Easy blended soups for the year

Mark Bittman's newest cookbook, Kitchen Matrix, is the most practical, improvisatory cookbook I have ever read.  It is exactly how I cook--the recipe serves as a basic set of principles (ratios, food groups that compliment each other), and the actual ingredients can vary within that general formula.  He does provide measurements and discuss techniques, for those of you who don't feel comfortable with this method, but each master recipe is laid out with variations, like a master class on soup, or miso, for instance.  

I have been enjoying my own alterations of his variations in the book, particularly at night, when all I really need is a salad before bedtime, but the cold temps have me craving soup instead.  A few vegetables, some water, and a good blender will make these a reality in 30 minutes, tops. 

Puréed Asparagus Soup

Serves 4

1 pound asparagus, trimmed and roughly chopped

½ yellow onion, roughly chopped

1 large garlic clove, peeled and smashed

2 pieces whole wheat bread, broken into big pieces

2 cups tightly packed spinach

½ teaspoon Herbes de Provence

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Olive oil to drizzle and/ or plain yogurt (optional)

In a Dutch oven or large stock pot, place the asparagus, onion, and garlic. Add water until vegetables are just barely covered, toss in about a teaspoon of salt, and cover.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.  Cook for about 15 minutes or until very soft.  Stir in the spinach and bread and let it soften for a minute or two, then pour everything into your blender.

Blend until smooth, then pour back into the pot.  Stir in the Herbes de Provence, lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve in individual bowls with a little olive oil drizzled on top, or a scoop of plain yogurt. You can also serve with extra lemon wedges if you like more acidity. 

Curried Potato and Cauliflower Vichyssoise

Serves 4

1 small head cauliflower, roughly chopped

2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed

½ yellow onion

1 garlic clove, peeled and smashed

½ teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon curry powder

4 cups water

1 tablespoon plain yogurt

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Chopped fresh cilantro to garnish (optional)

In a Dutch oven or large stock pot, combine the cauliflower, potatoes, onion, garlic, cumin, curry powder, and water. Add two teaspoons salt, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are very soft, 15-20 minutes.

Pour into a blender and purée until smooth. Pour back into the pot and add the lemon juice and yogurt.  Heat through, 3-4 minutes, then season with salt and pepper to taste. Add chopped fresh cilantro to individual bowls if desired. 

Drunken Pintos

I like pinto beans.  They're tasty, and they're cheap and plentiful.  I had these recently in tacos topped with roasted sweet potato, onion, and spinach (pictured), but I have also done all of the other suggestions listed at the end of this recipe and I fully endorse them.  This recipe serves as a good base for my version of  Brazilian Pinto Soup, as well.

Drunken Pintos

2 cups dry pinto beans
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons salt
½  teaspoon cayenne
12 oz. beer
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, finely diced

Place beans, tomato paste, cumin, salt, and cayenne in a stock pot or pressure cooker and add water to cover 1 inch above beans.  Cook 1.5 hours at a low simmer or according to pressure cooker directions (generally 20-25 minutes) or until beans are tender.  Drain off some of the cooking liquid if it seems like too much and pour in the beer.  Stir in the garlic and jalapeno and heat through.  Serve as a soup (you can blend up to 2/3 of it for a thicker, creamier texture), over rice, or drain and serve in tortillas topped with chopped tomatoes, sour cream, and red onion as tacos.

Lobster-like Bisque

As promised, here is the first of three Vegas-inspired recipes from my recent trip.  This is nearly as good as the Lobster Bisque I had at Caesar's Palace, and a whole lot cheaper. A special thanks to Tyler Florence for help on some of the particulars.

Lobster-like Bisque

Serves 4

1 - 2 cups cooked lobster meat (you can now find lobster meat frozen or canned in most supermarkets)
½ cup dry sherry or dry white wine
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
½ cup onion, diced
¼ cup celery, diced
¼ cup carrot, diced
Salt and white pepper, to taste
½ teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning, or to taste
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cups whole milk
1 cup half and half
1 cup chicken stock 

Combine the lobster meat with the sherry. Cover and refrigerate.

In a hot pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Once it stops sputtering, add the onion, celery, carrot, salt and pepper and Old Bay. Stir and let cook until the vegetables are translucent and are getting soft.

Add the tomato paste and cook for another couple of minutes. Add the flour and cook for two to three minutes, stirring all the time. While whisking, add the cold milk, half and half and stock and bring to a boil. Let boil for about 1 minute, still whisking constantly. Turn the heat down and let simmer until slightly reduced.

Then, 

Option 1: using an immersion blender, blend the soup until smooth.

OR 

Option 2: Strain the soup through a fine mesh strainer, pressing down on the solids.

Taste, and add more salt, pepper or Old Bay, if you think it needs it. Add the reserved lobster and sherry to the pot and simmer for just a couple of minutes, so the lobster is heated through.

Suggestions: Serve with crusty bread and maybe a little sour cream on the top. If you want to be really fancy, sprinkle on a little chopped tarragon as garnish.

Two more soups for leftovers

BO-RING!  These soups will make it better.

More simple things to do with the stuff you didn't finish after your holiday meal...

Cheesy baked potato soup

Serves 4

Skip ahead if you have enough leftover mashed potato to use...

2 tablespoons butter

1 small yellow onion, chopped

2 large garlic cloves, minced

4 large russet potatoes, peeled and chopped into small cubes (or a combination of russet and sweet)

4 cups vegetable broth

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup sour cream or Greek style plain yogurt

2 teaspoons salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 green onions, finely chopped

2 slices crisp bacon or Morningstar Breakfast Strips, crumbled (optional)

Heat the butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat; when it foams, add the onion.  Sauté  until onion is translucent, about 4 minutes.  Add salt, garlic and chopped potato and sauté another 3 or 4 minutes, stirring constantly to keep potato from sticking.  Add 2 cups of the vegetable broth, stir, cover and bring to a boil.  Once boil begins, lower to a simmer and cook about 15 minutes, until potato is soft enough to mash. 

Mash the potato mixture in the pan with a hand masher or use an immersion blender to create creamy mashed potatoes. Add the other 2 cups of broth, sour cream and cheese and stir to incorporate.  Cover  and lower heat to medium-low until cheese is melted into soup, about 5 minutes.  Add black pepper to taste.  Garnish with chopped green onion and bacon, if desired (you can also top with additional cheese and sour cream if you have it). 

Chicken Vatapa

Serves 6

Vatapa is a traditional rustic Brazilian stew, and it's flavorful enough to cover up the gaminess of leftover poultry.  Best of all, it’s all done in 30 minutes.

1 teaspoon canola oil

½ cup finely chopped onion

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon peeled, grated fresh ginger (purchase ready-to-go in the produce section of Safeway on 3rd Ave.)

1 jalapeno pepper, minced (remove seeds for milder flavoring)

1 cup water

1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes with juice

1 (12 oz.) can light beer

¼ cup dry-roasted peanuts

3 cups cooked chicken or turkey

½ cup coconut milk

½ cup chopped fresh parsley

½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon lime juice

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Add onion, garlic, ginger, and jalapeno and sauté 2 minutes or until onion is soft.  Stir in water, tomatoes in their juice, and beer.  Bring to boil, then cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes. 

Place peanuts in a spice or coffee grinder (or a good old-fashioned nut grinder) and process until finely ground.  Add ground peanuts, chicken, and coconut milk to Dutch oven, stirring to combine.  Increase heat to medium.  Bring mixture to a simmer and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Stir in parsley, cilantro, lime juice, salt, and pepper. 

Don't say I never gave ya nuthin'.

Special Thanksgiving Edition: leftover magic

Let the holiday season commence. 

I love the idea of leftovers, but eatin' on the same damn gamey bird for a week after Thanksgiving gets old fast.  However, since spent the six hours cooking it, and the small fortune buying it,  you'd better get the most out of that crap-- here are my suggestions for disguising what you just ate until it's all gone.


Soups are probably the most obvious way to finish off the bits and pieces you have left.  You can dump leftover vegetables and meats in with some vegetable or chicken broth and toss in a little pasta or rice to round things out, but it still tastes like (bland) Traditional Thanksgiving. You can also put those leftover mashed potatoes to good use in my Cheesy Baked Potato Soup recipe,  and turkey makes a great substitute for chicken in the brilliantly flavored Brazilian Vatapa soup.


Finally, say goodbye to your leftover turkey, gravy, and mashed potatoes, in this special Thanksgiving version of Coddle, the old Irish cure for a hangover!  Just visit my more traditional recipe here  and make the following corrections:

--No need to cook the potatoes; cook the carrots by themselves (or toss leftover T-day veggies into your broth) and when they’re tender, stir in your mashed potatoes AND gravy.


--Add shredded turkey to the soup at the end of cooking time and heat thoroughly for a richer soup with more depth to round out the saltiness of the bacon.


Make a frittata with your leftover vegetables and turkey.  Shred the turkey and cut vegetables into bite-sized pieces, then place in a large, oven-proof skillet sprayed with cooking spray.  Whisk together 6 eggs ( to serve 4 people), salt and black pepper to taste, and a dash of Dijon mustard.  Pour egg mixture into skillet over medium-high heat and swirl the skillet to distribute the eggs and filling evenly over the surface.  Shake the skillet gently, tilting slightly while lifting the edges of the frittata with a spatula to let the raw egg run underneath for the first 1 to 2 minutes of cooking.  Cook until eggs are almost set, about 5 minutes, and then place the skillet under the broiler for about 1 minute.  The frittata will puff up and brown slightly.   Cut into wedges to serve.

And my personal favorite after spending several days with family...the leftover cranberry salad cordial.  In an airtight container, combine 1 cup of cranberry sauce, ¼ cup white sugar, and 750mL of unflavored vodka.  Allow to steep on your countertop for up to a week, shaking vigorously once a day to distribute the sugar.  After it has steeped to your satisfaction, strain the liquid into a large sealable bottle or jar and discard the solids.  Keep your newly flavored vodka in the freezer and serve in cordial glasses neat or over ice.

What do you like to do with your leftovers?  Share below!

PS--Dontcha wanna buy a book or shirt for Christmas presents?  Jesus-approved!

Hot and Sour Sickie Soup

I hate getting colds. Now that I live in Colorado, I seem to get at least two every winter. Conventional wisdom prescribes chicken soup, but I always find myself craving Chinese Hot and Sour soup—the kind that makes you sweat and makes your nose run—it cures so many ills. I can breathe better, my throat feels better, and the happiness temporarily distracts me from my complaining. The problem is, when I am sick, I rarely want to leave the house, even just to go down the road and get this miracle cure at my favorite take-out Chinese place. And I don’t think my neighbors should be subjected to the sight of me in sweatpants and an oversized, cat fur-decorated sweatshirt from my undergraduate days. So I present to you (with some help on measurements from Rachel Ray,

Hot and Sour Sickie Soup

LIQUID:
8 cups water or broth of your choice (veggie, chicken, beef…)
3 Tablespoons of Sriracha or other garlic-chili sauce
2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons grated ginger

ADD-INS:
Vegetables and tofu or meat of your choice
2 packages ramen or equivalent amount of other noodles (vermicelli, linguine…)


Sautee vegetables and tofu in 1 tablespoon of canola or peanut oil (I always start with onion, carrot, bok choy, and mushrooms). When veggies are soft and tofu is getting lightly browned, add all the broth ingredients, stir well, and bring to a boil. Add noodles and lower heat to medium, cooking according to package directions.

When the pasta is al dente or to your liking, turn off the heat and stir in 2 tablespoons of lime juice. Serve with Kleenex near.