Last week or so I've made a smattering of recipes. Most of these have ended up being sides, so I won't post the full recipes.
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| photo from cookinglight.com |
Tuscan Style Potato Soup (Ckng Lght, Oct 09, pg 102)
I modified this one pretty significantly. Original recipe (here) called for a spicy sausage to be cooked and crumbled over the top along with a pureed kale drizzle. Then there was a whole food mill issue, where after the potatoes were done cooking, they were to be mushed through a food mill. Um, whatever. I'll use my immersion blender thanks. Quicker and less clean up.
I also subbed diced kielbasa for the sausage, cooking it briefly to get a quick caramelizing before tossing it in the finished, blended soup. This can easily be omitted for a vegetarian dish.
Don't be intimidated by the whole head of garlic. Roasted garlic is sooo good and mellow and adds a great backdrop to the potatoes.
Tuscan Style Potato Soup (modified)
Yield
6 servings
Ingredients
2 heads garlic
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 cups finely chopped onion, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt, divided
2 1/4 pounds cubed peeled Yukon gold potato (about 6 cups)
4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 cup half-and-half
4 ounces pecorino Romano cheese, divided
6 ounces Kielbasa, cooked (optional)
1 ounce pancetta, finely chopped (optional)
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Cut off pointed end of each garlic head to partially reveal cloves (do not peel or separate the cloves); place each head in the center of a small sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Drizzle 1/2 teaspoon oil over each head; wrap each in foil. Bake at 400° for 45 minutes; cool 10 minutes. Squeeze to extract pulp; discard skins.
3. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add 1 1/2 cups onion; sauté 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in pepper, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and potato; sauté 2 minutes. Add broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until potatoes are very tender, stirring occasionally. Using an immersion blender, blend until desired consistency.
Stir in half-and-half. Finely grate 2 ounces cheese to yield 1/2 cup; stir into soup. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated.
4. Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add remaining 1/2 cup onion; sauté for 6 minutes, stirring frequently. Add kielbasa and pancetta; cook until browned. Toss into soup when done or add to individual bowls.
Zucchini Oven Chips (Ckng Lght, Aug 2005)
The mother has made these several times with good results, and I needed a quick side dish that would use up some summer squash. These were perfect. You can also read about them here: Culinary in the Country.
Zucchini Chips
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: about 3/4 cup)
Ingredients
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons fat-free milk
2 1/2 cups (1/4-inch-thick) slices zucchini (about 2 small)
Cooking spray
Preparation
Preheat oven to 425°.
Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Place milk in a shallow bowl. Dip zucchini slices in milk, and dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Place coated slices on an ovenproof wire rack coated with cooking spray; place rack on a baking sheet. Bake at 425° for 30 minutes or until browned and crisp. Serve immediately.
I recently bought Michael Ruhlman's new book, Ratio. The premise of the book is just about everything in cooking is a ratio and once a person understands the relationships between the different ratios in cooking, you can begin to move away from dependency on recipes. I bought the book for the Husband, but found myself totally intrigued by the concepts. I intend to try several things, but the first ratio I tried was the popovers.
Good? Yes, very much so. But I managed to set off two smoke alarms while talking on the phone and freaked out my lab. She sat outside in the dark while I had the husband run around opening windows. I DON'T recommend making popovers in muffin tins. Use ramekins if you don't have a popover pan. If you are interested in the ratio, let me know and I'll post it.
And lately I've been on a Spaetzle streak. I've tried one recipe from Better Homes and Gardens, the New Cook Book (1989 ed) and one from Food Network Magazine (Oct 2009). The Food Network version was better, but I need to work on my boiling technique. The BH&G version had a thicker batter, and for some reason we decided not to put the batter through the ricer. Welll...we ended up with small dumplings instead.
The Food Network recipe I decided to try mushing it through a colander (ricer was at the parents place). Batter was nice and smooth, so much so it wouldn't mush through the holes of the colander so I kinda ended up with oddly shaped little glops. Still, it was closer to what I remember spaetzle looking and tasting like than the first version. I have not given up! Hmm, I thought I took a picture of this meal but I guess I didn't.
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