Sprang!

Time for some of my favorites to return. Warm mushroom salad and asparagus soup. I added peas to the soup to preserve the color. You can get the recipes here and here.

Mushroom Soup

Look, the weather stinks, it's been nothing but cold, windy and wet the past week, and I want to do nothing but curl up in a blanket by the fireplace and drink soup. Done and done, minus the fireplace. Mad Men episodes will suffice, also here's a great cream of mushroom soup recipe.

Because it is cold out

Eggs florentine with dill
Black kale, potato and onion soup
Thyme, ricotta and tomato tart with walnut and spinach salad

Classic Lunch to Dinner

Speaking of sandwiches, one of my favorite comfort lunches a classic grilled cheese sandwich with a good tomato soup that's not too creamy, not too runny, and not too spicy. With some tweaks and the addition of a simple salad, I turned it into Tuesday night's dinner. First, I used the adapted tomato soup recipe from Lottie and Doof, cutting back on the cream and adding a teaspoon of smoked paprika along with a generous pinch of cayenne pepper. During roasting, I also threw in a bunch of on-the-vine cherry tomatoes that were way overripe--better to use it in a soup than to toss it in the garbage can tomorrow. A generous bowl of the soup served with a dollop of sour cream and snipped chives.

As for the grilled cheese, a couple of slices of cheese bread (from Mediterranean Bakery) rubbed with a clove of garlic over both sides after toasting, are topped off with slices of emmental and grated romano (although gruyere would've been better). Pop them into a toaster oven until the cheese bubbles over and starts crusting. Of course, the bread gets dunked into the soup--is there any other way to eat it?

With a side of a plain arugula salad dressed with a basic vinaigrette (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and in this case, some honey too) and it was a very satisfying weeknight meal.

Soup's up

Mmmm, this is why I love autumn--it's soup season! Last week, I made French onion soup one night, spending over an hour caramelizing two yellow onions in butter. There's not too much more to it other than all natural low-sodium beef stock, a dash of thyme, pepper, and some toasted Gruyere croutons (actually loaf ends). I had it with some extra bread and a basic green salad with balsamic dressing.

Ch-ch-ch-chili

That's it--autumn's already over and winter's here. Frost is appearing on cars everywhere and the only thing I can do is make chili to battle the, uh, chill (sorry). Now before I go on, I must confess I don't really like beans. I only enjoy them as various pastes and curds. So cutting out beans, I sautee garlic, plenty of onions and a generous pinch of red pepper flakes. Throw in some ground beef. Add a half a dozen low-sodium beef stock ice cubes that I keep handy in the freezer, toss in carrots, tomatoes, tomato paste, pepper, smoked paprika and some chipotle powder. Simmer and stir...serve with sour cream and toasted garlic-buttered loaf ends. The perfect food for vegging out in front of the TV, watching Mad Men on a cold rainy day.

Today was a seafood chowder kind of day

Vancouver's having a dreary start to spring this year. Though the cherry blossoms are in full bloom on my street, the weather has been rainy and worst of all--cold. I left the apartment this morning wondering where I put my mitts. It's nearly April!

So I decided to get out of the pouring rain and cheer myself up with some seafood chowder. I had some leftover giant scallops sitting in my freezer as well as half a yellow onion, an opened package of cooked & smoked salmon, and a small carton of cream in the fridge. I went to the market to pick up a few more ingredients and I was set.

Seafood Chowder
(serves 2-4)

I took:

- 4 jumbo scallops
- 2 small Yukon Gold potatoes
- 1 celery stalk
- 2 white button mushrooms
- 1 package of oyster mushrooms
- 1 small tin of smoked oysters (on sale for 79 cents)
- 1/2 can of baby clams
- 1/2 yellow onion
- a handful of cooked, smoked salmon
- 250 ml carton milk (I used 2%)
- 250 ml carton heavy cream
- 1 tbsp butter
- salt, pepper, pinch of thyme, 3 pinches of chopped parsley

I put the potatoes in the microwave to nuke and diced the onion. I only ended up dicing about 3/4 of the half onion (seemed like it was enough) and threw it in a medium sized pot with the butter. While the onions were saute-ing, I diced up the celery and sliced the white mushrooms as well as 2 stalks of the oyster mushrooms. When the onions turned translucent, I turned the stove down just short of simmer, and poured in the milk, cream, and threw in all the mushrooms. I opened up the can of baby clams and threw about half of it in the pot. I cut the smoked mussels and scallops into chunks, ripped up the smoked salmon, and tossed them all in. The potatoes were done by this point, so I peeled them (here's a novel way to peel them), diced them and added them to the pot. At this point, concerned with how thick it was getting, I added half a cup of water and turned up the heat a little...I wanted it bubbling, but not boiling. Last but not least, I put in the thyme and parsley. As for salt, I sprinkled some in, but not too much, as there's already quite a bit of sodium from the canned stuff and the salmon.

While it was all bubbling, I sliced up the french bread I had bought. The market had them at 99 cents, seeing as they expire tomorrow. And the best thing to do with old bread is to make croutons. I saved a few slices for toasting and a tomato & brie sandwich I plan for breakfast tomorrow, then cubed the rest of the loaf. I filled two cookie sheets with the bits and drizzled olive oil all over, then sprinkled some generic "Italian mix" herbs on them. Stuck 'em in an oven preheated to 375 for 5 minutes or so, and they're done. Now I've got a big box of croutons to use in soups and salads.

Chowder's also done now. I toast up 2 slices of french bread for dipping, sprinkle some fresh ground pepper, slice a few chive slivers for presentation...and I've got a fuckin' awesome meal for a rainy afternoon.