Archive for the 'soup' Category
In March, spring is a tease. Nothing new has arrived at the markets yet, and we all start to become uninspired by root veg. In his pureed borscht-of-sorts the citrus and ginger brightens beets and carrots into something almost springlike. Does the fact that it has beets in it classify it as borscht? Or is this borscht blasphemy?
It’s what we balanced on our knees while half-watching the Academy Awards, when W asked if he could be Buddha, and while sitting on the chair beside his bathtub, when he turned me into a chicken. Thanks to Sue from London, long time reader/supporter/cheerer on of my blog and steadfast commenter for passing this on.
Just look at that colour! The original was dolloped with sour cream, but since roasted beets and goat cheese (with toasted walnuts or pecans) make for my favourite salad, I assumed it would translate well into a steaming bowl of soup. (I was right.)
Citrus-Ginger & Carrot Borscht with Goat Cheese
adapted with thanks to Annie, by way of Sue.
canola or olive oil, for cooking
1 large onion, chopped
1 lb. carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
1 large garlic clove, crushed
3 medium beets (about 1 lb), peeled and coarsely chopped
6 cups chicken, beef or vegetable stock
grated zest of an orange
salt to taste
soft goat cheese or sour cream, for serving (optional)
In a large pot, heat a drizzle of oil over medium heat and saute the onion for a few minutes, until starting to soften. Add the carrots, ginger and garlic and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Add the beets, stock and orange zest and simmer for about an hour.
Puree the soup with a hand-held immersion blender and season with salt to taste. Serve warm or chilled with a dollop of goat cheese or sour cream.
Serves 4-6.
One more thing: Are you single? Like to eat?
My friend Patrick, a real-life chef who trained at the Cordon Bleu and now owns InterCourse Chef Services has offered DwJ readers a discounted rate on his Hands-On Cooking Class for Singles (or could it be called a hands-on singles cooking class?) this coming Thursday, March 11th at the Cookbook Company. The normal fee for the class is $100, but if you email Patrick and tell him you heard about the class here, you’ll only pay $80. It’s a great opportunity to mix and mingle with other singles, have some wine and learn a thing or two about cooking great food.
Bonus: one of the participants that registers by mentioning this blog will win a free enrollment, so by registering you may get in for free. To register, email Patrick at patrick@inter-course.ca (don’t use the PayPal sign up option on the website or you’ll miss out on the discount.)
March 07 2010 | soup | 22 Comments »
One of my New Year’s Resolutions (or – thoughts I tend to get more of at this time of year regarding what I’d like to do more or less of) is to eat more soup. It’s important to have achievable goals. And to eat more vegetables.
Here is yet another extreme leftover makeover wherein the sloppy seconds almost trumps the original: any soup started from a meaty ham bone, particularly one containing black beans or lentils. This ham first made its debut while the family painted across the street – a great easy meal for a crowd that costs less than ordering pizza. Honestly. (Ham – $15. Biscuits from scratch – $1. Having your sister move in across the street – priceless. Although that really doesn’t have much to do with the ham, but it sounds nice.)
Also – do pizza leftovers take care of dinner another night? I didn’t think so. Pizza crust soup is nowhere near as appetizing.
Ham & Lentil Soup
1 ham bone, with lots of meat left clinging to it
+ 1 chopped onion
+ 3 chopped carrots
+ half a bunch of celery, chopped whole from the leafy end, including the leaves
+ 2 cups dried green or brown lentils
+ 1 L beef or chicken broth
+ 1 L water
+ bay leaf
+ large soup pot or slow cooker (6 hours or so on low)
= happy gut.
(Sorry for the abbreviated post – I was working late on one relating to weight and the new year and all that, and it became apparent closing in on midnight that I wasn’t going to finish it proper-like. And I didn’t sleep at all last night, panicking over the sudden realization that I have to address a sold-out Jack Singer Concert Hall in less than a week and nothing fits.)
January 05 2010 | slow cooker and soup | 15 Comments »
But what I really love the sound of is Potage Parmentier. Growing up we called it vichyssoise, and it was well-known as my Dad’s favourite. He didn’t even have to specify vichyssoise on his birthday – we just knew to make it. Of course vichyssoise to anyone outside our household referred to chilled leek and potato soup, but we always served it hot. So really his favourite soup was Potage Parmentier.
I can’t recall if this made it into the movie or stayed in the book, but for some reason the name stuck. The humbleness of it, and the fact that a potato, some leeks and water can be transformed, in name at least, into something fussily French. Julia Child wasn’t just a master at French cooking, she was a pioneer woman when it came to product branding.
Earlier this year I unwittingly married P.P. with turnip soup simply by adding a turnip along with the potato. You could do this… or not.
Potage Parmentier
2 largish Yukon gold potatoes, quartered (I leave the skins on)
1 turnip, peeled and chopped (optional)
2 largish leeks, thinly sliced (white and pale green parts only)
1-2 L water or chicken or veg stock (Julia uses water, I generally use stock)
4-6 Tbsp. cream (heavy or half & half)
salt & pepper to taste
finely chopped parsley or chives
In a large pot, simmer the potatoes, turnip (if using), leeks and water or stock for about half an hour, until very soft. Puree in the pot with a hand held immersion blender, or roughly mash with a potato masher. Add the cream and season with salt and pepper and heat through. Serve immediately, sprinkled with herbs.
December 05 2009 | soup | 13 Comments »
It was a day for cheesy baked onion soup if ever there was one. I did take a stab at driving out to Red Deer this morning, the car loaded down with Boeuf Bourguignon, roasted tomato soup, chocolate-hazelnut-espresso shortbread and hot fudge sauce for 16, and managed to head out of town right when the storm hit. I did make it off the highway and turned around in Airdrie, although I pondered sitting in the Boston Pizza parking lot with a dozen or so other people sitting bewildered in their cars wondering what to do – instead I stuck it out and made it back, and in fact once back in the city pushed on to IKEA, since I was on the Deerfoot anyway and thinking no one in their right minds would attempt to go pick up a tree in all this. Apparently many other pre-weekend tree shoppers had the same idea. We now are the proud owners of a slightly malformed but delightful tree that will hopefully stay alive until Christmas. (Can’t complain, it was pretty much free.) If the needles start to prematurely start to fall off, we’ll spray it with green spray paint and call it fake.
The rest of the day was a marathon attempt at pulling the house back into some semblance of order, and looking back it’s a good thing we were shut in by the storm, because I have events tomorrow and brunch Sunday morning and then everyone arrives for our Julie & Julia party Sunday night. (We were hoping for advance copies of the movie to watch, but since they don’t ship out until Tuesday, Pierre has promised copies of Julia Child’s The French Chef on VHS.) So I’m proud to say that I’m lying on clean sheets right this very minute, and I cleaned off the top of the fridge (also known as our junk drawer) and even scrubbed the little space beside the oven where the cookie sheets go. As for the walls, we’re just going to have to paint them.
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December 04 2009 | soup | 84 Comments »
What a novelty! Tonight I think I’ll actually post what I had for dinner.
I couldn’t possibly relay the food that I’ve consumed over the past several days at the JPL-suffice to say it has been superb and in excess. Dinner tonight started with Sweet Potato Carrot Bisque, poured over crispy fried red onions (which were already in the soup bowls), then chicken stuffed with Fairwinds farm goat cheese and roasted fingerling potatoes, and white chocolate mousse with berry sauce for dessert. I figured the soup recipe was easy to share; plus it’s delicious. (I apologize for the nasty photo – it was dark, and the wine rendered me not as steady as I’d have liked.)
And also – I had gone to Shoana’s most excellent (say like in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure – am I dating myself?) mixology class in the afternoon, at which I tested no fewer than 7 cocktails – for research purposes, you understand. I think she may have convinced me to buy a martini shaker. Or dig out the one I bought at a garage sale a few years ago.
Yet another great thing about Christmas in November is that you get to take home a book full of recipes – everything you ate in the dining room, as well as all the recipes from the presenters.
Sweet Potato Carrot Bisque
This was served over crispy fried red onions which had already been placed in the soup bowls; to do this, thinly slice the onions and cook in oil until crispy.
2 cups chopped carrots
1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1 L (32 oz.) chicken broth
1 Tbsp. butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. curry powder
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup plain yogurt
In a large pot simmer the carrots and sweet potato in the stock for 20 minutes, or until tender, adding more water if you need to to keep the vegetables covered. Meanwhile, saute the onion in the butter until translucent. Add them to the pot of veggies. Add the sugar, curry, nutmeg and salt and puree with a hand-held immersion blender (or transfer to a regular blender in batches) until smooth. Add the lemon juice and yogurt and heat through. If you like, serve over crispy fried onions. Serves 4.
Chocolate Martini
2 oz. vodka
1 oz. crème de cacao
2 oz. milk (optional)
ice
chocolate shavings or finely crushed candy canes (optional)
Rim your martini glass by running a wedge of lime around the rim and dipping it into a shallow bowl of chocolate shavings or crushed candy canes. Shake everything else up (lots of ice) in a martini shaker and strain into the glass. Drink.
November 11 2009 | beverages and soup | 7 Comments »
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