Yum!

Ok - it worked! The roasted cauliflower soup turned out quite well - very tasty with a some crusty bread from Macrina on the side... here's the recipe:

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

1 med. head cauliflower
5-6 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced in half
3 Tbsp. olive oil
salt & pepper

3 med. leeks, green parts removed, rinsed well and sliced crosswise
1 Tbs. butter
1 Qt. (or so) vegetable stock (not a tomato-y one)
1/2 lb. yellow potatoes (I used Russian fingerlings), cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup cream
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375F. Remove leaves and tough bottom stem of the cauliflower - slice the cauliflower lengthwise into 1/2 inch slices, then break up the florets. Spread the cauliflower in one layer on a baking sheet - scatter garlic, and drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt & pepper. 
Roast for about 15 minutes, then flip the cauliflower and roast for another 15-20 minutes. Cauliflower should be tender and browned in spots.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a medium-sized pot over med-high heat - add leeks and saute until wilted and slightly browned. Add the stock, bring to a boil, then add potatoes. Cook until potatoes are done (about 15 minutes). Let cool for at least 10 minutes.

When cauliflower and potatoes are done and slightly cooled, put all into a food processor or blender - carefully (use a potholder or dish towel) pulse/blend until failry smooth (it will have some texture, since you didn't peel the potatoes). Return soup to pot and add cream (more, or less, or milk, or none to taste). Bring to barely a simmer, check for salt & pepper, and serve!

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This was inspired by Nida's "leftover soup" recipe that she posted a few weeks ago, as well as by a description of a pasta served at How to Cook a Wolf (new restaurant on top of Queen Anne, not the MFK Fisher book, although must have been inspired by it) - which I thought sounded good but was too full to try.

making it up...

Long time no post! It's been busy in these parts, and although I cooked up a storm last weekend, I just didn't feel like soup. I made Indian food one night, and lasagna another - both good, the Indian food a little more on the soup side, fortunately!

But it's Sunday night, and I'm concocting a roasted cauliflower soup with leeks and potatoes and a little cream - so far, the cauliflower is roasting with some garlic and olive oil (and salt & pepper), the leeks have wilted in a little butter on the stovetop, and I'm waiting for the vegetable stock-cicle to melt before I put in the potatoes. Stay tuned - I'll post later with the results!

Pizza is kindof like soup(?)

So, I know you've all been waiting anxiously to hear what kind of soup I made Sunday night - the emails and phone calls have been non-stop since my last post (haha)... well, Sunday night I actually opted out of cooking altogether and after going for a lovely walk in Discovery Park in the late afternoon, I went to IKEA where I spent more money than I thought I would (as always) and then came home all excited to construct my new end tables and watch Jane Austen on PBS... so I ordered a pizza! Zagi's Pizza is my personal favorite for local delivery and yummy New York style pizza with great toppings like carmelized onions and really good sausage, etc.

Anyway, I did wind up making the Bean/Barley/Swiss Chard soup last night (after finishing all my pizza leftovers - finally) - here's the recipe, adapted from one I found in a magazine by Marcella Hazan:

Bean/Barley/Chard Soup

1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, diced
1-2 carrots, peeled (or not) and diced
1 bunch Swiss Chard (or red Chard), washed and thinly sliced

1/3 cup canned chopped tomatoes (or more, if you have a whole can and don't want it lingering in your fridge)

1 19 oz. can canellini beans
2/3 cups barley
5 cups water (or so)
salt & pepper

Heat the olive oil in a soup pot, saute onions for a few minutes, then add the celery and carrots. Saute until slightly soft (about 5-8 minutes), then add the tomatoes - lower heat slightly and let all simmer together for about 10 minutes. Stir in the chard and 1 tsp. salt, then cover and lower heat to barely a simmer. Simmer with lid on for 40 minutes (check and stir occassionally).

In a separate pot (and this is good to start while you're waiting on the tomatoes), boil the 5 cups of water with lots of salt (as if you were making pasta). Once it reaches a boil, add the barley (which you may want to rinse - when I made it last night it was a little dusty/silty). Boil barley for 35 minutes. Skim any floaty stuff off if needed, then drain the barley, reserving the cooking water (or scoop the barley out of the water directly into the soup pot with a holey spoon or small sieve).

Once barley and veggies are both done, combine all in the veggie pot and add the can of beans. Add about 2 or so cups of the reserved barley water (or more or less based on your desired soupy-ness). Bring to a low simmer, add more salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with grated parmesan on top!

This should last me a few days... anyone up for cooking stew or Indian food or cassoulet (yikes!) this weekend?

a few brief comments

Guilty pleasure: Campbell's tomato soup made with milk and a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch on a cold day... ideally after playing in the snow, but we have to imagine that part in the NW. I picked up this kid-food in college, since my mother was partial to Bean with Bacon soup when we were growing up... either way, the cans themselves are such classics!

Miso mystery: Anyone have a good recipe for miso soup? I was having a nice Japanese lunch on Friday, and was reminded of how good miso soup is, and also of all my failed attempts to make it taste that good. I usually get the wrong kind of miso and/or the proportions all wrong and/or a huge vat of soup that I never finish. Please post!

Sunday night supper: is either going to be a quick bean/barley/chard soup or some sort of garlic "cooked water" soup, depending on how much time I feel like spending inside today - it's actually sunny in Seattle today!

New Year's Resolutions

It looks like my sister's friends in DC are not really following their resolution about eating only soup in January... but then again, I can't blame them - I'm not a big fan of resolutions in general, especially the kind that restrict something you like :-)

My sister started to give things up for Lent in the past few years, but they've been things like, "give up feeling sorry for yourself" - much more to my taste! So this year, I've come up with a New Year's resolution that will be both hard to follow at times, and always make me feel better when I do it (unlike those delayed-gratification things like "don't eat cheese")... and so my resolution this year is to Play More - as in "be more playful," not "play video games" (although that would still be in the spirit of things).

This all started to come to fruition in my head over the past few months, during which I've been taking things WAAAYYY too seriously - at work, at home, with friends, family, etc. (hmmm - I think maybe I've been a pain in the ass in the process!).

Then something in my head insisted that I do a few key silly things that have started to make me less serious - like buy a "One Laptop Per Child" computer (and donate one to a kid in the developing world at the same time with their G1G1 program), and read "kids" books (the Golden Compass movie started that), and start a silly blog about soup... And so I'm going to just try to think of life as Play and see where that takes me...

Playing has it's pros and cons, of course, as anyone who was ever a kid remembers (so does the cute "baby laptop", btw - Linux is kindof fun but also kindof time-sucking!). Playing may "waste time" - but on the other hand, you discover real things when you play, like what it's like to be on Battlestar Gallactica (or could morph into animals), or what's actually interesting about a piece of music that you're noodling with (what a grown-up example). Playing shows you who the bullies are, who the fun kids are, what you might like doing more (be a mermaid) or less (play dodgeball).

Ok - enough philosophizing... talk amongst yourselves...

This weekend - more soup!

Leftovers!

Boy, this is just about the most exciting blog ever! Soup! Leftovers! woo-hoo!

So, let me tell you about the Sunday soup - the cinnamon/pork one... it came out great,and I'm have that for dinner tonight. Also had the last of the chicken noodle for lunch, so it's an all-soup day. This I see as the biggest drawback of soup, unless you're cooking for a crowd - the leftover situation an get a little out of control.

That said, the bowl of soup from last night is sure looking and smelling good, sitting next to me to cool down a little as I write this.

A few notes on the recipe, since I'd never made it before - the broth and pork turned out fantastic, and made the whole house smell good! That said, you need to skim a LOT of fat off - made me wish I had one of those fat-skimmers - would have saved me some time. But once that was done, the soup came together quickly - I just threw in about 1/2 bag of spinach, and used rice stick noodles that I happened to have in the cupboard (although cellophane or those cool Korean yam noodles would be even better). So, this is definately a keeper recipe.

And there's more in the pot! I'll have think of other topics until I eat this all up and make the next pot of soup...

Sunday soup

Sunday soup should take several hours to make - simmering away on the stove while you putter around the house... I think I'm going to try this one today - come on over for dinner around 7-ish if you're in the neighborhood! I'll probably add spinach or chard...

pork noodle soup with cinnamon and anise
Gourmet | December 2007

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Last Touch

Maggie Ruggiero

2 1/2 pounds country-style pork ribs
6 cups water
2/3 cup soy sauce
2/3 cup Chinese Shaoxing wine or medium-dry Sherry
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 head garlic, halved crosswise
3 (3-inch) cinnamon sticks
1 whole star anise
5 1/2 ounces bean thread (cellophane) noodles

Garnish: chopped cilantro; sliced scallions

Gently simmer all ingredients except noodles in a 6-quart heavy pot, covered, skimming as needed, until pork is very tender, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Transfer pork to a bowl. Discard bones, spices, and garlic. Coarsely shred meat. Skim fat from broth, then return meat and bring to a simmer. Rinse noodles, then stir into broth and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until noodles are translucent and tender, about 6 minutes.

The post-holiday 'diet'

Hi all - now, an actual diet is not my style, but after multiple conversations in the last few years with friends and family about the restorative power of soup in the bleak midwinter (especially in Seattle - having just returned from 'sunny' Cleveland and DC, I can't believe how DARK it is here), I thought it might be nice to talk soup.

Most recently, my sister's DC 'family's' resolution to stick to soup (or was it no snacks?) plus a really annoying cold+sinus infection led me to thinking - chicken soup!

So - here's my recipe for chicken soup:

1-2 qts. chicken broth (I usually use homemade frozen)
1-2 qts. water (use more water if you don't have enough stock)
1.5 lbs. cooked & diced/shredded chicken  (leftover roast chicken is best - or poach some in the stock/water+salt)
2 Tbs. butter or olive oil
1/2 onion, choppped
2-3 carrots, peeled and diced
1 bulb celeriac, peeled and diced
1 bunch (lb.) black kale (aka Tuscan/dino kale) sliced in thin strips (chiffonade?)
salt & pepper to taste
1/3 lb. slightly under-cooked egg noodles or pasta (take it out 1-2 minutes early)

In a large pot (5-6 qt) over med-high heat, melt butter and add onion. Saute until golden, then add carrots and celeriac. Saute a few minutes, then add kale. Saute a few more minutes, then add broth and water. Let simmer together (lower heat as needed) for about 10 minutes, until all veggies are soft. Add the chicken and noodles, and let it all come to a simmer for about 5 minutes. Taste for salt and pepper - season to your taste. 

That's it! It's good for what ails ya'.  

So, I'm new to  blogging, but I think it might be nice to share soup recipes - what have you been making?