Jade Sea: Chile Lime Coconut Curry Soup

This soup is mainly a slow-cooker meal, but the tofu takes a little extra work so that it becomes tiny little flavor-bombs instead of tasteless mush in some soup.  I will admit that some of these ingredients won't be able to be exactly replicated, but I'm sure you can come close.   For example, we were given some lovely homemade curry spice for christmas.  We also have some dried red chile peppers that we found at a flea market awhile back.  No idea what they are, but they are slightly spicy and slightly sweet and lend a really nice flavor to dishes.  The weather has taken a cold turn lately, so this soup was nice to cozy up with on a chilly night!

What you need:

• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cups unsweetened coconut milk (I generally use Silk brand)
• 1 tbsp coconut mana
• 1 bunch of green onions, finely chopped
•  3 tbsp lemongrass paste
• 1 dried red chile pepper, finely chopped
• 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 head bok choy, chopped lengthwise
• 14oz. Extra Firm tofu, drained and pressed
• 2 tbsp curry powder
• 2 limes, juiced, with the juice of 1/2 lime separated
• 1 1/2 tbsp chile powder
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

This recipe really couldn't be any easier.  To start, mix together the juice of 1/2 lime, lemon juice, and chile powder, then cut your tofu into small squares.   

Our curry spices!  Curry and ginger is a wonderful combination.

Place the tofu and the chile-lime mixture in a plastic bag and really shake it up to make sure each piece of tofu gets coated.  Place in the refrigerator.

Mystery Chile

Put all of your other ingredients in the crock pot and cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 6.  In the last hour of cooking, pull the tofu out of the fridge and place in the freezer, and preheat the oven to 400 Fahrenheit.  Once the oven is ready to go, pour the tofu onto a greased baking sheet, and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Put the tofu squares into the crock pot and serve.  We ate it with some delicious sourdough bread from the farmer's market, and it was a great combination!  

Lord Commander's Parsnip Dumpling Soup

 Sheldon: Let me walk you through it, our standard is, the steamed dumpling appetizer, General So’s chicken, beef with broccoli, shrimp with lobster sauce and vegetable lo-main. Do you see the problem?

Leonard: I see a problem.

Sheldon: Our entire order is predicated on four dumplings and four entrees divided among four people.

 The Big Bang Theory

I got this recipe from a wonderful recipe book called Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi.  The recipes are all vegetarian, and every single one that I have tried has been delicious.  I highly recommend purchasing it, especially if you like this soup!

What you need for the broth:

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
• 5 celery stalks, diced
• 1 large onion, quartered
• 1/2 celeriac, peeled and roughly chopped
• 7 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 5 thyme sprigs
• 2 bunches of parsley
• 10 Black peppercorns
• 3 bay leaves
• 8 prunes

What you need for the dumplings:

• 1/2lb Russet Potato, peeled and diced
• 1 1/2 cups Parsnips, peeled and diced
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 2 tbsp butter
•  1/2 cup self-rising flour
• 1/3 cup semolina flour
• 1 egg
• salt and pepper to taste 

Ideally, you would make this recipe using 2 large pots-one to get the dumpling ingredients going, and one to get the broth going.  I only had one pot, so I tried to do the recipe as efficiently as possible.  To begin, boil the potato, parsnip, and garlic in a large pot filled with salted water until they are soft.  Drain well. 

Cooked Parsnips and Potatoes

Dry the pot off and then add the butter.  Once the butter is melted, return the potato and parsnip mixture to the pot and saute on medium heat for a few minutes.  Because I needed the pot for the broth, at this point I dumped the parsnip mixture into a new bowl to be mashed.  Add in the flour, semolina, egg, salt and pepper and continue to mix until everything has combined. 

Dumpling mixture

Now cover the bowl in plastic wrap and stick it in the refrigerator for around 45 minutes.

For the broth, add the oil to the pot and let it heat, then add in the veggies and garlic and saute for a few minutes.  Next, add in the spices and prunes.  Cover everything with cool water and turn the heat up to get it boiling.  Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down and let it simmer for about an hour.  Stir occasionally and add water as necessary to ensure you have enough broth for 4 servings.

It looks a bit gross as it boils and froths, but it will be delicious

During the last 15 minutes of simmer-time for the broth, bring salted water to a boil in a medium-sized sauce pan.  Reduce the heat to a simmer.  Now grab a teaspoon, dip it in the water, and begin spooning your dumpling mixture into the pan.  I did this in 3 batches to avoid over-crowding.  The dumplings will sink to the bottom at first.  Once they rise to the top, let them simmer for an additional 30 seconds before removing them with a slatted spoon and setting them aside. 

Dumpling-making

 Now it's time to strain your broth.  I wanted to leave some texture in the soup, so I removed all of the thyme sprigs, parsley, prunes, and bay leaves but left about half of the carrot, celeriac, celery, and onion.  Whether you leave some or all of the veggies is totally up to you. 

Divide the finished dumplings among the bowls and then cover in broth.  Enjoy!

Dumplings ready to be brothed

Martell Gazpacho

It's not blood, it's tomato juice!

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!

When I was in Spain, my favorite thing to eat was gazpacho.  Even the grocery store gazpacho was delicious.  It is the perfect summer dish, in my mind.  After getting the vitamix, I vowed to make a delicious gazpacho once the weather turned nice, and I am happy to say I succeeded in my goal.  It's an incredibly simple recipe, and took all of 20 minutes to make (and that includes the time spent rough-chopping the vegetables).  And the best part?  The only clean-up required involved wiping down the cutting board and the vitamix.  Couldn't be simpler.  The recipe makes about 8 cups, so serve it as an appetizer for a summer dinner party, have it for lunch during the week, or let it be dinner for a couple of nights!

What you need:

• 2 lbs Tomatoes, stems removed and quartered
• 4 inch slice of French Baguette (and then you can eat the rest of the baguette with the soup!)
• 1 large cucumber, peeled and sliced
• 1 small-medium yellow onion, quartered
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 poblano pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• Salt & Pepper to taste. 

Other than chopping your veggies, the only other prep you need to do is to soak the piece of bread in water, and once it is saturated, squeeze the water out as best you an and throw it in the blender with everything else.  Start by putting the tomatoes, poblano, and cucumber in the vitamix, and let it run just long enough to liquefy everything and give you some more room in the blender (assuming the veggies have filled it up!).  Then add the rest of the ingredients and blend on high until it is smooth.  Don't let the soup get hot!  Pour the soup into a large serving bowl or pitcher and refrigerate for at least an hour, to be sure it is nicely chilled upon serving.

Sun and Stars Valentine's Day Feast

You are the moon of my life.

Game of Thrones

Card from my cat, Pangur.
She also apparently got Stoney to
buy me a bottle of wine from her.

So, a few days late, but it took me all of yesterday to recover from our feast.  I love excuses to eat fancy food, and since I was unwilling to let a restaurant rob Stoney and me for the privilege of eating at their establishment on Valentine's Day, I decided to take matters into my own hands, and make us a fancy dinner for the occasion.  I will admit, I was planning the menu back in January.  

It all started while watching an episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations.  The episode took place in Croatia, and Tony spent most of his time there raving about the exceptional quality of Croatian wines.  He was particularly taken with wines he was served at BibicH winery.  So naturally, I started hunting for places to buy a bottle of this allegedly fantastic wine.  This led me to Blue Danube Wine, an online seller of wines from Austria, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia, Georgia, and Montenegro.  I purchased a bottle of the G6 Grenache, and after a little research, decided on a lamb pairing.  Of course, any fancy dinner should have multiple courses, so I settled on a Lobster Bisque and White Burgundy (Louis Jadot pouilly-fuissé) for our first course, with Lamb and Maple Glazed Brussels Sprouts for the second.  For dessert, it was a simple plate of chocolate covered strawberries and a Nectarine wine from Mountain Valley Winery in Pigeon Forge, TN.

Course 1: Lobster Bisque

What you need:

• 4 lobster tails
• 1/3 cup Sherry
• A little over 1/3 cup White Burgundy (or chardonnay of your choice, I suggest using whatever you plan to drink with it)
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 large celery stalk, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon Emeril Essence (this is an approximation, I just shook a little into the pot)
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 3 tbsp flour
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 5 oz. evaporated milk
• 1 1/3 cup half & half
• 1 cup chicken stock (I actually wanted seafood stock, but I didn't see any at the store, so I settled for chicken)

I ended up getting frozen lobster tails because they were on sale at Earth Fare, so if you do the same, make sure to put them in the fridge the night before to let them thaw.  When you finally have non-frozen lobster tails, grab your kitchen scissors and cut through the shell on the belly.  This makes it incredibly easy to peel the shell off.  Once you've gotten the meat out of the shell, cut it into chunks.  Next, place the meat in a bowl or shallot dish and cover with wine and sherry.  Cover the dish and set in the refrigerator to let it marinate for about an hour.  Once you've opened the wine, I'd recommend putting it in the refrigerator or a wine chiller to keep it cool and make sure it's ready to serve later.

Chop up all your veggies, and then melt the butter in a soup pot over medium heat.

Once the butter has melted, toss in the veggies, the Emeril Essence, and salt and pepper to taste, and sauté until the veggies start getting soft.  Make sure to keep stirring as you go.  

When your veggies have softened, add in the tomato paste.  Let it cook for about 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly, and then add in the flour, cooking for an additional 1-2 minutes and continuing to stir constantly.

Stir in your broth and lobster/wine mixture, and then stir in the evaporated milk and half & half.  Once you have the combined mixture bubbling, lower the heat and let it simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  

Remove a small amount of the cooked lobster meat and set it aside for use as garnish later.  

Spoon your soup into a vitamin or blendtec blender and puree.  If you don't have a high-powered blender, an immersion blender would work just as well.  After pureeing the mixture, pour into a bowl, add in the lobster meat that you set aside, and serve immediately.

Course 2: Sautéed Lamb and Maple-Glazed Brussels Sprouts 

Course #2 was surprisingly easy to make, although I will admit that while I was searing the lamb, I generated enough smoke to make it look like the whole house was on fire.  I'm still not quite sure what went wrong there, because I seared the remaining lamb the following day without incident.  Just be prepared for the possibility.  If you have a fan or vent above the stove, this would probably be a non-issue.

What you need for the lamb:

• 4 lamb rib chops (I bought a rack of lamb and just cut four of the ribs off, reserving the remaining four chops for a lamb stew)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp Herbes de Provence
• Salt & pepper to taste

Mix together 1 tbsp olive oil, garlic, Herbes de Provence, salt, and pepper to make a paste.  Rub the paste into both sides of each rib chop, cover ribs, and let sit for 20-30 minutes.

Heat remaining oil per medium-high heat in a sauté pan.  Sear rib chops about 3 minutes on each side (really anywhere from 2-4 minutes, depending on how thick your chops are).  Let chops rest for 5 minutes before serving.

The lamb really did pair well with the G6, so I would highly recommend a Grenache with it.

What you need for the Brussels Sprouts:

• 2 Tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (you can probably add up to 3 tbsp without making them too sweet)
• Salt, to taste
• 1 lb Brussels Sprouts

Preheat oven to 350.  Cut the Brussels Sprouts in half.  Heat the coconut oil and mix with maple syrup and salt in a bowl large enough to hold your brussels sprouts.  Mix in the brussels bprouts.  My the time you are done mixing, the coconut oil will likely have become solid again, leaving you with brussels sprouts that look like this:

Spread out your sprouts on a baking sheet, cook for 30 minutes, and then serve.  I didn't bother to flip mine and they came out great, but if you feel so inclined, you could flip them halfway through to get a more even cook.  

House Oakheart: Root Beer Soup

“Beer's nice for being glad and dizzy, and sometimes for the mystery and stuff, but the happy that comes out of a beer can is not like the real happy you got to make in your heart.”

Tom Robbins, B is for Beer

Somehow, this is our second post about cooking with beer, and yet, there are no posts that involve cooking with wine.  I am, if you can believe it, not a huge beer drinker or even a beer lover (except for sour beers, those are wonderful).  Wine, on the other hand, I love.  Which makes me think that I should start making recipes that feature it.  But that will be another day.  This soup got its name due to the beer we put in it: Tennessee Brew Works Country Roots, a sweet potato stout.

What you need:

• 10 small-medium sized yukon gold potatoes, diced
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 4 medium carrots, diced
• 2 cups lacinato kale, finely chopped
• 12 oz. beer of your choice (although we recommend the Country Roots, it was excellent)
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1/2 tsp himalayan salt
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp garlic

First, heat your olive oil over medium-high heat in a large soup pot and saute the onion, carrots, and garlic.  When the onions are slightly golden, add in the potatoes, about a half cup of broth, and salt.  Next, slowly stir in the beer.  We found it best to put about a quarter in, stir, add another quarter, stir, and so on.  Reduce heat to medium, cover, and let everything cook until the potatoes have softened, stirring occasionally. 

When your potatoes have softened, add in the kale, give everything a stir, and then add in the broth, bringing the whole mixture to a boil over high heat.  At this point, if you are satisfied with the consistency of your veggies, go ahead and remove it from heat and serve.  If not, reduce heat and keep cooking until you are happy with the veggies.

A Feast for Crows: Black Bean Soup

A census taker once tried to test me.  I ate his liver with some lava beans and a nice chianti.

Hannibal Lector, Silence of the Lambs

Ok, so I will give you that this soup looks less than appetizing, mostly owing to it's brown, creamy texture, but don't let the looks deceive you, this soup was delicious!

What you need:

• 1 can Bush's Black Beans Seasoned Recipe
• 1/2 Onion
• 2 tbsp garlic
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 jalapeño pepper
• 1 cup corn
• 2 medium carrots
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp cilantro
• 1 sweet potato 
• 2 celery stalks
• 2 cups vegetable broth

To start, preheat the oven to 400 degrees, cut the sweet potato into about 1" chunks and slice the jalapeño, removing the seeds.  Next, grease a baking sheet and lay out the corn, onion, jalapeño, and sweet potato in a single layer.  

Roast for approximately 20 minutes or until everything looks slightly browned and delicious.

While everything is roasted, blend the vegetable broth, cilantro, carrots, celery, cayenne pepper, paprika, garlic, and lime juice.  When everything is combined in the blender, add the black beans and give it a quick blend.  Once all but the roasted vegetables have been combined, spoon in your roasted veggies, leaving out about a third of the sweet potato and a fourth of the corn.  

Blend everything until smooth and creamy.  If you are using a Vitamix, blend for about 8 minutes on high so the mixture will be piping hot.  Stir in the reserved corn and sweet potato after blending and serve.  If you are using a regular blender, transfer the mixture to a sauce pan, add in the reserved corn and sweet potato, and heat.  

Green Men: Roasted Asparagus Soup

What about this: a tribe of asparagus children, but they're self conscious about the way their pee smells.

Elf.

After Christmas was over, I decided to go ahead and get myself another gift: a Vitamix!  I've been wanting one of these babies for quite some time now, and I finally pulled the trigger.  I couldn't be happier with my decision.  I think I am actually in love with an inanimate object.  This delicious roasted asparagus soup was my first vitamix recipe, and it was great.  In retrospect, I would probably leave a few spares of asparagus out of the blender, cut them up, and then stir them into the blended soup at the end, just to give it a little more texture.

What you need:

• 2 lbs. Asparagus
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp cashew butter
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• Salt, to taste

First, preheat your oven to 450 degrees.  Grease a pan and lay out all of your asparagus spears.  Once the oven heats up, throw the asparagus in for about 8 minutes.  Take the tray out, rotate your spears, and add onion and garlic to the baking tray.  Roast for another 6 minutes or until everything looks sufficiently roasted.

While everything is roasting, put the broth and cashew butter into the blender. When your veggies are done, toss those in the blender, too.  If your blender has a hot soup setting, you can use that, otherwise blend for about 8 minutes on high to make it hot.  If you don't have a vitamix or blendtec, worry not.  Just blend everything together, transfer to a sauce pan, and heat the mixture up.  

When the soup is nice and hot, place it in bowls, and pour (or squeeze) some of that lemon juice in.

Fire and Blood: Spicy Shrimp & Avocado Soup

"Anyway, like I was sayin’, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. There’s shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That, that’s about it." 

Bubba, Forest Gump

This fiery soup will clear your sinuses right up, so if you love spicy, this is for you.  If you're not so keen on the hot hot heat, I've got a few suggestions on how to cut that down.

What you need:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/3 cup chopped celery
• 1/3 cup chopped carrot
• 1 can chipotle chile in abodo sauce*
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp garlic, minced
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 1 15oz. can white hominy
• 1 15oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
• 12 oz. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup tortilla chips
• 1 diced avocado
• 2 tbsp cilantro leaves
• Plain greek yogurt**

*To cut down on spice, you can reduce the amount that you put in.  

**The yogurt also helps to cut the spice.  Stoney preferred the soup without.

Place oil in a large saucepan, add oil and heat over medium-high heat.  Add onion, celery, carrot, Chipotle Chili, cumin, chili powder, and garlic.  Cook for 6 minutes.  Add the broth, hominy, lime juice, salt, and tomatoes, and bring everything to a boil.  Reduce heat slightly once boiling and cover, cooking for another 6 minutes (stir it a few times).  Add shrimp and cook for 2 minutes (or until your shrimp are fully cooked).

To prep your bowls, place a few tortilla chips, avocado chunks, and (if desired) yogurt.  Pour your soup, garnish with cilantro, and enjoy!