Soup. I could live on the stuff. Connie, not so much. In his book it's right up there with fruit. Or, down there, I should say. My stack of soup recipes rarely gets used because I get tired of the griping. But, this weekend is an exception to the rule. I'm making three soups.
You see, I'm getting to meet one of my food blogging friends in person. How much fun is that? I'll head over to another food blogging friend's house and we'll all have lunch. Liz will make the dessert since she's the baking pro. Her blog is That Skinny Chick Can Bake. Not only does she have tons of wonderful baked goods there, she also has a boatload of wonderful entrees, side dishes etc. The other blogger is our friend, Christiane. She has a blog called Taking on Magazines. You can find her as The Mom Chef. Just like Liz's blog, Christiane's is loaded with fabulous recipes. I've never made anything from either blog that I've not liked. In fact as I type this I'm thinking about Liz's Mounds Bars and Christiane's cucumber salad...
After going through every sandwich on my blog and in my recipe box, I settled on crabmeat melts for our sandwiches. They're a favorite from my childhood. What better way to say hello to a friend than share a childhood memory?
For those who'd prefer an entrée salad, I'm making Meridian Hills Special Salad. Another childhood memory. It's romaine lettuce, shredded Swiss cheese, turkey and ham topped with Caesar dressing and a bit of pickle relish.
Last but not least, soups. Pat King's chunky tomato soup sounded good. But, Liz and I weren't sure if everyone in Christiane's family liked tomatoes. So, a fallback was in order: Cauliflower Cheese Soup. It's from one of the first community cookbooks I ever got, Park Tudor Treasures. My cookbook is marked "Excellent, 3/83" on that one. It's proven to be the best cauliflower cheese soup ever. In fact, I've given up making any other cauliflower cheese soups. They just aren't as good so why mess with perfection? Ok, that'd do it for this party.
And, what a party it was! It was fabulous to meet Christiane and Doug and Sophie in person.
Ok, I have to put this in... Liz has a great sun room that she uses for her photography studio. Ergo, the wonderful photo of the tomato soup... But, here's how Liz takes her overhead shots:
Looks fine, doesn't it? Here's the rest of the story... Now, I'm thinking Bill needs to get her a more stable set up for Christmas!
Then, there was Thanksgiving. My brother John and sister-in-law, Pam host it every year. John always does a turkey breast early so those who like cold turkey can have cold turkey. He also does a turkey on the grill for those of us who want the regular Thanksgiving meal. This year I took Mom's stuffing, Liz's spinach soufflé and persimmon pudding.
Connie tells the story of his taking seconds of the cornbread stuffing his first mother-in-law prepared. Later, his first wife asked him if he wished she could make it as well. He confessed that he was just being polite but that, no, he really doesn't care for cornbread. Needless to say, Mom's stuffing with cornbread and Pepperidge Farm white bread doesn't thrill him. We're of the light and kind of moist but not soggy stuffing clan. Pam's family is of the soggy white bread stuffing clan. I do believe that's the Thanksgiving dish with the most variations nationwide.
Of course, Thanksgiving is always better with babies. There's my Mom with her great-granddaughter, the paparazzi trying to get Charlotte to smile, Charlotte smiling with anticipation... Yeah, I took mostly Charlotte pics. I mean, who could resist? She's SO cute!
Last but not least, our friend Kathy had back surgery. I thought I'd take Kathy and her hubby Dan some soup. So, I doubled the tomato soup recipe and made minestrone too. There are funny stories about both. The tomato soup recipe as written calls for "chicken broth." Some have read it to mean a 46 oz can and some a 14 oz can. As you might guess, it's a very different soup when prepared with that much broth. I prefer the smaller can so it's more tomatoey. Is that a word? Well, it is for these purposes! As for the minestrone, the recipe card says from MOM. A few years ago I commented to her that her minestrone soup is my favorite of all time. She didn't remember making it... Isn't it funny how something that becomes a favorite in one household is a one and done in another?
Pat King's Tomato Soup
Ingredients:
onion
celery
carrots
2 T extra virgin olive oil
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 T Italian seasoning
glob of garlic (that's what the recipe says, I think it's funny so left it in!)
chicken broth
Directions:
You're probably wondering how much of the vegetables??? Me too. I always start with a medium onion or two and toss them in the food processor. Then, once they're finely chopped, I toss them in a large saucepan with the olive oil and let them cook down a bit to release some moisture. Then, I finely chop a couple of handfuls of the baby carrots and a few ribs of celery, using the food processor. All of those plus the garlic and Italian seasoning go in with the onions. Once everything is softened, I pour the tomatoes and a 14 oz can of chicken broth in. Actually, we've switched to using Better than Bouillon so I make a couple of cups of chicken broth and pour that in. Simmer, uncovered, for a couple of hours. This is best served the next day.
Cauliflower Cheese Soup
Ingredients
1
small head fresh cauliflower
2 c water
1/2 c onion, chopped (I just use a medium onion)
1/4 c butter
1/2 c flour
1- 2 T chicken flavored instant bouillon (we use Better than Bouillon)
2 - 3 c shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 c milk
1/4 t ground nutmeg
Directions:
Core the cauliflower. Tear it into florets. Cook them in the water until they're softened. Drain and reserve the cooking liquid. Set the cauliflower and the cooking liquid aside. In the same saucepan, melt the butter. Add the onion and cook until it's translucent. Stir in the flour. Cook it for a few minutes to get rid of the raw flour taste. While that's cooking, reserve a cup of the cauliflower florets. Take a cup of the cooking liquid plus the bouillon (we use better than bouillon and you may find you only need a tablespoon rather than the full two...) plus the rest of the cauliflower and process it in your food processor. Slowly pour the rest of the reserved cooking liquid into the onion/flour mixture. Stir constantly until it thickens. Then, add the cauliflower puree followed by the milk. Once it's a bit thickened, add the cheddar cheese and the nutmeg. Heat through and serve.
Mom's Minnestrone
Ingredients:
9 c beef stock
1 1/2 c dried white beans (Great Northern or baby limas are best)
1/2 c olive oil
3 medium onions, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 c fresh green beans, cut into 1" lengths (a little north of a pound)
3 c diced zucchini (about 3 med)
3 c coarsely chopped cabbage (I use a bag of cole slaw mix)
1 1/2 c coarsely chopped carrots
1 1/2 c coarsely chopped celery
1 1/2 c coarsely chopped potato
28 oz can Italian plum tomatoes, chopped, include juice
1 T crushed rosemary
Directions:
Soak the beans overnight. Drain. Pour the olive oil into a very large stock pot. Add the onions and garlic and sauté for about 10 minutes. Then, add the green beans, zucchini, cabbage, carrots and celery. Saute for another 10 minutes stirring every couple of minutes. Lastly, add the potato, tomato, rosemary, beans and beef stock. Put a lid on and cook on medium heat for several hours. Here's the deal... I always refer to the ingredients as collapsing to describe when they're done. The soup can technically be done but not be right. You literally need for everything to totally cook. Taste along the way and you'll see what I mean. This may take eight hours of cooking to get it right. As I type this, mine has been going for three hours and is nowhere near done...
Me behind on things to do at the house? To the best of my knowledge I've never gotten to the point of having three loads of scrunchies to wash. There must've been eight full loads of wash. When you're talking about two people that's a lot of clothes, folks. My excuse? Well, we're still dealing with the tsunami of paperwork in the office. AND, we've been fringing and going to Indians baseball games and going to wine tastings and various sundry fun things.
Fringing, you say? Yup. Indianapolis is lucky enough to have our own Fringe Festival. It runs for eleven days in several venues on or near Mass Ave downtown. The first evening we saw Phil Van Hest's new show, "What Biscuits." When he first started doing Fringe, Phil lived in LA. Then, he met a lovely lady named Noelle and moved to Indy. This time his nine month old son, Gray, came to his show for his first time. And, his last until he's old enough to not do the monkey hear, monkey say thing. Just saying. Phil does know a few four letter words, ya know. And, they do show up in his show. We ran into Phil on the Avenue later and he confirmed that Gray will not be attending in the near future. After that we saw a show that's played to rave reviews at other Fringe Festivals - "Under the Lintel." It was very good but a bit deep for us. We prefer the straight comedy shows. Along the way we saw five more shows. Our favorite this year was Act of Foo. Those guys were an amazing improv troupe. We laughed until our sides hurt. Our second favorite was a fellow we loved a couple of years ago. Paul Strickland was back with a new show - Ain't True and Uncle False. Again, we laughed until our sides hurt. There we ran into my friend, Dave Andrichick who owns the Chatterbox Tavern. Dave said he'd been to a dozen shows. We had at least that many we wanted to see but just didn't have the time to spend. At 50 minutes and $10 a person per show, it's bargain entertainment! Finally, last night we went to a Fringe reprise at the Fringe Theatre. A parody of Walt Disney shows and one about an auction called Going, Going, Gone. Two more side-splitters!
We've been existing on tomatoes. Tomatoes and cottage cheese. Caprese salads
Baked stuffed tomatoes. BLT's, plain and with pesto.
Tomatoes sautéed with other veggies. I am going to turn into a tomato. We've got easily a dozen varieties in our garden. Two different cherries. One red and one gold. Two yellow tomatoes. Three kinds of romas. Three different Brandywines. And, three or four other heirlooms. I totally forgot to take a photo of the finished dish of one of my favorites - gazpacho.
Baked Stuffed Tomatoes
Large tomatoes
Olive oil
Panko bread crumbs
Garlic, minced
Fresh herbs (I used rosemary, thyme, sage, parsley and basil)
Freshly grated romano cheese
Brown the panko and garlic in the olive oil.
While they're browning, core the tomatoes and scoop out some of the interior.
Chop the tomato interiors and add those plus the cheese and herbs to the panko.
Gently stuff the tomatoes and bake or grill on a grill pan.
Gazpacho
Ingredients:
6 c tomato juice (I typically use V8 instead)
2 T olive oil
2-3 T lemon juice
1 c beef broth
1/2 c minced onion
4-5 tomatoes, finely minced
2 c finely minced celery
1/2 green pepper, finely minced
2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and finely minced
1 t salt
1/4 t freshly ground pepper
1/4 t Tabasco
Directions:
Divide each of the veggies in half. Put half of each in a food processor. Process until liquefied. Pour them into a bowl. Add the V8 and beef broth and mix well. Add the other ingredients. Chill overnight before serving.
adapted from Indianapolis Collects and Cooks
We've also got about two dozen basil plants. So, I've been fixing a LOT of pesto (my friend Monica's is the BEST.) Like the recipe I made up last night. Pesto fish with pesto rice. The pesto coating kept the fish really moist. And, the bit of pesto in the rice really carried the flavor through.
Blizzard! That means we stayed home the day after Christmas. Fortunately, I packed a big briefcase of work and kept plenty busy. Late afternoon it finally quit snowing so Connie and the snowblower tackled the driveway. I kept plugging away at one of my projects. About 6pm I finally got around to thinking about dinner. It was supposed to be one of those evenings that I made something complicated. The plan was to get home from the office at 5:30 and dig in. So much for that plan.
On the way back from our Columbus, OH visit, I read a Saveur listing 101 iconic dishes. It started wtih a Spanish tomato soup called Salmorejo. I love tomato soup. Whether it's plain cream of tomato or chunky tomato basil or gazpacho, I love the stuff. This was a recipe I wanted to try.
I'm not sure what time the blizzard actually started but it was well under way when I got my lazy self out of bed about 7:30 in the morning. To make the Salmorejo I needed a baguette. And, there was leftover corned beef that was begging to be made into corned beef hash. (You'll have to check back for that recipe.) But, I had no potatoes. What I did have was everything to make the pumpkin goat cheese pasta I'd planned for dinner. To battle the elements or not? The grocery is half a mile away.
Tomato soup and corned beef hash won. Thank goodness because both were fabulous. This is probably unlike any tomato soup you've ever had. In some ways it's like gazpacho because of the sherry vinegar and the olive oil. In other ways it's like a pureed panzanella salad because of the bread. Then, you put the chopped hard-cooked eggs and pancetta on top and those take it way over the top!
While I was cooking and working Wee Mac was checking out the activity outside then snoozing my the register in the bookcase:
The end result was that this was dinner. The pasta never got made that evening. Actually, what happened with the pasta is a great story - for another day...
Salmorejo
Chilled Spanish Tomato Soup
Ingredients:
2 t kosher salt (the recipe called for 3 TABLESPOONS - no way I was putting that much salt in!)
28 oz can diced tomatoes plus the juice (the recipe called for 8 cored, halved and seeded roma tomatoes - which would be great if they weren't selling rock flavored tomatoes at the grocery)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 small yellow onion, finely minced
1/2 baguette (the recipe called for 10 oz, I winged it and used half of a good-sized baguette,) torn into pieces
2 T sherry vinegar
1 c extra virgin olive oil
3 hard boiiled eggs, chopped
8 oz diced pancetta, browned and drained
Directions:
As you can see from the ingredient list, I took a number of liberties with the recipe. That's nothing new. I'm not one who believes in making it as is the first time. For one thing, sometimes I have to substitute ingrediens (the pancetta was supposed to be ham or prosciutto) or I think an ingredient might be a big bully (the salt.) At any rate, this is so easy to put together.
You start by putting the salt, tomatoes and juice, garlic, onion and baguette in a heat proof bowl.
Heat a pot of water to boiling. Pour a cup of the boiling water over the mixture. Allow it to stand at room temperature for an hour. Put everything in the bowl of a food processor. Add the vinegar. Puree until it's smooth then gradually pour in the olive oil. Use extra virgin olive oil as it's an important flavor in the soup. Don't wimp out and either use too little (the bread flavor will win) or use regular olive oil (blah.) Chill and serve topped with chopped hard cooked eggs and pancetta and a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
adapted from Saveur
Yes, it does appear that I may just cook my way through this cookbook. (Cat Cora's Classics with a Twist) It's that good. I can't remember a time I bought a cookbook and immediately made more than a couple of recipes. And, you're hearing from a woman with more than a thousand cookbooks!! What's been my favorite thus far? Probably the grasshoppers. But, these grilled cheese croutons come a VERY close second. I made this for lunch, so all I had to do was microwave the soup and reheat the croutons in the toaster oven. Curious employees kept wandering into the kitchen wondering what that fabulous aroma was. The croutons. They were better the second day after I reheated them. Maybe because the edges crisped up just a bit. Unfortunately, the soup was nothing to write home about. It was good, but wasn't as flavorful as I'd hoped. Next time, I won't drain the tomatoes. And, actually, next time the soup will be beer cheese with grilled cheese croutons. MMMM, maybe I'll make that next week. All in the interest of experimentation, of course.
