roasted tomato soup

I'll be honest, I may or may not have made this in order to justify eating a grilled cheese.

And also because it looks scrumptious. Did I just use that word? I think I did.

This roasted tomato soup recipe comes from Heidi at 101Cookbooks. It couldn't be simpler, really, and may keep me from ever eating the canned stuff again. It was even easy enough for me to make before a 10 am conference call, which - if you know me at all - is pretty badass. Apologies for the cursing. I get really excited when I can multitask and not burn the house down.

Annnnyways, on to the goods.

Roasted Tomato Soup
From 101Cookbooks

5 tomatoes, quartered
1 large red bell pepper, seeded and quartered
3 medium yellow onions, peeled, quartered (I used 2 yellow, 1 spanish)
extra-virgin olive oil
5 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
sea salt
2 - 3 cups light vegetable stock or water (I used water, with half a mushroom bouillon)
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika, my new secret ingredient, compliments of A.R.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Lightly oil 2 baking sheets, cut the tomatoes, onions and pepper, and put skin side down -- garlic and onions on one side, tomatoes and pepper on the other.

What can I say, I like things to be color coordinated sometimes.

Shower with a bit of sea salt, and pop in the oven.

Roast for 45 minutes or so until the goods are all roasted, checking partially through to make sure the onions aren't burning and are getting carmelized to your liking.

Once done, transfer all of that deliciousness to a pot / deep bowl, add the smoked paprika and put the immersion blender to good use, adding the liquid until it's your desired consistency. I made my soup a bit smoother, but puree to your hearts content. And voila, healthy, delicious, grilled cheese dip-worthy soup. All in less than an hour.

Soup, continued

My endeavor earlier this week, and the subject of the last post here, left me with a Costco amount of homemade poultry stock (turkey + chicken).

Recipe #1 was inspired again by Elise's Mom's Turkey Soup, so I started to shred some turkey, chop up onions, carrots, celery and some tomatoes and let them become friends again.

The second soup I first made last year when I was living in the Back Bay, and just realized I may have inadvertently made it one year to the day that I first tried it. Either way, there's no reason we can't revisit favorites, and now we can add the photo (from last year, so apologies for the photo quality. I had yet to get my EOS xTI).



Last year, I used leftover frozen tom yum soup broth so it had a wonderful lemongrass undertone but also quite a kick from the Thai chiles Sam and I used. I really liked the spice, and replicated this time (sans chiles) with a few dashes of Sriracha.

Ten Minute Couscous Soup with a kick
Adaapted from Heidi @ 101Cookbooks

(KT note ... looks like I first made this soup the exact day Heidi posted it, then again this year, also on the 26th. Bizarre. Hm. :) )

7 cups great-tasting broth - in my case turkey/chicken (can eyeball this)
2 or 3 pinches crushed red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 cup regular couscous
1 1/2 cups broccoli florets, cut into tiny pieces smaller than your thumb
1 1/2 cups cauliflower florets, cut into tiny pieces smaller than your thumb

Bring the stock to a boil with a few dashes of oil and the hot pepper flakes. When it comes to a boil, remove from heat and add the couscous. Wait two minutes, then add the broccoli and cauliflower. Wait another 2-3 minutes until the vegetables lose their raw edge and you're done! I added a few shots of Sriracha, but you can leave as is, add some sundried tomatoes and goat cheese or any other sort of topping you'd like. The soup is very forgiving, so have fun and play.

'Tis the season (for roasts and soup)

I tried to be clever, I really did.

The weather has finally shed the last of the hot, humid lackluster "summer" here in Boston - a summer that I frankly don't really remember. It happens when you frequent airports regularly enough to know the waitstaff and flight attendants (slight over exaggeration, but only slightly).

The fall is by far my favorite time of year, with winter being a close second. Growing up in the closest thing Western NY has to the tundra, you either accept the snow and grow a fondness for it, or start crafting your escape plan to the Carolinas or Florida as soon as you pass basic word recognition in elementary school. I was one of the former, as you can tell.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, one that I'll actually be hosting here in my little Brookline apartment this year and more importantly cooking for my out of town family. So when I saw a 1/2 bone in turkey breast at the supermarket, I plopped one in my basket and thought I'd start the turkey season a bit early. Heck, why not.

The prep was simple. Rough chop up some onions, and lay in the bottom of the pan with carrots and celery to make a rack. Mix together melted butter, garlic, (some people even call for mayo ... which seems interesting) and some herbs and rub under the skin and over the bird. Pour a little bit of stock over so there's some liquid in the pan, and into the oven it goes.

After 2 1/2 hours or so (I googled temperatures by pound), this was the result.



And ... it was perfectly cooked. Even after my jetlagged self fell asleep sitting up before 9 pm. Thank god for kitchen timers.

I had a craving for one of my favorite cranberry dressings, as well, so I started to toss ingredients into the food processor. A friend had brought two different dressings to a big Boston-based Thanksgiving we had in 2006 (and made a 23-lb bird, to boot) - one the traditional jam like cooked down version, and the other this delightful, fresh cranberry and orange relish. Just wasn't right calling it a "dressing".



Cranberry-Orange Relish

1/2 - 3/4 bag of fresh cranberries
1 orange, with rind, chopped into small pieces (unless you have a beast of a food processor)
2 TB of sugar
1/2 cup (or more to taste) of chopped walnuts

Put into food processor. Turn it on. And look, you're done :)



The result should be tart, a little bit but not too sweet, and finely chopped. This is perfect for turkey sandwiches, adding to yogurt, hell - I even put on top of cranberry chocolate chip pancakes (oh heck yes).

I had saved a roasted chicken carcass in my freezer (ah, travel. Thank god for pre-roasted things at the supermarket) to make stock, and after picking at the turkey here, decided to combine them both to make the monster pot of all pots of stock.

I followed Elise's Mom's recipe for stock, including a few other things to just plain clean out the fridge.

So in went Mr. Chicken Carcass, the turkey bones with a bit of meat still attached (I had plenty, so a little lost was fine to me), an onion, carrots, celery, peppercorns, 2 bay leaves, a mushroom bouillon (more on this magic ingredient from Italy later), and water to cover. I even added some leftover red wine, mushroom and bacon gravy (from operation pork schnitzel) just for kicks. Bring to a boil, then simmer uncovered for 4+ hours. Strain and there you go. Sometimes it needs a bit more salt or some other missing ingredient.

Added benefit, the smell that perfumes your house. This was almost reason enough to make. :) Soup recipes to come in the next post.

Down with the sickness

Being sick in the pits. I think there's global agreement on that. After a few back-to-back weeks of planes, trains and automobiles, my immune system finally waved a white flag and took a vacation, leaving me congested, exhausted, and feeling somewhat deathly. Lo and behold, this was right when swine flu mania began, making my explanations of a) heavy travel b) allergies that kicked in when I was in the UK and c) nasty headcold somewhat moot.

Thankfully, after a few days of drowning myself with lemon, ginger, and honey concoctions and spicy miso ramen soup, I was feeling a bit better, and looking for some food with substance. My cravings were somewhat bizarre, as if I was a pregnant woman eating sour pickles and peanut butter.

The result:
- spicy veggie curry with cauliflower and tomatoes
- white bean spinach soup
- cutlets, just like sab and her mom used to make.

Not too shabby, eh? Lots of protein, a good amount of spice, and relatively healthy.

The curry is an old standby, this one including garbanzo beans, cauliflower, 1 potato and a can of stewed tomatoes. Add a bit of garam masala, some cumin, stock and garlic. Then simmer away until it's mushy-like. That's the scientific term for it too. :)



Very similar in procedure as the curry I made a few months ago.

Serve with some naan, rice, or, as I did later in the week, a side of cottage cheese. Odd, I realize, but healthy and cuts the heat of the curry.

Beans were the main ingredient of the day ... what can I say. Tasty, and also cheap as all get out. Win win.



I first spotted this soup - the white bean spinach soup - over at Not Quite Nigella. I chose to make this without the chorizo, which is a decision I don't regret, to tell you the truth. The basics include a mirepoix to start, adding about 10 oz. of spinach and stock, 2 bay leaves half a pint of stock. Simmer for 20 minutes, then puree using an immersion blender. This is a thicker soup, but great comfort food. Yum.




Oh, and the cutlets ... not Agro cutlets (my best friend and her mother make, by far, the best cutlets EVAR. no joke.) These were just craving food. Delicous, slightly salty, breaded craving food.

Operation cleanout, moving, dusting off the cobwebs

Apologies for the long silence here on Tales of a Test Kitchen. In the last month, I've packed up my little Back Bay kitchen, moved across the line just barely into Brookline, and been traveling like a mad woman ever since.

Excuses, excuses, I know, but it's tough to really get back into the swing of cooking - and enjoying it - when the kitchen still has boxes in it, is missing appliances and what not. Slowly but surely, this will be remedied, I assure you. I've promised a few people updates on here, so lets kick the tires. I'm at home with a nasty head cold from my latest travels, and maybe this will get my brain moving.

This post is about a month old, but good nevertheless. Pre- my move, I was in the midst of cooking to clean out my fridge and pantry, part of Operation Cleanout. Day 3 of this process brought us a delicious vegetarian pasta with chard, lemon cream sauce and toasted pine nuts, as well as a lemony asparagus soup that's to die for.

The pasta was an interesting endeavor, to say the least. I had half a container of sour cream to use, lemons, spring onions, chard, whole wheat pasta and a number of other miscellaneous ingredients. The sauce was a mix of the sour cream, sauteed garlic, some chili flakes, lemon zest and lemon juice. I had toasted some pine nuts and sauteed some chard separately. Once all of the components were complete, just tossed them all with the sauce and voila. Topped with some chopped spring onions. This was just aces after a long day of work, and kicked any alfredo sauce or pasta roni kit you can get at the store.



The Lemony Asparagus soup that joined the night's menu was spotted on Dishing Up Delights, and was not only supremely easy, but light and delicious.

And even better, I had a few burners left on my stove to make it, while still tending to the pasta mentioned above.



Lemony Asparagus Soup
From Dishing Up Delights, adapted from Food and Wine

1 bunch of asparagus, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 white onion, thinly sliced
2 cups chicken stock (could also use veggie)
one 1-inch wide strip of lemon zest, plus 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest for garnish
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
salt and freshly ground pepper

Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil, and cook the asparagus for about 2-3 minutes. Transfer to an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Drain and set aside.

In a clean saucepan, add oil and cook the onion until soft, about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Add chicken stock and lemon zest strip. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes or so. Add asparagus and cook for another 5 minutes until tender. Discard lemon zest and use an immersion blender to puree.

Operation pantry/fridge/freezer cleanout - Day 1 - Miso Ramen

OK, news alert for those of you following Tales of a Test Kitchen (which may just be Steph ;) ) -- I'm moving. I'll soon be leaving my Back Bay kitchen to move essentially down the road, mayyyyybe a mile and a half away. Likely less.

Due to the pending move, I've restricted myself to basic ingredients bought at the market this weekend and what i only have in stock here. And after a month of very very heavy travel ... the pickins are SLIM. But, I like a challenge ... and this one forces me to do some research and be creative. The results ... delicious. Who'da known?

On to Day 1 of the challenge -- what to make for the week? I made walnut miso noodles over the weekend, have a ton of miso (does Super 88 sell small packs of miso? or just lifetime supplies. meezcha.)

So, on to cooking for the week. After a month of indulging in Brazilian and Asian delicacies, Tales of a Test Kitchen could use a little detox, and with the move, wallet-friendly dishes are added bonuses.

The result for Sunday's cooking... miso ramen with leftover walnut miso noodles from the potluck @ albert's, bok choy, ground pork and slightly spiced with thai chilis. So incredibly easy to do, yet so satisfying. This soup is up to interpretation, so feel free to alter. Here's what I used.

Miso Ramen

Ingredients:
1.25 lb ground pork
roughly 2 cups chicken stock
entire bag of bok choy
3 Thai bird chilis - finely diced
Leftover walnut miso noodles (including chard and asparagus)
soy sauce
spring onions
miso
water
garlic

To start, brown the ground pork with a little oil, diced garlic, and some soy sauce in a medium-deep pan, enough to cook down the bok choy in. Once that's browned, add the bok choy (rinsed, be very careful ... often carries some dirt) and about a cup of chicken stock. Eyeball it, you need enough to cook down the bok choy.

Meanwhile, head a pot of water until it's warm, but not boiling. Mix in 1/4 cup or so (to taste) of miso, whisking in until nicely combined. You want the broth to be flavorful, and everyone has a different taste for miso. Use accordingly.

Once bok choy is cooked down, add to miso broth.




Let these all combine, then add the leftover noodles. I diced up some spring onions to top the ramen, and grabbed my set of chop sticks. Dinner, finisimo -- with enough to last me through the week. :) And really, what's more comforting than a big bowl of miso ramen?

Split Pea Soup

I actually made up a pot of this while I was getting ready this morning. Unbelievably simple, healthy, and perfect for a bitter cold day like this one was. My friend had told me about this incredibly painless and fast way to make split pea soup, so I gave it a whirl - this version without a ham bone or meat for flavoring purposes.

Note - not everyone is a fan of split pea soup. Some, it reminds them too much of the first time they saw Linda Blair's head spin in the Exorcist, others just never developed a taste for it.

Me? First off ... Exorcist is one of my favorite movies as a child ... and think this soup is delightful. So THERE. :) Onwards ...

Split Pea Soup
Adapted from Miss Sab's kitchen

Ingredients:
1 medium onion (I used a red onion, since it was what I had)
1 potato
bag of split peas
3 peeled and chopped carrots
3 smashed garlic cloves
water
s & p (plus other seasonings to taste)

Rough chop the potato and carrots and put in a pot. Cut one end off the onion, leave the other on and cut down into sections - but not all the way through. Think onion bloom. This helps you avoid fishing out pieces later, and hell ... it looks pretty :) Can chop if you want. Pour the bag of split peas in, as well, and the smashed garlic cloves.



Fill the pot with water to cover all the elements. Can use stock, if you'd like. Add salt and pepper.



Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, until peas and other veggies are beyond fork tender.

You can cook this down until it starts to become mush (as Sab prefers), or use an immersion blender to puree it down. I left mine slightly chunky but pureed down the big chunks. I like the added texture. Then, add any remaining seasonings it may need to taste. And voila. Early morning soup.

Fighting off the cold ... part II - a take on a pasta fagiole soup

I traditionally do the majority of my cooking on Sundays ... it's therapeutic, gets me set for the week, and makes good meals on weeknights feasible, since it's all there.

Well, this past Sunday ... I broke routine. Leaving me with other things to cook up this week, things I'd been planning on noshing on this week, without the effort. It happens.

So when it came to lunch today, with the dreaded "wintry mix" falling outside (snow, rain, a mix of both, wind, ice -- all the nasty stuff), I reached for the shell pasta in my cupboard and just started putting things into a pot on the stove. What I ended up with was a hearty pasta fagiole-esque soup that took minimal effort and cleared out some ingredients in my fridge. This is somewhat unconventional, but hell - it's delicious.

First, drop some medium shell pasta (or something similar, I like the shells for this but feel free to play) into a pot of salted boiling water. Once those are cooked, drain all but a cup or two of liquid off (just slightly less than covering the pasta). Wilt some spinach into the pot, add a can of stewed tomatoes with liquid, a partially drained can of kidney beans, a spoonful of pesto for flavoring, and about a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of tomato sauce if you have some on hand.

I often add pesto to pasta I'm cooking, even if I'm dressing it with sauce or something else. It lends a delicious saltiness to the pasta that I just crave for some reason. I added the tomato sauce here a) because I had it handy and b) because it helped thicken the sauce, outside of the starchy cooking liquid and the liquid from the beans.

Seasoning wise, I added some fresh cracked garlic salt, ground pepper, a bit of chili powder, some chicken bouillon powder since I didnt't have stock on hand, and then a bit of Parmesan cheese.

Stir, season as needed, and serve. Absolutely delicious, and take about 15-20 minutes.

soup, it's what's for dinner

so, i was originally planning on making a big pot of spicy vegetable curry or else a sweeter pumpkin / sweet potato curry this week, but i changed my mind.

to follow up on last week's heartier meals (french onion soup with cognac and hearty beef stew), i decided to slightly tweak a recipe from 101 cookbooks for a couscous soup with vegetables.

i have a good amount of leftover broth in my freezer from when i made tom yum soup this winter with sj, that i'm going to defrost to use as the base for this super simple soup. the broth has quite a kick, with a thai bird chili and lemongrass flavor.

the basics for this soup are as follows:

- start with a great tasting stock (veggie, usually. i'm switching it up with the aforementioned broth). heat the broth with a few Tb. of good extra virgin olive oil, and a few crushed red pepper flakes (i'm leaving this out since my broth is already kicked up a few notches)
- bring the broth to a boil, then remove from the heat, and add a box of couscous. wait about 2 minutes.
- after those 2 minutes, stir in broccoli and cauliflower (cut into bite sized pieces, about 1.5 cups of each for a 6-7 gallon batch, but more the merrier). then wait another 2 minutes.
- after that, ready to ladle into soup bowls, topping with some finely chopped sun dried tomatoes and a few crumbles of goat cheese and green onions. voila!

heidi @ 101 cookbooks offers some wonderful variations for the broth -- adding curry paste, harissa, or like i'm trying, using a different stock altogether.

i can't believe i haven't thought of this sort of concoction before. my curries are going to have to wait a few days ... ;)