Tofu-Carrot Soup… With Ginger!

I have come to the conclusion that soups are best "made-fresh yesterday".  A classic soup like chicken noodle is always better if you simmer it all day.  But cream soups often don't have long simmer times.  I'm not sure if this is an oversight, due to the puree and cream-adding processes (most of which happen at the end of cooking), or just a convenient shortcut we assume is Ok because there's a lot of other things going on with the recipe, like cream, that will make up for it.  Either way, the following recipe was mildly disappointing to me until I ate the leftover the next day and tasted all the flavor I had expected.

Unfortunately, I can't remember for sure where I originally came across this recipe.  I think it might've been an issue of Better Homes and Gardens.  All I know is I have it written out on a sheet of notebook paper and a vague memory of transcribing it from a magazine I found at church.  The original recipe called for mushrooms, which would've given some umami flavor, but I was pushing it feeding my husband tofu.  Mushrooms would've crossed the line.  I added ginger, because ginger and carrots are a wonderful combination.

Tofu-Carrot Soup
2 stalks celery
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
3/4 inch piece of ginger root
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
4 C chopped carrots
5-6 C chicken stock
1 (12.3 oz) package firm silken-style tofu
1 (5 oz) can evaporated milk
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
~1 tsp dried, ground ginger (to taste)

Chop the celery, onion, garlic, and ginger.  In a soup pot (or dutch oven), heat the oil over medium heat, the sauté the celery, onion, and garlic until soft.  Add the carrots and stock, bring to a boil, the reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes, until everything is tender.

Cut up the tofu and add it and the evaporated milk to the soup.  Use an immersion blender and puree until smooth.  If you haven't got an immersion blender, cool the soup slightly, and process in a normal blender.  Stir in the thyme, and season to taste with ginger, salt, pepper, and worcestershire sauce.

Thin the sour cream with 2-3 tsp water.  Serve the soup hot, garnishing with green onions if desired.

As I said in the beginning, I was disappointed until I had the leftovers.  The ginger didn't come out as much as I had hoped, making the whole thing a tad lackluster.  But the leftovers!  They had wonderfully developed ginger flavor, which blended with and brought out the carrot.  

I will say I did a good job with the umami, though.  Worcestershire isn't as great as mushrooms (or fish sauce, possibly), but it did a nice job giving the soup a little more meaty flavor.  That's also why I chose to use chicken stock rather than vegetable broth-- well, that, and I generally have chicken stock on hand.

And I have to say, I liked the silken-style tofu.  As its name suggests, it has a smoother texture than normal tofu, which I suppose helps it incorporate smoothly into the soup, giving a creamy texture to the whole thing.  And it was wonderfully, surprisingly creamy.

It was yummy, and I would probably make it again.  I'd just make it a day ahead of time, let it sit in my fridge, and warm it up to serve it.  Actually, it wouldn't be bad as a cold soup for the summer, if you're into that kind of thing.  Was it my favorite soup?  Nah.  But it wasn't bad at all.

Potato-Pulled Pork Pie (And alliteration!)

The other day I needed a high-quality photo of something, so I grabbed my camera, took the picture, then uploaded the memory card to my computer.  Lo and Behold!  There were photos of a particularly delicious dinner I came up with a while ago.  In fact, this dinner was so good, I wrote it down immediately afterward so that I have a recipe to refer to if I wanted to make it again, share it with a friend, or post it on the internet.  Hooray forethought!  And hooray for finally uploading photos.

This recipe, Potato-Pulled Pork Pie, is a leftovers recipe.  There's no reason you can't make up a fresh batch of pulled pork for it, but there's no need to.  No special recipe was used.  Same with the potatoes. I will say, though, you want nice creamy potatoes.  This, to me, is the secret to making mashed potatoes.  Add milk, cream, broth, or whatever until you have a nice, creamy texture.  Regardless of whether you used mealy or waxy potatoes, CREAMY is the end goal.  While you can use potatoes however you like, the creaminess is going to translate into smooth, rich base with just a hint of crispiness.  Mmmmm.  But getting back to the point!  As this is a leftovers recipe, the measurements are pretty approximatable.  Don't worry about having exactly the right amount of pork or potato-- just make sure you're in the ballpark.  And everything else just needs to be in balance-- more pork?  Consider more veggies and more egg.

Potato- Pulled Pork Pie

1 1/2 C mashed potatoes

3/4 C pulled pork

2 small bell peppers

1 slice onion (like for rings)

3 eggs

1 Tbsp milk

salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, and cumin to taste

cheese (as an optional finish)

Preheat the oven to 350˚F.

Begin by greasing a pie pan, then spreading the potatoes over the base.  Make them a little higher on the side, but don't worry about going all the way up the side of the pan.  (More like a pizza, less like a pie.)  Bake until dried out but not browned, about 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop pork, peppers, and onion.  Place in a mixing bowl and add eggs, milk, and season to taste.  It should not look like an omelet, but everything should be coated with egg (see photo).  I recommend starting with 2 eggs, then deciding if you need a third or not.  

Pour meat/egg mixture over the potato crust and bake until set, about 20-30 minutes.  If desired, top with cheese and replace in oven until melted.  (If you use a hard cheese, you may need to add it half-way through cooking time.)  

The only thing about this recipe that is less than ideal, to me, is the time.  I think you could probably bake it in a hotter oven (to make it faster) and be fine, but I haven't tried that myself, and didn't want to give you a recipe that would turn out horribly burnt on the top and raw on the bottom.

Otherwise, this is a FABULOUS way to eat leftovers.  It takes minimal effort, but tastes wonderful.  My husband and I got about four servings out of it, using our self-control, because we both wanted to eat the whole thing.  Feel free to use different seasonings, too.  If you've got seasoned pulled pork, use similar flavors to enhance everything.

Quick Pickled Radishes

Back when radishes were in season (and they will be again), I bought a bunch for my husband, but left them on the kitchen counter on my way to do something else.  I then forgot about them overnight, and found them the next morning horribly wilted and sad-looking.  Wilting leaves will draw moisture out of the bulb of the radish.  That's sort of the point of the bulb.  The radishes were an interesting proof of concept, but it was a bummer for eating.  Nice crisp radishes can't be beat.  And a couple were still, but most were a little shrivellier and softer.  It occurred to me that I could try pickling them.  Worst that could happen-- they weren't appealing.  And since they weren't appealing at the moment, it didn't seem like a bad idea.

I turned to the internet and found a recipe on epicurious for a quick pickle, so-called because you just mix everything together and call it good.  It's relatively quick and simple, with no hot water bath and no need for special equipment (beyond clean jars).  A quick pickle isn't going to be shelf-stable, so it also needs to be eaten a bit more quickly and kept in the fridge (most recipes are also smaller, since most of us don't have as much fridge space).  The only thing that isn't "quick"-- you [still] have to wait a couple days before your pickles are ready to eat.

Quick-Pickled Garlic Radishes
10 large radishes
10 cloves garlic
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
2 C white vinegar
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp sugar

Wash the radishes and trim the ends.  Cut them into quarters.  Peel the garlic cloves.  Place garlic and radishes into a clean 1-quart jar.  Add the peppercorns, vinegar, salt, and sugar.  Cover tightly and shake gently until salt and sugar are dissolved--just flip the jar onto its lid and back a few times.  Place in the refrigerator, and store a minimum of three days, inverting daily, before eating.

Now here is the part where I disagree with the recipe I found.  It says the flavor will mellow over time.  WRONG!  The flavor got pretty danged intense.  In my husband's words, "They got worse.  I mean, they were good; they were just strong as s***."  They were a nice munch, kind of a spicy condiment I put alongside sandwiches instead of dill pickles.  After a while, I stopped eating more than 1, and we relied on the sandwiches to balance the heat.  We also discovered they made a fabulous martini garnish, especially after the heat kicked up.  More flavor and body than a traditional olive (I can't bring myself to do an onion martini), and the gin married very well with the heat and salt.

We Can Do Dumplings!

I was recently the joyous recipient of a cookbook titled Rosie's Riveting Recipes, a collection of WWII-era recipes.  This is pretty neat.  There's something about that era that really appeals to me-- the can-do spirit and patriotism, maybe, or that balance between the modern era and traditional values…  There's something about the home front that I really think I wouldn't mind experiencing.  And at this point, I think we know I love a cookbook under any circumstances.

I got excited about the following recipe, and my husband agreed that it would be a good dinner.


Saucy Cheese Dumplings
3 Tbsp bacon fat (or butter)
3 Tbsp chopped onion
3 Tbsp flour
3 C canned tomatoes
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 tsp pepper
2 C flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 C crisco
2/3 C milk
2/3 C grated cheese


Begin by melting the fat, browning the onion, and making a roux with the 3 Tbsp flour in a large pot.  The width of the pot isn't an issue; the sauce doesn't need to be deep.  Add the tomatoes and juice, breaking them up as you do.  Mix well and bring to a boil.  Add water if needed to achieve and keep a sauce consistency.

Mix flour, salt, and baking powder.  Add 2 Tbsp of the cheese, followed by the crisco.  Blend thoroughly, a bit like pie dough.  Add milk, and knead into a ball.  Roll out (a bit like pie dough) to 1/8-inch thickness and cut into ~3-inch rounds.  Wet the rounds with cold water, then place a Tablespoon or so of cheese into the center of the rounds and pinch to seal shut.

Drop the stuffed dumplings into the boiling sauce.  Cover tightly and steam for 15 minutes without lifting the cover.  Serve hot.

Well, these were a learning experience for me.  I added above that the depth of the sauce isn't an issue. Dumplings steam, so they don't have to be in the sauce the whole time.  The sauce just needs to maintain a simmer.  I didn't use a big pot, thinking I should keep it deep enough to submerge everything.  Turns out, dumplings also expand, and my poor husband was left trying to shove the lid shut as dumplings tried to defy the laws of physics and forced the sauce out over the rim of the pot.

I also thought rounds weren't the best choice.  I had a lot of scraps (which I steamed along with the dumplings), and I had trouble getting the rounds to seal around the cheese, and wound up shorting the cheese.  That was a bummer.  It seems to me that squares would be easier to seal with more cheese in them.  

But they were DELICIOUS!  I used 4 C home-canned, whole-packed tomatoes for this, which was a wonderful choice.  They taste so much better than-store bought tomatoes (which I do also enjoy).  It's hard for me to put in words exactly the difference.  Earthier and more mellow, perhaps?  They really made the recipe for my husband and I, but I imagine it would be yummy either way.  If you use store-bought canned tomatoes, you may need to chop them before adding them; home-canned tomatoes are pretty tender, too, and easily mashed.

I also love the texture of dumplings.  These are nice and light (even if you spent the whole time shoving them down).  The cheese was also a great treat, even though I shorted it.  It would have been preferable, I reckon, to have more cheese, but life goes on.  

The dish was filling as well as tasty, and we had plenty of leftovers.  This is certainly a make-again recipe!

Return of BOB-- a chicken shepherd's pie

Once again, I turned to Rachael Ray's Big Orange Book for dinner inspiration, settling on "Chicken and Garlic Herb Potato Shepherd's Pie."  We chose this recipe because it had a lot of ingredients that we already had, and tweaked it to reflect those rather than buying a whole bunch of things for just one recipe.  Here's my version:

Chicken and Garlic Potato Shepherd's Pie
3-4 potatoes
2 chicken breasts
1 carrot
1/2 C frozen peas
1 scallion
1-2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 C white wine
1 C chicken stock
1 Tbsp mustard
2 oz. cream cheese
2 cloves garlic confit
1 Tbsp fresh snipped chives
2 egg yolks
1 Tbsp parsley

Begin by dicing the chicken into smaller-than-bite-size pieces.  Also dice the carrot, and chop the scallion.  Preheat the oven to 400˚F.

Peel and roughly chop the potatoes.  Place them in a pot, cover with water, and salt.  Bring to a boil and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat some oil over medium heat in a sauté pan, then add the chicken.  Season with salt and pepper and cook to golden brown.  Transfer the chicken to a casserole dish, add a tad more oil to the pan, and sauté the carrots for a couple minutes.  Add the frozen peas and scallion, season with salt and pepper, and sauté two more minutes.  Set the veggies aside, but keep using the same pan-- melt a tablespoon or so of butter and add flour to make a roux.  Whisk in the wine, then the chicken stock (keep about 2 Tbsp back to add to the potatoes later), and cook until slightly thickened.  Return the veggies, and season with mustard, salt, and pepper.  Pour over the chicken in the casserole dish, and stir to combine.

Drain the potatoes, and mash them with cream cheese, garlic, chives, and the withheld chicken stock.  If they're still not smooth and creamy, add a bit of milk to get them to the proper texture.  Stir in the egg yolks and parsley, then spread the mixture over the chicken and veggies in the casserole.  Bake until the top is set and slightly toasted, about 15 minutes.

I really liked this!  The wine-and-mustard sauce was fantastic; I may also use it for pot pies.  The potatoes also turned out nicely on their own.  (But, if I do say so myself, I know mashed potatoes!)  The original recipe called for fresh tarragon, but I didn't feel like anything was missing.  Such a flavorful sauce.  And I love some shepherd's pie.  Tender, flavorful meat and veggies on the bottom, potatoes with just a hint of crisp to them…  This recipe and adaptation did not disappoint!

Sauerbraten: The blog that has been 2 years in the making

A few years ago my dad decided he was going to work with each member of my family to prepare one of the three holiday meals (Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Year's) that my family has.  I chose Christmas dinner, and then grabbed the German cookbook to decide what to make.  I chose German because a lot of our Christmas traditions come from Germany-- Christmas trees and "Silent Night," for instance.  I also lived for a year in Germany, and miss it most at Christmastime.  I flipped through the book, and decided on Sauerbraten.  I'd never had it, in spite of it being a German classic.  It's a sweet-and-sour dish, and, what makes it perfect for Christmas, it features a gravy thickened with gingersnaps. I've made it every year since, which has allowed me to work out some of the mistakes I made the first time.  I told my host mom about making it, and she asked without missing a beat how long I marinaded it.  A true Sauerbraten, she informed me, MUST be marinaded for days; good thing my recipe does.  I would've hated to disappoint her.

And a quick note on photos-- I started this two years ago, but didn't have half the photos I wanted; I took some more this past year, and now am able to finish.

Sauerbraten

2.5 lb Beef roast
2 onions
1 carrot
2 celery stalks
2/3 C red wine vinegar
1 bay leaf
6 cloves
6 black peppercorns
1 Tbsp dark brown sugar
2 tsp salt
1 onion
4 oz. bacon
1 Tbsp cornstarch
Gingersnaps

*This text color indicates a non-marinade ingredient, which won't be needed until 3 days after the others.

Cut the 2 onions into wedges or slices.  Slice the carrot and celery into medallions.  Place the prepared veggies and 2 1/2 C water in a saucepan.  Bring it to boil, then reduce it to a simmer and allow it to cook for about 5 minutes.  Add the vinegar, bay leaf, cloves, peppercorns, sugar, and salt.  Simmer 5 minutes more, then cover and COOL COMPLETELY.  I have found it best to make this in the evening  four days before you plan to serve the Sauerbraten and let it cool overnight.

Once your marinade has cooled, place the roast in a casserole dish and pour the marinade over.  It should be a tight fit.  Cover the dish and place it in the fridge.  You will marinade it for 3 days, flipping the roast over each day.  I've found this to be easiest if you start by scooping out marinade ingredients and maybe even pour off some of the marinade first.  Replace it all once you've flipped the meat.

After three days, dice another onion and the bacon, then remove the roast, and dry it thoroughly.  Don't throw out the marinade just yet.  Heat a couple tablespoons oil in a large pan over medium-high heat, and sear the beef on all sides.  Set it aside, then place the onions in the pan and reduce the heat to medium.  After about 5 minutes of sautéing, add the bacon, and continue to cook until the bacon is brown.

Transfer the onion and bacon to a soup pot and place the beef on top.  Strain the liquid from the marinade into the stock pot.  Slowly bring it to a boil, then cover it and simmer over low heat until the beef is tender.  The recipe says about 2 hours, but I ALWAYS need more time… probably closer to 4 hours.

While the simmering is going on, begin crushing gingersnaps.  You will need a total of 1 C gingersnap crumbs.

Once the beef is tender, take it out and set it aside.  Keep it warm, though.  Make a slurry of cornstarch and cold water, and whisk that and the gingersnap crumbs into the liquid.  Bring to a boil and continue stirring until thickened.  Slice the beef and serve with noodles (or Spätzle) and gravy, garnishing, if desired, with fresh parsley.  

I tried to make clear the mistakes I've made along the way, but just to be sure, here they are again.  I assume if I made them, others might, too.  
1) I didn't cool the marinade completely.  It cooked the meat surface a little, and that resulted in a weird texture and less-than-ideal marinading.  
2) I didn't simmer the beef long enough.  After 2 1/2 hours I was impatient and hungry, and served it.  It was tough.  The longer cook time is important, because a tender Sauerbraten is amazing!
3) I didn't whisk or stir as vigorously as I should have when adding the gingersnap crumbs.  I wound up with lumps.  Normally, lumps strike me as a cosmetic issue.  But with gingersnaps, the clumps have a weird gummy texture and a distinct, sweet flavor.  It's jarring.  

I love this.  It's got such a wonderful, Christmas-y flavor.  The gingersnaps are balanced by the vinegar so you don't get overwhelmed by sweet (or vice versa).  Instead, they just contribute some more flavor complexity.  And that gravy is what makes the dish for me.  The roast cooks down a lot, so if you're cooking for a family, there probably won't be too much left over.  If you cook it to tenderness, it's a delight to eat.  It marries well with the gravy and the whole thing just melts in your mouth.  Serving with the noodles or Spätzle is a good idea; I tried it with potatoes once and it just doesn't quite have the right texture to complement the Sauerbraten.  

Take away message: don't let the name throw you.  Sauerbraten is a delicious, festive comfort food.  It just takes a little time to do it right.

This might be what warmth tastes like…

I love soup.  There are so many varieties, hot soups, cold soups, thick soups, clear soups… There is a soup for every person.  And generally soup isn't too hard to make.  Generally.  So I had clipped this recipe for leek and cabbage soup when I saw it in the New York Times Dining Section.  I was also hoping it would be a good way to eat cabbage, a vegetable that I appreciate more than I like.  

Cabbage is in season from June to October in the northern hemisphere, but I've never lived anywhere that I wasn't able to get it year round (we won't go into that here…)  So I've always seen it.  I like it mixed into my salads, it turns out that they put it in Runzas (how sneaky!), and my oma (German grandmother) makes absolutely delicious spiced red cabbage.  Beyond that, though, I've never cared much for it.  I didn't even like coleslaw until college.

But I wanted to like cabbage.  It's such a homey vegetable.  Red cabbage looks lovely.  And it's so traditional.  A lot of European comfort foods include it.  In fact, this soup is a comfort food.  So, when I planned to make soup and had a half a head of cabbage left over from another recipe, I decided to give it a try.  I mean, that is why I clipped it, right?  

Cabbage, Potato, and Leek Soup
2 leeks
1/2- 1 head cabbage
6 Tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic
3 medium-sized baking potatoes
2 C chicken stock
2 sprigs thyme
salt and pepper (to taste)
parmesan (as garnish)

Begin by prepping your veggies.  Discard the dark green portion of the leeks, and thinly slice and wash the remainder.  (I wash after slicing; you can do so before.  Either way, make sure you get the dirt out from between the leaves!)  Shred the cabbage.  (I had about 3/4 of a Napa cabbage left, so I used that.  It doesn't go onto a grater very well, but using a knife to thinly shave off pieces from the top of the head worked quite well.)  Mince the garlic, and peel and dice the potatoes.

Melt the butter over medium-high heat in your soup pot, then add the leeks and cook until soft and barely caramelized (about 7 minutes).  Add the cabbage and garlic (it will cook down!).  Stir occasionally until the cabbage begins to caramelize, (about 10 minutes).

Add the potatoes, stock, water, salt, and thyme.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook, partially covered, until the potatoes are falling apart, about 45 minutes.  Add water if you feel the soup is too thick.  Season taste with pepper and additional salt, and serve with parmesan cheese on top.


So, I was a little skeptical.  My husband was too.  But we were both like, "Oh, if you're willing to make/try it, I will try/make it."  And you know what?  This was good!   I thought it might upset my stomach the way sauerkraut does--nope!  I thought it might have a weird, slimy texture-- Nope!  My husband was even happy to eat the leftovers, "I liked it!" he said with enthusiasm when I asked.  For only a few ingredients, there was a lot of deep, rich flavor.  This truly was a comfort food.  There are enough veggies in it that it was filling, but they're cooked soft enough that it's not too much to chew through.  It was almost creamy from the potato starch.  It didn't leave me craving anything else, except maybe more.  Luckily, it made more than just the 4 servings that the recipe described.