Archive for the 'soup' Category
Yes, I know. It looks a little swampish. But the thing is there’s SO MUCH lettuce coming out of my garden (a few plants bolted so badly they were almost as tall as me) and more coming each week from our CSA, and I’m just not that hip on salads at this time of year. I really can’t keep up with it all. First world problems, I know.
And so I thought – other greens make great soup, why not lettuce?
It totally works. It’s not as dense as spinach soup, it’s sort of bulkier. Which any gastroenterologist will tell you is a Good Thing. See? You can totally enjoy a warm bowl of green salad with a spoon.
Lettuce Soup
canola or olive oil, for cooking
butter, for cooking,
1 small onion, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 head leafy green lettuce, or a combo of lettuce, spinach, chard, kale – anything green
1 L chicken or vegetable stock
splash of cream (optional but good)
salt and pepper
In a small pot, heat a drizzle of oil and a dab of butter and saute the onion for a few minutes, until it’s soft. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two. Roughly chop the lettuce and add it (bonus! no need to get it dry after you wash it!) and add the stock and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes, until the lettuce is nice and soft. Puree in a blender or using a hand-held immersion blender, stir in a good splash of cream and season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.
September 21 2011 | soup | 17 Comments »
Having spent the past three days eating very well in Saskatoon, on a ranch (where we had pitchfork fondue – yes, that’s exactly what it sounds like it is) and in some fab new restaurants, I came home tired yet inspired to cook, yet wanting something simple and green.
Also, my spinach has gone to seed. Meaning I needed to come up with a way of using large quantities of it as I pulled out the entire garden to replant.
Also, I watered the spinach before coming to this conclusion, spattering it with mud in the process, and so I needed to swish the lot around in a big bowl of water in order to thoroughly clean it, and didn’t much feel like spinning it dry.
Also, if you are Calgarian or running with Calgarians this week, you could likely use a bowlful of greens to offset the effects of Stampede.
All good reasons, don’t you think? I wound up tossing in bits of other green things – a handful of fresh chives, which are growing in the old sink next to the tomatoes, and a couple garlic scapes, and a shake of frozen peas from the freezer. And onions, stock, a splash of cream. Salt. Soup is that easy.
These are garlic scapes – the big snakey green thing that grows out of the top of a growing garlic bulb. They are like intensely garlicky giant chives, kind of. They make great pesto.
A big handful of mint would have given it an entirely different character. Or cilantro. Or parsley. There are plenty of green growing things you could improv with here.
Spinach, Pea and Garlic Scape Soup
This soup would be fab with a swirl of crème fraîche, I think.
canola oil, for cooking
a big dab of butter
an onion, peeled and chopped
a couple garlic scapes, chopped
a handful of fresh chives
a salad bowl full of fresh spinach leaves
a heaping cup of frozen green peas
1 L chicken or veggie stock
salt
a splash of cream
In a large saucepan, heat a drizzle of oil with a dab of butter over medium-high heat. Cook the onion for a few minutes, until soft. Add the garlic scapes and tear in the chives, sprinkle with salt and cook for a few more minutes, until everything is soft.
Add the spinach and peas and cook until the spinach wilts. Add the stock and bring to a simmer; cook for 20 minutes, or until all the veggies are nice and soft.
Season with salt and add a splash of cream. Puree with a hand-held immersion blender (or transfer in batches to a regular blender) until smooth. Serve warm. Serves 4.
July 10 2011 | freezable and soup | 9 Comments »
Life is weird, isn’t it? Today I fed William Shatner, Max Headroom (aka Matt Frewer), and Tia Carrere, all at the same time. They sat around a table in the gold room at the Calgary Comic Expo and chatted (about the Vancouver hockey riots, mostly) like something out of a bizarre dream. I fully kept expecting to look down and be wearing no pants.
Later, Jonathan Frakes, Felicia Day (who was totally lovely, and raving about her morning visit to Jelly Modern!), Adrienne Barbeau, Doug Bradley and Elvira – I can’t list them all, but there were about thirty in total comic/space/horror celebs and agents, mostly from LA.
Tia had requested split pea soup. I wasn’t fully confident of my split pea soup-making abilities, but Wade, who swept in and was my cooking-for-the-stars wingman, picked up a couple of ham hocks while we were out of town, which made it easy. I half improved, half followed a recipe from Bon Appétit, and it worked. Everyone liked it. Also, they were just happy to not be stuck in a green room with hot dogs and Doritos.
Especially when they saw the white cheddar biscuits to go with.
Sadly, no cameras in the room meant I couldn’t properly document this crazy dream.
I’m still prepping for tomorrow – leg of lamb and naan and falafel, quinoa spinach salad, marinated asparagus, and more roasted plum cheesecakes in jars. (Small – 125 mL – lidded jars make them good to go, when you need a portable snack while signing autographs.) The dregs of pea soup made an effortless, if late-night, dinner.
Split Pea Soup
from Bon Appétit, May 1996
a drizzle of oil or dab of butter (or both – the original just called for butter)
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
1 1/2 lbs smoked pork hocks
2 tsp dried leaf marjoram (optional)
1 1/2 cups dry green split peas
8 cups water
In a large pot, heat the oil and/or butter over medium-high heat. Add the onion, celery and carrots and sauté until soft, about 8 minutes. Add pork and marjoram; cook 1 minute. Add peas and water and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, partially cover the pot and simmer soup for an hour or so, until the vegetables are very tender.
Transfer hocks to bowl. Puree about half the soup in a blender (or using a hand-held immersion blender) and return it to the pot with the un-pureed soup. Cut the meat off the bones, discarding the thick layer of fat; dice the pork and return it to the pot. Season with salt and pepper and heat through.
Makes lots.
June 18 2011 | freezable and soup | 10 Comments »
I saw a pot of black bean soup awhile ago on Smitten Kitchen, and its inky blackness called to me. Every time I see dry black beans now, which is a lot, I think of this soup – simply made in the Crock Pot, the dry beans tossed right in with lots of water. No soaking needed.
It’s a simple recipe – vegan, even – cheap and easy and good for you. It needs plenty of salt, and the chipotle chiles add smokiness and a bit of heat. You could really use this as a blank black bean soup canvas and do what you like with it. A ham hock or some stock would certainly boost flavour.
I posted the recipe over at the Family Kitchen.
May 23 2011 | beans and Family Kitchen and freezable and soup | 3 Comments »
So yeah, the Rocky Mountaineer is totally all that and a bag of Doritos.
Better than I imagined, even. I’ll tell you more about it, but I have far too many photos, it’s getting late and I’m trying to do laundry and repack for Banff tomorrow. The trip wrapped up last night when we pulled through the rail yards and into Vancouver, and were delivered by motorcoach to the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver.
And so we stuck around for much of the day – I couldn’t bring myself to get to Vancouver and then hop on a plane back home, what with all the dogwoods and cherry trees in full bloom. So we walked down to Gastown for a phenomenal dinner at L’Abbatoir (Dungeness crab and chickpea toast – toasted brioche, light crab custard, carrot pickles; Confit of albacore tuna – smoked pork fat, egg, crispy bits; Scallops and oxtail dumplings – beech mushroom, asian pear, spiced jus; Pork shoulder cooked in milk – baby turnips, salsa verde, green onions and fava beans; and for dessert, espresso pot de crème topped with crumbled lemon shortbread and whipped milk – like a perfect latte, dessertified, The entire experience was brilliant. If you’re ever in Gastown, I can’t recommend it highly enough.)
This morning we grabbed lattes and blackberry-bran muffins and walked down Georgia Street to Stanley Park (did you know it’s bigger than Central Park?) and around as much of the sea wall as we had time for before we had to be back to check-out. Then we found some street food – pulled pork at Re-Up Barbecue in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery, and The Roaming Dragon over on Robson.
By the time we got home, collected W and Lou, brought in our luggage and checked messages it was 8pm. We were hungry by that time (the food carts were just after noon) and our fridge was still stocked – we had left quickly, without going through the perishables first. Nothing was rank. But there was a sullen bundle of asparagus and far more depressed kale and spinach. I snapped into action, like a produce paramedic who arrived just in time to find these spring greens clinging to life. I’m happy to report we saved them. They made a mighty fine pot of soup, which I sipped from a mug while reading W the new book we brought home from Vancouver. And yes, the (homemade!) crème fraîche got a chance to fulfill its purpose in life, too.
How do you make it? So easy. You’ll need a starter – buttermilk or good quality plain yogurt. Stir a heaping tablespoonful of it into 2 cups of heavy (whipping) cream, stir well, pour into a glass jar, cover with a lid and let it sit in a warm spot on the countertop overnight. That’s it. After 12-24 hours, it will have thickened into this wonderful, slightly tangy crème fraiche. Store it in the fridge after that.
Spring Greens Soup
This is soup, and as such, the measurements are totally flexible. You can add whatever greens you want to resurrect, in whatever proportions. Try adding pesto, or basil, or tarragon, or any other ingredients you think would taste swell.
a drizzle of canola or olive oil
a blob of butter (a bit smaller than a tablespoon)
1 onion, peeled and chopped (a leek would do well, too)
a few garlic cloves, crushed
1 bunch asparagus, woody ends trimmed and chopped into pieces
1 big handful fresh spinach, torn into pieces
a few leaves of kale, ribs removed and torn into pieces
1 L chicken or veggie stock
a splash of milk or half & half (optional)
salt and pepper to taaste
In a large pot, heat the oil and butter over medium-high heat until the butter melts. Add the onion and cook for a few minutes, until soft. Add the garlic and cook another minute.
Add the vegetables and cook for a few minutes, until the greens wilt. Add the stock and bring to a simmer; cook for 15 minutes, or until everything is very tender. Remove from the heat, add a splash of milk or cream and puree with a hand-held immersion blender until smooth or as chunky as you like. Serve warm or chilled. Serves 6.
May 13 2011 | soup | 10 Comments »
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