Soup of the Week: Tomato

The soup of the week is a Classic Tomato Soup. This is the second soup I've made from the Fine Cooking (issue 91) article on tomato soups using canned tomatoes. The first was a Southwestern Tomato soup using peppers and some spice. That one turned out really well and had a little twist of flavor to make you want more. This one was also really good. It tastes just like you expect a good tomato soup to taste, smooth and warm like a red velvet blanket. I like that it uses one 28 oz can of whole tomatoes, something I always have in my cupboard. In my opinion, tomato soup and marinara sauce always turn out better when they're made using canned tomatoes. The canning process gives the tomatoes a deeper, concentrated, more consistent flavor than you can get even with the ripest of summer tomatoes. I do like pastas with fresh tomato sauces. But if I'm going for a classic red sauce, it is canned tomatoes, preferably Muir Glen, all the way.

And like a homemade marinara sauce, tomato soup tastes better the next day. It seems tomatoes seem to need a little time to wrap themselves around the other ingredients with whom they've been thrown into the pot. After a night in the fridge, they mellow, lose some of their acidic bite and sort of gel with the oil, garlic, onions and herbs.

Classic Tomato Soup

by Perla Meyers

To learn more, read the article:The Best Tomato Soups

Serves eight. Yields about 8 cups.

ingredients

2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 large white onion, finely chopped
1 large clove garlic, smashed and peeled
2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
3 cups lower-salt chicken broth
28-oz. can whole peeled plum tomatoes, puréed (include the juice)
1-1/2 tsp. sugar
1 sprig fresh thyme
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbs. thinly sliced fresh basil, chives, or dill, or a mixture of all three (omit if using one of the garnishes below)

how to make

tip:

Be sure to purée in small batches and crack the blender lid slightly (or remove the center cap from the lid). Steam can build up once you start blending, and if the lid is on tight or the blender is overfilled, it will spray hot soup all over you and your kitchen. For protection, cover the top with a dishtowel while puréeing.

In a nonreactive 5- to 6-quart Dutch oven, heat the oil and butter over medium-low heat until the butter melts. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft but not browned, about 8 minutes. Add the flour and stir to coat the onion and garlic.

Add the broth, tomatoes, sugar, thyme, and 1/4 tsp. each salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat while stirring the mixture to make sure that the flour is not sticking to the bottom of the pan. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 40 minutes.
Discard the thyme sprig. Let cool briefly and then purée in two or three batches in a blender or food processor. Rinse the pot and return the soup to the pot. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Reheat if necessary. Serve warm but not hot, garnished with the herbs or dolloped with one of the garnishes below.

Make Ahead Tips

This soup stores beautifully and tastes better the second day. You can keep it in the refrigerator as long as you bring it to a boil every two days. Or you can stash it in the freezer for up to three months.

serving suggestions:
To add a creamy touch, try one of these garnishes:

Sour cream, goat cheese & Parmesan garnish: In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup sour cream with 1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese. Add 1 Tbs. freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, 1 Tbs. thinly sliced chives, and 1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil. Mix thoroughly and season to taste with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add a dollop to each serving.

Crème fraîche, herb & horseradish garnish: In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup crème fraîche with 1 Tbs. minced fresh dill and 1 Tbs. minced scallion. Add 1/2 Tbs. well-drained prepared white horseradish and mix well. Season to taste with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add a dollop to each serving.

From Fine Cooking 91, pp. 55

Shanghai Stir-fried Beef and Broccoli

Stir-frying beef is not one of my favorite things to do, I just enjoy chicken or shrimp more. However, this Fine Cooking (63) recipe had a certain appeal (i.e. I had everything to make it without going to the store.) So I decided to give it a try, but with a New York Strip instead. The recipe calls for flank steak. As thin as I slice it, flank steak always comes out on the chewy side when I stir-fry. But the very thinly sliced strip steak came out nice and tender, and very flavorful. It is a good way to use just a plain, not very thick, (from your basic supermarket) steak, not a great one. Save that for the grill. Take your time, use a sharp knife and slice thinly because meat tightens up and thickens as it cooks. (Hear the word of the butcher's daughter!) Also, as the recipe instructs, pull the steak out before it is entirely cooked through. The strip steak I used was about 8 ounces (and the recipe calls for more than double that amount of meat,) but I didn't want to reduce the sauce ingredients because I was afraid it would be too dry. This amount of steak served two very nicely. (You'll also notice I used bok choy and red peppers instead of broccoli.) The sauce here is really tasty. We liked this dish so much that I made it again the following week with the broccoli (and peppers.) Watch the salt though, especially if you are playing around with amounts and not using 1 1/2 pounds of meat. I don't think you need the salt in the marinade, soy sauce is enough.

Shanghai Stir-Fried Beef & Broccoli

by Tony Rosenfeld

Serves four.

1 small flank steak (1-1/4 to 1-1/2 lb.)

3 Tbs. soy sauce

1 Tbs. dry sherry

1 Tbs. cornstarch

Kosher salt

3/4 lb. broccoli crowns, cut into 2-inch florets (to yield about 4 heaping cups)

1/4 cup canola or peanut oil

2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

2-inch piece ginger, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks

1/4 tsp. red chile flakes

2 Tbs. oyster sauce

Bring 2 quarts water with 2 tsp. kosher salt to a boil.

Slice the steak in half lengthwise and then cut crosswise into thin slices. In a medium bowl, stir 1 Tbs. of the soy sauce with the sherry, cornstarch, and 1/2 tsp. salt. Add the steak, toss to coat, and let sit for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, blanch the broccoli in the boiling water until it softens to a tender crunch, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain in a colander and then rinse under cold water until the broccoli cools.

Set a large, heavy skillet or a large wok over high heat for 1 minute.

Pour in 2 Tbs. of the oil and, when it starts to shimmer, add the beef. Cook the beef, stirring frequently, until it loses most but not all of its raw color, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a large plate.

Add the remaining 2 Tbs. oil and the garlic, ginger, chile flakes, and 1/4 tsp. salt. Stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the broccoli and 3 Tbs. water and cook, stirring to incorporate any browned bits on the bottom of the pan, until the broccoli warms through, about 1 minute. Stir in the beef, the oyster sauce, and the remaining 2 Tbs. soy sauce; cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Serve immediately.

From Fine Cooking 63, pp. 86c

Spicy Southeast Asian Halibut

Here's another decent recipe for your Halibut arsenal. This Spicy Southeast Asian Halibut is from Cooking Light, April 2008. The sauce is curry-like in flavor and color, with heat from nam pla, tart lime juice and sweet, creamy lite coconut milk. There's also some fresh lemongrass which can sometimes be difficult to find. I know of only one nearby store that reliably has it (Devon Market - for my Chicago friends.) Other than that, the recipe is really simple to prepare and has a nice kick. We had it with sauteed spinach. The creamy sauce intermingled with the greens and made them really good. I could see this with bok choy too, or really, any stir-fried veg.

Soup of the Week: Crema de Elote

Uh, I'm a little late in posting this one. Here's the soup from last week. I made Rick Bayless' Crema de Elote (Cream of Corn) for our Wednesday soup. I didn't want to repeat a soup that I've posted about before so soon , but I couldn't resist because Jewel (of all places!) had some really fresh sweet corn. It was so bright green and moist; and the silt was very yellow and not dried out at all. I'm guessing it came from Florida (on a very fast truck.) We had corn on the cob one night and then I used the last three ears for this soup. You need really good corn for this soup because it is all about the corn. The recipe can be found here, but it is embedded in the text. This corn soup recipe was originally printed in Rick Bayless' Authentic Mexican, which has just been republished as a Authentic Mexican: 20th Anniversary Edition. An adaptation of the recipe can also be found in Rick's recent book Mexican Everyday, a book that has many of his older recipes updated for a more current, health-minded lifestyle. I use the Authentic Mexican recipe because it I only need 3 ears of corn and that makes enough for us. But I had already adapted the recipe for myself (I've been making it for years.) I never add the 1 cup of heavy cream at the end. It is just too rich and it makes it too heavy for me. While finishing the soup, I do add a little more milk and about a shot of half and half just to enrich it a bit. It really doesn't even need it. The corn gets so creamy and smooth by being blended and put through a strainer. We like to dust it with cayenne pepper at the end.





I should take a moment to discuss Rick Bayless and my, ahem, somewhat overzealous adoration of him. I have loved this man since Authentic Mexican (20 yrs ago!) and before he had a TV show or a gazillion books. I love his restaurants, his recipes and his writing. When he was more obscure, I used to clip every article about him. Dear husband would joke that I had some creepy closet in our house where I kept all of the clippings and pictures tacked up "stalker-style." I have all his books and I know his recipes so well that I have watched them evolve through the years from the purist Authentic Mexican to the more user-friendly recipe adaptions in his later books. The recipes that appeal to me most are from his book, Mexican Kitchen. In this book, the dishes have deep, complex flavors and the preparations that are somewhat demanding for authenticity's sake but they stop short of instructions like "start by grinding your own corn in a molajete." or "milk one goat." I'm also fond of Mexico: One Plate at a Time, there's some really good dishes in that book. Further on down the line, the more simplified recipes in his later books are also still very tasty and reliable and much more realistic time-wise, especially now that I'm a mom.

Balsamic-Macerated Strawberries with Basil

This delicious concoction falls in the same line as the pineapple salsa, so I thought I'd follow-up with it. Here in a salad-like dish, the strawberries play the part of the tomato, just as the pineapple does in the salsa below.

You could take this dish many ways. As you'll see by the ideas at the bottom of the recipe, all the suggestions are dessert preparations. But I think you could also spoon this over baby spinach for a nice salad, maybe with some goat cheese and pecans. The balsamic vinegar brings out the best in the sweet strawberries and it isn't too tart. The basil makes it heady, aromatic and savory, as if it were tomatoes, only the sweetest imaginable tomatoes.

I quartered the recipe when I made it because I just wanted to taste it. We topped ours simply with some plain yogurt. I thought it was delicious; dear husband proclaimed it "weird, but good."

Try this as the strawberry season approaches and tell me what you think.

Balsamic-Macerated Strawberries with Basil

by Sarah Breckenridge

For this recipe, there’s no need for an expensive, artisanal balsamic vinegar—a grocery-store vinegar is perfectly well suited.Serves four as a dessert; six to eight as a filling or topping.

2 lb. fresh strawberries, rinsed, hulled, and sliced 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick (about 4 cups)
1 Tbs. granulated sugar
2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
8 to 10 medium fresh basil leaves

In a large bowl, gently toss the strawberries with the sugar and vinegar. Let sit at room temperature until the strawberries have released their juices but are not yet mushy, about 30 minutes. (Don’t let the berries sit for more than 90 minutes, or they’ll start to collapse.)
Just before serving, stack the basil leaves on a cutting board and roll them vertically into a loose cigar shape. Using a sharp chef’s knife, very thinly slice across the roll to make a fine chiffonade of basil.

Portion the strawberries and their juices among four small bowls and scatter with the basil to garnish, or choose one of the serving suggestions below.

Serving suggestions:

~Serve the strawberries over grilled or toasted pound cake. Garnish with a dollop of crème fraîche.
~Put the berries on split biscuits for shortcakes; top with whipped cream and scatter with the basil.
~Layer the berries with ice cream or yogurt for a parfait. Garnish with the basil.
~Spoon the strawberries over a poached or roasted peach half.
~Use the berries as a filling for crêpes or a topping for waffles.
~Mash the berries slightly and fold into whipped creamm for a quick fool. Garnish with the basil.

From Fine Cooking 86

Sweet and Hot Pineapple Salsa

Pineapples have been on sale in the market quite often lately. I can't resist buying them, I love them so. Wiki tells me they're available all year long because they're grown in temperate climates. So I can't explain why they've been cheap. But I did learn that, like bananas and tomatoes, the pineapple is chill-sensitive, so they should not be stored in the fridge and they will ripen more at room temp. I let my pineapple sit on the counter until I cut it up, but then I cut it into chunks and snack on it all day right from the fridge.

It is also fun to make a pineapple salsa. Pineapple pairs well with savory foods and the heat of a chile pepper plays off that tart flavor and is cooled the cilantro. Whole Foods cracks me up; charging 5.99 lb for a tiny bit of prepared pineapple salsa. Cilantro is 3 bunches for a dollar at my market and I would guess one serrano chile could cost at most a dime. So you're much better off buying a whole pineapple, making your own salsa and having a least a half pineapple left for snacking.

Here we paired the salsa with grilled mahi mahi. I seasoned the mahi with a southwestern spice mix and a squeeze of lime. Dear husband grilled it along with some asparagus and we embellished the plate with the pineapple salsa. Any leftover salsa can be finished off by the cook as she cleans up the dinner dishes. It also can fancy up a salad quite nicely and is great on a taco with spicy pork.

Pineapple Salsa

Pineapple, small dice.
Red bell pepper, small dice
Red onion, small dice
Fresh green chile (most likely serrano or jalapeno) teeny-tiny dice
Cilantro, chopped fine (not optional in my humble opinion)
Lime, squeeze to taste
a dash of salt

Adjust amounts for however much you want to end up with. Chop everything about the same size. Mix all ingredients to taste. Eliminate what you don't like. Serve with fish or spicy pork.

Chocolate Pecan Squares

I've had this recipe for Chocolate Pecan Squares in the back of my mind for a while (oh, since about issue 70.) I just needed the right occasion to make them. The kids don't eat cookies with nuts in them and I didn't want make a whole tray of cookies, especially rich ones like these, for just me and dear husband.

A request for cookies for a school event arrived in my son's backpack one afternoon and I knew immediately that I would give these a try. This way I could make them, taste them and send them away for others to enjoy (far, far away from my snacking hands.) These cookies have just about everything going for them: a buttery crumb crust, a layer of bittersweet chocolate and a sticky pecan topping. I thought they were fantastic. I made them in a quarter sheet pan instead of a 9 by 9. The topping came up to the rim and I was scared it might bubble over but it worked out fine. It gave me a bigger yield of cookies but a little thinner of a crust.

When I make them again, I will decrease the honey a little because I think the topping could be a little less sweet. If you make them in a slightly bigger pan, you might want a little more grated chocolate, maybe an ounce more. Also, my mom thought I could decrease the cinnamon, but that is a matter of taste. I believe this recipe was originally part of a mexican menu, and cinnamon/chocolate is a classic Mexican combination. You might have to run a thin knife around the edge to loosen the sticky topping, but the crust comes out of the bottom very easily. So don't worry about using parchment or greasing the pan. There's plenty o' butter in the crust to take care of that.

Pecan-Chocolate Squares

by Paula Disbrowe, David Norman

Yields sixteen 2-1/2 inch squares.

ingredients

For the cookie base:
6 oz. (3/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
9 oz. (2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. table salt
2 oz. finely grated bittersweet chocolate (a scant 1/2 cup)

For the pecan topping:
10 oz. pecans (3 cups), toasted
1/4 lb. (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
2 Tbs. heavy cream
1/2 tsp. table salt

how to make

Make the cookie base: Position a rack in the middle of the oven and heat the oven to 350ºF. Put the butter in a food processor, along with the flour, light brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Pulse until the mixture is well combined (about 20 pulses). Scatter the dough into a 9x9-inch baking pan and press it evenly over the bottom. (Wipe out the processor bowl but don’t bother washing it.) Bake the base until firm and lightly browned, about 25 min. When the cookie base comes out of the oven, sprinkle the grated chocolate evenly over the top. (Don’t turn off the oven.) Set the pan aside.

Make the pecan topping: As the cookie base bakes, pulse the pecans in the food processor until coarsely chopped. In a medium-size heavy saucepan, melt the butter. Stir in the dark brown sugar, honey, cream, and salt. Simmer for 1 min., stirring occasionally. Stir in the pecans. Pour the pecan mixture over the chocolate-sprinkled cookie base, spreading evenly. Bake until much of the filling is bubbling (not just the edges), 16 to 18 min. Let cool completely in the pan. When ready to serve, cut into 16 squares. Tightly covered, these bars will keep for about five days (though they never last that long).
From Fine Cooking 70, pp. 34-39

Tahini, Chickpeas and Pita Bread on the Shopping List

Because I am SO making this, as soon as I can. A green salad with feta and tomatoes and you can call it Dinner.
Cook's Illustrated Restaurant-Style Hummus

Soup: The Series

I thought it might be fun to do a weekly installment on soup. Planning to make a soup each week will give me the opportunity to try some new recipes that are piling up and revisit some favorites too. It all started with this yoga class I signed up for. Dinner is tough on yoga night (Wed.) I want to eat early so I don't have to come home and eat late after class. Dear husband doesn't like to eat the minute he gets home from work. Soup proved to be the solution. I can make the soup in the daytime and eat when I want. Dear husband can reheat the soup when he's ready for dinner (and supplement with cheese as he is known to do.)

This is a great one to start with. It's a little different tasting than regular chicken soup, but still comforting and familiar. I like that it uses leftover chicken because we regularly have that around our house. Saffron is the only unusual ingredient and I really think you could leave it out. The lemon and thyme flavors are what stand out in this soup. The lemon is the best part. It gives it sort of a Meditteranean taste. And I think it would be wonderful if you weren't feeling so good. I halved this entire recipe because I only had a cup of leftover chicken and because I was trying it for the first time. Also I used fresh corn, cut from the cob, and I simmered it in the broth for the last 10 minutes with the vegetables. I will definitely make this one again and I might consider adding another veg, like spinach toward the end. I highly recommend this one. It's even better the next day.

Golden Chicken, Corn & Orzo Soup

by Jennifer Armentrout

To learn more, read the article:Quick & Delicious: Weeknight Comfort Food
Serves five to six as a main course.

ingredients

2 Tbs. olive oil

2 large ribs celery, finely diced

1 medium onion, finely diced

1 pinch saffron threads

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

2 qt. homemade or low-salt chicken broth

2 cups finely diced or shredded cooked chicken (such as leftover roast chicken)

1/2 cup orzo

1 cup frozen corn

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

3 Tbs. fresh lemon juice; more to taste

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

how to make

tip: You might wonder why the orzo is cooked separately. There are two reasons. If you boiled the orzo directly in the soup, the starch from the pasta would cloud the soup broth, and the orzo would also suck up too much of the soup broth as it cooked. Boiling the pasta separately solves both of these problems.

Bring a medium saucepan of well-salted water to a boil over high heat. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the celery, onion, saffron, and thyme. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables start to soften, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer, add the chicken and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes. While the soup simmers, cook the orzo in the boiling salted water until tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain.

Add the drained orzo, corn, and parsley to the soup and cook just until the corn is heated through, about 2 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and season to taste with salt, pepper, and more lemon juice, if needed.

From Fine Cooking 74, pp. 90c