So last week I went to a cheese making workshop. I learned to make paneer and mozzarella. Really. No kidding! And guess what? It's super easy and costs about half as much as buying it, but the really cool part is you get to say, "I made the cheese" and everyone goes, "Ooooh" and "Ahhhh!"
Of course, I'm no good at pretending that it was terribly difficult. I had to tell everyone the truth - it took 30 minutes to make the mozzarella and it's really simple. I really had no choice but to admit the truth anyway since over the last 3 months, approximately 75 people here on the island have taken the course and undoubtedly one of them would know someone from Sunday Soup and blow my story if I said I am now a master cheese artisan.
Anyway, the byproduct of making mozzarella is you have about 4.5 quarts of whey (yes, as in Little Miss Muffet eating her curds and whey). There are a lot of things you can do with whey and it's full of vitamins and minerals and such, so you definitely want to do something with it, even though it looks a little scary. Apparently, and I did not try any of these things, you can mix it with orange juice and a sweetener for a lovely beverage, you can make lemonade with it, you can mix it into your pig slop or chicken feed and give it to your pigs/chickens respectively, you can give it to your dog (but not at night because it makes the dog have to pee a lot and you'll be up all night letting the dog in and out), you can use it to water your roses or other plants, and you can add it to bread dough instead of water. But guess what I did with it? Yep. I used it in my soup.
I read on the internet that you can use it in place of stock, so yesterday I roasted up a big pile of veggies - onion...hmmm...I was going to start with onion and then I just remembered that I totally forgot the onion! Anyway, okay...here's the real list: red potatoes, yellow pepper, broccoli, parsnip, carrots, mushrooms, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, and beets tossed with olive oil, salt & pepper and a few herbs. When they were done, I simply dumped them into the whey, mashed it all with a potato masher, and then I pureed it with my immersion blender.
By the way, it's really hard to chop up mushrooms with an immersion blender, so even though I attacked them individually, forcing them to the bottom of the pan, a few escaped and there were chunks of mushrooms in my roughly pureed soup. It added character. I seasoned it with French Thyme, Celery Salt, Cayenne, and a bit more salt and pepper.
And guess what? The verdict, after everyone got over their fascination with the fact that I made the mozzarella and it only takes thirty minutes, was that they loved the soup and that is why I'm calling it Whey Good Roasted Veggie Soup.
The bread was no-knead bread and kind of rolled it out flat and then added chunks of mozzarella (they just disappeared, so I don't recommend wasting good cheese this way - use a harder cheese) and sundried tomatoes and then rolled it up into a loaf. It was tasty enough that every scrap disappeared though, despite the vanishing mozz.
Attendance was good today and there were many people we don't see very often and a new guest. The only regular was The Neighbour. It was lots of fun, although we do hope the half of The Brits that isn't feeling well, gets better soon!
Oh, and I want to say that I am now on a major deadline and I seriously couldn't have made today's SS happen without my fabulous sous chef, The Southerner. I hereby promote him to Full Chef, at least until April 30th when I hand off the next draft of my book to my editor. As Full Chef, his duties include, but are not limited to: Tea, Coffee & Breakfast (which he does as a Sous Chef anyway), Morning Break Snack, Lunch, Afternoon Snack w/Tea & Dinner. Okay, stop laughing. It was worth a shot!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Mushroom Moderate
I spent the entire weekend in the kitchen (nearly). Starting yesterday morning, I made, banana bread, oatmeal, the filling for samosas, two vegetarian moussaka casseroles, grilled cheese & soup for The Southerner's lunch, today's soup, and a loaf of bread. Today I finished the bread, the samosas (yum!), and taught The Southerner how to make 8 Grain Cereal. It was my choice to be in the kitchen so long, and it was fun, but I'm looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow!
On Saturday morning I still had not chosen a soup, so I got out an old library discard, The Low-fat Vegetarian Cookbook, that I picked up at the library book sale. What's hilarious about this book is that it says it's vegetarian, but when you open it up, there are all these recipes called "almost vegetarian" that have meat in them! No wonder the library discarded it.
Anyway, there are a few soups in it and one of them was Mushroom Barley. I had the ingredients (or so I thought, The Southerner ended up having to go to the store for barley right about the time I was ready to add it!). This soup is a brothy soup with a lot of mushrooms. And I mean a lot. I cut them really thinly because I once had a mushroom soup with them cut paper thin and it was really good. The soup was a big hit today, but it crossed a line for me and so I didn't have any.
You see, it wasn't until maybe five years I tentatively began to eat mushrooms. I learned how to cook them from Alton Brown and suddenly, they were pretty appealing. The more I have them, the more I like them. However, this soup, with a pound and a half of mushrooms, cooked in a vegetable broth that eventually became a deep, rich, brown, mushroomy broth really fell just across the line of "too many mushrooms in one dish". Luckily, The Southerner LOVED it, and judging by how our guests emptied the crockpot, I think overall it was a good soup. One guest even asked for the recipe. Which oddly enough, might be the very first recipe that I have followed exactly! Well, except that I used homemade vegetable stock instead of junk from a can.
Anyway, we had a very nice Sunday Soup. A few regulars, one guest we haven't seen since summer, some newbies...very nice. And we started it off with a Tea Party. We tested the mango tea (a previous SS favourite), vanilla jasmine, maple, and green. I think that the mango is still on top, although the vanilla jasmine was met with interest and smiles. I alone like the maple (I drink it every day).
And that's about it. And Grandma, I know you're reading this each week and are always hoping that I'm freezing you the soup to bring you when we come to visit. Don't worry, I am. But I also know not to save you any Mushroom Barley! Like Grandma, like Granddaughter, eh?
Eat well!
On Saturday morning I still had not chosen a soup, so I got out an old library discard, The Low-fat Vegetarian Cookbook, that I picked up at the library book sale. What's hilarious about this book is that it says it's vegetarian, but when you open it up, there are all these recipes called "almost vegetarian" that have meat in them! No wonder the library discarded it.
Anyway, there are a few soups in it and one of them was Mushroom Barley. I had the ingredients (or so I thought, The Southerner ended up having to go to the store for barley right about the time I was ready to add it!). This soup is a brothy soup with a lot of mushrooms. And I mean a lot. I cut them really thinly because I once had a mushroom soup with them cut paper thin and it was really good. The soup was a big hit today, but it crossed a line for me and so I didn't have any.
You see, it wasn't until maybe five years I tentatively began to eat mushrooms. I learned how to cook them from Alton Brown and suddenly, they were pretty appealing. The more I have them, the more I like them. However, this soup, with a pound and a half of mushrooms, cooked in a vegetable broth that eventually became a deep, rich, brown, mushroomy broth really fell just across the line of "too many mushrooms in one dish". Luckily, The Southerner LOVED it, and judging by how our guests emptied the crockpot, I think overall it was a good soup. One guest even asked for the recipe. Which oddly enough, might be the very first recipe that I have followed exactly! Well, except that I used homemade vegetable stock instead of junk from a can.
Anyway, we had a very nice Sunday Soup. A few regulars, one guest we haven't seen since summer, some newbies...very nice. And we started it off with a Tea Party. We tested the mango tea (a previous SS favourite), vanilla jasmine, maple, and green. I think that the mango is still on top, although the vanilla jasmine was met with interest and smiles. I alone like the maple (I drink it every day).
And that's about it. And Grandma, I know you're reading this each week and are always hoping that I'm freezing you the soup to bring you when we come to visit. Don't worry, I am. But I also know not to save you any Mushroom Barley! Like Grandma, like Granddaughter, eh?
Eat well!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Fast SS Post
How fast can I type? We've had crazy weather here, almost to rival Tennessee, except there aren't those wild temp changes (oh, and those pesky tornadoes). It's blowing like crazy now though after a day of snow that didn't stick, snow that did stick, snow that melted off, snow and rain mixed, a burst of sunshine that lasted about 3 minutes, and more snow and lots and lots of wind. The reason I'm typing as fast as I can is because the power has already gone off once. I looked at the clock when it went out and said to the The Southerner, "Hmmm...6:49pm. I reckon we're out for the night unless it comes right back on this second." and POOF, the power came back on. Still, I'd be surprised if we made it through the night with power. And being that we're on an island, that means we won't get it back until tomorrow.
The soup was yummy. A concoction I made loosely based on a recipe from Canadian Living. I was looking at the March issue at the doctor office (while The Southerner had his ribs checked out - guess what? Yep. Still sore, still nothing to be done) and found a recipe from Quebec for carrot turnip soup. I didn't have anything to write with, and even though everyone I've told this story to has said, "Why didn't you just rip the recipe out of the magazine?" I simply read it twice, hoping I'd remember it. And then I came home and made up my own soup. It turned out fine, so no biggie! I also made cheese and green onion biscuits. Yummmm!
We had some of the regulars here today and a couple of guests. They're all wondering what the nicknames for the guests will be, and since I'm not feeling very creative (and I'm still typing as fast as I can), I'm going to go for the obvious ones. The Fix-it Guy's sister is going to be called, The Sister and the other guest is going to be called The Mudgekin because she is from Mudge Island and that's what we call them when we shoot potatoes at them from potato cannons on Canada Day (I can't type fast enough to explain this). I was informed by The Mudgekin that they have "real" guns on Mudge, so maybe shooting potatoes at them is not the smartest thing we could do, but whatever. I don't shoot potatoes anyway...I make them into soup.
Whew! I think I made it! Have a great week.
The soup was yummy. A concoction I made loosely based on a recipe from Canadian Living. I was looking at the March issue at the doctor office (while The Southerner had his ribs checked out - guess what? Yep. Still sore, still nothing to be done) and found a recipe from Quebec for carrot turnip soup. I didn't have anything to write with, and even though everyone I've told this story to has said, "Why didn't you just rip the recipe out of the magazine?" I simply read it twice, hoping I'd remember it. And then I came home and made up my own soup. It turned out fine, so no biggie! I also made cheese and green onion biscuits. Yummmm!
We had some of the regulars here today and a couple of guests. They're all wondering what the nicknames for the guests will be, and since I'm not feeling very creative (and I'm still typing as fast as I can), I'm going to go for the obvious ones. The Fix-it Guy's sister is going to be called, The Sister and the other guest is going to be called The Mudgekin because she is from Mudge Island and that's what we call them when we shoot potatoes at them from potato cannons on Canada Day (I can't type fast enough to explain this). I was informed by The Mudgekin that they have "real" guns on Mudge, so maybe shooting potatoes at them is not the smartest thing we could do, but whatever. I don't shoot potatoes anyway...I make them into soup.
Whew! I think I made it! Have a great week.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Daylight Sunday!
I love Daylight Savings Time. I don't even mind giving up the hour. It's not like I lost an hour of sleep or anything. I lost an hour of cleaning up the house before people came to SS. Who cares about losing an hour of cleaning? And now, SS is over and it's still lovely and light outside! I'm so excited.
What was so interesting is that people came around the same time as usual, but they stayed longer like they do in summer. Everyone changed their clocks except The Fix It Guy so we were all wondering where they were when 5:30 came and went and we hadn't seen them. Turns out he was lucky he even got to come at all because he was so busy fixing something that The Fleece Lady had to back the car out of the driveway to get him to run in and change his clothes and clean up so he could go along. She almost left without him, but you know...she might have needed something fixed, so it was smart to wait for him, just in case.
It was more of a party atmosphere too because everyone is happy about the light. Living this far north, winter days are soooooo short that we forget how lovely and long the summer evenings are and today we were all reminded of that. I think it made everyone quite cheerful.
The soup was a yummy yellow split pea soup. I started with a recipe, but soon abandoned it. I wanted to avoid the usual gloppy thick split pea, so I made this one rather thin by using lots of veggie stock. Once the peas were soft, I added thinly sliced onions and carrots that I had sauteed with thyme, marjoram, and ginger. The soup went fast, but I think there's still a bit left for me and The Gimpy Southerner (yes, he's still quite sore from his accident- see last week's post for details on his fall from grace, er, I mean bike).
At 3pm I still didn't know what the bread was, but I'd bought buttermilk at the store because it seems like nine out of ten quickbread recipes call for it. I put "buttermilk muffin recipe" into Google and came up with these lovely buttermilk oatmeal muffins. I tripled the recipe but instead of tripling the whole wheat flour, I did one cup of whole wheat, one of spelt, and one of all-purpose. I think it made them lighter than they would've been and they are super yummy. It made 3 dozen and we have at least a dozen left. Can you say delish breakfast tomorrow? Yummm!
I think this was my 45th soup. Something like that. We're coming up on the big One Year SS Anniversary Souper Soup Swap (first weekend in May). More details to follow! Have a great week and eat well!
What was so interesting is that people came around the same time as usual, but they stayed longer like they do in summer. Everyone changed their clocks except The Fix It Guy so we were all wondering where they were when 5:30 came and went and we hadn't seen them. Turns out he was lucky he even got to come at all because he was so busy fixing something that The Fleece Lady had to back the car out of the driveway to get him to run in and change his clothes and clean up so he could go along. She almost left without him, but you know...she might have needed something fixed, so it was smart to wait for him, just in case.
It was more of a party atmosphere too because everyone is happy about the light. Living this far north, winter days are soooooo short that we forget how lovely and long the summer evenings are and today we were all reminded of that. I think it made everyone quite cheerful.
The soup was a yummy yellow split pea soup. I started with a recipe, but soon abandoned it. I wanted to avoid the usual gloppy thick split pea, so I made this one rather thin by using lots of veggie stock. Once the peas were soft, I added thinly sliced onions and carrots that I had sauteed with thyme, marjoram, and ginger. The soup went fast, but I think there's still a bit left for me and The Gimpy Southerner (yes, he's still quite sore from his accident- see last week's post for details on his fall from grace, er, I mean bike).
At 3pm I still didn't know what the bread was, but I'd bought buttermilk at the store because it seems like nine out of ten quickbread recipes call for it. I put "buttermilk muffin recipe" into Google and came up with these lovely buttermilk oatmeal muffins. I tripled the recipe but instead of tripling the whole wheat flour, I did one cup of whole wheat, one of spelt, and one of all-purpose. I think it made them lighter than they would've been and they are super yummy. It made 3 dozen and we have at least a dozen left. Can you say delish breakfast tomorrow? Yummm!
I think this was my 45th soup. Something like that. We're coming up on the big One Year SS Anniversary Souper Soup Swap (first weekend in May). More details to follow! Have a great week and eat well!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Four P Soup
Last year, when the Southerner proved that Black Thumb was a nickname from his past and he actually could grow food, I decided I better learn to cook all those veggies he was bringing home so I bought a cookbook called Perfect Vegetables (they didn't have a book called Perfect Squash). It turned out to be a fantastic cookbook and when I heard someone in the grocery store raving over parsnips (I always wondered what those white carrots were), I decided to buy some and give 'em a try since they were covered in the book. They were delicious and now I throw them in my roasted vegetables all the time.
Last week parsnips were on sale so I bought a bag of small, tender ones and this week, when it came time to pick a soup, I got online and did a Google search for "potato parsnip soup". It led me to this blog post by a woman named Annamaria, a Hungarian living in Texas. All I have to say is THANK YOU ANNAMARIA! This is a yummy soup and you should try it. She calls it Cream of Parsnip and Potato Soup, although I dubbed it Four P Soup because it has potatoes, parsnips, parsley, and I added (Hungarian) paprika for colour and also because I had some and it seemed like a good idea since it was a Hungarian soup.
If you look at this recipe and you think, "Oh, I'll use dried parsley and I don't have any lemon" I will say to you that your soup still will probably be pretty good, but it will be outstanding if you make the effort to get the fresh parsley, toss it with the fresh lemon juice, and olive oil and serve as suggested. Because there are a lot of people at SS, I don't really like to stand around giving directions about adding garnish, so I just dumped all the parsley/lemon/olive oil mixture right into the soup and that worked fine.
We had a lot of people today, ten in fact, plus us and it was sort of a madhouse of laughter and good food and good company. Very nice. The Southerner has a gimp in his giddy-up from a spill on his bike, so he got lots of attention, although I'm not sure it was the kind he really wanted! Much of it had to do with how he should take it easy (not in his nature), how ribs take weeks to heal (also not what he wanted to hear), and lots of advice about whether riding his bike home after his fall was really the best choice (too late now). He will recover eventually and in the meantime, he's volunteered to taste anything I care to cook. He's a keeper, that one. I'm glad I get to keep him.
Have a fun week and if you ride your bike, know that it's not necessary to take your hand off the handlebars to wave at the neighbour, thus hitting black ice, and going down. Your neighbour will understand...even if you are a southerner and it's the southern way to wave and be friendly!
Last week parsnips were on sale so I bought a bag of small, tender ones and this week, when it came time to pick a soup, I got online and did a Google search for "potato parsnip soup". It led me to this blog post by a woman named Annamaria, a Hungarian living in Texas. All I have to say is THANK YOU ANNAMARIA! This is a yummy soup and you should try it. She calls it Cream of Parsnip and Potato Soup, although I dubbed it Four P Soup because it has potatoes, parsnips, parsley, and I added (Hungarian) paprika for colour and also because I had some and it seemed like a good idea since it was a Hungarian soup.
If you look at this recipe and you think, "Oh, I'll use dried parsley and I don't have any lemon" I will say to you that your soup still will probably be pretty good, but it will be outstanding if you make the effort to get the fresh parsley, toss it with the fresh lemon juice, and olive oil and serve as suggested. Because there are a lot of people at SS, I don't really like to stand around giving directions about adding garnish, so I just dumped all the parsley/lemon/olive oil mixture right into the soup and that worked fine.
We had a lot of people today, ten in fact, plus us and it was sort of a madhouse of laughter and good food and good company. Very nice. The Southerner has a gimp in his giddy-up from a spill on his bike, so he got lots of attention, although I'm not sure it was the kind he really wanted! Much of it had to do with how he should take it easy (not in his nature), how ribs take weeks to heal (also not what he wanted to hear), and lots of advice about whether riding his bike home after his fall was really the best choice (too late now). He will recover eventually and in the meantime, he's volunteered to taste anything I care to cook. He's a keeper, that one. I'm glad I get to keep him.
Have a fun week and if you ride your bike, know that it's not necessary to take your hand off the handlebars to wave at the neighbour, thus hitting black ice, and going down. Your neighbour will understand...even if you are a southerner and it's the southern way to wave and be friendly!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Sleepy Sunday Soup
Soooooo tired...It's so warm in here, and I actually had a glass of wine, which I rarely do...so sleepy...must post something...must...stay awake...zkhax...Oh! I'm awake. I'm awake!
Can I get away with a quick recap and a recipe? Oh, good. Quick recap...breaking news!!! THE NEIGHBOUR MISSED SUNDAY SOUP. She almost made it to the one year mark with a perfect record! Even we don't have a perfect record, but rumour has it she not only missed SS, but left the island (not permanently, but for a short holiday or something). Anyway, that was a big surprise.
We did have a new guest and she will be referred to as The Hairdresser. This is because we met after I saw her picture on Facebook (another friend posted pictures of a party we were both at) and I messaged her to tell her I loved her haircut and I wanted to know who cut it. Turns out that while she's actually in construction, she cuts her own hair. I was so inspired that this week I cut off all my hair (think: more hair than a Marine, but not by much). Anyway, she had to see my haircut (and yes, even trim it up a bit in back and show me how to use some product to make it really stylin' - or it will be after the baldy bits over my ears grow in a little) and that's how we met. Anyway, The Hairdresser is lovely and we are so glad to have met her and we hope she'll come back again soon (and if she's reading this and wondering why I'm calling her that, it's because everyone has a nickname at Sunday Soup).
The Fix-it Guy and The Musician (brown as a berry from a month in Mexico) dropped in as well. And now, here's your recipe since I'm zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......................
Red Pepper Orange Soup with Ricotta Dumplings
(soup is original, based on a few others – dumplings are from The Ultimate Soup Cookbook)
This makes a lot of soup – about 7-8 quarts. You could easily halve it. Half would serve about 6.
3 carrots – peeled, sliced
3 medium red potatoes, diced
2 medium onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
6 red bell peppers
Water
Orange juice
Thyme
Salt & pepper
Olive Oil
Halve and seed red peppers, place face down on an oiled baking sheet or glass pan. Roast for 30 minutes at 400. Remove from oven, allow to cool some, and then peel the skins off carefully. Chop roughly. (the roasting step is optional, alternatively, you can just dice the peppers and add to onion mixture and sauté, but the roasting adds flavour).
In a large stockpot over medium heat, cook onions until translucent. Add garlic, potatoes, carrots. Cook 5 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Add Thyme, salt and pepper to taste (you’ll add more later, but it’s good to get a bit in from the beginning). Add roasted red pepper. Cover veggies with water, add canned tomatoes, bring to a boil and reduce to simmer. Simmer until veggies are tender (around 20-30 minutes).
Remove from heat. Mashing the veggies with a potato masher at this point helps, but is optional. Puree with a handheld immersion blender. If you don’t have one, you can use a regular blender and do it in batches, but LET THE SOUP COOL FIRST!!! or it will blow off the top of your blender! Not pretty.
When the soup is pureed, add orange juice. I think I put in about 2 cups, but honestly, I just did it by taste. Also, adjust seasonings at this time. That’s it. Yumm!
The red pepper flavour is very mild. You could reduce the potatoes and add more peppers if you like it stronger.
Ricotta Dumplings
This recipe is from the Ultimate Soup Cookbook, but I’ve altered it just a tiny bit.
1 cup of ricotta cheese
1 egg
½ cup flour
½ tsp salt
3 TBS fresh parsley
Mix all the ingredients together. Bring a large pot of water to boil and then reduce it to simmer. Drop spoonfuls of dough into the water, cover, cook 10 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon to a plate to drain a little. Do in several batches unless you have a very wide pot because they’ll fuse together if they’re crowded into it. Place a couple of dumplings in each soup bowl and top with soup. You could put them into the pot, but they break apart some and so I think putting them in each bowl works best.
Can I get away with a quick recap and a recipe? Oh, good. Quick recap...breaking news!!! THE NEIGHBOUR MISSED SUNDAY SOUP. She almost made it to the one year mark with a perfect record! Even we don't have a perfect record, but rumour has it she not only missed SS, but left the island (not permanently, but for a short holiday or something). Anyway, that was a big surprise.
We did have a new guest and she will be referred to as The Hairdresser. This is because we met after I saw her picture on Facebook (another friend posted pictures of a party we were both at) and I messaged her to tell her I loved her haircut and I wanted to know who cut it. Turns out that while she's actually in construction, she cuts her own hair. I was so inspired that this week I cut off all my hair (think: more hair than a Marine, but not by much). Anyway, she had to see my haircut (and yes, even trim it up a bit in back and show me how to use some product to make it really stylin' - or it will be after the baldy bits over my ears grow in a little) and that's how we met. Anyway, The Hairdresser is lovely and we are so glad to have met her and we hope she'll come back again soon (and if she's reading this and wondering why I'm calling her that, it's because everyone has a nickname at Sunday Soup).
The Fix-it Guy and The Musician (brown as a berry from a month in Mexico) dropped in as well. And now, here's your recipe since I'm zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......................
Red Pepper Orange Soup with Ricotta Dumplings
(soup is original, based on a few others – dumplings are from The Ultimate Soup Cookbook)
This makes a lot of soup – about 7-8 quarts. You could easily halve it. Half would serve about 6.
3 carrots – peeled, sliced
3 medium red potatoes, diced
2 medium onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
6 red bell peppers
Water
Orange juice
Thyme
Salt & pepper
Olive Oil
Halve and seed red peppers, place face down on an oiled baking sheet or glass pan. Roast for 30 minutes at 400. Remove from oven, allow to cool some, and then peel the skins off carefully. Chop roughly. (the roasting step is optional, alternatively, you can just dice the peppers and add to onion mixture and sauté, but the roasting adds flavour).
In a large stockpot over medium heat, cook onions until translucent. Add garlic, potatoes, carrots. Cook 5 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Add Thyme, salt and pepper to taste (you’ll add more later, but it’s good to get a bit in from the beginning). Add roasted red pepper. Cover veggies with water, add canned tomatoes, bring to a boil and reduce to simmer. Simmer until veggies are tender (around 20-30 minutes).
Remove from heat. Mashing the veggies with a potato masher at this point helps, but is optional. Puree with a handheld immersion blender. If you don’t have one, you can use a regular blender and do it in batches, but LET THE SOUP COOL FIRST!!! or it will blow off the top of your blender! Not pretty.
When the soup is pureed, add orange juice. I think I put in about 2 cups, but honestly, I just did it by taste. Also, adjust seasonings at this time. That’s it. Yumm!
The red pepper flavour is very mild. You could reduce the potatoes and add more peppers if you like it stronger.
Ricotta Dumplings
This recipe is from the Ultimate Soup Cookbook, but I’ve altered it just a tiny bit.
1 cup of ricotta cheese
1 egg
½ cup flour
½ tsp salt
3 TBS fresh parsley
Mix all the ingredients together. Bring a large pot of water to boil and then reduce it to simmer. Drop spoonfuls of dough into the water, cover, cook 10 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon to a plate to drain a little. Do in several batches unless you have a very wide pot because they’ll fuse together if they’re crowded into it. Place a couple of dumplings in each soup bowl and top with soup. You could put them into the pot, but they break apart some and so I think putting them in each bowl works best.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
New Soup - Take 2
The Southerner was able to get my pan clean, he did go to the store with me, and he chopped mounds of cauliflower for the new soup. He is a Star! No, I mean a Double Star! No...wait...a Super Star! Yep, that's it!
During the summer, we had a lot of people at Sunday Soup. It dropped off in the fall, and I began to make less soup. However, about a month ago, attendance started to pick up again, so today I made a triple batch of Rachel Ray's Cauliflower Soup. I think the only change I made was that I used plain, unsweetened Silk (soymilk) instead of milk or cream. I made garlic and herb foccacia and roasted red pepper foccacia for the bread.
Another thing that changed over the winter is that instead of people starting to show up around 4:30pm, more and more people have been showing up at 4pm straight up. When no one was here, not even The Neighbour, by 4:35, we were looking at that triple batch of soup and hoping it was really delicious! But then The Neighbour did arrive. And so did The Fix-it Guy & The Fleece Lady, followed by The Real Estate Agent. It was a small group, but a wonderful thing happened. I think that when the crowd is bigger, everyone has one bowl of soup and maybe after a while they'll have a bit more, but most people are cautious about having too much in case there's not enough. Today, however, it was clear that there was a lot of soup, and not many people, and everyone had several bowls! It was great to see the guests choosing the biggest Ugly Mugs and filling them to the top, and then going back for seconds, and even thirds. It made me very happy.
And there's still a lot of soup left, which makes The Southerner happy!
Eat well.
During the summer, we had a lot of people at Sunday Soup. It dropped off in the fall, and I began to make less soup. However, about a month ago, attendance started to pick up again, so today I made a triple batch of Rachel Ray's Cauliflower Soup. I think the only change I made was that I used plain, unsweetened Silk (soymilk) instead of milk or cream. I made garlic and herb foccacia and roasted red pepper foccacia for the bread.
Another thing that changed over the winter is that instead of people starting to show up around 4:30pm, more and more people have been showing up at 4pm straight up. When no one was here, not even The Neighbour, by 4:35, we were looking at that triple batch of soup and hoping it was really delicious! But then The Neighbour did arrive. And so did The Fix-it Guy & The Fleece Lady, followed by The Real Estate Agent. It was a small group, but a wonderful thing happened. I think that when the crowd is bigger, everyone has one bowl of soup and maybe after a while they'll have a bit more, but most people are cautious about having too much in case there's not enough. Today, however, it was clear that there was a lot of soup, and not many people, and everyone had several bowls! It was great to see the guests choosing the biggest Ugly Mugs and filling them to the top, and then going back for seconds, and even thirds. It made me very happy.
And there's still a lot of soup left, which makes The Southerner happy!
Eat well.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
The Southerner hearts me
For Valentine's Day The Southerner gave me:
- Numerous hugs & kisses of consolation after I burned the soup beyond recognition.
- Then he disposed of said soup, so that I wouldn't have to be sad (it was nine quarts of pretty spendy soup).
- After his nap, he's going to scour the soup pot - no small feat. According to the internet, all you have to do is boil water, vinegar, baking soda, and a tiny bit of soap in the pot for fifteen minutes and the grunge will practically wipe away. After half an hour of boiling, I could barely make a dent in the charred remains. After an hour, The Southerner showed his muscle and scrubbed part of it clean. I have faith he'll be able to get it clean for me after his restorative nap.
- Once he's done that, he's going to go to the store with me and buy ingredients for a new soup.
- And then he's going to help me make it.
Soup is usually very forgiving. You can forget about a lot of soups (except the thick or creamy ones) and it's not likely you'll burn it if you come back relatively soon, but this one tricked me. It called for quinoa (a rice like grain, but way yummier and a lot more dear). I added the quinoa and while a little of it floated, the rest of sunk to the bottom. So while my soup was barely simmering, and I was busy making The Southerner a heart shaped pizza for lunch, it was quietly turning the bottom inch of my soup to coal. Maybe I should've left it on the burner and waited to see if I got diamonds!
Even with disasters, you learn something. Next time a soup calls for quinoa, I will cook it separately and add it later, just like rice. And tonight, I will meet my sweetie pie in the kitchen, and we'll steam up the windows (making a new pot of soup).
Happy Valentine's Day!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Tortillas & Tortilla Soup
A friend of mine suggested that I make her Vegetarian Tortilla Soup for SS today, so I did. It's a fairly simple recipe involving canned tomatoes, sauce, green chiles, seasonings and a few other things. Some of the optional things she suggested are faux chicken and black beans. I do sometimes cook faux meat, but not usually for Sunday Soup. For one thing, it's expensive, but for another thing, some people really don't like it. I think I've used it once for SS, but that's it.
I did add some frozen pinto beans that I had on hand, and when I realized that they weren't enough (I'd doubled the soup recipe), I ended up tossing in a can of drained black beans, and a can of drained white beans. You serve this soup over tortilla chips, top it with cheese and diced avocado. I was concerned about the avos sitting out for three hours, even with lemon juice, so I mashed them up and made guacamole instead (which worked well).
Rather than stand around telling people to put the chips in their Ugly Mugs (that would be what I call the mug collection I got from the recycle centre, not their faces), I just put a handful of chips in each mug before everyone arrived. The soup was so popular that half way through, I added a large can of crushed tomatoes, a can of black beans, and some water and seasonings - just in case. Of course, we now have lots left over, but it looked questionable there for a bit! I put some in the freezer already, and I'm really not worried about the rest as The Southerner thought this was a most excellent soup.
So...now you're wondering about bread, aren't you? Well... Last night I got out my recipe for homemade flour tortillas. Simple! Easy Peasy! Uh-hunh. Guess what tortillas turn into if you don't get them thin enough? Pita bread. Actually, they were quite delicious, but after struggling (for various reasons) with the first batch of 12, I let my dreams of whipping out forty or fifty hot tortillas while everyone stood around marveling, fall by the wayside. I have not given up entirely. I will try again! And The Fleece Lady said she has a tortilla press that she doesn't use because she can't eat wheat anymore. If she can find it, she's going to lend it to me! Yay. Luckily The Southerner came to the rescue by making his famous corn bread. I swear that man will do anything to ride his bike. First he rode to the store for buttermilk and then AFTER he got back he checked to see if we had enough cornmeal.
"Guess I'll have to ride again!" he said cheerfully, shaking the mostly empty container.
Oh, and I know this is a long post, but I do want to quickly say that we had a HOUSE FULL today and it was great fun. We also had three new visitors that I hope to have back again. Wild Iris doesn't get a nickname because she already has such a cool real name. And the other two...well, I shall call them The Farmers, as they are, and they do, and we all enjoy their bounty each summer. One of my favorite things to do on a Saturday morning is ride my bike to the farmgate and stock up on whatever wonderful things The Farmers have that day. Much of their produce has found its way into Sunday Soup and it was so nice to finally have them here! And Wild Iris too. And all you Regulars...gosh, I'm feeling a bit sappy tonight...I often look around my house at Sunday Soup, bubbling over with conversation and food and friendship and I wonder how in the world I ended up so blessed. I hope you are equally blessed. Okay...I'll get off my sappy (but blessed) soap box...or is that soup box? No...no boxed soup here! Until next week...Eat well!
P.S. I may have lost my hat a few weeks ago, but I gained a scarf tonight. If it's yours, I reckon you'll have to come back next week for it!
I did add some frozen pinto beans that I had on hand, and when I realized that they weren't enough (I'd doubled the soup recipe), I ended up tossing in a can of drained black beans, and a can of drained white beans. You serve this soup over tortilla chips, top it with cheese and diced avocado. I was concerned about the avos sitting out for three hours, even with lemon juice, so I mashed them up and made guacamole instead (which worked well).
Rather than stand around telling people to put the chips in their Ugly Mugs (that would be what I call the mug collection I got from the recycle centre, not their faces), I just put a handful of chips in each mug before everyone arrived. The soup was so popular that half way through, I added a large can of crushed tomatoes, a can of black beans, and some water and seasonings - just in case. Of course, we now have lots left over, but it looked questionable there for a bit! I put some in the freezer already, and I'm really not worried about the rest as The Southerner thought this was a most excellent soup.
So...now you're wondering about bread, aren't you? Well... Last night I got out my recipe for homemade flour tortillas. Simple! Easy Peasy! Uh-hunh. Guess what tortillas turn into if you don't get them thin enough? Pita bread. Actually, they were quite delicious, but after struggling (for various reasons) with the first batch of 12, I let my dreams of whipping out forty or fifty hot tortillas while everyone stood around marveling, fall by the wayside. I have not given up entirely. I will try again! And The Fleece Lady said she has a tortilla press that she doesn't use because she can't eat wheat anymore. If she can find it, she's going to lend it to me! Yay. Luckily The Southerner came to the rescue by making his famous corn bread. I swear that man will do anything to ride his bike. First he rode to the store for buttermilk and then AFTER he got back he checked to see if we had enough cornmeal.
"Guess I'll have to ride again!" he said cheerfully, shaking the mostly empty container.
Oh, and I know this is a long post, but I do want to quickly say that we had a HOUSE FULL today and it was great fun. We also had three new visitors that I hope to have back again. Wild Iris doesn't get a nickname because she already has such a cool real name. And the other two...well, I shall call them The Farmers, as they are, and they do, and we all enjoy their bounty each summer. One of my favorite things to do on a Saturday morning is ride my bike to the farmgate and stock up on whatever wonderful things The Farmers have that day. Much of their produce has found its way into Sunday Soup and it was so nice to finally have them here! And Wild Iris too. And all you Regulars...gosh, I'm feeling a bit sappy tonight...I often look around my house at Sunday Soup, bubbling over with conversation and food and friendship and I wonder how in the world I ended up so blessed. I hope you are equally blessed. Okay...I'll get off my sappy (but blessed) soap box...or is that soup box? No...no boxed soup here! Until next week...Eat well!
P.S. I may have lost my hat a few weeks ago, but I gained a scarf tonight. If it's yours, I reckon you'll have to come back next week for it!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
All's Well That Ends Well
Ahhhh...another Sunday Soup, come and gone. The Southerner did a few tunes at a benefit for the Gaza victims this afternoon, so we found ourselves racing back to the house from the Theatre Center at the other end of the island at 4pm straight up. We arrived about fifteen after to find The (wonderful) Neighbour in the house, stoking the fire. Soon after, the guests started to arrive and we had a very relaxed and lovely afternoon.
The soup was Lentil Barley and quite delicious. Unlike so many lentil soups, the spices were not curry or cumin, but rosemary and oregano. A simple soup, but I'm too lazy to type up the recipe word for word, so go for it using these minimal directions:
Sautee onion, carrots, celery in a little butter. Add equal parts barley, lentils (around 3/4 cup each), a 28oz can of diced tomatoes, undrained and 6 cups of veggie stock. Season with oregano and rosemary. Add the salt at the very end. That's it, more or less.
The bread was very popular, although there is plenty left for toast, which makes me excited. I might even have to make breakfast for supper (toast, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes) just so I don't have to wait until tomorrow morning to try it that way.
I hope you had a lovely weekend. And just for the record, I'm still really hoping someone will find my hat!!! I did get a new, very hip black one at Artworks, but I'm still really missing that grey one and they don't appear to make it in grey anymore. I know...get out the world's smallest violin and play me a tune.
Eat well!
P.S. The Shakespeare reference is because first of all, I was afraid we wouldn't make it back in time for SS, but we did - pretty much anyway. And the other reason is because at the benefit this afternoon we had the pleasure of seeing two fine actors do some bits and pieces of Shakespeare. Really good stuff. Garry Davies did a variety of monologues including two where he played women - Helena and Juliet, and Antony Holland did a wonderful piece from Merchant of Venice that had everyone sitting on the edge of their seats.
The soup was Lentil Barley and quite delicious. Unlike so many lentil soups, the spices were not curry or cumin, but rosemary and oregano. A simple soup, but I'm too lazy to type up the recipe word for word, so go for it using these minimal directions:
Sautee onion, carrots, celery in a little butter. Add equal parts barley, lentils (around 3/4 cup each), a 28oz can of diced tomatoes, undrained and 6 cups of veggie stock. Season with oregano and rosemary. Add the salt at the very end. That's it, more or less.
The bread was very popular, although there is plenty left for toast, which makes me excited. I might even have to make breakfast for supper (toast, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes) just so I don't have to wait until tomorrow morning to try it that way.
I hope you had a lovely weekend. And just for the record, I'm still really hoping someone will find my hat!!! I did get a new, very hip black one at Artworks, but I'm still really missing that grey one and they don't appear to make it in grey anymore. I know...get out the world's smallest violin and play me a tune.
Eat well!
P.S. The Shakespeare reference is because first of all, I was afraid we wouldn't make it back in time for SS, but we did - pretty much anyway. And the other reason is because at the benefit this afternoon we had the pleasure of seeing two fine actors do some bits and pieces of Shakespeare. Really good stuff. Garry Davies did a variety of monologues including two where he played women - Helena and Juliet, and Antony Holland did a wonderful piece from Merchant of Venice that had everyone sitting on the edge of their seats.
Recipes, experience & a calm mind
I have lately started using recipes. Sunday Soup has forced me to. By lately, I mean for the last six months or so. When I first learned to cook I studied techniques and then applied them to improve the things I "thought" I knew how to cook. The quality of our food improved quite a bit. Then I started experimenting and discovered I have a knack for combos and creating recipes. I cooked like that for several years.
When we moved to the island and The Southerner started bringing home foods I didn't know what to do with (beets, zucchini), I got the cookbook Perfect Vegetables (which I highly recommend). Sunday Soup forced my hand though...after just a few weeks I realized I needed help with both bread and soup. I am now ADDICTED to cookbooks. While I usually swap some ingredients out, or change something because it sounds odd, I still love using recipes. I think the big change in my thinking is because when I first started to cook, if I didn't have two or three ingredients on hand, then the recipe was useless to me. Now I just sub confidently because I know a lot more about cooking.
For example, this week I chose to make brown bread from The Zen Monastery Cookbook (which is one of the coolest cookbooks EVER!). I thought I had all the ingredients, but when I was adding the molasses, I realized I was a bit short of one cup (I was doubling it), so I topped it off with honey and just a bit of water because honey is thicker than molasses.
Interestingly enough, the recipe says to "pour" the batter into a loaf pan. Well, let me just tell you that I think those monks might've had a little too much of their home brew* when they wrote this recipe because the "batter" was somewhere between a thick muffin batter and cookie dough. I double, and then triple checked the recipe. All good. I scooped the batter/dough into the pans and it turned out fantastic. I did have to turn the oven down a bit after half an hour and the bread was done after 45 minutes instead of an hour.
The thing is, this is how experience helps you use recipes. Five years ago I would've panicked at the density of the batter, wouldn't have known to turn the oven down, would've cooked it for the whole hour, and been rewarded with bricks. But on the positive side, that's also how I learned what to do in this case. It's all about trial and error. Thank goodness The Southerner will eat anything! It makes the failures that much easier to stomach!
Try this recipe. It's delish:
Brown Bread from The Zen Monestary Cookbook
(adapted from The Peaceful Palate)
2 cups wholewheat flour
1 cup white flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (or soymilk)
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup raisisn
Preheat oven to 350. Sift dry ingredients into large mixing bowl, stir to combine.
Mix milk with molasses in separate bowl.
Add raisins and wet to dry. Stir well to combine.
"Pour" into a buttered loaf pan and bake 50 minutes to an hour
Makes one loaf
*Some monks do brew beer, although I don't think these monks do. I think they're at high altitude and I'm at practically no altitude, so that could've made a difference.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
A cracking good time
Today I rebelled and didn't make any bread! Okay, that's actually a lie. I did make a loaf of bread, but I hid it under a towel because it is our daily bread and wasn't intended for Sunday Soup. Instead, I made crackers! Yes, crackers!
The Southerner and I periodically take a hard look at our diet and try to change a few things to improve it. The truth is, we probably eat healthier than most people, but there's always room for improvement. We do cook almost all our own food and we're vegetarian so even if we do eat out, we haven't had fast food in like...well, since the last time we drove cross country and had to get pizza slices at a rest stop in Wyoming (which I don't recommend). We also hope to never eat another cheese sandwich from Subway, but I digress. Anyway, recently we talked about what we eat and the whole processed food thing came up again. I am not ready to give up on my faux hotdogs, but when The Southerner suggested I try making crackers, I jumped on it.
He thought the dough I use for pizza crust would be good. It's not. I tried it, thinking he might be right, but yeast does not belong in crackers. So I got out my handy How to Cook Everything Vegetarian cookbook (a fave!) and found the recipe for crackers. Soooooo easy!!! And so much fun to make I couldn't stop. After six batches The Southerner finally had to stop me.
"Just because you can make them, doesn't mean you need to supply the whole island!"
Okay, he didn't really say that, but when I suggested making just one more batch, he did roll his eyes. Here are my flavour combos: plain (like an English water cracker), whole wheat and cumin (my least favourite), Parmesan and Italian herb (the best one - made two batches), Aleppo peppers with cornmeal subbed for part of the flour (spicey and yummy), and rosemary and black pepper (a good idea, but it needed more of both seasonings). I highly recommend checking out both this cookbook and this recipe. Or drop by my Facebook page because I wrote it all up there.
In addition to cutting back on our processed food (goodbye potato chips, so long bottled dressing, see ya later Barbara's jalepeno and blue cheese cheet-o-like thingies), we have chosen a few veggies to add to our diet. Being vegetarians, we naturally eat a lot of veggies, but there are some we have avoided because they don't really appeal to us. Bell peppers, eggplant, beets, and sweet potatoes are a few foods that neither of us have ever really wanted to eat, so we didn't.
I can safely say we probably won't voluntarily eat eggplant because it makes my throat itch and The Southerner's not that fond of it. However, lately we've added red, yellow, and orange peppers into our diet, last summer we ate beets from The Fix-it Guy and The Fleece Lady's garden, and today I made Sweet Potato Soup for SS. It was FABULOUS! I may not take any sweet potatoes with marshmallows on Thanksgiving, but I will make this soup again.
It came from The Ultimate Soup Cookbook (Reader's Digest) and let me tell you that this is probably the best soup cookbook I have found. I think I've made about ten soups from it and every one of them was great. I often make alterations, but several of these I've made really close to the actual recipe and they have turned out fantastic. This book is certainly making me look like a better cook than I am. And here's a tip, if you want a copy, try ebay. I got a brand new copy there for $13 plus shipping.It was a little quieter here this week than last week at Mum & Dad's! The Neighbour informed me that up until last week, we were the only two with perfect attendance, and now I've missed a SS and she's the only one who's been here every single Sunday since May! I said, "Hey! Last week at Mum's, I made four soups and five kinds of bread, plus the soup y'all had here! That's got to count for something!" but she's sticking to her story. So alas, I am no longer perfect. I know, that's a shock to all who know me.
Until next week...eat lots of soup!
Lost - my favourite hat!
Hi All,
I meant to include this note in last week's post, but forgot. When my grandmother arrived at SS she commented on my grey fleece hat being a "chef's hat". I'd forgotten I was wearing it and quickly took it off and threw it in the bedroom that we were staying in for our visit. Well...that also ended up being the bedroom where everyone put their coats. When SS was over, my favourite hat was gone!
If anyone ended up getting home with it and you're wondering whose it is, it's mine! I really love that hat, so I'm willing to trade you some secret recipes for its safe return, no questions asked. If you love it so much you can't part with it (which I totally understand), you can get one right there in Portland because that's where they're made by Cagoule Fleece. Hmmm...I was just over at their site and they're having a sale. I gotta go...
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Sunday Soup on the Road
Hello All! The reason I'm posting late this week is because SS was on the road and I didn't really want to advertise on the internet that we were away from home. We're back now, so now I can tell y'all all about it!
The Southerner and I went to visit The Parents (road trip!). Mum asked me if I would mind doing SS on Friday night since we were scheduled to head home on Saturday, but we decided it would be more fun to change our dates and have SS at their house. It was a much bigger deal than our usual SS here on the island as Mum had invited about sixty people! Although we were sorry they didn't all come, it was a bit of a relief too because that's a lot of soup and bread! As it is, I think there was probably around thirty people and we made four soups and five loaves of bread.
My grandmother, who follows these posts regularly and LOVES soup even more than I do requested French Onion, which I made for her with Swiss cheese toasts to go in it. I made the White Bean with Spinach and Sundried Tomatoes (from a few weeks ago) for the crockpot, and Julia Child's potato-leek soup (fabulous and sooo simple) in Mum's pot. Those are all soups I've made before though, so I had to have a new one too. I asked my eight year old niece what she would like and she said "spinach?", so that's what I made.
She wanted a cream of spinach and I'd just bought that fabulous soup cookbook that I mentioned a few months ago here and sure enough, there was a cream of spinach soup recipe. I have to admit that it is probably not a recipe I could afford to make up here, but since Mum was footing the bill, I jumped all over the opportunity. Plus, because we had three other soups, we didn't have to make a lot of it, just enough. If I served it here as the only soup, I think it would cost me about $30 or so for seven or eight quarts. I have to be more economical than that, but maybe in the summer when I can use fresh spinach that The Southerner grew instead of frozen, I will be able to afford that.
Anyway, it turned out really lovely. It has celery and leeks in it (and spinach, of course) and veggie stock and you puree it and add cream (I used Silk). The unusual bit that made it particularly good was the seasoning. It calls for mint and marjoram, plus the usual (salt and pepper). Very, very tasty.
My cousin Zach, who is also eight, was not impressed with any of the soups (pesky vegetables!), but I promised not to repeat what he said the spinach soup looked like! It made me laugh though, as no one's ever described any of my soups quite that way. To his credit, he did try it, although I think it burned his tongue, so he probably wasn't the best judge of the taste. Poor Zach, he had a hard SS because my friend Dawn brough fancy chocolate bars and he got a mouthful of one of them before anyone told him it had dried mushrooms in it. Yeah...mushrooms! I helped him rinse out the sink after he spit that out! I could feel his pain!!! Luckily, I don't like dark chocolate, so I didn't accidentally eat any. Mushrooms are fine in soup, but in chocolate? Pass.
As for the guests, it was very exciting! It was mostly family, with a few friends for good measure. Hmmm...maybe there was only one friend there, now that I think about it. The other one that was supposed to come called at 7:15pm saying that she'd gone into Ikea at 3:45 and just found her way out again. That's happened to us too, which is why we stay far away from there!
Anyway, there were several branches of the family. My parents, my dad's sisters and some of my cousins, my dad's aunts and some of his cousins, my grandmother, my mum's brothers and sister, my cousins on that side, kids of some of my cousins, my brother, my niece, and of course me and The Southerner. In case you didn't know this, The Southerner is an only child and looked a little dazed by four generations, but he held up reasonably well!
Anyway, it was really fun and on the way home, The Southerner and I decided that we'd try and make a January trip next year and have a big Sunday Soup down there again (don't worry, Mum, we'll visit before then too)! Oh, and lest any of you were worried about people showing up here at home and wondering where we were, we had that covered too. The Brits and The Neighbour hosted a very quiet SS here...well, I don't actually know how quiet they were, but there was only the three of them, and if they were noisy, well...the cats are cool and didn't say a mumblin' word*.
Sunday Soup has taught me a lot of things, but probably the most important is that "it is what it is". What I mean by that is there is no reason to worry if you have enough soup, or plenty of bread, or how many people are coming... You just make the food, clean the house to the best of your ability without it being an all-day process, and you enjoy yourself. I have never run out of soup or bread yet, but I can honestly say that someday I probably will, just because more people come than I have soup for, and when that day comes, I'll just offer everyone another cup of tea and the conversation will go on...that's what it's about, right? Gathering together with people you love and having a good time.
*A slightly mangled line from Hoyt Axton's song Della and the Dealer.
The Southerner and I went to visit The Parents (road trip!). Mum asked me if I would mind doing SS on Friday night since we were scheduled to head home on Saturday, but we decided it would be more fun to change our dates and have SS at their house. It was a much bigger deal than our usual SS here on the island as Mum had invited about sixty people! Although we were sorry they didn't all come, it was a bit of a relief too because that's a lot of soup and bread! As it is, I think there was probably around thirty people and we made four soups and five loaves of bread.
My grandmother, who follows these posts regularly and LOVES soup even more than I do requested French Onion, which I made for her with Swiss cheese toasts to go in it. I made the White Bean with Spinach and Sundried Tomatoes (from a few weeks ago) for the crockpot, and Julia Child's potato-leek soup (fabulous and sooo simple) in Mum's pot. Those are all soups I've made before though, so I had to have a new one too. I asked my eight year old niece what she would like and she said "spinach?", so that's what I made.
She wanted a cream of spinach and I'd just bought that fabulous soup cookbook that I mentioned a few months ago here and sure enough, there was a cream of spinach soup recipe. I have to admit that it is probably not a recipe I could afford to make up here, but since Mum was footing the bill, I jumped all over the opportunity. Plus, because we had three other soups, we didn't have to make a lot of it, just enough. If I served it here as the only soup, I think it would cost me about $30 or so for seven or eight quarts. I have to be more economical than that, but maybe in the summer when I can use fresh spinach that The Southerner grew instead of frozen, I will be able to afford that.
Anyway, it turned out really lovely. It has celery and leeks in it (and spinach, of course) and veggie stock and you puree it and add cream (I used Silk). The unusual bit that made it particularly good was the seasoning. It calls for mint and marjoram, plus the usual (salt and pepper). Very, very tasty.
My cousin Zach, who is also eight, was not impressed with any of the soups (pesky vegetables!), but I promised not to repeat what he said the spinach soup looked like! It made me laugh though, as no one's ever described any of my soups quite that way. To his credit, he did try it, although I think it burned his tongue, so he probably wasn't the best judge of the taste. Poor Zach, he had a hard SS because my friend Dawn brough fancy chocolate bars and he got a mouthful of one of them before anyone told him it had dried mushrooms in it. Yeah...mushrooms! I helped him rinse out the sink after he spit that out! I could feel his pain!!! Luckily, I don't like dark chocolate, so I didn't accidentally eat any. Mushrooms are fine in soup, but in chocolate? Pass.
As for the guests, it was very exciting! It was mostly family, with a few friends for good measure. Hmmm...maybe there was only one friend there, now that I think about it. The other one that was supposed to come called at 7:15pm saying that she'd gone into Ikea at 3:45 and just found her way out again. That's happened to us too, which is why we stay far away from there!
Anyway, there were several branches of the family. My parents, my dad's sisters and some of my cousins, my dad's aunts and some of his cousins, my grandmother, my mum's brothers and sister, my cousins on that side, kids of some of my cousins, my brother, my niece, and of course me and The Southerner. In case you didn't know this, The Southerner is an only child and looked a little dazed by four generations, but he held up reasonably well!
Anyway, it was really fun and on the way home, The Southerner and I decided that we'd try and make a January trip next year and have a big Sunday Soup down there again (don't worry, Mum, we'll visit before then too)! Oh, and lest any of you were worried about people showing up here at home and wondering where we were, we had that covered too. The Brits and The Neighbour hosted a very quiet SS here...well, I don't actually know how quiet they were, but there was only the three of them, and if they were noisy, well...the cats are cool and didn't say a mumblin' word*.
Sunday Soup has taught me a lot of things, but probably the most important is that "it is what it is". What I mean by that is there is no reason to worry if you have enough soup, or plenty of bread, or how many people are coming... You just make the food, clean the house to the best of your ability without it being an all-day process, and you enjoy yourself. I have never run out of soup or bread yet, but I can honestly say that someday I probably will, just because more people come than I have soup for, and when that day comes, I'll just offer everyone another cup of tea and the conversation will go on...that's what it's about, right? Gathering together with people you love and having a good time.
*A slightly mangled line from Hoyt Axton's song Della and the Dealer.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Leave those skins on...
Yesterday when I came home from the grocery store The Southerner and The Fix-it Guy were working on the bathroom drains (because you couldn't really call them drains anymore since they didn't). Actually, The Fix-it Guy was working on the drains and The Southerner was "standing by" just in case. Hehe. Anyway, The Southerner went into the kitchen for a something (probably more tea - standing by is a very thirsty job) and saw the ten pounds of potatoes I'd bought.
The Southerner: Potatoes on sale?
Me: Nope. They're for the soup and guess what? The recipe calls for them to be peeled.
The Southerner: ALL OF THEM!!! You've got to be kidding me!!!!
You see, the reason he reacted so strongly is because if you'll recall, I cannot peel potatoes. I had a major allergic reaction last summer when I peeled potatoes for soup. The Southerner is now the designated potato peeler. From down the hall (and under the sink), The Fix-it Guy yelled out, "Don't peel them! The peelings are the best part!"
The truth is that while I had already decided to adapt the recipe somehow so that they did not all have to be peeled, I had to make The Southerner sweat just a little bit.
Me: They have to be peeled. That's how the recipe works!
He didn't really fall for it though because he knows I've never followed a recipe to the letter in my life. In the end, he was right not to worry because I totally made up the soup. I did have him peel about ten large potatoes. I got sent to my room (office) while he was doing it becauseI had the audacity to try and explain to him why he was going to cut himself if he kept using the potato peeler the way he was using it the potatoes were making me sneeze, even though he was doing the peeling.
The rest of the scrubbed potatoes I rubbed with olive oil and salt and then baked on a sheet pan at 450 for about an hour. I boiled the potatoes that he peeled and then pureed them with the water and some carmelized onion to make a base for the soup. Then I chopped the baked potatoes, added them to it, added more water, seasonings and a whole lot of shredded cheddar cheese, some chives, and thinned it with a little vegetable stock. Just in case you're wondering why I used ten pounds of potatoes when I wasn't expecting very many people today, it's because I made nearly nine quarts of soup.
I made nine quarts because someone asked me to do Sunday Soup at their house for their family next week and I agreed. Although we spread the word to our regulars that we wouldn't be here, we didn't see everyone this week, so The Neighbour and The Brits are planning on defrosting half of this week's soup (which I intend to freeze tomorrow) and hosting their own SS here, just in case anyone shows up. So essentially there will be two Sunday Soups next week. You're welcome to join us at either of them, but of course you have to know where to go...I can't really post that info here!
Today we had a small, but fun group. There was me, The Southerner, The Brits, The Neighbour, The Fix-it Guy and The Fleece Lady, and The Real Estate Agent (Extraordinaire) here. The bread was the no-knead type, with a garlic and herb ribbon (how's that for fancy? It means I spread it out on the board as dough, brushed a mixture of olive oil, Italian herbs, and garlic paste over it and then rolled it up and baked it as usual), which was quite popular, and a variety of cookies and candies leftover from last week. The only unfortunate thing is that I did not make the time to prepare a casserole, so now SS is over for the week and I am sitting in front of the fire with my feet up, but there is nothing in the oven baking until bubbly. I can hear The Southerner's stomach growling from the other room. Time to forage...
Have a great week!
The Southerner: Potatoes on sale?
Me: Nope. They're for the soup and guess what? The recipe calls for them to be peeled.
The Southerner: ALL OF THEM!!! You've got to be kidding me!!!!
You see, the reason he reacted so strongly is because if you'll recall, I cannot peel potatoes. I had a major allergic reaction last summer when I peeled potatoes for soup. The Southerner is now the designated potato peeler. From down the hall (and under the sink), The Fix-it Guy yelled out, "Don't peel them! The peelings are the best part!"
The truth is that while I had already decided to adapt the recipe somehow so that they did not all have to be peeled, I had to make The Southerner sweat just a little bit.
Me: They have to be peeled. That's how the recipe works!
He didn't really fall for it though because he knows I've never followed a recipe to the letter in my life. In the end, he was right not to worry because I totally made up the soup. I did have him peel about ten large potatoes. I got sent to my room (office) while he was doing it because
The rest of the scrubbed potatoes I rubbed with olive oil and salt and then baked on a sheet pan at 450 for about an hour. I boiled the potatoes that he peeled and then pureed them with the water and some carmelized onion to make a base for the soup. Then I chopped the baked potatoes, added them to it, added more water, seasonings and a whole lot of shredded cheddar cheese, some chives, and thinned it with a little vegetable stock. Just in case you're wondering why I used ten pounds of potatoes when I wasn't expecting very many people today, it's because I made nearly nine quarts of soup.
I made nine quarts because someone asked me to do Sunday Soup at their house for their family next week and I agreed. Although we spread the word to our regulars that we wouldn't be here, we didn't see everyone this week, so The Neighbour and The Brits are planning on defrosting half of this week's soup (which I intend to freeze tomorrow) and hosting their own SS here, just in case anyone shows up. So essentially there will be two Sunday Soups next week. You're welcome to join us at either of them, but of course you have to know where to go...I can't really post that info here!
Today we had a small, but fun group. There was me, The Southerner, The Brits, The Neighbour, The Fix-it Guy and The Fleece Lady, and The Real Estate Agent (Extraordinaire) here. The bread was the no-knead type, with a garlic and herb ribbon (how's that for fancy? It means I spread it out on the board as dough, brushed a mixture of olive oil, Italian herbs, and garlic paste over it and then rolled it up and baked it as usual), which was quite popular, and a variety of cookies and candies leftover from last week. The only unfortunate thing is that I did not make the time to prepare a casserole, so now SS is over for the week and I am sitting in front of the fire with my feet up, but there is nothing in the oven baking until bubbly. I can hear The Southerner's stomach growling from the other room. Time to forage...
Have a great week!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
The Crowd - part deux
So far so good...it was just a power surge. We're expecting high winds to go along with this wet snow, so you know...I better type fast.
The second part of this post, which you might be reading first because it will post after the one I just hurriedly posted, is about the bread. Last night, after fighting the broccoli into submission, I decided that for my own sanity, I better make the usual standard no-knead bread. I can whip it up in 5 minutes, so I made two loaves. Today, I was feeling better about the soup...you know, got some distance... and so I doctored up the loaves to make them more exciting. I kneaded (despite the no-knead name) garlic relish, cheese, and green onions into one loaf. The other loaf I sort of flattened out into a square and then broke bits of dark chocolate with hazelnuts over it and then I rolled it up and tucked it under itself. Pain au chocolat. Yeah...both breads were pretty popular!
As usual The Fleece Lady could not come without bringing something wonderful (yay Fleece Lady) and she brought a fabulous red pepper dip that I have to learn to make! Yummm...
Oh, and one last bit of news...no, not that it's snowing...ahhh power surge! Quick! The news is that Sunday Soup is going on the road on Jan. 18th. More info later! Have a great week!
The second part of this post, which you might be reading first because it will post after the one I just hurriedly posted, is about the bread. Last night, after fighting the broccoli into submission, I decided that for my own sanity, I better make the usual standard no-knead bread. I can whip it up in 5 minutes, so I made two loaves. Today, I was feeling better about the soup...you know, got some distance... and so I doctored up the loaves to make them more exciting. I kneaded (despite the no-knead name) garlic relish, cheese, and green onions into one loaf. The other loaf I sort of flattened out into a square and then broke bits of dark chocolate with hazelnuts over it and then I rolled it up and tucked it under itself. Pain au chocolat. Yeah...both breads were pretty popular!
As usual The Fleece Lady could not come without bringing something wonderful (yay Fleece Lady) and she brought a fabulous red pepper dip that I have to learn to make! Yummm...
Oh, and one last bit of news...no, not that it's snowing...ahhh power surge! Quick! The news is that Sunday Soup is going on the road on Jan. 18th. More info later! Have a great week!
The Crowd
If you've been following SS from the beginning, or you skip down to the very first post and read about how we got started, you will find out that it's based on an idea from the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. In the Betsy books she has a regular group of friends who she hangs out with and they are always referred to as "The Crowd". Today, Our Crowd was here for Sunday Soup. Plus a few newbies. We had eleven friends join us today, and two who were definitely, positively coming and then didn't because...wait for it...because IT IS SNOWING AGAIN. Yes. Again. Here. In western Canada where it does not snow for three weeks in a row. Or even three days. But snow it did, and we've already got several inches and it's STILL SNOWING.
Normally, I don't complain about the weather, but quite honestly, I feel like it's my duty if I want to fit into The Crowd. Apparently, complaining about the weather here is even more popular than hockey! I know, hard to believe, but true. I heard people complain about the snow, the temperature, and even the summer (or lack of it, which is entirely exaggerated) tonight and not one person even mentioned hockey. Hmmm...I wonder if these are real Canadians in our crowd? Now that I think about it, there's me and The Southerner, clearly not from around these parts, The Musician is half & half (Canadian/American), there is The Irish One, and The Brits...I guess it's okay that hockey never came up since probably half of us don't know anything about it anyway. But whoohee can we talk about the weather. In fact, maybe we should refer to it as THE WEATHER since it's such a popular subject.
What? You want to hear about the soup? Oh, okay. Today I made a wonderful broccoli and toasted almond soup. Earlier this week, I made it for supper and The Southerner was so impressed with it that he thought I should make it for SS. Organic broccoli was on sale, so I decided to go for it. Just so you know, steaming enough broccoli to make vast amounts of soup can be done in your big pasta insert that goes in your 9 quart stock pot. The soup itself is easy enough, but I don't have enough big pans, so I was making stock, then transferring it to a bowl while I steamed the broccoli, then transferring the broccoli with some stock to the blender and back to the pot and back to the bowl and into another bowl and then the blender and then...okay, yeah...I pretty much lost control of the soup there for a while. The Southerner did exactly what he should have done...he made a run for it and hid in his office until it was finished.
Oh....power's about to go...posting quickly...more later.
Normally, I don't complain about the weather, but quite honestly, I feel like it's my duty if I want to fit into The Crowd. Apparently, complaining about the weather here is even more popular than hockey! I know, hard to believe, but true. I heard people complain about the snow, the temperature, and even the summer (or lack of it, which is entirely exaggerated) tonight and not one person even mentioned hockey. Hmmm...I wonder if these are real Canadians in our crowd? Now that I think about it, there's me and The Southerner, clearly not from around these parts, The Musician is half & half (Canadian/American), there is The Irish One, and The Brits...I guess it's okay that hockey never came up since probably half of us don't know anything about it anyway. But whoohee can we talk about the weather. In fact, maybe we should refer to it as THE WEATHER since it's such a popular subject.
What? You want to hear about the soup? Oh, okay. Today I made a wonderful broccoli and toasted almond soup. Earlier this week, I made it for supper and The Southerner was so impressed with it that he thought I should make it for SS. Organic broccoli was on sale, so I decided to go for it. Just so you know, steaming enough broccoli to make vast amounts of soup can be done in your big pasta insert that goes in your 9 quart stock pot. The soup itself is easy enough, but I don't have enough big pans, so I was making stock, then transferring it to a bowl while I steamed the broccoli, then transferring the broccoli with some stock to the blender and back to the pot and back to the bowl and into another bowl and then the blender and then...okay, yeah...I pretty much lost control of the soup there for a while. The Southerner did exactly what he should have done...he made a run for it and hid in his office until it was finished.
Oh....power's about to go...posting quickly...more later.
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