Potato Pizza Soup

This soup is the product of leftovers from a pizza-making night, plus leftover potatoes from Valentine's Day dinner and a few odds and ends in the kitchen. Pan-roasted potatoes (bake and then pan fry them in canola oil with seasoned salt and pepper) give this a full, toasty flavor (like pizza from a brick oven!); leftover steak fries from a restaurant could work, or leftover hash browns or breakfast potatoes.

I threw in a little spinach to add some green color, and heated up some pepperoni in a frying pan to add as a garnish. The jar of pizza sauce from Trader Joe's has great flavor by itself, so it spiced up the soup nicely. You could always make it spicier with red pepper flakes, or add some fresh basil to brighten it up. Whatever says pizza to you!

This is a dairy-free and wheat-free recipe, and meat-free if you skip the pepperoni.

Potato Pizza Soup

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 C frozen spinach, drained

2 C pan-fried, baked, or mashed potatoes

1/2 C pizza sauce

2 C coconut milk

garnish if desired

Sauté the diced onion in 1 T oil until the onion becomes translucent and starts to brown. Turn down the heat and add the garlic to cook for about 1 minute. Add the spinach and potatoes (I recommend browning the potatoes in a separate pan a little more before this to add more of a roasted flavor). When all the ingredients have heated through, add the pizza sauce and coconut milk, stirring to combine. Heat til boiling, stirring regularly. Once it boils, turn off the heat and remove the pan from the heat. Use an immersion blender or regular blender to purée the soup to the thickness you prefer (take care to not burn yourself if the soup is still hot when you are blending it). Garnish as desired.

Roasted Pepper Corn Chowder

I'm realizing that all of my soup pictures look practically the same, but do not be deceived! They actually vary greatly from one another, and I'm especially excited about this one. Now that I've got down the necessary proportions for soup ingredients, I'm starting to feel like I can invent my own renditions of dishes. This one is a little spicy, a little smoky, and thickened by puréed onions, peppers, and corn.

This time I riffed off of this corn chowder on The Pioneer Woman's blog, adjusting for the content of my refrigerator/freezer and for my personal taste preferences. I increased the butter, added garlic, eliminated the bacon, substituted in different roasted peppers, added cumin and red pepper powder, but borrowed the idea of thickening it more with cornmeal.

If you keep a can of corn, a box of chicken broth, and some coconut milk in the cupboard, you could make this any time! Unsweetened coconut milk is becoming my cream/milk of preference for cooking, since before it's opened it's shelf stable (so I can just keep it around all the time, unlike dairy products), and after being opened lasts a while in the fridge. That also makes this a dairy-free recipe if you sub in oil for the butter. I've also started keeping a jar of roasted peppers in the fridge, since they are great in eggs, soup, vegetable dishes, and more (Trader Joe's has a nice jar of roasted red, orange, and yellow peppers). I imagine that it would work well with vegetable stock instead of chicken stock, if you want to go completely veggie.

Roasted Pepper Corn Chowder

3 T butter

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 pieces roasted red, orange, or yellow pepper, diced

8 oz. whole kernel corn (drained if canned)

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp red chili powder

4 C chicken broth

2 C coconut milk

3 T masa or cornmeal

1/4 C water

Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper at each stage of the process.

Melt the butter until slightly browned in a dutch oven pot on the stovetop. Add the diced onion and cook over medium heat until translucent. When the onion starts to brown, turn down the heat a little and add the minced garlic, diced pepper, corn, cumin, and chili powder. Cook, stirring regularly, until the liquid in the mixture has evaporated and the elements become aromatic and a bit browned. Add the broth and coconut milk and heat until boiling, still stirring regularly. Mix the masa or cornmeal in a small bowl with the water, and once the pot is boiling stir in the masa/cornmeal. Turn down the heat, cover the pot, and let cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and use an immersion blender or regular blender to purée until it reaches the desired consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve topped with avocado, or corn chips, or green onions, or bacon, or just plain!

Ruen Pair: L.A.'s Thai Town

Anyone who has ever glanced at my blog knows I love cake, but it is probably less evident that my go-to comfort food is Thai food. A pile of noodles is always less photogenic than a cute cupcake, so somehow the photos don't make it to the blog world. But regardless of appearances, something about the combination of sweet and spicy just makes me happy...perhaps not shocking since sugar obviously has an attraction for me, and doesn't spicy food have a sort of mood-altering affect on people?* In any case, Thai food is my first thought on a rough day, so given the proximity of finals at this time, it was an easy choice for dinner tonight.

Coconut soup (above) has had an increasing hold on my attention since I discovered the way each spoonful could feed the burn on my tongue and throat (which is a good thing!) and satisfy with its creamy texture.

Noodles always help me get to a good place, whether it be pad thai, as pictured here, or pad see yew, which always reminds me of my favorite childhood Chinese dish of beef chow fun. Smoky, sweet, mmmmm.

And at least one other spicy dish - cashew chicken, garlic pepper shrimp, panang curry - gotta keep nourishing the happy.

I do go for inauthentic Thai in a pinch, but my favorite for years has been Ruen Pair (can I just say, love that it sounds kind of like "ruined pear" as if a dramatic line in a tragic poem) on Hollywood Boulevard in L.A.'s Thai Town. The same strip mall boasts Thai Patio, which is also quite good and was very welcoming for my birthday dinner of 17 people, but I prefer the food at Ruen Pair (RP is cash only and does not serve alcohol). The restaurants in this area are open and bustling until the wee hours of the morning, so the next time you're out in Hollywood and crave a bite at 3 am, you know you can find something good here.





*According to Wikipedia: "It is common for people to experience pleasurable and even euphoriant effects from eating capsaicin-flavored foods. Folklore among self-described "pepperheads" attributes this to pain-stimulated release of endorphins, a different mechanism from the local receptor overload that makes capsaicin effective as a topical analgesic. In support of this theory, there is some evidence that the effect can be blocked by naloxone and other compounds that compete for receptor sites with endorphins and opiates."

A Knife makes a Moroccan Stew

So this brand new knife* gets unpackaged one night during June gloom and thinks, "This is the night to make that Moroccan stew I've been thinking about." He pulls the veggies out of the refrigerator drawers, mentally checking off the items that need to be taken care of. Slightly wilted swiss chard, barely fresh squash, lonely carrots that are scattered among the leaves. Skip the limp fava beans and oldish beets.

The rest of the ingredients are ready to go, so the knife takes the vegetables to task. Wilted stalks get thrown out, leaves are salvaged and chopped with a flare. He makes all the squash equal by cubing them evenly, after quickly lopping their heads and feet off. Peeled carrots are diced in a flash, and an onion prepped with a few sharp slices.

Now that the knife has made quick work of the normally burdensome veggie prep, the stew is basically made - spices coat the veggies, liquids hydrate the lentils, chickpeas fill out the final product. Et voilà, Moroccan stew! A satisfying day's work to inaugurate a knife's promising career.



Moroccan Vegetable Stew
Based on Surfas' Moroccan chili recipe

½ lb green lentils
2 cans garbanzo beans
8 C of water or chicken stock
1 C diced carrots
2 C shredded greens (chard, spinach, or kale will do)
1 C diced squash or zucchini
1 diced onion
1 can diced tomato
1 bunch chopped cilantro
1 T ground ginger
2 T ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Salt and pepper as needed

if you can afford/access these specialty ingredients:
1 pinch saffron threads
½ C diced preserved lemons peel only

In a large soup pot sauté onions, carrots, and seasonings until translucent about 4 to 5 minutes. Add lentils, tomatoes, preserved lemon and chicken stock to cover. Let simmer until lentils are al dente about 20 minutes. Add garbanzo beans, greens, and squash and let simmer for 10 more minutes. Re-season if necessary.

Note: Sausage can be added if desired, and any of the vegetables can be replaced with other vegetables as you see fit. This makes a lot of food!

*a celebration of my lovely new knife - really, you would like it too!

Vegan Sweet Potato Soup

Yeah, soup again. It may be spring officially, but things are still chilly enough in my part of the world that soup sounds good to me (the winter-spring divide in California is very fuzzy). I've made this soup twice in the last month for friends who have been in the hospital because it is a inexpensive meal that I feel like I can feed anyone. It has good flavor from the aromatics and dried herbs, but it is incredibly healthy - all vegetables, with a little bit of olive oil to draw out the onion and garlic. Unlike most soups, it doesn't require any broth/stock, so there is no chicken or beef stock to offend the vegetarian, and there's no vegetable broth to notch up the sodium content. To top it off, it's got a bright orange hue to liven up a cloudy March day. Time to pull out that immersion blender!



Vegan Sweet Potato Soup
From "A Simple Soup" on Chocolate and Zucchini

1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 medium carrot, peeled and sliced
3 medium zucchinis, sliced
dried herb blend, like 21 Seasoning Salute from Trader Joe's (or fresh herbs if you've got some)
salt & pepper

1. Prepare vegetables according to ingredient list.
2. Heat a little olive oil in a large saucepan and cook the onion and garlic over medium heat until limp and translucent.
3. Add sweet potatoes, carrot, herbs, and salt and pepper.
4. Add water to just cover the vegetables (more water will make the soup thinner, less will make the end product thicker). Cover and bring to a boil. Cook covered for 15 minutes once it has reached a boil.
5. Add zucchini and cook for 5-10 minutes longer. Test vegetables with a fork or knife to determine level of tenderness (I prefer more firm zucchini, so 5 minutes is sufficient for me).
6. Taste and adjust seasoning.
7. Mash up the vegetables with a fork or potato masher, or blend with an immersion blender or in a food processor to desired consistency. It gets thicker the more you break up the sweet potatoes.



Make buttermilk biscuits (recipe to be posted later) to serve with the soup, and use the remaining sweet potatoes and buttermilk to make Sweet Potato Pound Cake with Buttermilk Glaze! Oh yeah, and the leftover zucchinis for Zucchini Pancakes. The possibilities are endless.

Spinach Egg Drop Soup

I almost feel guilty posting this recipe, because it's just so simple - it's something my mom and grandmother would make out of the natural contents of their kitchens for a cheap and easy meal. You could dress it up with all manner of seasonings, but I find it comforting and tasty just the way it is. And let's face it, we all need something that can be thrown together quickly out of the cupboard now and then. So keep a few cans of chicken broth and creamed corn on hand for the day that you feel like a healthy, comforting soup.

Spinach Egg Drop Soup

1 can creamed corn
2 cans or 1 box chicken stock
3 eggs (or more, for more substance and protein)
several handfuls of fresh baby spinach (optional)

Start heating the corn and chicken stock in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Meanwhile, crack the eggs into a small bowl and scramble well; if you prefer thin streams of egg in your soup then thin the eggs out with a few teaspoons of water, but if you like bigger pieces of egg as in the photo above, leave the eggs as they are. Once the broth/corn mixture starts to steam (but not boil), give the broth a stir with a spoon, and while the liquid is swirling around, pour the egg into the broth and let it swirl with the broth. If you want to break up the egg, stir actively; if not, wait on stirring until the egg has cooked for a little while. Stir occasionally to keep corn from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add spinach if using, in any amount desired, and let cook until leaves have wilted. Salt and pepper to taste.

Or, if you want the simple version: dump everything in a pot together, cook, and eat!

White Bean, Bacon, and Spinach Soup

And now, as promised, a hearty and healthy fall soup. I love soups for a variety of reasons; they are a simple, filling, flavorful meal that can be made healthy without losing flavor and comfort. Healthy in this case can mean low-fat, low-carb, high-fiber, and high-protein; it is so easy to incorporate legumes and vegetables that you almost don't notice it (although I would not have agreed with that statement as a child...).

This white-bean soup is a riff on the America's Test Kitchen cannellini bean soup recipe; I replaced the bacon with turkey bacon but doubled the amount, reduced the chicken stock to make it heartier, replaced the dried beans with canned beans to speed up the process, and added spinach to up the veggie count. The turkey bacon gives it a wonderful smokiness, and the beans and veggies make it so filling that you don't need cream to fill it out. Note: fiber in the beans, onions, and spinach, protein in the beans and bacon, low-fat, and all sorts of health benefits from the legumes, spinach, and even the garlic.

It's easy to have most of these ingredients in your kitchen at any given moment, so stock up on your next trip to the store and make this when you're at a loss for a simple good meal.

White Bean, Bacon, and Spinach Soup

16 oz. turkey bacon (one package)
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
4 C chicken stock
2 cans white beans (also called cannellini beans)
2 C fresh baby spinach leaves (or more if you like!)

1. Cut the turkey bacon into strips that you'll sprinkle on top later; brown it until crisp in a dutch oven pot. Place the turkey bacon on paper towels and leave any remaining grease in the pot.
2. Dice the onion and sauté it in the pot. Add a tablespoon of olive oil if the onion is sticking to the pot. When the onion is soft, throw the whole cloves of garlic into the pot (with the loose outside skin removed) for 30 seconds.
3. Add the chicken stock and beans and simmer covered for 10-20 minutes until beans are heated and flavorful.
4. Scoop the garlic out of the soup, crush each clove with the flat of a chef knife, remove the clove skin, and finely chop the garlic meat. Return the chopped garlic to the pot.
5. Add the spinach to the pot and continue cooking over medium heat until the spinach has withered and reduced.
6. Salt and pepper to taste, and serve with turkey bacon strips on top.

Green Food for Earth Day

As a belated recognition of Earth Day - and because Earth Day should be every day, right? - I'd like to post on the green foods I ate this week.  To start with, these wonderful Anjou Pears I bought at Lake Produce: I was enthralled by how the green of the pears matched one of my new plates.  They were juicy and firm, and a great treat with a bit of soy cheese (cheese enthusiasts groan here, but lactose intolerants rejoice).

I also made an avocado vichyssoise (in French, this can be read to mean either "avocado vichyssoise" or "lawyer vichyssoise") from one of my new favorite cookbooks: Paris in a Basket.

So far I have made madeleines and a great chocolate-almond cake from that book, and both were wonderful recipes.  This avocado soup also turned out well - and matched another of my new dishes - although I must admit that cold soups are still growing on me, and I did tire of it after eating it for several days.  Lesson learned: make this soup when there are people to share it with.

This soup is another lactose-less option; vichyssoise in its typical leek and potato version is heavy on the cream, while this soup gets it creaminess from the avocados.  Much healthier!

Vichyssoise D'Avocat, taken from Paris in a Basket

• 2 Haas avocados
• 3 medium boiling potatoes
• 4 C chicken stock
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• salt and pepper to taste

If making the chicken stock from scratch, prepare ahead of time and let cool.  Remove the congealed layer of fat before adding to the soup.

Peel and boil potatoes, quartered and well covered by water, until well cooked.  Let cool.

Combine avocado pulp, potatoes , cumin, and 1 C cold stock in a blender or food processor.  Blend to form a smooth puree, adding the remaining stock gradually.  The consistency of the soup should be thick and creamy.  Make sure your blender or food processor is large enough to handle this amount of liquid; an immersion blender may work well in a large pot, although I have not tried this.  I was forced to whisk in the final bit of stock in a pot because my 11-cup processor was too small, but it will be better incorporated by a blender.

Taste, adjust seasoning, and cool for a couple of hours before serving.  Stir the soup and serve in four chilled bowls, garnish with a few pink peppercorns and cilantro leaves, or chili powder and pepper as I did here, and serve.  If you are going to store this soup for a day or more, beware of the oxidation effect - the surface of it will grow dark as it's exposed to the air, which is unattractive although still edible.

Ways to make this food truly "green": buy all organic produce, go shopping with reusable bags, compost the peels and cores, and unplug the appliances when you're done with them.  Not that hard to do!  Happy Earth Day!