Pig n' Pepper Soup!

Ever wanted to fall down the rabbit hole with Alice just to see what would happen?

Well, good friend, great writer, and talented foodie Rebekah Murphy has come up with some kick-ass recipes for a culinary journey through trippy Wonderland food fun. I've been standing by and occasionally assisting, particular with the concoction yummy theme-appropriate cocktails. This week we had an impromptu vegetarian feast at my place with Abby Machson-Carter (see her blog on the side, her dishes are super AND homegrown).

Bekah made some amazing finger-foods that would make the White Queen drool, but I'll let her tell you about them here.

I was set to make a wonderful recipe I got from the my dear and fabulous friend Jen Good-Schiff (who wouldn't want to eat her "Best Potato Kale Soup EVA"?) but decided to change it a bit to fit in with the Alice's Adventures in Wonderland theme. So this soup recipe is Jen's with a tiny Alicey twist.

Pig n' Pepper Soup (aka "Best Potato Kale Soup EVA")

The name of this soup is taken from Chapter VI of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, where Alice meets the Duchess, who is tending a baby (who is REALLY a pig) and a soup with much too much pepper.


This soup calls for:
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
4 medium potatoes, medium-sized dice
1 bunch steamed kale
1 med-lrg leek, medium-coarsely chopped
3 buillion cubes (I used Rapunzel, no salt added)
2 fake bacon strips (I swear by Morningstar)
salt
pepper
extra virgin olive oil

Eyeballing it:
The only seasoning this soup calls for is salt and pepper. I love them both and believe any dish needs them. Usually, I salt more than I pepper but for this soup I changed my m.o. So this soup has LOTS of pepper. You can adjust as you like but I added lots of freshly ground black, white, green, and red pepper at various points in the soup (letting the pepper settle and do it's thang before peppering again). Do what tastes right to you but just know that the combo of pepper and bacon is KNOCK-DOWN-DRAG-OUT TASTY.

Here we go:
1) Saute the onion in EVOO (pouring the EVOO around the skillet twice is sufficient for our needs) until golden. Stir in the garlic and saute until that distinct garlic aroma starts tickling your olfactories. Add to your stock pot.
2) Add the chopped potatoes and leeks to the pot and cover with 5 cups of water
3) Pepper generously and add the 3 buillion cubes (don't do what I did and add 5 cups of water AND 3 buillion cubes dissolved in the appropriate amount of water. That's just way too much liquid. If you mess up like I did, however, you CAN fix it*)
4) Bring to a boil.
5) While veggies are cooking, steam your bunch of kale and cook your bacon. I like to do away with any stems or tough veins in my kale, ripping them by hand and steaming. I sauted my fake bacon (by all means, use actual bacon if you so choose, the fake has much less fat but lots of sodium) in the same skillet I used for the onion/garlic, to infuse flavor and save on washing.
6) When veggies in the pot are soft, turn off heat and immersion blend the soup about half-way (you want things to be chunky and not smooth).
7) Add the steamed kale and cooked bacon (crumble first so you get even distribution) to the pot and, taste the soup. One last time, pepper (and salt) as needed.

Now, you've got a soup fit for a Duchess!

*If you ever make a mistake with your liquids and need to thicken your soup, Mark Bittman, in How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, gives this great advice, which has saved more than a few of my soups: add some butter and/or bread to the pot. I like to add both teaspoons of unsalted butter and handfuls of homemade croutons to thicken the pot.

Huge thanks to Jen Good-Schiff for the original recipe, Bekah Murphy for her assistance and inspiration, and Abby Machson-Carter for her fun help in the kitchen!

The Onion! No, not that one.

So I was hanging with my good friend, Lillian DeVane (sassy comedian and cartoonist) and we needed SOMETHING to go with the fancy-shmancy bread she bought (a yummy, wheaty, sourdough boule from Whole Paycheck...err...Foods...).

Luckily, I had four onions, some garlic, and stock, which is pretty much all you need for the basic Onion soup.

So we munched on bread and took:

4 lrg onions, thinly sliced
1 head of garlic
5 cups of veggie stock
Brandy (or cognac or whatever you have in your cupboard that is pretty strong)
Smoked Gruyere (worth it to pay more for the good stuff in my opinion)

AND Eyeballing it:
EVOO
1/2 cupped palmful of french thyme (Penzey's)
1 bay leaf (they are MAGIC!)
Sea salt (to taste)
2 cupped palmfuls of dried parsley

Freshly ground Black, Green, White, and Red Peppercorns

And we made FUN ONION SOUP (you can do it! so easy! so tasty! not snobby at all!)

1) Heat FOUR good swigs of EVOO in a stockpot and when it's HOT cook the onions until they are starting to brown and are super-soft. (This takes a good half hour. Chat with a friend while it's doing it's thang).

2) Add all the spices you eyeballed, along with the garlic (the recipe I followed said to put the whole head in there, cut down the middle but the thought of fishing out garlic skins made me wary so I simply chopped a whole bunch and put it in with the spices. I LOVE garlic so you should add/subtract the amount according to your taste). Cook for a few minutes (until you really start smelling all the lovely parts simmering together).

3) Add the stock and the brandy (it really does make a difference for flavor, adding a complexity and robustness) and bring to a boil then simmer for about 15 minutes.

Viola! Your soup is DONE!

Wait! I almost forgot the most important ingredient: the cheese!

Sprinkle the smoked gruyere over the top and stick some hunks of bread in the bowl for instant croutons.

And it's good for a cold!

After you're done with your soup and feeling spritely, go see Lillian do her standup. She is hilarious!

Rating: Oh-yeah.

Easy-o-meter: Wicked, wicked easy.

Time: 40 minutes, tops.

Taste: Savory and succulent

Parsely, Sage, Rosemary, and Ancho Chili

Know what I'm crazy about? 

Herbs and spices!

That's right. Herbs and spices make my heart go pitter-pat (and for all the right reasons).

I didn't always dig them, though. Growing up we used "crazy salt" and lemon pepper and that was about it. After I left home I became obsessed with fresh garlic and ginger root (my Dad: "But the dried is so much cheaper!") and it pretty steadily blossomed from there.

Until recently, I never really relished h&s though; didn't yet delight in the nuance, the pop, the FLAVOR that can bring a dish from mediocre to marvelous. That all changed when I started cooking with friends and experimenting with new cookbooks (all soup cookbooks like Love Soup or old favs like Mollie Katzen's Enchanted Broccoli Forest).

Here's a little list of my favorites.

Herbs that soften my heart:

                                                                  

Cilantro

I put this baby in EVERYTHING. Fresh, dried, in my hair (not really...well maybe in the summer). It adds a freshness, a clean flavor that adds a dash of sunshine to any dish. 

Oregano

I used to buy dusty jars from Ocean State Job Lot when I was a teenager (I still love OSJL) and add it to my tomato sauce. Years later, I'm still of the opinion that a good red sauce isn't complete without it (or some red wine!). 

Spices that make me swoon

Cayenne

I just started using cayenne a few months ago (see unfortunate cayenne and nose incident below) and I truly don't know how I ever lived without it. A kick that rides in on the end of a spoonful of something great and gives complexity to any dish. 

Cumin

Why don't we put this in everything? Legumes, veggies, you name it. Add cumin, it's just better. I add a good handful to my lentils and the whole pot is weightier, warmer and the opposite of bland. 

I'll be updating more with my herb & spice adventures soon! (The lovely Erin Kate Ryan procured me some amazing finds on her trip to Minnesota!)

Now I'm looking for advice on the little additions that matter a lot. 

Here's where YOU come in (yes, you, in front of the computer screen). Which spice can't YOU live without? Why? Where do you get it from? Which herb flummoxes you? Would you be interested in learning more about it?

I'd love to get a little herb&spice forum going. Please leave a note in the comments. I will pick ONE lucky person and send you a sample of my favorite spice!

***Special thanks to Rachael Adele who sent me some Penzey's Turkish Oregano in the mail, thereby giving me the idea for this giveaway!

Cold Night Carrot Soup

While trying to chase away the winter blues, I came upon this lovely recipe (dubbed "Cold Night Carrot Soup" by my friend and fellow soup mistress, Cat Boleyn).

It's one of the most fragrant soups I've made in awhile and uses veggies that I don't normally pick up: parsnips and celery root. I've lived with a lot of Brits (who have a special love for parsnips, which to me, have always smelled more like pork than anything else) but I never understood the wonder of parsnips until this soup. Now I'm a full convert.

The celery root can be found in your fancier market and don't worry if you have no idea what I'm talking about. I had to Google Image it so I didn't look like a fool at the grocery store. It's pictured below and for this soup, you only need a veg about the size of your fist.

I found mine at Whole Foods (I tried Stop n' Shop but nary a celery root was to be found).

This was a very fast soup. It took two of us about 40 minutes to make it (and we were drinking wine).

Here's what you need:

12 oz of carrots
8 oz of parsnips
1 lrg yam
1 sm. celery root
1 med. red onion
3 cups vegetable stock (I use Rapunzel, no salt added)
1 orange rind (ie-the rind of a whole orange)

Eyeballing it:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil for the skillet (2 rounds or so)
Sea Salt (for the skillet and the pot, to taste)
1.5 Tbs Honey
Half a cinnamon stick (an inch or so)
Coriander (half cupped palmful)
Nutmeg (1/4 a cupped palmful)
Fresh juice of 3/4 an orange
Lemon Juice (a few tbs)
1.5 pinches of cayenne


1) Preheat oven to 375 and after poking holes in the yam and placing in a oven-safe dish with a bit of water, roast for about an hour (or until soft) and then peel and chop.

2) While the yam is a-roasting, chop the onion and saute with the sea salt and the olive oil on med-low heat for about 20 minutes (you want to caramelize them).

3) Peel and slice the rest of the veggies (carrots, parsnips, celery root) and drop them in the pot with 3.5 cups water, some salt, the honey and the spices. Simmer until the yam in ready to be added and add with the onion, the broth, the rind, and the juices.
.

4) Right about now you will be entirely overwhelmed by the aroma of root veggies, orange, and coriander. Take a minute to bask. You can even stand with your face over the pot and get a little steam bath. I won't tell.


 5) Ok, sauna time is up. Grab your handy-dandy immersion blender and puree this baby.

6) Add more salt/lemon juice to taste and you've got yourself one mighty-brighty, spicy soup that will warm you from tongue to toes!

Be sure you invite others over for the fun, too! Happy souping!

 Recipe adapted from Love Soup by Anna Thomas.