Selective Palate

After all that rich food over the holidays my body is starting to revolt! When I need to “clean house”  I tend to turn to soups, more importantly vegetarian soups. I have made a few over the last few days but 1 of my favorites was a vegetarian split pea. As much as I like pork I decided to leave it out. To replace the much missed fatty, unctuous mouth feel I drizzled on a little good olive oil at the end and it seemed to do the trick. I will say that this recipe, though very tasty was not as sweet as the traditional split pea with ham.

Recipe:

1 - 2 carrots chopped
1 - 2 stalks celery chopped
1 small onion chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
1 - 2 T. olive oil
8 oz green split peas
4 cups veggie stock or water

In a sauce pan heat about 1 T. or so of the olive oil and saute the veggies except for the garlic  for about 5-8 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to saute for about another 1 - 2 minutes. Add the stock or water, the thyme, bay leaves and split peas. Give a good stir and leave on medium-low heat for about 1 hour. Test and make sure the peas are soft if not cook for another 20 - 30 minutes. When soft remove the bay leaves and thyme sprigs then blend until smooth. I used an immersion blender but if you have to use a regular blender do it in batches and be very careful that the liquid does not explode! Season with salt and pepper.

Finish in a bowl with a little drizzle of olive oil, a spritz of lemon juice and some course sea salt. I added a dollop of sour cream and some chopped roasted red peppers. The peppers added that missing sweetness. Healthy and tasty, you can’t beat that!

Up here in Vermont the farming season is already short add to that about 2 months of straight rain and you get a very disappointing tomato harvest. M and I decided to utilize are large yet mostly useless deck to start a container garden. And though fun it was not very prosperous to say the least. I was hoping for bounties of tasty summer tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and herbs but really we ended up with tiny tomatoes with little flavor, 2 small cucumber, and 3 peppers (good news this sudden batch of sunshine has encouraged more peppers!). The herbs came out fine I guess, but not what I had hoped for at all and due to all the rain we had cilantro for about 2 weeks till it all flowered and died; on the other hand it came to seed and I harvested coriander! I still found myself having to go to the farmers market weekly. But that did not stop me from taking what little we harvested and adding that to some farmers market goodies to create my favorite summertime treat; Gazpacho!

For some of you this is the perfect way to end the summer and rid yourself of all those tomatoes you may have *cough-jealous-cough* instead of making jars and jars of tomato sauce you can whip up a batch of this soup. It can last in the fridge for over a week, if its not eaten quicker and you can morph it into all kinds of things; add hot peppers or sauce and you have salsa, blend up into a thick puree and you have a light fresh tomato sauce to toss with pasta, add basil and top bruschetta, I am tellin ya endless possibilities!

Recipe:

3-5 Good sized tomatoes, any variety will work, I used a combo of heirloom and slicing from my garden and a few romas I grabbed at the market; diced
1 cucumber diced
1-2 bell peppers diced green or red, I like the sweetness of the red
1 onion, you can use regular white but I like the sweeter varieties, like bermuda, vidalia and red
2-3 cloves garlic minced
A good splash sherry vinegar or white wine works well here too, about 1/4 cup
About 1/4 cup of good quality olive oil with a little extra to drizzle at the end
1 cup tomato juice or sauce (not seasoned)
1 cup or so beef broth (you can leave this out to make it vegetarian and add either veggie stock, water, or more tomato juice)
A couple good dashes of hot sauce
handfull of fresh cilantro and parsley
and of course salt and pepper

Once you have all your veggies diced up nice take about 2/3 of them and plop them in a blender, I use my stick blender. The point is to puree about 2/3 of the mixture. Now pour all the chopped veggies and pureed veggies in a large bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Just add what you need until you get the desired taste and constancy. If you like your soup thinner you will most likely use all the liquid but if you like a chunkier style like I do you will add less. Play with the vinegar, if your tomatoes are a bit more on the acidic side you may want to cut back but if like me they were a tad bland you may want to kick it up. Also, the hot sauce is to taste feel free to leave it out. We like spicy in this house so I add quite a bit. This is not a science just a basic recipe. It is pretty fool proof if you ask me.

Traditionally, gazpacho uses stale bread but I omit that opting for a crustini along side my soup but the choice is yours. Also, with the bread left out you can morph this into so much more.

Chill this soup over night for best flavors. When ready to serve ladle into cups or bowls and top with a drizzle of good olive oil and a few sprigs of fresh cilantro.

Morphing ideas:

To the leftover soup add chopped olives, capers and fresh oregano and toss with hot pasta.

Add a few more chopped up tomatoes, raw or roasted and a some diced jalapenos for a chunky salsa, or puree further and add chopped chipolte in adobe for a thin smokey salsa.

Add more tomatoes, and fresh basil and top bruschetta for a nice appetizer.

Or puree until smooth adding more tomato juice if needed and mix with vodka for a little twist on a classic Bloody Mary!

You can even freeze this soup! It may not taste as fresh when thawed but in the dead of winter it will be a perfect taste of summer.

I feel like I have so many things to blog about. I made this great soup, we had a wonderful yet unconventional valentines meal, and a traditional Sunday dinner, compliments of Top Chef! Since there is just so much time and attention span I will plit them up.

Today’s post is all about the soup. I love soup and M likes grilled cheese so I decided to do a grown up version for dinner one chilly, rainy night last week. I took inspiration from this recipe and paired it with a wonderful grilled cheese made with fresh mozzarella and basil leaves!

First the soup:

I started with these bueatiful Roma tomatoes.

I know it is not the season but I found these at my local grocery store and they were from a local hydroponic farmer. They smelled wonderfull. But as soon as the farmers market is back I will have to make this again.
anyway this is what I did…

Ingredients

For the Tomatoes
2 lbs roma tomatoes
olive oil
4 (or so) cloves of garlic, minced
Several sprigs fresh thyme
Salt and pepper

Halves the tomatoes and throw them in a bowl cover with about a 4 count of olive oil (since they were going to be roasting I used regular olive oil nothing fancy). After removing the leaves of the thyme from the branches add to the tomatoes with a heavy pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly and spread out on a baking sheet. Roast in a 475 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

For the Soup
Ingredients

Roasted tomatoes
olive oil
1 small onion or 1/2 a large onion chopped fairly fine
1 cup chicken stock or veggie stock
1/4 cup dry red wine
2-3 T. tomato paste
1 T. fresh oregano
1 cup 1/2 & 1/2, heavy cream or milk (I used 1/2 & 1/2 and it was plenty rich)

Heat the oil and saute the onions until translucent. Scrape the tomatoes and everything on the pan into the oinions and mix well while adding the stock. Use a stick blender to puree the soup but leave it a little chunky (if you do not have a stick blender pour the stock and tomatoes in a processor and pulse till desired consistency then return to pot). Mix the paste and wine together and add to soup, stir well to incorporate. Add oregano and let simmer to develop flavors. When almost ready to serve, warm cream in microwave and whisk into soup.

To serve,

I loved the idea of the inspiration recipe, she had left over rice and added it to the soup, I too had leftover rice but I didn’t want to add that much of it to the soup, I still needed good dunkablity for my grilled cheeses! So I warmed up the rice and put about 1/3 cup in each bowl then ladled in the the soup. I topped it with thinly sliced basil and Parmesan cheese.

Along side I stuffed some multi-grain bread with fresh mozzarella and basil leaves. I grilled them in olive oil weighing them down with heavy cans. They came up perfect and crispy.

All in all a great raining night meal for 2!

Dinner for 2

That’s it for now; next time my nontraditional Valentine’s Dinner!

So I am having this Christmas party on Saturday and have been feverishly slaving away in the kitchen. As per my usual I have too much planned but am determined to get it all done by my self. I have nixed 1 hot appetizer but I thought of another way to recreate it to be more “party app”, but honestly do I need another freakin’ appetizer?! Probably not so I am saving it for last to see if I really want to make it, but it is a good idea, I may have to make it just to share!

So, since dinner last night consisted of BLTs and pistachio nuts (not together) I thought I would post something I made a awhile back.

Cauliflower Bisque:

I thought this dish was appropriate given that that the day I made this soup was not unlike today, meaning overcast and cold. This is one of my favorites soups; its easy, rich, and filling. You can make this completely vegetarian which I have done many times or you can do what I did here and topped it with some leftover rotisserie chicken. I also almost always serve this with large toasted croutons spread with roasted garlic (the best parts the dunking!)

Recipe:

2 heads cauliflower
2 cloves garlic plus 1 entire head
1 chopped shallot, onion or leek (white part)
olive oil
3-4 cups chicken stock (or vegetable)
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
heavy cream to taste

Heat oven to 425 and position rack in middle. Cut the cauliflower heads in 1/2 and and lay flat side down on a baking sheet. Generously salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with the shallot and remaining garlic cloves. Cut the top of the garlic head off and make a nest for the garlic in aluminum foil; salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil and wrap it up leaving a little opening at the top. Place garlic package on the same baking sheet as the cauliflower and stick everything in the oven for about 30 minutes.

Set roasted garlic aside.

Place roasted cauliflower in a stock pot and cover with stock add bay leaf and bring to simmer until cauliflower is very tender (fork should slide through with no tension).
Remove bay leaf and with a stick blender (or regular blender but be careful) blend until smooth. Here is where I add the salt and pepper (maybe a pat of butter!). Let simmer on low until ready to serve. Right before serving add the heavy cream. I just eye ball it here, depending on how creamy and thick you want it. The cauliflower itself makes a pretty thick soup but I just love the added flavor and texture of the cream.

For the crouton, slice a crusty baguette on the bias and lay flat on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and place in a preheated 425 degree oven. Bake until crisp about 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile remember that beautiful roasted garlic you made earlier, yeah that 1, squeeze out the good stuff in a small bowl don’t forget the wonderful oil in the bottom of the foil, throw that in with the garlic. Add any salt and pepper if need be. When the croutons or done spread with the roasted garlic paste.

To serve ladel out the bisque in a shallow soup bowl and top with croutons, and if you have some left over chicken like it did, shred a little up (warm through if straight from the fridge) and plop right on top of the soup. YUM! Makes me wish I had some right now, but unfortunately this soup only lasted 2 days in my house! But if you have leftovers this soup freezes great, with or without the cream!