For the last several months I've been the designated "soup kitchen" person at my son's deli. All his soups are made from scratch and most are delicious, or so I've been told. As the weather has warmed I've been wanting to make the transition from hot soups to cold pasta salads. It hasn't caught on yet since there are quite a few die hard soup lovers in the neighborhood!
To me, soup is very basic and not a science. Unfortunately, I don't have exact ingredients for you unless you're planning on serving an army. At the deli, a batch of soup is anywhere from 1 - 2 gallons, or so. I'll do my best to scale it down for you.
Turkey Corn Chowder
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 tsp garlic powder (or a Tbsp of fresh)
flour for roux (about 3-4 Tbsp)
1/3 jalapeno, diced
1 parboiled and peeled potato, cubed
1 cup milk
3 cups broth, chicken is good
1 cup frozen corn kernels
2 cups, diced turkey
salt to taste
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
Start by parboiling a potato. set aside to cool. In a large pot add the butter and oil. Heat on medium, add the onion, celery garlic and cook until soft. Add the flour and stir until a thick roux is formed. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes. It should thicken a bit from the roux and the addition of the potatoes.
This proved to be a "hit" at the deli. Another similar favorite was the addition of roasted poblanos.
Pancakes for dinner? Why not? Growing up this seemed like such a treat to have on a Sunday evening, before we curled up in front of the TV to watch Ed Sullivan and Bonanza. In all actuality, it was a go-to meal when 1) you ran out of money before month 2) laziness crept in and you didn't want to make the trek to the grocery store or, 3) you wanted a bit of nostalgia. The answer was 2 and 3! But, while these are not the epitome of a healthy dinner at least there were a few redeeming ingredients....bananas and walnuts!
These were "melt in your mouth" banana walnut pancakes!
6 Tbsp melted butter
1 1/2 cups flour
2 Tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 very ripe banana, mashed
1 ripe banana for garnish
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
more walnuts for topping, optional
Melt butter in microwave. In larger bowl mash banana. Add milk, beaten eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and walnuts. Blend until well mixed. Batter will be lumpy.
Heat griddle or pan until a water droplet bounces on a lightly greased surface. Spoon batter onto griddle and cook until edges are dry and middle "bubbles". Flip and cook for just a few more minutes. Butter or no butter, syrup and cut up banana on top! Don't forget the walnuts!
The seasons of Northern Nevada have such unique personalities. I would describe Spring as being flirtatious, fickle and a big tease! Just when you're about to embrace the warmer weather with those flip flops and shorter sleeves a cold front moves in to chill you again. Soups are still a perfect meal during the Spring. Light, yet hardy, and simple to make!
Keep this recipe handy throughout the year, but especially when your tomato plants are giving you a bounty of tomatoes. In the Winter switch to canned varieties.
Roasted Tomato Bisque
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
about 2 Tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 28 oz can of fire roasted tomatoes. (You can roast your own but this is so much easier)
2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
2 cups broth (You can use veggie or chicken)
1 tsp herb de Provence seasoning
salt to taste
1 cup half and half
1 cup milk
I will now disclose that I made a giant batch for the restaurant, so these amounts are not exact. I've found that soups are very "forgiving". You can pretty much throw the ingredients together and 9 times out of 10 the result will be wonderful.
In a large pot start to cook the onions in the butter until they are soft. Add the garlic, tomatoes, broth and seasoning, except for the salt. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to simmer and continue to cook for another 10 minutes.
Blend the soup in a blender or a Ninja (I love my new Ninja) and return the mixture to the pan. Add the half and half and milk. Turn the heat back on to simmer for 5 minutes. Taste to see if it needs more salt. Serve with grated cheese of your choice and some home made croutons!
As some of you know, my life was hijacked recently. While I still do a lot of cooking and not much writing, I found myself "volunteering" at my son's new deli/ice creamery. I guess I should be careful what I wish for! I always thought it would be fun and cool to work in an ice cream shop. Enter my son, who now has his own store front by way of acquiring a full fledged sandwich/deli shop. My volunteering consists of helping out (and I use that term loosely) with the day to day operations. I make cookies, do dishes, make soup from scratch, do more dishes, help with customers at the counter, do many more dishes! Yes, at this ripe old age I'm exhausted, but on the up side, I've met some extremely wonderful people. Better yet, even though we may bump heads, at times, I'm getting to engage in meaningful conversations with my son and share stories of our memories together. He's slowly finding out that a simple hug from him is all it takes to melt my heart!
I'm extremely proud of him for taking this double business on. Setting up business is not an easy task, especially when it encompasses Government involvement (inefficiency). At the end of the day, it can be very rewarding, especially when my son can look in the mirror every morning and say hello to the BOSS! That's the best part by far!
If you're reading this and you are local, come to try out his delicious sandwiches (the bread rocks) and amazing unique ice cream flavors. I am self designated "quality control" person for product tasting! Not great for the waistline, but good for the soul. Ice cream makes everyone happy, I've had the pleasure to notice. The other day I had to laugh as I scooped some vanilla into a sugar cone for a little girl. She could barely see into the display case and as I scooped, she started to sing! Her dad said she always sings for ice cream...it works for me!
After such a long absence from this blog (almost a month) it's not as if I haven't been cooking or baking. I managed to make a flour less chocolate cake for my mom's birthday. It was divine! As you can tell by the not so appetizing photo above, it was a success, especially topped off with Icecycle Creamery ice cream! The only change will be to reduce the size of the round pan as it turned out a bit on the flat side! A flour less chocolate cake is so very decadent. A small slice will send you to heaven, I promise!
Flourless Chocolate Cake
4 ounces of good quality bittersweet chocolate
1 stick or 1/2 cup butter (preferably unsalted)
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened) and additional for garnish.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8 inch round cake pan (no larger or the cake will be flat like mine!) Line the bottom with parchment or waxed paper, then butter that, too.
Break chocolate into small pieces. Place chocolate and butter into double boiler over simmering water and stir until melted. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar, whisking as you go. Add the eggs and keep whisking until smooth. Sprinkle the cocoa powder on top and mix in. Pour the mixture into the pan and bake until the cake forms a thin crust, for about 25 minutes. Cool the cake for 5 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate. Enjoy.
This was on my "bucket list" also. I will make it again using a smaller cake pan....definitely squelches your chocolate craving!
Why did I make these orange coconut biscotti? Because I can, I wanted to and mostly, because I had a huge bag of coconut in my pantry! So, I'll add this to my biscotti repertoire. I prefer a soft cookie like biscotti which is why I rarely second bake them. It doesn't make sense to me to have to dunk them in order to soften them up to be edible! But, that's just my opinion....
I also revised a recipe to include a chocolate drizzle on top. Everything is better with chocolate and besides, it added to the visual appeal. These would be fantastic with a chocolate or coconut ice cream!
Orange Coconut Biscotti
1/4 lb (1 stick) softened butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla (I used orange extract in this recipe)
2 cups sweetened coconut flakes
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips, melted for garnish (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and whatever extract flavor you want while mixing well. Reduce mixer speed and add the coconut, then the flour, baking powder and salt. Divide the dough into 3 pieces and form each into a "log" about 12 inches in length. Place onto a parchment lined sheet pan and bake for approximately 20-25 minutes until golden.
Remove, cool slightly and gently lift onto a cutting board. Using a long serrated knife, slice into 1/2 inch diagonal pieces. Drizzle with melted chocolate in a crisscross pattern. And there you have it! Enjoy.
Keep in a tightly sealed container to insure the softness.
