French Onion Soup (revamped repost)

Back when I was on a member of an online dating website (yes that happened and seriously I suggest it to anyone single who wants to meet new people they wouldn't otherwise) I wrote in my profile to answer the prompt "I am good at  ______" that I was good at making french onion soup.  I subsequently got multiple messages from nearby single men asking details about how to make french onion soup. Now I am sure these were just conversation starters,  but it really must show that people out there are interested in this right? And since it is in fact so, so easy to make a decent french onion soup, it seems like this knowledge needs to be shared.

In case you were wondering how to make a basic french onion soup, and perhaps haven't found any girls on dating websites to address the question to, here is a bit of instruction on how I make it.

I actually posted a french onion soup recipe  on this site in October of 2010. I decided it was time to revamp and update that post with new pictures and some slight revisions, as well as to bring it out from the depths of this site's archives.

I made this french onion soup recently, using a similar method to my original with only a few small changes. The ingredients are simple and inexpensive,  and the outcome is pretty good if I do say so myself.

If you are wondering what changes I made since last posting this recipe, they were mostly based on simplifiying and making the original even easier to make, with fewer ingredients to go out and buy. Things like using dried thyme instead of fresh, cutting out the rosemary, and using only red wine instead of both red and white, in place of the traditional sherry. I also increased the amount of garlic, and reduced the amount of bread, which I chose this time to serve on the side.

Next I photographed it in the natural light from a sunny window, and not on an ugly orange placemat. Big changes, guys. But really, this post needed some attention. The single men of Boston want to know how to make french onion soup, and they don't want to see photographs that look like this:

And here's what you need to know to make the recipe:

Simple French Onion Soup

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 large onions, sliced

1 TBS olive oil

2 tsp dried thyme

3-4 cloves of garlic- minced

3 cups beef or chicken broth

3/4 to 1 cup dry red wine

salt and pepper to taste

2 tsp worcester sauce

Plus:

4 slices of bread- I used challa, but french bread is classic

1 cup of shredded cheese- Greyere and Parmesean, Swiss, or even Cheddar- whichever is your favorite. I found a Cheddar-Greyere blend at Trader Joes that worked well and was inexpensive

Process:

1.Halve and slice each of your onions. Try not to cry too much. Chew on some bread, it will help.

2. Heat your oil in a large pan. Once hot, add the onions.

3. Heat the onions in a covered pot until they begin to caramelize, stirring occasionally. About 20 minutes.

4. Add garlic and thyme. Cook 5 more minutes.

5. Add wine to deglaze pan, then stock (and water if you need more liquid)

6. Add worcester sauce, and salt and pepper to taste.

7. Simmer and allow the liquid to reduce a bit and get delicious. 

8. The End.

except for this part:

MEANWHILE: 

1.Heat the oven to 400. 

2. On a baking sheet lay out your slices of bread, topped liberally with cheese. 

3.Bake until the cheese is bubbly. 

4.Serve alongside the soup. 

PS- I hereby promise to try really hard to make my next cooking post not be soup related. Sorry.

Tom Kha Gai

Thai food is one of my favorite cuisines. When I go out for Thai food the part of the menu I get most excited about is the soup section. This probably isn't surprising to any of you who have been reading my blog for any length of time...I seem to be a bit obsessed with soup. I once joked that I should officially change my food blog into a soup blog. In fact, a quick search shows me that the word "soup" was mentioned in 17 of my 45 cooking related posts.  17 is the same number of posts in which I mention the word "flour" in the baking section, and actually several more mentions than the word "project" in my home and DIY themed posts, which I often feel ridiculous for overusing. What can I say, I am a lover of soup.

Should I officially convert this into a soup blog, guys? Do you all love soup like I do? Think of all the possibilities...I have never even posted a chilled soup, such as cold cherry soup or gazpacho! And I have never posted a chicken matzo ball soup recipe (what kind of nice jewish girl am I?)  But anyway, back to Thai food, alright?

I can never decide if I prefer Tom Yum Goong, with its spicy-sour broth and decadent shrimp, or Tom Kha Gai with its lively coconut milk, cilantro and lime combination.   I have made Tom Kha Gai at home several times, and have yet to attempt Tom Yum...maybe soon! I think I would rather not choose a favorite. I will just settle to like them both equally. 

If you, like me, dig Tom Kha, and its aromatic coconuty broth, I think you'll be happy to know that making it at home is really quite easy. I had success finding most of the ingredients I needed by going to a big asian supermarket near my house, Super 88 (psst...click that link to read an old post I wrote about Super 88 and omelets...it also includes a funny Japanese commercial), but in my search for recipes I also discovered a lot of helpful substitutions which may come in handy if you don't live around the corner from a mammoth Asian specialty grocery store.

Here are some of the ingredients I used:

fresh cilantro, scallions, lemongrass, thai peppers, galangal, coconut milk and lime

I also used: chicken broth, chicken breast, sliced white mushrooms, fish sauce, a bit of brown sugar, and some thai curry paste. They didn't make it into the picture.

If you are worried you won't find thai specialty ingredients, I urge you to be optimistic! Check your local grocery store in the international section. My local Stop&Shop carries thai curry paste (which can be used in place of the thai peppers), coconut milk, fish sauce, and a whole slew of other basic thai ingredients. I have found lemongrass at whole foods in the past, and occasionally thai peppers, too. In the past I have had trouble finding galangal (though I got lucky this time) an aromatic root similar to ginger, but more floral. I have substituted ginger in its place on two occasions, and though it may not be the most authentic, it still came out delicious. So never fear, substitutions can be made. 

I have unfortunately never been successful in finding Kefer lime leaves, so  I end up leaving them out, and including a little bit more lime juice than the recipes I have found call for. Believe me, it still turns out delicious. 

Because when I make soup I don't usually stick to a recipe but rather a guideline, here is the basic process I followed. Taste as you go, and alter things as needed...don't be afraid to experiment a bit!

Ingredients:

2 cans of coconut milk

thinly sliced chicken breast

juice of 1 or 2 limes (at least 3 TBS)

fresh cilantro

lemon grass, (just the bottoms, bruised)

galangal, roughly chopped

thai chili peppers

chicken broth

scallions

white mushrooms, sliced

fish sauce (roughly 2 tablespoons)

Process:

• Start with the aromatics- Chop up some galangal (I used about an inch by inch piece, chopped roughly) and put it in the bottom of your soup pot over medium heat with a bit of oil. Add a few pieces of lemongrass, bruised to bring out the flavor, and chop a couple of thai peppers, removing most of the seeds and ribs, or throwing them in whole, depending on the level of spiciness you desire. Add a little bit of chopped cilantro, too. 

• Cook until fragrant, adding the chicken broth, one can of coconut milk and fish sauce at this time. Give the liquid some time to simmer, and then strain the broth to remove the aromatics. 

• Next add the remaining coconut milk and mushrooms. 

• In a saute pan, lightly cook the chicken in thin strips, then add to the soup.

• Remove the soup from the heat, add the lime juice, taste and add brown sugar, more chili peppers or curry paste if desired. 

• Serve hot, garnished with plenty of sliced scallions and chopped fresh cilantro, and some thai peppers for color and extra spice. 

Have you made Thai food at home before? Have you experimented with cooking a new cuisine lately, or tried to figure out what to substitute for ingredients that are hard to come by in your region? Are you obsessed with soup? What is your favorite thing to order at a Thai restaurant? Let me know in the comments, maybe I will try to make your favorite dish next!

Egyptian Lentil Soup

 

Lentil soup will heal you. It will make you whole. And fix all your problems. And find you lasting love. And lower your cholesterol.  Ok, only the last statement has been scientifically tested, to my knowledge. Well, and to be even more fair, I should mention that I made this soup a couple of weeks ago, and it has yet to find me lasting love. But it totally fixed all my other problems. And it was delicious.

I went to the grocery store hoping to find brown lentils to make a lentil soup recipe by Martha Stewart, to tack on to the end of "Martha Stewart week" (a theme I may have to revisit...I didn't even do any paper crafts, or creatively set a dinner table!) Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately!) the grocery store was out of both brown and green lentils, and only had red. Now anyone who is worth their salt in lentil-knowledge (does this sentence make anyone else chuckle a bit...I did while writing it, but that's probably just me) knows that brown and green lentils each keep their shape much more while cooking, while red lentils tend to be...fall apart-ish or mushy. So a soup like the one I had picked, which intended the lentils to hold up, would not be a great choice for substituting red lentils. That being said, even though mushy, red lentils are particularly delicious- just think of your favorite lentil heavy Indian dish.

So I got home intending to find a recipe for a soup using red lentils, and most of the other ingredients I had brought home with me. This is best part, guys. I got home to find my most recent Food & Wine Magazine open on the kitchen table. I hadn't read it yet, so one of my roommates must have been looking at it there. The page it was open to? Egyptian Red Lentil Soup. Seriously. It was a sign from somewhere. And besides the ingredients I had already picked out, the only other things it called for were things I had on hand, like lemon and plain yogurt, and certain spices. Meant to be.

So I made this soup. And I ate it. And it healed me.

Egyptian Lentil Soup
From Food & Wine Magazine February 2012


Special Equipment: A large soup pot (I used my beloved Mario Batali dutch oven, which is currently on sale, FYI), an immersion blender (though if you only have a standing blender you could blend this in batches*)

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 3 celery ribs, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• Salt to taste
  
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander 
• 1/2 teaspoon ancho chile powder
• 1 pound tomatoes, seeded and diced  (I used a can of diced tomatoes. It worked out great)
•  2 cups red lentils (14 ounces)

•  Plain yogurt, lemon wedges and warm pita, for serving 

1. Start your cooking process by preparing a mirepoix-  heat the butter in the bottom of your pan, add the chopped onions and cook for a few minutes, then add chopped carrots and celery, and lastly garlic. Cook until both onions and celery become translucent and somewhat soft. About 5 minutes.

 2. Add the spices to the pot, and heat until fragrant

 3. Add the tomatoes to the pan

 4. Add the lentils and the water

 5. Simmer for 30 minutes or more, until the lentils become very soft. 
 6. Removing from heat, use your immersion blender* to blend the soup until smooth

 7. Serve with a dollop of plain yogurt and a squeeze of lemon

 

Black Bean Soup & Sweet Potato Biscuits

When people ask me what my favorite thing to cook is, I almost always answer with some sort of soup. French onion some days, butternut squash, perhaps a lively and spicy black bean soup, like this one. To me, cooking soup seems like a nearly magical process. Brown a few simple ingredients in the bottom of a large pot, perhaps onions cooked until translucent and lightly sweet, garlic and herbs, add liquid, a few other choice ingreidients, cover the pot and... Magic happens. Water becomes flavorful broth,  dense root vegetables become soft and sweet. Herbs and spices mingle on your tongue, and the whole thing can be sopped up with a nice piece of hearty bread.

We have had our first few days of true fall weather recently, the rare moment in time where 50 degrees feels just chilly enough to curl up in a blanket on your couch with a book and make every excuse not to leave the house, or run all the errands you need to. (Or is that just me?) As the months wear on, we will grow accustomed to the colder weather, and a 50 degree day will seem like such a luxury, a moment to take back out our summer clothes. But at the end of the summer, with the certain crisp air only fall can bring, 50 degrees means it's a time to make soup; to comfort yourself.

I made this soup with my (lovely and pretty) friend Sophie, one of my oldest friends, whom I met in pre-school. We attempt now to cook dinner together every Friday (before settling in to watch Fringe-- any other Fringe fans out there? WHERE IS PETER BISHOP??) and her regular email to me "What should we make this time? Should I bring wine?" has been a great motivator of many of my food posts on this blog.

This time around, unsure what to make, I linked Sophie to my pinterest board for food inspiration. She responded pointing out that many of the recipes included sweet potatoes, and it had her thinking about the African Sweet Potato Stew I often make. Since I have already blogged that recipe, I suggested making a different sort of soup, and pairing it with the Sweet Potato Biscuits I had pinned and had been wanting to try. I suggested black bean soup particularly for a few reasons:

1. I love black bean soup

2. I love the way black beans pair with sweet potato- like in this recipe

3. The ingredients for black bean soup are cheap- no lies, this is always a good motivator for me

In the end we both loved the combination, and the leftover biscuits were great for breakfast the next day, too.

too bad I can't master the perfect sour cream dollop at the moment

Since we followed the biscuit recipe with no alterations I am not including the steps in this post, but you can head over to this link to see the original recipe- it's easy and delicious, they turned out flaky and just a tiny bit sweet. Like with pie crust, the key is to keep the butter cold and handle minimally. We ended up having to handle our biscuit dough more than we intended, but even so they were tender and flaky.

The only note I would make about the above recipe, is if you are short of time, peel and poke some holes in your sweet potato, then microwave it for about 3 minutes before mashing instead of baking it. We also chose to keep our sweet potatos mashed in a chunkier style, I liked the chunks of sweet potato in each bite that this created.

And for the soup...

This soup was adapted from a recipe from Eating Well. The recipe I started with was very basic, but gave me just the guidelines I needed. I supplimented it with 2 large cloves of garlic, more lime and cilantro than it called for, and where they asked for prepared salsa I used Trader Joe's Habenero Lime salsa which really added a lively kick. If you don't have a salsa like this available to you, I would suggest adding some diced fresh hot pepper and doubling the lime juice.

Black Bean Soup

Adapted from Eatingwell.com

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 onion, diced

1 tablespoon chilli powder

1 teaspoon cumin

2 or 3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 15oz cans of black beans, rinsed

3 cups of water

1/2 cup prepared salsa- I used Trader Joe's brand Habenero & Lime Salsa

Salt to taste

Juice of one lime

fresh cilantro chopped, plus some additional for garnish

Sour cream to garnish

Process:

1. In a large pot heat the oil. Add chopped onions and cook until translucent- less than 5 minutes

2. Add to pot: cumin, chilli powder, minced garlic, stir and cook 2 minutes

3. Add rinsed beans, salsa  and water. add salt to taste, and adjust spices as needed at this point (remember that the heat of the soup will vary depending on what salsa you use)

4. Using a traditional or immersion blender, blend mixture minimally so that some chunks remain.

5. Add the lime juice and cilantro before serving, add additional cilantro to garnish, as well as a dollop of sour cream if desired.

Serve with cornbread, biscuits or something else delicious. Feel happy. Go watch Fringe.

Carrot, Apple and Ginger Soup

Um, this was delicious, just saying. A fragrant, quick, vegetarian soup that is light, comforting, and a great starter for a late winter meal. Garnished with apple, carrot and fresh mint, and with flavors of ginger, nutmeg and allspice, I am sure this will become a classic I make again and again much like the butternut squash soup with pears and cumin, sweet potato and peanut stew, roasted garlic soup and kale and white bean soup I keep coming back to.  

I guess I am a soup person, because really, nothing could make me happier. I served this as a starter, but it could also make a great lighter meal, served with hearty whole wheat rolls and a green salad sprinkled with some chickpeas for extra protein. And, don't forget, carrots will help your eyesight, right? Which actually I could use as I am finding I have to wear my glasses more and more these days. Heh.

Spiced Carrot-Apple Soup with Fresh Mint

From Bon Appetit* /December 2010

Makes 6 servings

total prep/cook time 50 minutes

2 TBS olive oil

1 1/2 cups chopped white onions

1 1/4 lbs carrots, peeled and diced into 1" pieces, plus 1 carrot, peeled and finely diced for garnish

3 3/4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth

3/4 cup diced peeled fuji apple plus 1/2 cup finely diced for garnish

2 tsp chopped fresh ginger

4.5 TBS apple juice concentrate, thawed

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground allspice

Coarse kosher salt

chopped fresh mint (for garnish)

1.Heat olive oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot

2. Add chopped onions and cook until translucent, up to 10 minutes

3. Add carrot pieces and apple, cook 3 minutes

4. Add apple juice concentrate, minced ginger, vegetable stock and spices

5. Cook on a low boil 15-20 minutes until carrot chunks are soft

6. Using an immersion blender (or standard blender, adding 1/2 of soup at a time) blend until no big chunks remain.

7. Serve with chopped apples, carrots and fresh mint for garnish.

*I changed a few details in the steps of this recipe, based on how I made it, which I found to be a bit more simple than the original directions- it turned out great, and I didn't have to remove the carrots half way through and chop them smaller like the recipe noted. Besides those changes, all ingredients, portions etc stayed the same as the original recipe.

Roasted Garlic Soup... Again

On the morning of Christmas Eve I did a very brave thing. I went to Whole Foods. Yes, that is right. At 10am on the morning before one of the biggest cooking and entertaining weekends of the year (and as it happens also the calm before a giant snowstorm being forecast to hit the Boston area right after Christmas; yet another reason for the hoards to trample onwards in hopes of produce, meats, last minute prepared foods and every day staples) there I was, list in hand, forging forward with the masses, trying not to hit people with my shopping cart. (I narrowly avoided hitting the same whole foods employee twice, poor guy. Of course when I apologized the second time around, I quite exaggerated and offered an apology for nearly hitting him "about 6 times now!")

Luckily I was quite successful in my undertaking: in and out of the store within half an hour, did not wait in long in line, got everything on my list. Also, I managed to find something I didn't know I was looking for, and in fact did not know existed.



The first item on my list was ten to twelve heads of garlic, for soup. And upon looking for garlic, I found nestled among the onions by the pound, bags of smoked garlic, on the stalk, woven together into something actually quite beautiful. As soon as I picked one up I was hit with the strong smoky smell.

Too bad I didn't take a picture before decimating the pretty braid

I had offered to make a garlic soup as a starter for my family's Christmas night dinner.  Over the past few years a tradition has emerged, Christmas dinner= Paella. Since I had recently made this Spanish inspired garlic soup, I offered to make it again as a starter fitting with the Spanish theme. I tried to imagine how the smokier flavor would translate into the soup.

You can read my original recipe for roasted garlic soup here. This time around I did things a little differently. Since I had so many cloves of garlic to peel and roast, I decided not to peel them at all. I put 10 heads worth of whole cloves unpleeled into a covered casserole dish with some olive oil, into the hot oven (400 degrees) for 45 minutes to an hour, until the cloves inside their peels were soft. I used a combination of smoked garlic and unsmoked for this, about 2 heads of unsmoked, 8 heads smoked, and reserved an additional head of each uncooked, to add later for sharpness.

After the cloves were roasted, I squeezed them out from their peels into a large stock pot. I covered them with 8 cups of water and 3 cups of vegetable stock (I was making this as a starter for 17 people, and wanted to make sure there was enough) and let the liquid simmer for 20 minutes. Next I used my immersion blender to blend together the stock and cooked garlic until smooth. I tasted the mixture and decided it needed more garlic, so i peeled and smashed 6 cloves and added them, allowing them to cook into the mixture for a bit before blending again.

When I had reached my chosen level of garlicyness, I made a roux to thicken the soup, then added paprika (both smokey Spanish and sweet Hungarian varieties) and a bay leaf, some Aleppo pepper, plenty of salt and black pepper, and then started adding in the parmesean cheese. This is best done slowly, adding in a bit at a time to the hot soup, using a whisk to make sure the cheese incorporates. I also added some heavy cream at this point, which made the soup more rich and smooth.

To serve the soup I made parmesan crostinis, slicing some of my favorite Iggy's bread, brushing it with olive oil, and sprinkling with freshly shredded parmesan, before placing it in the broiler for a few minutes to brown and crisp up.

In the end the smokier flavor was quite subtle, the soup was very similar to the first time I made it, but had a bit more depth and interest. Overall I would say it was a hit, I noticed many empty bowls as we cleared away the first course!

Roasted Garlic Soup

I got home just past 6 pm. I wanted something interesting to eat: warm, comforting, not one of my usual staples. I didn't want to go to the grocery store. I looked in the pantry. Not much to speak of besides several heads of garlic. In the refrigerator:  ends of a few pieces of cheese, a couple eggs, some spinach I had forgotten about which had gotten wilty and sad. Not that promising. But I kept thinking back to that garlic. I thought of a lovely and sharp soupa di ajo (spanish garlic soup) I had had at a tapas restaurant several years ago. After all this time it still stuck in my mind. I took out 2 heads of garlic and started to peel.



I have glanced over recipes for Sopa Di Ajo before, am familiar with the basic ingredients: several cloves of garlic, water or stock, salt and pepper, paprika, maybe a bay leaf, some old crusty bread. Many recipes involve making a basic garlic soup and serving it hot over a piece of bread with cheese or a cracked egg (in the case of the egg some time in the oven to finish the soup is required).

I improvised this recipe as I went, but this is approximately what i used:

2.5 heads of garlic, I started with about 15 medium cloves which I roasted whole and then crushed, plus 3 large cloves which I added to the soup without roasting first, to keep some sharpness.

3/4 cup freshly shredded Parmesan & Ramano cheese (I used up some of those ends of cheese!)

1 TBS Roux (1 part butter and one part flour, cooked on the stovetop until they form a  golden paste)

Sea Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1 bay leaf

2 tsp paprika

5 cups water

Crusty bread toasted with some additional shredded parmesan cheese on the side. yum.

The process:

This made only about 2 full servings of soup, I would definitely suggest doubling it if you are making it for more than 2 people or want leftovers. The process took a little over an hour total.

first I peeled the garlic, and roasted them in the oven with a little bit of olive oil at 375 for about 20 minutes (just wait until they begin to get  golden). I used my favorite adorably small cast iron pan for the roasting. Looking at that tiny pan usually makes me squeal. Look how big the garlic cloves look in comparison!

 Don't be mislead by the image of the pan sitting there on the burner, I roasted these in the oven, this picture was taken right after removing them from the oven.

I then placed my roasted garlic cloves in the bottom of a heavy bottomed stainless steel pot, mashed them up a bit with the bottom of a large spoon, added the water and bay leaf, then brought the water to a boil. I added salt, pepper and paprika and then ran through the hot soup quickly with an immersion blender to disperse the garlic.

Next I made my roux (I once again used that adorably small cast iron pan...I use that thing for everything),  and stirred it into the soup. I grated the cheese and added it into the soup slowly as it simmered, stirring it in with a whisk. I then crushed and added the 3 large garlic cloves I had remaining, brought the soup back to a boil for a bit, and then ran through it with the immersion blender one more time. The remaining soup was creamy but still somewhat light, just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. A few tastes and a little more salt and ground pepper later, and I was ready to serve it with toasted Parmesan bread.

Goodbye assorted ends of cheese!

The combination of sweetness from the roasted garlic and sharpness from those last few cloves unroasted, plus the subtle earthiness of the paprika and the tiny bit of creaminess from the parmesan and roux was just what I was looking for. With so few ingredients and a simple process, this soup was just what I was looking for. Maybe it is what you are looking for, too?

Kale & White Bean Soup (and the Dead Kennedys' "Soup is Good Food"?)

I did mention that this is actually becoming a soup blog, right?  After all as the Dead Kennedy's song says, soup is good food (OK, the rest of the lyrics of that song really, really don't apply- but every time I make soup, I can't help hearing that song in my head for a moment).

This soup is as simple as could be, but made with a flavorful homemade chicken stock, studded with firm canellini beans and curls of bright green kale, it felt healthy and healing after a near OD on Halloween candy (the mini butterfingers and york patties are my favorites, FYI).


Kale & White Bean Soup

For chicken stock (make in a 6 qt or larger stock pot):
4 bone in, skin on chicken thighs
at least: 2 carrots, 2 ribs celery, 1 each parsnips/turnips*
1 small bunch fresh parsley & dill *
5 qts water
salt to season

*often super markets will offer a package with one or two each of these items- carrots, celery, parsnip, turnip, parsley and dill- sold as a "soup greens" mix in the produce section. This can be helpful when it is hard to buy individual vegetables, and you don't need that many. Buying a bag full of parsnips for example would not be so useful for this recipe. I also have started collecting carrot peels and celery ends and etc in the freezer in a bag to later use for soup.

For the Kale & White Bean Soup:

1 tbs olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small bunch of fresh kale
half a bag of dried white beans, soaked overnight
salt & pepper to taste
shaved Parmesan cheese- optional, to garnish


For stock:
Combine all ingredients (besides salt) into a large pot. simmer all day until fragrant and flavorful. Season with salt to your liking.  Strain out the vegetables/herbs and chicken so only the broth remain (save the chicken meat for burritos!) then skim any extra fat off the top.

chicken stock cooking away

For kale and white bean soup:
Saute chopped onions in oil until translucent and just starting to brown
Add garlic and continue to saute for 2 more minutes. Add the soaked beans and stock. Chop kale into edible sized pieces, add to pot, allow to wilt for a few minutes. Stir. Cook until hot. Season some more. Eat. Feel good about yourself and what you just put in your body. Sigh with contentment. Eat some hearty bread. Sigh again.

Everything will be alright.

West African Sweet Potato & Peanut Stew

I made this stew the first time last winter. The flavors were so intriguing to me,when I saw the recipe I just had to try it. The primary ingredients of this soup are sweet potatoes and natural peanut butter, flavored with hot chile pepper, allspice, ginger and garlic, and garnished with fresh cilantro. Now doesn't that sound like a  refreshing, hearty and unusual combination of flavors?



Sweet Potato Peanut Stew
Adapted from this Eating Well recipe

2-4 medium sweet potatoes
1 TBS canola oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 can stewed tomatoes
1-2 small green chiles, seeds removed, diced
2 tsp fresh minced ginger
1 tsp ground allspice
1 15 ounce can vegetable broth
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
fresh ground pepper to taste
fresh cilantro to garnish

1. First, partially cook the sweet potatoes. Doing this in the microwave saves a lot of time. Prick each one in a couple of places, and then place on a paper towel, and microwave individually for about 2 minutes each. After they have cooled removed the skin, and chop into 1 inch chunks.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pot. Add onions and cook until translucent and just starting to brown. Add the garlic and cook an additional minute.

3. Add in the stewed tomatoes, stock, green chiles, ginger and allspice. Simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Add in the potatoes and peanut butter. Using a hand blender (or removing half of the soup at a time into a blender) puree the soup until mostly smooth. Thin with additional broth or water if desired (the picture above is a bit thicker than I usually serve this).

5. Garnish with Cilantro, serve.

french onion soup

This post has been updated and reposted...check it out here

 I have a feeling this is about to become a soup blog for the next couple of months. Now that the raw weather is starting, I am all about warm comforting food. This season started with a classic- rich savory-sweet french onion soup, topped with toasted bread and melty cheese.

French onion soup was the first thing we made in my first cooking course in September. Making the recipe again, I found it to be an easy (though not necessarily quick) process with a lot of possibilities for improvisation. Unlike baking, which requires certain proportions of different ingredients to create chemical reactions during the baking process, cooking is really all about opening yourself up to add this and that, and make something taste just the way you want it to. I didn't really use a written recipe while making this soup, nor did we in the class, though the instructor sent us home with a write up of the ingredients we used, and I expanded off that list here.

The main concept is simple: onions cooked slowly until sweet, beef and/or chicken broth, wine and herbs, topped with melted cheese and hearty bread.


The ingredients I used are listed below. If you are missing one of these ingredients it hardly matters, use what you do have, and taste as you cook. Add things you think will taste good. You can hardly go wrong with caramelized onions, rich stock, and a bit of wine.

These proportions made  6 servings as a starter -about 4 servings if the soup is served as a main course, and the total process took about 2 hours.

3 large onions - chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic- minced
1 Tbs olive oil
4 cups (1 carton) beef broth
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh chopped thyme
1 cup white wine and 1/4 cup red (I used what was available to me- finishing off 2 opened bottles- either will do, though the red sure adds a nice deep color.)
1 tsp dried rosemary
salt & pepper to taste
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
I also used a tsp of concentrated chicken stock- "better than bouillon" for extra flavor - I know it sounds odd, especially since the only liquid in this recipe is beef stock or wine, but this added a lot of depth. If I had had a homemade stock instead of the carton of beef stock from the grocery store this likely would not have been necessary.

And to top it off:
4 small rolls I had in the freezer (use your choice of bread- whatever you have around, though french bread is of course a classic. Bread that is dryer and a few days old is great for this)

Gruyere cheese
Parmesan cheese
2 tsp fresh chopped thyme

Directions:

Start by chopping the onions, heat the olive oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot then add in the onions and allow to cook for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep any bits from sticking and burning on the bottom. The heat should be set pretty low, you do not want the onions to get dark or burnt, but instead just translucent and sweet and golden. Add the minced garlic in the last few minutes of carmelization.

At this point add in the beef stock and 1 cup of wine. Allow to simmer and reduce for half an hour, then add in the remaining ingredients to your taste- don't forget to taste it as you add things, especially salt, as some of the other ingredients (beef stock, worcestershire sauce, etc) may likely already have a fair amount of sodium.

When the soup is flavored to your liking, allow it to continue to simmer while you prepare the bread and cheese topping. This can be done in 2 ways- traditionally the bread is added on top of the soup, and the cheese on top of that in an oven proof bowl, and then put in the hot oven until the cheese is melted and golden brown. If you do not have an oven proof dish to use, or do not want the bottom of the bread as soggy, you can use the second method:

First cut up your bread into 1 inch chunks. Lay flat on a baking sheet or in the toaster oven and toast until they start to get some color on the edges. Next, making sure that the bread pieces are spaced closely together, sprinkle the mixture of the 2 types of cheese and fresh thyme on top liberally, then put that in the toaster oven or broiler until brown and bubbly. Allow to cool a bit so you can handle it, and then place the cheese-y bread pieces on top of your soup. If the soup itself is quite hot it will remelt the cheese and make a similar effect to cooking the whole thing in the oven, minus the soggy bottomed bread.

I love the cheesy croutons so much that the dish I prepared for myself (pictured above) had more croutons than soup!

Butternut Squash Soup with Pears and Cumin

I was so excited to see the first pears and butternut squash show up at the grocery store recently. I guess I should dread seeing them: signs the summer is coming to an end, and fall will soon be here. I've loved this summer: walking to work on sunny mornings, spending evenings on the roof of my building and never getting cold even as it gets dark, picnicking in parks, and wearing skirts and dresses. Summer is romantic, and freeing. But fall has butternut squash soup.


I adapted this recipe from Eating Well. I first saw this recipe last spring, and waited until now to make it when squash and pear season is finally beginning.  The original recipe called for butternut squash, pears, leeks, garlic and tomatoes to be roasted, then pureed with vegetable stock and served with Stilton cheese. This sounds wonderful, and I still intend to try it that way. However, I forgot to pick up Stilton or a similar cheese at the store, and I ended up deciding the soup wasn't interesting enough without it. I improvised and added a bit of cumin and some yogurt to the soup and the flavors all worked very well together. I garnished mine with sauteed leeks and chopped scallions.

Butternut Squash Soup with Pears and Cumin
Adapted from this Eating well recipe
Serves 6 people
2-3 medium butternut squash, peeled and cored, cut into 2 inch chunks
2 very ripe pears, peeled and cored, cut into quarters
2 large leeks, trimmed and cleaned, 1 chopped roughly into 1 inch pieces, one sliced into small match sticks for garnish
2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 medium tomatoes, cored and quartered
1 tsp cumin
1/2 cup plain fat free or low fat yogurt
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 TBS olive oil
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1 tablespoon sliced scallions for garnish


1.Combine the chopped squash, pears, tomatoes, crushed garlic, and chopped leek (leave the other leek aside for later) and coat with olive oil, salt and pepper. spread on a baking sheet and place in a preheated oven (375 degrees) for 40 minutes.

2. If using a hand blender, add the roasted vegetables to a large soup pot, and blend. If you choose to use a blender, pour half the liquid and half the vegetables into the blender,  blend, and then repeat with the second half, before adding to the pot. add the cumin and mix, heat for 10 minutes over medium heat. Add the yogurt and mix until combined. Serve warm, and garnish with sauteed leeks and/or fresh scallions.

I served this twice, once as a dinner for myself and one friend, accompanied with a fresh salad of mixed greens, dried fruit and almonds, and freshly baked crusty french bread (more on the bread soon!) and once as a light first course before a dinner of sirloin steak tips and farmers market vegetables.

Tortilla Soup with summer squash

I have just returned from Southern California and I have Mexican food on the mind. Nothing to remind you how far from the border Boston is like eating authentic Mexican food in a place much, much closer. Southern California is littered with hole-in-the-wall taco joints, hiding behind nondescript facades in strip malls and street corners, some even have drive-throughs. A taco or enchilada at one of these unimpressive looking eateries is bound to outshine that of a well known chain or east coast hotspot.

While in Southern California, I didn't get many chances to eat the Mexican food seducing me from freeway roadsides, rather as I was visiting family we were almost always full from eating homemade comfort food including my Great Aunt Lois's biscuits and gravy, grilled sausage and corn on the cobb, fresh-from-the-chicken-coop egg scrambles, cornbread, cooked chard and beans. All of this was wonderful, and certainly soulful food, and perhaps at a later date I will post more specifically about some of these foods, and maybe try and create some myself. But today I am craving some spicy Mexican food. It seems one place where these food traditions meet- comfort food, Mexican flavors and southwest traditions, is represented well by an easy but flavorful dish- Tortilla Soup.



I had somewhat recently a pretty good version of a tortilla soup- it was light and flavorful, and full of fresh seasonal vegetables, making it a perfect early summer soup. (Yes in Boston it is currently far from summer, but forgive me, I have just returned from the land of summer all year round) I compared a few recipes found online and in cookbooks, and  had trouble finding one that fit the bill for exactly what I was looking for. I wanted to make a vegetarian version that featured fresh flavors including summer squash and bell pepper. I at first decided to replace the protein in the original dish; pinto or black beans in place of the chicken, but as i cooked the soup, I began to feel that the beans did not belong. I decided to prepare them on the side instead. And yes, I am well aware that the final product may not be exactly authentic. But it's good!



 Tortilla Soup with Summer Squash
A potentially vegan recipe*
Serves 8


1 can whole or diced tomatoes, if whole, mash before use
1 can enchilada sauce, or 3/4 cup homemade- see note*
1 chopped yellow summer squash
1  zucchini, chopped
1 red or yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, diced
1medium green chile pepper, cored and seeded, chopped. (taste to test hotness, and adjust amount and other spices as needed)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 carton vegetable broth (or 2 cups)
1 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 package frozen corn (I suggest Trader Joes roasted frozen corn)
3 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro, plus more to garnish
Juice of  2 limes


for tortilla strips:
Corn tortillas, cut into thin strips, no more than 2 1/2 inches long
Vegetable oil
Sea Salt

Optional  additional garnishes:
Avocado slices
sour cream* (clearly not vegan)
lime slices
fresh cilantro

*please note: check the ingredients of the enchilada sauce if you choose to buy it canned rather than make your own, some contain meat products/stock. You can find an easy to make vegetarian enchilada sauce recipe here.

I made this in the slow cooker simply out of necessity-  when I came home from work, ready to cook (I picked up groceries at the whole foods near my office, and they survived rush hour on the T- I wass a little worried what all the body heat from the crowded train would do to my fresh cilantro!) my roommate's mother was preparing a lobster dinner in our kitchen (which was great, I was lucky enough to join them) and all the large pots were already being used. This could also be cooked on the stove top in a stock pot or dutch oven if you don't have a slow cooker. I chose to prepare this over the course of 2 nights, to make it easy to get it taken care of after work.

Chop the onion and brown in a bit of oil for 5 minutes. Add to the bottom of your slow cooker. chop and add the bell pepper, garlic and chile pepper at this time. add the canned tomatoes, enchilada sauce and stock. juice the lime directly into the slow cooker or pot as well, and add the spices. Cook for three hours on low.

The above is the portion I did the first night, and I set the inside dish from the slow cooker in the refrigerator overnight. This morning before work I  chopped and added the zucchini and summer squash, so they can sit in the soup stock during the day in the fridge. In the evening the last step is to cook for an additional 2.5 hours on low, or up to 2 hours on high. You can also, of course, do this all at once, cooking for a total of about 6 hours on low, and adding the squash in half way through, so that they maintain a somewhat firm texture at the end.

Lastly, the homemade tortilla chips to top the soup, the item that gives this dish its name. I have seen a few ways mentioned to do this, frying in a traditional fryer (which i do not have) frying in a stove top pan, and baking in the oven. I decided to experiment and see which method turned out the best. Just in case I had a bag of store bought tortilla chips on hand if my attempts led to failure.

Luckily, the fried variety turned out excellent, a little time in a wok with hot canola oil (literally only a minute or two to get crispy and brown) then fished out with a slotted spoon onto a paper towel covered plate, and  a good sprinkle of sea salt and they were excellent.The baked variety- brushed with a little oil and salt, and put on a baking sheet in the oven at 400 degrees until brown- were a bit disappointing, not nearly as crispy or flavorful, but in the end,  were an ok healthy alternative. You decide.

the soup turned out flavorful and spicy, and much more filling than expected due to the wealth of squash, zucchini and corn. Yum!