House Husbandry

1 small onion 1 small potato 5-6 large carrots 1 small piece of lemongrass 1 small piece of ginger Curry powder 1 can coconut milk 1 lime Cut ginger, lemongrass, onion and potato into small pieces and add to hot pot with olive oil. Saute for about 5 minutes or so.  Chop carrots and add to mix.  Saute for a bit and add the curry powder.  Add stock.  Bring to a boil and simmer for about 30 minutes or until the carrots are soft.  Puree with an immersion blender or the old margarita maker.  Add cocount milk.  Blend a little longer to smooth it out some more.  Serve with a splash of lime juice.

It's cold, so it's time to make soup again. I made a Broccoli with Roasted Garlic soup yesterday that turned out quite well. 2 Heads Garlic 2 small onions 1 small potato 1 head of broccoli 4 cups of chicken stock Pre-heat oven to 400°F.  Slice the top off of the head of garlic and drizzle with olive oil.  Place on a baking sheet or in a garlic roaster and roast for at least 30 minutes.  Cool to handle. Chop onions and potato and saute in olive oil until the onions begin to get soft.  Coarsely chop the broccoli and add to the pot.  Add garlic now that you can handle it.  Add stock, bring to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes. Puree the soup with an immersion blender or in batches with a regular margarita blender. Season to taste.  Wasn't that easy?

Only thing to do is to make some soup beans.  Already made chicken noodle soup earlier this week, so I can't eat that again. Started yesterday.  Soak the beans for a day.  Yes, a day.  Bay leaf in the water. The next day, drain the beans and add fresh water to cover.  I then added some garlic, celery, carrots, onions, dried mustard and salt pork.  I've also got a veggie bouillon cube in there for a little more flavor. It's sitting on the stove now and has been there for about two hours.  Need to go check it soon.  It smells good.

Been making soups all week now that I'm back from San Francisco.  It was an interesting trip.  Took super-pup Buster along with us for the first time.  Sweetie threw down some Regional upgrades and got us posted in first which made everything all better (for me).  The Boy did pretty good on the trip.  Who's a Good Boy?  The only thing that was odd was that on the way there and the way back there was an uncrated dog in the aisle right behind us.  Good Boy was not thrilled about that, but he dealt.  He barked a little during some turbulence, but it was pretty bad, so I don't blame him.  Other than that he was a real trooper.  I could see trying it again sometime. Started the week with a Hungarian Mushroom soup that turned out pretty good.  It didn't make much so we ate all of that up Tuesday night. Green Soup The gremolata that goes with it Wednesday, I needed some green soup and put together a hearty delight with broccoli ...

Soaked up some lentils until the water was clear.  Sauteed some onion, celery and carrot in some olive oil and added a bit of garlic.  Then added some Anatolian spice that I got in Ístanbul to the mix, followed by the lentils for a moment.  Added the veggie broth I made the previous day and some tomato paste.  Let that simmer for about a half an hour.  That's all it needs. Stuck a hand blender into the pot and pureed that mess up.  Added some salt and pepper and then the juice of about 3/4 of a lemon.  Voila.  Another hearty, tasty meal.

Getting into the soup thing this week. Sliced up a big leek and sauteed it in a big pan with olive oil, garlic and a white carrot.  Made it wilt.  Added some chopped up cauliflower, Ottoman spices, and some tomato paste thinned with water.  Simmered that for about a half an hour in a box of veggie broth. All the ingredients in the pot Got it all mushy, and then tossed it in the Vitamix with some raw cashews and pureed the hell out of it.  Added a little more water to clean the container and poured that back into the soup.  Super good.  You have to make this. To go with dinner, I also cooked up some farro in mushroom broth.  On the side I did a mirepoix of celery and onion, plus those white carrots I was talking about earlier.  Added some garlic.  Then added a container of chopped up mushrooms, and then some thyme.  Blended this mix with the farro.  Yum. Tossing the trimmings into a pot All of the trimming from all of...

Working on some soup for dinner tonight. We the pan with some avocado oil.  Add a spoonful of crushed garlic.  Once that's sizzling and popping all over the place, throw in the white park of the leek I chopped up.  Wilt that a bit.   Add some Ottoman spice I have too much of. Cut up two big bunches of kale and add that.  Start with about half first and wilt it down a bit depending how big of a pan you're using.  Then add the rest.  I also diced up about a quarter of a potato to eventually thicken it with.  Add a bunch of vegetable broth.  Simmer to wilt the kale down some more.  Add some white wine because everything tastes better with wine.  Cook that about a half hour. Plan next is to let it cool down and them I'm going to puree it in the Vitamix.  Baking a sweet and regular potato in the oven now, in case the soup doesn't seem like enough.  Crudite chopped up in case there's some munchies that need quelling. Updat...

So after the stock was done, cut up 1 1/2 onions and diced two poblano peppers. Threw that into a pot with some olive oil and garlic.  Cooked that up for a few minutes and then added some ground coriander, cumin and ground chipotle chili.  Kept cooking that. Added the stock I made and a touch more from a box.  Got that simmering really good and then added a can of white beans and another can that I mashed up.  Added the juice of 2 limes and about a half a cup of white wine.  Simmered that for about 30 minutes or so.  Shredded the rest of the chicken from last night's dinner and added that along with some fresh cilantro.  Cooked for a few more minutes to warm up the chicken. Served it with with some crushed up blue corn chips and a dollop of sour cream.  Pretty tasty.  Ended up having about a bowl and a half.

Still working on the soup.  Had some for lunch yesterday and should get some more of it today.  I love it when a little work goes a long way like that.  The juices have been lasting through breakfast and Sweetie has been able to take a thermos of it for lunch, as well.

Baby, it's cold outside.  Let's make soup in no time. 1 finely chopped medium onion 3 carrots cut in tiny pieces 3 celery stalks in tiny pieces Fire up the pot, throw in some oil, and garlic and all those veggies. Chop up a package of sliced mushrooms and cook those in a separate pan with some butter and more garlic. Chop up some chicken thighs into tiny bite sized pieces.  Keep checking what's cooking. Transfer mushrooms to mire-poix pot and then add a little toasted sesame oil to the pan and toss in the chicken pieces with still more garlic.  Cook chicken until done. Add box of stock to the veggies and once the chicken is done, throw that in, too.  Added a can of petite diced tomatoes with jalapenos and cilantro.  Stir.  Bring to a boil. Add water to the chicken pan to cook some pasta in that with the double goal of cleaning the pan. Boil cute, tiny pasta separately.  Add some thyme and saffron to the soup.  Once it boils, turn...