Monthly Archives: May 2018

Easy Tomato Soup

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It’s Memorial Day weekend, and the weather is not cooperating. Damp and cold is the forecast. I predict there is soup in your future. I stumbled upon this Ina Garten recipe, using my time oh, so wisely. I choked down many bowls of the canned soup, not-to-be-named, in my day. The aftertaste is what I remember, and not in a good way. Ina is correct when she says its easy, except for the grilled cheese croutons. She lost me on that one. I’d rather just have a grilled cheese. I adapted her recipe by using my immersion blender to make it creamy, and I cooked the orzo in the soup. I like my soup thicker otherwise I tend to wear it on my shirts. My problem, not yours. I also did not want to spend the money on saffron threads. I needed 00 flour more than saffron. Shoutout to Amazon for that Sunday delivery! Instead of chicken stock I used vegetable stock because I had it in my closet pantry.

Let’s make some tomato soup!

Ingredients

3 tbsp. “good” olive oil

3 cups yellow onions, chopped (2 onions)

1 tbsp. minced garlic, (3 cloves)

4 cups of vegetable or chicken stock (store-bought is perfect)

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

Kosher salt and pepper, to taste

3/4 cup uncooked orzo or other small pasta

1/2 cup heavy cream

In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook over a medium-low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. I like to sprinkle a little salt over my onions when I saute them,Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in the stock, tomatoes, 1 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. pepper. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. To make this creamy, use an immersion blender. You can leave it a little chunky, or cream it up. Your choice.

Add your uncooked pasta to the soup. I suggest the orzo, but ditalini worked great too. Let the pasta cook until it’s soft. I don’t like my pasta a la dente, (GASP), especially in a creamy soup. This may take about 12 minutes depending on your pasta. Cooking the pasta in the soup makes it thick and soup spoon worthy.

Once the pasta is to your desired texture, stir in the cream. Please do not omit it. This is the game changer. Look, it’s so pretty! Let it simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring to blend it into the tomato mixture. You now have a creamy, thick tomato soup, that was, indeed, easy. Season it with salt and pepper, to taste.

Now go make yourself a grilled cheese sandwich and put on some long sleeves for goodness sake!

Breakfast of Champions?

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It’s another holiday weekend, and I have decided to broaden my food experiences. No, I do not plan on eating kale. I’m talking about trying another breakfast casserole. I have company for three mornings this weekend. I needed one more breakfast that will feed a table of people, without much prep work. I found the recipe for Baked Cream Cheese French Toast Casserole. It was delicious! Anything that I can prepare the day before, is my kind of dish. I don’t mind turning the oven on in the morning when it’s going to be near 90 degrees,  You have the rest of the day to cool off the kitchen. This recipe has some of my favorite ingredients – eggs, challah bread, and cinnamon. How can that be wrong?

Custard Ingredients

8 large eggs

2 1/4 cups whole milk

3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

2 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Main Ingredient

1 (12-14 ounce) loaf french bread, sourdough bread, or challah (my preference)

Cream Cheese Mixture

8 ounces brick-style cream cheese, softened to room temperature – use full fat

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tbsp. confectioner’s sugar

Streusel Topping

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

6 tbsp. butter, cold and cubed

Don’t panic. It may appear to be many steps, but it’s not. It’s a custard with bread, a cream cheese filling, and a topping. You cube the bread earlier in the day, so it can get stale. Right? This is the one time you want stale bread. This is all assembled the night before. You don’t add the topping until you bake it. Make the streusel the night before, put it in a container, and pop it into the fridge next to the casserole. You don’t want to forget it. If you have company, it’s easy to get distracted.

Grease a 9 X 13 pan with butter of nonstick spray. Slice the bread into 1-inch cubes. Don’t get a ruler, just eyeball it. Spread half of the cubes into the prepared baking pan. You’re going to add the cream cheese mixture on top of the bread. The original directions call for a hand mixer. I am not looking for more things to take out, put away or wash. I use a fork to soften and mix cream cheese. Those fork tines are mighty mighty. I just mash away at the cream cheese, adding the vanilla extract and confectioner’s sugar. Done. Drop spoonfuls (or forkfuls?) of cream cheese mixture on top of the first layer of cubed bread. Layer the remains bread cubes on top of the cream cheese. Set aside.

Whisk the eggs, milk, cinnamon, brown sugar, and vanilla extract together until no brown sugar lumps remain. This could count as a cardio workout if the brown sugar isn’t soft. Pour over the bread. Make sure you pour it all over the bread, and not in one spot. It needs to hit every tiny piece of bread. We are looking to soak the bread people. The bread has transformed from stale cubes to wet cubes. I won’t use the word “moist”. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and stick in the fridge for 3 hours or overnight. Overnight is best.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove pan from fridge.

Sprinkle the streusel topping all over the pan. You make the streusel by whisking together the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon together in a bowl. Cut the cubed butter into this mixture. You can use two forks, a pastry blender or your hands. I like to make it ahead of time, so it can harden. Then you can crumble the topping onto the bread mixture.

Bake uncovered for 45-55 minutes or until golden brown on top.

You can serve this with maple syrup and/or sift confectioner’s sugar over the top.

Enjoy!

 

Vinaigrette dans un pot

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Vinaigrette in jar

 

Everything sounds better in French, especially a vinaigrette in a jar, right? Why buy bottled dressings when you can make your own? Hey. We’ve all been there. Everyone likes a specific salad dressing. Ranch dressing was a big hit in my house. Who knew it was a pizza dip too? Amazing. Often those dressings sat on the fridge shelf, counting their expiration days away. Blech. Sometimes I forgot to check those dates. Sorry kids! Why is it when you buy a lot of something, the kids decide they no longer like it. WHY?

Here’s another question. Do you have 5 minutes? Then you can make a delicious vinaigrette for the week. You can use this for a lunch or a diner. For lunches, I like to put the vinaigrette on the bottom of a container and top it with chopped vegetables and beans. You add the lettuce and protein on the top so it doesn’t get soggy. Give it a good shake and lunch is ready!

There will be three commands. Mince, pour, and shake. Let’s make some vinaigrette.

 

1 16-ounce (or so) glass jar

2 tsp. minced garlic or shallots

2 tbsp. Dijon mustard

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. pepper

¼ cup red wine vinegar

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Remove lid from clean jar. That’s very important. Place the garlic or shallots, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper and vinegar in the jar. Can you follow these complicated directions? Should I write slower? Give the lidded jar a shake. That’s right, put the lid on tight. Now, you can add the olive oil and really shake it. This will become a creamy, dreamy vinaigrette. It’s magic. The olive oil emulsifies when you shake it. If you want to make less dressing, remember that you use 4 times the oil for vinegar, so you can reduce the proportions. Use more or less garlic and seasoning. Always taste it and add accordingly. I like to use a glass jar as it cleans well, with no garlic odor or oily residue. Store this in the fridge for about a week.

Here is a video of Jacques Pepin making this vinaigrette. He’s much more entertaining than moi.
Enjoy!