of this poblano corn chowder I made a few years ago, and since I can't just make that again, I thought I'd find something that used a lot of the same ingredients and see if that would make her happy. Success (I think! Unless she lied!)!

Don't you feel lulled into a relaxed state just by reading the words "Mushroom Potato Crema with Roasted Poblano." You just know it's going to be food therapy. It sounds heavy, but it's so not; it manages to be both thin and creamy (concomitantly!). Still comfort food, but light and really quite healthy when it comes down to it.

In case you're worried about spice, poblano peppers, particularly when roasted, hardly pack any heat. To me, the poblano is just too pleasant for words. It's, like, earthy? Not spicy. Take my word for it.

Bonus for a weeknight soup: This comes together crazy fast and requires minimal prep time. It's so easy it feels like winning a prize for LIFE.

Mushroom Potato Crema with Roasted Poblano
adapted from a Rick Bayless recipe from frontera.com

1 pound mixture of Yukon gold and fingerling potatoes, scrubbed and roughly chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
6 cups vegetable broth, divided
1 large fresh poblano
8 ounces crimini mushrooms, sliced 1/4 inch thick
a few dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in boiling water to reconstitute, then chopped into small pieces
1 cup frozen corn
1 sprig thyme
1/4 cup fat-free Greek yogurt
1 corn tortilla, cut into eight wedges
fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish

Place the potatoes and garlic in a pot with 3 cups of the vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until potatoes are tender (about 20 minutes).

Meanwhile, heat the broiler in your oven with the rack in the top position. Place the poblano directly on the rack, and broil until blackened, turning once so you get all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove pepper and wrap it in a kitchen towel for a few minutes. The skin should peel right off, and then you can pull the stem and seeds out and dice it up.

Turn the oven to 350 and place rack in center position. Rub a bit of olive oil into the tortilla wedges and place on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with sea salt and bake for 10 minutes or so, until nicely browned and crispy.

Remove potatoes from heat and, using an immersion blender, whiz the potatoes into a smooth puree. Add remaining 3 cups of broth, poblano, mushrooms, corn and thyme and cook over medium heat until mushrooms are cooked through (about 15 minutes). Stir a spoonful of soup into the yogurt, then mix it into the pot. Season to taste with salt.

To serve, divide among four bowls and garnish each bowl with a few cilantro leaves and two tortilla chips.

P.s. I would be remiss in my duties should I not share with you the epic tumbleweave I #spottedonwalnut today. Take in the majesty:

Guest Edition: Justine's Fennel and Mushroom

2011-02-23T08:51:00.002-08:00

The very definition of "super good."
Trust me. I know definitions.

Location:
Chez Moi

Teamwork! Justine dishes; Caleb grills.

Attendees:
Caleb, Drew, Jacques, Justine, Katie, Sebastien, Tiffany, and me

Menu:
Justine's Fennel and Mushroom Soup
Justine's Spicy Onion Marmalade Grilled Cheesewiches
Katie's Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese, Candied Walnuts, Cranberries and Balsamic-Glazed Red Onions
(And, of course, assorted veggies and olives and cheeses and bread; you know, the yoozh)

Entertainment:
An excellent description of Bertolucci's The Conformist, with such information as "This guy's a total fascist, and he totally sucks," and "so they go to sexy Paris."
This sweet new game where my friends throw pennies over the wall at me while I change clothes. "Did that one hit you?" "No, just one of the many piles of clothes." Awwwww.
A field trip to MOTR for writer's night, where we:
a) were graced with a poetry reading by Tiffany
b) heard some pretty good music and some pretty bad music
c) planned to at some point make ourselves the "whatever," and
d) learned that "It's hard not to be frank with yourself when you've got eight hands." SO TRUE.

The Soup:
Justine let me know ages ago that she would be happy to take a night on for me and give me the night off. For several reasons, (I feel bad letting someone else do work I've imposed upon myself, I feel like I'm already forcing people to eat soup all the time and shouldn't force them to cook too, I'm kind of controlling after all, etc.) it took this long for it to happen, but BOY am I glad it did. Oh, man. (I gotta stop saying "man," man.)

For one thing, I was basically giddy to not be cooking last night. For another thing? Girl can COOK.

Brains, talent, beauty...if I didn't love her so much, I might be forced to hate her. Like, by law.

Justine insists that the first taste of her soup was awful, and she tweaked and tweaked and tweaked until it was simply marvelous. She saw the angel in the mushroom and seasoned until she set it free (? (oof.)).

Mushrooms make me glad to be alive just by their very existence. When they're propped up to new heights in a soup like this, I'm near euphoria. I also love her brilliant use of almond milk—I love almond milk but for some reason have never incorporated it into soups. It was just so creamy and savory and perfectly salted. I know I loved a soup when I can't write about it without getting megacravings for more.

Justine described herself as an "intui-cook" (cute!)—therefore, the below is an approximation of her process. She also noted, "if I ever make this again I would want to fix the texture. i think that was its main problem." But, y'all, she cra-zay. There was nothing wrong with this soup. And, frankly, if something were wrong with this soup, then I wouldn't want to be right. Pretty sure it was better than anything I've ever made.

SO: If you're feeling adventurous and want to trust your instincts to cook, try out Justine's guidelines. You can do it!

Fennel and Mushroom Soup
as penned by the lovely Ms. Ludwig

1 bulb of fennel
1 onion
1 bouillon cube
almond milk
porcini mushrooms
white button mushrooms
dehydrated mushroom mix
olive oil
thyme
pepper
truffle salt
herbamare
garlic
dollop of buttah
greek yogurt

soak dehydrated mushrooms
while this is going down, cut up the other mushrooms and saute them in
olive oil with thyme, garlic, herbamare, and pepper until they are
slightly browned set aside
take a pot of water add bouillon cube and boil
add chopped up fennel and onion
let cook until fennel and onion are soft
add the no longer dehydrated mushrooms
cook for a bit
add rest of the mushrooms
cook for a bit
blend it up in a blender
add a tiny bit of butter
add almond milk
add truffle salt

when serving put a spoon of greek yogurt on the bottom of the bowl and
spoon the soup on top

Soupruary 22nd: Red Lentil

2011-02-22T13:25:00.000-08:00

Mixing business with pleasure.

Location:
Office conference room—very profesh soup, y'all.

Attendees:
Abi, Cybelle, Eva, Janice, Lauren, Nicole, Paige, and me

Menu:
Marinated kale and radish salad
Smashed chickpea salad
Quinoa tabbouleh
Red lentil soup
Janice's peanut blossoms
Still more Abby Girl Sweets cupcakes (this may be becoming a problem)

Entertainment:
The struggle it is to force oneself to talk about things that are not work-related while sitting at work with your coworkers
A brief and hilariously underinformed deconstruction of the Jonas Brothers' career (we soon realized that we really know nothing about them, and, to be honest, I don't even know how that all got started)
The struggle it is to force oneself to choose only one cupcake when there are JUST...SO...MANY

The Soup:
In January, as I was thinking about doing this project again, I decided to ask my boss if she wouldn't mind if I brought in soup for her and my other wonderful officemates one day. She was gracious enough to indulge my silliness, and we set a date. At last, that day has arrived! And so this morning I busted out an array of storage containers and schlepped down to the office.

This isn't going to overtake my favorite lentil soup; in fact, the way the red lentils work, it turns out feeling more like split pea than lentil. However, both for simplicity and for taste, I think it's going to replace my previous red lentil soup recipe. It always makes me a little sad, though, cooking red lentils—they start off such a beautiful bright orange, and fade into a dull yellow—it's like watching the passion slowly seep out of someone.

PASSION?!? Whoa, what? Somebody slipped some extract of melodrama in the soup, you guys.

Ahem, moving on. Red lentils. Right.

Janice said she "loved it" and Paige deemed it "excellent," but they could have just been flattering me: after all, we do have to work together every day. While they may have exaggerated a bit, I did think it was fairly delicious. And just look how short that ingredient list is! No way it can be anything but good when you have such focused flavors.

An added bonus for this lunchtime Soupruary: I can say with certainty that it stores, travels, and reheats well.

A note for Cincinnatians: You can get both red lentils and Aleppo pepper at Dean's in Findlay Markey (and don't forget to pick up some of their awesome homemade yogurt while you're there).
Red Lentil Soup
adapted just a bit from herbivoracious.com

2 cups Turkish split red lentils
2 cups vegetable stock
6 cups water, plus more as needed
6 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon coriander seed
1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt, plus more to taste
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon Aleppo pepper (or to taste)
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin (or to taste)

Garnish: fresh cilantro, Aleppo pepper, lemon wedges

Rinse the lentils and bring them to a boil with 2 cups stock and 6 cups water. Lower heat and simmer, stirring often, for about 40 minutes, or until lentil have deconstructed themselves into a big pot of mush.

Meanwhile, place garlic, coriander seed and salt in a mortar and pestle, and grind to a coarse paste. Heat oil in a small frying pan over medium heat, and add paste. Cook for about 1 minute (just wake up the flavors, don't burn that garlic!), then add to the soup and let simmer for a few more minutes.

Adjust for texture by adding water until you reach the consistency you prefer. Add Aleppo pepper and ground cumin, and season to taste with more Kosher salt.

Serve garnished with a sprig of cilantro, a pinch of Aleppo pepper if desired, and a lemon wedge. Squeeze a bit of the lemon juice into your soup bowl to taste--the lemon really zips it up.

Blergworthy!

2011-02-22T07:45:00.000-08:00

I've just realized that, after today, there are only 6 days left in Soupruary. A cause for celebration, or for consternation?

More of the latter at the moment, as I've just realized I have t-w-e-l-v-e more soups I want to make. Some are soups that were bumped, some are new recipes I found and wanted to try. What to do, what to do? Of course I could double up on some days, but that seems a bit overboard. Come on, February! Pack in a few more days!

Here's the list that's currently haunting the soupcentric corner of my mind:

Creamy Hungarian Mushroom
Wild Rice and Cranberry
Potato Dill
Tuscan Bean and Farro
Mushroom Potato Crema with Roasted Poblano
Vegetarian Posole
Wonton
Michael Symon’s Split Pea
Pho Chay
Spicy Curry Noodle
Savory Squash with Cardamom Cream
English Onion vs. French Onion Deathmatch

HALP! Any advice/opinion is welcome.

Soupruary 21st: Plain Old Vegetable

2011-02-21T08:32:00.001-08:00

Homey, not homely.

Location:
The Mattie Ranch

Attendees:
Birthday Girl Mattie, Josh, Bill, Leslie & the wee ones, me

Menu:
Garden salad
Servatii Championship bread (Bill's new and welcome discovery)
Vegetable soup
Key lime bars and Irish cream mousses

Entertainment:
A few classic "Dirty Babs" jokes (she gets a free pass for her birthday)
Liam's excitement over blowing out his Grammy's birthday candles
A brand new baby! I thought he was named Theodore, but has apparently he's had his name officially changed to "Poopy Lump."

The Soup:
The Birthday Girl said she wanted either vegetable soup or tomato soup, and as I'd just tomatoed out last night, I decided to go with the former. And, hey, that meant I had everything I neeeded already in my fridge and pantry! The question was how to make it a little better than average.

For me, one thing that separates a good vegetable soup from a merely inoffensive vegetable soup is the broth. In this case, I used some of the massive quantity of vegetable stock I made and froze the last weekend of January, and it worked out beautifully. It's so easy to make your own vegetable broth, and it just takes an hour or two depending on how rich you need the flavors to be. But, if you don't have that kind of time (as I wouldn't have had last night if I didn't have those stockpiles (get it? STOCKpiles?)), I'd really recommend getting Rapunzel bouillon. It's absolutely the best I've found, and I like it a superton (that's, like, a ton that can fly) better than the canned or boxed stuff. Locally, you can get it at the fabulously convenient Park + Vine.

Thing Two that separates the palate-pleasing from the passable is holding on to the freshness and brightness of the vegetables. No one wants lifeless mush, and the mush is so easy to avoid. Just don't overcook the vegetables (your soup should be done in about 45 minutes, and be ready to serve it shortly thereafter), and add some acidity (I used lemon juice but any number of vinegars could be worth a try).

Bill said that, in transit to dinner, he remarked that he has never met a vegetable soup he liked. I'm proud to say he claims I changed his mind about that. Monday night victory! (Maybe it was just that Championship bread.)

I've included my method for this soup, but it's so simple that you don't really need a recipe. Vegetable soup is really just vegetables and broth, you know? So just go ahead and throw in whatever vegetables you like, and enjoy a meal that somehow leaves you feeling more wholesome than when you began. I'm pretty sure an earnest bowl of vegetable soup serves as an act of contrition for at least one minor sin.

Plain Old Vegetable Soup
thrown together sans recipe

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 cup thinly sliced leeks, white and light green parts only
1 cup diced shallots
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
2 cups diced Yukon gold potatoes
2 cups carrots, peeled and sliced
1 cup celery, sliced
2 quarts vegetable stock
2 14-ounce cans diced tomatoes, drained
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 cup frozen peas
3 cups baby spinach
juice of 1/2 lemon
handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley
shredded Parmesan, to garnish

Heat olive oil in your soup pot over medium low heat and add leeks, shallots, garlic, thyme and a pinch of kosher salt. Sweat for 8 to 10 minutes, until soft.

Add carrots, celery and potatoes, give it a good stir and let soften for another 8 to 10 minutes.

Add stock, tomatoes, corn and peas, and increase heat to bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or so, until all vegetables are soft.

Add spinach, and stir until wilted. Just before serving, add lemon juice and parsley. Pass Parmesan around the table, and let that down-home feeling sink in.

Soupruary 20th: Spicy Black Eye Pea and Tomato Bisque

2011-02-20T21:24:00.001-08:00

Better in soup than on the Super Bowl.

Location:
Josh's new apartment

Attendees:
Sebastien, Katie, Julie, Kelly, Drew, MaryKate, Kenneth, Brent, Laura, Steve, Marisa, Matt, Ben, Chris, Chandler, Ashley, Caleb, Justine, Doug, Mandi, Gwyn, Vanessa, David, Leland, Luke, Joshua, Claude, Bettina, and me

Menu:
Sesame-ginger radish tea sandwiches
Lots of cheese (to quote Julie as she presented some havarti and beloved Tillamook: "A house isn't a home without cheese!")
Crudite with cucumber-dill Greek yogurt
Vanessa's Kalamata dip (AKA Chris's new obsession) and coconut jam (it's really THE JAM)
Brent and Laura's Prettiest Salad Ever
Josh's purple potato salad
Marisa's sweet potato bread
Baked four cheese penne with caramelized leeks
Spicy black eye pea and tomato bisque
Chris's butterscotch bars

So pretty!

Entertainment:
Plain old good friends (who are, of course, far from plain or old), good vibes, and good conversation: The best comfort on a rainy night.
Bettina said the phrase "frickin' shoot," which was somehow the most charming thing I heard all night.
At one point, I cried from laughing. At my own joke, which I'm willing to admit was so...totally...humorless. Embarrassing much?

Bettina's champagne reaction shot. Nearly as priceless as "frickin' shoot!"

The Soup:
A new apartment is filled with so much promise. For me, it's always "I'm actually going to put things on the walls this time!" and "I might grow up and keep this one clean!" That hasn't happened quite yet in my case, so I'm just going to blame all my past failures on not having black-eyed peas at my housewarming.

Black-eyed peas, of course, are meant to be good luck if you eat them on New Year's Day. I've decided that souperstition (shuddup) can be extended to any new beginning, and what's a housewarming if not a brand new start?

The soup was tasty, y'all, and I'll talk about it more, but first I have a confession to make. I have this condition, you guys. Let's call it spice dysmorphia. Here I was, thinking I'd totally underspiced the soup, but I'm pretty sure it made some people sweat (sorry, Julie). Years of spice abuse at Thai and Indian establishments have left me desensitized to all but the most painful capsaicin-fueled lingual firestorms. Sometimes I forget that all tongues are different. To anyone I spiced out, I do sincerely apologize (I might even apologise--I know, so proper, right?). It's not me; it's my condition. Hope you got plenty of grown-up mac 'n' cheese.

Purply goodness.

Okay, confession over. This soup has a lot going for it. It's deceptive, which is always fun: It looks like a regular tomato soup, but is much more than meets the eye when it hits your mouth. It's spicy and smoky and the black-eyed peas lend some serious heft to it, making it quite filling. Oh, boy, and it's SO easy, which was a serious plus for me yesterday, with a full day and an even flightier than usual attention span (does too much soup kill your brain cells? INVESTIGATE.).

In summation: I liked it quite a bit, although it likely isn't to everyone's taste. I'm not sure whether I'll make it again in this magical world just brimming with recipes, but I'm pretty stoked to eat the leftovers. Legume-powered good luck for days!

My friend Beth sent me this recipe, and the way she wrote it was so cute that I'm just going to copy and paste it here, and list the changes I made at the end.

Spicy Black-eyed Pea and Tomato Bisque

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ cup diced onions plus a little more for garnish
A good size pinch of black pepper and salt
2 Teaspoons of Paprika – to taste
2 Teaspoons of Smoked Paprika – to taste
2 Teaspoons of oregano
A few dashes hot sauce (I’d recommend Tamazula)
2 can’s Trappey’s Black eyed peas with jalapeno (Available at Krogers - But you can use your own cooked and seasond black eyed peas if you'd rather)
2 large cans of Roma tomatoes (seeded, diced and the juice reserved)
1 cup and a 1/2 of cream plus some to garnish

Heat up a pot to medium add the olive oil, when it’s hot add the onions and stir for about 3 minutes, you want them soft so lower the heat if they are cooking too fast. Add in the salt and pepper, stir for another minute. Add the paprika’s and toast it with the onions turning up the heat a little bit. When the flavors have toasted and the onions are soft, turn up the heat a little more and add in a tablespoon at a time about a ¼ cup of the reserved tomato juice, letting the juice incorporate completely between each spoon full in effect deglazing the pan.

Add in the black-eyed peas (and their liquid), the diced tomatoes and the hot sauce, the rest of the reserved tomato juice and bring to boiling. Add in the oregano, turn down the heat to medium and let simmer about 15 minutes.

Using an immersion blender, blend the bejeezus out of it for about 5 minutes or more, getting it as smooth as you can. (you can do it in batches in a regular blender, just make sure you leave the lid open a bit so the steam/heat pressure doesn’t make the lid explode off…very painful with hot liquid, trust me you do not want this to happen)

Add the cream, blend together, heat and it’s ready to serve. Garnish with a drizzle of cream, a bit of the diced onion and a sprinkle of the smoked paprika. (You could use sour cream or yogurt as well)

My changes:

Because Trappey's are cooked with bacon, I used plain black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed, and added fresh jalapeno to the onions in the first step--The final flavor was still quite smoky.
To save time and mess, I just broke the tomatoes up with my hands as I added them.
I cut the cream by 2/3 and used fat-free Greek yogurt to make up the difference.
I tripled the recipe to be on the safe side. It made waaaaay more than enough with the plentiful spread--Probably should have just doubled it!
I added a good bit more than a few dashes of my El Yucateco hot sauce.

Soupruary 19th: Tomatillo ughghgghghghghgh

2011-02-20T21:23:00.000-08:00

I think it's the third law of soupmotion: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, right?

bleh.

Well, after last night's triumph, this soup just wasn't quite right. Reactions ranged rom "It's not a total fail" to "It's sort of like when you throw up in your mouth."

Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, boys.

It wasn't quite that bad, but it certainly wasn't worthwhile, to the point that I'm not even going to share the recipe.

It's no excuse, but I had a long day at work and didn't really have the love pulsing through my fingers into my cooking. I always know when I'm not feeling it, and I always know it isn't going to turn out. Sounds hocus-pocusy to say you have to put your heart in it, but you better believe it.

The makings of bleh.

Luckily, tonight wasn't really about soup. It was a farewell party for the stupendous Matt Matt, who's moving to Seattle (as we shed tears).

Cheese is always good. So is taco dip.

It was dancing, singing, storytelling, and definitely laughing all night long with so many wonderful friends over at Seb and Katie's.

I can't cry over spoiled soup when I got to spend some memorable hours with not just Matt, Seb, and Katie, but Jenn, Ken, Luke, Drew, Nate, Josh, Aaron, and Emily.

You know they're really your friends when they're still there for you after such a disaster, folks.

Oh, and there may have been some Lisa Loeb.

All things considered, it was a wonderful night. But, hey, Tomatillos? You're on notice.

Soupruary 18th: Celeriac

2011-02-18T06:48:00.001-08:00

Like a pillow in your mouth (but not in a Vanilla Sky/Abre Los Ojos kind of way).

Location:
My place

Attendees:
David, Evangeline, Justine, Kenneth, me, and Wally the pug (yes, he really did eat some soup)

Menu:
Wild Greens with Fried Eggs (or "Horta me Avga Tiganita," I'm told)
Celeriac Bisque

Entertainment:
Wally was an absolute charmer, causing David to dreamily and repeatedly proclaim to him, "I loooove you."
Evey regaled us with the tale of her Gosling/Clooney sighting today, complete with photos and an excellent "Hey, girl" that ended with the phrase "Ryan and Noodle Soup"

The Soup:
Celeriac (or celery root, if you prefer (I think celeriac sounds fancier (fancier=better))) is an ugly vegetable; there's no two ways about it. Maybe that makes it even more exciting: The fact that you can take something that looks like a hairy monster brain and turn it into sheer, simple luxury.

I chose to prepare this soup because I'd neither prepared nor knowingly ingested celeriac before. Going in blind, I really didn't know what to expect. I was surprised when Evey told me she definitely wanted to come over for this soup, as she'd had an excellent version on a trip to...ummm...Colorado I think? I started the evening with a goal of just not disappointing Evey, and ended the evening with the desire to pat myself on the back (and only ever eat this soup).

It's sort of like good potato soup, but with a fresh, lighter taste. It's just so creamysilkysmooth (good name for a TLC cover band's album, methinks) that I keep coming back to the word "luxurious." Can you tell I liked it? I really liked it.

Everyone else did, too. If it's any indication, this recipe claims to serve eight people. With soup, I usually find that the serving size is underestimated, and it'll stretch a good deal further than it's meant to. Well, the pot was scraped clean by the five of us (+Wally). Call us gluttons if you must; I say we just know how to really honor a good thing.

One more thing--I might add some leeks next time (next time will probably be, like, March 2). I wanted to make some wee "croutons" of roasted sunchoke; unfortunately the market was shot of them today. March 2: There will be sunchoke.

Celeriac Bisque
adapted from Bon Appétit, November 2005

3 tablespoons butter (you could probably cut it down to two)
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped shallots (about 3 large)
2 pounds celeriac, peeled, trimmed, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 5 1/2 cups)
1 large russet potato, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
5 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme

garnish: additional chopped fresh thyme and chives

Melt butter in Dutch oven over medium heat. Add celery; cover and cook about 3 minutes. Add shallots; sauté uncovered 3 minutes. Stir in celery root cubes and potato, then broth and thyme. Increase heat to high and bring to boil.

Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until vegetables are very tender, about 40 minutes.

With an immersion blender, puree until smooth (or work in batches with a regular blender.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with chopped thyme and chives and serve.

Soupruary 17th: Curried Succotash Chowder

2011-02-17T11:49:00.001-08:00

I'm starting to think "chowderhead" should be a compliment.

Location:
My hopelessly messy apartment (I should really hire a housekeeper for February)

Attendees:
Adam, Ashley, Joshua, me

Menu:
Lacinato kale and avocado salad
Curried succotash chowder
Bread and wine supplied by Adam (thanks!)

Entertainment:
Ashley was on a roll tonight, you guys. She was doing this announcer voice and imagining a world in which one could improve bad movies and television shows (e.g. Due Date, Perfect Couples (more like perfect CRAPPLES)) by adding narration in said announcer voice. You probably had to be there, but it was uhhhhhilarious.
Also: The inception of the marketing strategy for our new board game for insipid couples: Crapples 2 Crapples. A GOLD mine, to be sure.

The Soup:
Okay, I thought I liked the sweet potato chowder I made last week, but that seems laughable after having this one. This soup combines some of my favorite things (corn, edamame, curry (it's no wonder my dad sometimes called me "curry powder")), is a snap to put together, and makes for one seriously satisfying bowl.

Hearty and heartwarming, this soup manages to taste familiar and new at the same time. It definitely tastes like succotash, but with an overlay of unexpected flavor from the spices. It isn't spicy--the curry is rather subtle (you can add more to taste if you'd prefer it more pronounced). No qualms recommending this one, y'all, especially if you're looking for a soup that's a meal in and of itself.

Another thing I like about this chowder: It's not as heavy as a lot of recipes, but it's majorly creamy due to the pureed vegetables. I used 2% milk, but I bet you could go down to skim if you'd rather--those lovely, velvety Yukon Golds work overtime in the lusciousness department.

Thanks to Lauren for finding this recipe for me; I'll try to bring some in to work for you if I don't finish it off tonight. (It's somehow extra-weird when soup, of all things, is calling to you from the refrigerator in the middle of the night.)

Curried Succotash Chowder
adapted from Charlotte Shearin's recipe as seen on npr.org

4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 large onion, chopped (2 cups)
4 medium cloves of garlic, minced
3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
3 cups frozen corn, defrosted
2 teaspoons ground curry
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 cup fresh baby lima beans
1 cup edamame
4 cups milk (I used 2%)
Chopped chives for garnish

Put the potatoes in a large pot and fill with water to cover by 1 inch. Bring the potatoes to a boil over medium-high heat and boil until just tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Drain them in a colander set in the sink and set aside.

Steam or boil the baby lima beans until tender (10 to 12 minutes), then drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a Dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed pot placed over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, celery, salt and herbs. Saute over medium heat for 10 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and translucent. Stir in the corn and curry powder and cook for 10 more minutes. Add the cooked potatoes and stir gently to combine.

Using an immersion blender, puree about 1/4 of the soup (or transfer 1/4 to a blender and puree until smooth, then return to pot). Stir in lima beans, edamame and milk. Cook until the beans are tender and the chowder is heated through, about 10 minutes. Season to taste with fresh ground black pepper and additional salt, if you like.

Garnish with chopped chives.

Soupruary 16th: Roasted Cauliflower

2011-02-16T06:25:00.001-08:00

Cauliflower for people who don't like cauliflower.

Location:
Ashley and Chandler's loft, conveniently located like two blocks from my apartment, and conveniently smelling so much like cake that you gain a few pounds just walking in (it was awe-inspiring)

Full house!

Attendees:
Isabela (age 4 months!) and Lily (age 3, almost), Spring, Ashley, Chandler, Mr. & Mrs. Hollingsworth

omgsoup!

Menu:
Roasted Cauliflower Soup with Chimichurri and Roasted Poblano Cream
Shakshuka
Cupcakes from Abby Girl Sweets (I know we all thought we were over cupcakes, but this place has me back on board. They're just good, man.)

Note the toy sword in the bottom right corner. Excellent utensil.

Entertainment:
Lots of good conversation, but mostly Lily. It's nearly magical to watch a little girl get equally excited over Transformers, fairies, and cupcakes. That is one cute birthday girl.

The Soup:
My Wikipedia habits are weird this time of year. Who needs to read the entry on cauliflower? I do, apparently. I did learn a few things I don't know, though. Did you know the part we eat, the head, is actually called "curd"? I don't like that at all.

I do, however, like cauliflower, and that's why I had to give a cauliflower soup a second try after a hideously blah attempt a few years ago. So when my friend Julianne sent me a link to a Huffington Post soup slideshow that featured this recipe, I knew it was meant to be--particularly since roasting is my absolute favorite preparation of cauliflower. I love the sweetness it brings out and the soft but squeaky texture. Plus, it just looks pretty.

Of course, I'm the only one who got to enjoy the roasting, looks- and texture-wise. Fortunately, the sweetness stayed on and was the perfect counterbalance to the mild kick of the chimichurri and the poblano sauce.

The cauliflower is somehow unobtrusive and yet very present in this dish. It's a blank canvas to some degree, even taking on the green color of the chimichurri, but it still asserts itself (maybe because I opted to not completely smooth out the soup). "I'm Cauliflower, I'm here to stay, and you're gonna love me."

You know what, Cauliflower? I already do.

Wednesday Confession: I misspelled "cauliflower" as "cauliflour" about 20 times in this post. My brain wants it to be spelled that way so bad! But then, in the words of Mark Twain, "I don't see any use in having a uniform and arbitrary way of spelling words. We might as well make all clothes alike and cook all dishes alike." Don't tell my boss, you guys.

Also: Thanks to Ashley for the awesome photos!

Roasted Cauliflower Soup with Chimichurri and Poblano Cream
adapted from ChezSuzanne's recipe for food52.com

Roasted Cauliflower Soup:
2 small heads cauliflower, sliced, including the core
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 leek, light green parts only, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 stalks of celery, diced
2 cups vegetable stock
2 cups water
2 tablespoons Greek yogurt

Preheat the oven to 350F. Place the slices of cauliflower on a dry cookie sheet and roast until tender, about 15-20 minutes.

In a large heavy pot, heat the butter and oil until hot. Saute the onion, leek, garlic, and celery in the butter oil mixture until soft and very aromatic. Add the salt. Add the roasted cauliflower and toss with a large spoon until the cauliflower is completely covered with the onion mixture. Cook for another 2 minutes.

Add the broth and water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 5 minutes. Puree with an immersion blender until fairly smooth. Stir in the chimichurri, and then season to taste with salt and pepper if necessary. Serve drizzled with poblano cream.

Chimichurri:

1 jalapeño, seeded, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped or smashed
2 cups cilantro leaves
3 tablespoons mint leaves
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Place all ingredients in a blender and let it run until fairly smooth.

Poblano Cream:
1 poblano pepper, roasted, peeled and seeded
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup Greek yogurt

Place all ingredients in a blender and let it run until fairly smooth.

It's over?!? But I want more SOUUUUUUUP*!

*When soup = cupcakes.

Soupruary 15th: Black Bean and Roasted Tomatillo

2011-02-15T07:28:00.000-08:00

BEEEAAAANNNNSSS!

Location:
Lauren's gorgeous old Kentucky home

Attendees:
Amelia and George, Abi, Eva, Janice, Lauren, Nicole, me

Menu:
The unmatchable chips and guacamole from Nada (thanks, Lauren!)
Fresh-from-the-oven bread (thanks, Nicole!)
Mango and cucumber salad
Spinach and mushroom enchiladas with fresh tomatillo sauce
Black bean and roasted tomatillo soup
Super-gooey brownies (thanks, Abi!)

Entertainment:
Lauren's perfectly adorable children, proving to all of us that we should never have kids because they won't be as awesome as those two
A disturbing number of mentions of George Clooney and Ryan Gosling (a movie is being filmed in Cincinnati, you guys. LET'S ALL FREAK OUT!)
A disturbing amount of talk about Drew and Nick Lachey ("I'm sorry my butt is in your face" or something like that)
The decision that Lauren shall henceforth be known as "L-Squared"
Discussion of Otis, and his "outfit" (fine, it's a diaper)

And, fits of laughter following each of these statements:
"I don't enjoy reading for hours at night."
"She had him tracking down Bono from YouTube." "U2?"
"I'm moving to the Banks." "The Outer Banks?"
"You know who's short? Vanilla Ice. I met him in the VIP Lounge at Jillian's."

The Soup:
Of the black bean soups I've made in the past, I must say this is my favorite. Sometimes my adventurousness gets in the way of appreciating a classic for what it is--just because this isn't some neuron-busting, bold new flavor doesn't mean it isn't perfectly good as it is. It tastes like black beans, seasoned well, with a tiny tomatillo tang. That's all, and that's all it needs to be. Way to go, black beans.

The star of the night, apart from the joy of conversation and workmate bonding, was probably the enchilada dish, which was from Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless. But the soup worked so well with the enchilada that it was almost like having an awesome wine pairing with a meal--I think each dish elevated the other by its existence.

I have a chronic case of recipe wanderlust lodged deep in my soul; it's rare that I repeat a dish, and when I do I'm usually disappointed the second time around. I don't know that I've ever said I was ready to stop looking for new ways to make a certain dish, so this is kind of a big deal for me. Here goes:

This is now, officially, my go-to black bean soup.

Whoa. That felt weird.

Black Bean and Roasted Tomatillo Soup
adapted from Alice Waters' Chez Panisse Vegetables

2 cups dried black beans
extra virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 of a jalapeño
1/2 bunch of cilantro, leaves and stems separated and reserved separately
3 cloves garlic, peeled
4 tomatillos

Soak dried beans in water overnight. When ready to cook, drain the beans.

Place a large stock pot on medium high heat and add oil. Cook onion about 10 minutes, until soft. Tie cilantro stems, jalapeño and garlic in cheesecloth. Add beans, 3 quarts of water. and cute little cheesecloth bundle and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until beans are soft (anywhere from 1 1/2 to 3 hours--my beans took about 2).

Heat oven to 350F. Quarter tomatillos, toss with a bit of olive oil and season generously with sea salt and pepper. Roast until soft--probably 12 to 15 minutes--and then puree with about 1/2 cup of cilantro leaves.

When beans are soft, blend until smooth with an immersion blender (or in batches in a regular blender). Stir in tomatillo puree, and then season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve garnished with cilantro leaves.

Soupruary 14th: Roasted Beet and Asparagus

2011-02-14T07:03:00.001-08:00

A lovin' spoonful, indeed.
copyright Josh Mattie; also probably The Lovin' Spoonful

A Valentine composed just for you, dear reader:

Roses are red
Soup can be, too
I love soup
But soup loves YOU

(Awww, come on, Soup! Why don't you love me back? (I'm getting loopy. Take away my keyboard (Oh, the classy, sophisticated stuff that happens on this blog, friendos.)))

Right, sorry about that. Justine and Josh joined me to sup on some cheese and bread (of course), shredded carrot salad, and roasted beet and asparagus soup. For dessert? Spongebob Squarepants Conversation Hearts, complete with Spongebob's libertine grin in relief on one side--basically the only conversation they started was what a creepdawg Spongebob apparently is.

Just begging to be roasted, no?

There was a bit of non conversation-heart-driven entertainment in the eventing as well, with a joy-infested viewing of the screen gem Last Holiday (shuddup it is SO a gem).

A lovely way to spend Valentine's Day, IMHO: low-key, relaxed, at home, with a heart-shaped mound of cheese floating on your soup.

The Soup:
The inspiration for this soup came from my favorite lunch menu item in Cincinnati: The roasted beet and asparagus salad at Fountain Square eatery Via Vite. I crave it on the reg, so, I thought, why not try to soupify it? I must say, I think I did a darn good job. I didn't have it with the salad right next to it, of course, so I can't say which is better, but the flavor was similarly cravemongering.

Not only did it look just like Valentine's Day should, but it tasted exactly how I wanted it to (and that's what I call true love).

It even made my hands look like Valentine's Day! Or am I thinking of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre?

Love is a battlefield, y'all.

I think the below is a pretty good approximation of what I did to prepare this soup. I totally endorse it--if, and only if, you like beets, you should try it. I'll also use this time to endorse the practice of experimentation in the kitchen. I don't do it often enough, and it's always a gratifying experience (even when the experiments turn out to be inedible). All it takes is a little faith in yourself. Get in there, champ!

Roasted Beet and Asparagus Soup with Creamy Goat Cheese
adapted from my brain

5 medium beets
1 pound asparagus
a handful of fresh thyme
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 cups yellow onion, peeled and chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 cups water
2 sprigs fresh parsley
2 small bay leaves
2 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt

to serve:
creamy goat cheese
thinly sliced crusty bread

Preheat oven to 375F and wrap beets tightly in foil. Roast beets for about an hour, then test with a fork to see that they're tender. Throw them back in if they're not quite done.

While beets roast, prepare your asparagus by cutting off the woody ends, then tossing with some olive oil and generous sprinklings of sea salt, black pepper, and fresh thyme leaves.

When beets are tender, pull them out and let them cool a bit, then peel. Reserve half of one beet, and chop the rest roughly.

Heat oil over medium in your soup pot. Throw in the onion and celery and cook for about ten minutes. Stir in ginger, allspice and pepper. Add water, beets, 3 or 4 sprigs of thyme, parsley sprigs, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, roast asparagus at 375F for 10 to 12 minutes, checking for doneness. Throw your thinly sliced bread in the oven for a few minutes too, to toast.

Chop reserved half beet into a small dice and save for garnish. Cut a few spears of asparagus to about three inches from the tip, and reserve to use as garnish, chop the rest into one inch sections.

Remove parsley, thyme, and bay leaves from soup. Puree with an immersion blender, then stir in yogurt. Stir in chopped asparagus and taste for seasoning.

To serve, ladle into bowls, then place a piece of toast on each bowl, topped with reserved asparagus spear and goat cheese (in a heart-shape if you want). Sprinkle some of the diced beets around the toast, then drizzle some olive oil. Throw on some coarsely cracked black pepper and fresh thyme leaves, too, if desired.

Soupruary 13th: Tortellini Minestrone

2011-02-13T17:12:00.005-08:00

You want to make out with me right now, don't you? --CJ Craig

Location:
Josh's place at the charming and perfectly acquitted new Parvis Lofts, of which I am jealous to a nasty degree

Attendees:
Brent, Joshua, Katie, Kelly, Laura, Luke, Matthew, Sebastien, me

This salad is Matt-approved!

Menu:
"Big Block of Cheese" (from Josh)
Garlic bread (bread makes you FAT?!?)
Caesar salad (the real, from-scratch kind, y'all; not the icky kind)
Tortellini minestrone with parsley pesto
Brownies (from Katie)
"Lemon-Lyman Bars" (from Kelly)

Two pounds!

Entertainment:
Watching West Wing, talking about West Wing, calling one another "Sorks"

Can you hear angels singing when you look at this box set, or is it just me?

The Soup:
I must say, this is one of the prettiest soups I've made. Let's have another look, shall we?

Tasted quite good, too, but when is minestrone not a crowd pleaser? With the extra fun of stirring in some bright green pesto and the squish of the cheese in the tortellini, it would have taken a lot to ruin this recipe. I'm not saying it's mindblowing, but it's a good, hearty meal, and I'm going to go ahead and declare it utterly foolproof.

I wasn't about to spend my whole Sunday making tortellini from scratch. Thus: the perfect excuse to get locally-made, fresh tricolor tortellini at Findlay Market. It was really great, too. A bit more expensive than buying something at the grocery store, but so beautifully tender and the cheese was so delicate. I say it's worth it.

chopchopchopchopchopchop

I wildly underestimated the amount of soup this would make, and bit-more-than doubled it. All 9 of us could have had another bowl and still had more soup left. This is a make-on-Sunday-and-eat-all-week kind of soup--unless you're having a pretty monstrous soup crowd you probably don't need to go crazy like I did. Leave it as-is.

One regret: I forgot to add a dash of balsamic vinegar to serve. I'll do that when I get my container out of the freezer in, like, April, when I can deal with the idea of eating soup again.

A note: The original recipe has you starting with a few slices of bacon or pancetta in the bottom of your pan to give the soup some smoky meatiness. So if you're currently in a phase during which the methods of raising and processing pork don't bug you (hey, we all go through phases), go crazy. Or, try the minestrone I made in 2009, which I recall being pretty darn delicious (it was a PHASE, okay?).

Also: Thanks to Kelly for recommending this recipe!

Okay, one more note: I'm thinking that if I do this crazy thing again next year, I'm going to have to break my one rule (never a recipe I've made before) so that I can share my mom's minestrone recipe with y'all. I've had a whole lot of minestrone from a whole lot of places, but nothing quite compares for me.

Tortellini Minestrone with Parsley Pesto

adapted from WinnieAb's food52 recipe

Probably serves 8 people comfortably

soup:
a good glug of olive oil
1 yellow onion, peeled and diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 leek, white and pale green parts only, thinly sliced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 zucchini, diced
1 Yukon gold potato, diced
1 quart vegetable stock
1 15 ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 28 ounce can whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes
1 cup kale, finely chopped
9 ounces cheese tortellini

pesto:
1 cup loosely packed Italian parsley
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
3 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Heat olive oil in your pot over medium, and add onions, garlic and leeks. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until soft.

Add carrot, celery, zucchini and potato and stir around for a minute or two.

Add stock, chickpeas, and tomatoes (including juice), tearing up the tomatoes as you throw them to the pot (wash your hands; it'll be okay). Throw in a bit of salt and pepper.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 35 to 40 minutes or until all vegetables are tender and flavors are nicely combined.

While the soup simmers, make the pesto. First, chopchopchopchopchop the parsley. Add pine nuts, and chopchopchop. Add garlic, and shopshopshopshop. Add Parmesan, and chopchopchopchopchop, until everything is pretty much finely chopped. Put it in a bowl, stir in olive oil, and add some freshly ground black pepper.

When the soup's vegetables are all "Hey, man, we're totally cooked!", add in kale and tortellini, and cook until pasta is done (should just be 5 minutes or so). Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve soup with a spoonful of pesto and, if desired, some extra Parmesan and a dash of balsamic vinegar.

Soupruary 12th: Pear and Gouda

2011-02-13T17:12:00.003-08:00

So cheesy that all its jokes were puns.

A Saturday Ladybrunch:
Ashley (thanks for taking photos!), Evangeline, Julie, Justine, Katie, me, with a late-afternoon cameo by the always-working Laura

Katie, taller.

Menu:
Crudite with junk to dip it in
Blood orange olive oil bread
Brie Snack! (copyright Mandy Levy)
Beautifully rustic fennel quiche (courtesy of the lovely and talented Justine)
Crispy roasted potatoes
Pear and Gouda soup
Plus pineapple, apricot or fresh tangerine mimosas (because brunch!)

Entertainment:
Ashley's sweet temporary tattoo Valentines
Justine's disdain for The House Bunny (but it has the best makeover scene!)
The first outdoor adventure of 2011

First rooftop day of the year = big smiles.

One row of ladies, sitting in the one strip of sun,
Requiem for a Dream style.

The Soup:
This soup looked and felt like the concept of brunch: Indulgent, sweet, cheesy.

I didn't quite pay enough attention during the roux/bechamel phase of the cooking (I get so distracted sometimes), so I really think the texture could have been smoother. The added contrast from the salsa is nice though--I don't think I would have liked it without it. I served small portions, but it's quite a heavy soup; you can only eat a bit. I kept saying it was like fondue, which is an exaggeration, but it still feels like eating a big bowl of cheese. I'd like to mix up the ingredients if I try it again, but as an idea of brunch, which is what I was after, the concept is pretty solid.

Would I recommend this soup? Not necessarily. It's not a must try. But hey, it was pretty good for what it was. And with company this good, who really cares?

I'm including this awful photo of me solely because it made me laugh so
hard I snorted louder than I ever have. Ever. And I laugh-snort a lot.

Pear and Gouda Soup with Toasted Walnut-Cranberry Salsa

adapted from Paulette Mitchell's A Beautiful Bowl of Soup

salsa:
1/2 red pear, julienned
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lime juice
2 tablesppons minced toasted walnuts
2 tablespoons dried cranberries
dash of grated nutmeg

soup:
2 ripe pears, cored, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
4 ounces baby Gouda, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup apple juice

Make the salsa: Stir all ingredients together (so difficult), and set aside for later.

Place pears, stock, ginger and nutmeg in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Puree with an immersion blender, and set aside.

In another saucepan, melt the butter over low heat and add the flour, stirring constantly for about 1 minute. Remove from heat and whisk in milk gradually, keeping the mixture smooth. Return the pan to medium heat, and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a simmer. Reduce heat back to low, and cook until thickened, about four minutes, continuing to stir. Add the cheese and stir until melted. Stir in pear mixture and apple juice.

Season to taste and serve topped with salsa.

Soupruary 11th: New Zealand Sweet Potato Chowder

2011-02-13T17:12:00.001-08:00

"My taste buds are swarming!" --Kenneth (I think this was an endorsement, not a killer bee attack)

Ken and Josh came over for a pre-gallery meal of delicious kale chips (from Mandy and Kendall's blog--you should make them), julienned zucchini and almonds, and New Zealand Sweet Potato Chowder. What makes it New Zealandy? After a light bit of internet research, I still have no idea.

As for entertainment, I think we only wasted, like, 5 minutes watching Justin Bieber do adorable things on television (seriously, though, did you see when he and Jon Stewart did that Freaky Friday intro segment on The Daily Show? A DOORBELL!).

Ughghgh looking at this picture makes me want more RIGHT NOW.
Seriously, I love sides so much. Next year I'm doing Sidesruary.

Josh found the soup to be a bit too sweet for him, but Ken and I liked it as is. I'm a big believer in only eating sweet potatoes when they're made a bit savory, and I thought the thyme in this chowder did a nice job of that. That said, there's no denying it's sweet (thus the descriptor). But if the words creamy, corny, and sweetpotatoey (totes a word, duh) sound enticing to you, I'd recommend this super simple chowder.

New Zealand Sweet Potato Chowder

adapted from The Daily Soup Cookbook, by Leslie Kaul, Bob Spiegel et al

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 quart vegetable stock
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 yams, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 cup frozen corn kernals
1 cup light whipping cream
1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

Melt the butter in your soup pot over medium heat, and add onion and sugar. cook for about 10 minutes, until soft and browning.

Add thyme, bay leaves, salt and pepper and stir to coat.

Add stock, sweet potatoes, yams and corn and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, partially cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes. Test to be sure potatoes are tender.

Remove bay leaves and stir in cream.

Using an immersion blender, puree about 1/4 of the soup to add some thickness. YOU could also remove about 1/4 of the soup, puree in a blender, and return it to the pot.

Stir in garlic and chopped parsley, check for seasoning, and enjoy.

Soupruary 10th: Curried Carrot

2011-02-10T06:41:00.003-08:00

UPDATE: I was totally harsh and unfair to this soup. I just ate leftovers for lunch, and it was really very good. I would be pumped to have purchased it at any of the lovely delis around the city, so do temper any of my griping below a bit. Either it benefited from being refrigerated overnight, or I was a big, mean grouch last night.

Man, I totally did not feel like soup tonight. After an epic night last night, knowing I was in for a quiet night at home, I could've been perfectly satisfied snacking on leftover cheese.

But, hey, I'm no quitter.

I've made a few carrot soups before, and none of them have really been memorable or repeat-worthy. Not wanting to give up on Ye Olde Carrot as an entire category of soups, I thought I'd try again (as previously noted: not a quitter).

Unfortunately, I'd have to say this was again unmemorable and won't see my kitchen again. Oh, it was a perfectly edible and even fairly good soup, but when you're making this many, there's no reason to stick with something that doesn't just exhaust your taste buds from too much delight. On the plus side: while this wasn't a home run, it was hearty (especially for a smooth soup) and felt nourishing and comforting on a cold night. Who knows, though: maybe it was great and my lack of enthusiasm for cooking last night had everything to do with my meh reaction. Stranger things have happened.

I think my issue with the carrot soups I've made is that they're just a bit too sweet for me. I need to bring the savory, and I'll keep trying until I find one that works. Um, maybe.

This was an awesome excuse to buy pistachios (boy, do I love pistachios), and the not-actually-cream turned out really tasty with some good sharpness from the raw garlic. May figure out some other way to use it (as I have, of course, some still in the fridge).

Curried Carrot Soup with Cilantro-Pistachio Cream

adapted from A Beautiful Bowl of Soup, by Paulette Mitchell

cream:
1 cup cilantro leaves
1/4 cup salted pistachios
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons milk

soup:
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup ccoarsely chopped apple1 cup coarsely chopped red onion
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 1/2 cup vegetable stock
5 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons Greek yogurt

to serve:
Greek yogurt
sliced fresh chives

Make the cream by combining all ingredients in a food processor. Chill until ready to serve.

Melt butter in your soup pot over medium heat. Add apple and onion and cook until onion is translucent. Add curry powder and stir to combine.

Add carrots and stock. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until carrots are tender (about 20 minutes).

Remove from heat and blend soup with an immersion blender. Add milk, return to heat and stir until warmed. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve topped with a dab of Greek yogurt, a drizzle of cilantro cream, and chopped chives.

Soupruary 9th: Creamy Asparagus

2011-02-10T06:41:00.001-08:00

A beautiful night with beautiful friends, and some totally passable soup.

Location:
My humble abode, complete with patented Flable

Attendees:
Ashley, Carley, Evangeline, Joshua, Julie, Katie, Sebastien, me

Menu:
Radishes with butter and salt (first time this year!)
"Various and sundry cheesesetizers"-copyright Evey (Triple-cream Brie with apples, almonds, and mango-habanero sauce, cinnamon cranberry goat cheese, and TILLAMOOK!!! (sorry, got a little excited about the TILLAMOOK! thanks to Julie for that welcome addition))
Avocado, grapefruit and endive with citrus shallot dressing
Braised fingerling potato coins and leeks
Creamy asparagus soup with a poached egg on toast

Entertainment:
Show and Tell with Evey. What a fabulous idea she had--I'm thinking I'll make this a rule. Come over, and bring something to show (and tell, obvs). Fun, right?

Broken glass!!! (Come over around 8; we'll watch Say Anything.)

Trying (and probably failing) to defend myself for using the word concomitantly
Really solid conversation, the type that bolsters your soul. I've got soul afterglow going from all the girl talk into the wee hours.

The Soup:
Sometimes canceled plans are the equivalent of some seriously awesome gift wrapped up in, like, your 2006 taxes. Seems like a bummer, but turns out to be JUST WHAT YOU ALWAYS WANTED.

And so it was with today. Went to the gym (!!!???), popped 'round the shops, had a leisurely lunch that I did not cook (!!!??? (at a restaurant and everything!)), got some cleaning in, and had time to prepare food in a relaxed manner while listening to my beloved podsnaps (yesterday's picks: The Nerdist and The Smartest Man in the World).

Right, um, I'm meant to be talking about soup. It was fine, I think! Yes! Fine! It was a great deal better than my previous attempt at asparagus soup, and was very, um, asparagusy.

In general, I’m much more lover than fighter. In fact, I’d say the only exception is food. When I cook a dish that I fail to deem a success, I can be pretty scrappy and stubborn. Fiery even. So, here I am, two years after making a pretty boring and unsatisfying (even more so in retrospect) asparagus soup, and I still have a score to settle.

I kinda screwed up the eggs a bit. My distracted mind wasn't thinking things through well enough, and instead of boiling the water and then putting it the Pyrex on the heat to poach the eggs, I took the water up to a boil in the Pyrex. They came out okay, but then the casserole dish up and ASPLODED. Very dramatic. Very Soupruary.

So, then, as eggs love to do, they kinda kept cooking as Seb and Josh were scurrying around in rescue mode, attempting to clean up the shards from the cooking area (Seb got sliced a bit. Sorry, Sebby).

Right, so anyway, not a bad way to poach a ton of eggs at once, just avoid doing it while being super stupid at the same time.

A point for this soup: It is indeed creamy, without any cream in it. Way to go, soup! It's quite a nice soup, just not one of those soups that's going to be really the star of the meal. The potatoes (one of my favorite things to make--from Chez Panisse Vegetables, slightly altered with the addition of leeks) sort of overshadowed the soup in my mind. But, yeah, certainly nothing wrong with it. I'd say, if you're looking for an asparagus soup in particular, this one gets a seal of approval.

Try not to Corrie the eggs.

Creamy Asparagus Soup with a Poached Egg on Toast
Adapted from Jamie Oliver's Jamie at Home

1 ¾ pounds asparagus, woody ends removed
olive oil
1 white onion, peeled and chopped
2 stalks of celery, trimmed and copped
2 leeks, trimmed and chopped
2 quarts vegetable stock
8 small free-range organic eggs
8 slices of ciabatta bread
butter
extra virgin olive oil

Chop the tips off your asparagus and reserve. Roughly chop the asparagus stalks. Get a large, deep pan on medium heat and add a tablespoon of olive oil. Gently fry the onions, celery and leeks for around 10 minutes, until onions are soft and transparent. Add the chopped asparagus stalks and stock and simmer for 20 minutes with a lid on. Remove from the heat and puree with an immersion blender. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper. Put the soup back on the heat, stir in the asparagus tips, bring back to the boil and simmer for a few more minutes until the tips have softened.

Toast your ciabatta slices. Boil a good bit of water and pour it into a casserole dish over high heat on the stove. Quickly crack all eight eggs into the water. Don’t worry about poaching so many at the same time. After a few minutes, use a slotted spoon to remove all the poached eggs to a plate and add a bit of butter to them. To serve, divide the soup between eight bowls and place a piece of toast into each with a poached egg on top.

Soupruary 8th: Chilled Lettuce

2011-02-08T06:44:00.001-08:00

Let's be honest: I only picked this because it sounds truly disgusting.

Location:
My apartment

Attendees:
Joshua, Kelly, Kenneth, moi

Menu:
Re-purposed canceled roadtrip snacks
Cabbage and cucumber salad with carrot ginger miso dressing
Chilled lettuce soup with radish salsa

Entertainment:
Griping over the canceled Robyn show we were headed to in Columbus tonight

Watching, and subsequently casting the remake of, Clue
Clue, a film by Steven Soderbergh
Hugh Grant is...Wadsworth
Alec Baldwin is...Mr. Boddy
Anna Faris is...Yvette
Luis Guzmán is...The Cop
Tyler Perry's Madea is...The Cook
James Franco is...The Stranded Motorist
Neil Patrick Harris is...Mr. Green
David Hyde Pierce is...Professor Plum
Mary Louise Parker is...Miss Scarlett
Megan Mulally is...Mrs. White
Paul Giamotti is...Colonel Mustard
Rob Lowe is...That FBI Dude at the End
And introducing Justin Bieber as The Singing Telegram Girl

The Soup:
Did you get the idea that we were supposed to go to Columbus tonight? Because we were supposed to go to Columbus tonight. We found out at about 5:15 that the show we were going to see had been called off due to "sickness" or whatever. Blerg.

I'd already prepared a travel-worthy chilled soup for the evening, so that's what we ate. Outside of the context of traveling, it didn't really feel quite right to have a cold soup, what with the cold weather and all. At least the ingredients were pretty:

I bought some lovely heads of local Bibb lettuce at Madison's at Findlay Market--I was so heartily in love with Bibb lettuce salads in 2010, so I decided they'd make a good soup. Boston lettuce would work also--any buttery leaf.

Another obsession since I've discovered it is the homemade Greek yogurt you can get at Dean's at Findlay Market. Oh, boy, is it creamylicious (ew, gross, who said that?).

This was a light and bright soup that tasted extremely fresh--a rare sensation in the winter--and the color was somehow primordially pleasing. Basically a day spa for your mouth. It was good; unfortunately, it just doesn't quite make sense in February.

All that said, this soup would have an entirely different feel in the summer time. I can see myself revisiting this as a starter for a weekend brunch in July. It would be great as a little shooter of soup, rather than a whole bowl. Another plus for a brunch menu? It's whoa-ay easier than pie.

Chilled Lettuce Soup with Radish Salsa
adapted from A Beautiful Bowl of Soup, by Paulette Mitchell

Soup:
4 cups torn Bibb lettuce (about two heads)
2 cups stemmed baby spinach
1 cup fresh Italian parsley
1/4 cup chopped shallot
3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
juice of one Meyer lemon
2 cups vegetable stock

Salsa:
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
1/2 teaspoon agave syrup
1/8 teaspoon dry mustard
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
pinch of flaky sea salt
1/3 cup red radish matchsticks (1"x1/8" strips)
1/3 cup English cucumber (1"x1/8" strips)

If you have a blender, you can probably just throw all the soup ingredients in it and puree it into a bright green smoothie. If you don't (like me), throw all the dry ingredients into a food processor and get them pretty smooth and reduced, then transfer into a bowl or 1 quart container. Add the wet ingredients, and puree until smooth.

In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, agave syrup, dry mustard, salt and pepper. Toss in the radish and cucumber, and mix well.

Chill soup and salsa separately for at least three hours. Serve soup topped with a good mound of salsa.

Soupruary 7th: Spicy Parsnip

2011-02-07T07:05:00.001-08:00

I'll par your snip!
huh?!?

Tonight I had the pleasure to attend a truly great guest speaker evening at the Contemporary Arts Center, full of laughter and nearly tear-inducing moments of sincerity. Davy Rothbart-- Found Magazine creator (first I typed "founder," but that looked way weird), author, documentary subject, This American Life contributor, and all around creative overachiever--filled the CAC's theater more than to capacity, and brought a huge burst of life into a cold February night.

Davy was enthusiastic, infectious, delightful, and just a little bit, errrrr, how-you-say long-winded? It certainly didn't feel like it was too long, not even a little bit--I gladly would have sat there another hour--but that doesn't change the fact that by the time I arrived home at 8:30 to start cooking, I was a wee (read: LOT) bit hungry. Luckily, I had a quick recipe ready to fire up, knock out, and sit down to really savor for a few moments (read: two bowls (oops)) prior to heading out to Arnold's to meet up with the CAC crew and listen in as Davy continued to marvel and regale.

Davy seems to be one of those people who really lives--who, while he is always looking for the next project, still takes the time to be fully and precisely where he is at the moment and to enjoy the H out of it. Who knew one could be so inspired on a lowly Monday night?

Similarly, I suppose, who knew a parsnip could be so lovely as a main ingredient? (Am I reaching here? Maybe. Shuddup.) In their raw form, parsnips are not the most appetizing. They smell bitter and dirty, like a handful of old pennies. But treat them with a little heat and a little love (okay, and other ingredients--geez, somebody's mushy tonight), and they become subtly sweet and shockingly satisfying. The parsnip shows up looking like a carrot without a tan (a vampire carrot?!?!), and then surprises you with just how good it can be.

If you're like me and you haven't cooked a ton with parsnips in the past, this soup is a great way to introduce yourself to their flavor without many other strong personalities cluttering up the joint. For something so quick and easy, this soup has a fairly complex outcome. Each bite starts off sweet, then savory comes through, then the habanero zings in with a lingering heat.

The heat really comes from the habanero, so if you're wary, just ignore that ingredient. Now that I think of it, the soup may come off as more sophisticated without the habanero's blatantly obvious heat (but, IMHO, less fun (and, hey, I've never claimed to be sophisticated)).

Spicy Parsnip Soup

adapted from Jamie Oliver's 30-minute-meals (although it totally takes 45 minutes)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon garam masala
5 parsnips, peeled and chopped
2 cups milk
3 cups vegetable stock
1 tiny fresh habanero, deseeded and minced
fresh cilantro leaves

Heat olive oil and the butter over medium heat in your soup pot. Add the onion, garlic, ginger and garam masala. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the onions are soft.

Add the chopped parsnip and stir well. Pour in the milk and stock and bring to the boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes.

Check to be sure the parsnips are nice and soft. When they're ready, puree with an immersion blender (or carefully, in batches, in a regular blender). Taste for seasoning, adding salt and pepper if necessary.

Serve with a sprinkling of minced habanero (pro tip: don't touch it with your bare hands) and fresh cilantro leaves.

Soupruary 6th: Broccoli Cheese

2011-02-06T19:18:00.001-08:00

How many times can I say "Souper Bowl" in one post? Let's hope it's only one.

Steve & Marisa opened the door to their fancypants mancave in the snowy Westside of Cincinnati to host Jeff, Raphaela, Rob, Evan, Joshua and myself for Super Bowl (insert Roman numeral). It was the best kind of Super Bowl party, i.e. the kind where no one really watches football but there's a ton of food and everyone is ready to exclaim in numerous and varied ways that the Black Eyed Peas are truly the worst.

I had a good soup-related discussion (it's shocking how many of those I have this time of year) with Evan, but I don't think he had any soup. He's either a hardcore soupist, or, having already eaten, just full. Anyway, he sort of inspired me to add ramen to the menu (which makes sense, because it's, like, my favorite food), so that addition may be coming.

A grand time was had by all, and I'm already craving more of the sweet corn cake that Ris made. Ay yi yi, sweet + corn + cake are pretty much my favorite words in the English language (and I know a few).

With some salted rye croutons thrown on top. Cheesy!

My reasons for choosing this soup were twofold:

1) The Green Bay Packers played in the Super Bowl today against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Because cheese is easier to incorporate into a soup than steel, I decided I was going to cheer for the Green and Yellow (broccoli and cheese!) team to make the most scoretouchgoals. Pretty sure it's the sole reason they won.

2) I attempted a broccoli cheese soup during 2009 Soupruary, and ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwyuck. Maybe it's become even worse in my own personal folklore than it actually was, but in my memory it was, like, guh-ross-uh. But guess what, you guys. Soupruary is Corriean for redemption. Fix-it time.

And, you know? I think I don't hate broccoli cheese any more. This was a crowd pleaser. The base was silky and cheesy and creamy without feeling like you were just pumping lard into your veins (a plus!), and there was a whole mess of broccoli in it, so, you know, iron or whatever?

Real talk: This isn't health food. It's not fancy food, either. But it does taste good. So, if you're one of those people who really enjoys some broccoli swimming in a cheesy pool, I say you won't go wrong with this recipe.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

adapted from A Beautiful Bowl of Soup, by Paulette Mitchell

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 carrot, finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups vegetable stock
2 crowns of broccoli, cut into small florets
1 small russet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
2 cups milk
8 ounces sharp Cheddar, shredded (I used an aged white sheep's milk Cheddar)
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

Melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat, then add carrot, onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Cook until vegetables are tender (about 10 minutes).

Reduce heat to low and add flour. Stir constantly for about 2 minutes. Add stock slowly, whisking the entire time.

Add broccoli, potato, and celery seed, and bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Keeping the heat low, stir in milk. When the soup is warm, begin gradually adding Cheddar, stirring until melted.

Stir in dry mustard, and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with rye croutons if desired.

Soupruary 5th: Tomato Blood Orange

2011-02-05T18:19:00.001-08:00

It's bloody fantastic!

A quick soup--hurriedly prepared between setting up for our monthly dance night and going back to dance the night away--but a bona fide home run.

If you want me to get a bit nostalgic about the time I spent in England in college, all you have to do is put on the Strokes or the Dandy Warhols. But if you want me to wax poetic about the whole experience, well, that requires a venture into the land of tomato and orange soup. Having to spend only 47p a can at Tesco, I quickly became addicted to the stuff. Who knows if I'd like it if I could find it somewhere now; all I have is a sense memory of mythic proportion.

My last attempt to recreate something with approximately the same flavor profile (hola, overused Top Chef catchphrase) brought about a veritable Dark Night of the Soup that has haunted me these past twelve months.

I'm happy to report, though, that I finally made something that made me happy in the way only a food that holds some meaning for you can. That transportive quality, when a bite doesn't just taste good, it sends your mind and your mood to another dimension.

I'm not saying this soup will do the same thing for everyone, but I do think it would go over well with just about anyone. It has enough novelty, just conceptually, to work as a starter for a dinner party, and the spicy citrus flavor is a surprising one (even when you're expecting it).

Now, a confession. This photo is a lie:

If you ask me, it's one of nature's cruelest tricks that tomatoes and citrus aren't in season at the same time.

I knew it wasn't going to work, even as I was picking out those sad, mealy, deceivingly-red February tomatoes. I stubbornly soldiered on, blanching, peeling, chopping one, then two tomatoes before coming to. This was not going to work. Spongy pink flesh does not a satisfying soup make.

San Marzanos to the rescue! I try to make it a point to always have a can or two of these babies around, and boy do they come in handy. I'd still like to try this with fresh tomatoes sometime, but my emergency modifications to the recipe were more than successful. In fact, I can already say with a fair amount of certainty that this is going to be one of my favorite soups of 2011.

Oh, and how's this for a bright idea: I want to make this again soon, maybe add a bit more of the tomato juice, chill it, blend it till it's a bit smoother, add a bit of horseradish and vodka and make a seriously killer Bloody Mary. Anyone for Brunchageddon/Armabruncheon in March again?

Tomato Blood Orange Soup

quite liberally adapted from A Beautiful Bowl of Soup, by Paulette Mitchell

2 servings or 4 starter servings

1 28-ounce can whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup vegetable stock
1/2 cup tomato juice (from can of tomatoes)
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (leave out if you don't want it spicy)
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh basil
3 ripe, juicy blood oranges
1 tablespoon sugar
dash of pomegranate molasses

Heat oil in your soup pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook for about five minutes. While the onion is cooking, tear tomatoes into a bowl, then drain the juice back into the can to reserve.

Add tomatoes and garlic to the pot, and cook for about 5 minutes.

Add vegetable stock and tomato juice, and pour into your pot. Add red pepper flakes, thyme, and basil. Heat to boiling, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, juice the blood oranges into a bowl with your hands, getting lots of pulp in as well.

Remove the herbs and discard, and remove pot from heat. Stir in orange juice, sugar, pomegranate molasses, and salt and pepper to taste. Eat, and be happy.

Soupruary 4th: Indian Yellow Split Pea

2011-02-04T06:30:00.001-08:00

An actual phrase that was uttered: "Pleasantly Indian." Why does that look bad when it's typed out? I was convinced for a good five minutes that it was the perfect name for an Indian restaurant in the suburbs.

Location:
My apartment in the lovely, um, Gateway Quarter? Downtown? OTR? Let's just say Cincinnati, I suppose.

Attendees:
David, Joshua, Kelly, Kenneth, me

Menu:
Curried wheat berry salad with baked tofu
Vegetable fritters with cilantro curry yogurt
Indian yellow split pea soup

Entertainment:
A thorough discussion of the history of the Academy Award for best original song, leading to some impulsive and thoroughly unnecessary iTunes purchases, but, hey, I have a gift card.
Ken's space outfit pose-athon:

The Soup:
There's nothing like a thick, creamy, slightly ugly soup to really warm the soul. The spices in this soup were so pleasant (I said it again! Aaack!)--not spicy, just spiced.

I love the way split peas work. They start hard and unassuming and totally boring-looking, but all you have to do is put in minimal effort and wait an hour to turn them into what can only be described as comfort food. The texture is really where it's at, man. This stick-to-your-ribs soup makes you feel so impervious to the elements that I almost wished it were even colder when we ventured out for a bit of dancing and friends. It's like a blanket for your tummy (ugh. note to self: delete that last thing you typed.)!

Oh, and the flavor was good, man. The type of thing where, even if you're already full, you have to finish the bowl just because it would be too sad not to. With as easy (oh, and cheap!) as this was to throw together, this soup almost tricked me into thinking I might actually be good at cooking. Try it! Trick yourself too!

I would so...totally...make this soup again (extra points if you can hear that in your head as it's meant to be heard (double extra points if you can name the character I'm thinking of (but then negative points, because, like, why are you in my brain right now?))).

Indian Yellow Split Pea Soup

Adapted from The Daily Soup Cookbook, a gift from Aaron and Anneliese

2 teaspoons Garam Masala
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 large Spanish onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
6 cups vegetable stock
2 cups water
1 pound yellow split peas
1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
cilantro (garnish)

Preheat the oven to 300F. Combine Garam Masala, turmeric and coriander on a cookie sheet or in an oven-proof skillet and roast for five minutes. Set aside.

Heat oil and sugar in your soup pot over medium. Add onion and cook for about 10 minutes (until caramelized). Remove to a food processor or blender and puree, then return to pot.

Add carrot, celery, spice mixture, ginger, and cayenne, and sweat for a few minutes.

Add stock, water, and peas, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, partially cover pot, and simmer until peas are tender (about 45 minutes). Taste for seasoning--add salt and pepper if desired.

Stir in garlic and simmer for a few more minutes, then serve topped with cilantro.

Soupruary 3rd: Lebanese Vegetable

2011-02-03T07:56:00.001-08:00

Janice: What's Lebanese about it?
Me: Um, that's what it's called?

Location:
My apartment

Attendees:
Ashley, Chandler, Joshua, me

Menu:
Cannellini spread with junk to dip in it
Cabbage and lime salad with roasted peanuts (next day note: even more delicious for breakfast)
Lebanese vegetable soup
Assorted cupcakes from Abby Girl Sweets, donated to the cause by my friend Patty (man, the strawberry one was to die for.)
Prosecco with Graeter's strawberry sorbet (thanks to Josh for bringing the sorbet!)

Entertainment:
Comedy Night Done Right* All Night**
Chandler's performance of the most horrifying evil laugh, a relic of his days of employ by a haunted house
Bonding over shared loathing of the characters on "Perfect Couples"
Near donnybrook regarding the distribution of the last 1/4 cupcake

(Full disclosure: Ashley did not bogart the last 1/4 cupcake; she shared it with Josh.
The picture was just funnier this way.)

Note:
Patty (of donated cupcakes fame) informs me that I really need a rating system for these soups. Seems like a good idea to me; I'll attempt to work that out over the weekend.

The Soup:
My brother's sister-in-law (sister-in-law's sister? Is that more confusing?), Karin, sent me this recipe after I was home for Christmas, and it immediately went on the shortlist for the 2011 soupendar. I'm really glad it did.

If you perform a Google search*** for Lebanese Vegetable soup, you get quite a few versions of pretty much the same thing--so I'm going to say it's officially Lebanese, no matter how skeptical Janice may be.

Now, this is a good weeknight soup. Super quick to put together, and, depending on the make-up of your pantry, may not even require a trip to the store. The thing that sets it apart from a normal vegetable soup is the artichoke hearts--they really add a bright, tangy acidity to an otherwise fairly standard soup.

This really isn't a spicy soup at all, but if you're super sensitive, you could leave out one or both of the peppers below; definitely don't leave out the coriander. I like to toast whole coriander seeds quickly in a small saute pan, then grind them with a mortar and pestle. I'm convinced it makes it taste better, but I might just like to CRUSH THINGS. (wait...what?)

Though it does taste good, the best recommendation for this soup is the way it makes you feel. It's a big bowl of health, that's what it is. After I finished, my body was all "Thanks, man! You finally figured out what I needed! I'll stop hating you now, at least until you eat all those cupcakes!"

The vegetables in the soup are cooked, but somehow they taste so bright and fresh and full of life. It's satisfying and nourishing and filling, but not heavy. It's not the kind of soup that's going to impress anyone at a dinner party, but I'd never kick it out of bed.

Mmmmm...soup in bed...

Lebanese Vegetable Soup

Adapted from the Sister Vegetarian blog

1 large sweet onion, chopped (About 2 cups)
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
2 cups diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground coriander
4 garlic cloves, minced
1-1/2 cups diced yukon gold potatoes
4 cups vegetable stock
2 cups canned diced San Marzano tomatoes
2 13-14 oz cans of Artichoke Hearts, cut into eighths
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (I like to slip the skins off them, too, but mostly because it's fun. Not really a necessary step.)

Garnish
chopped fresh italian parsley
lemon wedges
Greek yogurt

In a large pot, sauté the onion in the olive oil for about 5 minutes.
Stir in the carrots and celery and cook for an additional 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the red pepper flakes, coriander, cayenne and garlic. Cover and cook for a few more minutes.
Add the potatoes and 2 cups of the stock; cover and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer until the potatoes are nearly tender and not overcooked.
Gently stir in the tomatoes, artichoke hearts, chickpeas, and the remaining 2 cups of stock.
Heat gently until vegetables are heated through but not mushy. Taste for seasoning (I added some pepper but no salt, as there was enough salt in my stock).
Top with a lemon wedge, a dollop of Greek yogurt, and a sprinkling of parsley.

*A dubious statement, at best.
**Did NBC seriously rhyme "Night" with "Night"? LAZY****.
***I just declared it National Don't Use Google As A Verb Day (a.k.a. awkward sentence construction day?).
****Much like my blog-writing.

Another note: Thanks to Josh for taking the photos last night--A huge improvement over my iPhone snapshots of the last two days.

Soupruary 2nd: Soupe au Pistou

2011-02-02T07:26:00.001-08:00

Ooh la la! Oui oui! Nom nom!

Location:
My apartment, picnic-style due to a tragic coffee-table accident. That's me, always living like a grown-up.

Attendees:
Ashley, Julie, Katie, Laura, me

Menu:
apples with goat cheese
whatever salad™
caramelized leek bread pudding
soupe au pistou with parmesan croutons
mango sorbet with mixed berry compote (thanks to Laura for transporting us to some tropical isle during the snow storm)
chocolate peanut butter snickers omgcookies (thanks to Katie (I gained 10 pounds!))

Entertainment:
A high-energy Zoomba demonstration from Ashley
A rousing game of Loaded Questions, in which we learned that Laura's favorite pet name is "Mr. Soberface," Katie has a thing for grape drink, Julie's affinity is for inverse heart shapes, and we all (a) make too many Justin Bieber jokes and (b) think a half-formed bird still in the egg is pretty much the grossest. Oh, and Ashley really likes Ryan Gosling's pants, but then, who wouldn't?

Gratuitous Gosling. You're welcome.

The Soup:
An uncanny impression of me eating this soup:

(bite) "Mmmmm."
(bite) "Mmmmmmm."
(bite) "Mm."
(bite) "MMMMMMMMMM."

I pretty much continued that way until the end of the bowl.

The key that takes this soup from the the normal-vegetable-soup garage to the superior-vegetable-soup highway is the broth. It's layered and savory and I could have eaten it all by its lonesome. But then that pistou jumps in the car, and it's all "let's take the HOV lane straight to flavor town, friendo!" Each bite is different, with more or less pistou, but each bite was dangerously delightful in its own special way.

Wikipedia informs me that--while the word pistou came about when the Genoese brought pesto to the Provençal--pesto and pistou are SO TOTALLY DIFFERENT YOU GUYS, as pistou does not traditionally contain pine nuts. (See below: OOPS. Sorry, Provence, but you can't tell us what to do! We're breakin' your stuffy old rules, old man.)

This is another classic soup I've been wanting to try for a while now, and one for which I read quite a few recipes, from Alice Waters' to David Lebovitz's to some Williams-Sonoma book to a few blogs (even some written in FRENCH that I attempted to decipher with my crayon-sharp skills). How did I settle on this one? Well, it seemed like the most complicated, unnecessarily time-consuming, easily mess-up-able one. In other words: PERFECT for a weeknight, y'all. Suzanne Goin I am not, but I can somewhat, partially, stumblingly follow one of her recipes. With how painfully delicious this was, I can only imagine how good it could have been had I done everything just right.

In summation: Pain in the booty (and not just because we were sitting on the floor all night)? Oh, yes. Worth it? Oh, heavens yes.

Soupe au Pistou
adapted from a recipe by Suzanne Goin

Who's ready for a supermegalong ingredient list? I AM! Here's your first clue that no sane being would run home from work to attempt this dish:

Broth:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 sprig rosemary
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1/4 bulb fennel, chopped
1/2 cup roughly chopped carrot
1/3 cup roughly chopped celery
3 cloves garlic, unpeeled
5 sprigs thyme
3 sprigs Italian parsley
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup diced canned San Marzano tomatoes
2 quarts water

Pistou:
1 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup thinly sliced basil
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley
3 tablespoons toasted pine nuts (I toasted mine in a small, nonstick skillet, due to my tendency to burn at least the first two batches of any nut I try to toast in the oven.)

Assembly:
6 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3/4 cup diced red onion
3/4 cup diced fennel bulb
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups diced zucchini
1 1/2 cups 1-inch cut haricot vert (skinny French green beans)
1/2 cup cooked flageolet beans (you can find these canned or dried when fresh are not in season. I used dried, first soaking them overnight and then simmering for 1.5 hours.)
1/4 pound ciabatta bread (or whatever bread you like), torn or cut into one-inch pieces
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano
1 cup baby spinach leaves

1. Make the broth.

Heat a large heavy-bottomed pot (I used my Dutch oven) over high heat for 2 minutes. Add the olive oil, rosemary and pepper flakes. When they start to sizzle, add the onion, fennel, carrot, celery, garlic, thyme, parsley, bay leaf, peppercorns and salt.
Saute the vegetables for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until they begin to caramelize. Add the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the water, bring to a boil and simmer until the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Puree with an immersion blender, or in a regular blender in batches. Strain with a fine mesh strainer, and cool completely.

2. Make the pistou.

This is the first time I've made a pesto/pistou with a mortar and pestle rather than in my Magic Bullet, and I think it really made a difference in the texture and the releasing of the herbs' flavors, and the rustic look of it was also quite appealing. More work, yes, but worth it.

Pound the garlic in a mortar with the salt until it forms a paste, then transfer it to a small bowl. Don't worry about getting every last bit out--it'll all get mixed together eventually. Pound the basil until it turns into a paste, then add it to the bowl with the garlic. Add the olive oil to the basil and garlic. Pound the parsley and add it to the bowl, then crush the pine nuts up a bit and add them. Stir it up and taste for seasoning.

3. Make the croutons.

Heat the oven to 350F. Toss the bread with a few glugs of olive oil and the Parmigiano, then spread in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake until golden and crispy on the outside, but still chewy on the inside, 10 to 15 minutes. Yum. I'm wanting seconds.
4. Put it all together and eat it with respect for the wonder that it is.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium saute pan over high heat. Add the onion, and cook until translucent. Add the fennel, thyme, salt and pepper, and cook until tender, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove to a plate and cool.

Return the pan to the stove, add 2 tablespoons olive oil and saute the zucchini over high heat for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove to a plate and cool.

Place green beans in the broth, then heat to boiling. Add all other cooked vegetables and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add baby spinach and stir until wilted.

Heat the soup to boiling. Stir in the baby spinach. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish each with a spoonful of pistou and a handful of croutons.

Serve the soup with a few croutons and a spoonful of pistou on top.

Soupruary 1st: Pappa al Pomodoro

2011-02-01T06:55:00.000-08:00

Soupruary is officially here! Or, as Aron's friend allegedly put it, "the worst portmanteau I've ever heard" (Rude! Also: True!).

Bee tee dubs, apologies for the disappointing--in both quality and quantity--photo documentation herein. In a bit of a predictably frazzled start to the month, not only did I convince myself I'd definitely, absolutely, assuredly left a burner on at my apartment (I hadn't), but I definitely, absolutely, assuredly left my camera there.

Location:

Julie hosted us at her ever lovelier (I don't know how she does it) Northside abode.

Attendees:

Ben, Chris, Joshua, Julie, Kenneth, Lauren, MaryKate, Matt, and me. High honors go to Julie, not only for hosting, but for not letting me do any of her dishes after the fact. With friends like that, who needs...ummm...dishwashers? Is that the saying?

Menu:

Zucchini and walnut farfalle salad

Romaine with apple, almonds and cinnamon goat cheese

Very, very garlicky garlic bread (about which Chris exclaimed, "Can garlic burn your mouth?!")

Pappa al pomodoro

Entertainment:

A Projectmill meeting, the antics of Dexter (kitty, not killer), and the discovery that it's an odd feeling to think you're going to have a sip of white wine and end up with a mouthful of sake.

So...

The Soup:

I've been seeing recipes for pappa al pomodoro (sometimes listed "Tuscan tomato and bread soup", but, honestly, that doesn't have nearly the romance) quite often lately and from a wide range of chefs and sources. As I thought about which tomato soup to start the Soupruary year with (since I started that way each of the past two years, and am wont to create pointless traditions), I realized that not only had I never tasted this pappa al pomodoro thing, but I was actively scared of it.

I'm not one of those people who is easily skeeved out by textures in my food. And, when I think about how much I love soggy Rice Chex, it makes no sense that even thinking about soggy bread makes me go a bit green in the gills. I guess it's one of those childhood things.

I have a distinct memory of being treated to some popular Portuguese dish that featured some sort of soupy, meaty stuff over white bread, turning the bread into soupy, meaty mush. Everyone else seemed to love it, and I'm sure it probably was great to them--I was just speaking some other flavor language at the time. I mean, I was only 9 or 10 (a guess; don't make me MATH), and I thought ketchup tasted like fish (ahem, still do). Man...even thinking about that soggy bread, I'm involuntarily distorting my face into a (super-attractive) grimace.

But! I decided to forge ahead with this terrifying, soggy bread experiment. 8 gajillion recipes can't be wrong, right?

2011: The Year of Facing Fears.

Or whatever.

In the end, I must say, there are other fears I'd rather face*. The flavor was outstanding, but I just can't get behind the wet bread thing. Come on, Tuscany; quit being such a bully and let me keep my bread and soup apart until they're in my mouth, cool? Cool.

*Calling for pizza delivery, for example. Or, for that matter, answering the door when the delivery person arrives. These fears seem much more ripe for conquering, not to mention more useful.

Pappa al Pomodoro

adapted from a recipe by Jamie Oliver, after reading about 7 or 8 others

This was to serve 9, and there were leftovers. I'd say half it!

2 lbs grape tomatoes

6 cloves garlic, finely sliced

2 large handfuls fresh basil, leaves picked and stalks finely chopped

extra virgin olive oil

2 28-oz cans San Marzano tomatoes

4 large handfuls stale bread, torn into crouton-sized pieces

Preheat your oven to 350F. Prick the grape tomatoes and toss with two sliced garlic cloves, a quarter of the basil leaves, some olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast on a tray for about 20 minutes.

Splash some olive oil in your soup pot, and heat on medium. Add remaining garlic and basil stalkes, and cook for about one minute. Add canned tomatoes, then fill the cans with water and add. Simmer for about 15 minutes, breaking the tomatoes up with a spatula. Scrape the grape tomatoes (including oil and garlic and basil from the tray) into the pot and stir it up.

Add the torn bread and mix well. Tear the basil leaves into the soup, and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes.

Stir the soup, check for seasoning and texture (add a bit of water if needed), and remove from heat. Drizzle with a few tablespoons of good olive oil, and serve with parmesan, if desired.

2011 Soups: Announced!

2011-01-27T09:46:00.001-08:00

Aaaaaaand, we're back!

Maybe I'll find some time this weekend to put together a cute little calendar, but I'm just happy to have finally settled on a soup schedule I can (possibly, maybe, who knows) live with. It's so difficult to narrow down all the miraculous array of recipes to just 28 soups! As always, I reserve the right to change my mind about any and all of this as the month arrives and progresses. The only thing that won't change is the cardinal rule of Soupruary: No recipes I've tried before.

Without further ado, the nominees are:

1. Pappa al Pomodoro
2. Soupe au Pistou
3. Lebanese Vegetable
4. Indian Yellow Pea
5. Tomato Orange
6. Broccoli Cheddar
7. Spicy Parsnip
8. Lettuce with Radish Salsa
9. Creamy Asparagus with Poached Egg
10. Curried Carrot with Cilantro-Pistachio Cream
11. New Zealand Sweet Potato Chowder
12. Pear and Gouda with Toasted Walnut-Cranberry Salsa
13. Tortellini Minestrone
14. Roasted Beet with Asparagus and Goat Cheese
15. Black Bean and Roasted Tomatillo
16. Roasted Cauliflower with Chimichurri and Poblano Creme Fraiche
17. Succotash Chowder
18. Celeriac Bisque with Jerusalem Artichoke Croutons
19. Creamy Hungarian Mushroom
20. Wild Rice and Cranberry
21. Potato Dill
22. Tuscan Bean and Farro
23. Mushroom Potato Crema with Roasted Poblano
24. Red Lentil
25. Posole
26. Wonton
27. Savory Squash with Cardamom Cream
28. English Onion vs. French Onion Deathmatch

Grocery lists are mostly made, sides are mostly selected...I guess I'm really doing this, y'all.

2010 Wrap-Up

2010-03-01T08:45:00.000-08:00

A few notes on this year:

30 soups in 27 days, with one day taken over by guest souper Aron
156 bowls of soup served (not counting seconds!), plus 10 more at Aron's (159 in 2009)
64 individual soup-eaters (up from 54 last year)
25 brand new soup-eaters (attendees who didn't come last year)
Only 2 temporary, stress/exhaustion-induced breakdowns!
The spread of Soupruary—Congrats to Mick for his month of gorgeous soups in North Carolina! You did it, man! Can't wait to try some of his recipes, and he's inspired me to start baking more breads (Starch March anyone?).

Thanks so much to everyone who participated in Soupruary II, and thanks especially to Josh for being so supportive and helpful throughout. Being able to spend so much time with friends is a true joy, and the memories we made this month will live on far longer than any of the leftovers in my fridge or even stains in my aprons. Thanks for letting me experiment on y'all, brave souls; I hope you had as much fun as I did. Nothin' but love.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a glass of wine and an overwhelmingly be-bubbled bathtub that will not wait any longer.

Tom Yum Goong and Thai-spiced Butternut Squash

2010-03-01T08:15:00.000-08:00

Last night of Soupruary...etcetera, etcetera, etcetera!

Location:
The Rich Ranch

Attendees:
Bill, Leslie, Ashley, Joshua, Brent, Laura, Erin, Jeff, Julie, Aron, me

Menu:
Spinach and artichoke wontons (Bill & Leslie)
Veggie egg rolls (Bill & Leslie)
Veggie spring rolls (Brent & Laura)
Pan-fried plantains (Aron)
Tom yum goong
Thai-spiced butternut squash soup
Mango sticky rice
Tamarind candies because Josh loooooves them (Jeff & Julie)
And the themed drinks of the evening: Little Kings, and the Siam-ease (Bill)

Entertainment:
The King & I, complete with Yul Brenner's square torso (a.k.a. blockso, a.k.a. Lego with nipples (© Jellyrod))

The Soup:
I managed to find some gorgeous Ugly Ripe tomatoes at Findlay market today:

Can you believe it? Tomatoes that great in February! That kind of made my afternoon. That and the smell of butternut squash roasting away for an hour:

And here's what made my night:

Bill and Leslie got me flowers and had a champagne toast to mark the end of the month—So very sweet!

Plus, look at all these beautiful people:

I can't imagine being surrounded by these precious folks and not feeling wonderful about life.

And it doesn't hurt that the soups were darn good.

The Tom Yum definitely had a kick to it, but it lived up to the YUM part for me. Josh and Bill each sampled both soups, with differing results: Josh preferred the Tom Yum and Bill was very happy about the squash. As for me, I'd make them both again. Like, tomorrow.

In case you haven't used it before, here's what galangal looks like:

It looks a bit like ginger, but it doesn't smell or taste like it. It's a little citrusy and earthy. Oh, and it's way harder constitutionally than ginger, so you'll need a pretty sharp knife to do anything with it.

One awesome thing about the Tom Yum, boy does it come together fast. Start to finish in about 25 minutes with Josh's much-appreciated deveining assistance.

The squash soup takes a little longer, but once that squash is roasted it's easy as pie (scratch that—way easier than pie) and I highly doubt it's possible to screw it up.

So with this, I've reached the finish line, and can stop bothering you all with my blogs and status updates and one-track mind (except for maybe some kind of wrap-up entry. Maybe.). Until next year, happy Soupruary, lovelies.

Tom Yum Goong
Adapted from templeofthai.com

8 cups Asian vegetable broth (made from bouillon from Asian market)
2 fresh lemongrass stems, cut into 1–2" pieces and bashed up a bit
4 big slices of peeled galangal
2 or 3 hot peppers, sliced thin
1/4 cup Thai fish sauce
2 cans straw mushrooms, drained and rinsed
4 tomatoes, cut into manageable sections
1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
juice from 3 limes
leaves from 1 bunch of fresh cilantro

Heat broth over medium with lemongrass, galangal, peppers, fish sauce, and mushrooms. When hot (but not boiling), add tomatoes, shrimp, and lime juice. Cook until shrimp is cooked through—about 3 minutes. Be careful not to boil, or the lime juice will lose its zing. Add cilantro and serve, telling guests to be careful not to eat the big chunks of galangal and lemongrass.

Thai-spiced Butternut Squash
Adapted from 101cookbooks.com

Note: I doubled this recipe to have enough for a crowd.

2 small butternut squash, halved, and seeds scooped out
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
sea salt
1 14-ounch can cocunut milk
1 tablespoon thai red curry paste (or to taste)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Place squash skin-side down on a baking sheet, spread butter evenly on exposed flesh and sprinkle with sea salt. Roast for 1 hour.

Scoop squash flesh out of skin and into a soup pot. Add coconut milk and curry, then either transfer to a blender or use an immersion blender to puree until smooth. Heat the puree over medium heat, and add water to thin it to the desired consistency. Add salt to taste, and more curry paste if desired (I wanted to keep mine mild, so I used just over a tablespoon per batch).

Soupruary 27th: Peas & Pas

2010-02-27T11:12:00.000-08:00

How can I not love a day when I can spend three hours making tomato sauce? You should seriously smell my apartment right now. I had to fight to keep myself from crawling into the oven all afternoon—it was just that tantalizingly roasty up in there.

Location:
Mi casa es su casa.

Attendees:
Aron, Jeff, Joshua, me

Menu:
Steamed broccoli
Summer squash with lemon herb butter
Tomato soup with peas and pasta

Entertainment:
Soupruary's one and only kitchen fire! There was definitely something on the burner that was ready to get some attention, and boy did it. Flames up to 3...inches...high! We managed to put it out with a metal pot lid after Aron shook some towels at it for a few seconds—which was basically risking his life seeing as he was attired in a polyester jumpsuit.
Oh, and then we went to see You, You're Awesome and Bad Veins and danced all night (fueled by soup!), and that was spectacularly fun.

The Soup:
My friend Bettina was the inspiration for this one—she told me about it on Monday night and I kept thinking all week that it's just the kind of comfort-food goodness I need right about now. I wanted something with heft and body that would keep me going all night, and this fit the bill precisely.

My second inspiration was reading Thomas Keller's recipe for this roasted tomato sauce on Friday—I knew immediately that I could not wait more than 24 hours to have it in my oven.

And now I may be ruined. I'm not sure I'll ever want any other tomato sauce. I could've just eaten a bowl of it and forgotten about making soup, but the spirit of Soupruary dictated otherwise.

This isn't a taste that will blow your mind, or be unlike anything you've ever had. It's perfectly normal, but exceptional in its perfection of said normalcy. It tasted just how I wanted it to, and kept me smiling through the whole bowl.

Adapted from Bettina's family recipe and Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup finely chopped yellow onion
1 cup minced leeks, white and pale green parts
1 cup fennel, chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 28-32 ounce cans of whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes
1 bay leaf
bunch of fresh thyme
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 cups vegetable broth
4 ounces pasta in the shape you prefer, cooked al dente and then set aside
8 ounces frozen peas
grated Parmigiano reggiano, to serve

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine vegetables in a baking dish and cook 45 minutes or until tender and browning, then remove from oven.

Stir in brown sugar and vinegar and return to oven for 10 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.

Pour one can of tomatoes into a food processor along withthe juice from the second can of tomatoes and process until smooth. Coarsely chop or tear apart the tomatoes from the second can.

Add tomato puree, tomatoes, thyme and bay leaf to the vegetables, stir, and return to oven for 90 minutes.

Discard thyme and bay leaf, and transfer sauce to soup pot. Add vegetable broth and frozen peas, and bring to a simmer. Add pasta and simmer till heated through. Serve with grated Parmigiano reggiano, if desired.

Soupruary 26th: Cream of Mushroom

2010-02-26T08:38:00.000-08:00

Say it with me now: Umami. Oooomahhhhmeeeee.

Location:
My lilypad

Attendees:
Brent, Laura, Sebastien, Katie, Matt, Tiffany, Joshua, me

Entertainment:
Catchphrase, complete with one free radish pass per person (unless you eat it accidentally)
The New Yorker Cartoon Caption game, complete with half-eaten radish game piece

Brent's amazing Batman impression, fueled by approximately a loaf of bread with butter and salt

Menu:
Linguine cacio e pepe
Balsamic-glazed zucchini
Roasted tomato caprese
Wild mushroom soup

The Soup:
One of my favorite soups from last Soupruary was Jamie Oliver's wild mushroom delight, but I'd seen this recipe praised on a few different blogs so I thought I'd give it a try. The result? Delicious, but I still think last year's wins.

Matt isn't quite down with mushrooms as the main event, as you can see:

But I think everybody else was on board. Brent made some good satisfactiony noises and deemed it incredible, and I would've almost certainly licked my bowl had I not been in polite company. (Okay, polite company + Sebastien.)

It's fun to watch the dried mushrooms get fatter and turn the water dark brown, so that's a lovely little roadside attraction on the highway to Yumtown.

Adapted from The Balthazar Cookbook

1 ounce dried mushrooms (I used a mix of oyster, porcini, shiitake morels)
1/2 cup olive oil
2 sprigs of rosemary
4 sprigs of sage
1 large yellow onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 pound white button mushrooms stemmed, cleaned and thinly sliced
1 pound shitake mushrooms stemmed, cleaned and thinly sliced
6 cups water
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
soft goat cheese
white truffle oil

Soak the dry mushrooms in 1 cup of warm water for 20 to 30 minutes, until plump. Strain the soaking liquid (I was supposed to use a coffee filter, but I used a double-fine sieve because I use a French press, thus no filters in la maison); reserve the plumped mushrooms and strained soaking liquid.

Heat the olive oil in your soup pot over medium. Throw in the fresh herbs and let them sizzle a bit, stirring a few times. When the oil is smelling amazing, add the onion, garlic, salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes or until the onion is translucent.

Turn the heat up to high and add the fresh mushrooms. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the water, reconstituted mushrooms and soaking liquid, and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the herbs, then add the cream and butter. Puree with an immersion blender or in batches in a regular blender until it reaches the consistency you want. Serve with a bit of goat cheese and a little drizzle of truffle oil.

Got me!

2010-02-25T12:15:00.001-08:00

My friend Julie just sent me this amazing documentation that I'm one of her Safari top sites (click to enlarge):

I love my friends so hard.

Soupruary 25th: Triple Soupsplosion!

2010-02-25T10:33:00.000-08:00

Proof positive that I'm going bonkers, or, as Josh put it: CocoNUTS. (grrrrarggh)

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.

Soupruary 24th: Tom Kha Tofu

2010-02-24T08:47:00.000-08:00

If you can't stand the heat, eat the sides!

Note to my brother Karl: I'm aware that this post is going to make me sound like a wuss, and we're all impressed that you drink gallons of sriracha for breakfast. ;) I bet you'd at least admit this dish has a modicum of spice if you tried it though.

Location:
My lil downtown abode

Attendees:
Cybelle, Janice, Lauren, Sara, Sirli, me

Janice's look of spicy satisfaction.

Menu:
Mandarin salad (by Sara)
Red curry eggplant & haricot vert (which smoked up my apartment somethin' fierce)
Ginger fried rice (same exact side I made on the 11th, and truthfully I'm shocked I held out this long)
Tom kha tofu
Cappuccino trifle (by Lauren, who totally didn't bring leftovers to work for breakfast even though I'm sure she could sense my intense craving)

In case you were wondering, this is exactly the amount of hurt that 5 ladies can put on a trifle:

Entertainment:
Stories about Lauren's kids (Srsly, girl has the most entertaining stories and she knows how to tell 'em. Y'all should probably be jealous if you don't know her.)
Tales from the Work Bathroom (It's like Tales from the Crypt but the host is scarier)
Much later: Me going full PretzElrod and falling asleep in the living room. I hear there were pictures taken, but I'm going to be okay with that. You try making soup 24 days in a row and see how bright-eyed/bushy-tailed you are!

The Soup:
I got to use fresh uncut lemongrass for the first time!

I think the guy at Saigon Market is starting to think I'm incompetent. I've been there two days in a row and I can never find anything without help. He probably laughs at me when I leave, like "Pffffft that chick is totes gonna use that lemongrass INCORRECTLY." But I think I get the last laugh—I may not know where dude keeps the coconut milk, but the flavors in this soup were uhhhhhmayzeeng.

I say the flavors, because that part was undisputed. However, the spiciness was a bit on the no-joke side. Everyone put up a valiant fight, but only Janice was in the clean bowl club.

It was seriously good! Seriously, seriously! I would just dial the heat down a bit if I made it again to make it more widely palatable. I've never had a really spicy tom kha before, so I'm happy for the experience. And Cybelle said she was grateful for the sinus-clearing treatment (Coco's Soup Spa—should I open it?).

Adapted from toomanychefs.net

For tofu:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup fish sauce
3 tablespoons sesame oil

For broth:
1 quart vegetable broth
2 14 oz. cans coconut milk
3 cloves finely minced garlic
1/2 cup lime juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 pound firm tofu
1/3 cup thinly sliced ginger
2 lemon grass stalks, trimmed and cut into 3-4" lengths.
1/4 cup fish sauce
1 tablespoon cayenne
2 tablespoons sriracha
2 tablespoon mustard powder
1 tablespoon grated lime zest
1 cup fresh cilantro leaves, no stalks
12 oz. can straw mushrooms, drained and rinsed
12 oz. can enoki mushrooms, drained and rinsed

Press the block of tofu under a weight between paper towels for 20 minutes.

Cut the tofu into bite-sized pieces, then coat with tofu marinade listed above and let sit for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 350-F.

Spread the tofu in one layer on a baking sheet and bake 15 minutes.

Combine all the other ingredients except the mushrooms and cilantro in a pot, stirring well. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.

Remove tofu and flip, then put it back in the oven for 15 more minutes.

You'll have ginger and lemongrass detritus in the bottom of your bowl—you probably don't want to attempt to eat those. If you'd rather strain the soup, that works too.

Add the tofu, mushrooms and cilantro and cook on low until mushrooms are heated and cilantro has wilted.

Soupruary 23rd: Lost at Seaweed

2010-02-23T09:25:00.001-08:00

Keeping us from turning into obese goiter candidates with multiple thyroid conditions, one soup at a time!

Location:
Kris & Cat's apartment, Covington, Kentucky (which they really should move out of post-haste, as I would like to move in por favor)

Attendees:
Kris, Catherine, Minda, Evangeline, Jamie, Jasmine, Jon, Penny!, Joshua, me

Menu:
Bruschetta (yummily prepared by Kris & Kat—doesn't matter that it didn't quite match the rest of the evening's food, because they were straight-up devoured before we started anything else. As they say: nom nom nom.)
Cucumber wontons
Edamame, wasabi peas, & dried squid (a.k.a. what qualifies as "snackies" on the shopping list)
Sunomono
Jasmine rice
Seaweed soup
Mochi (three flavors! from Jamie)

Entertainment:
Penny being cute
Pants being cute
Penny vs. Pants cute-off
aaaaaand...L O S T

The Soup:
Jasmine reminded me of seaweed's "wonder food" status, which both delights and frustrates me.

The delights: Feeling like you're doing something awesome for your body (you know, preventing goiters and all), while at the same time eating something that totally tastes good.

The frustrations: Um, wonder food? Wonder? Really?! Because I ate a big ol' bowl of this stuff, and I didn't even get a metaphorical Lasso of Truth, much less indestructible armbands. Stop setting me up with false hopes, Mr. or Ms. Seaweed Propagandist, wherever you are.

Devastating disappointment in my continued non-superhuman status aside, I'm happy to know how easy this is to do, and jazzed to have lots of leftover ingredients with which to whip up another batch at whim. I'd be so okay with having this for breakfast on a daily basis, and since I've still got yards of dry seaweed and a gang o' miso, I might just do it. And seriously, this and a little bit of leftover rice in the morning? Fit as a fiddle (and ready for love).

Made after reading multiple online recipes + one in Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons by Nava Atlas. Also: I made twice as much as I've listed below, but normal meals don't need 12 cups of broth, so I'm listing a more reasonable amount.

6 cups water
2 3"x7" strips of kombu
2 cubes of vegetable bouillon
1/2 cup wakame
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
4 cloves of galic, minced
1/2 pound silken tofu, cut into a half-inch dice
1/4 cup white miso
1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions

Bring water, bouillion and kombu to a boil, then remove from heat and let sit 30 minutes.

Reconstitute wakame: Place it in a bowl, cover with hot water and let sit 15 minutes, then drain.

In a large skillet over medium-high, heat sesame oil. Add garlic and stir for about 30 seconds, then stir-fry wakame for 2 or 3 minutes.

Remove 1/2 cup of broth and combine it with miso until smooth.

Remove kombu from broth, then bring it up to a simmer. Add wakame and tofu, then miso and scallions, stirring to combine. Serve immediately.

Soupruary 22nd: Provençal Tomato, Orange & Saffron

2010-02-22T10:52:00.003-08:00

This warm weather must be going to my brain. This is some precisely unseasonable soup, y'all.

Location:
My apartment

Attendees:
Molly, Justine, Caleb, Bettina, Joel, Michael, LeAnne, Joshua, me

Menu:
Green lentil, pea & goat cheese salad
Mini grouchies with mozzarella and Parmigiano reggiano
Tomato, orange & saffron soup
Caramel and toffee cheesecake

Entertainment:
Wholly strange cartoons with delightful in-room commentary
The invention of a new half-valet parking service called Fetch
The leaving and the taking and the going and the getting: a conversation approximating a lost episode of Seinfeld

The Soup:
When I was doing my semester abroad at Oxford, one of my favorite things to eat (apart from late-nite chips, cheese & vinegar) was the 47p Tesco brand tomato & orange soup in a can. Ever since then I've looked for a recipe that might bring me back to those deliciously cheap memories...and I guess I have to keep looking.

Maybe I was too harsh a critic for this soup; maybe I had too high of expectations or was too full of anticipation. I guess it was fine. I'm entering the home stretch of Soupruary now, so I want everything to be a lot better than fine. I mean, everyone ate it and all, it just didn't taste how I wanted it to.

I have no doubt it would be better in the peak of tomato season, but I'll probably just keep seeking out that tomato and orange simplicity of the ol' Tesco and not try this one again.

Honestly, the more I do this, the more I think the fewer ingredients the better. If you can get great ingredients and then make them really sparkle, you can't find a more exciting taste. So here's to simplicity for the rest of the week. Perhaps. (Somebody hasn't set the menu yet.)

I tripled this recipe because I wasn't sure how many people were coming—I suppose that could also have something to do with throwing off the taste.

I promised myself I'd have a souper-positive attitude the rest of the week, so let's end this on a high note: The tiny pasta is SO CUTE OMG!

Adapted from Orangette

2 lb tomatoes
2 medium onions, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and thinly sliced (~2 cups)
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1 (3- by 1-inch) ribbon of fresh orange zest, minced
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme
¼ teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 ¾ cups water
¾ teaspoon salt, or to taste
Pinch crumbled saffron threads
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
¼ cup small soup pasta, such as acini di pepe
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh Italian parsley
¼ cup finely chopped fresh basil

Boil about 5 quarts of water in a large, deep saucepan of water. After cutting a shallow X in the bottom of each tomato, blanch them at a steady boil for about 15 seconds each (no more than 2 or 3 at a time), then toss each one into a big bowl of ice water. Once they're all done, slip the skins off—this should be really easy—then core them and cut them in half. Squeeze the tomatoes over a sieve set over a bowl, getting all the seeds and pulp out. You can toss the tomatoes in the bowl under the sieve when you're done with them. When you've finished all the tomatoes, squish the seeds around on the sieve until you feel like you've extracted most of the juice, then thrown them away. Reserve the tomatoes and juice for later.

Heat olive oil over medium in your soup pot. Add the onions, carrot, celery, garlic, orange zest, thyme, red pepper flakes, fennel seeds, and bay leaf and cook for about 10 minutes (do not brown).

Add the tomatoes, juice, tomato paste, water, salt, saffron, and sugar. Simmer, uncovered, stirring and breaking up the tomatoes with a spoon occasionally, about 25-30 minutes. Here you can take a few whirls with an immersion blender if you're not happy with the consistency, but the tomatoes really do break down a lot during the simmering. Add the pasta and simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes or until pasta is cooked through. Discard the bay leaf and stir in the parsley and basil. Season to taste. Serve with grated Parmigiano reggiano if desired.

Soupruary 21st: Roasted Vegetable, Kale & Potato

2010-02-22T10:52:00.001-08:00

It's like my favorite season in a bowl!

Location:
Doug & Mandi's house, Harrison, Darn-near-Indiana

Attendees:
Doug, Mandi, Guinevere (best name of anyone to attend Soupruary, even if she was too young to eat), Joshua, me

Menu:
Roasted vegetable, kale & potato soup with salad and bread

Entertainment:
I'm sure we talked about a lot, but to be honest it was mostly fart jokes. Really funny ones. Yes, at the dinner table. Sorry, mom.

The Soup:
Everything about this soup screams autumn, which makes me think we should write a movie called Soup Pot Time Machine (no more ridiculous than a hot tub). It may have actually been magical, too, because after record-breaking snows for the month of February in Cincinnati, yesterday was mild as mild can be with no jacket required.

The non-mystical standout part of this soup, for me, was the broth. I have every expectation that I'll come back to this method on multiple occasions in the future—it had a wonderful combination of great, hearty body and that full, roasted sweetness.

Of course, the sticky, golden bits of butternut squash didn't hurt my enjoyment either.

Adapted from Bon Apetit, January 2000

4 small carrots, peeled, cut into thirds
2 roma tomatoes, quartered
1 large onion, cut into 8 wedges
1/2 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick wedges
6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
olive oil
6 cups vegetable broth
4 cups finely chopped kale
2 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced
3 large fresh thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf

Heat oven to 400-F. Arrange carrots, tomatoes, onion, squash, and garlic on a large, rimmed baking tray. Toss with some olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 45 minutes.

Remove roasted garlic, peel, and process to a paste in a food processor. Add roasted onions and tomatoes, and process until you have a still chunky but mostly smooth puree.

Heat vegetable broth in a soup pot over medium-high heat. Add vegetable puree, kale, potatoes, thyme, and bayleaf and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until potatoes and kale are tender. Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaf before serving.

Soupruary 20th: Taco Soup

2010-02-22T09:58:00.000-08:00

My tackiest creation yet (if you don't count the St. Patrick's Day Tree).

Location:
The party room!

Attendees:
Leslie, Liam, Ken & Barbie, Joshua, me

Menu:
Taco soup
Green salad
Apple cake & gelato

Entertainment:
Liam on the keys!

The Soup:
The idea to do this came from the guest of honor: It was Mrs. Mattie's birthday, and one of her specialties is Taco Pie (which I just had the pleasure of trying for the first time in January). So I thought, hey! Taco Soup! It was only about halfway done cooking when I remembered there was no way it could be as good as Taco Pie because, well, it's not PIE.

Here's a helpful equation for how it tasted:
You know, canned, childish, obvious, pedestrian, cartoony, but certainly not unpleasant.

It was incredibly easy to the point that it made me feel like a bit of a cheater. Really, if it's easy to the point of barely counting as cooking, it doesn't have any right to taste even one smidgen better than this did. It's nothing spectular, but it made me laugh, and I can't imagine anyone being offended by the taste. Seriously though—Look at these ingredients and tell me they aren't hilarious:

Especially entertaining to me: the presence of organic green onions in the midst of all that crap. Why bother?

Now I've got to try, like, pizza soup or macaroni and cheese soup. Those sound pretty funny too.

Note: Putting up the recipe isn't necessarily a recommendation of the soup. It's just what I do.

Adapted from Paula Deen's recipe

1 large onion, chopped
1 14.5-oz can black beans, drained
1 14.5-oz can light red kidney beans, drained
1 14.5-oz can pinto beans, drained
1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes in juice
1 14.5-oz can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes
2 10-oz cans diced tomatoes with chiles
1 4.5-oz can diced green chiles
1 4.5-oz can sliced black olives, drained
1 1.25-oz package taco seasoning
1 1-oz package ranch dressing mix
2 12-oz packages Morningstar Meal Starters Crumbles (or your preferred meat subsitute or browned ground beef or turkey if feel like swinging that way)

Brown your onions in a large frying pan, then put onions and everything else in a crock pot and stir it up. Add water until it looks like the right amount of soupiness for you, then cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Serve over baked tortilla strips and garnish as desired. The end.

garnishes:
green onions, thinly sliced
cheddar cheese, shredded
sour cream

tortilla strips:
1 package corn tortillas
olive oil
sea salt

Preheat oven to 350-F. Cut desired amount of tortillas in half (just in a big stack), then into strips of desired thickness (I like mine about 1/4 to 1/3" thick). In a bowl, toss strips with a glug of olive oil and some sea salt, then spread evenly in one layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until crispy and turning golden. Be careful: These are super addictive for snacking, so don't eat them all before your soup is ready!

Soupruary 19th: Zucchini Rosemary

2010-02-19T10:04:00.001-08:00

Now this I'm a little proud of.

My schedule tonight:
5:15 — arrive home from work
6:00 — Ken picks me up for the Shepard Fairey opening at the CAC

In that 45 minutes I managed to prep, make, and eat soup, as well as get all dolled up for a wonderful night out. You don't have to pat me on the back, but don't hate me if I do it myself.

This soup—adapted from a Bon Apetit June 1995 recipe—ended up yielding about 3 small servings (two for a wonderful lunch on Saturday). Tonight I ate it alone, standing in my kitchen. Before the first bite I was concentrating on not mussing up my lipstick, but as soon as it hit my tongue...oh, I was transported. To a place where I didn't have to rush around, a place of silky smooth buttery richness that makes you wanna close your eyes and dream. It was the perfect bite to remind me that the pleasures of life may take a little work, but they're always worth it.

Zucchini Rosemary soup: We shall meet again.

a knob of unsalted butter
a dash of extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot, chopped
1 garlic clove, sliced
1 sprig of fresh rosemary, leaves picked
2 cups vegetable broth
1 small peeled and shredded potato, or a good handful of frozen shredded potato
2 medium zucchini

Here's what to do with the zucchini: Take one and cut it in half, crosswise. Set aside that half. Thinly slice 1 1/2 zucchini, and set aside slices. Now grab the other half, and give it a half-inch dice and set aside. (I just said "half" five times.)

Melt the butter with the olive oil in a small pot over medium heat, then add shallot and cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes. Add garlic and rosemary, and stir for another minute or two. Add vegetable broth, shredded potatoes and sliced zucchini— bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a small, salted pot of water to boil. Add diced zucchini and boil vigorously for about 30 seconds, then drain and set aside.

Using an immersion blender or regular blender, puree the soup until smooth. You can pass it through a fine sieve if you'd like, or leave it be if you're in a hurry like I was. Ladle into a bowl, and toss in a nice spoonful of diced zucchini.

Soupruary 18th: Black Bean

2010-02-18T07:30:00.001-08:00

Holy frijole! (I feel like I used to say that a lot as a kid. I'm bringin' it back.)

Location:
My apartment, Downtown, Cincinnati

Attendees:
Laura, Brent, Matt, Joshua, me

Menu:
Chips y salsa
Ensalada mixta
Pimienta amarilla con queso de Chihuahua
Sopa de frijoles negros
Helado de fresas y chocolate con Chocovine

Entertainment:
Preparation for Saturday's Cincinnati Addy Awards (more entertaining than it sounds!)
Avoiding looking at the television
Attempting to get the Valentine's Tree to look like a St. Patrick's Day Tree (it's already green, I mean, come on!)

The Soup:
This is my first time ever using a slow-cooker—thanks to Leslie and Bill for letting me borrow it, as I have none of my own. I was a little worried about just leaving it there to hang out while I was at work, but whaddya know! Easy as pie and a good deal healthier!

I zipped home at lunch, did the minimal prep work required, dumped everything in the C-pot, and when I got home: Voilà! Soup! I felt like saying "Abracadabra" when I lifted the lid, but instead I just breathed deeply and let my mouth start a-waterin'.

The soup was quite good--even Josh, a self-proclaimed black bean soup snob, said it was delicious. But what sets it apart is the cream. Ohhhh, boy. I would've eaten a whole bowl of it with a dollop of black bean soup. I've made the cream before without the lime, and the lime really kicks it up a WHOLE NOTHER (yeah, I said it. sue me.) notch. I want someone to invent a spa treatment that involves rubbing it all over your face, tell me it's really good for me, and then I want to have it done once a week for the rest of my life.

Adapted slightly from everyone's favorite blog, smitten kitchen, adapted from Bon Appetit

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium-size red onions, chopped
1 medium-size red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 medium-size green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 green serrano pepper, seeded and chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 teaspoons ground cumin
16 ounces dried black beans
1 tablespoon chopped chipotle chiles from a can
7 cups hot water
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 thinly sliced jalapeño, for garnish

Put a big frying pan on medium-high heat and add olive oil. When oil is hot, saute onions and peppers for about 8 minutes. Add garlic and cumin and cook for a minute longer, stirring. Transfer contents of frying pan to slow cooker; add beans, chipotle, and water. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours or until beans are the desired texture.

Puree two cups of the bean mixture, then return it to the slow cooker. Stir in lime juice, salt and pepper to taste (I used about 1 tablespoon kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper). Serve with toasted cumin sour cream (seriously do not skip this) and let people decorate their own bowls with sliced jalapeño if desired.

Toasted Cumin Seed Sour Cream
1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
1 tablespoon lime juice

Sauté cumin seeds in a small, dry pan over medium heat and toast until they're golden. Grind to a coarse grit with a mortar and pestle. Stir cumin, lime zest, and lime juice into sour cream and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Soupruary 17th: Koala Fires Soup

2010-02-17T13:36:00.001-08:00

"That's koality!"
—Jerry Matt

Location:
Koala Fires practice space, Northside

Also, my apartment

Attendees:
Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt...Sorry—got Matt-tranced. Scratch all but three of those...and Kendall

Also, Joshua and me

Enteretainment:
These guys:

Kendall's Angry Rock N Roll Soup Face (performed shortly after a coughing fit—apparently curry down the wind pipe is not recommended. Zonk!):

The Soup:
I was talking to Kendall last week about what kind of soup I could make to bring him and the Matt trifecta, and Koala Fires seemed to translate into spicy and Australian. Since I wasn't looking to go in search of kangaroo, I settled for Massive Stereotype: Shrimp on the Barbie!

To the roof!

TROMP TROMP TROMP TROMP

Make that Shrimp OFF the Barbie. De-skewering ahoy.

Truthfully, I don't know how much better the grill would've made it. But don't take my word for it! Quotes from Kendall, with commentary:

"I feel like All The World's Been Staged...except this soup." (A plug for the Koala Fires album, but I'm up for that.)
"This is better than the soup I had last week. Wait, what did you make last week?" (I agree; it was good, but pretty unmemorable.)
"I'd like to eat this every two weeks." (Put it in the ol' iCal! One day, we shall tell time not in days or weeks, but in number of moons since the last Koala Fires soup.)
"This might be the best meal I've had all year." (Flattery will get you everywhere, says Mae West (and that dude from Being John Malkovich))

You should probbbbbbbbably make this. It has an apparent spice, but the coconut milk makes it so cool and creamy that the spice is exhilarating but never distracting. Plus, it's a great excuse to go to Saigon Market (seriously, zero reason to buy pricey Southeast Asian ingredients at the grocery store when they're better and four times cheaper at Findlay).

Don't be scared when you see how long the recipe looks. It's actually easy, but it takes a few steps. I got home from the store at about 6p.m. and was out the door—futile rooftop dalliance and all—by 7:30, including packing up for transport (not always an easy task).

Bonus: The shrimp are really super good on their own. I can't wait until the grill is unfrozen so I can skewer some crustaceans and make these as an appetizer; although, when I do, I might be sad there's no soup underneath.

Shrimp Curry Noodle Soup
Adapted from a September 2005 Food & Wine recipe and a Bobby Flay recipe

for soup:
5 cups baby spinach
1/2 pound snow peas, halved crosswise
1 14-ounce package rice vermicelli, or desired rice noodle
3 tablespoons peanut oil
4 shallots, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
5 teaspoons Thai panang curry paste
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
8 cups vegetable broth
2 14-ounce cans unsweetened coconut milk
3 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves
2 scallions, thinly sliced
lime wedges, to serve

for shrimp:
1 pound large shrimp (16-20 count)
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil (it's toasted!)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
juice of half a fresh lime
2 tablespoons peanut oil, plus a bit extra
toasted sesame seeds

Because the cooking of all this doesn't take very long, I'd say prep all your ingredients before you start cooking. This includes making the vinaigrette for the shrimp: simply whisk together soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, vinegar, lime juice, and peanut oil.

To prep your shrimp, peel, devein, and drizzle with a bit of peanut oil, seasoning with salt and pepper.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add baby spinach and snow peas and boil for about 30 seconds, then remove vegetables with a slotted spoon and reserve in a bowl.

Add rice noodles to the boiling salted water (which will now be a bit green, but won't impact the noodle color). Follow package directions--I cooked mine for about 4 minutes, then drained and shocked with cold water. Reserve cooked noodles in a bowl.

In your soup pot, heat peanut 1 tablespoon of peanut oil over medium-high. Add shallots and cook until light brown, then transfer with a slotted spoon to the bowl your vegetables are in.

Add remaining 2 tablespoons of peanut oil to pot, reducing heat to medium. Add curry paste, coriander, and turmeric, and cook for about 30 seconds (until fragrant). Add broth and cook for five minutes.

Add coconut milk and fish sauce, and leave at a low simmer while you cook the shrimp.

Heat a large frying pan or wok over medium-high. Add shrimp (oil already on them should be enough to keep the pan lubricated). Cook, stirring, until just opaque. Transfer shrimp to a bowl or plate, then drizzle with vinaigrette and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

One more step to the soup and then you're ready to eat: Stir in the scallions and cilantro.

To serve: First put desired amount of noodles, then vegetables, in each bowl. Ladle curry broth over noodles, then top each bowl with three tantalizing shrimpies. Serve each bowl with a lime wedge.

Soupruary 16th: Breakfast Soup

2010-02-16T12:04:00.000-08:00

Rise and shine!

I was talking to my friend Michael-from-Ireland this morning:

Michael: Pancakes and soup this evening?
me: Pancakes?
Michael: You don't do pancake Tuesday?
me: What exactly is pancake Tuesday?
Michael: It is the day before the beginning of Lent. Everyone eats pancakes in anticipation of 6 weeks of fasting.
me: Never heard of Pancake Tuesday!! Guess that's what I get for not being Catholic. Missing out on so many pancakes!

So I did some 5-second internet research and decided that this UK/Ireland/Canada/Australia tradition is one that should be adopted. I mean--pancakes, people! Pancakes! I know Shiv would be in favor of this for sure--too bad he ain't here!

There's one other thing I know: I've never had good luck with making pancakes from scratch. In fact I've only tried twice, and both times have been like BLECH SOMEBODY BUY ME SOME BISQUICK. Sad but true: I have not been sprinkled with powdered-sugar dust by the pancake fairy (let's call her Queen Syropa Jemima--pretty, right?).

Then Michael informed me that Pancake Tuesday does not involve our pedestrian, fat, fluffy pancakes--Instead it is traditional to eat the more sophisticated crepe. Well, double-sign me up! Not only are crepes DELECTABLE, but this is an even better excuse to not make the pancakes myself, as I can see It's Just Crepes from my apartment window. And, ya know? Sometimes I want to make soup and not worry about the rest. Besides, as Jeff and Julie are always ready to remind me, "It's just crepes, geeeeez."

So, thank you, Michael: All this inspired me to prepare the ever-popular breakfast-for-dinner, this time in soup form. In appreciation of you taking time out from being Very Busy and Important just to enlighten me, here's a rehashed cheek kiss from six years ago:

Breakfast soup may sound odd, but it's not unprecedented--I found two bacon and egg soup recipes on the Internet. However, since I happen to think veggie sausage (yum!) is much preferable to facon (ooo, bacon-printed cardboard, just what I wanted!), I decided to do my own thang. I was tempted to do another poached egg on top instead of egg-drop style, but that's a slippery slope. If I let myself do that today, there's no stopping me from putting poached eggs on top of everything through February 28th. Self-control!

Basically, what follows is my idea of a delicious omelette and hashbrown breakfast...soup. It genuinely tasted like morning, and not just because I ate it out of my favorite breakfast bowl (snagged at a sidewalk sale in Paris):

I think a big part of the experience was trusting myself to go off completely on my own, believing it would taste how I wanted it to, and then succeeding. If you don't try this Breakfast Soup, do yourself a favor and make up your own!

1 or 2 tablespoons of butter (1 if your pot will let you get away with it; 2 if it starts getting too dried out)
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup diced mushrooms
4 vegetarian breakfast sausage patties, chopped into bite-sized chunks--or real sausage I suppose, in which case you should probably axe the butter and just throw the sausage in first, using what comes out of the sausage as your fat.
5 cups vegetable broth
2 cups shredded potatoes
4 eggs, beaten well
a bit of fresh torn basil
a bit of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, to serve
Sriracha sauce to taste, if desired

Melt butter over medium-low heat in your soup pot, then add shallot, garlic, red pepper flakes, and some freshly ground pepper and cook for about 5 minutes.

Increase heat to medium, then add mushrooms and veggie sausage. Cook, stirring, until the mushrooms have a good color and texture--about 8 to 10 minutes.

Add vegetable broth and shredded potatoes and bring the soup to a simmer. Simmer about 10 minutes, or until potatoes are cooked through.

Keeping a steady simmer and keeping the soup continuously swirling with a spoon, pour your beaten eggs into the soup in a slow, steady stream. The egg should cook up almost instantly into long rags and smaller bits of scramble--it tastes the same either way, the rags just look prettier.

Add the basil and give it a stir. Serve topped with Parmigiano-Reggiano and as much Sriracha as you'd like, or just serve it plain:

Good morning!

Soupruary 15th: Pasta e Ceci

2010-02-15T09:36:00.001-08:00

Don't go out in that great white mess! Stay in and eat soup!

Cincinnati was treated to about 7 inches of snow today, which isn't quite apparent in the view from my window, but which I assure you is just as pretty and welcome as it is dirty and inconvenient.

This is exactly the kind of thing I'll call upon next time I'm snowed in. It's not as mouthwatering as last week's chickpea soup, but it has the bonus that you can probably throw together a version of it from the pantry with no need to leave your abode.

Even if you're not snowed in, though, this makes a great weeknight soup. I can see it being delicious if you leave it brothy as well, like so:

But the thick texture you get from blending the soup with half the chickpeas does give you a very satisfying mouthful. And seriously, y'all: I was so not going to the store.

To make this, I read recipes by Jamie Oliver, Giada De Laurentiis, Mario Batali and a few bloggers, then did what I felt like doing with what I had.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 shallots, peeled and chopped
1 rib of celery, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary (or 1 teaspoon fresh--I only had dried)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
2 14.5 oz cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
3 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup small dried pasta shapes (I used mini-wheels because I had them, but it seems the traditional pasta is ditalini)
1 2-inch piece of Parmesan rind
a bit of fresh julienned basil

Heat the oil and melt the butter over low heat in a pot with a lid. Add shallots, celery, galic, pepper flakes, rosemary and thyme--stir, then cover and cook on low for about 10 minutes.

Add chickpeas, tomatoes and juice, Parmesan rind and vegetable broth, and increase heat to bring the soup to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to boil and add pasta. Cook according to package directions until just al dente, then drain and shock with cold water to stop cooking.

Remove the Parmesan rind from the soup and discard. Using a slotted spoon, transfer about half of the chickpeas to a bowl and reserve. Use an immersion blender to blend the rest of the soup, adding a bit more water if needed for the right consistency.

Add reserved chickpeas and pasta to the soup, and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle bowls with basil to serve, if desired.

Soupentine's Day: Roasted Red Pepper Bisque

2010-02-15T08:28:00.000-08:00

A hooperu for the ages!

I just realized I didn't even take a picture of the soup, so I'll describe it: It's an orangey-pinky-red, smooth, sprinkled with basil and hiding some fun little surprises just under the surface.

Location:
My apartment

Attendees:
Amber VALENTINE (so appropriate it couldn't be ignored), Tiffany, Kelly, Matt, Janice, Jeff, Julie, Josh, me

Oh, and Wil Wheaton, in spirit if not in physical presence

Menu:
Cheeses and crackers
Green salad
Citrus, feta and mint salad
Roasted Red Pepper Bisque
Red velvet cake (made by Tiffany)
Mimosas (and one mibowlsa)

Entertainment:
Gotta admit, the fun of the day more than slightly eclipsed the soup of the day. If everyone celebrated Valentine's Day like this, I think there would be significantly fewer complaints about how it's a Hallmark Holiday and such.

The party started off with a bang, fairly literally. Jeff managed to pop a champagne cork in the exact trajectory needed to accomplish this:

To quote Ron Burgundy: "Heck, I'm not even mad; that's amazing!"

The rest of the day included a good deal of laughing-till-we-cry while playing Catchphrase, the most interesting manner of cutting a cake I've ever seen, leading to something of a caketastrophe (while still leaving the cake both edible and incredible),

some disenchanted hipster snow angels,

and an impromptu rooftop snowball fight that devolved our entire mastery of the English language into fits of giggles, with photos below captured marvelously by Tiffany.

Look, ma! No gloves!

The Soup:
This was a nice soup that seemed Valentinesy enough, even though I didn't get to the heart-shaped croutons I meant to have time for. I think it'd be better as a starter than a meal, but the flavor was strong and winning, and there were certainly smiles punctuating the talk of friendlyfish.

I doubled this guy to make enough for all the revelers, and it worked out pretty well. I also adapted it to be serviceable for shrimp-eaters and non shrimp-eaters alike, so both serving instructions are included below.

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Bisque with Shrimp and Romano Cheese
Adapted from Bon Apetit, March 2000

5 large red bell peppers
3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup grated pecorino Romano cheese
3 tablespoons julienned basil

For serving shrimpies:
1 tablespoon olive oil
16 large uncooked shrimp, peeled, deveined, and chopped in roughly thirds

For serving non-shrimpies:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 additional red bell pepper

Broil red bell peppers until blackened on all sides. Enclose in paper bag and let stand 10 minutes. Peel and seed peppers. Cut 1 pepper into matchstick-size strips and set aside. Coarsely chop remaining 4 peppers. Combine chopped peppers and broth in heavy large saucepan. Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer until peppers are very tender, about 5 minutes. Puree soup until very smooth with an immersion blender, then mix in paprika and sugar. Simmer 5 minutes to blend flavors. Whisk in cream and pecorino Romano cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper--I only added salt.

For shrimpies:
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add reserved bell pepper strips and shrimp and sauté until shrimp are cooked through, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Divide shrimp mixture among 4 bowls.

For non-shrimpies:
Slice raw red bell pepper into long strips. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add reserved roasted bell pepper strips and raw bell pepper and sauté about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Divide mixture among 4 bowls.

Ladle soup over shrimp or pepper mixture. Sprinkle basil over and serve.

Soupruary 13th: Vegetable Barley with Poached Egg

2010-02-15T08:22:00.000-08:00

I'm becoming a little obsessed with putting eggs on top of things. Next up: Eggpaulets on all my jackets!

Location:
My apartment

Attendees:
Aron, Janice, Joshua, me

Menu:
Gouda and crackers
Spinach and apple salad
Vegetable barley soup with poached egg

Entertainment:
Musical bottle of wine! This bottle made it through three Soupruary nights--originating with Janice, then travelling to Aron's, then back to my place--without being opened. Impressive.

The Soup:
Janice and I both worked all day today, from 7 a.m.!, so I was a little frazzled as I rushed to the grocery store and then home to soup it up. But every time I stress and think "What am I doing?"--I'm rewarded with a bowl of deliciousness and satisfaction, and I remember everything will always be alright.

Aron says this was his favorite Soupruary soup that he's tasted. We were all really full the rest of the night (which included Julie Hill's fabulous opening at Fabricate and an after party at Mayday)--this is the definition of one pot meal. Unless you count the pot you poach the eggs in. Darn it. We didn't really need crackers and cheese and salad--this soup was enough on its own.

I loved the chewy texture of the barley and mushrooms, the fun and fortified flavor of fire-roasted tomatoes, and the joy of poking the yolk of the poached egg and watching the bright orange mingle with with the reds and deep greens already present.

This soup has my seal of mega-approval.

Adapted from Gourmet, November 2007

1/2 a large onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms
2 teaspoons chopped thyme
2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans diced fire-roasted tomatoes
2 quarts vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups pearled barley
8 ounces baby spinach
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
Large eggs--1 for each person you're serving
Grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Heat oil in your soup pot over medium, then cook onion and garlic with 1/2 teaspoon salt, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, discard the shiitake stems and thinly slice the capscrosswise. Add mushrooms and thyme to onion and cook, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes with their juice, stock, barley, and salt and pepper to taste and simmer briskly, partially covered, stirring occasionally, until barley is tender, about 40 minutes. Stir in spinach and cook 1 minute, then check again for seasoning.

For eggs: Bring 2 quarts water to a simmer with vinegar and 1 tablespoon salt in a wide medium saucepan.

Break eggs into separate cups. Slide each egg into the water separately, spacing evenly. Poach at a bare simmer until whites are firm and yolks are still runny, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to paper towels using a slotted spoon.

To serve: Ladle your soup into bowls and top each with a poached egg and grated Parmigiano Reggiano. MMMmmmmMMMMM.

Soupruary 12th: Hot & Sour

2010-02-12T08:36:00.000-08:00

They say if you love something let it go / If it comes back it's yours / That's how you know / It's for keeps, yeah, it's for sure.

Yes, those are Christina Aguilera lyrics (and no, I totally didn't learn the entire dance from the video in high school).

So yeah, the point of all that was: I LET SOMEONE ELSE COOK. I wrote the rules; I can break 'em.

Location:
Aron's apartment

Attendees:
Aron, Jeff, Julie, Janice, Josh, Jess, Karen, Mark, Liz, Rich, me

Menu (drafted by Aron):
Hot and Sour Soup
Sho Chiku Bai sake (unfiltered and sweet to offset the hot and sour)
Edamame
Vegetable Egg Rolls with Honey Mustard
Chinese Steamed Buns with Custard and Bean Filling
Green Tea Ice Cream
Ginger Szechuan Ice Cream from Bon Appetit, July 1987 (courtesy of Aron's grandma's recipe-clipping habit)
Fortune cookies

Entertainment:
2010 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies
Learning that Shania Twain's real name is Eilleen Regina Edwards
Chewing on Szechuan peppercorns simmered in milk--makes your mouth tingly!

The Soup:
I have to be honest: I was a little sad today when I realized I was painting my nails instead of making soup. For one thing, I'm no good at painting my nails, so that's a joyless venture. For another, I was giving up a little control.

But guess what! Turns out that's a good thing. I got a night off, and we all ate delicious soup anyway!

Aron has an amazing collection of vintage soup bowls from his grandmother. Mine said "Borrrrrrrsssssscccccttttttt" on it (not sure about the number of consonants there, but it was something like that):

The soup was really filling (although I admit I went back for a few extra bites because it was just such a nice taste)--Lots of protein and just the right amount of sour. There were expressions of Yum coming from every mouth in the room.

I'm always worried when I try Asian recipes, as I feel I won't be able to make them taste as good as they do at a restaurant. But Aron went all out with authentic ingredients, a good recipe, and his own intuition and made a darn delicious pot of soup. Maybe next time I'll be brave enough to do the same! Thanks for the inspiration, Aron (and the full stomach).

Here it is, as written by Aron:
Adapted from the Help! My Apartment Has A Kitchen Cook Book

The cookbook version serves 4 as a meal (6 as an appetizer), so I roughly tripled the liquids and doubled the hard ingredients to serve 12.

8 Shitake Mushrooms
4 Green Onions
2 10.5oz cans of chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
2 Can fulls of water
1 8oz can of bamboo shoots, drained
1 14oz package of firm tofu, drained
¼ Cup rice vinegar
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons cornstarch or ¼ cup flour
¼ Cup cold water
2 Eggs
1 Sheet of Nori (seaweed sushi wrapping) cut into strips

Optional:
1 Handful of “black white fungus” strips from the Asian grocery
1 Handful dried lily buds
Sriracha Hot Sauce to taste

Wash the green onions and cut off and discard the root tips and the top 2 inches of the green ends. Cut the remaining part in ¼ inch pieces and set aside.

Wash the fresh mushrooms and cut off the bottom ¼ inch of the stems. Slice the mushrooms thin and set aside. Cut the bamboo shoot strips into 1/8 strips.

If you’re using them, soak the dried lily buds, and dried black white fungus strips in warm water for 20 minutes. Do the same with the mushrooms if you’re using dried shitakes. Discard the water and separate the lily buds into thinner strips.

Heat the broth and water in a large pot over high heat. When it comes to a boil, add the mushrooms, bamboo shoots, lily buds, and black white fungus. Turn down to a medium heat and cook uncovered for 5 minutes.

The recipe says to save the eggs for the end, but I think they’d probably work better when the soup is thinner and hot without lots of stuff in it yet. I added them at the end, so this is your call to try my new recommendation or not. Beat the eggs in a bowl. Pour the beaten eggs slowly through the tines of a fork into the soup. The tines help separate the eggs so they cook in thin strands instead of clumps. This is where I think more heat is good too.

While the soups cooks, cut the tofu into half in cubes. Add the tofu, nori strips, vinegar, and soy sauce to the soup. Stir and cook for another 5 minutes.

Mix the cold water into the cornstarch in small bowl until it becomes a thick paste. Add it to the soup and stir until the mixture boils and thickens slightly.

If desired, add in Sriracha and add more soy sauce and vinegar to taste.

Serve in bowls and garnish with the green onions.

As a bonus, here is the ice cream recipe, since everyone seemed to like it.

Ginger Szechuan Ice Cream
Bon Appétit Magazine, July 1987

Makes about 1 Quart

¼ Cup Szechuan peppercorns (also called prickly ash) available at Asian groceries
2½ Cups half and half
1 Cup water
¾ Cup sugar
½ Cup fresh peeled ginger cut into ¼ inch cubes (about 3 ounces)
8 Egg Yolks
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1 Pinch of salt
½ Cup whipping cream

Toast the Szechuan peppercorns (Wikipedia says they are actually a seed from a berry) in a small skillet over medium low heat until aromatic, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes. The peppercorns are pretty aromatic as soon as they come out of the bag, so it’s a good thing they give a time suggestion. Transfer the peppercorns to a bowl.

“Scald” the half and half in a heavy large saucepan over medium heat. The internets say that “scalding” is an out of fashion cooking term, but basically means heating milk shy of boiling and stirring to make sure it doesn’t burn. Add the peppercorns to the milk and let it cool.

Cook the water, sugar, and ginger in a medium saucepan over low heat, swirling the pan occasionally until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat until the ginger is tender, about 20 minutes. From my experience, the ginger stayed a little chewy, but that just added some good texture.

Use a strainer to remove the peppercorns from the half and half mixture. Side note: This is the point where you can chew on half a dozen or a dozen of the peppercorns and then spit them out. They make your mouth, lips, and tongue, turn numb for 5 or 10 minutes.

Add the ginger and syrup to the strained half and half. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Whisk yolks, vanilla, and salt in a medium-large bowl. Gradually whisk the hot half and half mixture into the eggs. Return the mixture to the saucepan and stir over a medium-low heat until the mixture starts to thicken, about 10 minutes. Do not boil the mixture. Remove from heat and whisk in the cream. Bon Appétit says you should strain the mixture now. I strained the peppercorns out early and didn’t strain here. That meant the ginger cubes stayed in to give the ice cream some extra texture.

Refrigerate the mix until it’s well cooled. Transfer it into your ice cream maker, following the instructions from the machine. Freeze overnight in a covered container.

Soupruary 11th: Butternut Squash with Pears and Ginger

2010-02-12T08:18:00.000-08:00

It was ginger night, and not a redhead in sight! A travesty!

Location:
My apartment, which smelled so good I was tempted to lick the walls.

Attendees:
Charlie, Joshua, Me

Menu:
Ginger fried rice
Butternut squash soup with pears and ginger

Entertainment:
Television! Live! In my apartment! First time ever! Exclamation point!

The Soup:
I feel like that French figure-skating judge or something. Nothing I say about the soup should be trusted because I've been bought and paid for by the rice.

But oh, that rice. In case you didn't click on it above, here's a second chance. And a third. It might be my new favorite food. I don't often repeat recipes, but this one is going into regular rotation. RICE.

Ok, ok...this blog is about soup. It was totally fine. Not earth-shattering, not as exotic as it sounds--I think it needs more ginger and more texture. The recipe called it a chowder, but to me a chowder needs to be chunky--I don't think it should be all smoothified.

OH, GEEZ. Just realized I was only supposed to puree half the soup. Now I feel like I did it a serious injustice (and I like I need to dust off my reading comprehension skillz).

After all, it was a nice mix of sweet and tangy, and the pears were crisp and lovely. Whatever. Did you make that rice yet?

Adapted from Stephen Pyles' Southwestern Vegetarian

2 Bosc pears, peeled, cored, and diced
Juice of 2 lemons
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup peeled and diced Vidalia or Spanish onion
1 rib of celery, diced
1 small carrot, peeled and diced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon peeled minced fresh ginger
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and diced (about 3 cups)
1 Yukon Gold potato, diced
5 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup orange juice
Juice of half a lemon
1/2 cup heavy cream

In a small bowl, cover the pears with the lemon juice. If the lemon juice doesn't quite reach, add enough water to fully cover. Set the bowl aside.

Heat the oil over high heat in your soup pot. Add onion, celery, and carrot, and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes. Add garlic and ginger and sauté for 1 minute, stirring. Add white wine and cook for 3 minutes, or until the wine has mostly disappeared.

Drain half of the pears, and set the other half aside. Add the drained pears to the pan with squash, potato, and broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the squash is tender. Use an immersion blender to puree HALF THE SOUP UNLESS YOU'RE CORRIE AND YOU DON'T LIKE TO READ PROPERLY. Add orange juice, lemon juice, cream and reserved pears until it reaches a nice temperature (not boiling).

Soupruary 10th: Chickpea and Leek

2010-02-10T11:12:00.000-08:00

Oh, boy, has it been a week, and we're only at the halfway point. Ended up staying late at work and changing the soup plan (switching today's for tomorrow's) because I was tired and stressed and cranky. Thankfully, being in my tiny kitchen always makes me feel better, no matter the day I've had.

The other thing that always makes me feel better? Jamie Oliver. He never disappoints. And with this soup it was as though he knew precisely how I think food should taste.

It was so good. It was so, so good. I know you're reading that it's chickpea and leek and thinking Uhhhh...chickpea and leek? That is either weird, or boring. Also if you switch the vowels around it's "pee" and "leak" and that's just disgusting. (Wow, sorry about that. My mind is shot (see: stress, work).)

Back on track: THIS SOUP IS DELICIOUS. It was so delicious that I had this war going on between my mouth and my brain.

Brain: Eat it supersuperfast because it's so good and you don't want any soup thieves to take it away from you!
Mouth: No, you don't understand! It's so good that I literally cannot chew quickly because I want to taste that forever and always!
Brain: But the thieves!
Mouth: Yeah, I KNOW. But srsly, if they stole that they'd probably see the light, repent, and turn from their sordid lives of soup-stealing!

It went on like that for a while.

This is my favorite soup of the year so far, and Josh liked it too. I usually don't change Jamie's recipes at all, but that whole being late coming home from work thing meant that I majorly did not want to go to the store, and thus necessitated I sub extra sharp aged white Cheddar (which I had) for his recommended Parmesan (which I didn't). The Cheddar had a nice bite and saltiness, plus a bit of nuttiness, although admittedly not as much as the Parm would've. Still--if you haven't noticed--this soup was awesome. I served it with a little rainbow slaw, but I would've eaten it all on its own. I realize I haven't described the taste at all, and I just keep saying how awesome it is, but that's just because I was way too happy to be eating it to worry about describing it.

Also: Dangerously quick, cheap, and easy. The most strenuous part was washing the leek rings, and all that takes is water and a colander.

One more thing: Thanks to Josh for taking iPhone pictures since I left my camera at Kendall's last night!

Adapted from Jamie Oliver's The Naked Chef

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 dash of olive oil
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 leeks, white and light green parts sliced into rings and thoroughly rinsed
1 14-oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 cups vegetable broth, separated
1/4 cup grated sharp white Cheddar (or 1/2 cup grated Parmesan--Jamie's way)

Heat olive oil and butter in pot over medium heat until butter is melted, then add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add leeks and cook until soft and even more beautiful, about 10 minutes.

Add chickpeas and 2 cups vegetable broth. Using an immersion blender, puree about half the soup, leaving it chunky but thick (or remove about half and puree it in a regular blender).

Add remaining broth and bring to a boil. Add cheese, reduce heat, and simmer 15 to 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste (I only needed to add pepper, no salt), and serve with additional grated cheese if desired (I did not desire).

Soupruary 9th: Fisherman's Soup

2010-02-09T09:27:00.001-08:00

My pitch: The island relocates to a spot in the Ligurian Sea, nestled between Tuscany and Corsica. Inspired by the Mediterranean climate and the local waters, erstwhile fisherman Jin whips up a quick soup. Sawyer takes a bite, turns to Kate, and says "Now that's amore, Freckles," and the whole crew of Losties breaks out in song.

Tell me that isn't Emmy-winning storytelling.

Location:
Kendall's apartment, Downtown Cincinnati

Attendees:
Kendall, Mandy, John, Josh, me

Menu:
Fisherman's Soup
Cannelini, tomato and mozzarella salad

Entertainment:
Lost Season 6 Episode 3, which is actually airing in the second week so it feels like episode 2 and I'm pretty sure they're cheating us out of some show somehow.

The Soup:
They're calling it Snowpocalypse right now in certain parts of the country. I can't say it's that serious here--Our own snowstorm only brought us about 6 inches, but that's enough to really screw us up in Cincinnati. I braved the yuck and made it to Findlay Market, but some of my favorite vendors were closed, and some of those who were open weren't 100% stoked about it. Accordingly, this meal wasn't precisely what I wanted it to be (for instance, I wanted squid, and I really wanted my shrimp to be just a little more straight-from-the-sea), but hey: at least it happened.

This soup is called cacciucco in Italian, which means mixed but is way more fun to say.

The broth on its own, before the seafood was added, was megaflavorful. Probably not hearty enough to eat on its own, but if you added a pasta and maybe a nice leafy green, I'd totally eat that. In fact, depending on the quality of the seafood, that might even be better.

The really fun part of this soup, though, is what it does to the toast at the bottom of your bowl. What had so recently been solid, crispy bread quickly evolved into what felt and tasted like a big ol' pile of melted cheese in the most brilliant WillyWonkan fashion. I know wet, soggy bread sounds disgusting, but in reality it was nothing short of delightful.

adapted from Bon Apetit, May 2000

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1 small pinch saffron
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
3/4 cup dry white wine
1 28-oz can diced or whole peeled plum tomatoes
6 cups vegetable broth
1 lb mixed firm, white fish (I used orange roughy and cod)
1 lb medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
8 oz bay scallops
zest from one lemon

to serve:
additional chopped Italian parsley
freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
crusty bread

Heat olive oil over medium heat in your pot, then add onion, celery and garlic and sauté for 10 minutes. Add parsley, rosemary, crushed red pepper and saffron and stir for about 2 minutes. Sprinkle flour over mixture and cook, stirring, for another two minutes. Add white wine and cook until liquid evaporates. Add tomatoes (with juice) and vegetable broth--if using whole tomatoes, break them down into manageable pieces with your spoon. Bring to a gentle boil and cook down for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat your oven to 400F. Slice your crusty bread and brush each piece with a little olive oil, then place on a cookie sheet. Bake until nicely toasted, then remove and set aside.

Add seafood to your broth, and cook about 3 minutes, or until cooked through. Add lemon zest to soup and stir to combine.

To serve, place a piece of toast in the bottom of each bowl. Ladle soup on top of bread, then sprinkle with parsley and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

One week in the bank

2010-02-08T07:50:00.000-08:00

Me to Josh: "Well, I made it through the first week of Soupruary!"
Josh to me: "It's really only been ONE WEEK???"

A congratulations goes out to Mick, who's flying the Soupruary flag in North Carolina. Check out his first week of soup--great recipes and mouth-watering photos!

Soupruary 8th: Spinach Soup

2010-02-08T06:33:00.001-08:00

Don't believe the hype: It's easy being green.

I ates it, and then Bluto got it right in the kisser!

Or viska versa.

Location:
My apartment, Downtown, Cincinnati

Attendees:
Josh, me

Menu:
Spinach soup
What's-in-the-fridge pasta
Leftover apple crisp (man, what a fancy Monday!)

Entertainment:
The West Wing season 3

The Soup:
An easy, unassuming soup for a quiet, rejuvenating evening.

There was one point of worry--a near spinachvalanche:

But it soon became much more reasonable:

This isn't the kind of thing I'd serve for company, really, but it was plenty satisfying. Super smooth, pleasingly bright green, and very...iron-y?--the addition of the potato gives this soup a surprisingly robust mouth-feel even though it still seems light. This is another soup I'd totally want to eat as leftovers for breakfast, and--in my strange system of judgment--that makes it a success.

adapted from the tempting blog Rachel Eats

1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 rib of celery, chopped
1 handful frozen peas
1 russet potato, peeled and diced
1 pound spinach, washed well
2 1/2 cups water
thumb-sized chunk of Parmesan
dash of nutmeg
salt and pepper

Over medium heat, heat butter and olive oil in your pot until butter is melted. Add onion, carrot and celery, and cook until soft but not brown--10 minutes. Add peas and potato and stir to combine. Add spinach, a little at a time if necessary, stirring to combine. Add water and parmesan, and bring to a boil. Reduce hear, cover and simmer about 20 minutes.

Using an immersion blender, blend until silky smooth. Season with a tiny dash of nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with additional grated Parmesan and good, crusty bread.

Week Two Soupendar

2010-02-07T12:29:00.002-08:00

Monday, February 8th: Spinach

Tuesday, February 9th: Fisherman's Soup

Wednesday, February 10th: Butternut Squash Chowder with Pears and Ginger

Thursday, February 11th: Chickpea and Leek

Friday, February 12th: Hot and Sour (with a Soupruary first: Guest cook Aron!)

Saturday, February 13th: Vegetable Barley with Poached Egg

Sunday, February 14th: Roasted Red Bell Pepper with Shrimp and Romano

Soupruary 7th: Borscht

2010-02-07T12:29:00.001-08:00

I'm in love, and his name is Cuisinart 11-cup Food Processor. To prepare the vegetables for this soup, I broke out the shredder blade for its inaugural use. It was like seeing Ryan Adams for the first time. MAGIC.

Instead of chopping matchsticks for--oh, who knows, an hour?--I was done with all the prep in about 10 minutes, including peeling the potatoes and carrots and beets. I kept laughing out loud because it was just that awesome.

Oh, wait, what was I here to talk about? Borscht:

Is there a soup that sounds less enticing than BORSCHT? Cream of Celery might be able to give it a run for its money in that department--nothing sexy about that. But borscht sounds so harsh and poor and cold. But seriously, look at this passionate, celebratory soup:

Now tell me borscht isn't sexy.

Location:
The Rich Ranch (or Casa de Rich if you're Jeff (and a cheater)), The Westside, Cincinnati

Attendees:
Bill, Leslie, Kelly, Aron, Brent, Laura, Julie, Jeff, Joshua, me

Menu:
Latkes with sour cream and applesauce (by Bill)
Salted rye with honey and pickles (by Brent and Laura)
Assorted snax (by Bill & Leslie)
Borscht (by me)
White Russians and Bolsheviks (by Bill, our resident movie musical mixologist)

Entertainment:
Puppy Bowl (Go, Tater Tot!)
Fiddler on the Roof

Aron's dancing and balancing skills

My fatalistic socks

The Soup:
This soup was determined by the movie of choice for Sunday Night Movie Musicals--a new tradition for 2010 (Tradition...TRADITION!). The last time I had borscht was cold and in Lithuania, and before that was hot and in Belarus--I've never had it on American soil. Although I think we typically stereotype it as a cold soup, Wikipedia confirmed my suspicion that hot borscht is most popular in Russia, and with the day so cold, hot seemed to be the only viable option.

I made a double batch, so it's a good thing I liked it. Even with 10 people having decent-sized portions, I've got lunch covered for a few days. It's not necessarily something I would've thought to make without the film's prodding (they mentioned soup in the movie, and I was like YES!), but it's cheap, fast, healthy and filling--If that makes it peasant food, then call me a peasant.

This is fun, too: The beets turn your kitchen into a pretty realistic crime scene during preparation!

Cobbled together from various blogs and recipes

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large beet, peeled and cut into matchsticks or shredded in a food processor
2 medium red-skinned potatoes, peeled and cut into matchsticks or shredded in a food processor
2 carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks or shredded in a food processor
1 red onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1/2 head of green cabbage, shredded
6 cups vegetable broth
1 lemon
sour cream
chopped flat-leaf parsley

Heat the oil in a large soup pot, then add potatoes, carrots, onion, and nearly all the beets--reserve a small amount to add at the end of cooking. Cook, stirring, for 5 to 8 minutes.

In another pot, bring vegetable broth to a boil.

When beet mixture has softened, add vegetable broth and cabbage to soup pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. At the end of cooking, add the reserved beet to brighten the color.

Squeeze lemon juice into soup to taste--soup should be pleasantly and subtly sour. Season with salt and pepper.

To serve, top each bowl with a dollop of sour cream, some parsley, and a nice turn of freshly ground black pepper.

Soupruary 6th: Split Pea

2010-02-07T12:28:00.000-08:00

The first soupstitution!

Necessitated by an afternoon fever, I changed plans yesterday and made split pea soup rather than the black bean soup I had planned. The other day my brother Karl reminded me of Split Pea Andersen's, a restaurant close to where we grew up where you can eat all the Split Pea soup you want. Thanks to a little miracle called the internet, I found what is supposedly their recipe, and it really did taste as good as I remember it.

Because of the fever and because we had to set up for a lil dance party at the Northside Tavern (and then get to it), we didn't really have an official event tonight. But hey, I got the soup made, I liked it, and I fed some people! Josh, Laura, Aron and I had some soup.

I thought Laura said it tasted hot, but she said it tasted like pot (then clarified that she meant it tasted earthy). Here are the ingredients, just to prove there was nothing illegal going on:

Split Pea Andersen's Split Pea Soup

8 cups water
1 onion, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 cups split peas
1 dash hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf

Put all ingredients in a large pot and boil hard for 20 minutes. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until peas are soft. Remove bay leaf, and blend with an immersion blender. If soup is too thick (mine was!), thin with water. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and strain through a fine strainer if desired.

Soupruary 5th: Garlic Potato

2010-02-05T08:12:00.001-08:00

My cousin, Doug, recommended this soup to me. He's 6'9", so it's not like I was going to say "no."

Possible intimidation aside, Doug is an awesome cook, so I was pretty stoked to try this. Turns out I was correct to be stoked.

Location:
My apartment, downtown Cincinnati

Attendees:
Janice, Laura, Sebastien, Aron, Kenneth, Joshua, me

Menu:
Radishes with butter and sea salt
Tomato mozzarella skewers (brought by Laura!)
Avocado and asparagus salad (also from Laura!)
Snap peas with red peppers and grape tomatoes
Garlic potato soup
Apple crisps

Entertainment:
Catchphrase, of course
Learning to eat around Sebastien without choking from laughter

The Soup:
Oh, man, I could get really, really fat off this soup. I would eat it every day.

If I ordered this soup in a restaurant, I would be like "Dang, I am so good at ordering."

It made the apartment smell delicious and made my mouth incredibly happy. And I got to squish garlic cloves out of their skins, and that was mega fun:

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium leek , white and light green parts halved lengthwise, washed, and chopped small (about 1 cup)
3 tablespoon minced garlic
3 heads garlic , rinsed, papery skins removed and top third of heads cut off and discarded
8 cups vegetable broth
3 bay leaves
8 cups mixed potatoes (such as Russets, peeled and chopped into cubes; red potatoes, unpeeled and chopped into cubes; Yukon gold, peeled and chopped into cubes)
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme leaves
1/4 cup minced scallions

Garlic Chips:
3 tablespoons olive oil
6 medium cloves garlic , sliced thin lengthwise

Melt butter in Dutch oven over medium heat then add leeks and cook 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in minced garlic and cook 1 minute. Add garlic heads, broth, bay leaves, and 1 teaspoon salt; partially cover pot and bring to simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer 40 minutes. Add potatoes and continue to simmer, partially covered, 20 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.

Discard bay leaves. Remove garlic heads and squeeze the root of the garlic (use a paper towel) to pop the cloves into a bowl. Using fork, mash garlic into a smooth paste.

Stir cream, thyme, and half of mashed garlic into soup; heat soup until hot, about 2 minutes. Taste soup; add remaining garlic paste if desired. Using an immersion blender to process soup until creamy, with some potato chunks remaining.

To garnish:
Heat oil and sliced garlic in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, turning frequently, until light golden brown, about 3 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer garlic to plate lined with paper towels. Sprinkle lightly with salt. To serve, sprinkle soup with scallions and garlic chips.

Soupruary 4th: Broccoli, Red Pepper and Cheddar Chowder

2010-02-04T06:51:00.001-08:00

Well, color me converted.

This is the part where I admit I WAS WRONG. I was convinced I'd never meet a broccoli & cheese soup that I liked. I don't like it in restaurants, and--goodness--last year's attempt was (how do I say this in a way that won't hurt my feelings?) unsuccessful. Vindication tastes almost as delicious as this soup.

The Location:
My apartment--Downtown
Stevie G's house--Westside

Attendees:
Josh, me
Special delivery to Steve and bionic-Marisa, with swift-recovery wishes

Menu:
Broccoli, red pepper & Cheddar chowder
Baked penne with roasted vegetables

Entertainment:
Bye Bye Birdie (Musicals: Not just for Sundays anymore!)
The transformation of the Christmas tree into the Valentine's Day tree:

The Soup:
Comforting, homey, yet unexpected--The different colors and textures keep this soup from seeming too familiar.

It's creamy and cheesy without feeling heavy or overly thick--Definitely a time to use high quality dairy products. This soup probably won't blow anyone's mind, but it's definitely going to please a crowd and leave you feeling satisfied and kinda lovey-dovey.

Adapted from Gourmet, December 2001

2 small heads broccoli (or whatever one bunch is at your grocery)
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
1 large onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped into nice bite-sized chunks
l large garlic clove, finely chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dry mustard
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup half-and-half (Cincinnatians: may I recommend Snowville Creamery?)
8 oz sharp Cheddar, coarsely grated or crumbled (2 cups) (I used an aged white Vermont extra sharp Cheddar)

To prepare the broccoli, first cut off the tough lower third of the stem. Separate the crown from the rest of the stem, then piece the crown into little florets (no bigger than 1 inch), and set them aside. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. While you're waiting for it to boil, peel and finely chop the broccoli stems. Add the florets to the boiling water for 2 or 3 minutes, till bright green but still crisp. While they're cooking, prepare a bowl of ice water. Do not drain your broccoli water--Transfer the florets to the ice water using a slotted spoon and reserve the broccoli water.

Melt the butter in a heavy soup pot over medium heat. Add potato, onion, red pepper, broccoli stems and garlic and cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While constantly stirring, add cumin, salt, pepper and mustard and cook 1 minute. Continuing stirring, add flour and cook 2 minutes.

Add 4 cups of reserved broccoli water and simmer partially covered 10 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

Stir in half-and-half and cheese and cook until cheese is melted. Season to taste.

With an immersion blender, puree about 2 cups of the soup, or until it's reached a consistency you like. Alternately, you can remove two cups of soup to a standard blender, puree (carefully), and return it to the pot.

Add florets and cook 2 minutes or until heated through.