The Season for Soup

Today was one of those days that you wanted to stay inside -- it was windy, and rainy, for a bit. A day that cried out for soup!

125. Potato, Watercress and Nutmeg Soup - *Soup*

This soup is one of the 'jazzed-up' potato soups in CL. It is, indeed, just the basic potato soup recipe, with the inclusion of nutmeg, and then watercress at serving.

Like the other soups in this chapter, Tom doesn't use a ready-made stock as the base. Instead, the 'stock' resulted from the sweating of the initial ingredients. These were chopped onions, garlic and salt in a little bit of olive oil.

Then, the chopped potatoes were added with some grated nutmeg, and a little bit of water is added.
This was left to simmer for 20 minutes until the potatoes were close to falling apart. At this stage, a bit more water can be added to get the desired consistency. I didn't end up adding that much more water since I added more than enough in the beginning.

Tom says to make the soup cute and 'two-tone', it would be a good idea to chop up the watercress extra finely and kind of swirl it into the soup. I was mechanical enough to get it chopped extra small -- that's what a mezzaluna is for -- but not enough to really get the swirly action going. Here's my honest attempt at 'cute':


Well, nevertheless, it was delicious. A hearty and feel-good soup to warm the soul on a crappy day outside. The sun soon came out after we ate the soup, and that truly reflected my mood. :) Thanks, Tom!

Marigold

Sunday was all mine since Rafa was working at the hospital. I was getting better at having three meals throughout the day, and I wanted to include a nice and healthy soup for lunch.

122. Leek and Potato Soup (Cauliflower and Saffron variation) - *Soup*

The variation of the soup is very similar to the original apart from some key role changes. For instance, the part of the leeks was played by cauliflower, onions, dried mint and saffron.



All of these ingredients braised in a bit of milk until soft. It turned a gorgeous creamy yellow color right away.

Then, the potatoes were added with some water and left to boil until very soft. I checked for seasoning, and the soup was done.

I ate it while watching Nigella Lawson's second episode of Nigella Feasts. It was really good to chill out, watch quality entertainment on the Food Network for once, and have some nutritious soup.

The color of the soup was beautiful - yes, quite like marigold - and it evoked a lovely Middle Eastern flair, with the hint of saffron and mint. I have to admit, though, I do prefer the original version, but that is indeed a matter of taste. I liked the smoother texture that cauliflower can't really give.

I am really making headway in the Soup chapter! I think I only have two or three left to go... Who would have thought I liked soup so much! I really have to give it, though, to this chapter. So many recipes and not one that tastes anything like the other. Good job, Tom!

The Vegetarian Soup in Disguise

I could happily live a vegetarian life. Don't get me wrong, there are times when only a big hunk of meat will do. Usually it is during barbecue season when all I could envision is my brother-in-law's beautifully spiced filet mignon, so rare it's still quivering. But, for the most part, I find myself eating vegetarian dishes; there just seems to be more variety there.

Rafa wouldn't happily live a vegetarian life - in fact, he'd view it as a malnourished one. Of course I'm not surprised, he growing up in the country of meat. For Christmas, they would have a huge side of a pig in their chicken, ready for carving for impromptu jamón tapas. It looked strange to me when first seeing it there, hanging out next to the pantry and fridge. It didn't really kick in that it was an animal until I saw its hoof. Hmmmn.

So you could see we come from very different foodie ideals. I thought a sort of compromise was needed, but of course, since I'm the cook, it always tends to lean in my favor. Muahahahaha.

120. Chickpea, Bacon and Mushroom soup - *Soup*
121. Chickpea, Bacon and Mushroom soup (soup pasta variation) - *Soup*

Number 121 was for Rafa for dinner when he got home from work, and 120 is for me for my lunch today. It is basically the same recipe with some pasta added to one of the bowls once the soup was done.

So the soup -- so easy and a pleasure to make, because I just love the idea of making a stock and healthy soup from scratch.

First, I sweated some some onions, carrots and garlic in a little bit of olive oil and salt. This was the 'base' of the stock. Smelled fabulous at this point.


The meaty part of the original recipe involved first cooking some bacon and then adding the veggies to that oil, but the compromise was no bacon, because I was eating this soup too! :) I didn't let on that there was supposed to be bacon in the soup, but instead decided to bulk it up for Rafa so he hopefully wouldn't notice there was no meat.

While the vegetables were sweating, I soaked some porcini mushrooms in warm water. After a bit, I drained and sliced them and reserved the dark liquid. (My friend, Jean, in Scotland, was kind enough to send me a huge bag of porcinis, so my porcini liquid cup runneth over. Can't wait to make some more risotto too -- Thanks, Jean!)


Once the vegetables got soft, I added tomato pureé, a can of chickpeas with its juice, the sliced mushrooms, two bay leaves,
and enough of the porcini liquid to top the vegetables. This simmered for about a half an hour. And that was the first soup done!

For the second soup, Tom said I could boil up some ditalini or macaroni. I had both so decided to include the two. It was about 50g in total for a serving of soup.


And that was Rafa's hearty dinner for when he came back home from a long day at work. He liked it and would swill around the mushrooms because he thought they were beef slices. I let him on to the secret that there was not actually any meat there -- he said what harm would there be in a couple of cubes of meat. I think that's his way of telling me he needs some meat. I'll see what I can do....

The Virtuous Soup

Although we were a bit cool here in NYC for a little while, the mercury was rising for a little bit and it's still not what you'd call soup weather! However, in my haste to get back into soup making, I had bought a couple of leeks over a week ago. The weather was just not cold enough to make soup but the leek was soon to go over into the 'other' world. To salvage it, I decided to make soup anyway, and a virtous one at that!

116. Leek and Potato Soup - *Soup*

Leek and potatoes seem to be a usual combination. Unsurprisingly, this combo was unknown to me but I don't have a problem with either so I figured this soup would be Ilana-friendly. I am still feeling a bit bruised after my gorgonzola debacle.

This soup is of the 'bulked up' variety that really is a meal in itself. That was good news for me since I was on my own and watching the final of the U.S. Open. I needed to keep my eye on every grunt and ace, so it was also great that this soup was not too labor-intensive.

First, I peeled and sliced a leek. I did the same with a garlic clove...

... and added them to a pan with a bit of 2% milk. When the leek and garlic became soft...

... I added salt, water, and a chopped potato. I let this simmer until the potato was very tender, and then I added a bit more milk and water and some rosemary (I didn't have tarragon, but that's OK because I don't like its licorice-ey taste). The soup was then done. I had it with some focaccia I made the other night that I had frozen for just this type of occasion.


I at first wasn't too sure how I would feel about a milky soup, but it was actually really nice and creamy and full of flavor. However, even though I successfully halved the recipe, I discovered that the soup was a bit too salty for my taste. I was thinking of how to improve the soup next time around with just about half the amount of salt, and then I realized I had actually forgotten to halve the amount of salt in the first place! Durr! So Tom's measurement of one teaspoon for 4-6 servings is spot on! I am sorry I doubted you, Master Tom!

I could really imagine eating this soup on cold winter nights. It is quick, easy, and most importantly, scrummy!

Rafa is due back from work in a little bit, and I have his portion on the hob. Since a lot of liquid is lost, I added more milk and water to his serving. Hopefully the salt component has gone down a bit! :)

Update: Rafa loved this soup! He was quite enthusiastic about it and actually asked if there was more! Capital! Well I guess I'll be making this soon. Next time I will watch the salt anyway and add more milk and water to give more soup. YUM!

I've run out of clever post titles! (But can think of some naughty ones!)

Sunday was a complete washout. It seemed to rain from morning to night; and the summer seems to be waning here as it was the first time in months that I had to put on a sweatshirt to go out. I looked on the bright side and knew that now was the time I could make the recipes I was saving for cooler weather. I did some baking and cooking out of Apples for Jam, but also wanted to make a warming soup for lunchtime.

114. Potato, cabbage and chorizo soup - *Soup*

This particular soup caught my eye because it just looked like it would be really good. My mouth would salivate at the thought of frying up onions and chorizo. As mentioned in previous times, I am not really a hot dog/sausage person at all. Chorizo is just about the only thing that doesn't make me gag - and thank goodness for that, because we have located some fabulous chorizo here in New York; chorizo that even my Spanish hubby happens to love.

The soup is very simple and works on building layers of flavor. First, you fry thin chorizo slices in a dry pan so that they release their fat and oil. Once they are crispy, you set them aside.

You use the oil from the chorizo to gently sweat some onions and garlic. This is about the time that the apartment started to smell HEAVENLY! Sorry for the CAPS, but oh my, did it smell good!

Then you add some chopped peeled potatoes (floury ones, not waxy ones!) and a mugful of water. This is brought to a boil and then left to simmer for about 20 minutes.

Then, finally, you add some chopped savoy cabbage leaves...

and the fried chorizo. You add more water and boil the soup until the greens are tender. We were a bit hungry at this point, so I have to admit to rushing things a bit. I served up the soup when the greens were just tender. Al dente would be a nicer way to describe them, LOL.

The soup was delicious but I guess not as good as it could have been. I blame the fact that I added too much water, as I don't really like thick soups, and the fact that I didn't leave the greens long enough to be really tender. However, the broth and potatoes and chorizo were really good.

I imagine this soup is the type that you slowly cook for a bit longer, and it really makes the flavor develop.

A lazy Sunday like yesterday was the perfect environment for that type of cooking, but we just happened to be really hungry! LOL.

Stonking!

I've had an ace weekend so far -- previous to now I've been doing a half-arsed attempt at this project, falling behind and not focusing. I wanted to catch up a bit and found yesterday to be a blinding success! In fact I've been talking a load of codswallop about my inabilities to do well with this project - truth is I've been just too lazy. So instead of being a nark about it, I thought I'd do something about it...

Blimey, that was hard!

68. Spring Bean Soup - the Peckham Way - *Soup*
69. Spring Bean Soup - the Peckway Way (Leaves Variation) - *Soup*
70. Bruschetta - *Toast*
71. DIY: Cooking with Dried Pulses - *Soup*

So I wonder if people in Peckham talk the way I just wrote... highly doubt it!

I'll start off with showing all you lovely folks the impromptu lovely brekkie I had yesterday. It is a variation of Nigella's Raspberry and Oatmeal Swirls. For the 'oatmeal' I crushed a few oatmeal cookies I baked a few days ago, and I used lingonberry jam instead of a raspberry pureé. The combo was magnifico!

Alright, the soup(s) were very easy to make - what else to expect from our man Tom. I paired it with bruschetta; and I made the dried pulses for a reintroduction of the Lentil and Vinaigrette Salad to my parents' meal.

For the Dried Pulses, I put about 200g of lentils in a pot full of water and let it boil for about 35 minutes until just tender -- and that's all there is to the DIY.

For the soup, I chopped up some potatoes, carrots, onions and garlic. (Check out my fabarooni Typhoon Diner Blue cookbook stand from TJ Suxx-no-More! Fabulous!)


I let all those vegetables sweat in some olive oil and salt for a few minutes, and again, these were the beginnings of the 'stock' Tom so enthusiastically includes in his Soup chapter recipes. Once the veggies were soft, I added frozen lima beans (the original recipe is for broad beans/fava beans)....

And then I added some peeled tomatoes I had crushed in a colander to a rough pulp.

Some water was added, and the soup was allowed to simmer for about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, I drained the cooked pulses...

And then dressed them for the salad I was to take to my parents' evening meal.

I also made the bruschetta to go with the soup. This was very easy and fast. I grilled some stale ciabatta bread on my Le Creuset ridged grill pan. Then I rubbed a bruised garlic clove on each slice, and drizzled quite liberally with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled on some sea salt. Beautiful!

The final preparation for the soup was just to season it and serve it up. The 'variation' consists of wilting either basil or baby spinach (or arugula) leaves into the cooked soup. Rafa had the variation while I had the original version.

The soup was perfect, and it's true that everything is made great with some bread, so the bruschetta was highly appreciated as well. Rafa commented on how lovely the bread was and said it reminded him of something he used to eat as a kid with his grandad. Aww, very sweet! Anyway Tom has a ton of fantastic soup recipes in CL; no wonder that this one is just as great! Or should I say STONKING!

Hours later, at my mom's place, she served up THE most delicious cheesecake! I have boasted about my cheesecake talents before - no more, I have been dethroned! It is made with Israeli white cheese - not exactly cream cheese but must investigate that. My mom knows only things in % fat when it comes to Israeli products for some reason. Here is the cake; you'd be raving bonkers to pass this up!

As much as I loved the CL recipes I tried yesterday and was proud of myself, this cheesecake really takes the biscuit!

Cheers!

Whole Lotta Tears...

We had some time this afternoon for a quick lunch so I thought I'd return to CL's Soup chapter for a warming and simple soup.

56. Busker's Onion Soup - *Soup*

The title above doesn't necessarily imply the reaction to the taste of the soup, but rather the process of making it. There were a load of onions, and a load of tears.

Tom's variation of french onion soup is broadly speaking a veggie version of onion soup. He notes that most french onion soups actually are made in a 'slowly simmered beef broth' and writes that even some veggie dishes, like the soup, in French restaurants seem to still have a hint of meat products in them. I could definitely relate. I am not a vegetarian, but am not particularly excited with various meat products. So when I went to Paris in my early 20's, I was hugely disappointed by the food. I'm probably the only person to say this in the world, but the food in Paris sucked! LOL. Now I imagine all of you throwing your baguettes at me! All I wanted was some friggin' quiche! And what did I get?! Some friggin' quiche with friggin' ham in it! I mean, could the French possibly make anything without ham??? Ok, that was the past.

I actually don't mind beef or beef stock at all, but Tom points out that a gorgeous copper-colored stock could be made from the skins of onions and garlic. I was intrigued! So I chucked by Knorr beef stock cubes to the side and went for the onion skin stock variation! (At this point I should note that I totally don't get the title Tom chose for his recipe - I checked Brit slang dictionaries and buskers are people that perform music on the street for money -- erm, what does that have to do with soup?! Ok never mind.)

So, as I wrote, the soup was really composed of two parts. The onions and garlic that are sweated down, and the onion skin stock.

For the recipe, since I halved it, I had to chop up four onions, but that was a heck of a lot of onions. I was crying halfway through... and Rafa was doing the dishes next to me.

Me: Mother f-er, mother f-er!!!

Rafa: You crying like a baby??

Me: Fucking hurts; they hurt, they hurt!!! Ahhhhhh!

Ok, so I got over it and continued on. I also chopped up some garlic and added it to a pan with melted butter and oil, along with the onions. Some salt was sprinkled on top of the onions and garlic, and the lid was put on so that they could sweat for about a half an hour.

In a separate pot I added the onion and garlic skins to about a liter of water with a bay leaf.

I let this simmer away while the onions and garlic were cooking. I had to admit I looked at the 'busked' stock a bit suspiciously as I could not in my wildest dreams imagine the clear liquid becoming the color of a penny - hmmmn, we'll just see about that Tom.

After the onions and garlic were softened substantially, I turned up the heat and added some white wine to bubble away for a few minutes. Then, I strained the stock, and got this glorious creation! Sorry I doubted you, Tom.

I added the stock to the onions and garlic and let this bubble away for another half hour or so. Towards the end of cooking, I made some parmesan toasts, which were basically grated poorman'sgrana on some baguette slices and put under the broiler in my oven.

So the verdict: We didn't love it. I really tried to pinpoint exactly what it needed, but it just tasted like it needed something more. I think the more would probably be some salt - it tasted very oniony, yes, but still bland. Perhaps the more authentic version of using beef stock would have worked better. Who knows? Even though Rafa didn't like it too much, he still managed to finish his bowl and mine - and he's eating the leftovers tomorrow. He actually said, 'this would really be good with beef pieces in here'. LOL. He is the ultimate carnivore!

Well it's not the end of the world. Loads more soup recipes to try, and even one that is 'boozy'. Should be interesting. ;)

Mood Food

After a few days of not posting or cooking out of Cupboard Love, I knew I needed to get back on track. I ditched the gym today (Tuesday seems to be more like a gym day to me...) so I knew that dinner shouldn't have been too naughty. In the last few days I've eaten Mexican, Chinese, a huge bowl of pasta, and a greasy meal equipped with super duper french fries at the diner. So I needed some good mood food! Tom points to a dish in his Soup chapter which seemed to be perfect for tonight's healthy eating.

51. A simple bean soup, the Italian way - *Soup*
52. Crostini - *Toast*

But, I can't go all virtuous without a bit of naughtiness, which is why I also wanted to make crostini. Tom notes that crostini is a perfect side to a big bowl of soup.

The soup was indeed incredibly simple, as its title notes. All it involved was some sweating of onions, carrots, and garlic in a little bit of olive oil. (I omitted celery - blech!)

Once they had released their juices, I added some tomato paste, a little bit of white wine vinegar, the beans of choice (cannellini) with their 'liquor', and some fresh thyme and rosemary leaves. I topped up the mixture with water -- Tom says that this is more of a stew than soup, but I felt like having a nice and light soup so added more water. It was brought to a boil and let to simmer for about a half an hour.

While the soup was simmering away, I cut up a stale baguette into thin slices and drizzled with our green and lovely EVOO. I sprinkled the slices with salt, and put it in a low oven while the soup was cooking.

the Jackson-Pollocked slices of bread - ready for the oven

I then seasoned the soup to taste, and it was time to serve it up! Tom suggested a few additions to the soup as variations. I've decided to not include them as recipes since they were serving suggestions. Instead of choosing to drizzle the soup with rosemary oil or pesto, I just grated some poorman's grana and sprinkled some on my soup.

The soup was fantastic!! Somehow the soup was even a bit on the creamy side - I guess it was the beans and their 'liquor' that did it! The flavors were mellow and deep at the same time. The crostini was just perfect with the soup -- gorgeous and crunchy with the resonance of the olive oil it baked in. Mmmmmmm.

A bowl-full of goodness! That's what I call 'mood food'!

Start with the basics...

Friday night I came home famished. I knew I needed some nourishment and warmth, and fast! I turned to CL's Soup chapter.

23. A basic potato soup - *Soup*
24. Potato and Dried Mushroom Soup - *Soup*

This was another case of having to make the basic before I could make the 'jazzed up' version of potato soup.
The stock got going when I added some onions and garlic to an oiled pan, and these sweated down for a few minutes while covered. Meanwhile, I soaked some dried shitake mushrooms for the 'jazzed up' version and then sliced them up reserving their mushroom 'liquor'.

Shitake mushrooms

Once the onions and garlic sweated down quite a lot, I added some peeled and chopped potatoes. To this I added the mushroom liquid; if I had continued on the basic route, I would have just added some water. At this point, the heat was increased to a simmer and then lowered again so that the pot could be covered and left to simmer for a few minutes. Tom suggested the consistency of the potatoes to be falling apart after simmering, and for it to be 'almost the colour of white chocolate'.

smooth potato soup - the basic version

The final part of this recipe was just to add enough water to desired soup consistency and then to add the mushrooms for the 'dried mushroom' variation of the potato soup. Tom suggested a garnish of thyme or rosemary, but as I had neither on hand I decided to fall back on my trusty oregano!

Ready to eat with a matzo roll

I liked the flavor of the potato soup but not so much of the additional mushrooms. They seemed to be quite chewy to me, and perhaps I should have left them to simmer with the soup for a bit longer... plus at this point, I was getting quite tired of all the potato variations I was eating this half of the week, so wasn't really in the mood for soup at this point. So it wasn't a hit for me, but I think it could definitely work with other mushrooms, or at a time when potatoes are not the only things that seem to show up on every menu one's eating!

I think for the rest of Passover I'll stop my whinging and make things that bear no relation to the potato at all!!! Hopefully the Potato Strike of 2006 starts tonight!

Soup?! Again?!

Yes, soup again!!! I was quite hungry at lunchtime and couldn't think of what to make. I knew that soup would be the easiest and most nutritious thing to eat, so I went back to CL's Soup chapter!

14. Cor-Blimey-Guv'nor Soup - *Soup*

Tom N-D describes this soup as the Peckham-frozen pea version of the 'London Particular' in Lindsay Bareham's In Celebration of Soup. Now I don't know who Lindsay Bareham is, and I've never seen that book, obviously, but I guess that is not important to make this soup! Ha!

It is basically a pea soup with stale bread added in at the end.

The ingredients: frozen peas, stale bread, and Worcestershire sauce

First, Tom's 'stock' needed to get going. This was done by sweating an onion for a few minutes in some butter and oil. Once the onions were soft, I added the peas, Worcestershire sauce, and just boiled water. The pan then simmered for about 20 minutes and then I added the stale bread. Done! Tom suggested to either mash the soup with a masher or to purée it in a food processor. I chose the former as sometimes when eating really creamy soups I almost feel like my 1-year old nephew eating spinach lasagne from a Gerber jar. I wanted a tad more texture than that!!

To top off the soup, Tom also suggested to add a dollop of sour cream. (Actually, a topping of crispy bacon was also recommended, but I don't like bacon, and it was optional!)

The soup was pretty good; but I think for now I still prefer the previous Turkish lentil soup, more for its flavor than anything else.

* Oh, and can somebody explain the title for the soup, please! Is it Peckham phrasology?

Soup of the Rainy Day

Today was one of those days that you wanted to stay in all day... rainy, windy, gloomy. But the perfect time for soup!!!

Rafa and I were feeling cold so I wanted to make something to warm up the bones and spirit.

11. An easy lentil soup, the Turkish way - *Soup*

Tom based this recipe on the 'soup of the day' that he eats all the time at a local Turkish café. It is funny to him as he had ordered the 'soup of the day' plenty of times; it has always been the same soup, this soup.

The main ingredients are red lentils and pearl barley. I didn't have any pearl barley, so just used the regular kind. I figured it wouldn't make much of a difference as I'd only use a couple of tablespoons in the entire soup.

So, I boiled the split red lentils and barley in about half a liter of water.

Split red lentils with barley.

In the pan next to the boiling lentils and barley, I sweated a chopped onion and a couple of finely chopped garlic cloves. I found out early that Tom's philosophy for soups - maybe his soupology - is that one doesn't necessarily need stock to make a good soup. The 'flavor' comes from sweating vegetables first, before adding the water.

To the sweated down garlic and onions, I added some tomato purée and dried mint, and then I added the lentils and barley with their cooking water. To make it more soupy, I added a bit more water and let it simmer while I got on with some garlic bread. The total time for the soup was probably about 30 minutes -- perfect and instant comfort. At the last minute I seasoned it to my liking, and that's it, it was done!

This soup was really delicious! I think what made it quite good was the softened lentils, the mint and tomato puree, and the soft and flavorful onions. I love soup, but I have to admit it takes a very special soup to impress me! I had really wanted to get some lovely Turkish bread from a neighborhood Turkish restaurant... In recent years there have been a lot of Turkish restaurants opening up in the area, all trying to beat out the New York famous Sahara, which my dad claims he discovered since we have been going there for the last 18 years... Anyway, they have THE BEST bread in the world. Soft and warm with nigella seeds on top, mmmmm. It's about a 5-minute walk from my apartment, but in the rain, I wasn't going nowhere!!! So I made the garlic bread, to go with, and it was really lovely.. No soup is complete without a crusty piece of bread.