Wishing to be under the Tuscan sun

Today's soup recipe is called Tuscan Bean Soup.

Don't ask me what makes it Tuscan - I just know that it's hearty and good and filling! It also goes well with a crusty piece of bread on the side. And makes me think of Under the Tuscan Sun and wanting to go to Italy and eat and cook and eat some more!

I made this for a girlfriend who's having a baby. I figured that a soup packed full of high-iron veggies was just the ticket...and it's helps that it's a wonderfully freezer-friendly soup! You just need some time for the soup to develop flavour when you cook it.

This soup also gets better with age - kinda like babies, who I think are always more fun when they start to recognize stuff and react. Case in point, check out this video that my co-worker showed me of a baby reacting to dog and cat sounds! My dog-loving hubby would approve!

But back to soup. Or I should say - the recipe for this soup!

Tuscan Bean Soup (The Kitchen Bible)

What You'll Need

• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 onion, diced fairly small
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 leek, pale green and white parts, washed and sliced
• 1 garlic clove, diced
• 3-4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 28oz can of diced tomataoes (I like to get the kind with italian seasoning for this recipe, but you can just get the plain)
• 1 tbsp of tomato paste
• 1 15oz can of white kidney (cannellini) bean, drained and rinsed
• extra large handful of spinach (2/3 of a bundle), you can use fresh or frozen, roughly chopped
• salt & pepper
• fresh parmesan to serve (optional)

What to Do

1. Heat the oil in a large pot on the stove. Add leek (rinse the dirt out first), onions and carrot, and cook until softened and glistening. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. Add the broth, tomatoes with the juice from the can, and tomato paste.
2. Mash half the beans with a fork in the bowl. Add them to the pot and bring to a high boil. Reduce to simmer for approximately 30 mins.
3. After 30 mins, add spinach and remaining bean whole. Simmer for another 30 mins.
4. When 30 mins is up, you can cool in containers to freeze (for 3 months) or fridge (for up to 5 days). Or eat right away with parmesan grated on top!

Happy eat and reheating for eating!

r.

 

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Shrimps...!

So...you survived Hurricane Sandy. Me too! I'll be honest I decided somewhere between yesterday and today that I didn't want to waste time worrying about the storm, and so I convinced myself it was mostly hype. It helped that we didn't get too affected (didn't lose power or have to go out after work - correction: we chose not to go out after work, but hey we had a choice! - or get a lot a rain). I think half of the scare was simply the wind. Incredibly glad I don't live in New Jersey or New York though!

Today's recipe is another easy and much loved soup of mine. This soup is my go-to soup if I need to make something quick and/or I have a feeling that a cold is coming on! It is also from Chatelaine; although honestly I rarely buy this magazine (Canadian Living usually has more recipes per magazine and my mom usually has a subscription so I don't have to buy it!) I think I simply struck gold with Chatelaine March 2007!

But seriously, the best thing about this soup is it takes about 15 mins to make - from start to finish. 15 mins for chopping + cooking going straight into eating!

Ginger Scented Shrimp & Mushroom Soup (Chatelaine magazine, March 2007)

What You'll Need

• 1 carton (about 2 cups) sliced mushrooms (assorted varities are okay, but keep them small - no portobellos!)
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 thumb sized (from your knuckle to your tip of finger) piece of ginger, peeled and diced
• 2 or 3 cups chicken broth (you can substitute 1 cup of chickenbroth for 1 1/2 cups water, as this cuts down on the brothy flavour and lets the ginger come out more)
• 2-3 tbsp white vinegar
• 1 tbsp of soy sauce
• 1/2 tbsp of white sugar
• 1/2 tbsp of chili-garlic sauce (if you like it milder, add less; for more heat, add more!)
• 320 g pack of frozen peeled uncooked shrimp
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 green onion in diced small circles
• 1 can of sliced bamboo shoots, drained (optional)

What to Do

1. Slice mushrooms, ginger, green onion. Warm oil in large pot on medium heat. Add mushrooms and stir for 2-3 minutes until they are dark and have shrunk considerably. Prep shrimp (ie. unpeel them!) if necessary.
2. Add broth (and water if necessary) and ginger to pot and turn up heat to bring to boil. As pot is heating, add vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, and chili-garlic sauce. Stir, and then cover and boil for 2-3 minutes on high.
3. Add shrimp to pot and stir, lowering heat to simmer. Cook until shrimp are pink, about 3 mins. Turn off heat and add sesame oil, green onion, and if using, bamboo shoots. Stir and taste. Add more chili-garlic sauce if you want more zing. More soy sauce will downplay the chili-garlic.
4. Serve! (if you want to make to freeze, leave the shrimp out until you want to eat it. Then defrost, add shrimp and reheat to cook shrimp!)

*Once again, short on the pics. But I promise tomorrow's post will have the real deal!

chau,
r.

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Fall for Soups

I don't know about you, but I happen to love autumn as a season. The colours of the leaves, the smell in the mornings of crispness, apples, pumpkins, hot chocolate, and soup. Autumn, without fail, gets me excited to make soups.

Over the years I've tried my fair share of soup recipes; let's just say that living in canada + being cold all the time + experiencing Raynaud's phenomenon + good memories of growing up with soup and buns on sundays (all you dutch folk know what i'm talking about) = soup as comfort food. I love soups; and I do not discriminate between kinds of soups either - I'll try pretty much about any kind of soup (except pea soup...*shiver).

Now with soup being a comfort food, I'm definitely more into a hearty soup; something that's gonna fill you and make your belly full of goodness and warmth. We're talking about soups that equal meals!

This past week I've been a busy makin' soups! So I've decided this dedicate this week to sharing a couple of my old favourite soup recipes and a few new ones.

Today's recipe is:
Smoky Roasted Potato Chowder (Chatelaine magazine, March 2007)

Now contrary to what the name of the soup is, this is not a chowder soup. It's from a Chatelaine magazine I ended up with a couple of years ago, and subsequently seem to have lost during my last move. Thanks to the internet however, this soup lives on. I don't use the recipe anymore, but it's nice to remember where it came from!



I made this soup for my in-laws last Saturday. They are in the midst of major renovations, and with it being a rainy fall so far, I figured who couldn't do with a nice warm bowl of soup! This soup is always one of the first soups i make every fall. It's nice and thick and creamy without the calories of cream! This year I was short on potatoes so I substituted a few sweet potatoes. It made the soup a bit more watery than I like, but taste was still pretty much the same. I always triple the amount of paprika, but you don't have to...it really depends on your taste!




What You'll Need

• 10 baby red potatoes (or you can substitute 4-5 medium size yukon gold potatoes. You won't necessarily get the same dark red colour, but the taste is still quite comparable. I wouldn't use white potatoes though - they are too dry)
• 2-3 garlic cloves (use 3 if you like garlic. I've made this completely without garlic - I'm not the hugest fan of garlic - but it's nice with 2 cloves peeled and cut in 3 slices each to spread out in the roasting pan for added flavour)
• 1 small-medium red onion, chopped chunky
• 1 lg red pepper, chopped into chunky pieces
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika or 1/2 tsp regular paprika (again, I usually spread the amount of 2 tsp of regular paprika on my veggies - a lot more than the original reciepe calls for! - but add what you think based on your like of paprika. If you're not sure, leave it at the original recipe level, and you can always add more)
• sprinkles of salt & pepper
• 2 cups of chicken broth (you can also dilute a bouillion cube into 2 cups of hot water)
• 1 more tsp of paprika (or to taste)

What to Do

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees C. Slice potatoes into thick oval slices and add to roasting pan along with red pepper and red onion. Drizzle olive oil over it and sprinkle with oregano & paprika. Mix everything well with your hands. Place in oven to roast for 40-45 mins.
2. Once the vegetables are done, take them out of the oven, and carefully transfer to a large pot on the stovetop. Pour broth over them, and add about 1 cup of water (or until they are just covered by the liquid). Add salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower to simmer for 10-12 minutes.
3. Carefully transfer 1/2 soup to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Place pureed soup in a clean pan. Repeat with remainder. Once complete, add additional tsp of paprika (or you can taste the soup and add what you like). Also add more salt/pepper if you prefer.
4. Serve with garnish of cilantro, or parmesan cheese as the original recipe suggests. Lick the bowl clean! You can also freeze the soup for 3-4 months.

*I forgot to take pictures (because of course your first inclination while cooking is to stop and take a picture of what you're doing!) so this is the best I can give you for the moment. I will improve!

chau!
r.

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An Original

It's been a little long...but we've had a busy month. Thanksgiving (hosted at our house = first time!) and Performance Appraisal season at work has meant a bit of a crazy couple of weeks.

But I'm back now - with an original recipe. Like I actually made it up (I KNOW).

There's nothing like having a very quickly emptying fridge (because I've valiantly decided to do everything I can to not waste food) and a good and hungry stomach (and hubby). What do you do with onions, zucchini, apples and cheese? Make pizza!

 

Apple Zucchini Pizza with Caramelized Onions

First off, I apologize if this doesn't make a whole lot of sense; I've never written a recipe before.

What You'll Need

- pizza dough

- your favourite tomato pizza sauce

- 2 yellow onions, halved and then sliced thinly

- 1 small zucchini

- mozzerella cheese

- parmesan cheese (I really seriously recommend the real stuff; that stuff you buy in a plastic container that stinks is NOT real cheese)

- 1 small Macintosh apple, cut into half slices

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- sprinkle of salt

What to Do

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (or what your dough recipe calls for)

2. Pour olive oil in a large frying pan on low-medium heat; add sliced onions to pan and stir slowly. To caramelize onions, leave on stove and stir occasionally. Add salt when the onions get shiny. Keep on until onions are nicely browned, about 20-25 mins. Turn off burner and allow onions to slightly cool.

3. While onions are cooking, shred zucchini, squeeze out as much water as you can with your hands and place in strainer to drain; Shred 3/4 of the mozzerella cheese (about 1 cup). Shred remaining mozzerella (1/4 cup) and parmesan cheese into another bowl together.

4. To assemble pizza, spread tomato sauce on dough; sprinkle with 1 cup mozzerella; spread shredded zucchini over cheese, followed by onions and then place apple pieces like they're pepperoni pieces over the top. Sprinkle with mozzerella and parmesan mixture and place in oven for 15 minutes (or 10 if dough is prebaked)

5. Eat!

Bon appetit!

r.

 

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