Potage Parmentier

Whatever you think of the French language (and I still have nightmares about it) it can sure make the simple sound divine. In English this is called Potato-Leek Soup. Easy to spell, to the point, and has all the sex appeal of a chubby man in overalls. But "Potage Parmentier?" That just sounds like something a sultry French beauty would say in a dark nightclub. This recipe is adapted from Julia Child's recipe. The original is from her "Mastering the Art of French Cooking."

Ingredients:

3 large Russett potatoes, chopped
5 medium leeks, trimmed and sliced thin
2 tbsp vegetable oil
6 cups stock (I use Chicken only because I almost never have vegetable stock on hand)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 lemon

For the garnish:
2 tbsp red pepper, minced
1 green onion, sliced
1-2 pieces of bacon, chopped fine
4 oz goat cheese

In a large stock pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the potatoes, leeks and a hefty pinch of salt and cook until the leeks turn soft and the potatoes just start to brown (about 10 min). Add the stock and bring to a boil. Drop the heat to low and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup. Check for seasoning. Add the buttermilk, and simmer for 10 minutes.

You can add more buttermilk if you like, up to one full cup. I love buttermilk in recipes like this. It's lower in fat than cream but still adds a lot of flavor and richness. The acidity can really brighten up a soup or sauce - I find cream can sometimes overpower.

Cut a disc of goat cheese and place in the center of a shallow bowl. Ladle the soup around the cheese. Sprinkle with the red pepper, green onion and bacon. Give each bowl a light squeeze of lemon - don't overdo it!

This soup is delicious by itself, but would also be a great "canvas" for adding other flavors. Blue cheese and bacon comes to mind, for example. Instead of goat cheese and the garnish, ladle a bowl full of soup and add 1-2 tablespoons of blue cheese and sprinkle with bacon. Or shred a little potato, fry then up into string fries and add for a little crunch. You really can't go wrong!

Bolognese!

I've been working on my Bolognese recipe. This is one of my favorite sauces of all time, and if I see it on a menu I have a hard time resisting. The recipe as it stands right now is really darn good, but I'm hoping to work on it until I have greatness. Any thoughts or comments are appreciated.

Ingredients:
2 med. onions, chopped fine
3 ribs of celery, chopped fine
2 medium carrots, chopped fine
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
6oz can tomato paste
1 cup white wine
1 cup whole milk
1 cup chicken stock
1 tsp dry thyme
Olive Oil
Salt & pepper

Add about 3 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots and celery and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Raise the heat to medium high. Add the meat and brown. Now add the milk and bring to a rapid simmer. Lower the heat back to medium. Allow the meat to cook until all of the milk appears to have evaporated out. Now add the remaining ingredients and simmer all afternoon. If you don't have all afternoon, let it go all evening and eat it the next day.

You can add a little cream at the end , and I do sometimes. It's really, really good either way, but again just falls short of greatness.

The picture is from leftovers. Normally I cook lasagna noodles and make fresh lasagna that way. Just layer sauce, noodle, sauce, noodle, sauce. Top with shredded parmesan.

Holmes Elementary Harvest Celebration

Each spring my daughter's new school plants a large garden. Then in the fall they have a harvest celebration, featuring foods made from that same garden. The PTO delivers ingredients to parent volunteers, and they make a dish. The kids get to try some new foods, and get great experience seeing where and how food really gets on to their table. Here is the line for the Harvest Buffet:

I volunteered to make a soup from the bell peppers (recipe follows). The turn out was amazing - there must have been several hundred people from the community there, and dozens of volunteer chefs. There were several versions of bruschetta, a couple soups, numerous salads, a couple sweet breads (zucchini and carrot) and basil lemonade!

Unfortunately, my soup was a hit which means there were no left overs for (a) a picture for the blog or (b) me freezer! Next time I'm making a triple batch.

Roasted Yellow Pepper Soup

This is an easy soup to make, requiring little in the way of fancy preparation or ingredients.

Ingredients:
6 Bell Peppers (I like 5 yellow and 1 orange)
1 Med Onion, Chopped
2 Stalks Celery
2 Cloves Garlic
1 Bay Leaf
Sprig of Thyme
1 cup Buttermilk
1/2 tbsp Cumin (fresh ground is best)
1 qt. Stock (chicken or vegetable)

Cut the peppers into wedges cleaning out the interior seeds and membrane. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and put into a 500 degree oven. Roast for 15-20 minutes turning once. You want to see some nice carmelization on the wedges. Put aside to cool.

Put some oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and celery with some salt and cook until the onions are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the thyme, bay leaf and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes more until fragrant. Add the peppers and cook for another 5 minutes, than add the stock. Bring to a boil, then drop the heat to low. Add the cumin and stir. Cook for 30-60 minutes, covered, over low heat. The longer you can cook it the better the flavor will be. Remove the bay leaf and thyme stem and puree the soup. I like to use a stick blender. This saves moving hot soup from pot to blender and back. I bought mine at Target I think for about $25:

About 5 minutes prior to service raise the heat just a tad and add the buttermilk. Stir to combine and do a final seasoning check.

I like to serve the soup with a dallop of sour cream and maybe garnish with a few chives. The soup freezes really well.

Grilled Scallops with Korean Barbecue Sauce

We had good friends over last weekend for a little sup. We hadn't seen them in quite a while and we had originally planned to do one of our entertaining favorites: Schmidt Scallops. That recipe was an adaptation of an old family recipe of my wife's for chicken. It's essentially a vinaigrette marinade. Let the scallops marinade for an hour then grill. But this time I decided to try something new. I had made a Korean taco recipe a while back. While the recipe itself needed work, the sauce was pretty good. I tweaked it of course - isn't that half the fun? - and made a jar full. Here is the recipe for the sauce:

Ingredients
3 tbsp Sugar
1 or 2 tbsp Sriracha (to taste - 2 tbsp makes a pretty fiery sauce)
2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp Mirin

Throw all the ingredients together and stir to combine. If you want to mellow the sauce a bit add 1tbsp orange juice.

To grill scallops you want a small but hot fire. Let the grill get good and hot, then scrape it off well. Then oil it using vegetable oil. Put a tbsp on a paper towel and use tongs to rub the grill area where you'll put the scallops. Season the scallops then put on the grill. You will need to watch them carefully. When they look about 1/3 cooked through, about 2-3 minutes. Gently flip them with tongs. You may need to use the tong as a mini spatula. Be gentle so they don't fall apart. Cook another 1-2 minutes. I like mine still milky but just warmed up in the middle. If you like yours more well done, leave them on a minute or two longer.

Remember, you start with sushi. After a few minutes they are grilled, a few minutes later they are charcoal. Better a minute less than a minute more.

We served this with a spicy Indian greenbean salad (recipe coming in a few days) and some good crusty bread.

Lemon Pasta: My Daughter's Favorite Dish

Assuming nothing has changed in the last 24 hours (never a good assumption with a 10 year old daughter), my daughter's favorite dish is lemon pasta. It is a recipe I've tweaked from one published in Cook's Illustrated a while back. When there are left overs we freeze them and put them in her lunch for school. Sorry no picture this time. It all got eaten before I could grab my camera.

Ingredients

1lb spaghetti (rotini and fettucine also work well)
1/4 heavy cream
1 medium shallot, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
zest of 1 lemon
fresh basil to taste (I use about 1/4 of finely shredded lemon basil)

Cook the pasta in well salted boiling water until just done. Reserve 2 cups of the cooking liquid and drain. Add the oil to the pot and cook the shallots over medium heat until soft - about 3 minutes. Add 1 cup of the reserved cooking liquid and bring to a boil. Whisk in the cream, simmer for 2 minutes, then turn the heat as low as it will go. Return the pasta to the pot and stir to coat. Add the lemon juice and basil stir/toss again. Check the consistency of the sauce - it should be thick and luscious. If needed add a quarter cup of the cooking water and toss/stir untilwell combined. Check again, adding water until the sauce is the desired consistency. While tossing the pasta, add the Parmesan and lemon zest a little at a time. If you add the Parmesan all at once you'll get big clumps instead of a nice bit of cheese throughout the dish.

Serve immediately. Garnish with a bit more basil. If you like spicy, adding a lot of black pepper is delicious!

Spicy Carrot Salad: An Old Standby

This recipe is a variant of a Moroccan dish. It has become one of my go-to appetizers, especially when I'm taking it to a party. It can be made ahead, and is easy to transport. The original uses sliced carrots, but I shred them and then make individual portions by using Belgian Endive as the plate - edible and convenient. I also like to add this and that for color and a bit of interesting flavor.

Ingredients:

1lb carrots
1 cup chicken stock
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced or made into paste
1 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp water
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp hot smoked paprika

Belgian Endive 2 or 3 large heads

Peel the carrots and simmer in the stock for about 10 minutes until tender, but not mushy. Drop them in an ice bath to cool down. Shred using a box grater or food processor. Put the carrots in a bowl with the remaining ingredients except the endive. Toss to combine. Spoon a tablespoon or so onto a leaf of the endive.

I frequently add different accent ingredients to the dish just for a change of pace. In the photo above I added about 1 1/2 tbsp of dried cranberries and the same amount of diced jicama. Other additions to consider would be pickled onions, raisins, parsley or chives, diced cucumber...really the options are wide open.