I'm home alone for the next week. So, here's dinner for the next two days. It's simple and fairly quick. A fine soup with a simple flavour. It's good on the first day, served hot and fresh. It'll be just as good on the second day, but the texture will be different---the spinach will have wilted completely and a lot of rice starch will have dissolved into the broth.
- 1/3 cup brown rice
- 2 tablespoons butter
Heat a pot and melt the butter. Toast the rice in the pot.
- 2 ice cubes of homemade stock (salt-less)
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, diced
When the rice is toasted, add the stock cubes, stir to cool the rice, then add the onion and garlic.
- 1 potato, cubed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
When the onion is translucent, add the potato and oil to the pan. Cook for a few minutes.
- 4 cups water
- 6 ice cubes homemade stock (salt-less)
- 2 cups or 1 can (15.5 oz) cooked chickpeas
- salt to taste (1 1/2 teaspoons)
- ground black pepper to taste (1 - 2 tsp)
Simmer gently until the rice is tender.
- 1 cup cream or milk
- 1/2 bunch of spinach
Add cream to soup. Once hot, add spinach. Serve when the spinach has wilted.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Broccoli Gorgonzola Soup
We had the Waitrose version of this soup while staying with at my aunt's house in the south of England this last winter. The Waitrose version had a surprisingly short list of ingredients - we are usually not the types to eat "pre-made" meals, what with all their nitrites and ridiculous ingredients lists. Anyway, inspired, we decided to make our own.
1 onion, chopped
3 heads of broccoli, floretted.
1 block (about 6 0z) of Gorgonzola (or Stilton or Bleu etc), crumbled
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt, pepper, olive oil to taste
olive oil
4 cups of water/stock - I used my homemade stock
Heat olive oil in a pot on low heat. Add onions. Once they have softened, add broccoli and garlic. Cook for about a minute. Add the water/stock and bring to a boil. Leave to simmer until broccoli is cooked. Remove from heat and add Gorgonzola, stir until it is fully melted/incorporated. Blend in batches. Once all of it is smooth, return the soup to pot and reheat.
SERVE AND EAT. (You can sprinkle a little extra Gorgonzola on the top if you wish and serve with nice, fresh, crusty bread)
1 onion, chopped
3 heads of broccoli, floretted.
1 block (about 6 0z) of Gorgonzola (or Stilton or Bleu etc), crumbled
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt, pepper, olive oil to taste
olive oil
4 cups of water/stock - I used my homemade stock
Heat olive oil in a pot on low heat. Add onions. Once they have softened, add broccoli and garlic. Cook for about a minute. Add the water/stock and bring to a boil. Leave to simmer until broccoli is cooked. Remove from heat and add Gorgonzola, stir until it is fully melted/incorporated. Blend in batches. Once all of it is smooth, return the soup to pot and reheat.
SERVE AND EAT. (You can sprinkle a little extra Gorgonzola on the top if you wish and serve with nice, fresh, crusty bread)
Yam Soup
2 yams
3 cloves garlic
pepper to taste
soy sauce to taste
1/2 to 1 cup soy milk as needed
salt to taste
curry powder to taste
juice from half a lemon
1 small onion
First I baked the yams in the oven until they were nice and soft. While this was happening, I tossed some tempeh in a pan with garlic, pepper and soy sauce. I originally did this with Quorn, but I'm not the biggest fan of Quorn, with it's long ingredients list. It does add some protein and texture when needed and is better than some other, similar products, but I'm more comfortable with using tempeh as it is less processed.
When the yams were ready, I took them out, peeled them (Jeeves had a lovely breakfast the next day of cooked yam peelings and his usual kibble) and put them in a bowl with half a cup of soy milk and mixed it into a slurry. Use more soy milk if necessary.
At this point, I'm sure a lot of people would have shoved it through a siv, but I feel like that sort of thing is a little wasteful, both time wise and resources wise. I might do it if we had dinner guests over (and maybe save the leftover stuff for stock or as the base for another soup?).
I tossed chopped onions and sliced garlic into a sauce pan with some olive oil. I stirred it around a bit so as to get the scrummy browning bits of the bottom of the pan and did this until the onion was translucent. At this point, I added the yam slurry, the coconut milk, ground black pepper, salt and curry powder (about 2 teaspoons). I also added the Quorn (making sure to spatulate the frying pan so as to get the garlic and olive oil into the pot as well) and some frozen peas.
I squeezed half a lemon in, to balance out the sweetness of the coconut milk and yams and a little more salt, to taste.
3 cloves garlic
pepper to taste
soy sauce to taste
1/2 to 1 cup soy milk as needed
salt to taste
curry powder to taste
juice from half a lemon
1 small onion
First I baked the yams in the oven until they were nice and soft. While this was happening, I tossed some tempeh in a pan with garlic, pepper and soy sauce. I originally did this with Quorn, but I'm not the biggest fan of Quorn, with it's long ingredients list. It does add some protein and texture when needed and is better than some other, similar products, but I'm more comfortable with using tempeh as it is less processed.
When the yams were ready, I took them out, peeled them (Jeeves had a lovely breakfast the next day of cooked yam peelings and his usual kibble) and put them in a bowl with half a cup of soy milk and mixed it into a slurry. Use more soy milk if necessary.
At this point, I'm sure a lot of people would have shoved it through a siv, but I feel like that sort of thing is a little wasteful, both time wise and resources wise. I might do it if we had dinner guests over (and maybe save the leftover stuff for stock or as the base for another soup?).
I tossed chopped onions and sliced garlic into a sauce pan with some olive oil. I stirred it around a bit so as to get the scrummy browning bits of the bottom of the pan and did this until the onion was translucent. At this point, I added the yam slurry, the coconut milk, ground black pepper, salt and curry powder (about 2 teaspoons). I also added the Quorn (making sure to spatulate the frying pan so as to get the garlic and olive oil into the pot as well) and some frozen peas.
I squeezed half a lemon in, to balance out the sweetness of the coconut milk and yams and a little more salt, to taste.
Potato-Fennel Soup
This potato-fennel soup recipe straight from the New Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen (strangely not available on the Moosewood Restaurant website) coincidentally given to us by Ryan's aunt Marcia for Christmas. We didn't know we were moving to Ithaca then. Here is what we made, it's different from the book mainly because we didn't have the right amounts of anything. But that's one of the best things about the Moosewood Cookbook - that sort of stuff does not matter.
some oil/butter
2 cups thinly sliced onions
some salt
3 strangely shaped, quite large potatoes
1/2 a fennel bulb, minced (in retrospect, we wished we had used the whole bulb)
toasted caraway seeds
4 cups of water
white pepper
Add oil to soup pot, then onions and a little salt. Cook over a low heat, so they are soft and brown. Add potatoes, some salt, fennel, caraway. Sautee for a few minutes and then add
water.
Bring to a boil and then simmer until potatoes are soft. Blend resulting soup so it is nice and creamy (that wasn't in the recipe book). Serve with minced fennel feathers on top (that was).
some oil/butter
2 cups thinly sliced onions
some salt
3 strangely shaped, quite large potatoes
1/2 a fennel bulb, minced (in retrospect, we wished we had used the whole bulb)
toasted caraway seeds
4 cups of water
white pepper
Add oil to soup pot, then onions and a little salt. Cook over a low heat, so they are soft and brown. Add potatoes, some salt, fennel, caraway. Sautee for a few minutes and then add
water.
Bring to a boil and then simmer until potatoes are soft. Blend resulting soup so it is nice and creamy (that wasn't in the recipe book). Serve with minced fennel feathers on top (that was).
Chick Peas and Spinach Soup
30 ml/2 tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves
1 onion
7 oz. spinach
12 oz potatoes
15 oz. can chick peas
10 ml/2 tsp ground cumin
10ml/2tsp ground coriander
1 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp tahini
5 cups vegetable stock (We used Better Than Bouillion)
cayenne pepper to taste
salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
Chopping the onions and garlic. Add to a pot with olive oil (honestly, is there any better smell than onions, garlic and olive oil cooking?). Get them nicely browned - the onions should be translucent on medium heat. Next, add the cumin and coriander.
After this, add the 5 cups of stock and the potatoes and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Following this, add the chick peas.
While that cooks, mix the tahini, salt, pepper, cayenne and cornstarch. When the chick peas and potatoes are tender, add this mixture plus the spinach.
Once the spinach is cooked, it should be ready to serve (and eat).
4 garlic cloves
1 onion
7 oz. spinach
12 oz potatoes
15 oz. can chick peas
10 ml/2 tsp ground cumin
10ml/2tsp ground coriander
1 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp tahini
5 cups vegetable stock (We used Better Than Bouillion)
cayenne pepper to taste
salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
Chopping the onions and garlic. Add to a pot with olive oil (honestly, is there any better smell than onions, garlic and olive oil cooking?). Get them nicely browned - the onions should be translucent on medium heat. Next, add the cumin and coriander.
After this, add the 5 cups of stock and the potatoes and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Following this, add the chick peas.
While that cooks, mix the tahini, salt, pepper, cayenne and cornstarch. When the chick peas and potatoes are tender, add this mixture plus the spinach.
Once the spinach is cooked, it should be ready to serve (and eat).
Potato Leek Soup
1 onion
2 russet potatoes
3 red potatoes
2 carrots
4 or 5 leeks
3 tomatoes
4 cloves garlic
Thyme, basil, salt and pepper
2 quarts vegetable stock
1 can coconut milk
olive oil
-Chop half of the onion, both russet potatoes, two leeks, two tomatoes, one carrot and add to pot of vegetable stock. Add 3 cloves of crushed garlic. Boil until everything is cooked. Add thyme, basil, salt and pepper to taste.
-While those vegetables are boiling, chop up the remainder of vegetables and reserve. Put the chopped red potatoes and carrot in a separate pot and boil.
-Take cooked vegetables and stock and blend until smooth and delicious. Return to pot and stir in coconut milk. Leave on low heat to keep warm.
-Heat olive oil with 1 crushed/chopped garlic clove. Add reserved onion, leek, cooked red potatoes and carrot. Add salt and sautee until colors are nice and vibrant. Add to soup along with (uncooked) chopped tomato.
Enjoy!
2 russet potatoes
3 red potatoes
2 carrots
4 or 5 leeks
3 tomatoes
4 cloves garlic
Thyme, basil, salt and pepper
2 quarts vegetable stock
1 can coconut milk
olive oil
-Chop half of the onion, both russet potatoes, two leeks, two tomatoes, one carrot and add to pot of vegetable stock. Add 3 cloves of crushed garlic. Boil until everything is cooked. Add thyme, basil, salt and pepper to taste.
-While those vegetables are boiling, chop up the remainder of vegetables and reserve. Put the chopped red potatoes and carrot in a separate pot and boil.
-Take cooked vegetables and stock and blend until smooth and delicious. Return to pot and stir in coconut milk. Leave on low heat to keep warm.
-Heat olive oil with 1 crushed/chopped garlic clove. Add reserved onion, leek, cooked red potatoes and carrot. Add salt and sautee until colors are nice and vibrant. Add to soup along with (uncooked) chopped tomato.
Enjoy!
We Make Soup
A lot of soup. We often love our soups and decided that it would be a good idea to document them.
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