Garlic Soup

This soup is SO good, made out of practically nothing, and also seems like it would be an excellent hangover dish.

Normally I'm not big on the whole celebrity chef phenomenon, but I found this in Spain: A Culinary Road Trip by Mario Batali ("with" Gwyneth Paltrow. Not sure what she was doing there since evidently she couldn't even keep him from wearing orange Crocs... but I digress).

The recipe says it serves six, but he has to mean as a first course. And I'm not sure why you would ever want to have this soup as a first course, since you will just want more of the soup.

Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 pound stale bread, crusts removed and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 3 cups) [I was too lazy to remove the crusts and it was delicious]
- 8 garlic cloves, finely minced
- 1 teaspoon hot pimenton (Spanish smoked paprika) [I have a feeling this is an important ingredient to get right. Regular paprika has very little punch. The Spanish smoked paprika I get at Penzey's (not sure where else you can get it, but I know it's around) is smoky and flavorful.]
- Kosher salt
- 8 cups chicken stock, vegetable stock, or water [I did like 1/3 chicken broth and the rest water]
- 6 poached eggs [pshhht. Or *three*, since it really only serves three].

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the bread and cook, stirring, until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, pimenton, and a good pinch of salt. Cook for about 3 minutes, or until very fragrant. Add the stock and bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the bread is very soft. Taste and add salt if necessary. Ladle the soup into six [three] bowls, put a poached egg into each, and serve.

Oh yeah, did I mention I poached my first (and second, for lunch tomorrow) eggs tonight? Kind of gross, kind of fun. Probably won't do it again for a while.

Saffron and Roasted Cauliflower Soup

I adapted a recipe for Saffron Cauliflower Soup that was in The Oregonian yesterday - not many changes except that I used chicken broth instead of vegetable broth, green onions instead of chives, and no tahini. I'm sure it would have been completely delicious and over the top with tahini, but they didn't have it where I picked up the cauliflower and saffron. I roasted the cauliflower before adding it to the broth in the hope of boosting the flavor even without the tahini.

Here's the recipe as it appeared in The Oregonian. I've noted any substitutions I made.

Also, I used my pressure cooker to steep the saffron in the broth, and again to cook the cauliflower and potato in the broth. I still cooked the cauliflower and potato for about 20 minutes, plus cooling time, but I speculate that this is what allowed me to get away with using small yellow potatoes instead of a starchier Russet(t?) and still have a nice potato-thickened broth.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups vegetable broth (or chicken broth, or a combination of broth and water)
  
• 1/8 teaspoon saffron powder or threads
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 medium white onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 head cauliflower, broken into florets (I kind of just chopped it up, since I wanted to roast the pieces quickly. Tossed in olive oil, salt, and pepper; roasted at 450 for about 25-30 minutes, until soft and a little browned)
  
• 1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes (I used five small yellow potatoes because I already had them on hand)
  
• 2 tablespoons tahini (didn't have, didn't use)
  
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Chopped fresh chives for garnish (used green onions. Chives would have been yummy)

In a medium pot, bring the broth to a boil and add the saffron. Turn off the heat and let the broth sit for 10 minutes, allowing the saffron to steep.

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat and sauté the onion until translucent, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the cauliflower and potato and stir. Add the broth to the cauliflower mixture and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for about 25 minutes on low heat, until the cauliflower is fork-tender.

Transfer the soup to a blender (I just used my stick blender) and add the tahini. Working in batches, blend the soup until smooth and velvety. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer the soup back to the pot and reheat on low.

Serve immediately in soup bowls, garnished with the chopped chives.

I can't figure out how to incorporate my photos into the text after the fact with the new Blogger, so here are my pictures:

Cauliflower prior to roasting.

The cooked cauliflower and potato in the saffron broth.


The soup! Sooooo thick and creamy, even without the tahini. I can't wait for lunch tomorrow!

Jaded

http://www.jadeteahouse.com

Nah, I would be "jaded" if I avoided the first obvious blog post title that presented itself.

I enjoyed my experience at this place so much last night, that I'm resurrecting my weblog. Next step: finding and charging my camera, taking pictures of things that I cook again, etc.

THIS PLACE ROCKS. Now. Disclaimer. Part of the reason that it rocks so strongly is because it's like the proprietors designed it with Carrina's dream restaurant in mind from start to finish. Adorable but unpretentious exterior? Yup. Sunny, laid-back, high-ceiling interior? Indeed. Oh, yes - the food. Menu with Vietnamese baguette sandwiches (banh mi, right? All that pickled crunchy daikon goodness) in the center, but splayed out in all directions, from sticky fish sauce wings (yes) to pho (YES) to spicy rice noodles of varied shapes and sizes (YES!).

But wait. You call yourself a "Teahouse and Patisserie." Meaning that I could sip on what sound to be satisfying teas and enjoy the free wi-fi or board games that are hanging out in that casual section toward the back? I won't, because this place is far, far from my neighborhood - but I COULD, which edges this place towards its third Carrinalin star.

And... what's that - patisserie? I'm sorry, in addition to baking your own fantastic baguettes for the sandwiches, you also have a cornucopia of baked, puffed, and/or filled goods? As we were walking out, I saw someone being served a layered, moussy, cross-section invention in pale green - some sort of matcha tiramisu? There were also multi-colored sandwich macaroons, a broiled s'more cookie (Mike liked it) and, and, AND - an amazing chewy sesame ball* (think cream puff or beignet except the texture is fifty times better) with pureed and fluffed angels' wings inside. Oh, I'm told that was actually some sort of combination of sweet bean paste and coconut. Served with a caramel dipping sauce. And the caramel dipping sauce officially gets Jade to its fourth star.

Mike had the sandwich with the barbecued pork. He couldn't eat a lot of it because he didn't pay attention to the cilantro advisory, but I sampled quite a bit and can tell you that it was everything wonderful. The daikon slices were as thick as maybe three pieces of copier paper. Carrot, cilantro, cilantro mayo, a little marination magic on the veggies, and barbecued pork - BOOM. Magic. And magic bread that holds up through it all.

I had the sticky fish sauce wings and rice. I've heard people talk about them at Pok Pok but have a bit of a chip on my shoulder for that place. I'm not a wings person, but I had to try them and was glad I did - crispy, sticky, SALTY, sweet. Good meat. Cilantro sprigs on top. Some cucumber, tomato, and plenty of wing-y juice to entertain me while I waited for my molten wings to cool down. They weren't braised wings drowned in sauce, which is what I have on occasion observed when I see others eat wings. Each individual wing was a crackling little treat. The coating reminded me in some weird way of a candy store at the coast - but if that creeps you out, don't listen to me, because all you need to know is that they were awesome.

In summary - I am now a fangirl. Now if only this restaurant-in-a-house could take a Dorothy-like journey up the river to St. Johns - I would be SET!

*appears in the left-hand corner of the picture

Sushi, Deconstructed

Okay, not really deconstructed. And probably not really sushi. But I'm sick, and I'm bored, and it seemed high time to put up another post here.

My coworker let me try her version of this stuff the other morning, and it was DELICIOUS. Her salmon was way better than mine, and I think she also used some fancy plum paste - umeboshi? It was tantalizing. Mine didn't have the same kick, but it was still very yummy.

Basically, it's a hollowed-out cucumber partially filled with thinly sliced crisp vegetables, and then stuffed the rest of the way with cooked salmon. Next time, I will probably use an organic and unwaxed cucumber so that I feel good about leaving the skin on, since I think that would make the final sliced "sushi" round look even more attractive to the eye.

I have actually made this for myself two nights in a row now. Last night I used a little bit of avocado; tonight I didn't have avocado, but used some green bell pepper instead.

This can serve two people if served with a small soup, noodles, or rice (I think if you serve it with rice, it comes closer to qualifying as "deconstructed"). Tonight, I had it with some udon noodles with the extra chopped carrots and bell peppers.

- 1 cucumber, peeled (if desired), cut in half crosswise, seeds scraped out with long paring knife or some other skinny utensil
-about 3 oz (1/2 tiny can) canned salmon (cooked fresh salmon, or smoked salmon, would certainly be delicious as well)
- 1/2 small carrot, cut into very thin square strips about half the length of the cucumber (you will probably have some extra carrot to snack on)
-some other vegetable or fruit cut into thin, long strips, such as bell pepper, avocado, daikon radish, regular radish, green onion, etc.
-rice vinegar or other vinegar, if available
-soy sauce, plum sauce, anything else you would like to use for dipping
-black sesame seeds for garnish (totally optional)

1) Toss the salmon with a little bit of vinegar in a small bowl (not pictured below - this is just a gratuitous picture of all the ingredients).

Here are the veggie strips (below)

Here are the hollowed-out cucumber halves.

Take each cucumber half and fill the hollow about one-third of the way with the vegetable strips.

Then, stuff the rest of the hollow with the salmon, bit by bit. Take about a half-spoonful at a time and press it down to the bottom of the hollow with the paring knife.

When no more salmon will go into the cucumber, slice off the end with a sharp knife so that the cross-section is smooth.

If desired and if you have time anyway, store the cucumber halves upright (see below) over a towel in the fridge while you get the rest of your dinner ready. I found that my salty salmon helped drain the cucumber and veggies of some of their water even in the short 15 minutes that I had the cucumber halves propped up.

Now comes the fun part - like peeling the backing off a temporary tattoo, or drying your hair so you can see what color you actually just dyed it, you get to slice the cucumber halves into rounds. The portion below came from half of a cucumber.

...that's it! Serve with soy sauce and/or anything else you like to accompany your sushi.

Stir-Fried Plums with Carrots and Red Cabbage

Hey, I'm back!

A lot has happened since the end of August. We moved (end result=bigger kitchen - hooray!), and then I lost the cable that connects my camera to my computer. Not that that's a sufficient excuse for not posting this recipe until now, since I took the pictures back in... July? Whenever plums are in season. Anyway, here's to more frequent posting.
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I have come into a million plums from someone at work who has a plum tree and keeps bringing them in. I think I will have to eat several for breakfast, then make a couple of pans of crisp when I get home, just to make sure I use them all. It's great! And these plums are gorgeous (see below).

Last night, I made a plum cake (which is now gone). Tonight, I thought I'd try to use them in a savory context. Our produce drawer is running low on veggies at the moment, but the plums at least get us in the same general section of the nutrition pyramid - right??

Yeah, I think so. Anyway, here's what I used:

• 2-3T oil (enough to cover part of the bottom of a medium-large non-stick skillet
• 1/4 small onion, halved and sliced into thin strips (if you magically have shallot on hand, that would probably be cooler)
• 1 boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces (freezing it for 10-20 minutes makes it easier to cut, IMHO)
• 2 carrots, sliced diagonally
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• handful chopped red cabbage
• 3 plums (I used the little Italian ones), sliced into eighths
• enough cooked dried udon noodles (fresh are even more delicious, though!) to serve 2-3. I had planned on this being only enough for dinner, but as it turned out I had leftovers for lunch the next day.
• 2 T soy sauce
• splash of sherry, if you have it
• 1 T brown sugar
• 1 T roasted red chili paste (I use the "Taste of Thai" stuff)
• lime wedges for garnish (you could splash a little vinegar in at the end, instead)

1) First, heat up the oil in the skillet to a pretty extreme medium/medium-high. Then fry the onion for several minutes, stirring a lot, until it is nicely browned. Browner than you usually want your onions. Scoop the onions out into a bowl to save for later, but leave as much oil as you can in the pan.

2) Reduce heat to medium, add chicken to skillet, and cook until no longer pink. Add garlic slices and cook for 30 seconds or so.

3) Add soy sauce, sherry, brown sugar, and roasted red chili paste. If everything is way too smoking hot, you can add some water too, to buy you some time. Cook for a couple of minutes or until it's all melted into a kind of sauce.

4) Add carrots and stir-fry for a minute or so (depending on how thinly they are sliced). Add plums and red cabbage and stir-fry briefly just to coat them with the sauce, and to warm them. Don't let the plums get too mushy.


5) Stir the reserved cooked onions back into the pan. Add the cooked udon noodles to the pan, and stir to combine.

6) Serve with lime wedges, if you have them. If not, put a little splash of vinegar (rice vinegar would be good) in the dish before serving.

Grapefruit Salad with Ground Cherries and Mint Sugar

Title sounds all classy, doesn't it? Well, I already had the mint in the fridge for something else, so this dish was prompted by my officemate leaving me a message on a Friday that she was out of the office, imploring me to find some use for a grapefruit and ground cherries that she had left in her desk drawer, since they wouldn't make it through the weekend and she didn't want them to go to waste.

The ground cherries are to the left, below. I had no idea what they were, but they come from my officemate's garden and she explained that they look like tiny tomatillos, but taste kind of pineappley. They also have little tiny seeds built in, giving them a subtle crunch like figs! Yum.

As per my usual, I didn't make this recipe up: epicurious has something similar that uses grapefruits, oranges, pomegranate seeds or dried cranberries (I used dried currants), and no ground cherries.


Anyway, there's not much to describe. I peeled the grapefruit over a bowls so that I could save any drippiness. I pulled the sections out of the white stuff as best I could. I took the ground cherries out of their husks, washed them, and cut them each in half.



Then I ripped up a bunch of mint leaves (but not as many as you see in the first picture - maybe 8-10?), and smashed them with the leftover grapefruit juice and some sugar in my mortar and pestle.

The currants went on top.

This picture is really shaky!

Zucchini Enchiladas with Pumpkinseed Salsa

Hey, I'm back. It's been a busy August! We're trying to buy a house, so all posts following this one will probably be a little more... uh... economical in nature for a while. For instance, I have some pictures of a salad I made from the contents of my co-worker's desk drawer. I'll post those after this. Anyway...

Zucchini enchiladas. This was epicurious's recipe of the day when I went to their site looking for something to do with the ginormous zucchinis my officemate had given me (thanks, Julia!). So, it was meant to be right from the beginning. The actual title of the original recipe is "Zucchini and Red Pepper Enchiladas with Two Salsas," but come on - that doesn't even hint at the fact that these enchiladas are loaded up with toasted, spiced pumpkinseed puree - by far the coolest element!

These were absolutely delicious, and they held together surprisingly well for our lunch and dinner the next day. I will say that trying to seal these babies together by frying them in oil without having all the goodness drip out the ends and burn was a bit of a challenge, especially in the 100-degree weather we were having that night. In the future, I could possibly be persuaded to leave out the frying and assemble these like soft tacos, just because the frying was such a pain and left me with some finger burns.

The recipe asks for you to grill the vegetables. Yeah... I live in an apartment. I did, however, use this as an excuse to pick up a cast-iron grill pan at Goodwill! I've been very happy with it.

So, the recipe.

Ingredients

For enchiladas:
-1 large white onion, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
-2 red bell peppers, quartered
-3/4 pound medium zucchini, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices [I had way more zucchini than this, and I used way more - probably why we ended up with enchiladas big enough to eat two, not three of them as a generous meal]
-12 (6-to 7-inch) soft corn tortillas [I used white, and I think they were a little bigger than this]
-1/2 cup vegetable oil
-6 ounces crumbled queso fresco or ricotta salata [I used the queso fresco]

For pumpkin-seed salsa:
-1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh serrano chile, including seeds
-2 garlic cloves, minced
-1 teaspoon ground cumin
-1 1/3 cups raw green (hulled) pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
-1/2 cup vegetable oil
-2 cups chopped cilantro [Mike doesn't like cilantro. I can't remember if I used a little parsley instead, or just ignored this]
-1 1/2 cups water

For tomato salsa [yeah, or you could just use some store-bought salsa]:
-2 medium tomatoes, chopped
-1/4 cup finely chopped white onion
-2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh serrano chile, including seeds
-2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
-Garnish: cilantro leaves

For the tomato salsa: stir together tomatoes, onion, chile, lime juice, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.


For the pumpkinseed salsa: cook chile, garlic, cumin, and pumpkin seeds in oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat, stirring, until seeds pop, 4 to 5 minutes.



Transfer 3 tablespoons seeds with a slotted spoon to a bowl and reserve. Purée remaining seeds and oil with cilantro, water, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a blender until smooth.

Start enchiladas:Prepare a gas grill for direct-heat cooking over medium heat.
Preheat oven to 350°F .
Secure each onion round with a wooden pick for grilling. Oil grill rack, then grill vegetables, covered, turning occasionally, until tender (6 to 8 minutes for bell peppers and zucchini; 10 to 12 minutes for onion), transferring to a bowl.

Okay, grilling the vegetables in my little grill pan took many,

many,

many,

many batches.

To make the enchiladas: cut vegetables into strips. Spread 2 teaspoons pumpkin-seed salsa on each warm tortilla and top with some of grilled vegetables, then roll up.

Heat oil (1/2 cup) in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Fry enchiladas, seam side down first, in 2 batches, turning once, until lightly browned and heated through, about 2 minutes per batch.

Transfer enchiladas to plates, then drizzle with remaining pumpkin-seed salsa and sprinkle with reserved seeds and cheese. Serve with tomato salsa.

Yum!