Butternut squash soup and sage brown butter drizzle

After a nice and cozy afternoon spent decorating my Christmas tree and playing around in the first snow flakes of the season, I was happily tired and I was not in the mood for a full fledged cooking session.
Rather, I was craving a quick and easy hearty creamy soup. I had a butternut squash and a few sage leaves lying around (Thanksgiving groceries leftovers) , and came up with this in a matter of minutes.

So easy, give it a try!



Ingredients (for 2):
for the sage butter:
- 10 sage leaves
- 1/2 stick of butter (4tbsp)
- salt
for the soup:
- 1tbsp butter
- 1 shallot (onion works fine), finely chopped
- 1 medium to large butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced  in 1-inch cubes
- 4 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth if you prefer to keep this recipe vegetarian)

Recipe: 
- make the sage butter first: melt the butter in a pan and fry the sage leaves until brown and the butter is a beautiful golden brown.

Drain the leaves on a paper towel and sprinkle with salt.

Reserve the butter in a small bowl.

- in a large soup pot, melt the butter and fry the shallot until soft and translucent.

- add the butternut squash and broth and bring to a boil. Cook until the squash is fork tender (about 20 minutes).

- with an immersion blender, puree the squash until creamy and smooth.

- serve with a slice of cereal bread, sourdough or (in my case) a whole wheat grilled tortilla. Drizzle the sage butter with a teaspoon on top of the soup. Decorate with a couple of fried sage leaves.

Bon app!

Minestrone

There's nothing like a thick and hearty soup to make you feel good on a crisp and sunny fall day.

I was in a cozy mood this weekend, and felt like eating a comforting bowl of soup for lunch, so I took a look inside my pantry and fridge and realized I had all the ingredients to make a Minestrone. Ish.

It may look complicated, with a lot of ingredients, but really, it is one of the simplest things to prepare. Here's how I did it.

INGREDIENTS (for 4-6 people, or just the 1 with tons of leftovers. Good news: you can freeze it!):
- a bunch of kale, leaves picked and coarsely chopped (can be substituted for spinach, or any kind of leafy greens you like)
- a small pack of salt pork (about 4oz) diced, skinned and trimmed off most of the fat (I only had this in the fridge, but would normally have used either pancetta or bacon)
- 3 medium sized carrots, diced finely
- 3 long stalks celery, diced finely
- 3 small potatoes (the waxy kind), diced finely
- 1 medium onion, diced finely
- 3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
- 1 cup tomato paste
- 1 14oz can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
- 6 to 8 cups of liquid, such as vegetable broth or chicken broth (I mixed 4 cups of chicken broth and about 3 cups of water as I went along and realized it needed more liquid)
- 1 cup of small pasta
- a splash of olive oil



RECIPE: 

- in a deep soup pot, heat up the olive oil and brown the salt pork until almost cooked through

- then add the holy trinity of diced onion, celery and carrots. Cook on medium-high heat until the vegetables render some moisture and soften (about 3 minutes). This will deglaze the juices of the pork that may have started to caramelize in the pan. Make sure to scrape the pan as it goes with a spatula.

- add the potatoes and garlic, and cook on medium-high heat for another 5 minutes. Keep stirring to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan.

- finally, add the beans, tomato paste and broth. Stir everything really well, and bring back to a simmer.

- add the kale and cover the pan until the leaves wilt.


- add the pasta, and stir well. Cook until the pasta and vegetables are done (should take anywhere between 7 and 10 minutes, depending on the size of the pasta and how finely you diced the veggies)



Enjoy!!

Mushroom and Gorgonzola veloute

The weather is getting crisp, the temperatures are dropping and the leaves are turning yellow.

Fall is here. And that means I'm in the mood for soup!

I got a really good deal for a chunk of Gorgonzola cheese today at the supermaket, and I was just scanning my fridge to find something (anything) to pair it with when I saw a bucket of button mushrooms. And then there was light! I had my soup of the day. Somehow, I was going to find a way to combine those two ingredients to create a delicious cozy automn soup :)

I immediately took to my favorite cooking tool: google. The first hit I got was this recipe which I tweaked a little. I added potatoes for fibers and creaminess instead of a white sauce base (flour and butter).

Ingredients:

- A small container of mushrooms (sliced)

- 2 small potatoes (floury, not waxy), peeled and diced

- 1 onion and 2 small cloves of garlic, diced

- 2 tbsp butter

- 1/4 cup gorgonzola, crumbled + extra for decoration

- salt, dried rosemary leaves 1/2 tsp each

- small glass of white wine

- 1/4 heavy cream

- 4 cups chicken broth

RECIPE:

Melt the butter and cook the onion and garlic until soft.

Add the mushrooms and cook until golden brown.

Deglaze with white wine and reserve 1/4 cup for texture and decoration.

Add potatoes, salt, rosemary and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer covered until potatoes are fork tender.
Turn off heat and add cream and Gorgonzola. Puree with an immersion blender.

Serve with a slice of whole wheat bread. Sprinkle with reserved sliced mushrooms, crumbled cheese and liberal amounts of black pepper :)Enjoy!

A busy weekend

Hey everyone!

I've been MIA for a while now... Here's a quick photo update of my weekend, culinary-wise :)

Roasted Bell Peppers Soup

Roast 6-7 bell peppers (I used all colors: green, yellow and red) directly on the flame until they charr. Then put them immediately in a plastic bag (ziplock works wonders) and close tightly. Let them sit for a while, and the skin will come right off when you peel them.

Peel the peppers and chop them up in small strips. Chop up an onion and a clove of garlic. Pell and cube two small potatoes.

In a deep pot, melt some butter and fry the onion and garlic until transparent and tender. Then add the peppers, a sprig of thyme (I used fresh, but dried works fine too), the potatoes and 4 cups of chicken stock.

Simmer for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through. Puree with a stick blender, and serve piping hot with a splash of thick cream and sprinkled with fresh thyme leaves. Enjoy!

Tarte Tatin

Peel and quarter 5-7 apples (use sweet apples, not sour like the Granny Smith). Scrub the quarters with lemon juice so that they do not oxidize. arrange them in the bottom of a cake from (make them in a pretty pattern, as you will see that pattern when you turn the pie upside down for serving).

In a frying pan, melt 2 1/2 oz unsalted butter and 3/4 cup of caster sugar. cook until it forms a golden brown caramel, and pour over the apple quarters in the cake form. The caramel will set really fast on the cold apples and become crunchy. No problem! When the apples bake, they will release some moisture and the caramel will melt and cook with the apples. Lay down a sheet of pastry (whichever kind you like) over the apples and bake for 35-40 minutes in a pre-warmed oven at 365F). Bon appetit!

Chicken Pot Pie

Roast 4 seasoned (salt, pepper olive oil) boneless thighs of chicken in a 350F oven for about 40 minutes.

Put the thighs aside and deglaze the juices from the dish with 2 cups of chicken stock. Reserve the liquid.

Slice and cook a handful of button mushrooms in a little butter until golden brown. Put aside.

In a deep pot, melt about a half a stick of unsalted butter (~ 5tsp) and mix in 1/3 cup of flour. Cook the flour gently (the mixture will bubble up and fluff), then add the chickn stock and immediately stir until it thickens and add the chopped up chicken, 3 carrots (sliced), the mushrooms and about a cup and a half of frozen peas. Transfer into an oven safe dish and cover with puff pastry. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the pastry is fluffy and golden brown. Enjoy!

Creamy chorizo and chicken soup

When I got back from work tonight, I just felt like having a good, warm, hearty chicken soup for dinner.

I googled a few recipes, and found just what I was craving. The credit goes to *Fat~Dog~Lane* who posted this recipe on http://www.allrecipes.com/

12 November 2009