GLC Soup Series ~ Soup One: Carrot Ginger

"Soup! We've got all kinds of soup!"

This was/is a common thing my mom would cheerfully and encouragingly say to me and my siblings when we were looking for a quick dinner. Growing up, my parents' house was (and is, still) full of a variety of canned soups. Rarely, though, did any of them appeal to us. Don't get me wrong, if my mom made soup for dinner (from a can or otherwise), we'd eat it, it just wasn't always the most appetizing food--especially because her homemade food was/is always so much better.

Anyway, this series is not going to be about soup in a can. It's going to be about soups made from scratch. And though they take some effort, they won't be so labor intensive that you'd probably prefer opening a can of Campbell's (and I admit, I still love their high fructose and sodium laden tomato soup on occasion--especially with grilled cheese).

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The first soup of this series is a carrot ginger soup. Carrots and ginger pair pretty well together, and carrot ginger soup is relatively common. However, it wasn't until about seven years ago on a chilly early spring night, that I had one I loved. It was at a small and pricey French restaurant, so soup was one of the few things I was comfortable ordering there--and I'm glad I did.  Following that night, I searched for recipes and began experimenting with the ones I found until I finally made a carrot ginger soup that I think is just as good as the one from that French restaurant. If you decide to, you can just use vegetable stock (no chicken stock) to make it vegetarian, just don't omit the butter to make it vegan, I can't make any promises about this recipe if you do....

Gigi's Carrot Ginger Soup

Ingredients (Makes About 2 Quarts):
4 Tb unsalted butter
1 lg yellow onion, chopped
2 Tb minced or finely chopped fresh ginger
3 cloves crushed or minced garlic
4 cups of chicken stock
3 cups vegetable stock or broth
1 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 lbs carrots, peeled and chopped into 1/2 in. pieces
Salt and pepper to taste

Optional ingredients for serving:
Fresh lemon juice
Snipped chives or parsley
Olive oil
Sour Cream

Begin by melting the butter on medium heat in a large heavy-bottomed stock pot. Add chopped onions, garlic, and ginger, and saute for 15-20 minutes or until aromatic and onion is translucent. Try not to let the mixture brown as it will create a bitter flavor.

Add white wine and let it cook down a bit to burn off most of the alcohol (3-5 minutes), then add the stock, broth, and carrots. Heat until boiling, then reduce the heat and let simmer uncovered until carrots are tender (about 35-45 minutes).

Once carrots are tender (can be easily crushed with a fork or spoon), turn off the heat. Using either a hand (immersion) blender or a food processor, puree the soup until smooth.  Note: If you are using a food processor, be certain to let the soup cool a bit, puree it in small stages, and leave the shoot open, otherwise you may have a very hot explosion (and subsequent burns and a mess) on your hands... or face or entire kitchen. I used a hand (immersion) blender, which works best and allows you to pretty much serve the soup immediately. I love my immersion blender... someday I'll probably write a post just about that.

Anyway, once the soup is well pureed, you can season with a tablespoon or so of lemon juice (in the whole pot), and serve it with a sprinkle of chives (as I did), parsley, sour cream, or a dash of good olive oil--and any combination you please. I actually really like it with a small dollop of sour cream and than a dash of chive oil on top.

The soup is rich and filling without being very heavy. It is the kind of soup that can work well served as the star of a meal, particularly if it's served with  a good piece of crusty (sourdough, maybe) bread, or even a salad made with mesclun greens, apples or pears, and blue cheese.

My usual taste-tester, Andrea, had a cup of it after I made it and she said, "I think this is the best carrot ginger soup I've ever had." Granted, she seems to like most of what I cook, but I agree with her. :)

Bon Appétit! 

Short cuts: though I recommend fresh ginger, you can use the pre-crushed stuff that comes in a jar (not the dried, masticated stuff) to make this soup just be sure to use an extra tablespoon or so, and to make the prep a little quicker, you can always used some baby cut carrots (chopped in half length-wise) since they're already peeled and washed. 

Put a Stock in It!

I love this time of year. It's my favorite kind of weather and the changing, colorful leaves makes everything seem so cheerful to me. The other day while on a bike ride, it felt somewhat magical when the wind picked up and I rode through a parade of little yellow leaves falling from the trees--even though my nose was running and I was looking forward to getting a warm beverage once I was finished. Of course, typically autumn means cool, often rainy, days become the norm and we seek comfort from the chill that sometimes gets into our bones through hot, flavorful foods. Many of those foods, particularly the soups we tend to make this time of year, include the use of stocks (chicken, veggie, etc.). You can buy stock at the grocery store, of course, but why not make it yourself, particularly if you have the ingredients on hand and they may otherwise not get used.

For example, ever buy a rotisserie chicken or bake a whole chicken at home? What do you do with the leftover bones/carcass? I know, "carcass" isn't the most appetizing word, but if you can get past it, I highly suggest taking what's left of the bird (especially if there's some meat left on it), and making a stock with it. I did just that recently.

I used my slow cooker, so making this stock was unbelievably easy. If you have one I would suggest using it as well, because other than maybe stirring it occasionally, you can just let the stock simmer all day and not worry about keeping an eye on it. However, it's just as easy to make on the stove as well.

Gina's Chicken Stock 

Ingredients:
1 medium-sized leftover chicken carcass from a rotisserie (baked works fine, too)
3-4 carrots (washed, but no need to peel them)
3-4 celery ribs (again just washed, no need to trim)
1-2 onions, skin peeled and cut in half
1-2 bay leaves (if small, use two)
3-4 whole cloves garlic (peeled)
1 tsp whole peppercorns
1-2 tsp of sea salt (or more to taste, but be careful not to over salt)
1/2-1 cup fresh parsley (washed, but again... no need to chop)
2 -3 quarts of water

Another item needed: a good mesh strainer

Now, this may be hard to believe, but all you need to do, is put everything in the pot (slow cooker or large stove top pot) and cover it with water then set it on low heat, put the cover on, and leave it for the next 6-10 hours. You want the stock to simmer* for the entire time, so you can stop to stir it occasionally, but other than that, you can just leave it alone until you're ready for the only (not really) challenging part of making the stock: straining it and storage.

After about three hours my house was beginning to smell of chicken soup (the good homemade kind, not the ring o' noodle kind). And this is what the stock looked like:

I let it cook for another four hours, though. I wanted to get the most out of my stock, and the longer it simmers the more the flavor develops. But after seven hours, I was ready to use some of the stock, so it was time for straining it.

Now, if I didn't have a slight tendency to be klutzy, I probably could have picked up the ceramic insert from my slow cooker and poured the whole thing into the large bowl over the strainer, but I didn't want to chance having the stock go everywhere--so I chose the safe and easy way to strain it, even if it was a bit more time consuming.

Using a pair of tongs, I removed all the large items from the stock and placed them in the strainer over the bowl. (I wanted to make sure to get as much liquid as I could out of this stock, so I didn't want to toss the large pieces of chicken and veggies).

Once all the larger items were removed and sufficiently strained of all liquid, I tossed the items away. Then I started pouring the liquid through the strainer using a large ladle. Because chickens have some tiny bones and using a slow cooker makes everything fall apart, I actually strained the stock twice to make sure I didn't end up with any "debris" in my stock. But after I was done, I ended up with just over two quarts of richly flavored stock. I froze a little more than half of it and put the rest in the refrigerator to use throughout the week.

So simple and easy, and it's a great way to save or get the most out of your money. I'll without a doubt be doing this again.

*If you have it on the stove make sure it doesn't start to come to a boil, otherwise you could end up with a bit of mess and a lot of liquid loss, which you want to avoid so the stock retains all the intense flavors (that's the point of a stock after all). 

Leftover Polenta? Try these!

Polenta Croutons

So, admittedly this recipe makes a lot of polenta and if you don't have a large family (or appetite) it can leave a good amount of leftovers.

I find that I usually prefer polenta the day I make it, even though there are a lot of recipes that suggest you spread the creamy or even "mushy" stuff into a pan, let it cool (in a refrigerator or on the counter) to harden a bit, and then slice squares or pieces of it to serve. Strangely,  I kind of like the semi-soft mush so that's usually how I eat it. However, a long while ago I was at an Italian-American restaurant that used polenta (i.e., gluten free) croutons in one of their salads and they were fantastic. Normally, I don't care for croutons--at least ones from a bag, etc. They're too crunchy and salty and they just don't work on a salad for me. The polenta ones, however, had the perfect tooth bite and didn't threaten to cut up the roof of my mouth.

So, anyway, I set out to use my leftovers to mimic those famous polenta croutons. And, not to toot my own horn (well, maybe a little), they were pretty damn good.

Ingredients:
Polenta spread into a pan and refrigerated overnight (or for several hours)
1 Tb butter
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
Olive oil, if needed


This is what I did:

I spread the leftover polenta into a cake pan so that it was maybe 1/2 inch high, then I refrigerated it overnight.

The next day, I cut it into "crouton-sized" squares. In a medium frying pan, I added the butter and garlic powder and turned the flame to about medium heat.

Once the butter was melted and a little frothy, I added the polenta. Then it was a patience game because in order to make sure the squares get crispy, I needed each side (or almost each side) to brown a little. I would say I gave it about 7 minutes per side on medium to low heat.

You really just need to keep your eye on them and try not to let the butter brown much. If you find the polenta sticking at all, add a couple drops of olive oil (you can also add more butter, if you prefer).

Once they were lightly browned and crisp on the outside, I gave one a try on its own. Buttery and garlicky crispiness on the outside and a creamy polenta center... it was pretty heavenly--and I think I managed to replicate the ones I had at that restaurant... mine might even have been better. 

This is how I served them:

I think it was one of the best salads I've ever made (mesclun greens, herbs, roasted red peppers, cucumbers, and some fresh mozz with a balsamic vinaigrette--and of course the croutons).
  

Simple, but Good: Polenta with Beans and Greens

With the beginning of fall-like temperatures, I found myself craving a, typically, cool-temperature food: polenta. Polenta can be a little polarizing—most people seem to either like it or hate it. For me, however, it’s one of those foods that needs to be cooked the right way and served at the right time, otherwise I’m usually not that interested. For example, a couple of years ago I was in Rome with my aunt. It was a cool, rainy February afternoon and we ducked into a little ristorante for some lunch. She ordered what may be the best polenta I’ve ever tasted.  I don’t know if it was coming in from the cold, wet cobbled streets or how it was made (a simple yellow polenta with four kinds of cheese), but it was incredible.  Whatever the reason, I believe it’s important to never under estimate the weather and the timing when it comes to a meal—if you’re truly hungry and the food fits your mood it could be the best meal of your life—even if it’s just soup and a sandwich (or polenta and cheese).

…Getting back to the polenta. I’m still not sure if I’ve mastered how to make the best polenta, but I think this recipe may have turned out the best so far. I made it in the crockpot and cooked some greens and beans to go along with it.

Polenta ingredients:

3 cups of hot chicken broth (can use vegetable broth or just more hot water)
4 cups of boiling water
2 cups yellow cornmeal (usually labeled as polenta)
1 Tb butter

Anyone else see Starry Night?

1 Tb olive oil
½ cup (or more) shredded parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon salt (or more if butter is unsalted and/or using no broth)

This is beyond easy—ready for the directions? Heat the liquids to boiling (or almost boiling), pour the hot liquid into the crock pot, add olive oil, butter, and salt, then stir in polenta. Cook polenta on high for 1 hour (stirring occasionally), then add cheese, and continue cooking for 1 more hour on high—stirring occasionally—or until all liquid is fully absorb and wooden spoon stands up in polenta on its own.

Greens and Beans ingredients:

2 TB (more or less) of olive oil
1 medium yellow onion chopped
7-10 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
½ cup chicken broth (or stock)

1-2 lbs cooking greens (I opted for ease and used Olivia’s cooking greens)
1 15oz can white beans, rinsed well (or use your own soaked and cooked, again I opted for ease…)
3/4 cup of diced tomatoes (canned or fresh)
Salt and Pepper as desired

Again, pretty straight forward here. In a large frying pan or dutch oven, start by sautéing the garlic and onions (medium flame) in the olive oil until they’re just translucent. Then add the beans. Let them heat up
and marinate in the pan with the garlic and onions. Add the tomatoes and stir those around until warmed through. Next add the chicken broth and let it reduce a little, then add the greens until they are bright and

wilted. Salt and pepper to taste.

The fresh, slightly bitter, and, honestly, healthy taste of the greens and beans were a great accompaniment to the rich polenta. I admittedly added a little more cheese to my plate when I served it, but it’s not necessary. It may not have been as good as the polenta in Rome, but I’m certain I’ll make it again this fall.

Also, you’ll probably notice that the photo of the B&G ingredients has some jarred artichoke hearts included—I decided against using those. Initially I thought I would add a bunch of other veggies to the greens, but the basic recipe (above) seemed to do the trick—especially since the point was really just to enjoy the rich flavor of the polenta.

In cooking, as in life, sometimes sticking to the simpler things, the basics, is not only enough, but just right.

Breaking Bread Tradition: Caprese Panzanella

Summer in the Northeast brings fresh veggies and there's really nothing quite like a fresh garden tomato--a real tomato, the way it's supposed to taste--not those mealy, pink things so many restaurants and markets try to pass off to people most of the year.

Traditionally, or perhaps just typically, Panzanella salad is made with day old crusty bread that is cut up and moistened with water before it's added to the salad. It's usually tossed into a salad with capers, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions. Actually, a fantastic recipe for the real thing comes from this book by Marcella Hazan, and someone even posted it out on the web.

I don't really care for capers (don't ask me what I think they look like or you may not want to eat them either), and I'm definitely not an anchovy fan, so her recipe is a little more "done up" than what I'd prefer. In fact, admittedly, my salad is more Caprese than Panzanella. Still, I thought, instead of the traditional Caprese salad, I would try making this classic Italian salad with some gluten free bread and make it more into a Panzanella--though in all honesty, maybe it is just Caprese with gluten-free croutons, but it doesn't sound nearly as pretty, just listen to it here: Caprese Panzanella.

Anyway...

What I used (aka Ingredients):
(Serves 3-4)

2 ripe garden tomatoes

1/2 lb of fresh mozzeralla (pic shows just under a lb)
3 slices of gluten free bread (I used Udi's white)
1/2 cup (?) basil
1 scant TB butter (pic shows much more than I used)
2-3 cloves of garlic (crushed or minced)
2 hearts of romaine
Olive oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and Pepper

First I tossed the gluten free bread into the toaster oven for a few minutes to give it some crunch and to keep it solid (it really falls apart sometimes). While it was toasting I chopped up the tomatoes and basil.

When the bread was toasted, I cut it into squares. Into a small frying pan I added the butter and garlic and let it simmer just slightly (medium-low flame) before adding the pieces of bread into the pan. Tossing the pan around a bit made sure the bread was nicely coated with the garlic butter and that the bread would stay/get brown. Once all the pieces seemed browned I lightly salted them and removed the pan from the heat. 


As the bread cooled a bit, I cut up the mozzarella into chunks and added it to the tomato-basil mixture. Once I felt the bread was sufficiently cool enough, I through it into the bowl with the cheese and tomatoes, splashed it with some Balsamic and olive oil, and tossed it.

  

Though it looked pretty tasty just like that, I still wanted my crunchy greens so I tore up the romaine for individual dishes and plated the salad on top (see picture at the beginning). It really made for a lovely and delicious dinner--and since the bulk of the salad was quite rich the lettuce really added a nice balance of fresh crispness. I mean garlic butter (ok) "croutons," cheese, tomatoes, and basil... who wouldn't love this salad?

I may try making the traditional Panzanella one of these days with a different type of gluten free bread--and will of course let you folks know how it turned out. Also, stayed tuned for a post about polenta in the crock pot...

Berry Nutty and Crunchy Granola

OK, so the title is corny, but there's no corn in this granola! There is, however, tasty dried berries along with walnuts and sliced almonds.

Making granola is pretty freaking easy—I kind of can't get over how much money I've spent on granola in the past when I figured out what it cost me to make about 6 cups of this compared to the organic stuff I've bought before (and I used all organic ingredients).

Ingredients:

• 3 cups oats (regular, not quick cooking)
• 1 1/2 cups of nuts (as mentioned I used walnuts and sliced almonds, but you can use any combo you like)
• 1/2 cup of cranberry nectar or juice (you can also use apple juice or whatever fruit juice you prefer, just know it will likely add to the flavor of the granola.)
• 1/2 cup of maple syrup (agave and honey work, too)
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (butter or canola oil can work here, too)
• 1/2 TB vanilla extract
• 1/2 TB almond extract (alternatively, you can use 1 TB of one extract instead of both)
• 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• 2 tsp (scant) ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cup dried berries (I used cranberries and blueberries)

After I gathered the ingredients, I began by  preheating the oven to 325°.  I then combined the oats and nuts in a large bowl. Next, to a small/medium saucepan I added the juice, syrup, coconut oil, extracts, salt, and cinnamon and put it over a medium/low flame. I heated the  mixture until the coconut oil was all melted and it seemed hot enough to melt the salt (almost simmering). Once it looked ready, I poured it over the oats and nuts and mixed it so they were will coated.


Once it was evenly coated. I spread the granola mixture out on a cookie sheet I lined with parchment paper.*

Before Baking

Then I baked the granola in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes—stirring every 15 minutes or so. Once I took it out of the oven it was a nice golden brown.

After Baking

I let the granola cool completely (that took about 20 minutes) and poured it into the bowl of an air-tight container where I added the dried berries. Putting the top on and shaking it for about 20 seconds mixed the berries into the granola nicely.

The next morning (and subsequent mornings, since) I had some with the addition of fresh blueberries and almond milk, and I have to say, it's pretty darn good. Just the right sweetness and the lovely toasted flavor of the oats and nuts with the sweet and tart flavor of the berries.

If you make it, keep in mind that the sweetness level may vary if you use a juice or sweetener that tends to be more or less sweet. For example if you use apple juice and agave, it's likely to be on the sweeter side (plus the berry flavor won't be there, but you could, for example, use dried apricots and apples in it instead of berries). And as long as you use gluten free oats, this recipe is gluten free too. :)

*Using parchment is highly recommended since it prevents the granola from sticking to the pan and you can pick up the paper and pour the granola into a container once it's cooled.

Rrrrrapid Hhhhuevos Rrrrancheros!

The other morning I woke up with a hankering for huevos rancheros. And aside from the ranchero sauce,  I had everything else needed.

Here's what I used:

1 can of black beans
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp dried oregano
Pinch (or two) of sea salt
2 eggs (I scrambled them, but your choice)
1/2 a pat of butter for cooking the eggs
2 small corn tortillas
Sprinkle of cheddar cheese
Salsa Verde
Red Salsa
Fresh cilantro

I began by cooking the beans (after rinsing them well--I always do this for all canned beans, even those canned without salt) with the spices (cumin through salt) on medium for about 10 minutes. While those were cooking, I scrambled the eggs and poured them in a nonstick pan with the butter melted.

Since eggs have a tendency to burn if I walk away from them, I finished cooking them and then moved on to heating up tortillas in a small frying pan. To save a step, I probably could have just zapped the tortillas in the microwave, but I find that they fall apart when I go to eat them any time I use the microwave... maybe it's just me.

Since the eggs were warm I decided to sprinkle some cheddar cheese on them and put the cover back on--letting the cheese melt while I got the tortillas ready. 

I put a large spoonful of the beans on each tortilla and then sprinkled some fresh cilantro on top of those.

Then I split the scrambled eggs up on each tortilla and dressed one with salsa verde (my new favorite is from Trader Joe's) and the other with Green Mountain Gringo salsa. And as you can see from the first photo, I garnished the plate with red grapes and carrots.

I realize this dish was hardly from scratch (and that my attempt at a Spanish sounding title could really use some work), but I think this quick huevos rancheros was quite tasty. Now, I could have gone ahead and made an actual ranchero sauce, and if I did, I'd likely make this one (though, i would substitute the green bell pepper for yellow or red since green bells don't agree with me).  However, in the interest of time, I decide to forgo the real deal and use two different kinds of salsa. For shame? I don't think so. I love both of those salsas and I'm willing to bet I still put more steps in the process of making theses than a certain food network star who thinks adding fresh cilantro to jarred sauce makes it "semi-homemade." Just saying...