Cauliflower Leek Soup...The "Not Potato" Leek Soup

I love soup...really, I just love it. I was at the grocery store recently and they had some really beautiful leeks. So, immediately I thought of Potato Leek soup. Yum. The problem? Byron and I gave up potatoes, except for special occasions.

I got the brilliant idea (which I thought was so innovative) to substitute cauliflower for the potato. I was going to be a trail blazer in a new food combination of delicious low carbness. Not. When I googled cauliflower leek soup, there were pages of recipes. Oh well, I made it anyway.




Cauliflower Leek Soup, the "not potato" leek soup...awaits behind the cut.

Speaking of behind the cut...I owe a long overdue thanks to my friend, Sarah from Seattle. Without her help, I never would have been able to get cuts on this blog. Besides that, she is the inspiration for ideas for upcoming meals. Thank you, Sarah! You are truly made of awesome!

Here are the ingredients:




The recipe I used can be found here. It calls for the addition of heavy cream at the end. I opted out of that ingredient. Instead, I put a dollop of Boursin cheese and some chopped scallions as a garnish. By using the boursin as a garnish rather than cream as an ingredient in the soup, it allows you to control the amount you want...or gives guests the option of not having it at all. This recipe is so very easy and so very tasty.

This photograph illustrates why it is very important to wash leeks well:


Leeks are grown in very sandy soil, so as the leek emerges from the earth, the grit they are grown in gets trapped in the layers of the leek. It's gross, but easily cured. You simply cut the leeks and put them in a deep bowl of water. Swish them around and pop them apart and the dirt and grit falls to the bottom of the bowl:



Heat the olive oil and butter in a large pot over medium heat. Saute the leeks, cauliflower and garlic for about 10 minutes. This time, I used my garlic press. You can see, it is beat up. Just like the reviewer in that link to the Susi Garlic Press, mine is 20 years old and never fails to work beautifully. If you hate chopping garlic, get one.


The colors of these ingredients as they saute are just stunning. As I was at this point in the cooking, I found myself pulling a Rachael Ray, exclaiming to myself how wonderful it smelled...and how I wished you could get *smell-o-computer*:


After the ingredients in the pan soften a bit, you add the vegetable stock:


Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 45 minutes. When the time is up, it looks like this:


With an immersion blender (or in batches in a regular blender), puree the soup:


Add salt and black pepper to taste:


Stir it in and you have a soup that is this consistency:


It has a wonderful creaminess that is not quite the same as potato, but wonderful nonetheless.

Heat up some crusty bread, set the table and you are ready!



Soup's on! Join me as I dine!

Paula

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Sauce Love...An All Day Adventure.

Most of my days off are spent on all day cooking projects. I just love puttering in the kitchen and the smells of my favorite foods permeating the house. This post will be the first in which I share one of my own recipes. It was a revelation preparing it because I normally just dump things in; I had to take notes and measure! I offer Pasta Sauce...simmered all day.

The best things about this recipe are:

1. It makes a ton. So, you can freeze the remainder in serving sized containers for future meals.
2. It is totally adaptable to your tastes or dietary needs or wants.
3. It's yummy! Yes, that's a technical term.

Here is a photo of the ingredients, as I made it:

1. 2-26 ounce boxes of Pomi Strained Tomatoes. (You can use tomato sauce, but I found this at Kroger and I'm here to tell you, it's fabulous!)
2. 2-28 ounce cans of Hunt's Crushed Tomatoes
3. 2 Bay Leaves
4. 2 ounces Pesto (I used this because my regular grocery didn't have fresh basil. This is a nice substitute for dry basil. When converting fresh herbs to dry, use 1 tsp of dry for 1 Tbs of fresh.)
5. 2 Tbs chopped fresh oregano
6. Black Pepper and Salt (I added about 2tsp of salt since the tomatoes are not salted.)
7. 1/2 bottle of red wine (Remember, in cooking you want to use wine you would drink...I used a nice Bordeaux.)
8. 2 red peppers*
9. 2 yellow peppers*
10. 2 red onions*
11. 5 large cloves of garlic
    
12. 1 Tbs olive oil
13. 4 Links of Italian Sausage
14. 2 Lbs Ground Round
    

Options for this sauce are:

1. Making it meatless. I do this often. Just leave out the meat.
2. Add mushrooms (I usually do, but I didn't have any) or any other lightly sauteed vegetables, i.e. squash or zucchini or eggplant.
   
3. Making it Vegan friendly, obviously make it meatless (or add a meat substitute). Also, you would not use the Pesto as a basil substitute because it contains Pecorino Romano cheese.
4. Making it Kosher friendly, obviously no pork sausage. If you use ground beef, leave out the pesto and the parmesan I add later.
   

[ *I used the red and yellow peppers and red onions because they provide a lovely sweetness to the sauce that I find lacking in green peppers and white onions. ]

The first step is to put the first six ingredients into a large stock pot:


Next, add the wine:



Dice the peppers and onions. For this recipe, I prefer a chunky dice, but try to make the pieces kind of uniform in size:



And then the garlic, I have a garlic press, the Susi by Zyliss, but I just chopped it. The garlic skins can easily be removed by taking the flat side of a butcher knife and giving the garlic a good whack! Also, you want to cut off the stem end of the garlic. Then, just chop away:



Add the olive oil to a hot skillet and add the peppers, onions and garlic. You want to saute them all slowly on low heat so they become translucent, but not browned:



Once they look like the picture above, just add them to the stock pot:


In the same skillet you sauteed the vegetables (no need to wash it), remove the casing (just cut a slit in the casing and peel it off) break up and brown the Italian Sausage:



I always drain the meat in a colander and rinse the fat off with hot running water. Then, add the browned sausage to the stock pot:


Next, again in the same skillet (no need to wash) brown the ground beef:



Again, drain in a colander and rinse with hot running water to remove excess fat and add to the stock pot:



And it looks like this:



Now, sit back and relax (remember, you have a half bottle of wine to drink *wink*). Enjoy the aroma as the sauce simmers slowly, uncovered, over low heat..all day. Stir it occasionally to prevent sticking. The sauce will reduce in volume and thicken naturally as the day goes on. Did I mention, it smells wonderful?

This sauce can be used on any variation of pasta. I used Ronzoni Healthy Harvest Spaghetti.

I also topped the spaghetti with a completely wonderful parmigiano reggiano. It is a bit expensive, but there is nothing to compare to the taste of this lovely aged cheese. I used my micro plane to finely grate it.



Set the table, add a fresh salad (I dressed it with a balsamic vinaigrette), and you are ready to dig in:



After a long day relaxing, join me as I dine!

Paula

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Chicken Piccata with Lemon, Capers and Artichoke Hearts...An Early Taste of Spring

It's still winter, but spring must be near! My taste buds are telling me it is so! I got a hankering for something a bit more spring like, so I made Chicken Piccata with Lemon, Capers and Artichoke Hearts.


The recipe served this over rice and lima beans, but I paired the chicken with some lightly sauteed zucchini and grape tomatoes. It's easy, elegant and it was delicious.

The ingredients are here:


The recipe calls for 4 chicken breasts but these were Dolly Parton sized, so I just used two. The first step is to flatten them. I have an old, old, old meat mallet that is horrible, so I just used my (yes pink...it was a gift from a friend) silicone rolling pin. If you don't have a meat mallet or a rolling pin, just smash the chicken with a heavy pan. Just about anything heavy will work. Putting the chicken in a zip lock bag makes for easy clean up and the bag comes in handy later.

Once the chicken is 1/4 inch thick, it looked like this:


The recipe called for the chicken to be salted and peppered and then coated in the seasoned flour, but I just dumped the salt and pepper right in there with the flour.


There is also lemon zest in this recipe; the zest of lemon holds the essential oils and is very fragrant and wonderful. Zest is just the finely grated rind. I use a micro plane to zest, but I have zesting tools too. You can use a very fine cheese grater or a sharp paring knife. When you zest you only want to get the top colored layer, not into the white pith, which is bitter. You can buy dried zest, but it's not the same as fresh.


All of the spices and the flour and lemon zest are added into the plastic bag with the chicken and tossed together to coat the chicken well. Heat the oil in a skillet and add the floured chicken (just shake it off a bit first). Saute it for a few minutes on each side until it is golden brown and cooked through.


Once the chicken is browned on each side, add the lemon juice, wine and stock.

That will simmer until the sauce thickens from the flour that has coated the chicken. While that is happening, slice up some zucchini and toss it in a skillet with 2 tsp olive oil, a pinch of garlic powder and salt/pepper. I also added a hint of the lemon zest. Normally fresh garlic is preferred but I was doing a super quick saute and it wasn't really enough time to sweeten the fresh garlic.


Now, both skillets are ready for the final ingredients. The chicken gets quartered artichoke hearts (I buy them quarted, so I don't have to cut them) and the capers. The zucchini gets some grape tomatoes that I halved.



Then, just plate it and serve.


Spring is coming! Join me as I dine!

Paula

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Oh, For the Love of Aubergine...Eggplant Noshing?

A while ago, we started a tradition called "appetizer night" on Fridays. That's the night that the shop is open late, so by the time Byron would get home it was too late to start dinner or eat a real meal. I got lazy after a while and it evolved into "crappetizer night." Anything frozen and yucky worked. Last June, we both vowed to make changes, so "crappetizer night" was gone. We haven't missed it. Now, we nosh most Friday nights; you can nosh with very healthy, easy foods.



This winter, Seitan Said Dance sent me "the Ultimate Vegan Cookbook", Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. The day it came, I was headed out for an overnighter with the girls to play cards and told Seitan I would cook something from the book very soon. Well, as I scanned the pages, I found something that made me want it right then...Roasted Eggplant dip. I made it that night!

What is noshing? When is noshing dining?

Noshing is dining when you make the super awesome Eggplant/Aubergine dip from Veganomicon!

Veganomicon doesn't really have a recipe, per se, but a method for roasting the Eggplant/Aubergine, and some suggested ingredients for the dip. Here are the ingredients:



Eggplant/Aubergine, olive oil, lemon, salt and ground cumin. I added garlic and cracked black pepper to mine. On the garlic note, the first few times I made this dip, I just chopped up the garlic. I think the next time, I'll coat it in olive oil, wrap in foil and roast it in the oven along with the eggplant for a sweeter flavor.

The prescribed roasting method calls for pricking little holes all over the eggplant with a fork, placing it in a "cradle" of aluminum foil on a baking sheet, and baking it at 400 degrees for 25 to 35 minutes. I did that at the cabin and at home, I guess neither oven is correct on temperature, because it took way longer to get to perfect. So, this time, I cut the eggplant in half length wise and brushed it with some olive oil:



After 35 minutes in a 400 degree oven, mine looked like this:



The next step is the food processor. You could also just use a mixer/blender or an old fashioned potato masher.



First, you must scoop the sweet, wonderful meat out of the eggplant skin:



Put the eggplant, along with, to taste, the salt (1 Tbs kosher); lemon juice(three eggplant took juice of 1/2 of a very juicy lemon); the black pepper (2 tsp); the garlic (3 cloves); and the cumin (2 tsp) into the food processor.

[Note: Those are my measurements to my taste, but experiment with what you like. Also, remember I was using three eggplants; you would adjust the seasonings for fewer.]

Then as it processes, drizzle in some olive oil until the dip is just smooth:



If you are hand mashing, just drizzle in some olive oil, mash, drizzle, mash. It should end up looking like this:



Next, I just cut some whole wheat pita into triangles. I left mine double (you know, not split at the pocket, so they would hold up to the dip), brushed the triangles with olive oil and sprinkled on some kosher salt. I toasted them in the oven at 350 degrees until they were crisp:



Then, it was just setting it out. I made up a tray of the eggplant dip (I garnished it with a radish rose and a sprig of rosemary), the crispy pita triangles, some cucumber, radishes, red and yellow pepper slices:




Super fast...the longest part was the roasting time; super easy; super healthy; super light dining can be yours!

Join me as I nosh!

Paula

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Comforting Combo for Hearth Side Dining

It's winter and, when it's cold outside, nothing warms you like a squishy chair close to the fire and the comforting combo of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich.

I spend my one day off a week cooking and cleaning, but I often have The Food Network on for background noise. Several weeks ago, Giada De Laurentiis did this recipe for Hearty Tomato Soup with Lemon and Rosemary.

The soup recipe was SO good, I started emailing it to friends immediately. It is only fitting that this recipe is the first featured dining experience; paired with grilled cheese sandwiches made from the artisan bread by Panera Bread, Miche Whole Grain, you have a hearth side dining experience made in heaven.

The soup is super simple. Here are the ingredients:
I substituted chicken stock for broth. I just think that adds to the rich wonderfulness of this hearty soup. [Note: This recipe can easily be Veganized or made a kosher combination meal by using vegetable stock and/or cheese substitutes.]

Also, my regular grocery store doesn't stock cannellini beans, so I used Bush's Great Northern Beans instead. The most important thing to remember is to read the labels. Most beans and canned tomato products have a lot of additives, especially high fructose corn syrup...hence my love of Hunt's and Bush's, they don't.

The onion, carrots and garlic saute for just a few minutes, until soft:
After that, you just dump in the other ingredients (note: mine is a double recipe, so it won't be nearly as big of a pot if you use the recipe quantities.):

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes. Then, remove the bay leaf and rosemary sprig and process in batches in a blender or with an immersion blender:
The texture of this soup is just incredible. The beans, while initially sounding like a funky thing to have in tomato soup, provide a creamy thickness as well as a shot of protein. Giada garnished her soup with creme fraiche and lemon zest. You could just as easily use sour cream or nothing.

In addition to that lovely grainy bread, I used a combination of cheddar and skim mozzarella for the grilled cheese.

Now, light the fire or pull up your most mushy chair, set a tray and you are ready!

It doesn't have to be complicated...it doesn't even have to be elegant...it doesn't take much effort...join me as I dine...



Paula

I noticed my copper pot was in need of polishing...don't expect that to change any time soon! =)

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