Carrot and Celeriac Soup

Ok, so this snow and ice and cold is getting a little old now. Good thing I made a ton of vegetable stock 3 weeks ago, because nothing warms the body like a hot and rich bowl of soup! But what kind of soup? Oh, the debate is endless. Campbell's would have you believe that condensed chicken noodle is the way to turn your snowman back into your kid. But canned, condensed soups generally have way too much sodium and taste like mush. No, what you want and need is something rich, slightly spicy, and preferably nutrient rich to keep you healthy during the bad weather. I think I've got just the soup to fit that bill...

I based this recipe off this one from the NYT Recipes for Health series. I liked this recipe because it uses rice instead of cream to thicken, thus sparing some calories. It also has room for additions/changes, which I gladly took advantage of. In my case I cut out some of the carrots and onion and replaced them with celeriac to give a slightly sharper, bitter flavor to contrast the sweetness of the carrot. I also added some cayenne pepper, garlic, and other herbs while cooking to bring out an assertive bite that you taste first, followed by the sweetness of the carrot. Overall, I'm pretty happy with my version, especially when pared with some nice crusty bread.

Carrot and Celeriac Soup
1 lb. carrots, sliced thin
1 large celeriac, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup arborio rice
2 qt vegetable stock
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/2-1 tsp cayenne pepper
5-7 sprigs fresh thyme
1 tsp fresh sage

1. In a soup pot, heat the butter and oil until the butter just begins to brown. Add the onion and celeriac and cook for a few minutes until the celeriac is tender (about 5-10 minutes depending on how larger your chop was).
2. Add the carrots, garlic, salt, thyme and sage and cook, covered, for 10 minutes till the carrots are mostly cooked, stirring every so often. Fish out the thyme sprigs and add the rice and stock. Bring the pot to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes covered.
3. When the soup is done cooking, puree with a stick blender, in batches in a blender/food processor, or a food mill. The final product should be slightly thick and flow smoothly. Taste and add black pepper, cayenne, and more salt as you like. Serve with a sprinkling of thyme and some warm crusty bread.

Freshly made soup, ready for eating!

My camera doesn't do the color justice unfortunately.

Well, there you go, a simple, nutrient rich soup to warm your heart and soul this winter. I would suggest not following the above pictures and adding fresh sage as a garnish unless you chop the leaves much finer. Since this is thickened with rice, you can add a small dollop of crème fraiche or sour cream and not blow your diet if you want. You can also substitute other root vegetable such as parsnip for either the carrot or the celeriac.

Ok, so I dropped the ball in getting this out on time, I'll try to do better next time. Till then,

Cheers,
Mike :)

Bacon and Lentil Soup

So, it's mid-November, and that means cold dreary weather. Except, lately it's been rather warm here in central Ohio. I mean, it was 70°F this past weekend! Most people would be quite pleased with that, but for myself, I'm ready for winter soup season, and I want my weather to cooperate. But since I haven't yet figured out how to change the weather, I might as well get started on the soup making.

Last month I did a simple tomato soup that you hopefully read about (and made, and enjoyed!). Well, this time I'm back with another simple soup. How simple you ask? Well lets see, there are 7 ingredients, and one of them is water. You make it all in one pot in about an hour. And you probably (or at least should) have all the ingredients handy all the time. I say that last bit because everyone should have at least two containers of lentils in their cupboard (red and puy being the two). And only crazy people don't keep bacon around.

As you'll quickly see, what makes this soup so great is that it's ridiculously easy to prepare. Crisp up the bacon, cook the veggies, then add water and the lentils. In about than an hour you're eating. So lets get too it!

Bacon and lentil soup:
1 lb. pepper bacon, chopped
1 medium onion, sliced
2 ribs celery, chopped
2 carrots, coined
1 larger potato, cubed (pref. yukon gold)
1/2 cup puy lentils
4-6 cups water

1. Put your soup pot over medium high heat and add the bacon. Cook until it crisps up then add the carrot and potato.
2. Cook another 2 minutes then add the celery and onion. When the onion turns translucent, add the lentils and enough water to completely cover the other ingredients. Bring to a boil and then let simmer ~45 minutes.
3. When the lentils are plump, the soup is done. Dish into bowls and enjoy!

Mmmmm, yummy soup...

That was easy huh? Told ya so. Now, I know what you might be thinking... a pound of bacon, water, no salt?! Yup, yup, and yup. You see, the bacon serves a couple of roles here. The first is to provide fat for cooking the veggies. The second is to add tons of flavor. And by using pepper bacon, you've got all the seasoning you need (bacon naturally has a good amount of salt). Now, in case you're wondering, puy lentils are sometimes referred to as french lentils. I suggest buying them in bulk from Whole Foods or a similar store than a normal grocery store. Just look for the greenish/blueish ones you see below.

Puy lentils, unlike red, don't get mushy when cooked, so don't substitute the two.

So, when you're in a bind, and need a fairly fast, incredibly easy, and extremely tasty dinner, give this soup a try. I can promise you that you won't regret it!

Till next time,
Cheers,
Mike :)

Simple Tomato Soup:

This post is going to get to the point since I have a Friday deadline to get a manuscript out for review.

Simple Tomato Soup:
2 lbs. tomatoes
3 slices pepper bacon
1/4 onion, diced
3 cups chicken stock --or--
3 cups water + assorted chicken bits (wings, necks, etc.)
~2 tsp. salt
1 cup whole milk

1. Peel, core, deseed and chop the tomatoes into small pieces. You can use nearly any type of tomato here, I had a mix of yellow, red, and green from my garden. A good tip is to deseed over a strainer in a bowl so you can catch the juice and add it back in for more flavor.
2. Cook the bacon in your soup pot till crispy and then drain on paper towels. Pour off the fat, keeping about 1.5 tbsp. Add the onion and tomatoes and cook until well broken down (~15-20 mins).
3. Add the stock, or if you're out like I was, water along with some chicken pieces you usually use for making stock (you'll fish them out later, they're just there for flavor). Bring the pot to a boil and then let simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring 3 times or so.
4. After the 30 minutes is up, remove the chicken bits if necessary, and adjust the seasoning. When cooled down a bit, puree with an immersion blender or in a normal blender till smooth and creamy in consistency.
5. Add milk to lighten the color and make it a little smoother. You can go with heavy cream here, but whole milk keeps it lighter and as long as you don't over heat it, won't curdle.
6. To serve, top with some crumbled bacon and possibly some croutons (I prefer bread on the side, but thats just me).

Ok, so I've got another soup recipe to post some time, as well as some baking type recipes.. I'm hoping that once this manuscript is off I'll have at least a week to do something I actually want... No clue when next time will actually be, but till then...

Cheers,
Mike :)

Blueberry Soup:

I'm sorry, but it's about time we all admitted it, summer will soon be over. I know, I know, *groan*... But the sooner you accept that the end is coming the sooner you can start preparing yourself. Now, what makes summer so great is that it's the one time of the year when fruits are not only abundant, but also cheap. Seriously cheap. $10 for a 5lb. box of blueberries... how many do you have?! The flavor is also far superior to those overpriced hothouse or imported blueberries you find in your local grocery store in the dead of winter. Problem is, while blueberries are awesome, there's only so many you can realistically eat over the course of a summer before you turn into Violet Beauregarde. Sure, you can freeze them on a baking sheet till they're rock hard, then plop 'em into a ziptop bag and store them in your freezer. But frozen blueberries only have so many uses, and most of those involve baking (not that I have any problem with that of course).

Winter is known as the season of soups (to me at least, among other things it's known for), so why not make blueberry soup? Soup, made from blueberries... sounds crazy doesn't it. But think about it for a second, gazpacho is a chilled soup made with tomatoes, and I distinctly remember having chilled strawberry soup on a cruise once, so who's to say why not. Plus, you'll greatly appreciate that fresh blueberry taste in the dead of winter. So why post it now? Because now is when you need to prepare! The recipe essentially starts by making a blueberry syrup base that you then add either yogurt, or sour cream, or crème fraîche to thicken. So you can buy a ton of blueberries now while they're super cheap and at the peak of flavor, make the syrup base, freeze it in small containers till needed, then pull one out and add your thickener of choice.

Blueberry Soup:scale recipe as desired.
2 pts. blueberries
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
yogurt/sour cream/crème fraîche (amount can vary to taste)

1. Wash and remove any stems from the bluerries. Heat the water, sugar, and spices in a medium saucepan till boiling. Add in the blueberries and cook over medium high heat till the blueberries have broken down and the liquid is a dark purple color, ~5-8 minutes.
2. Very carefully transfer some of the blueberry liquid to a blender and process until smooth, or use an immersion blender if you have one. Strain the mixture through a sieve into a clean container and either freeze if you plan to store or put in the fridge for sooner usage.
3. To make the final soup, mix about 1 part blueberry base with 1 part thickener of choice. I prefer using a 1 to 0.75 mix of base to vanilla yogurt, but feel free to experiment to get the consistency and taste you prefer.

Hooray for blueberries! $1/pint, sign me up!!

The final product as I prefer to serve it. Not too thick, not to thin, but loaded with blueberry flavor.

So, there you have it. My not very secret tip for surviving the dreaded mid-winter fruit depression. With a little bit of planning (seriously little) and a smidgen of effort, you can enjoy the wonderful taste of blueberries in the middle of that snowstorm that will be dropping 8" of snow come January (note, I claim no responsibility if that actually happens). And don't worry, you can still have your regular heart-warming chicken noodle or beef stew, this actually works great as a dessert in lieu of ice cream (I know, sounds treasonous, but it is). So, take advantage now while blueberries are still in season to stock up, and don't forget to freeze some on baking sheets for use in baked goods too!

Cheers,
Mike :)

Pho: rice noodles in beef broth

Ok, so really, this is an imitation pho. Traditional pho is a dish of rice noodles and thinly sliced steak in a beef broth that takes a good 1/2 day to prepare. Kind of kills the whole mythos of asian cuisine as being fast (don't worry, its still fairly cheap!). Ordering it from a take-away restaurant is an option, but you'll pay more than if you made it at home and you know you'll only be tempted to order some egg rolls or other unhealthy "sides" to go with it. The solution, of course, is to make your own pho at home, and cheat a little in the process.

As I just alluded to above, the beef broth for pho is normally a home-made stock, traditionally using oxtails as the base (you may have noticed that I switched terms there. I define stock as a liquid made from the meat and bones of an animal, and broth as any flavored liquid that accompanies other additions. So in this case, the end result is a broth that's made using stock. Its a little odd, I know.). I'm not ashamed to admit that in this case, I cheated and used a packaged beef stock. Kitchen Basics Unsalted Beef Stock to be precise. Why did I go with that brand and type? Simple, I wanted a base that I could easily and quickly work off of, and unsalted beef stock is about as plain vanilla as you can get after water. It also means you can do small batches of pho quickly and easily because of the nifty re-sealable packages.

The basic idea here is to prepare the noodles and assorted additions (more on this later) while heating up the broth, then combine them all in a bowl. Since I already said unsalted beef stock is pretty plain, you'll need to make some additions of some veggies and spices while heating it up to get a good and rich broth. I used some "fancy" mushrooms, as the local supermarket calls them (wood-ear, enoki, shitake, really not that fancy), but you can use "normal" mushrooms. Combine them mushrooms with some chili paste and sliced onion, heat them thoroughly, then add in some steak and the stock. By the time it comes to a boil (which you'll want it to) the flavors will have been beefed up (an unintended pun, ha ha...) sufficiently. Its really quite simple and takes about a half hour.

Pho: rice noodle and beef broth soup
1 container unsalted beef stock
4 oz. flank steak (or similar quality beef)
6 oz. mushrooms, sliced into small pieces
1/4 onion, finely sliced
salt as desired
1 tbsp. chili paste
1-2 tsp. olive oil
1/4 lb. rice noodles
additional stuff such as bean sprouts, basil, cilantro, sliced jalapenos

1. In a large enough pot over medium heat, add the oil and chili paste. When the oil is hot enough, add the onions and mushrooms. Cook until the onions are translucent and the mushrooms have given back the moisture they absorbed when first added.
2. Salt the steak liberally and let sit for ~5 minutes (this seems odd but its the only time salt is added so don't be shy). After the 5 minutes, slice the steak thinly and add to the pot along with the stock. Turn the heat up to high and bring to a boil.
3. While the broth is coming to a boil, soak the rice noodles in cold water for ~15 minutes. Bring another pot of water to a boil and add the noodles and cook for 3-5 minutes maximum (over cooking will turn the noodles into a gummy mess).
4. Drain the noodles and add to the bottom of a bowl. Add whatever additions you'd like and fill up with the boiling hot broth, making sure to get some mushrooms, onion, and steak in as well. Serve with a wedge of lime and some hot sauce (Sriracha work best in my opinion).

Noodles on bottom, with chard, bean sprouts, steak, and mushrooms piled on top before adding the broth.

As you can tell, this is a pretty simple dish, and pretty easy and quick to make if you cheat like I did. The salting of the steak before adding it to the pot may seem odd to many, but there's a very good reason for doing it that way. The first is that directly salting the meat will help break down the fibres in lower quality cuts, making them more tender in the end. The second reason is it pulls some of the juices out of the meat, and brings the salt in. This gives the meat itself some more flavor that you'd lose because of the short cooking time (if you salted the broth directly, the meat would loose a lot of flavor).

Now, as I noted, you can use all sorts of "additions" to your pho. The traditional ones are basil, cilantro, bean sprouts, sliced chilis, and a lime wedge. For the picture above, you can see (well, more read) that I used some chard from my garden. I just tore it into small pieces and added it directly to the bowl before adding the hot broth. Similar substitutions are more than accepted. The only thing you'll want to make note of is that you don't want to add a lot of cold/room temp. ingredients as it will cool the soup down too quickly (rice noodles get cold fast). Aside from that, feel free to experiment with what you have on hand. I'm pretty sure I'll be forced to add some zucchini in a few months.

So, I'm a day later than I hoped for, but I will promise a post in the next few days again. Cheers for now,
Mike