Yummy Roasted Tomato Soup

The "yummy" here stands for the mix of other delicious ingredients. I couldn't decide which ones to include: the fennel, leak, or perhaps white beans? The tomatillo? It just got too clumsy. 

Suffice it to say, this is the best soup I have ever made. It took forever to get it smooth, but it was so worth it. Bread is a critical side to this soup, and I would even serve this soup in a bread bowl in the future, if I ever have the gumption to make bread bowls. [Note to self: do this immediately]

Yummy Tomato Soup:

2 28-oz cans whole tomatoes

2 large or 3 medium garlic cloves, sliced

4 tbsp. olive oil

1 medium fennel bulb, chopped

1 leek, chopped

1 large shallot, sliced

1 tomatillo, chopped 

1 medium onion or 1/2 large onion, chopped

Salt and pepper

1 tsp. poultry seasoning

1 tsp. Hungarian sweet paprika

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

1/4 cup white wine

1 15-oz. can great northern white beans

4 cups vegetable stock

1 large rosemary sprig, or 1 tsp. dried rosemary

10 small leaves each Italian basil and Thai basil

2-3 tbsp. rice vinegar

Additional salt and pepper, as needed

Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Strain the tomatoes over a bowl in order to collect the tomato juice, which will be added back later. In the sink, rinse the tomatoes, and remove their seeds, placing the rinsed tomatoes back in the strainer over the collecting bowl, so they can continue to drain. Prepare an oven-safe baking dish by pouring in 2 tbsp. olive oil and moving the dish around until the bottom is well-covered. Slice the garlic, and chop about and 1/4 cup of the fennel. Place the tomatoes in the dish, tucking the garlic pieces within the tomatoes, and sprinkling overtop with the fennel and a good amount of salt and pepper. Place in the oven, on a middle rack, and cook for 40-45 minutes, finishing with an additional 10 minutes under the broiler. Note that you do not need to move the tomatoes to a higher rack.

While the tomatoes are roasting, prepare the vegetables, taking care to rinse the leek well before chopping. I recommend cutting through the stalk twice, in an X-shape, and then running the leek under water, separating the layer and rinsing well. Make sure to fully remove the husk of the tomatillo. 

Heat 2 tbsp. olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Once the pot is ready, add in the vegetables, the poultry seasoning, the Hungarian sweet paprika, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper and cook for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables have taken on good color. Deglaze the pot with the white wine, and good for an additional 5 minutes on medium heat. Open the great northern beans and rinse under cool water. Add in the beans and the rosemary sprig and cook on low to medium-low until the tomatoes are finished. 

Turn off the burner, remove the rosemary sprig, and pour the contents into your food processor or blender, along with the roasted tomatoes and garlic. Blend well, using a spatula to scrape down the sides a few times.  

Put the blended mixture in a strainer and use a whisk to push through the liquid. This is the hardest step, and would be easier if I had a blender. Maybe you do, and will have an easier go of it than me. Though I did not initially do this, I would recommend putting the soup through in batches, adding in a bit of the set-aside tomato juice as you go. 

Once you have finished straining the soup, return it to your pot, along with the vegetable stock and basil leaves, and cook for about 20 more minutes on medium-low heat. Salt and pepper to taste, and add in the rice vinegar at the very end of cooking. 

Remove the basil leaves before serving, and garnish with fresh basil if you wish, though I recommend leaving it out, because the texture of the soup is just so pleasant unadulterated. Do as I say, not as I do on this one. Serve with copious amounts of dipping bread, and enjoy!

Roasted Butternut Squash, Plain and Pasta-fied

Is there anything prettier than a butternut squash? I think not. And they are so delicious and simple to prepare. 

I have a hard time deciding between savory and sweet when it comes to things like squash and sweet potatoes, so I usually mix everything together to cover all the flavor bases. 

Roasted Butternut Squash:

1 squash, sliced in half and cleaned

Herbes de Provence

Salt and Pepper

Brown Sugar

Extra-Virgin olive oil

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees, with a rack in a middle position. Rub down your squash with the olive oil, place in an oven-safe baking dish, and sprinkle liberally with the herbes de provence, brown sugar, salt and pepper. 

Cook for 25-30 minutes until the squash is well-softened. Your house will smell amazing.

You can use the squash to make a simple pasta "sauce" by removing the meat of the squash, chopping it well, and combining it with equal parts mushroom and onion.

Cook well, spice liberally, deglaze with some white wine, add some basil, and you will have a light and lovely meal.

Thai Salad Roll Wrap

I am a huge fan of Salad Rolls. They're light, fresh, and not greasy at all like a Spring Roll can be. Usually they are filled with some combination of herbs, like basil and cilantro, vermicelli noodles, tofu, and sprouts, though there is some wiggle room, it seems, when it comes to fillings.

I had a yen for a Salad Roll-type wrap and used what I had on hand to make a delicious spin on this Thai restaurant favorite.

Thai Salad Roll Wrap (makes 2):

2 whole wheat tortillas/flatbreads/what-have-you

2 thick slices tofu

2 large romaine lettuce leaves

1 carrot, peeled into strips

6 thin slices of cucumbers, sliced again

4 large leaves basil

14 mint leaves

2-3 tbsp. cilantro, chopped roughly

1/4-inch amount soba noodles (measure with your index finger wrapped around the dry noodles)

1 tbsp. green curry paste 

2 tbsp. soy sauce, divided

1/4-1/3 cup water

2 tbsp. vegan sour cream

2-3 tsp. Sriracha, divided

Juice from half a lime

Salt and pepper

Begin by heating your oven to 400 degrees. Prepare your tofu, coating it with a mixture of 1 tbsp. soy sauce, 1 tsp. Sriracha, and salt and pepper. Once the oven is heated, place the tofu on a well-oiled piece of aluminum foil and put it in the oven on a high rack. 

The tofu will cook for about 15-20 minutes, and should be flipped halfway through the cooking process. This will give you plenty of time to prepare your vegetables.

Next, heat some water in a medium-sized pot. Once the water is boiling, add your noodles and cook about 5 minutes until they are done. Return the noodles to the cooking pot with 1 tbsp. soy sauce, the green curry paste and as much water as needed to cover, and cook on the lowest possible heat setting, stirring occasionally. 

Mix together 1-2 tsp. Sriracha, the sour cream, and the lime juice. This will be used to coat the wrap, adding flavor and keeping the wrap from being too dry. 

Once the noodles have absorbed their cooking liquid, and the tofu has been removed from the oven, and cut lengthwise into thirds, you are ready to assemble your wraps.

Begin by coating your wrap with the sour cream and Sriracha mixture. Place the romaine leaf down, and fill it with three slices of the tofu, and about half of the carrots and cucumber. Next to this, add the herb ingredients, the basil, mint, and cilantro, and top with half of the soba noodles.

Wrap everything together as snugly as possible, and enjoy!

Tamales, Tamales!

A few days ago, I had a vision for making tamales while I was driving back from dropping Adam off at school. I had gotten very far in my masa-filled fantasy when I remembered that, in fact, I had to work late and would be having dinner at work. Alas!

The desire for tamales remained, and the next time we did our shopping for the week, supplies were purchased. I would say that I have room for improvement with this recipe, but I think you can do better than I. For one, I was too impatient with my olive oil (and think I'm going to use corn or peanut oil next time) and didn't let it completely solidify. You'll understand later. The filling, though? Yum. 

Tamales with Pan-Roasted Vegetables:

Corn Husks

3 cups dry masa harina

2 cups vegetable stock

1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed and pulsed in the food processor

1 cup neutral oil

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

Filling:

2 Mexican squashes/calabacitas or 1 zucchini, julienned

1/2 red onion, sliced 

1 1/2 bell peppers of your choice (though green is not recommended), sliced

1 small poblano pepper, sliced really thinly

3 stocks green onion, cut into 2 inch pieces

3 ounces crimini mushrooms, cut into largish pieces

Approx. 1/2 tsp. each garlic powder, smoked paprika, cumin, Sriracha

Salt and pepper, to taste

Begin by rinsing your corn husks and soaking them in warm water, at least 3 hours before you plan to assemble your tamales. 

Next, prepare your oil. Now, tamales are traditionally made with lard, a fat with a very different texture than your common household oil. In order to even come close to a lard-like texture, the oil needs to solidify in your freezer. This is going to take a while - I would even give yourself 2 hours of potential hardening time, as the one hour that Bittman suggested wasn't even close. As to vessels for containing your oil, I went down the flattened freezer bag route, but would also recommend a Pyrex pan lined with Parchment paper for easy removal.

Once your oil is well on its way, prepare your vegetables as indicated above.

Saute your vegetables over medium-high heat until they are well-cooked and have taken on good color. This technique is is the same as used in the Roasted Tofu and Vegetable Enchiladas.

Next prepare your corn masa, by combining the dried masa flour, salt, baking powder, and the chopped corn in a bowl and mixing well. 

Next, transfer this mixture into your food processor and add in the cubed oil, pulsing well until the oil mixes in and the color of your dough lightens considerably. Here you can see the telltale signs of insufficiently hardened oil in my processor bowl. Le sigh. 

Once all of your filling mixtures are prepared, dry some corn husks and begin filling, first spreading the corn mixture over a four-inch square section of corn husk, and then adding a good portion of the vegetable filling in the center area of corn mixture. Wrap the corn husks tightly, and tie off the ends with kitchen string.

Prepare a steamer and steam your tamales for 35-40 minutes. Let the tamales cool for about 5 minutes before unwrapping. 

Serve it up with whatever sides you fancy. We went for some home-cooked black beans, and topped everything off with a squeeze of lime juice.

Roasted Tofu and Vegetable Enchiladas

I had a totally delicious tofu scramble breakfast wrap the other morning, and decided to do something similar for dinner that same day. Knowing that I had a least a few corn tortillas at home, I thought of enchiladas, bought some green enchilada sauce, and went for it.

Roasted Tofu and Vegetable Enchiladas:

1/4 package tofu, pressed for at least 10 minutes and cut into 2 steaks

1 zucchini, julienned

1/3 red onion, sliced

1/2 poblano pepper, cut into thin slices

2/3 red pepper, sliced

1 green onion or 2 scallions, sliced

1 - 1 1/2 cup green enchilada sauce

2 tbsp. Sriracha

Corn tortillas

Olive oil

1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

Sea Salt

Fresh Ground Pepper

Begin by preheating your oven to 375 degrees. Combine the enchilada sauce and Sriracha in a small pot over medium-low heat, and cook until it has thickened. Place your tofu steaks on foil-lined cookie sheet, and coat in the thickened sauce. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes, turning once halfway through. 

In the meantime, make sure your vegetables are all ready to go, and put 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. 

Once your pan is hot, put in all of the vegetables, spreading them out evenly.

Let the vegetables brown very well by tossing the vegetables and giving them 4 minutes to cook, then tossing again.

It will take about 25 minutes to brown the vegetables. Once the tofu is ready, cut it into cubes and add to the pan. 

Fill your tortillas with the vegetable filling, and place them in an oiled oven-safe dish. Pour the remainder of the enchilada sauce + Sriracha over top, adding additional enchilada sauce as necessary to cover the tortillas.

Cook 10-15 minutes in the still 375-degree oven, and serve it up with whatever sides you please. I went for some Cuban-style black beans, a brown rice salad with corn and tomato, and some avocado. The filling is delicious over rice as well.

Roasted Fennel and White Bean Soup

This soup was kind of vaguely thought-out before I began cooking, but was mostly a "throw some things in a pot" kind of creation. Despite this, it turned out really good, especially when served with toasted Olive Oil Bread for sopping up soup liquid. 

Roasted Fennel and White Bean Soup:

1 28-oz. can whole peeled tomatoes

1 fennel bulb, cut into sections (leave root end intact)

4 cups vegetable stock

1 leek, cleaned well and sliced

1 medium yellow onion, diced

7 oz. crimini mushrooms, sliced

1 15-oz. can Great Northern Beans, drained

3 smallish red potatoes, chopped into small cubes

Olive oil

1 bay leaf

4 garlic cloves, sliced very thin

2 tsp. smoked paprika

1 tbsp. Sriracha (you can substitute cayenne, but only use 1/4 tsp. and work your way up)

Sea salt

Fresh ground black pepper

Fresh oregano, or herb of your choosing, for garnish

Began by heating your oven to 350 degrees, and line a cookie sheet with foil. Place your fennel sections on the sheet, along with the canned tomatoes. It's a good idea to let the tomatoes sit in a strainer over a bowl for at least 5 minutes, but be sure to save the juice as it will be added to the soup later. Toss the fennel and tomatoes with a liberal amount of olive oil to prevent burning, and salt and pepper well before placing the cookie sheet in the oven. 

Let everything roast away, turning about 20 to 25 minutes in, until the fennel is well-browned on both sides, about 45 minutes. 

Puree the tomatoes in a food processor. And in a note about tomatoes, I am not bothered by tomato seeds and didn't bother to clean them out of the tomatoes pre-roasting. However, if you'd rather remove them, go for it.

Place a large pot over medium to medium-high heat, and add about 3 tablespoons olive oil. Add your onion and mushrooms, some salt and pepper and saute for about 5 minutes, letting them take on a bit of color. Add the leek and 1 tsp. of the smoked paprika and cook for 2 minutes, before adding the beans, potato, tomato, and garlic, and the liquid ingredients (the tomato juice and the vegetable stock). Once the liquid has been added, add the bay leaf and season again with salt and pepper, as well as additional smoked paprika and Sriracha (or cayenne) to taste. 

Let the soup burble away over medium to medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes have softened, about 30 minutes. Once the soup is nearly ready, chop the roasted and cooled fennel and add it in.

Remove about half of the solids in the soup and process them until they are well-blended, then add back into the soup and continue to cook for 3 to 5 minutes to remarry the ingredients. 

Serve the soup in a large bowl, with some generous slices of bread and a bit of fresh herbs. You could also drizzle a little bit of high-quality olive oil on top for a bit of richness.

Mushroom and Barley Soup

This was hearty and delicious entree soup. I look forward to eating more at a later date, and I suspect that it is one of those soups that gets better as it sits in the fridge. We shall see.

I got the idea to do this recipe from Bittman (again), but his recipe was frightfully boring and seemed to be missing some critical elements. I only ended up referencing it for mushroom weight and liquid volume suggestions, but was on my own for everything else.

Mushroom and Barley Soup:

7 oz. crimini mushrooms, sliced and chopped

5 oz. shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, sliced and chopped

2 large or 3 medium carrots, diced

1/2 large yellow onion, diced

The usable parts of 1 leek, sliced

3/4 cup pearled barley

6 cups vegetable stock

1/2 to 1 cup red wine

3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

3 thyme sprigs (use only the leaves)

1 bay leaf

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Prepare all your ingredients. 

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add all the vegetables and cook between 5-10 minutes, letting them soften a bit and pick up some color if possible. Add the barley and cook 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and wine and cook until the wine has evaporated. 

Add in the other herbs and the vegetable stock and bring up to a boil. Reduce to a low boil and cook until the barley is soft, between 30 and 40 minutes.

I served mine with some homemade croutons and fresh oregano.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

This was much easier than I expected, and it was nice to be able to split the recipe in half, preparing the sweet potatoes ahead of time and keeping them in the fridge until needed. All in all, a very light and satisfying meal. 

Sweet Potato Gnocchi (2 servings):

2 medium-sized sweet potatoes, or one large sweet potato and one medium-small red potato

1 cup flour plus additional tablespoons as needed

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper

Fresh Thyme

Red Pepper Flakes

Begin by roasting the sweet potatoes in a 350-degree oven for about an hour, until they are very tender. 

Remove the skins after the potatoes have cooled, and mash the potatoes together with the seasonings and a bit of olive oil. Add a cup of flour, mix well, and continue adding flour until the dough comes together. It will still be pretty wet, so put down a good bit of flour on your work surface and knead in additional flour until it is of a good consistency and is not too sticky.

Now you get to indulge in the Play-Doh activities of your youth by rolling out some snakes. Oh yeah. 

Make your sweet potato snakes about 1/2-inch thick, and cut them up into 1 inch sections. Take each piece, and roll it along the tines of a fork to give your gnocchi their distinctive ridges. Place your gnocchi on a piece of parchment paper while you bring a pot of water to boil and prepare your other ingredients.

Once the water is boiling, lower the temperature to medium-high and carefully place your gnocchi in the water. Let it come back up to a soft boil. In the mean time, place a frying pan over medium-high heat and add in 1-2 tablespoons olive oil. Your gnocchi is done when it floats up to the surface of the water. Remove the gnocchi accordingly, and once they are all done, put the dumplings into the frying pan and let them brown well.

I served the gnocchi with zucchini, mushrooms, and onion sauteed with garlic and white wine, and garnished with basil, thyme, and sage.

Whole-Wheat Pizza Dough

This recipe is from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, though I doubled it and used whole-wheat pastry flour instead of white flour. 

Pizza Dough:

6 cups whole-wheat pastry flour

2 cups water plus additional tablespoons as needed

4 tablespoons olive oil

4 tsp. course sea salt or kosher salt

4 tsp. yeast

3 springs rosemary, chopped, or other herbs (optional)

Food processor: Mix together flour, yeast, salt, and herbs in your food processor. Add olive oil, and water a bit at a time until the mixture balls together. Flour a work surface well and knead a couple times before making a nice ball and pinching the end closed to keep the ball from unfurling while it rises. 

"E.T. make dough."

Oil a bowl liberally, place the balled dough inside, cover (preferably with plastic wrap, though I've never had it in the house, and usually use a bag or moist paper towels to cover), and set aside for up to 2 hours, until the dough has doubled in size.

At this point, you can either use the dough (pulling it out and letting it rest for 20 minutes first) or freeze it. For my pizzas, I used 1/3 of this recipe (2 servings for 1, or 1 serving each for 2), using one third right after making the dough and freezing the rest. I have to say, I think the dough was even better after being in the freezer! Part of it was that the dough defrosted and re-rose slowly in the fridge, and therefore had a lot of time to rest, rather than being rushed into the oven. 

I plan on making a mini-loaf of bread out of this dough later tonight to serve with some pasta, and will update as to its success or failure.