Soup


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The Garnish Debate: Call Me a Rebel

As a little kid I remember parsley garnishes mystifying me. Why did curly greens occupy so much space on my plate—and it’s not even Passover?

But the parsley garnish, for garnish sake, no longer visits our tables. Instead, garnishes spring from what’s in the dish, if a dish is garnished at all. Use cilantro in a sauce, use cilantro as a garnish. Use kumquat in a cupcake, use a kumquat slice as garnish.

David Rocco of Cooking Channel‘s Dolce Vita reiterated this fact in a recent episode, refusing to add a leafy green to top a pasta dish since the dish did not contain it. Instead he cracked fresh pepper on top, silently communicating his heavy usage of pepper in the dish.

Rocco’s commandment popped in my head as I decorated a sweet potato and lentil soup with black mustard seeds.

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in Rants & Raves / Trends / Veggie 3 comments
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Leftovers Week: Laundry Room Turkey Coconut Curry Soup

laundry room turkey coconut curry soup

Luckily for my family there was a culinary student chef in the room when it came time to carve the Christmas turkey. And there I was, carving a turkey with tongs in my great aunt’s laundry room amid detergent and dryer sheets. The turkey, which had been cooking for what looked like days, sat in a roaster placed on top of the washing machine. The turkey cooked for so long in fact, that the meat just fell off of the carcass. Yes, this happened. Bless my great aunt who does all of this on her own and refuses anyone’s help. Even a chef’s. Ah, the stubborn Czech.

After the Christmas turkey had been “carved,” green bean casserole consumed, and stomachs bulged over belts, the leftovers were put in doggie bags for us to take home.  What to do with this uber-cooked turkey? Well, soup of course.

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in Fowl / Recipe 7 comments
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Tissues, Tissues, Everywhere

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We’re on day 3 of not being able to fully breathe or smell in the gansie-80P household. Tissues crowd our trash cans, desks, nightstands and the front kangaroo pocket of my Johnson & Wales hoodie. It’s rough over here with two snotty, exhausted roommates. Two nights ago we ordered in Chinese (and I finally had the guts to ask for no baby corn in my noodle soup!) but tonight I felt well enough to cook. I know I missed out on the wonderful aromas of roasting squash, but the thick pureed soup felt good going down. And the heat – just for  a minute – cleared my nostrils.

OH to the joys of winter colds.

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in Recipe / Veggie 5 comments
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Seconds to the Rescue

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This crazy change in weather has finally invaded my system. I feel like crap. Stuffed-up nose. Irritation in throat. Body droopy. Brain exhausted.

Luckily, this weekend, before sickness fell upon me, I spent all of Saturday afternoon taking care of twenty five pounds of “second” tomatoes. (My second seconds of the year.) It took me about an hour to cut all of the tomatoes up, placing 2/3 of the tomatoes in two roasting pans, and when my oven was full, dumping the rest in a tall pot with onion, 2 bay leaves and salt and pepper.

The tomatoes lucky enough to sit in a 400-degree oven for 3 hours tasted doubly delicious, having been reduced and intensified in flavor. I had no clue what I was going to make with all of the tomatoes so decided I’d just do one big pot of a thick soup/sauce and dumped the roasted tomatoes in with the simmering tomatoes.

I reserved a container-ful of chunky tomatoes and onions and then pureed (with an immersion blender) the rest for a creamy, saucy soup.

And while I was at first not eager to take on all of those tomatoes, I am now glad I have an easy meal to warm up while fighting off this cold.

Chunky Tomato Soup with Ricotta and Egg

In a small saucepan I warmed up the chunky tomato soup, stirred in a spoonful of ricotta, then created a dent and dropped in an egg. I lowered the heat, covered the pan and let the egg “poach” for 5-7 minutes. Once the egg was cooked I topped it with a few strands of fresh oregano.

(Recipe hat tip Eggs in Purgatory)

in Cheese / Eggs / Recipe / Veggie 2 comments
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Oyster and Banana Runts Ravioli?

protein shake

One of my favorite dinner games is opening the refrigerator and playing Chopped. Hey, I can pretend. I just love to play with food combinations. Of course, most of them usually taste damn yummy (to me…ahem). But every once in a while one of my bright ideas will be absolutely disgusting and inedible.  Enter bologna, cream cheese, and pickle rolls. Sautéed Brussels sprouts topped with a sunny side up egg and sriracha. Bisquick + milk + bowl + microwave + grape jam + syrup + butter.  A coffee mug + chocolate cake mix + peanut butter + whipping cream. Tortilla + Kraft singles + cucumbers + barbecue sauce. Soup is one of my favorite things to make, especially in the fall and winter. And following recipes, like a lot of things in my life, is just not acceptable. Why not put the cornbread IN the chili? How about jalapeño poppers in potato soup? (Turns out it doesn’t work too well.) Who would make a chocolate chip cookie stew? Um, yeah. It is a wondrous feat of nature that I don’t weigh 500 lbs.

This got me thinking — which food combination might be the most amazingly disgusting on the planet? I have a few below that would be excitingly terrible, and I would like to know yours, oh fearless ESers. C’mon, give me something really gross. If you’ve made it, great. If you’ve only dreamed of making it, it still counts. Here are mine:

  • Roasted Garlic Peach Crumble
  • Mint and Orange Egg Casserole
  • Cheese Whiz Lime Sorbet
  • Ground Beef and Mint Chip Ice Cream
  • Strawberry Peanut Butter Daquiri
  • Big Red Gum Guacamole
  • Black Licorice Linguini with Ketchup Mushroom Ragu
  • Nutella Pickle Relish
  • Oyster and Banana Runts Ravioli
  • Broccoli Sea Urchin Maple Scones
  • Grapefruit Junior Mints Protein Shake with Mustard Cottage Cheese Whipped Topping
  • Durian Fruit and Shallot Smoothie (if you haven’t tried durian fruit, please go buy one immediately)
in Uncategorized 8 comments
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Gridiron Grub: French Onion Soup Sandwich

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“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

That is one of my favorite quotes about teamwork and the spirit of those words is part of why I love sports so much. We see time and time again that individual stars get paid the big bucks but often it is the team that works together best that has the most success. The same could be said for cooking. While quality ingredients are important, the simplest ingredients can really come together with just some time, effort, technique and a sense of fun.

With that in mind, it has been a rain-filled and cold week on the East Coast so I was in the mood for soup and a sandwich. Here’s the spin I put on a traditional combo for wifey and I to enjoy while cheering on PSU football Saturday night.

Open-faced French Onion Soup Sandwich

First you must recruit. So to assemble your team of ingredients, here is what I went with: 4tbsp clarified butter, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 lb onions sliced lengthwise, 8 oz beef stock, cup of spiced apple wine (I had it on hand from a local winery but feel free to use any white wine you like), c grated apple wood smoked Gruyere,red onion ciabatta bread and parsley.

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in Cheese / Drinks / Recipe / Red Meat / Sandwich 3 comments
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