Pureed Vegetable Soup

Being a "recipe cook" myself, I have long admired people who can simply look in the cupboard, check what's in their fridge, and whip together a scrumptious meal. No cookbook, no directions, no guidance needed save what they already possess, whether from instinct, practice, or lessons absorbed from a mentor or two along the way.

I am thrilled to have discovered just such a mentor, though she's one I've never met except through her book. The teacher is Ellen Ecker Ogden, the book is From The Cook's Garden, and today's lesson is all about vegetable soup.

Did you know you can pretty reliably combine vegetables that grow in the same season and come up with taste combinations that just work? (Tomatoes and eggplant and basil in the summer, for example; or potatoes and leeks in cooler weather.)

I learned that from Ellen Ecker Ogden. I also learned that she starts most of her cooking from the garden simply by heating up a little olive oil, adding chopped onion and garlic, then running outside to see what's ripe.

Sounds like a successful recipe to me.

In that spirit, I recently tried her pureed vegetable soup. The olive oil, onions, and garlic were already on my shelves. From the freezer, I plucked a zippered baggie of 1 1/2 c. pumpkin puree I had made back in the fall (for instructions, see this post from Kevin's Closet Cooking blog). From my fridge came a couple of carrots. And from my kitchen window ledge came some home-grown, dried rosemary.

Have a little rosemary, won't you? Please. I insist.

The result? The best soup I have ever made. Absolutely delicious. Here are the instructions, in case you want to try it yourself.

PUREED VEGETABLE SOUP

2 T. olive oil

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 t. finely chopped fresh herbs or 1/2 t. dried herbs (I used rosemary)

3 c. chopped mixed vegetables (I used pumpkin puree and a couple carrots)

1 medium potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

4 c. vegetable broth (I used 4 c. water plus 4 vegetable bouillon cubes)

salt and pepper to taste

In large stockpot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until soft, stirring, about 5 minutes. Add the herbs, vegetables, and potato, and cook about 5 more minutes, stirring often. Add the broth and let simmer over medium heat, with the pot partially covered, for about 30 more minutes. Vegetables should be tender. Process in blender in small batches until it's all pureed. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot or cold.

A couple more hints from this book: You can add cream to this soup, or sherry, or fresh leafy greens before blending. You can also top with a dollop of sour cream or, my choice, plain yogurt.

So how about you: Are you a recipe cook? Or are you blessed with that instinct that lets you create away in the kitchen without written instructions?

NOTE: This post is linked to Works-for-me-Wednesday at the We Are That Family blog. Check it out for zillions of great ideas.

NOTE #2: Check out the "grow your own" roundup, for a collection of recipes that contain home-grown ingredients. Roundup hosted by Nate @ House of Annie blog.

Salad a la Marinated Peppers

Last summer's garden produced quite an abundance -- more tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell peppers than the inhabitants of this castle could wolf down.

We had all kinds of fun figuring out what to do with the excess. One solution, discovered from someone's blog somewhere, was to slice the peppers into slivers and tuck them in the freezer in zippered plastic storage bags, ready for a rainy day.


Well, that rainy day has come. And several times now we have enjoyed these lovely orange, green, and red pepper slivers, marinated very simply -- and yummily, I might add, if yummily were actually a word -- and added to a salad. Along with anchovies, for my fellow anchovy lovers.

Or not.

The marinade makes a fine dressing. And while the simplicity of lettuce, peppers, anchovies, and vinaigrette is quite satisfying, feel free to add whatever other salad goodies make your heart sing. This recipe is hospitable that way.

MARINATED PEPPERS

a bunch of bell pepper slivers (maybe 1/2 - 1 large whole pepper)
1/4 c. olive oil
2 T. lemon juice
1 T. wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, crushed,
1/4 t. salt
pinch pepper
anchovies, diced, as many as your little heart desires
lettuce and/or spinach

Sliver up the peppers (or if you already have some in your freezer, just take 'em out). Mix together olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, salt, and pepper. Marinate for four hours (or however long you like). Serve over lettuce and sprinkle anchovies as desired.

Recipe adapted from The Wonderful World of Freezer Cooking by Helen Quat, circa 1964.

Today's Quiz

So guess which one of these recently-tried recipes was the winner -- the one I'll be making again soon.

Was it the lemon-blueberry bread, complete with glaze?


Was it the braided cheese bread, sprinkled with sesame seeds?

( Please excuse my ooze.)

Was it the mushroom-sherry sauce, served over a fine piece of beef?

Or would our winner be the from-scratch chocolate cake, made with nearly one whole pound of butter?

Ticktock. Ticktock.

I'm waiting while you make up your mind.

Got your answer?

Let's see if you were right.

The lemon-blueberry bread, alas, was nothing special.

The cheese bread, while making a lovely albeit humongous loaf, was also nothing my taste buds are screaming to experience again.

Likewise, sad to say, the chocolate cake with nearly one whole pound of butter.

Did I mention there was a lot of butter in this recipe?

The hands-down winner, in spite of my blurry little photo, was the mushroom-sherry sauce, adapted slightly from a Julia Child/ Louisette Bertholle/ Simone Beck recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

You wanna try it yourself? Here are the instructions.

First, fry up some filet mignon steaks in a skillet with 2 T. butter and 1 T. oil. Cook on medium-high, about four minutes a side for medium rare. (Yes, filet mignon is very expensive. Yes, this is a dish to save for a special occasion like a birthday or anniversary or Valentine's Day dinner.)

In separate skillet, saute in butter 1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced, until lightly browned.

When meat is done, remove from heat and keep warm. (I used my oven's "warm" setting.) Pour out any excess oil from pan you cooked your meat in. Stir into the pan 1/2 c. beef bouillon (I used 1/2 c. water and about 1/2 t. powdered bouillon) along with 1 T. tomato paste. Boil rapidly for a couple minutes, scraping up whatever's in the pan, until liquid is down to 2-3 T.

In measuring cup, stir together 1/4 c. sherry and 1/2 T. cornstarch. Stir this mixture into stock mixture. Boil rapidly for one minute to let the alcohol evaporate. Add the sauteed mushrooms and serve over the beef, sprinkled with a touch of dried tarragon.

Et voila. Julia, your sauce is tres magnifique.

Sauteed Bananas

Don't you love recipes that take just a couple ingredients and a few minutes? This is one of those. A lovely little dessert that's super simple to make. I found it in a nifty cookbook by Mark Bittman called The Minimalist Entertains.

These directions will serve one, so multiply accordingly.

Peel one banana. Cut it in half then split in half again lengthwise. You will have four pieces.

Melt a pat of butter (about 1 T.) in a skillet over medium-high heat. Wait until foaminess subsides.

Dredge banana pieces in a bit of flour. Shake off excess flour, then

place banana in butter.

Cook until golden, turning when needed. (Bittman says this takes 10 minutes, but mine browned in about 2-3 minutes.) Sprinkle with 1/2 t. - 1 t. sugar and cook for one more minute. Serve with a sprinkle of fresh lemon juice.

Anything you like to make with bananas that the rest of us should know about?

Salad in Search of Dressing

OK, I'm trying my best over here. But I'm not having much luck in the blue cheese salad dressing department.

First there was this batch, a low-fat version made mostly of water and vinegar and tasting of . . . well, water and vinegar.

Then there was this batch, made of cottage cheese, buttermilk, and blue cheese, blended together. The texture was fine but the taste was bland and uninteresting and not at all blue cheese-pungent.

So help a girl out here, if you can. Know of a great blue cheese salad dressing recipe you'd be willing to share?

Asian Meatballs and Noodles with Black Bean Sauce

Oh my! Talk about a good blogging day.

I discovered this delicious garlic-black bean sauce from Vanilla Sugar's blog.

Which led me to these Asian noodles from the Dishing Up Delights blog.

Which led me to these meatballs from the big ol' Costco bag in my freezer.

Which led to some pretty happy tummies around here.

What quick-to-fix dinners are making your tummy happy these days? Please share. Because your kindergarten teacher was right.

Sharing is good.

Walnut-Coconut Squares with Citrus Frosting

. . . because I'm just not convinced we've all had enough sugar yet.
I made an orange cake with glaze the other day, and must say I came away with the conviction that while glaze is good, frosting is better. So when I came across this recipe from great-great-grandma Hattie's stash, complete with orange rind/lemon juice/powdered sugar frosting, I knew exactly how I wanted to use that final orange from the toe of the Christmas stocking.

An added bonus: the recipe also allows you to smush.

And I do love smushing.

See that crust to the left? Completely smushed, with fingers and all. If you have little ones around, they would love to help with this part.

The recipe came from an old newspaper article that's probably close to a hundred years old. I made a few changes, most notably ditching the raw egg yolks in the original frosting version.

There is only so far I will go for the sake of historical accuracy, and salmonella poisoning is a titch too far.

I also added quite a bit less than the 2 3/4 cups brown sugar called for in the original walnut filling. The 1 1/2 cups I added were plenty.

Enough chatter. On to the recipe (originally called Walnut Cookies, but as you can see from the photo above, it's a grossly inadequate name for these lovelies).

WALNUT-COCONUT SQUARES WITH CITRUS FROSTING

Crust:

1 c. butter

2 c. flour

Cream butter and flour in large bowl with pastry blender. Grease a 9 x 13-inch pan, and smush mixture into pan to make crust. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.

While crust is baking, prepare filling.
Filling:

4 eggs

1/4 c. flour

1/2 t. baking powder

1 1/4 c. shredded coconut

1 1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 t. salt

1 1/2 t. vanilla

1 c. chopped nuts (I used pecans)

Mix all together.

Spread over baked crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, make frosting.

Frosting:

rind of 1 orange, grated

2 t. fresh lemon juice

2 T. orange juice

3 T. cream (I used this in lieu of the 2 egg yolks in the original recipe. If you don't have any, I'm sure milk would work fine)

about 2 c. powdered sugar

Mix all together until frosting is smooth. Drizzle over warm (cooked) cake and spread.

So here's the question: Have we all had enough sugar yet?