Reputation Redemption, In Cabbage Soup

Tudors, Kardashians. Of all the bad family reputations, those crucifers have the worst: always an outcast, rarely praised (despite being high in vitamin C and fiber). But while cabbage soup sounds like unpleasant peasant food, this is actually one of the few recipes I make repeatedly without trying to improve.

In the standard recipe from my trusty Bittman book, a little butter makes everything worthwhile. In the "Asian" variation (above, and below), soy sauce and ginger cloak the versatile vegetable in a totally different disguise.

Cabbage soup, Asian style

From How To Cook Everything

Ingredients

• 1 head of cabbage, napa preferred
• 3 T peanut or other vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, sliced (I used a red onion)
• 1 T minced ginger
• 2 T soy sauce (plus extra, to taste)
• 5 C stock (chicken, beef, or vegetable), warmed
• Fresh lemon or lime juice, or white wine, or vinegar (whichever you prefer, for acid)

Core and shred cabbage. Heat oil in a large pan over medium, then pile in onion and cabbage. Cook until both are just slightly browned, roughly 20 minutes -- this seems like a very long time, but you want the cabbage super soft. Stir in ginger and cook for a few moments, then add soy sauce and stock. Once heated thoroughly, add 1 or more tablespoons of lemon juice (or alternative).

Chicken Soup for the Dying Soul

OK, this is my last post about having the flu, I promise.

Who doesn't crave a good chicken noodle soup when you're sick? It's warm, broth-y goodness just has a way of being the perfect meal when you're feeling under the weather.

While on my way to pick up a can of Campbell's classic chicken noodle soup, I thought, why am I buying a MSG-filled, sodium-packed (1 can has over 2000 grams of sodium!!!) canned soup when I can easily make a fresh one?

I literally just made this recipe up in the grocery store:

Mel's Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients:

• 2 celery stalks
• 2 carrots
• 1 onion
• 3-4 cloves of garlic (has great anti-viral, anti-bacterial properties)
• 1-2 chicken breasts depending on how meat-y you like your soup
• 32 FL.OZ. chicken broth or stock
• About 1 cup of your pasta of choice
• Fresh Herbs: Just use what you have available and substitute for dried if you need to. I used fresh sage, thyme, rosemary
• A handful of spinach finely chopped

Directions:

• Saute the celery, carrots, onion and garlic for about 10 minutes. Or, until sofritto (Italian for nice and tender!). Meanwhile, cut the chicken into nice bite-sized chunks. Add the chicken to the vegetables, and cook together for a few minutes. Next, finely chop the herbs and spinach and add them to the pot. Cook for a few more minutes and then add the chicken broth (adding more water if necessary). Once soup has cooked for about 5 minutes, add the pasta and cook for another 10-15 minutes (or until the pasta is done). Serve with Macrina Bakery's tasty potato bread and some olive oil infused with a bit of salt and Italian herbs for dipping.

Tips:

• Leave the vegetables cut relatively thick since they constitute the heart of the soup.
• If you need more liquid, just add some water. With all the other flavors you won't notice the plainness of the water.
• Who wants to wait 45min to cook some chicken breasts for a soup when you're sick? Go easy on yourself and pick-up an already cooked whole roasted chicken. Many places even sell half a chicken.

Rustic kale soup

If there's one thing shih tzus love, it's food blogging. Buster, seen above, supervises all my efforts, and he was particularly excited about this rustic kale soup with a little beef, grains, and lots of vegetables. As a connoisseur of carrot and celery sticks, Buster knew a soup so packed with vegetables would be thoroughly satisfying and delicious.

I based this on the "White Bean Soup with Greens and Rice" from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything (from which I do cook everything), but I modified it quite a bit -- using the suggested variation with beef, leaving out the beans, and generally making it into a totally different soup. Here's a rough outline:

• 1/2 lb of kale, stems removed and chopped, leaves cut into bite-size squares
  
• Two carrots, chopped
  
• Two celery stalks, chopped
  
• One onion, diced
  
• 1/2 C dry quinoa
  
• 1/2 C dry brown rice
  
• 1/2 lb of beef, cut into very small bites
  
• 5 cups beef or vegetable stock, or water
  
• 1 tsp minced garlic

Sautee the onion, brown the beef, then add the rest of the ingredients and cover with water and simmer until the grains are thoroughly cooked and the vegetables are tender. You could be more precise and add the vegetables one at a time, but nothing in here is delicate enough to cause trouble if it cooks a few extra minutes.

The finished product was quite packed with ingredients, not much spare broth for them to swim around in, but everything seems super healthy -- perfect for the ultra cold weather we've had here recently.

Pho: 5 Season's Grill

Today, I vowed to blog about something other than soup, soup, soup. 

But tonight, I wanted pho, and remembered a recommendation for 5 Season's Grill from our home's former owner. Marvelous soup within walking distance? Oh my!

Brian tried beef, a very meaty option. I stick with veggie: carrots, broccoli, cabbage, bok choy, along with the usual bean sprouts, noodles, a big sprig of basil, onions, parsley, lime. Plus an unfamiliar little knot of pastry (not sure what that is -- if anyone can identify, clue me in).

Dinner for two, with spring rolls: $18, and only 5 minutes away. We may have discovered why the previous owners pho'ed so often. 

More soup: this time with beets

At the risk of revealing myself as a soup addict, I must share this gorgeous beet soup I made tonight.


No recipe is needed here, and the details don't matter except that the vegetables should be roasted first and include beets (if you want the amazing bridesmaid-dress pink). If you're unlucky enough to not have a pile of leftovers in the refridgerator, gather your favorites, drizzle with olive oil, and roast them.

Pile roasted veggies in a pot, add enough chicken or vegetable stock to almost cover, and heat. Puree with your handy immersion blender, and stir in more chicken stock to bring to desired consistancy. Season to taste, and add butter if you want (who doesn't want?). Puree again, to reach a perfect velvety texture -- or if you're feeling lazy, leave it a bit coarse and call it "rustic."

Cream soups and avoiding the curds

I went browsing for rugs last weekend, and returned with a few ideas and a bag of soup mixes. 

If Cost Plus had a furniture selection comparable to its world tour of snacks, I'd outfit the whole house with its inexpensive-but-solid dark wood pieces. While there's nothing shocking in the food selection, within three or four isles you can grab British digestive biscuits, German canned herring, Japanese candies, and and reasonably-priced Veuve Cliquot with which to celebrate your finds. It's not an overseas vacation, but perhaps a vicarious exploration comparable to an hour of No Reservations (available instantly on Netflix -- I highly recommend for lazy Saturdays). 

So last weekend, I picked out a rug and picked up some soup mix, including a spicy pumpkin which I made tonight. It was easy and it called for a ton of cream (I subbed some half and half plus a little plain yogurt, since that's what I had), and the recipe was at least new, if not particularly interesting. 

Adding the dairy to the soup reminded me of the many  less successful attempts I'd had: without the right background info, an amateur chef may get a pot of tiny curds instead of a creamy bisque.  But why? I decided to investigate. 

Tips: Adding cream or milk to soup.

Apparently, milk and dairy are quite heat-sensitive. If you melt butter, or even mix it above "High" with you kitchenaid, the butter breaks down, never to return to its original form -- a problem for precise pastries.  

When adding milk or cream to soup, be aware of this delicacy to maintain excellent texture. Cream can withstand a bit more heat than milk, but neither should boil! This is the most important point, in my opinion.

Curdling is a clumping of milk protein. Acid, salt, and heat can all cause milk's protein to clump -- which makes a hot pan of well-seasoned tomato soup a prime environment for curdling.   

To avoid this misfortune, cook all other ingredients, then reduce heat to a simmer -- or even lower, to be safe. As the final step before serving, add cream while stirring or whisking constantly. Bring the heat up slowly, and never above a simmer -- I would just heat to the temp at which you want to eat it. Don't let it sit unattended on the stove, and don't use old milk (as if you would!).

A thin-bottomed pan can also cause trouble, though is more likely to cause scorching (another reason to stir/wisk constantly and monitor temperature). 

And what if you attempt these things but still get a soup with tiny specks of cream rather than a velvety bisque? All is not lost! Curdling probably didn't affect the flavor of your dish, and you can often bind everything back together with a roux or a slurry. For a roux, mix equal parts flour and butter (go ahead and melt the butter a bit, since it will melt in the soup anyway, but do not use hot melted butter, which might be harder to stir with the flour). For a slurry, mix cornstarch and cold water. For either, eliminate all lumps! Then stir your roux or slurry into the soup, and either of these "binders" should bring the soup back to a creamier texture. 

Yellow Tomato Soup

Supposedly, colorful heirloom tomatoes are passed down through generations like delicate linens and fine china. Brian and I inherited tomatoes, too, but they're more of the free-on-Craigslist variety than intergenerational family treasure.

Our home's previous owner left a sizable flower/herb/vegetable garden. The piece de resistance: a huge tangle of fragrant green vines and leaves, small yellow pear tomatoes dangling throughout like big old-fashioned Christmas lights.

I don't know much about gardening, but I can tell when a tomato is ripe. These were jumping off the vine, almost over-ripe. I dove in with bare hands, and emerged stained green up to my elbows, with a full basket and the scent of tomato leaf everywhere.

The first batch I picked was too ripe for eating raw, and the weather was an excellent tomato-soup grey and windy, so I searched for a yellow-tomato soup recipe and found this. It's not Campbell's tomato. It's got more texture, less acid, and starchy potato flavor. Super sweet yellow tomatoes and caramelized shallots plus butter mean this is creamy and sweet, not a challenging flavor profile (sorry Top Chef cheftestants). I mostly skimmed the recipe for ingredients then made it up as I went along -- no fancy technique, just quick use of my indispensable immersion blender. :) 

Tomatoes roasted:

Simmered:

Pureed: