Ladles of Comfort

Winter is underway, which means that the temperatures are dropping to the tune of 'How Low Can You Go?' and snow is falling and winds gusts are calling.  It is that time of year once again, a time for hibernating within the warmth of home theaters and cozy media rooms, and for dining on heavier and heartier fare without guilt because the extra pounds can be concealed under bulky sweaters for the duration.

Nothing warms better than the aroma of a homemade soup simmering on the stove.  While a basic creamy asparagus soup or potato soup really only holds up as a first course, the heartiest soups can stand up as a meal.   A meal's balanced requisite protein, vegetable and carb sources are all offered in that one pot of winter goodness.

All soups begin with a stock as the liquid source.  If spending a Sunday afternoon at home with the family, consider making an extra large pot of stock for use in future soups.  The stock can be divided and frozen for easy retrieval when the cravings for soup abound.  A stock is simply water with added vegetables such as celery, garlic cloves, onions and carrots, seasonings such as sprigs of fresh herbs, whole peppercorns and sea salt, and a protein such as a turkey carcass, chicken wings or shrimp shells.  If you don't happen to have homemade stock available, a good quality stock from the supermarket can work just fine in a pinch.  Read the labels and be sure to choose one that lists only the same basic natural ingredients that you would use at home.  I like Kitchen Basics, but there are a few others.  When using store-bought stock, add salt sparingly to your soup recipe.

Once you have your stock, plan the remaining ingredients.  Stick to a theme or ethnicity and select ingredients accordingly.  Plan for vegetables, meat and carbs in the soup.  Carbs can be pasta, rice, potatoes, corn or beans.  Some vegetables need to simmer longer, such as carrots, while others, such as spinach or escarole, can be stirred in at the last minute until wilted.  Many soups begin by sautéing onions, garlic or shallots in olive oil or butter before adding the stock and remaining ingredients.

Whether preparing a soup or chowder, little is needed to accompany this one dish entree.  A simple green salad and an interesting bread, such as garlic toasts or cheesy rolls or Italian bakery bread studded with olives and rosemary are all you need.  Sorry, Atkins worshippers, soup demands bread with dinner like peanut butter demands jelly.

Try the recipes for my Mediterranean Roasted Eggplant Soup and Chicken corn chowder Here are three more recipes to try, starting with a first-course soup.  Once you make them and experience the big rewards from minimal labor, you'll abandon the mass-produced packaged soups in the cans.  So stock up on stock, and with a quick trip through the express lane of your supermarket you'll heat things up on those blustery days ahead.

Pot of Gold Potato Leek Soup

Ingredients:

2 leeks, thoroughly rinsed to remove sand, chopped

4 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

2 tablespoons butter

4-5 cups chicken stock

Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste

4 teaspoon snipped fresh chives

butter for garnish

Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a stock pot over medium heat.  Add the leeks and saute for about five minutes.  Stir in the potatoes.  Add 4 cups of the stock and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are very tender.  Transfer the mixture to a blender container and puree until thick and smooth.  Return the soup to the pot and warm through, gradually adding more stock only if the soup is too thick and seasoning to taste with the salt and pepper.  Ladle into four bowls, top each serving with generous pat of butter and a teaspoon of the chives.  Makes four first-course servings.

Italian Wedding Soup

Ingredients:           

¾ pound ground beef

1/3 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

½ cup breadcrumbs

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 large egg

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

2 large cloves garlic, minced

8 cups chicken stock

½ cup acini pepe pasta

2 small heads escarole, coarsely torn

Combine beef, 1/3 cup of the cheese, breadcrumbs, egg, garlic, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl until thoroughly blended.  Lightly oil your hands with olive oil, then roll the meat mixture, a tablespoon at a time, into small meatballs. 

In a large stockpot, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat.  Add the garlic and sauté for a minute.  Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a low boil and add meatballs.  Allow to cook for approximately ten minutes, then reduce heat to a simmer.  Add pasta and escarole and simmer for another five minutes until the pasta is cooked and the escarole is wilted.  When serving, sprinkle the top of each serving with additional grated Parmesan or Romano cheese and serve with warmed crusty Italian bread or focaccia on the side.  Makes four main-dish servings.

Five Bean Soup with Ham

Ingredients:           

1 onion, chopped

3 stalks celery, sliced crosswise

1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes

8 cups vegetable broth

½ of 15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained, rinsed

½ of 15-ounce can black-eyed peas, drained, rinsed

½ of 15-ounce can dark kidney beans, drained, rinsed

½ of 15-ounce can light red kidney beans, drained, rinsed

½ of 15-ounce can pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1 pound fully cooked ham steak, diced

Freshly cracked black pepper

In a large stockpot over medium-high heat, sauté onion for about five minutes.  Add all remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for about one hour.   Makes 6 main-dish servings.

Spoon Fed

There is nothing that warms the soul like the enticing aroma and taste of a piping hot bowl of soup when the wind is howling outside and the snowflakes are tumbling down like old man winter’s confetti.  From those first aromatic whiffs within the steam that swirls up from the simmering pot to that last spoonful from your dinner bowl, soup has the ability to envelope us in warmth.

Soup is essentially liquid, such as stock, in which vegetables are cooked, sometimes with meat or seafood, sometimes with pasta or rice.  The combination is ladled into bowls and often served with toppings such as croutons, shredded cheese, sour cream, etc.  Soup is often served as a first course, but can also stand in as a main entrée accompanied by a salad and/or bread.

A soup can be served in its basic form of liquid with the vegetables and other ingredients free-floating.  It can also be pureed in a blender for a thick consistency.  Some soups are silky smooth, such as bisques which are typically pureed seafood with cream.  Other soups are very chunky, such as chowders http://cattroianoathomeinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2011/10/chowder-house-rules.html While most soups are served hot and best enjoyed on a bleak winter’s day, some variations are served cold and can be a refreshing summer repast.  Examples of chilled soups include vichyssoise, a French style thick creamy potato and leek soup, and gazpacho, a chunky Spanish tomato-based vegetable soup.

There are probably as many soup recipes as there are mouths to feed; every nation around the world celebrates their specialty.  The French have bouillabaisse, a fish soup originating in Marseille; and also that favorite made with beef broth and caramelized onions, served over bread and topped with melted gruyere cheese. The Italians have their vegetable soup that we all know as minestrone, as well as ribollita, and my personal favorite from Tuscany: the garlicky cannellini bean and escarole soup ladled over toasty bread.  Callaloo is savored in the Caribbean, as gumbo is a favorite Creole soup; the Russians serve their borscht and the Hungarians partake in goulash.  When dining on sushi, we often commence the meal with a bowl of Japanese miso soup.  Mulligatawny is an Indian-influenced curried soup, often made with lentils.  The northeastern United States makes the most of their coastal bounty with clam chowders and Maryland crab soup.  Thai restaurants feature tom yum, and who hasn’t ordered wonton soup when Chinese food is the order of the day?  I have only begun to scratch the surface here, as there are many, many more.  An even greater plethora of variety can stem from your very own kitchen.  All you need to start with is a stock, and then what gets added to that stock is only as limited as your imagination.

Soup is perhaps the most forgiving, and therefore easiest, concoction to create.  I cannot fathom why anyone would pause at the canned soup aisle of the supermarket.  Once I made a few homemade soups, I tried to sample a once-upon-a-time favorite canned soup and was disgusted.  The flavor was so artificial, what little flavor I could detect beyond the saltiness.  Canned soups rarely taste like the flavors boasted on the labels, as the excess of added salt and monosodium glutamate overwhelm the small percentage of vegetables or garlic that are actually contained, leaving a very over-processed flavor that’s really not so comforting.  While making your own stock is best when preparing a pot of soup, using a quality store-bought carton of stock is perfectly acceptable if time is not on your side.  I like Kitchen Basics brand stock because its all-natural ingredient list contains only what you would likely use if you made stock yourself, and nothing that you wouldn’t.  So if you have a little downtime on a Sunday afternoon, make a big pot of soup and then refrigerate it once it cools.  You will have soup for later in the week when you come home from the daily grind in need of some winter comfort fare, without needing the time then to prepare it.

Mediterranean Roasted Eggplant Soup

Ingredients:

2 medium eggplants, peeled, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 red onion, peeled, cut into eighths

6 garlic cloves, peeled

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper*

½ teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

Juice of 2 lemons

1 15-ounce can chick peas, drained and rinsed

1 32-ounce carton vegetable stock

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Arrange the eggplant, red pepper, onion and garlic cloves in a single layer over a cookie sheet.  Drizzle olive oil over the vegetables.  Sprinkle vegetables with salt, pepper and cayenne.  Roast in the oven for about 40 minutes, tossing once halfway through roasting time, or until the vegetables have started to brown and are soft.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool at room temperature.  Transfer the roasted vegetables and any accumulated juices to a blender.  Add the lemon juice, half of the chick peas and the stock.  Puree ingredients until thick and well blended.  Pour into a pot over medium heat and warm through, stirring in the remainder of the chick peas.  Serves 2-3.

I recommend serving this soup with pita chips; and a light sprinkling of crumbled imported feta cheese, or a dollop of sour cream, on top will make it special.

* Brian and I love spicy food – really spicy food.  If you’re squeamish with the spice, I would recommend cutting back the cayenne pepper to ¼ teaspoon.

Ode to the Pumpkin

The month of October brings forth the annual pilgrimages by all to the nearest pumpkin patch.  On Long Island, the entire eastern north fork is devoted to the quest, evidenced by the clogging traffic congestion on roads whose designers never anticipated such volume.  The surrounding wineries, farm stands and restaurants have all capitalized on the pumpkin picking weekends as they offer fall festivals which become more and more spectacular each season.  We all visit the various farms that beckon to come and pick their pumpkins - pay us to complete our harvest so we don't have to!  It's all in fun, after all what would a front porch on Halloween be without the jack-o-lantern sentries to welcome our guests?  Uncarved pumpkins of varying size and color strategically arranged with colorful mums make for a warming entrance into our homes throughout November as well.


The pumpkin is a member of the gourd family, as are other squash and, yes, the watermelon.  Pumpkins have been a crop of North America dating back to the native Indians.  Embraced by the settlers who colonized America, it quickly earned its rightful place on the Thanksgiving table as pumpkin pie, this presentation retaining the starring role in Thanksgiving tradition ever since.


This year the white pumpkin is all the rage in sophisticated fall decor since they graced the covers of home magazines.  The humble round orange pumpkin has evolved indeed to a variety of sizes, shapes and colors.  I saw white ones, I saw hunter green ones, I saw buff shades and sagey grey-green hues.  There was even a plum-purple variety on display.  With all of the choices that abound, the best laid seasonal display for your home is a carefully chosen selection of several different specimens; and then the orange guys are destined to be carved into grinning and grimacing faces to adorn the steps and porch railings that surround our front doors.


What about the ones that don't make the cut for the role of Jack?  There are pumpkin recipes galore from September through November.  We can't run away from the pumpkins that surround us.  Their flavors, enhanced with autumn spices, appear to us wherever we turn, from pumpkin spiced latte at the coffee house and pumpkin doughnuts at every bakery to pumpkin-filled ravioli in the Italian markets and pumpkin bisques in the restaurants' stock pots.   Most recipes call for using canned pumpkin; Libby's is one brand, simply pureed pumpkin without added seasonings, it is perfectly acceptable for any recipe whether sweet or savory.  However, if you have an overabundance of pumpkins that your overzealous excitement loaded into the wagon out on that  pumpkin picking expedition, why not use them up?  They do make a perfect seasonal decoration through the Thanksgiving Day feast, but we all know darned well that the day after the feast, you'll be joyously evicting those pumpkins in lieu of reindeer and snowmen.


The process should be simple enough, much like baking an acorn squash.  Take the pumpkin and halve it.  Scoop out all of the seeds - by the way, a melon baller works wonders for that task.  Lightly rub the cut side with melted butter and place, cut side down, in a roasting pan.  If the pumpkin is large, you may need to use two roasting pans and you may need to cut it into quarters or even eighths.   Generally the smaller the pumpkin, the more tender it will be.  Place in a 425-degree oven for about an hour.  Remove from the oven, flip over the pieces so that the cut sides are face-up, a spoon should easily go deep into the flesh with no resistance, otherwise return to the oven and keep checking every fifteen minutes.  Once cooked, allow to cool completely, then scoop out the flesh.  Place the flesh into a very fine-meshed sieve, place the sieve over a large bowl and allow to drain for a couple of hours.  You don't want that added liquid that seeps out to end up ruining your recipe.  Next toss the pumpkin into the food processor and puree it, then deposit it into some tupperware and you're ready to cook!  My husband Brian is already being enlisted for a repeat performance of a pumpkin bisque he made a few years ago; it was creamy, velvety bliss.


If you reserve the seeds from the pumpkin, they can be husked and toasted.  These nutty-flavored toasted pumpkin seeds, called pepitas, are healthy snacks and also often used to top soups, salads and some Mexican dishes.


Here is the recipe for my grandmother's pumpkin bread, which she passed down to me when I was engaged to be married; it has become an annual fall tradition ever since.


Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients:   
2 ½ cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2 eggs

½ cup vegetable oil

1 15-ounce can pumpkin

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease and flour two loaf pans.  Mix all ingredients.  Divide batter between two pans.  Bake for 1¼  hours.  Cool before removing from pans; do not cut until completely cooled.  Makes 2 loaves.

Alternative: for my fellow chocolate lovers out there, substitute 1 cup of chocolate chips for the raisins.  I came up with this idea and acted on it one year, to the delight of my chocolate-loving husband.  Grandma loved chocolate as well, so I do not think she would disapprove!

Warm Up Your Kitchen

Happy New Year Everyone!

What a way to start the year off, with substantial snowfall amounts all over the United States. I heard a report on the news that only one of the fifty states does not have snow on the ground somewhere today. Here on Long Island we just got slammed with over a foot of snow, added on top of snow from the post-Christmas blizzard ... we're running out of places to put it!

As the piles of shoveled and plowed snow grow higher and higher and the wind continues to blow, with evening temperatures plummeting, I for one would rather not venture out. My husband Brian and I love to dine out, always looking for that new dining experience, but admittedly we tend to delve into this dining adventure more frequently in the warmer months. By the time you figure out how to dress warm and trendy at the same time, pull on the coat, the gloves, the scarf, you feel like a mummy and then the thought of stepping outside of your cozy warm abode ... it all seems like a lot of work! In the winter months, we turn to making the kitchen really work for us.

Traditionally, the kitchen was the heart of the home. In some of the oldest homes that you can tour, you'll see that the kitchen was the largest room. This was the gathering place for the household, as it was also the warmest room with its blazing fire used to heat the area, cook, dry laundry, etc. Since everything was made from scratch, the families would hang out together in this great room where conversations were spoken and culinary magic took place in big cast iron pots.

Let the winds blow, let the snow fall. Next time you perform your grocery shopping ritual, plan as if you are going to be snowbound for a week. Oh yes, many people already do this. Before every predicted snow storm the local news station dispatches a reporter to one of the supermarkets where mobs of people have converged to shop and stock up as though Armageddon is on the horizon. But what are they stocking up on, the reporter queries? Milk, sliced bread and toilet paper! I have to laugh. This is New York, the northeast, it's winter, do these people really not expect snow to happen? And when it threatens, are they really to the point that toilet paper of all things may become an endangered commodity? Who needs sitcoms, this is live comedy right here. Instead, stock up on items that will allow you and your family to come together in the kitchen and pitch in to create a warming atmosphere as you prepare a dinner of comfort fare worthy of enjoyment in even the most severe of winters.

You will want to stock up on ingredients for stews. There are infinite numbers of recipes for beef stews as well as chicken stews, from traditional beef stew and boeuf bourgignon to coq au vin and chicken cacciatore. Cat-cooks-chicken-cacciatore-in-her-cozy-kitchen ... go ahead, now you try, three times fast! In addition to the meats, be sure you have plenty of stocks, wine for cooking (and for drinking too, of course), canned tomatoes, beans, frozen pearl onions, peas, baby potatoes, carrots, onions, fresh herbs and any other vegetables you will need for your recipe. Have plenty of stocks, beans, pastas and spices for homemade soups. Soups, chilies and stews will simmer on the stove, some stews even cook in the oven as well, and this will warm up the kitchen as will the conversations with your family and friends who come for dinner. The aromas which emanate from the stove or oven will permeate the air, thus warming the nose as well. There are so many one-dish meals you can prepare, from just about every ethnicity on the globe: Mediterranean lamb shanks, Italian pork shanks, Moroccan chicken tajines, Cuban chicken with chorizo sausage, French bouillabaise, Spanish paella, Cajun gumbos and jambalayas, the list goes on indefinitely.

Some ways to heat the kitchen using the oven include baking a dish of lasagna or homemade macaroni and cheese; and roasting a whole chicken along with some potatoes and vegetables alongside. Any baked dessert will always be a welcome component of the menu; save the ice cream maker for August and focus for these next couple of months on homemade cookies, brownies and cakes.

If you happen to own a pasta machine and you know a blizzard is coming, stock up on ingredients to make your own pasta, homemade sauce, homemade garlic bread and a tasty salad. The when the flakes start tumbling, gather the family into the kitchen and start delegating. One person makes the pasta, another makes the sauce, etc. Everyone will be rewarded by the role they played in the preparation of this meal that just may top that of your local favorite Italian restaurant, and no one had to brave the icy chills to savor it.

How about inviting a few friends for an evening of fun in the warmth of your kitchen? A pizza party is a great way for a group of people to have fun cooking together. Have a variety of toppings available, from the traditional to the 'Oh, wow, I never thought of that, yeah, that would work!' and enough balls of pizza dough to go around. Each person gets to create their own pie. If you want to introduce a little friendly competition, pick up a bottle of wine to send home with the winner of the best combination of toppings. All you need to make with this meal is a big salad and dessert. Try making some chocolate fondue and put out a platter of tidbits to dip, like fruits, shortbread cookies, pound cake, etc. Even pretzels work, there is something satiating about the combination of sweet with salty. A couple of my favorite fondues include dark chocolate with orange liquor and white chocolate with raspberry liquor. Fondues are warming desserts that can be enjoyed by a group while everyone sits around the pot, basking in the warm glow from the flame beneath it.

It may be frigid and dark outside, but it can be warm and cozy in your own kitchen. If you feel like treating yourself to something next time you browse the shelves of Williams-Sonoma or some other cooking shop near you, pick up a brightly colored large Le Creuset dutch oven. It will become your best friend every winter for the rest of your life. Another tip, don't forget to play with your food. Experiment! Traditionally stews were made from whatever happened to be on hand. Don't be afraid to deviate from a recipe. If you happen to have an extra fennel bulb sitting in your crisper that's about to be forgotten and eventually relegated to the garbage can, go ahead and chop it up and throw it into the chicken stew, why not? The favorite all-American winter comfort food is macaroni and cheese. Leave the blue box with the packet of day-glo orange stuff on the store shelf; make it yourself and you can add any cheeses you want. Use four cheeses if you want to; again, why not? This is your kitchen, not the restaurant; you are the chef tonight and you get to add whatever your creativity cooks up. Add other surprises to your mac and cheese too, like mushrooms and truffle butter or shrimp or lobster meat, for a more substantial entree. Last tip for some winter cooking, if you have accumulated some extra vegetables that you didn't need after all, say an eggplant, a zucchini and a pepper, simply cut them all up along with a couple of other vegetables you might find, roast them. Then blend them with some stock for a quick roasted vegetable soup that can be reheated and enjoyed any time.

So let it snow, just pour a glass of wine and make the executive decision to stay in and make the kitchen work for you to warm your home and your palate as you conjure up some comfort food at its absolute best. My pantry is well stocked. Another blizzard next week? Bring it on!