Soupruary 6th: Split Pea

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

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

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.

Soupruary 3rd: Lentil and Kale

Presenting: An excuse to buy a teeny-tiny box of saffron!


Location:
My Apartment, Cincinnati, Ohio (where it's still Christmas, obviously)

Attendees:
Laura, Brent, Josh, me, and a late-nite dinner for Kenneth


Menu:
Delicious fresh-baked ciabatta from Angelina Fine Italian Foods (Findlay Market)
Crushed purple potatoes
Warm butternut squash and chickpea salad
Romaine with Cara Cara and feta
Lentil and kale soup with saffron yogurt
Aglamesis Bros. cinnamon ice cream (the cinnamoniest!)

The color of these potatoes reminds me of Grape Big League Chew.

Entertainment:
Nilch! (a game invented by Brent's friends)
Catchphrase
The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Game (sense the intense concentration in the below photo--that's how Brent trounced us all)

Not bad for a Wednesday, y'all!

The Soup:
One of my favorite soups in Soupruary 1.0 was the Lentil. Having made it many times in the past year, I decided it was time to broaden my lentil horizons.


This tasted as I imagine the concept of health would taste. Fresh, bright, clean--it was like you could feel the antioxidants racing into all your nooks and crannies.


I must admit: Last year's lentil soup still holds the number one spot in my heart (or at least the part of my heart that's reserved for lentil soup). That said, I can see myself craving this big bowl of thick, hearty goodness some brisk day--particularly if I have the sniffles.

The saffron yogurt on here was good, but it's not necessary. You could use plain yogurt, plain sour cream, or just serve the soup as is--it stands up just fine on its own. If you're in Cincinnati, a tip: I buy homemade Greek yogurt at Dean's Mediterranean Imports, and it is packed with insane amounts of FLAVA.

This makes a whole lot of soup, so either have friends over or plan to pack lunch for a week.

Adapted from 101cookbooks.com

2 cups French green lentils (they're so pretty before you cook them!)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large red onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
4 cups water
1 28-oz can crushed San Marzano tomatoes
3 cups finely chopped kale (washed well and deveined)

Rinse and pick over the lentils, then cook them in 6 cups of boiling water until tender (about 20 minutes).
Heat olive oil in your soup pot over medium heat. Add onion, red pepper, and some salt, and cook until onions begin to soften (5 to 7 minutes).
Add water, tomatoes and cooked lentils, and bring to a simmer.
Add kale and simmer a few more minutes.
Taste for seasoning, and serve with or without a dollop of saffron yogurt.

Saffron Yogurt
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 pinch saffron
1 tablespoon boiling water

In a small cup or prep bowl, steep the saffron in the boiling water for a few minutes until you have a bright orange liquid. Stir the saffron and liquid into the yogurt and add a good sea salt to taste. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Soupruary 2nd: Dharma Beer Cheese

OMG JACK KATE HURLEY SAWYER JULIET SAYID JIN SUN JOHN BEN SMOKEY ETC ETC HAI MISTU!

Okay, now that we've taken care of that:


This one was dictated by the activity of the evening: the Lost final season premiere (if you didn't catch that above). I had a few ideas, but I've always thought Dharma Beer was pretty funny, so this idea stuck.

Mind you, I wish I'd been brave enough to ask a question at the Lost panel at Comic-Con for the chance of taking home real Dharma Beer--but special credit is due to Ben for creating his own!

Location:
Chris & Ben's house, Northside, Cincinnati, Ohio

Attendees:
Ben, Chris, Brent, MaryKate, Aileen, Kevin, Josh, Matt, Sebastien, me


Menu:
Beer cheese soup (me)
Fish biscuits! (Ben)
Beer bread (Chris)
Island fruit salad (not sure who brought this, but it was very appropriate!)


Entertainment:
Lost, and its resultant unavoidable confusion
Brent's souPants
Staring at the magic popcorn machine (Aileen says it's ocular-powered)


The Soup:
At first, I was scared (and not just in anticipation of the crazy dreams Lost tends to give me). The pre-cheese soup, although it smelled quite good, did not taste terribly delightful. It tasted like hot beer with vegetables. Appetizing? Not particularly.

Thankfully, a tasty thing happened when the cream and cheese was added, and it was even tastier when eaten with some asiago cheese bread and a beer on the side. Bread, especially, is a necessary accompaniment.


This soup takes a while (about 2 hours, start to finish) and is a little labor-intensive at the beginning. Every time I make a roux I'm reminded how sincerely I need to develop some upper body strength, and this one was particularly straining with all that veg suspended in it.


Also: This may be the most unhealthy soup I've made. Warning to my Mom: Don't read the ingredients unless you want to worry about the state of my arteries.

All in all, was it worth it? I'd say so. It was topical; it was good; I feel good about it.

adapted from Emeril Legasse's Cheese and Beer Soup

Note: This recipe serves 6--I made a batch and a half to serve 10 and it worked well.

5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup minced yellow onion
1 cup minced celery
1 cup peeled and minced parsnip
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
4 cups vegetable broth
2 cups pale ale
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 cups grated Cheddar (I used 3 white cheddars from Vermont, Wisconsin and New Zealand)
1/2 cup crumbled Stilton
salt and pepper
finely chopped Italian parsley, for serving

Melt butter over medium-low heat in a large soup pot with a lid. Add the onions, celery and parsnip, then cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute, stirring.

Sprinkle the flour into the pot and--stirring constantly--cook for 4 minutes.

Keep stirring, and gradually add the broth and beer. This takes a little finesse, but you want to do it slowly so that your soup ends up smooth and silky instead of Lumptown, USA.

Add cayenne and bay leaves, then bring the mixture to a boil (again, slowly--that beer makes the soup a little heady at first).

Simmer uncovered for 1 hour.

Add heavy cream, stirring, then add the cheeses a bit at a time, constantly stirring. Season with salt and pepper to taste, garnish with parsley and--can't stress it enough--serve with bread (and beer!).

Soupruary 1st: Spicy Tomato and Blue Cheese

I'm often disappointed by foods bearing the moniker "spicy," as I feel they're usually writing a check that their Scoville rating can't cash. This spicy soup, though--it put its money where my mouth is.


Location:
My Apartment, Cincinnati, Ohio

Attendees:
Spicy Julipeño
Jeff Pretzelrod
Mixed Januts
Joshuwaffle Fries
Cool Ranch Corritos

Menu:
Spicy tomato and blue cheese soup (or Julie's renaming: "Tomato Situation")
Adventure salad (also Julie's doing, although it was initially "Buffalo Julie's Cool Adventure Salad")
Parmesan-crusted grilled cheese sandwiches
Liquid dessert provided by Janice in the form of a South African delight: Amarula (ask Jeff if you need a Wikipedia-fueled botanical lesson on the Marula tree)


Entertainment:
Yahtzee (Waffle conquered, but Julie had the most...special...rolling techniques)
The Adventures of Pete & Pete


The Soup:

The reason I'm starting here is twofold:
1) I started with a tomato soup last year, and it was delicious; and,
2) I'm currently reading Michael Ruhlman's The Soul of a Chef, and just finished the section on Michael Symon (I'm now in the section on Thomas Keller, but not quite brave enough to try any of his recipes yet). I'm really impressed with Symon's passion, gusto, and tempting menus. Why not try one of his soups?


Additionally, as noted above, it does indeed pack the heat. Janice (motto: "It's never too spicy") was ready for more, but Julie (motto: "I order Thai food at zero") was put off by the fire in her gullet.


Smooth and complex (especially for the low number of ingredients), each bite had several layers of flavor.

My first thought upon waking today was "Man, I wish I had leftovers." This soup claims to serve 4 to 6, but I wouldn't try for more than 4 if you don't want to wake up sad. I'd eat it again (right now, on my lunch break, if only I could).

Adapted from Michael Symon's Live To Cook by Michael Symon

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium finely chopped red onion
Kosher salt
4 sliced garlic cloves
1 28-oz can San Marzano tomatoes with their juice (since tomato is the base flavor here, I'd say don't skimp and go for the real San Marzano. It's a serious quality upgrade.)
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
3/4 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons sriracha sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano (I would've used 1 tablespoon fresh, but Findlay market failed me in the oregano department)
1/2 cup blue cheese (Symon prescribes Roth Käse Buttermilk Blue, but I couldn't find that so I bought an English Stilton)

Turn your heat on medium, and heat the oil in your soup pot. When it's shimmering, add the onion and a healthy pinch of kosher salt (attempting not to spill salt all over your counter top, as I managed to do this time) and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook for another two minutes.

Add your tomatoes with juice and vegetable stock and bring to a simmer. Add cream, sriracha (or, affectionately, "The Rooster"), and oregano--simmer for 45 minutes.

Remove from heat, add blue cheese, and blend with an immersion blender (or a regular blender, in batches) until smooth. Using a fine mesh strainer, strain the soup into a new pot.

Eat!

Week One Soupendar

February 1st already! I'm honestly jazzed to cook tonight, and to face this joy and challenge again.

To aid the zero-stress, all-fun Soupruary 2010 plan, I haven't composed a full month's calendar. The first week (for which (holy cats!) my shopping is pretty much finished!) is below:

Feb 1: Spicy Tomato with Blue Cheese
Feb 2: Beer Cheese
Feb 3: Lentil and Kale
Feb 4: Broccoli, Red Pepper and Cheddar
Feb 5: Garlic Potato
Feb 6: Black Bean with Toasted Cumin Crema
Feb 7: Borscht, or possibly Matzo Ball (haven't decided yet, and 2010 Corrie says that's A-OK)

Diving in: T-8 hours. Eeee!