Asparagus Soup

Once again I found myself with a sick girlfriend in need of soup.  This time I had a whole bunch of asparagus and potatoes in the fridge so I stopped by the market on the way home from work for a few complimenting ingredients and got to work.

onion
garlic
1 fennel bulb
3-4 small potatoes
asparagus (about a pound I think)
cream
yogurt
chives

I meant to use chicken stock as my base but discovered I was out after I had already started cooking so I went without. It still worked out just fine.  I like using fennel in these all-veggie soups because it adds an almost meaty heartiness to recipes. I hear it's a common seasoning in making sausage so maybe our taste buds are just salivating to the ring of a bell so to speak.

Saute onions and garlic.  Add fennel and cook about 5 min.  Add potatoes and just enough water to barely cover the potatoes.  Boil until potatoes are tender, then add the asparagus and put the lid on so they get steamed.  After about 3-4 min the asparagus will be tender and you can blend it.   I added a little cream to each batch I put in the blender but I think yogurt would work too if you're looking for the low fat option.  I added some sliced ham on top just to get a little protein into the meal - it was tasty.

Brie Stuffed Meatballs

For my birthday we put a wheel of brie on the grill. It was delicious but since we had just been to Costco and bought a life time supply of almost everything, our friends barely put a dent in any one dish.   The next week I found myself with a whole lot of beef and brie and so I did the only logical thing and rolled it all up into little balls.

Balls:
1 lb ground beef
basil
bread
1/3c buttermilk
garlic

Sauce:
tomato sauce
canned diced tomatoes
basil
onion
garlic
olives

I admit it! I used store bought sauce (as a base).  Sometimes shortcuts are worth it - this one didn't seem too bad. If you decide to follow in my path just be sure to find one without too much sugar in it.  I used Trader Joe's.  I always like to start by caramelizing the onions and then I pretty much just throw everything else in and simmer it.

For the meatballs I started by looking at my America's Test Kitchen cookbook.  It had me starting with some little torn up pieces of bread and buttermilk.  I'm not sure what this does but the final product is tasty.  I put the bread, buttermilk, garlic, and basil in my fancy new food processor and made a lumpy paste. Then, I added the meat and pulsed a few times.  I just rolled the mixture it into balls, pushed a chunk of cheese into the middle of each and fried them up.

If I had to change something I might actually change the cheese.  Brie was good, and lord knows we had enough of it, but I think goat cheese or blue cheese would be really good too.

Wontons, Wontons, and Wontons

My sister and father came to visit and requested a blog worthy meal but I also had to work that day.  So, I made a couple different fillings and sauces the night before and then just filled and fried them when they came over.  Everyone enjoyed them straight out of the skillet.  They were gone before I could finish frying the next batch. 

I made a typical wonton filling with pork, cabbage, carrots and ginger (blue bowl above) but then I got a bit more creative for the other two types.  On the wrappers and ready to be folded and fried are pork, pineapple, and cilantro wontons and in the white bowl is the filling for pork, apple, cherry wontons.  And in the tumbler is a manhatten on the rocks - good wonton making fuel.  The unanimous favorite was the pork, apple, cherry wonton with blue cheese dipping sauce.

Wonton 1
pork
cabbage
carrots
fresh ginger
green onion

Sauce 1
soy sauce
rice vinegar
red chili paste
sesame oil

Wonton 2
pork
apples
dried cherries (diced)

Sauce 2
plain yogurt
mayo
blue cheese

Wonton 3
pork
pineapple
cilantro
green onion

Sauce 3
plain yogurt
fresh lime juice
garlic
cumin

Obviously you want to dice or grate all of the filling ingredients.  Then just put a scoop of filling on a wonton wrapper, wet the edges (water works fine) and pinch the edges closed.  Heat oil to 350-375 in a deep skillet, or deep fryer if you have one, and cook until nice and brown.  I don't have a deep fryer so I use my cast iron skillet which is nice because of its thermal mass, the oil doesn't cool down much when you dip cold stuff in it.  I have also used a cast iron dutch oven in the past which works splendidly as well.

Pot Roast and Caramelized Onion Sandwich

I'm a huge fan of making actual meals out of left overs instead of just heating them back up. The caramelized onions and sauce are easy to make and transform the cold boring leftovers into something even better than the original meal. I suppose one could add melted cheese to this but I don't think it's necessary.

beef
sweet onion
bread
mayo
fresh lemon juice
garlic
fresh thyme

To caramelize onions a little bit faster than normal start the onions in a dry pan and wait to add the butter when they are hot and starting to glisten (about 5 min). I can't remember why this makes them go faster but a chef told me about it once and I remember it making sense. Plus, it works.
For the sauce I start with the minced garlic and some salt and then add the mayo and lemon juice.  Always use fresh lemon juice, store bought stuff will ruin any sauce.  I threw in some thyme because it seems to go well with beef and was in the fridge but you could experiment with other herbs too.

Candied Orange Peel and Toffee

I like candy. So does Pooh.

Candied Orange Peel:
6 oranges
4 1/2 cups of sugar
1 1/2 cups water
chocolate

Peal the oranges and slice them up.  Put the peels in cold water and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, drain them, put in more cold water and bring to a boil again.  Do this 3-4 times to take out some of the bitterness.  Put water and sugar in a pan and bring to a simmer. Add peels and let simmer for about 45 min.   Pull out orange peels and coat in sugar.  Dip or drizzle with chocolate and enjoy!

Toffee:
butter
sugar
chocolate

So, after making the orange peels I had a bunch of melted sugar just sitting there so I added butter and made toffee.  It's a 1:1 ratio of  sugar to butter - just add the right amount of butter and simmer.  You want to simmer it until the temperature reaches 285 degrees and it gets to the color brown you're looking for.  Dump it out on a foil wrapped cooking sheet (with edges) and sprinkle with chocolate chips.  The toffee will melt the chocolate and then you can smooth it out with a rubber spatula for a nice even coat.  Cool, break into pieces, and eat.

Why Just Coffee?

So, the link below will guide you to a humorous website promoting the versatility of a conventional coffee maker: http://www.geekosystem.com/coffee-maker-food/
What caught my attention was the last item, beer. In addition to cooking I am an amateur homebrewer and so I was naturally skeptical. But, after re-reading the instructions a number of times, I have come to the conclusion that it is totally plausible! If anyone tries this please please please let me know how it goes.  It sure would be a lot of work for 8 cups of beer but who knows, could be the best 8 cups ever.  Micro-brew? More like a nano-brew.

Beef, Potatoes, and Gravy

This was a lazy man's version of a recipe from Cooks Illustrated.  I made it as simply as I could so my sick girlfriend could just throw it in the oven a few hours before I got home.

Beef:
3-4 lb chuck roast
1 onion
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
garlic
1 cup red wine
1/2 cup water
1-2 Tbs tomato paste
1 tsp anchovy paste
salt

Put it all in a heavy dutch oven with a lid and bake at 300 for 3-4 hours.  If you have time, salting the beef and letting it sit for about an hour at room temp before adding everything else is supposed to add to the beefy flavor.  The anchovy also enhances the beef flavor.  the recipe said to saute' the onion and celery before adding the beef and liquids to the pot but I didn't and it was still tasty.

Gravy:
beef drippings
flour
balsamic vinegar
red wine

the recipe said to puree the veggies as a method to thicken the gravy but I didn't have a blender so I just used a rue the old fashioned way.  Adding some more red wine and a little bit of vinegar brightens up the flavors in a nice way.

Potatoes:
potatoes
garlic
butter
milk
salt

Boil the potatoes, add everything else and mash it up.  Yum.

The biscuits were great too but I didn't bake them. The recipe will be posted on this awesome baking blog soon: http://www.chipsandsugar.com/