Selective Palate

With all these easy meals I tend to make when things get really hectic and stressed I seem to forget how nice it is to actually get into the kitchen and cook up something that takes time and care; a little looking after. Things that make the house smell wonderful and really impress those you serve even if it is only myself and M. When I am in my kitchen diligently chopping and slicing, stirring and testing everything else seems to just slip away. I guess you could call it my therapy; my form of meditation. I have decided that I need more of that. I need to just relax and make something yummy! With that in mind and the cold, snowy weather I set my eyes on making a traditional slow cooked French Onion Soup. I know it doesn’t sound like much but it can be really therapeutic. What with all the slicing of the onions that comes with a good cry, the slow, gentle caramelization of the onions that invokes a great deal of patience; you cannot rush that. Then the release of  deglazing the pan with its sudden and exciting burst of steam! Then the slow and methodical simmering to make sure everything comes together just right! Let us not forget  toasting a hearty slice of  baguette making sure not to burn it  and all the satisfaction of  melting the cheese just right so it is just slightly brown and perfectly melty as it sits atop the lovenly cared for soup,  I mean who needs a shrink right? Well lets get right to it so you too can have a little kitchen therapy!

Recipe:
2 lbs. sweet onions sliced (give or take)
3 T. butter
1 T. honey (or a sprinkle of sugar but I like the taste of the honey)
1/4 cup Cognac (or brandy)
1 T. flour
1 cup of dry white wine
2.5 cups chicken broth or stock
2.5 cups beef broth or stock
2 bay leaves
2-4 sprigs of fresh thyme
salt and pepper – liberally

Topping:
1 Fresh or stale baguette sliced think
1 – 2 cups of Gruyere or Emmenthal cheese, sliced or grated (I like sliced)
1/2 clove of fresh whole garlic
Spinkling of fresh thyme leave for garnish

First you start out by slicing all those onions. You will have what seems to be an exorbinant amount! You can take your time and slice each onion meticulously, this will really induce a good a cry! Or you can do what I did and employ the use of your handy Mandolin or V-Slicer. It makes quick work of those onions but be careful not to slice your finger, pain is not therapeutic!

When finished you should have a pile that looks something like this.

Now in a large dutch oven melt 2 T. of the butter until just foamy over medium heat then add the onions to the pot making sure to stir completely and coat all the onions with the melted butter. As soon as the onions begin to turn slightly transparent you can add the honey and some salt. Again, stir to coat and melt the honey. Turn the heat to medium low and begin to caramelize the onions, stirring from time to time to redistribute the onions. This will take a good while, about 45 minutes to and hour; trust me it is worth every minute. Don’t forget to check in on them, you don’t want anything to burn!

When you have successfully caramelized the onions you should have something that looks like this; isn’t that beautiful!

Once you have reached this stage the fun begins. Cognac has a way of bringing out the fun in things doesn’t it? Ok, now increase the heat to medium high and as soon as the pot comes to temp (it will be quick), with flat edge wooden spoon in hand poor in the Cognac and immediately begin scraping up all the good bits from the bottom of the pot. Continue to do this until the Cognac has almost completely evaporated.  You can reduce heat again to medium and throw in the last T. of butter. As soon as that melts sprinkle in the flour and completely stir to combine. Cook the flour, butter and onion mixture for at least 1 -2 minutes, you don’t want a flour taste in the finished product. Now you can add your liquids. First start with the white wine. Let that cook down a little before adding the rest of the liquid. This helps to concentrate the flavors. I know it seems like a pain but trust me these little things make a big difference. Now add the remaining 5 cups of liquid, the bay leaves, thyme, pepper and test for salt; depending on your stock/broth you may need more, less, none. Give a good stir to combine and bring to simmer. Now lower the flame and gently simmer for a minimum of 1 hour, if you have more time you can on very low heat simmer for up to 3. It tastes great now but if you leave it overnight and reheat the next day it is even better! Don’t forget before serving take out the bay leaves and the remaining twigs from the thyme.

Now for something completely different!

Slice your baguette in either thick rounds or on the bias depending on your serving bowl for the soup. You want enough bread to cover 90% of the bowl (give or take). Place bread slices under the broiler till just turning a light gold. Take out and scrape the toasted bread with the fresh garlic half. Now this is not traditional but I think it adds a nice subtle hint of garlic.

Ok, now you have a choice. You can ladle out the soup in your oven proof serving vessels, place the croutons on top and layer the cheese on the soup covering the bowl then broil until all is bubbly and slightly browned. This looks great and is very traditional. However, it creates VERY hot dishes and can be not the easiest to serve. Not to mention you have to tell everyone that the bowls are hot and then they will all have to touch them; ‘cos of course you are a liar! Then you will be treating burn victims and by the time you get to your soup it will be cold! Ok maybe that is an exaggeration but it could happen! Just to be safe and prevent anything like that from happening I place the toasted croutons on a cookie sheet sprayed with oil and generously layer on the cheese making sure to get some around the edges so that when it melt it will fall down the sides like a skirt. Then place back in the broiler. Meanwhile I ladle out the soup in my bowls and just as the cheesy croutons are done and all melty and wonderful I scrape them up, cheese skirt and all and place them on top of the soup. Garnish with some torn thyme leave and you are good to serve. No bowl burns here! And trust me it looks just as impressive!

Now I know this is a bit time consuming but it truly is one of the best winter comfort, elegant, impressive, and down right tasty soups going! You can serve this as a starter to a beautiful multi-course dinner party or like we did along side a fresh hot roast beef sandwich on a cold winters night! And the best part, the longer it sits in the fridge the better it gets! But it won’t last that long! Oh and it freezes well too, how convenient!

What is more warming on a cold winter day than soup, besides a hot tub? I love soup, M not a huge fan which I cannot for the life of me understand; something about liking to chew his food, whatever. Anyway I make soup quite often even if it is only for me. Sometimes I make one so yummy that even M will eat it.  Since we have been freezing our little tails off up here in the Artic Circle I need food that is going to keep me warm! I found this great recipe on Epicurious not too long ago and figured it was the perfect time to try it out. Of course I made a few tweaks to call it my own and to top it off M liked it, and not just the dumplings but the broth too; now that is saying something!

Miso Soup with Sweet Potato Wantons

Recipe:
1 Large Sweet Potato or 2 small one should weigh about a pound
2 Cloves Garlic chopped fine
1 Small Shallot chopped fine
Pinch of chili flakes to taste, we like things spicy
Salt and Pepper to taste
Light oil such as coconut, or light olive
Handful of bean sprouts
1 Cup Shelled Edamame
2-3 Scallion cut on the bias
2-3 T. White Miso Paste
4 Cups Dashi or Chicken Broth
12 (or so) wanton wrappers

Microwave the sweet potato until very soft when cooled enough to touch scrape out the insides and reserve in a small bowl. In a saute pan under medium high heat, heat up the oil and add the shallots, garlic and chili flakes just until fragrant; this should take about 1 – 2 minutes max. Add mixture to the potato mixture and season with salt and pepper to taste. Arrange your wanton wrapper on your board so you can work like an assembly line. I think this is a pretty fast method or if you like you can do 1 at a time in the palm of your hand. Place about 1 T. of potato mixture in the center of each wanton. You can fold these however you are comfortable; I folded the wanton over once to make a triangle then pinched the two bottom points together, like a little hat! set aside and start on the broth. In a sauce pan heat up the 4 cups of dashi or broth and mix in the miso paste. Let that simmer while you gather the rest of your ingredients. I pretty much just threw everything in the pot at this point except for the scallions starting with the edamame because it was still cold from the freezer. Once the veggies are in the pot gently place each wanton in the soup. Simmer for about 3- 6 minutes until the wanton skins are almost translucent.  Serve with the sliced scallions on top and a dash of shoyu.

In the original recipe it called for cooking each part separately  and ladling the miso broth over however, I am impatient but if I were serving this to company I may cook off everything in advance then at the last minute ladle the broth into the bowls with the veggies and wantons.

It really is a very tasty and simple soup to make. A little time consuming with the wantons but the sweet potato with the chili was a huge pop of flavor in an otherwise very simple and light broth. Next time I think I may add fresh ginger to the potato mixture.

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!