Here’s a super, tasty soup recipe, especially if your weather is crappy (like ours has been). Or, if there are some sniffles and complaints of sore throats around the house. Oh and last weekend, when it was uh 80 degrees and sunny out, I took the flannel sheets off the bed. Note to self: the flannel sheets stay in the bed until June. Grr.

Ah, hey, I don’t want to scare anyone that’s heading this way in say, uh 2 weeks or so, but it we had hail, rain and uh, snow this weekend. But, I bet in a couple of weeks the weather will be B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L! Really! Sure it will!

Okay, back to the food. This recipe is from the Shoalwater Restaurant and it is really good. I found it online a couple of days ago and couldn’t wait to try it. The lime and the ginger and fish sauce are just a fabulous combination. I altered the amounts a little bit to accommodate a whole can of coconut milk and I added some veggies that I needed to use up. Hooray!

Asian Chicken and Coconut Soup
Adapted from a recipe by Shoalwater restaurant
1 tbsp canola oil
1 small onion, diced
1 cup diced carrots
12 medium shitake mushrooms, sliced
1 large garlic clove, minced
3 cups Chicken Stock
1 lime, juice and finely chopped zest
4 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp ginger, minced
1/2 tsp roasted chili paste
1 14 oz can coconut milk
1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into small cubes
1 cup cooked brown rice
Garnish: Fresh cilantro, chopped

Add oil to a large soup pot and add chicken and brown briefly, 2-3 minutes. Remove and cover with foil until ready to use. To the hot pan, add the onion, garlic, carrots, chili paste and shitake mushrooms. Saute over medium heat until soft, about 6-7 minutes.

Add the stock, lime zest and juice, fish sauce, and ginger and simmer for 5 minutes or so. Add the coconut milk and chicken. Simmer for about 4-5 more minutes.

To serve, add about 1/4 cup of cooked rice to each bowl and ladle the hot soup over the rice. Garnish with cilantro.

This will serve about 4-5 bowls so there will be leftovers. Excellent.

This was an experiment that turned out pretty well — fish, herbal tea and…other stuff. I am trying to come up with some new recipes for work and this is one of the first ones.

I used Stash Lemon Blossom Herbal Tea but you could also use maybe some lemon zest and Old Bay seasoning or any other seasoning mix or combination you like. I’d even try throwing some lemongrass in there perhaps. Or, just use the tea, because I know that works very well!

Lemon Blossom Seafood Chowder
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
3 tbsp AP flour
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 leek, white part cleaned well and diced
3 Lemon Blossom Tea Bags
1 sweet potato, diced into bite sized pieces (keep potato cubes in water until ready to add to soup)
1/2 cup dry white wine (chardonnay, Pinot grigio, Pinot gris, sauvignon blanc)
2 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1 lb assorted seafood, (cut into bit-sized pieces — 1/2 lb peeled shrimp and 1/2 lb firm white fish like halibut, cod or tilipia work well…I used turbot)
1 cup half and half
salt and pepper to taste
fresh herbs for garnish
lemon wedges for garnish

Heat the olive oil and butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, bell pepper, carrot and leek and saute 5-6 minutes until soft.

Add the contents of the three Lemon Blossom tea bags and the flour. Continue to cook for about 2 more minutes to get rid of any raw flour taste.

Add the wine and stock. Stir and make sure to lift any vegetables/flour up from the bottom of the pot. Stir to combine and add the potatoes. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until potatoes are a soft but not mushy, about 15 minutes.

Add the seafood and cook for 5-7 more minutes until fish is cooked opaque and just cooked through. Add the half and half and stir to combine. Do not bring to a boil, as it may curdle now that you’ve added the dairy. Salt and pepper to taste.

Ladle into bowls and top with fresh, chopped herbs and lemon wedges.

It’s really very good!

I came across the Legume Love Affair event and well, I that sounded fun as I love beans too. Around the house, we sing a song called, “Beans, the Man they Call Beans”, to the tune of the Jayne’s folk hero song on Firefly (Jaynestown episode). There really aren’t any lyrics other than the “Beans, the man they call beans,” part, but trust me, it’s very amusing. Hmmm, perhaps I have said too much.

Anyway, I am a fan of the lima bean. I think it all started as a child — after being presented with a bowl of Campbell’s vegetable soup, I would begin my hunt of picking out all the lima beans and eating those first. When they were gone, I was less enthused about the soup.

So really, it is my destiny to create a recipe for a soup with just lima beans.

Creamy Lima Bean & Tarragon Soup
2 1/4 cups frozen lima beans — don’t bother defrosting
1 tsp dried tarragon
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 1/4 cups chicken stock to cover
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup milk
salt & pepper to taste
Optional: a few sprigs of fresh tarragon

In a soup pot, heat the oil and saute the onion and garlic until soft. Add the dried tarragon and mix to combine.

Next, add the frozen beans and the chicken stock. Bring to a boil and simmer about 20 minutes. Add the parmesan cheese and milk. Stir and remove from the heat. Let cool briefly to blend safely.

In batches, puree until smooth. Return to the pot and salt and pepper to taste and rewarm as needed.

Thanks again to the well seasoned cook for hosting a fun event!

I recently came across Running with Tweezers call for chili recipes and I remembered that I had the most perfect cookbook for this — Chili Nation by Jane and Michael Stern. This is basically a collection of 50 chili recipes, one from every state. Now normally, when I make chili, it’s veggie chili and I just throw a bunch of stuff in a pot. But, since I had an actual chili cookbook, I decided to follow (well, kind of) an actual recipe.

So, I went with Montana and the “Working Person’s Green Chili Bowl”. Supposedly, it is from a tiny place called El Burrito in Billings, MT. I wussed out on all the peppers, though. The original recipe calls for 6 New Mexico chiles. Intead, I used 2 pasilla chile peppers and 1 poblano chile pepper. Wimpy! I know, but I didn’t want it to be too hot for my delicate lady mouth.

Let’s see, I also added beans. I just really prefer beans in my chili. I used white kidney beans and they worked really well. But, if you don’t like beans, the original recipe did not include them, so don’t feel bad about leaving them out. I also doubled the broth and added the cilantro.

Anyway, this book is awesome. I seriously have, like twenty page corners folded down that I want to try. Why did I pick this one? Well, I was very intrigued by the sage and tarragon in a chili recipe. And, after trying it here, I have to say it works. I’m not sure this is my most favorite chili recipe of all time, but I liked it quite a bit! It was a little spicy but not overwhelming and makes a great meal on a cold night.

Working Person’s Fancy Green Chili Bowl
Adapted from a recipe in Chili Nation (Montana), by the Sterns
1 poblano pepper
2 pasilla peppers
1 big handful of cilantro
2 cups chicken broth (original called for 1 cup chicken stock)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 small onion, chopped
2 lb pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into cubes
1 tsp dried tarragon
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp ground cumin
1 can white beans, drained
1 tsp salt
Some crumbled goat cheese for the top
Optional: 1 tsp jalapeno powder

Prepare the chiles by placing them under a preheated broiler. Turn when the first side is charred and then blacken the other side.

Place in a plastic bag to steam. You can also wrap them in wet paper towels. When cool enough to handle, peel away the blackened skin and seed. Place the chiles in a blender with broth and cilantro. Puree and set aside.

Heat oil in a large, heavy skillet. Add garlic and onion and saute until soft. Here, I added about half the sage, tarragon and all of the cilantro. Next, add the pork; cook and stir until well browned.

Add chile puree and remaining ingredients (the beans and the remaining spices and the salt) . Stir well. Bring to a simmer over low heat and cook 10-15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Serve alone or over cooked brown rice. Also, this would be great with tortillas for dipping and, if you want to be a fancy working person, I think some crumbled goat cheese would be awesome on the top. Hmmm, I think I will bring it that way to work tomorrow. Because, yes, I am fancy.

Hope this is a good addition to the chili cook-off!

I made this a few weeks ago when I was trying to figure out how to use some miso that I’ve had in the fridge for a while. And, this recipe did the trick. Very healthy and filling. Next time, I may even add some rice to it.

Miso Soup with Shrimp and Spinach
Adapted from a recipe in Bon Appétit magazine
6 cups low-salt chicken broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)
1 tbsp minced peeled fresh ginger
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots (about 3 1/2 ounces)
5 tbsp yellow miso (fermented soybean paste) — I used 3 tbsp dark miso paste
1 1/2 pounds uncooked, peeled, deveined small shrimp
2 cups spinach, thick stems removed
3/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 tsp hot chili oil
Garnish: Sesame seeds

Bring first 4 ingredients to boil in heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add carrots. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer until carrots are crisp-tender, about 3 minutes.

Place miso in medium bowl. Whisk in 1/2 cup hot broth mixture. Return miso-broth mixture to same saucepan. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.)

Bring soup to boil. Turn off heat. Mix in shrimp, spinach, and green onions. Cover and let stand until shrimp are cooked through, about 4 minutes. Stir in chili oil; divide soup equally among 4 bowls, sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

***
In other news, the fruitcake is coming along nicely!

This is an easy oven-stovetop-blender soup. It might sound complicated because of all the appliances involved but it is S-I-M-P-L-E. Roast your potatoes and garlic. Heat up your broth. throw it all in the broth pot. Puree *whir* *whir* in your blender. Done.

I think without the orange juice it might be a bit too heavy and rich, but the citrus really evens it out nicely. I dare say this might even make a tasty Thanksgiving side. But, please, test run it first and make sure you like it because that’s a lot of pressure, man.

Also, there is a lot of garlic in this soup, if you are a normal person, you might want to dial that down a bit.

Roasted Sweet Potato and Hazelnut Soup
This will feed 2 — double, triple or quadruple to meet your needs
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced into about 8 chunks
3 large cloves garlic
salt and pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts
1/4 cup fresh orange juice (about 1/2 an orange)
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 cup marscapone cheese
1 - 2 sage leaves
1 sprig rosemary
Optional: I’m thinking that if you want to get all fancy and special occasion-y, you could also add some cream or half and half at the end — you know, just because it’s the holidays
Possible garnish: A few drops of chili oil looks nice — as does a rogue sage leaf…

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Toss the sweet potato chunks and the unwrapped garlic cloves with the oil and spread out on a baking sheet. Salt and pepper and bake until nicely caramelized — about 20 - 30 minutes.

In a pot, add the chicken stock, cooked potatoes, toasted hazelnuts*, sage and rosemary. Bring to a boil and squeeze out the garlic paste into the pot. Let simmer for about 5 minutes just to get all the flavors melding and enjoying each other’s company.

Turn off the heat and remove the rosemary sprig (a lot of the rosemary oils already came off the rosemary into the broth). Add the marscapone cheese and orange juice and head to your blender.

Blend until very smooth. Add more broth and/or OJ to get the soup to your desired consistency. Taste and salt/pepper as needed.

Like a lot of soups, this is even better the next day. So, maybe make it the day before you want to eat it. T’is very tasty!

* I toasted my hazelnuts after the potatoes came out of the oven. I turned the heat down to about 350 and put them in there for about 5 minutes. Then, wrapped them in a towel and rubbed them together to try to get as much of the brown papery skin off that I could.

New Subject Starts Now
We are having a Thanksgiving potluck at work next week and I am trying to figure out what to make and bring — some kind of soup like this in a crockpot? The most awesomest cheeseball in the whole world? Martha Stewart cranberry-orange relish? Gingerbread-espresso-pecan brownies? Hmmmm….

I recently got the cookbook, Talk with your Mouth Full by Dan Smith and Steve McDonagh and I absolutely love it. So many pages turned down of recipes that I want to make. This first one I thought would be perfect for the Halloween theme I chose for this month’s Weekend Cookbook Challenge, which I am super excited to be guest-hosting.

Now, the recipe itself isn’t particularly “Halloweeny” but it is when you add bat and black cat shaped Parmesan croutons and serve it in a big pumpkin soup tureen! Although, every year when jwa and I carve pumpkins, we do use parsnips for the noses, so there you go.

Roasted Honey Parsnip Bisque
2 pounds parsnips, peeled and quartered lengthwise
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I subbed olive oil)
3 tsp salt, divided
6 tbsp honey, divided
6 cups water
1 bunch parsley
1 carrot, cut in 1/2
1 small onion
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
2 tsp white pepper (I used regular, freshly ground black pepper)
3 cups heavy cream (here, I used about 1.5 cups half and half)
Garnish: chopped fresh parsley

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Toss the parsnips with the oil and 1 teaspoon of salt and drizzle with 3 tablespoons honey. Place on a baking sheet and put into the top half of the oven. Roast 30 minutes, or until the parsnips are a deep golden brown; they tend to burn easily so make sure to toss often while roasting.

Meanwhile, put the water into a large pot and place over high heat. Lay a double layer of cheesecloth on a flat surface and place the carrot, onion, parsley, bay leaves and peppercorns in the center. When I did this, I couldn’t find my kitchen twine, so I just tied the cheesecloth up around everything. Then I realized I forgot my carrots. So, I just added those to the pot, figuring I would fish them out later. Oh and I threw in a garlic clove too.

Tie the cheesecloth up and around the vegetable and herb mix and drop it into the water. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Remove the parsnips from the oven and place them immediately into the stock. Add the remaining honey and salt and white pepper; simmer for about 20 minutes. Puree with an immersion blender, or in batches in a blender.

Return to the saucepan and add the cream (or half and half) and pepper. I found when I did this that a cup and a half made it super creamy so I just stopped there. Feel free to add the whole 3 cups. Stir well to combine and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

For a holiday garnish, cut shapes from sourdough bread using cookie cutters, brush on some olive oil and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Toast in the oven and serve with the bisque. Speaking of the bisque, it was so good and creamy — even subbing the half and half for the cream.

So, everyone get your cookbooks out (or even a food magazine) and find a recipe that could fit a Halloween theme, make it, post about it, and send me the link to your post by Monday Sunday, October 21st — you still have 6 days! I’ll round them all up here shortly after the due date.

Here we are with another Weekend Cookbook Challenge. WCC 18th’s theme is Red & White. For this theme, I chose to use my newest cookbook, Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson, which I recently picked up after being a fan of her blog for the past year. The fact that I am posting about one of her recipes from her new cookbook on my food blog is amusing to me. I am easily amused.

I made the Roasted Tomato & Paprika Soup, which is quite red and drizzled it with plain yogurt, which is white. Hooray! It had a really great taste and the smoky paprika added a great depth of flavor. My only changes are that I threw in a sprig of rosemary and I used a yellow bell pepper instead of a red one.

Roasted Tomato & Paprika Soup
5 tomatoes, cored and quartered
1 large red bell pepper, seeded and quartered
3 small yellow onions, quartered
5 cloves garlic, unpeeled
3 cups vegetable stock
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1 sprig rosemary
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
olive oil
Optional: plain yogurt for garnish

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and rub two rimmed baking sheets with a little olive oil.

Arrange the tomatoes, skin side down, on one of the baking sheets. Coat the pepper and onions with oil and place them on the other sheet along with the garlic. Add the sprig of rosemary to the onion/pepepr sheet.

Give both sheets a sprinkling of salt and pepper and then bake until the tomatoes start to collapse and the onions begin to brown and caramelize — about 45 minutes. Remove the garlic or turn the onions if either gets too dark.

Peel the garlic and dump all of the vegetables into a big bowl. Discard the rosemary sprig, allowing any loose leaves to go with the vegetables into the bowl. Add the stock (start with two cups and add more to your desired thickness) and puree with a handheld blender. You could also use a food processor or regular blender. Add the paprika and taste. Adjust the salt and pepepr as needed. When serving, drizzle with the yogurt if desired.

I found it very helpful to roast the vegetables in the AM, while it was still cool out and in the house. I made the soup early, refrigerated it and then the flavors got to come together a little more than they would have if I made it right before serving. Also, I didn’t have my oven on while it was super hot out! Just before serving, you can reheat. Or, just serve cold or room temperature.

Thanks again to Sara for hosting another great Weekend Cookbook Challenge!

Today is mostly pictures. Okay, there is also a really good peach-tomato gazpacho recipe from Gourmet magazine. On the fourth, as mentioned yesterday, we grilled, ate and hung out in the backyard enjoying the cool breeze. It was a very nice time.

Getting the grill going

jwa tends to the burgers

The end result — cheeseburgers (Tillamook cheddar) and some last minute vegetable rosemary skewers — we have a huge rosemary bush out front that is very handy in situations like this…

jwa assembles his burger empire

Enough with the burgers, let’s get to the gazpacho!

Peach & Tomato Gazpacho
1 1/2 lb tomatoes, chopped (4 cups)
1 lb peaches, pitted and chopped (2 cups)
1/4 cup crushed ice
1 medium shallot, peeled & chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp white-wine vinegar
1 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Purée two thirds of tomatoes and half of peaches with ice, shallot, 1 tablespoon oil, 1 tablespoon vinegar, 2 teaspoons tarragon, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a blender until very smooth, about 1 minute.

If desired, force through a medium-mesh sieve into a large glass measure, discarding solids. If you like a chunkier gazpacho or you are lazy, you can skip this step.

Toss together remaining tomatoes and peaches with remaining tablespoon oil, remaining 1/2 tablespoon vinegar, remaining teaspoon tarragon, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper in a bowl. Serve soup in bowls topped with the tomato peach salsa. When I made this, I did not make the salsa but used everything in the gazpacho. If you too chose this route, it works fine!

The end result is a little sweet and has a really nice tarragon flavor. It’ll be cold because of the ice but you can also chill it further in the refrigerator. Now let’s return to the red meat. Grrrr.

My single, lonely hamburger

Vegetable skewer

The mighty IPA…

We are off to Astoria this weekend to meet with the caterer (hooray!) and to meet with an officiant (hooray, too!).

We had a nice stretch of cool, 60’s to 70’s weather recently. That appears to be over. Hello, gazpacho! I recently got the new La Cucina Italiana magazine and found quite a few recipes in there that I wanted to try out. This is the first one. I think the second one will be fig and cocoa smoothie.

Anyway, back to the gazpacho — I really liked it. So did jwa. I have another recipe for a peach and tomato gazpacho and also a lima bean gazpacho. So there hot weather, I am ready for you.

Zucchini Gazpacho
1 big zucchini
2 yellow tomatoes
1/2 green bell pepper
1 small sweet onion, chopped into quarters
2 cloves garlic
2 slices white bread, crusts removed
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Tabasco
salt
pepper
3 tbsp parsley, chopped
juice of 1/2 an orange
extra olive oil for drizzling

Blend the zucchini, tomatoes, onion quarters, bell pepper, olive oil and garlic in a food processor. Get it a bit combined and then add the bread, a bit of Tabasco, parsley and orange juice. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Serve into individual bowls and drizzle with the olive oil. You’re done. Go eat. Or, you know, just go out to eat…

Carlyle Restaurant
1632 NW Thurman Street
Portland, Oregon 97209

The other night (the night after the tasty gazpacho) we went to Carlyle Restaurant in NW Portland. So awesome. And, since I didn’t have many gazpacho images for my post, I will taunt you with Carlyle pictures. Ha!

My French Lemonade (Aviation gin, Cointreau, fresh lemon juice, tonic water and a float of Chartreuse liqueur, served tall) and jwa’s Caneberry cooler (House infused Raspberry and Blackberry vodka, simple syrup, lemon juice and club soda, served in a tall glass ).

Duck Cannaloni (Slow cooked duck confit, crepes, morel mushrooms, leek fondue and truffle oil). I love duck, jwa is so-so on duck. jwa loved this duck.

I had the Spring Chinook Salmon — grilled salmon, baby fava bean risotto, ramps, preserved lemon and cantal cheese with sweet pea coulis. Mmmmmm.

And jwa seemed completely delighted and bedazzled by his Filet Mignon — grilled Cascade Beef tenderloin, Pleasant Ridge Reserve potato gratin, ramp butter, foie gras bordelaise and Tempura Tiger prawn.

How to end all of this? Tiramisu, of course!

Needless to say, it was a wonderful dinner. We even got a quick tour of the big barnwood kitchen table and the private garden seating area before we left. It was all so good, I didn’t even mind the napkin-refolding. Bring me more duck, salmon and sweet pea coulis and you may do whatever you wish to my napkin if I get up to use the restroom.

Carlyle definitely gets four swanky cocktails out of four swanky cocktails.