French Turnip Soup and Salmon Pinwhat?

I came across Soups and Sandwiches: Wholesome Ideas for Quick Lunches at the recent library sale. Every autumn the local library has a huge sale to reduce the books that rarely get checked out, and to allow the community to clean their shelves of books and load back up again for the long Michigan winter.

As soon as I entered the large annex, I headed straight to the cooking area and carefully picked out "the good stuff." This was one of the good books - though there were plenty of gourmet microwave books to be had if you were so gullible. Not me.

The French Turnip Soup on page 12 caught my attention, perhaps because it also included slices of white bread. I never buy white bread anymore. Ever.

Looking through the book, I also found some intriguing sandwich recipes, and settled on the Salmon Pinwheels on page 80. They looked beautiful and somewhat daunting. And they also called for white bread, which Ivan inspected.

The soup was really easy to prepare, though I have to say, once in the liquid, the bread transformed into something icky. Take a look at this:

Mmmmmmm gelatinous white bread.

At the same time I worked on Salmon Pinwheels. I just wanted to see if I could make them look nice. And, besides with all the butter involved, I was sure it would be worth it.

I used a rolling pin to flatten the bread, slather on the flavored butter, and top with smoked salmon. Then I rolled the whole thing up cigar style. And quickly understood why the recipe called for a large, uncut loaf of white bread: length would make a difference here.

I soldiered on and buttered the outside and rolled the whole thing around in chopped parsley. And had myself an aesthetic failure:

I made regular sandwiches with the remainder of the flattened bread, and served along with the turnip soup.

The parsley-covered roll was odd, kind of tickly to eat. Not a fan. But the regular sandwiches were yummy. I wish there was more flavor to them, like a mayonnaise or curry. The soup is fabulous, and you don't notice the funky white bread at all; if I'd used a good quality French white bread, this would be even better.

Both recipes adapted from Soups and Sandwiches: Wholesome Ideas for Quick Lunches.

Salmon Pinwheels (or Not)
2 slices white bread, crusts removed
1/3 cup butter, softened
3 tablespoons parsley, finely minced
1 scallion, finely diced
1 teaspoon lemon juice
a shake or so of cayenne pepper

Mix the butter and 1 tablespoon of the parsley with the scallion and cayenne pepper. Set aside.

If you want to attempt a cigar-shaped log, flatten the bread with a rolling pin. If you want a regular sandwich, don't bother. Either way, slather one side with smoked salmon and top with another piece of bread.

For the sandwich log, roll the bread kind of like a jelly roll. Then butter the outside and roll the whole thing around in parsley. The recipe in the book suggests that you wrap this in plastic wrap and chill two hours, then cut into small pinwheels. Too fussy for me!

You will have extra butter and smoked salmon left over, and will have to find some way to use it all up. I'm thinking a morning omelette or evening frittata might be the way to go.

French Turnip Soup
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound white turnips, peeled and diced
1 onion, chopped
5 cups stock - chicken or vegetable
4 slices white bread, crusts removed
4 oz green peas
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch nutmeg

Heat butter in large saucepan. Add turnips and onion, and cook 10 minutes or more until they begin to soften. Add stock and butter and simmer 25 minutes or until the turnups are soft to the fork. Puree. Add peas, season with salt and pepper and add nutmeg.

Crabby Corn Soup

I picked up my copy of Soups and Sandwiches: Wholesome Ideas for Quick Lunches at the recent library sale, and piled it onto the other cookbooks. Hungry for something to cook, I grabbed the book as I headed to the laundromat to wash the bed linens.

Once the comforters and sheets were slurshing around in the commercial washer I perused the cookbook and found the Crab and Corn Soup on page 31. It looked easy and simple, so I added it to my "Make This Soon" list.

(I have no idea what "slursh" means, but I like the way it sounds. I also do not keep a "Make This Soon List" although  perhaps I should add a list like that to my Remember The Milk account.)

I noticed a few odd things about the cookbook. First, it was hard to understand how the soups were organized. Sure, there is a table of contents, but when you're looking through the book, there's no chapter titles to indicate that you've moved from vegetable & exotic soups to creamy soups. Same thing's true of the sandwiches.

The index is also seriously lacking. It merely lists the titles of the various recipes, not the actual ingredients - which would be more helpful to any reader searching for a recipe to prepare quickly.

Likewise, I found the sandwich area not...lunchable. These seem more like canapes, finger food, little nibbles for parties, rather than something to sustain me through a busy work day. And with a subtitle like "Wholesome Ideas for Quick Lunches," I was surprised to find so many recipes with multiple steps; for example, the Salmon Pinwheels I made involved a rolling pin, rolling bread, and a two hour waiting period. Finally the recipe ingredients are sometimes vague: what "mixed herbs" do the authors mean? I have no idea.

And with two authors who are "home economists" -an outdated term if there ever has been one- I was wary. I shouldn't have been.

The Crab and Corn Soup was easy, tasty, and I imagine wholesome as well. It was definitely a quick soup to prepare, and a nice twist on your typical egg drop soup. I substituted shrimp for the crab with no problem. I was stymied with the "small piece of gingerroot" because what do the authors mean by small? I guessed.

One small chunk of gingerroot.

Ingredients: egg, cornstarch, scallions, shrimp

Finished Soup

Despite the general oddness of the book, I enjoyed this soup. I could have added more gingerroot. I also like that each recipe has a photograph that clearly illustrates what the finished product should look like. As a bonus, many soups have a suggested accompaniment recipe. For example, the Cream of Cauliflower Soup on page 27 also offers a recipe to make Cheese Snippets to flat in the soup, while the Cream of Carrot Soup on the same page has Herb Croutons (with one teaspoon of "dry herbs" as the flavoring.)

Crab and Corn Soup

3 3/4 cup chicken stock
1 small piece gingerroot, peeled
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon dry sherry
1 15oz can creamed corn
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
4 oz crab (or shrimp) chopped
2 eggs, beaten
2 scallions, minced

In a large saucepan, combine stock and gingerroot. Simmer 15 minutes. Remove gingerroot and stir in soy sauce, sherry, and creamed corn. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, blend cornstarch and water. Stir in stock mixture. Stir in crab (or shrimp) and heat until mixture thickens.

Bring mixture to a slow simmer and slowly pour in beaten eggs in a thin stream, stirring constantly. Do not allow soup to boil. Garnish soup with sliced green onions. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Bar Cookie Discrimination - And Soup With Salad

I'll confess that I'm not a person who gets excited about the holidays.

You know the type of person I'm talking about? I'm picturing an over-the-top co-worker who decorates their oatmeal cubicle for every holiday and also dresses for the holiday right down to a a sparkly sweater, holiday-themed turtleneck,  matching socks, and -especially for Christmas- a Santa hat with jingle bell.

I'm equally not celebrating the fact that one of the local radio stations decided to begin broadcasting Christmas music 24/7 - in early November. Please! Halloween had just ended.

Christmas cookies, on the other hand, I can relate to. So on a recent business trip I picked up a copy of  The Christmas Cookie Club by Ann Pearlman. But, uh, I have two small cookie-related issues with the book:  

1. I like bar cookies. In fact, I like bar cookies so much that I started a tumblr feed for them. 
2. Individual cookies are too much work - too much standing, too much stirring. I know this because I have made large quantities of them on my own many years ago, and have refused to make them ever since then.  

So perhaps you can understand why I was rather appalled that the hard-working bar cookie was written off immediately in the opening salvo of The Christmas Cookie Club: "No bars. They stick to each other and crumble."

No bar cookies allowed? Bah humbug.

Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the book. It was a light-hearted, gossipy, chick-flicky romp through an annual Christmas cookie club event, accompanied by cookie recipes and ingredient history lessons. I don't really know what the history lessons were doing in the book, but they were informative and brief.

The characters are stereotypical, but lovable: there's Marnie, the party hostess (aka, head cookie bitch,) who's widowed with children and learning to love again; then there's Vera, the former cocaine addicted stripper who turned her life around, and there's Sissy representing for all women of color replete with sassy attitude and talented (yet troubled) children.

The premise of the novel is equally simple: there this Christmas Cookie party every year. There are rules you must follow. If you don't follow the rules, you're out of the club. One of the club rules is that you have to share the story of why you chose these cookies this year - which becomes a metaphor for everything that's happened to you in the last twelve months because apparently the characters rarely see each other except on this mandatory first Monday in December. Still, as a Christmas Cookie Club participant, you get some eating, some drinking, some dancing, and twelve dozen cookies out of the event, plus all of the recipes.

In fact, there are more than twenty recipes in the book - and not only for cookies. Being a bar cookie snob, I snubbed the hand-rolled, fastidiously decorated cookies throughout the book. I am not going to take the time to hand-write fortunes, then hand-turn the little fortune cookies even though I have all of the time in the world to do so. And truth be told, not all of the cookies are that fussy.

I went for the Roasted Carrot Ginger Soup on page 327 and the Mandarin Orange Salad on page 328, and wasn't disappointed one iota. I chopped and combined the carrot, parsnip, onion, and brown sugar.

Chopped Vegetables with Brown Sugar

I poured in chicken stock, covered with aluminum foil, and placed into the oven for a couple of hours. Once removed from the oven, I carefully spooned all into a large stock pot, and added additional chicken stock. Then I let it boil for awhile, and finally pureed.

Making the salad was even more of a breeze. That involved macerating mandarin oranges in a combination of honey and cinnamon, and mixing with olive oil, salt, and pepper. That was added to fresh spinach and topped with toasted walnuts.

Mandarin Oranges, Honey, Cinnamon

The result? One fabulous late autumn lunch for me and more soup in the freezer for later. Delightful - just like The Christmas Cookie Club by Ann Pearlman (even without bar cookies.)

Soup and Salad

Roasted Carrot Ginger Soup
1 1/2 pounds carrots, peeled and halved lengthwise
1 pound parsnips, peeled and quartered lengthwise
1 large onion, sliced
3-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
8 cups rich chicken broth, more if needed
Salt to taste
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1/4 cup creme fraiche for garnish
Snipped fresh chives for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the carrots, parsnip, onion, and ginger in a shallow roasting pan. Dot with butter and sprinkle with brown sugar. Pour two cups of the broth into the pan. Cover well and bake until the vegetables are very tender, about 2 hours. Transfer the vegetables and broth to a large soup pot. Add the remaining six cups of broth. Season with salt and cayenne pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer partially covered for 10 minutes. (I completely forgot the butter, cayenne, creme fraiche, or chives. Still delicious!)

Mandarin Orange Salad
11-ounce can mandarin orange segments, drained
1 tablespoon honey
cinnamon
Handful of walnuts (broken into large pieces)
Lettuce (romaine, red or green leaf or mixed)
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

Place the mandarin oranges in a small bowl. Add honey and sprinkle with cinnamon. Set aside for several hours (or longer). Toast walnuts at 350 for 3 minutes, and let them cool. Wash and tear lettuce into bite-size pieces. Add oranges. Add enough olive oil to wet greens and toss well. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and sprinkle with walnuts. Note: If taking to a potluck, wait to toss with olive oil and keep walnuts in a small bag until ready to serve. (I used spinach instead of lettuce and toasted my walnuts in a dry pan on the stove top until nearly smoking and slightly burnt.)

P.S. CBS picked up rights to the book, so don't be surprised if The Christmas Cookie Club becomes another one of those oft-repeated holiday specials.

Hot Banana Soup - Not!

Surely you can't wait to seduce your taste buds into a hot banana soup? Wait until you've tasted the One-of-Each Soup on page 14 of Cook & Tell. You'll be adding a banana into this easy-peasy and flexible soup..and you'll love it! 

As the title of the recipe suggests, you need one of each:

Apple, Banana, Onion, Potato

The recipe also calls for a cup of cream or half & half. I'd had an adverse reaction to a creamy and delicious Wild Mushroom Soup recently, so wanted to cut back on the cream - or eliminate if possible. I remembered a trick that I learned from The New Laurel's Kitchen Cookbook: use a potato for creaminess. The "Potato-Kale Soup" in that cookbook is one of my go-to, stand-by, crowd-pleasing favorites. The potato I had, however, left a lot to be desired...

but was acceptable when peeled.

I also threw in five radishes; I had them in the fridge and their leaves were starting to liquefy. Along with the vegetables and fruit, curry powder and ginger were added. Then the covered pot went onto the stove. I brought it to a boil, reduced the heat so there was a low simmer, and added a cover. It cooked for 10 minutes and looked like this...can you see all the fruits and vegetables?

Once the ingredients were sufficiently mushy, I pureed until silky smooth with my KitchenAid stick blender; couldn't live without it. Especially in an apartment with limited kitchen storage space, the stick blender works  well. I stirred in tiny bits of butter, garnished with slivers of radish and chopped chives.

Damn! Ready in less than an hour, this is one amazing soup. It's easy to adapt with what's in your fridge. The soup could also be served cool on a hot day, but I wouldn't recommend freezing. Effortlessly complex, endlessly versatile, highly forgiving. Make it tonight.

One-Of-Each Soup

adapted from Cook & Tell

1 apple, peeled and chopped

2 potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 banana, peeled and chopped

1 celery heart, chopped - leaves included

1 t salt

2 c chicken stock

1 1/2 T butter

1 t curry powder

1/2 t ginger

Place the veggies, stock, and spices into a pot and bring to boil. Simmer, covered, for 20-30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Puree until silky smooth. Garnish with chives, slivers of radish. Serve hot or cold; adapt ingredients based on what's in your fridge.

Minestrone In A Minute or Two

I'm exploring a cookbook entitled The Passionate Palate: Recipes for Cooking Up A Delicious Life by Desiree Witkowski. This is one of those cookbooks I've had forever, and love to read, but have never cooked from before. I decided to start to change that by trying the "Perfect Minestrone" on page 225. But first, a question...

Exactly how is it that frozen vegetables can sit out all day and not be unfrozen? Does my sink have some special coolometer or antigriddle that I'm not aware of?

I deliberately opened the three frozen veggie packages in the morning before I left for work so that they would be (according to the recipe) unfrozen by the time it came to adding them into the soup pot. They appeared mostly unfrozen, so I ran some cold water over them, and let them drain and sit for a bit longer as I prepared the other items.

Unfrozen Veggies?

My first consideration was flavor. There are a lot of ingredients in this recipe, but I saw nary a typical Italian flavor. No garlic, thyme, bay leaves, pancetta (which I've used before). Heck, not even any salt and pepper is called for. For me, lack of flavor indicators is a blatant invitation to mess with the recipe. And so I did.

I chopped some frozen bacon and threw it into the pot. How do you chop frozen bacon? Use a big knife and a little hammer. Works well for winter squash, too. I chopped all of the frozen bacon, and put it back into the freezer in small, labeled bags. I prayed I'd be able to locate it again.

Can you find the bacon?

I sliced up two onions and threw them in with the bacon, along with three cloves of garlic. A a can of whole tomatoes were chopped them right into the pot, though I reserved the liquid for later. I also added in a bunch of thyme,  oregano, sage, and rosemary; no idea how much - maybe a tablespoon of each?

Saute of Onions, Garlic, Tomatoes, Spices

The recipe called for 6 cups of chicken broth. I added that in and then stood back to ponder. If this is supposed to feed 10 people, that should mean 10 servings, right? 6 cups of water won't do that. I'd think it would be at least a cup of liquid per person, so added a couple additional cups of chicken stock.

The recipe then calls for you to let the liquid set for 30 minutes on low. I didn't trust that...not one bit. I brought it to a boil, and then turned it back. Meanwhile, in another pot, I brought water to boil and prepared some macaroni.

You can add any short pasta to minestrone, and I've even used broken spaghetti or linguine. This time, I decided to empty a box of macaroni. And the recipe suggested cooking it separately, particuarly if you weren't sure how many times the soup would be reheated. I had no clue, so heated separately.

I also heated up the oven so I could heat up some garlic bread to accompany. I thought about a salad...nah. I'll do that later this week.

I opened one of those tiny bottles of wine...the kind you can get in four packs? Really handy for cooking, especially when I wouldn't know what to do with a whole bottle. I couldn't possibly drink an entire bottle of wine by myself - I'd never make it to the bed, let alone to work the next morning. The little bottles are the perfect size. I added 3/4 of a bottle of Barefoot Merlot and saved just a bit to drink.

Then I thought about the vegetables. The recipe called for 3 10oz bags. I couldn't find any 10oz bags, but I could find 16oz bags and got three. And opened three. And more or less thawed three. That's a lot of extra vegetables. I delayed the addition and put the can of kidney beans in instead. The reserved tomato juice was also thrown in and I checked on the pasta. I also checked on the soup and was surprised - it tasted good! I could really taste the addition of the rosemary, sage, oregano, and thyme.

I went back to the vegetables and scooped up two cups, and placed them into the soup pan. I stirred. Not quite enough. I added another two cups, perhaps three cups. Just right. The pasta was also finished so I drained it and reserved until it was time to serve.

Veggies added

Bread went into the oven, and I chopped up some scallions for the soup. I also got out the Parmesan cheese and Fiestaware bowls.

In the end, I did add too many vegetables. I had veggies leftover in my bowl, and before freezing the leftovers made sure that I removed some veggies. I can't imagine what this would have tasted like without the simply adaptation of adding freshly chopped garlic, and dried thyme, sage, oregano, and rosemary; freshly chopped basil would have been a fanastic addition at the end of preparation. The bacon didn't stand out in the end, but added a nice depth, as did the entire bottle of red wine (I ended up throwing the whole thing in.) The addition of scallions and parmesan enhanced the flavor, and I can imagine that the suggested pesto would do the same. Overall, not bad. I can't say I'll make it again - I so rarely repeat a recipe. While I can't say that the soup is "perfect," it is mighty fine, and deserves a place in my recipe collection for versatality if nothing else.

Perfect Minestrone
adapted from The Passionate Palate

1-2 slices bacon
2 onions, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T each thyme, oregano, and sage
2 t rosemary
6 cups chicken broth (or more as needed)
1 14 oz can whole tomatoes, drained & chopped
4 cups mixed frozen vegetables - spinach is a must
1 15oz can kidney beans
1-2 cups good quality red wine to taste
small pasta, cooked

Cook the bacon in a good sized soup pot. Thinly slice the onions, add to the pan, and stir. Add the minced garlic, and then the thyme, sage, and rosemary. Let steep a bit, and stir occasionally. Add the tomatoes and broth, bring to a boil, and then turn down to low. Cook for 30 minutes to allow flavors to mingle. Add everything else - the vegetables, beans, wine, even the pasta if it's cooked. Turn off the heat and cover. Let stand two minutes or longer until heated through. Serve with Parmesan, chopped scallions, or pesto.

Butternut Squash Festival, Day One: Soup

This week I'm exploring the recipes in Red, White & Greens: The Italian Way with Vegetables by Faith Willinger. Today's recipe is Squash, Bean, and Pasta Soup on page 312.

Let's get to the obvious about butternut squash, shall we? The blog is called Cookbook "Fetish" after all...and these squash, well, they're so representative. This butternut was impressive, and I couldn't fit an entire hand around the shaft. That's a whole lotta squash to love. I chopped up half of it using the force of a small hammer to make the initial cuts.

Then I chopped further, and diminished the sizeable shaft into four cups of chopped squash. Except the recipe called for two cups, so I decided to double it, and perhaps wreck havoc on Willinger's utter perfection of a squash and bean soup.

As I chopped the squash I thought, "Why not add some of that fresh thyme and basil I've got...why not add some garlic?" Stop a moment and pray that these slight alterations do not ruin a large pot of squash and bean soup.

I checked the expiration date on the cannelloni beans. A-OK. I poured some olive oil into a pot and began sauteing the squash.

This is another recipe where patience pays off. Particularly patience in the first step. Remember that tofu I cooked earlier this year? Patience is your best friend. The same is true here in the first step of Squash, Bean, and Pasta soup. Cook over a moderate heat until the squash is brown - slowly.

To aide the exercise in patience, I envisioned sweet potatoes fresh from the oven, especially those that have become rather caramelized. Squash does the same thing if left long enough in the pan. So I waited, and stirred periodically, contemplating how else I could mess with the recipe. How about some garlic? Sure, why not? I added onions and garlic.

As the onions cooked, I added cannelloni beans, and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Beans added, onions not quite brown.

Next I added chicken broth, and continued simmering for just a bit longer as the squash became truly tender.

Then I got out my trusty hand blender, and whirred the heck out of about half of the soup, threw in a good handful of basil, and added some previously cooked pieces of spaghetti - or was it linguine? I don't remember. Some of that shy and slim pasta that quickly submerged in the broth.

Basil and submerged pasta

The resulting stew is hearty, tasty, and satisfying. Combined with a drizzle of olive oil, a small salad, and crunchy bread, you're set for the evening. That all sounds like a proper balanced meal, but I had this with itself, a glass of water, and some chocolate.  The next day I shared it with writing buddies - accompanied by fruit salad and banana cream pie. Like most soups, this one just gets better and better!

Chili-Chili Oooo Mmmmmm Chili!

 This week I'm cooking from The Grit Cookbook. The Grit is a vegetarian restaurant in Athens, Georgia. If you're afraid of vegetarian food - keep reading. You're gonna like this stuff.

Yeah, I complain about winter. It's dark, cold, windy, and I can't stand driving in snow. However, one of the things I love about winter is hot and steamy soup. The legendary Grit Black Bean Chili is one of those super soups that keep you going when the weather gets you down.

The Grit's Black Bean Chili is the very first recipe in the cookbook. This is no surprise as the chili is an essential ingredient in a number of Grit staples; it's a versatile soup that also doubles and freezes well. Trust me.

I had a long Sunday cooped up in the house, so I figured I'd make up a ton of Grit Black Bean Chili. I did a rapid soak of the beans beginning at 8:30am, and by 1pm the chili was done. Then I had to find other things to do. This is the kind of chili that gets better as it simmers, though, so be sure to allow ample time. I rinsed the beans in a bright blue colander, placed in a large pot, boiled for two minutes, removed from the heat, covered, and soaked for at least an hour.

Black Beans in Blue Colander

While the beans were soaking I gathered the other ingredients. First I chopped a lot of onion and garlic.

Have Knife? Chop Onion & Garlic.

Then I poured the spices onto a plate - that's chili powder, cumin, oregano, cayenne...I think that's it.

A little black pepper, too.

I returned to the beans, rinsed them thoroughly in the bright blue colander, added about 8 cups of water. Onion, garlic, and spices followed quickly. This simmered on the stove top until the beans were tender - at least an hour.

During the long wait, I chopped celery, onion, and yellow pepper. This was sauteed in some olive oil and set aside.

Celery, Yellow Pepper, Onion

Once the beans were done, I poured the celery, onion, and yellow pepper into the beans and stirred to combine. And this is where patience comes into play when making Grit Black Bean Chili. The directions admonish the cook to "Allow flavors to marry for at least 1 hour;" I'd say let them get good and acquainted. Take your time. Take as long as you can stand. The chili only gets better as the flavors mingle.

I'm impatient about these things, and was (as usual) darn hungry. It's easy to be very hungry when breakfast is often a large mug of Earl Grey tea and some peanut butter on toast. I scooped up a small bowlful, topped with shredded cheese and sour cream.

Doesn't that look yummy? And it definitely beats those winter blues away!

Sensational Southwestern White Bean Chili

This is recipe number two from my selection of recipes from the weekly menu service at RelishRelish.

Sometimes you like dinner easy and fast - and this recipe delivers up both, plus deliciousness. This spicy stew was pulled together and on the table in less than 40 minutes; longer lingering would lend more intense flavors. I browned the ground turkey and onion, then added parsley, cumin, onion powder, salt, and pepper. I didn't have celery salt, so substituted celery flakes.

Other ingredients followed: diced tomatoes, white beans, chicken broth, corn, and worcestershire sauce.

I was darn hungry, so quickly ladled a good size serving into a cobalt Fiesta dish, and added some shredded cheese.

 
Tasty! Easy! What more could you ask for? The recipe doubled with ease, and I have a bunch sitting in my freezer for later in the winter. If we have more single-digit days, I'll need it soon. And I have to say, this is easily another win for the cooks at RelishRelish!