Creamy Tomato Soup

As I contemplate a summer with minimal air conditioning, this week's cool weather has been a delightful opportunity to get some "warm" cooking in.  Turning on the oven doesn't affect the temperature of the house of hours, and cooking stovetop doesn't result in extra sweating.  There may not be too many of these days left, so I've been making the most of it.  


Yesterday was particularly cool and rainy, and just cried out for tomato soup.  I reached for a recipe I've never tried before (but heard good things about) and was pleased to see I had most of the ingredients on hand.  Living 20 + minutes from a grocery store these days is making me appreciate recipes that can be prepared from my well (over?) stocked pantry more and more.  
I did make a few changes.  I used spring onions from our farm share as I didn't have any leeks.  And I made a half recipe as I only had 1 can of whole tomatoes in the pantry.  We got two adult servings, and two boy sized servings from the recipe. It made a nice lunch when paired with a sandwich and a small salad with farm fresh mesclun greens.  


Overall, I really enjoyed this soup.  I liked the ease of the preparation, as well as the creamy taste minus a ton of cream.  I think my tomatoes could have roasted longer, I pulled them at 35 minutes because I needed to finish the soup.  I think they were not quite caramelized enough, but the resulting soup was still very enjoyable.  While it doesn't compare to a tomato soup made from fresh tomatoes, it was one of the better recipes utilizing canned tomatoes that I've tried. 


And, while I didn't get a perfect food blogger shot of the soup, I did get a picture of my boy shortly after tucking into a bowl of the soup.  I suppose that'll have to do.... :)


Creamy Tomato Soup
A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop

2 28-ounce cans whole tomatoes
1 tablespoon light or dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium leeks, white and light green parts, halved lengthwise, washed, and sliced crosswise into thin strips
Salt
1 tablespoon double-strength tomato paste (the kind in the tube)
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups vegetable broth
Cayenne pepper

1. Move an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 475 degrees. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil.

2. Drain the tomatoes in a strainer set in a bowl to collect the juices. With your fingers, carefully open the tomatoes, one at a time, letting the juices and seeds drop into the strainer. Place the seeded tomatoes on the foil-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with the brown sugar and roast until the liquid has evaporated and the tomatoes are just beginning to color, about 20 minutes. Discard the seeds in the strainer and reserve the juice in the bowl. You should have about 2.5 cups strained tomato juice.

3. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. When the foaming subsides, add the leeks and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring often, until the leeks have softened, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and nutmeg and cook, stirring often, for 1 minute. Add the flour and cook, stirring often, for 1 minute. Whisking constantly, add the vegetable broth until the mixture is smooth (without lumps of flour). Add the reserved tomato juice and roasted tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer to blend the flavors, about 10 minutes.

4. Puree the soup in batches until perfectly smooth. Return the soup to a clean saucepan and adjust the seasonings, adding salt and cayenne pepper to taste. Warm and serve, or refrigerate in an airtight container for several days and then warm over low heat before serving.

Serves 4.

Apple Season

Luckily for us, there were plenty of apples that were ripe and ready to be picked this last weekend. M., myself and two of our friends travelled upstate and picked apples on Saturday. We had a moment of panic as we drove when the sky opened and a torrential downpour soaked us, but when we arrived at the orchard it was dry albeit a bit cloudy.

We roamed the trees, peeking at varieties we'd never heard of (orange pippin?) and tasting as many different kinds as possible. I really liked the Gravenstein varietal that I tasted. Scarlet red in color, it's flavor was bright and sweet. And then there are my favorite Galas and Honeycrisps. When it's apple season, I'm a happy camper!

We brought home 25 pounds of apples. Yes. 25 pounds. There will be a lot of apple treats coming out of my kitchen in the days and weeks to come. And I started last night.


Here is my version of a basic applesauce recipe that floats around the internet. I made it up as I went along, but there's really little way to mess it up. If you want further inspiration, a quick google of crockpot applesauce will bring you more ideas. But here's what I did.

Crockpot Applesauce
6 servings

6-8 apples (I used McIntosh, Gala, and Honeycrisp but any kind will work)
4 quart crockpot (a larger one can be used, however you will need to prepare more apples)
1 tablespoon cinnamon
4 cloves
2 tablespoons sugar (or to taste)

Peel and chop apples. I used a handy dandy apple peeler/corer machine, but a basic peeler and knife will do the trick as well. Put in crock pot. Turn on high for 4 + hours. At the 2 hour point, remove lid and add spices. Replace lid. At the 4 hour point (or when cooked to desired texture), add sugar to taste. Cool, and refrigerate.

Enjoy!

Sweet Corn and Parmesan Flans

There is no really good reason as to why there was no post yesterday. I just totally lost all motivation. I wheedled M. into making me brunch (which turned into lunch by the 3 o'clock hour when we finally ate) and we ordered Chinese food for dinner. Today, however, I am back in action and have concocted a feast worthy of luring M. home from the office in time for a late dinner and the second-to-last Hell's Kitchen episode. What will Monday nights be like when the season ends next week? Tragic.

Anyways, I planned my meal around the recipe for Sweet Corn and Parmesan Flans which was a recipe featured in June's Cooking Light magazine. I thought a veggie-heavy meal would complement what I anticipated to be a creamy/eggy dish, and I was pleased to see I was correct. After putting the flans into the oven, I concocted a quick quinoa pilaf, glazed some sliced portabello mushrooms in a basalmic glaze and then braised some yellow beans in a vegetable broth/light butter sauce. Served with a chilled Pinot Grigio, the meal was pleasing and leftovers are eagerly anticipated by us both.

M.'s plate (which was considered most photogenic) shows quinoa pilaf, yellow beans, sliced tomato, sweet corn and parmesan flan, and basalmic glazed portabello mushrooms.

Sweet Corn and Parmesan Flans

Cooking Light’s Notes -For a pretty presentation, use a combination of red, orange, and yellow tear-drop tomatoes.

My notes – This dish was surprisingly easy to prepare, once the corn kernels were removed from the cob. Even with my corn zipper, it was surprisingly annoying as kernels popped out of the bowl almost as quickly as they were dropped in. Still, the dish is delicious and the corn battles are completely worth it!

Cooking spray

2 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (about 5 ears)

1 cup 1% low-fat milk

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

4 large eggs

18 small tear-drop cherry tomatoes (pear-shaped), halved

2 tablespoons thinly sliced basil

Preheat oven to 350°.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add corn, and cook 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Set aside 1 cup corn kernels.

Place remaining corn in a food processor; pulse 5 times or until coarsely chopped. Add milk and next 5 ingredients (through eggs) to food processor; pulse 4 times or until combined.

Pour about 1/2 cup corn mixture into each of 6 (6-ounce) ramekins coated with cooking spray. Place ramekins in a 13 x 9-inch baking pan; add hot water to pan to a depth of 1 inch. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until the center barely moves when ramekins are touched. Remove ramekins from pan; cool 5 minutes on a wire rack. Invert flans onto each of 6 plates. Garnish each serving with about 2 1/2 tablespoons corn kernels, 6 tomato halves, and 1 teaspoon basil.

Yield: 6 servings

CALORIES 152(35% from fat); FAT 5.9g (sat 2.2g,mono 2g,poly 1g); PROTEIN 9.8g; CHOLESTEROL 147mg; CALCIUM 125mg; SODIUM 344mg; FIBER 2.4g; IRON 1.2mg; CARBOHYDRATE 17g

Quinoa Pilaf

Serves 4

My notes - This recipe represents what I had ready access to, and what was lying around my kitchen. Substitutions welcome. And, as a presentation note, this particular combination was particularly "molding" friendly meaning that the pilaf retained the shape of the utensil by which it was served (spoon, glass or measuring cup etc).

2 cups vegetable broth

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 cup quinoa (rinsed in a sieve)

1 orange pepper (rough chopped)

2 tablespoons thyme leaves

1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

1 teaspoon pepper (or to taste)

1/2 cup corn kernels

1/3 cup edamame beans (shelled soybeans)

Add all ingredients, and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until quinoa is tender and most of the liquid has disappeared. Serve.

Basalmic Glazed Portabello Mushrooms

serves 2 with generous portions (4 with small portions)

1 package sliced portabello mushrooms

Cooking spray

1 garlic clove chopped

2 tablespoons basalmic vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground pepper

1 teaspoon light butter (optional)

Coat cooking pan with cooking spray. Add mushrooms and garlic clove to pan heated to high heat. Add vinegar, salt, pepper and light butter. Stir vigorously for a moment to allow all ingredients to mix (mushroom slices should be well coated with basalmic vinegar). Turn heat down to medium high, and allow mushrooms to cook stirring every two to three minutes. In five to ten minutes, the basalmic glaze will thicken and mushrooms will cook down creating a sauce. Turn off heat, and serve.

Braised Yellow Beans

serves 4

Yellow beans (approximately 3/4 of a pound)

Cooking spray

1 garlic clove chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground pepper

1 tablespoon light butter

1/2 cup vegetable broth

Coat pan with cooking spray and heat on high heat. Add beans, and cook for two-three minutes. Add garlic, and other ingredients through butter. Cook for three minutes, and add broth. Reduce heat to medium-high, and cook stirring frequently until broth reduces and beans are tender. Serve immediately.

Technorati Tags: vegan, vegetarian, quinoa, yellow beans, portabello mushrooms, Cooking Light Magazine, corn, parmesan, flan

Ginger-Scented Vegetable Pot stickers/ Ginger-Sesame Dipping Sauce

When planning Saturday's meal, I thought that vegetable dumplings would make the perfect accompaniment to the Warm Vegetables with Cool Noodles. Well, they would have. But I made the classic mistake known to anyone with any specific dietary needs (be it vegetarian, no wheat, no dairy etc). I bought dumplings ... AND DIDN'T READ THE INGREDIENT LIST! I mean, there were a multitude of dumplings - some pork, some chicken, some shrimp and some vegetable. I grabbed a package of vegetable dumplings and kept going.

Boy was I bummed when I scanned the ingredients just before planning to prepare them. PORK FAT! Lurking in this particular brand of veggie dumplings - ack! And so, warm vegetables with cool noodles were served solo. And M. was told he had free reign on these particular dumplings (as he is not a vegetarian).

But when Monday rolled around, and the leftovers were looming - I still wanted dumplings. So, I purchased gyoza skins, grabbed my leftover grated carrots and my leftover shredded cabbage and found this recipe in Robin Robertson's Vegan Planet. But I modified it a touch, since the original recipe called for processing the ingredients uncooked. I simply sauteed them quickly before tossing them into the processer. Just my own personal preference.

Ginger-Scented Vegetable Pot Stickers
by Robin Robertson, Vegan Planet

1 cup minced napa cabbage (I used leftover shredded and left as such)
1 cup drained and crumbled extra-firm tofu (I cubed, since it was being processed anyways)
1/4 cup shredded carrots
1 clove garlic (I used 2)
9 tablespoons peeled and minced fresh ginger (I just used a lot)
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/2 tsp cornstarch
salt and pepper (which I now realize I forgot)
24 dumpling or wonton wrappers
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 tablespoon tamari or other soy sauce (I threw in a splash too lazy to measure)
1 cup of water

My first step - saute ingredients briefly for a few minutes until fragrant.
1. In a food processor, combine the cabbage, tofu, carrots, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, cornstarch and salt/pepper to taste. Process until well combined.
1. Place 1 wonton wrapper on a work surface and spoon 1 tablespoon of the filling into the lower third of the wrapper. Maybe mine were small, but I found 1 T too much filling- and my yield was higher then 24. Fold wrapper over the filling to form a triangle (if using square) or a semi-circle (if using round). Moisten edges of the wrapper with water to seal. Repeat with the remaining wrappers and filling.
3.Heat 1 tablespoon of the peanut oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Placce half the dumplings in the pan and cook until golden. Do not crowd.
I used my own cooking technique of spraying skillet with cooking spray, adding a few dumplings (I froze most) and then browning for a minute or two. Then, I add some water to make sure dumplings heat through without adding to much oil. Then, as water dries, they brown nicely.

















Ginger-Sesame Dipping Sauce
Didi Emmons - Vegetarian Planet

This sauce is a favorite in our house. Fairly easy to mix up, it generally makes enough to get through a batch of homemade dumplings.

Makes about 1 cup

1 teaspoon wasabi powder
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey or sugar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil

In a small bowl, mix together the wasabi powder and water; let sit for a few minutes to allow the flavors to develop.
In a jar with a close-fitting lid, mix together the other ingredients. Add the wasabi mixture. Shake vigorously.


And the completed meal?



Not too shabby for leftovers at all!













Unfortunately, M. was unable to make it home for dinner as he had to work late. Very late as it turned out. Never fear! I didn't lack for a fine dinner companion....




Technorati Tags: Asian, vegan, potstickers