SOUPALOOZA » summer

Soup or salad? With tomatillos and avocados, who cares?

soupbabe — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 15:13:38 +0000

This soup is really a salad dressing that never made it to the greens!

I don’t know if you’ve ever made something you liked so much, you started eating it right out of the mixing bowl, even before you finished preparing it.

That’s what happened when I made this tomatillo avocado salsa salad dressing. Yes, I know, this is a soup blog. However, I think this dressing is so healthy and scrumptious that it makes a great chilled summer soup.

In other words, it never made the journey from the food processor bowl to the salad greens!

The secret is the tomatillos. A distant relative of the tomato and often referred to as tomate verde or green tomato, they are a staple in Mexican cuisine. I had never really used them before because the paper-like husks intimidated me for some reason.

However, a class at Flavour Cooking School in Forest Park showed me peeling a tomatillo couldn’t be easier. Simply remove the top, papery layer and chop the fruit into quarters before adding it to the food processor. The tomatillos are slightly sticky to the touch, and the flavor is sort of lemony, herbal and tangy all at the same time. Paired with the avocados, jalapeno, cilantro and lime juice, the result is sort of cross between gazpacho and guacamole.

Not that it needs embellishment, but you could crumble a little queso fresco, a firm-textured white cheese also used in Mexican recipes, and/or tortilla chips on top, as garnish.

Of course, you can always use this recipe as it was intended – as a salad dressing. With no added oil other than the avocado, this is off-the-charts in terms of healthy. Any kind of lettuce and vegetable combination will work. The one we made in the cooking class included frisee, baby arugula, cherry tomatoes and julienned roasted red pepper.

Soup or salad? It’s all a matter of how much willpower you have.

Tomatillo Avocado Salsa Soup (and salad dressing)

¼ to ½- jalapeno pepper, seeded

1 clove garlic

1/3 cup cilantro leaves

3 scallions, cut into 2-inch pieces

1 pound tomatillos, husked and quartered (approximately 6-8 tomatillos)

3 tablespoons lime juice, freshly squeezed

2 avocados, flesh removed

½ small white onion, peeled

¼ teaspoon cumin

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Turn food processor on. Drop jalapeno, garlic, cilantro and scallions through feed tube of food processor while machine is running. Process ingredients until minced. Add tomatillos and lime juice. Process until mixture is liquid. Add avocado, onion, cumin and salt and pepper. Let stand 30 to 60 minutes to blend flavors. Taste and adjust.

Serves 4-6 as soup or use as salad dressing.

From Flavour Cooking School, Forest Park, Illinois

Swiss Chard Redux

soupbabe — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:36:11 +0000

OK, so every time I make this soup, it turns out differently. But it is delicious each and every time.

Here’s my question for you, fellow soup savants: Why is it when you remake a tried and true soup recipe, the end results can turn out so differently?

I know. I know. We soup lovers like to make soup because, well, because it’s a little more free flowing than, say, baking puff pastry. Add a little here. Adjust. Toss in some more water. A splash of lemon , a pinch more salt …

The art of making soup is just that. It’s an art, not a science. Still, it’s amazing how different one batch can be from the next — even when you actually follow the recipe.

Case in point: The following Lentil Swiss Chard Soup that I found on food.com.

Any gardener knows that the only thing more pernicious than zucchini is swiss chard . It just keeps on keepin’ on. And the only thing to be done with large batches of it is to soupify it. (Hey, if Rachel Ray can make up words, so can I.)

In any event, I like this recipe a lot … it’s got a lot of spicing in it and is more like a very healthy chili. It may vary from one batch to the next, but it’s always good.

Lentil and Swiss Chard Soup (courtesy of food.com)

1 cup dried lentils, sorted and rinsed
1 bunch swiss chard, rinsed and roughly torn, stems removed
1 (16 ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 red potatoes, washed, cut in 1-inch cubes
1 white onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, scrubbed, sliced
3 garlic cloves, pressed
5 -6 cups chicken broth or 5 -6 cups vegetable broth
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh marjoram
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon seasoning salt (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Place all ingredients in a 5 to 6 quart crockpot, stir, and cook for 4 hours on high or 6 to 8 hours on low. Lentils and other vegetables should be cooked but not overly soft. Remove bay leaves, stir and serve with fresh baked cornbread and jalapeno pepper sauce on the side.

A Vichyssoise Virgin

soupbabe — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:32:45 +0000

Vichyssoise is easy and elegant. It doesn't get better than that! Oh, and it's French. Sort of.

How is it possible to reach middle-age without ever eating vichyssoise?

I know I’m dating myself, but vichyssoise always reminds me of that old Bob Newhart shtick where he pretends he’s a nerdy Pfc.clerk typist in World War II, who was ordered to do phony one-way phone conversations to throw off the eavesdropping Germans.

“Blanke, the cook, is working out rather well, sir,” Newhart says into a phone. “Well one problem is his vichyssoise tastes a little too much like potato soup. Oh, it’s supposed to taste like potato soup …”

Bada bing!

In any case, vichyssoise is my new favorite summer soup. (Goodbye gazpacho. It was nice while it lasted.)

Who would have thought cold potato soup could be so delightful? Its cold, creamy, potato-y-ness is like a savory milk shake and I mean that in the best possible way. It’s easy to make and very easy on the budget.

Plus, who doesn’t like saying they served vichyssoise for dinner?

“Hey, hon. Pass the vichyssoise, se vous plait.”

Before you run off and act all French, however, here’s the kicker. It turns out vichyssoise is most likely an American dish. Who knew? Apparently, some chef at the Ritz Carlton in New York named Louis Diat told New Yorker magazine in 1950:

“In the summer of 1917, when I had been at the Ritz seven years, I reflected upon the potato and leek soup of my childhood which my mother and grandmother used to make. I recalled how during the summer my older brother and I used to cool it off by pouring in cold milk and how delicious it was. I resolved to make something of the sort for the patrons of the Ritz.”

There’s a little bit of controversy over this because the French probably invented potato leek soup – the hot kind – first. You say potato. I say vichyssoise. Cest la vie.

Wherever it’s from, it’s delish. As usual, I turn to my man Mark Bittman for the recipe. The only change I made was I soaked the cooked potatoes in vinegar overnight. I did this because I thought I was going to make potato salad (this is another great Bittman tip).

The result was the soup looked a teeny bit curdled, but the vinegar really added a pop. So try it that way, if you like, but you won’t ever go wrong by following Mark to the letter. Here’s Mark’s recipe from “How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.”

Vichyssoise

2 tablespoons butter or extra virgin olive oil
3 medium potatoes, any type, peeled and cut into small cubes
3 leeks, white and light green parts only, well washed and sliced into thin rings
salt and freshly ground red pepper
1 quart vegetable stock
1/2 to 1 cup sour cream, cream or yogurt

Put the butter or oil in a large, deep saucepan or casserole over medium heat. When the butter melts or the oils is hot, add the vegetables. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, for 2 or 3 minutes.
Add the stock and cook until the vegetables are very tender, about 20 minutes.
Carefully puree the soup in a blender or with an emmersion blender, then return it to the pot. Stir in 1/2 to 1 cup cream, sour cream or yogurt.
Add salt and pepper as needed. Chill thoroughly before serving.

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