6 posts tagged “soup”

Lately, there hasn't been a lot of cooking in our kitchen. Our schedules are out of whack, its been busy, research day is looming large and making me anxious. Looking for some food for the soul, I pulled out the no-knead dough from the fridge and baked it, along with a roasted tomato soup.

Here's the soup recipe.
- Roast tomatoes with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar on a baking tray. I used a can of whole tomatoes, drained, some whole cherry tomatoes and a halved vine tomato, and baked them at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.
- In a soup pot, saute a red onion, a chopped celery rib and a carrot or two. Add garlic if you like. Let them soften.
- Add the tomatoes, tomato juice (from the can), salt, pepper, and a handful of fresh basil. Add as much water as you like.
- Once the soup is done, run a hand blender through it once or twice to mix it up.

Roasting really brings out the flavor in the tomatoes. This is the perfect soup..its easy, needs no special ingredients and has incredible flavor.

About the bread..the first thing that hit me was the smell of wine as soon as I removed the wrap..the yeast is obviously still working. The dough has been rising steadily in the fridge over the last week. The bread has a great crust, big, hole-y crumb and tastes good, but its not a sourdough.

p.s. Vox will not let me post the extra-large size pic. Why?

Chile cornmeal encrusted tofu sandwiches with chipotle mayo, from the Veganomicon.

First, I dipped the tofu slices in a hot cornmeal spice mixture and baked them. What did they remind me of ? Julie's angry tofu.

Then, we made the trappings for sandwiches. How to make chipotle mayo? Simply mix chopped canned chipotles in adobo sauce with some mayo. Good Stuff.

We had our sandwiches with a simple sage-tomato soup.

Quick and easy, and clean-up was fast, too. Then I sat down and made a study plan. I'm going to study one drug every night. Once I go through the whole book, I'll do it again. And again. I will continue to do it until I know everything about all psych drugs.

Maybe there was something in my soup.

Orange and green. Mixed in my head with memories of green ashoka trees and orange dupattas.

From this recipe, more or less. I used cilantro instead of thyme, omitted the onions and used fatfree milk instead of half n half.  Also, I finally got to use the new Better than Bouillon  vegetable base for stock. Verdict- its a keeper. Excellent flavor, easy to use, and much better than the icky-flavored stock cubes.

Our first fruit and nut tabouli came from Didi Emmon's Vegetarian Planet. It was a wonderful recipe, with orange segments and walnuts. Since then, I've made tabouli with all sorts of fruits, including oranges, apples, pineapples, grapes, even mango! Ditto for nuts..you can go crazy with this recipe and still end up with something good.

Fruit and nut tabouli

- 1/4 cup bulgur, soaked in boiling water for 15 minutes, drained
- 1 bunch parsley, processed/chopped fine
- segments of one orange
- 1 granny smith apple, peeled, chopped
- 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted in the microwave (2-3 minutes)
- a handful of mint, chopped fine
- 2-3 tbsp lemon juice
- salt to taste
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (optional)

Squeeze the bulgur to remove all excess water. Mix together all the ingredients, refrigerate for an hour and enjoy!

Having bought two chayote squashes from the International Store, I decided to make soup. To my surprise, it turned out exactly like my mother's lauki/bottle gourd soup, which was a delicacy in our house. It was rarely served to guests, though, since most of them assumed it to be a bland, soup-for-the-ill kind of preparation. The few brave enough to try died in comfort-soup heaven.

Squash Soup

2 chayote squashes, diced
1 tbsp oil
1 inch piece ginger, minced
1 serrano chilli, minced
1 carrot, chopped fine
1/2 red pepper, chopped fine
a handful of parsley, chopped
1/2 cup milk
salt and black pepper
lime juice, if you like

- Heat the oil in a heavy soup pot.
- Add ginger and green chilli, saute for a minute.
- Add the squash and saute for a couple of minutes.
- Add about 4 cups of water and bring to a boil. Simmer until veggies are softened.
- Blend with a hand blender.
- Add the carrot, red pepper, and parsley. Reheat slowly.
- Add the milk, salt and pepper to taste. Turn the heat off when it comes to a simmer.
- Serve with fresh lime juice.

Its a light, easy soup that goes well with cornbread.

4 cups Veggie stock
1 tsp olive oil
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, minced
1 serrano/jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1 ripe avocado
1 cup milk
Salt to taste
Lots of cilantro, chopped
2 tbsp lime juice

- Make some stock, if you can. Ours was made by briefly sauteing a piece of celery, a couple of cabbage leaves, one carrot, some parsley stalks in a tablespoonful of olive oil, then just adding water and simmering it forever. ( I fished out the parsley stalks, but mashed everything else right in. Discarding stock veggies seems wasteful to me, unless um planning a consomme.)
- In a soup pot, heat the oil. Add  the ginger, pepper, tomato, and cook until the tomato pieces are soft.
- Then add the stock and bring to a boil. Lower the heat. Add salt to taste.
- Mash the avocado and mix well with the milk.
- Remove pot from heat and add the avocado-milk mixture and cilantro.
- Add lime juice just before serving.
- Only one thing to remember- don't add avocado/milk to boiling soup, coz they might separate.

I thought it was a lovely fall soup. We dunked huge pieces of no-knead bread in it and polished it off.

The major part of the day that was not spent sleeping was spent cooking..kale broccoli soup and a softer-than-usual focaccia, which looked good enough for the camera..might post a picture later. Hubby made a pesto-grilled veggie pasta, and did a bang-up job, too. He is a natural cook; he has the patience and the eye for detail which I suspect I still haven't mastered. I feel proud.