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Posted: Aug/17/2008 8:33 AM PST
I've got a pretty good french onion recipe as well: 1 large vidalia onion 2 cloves of garlic 1 tablespoon of olive oil 1 tablespoon of butter 1 can swanson low sodium chicken broth 1 can swanson low sodium beef broth Fonseca Bin no. 27 Port wine(can substitute sweet sherry or any other port) Salt and pepper a few sprigs of thyme, parsley, and oregano 1 bay leaf Slice or chop onion into uniform pieces. Heat up olive oil and 1/2 the butter in a pot over medium heat. Cook the garlic for 1-2 minutes until it begins to brown. Stir in the onions and then put the rest of the butter on top along with some salt and let it "sweat" down for 10-15 minutes or until they are beginning to caramelize. DO NOT STIR THE ONIONS AFTER PUTTING BUTTER AND SALT ON TOP. Once they begin to caramelize, Pour in about 2 shots of the wine and stir. Let it cook down, stirring occasionally, until liquid is almost evaporated. Then pour in two cans of broth. Tie the herbs and the bay leaf together with butchers twine and put in the soup. Let it cook for 30 minutes and it is ready to go. If you have oven safe bowls, ladle the soup into the bowls leaving about 1 inch of space. Place a piece of bread on top of the soup and then place a piece of provolone cheese on top. Place in the oven under 400degrees for about 5 minutes or until cheese is bubbly. *You can substitue any cheese, bread, or brand of broth you like. |
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Posted: Aug/17/2008 7:08 PM PST
Here's a good one to use up some of those tomatoes! Very rich, but not too heavy. It's great with a light sandwich and salad for lunch. Cream of Tomato Soup 2 T butter 1 clove garlic, minced 1 small onion diced 2 qt peeled, chopped fresh ripe tomatoes (or 2 qt canned tomatoes, not drained) 2 c chicken broth 2 T honey Pinch nutmeg Pinch white pepper (or black, fresh from the mill is best) salt to taste 1 c heavy cream Melt the butter in a heavy soup pot and add the garlic and onion. Fry over low heat until the onion is soft. Don't let anything brown. Add the tomatoes, raise the heat to high, and bring to a boil. Stir frequently so they don't stick. Lower the heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes or until the tomatoes start to break apart. Continue cooking and stirring until the tomatoes thicken into the consistency of chunky tomato puree. How long this takes depends on your tomatoes. Add the chicken broth, honey and seasonings, and simmer for a further 15 minutes. Finally remove from the heat, add the heavy cream and adjust the seasoning to your taste. You may puree this soup or leave it chunky. It's really good topped with croutons and parmesan cheese. You may also add any fresh herbs that you like. Note* You really do have to use heavy cream for this recipe. If you try it with milk, the acid in the tomatoes will curdle the milk and it'll look Grooossss. Second note* Reheat the soup gently after you add the cream if necessary but don't boil it, or you risk it curdling. |
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Posted: Sep/24/2008 10:38 AM PST
Hi All. I have a ton of Soup recipes.. Hardly know where to begin. I guess I will skip the classics that everyone knows and go into the wilds of the wonderful but weird. One of my best buddies provided me with the recipe for my very favorite soup. Though she claims she got it from her sister, I have credited her with it anyway. It is somewhat expensive as it calls for fresh red bell peppers which aren't cheap except in season, and an entire HERB & GARLIC BOURSIN cheese. I tried to substitute another type of cheese, but trust me, it doesn't work. Therefore if you can't find this cheese, skip that recipe. My second entry comes from FOOD TV's Surreal Gourmet, Bob Blumer. The recipe is just as I found it on the web site. Of course I tweeked it.. can't seem to resist. My tweeks are identified at the bottom of the recipe. ** and a different color. I have many more winners. So if you like these two, please ask for more. gimpy2 +++++++++++++++ *ROSELYNE’S RED PEPPER SOUP -4 red bell peppers, cleaned, veined and coarsely chopped -3 medium onions, peeled and coarsely chopped. -3 TBS. butter and olive oil in equal parts. -2 cans chicken broth, 1 can water = 30 oz liquid -1 whole Herb & Garlic Boursin cheese (no substitutes acceptable). -Cayenne pepper & fresh finely chopped Italian basil leaves to garnish. -Saute bell peppers and onions in butter and olive oil till limp but not browned. -In a large pot, with the wand blender, mix the Boursin cheese with the broth and water at little at a time till smooth. -Add bell peppers and onions. Simmer for 30 minutes. -Cool to room temperature. -Run through the blender until smooth. -Serve warm, garnished with Cayenne pepper and julienned Basil leaves. +++++++++++++++++ *CRACKERJACK(African Peanut)SOUP - 1 ¼ c. shelled peanuts (or 1 cup peanut butter, but skip peanut oil) -3 TBS. peanut oil, divided -2 TBS. butter -1 onion, chopped -1 medium yam in 1/4 inch cubes -4 c. chicken stock -1/4 c. coconut milk -Salt -Cayenne pepper -2 TBS. fresh lime juice - ½ c. crackerjacks (for garnish) -In a food processor, add peanuts and 2 tablespoons peanut oil. Purée until smooth. Reserve. -In a large pot over medium heat, add 1 TBS. peanut oil, butter, onions and yams. Cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. -Add chicken stock, coconut milk and peanut butter. Turn up heat until liquids reach a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. - Let cool slightly, then puree in a blender. Season with salt and cayenne. To serve, reheat, then garnish with crackerjacks. **Skip the crackerjacks, A handful of fresh snipped Coriander leaves, a drizzle of EVOO and a piece of heated Naan bread… yum! (If you can't get Naan bread warme Pita or a tortilla will do.) Attachments:  |
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Posted: Sep/24/2008 12:53 PM PST
Folks..I just had a look at the latest edition of the EPICURIOUS newsletter. Some pretty awesome stuff in this issue. Among which a QUICK 'N EASY CIOPPINO (Italian/Californian version of Bouillabaise). It got 4 fork rating from all but one of the people who tried it. I am going to make it as soon as I can round up the ingredients. If it's as good as the reviews say, I'll pass it on to you soonest. Meantime, here is the third soup which rates a red star from me. It is good hot, cold, room temp, with or without the cream for those watching the waistline. Enjoy! gimpy2 *CLAIRE’S CUCUMBER SOUP - 2 cloves minced garlic cloves - ½ thinly sliced Spanish onion - 1 TBS. butter In a large, deep pan, sauté the above till onion is soft and begins to turn golden -2 c. peeled, pitted, coarsely grated cucumbers - 2 potatoes, peeled & diced - 3 ¾ c. chicken broth - Sea salt & fresh ground pepper - 1 tsp. Martha’s Magic Mix Seasoning -Add all the above, bring to a boil. -Reduce heat and simmer till the liquid is reduced by half. -Turn off the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. -Either put through the blender or whiz with a hand blender. **At this point you can freeze the soup, adding the rest when you thaw and heat the soup to serve** -Stir in: - 1 cup cream, or milk and cream ½ & ½ . - leaf celery or flat leafed parsley, coarsely chopped. - Hot or mild Hungarian Paprika. - 6 or 7 stems of garlic and/or plain chives. Serve hot, warm or cold. Sprinkled with paprika and chopped chives. ;">**You can omit the pureeing, and the cream, but do add the rest. Smells wonderful, tastes even better than it smells.**. |
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Posted: Sep/24/2008 8:25 PM PST
YAY!!!!! West African Peanut Soup!!! I had a friend who volunteered for the Peace Corps in The Gambia for a couple years, and she taught me to make that. It's incredible! I like to include various vegetables and a generous dash of hot pepper sauce, and garnish it with chopped toasted peanuts or toasted coconut and chili flakes. Never heard of the Crackerjacks.... I usually make it pretty thick and chunky and serve it with rice, but next time I'm going to try Naan, that sounds great. We should get together and cook some dinner one night Gimpy! |
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Posted: Sep/25/2008 3:16 PM PST
Hey, glad you like the idea of peanut soup! The crackerjack twist is a Bob Blumer thing. His show is all about eye-popping presentations, which is how his show and himself ended up with the handle:THE SURREAL GOURMET. His kitchen is in one of those old domed silver mobile homes tricked out to look like a toaster. He hauls it around the country to all sorts of different venues. ..No kidding.. you should watch the show sometime. In spite of the weirdness, his recipes are very good. Because his kitchen is more like a very restricted boat galley, his recipes are simple, using the minimum of gadgetry and fuss. The crackerjacks are in reference to the song "Take me out to the ball game", and the line: "Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks, I don't care if I ever get back". The event and venue obviously was a baseball game. Notice the baseball mitt and balls in the photo. ++++++++++ Intrigued by KEE WEE's SNOWED-IN TACO SOUP.. I cut 'n pasted into my book. I will try that when the weather turns nippy. Just noticed that I neglected to include what I call "Martha Stewart's Magic Spice Mix" though I use it in Claire's Cucumber soup. It's a spice mix I fell in love with wayyyy back in time when I found this super roast loin of pork recipe in a Martha Stewart magazine. Years before she was hauled off to jail. The loin was slathered in Dijon mustard then rolled in this spice mix. Steak potatoes were coated with EVOO then the spices. All baked it a very hot oven. White wine was used to get all the goodies off the bottom of the roasting pan, finished with some chicken broth, blackberries and a splash of Chambord (a blackberry liqueur). The recipe is a real winner and easy & quick to make if you have made the Magic Mix ahead of time. The spice mix is so good that I use it in a lot of places it was never intended to go. I make up quadruple batches and keep it handy. MARTHA'S MAGIC SPICE MIX -3 tablespoons Indian mustard seed -1 teaspoon fennel seed -2 teaspoons coriander seed -1 teaspoon cumin seed -1 teaspoon whole peppercorns -Saute all the above in a pan until it smells divine and the mustard seeds start to jump around like popcorn. Keep a lid handy or you'll be picking up seeds all over the kitchen. Cool the mix till you can handle it. -Put in a mortar and crush with pestle. (If you don’t own one, pulse in coffee grinder. The mix should be coarse, not powdered). -Put the mixture in a small bowl. Stir in: -1 tsp. ground powdered ginger -2 tsp. coarse salt -1 tsp. sugar **Suggest you triple the batch & save what you don’t use in a tightly sealed glass jar. Saves time later.. Would love to shmooze and cook with you.. and I am flattered that you would like that. Will have to check your bio and see if it is logistically possible! Gimpy2 |
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Posted: Sep/25/2008 5:11 PM PST
Hi Aimee, Didn't look carefully at your photo or I would have realized you are a professional chef! I am not a pro, but with my dad, my mother travelled the world. She waltzed into the kitchens of gourmet restaurants, charmed recipes out of chefs in just about every capital city she visited. She had NERVE, HUTZPA, BRASS BALLS,whatever you want to call it, she had it to spare... Anyway, I grew up eating gourmet food from everywhere and though everybody ate like that. After I got off the mac 'n cheese circuit (my kids grew up and left home), I got into the international gourmet stuff big time. a few years after my divorce I met a real French Maitre Queue. We had a thing going on for about 5 years. I learned all the basic techniques of haute cuisine from him. My curiosity, the FOOD TV channel, Google and the environment of the Quebecois culture in which fine food is near the top of the basic needs list did the rest. Yeah, it would be a blast to spend some time cooking together. Unfortunately Indiana is a long, long way from Mont Tremblant (closest place that is known by people from outside). But life is strange, ya never know! If you read my blog you will see that I am into growing herbs too. Italian large leaf Basil of course.. never seem to plant enough. I use it in a lot of my cooking and I just love PESTO. Also I grow Thai Basil,(it has long thin leaves and a very pungent taste and smell), another Basil that is pale green has tiny leaves and grows in a pretty ball.I gave up on the red basils, too hard to grow and too subject to mould. Dill weed I plant a lot of too. Great in warm German potato salad. Coriander/Cilantro is another herb I never seem to have enough of, specially as it has a tendency to get long and ferny early in the summer. I love Thai and Vietnamse food, middle eastern and Indian too so there is a lot of call for it. Aside from those, I have the usual run of stuff. Chives, garlic chives, 2 kinds of thyme, marjoram, Rosemary, sage, lemon verbena, lemon balm. I have a pretty silver grey plant called curry.. which has the same smell and taste as curry powder but is quite mild. The invasive stuff I grow in big tubs, far, far away from the herb garden. Mint, Chocolate mint. Pineapple Sage,(really smells like pineapple), Fruit Sage, Oregano. In my other vegie plots I grow Burgundy bush beans (sweeter and less fibrous than wax beans, and a very pretty vibrant burgunday color), Yellow bush beans, green bush beans, snow peas, Tiny Tim tomatoes (our growing season is too short to grow the big ones), leaf lettuces of various kinds (Mache, Roquette, red and green oak leaf lettuce),Swiss Chard, eggplant, zucchini, cucumbers, red and green bell peppers, I try a different few varieties of hot peppers every year. A whole bed was taken over by Jerusalem Artichokes (aka sun-chokes), which is okay cuz I love the things but they are very invasive. In all four corners of each of my raised vegie beds I plant Nasturtiums. They keep away the worst bugs, attract the polinators, look pretty, the petals of the flowers are delicious in salads (peppery like cress) and make a wow presentation on the salads. The petals make a very attractive and tasty jelly too, if you have enough of them and grow the deep crimson and bright red varieties. Okay that's enough for today.. there are still all the flower gardens and fruit plots to talk about.. Love your moonflowers by the way.. so lovely! The photos below: Roquette and curly red lettuce, Nasturtiums, Tiny Tim Tomatoes gimpy2 Attachments:    |
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Posted: Sep/25/2008 8:44 PM PST
LOL I changed my avatar to show my other "professional" uniform!! Heehee. Yeah, I've been cooking for a living for about 10 years. I went back to culinary school when I was 27 after some other adventuresome career choices. I've done stints on the west coast, in the Rockies, Rome, and New Orleans before coming back home again to Indiana. I love spicy ethnic cuisine too. For me something rustic and true is far more satisfying than modern ideas of crazy fine dining. I say I like to cook "things with names". Whether it's meatloaf, gumbo, sauerbraten, baba ganoush, mole poblano, cassoulet, tom yum or pho, I prefer things that have evolved in a region for years and years, transfered from grandma to mom to daughter. (Or son LOL!!) So growing as many of my own vegetables and herbs as I can is important to me. Simple food from great ingredients, there ya go. Annnd, speaking of, since this is the soup thread... here's a great simple rustic soup! This one's as pure and simple as it gets. First time I made it it brought tears to my eyes. Peasant Onion Soup 1 T lard or butter or extra virgin olive oil 1 clove garlic minced 1 large onion sliced 1 qt good homeade chicken broth Salt and pepper 4 slices good crusty french bread - preferably old and stale 4 eggs 1/2 c grated white cheese - my favorite is Pecorino Romano, but you can also use parmesan, swiss, or even jack cheese. Melt lard or butter in a heavy stockpot. YES, I COOK WITH LARD. I always keep my meat drippings! You bet your grandma did. Butter is good too, and far better for you than margarine. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)is also fine. Anyway, heat over low heat and put in the garlic. Let it bubble for a moment but don't let it brown, then add the sliced onion, season with salt and pepper, and raise the heat to medium. Stir occassionally for at least 15 minutes or until the onion is soft and golden. Add the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. In the meantime, brush your bread slices with olive oil or butter (or lard) and toast them under the broiler until they are light brown and crunchy. Put the bread slices in your soup bowls. Uncover your soup and taste for seasoning. Add more salt if it needs it. Keeping the heat low and the soup just under a boil, break the 4 eggs gently into the soup and let them poach until they are as hard as you like them. Ladle some of the soup and one egg into each soup bowl. Top with the grated cheese and fresh herbs if you like. That's it! |
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Posted: Sep/26/2008 6:41 AM PST
Hey, I am thrilled spitless  that my old soup thread has been revived and JUST in time for fall! There are countless soups listed here that I would love to try. Aimee ~ your peasant onion soup almost had me in tears just reading about it. I was telling my (not-so-awake) husband about it at breakfast this morning and he said "sounds like a meal". Gimpy ~ I am pleasantly surprised that you want to try one of my (not-so-gourmet) soups. I often leave the meat out of the one you selected (vegetarian friends) but then I like to serve mini-Mexican meatballs on the side with the other condiments for carnivores like my husband. You know, I used to love to cook all kinds of gourmet treats for friends, but since moving to rural KY, I can't find a lot of the necessary ingredients and even if I could, too expensive. I priced a red pepper (not exactly gourmet, but case-in-point) at $1.87 at the grocery last night. What's UP with that??! |
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Posted: Sep/26/2008 7:13 AM PST
ok i got this from dbjc364,, thank you! this is supper tonight ! you take 1 pint fresh tomatoes, grind in heavy saucepan with 1/2 teas baking soda,, in another saucepan 1 qt milk, 1 can of evaporated milk. 1 added parsley, salt and pepper, when both are at a good boil, add to each other.it seems to me you end up making one great pan of tomato soup
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