Back to chicken noodle...

Having roasted a chicken the other night (using my favorite recipe from the NYT -  Mark Bittman's "30 minute" high-heat version), I've come full circle to chicken noodle. Normally (as in, before last month) I would have just made plain old chicken noodle, but the pressure/pleasure of sharing the results in a blog got me thinking about other variations. Also, I had a very satisfying bowl of wonton soup at Thaiku (in Ballard) yesterday, which made me think about Asian noodle soups, which led me to concoct the following variation on a theme:

1/2 med onion, sliced thinly
1/2 Tbs. butter or vegetable oil
3-4 slices of fresh ginger, peeled
1 bunch black kale (or any green, really), thinly sliced
2/3 of a leftover chicken, bones used for stock, sliced
1 1/2 qts (or so) chicken stock
1/3 lb. (or so) udon noodles or fettucine, cooked according to package instructions, drained and rinsed with cold water
1/2 tsp. sesame oil
Salt to taste

In a large pot, saute onion in the butter until it's slightly carmelized. Add ginger and kale, saute for a few minutes, then fill pot about 1/2 full with stock. Bring to a simmer and let simmer for about 10 minutes (time this step to coincide with cooking the noodles). Add chicken and let soup come back to a simmer. Add noodles, cook for a few minutes to re-warm, then stir in sesame oil. Check for salt. Serve in a big bowl with chopsticks to slurp up the noodles with!

Random funny things...

This blog is hilarious - very Seattle - um, very me :-)
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/

AND - the McCain spoof on the preachy-but-inspiring Obama video (watch the Obama first for best effect):
Obama - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY
McCain - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzd5nLzZjcc

More blogging this weekend - promise!

Beet red

I had a craving for beets yesterday - probably because my stomach has been bugging me in the last few days, and beets usually help balance my digestion...

Oddly enough, I don't remember eating borscht at home as a kid - at least not hot borscht. We often had saltibarsciai - cold beet soup - in the summer, a pepto-bismal-pink, buttermilk-based soup that's delicious and refreshing when you don't want to turn the stove on. That said, I never ate it when I was younger because I hated beets. Now they're one of my favorite vegetables - I love their earthy sweetness. I think they taste like dirt, but in a good way!

So I wanted to make barsciai (to use the Lithuanian) yesterday, and poked around in various cookbooks and online to find a recipe that looked good. A lot of recipes called for beef broth - either canned or homemade - which I didn't have, nor did it make sense to me to make broth outside of the soup-making process, especially since I had time to invest in cooking. I wound up following this recipe for Ukranian borscht, more or less: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/6008 - key differences being: adding the meat back in with the potatoes (the recipe leaves it cooling on the counter) and swapping out the raw garlic for sauteed. I also was agressive about skimming the fat - I put the broth in the freezer until the fat had solidified. I find fatty broth totally unappetizing.

The results were great! Sweet, meaty, tangy from the lemon juice - and plentiful leftovers. The allspice in the broth reminds me of my great-aunt's soups...

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!