soup's on - Minestrone

I may be peaking a little early with all these soups but it was my off Friday. This particular Minestrone has sun-dried tomato (NOT oil packed). I did skip the ham for the vegetarian in my life, but bacon would have been better, right. I have since been studying a Cook's magazine that has the "perfect" Minestrone. It uses a Parmesan cheese rind to help the stock which I usually have and will try next time. Here is what I did. As usual it is a bit of a combo of two recipes.

Minestrone

1/2 c. sun dried tomato
2 c. boiling water
3 c. onions, chopped (small but not tiny)
1 1/2 c. carrots, chopped
1 1/2 c. celery, chopped
4 garlic cloves
1 can diced tomatoes with liquid(I like petite cut)
1 can cannelilli beans (Cook's has a great list of whose are best)
1 zucchini cut long ways and sliced (this is a nice big cut instead of dicing)
1/4 c. sliced basil and or flat leafed parsley
1 t. salt
3/4 t. pepper
pasta of you choice or not
1/4 c. finely grated parm

Rehydrate the tomatoes (about 30 min.) and keep the liquid. Saute the onions, garlic, carrots, celery and julienne cut sun dried tomatoes until tender (5 min). Add liquid from hydrating the tomatoes, 6 c. of water, and can of tomatoes. Boil mixture, then cover reduce heat and simmer for 1/2 hour or so. Add zucchini and beans and heat for 5 min. Stir in basil and parsley, salt and pepper. Adjust the salt to taste. A critical item for every soup. Top soup with parm.

make your own instant soup - Ginger Matchstick

I came upon a recipe in a Kraft magazine and have been changing up this recipe for years. This time vegetarian - the original has chicken in it. Of course, it requires many matchstick cuts (julienne for the culinary crowd, ha). Here is the gist of what I did:

Ginger Matchstick Soup

2 c. matchstick cut carrots, green onions, bell pepper
1 c. mushrooms sliced thin
4 t. minced ginger root (I grate it)
4 c. vegetarian broth (still trying to find a decent one, might have to go back to chicken)
1/2 c. orzo (I did not have the minute rice)

After you have perfected your matchstick cuts, boil the vegetarian broth, add the orzo and cook it to the directions. Add 1/4 of the vegetables and 1/4 of the ginger to each of 4 bowls. Pour 1 c. of broth mixture (boiling) into soup bowls and then cover and let sit for 5 minutes. (kink of like tea). Then serve.

Alternatively (and if you want to take leftovers to work), bring two containers. One with the veggies and ginger and one with the broth. When you are ready to eat it combine the two and microwave for about 2 minutes. Let stand for another minute and then serve.

bok choy - bok joy

So even on a Monday I mustered up some Tofu and Ginger Sesame Bok Choy. Grating the ginger and garlic and having all that bok choy sliced when my other half arrived home was great. Not quite enough time for the two hour marinade for the tofu (sesame seeds and oil, ginger, garlic, brown sugar, rice vinegar, and soy sauce) pureed with my favorite stick blender. I found it quite good and I am not a great fan of the tofu. The sauteed bok choy was yummy. Only a little green onion added in. Very nice Monday night dinner.

dinner on an island - low country goodness

This past weekend we were lucky enough to enjoy dinner on an island in Trenchard's Inlet, SC near Beaufort, SC. Amazing is all I can say. We took a short boat ride over to the island all packed up for camping overnight. (I really tried not to overpack, really). We had picked up some fresh flounder and there was some sun-dried tomato aspargus risotto that was already made. It was perfect with the fish which was marinated in some foil. Talk about good friends, we barely had to lift a finger. Carried a little firewood is all. We had the island to oursleves overnight and had a perfect sunset. With the fire stoked and some cold beer, it was pure happiness.

Toast - always good! plus dinner news

Scootered over to Toast for lunch today. I called in the order so it was ready when I picked it up. I got the soppressata, fontina, arugula panini and the soup which was pork, white bean, and kale. I love their homemade soups. It tastes so much better without all that salt. The other soup was butternut squash which I hope they have the next time. Toast is great. I love it.

By the way, I have been cooking, just not writing and taking pictures of cooking. Last night we had the left overs of my Moroccan cous cous with chick peas, onion, a bit of red pepper and raisins. Seasoned with a tablespoon and a half of cumin. I made grilled eggplant and zucchini to go with it. (Ya, shoulda seen the grill marks) I salt and pepper them and then do a lemon vinaigrette marinade that my other half goes crazy over. It is extra virgin olive oil, 2T fresh lemon, 2t zest of lemon, basil (fresh if you got it) and salt and pepper. After grilling, soak it in the lemon sauce, and it comes out very tasty. I also tried my hand at making tortillas (corn) again. They are not bad, but I think I need a tortilla press. If anyone has any good secrets on how to make them, I would love to know.