Creamy Corn Soup with Crab, Shrimp and Poblano Chile

So it's official...I am a soup fan. Contrary to the last post, I've realized that I am starting to not only enjoy soups but crave soups. Maybe it's because we were pretty much trapped indoors today due to all the snow last night and a nice warm soup always seems to complement a cold, crisp day.

We used a recipe from Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless - a fabulous recipe book given to A.C. by his brother, a fellow Mexican food fanatic. The recipe has a few variations - it is suggested to include (a) chicken or ham for the meat eaters, (b) asparagus or zucchini for the veggie lovers or (c) shrimp and crab for the seafood enthusiasts. We went with option (c) and it yielded very tasty results. I've already finished my bowl but A.C. is busy chowing down on his. Here's his opinion on the soup - he said something about doing inappropriate things to the soup. No one needs to know any details about that. On a more appropriate and internet-friendly note, he said it is "nice and creamy" and the jalapenos (we used jalapenos instead of poblanos) add a "perfect bite" while the "corn bits and crab add a perfect texture to the creamy base". I agree. :)

If you want a copy of the recipe, let me know :)

Oh, if I keep saying "I did this..." and "I did that...", I really should be giving more credit to A.C. He is just as much as a cooking enthusiast as I am plus he probably has watched many more hours of food network than I. He always does half the work of pretty much any meal we make. Thanks, A.C.! btw, he didn't put me up to this...

Chunky Vegetable Soup

I'll explain about the lack of food picture at the end of the post.


I have never really been a soup fan.

Perhaps, the reason why is because the only soup I experienced up until college came out of the can and had the word Campbell's on it. Granted, some of the canned soups like Wolfgang Puck's or Amy's canned soups can be tasty but you can never top a homemade soup. I love this soup because it's healthy but, unlike many healthy recipes, it's bursting with flavor and very filling.

Oh, for those of you who know about my awful experiences being a chef's assistant, this recipe made all that abuse worthwhile. Shhh...don't tell the chef that I'm posting this...

1 small onion
1 clove garlic
1 large red pepper
2 small zucchini
2 small yellow squash
1 cup canned plum tomatoes
1 pint of cherry tomatoes
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/8 teaspoon thyme
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 1/2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups tomato juice
1/4 cup olive oil

Coarsely chop all vegetables except for plum tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. Add the chopped vegetables to a food processor or blender and blend until chunky. Heat oil until very hot in a large pot. Add chopped and processed vegetables, plum tomatoes and all spices to pot. Stir and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add cherry tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes. Add vinegar and tomato juice. Puree half of the soup and mix with remaining soup. Serve.

Ok, in all the excitement of making this last night, I forgot to take a picture. Instead, I have posted a picture of the album that we listened to when chopping, pureeing and simmering. We are going to see "Youth Group" next month because they are opening for one of our current favorites "Matt Pond PA". We figured we should get to know this "quietly adored" Australian band so we aren't clueless when we go to the show. I'm still forming my opinion of them...

Beyond cereal and diet coke

Saturday's breakfast treat



It's been awhile since A.C. and I have had a weekend without morning obligations so we decided to take full advantage of all this spare time. A typical morning for us involves a bowl of cereal with or without milk and a diet coke. Probably not the healthiest or tastiest breakfast but it meets our basic morning needs of food and caffeine. Having a weekend full of free time, I decided to make a more elaborate breakfast on both Saturday and Sunday. One tradition in our family is to make French toast on an occasional weekend. The French toast recipe my mom makes is so rich and filling that we always joke that we can't have any other plans that day because the French toast could potentially immobilize us...in a good way. Maybe you have to be in my family to find something like that humorous...

I did my own variation on mom's usual recipe:

4 pieces of whole wheat bread (or whatever bread you have on hand - even stale can work)
3 eggs
3 teaspoons of milk
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1 cup of canola oil
1 cup of maple syrup

Mix the cinnamon and sugar together and put aside. In a dish, mix eggs, milk and almond extract and blend until uniform. Add half of the cinnamon and sugar mixture to the dish. Poke holes with a fork into the bread and then soak the bread in the egg/milk mixture in the dish. Warm a large skillet with the canola oil. Cook the soaked bread two at a time for a few minutes on both sides. Remove the bread from the skillet and place on a dish covered with a paper towel to help remove some of the grease (this makes it healthy! :)) Top with maple syrup to taste and the remaining cinnamon and sugar mixture.

I'm sure everyone has their own French toast recipe which probably resembles the one I discussed above. I'd suggest putting some excitement into your own recipe by adding vanilla extract or almond extract or substituting the sugar with brown sugar to create a caramelized crust. Even try a new type of yeasty bread like raisin or apple bread. Or just top the French toast with every sweet topping imaginable. I'm even tempted to add some spice like a habanero - maybe now I'm getting carried away. Anyone have any French toast recipe upgrades?


Sunday's blueberry coffee cake



When A.C. graciously went to the store last night to buy food for dinner, I asked him to pick up some fresh blueberries with the intention of making some muffins for breakfast for the following week. The cafe at work has these ginormous blueberry muffins with a crispy sweet topping that sadly is majorly undercooked when you get to the heart of the muffin. In fear of getting a version of food poisoning from undercooked muffins, I decided I better quit wasting my money on these muffins and try to make something on my own. After realizing that our muffin pans are not capable of making ginormous muffins, I went with a coffee cake instead.

Here's my recipe (loosely based on a recipe featured on Epicurious.com)

For cake:
1/4 cup canola oil
1 beaten egg (or 2 tablespoons cornstarch + 2 tablespoons water)
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

For filling:
1/2 pint blueberries
2 ounces of cream cheese, whipped
1 teaspoon of brown sugar

For topping:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans (or substitute walnuts)
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Reserved 1/2 pint blueberries to add before topping


Combine canola oil, egg or egg substitute, and milk. Sift together dry ingredients and add them to the milk mixture. Mix well.

In another bowl, combine all ingredients for filling and in another bowl, combine all ingredients for topping.

Pour 1/2 cake batter into a greased 8-inch round pan. Spread cream cheese filling evenly over batter. Add remaining cake batter. Top with reserved blueberries. Top that with the cinnamon nut mixture. Bake in 375°F oven 25 to 30 minutes.


With lots of sugar and sweet berries disguised as breakfast, how can you go wrong? If you do decide to make this recipe, keep in mind that the batter will be very thick and sticky. I was tempted to add some water or oil to thin it out but in the end, I'm very glad I didn't. So just work through the thick and sticky batter, it's not a sign that something is wrong.

A.C. liked it so much that he ended up with some of it smeared on his forehead. Yeah, I have no idea how that happened. Maybe that was his weird way of avoiding eating the whole piece.

I hope I have more upcoming weekends like this :)

Falafel with minty garlic yogurt sauce

One day last week, we decided to go Middle Eastern for a night. The meal really didn't require too much preparation considering we used falafel mix from a box and pita from a bag. I highly suggest the Near East brand falafel mix mainly because it is pretty much the only readily available mix that has English directions on the box. I almost bought a mix over at an international grocery store a few weeks ago that had a yummy-looking picture but was purely in Arabic. Although A.C. knows a bit of Arabic, I don't know if his knowledge of the language could get us through a whole recipe. Back in college, I remember buying a curry mix based on the picture on the package and was totally clueless about making the dish because stupidly I bought something in Hindi (I think). Lesson learned - only buy foods with directions in a language you have mastered. :)

Anyway, so we prepared the mix, chopped up cucumbers and whipped up a yogurt sauce.

Here's the yogurt sauce recipe:

8 ounces of plain yogurt
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 cloves of garlic, minced
6 mint leaves, chiffonade
Cumin to taste
Salt to taste

Pretty basic and honestly not too exciting. Although if you like getting falafel at a restaurant, I'd highly suggest saving some money and using the box mix because it's usually just as good. I would like to come up with something creative to put on top besides the usual yogurt something sauce. Any ideas?

Snapper with Roasted Grape Tomatoes and Green Bean and Fingerling Potato Salad

For Monday's dinner, A.C. requested a dinner having some combination of tomatoes and fish. I love to have a quest and search for things - that's probably why I am a Patent Examiner. One of my trusty standby websites that allows for ingredient searches is allrecipes.com although I wasn't too inspired by any of the results. But I do highly suggest this site if you are searching for recipe using certain ingredients - it's a great way to make a meal by cleaning out your pantry.

Instead, I found this recipe (adapted from foodtv website):

2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
Pinch red pepper flakes
Kosher salt
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
4 (6-ounce) snapper fillets, with skin
Freshly ground black pepper

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
Toss the tomatoes with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, garlic, vinegar, pepper flakes, and salt, to taste. Spread out on a baking sheet and roast until the tomatoes get juicy, about 15 minutes. Transfer tomatoes to a bowl and toss with the basil.

Dry the fish very well all over. To keep the fish from curling in the pan, lightly slash a cross-hatch pattern into the skin of the fish with a sharp knife. Brush the rounded flesh side of the fish with the remaining olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Place the fish, seasoned side down, in the oil, and cook undisturbed over high heat, until the fish turns both opaque along the edges and golden on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Lightly salt the skin side of the fish. Flip the snapper and turn off the heat and let the fish cook in the residual heat of the pan until the fillets are firm but still juicy, about 1 minute more.

Divide the fish among 4 plates. Top with the tomatoes and serve.

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I do realize that the base of this fish recipe does sound a lot like the pasta salad :) ha ha... So that's probably why I gravitated towards it.

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As an accompaniment, I made a green bean and fingerling potato salad.

Here's the recipe (once again, adapted from foodtv website):

2 pounds purple and/or white fingerling potatoes, scrubbed
1 pound green beans, trimmed
1/4 cup chopped mixed fresh herbs such as chives and garlic chives (with blossoms if desired) and thyme, parsley, mint and summer savory leaves
Mustard shallot vinaigrette (recipe follows)

In a large kettle simmer potatoes in salted water to cover until tender when pierced with a fork, about 10 minutes, and drain in a large colander.
In a large saucepan cook beans in 3 inches salted boiling water over high heat until crisp-tender, about 3 to 5 minutes. With tongs or a slotted spoon transfer beans to colander with potatoes and drain well.

In a large bowl toss together warm potatoes, beans, herbs, dressing and salt and pepper to taste. Salad may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.

Serve salad warm or at room temperature.


MUSTARD SHALLOT VINAIGRETTE
1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon-style mustard
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots or scallions
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

In a bowl whisk together all the ingredients except the oil. Slowly add the oil in a stream.

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I think A.C. was impressed. I loved both the recipes but I'm not too sure the savory flavors of the salad really complemented the sweet flavors of the fish. I was really craving potatoes so the salad recipe was a good way to satisfy the craving without going overboard on carbs. The salad recipe calls for a ridiculous variety of herbs considering the amount you actually use in the end. I'd stick to two different types unless you happen to grow those in your garden. I decided to go with mint and chives. I only used a very small portion of mint compared to chives because I was afraid the mint would overwhelm the chives. I also have plans with the mint to make a yogurt-mint sauce for falafel later this week...

Enjoy!

Superbowl Sunday - Veg Head Chili

Forgive me, I'm still catching up from last week's cooking festivities. :)

Let's go back a few days ago to Sunday. As everyone knows, Sunday was the Superbowl. I really don't think anyone was actually too excited about the game but it was a great excuse to get together. Personally, I'm not a huge football fan but two things I do love about the Superbowl: the ridiculously expensive and sometimes entertaining commercials and the perfect excuse to pig out. A.C. and I were invited to a Superbowl party over at our friends' house. They just came back from a ski trip that day so I figured that we should try to help out and bring a main dish to their party. A.C. and I discovered this chili recipe a few months ago on the foodtv website and fell in love. The recipe is very simple (seriously, the hardest and most time consuming part is opening all the cans of beans) and is an overall crowd pleaser. I have a few vegetarian friends and also a few friends that are regular meat and potatoes type people. Although this recipe is purely vegetarian, it really seemed to go over big with everyone.

Here's the recipe:
(adapted from the foodtv.com website)

2 tablespoons (2 turns around the pan) olive or vegetable oil
1 medium yellow skinned onion, chopped
1 large red pepper, seeded and chopped
1 large green pepper, seeded and chopped
1 large jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
1 cup pale beer
1 (32- ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (14-ounce) can black beans
1 (14-ounce) can dark red kidney beans
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup spicy vegetarian refried beans

Toppings:
8 ounces (2 cups shredded) spicy monterey jack or smoked cheddar
Chopped scallions, whites and greens
Chopped cilantro


Over moderate heat, add oil to a deep pot and combine onion, peppers, and garlic. Sauté for 3 to 5 minutes to soften vegetables. Deglaze pan with beer, add tomatoes, black beans, red kidney beans, and stirring to combine. Season chili with cumin, chili powder and salt. Thicken chili by stirring in refried beans. Simmer over low heat about 5 to 10 minutes longer, then serve up bowls of chili and top desired toppings.

My friend, R, made some really yummy chipotle corn bread to accompany the chili. Yum!

Mother-in-law's pasta salad

A few years ago, before I ever went to visit my parents-in-law, A.C. described to me this incredible yet simple pasta salad that his mom had made for years. A.C. has always had a flair for description; in fact, he intrigued me so much I had a dream about that pasta salad that night. Yes, I'm the only person I know who has had a whole dream about a pasta dish. I finally had the real thing and it did taste just as good as in my dream.

Here's the recipe so you can dream about it tonight:

1 lb short pasta like shells or penne
3 - 4 vine ripened tomatoes, coarsely chopped
10 basil leaves, torn
a couple of oregano leaves
8 ounces of fresh mozzarella, cubed
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 - 3 cloves of garlic, crushed

Combine the tomatoes, basil and oregano into a large bowl. Meanwhile, cook pasta and heat the olive oil and cloves of garlic in a saucepan. Pour the olive oil and garlic into the large bowl. Drain pasta and pour into large bowl. Add the mozzarella. Stir to combine and add salt and pepper to taste.

We made this pasta salad last week with pseudo-fresh mozzarella. It wasn't the shredded stuff in a bag but it definitely wasn't the mozzarella in a little plastic container marinated in its own juices. If you make this, please spend the extra few bucks for the really fresh mozzarella. You simply can't beat the taste and it makes for much better leftovers than the really stringy type of mozzarella.