Minestrone Soup with Sausage

Actual G chat between Sue and Cat:

Sue: We should do a soup week.

Cat: We’ve posted a lot of soups, I feel like.

Sue: Yes, but there are so many more.

Cat: Do you think we could come up with that many new soups?

Sue: YES.

Minestrone, clam chowder, ham and bean, chili, tomato soup, bisques, curried cauliflower soup, butternut squash bisque, corn and poblano, beef and barley, wedding soup.

Should I keep going?

Split pea soup.

CREAM OF MUSHROOM, broccoli cheese, hot and sour.

Caitlyn: Oh ok, noted.

Sue: OH I could try and make the Brazilian coconut curry shrimp soup.

And chicken and dumplings!

I have a problem.

Caitlyn: Yeah what’s with you and soup?

Sue: I really love soup!

10 minutes later

Sue: Mulligatwany! Black bean and sausage!

It’s true, I have a problem, I love soup a little too much. If you would like, you can look back at all of my other soup posts and hear me humbly profess my (extremely) deep love for soup. So instead of telling you that, I’m bout’ to drop some soupy knowledge.

Have you ever wondered to yourself, where did the word restaurant come from? Oh wait; you’re not a dork like me? I’m still going to tell you. In 16^th century France the word restaurer referred to a highly concentrated inexpensive broth that was supposed to ease physical exhaustion. The little food carts they served it from were called restaurants. As a result of the French Revolution, many noblemen, their families and entourages fled France. Chefs were among these refugees. One particular soup lover (a man after my own heart), Jean Baptiste Gilbert Payplat dis Julien, opened a public eating house in Boston called “Julien’s Restorator.” This was his translation of the French word restaurant into English. Bostonians later referred to it as Julien’s Restaurant. Julien’s claim to fame was one particular soup, turtle to be exact, that had vegetables cut into long narrow strings, thus the term to julienne vegetables.

It’s all about the soup, people. You know that saying that you can tell the quality of a chef by their ability to make a soup from scratch? It’s true.

On to minestrone, a famous Italian soup. Minestrone means “big soup”, and it’s pretty much that- a big pot of delicious vegetables.  Minestrone is another one of those soups that just doesn’t really have a master recipe. It almost always contains beans, tomatoes, onions, celery, stock, and some starch (rice or pasta)…but even that’s not always true.  It is generally made from seasonal vegetables, and can be either vegetarian or not.  Although, it is often made without meat, it is almost always made with stock- which by definition is not vegetarian. Would you like to know what the difference is between broth and stock? It’s the bones. Would you like to know what bones contribute? You’ll have to wait for another soup post.

So this recipe is a hodgepodge of many recipes, as per usual. While I was making this I actually had to cut down some of the ingredients because my pot wasn’t big enough for everything I wanted to add…and I was using a 5.5 quart Dutch oven.  The balance still worked out perfectly. So- get your biggest pot, and get to it.

Sausage Minestrone Soup

Ingredients:

1 lb sausage, mix of sweet and hot

1 Tbs olive oil

1 large sweet onion, peeled and diced

3 stalks of celery, sliced

3 carrots, peeled and sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can kidney beans, rinsed

1 can great northern beans, rinsed

2 cups tomato juice, about 3 of the little cans

6-8 cups chicken stock

2 bay leaves

1 tsp salt

Freshly ground pepper

1 (28oz) can diced tomatoes

1 zucchini, diced

1 summer squash, diced

1 cup pasta*

2 Tbs freshly chopped basil

Method:

In a large pot cook the sausage, breaking up into bite size pieces with a wooden spoon. Once the sausage is browned, add the olive oil, onion and garlic. Cook for 2 minutes until the onions are transparent. Add the celery and carrots and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the beans and stir to combine. Add the tomato juice, chicken stock, salt, pepper and bay leaves. Cook for 40 minutes until the vegetables have softened, and the flavors have married.

This is my favorite kind of stock, it can be yours too!

Add the zucchini, squash, tomatoes and pasta and cook for another 10 minutes until the pasta is tender. Stir in the basil and serve.

A few notes:

The hot Italian sausage adds a significant amount of flavor to this, use more if you want, but definitely don’t use less.

You can use any kind of pasta you like, minestrone commonly comes with rice or orzo. If you choose to use those reduce the amount to ½ cup. I used these little baby penne pastas, they were delightful (I’m a sucker for all things in a tinier version than usual).

I used kidney beans and great northern beans. I used great northern beans because I love them, I also bought a can of butter beans (another love) but I ran out of room in the pot. If you like the added protein you can add up to 3 cans of beans. Just don’t omit the kidney beans, whatever you do (you can, but why?).

Add whatever veggies you like, kale or spinach would be an excellent addition.

-Sue

Kruse and Muer style Gazpacho and Herbed Croutons

I’m sure by now everyone has heard of the show “The Best Thing I Ever Ate”, in which celebrity chefs discuss the restaurant that makes their favorite cheeseburger, chocolate cake, fois gras, whatever. Well, if I had to choose it would be Kruse and Muer bread (also the Brazilian coconut shrimp soup from Shuga’s, but that’s another post).  Kruse and Muer is one of a family of restaurants in metro Detroit, where I grew up.  Their bread, universally called  “Kruse and Muer bread”,  is famous, and AMAZING.  I don’t think there is a single person within a ten mile radius of a Kruse and Muer restaurant that doesn’t love this bread.  One time when Cat still lived by one, I made her cut up a loaf and put it in a Ziplock and bring it to me in Denver. When it got here, I wouldn’t share it with anyone. If Cat still lived near one, I would make her send me some weekly. It is THAT good.

Beyond the bread, Kruse and Muer has a fantastic menu. They have an amazing cheese tortellini in a tomato cream sauce that tastes like no other tomato cream sauce you’ve ever had. Not to mention their famous pizza, with a crust made from the famous bread.  One of my other favorites was their gazpacho, which they only served in the summer during the height of tomato season. I should disclose that one of the many components that made their gazpacho fantastic was the croutons made from the famous bread.

I would love to say that I have learned to replicate the bread, but I haven’t. What I do have is the “bread blessing” recipe. This is not top secret, it has been floating around Rochester, Michigan for years and years, and it’s in a cook book by Chuck Muer, restaurant founder. The bread recipe provided with the blessing, unfortunately, comes nowhere near the chewy crusty deliciousness of real Kruse and Muer bread, but if you are looking for a flavor that reminds you of that beloved bread, this will do the trick. This bread blessing tossed with a good French baguette, will make some fantastic croutons; one of the key components to their amazing gazpacho. Are you wondering what a bread blessing is? Simply, it’s herbed oil or butter that is brushed on to bread after it is risen and before it is baked, it is also commonly brushed on just after it comes out of the oven.

Now that I have rambled on and on about bread for a page, we should probably talk about gazpacho. Gazpacho is a cold tomato and bread based soup. It is of Spanish origin, and can vary widely from recipe to recipe. One of my favorite things about Kruse and Muer’s gazpacho was the tangy, acidic bite. It’s taken some time, and lots of tasting to develop this recipe. To me, 1,298 miles from the nearest Kruse and Muer, this is the closet replication I could make (yes, I Googled that exact location).

Kruse and Muer Bread Blessing/ Crouton Recipe:

Blessing Ingredients (1/2 recipe):

½ cup olive oil

½ large garlic clove, minced or pressed

1 Tbs dried oregano

1 Tbs dried basil

¼ tsp salt

1 Tbs poppy seeds

Crouton method:

1 French baguette, which you can find in the deli section of most grocery stores, I recommend white. Cut about 2 inches of each end and set aside (to be used in the gazpacho). Cut the rest of the loaf into small cubes. On a large baking sheet drizzle the blessing over the croutons and toss with your hands to coat.

Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes, or until crispy on the outside and slightly chewy on the inside (You can bake your croutons longer to be crispier, but this is similar to how Kruse and Muer’s are).

Gazpacho Ingredients:

4 cups of chopped tomatoes, whatever is the ripest **see note at the bottom**

3 cucumbers, stripe peeled (peeling some skin, leaving strips of some skin, or just peel it all if you like)

2 bell peppers, any color you like

1 Vidalia or other sweet onion

1 ½ cloves garlic, minced or pressed

¼ cup olive oil

¼ cup red wine vinegar

3 Tbs. balsamic vinegar

Ends of the baguette from the croutons, or 2 medium slices dried crusty bread

Juice of 2 lemons

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper to taste (at least ½ tsp of salt and 4-5 grinds of black pepper)

Sour cream (or Greek yogurt) for serving.

Gazpacho Method:

In a food processor puree 2 cups of the chopped tomatoes, along with the bread. Drizzle in olive oil and blend again.  Pour the puree into a large bowl.

Slice the cucumbers in ½ and scrape out the seeds, then dice. Dice the onion. Remove the ribs and seeds from the bell pepper and dice.

Add diced vegetables to the puree, along with the remaining 2 cups of chopped tomatoes. Add garlic, vinegar, lemon juice and spices, mix with a large spoon to combine.Test mixture and adjust spices, oil, vinegar, and lemon juice to taste.

Serve chilled, topped with a dollop of sour cream or Greek yogurt, and croutons.

Will keep in the fridge for a week.

A few notes:

** For the puree of tomatoes I used fresh large tomatoes from the farmers market, and for the additional two cups of chopped tomatoes I used quartered cherry tomatoes, orange and red. I LOVE those baby orange tomatoes, especially this time of year. If you find that at your local market, I highly recommend using them.

-Bell peppers and I are not friends. I would love to love them, but my tummy thinks otherwise. Despite the recipe above, I used just one yellow. You can use whatever color, and up to three if you love them.

-The original bread blessing does not include the poppy seeds. Before the bread is “blessed” it is rolled in a poppy seed and salt mixture. Poppy seeds are key to Kruse and Muer bread, so since I wasn’t baking the bread, I added them to the blessing.

– If you live anywhere near Kruse and Muer and you are reading this- send bread immediately.

– Sue

Balsamic Roasted Chicken and Cherry Tomatoes with Sweet Corn Polenta

bowl o' tastiness.

My favorite recipes are the ones where I discover I only need to buy 1 ingredient.  I don’t think I’m able to fully express the depth of my love for that situation.  It’s the opposite of the feeling I get when I see a recipe for something s’more flavored and I think I have all the ingredients, and then I realize that I ate all the mini marshmallows again, so I don’t have any.

In any case, you probably have almost all these ingredients too.  If you are a better person than me, you probably keep frozen chicken in the freezer, as I should.  If so, you probably never find yourself wondering what you can make for dinner out of kidney beans and lasagna noodles, because you plan the week’s meals in advance.  Well done you.  Please come live with me.

This whole process took me 40 minutes, from halving the tomatoes to eating my first bite.  And I had time to watch snippets of Tosh.0 during it.  This dinner goes out to my cousin Susie, who appreciates quick, easy and healthy recipes more than anyone, having 3 adorable kiddos under 4.

Balsamic Roasted Chicken and Cherry Tomatoes

1 lb or so chicken (1 package of thighs, 1 package of breasts, a whole chicken cut up, whatever)

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved or not

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

3 tbsp good olive oil

salt and pepper

Method: Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.  In a bowl (or jar) mix together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar and garlic.  In a 9×13 baking dish or a roasting pan, put the tomatoes in the bottom of the pan.  Place the chicken on the tomatoes.

i always think boneless chicken thighs look like floppy socks.

Pour the vinegar/garlic mixture over the chicken.  Roast for 30 minutes, depending on what kind of chicken you used.  Baste the chicken with the pan juices 2 or 3 times during cooking.  If, toward the end of the cooking time you want to turn your broiler on high for a minute or two, that would be good. THAT’S IT.

Sweet Corn Polenta

1 cup corn polenta (polenta and grits are the same thing.  I use Bob’s Red Mill)

3 cups liquid (I used 2 cups chicken stock, 1 cup skim milk and a dash of half and half, because I had it.  The point is, cooking ratio for polenta is 1:3, meaning for every cup you use of dry polenta, you need 3 cups of liquid.)

2 cups or so of sweet corn, fresh if you have it, frozen if you don’t (if you had fresh corn on the cob recently and have leftovers, this would be an excellent use for it)

salt and pepper

Method:  About 20 minutes from when you think the chicken will be done, start this process. In a large saucepan on medium heat, mix together the polenta and 3 cups of liquid.  Stir frequently as it cooks and absorbs the liquid, this will take 20 minutes or so.  Near the very end, when it’s just a bit waterier than you’d like, stir in the corn and let it heat through.

Serve the chicken on the polenta, and pour the tomato-y pan sauce you created in the bottom of the pan over it.  You could shave a little parmesan over it, too.  And I served mine with a green salad.

Notes:  During the roasting process, if you open the oven door and are knocked over by the vinegar fumes, don’t worry, they will mellow by the end.  Also, this heats up REALLY well as leftovers.

– Cat

Grilled Halibut with Marinated Kale

This post is probably going to trick you into believing I eat really really healthy food. Don’t worry, that’s not true. But I have had this twice in the past week because it was so delicious. This is also one of those meals where after you eat it you feel satisfied and a little bit like someone should pat you on the back for choosing to eat this instead of pizza.

Now, let’s talk about kale. I thought for a long time that kale was gross. Turns out- I was wrong. Also, it’s quite possibly the best food for you. I’m fairly sure when you eat it, it will counteract that bowl of ice cream you may or may not have had for breakfast. Well maybe not, but it is crazy good for you.  It’s full of beta-carotene, antioxidants, calcium, iron, fiber, and potassium. It also has almost your entire daily recommended value of vitamin A, vitamin C, folic acid, and vitamin B6. Seriously, this is what they mean when they say “super food”. It’s also tasty. It’s a hearty crunchy green with slightly bitter citrus taste.  Cat says kale tastes like health and trees. I said that did not sound appealing. Trust me, Cat eats a lot more vegetables than I do and if I like it, you will too.

For today’s dose of kale I paired it with some fish and roasted vegetables. This is a light fresh meal that you can prepare completely on the grill (which is wonderful for people like me who have a tiny kitchen that gets VERY hot in the summer).  The portions in this recipe are for two.

Grilled Halibut with Marinated Kale

Ingredients:

¾ lb halibut

1 bunch kale (green, purple, any kind)

3-4 lemons

1 tsp salt

3 medium cloves of garlic, minced or pressed

10+ cherry tomatoes (yellow or red)

1 can artichokes packed in water, drained

Salt and pepper for seasoning

Olive oil

1 Tbs freshly snipped chives

Method:

The kale needs to marinate for at least an hour, so you will want to make it first. Kale has a tough stem running almost the entire length of the leaf, to remove this make a V-shaped cut and discard the stem.

This is to show you the stem, i tried to lay it out flat but kale is stubborn

Roughly chop the kale into medium to small pieces (kale is hearty, so you will want this to be smaller than a piece of lettuce for a salad). In a large bowl toss the kale with the juice of 2 lemons, 1 tsp of salt, and the minced garlic. Cover and let marinate, stirring occasionally.

Make a foil packet with the tomatoes and artichokes. Drizzle the vegetables with olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and pepper.

For the fish, on a piece of foil, slice 1 lemon as thinly as possible and place a layer under the fish (skin side down). Generously season the fish with freshly ground pepper, and a sprinkling of salt. Layer the top with the rest of the lemon, and sprinkle with chives. Drizzle everything with olive oil and seal up the package.

With the grill on medium heat cook the vegetable packet for 15 minutes. The fish will also take about 15 minutes, but it depends on the thickness of the fish. To check if the fish is done slice open the foil packet and poke the fish with a fork, if it flakes easily it’s finished.  Remove the lemons and slice the fish into equal portions.

Slice the additional lemon to squeeze over the fish to finish. This is of course optional, I just really love lemon.

To plate this dish, start with a generous portion of the kale, top with a serving of fish, and top the fish with the vegetables.

Healthy deliciousness

A few notes:

You could make this dish with pretty much any type of white fish, I have also done it with sea bass. It would also be delicious with chicken.

I specifically chose tomatoes and artichokes because they provide a little bit of sweetness and acidity that balances nicely with this dish. You can use anything your little heart desires.

This dish can also be prepared without a grill. You can roast the vegetables in a small pie plate and the fish can still be prepared in the foil, just put it on baking sheet.

Don’t be put off by the amount of garlic and lemon with the kale. Even if when you go to mix it, it smells overwhelming. That lovely kale absorbs just the right amount of flavor.

– Sue

Pico de Gallo Slaw

I was out to lunch with some girlfriends the other day and we went to this little Mexican restaurant in a strip mall. Well let me tell you, this was no crappy Mexican restaurant in a strip mall at all. I had these wonderful pulled pork tacos, served with flavorful rice (you know sometimes that stuff can taste like cardboard) and delicious refried beans. Would you like to know the highlight of the meal? It was the salsa-slaw type stuff that came free with chips. I have had a lot of good (and bad) free salsas at Mexican restaurants in my life…but I have never had anything like this before. It became an immediate obsession. I had daydreams of eating this on my roof top patio while sipping a margarita (or more realistically cheap white wine).  I put it on my pulled pork tacos and it was to die for. I immediately thought of how delicious this would be on fish tacos. There is a Mexican restaurant a few blocks from my house that serves the BEST fish tacos I have ever had. I can’t say anything about their other food because the only thing I ever get is their fish tacos. They are mahi mahi topped with pico de gallo, radishes, cabbage and then topped with a creamy chipotle sauce. That’s right, I said radishes. I LOVE radishes, I used to hate them when I was a kid but over the past few years I have developed a bit of a crudité crush on them, I used to go straight for the celery, but now it’s all about the radishes. Radishes aren’t something you commonly see in Mexican food (at least I don’t) but they are a wonderful addition to the fish tacos….so I thought I should add them to my slaw as well.  I don’t regret it, and neither will you.

Beautiful radishes

The other odd thing is this recipe is jarred jalapenos (cringe). I have never used jarred  (or pickled) jalapenos, I never saw the point. I have always just used fresh…because why wouldn’t you just use fresh? When I first saw the slaw at the restaurant, I was not impressed by the clearly non-fresh jalapenos…but I’m here to tell you that in this recipe, jarred is the way to go. They add just a bit of acidity and just enough heat to bring this “slaw” together.

Ingredients:

½ head of cabbage, shredded

3 to 4 medium/large ripe tomatoes (or the equivalent of), seeded and diced

¼ cup diced yellow onion (or more to taste)

1 cup chopped cilantro (loosely packed)

4-5 radishes sliced thinly and halved

10-15 jarred jalapenos (more or less to taste)

1 Tbs liquid from the jalapeno jar

Juice of one lime

Salt to taste

Method:

Halve the cabbage and core it. Use a knife to cut out the triangular shape of the core out of the cabbage.

Slice the cabbage to your desired thickness. I would suggest thicker if you are using it as a slaw on a taco, and slightly thinner if you are using it for tortilla chip snacking.  Set aside the cabbage

Seed and dice the tomatoes. Dice the onion, and chop the cilantro. Combine these ingredients and add the salt and lime. The salt will draw a bit of moisture out of the tomatoes, helping to bring the slaw together.  Taste at this point (this is your basic Pico without the heat) and add more salt, cilantro or lime to taste.  Wash and slice the radishes.

Mix together the cabbage, radishes, Pico, the jalapenos and the tablespoon of jalapeno juice and toss together.  Taste and add more jalapenos if desired.

Beautiful isn’t it? Also, delicious

A few notes:

Like I said this would be delicious on fish tacos

I would have posted my recipe for those, but it needs a little tweaking- I’ll post it later this summer when it’s prefect

I have big plans for canning this summer, and on that list is pickled jalapenos…this could possibly make this dish even better

When making Pico, or Pico slaw, use the BEST quality tomatoes that you can find. If the ripest ones are small little ones on the vine, use those. If all the other tomatoes besides the cherry tomatoes look like crap….quarter the cherry ones. The quality and texture of the tomatoes can really make or break something like this. Bad tomatoes are flavorless, and grainy. Find the best ones you can

-Sue