E is for Eats

The rutabaga before the soup A few weeks ago , I picked up a rutabaga at the farmer's market for the first time. I was kind of at a loss as to what to do with it. So, as usual when faced with a new vegetable, I turned to soup. I poked around on line and through my cookbooks for ideas and inspiration. This recipe from The Inn at Little Washington was actually mentioned in two of my books and on many of the sites I visited. It looked delicious, but all that butter! 2 cups of heavy cream! It was a bit too heavy for a weeknight dinner. And I didn't have the sweet potatoes and squash on hand. I used the recipe as a guide, but made a few tweaks out of necessity. Rutabaga and Apple Soup adapted from Patrick O'Connell's Apple Rutabaga Soup serves 4 to 6 2 Tbl Butter 1 rutabaga, peeled and chopped 1 onion, diced 4-5 carrots, peeled and chopped 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and chopped 4-5 cups of stock, chicken or veggie 1/2 cup of Milk (I used 2%) 1/4 cu...

Fixin' to be Soup When my friend  Tracey was out last month, we spent a day hanging out, crafting and watching movies. We also intended to spend some time in the kitchen and Tracey suggested a carrot ginger soup. While we ended up going out for ramen instead, I've been thinking about this soup ever since. And since I keep saying I'm going to post the recipe, here it is: Spicy Carrot Ginger Soup Serves 4-6 2 Tbl butter, unsalted 1 medium onion, chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 1" knob of ginger, peeled and minced 1 tsp curry powder 1 tsp ground cumin 1/4 tsp red pepper (preferably Utica Grind ) 1 bunch of carrots, peeled and chopped 1 cup butternut squash puree (optional, I just happened to have in the fridge. Feel free to omit) 4 C stock of your choice Salt & Pepper to taste In a large soup pot over medium high heat, melt butter. Add onion and saute until soft and golden. Add garlic, ginger, curry powder, cumin and red pepper. Stir well to ...

It's been a while since our last post, as our friends Gabriel and Tracey were visiting from San Francisco last week.  They are two of our most favorite people; smart, funny and fun to be around. If you get a second, you should check out Tracey's blog, warm as toast . She writes tidbits about her life and things that inspire her. It's the first thing I look for when I log in to google reader. While you're at it (and while I am shamelessly promoting my friends), check out u-dot music to listen to some of the music Gabe has worked on. Gabe and Tracey love food as much as we do, so we spent the better part of the week drinking a bit too much and eating way too much. To counterbalance the week of excess, I was in need of something nutritious, earthy and easy. The answer: mushroom soup and green salad with red wine vinaigrette (if you are looking to move away from packaged/processed/pre-made foods, salad dressings are the easiest place to start....more on that later). I...

Have you ever seen parsley root? I hadn’t. Always curious about new foods, I asked the farmer at the stand the best way to cook and eat it. He said that his favorite way to eat it was as a soup. It was fall-like outside, so soup sounded good. As I was paying for the parsley root, I asked him if the greens were edible. He looked at me for what felt like 5 minutes and said very slowly, “yes ma’am……it’s parsley”. So, once I wiped the egg off my face, I went home and made some soup. It was a very simple soup but quite tasty. I didn’t write down the exactly what I made, but below is a rough guide of what I threw together. Sautee some garlic and onion in butter. Throw in the parsley root, chopped (I peeled it, but I’m not really certain that it’s necessary). Cover with veggie or chicken stock. Let it simmer until parsley root is tender. Puree with immersion blender. Add salt and pepper to taste and garnish with parley leaves. Yummmmmmm.