Homemade Soup

Sorry for the hiatus! We were off in Scotland and England. I finally sampled some haggis, which was not at all what I expected, and delicious. Now for today's recipe...this is one straight from my mom, and done frequently from memory, so you'll have to understand that a lot of the measurements are approximate. This is a soup that my mom made when I was a kid in order to use up leftover tomato sauce and other tidbits. I suppose you could say this is a sort of vegetable soup, or Minestrone. In principle though it is truly a soup of leftovers because you can add anything you want, but I generally follow this formula: tomato sauce + potato + red bean + white bean + pasta + extras (usually green veggie). My mom often changed the "extras", sometimes adding frozen veggie medleys, leftover meatballs or sausage, or fresh veggies like zucchini. Of course, depending on what you decide to add, this is a generally well balanced and healthy meal.

Homemade Soup
time: about 45+ min(30 min prep)
servings: 6ish

- 1 jar (24oz) tomato sauce (yes, choice of sauce is really important because it adds seasoning. I love Classico Four Cheese - perfect blend of flavor and the traces of cheese add some salt. Use this if you can get it.)
- 96oz water (conveniently, fill up that jar 4 times and you get the proper amount, plus clean out all the sauce)
- 2 medium potatoes (russet baking work well)
- about 6-7oz soup pasta (less than half of a standard 1lb bag) like small shells, small bow ties, or ditalini
- 1 can (16oz) dark red kidney beans
- 1 can (16oz) great northern or garbanzo (chic peas) beans
- 1 can (14.5-16oz) cut green beans (or fresh, see "variations")
- white pepper (this can be a little expensive. Black pepper is a fine substitute, but I prefer the different flavor of white when available)
- italian seasoning
- 1 small bay leaf (or half large)
- salt

Dump the sauce into a large pot - at least 5 quarts. Add the water and stir until blended. Shake in some white pepper (about 4-5 good shakes) and italian seasoning (8-9 good shakes), add the bay leaf, and about 1/2 teaspoon of salt (more salt if you use sauce without cheese). All the seasoning is to taste, so you should really do this by adding a little, stirring, tasting, repeat, until you find what you like. Stir, cover, and heat on high until boiling. While waiting, peel, rinse, and cut up the potatoes. How small? Whatever you like, but the smaller the potato the faster it cooks (however tiny pieces really aren't appealing, I think). Boiling should take about ten minutes; when ready add the potatoes and turn the heat down to medium. Let the potatoes soften for about ten minutes (cover pot). After the wait, stir in the pasta. Continue stirring for a minute or two to prevent sticking and then stir occasionally while you wait another ten minutes (NOT covered). Meanwhile, drain and rinse all three beans. Combine in a medium bowl, mixing well. When the ten minutes has passed, add about 2/3 to 3/4 of the mixture to the soup. Turn the soup to low and let it simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes (or longer). I like to add a little grated parmesan to each bowl when serving. Cooling and storing: don't stick the whole pot directly in your fridge! Keep the lid off and let it cool for a couple hours. The pasta will continue to absorb water and expand, so don't be alarmed (but that's why you should be careful not to add too much pasta). Then divide in smaller containers for the fridge or freezer. P.S. don't eat the bay leaf.


variations
When I add extras, I usually replace the canned green beans entirely:
- if using tough fresh veggies like green beans, add after the potatoes and before the pasta. You'll need to wait another ten minutes in between each ingredient. By the way, kitchen scissors make snipping the ends and cutting up a breeze.
- soft fresh veggies like zucchini should go in with the beans
- very delicate fresh veggies like spinach or kale should go in about 5 minutes before serving
- frozen veggies can be added after the pasta, wait a few minutes before adding the beans
- cooked meats can be added a little before the beans



bonus: tri-bean salad
What to do with those leftover beans? Add some olive oil and balsamic vinegar, mix well, refrigerate for a bit, and enjoy!

Sausage Stuffed Zucchini

Last saturday Rob and I finally made it to the Austin Farmer's Market downtown. I hadn't really thought about dinner for the week, but then I came across these extra wide, striped zucchini. Just next door, another farmer had delicious looking grape tomatoes. Suddenly I remembered a dish my mom used to make, although I don't think she ever used the little tomatoes, just sausage and garlic. This recipe can also be made with regular zucchini or even the cute little round ones (What? You didn't know that there were so many kinds of zucchini?!), but remember to make less filling. Also, it can be a bit frustrating to try and stuff the smaller zucchini. Oh, and I should warn you that I sort of just tried things as I went, so the recipe is only approximate...use your judgement, you really can't go wrong.

Sausage Stuffed Zucchini
time: 40 minutes (20 prep)
servings: 2 dinners, 4 appetizers or sides

2 large, wide zucchini (the striped ones) or 4 regular, narrow
1/2 pound of Italian sausage (use bulk or release meat from casings)
1 cup of grape or pear tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
olive oil
salt

Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise. Using a grapefruit spoon or a lot of effort, remove the seedy, soft middle of the zucchini. Save about half of the insides for the filling. Brush your little boats with some olive oil (oiled paper towel works if you don't have a brush) and put them in the oven on 350 for about 20 minutes (less for the narrow type of zucchini). I'm really not sure of the exact time and it will vary by zucchini anyway. Check after about ten minutes. You want the vegetable to become tender, but not to dry out or burn. While the zucchini are roasting, lightly mash the reserved zucchini insides, cook the sausage in a skillet, and cut all of the tomatoes in half. Combine these in a bowl and mix well. Dice the garlic as small as possible. If you like the flavor of raw garlic mix it directly into the bowl of other ingredients. If you like a milder flavor, first cook the garlic in the pan used for the sausage (mmm, drippings!), but not more than a minute. Salt the mixture to taste (I don't recommend more than 1/2 teaspoon, but it's to your taste). Add about half a tablespoon of olive oil and mix well. When the boats are tender, take them out of the oven and very carefully (ie, without burning yourself), fill each with a few spoon fulls of the mixture. Stuff them as much or as little as you'd like. If you end up with leftover filling just eat it. Sausage is always delicious! Return the boats to the oven and cook for about another 15 minutes. The tomatoes should start to look juicy and wilty.


If you want to add something special, sprinkle a little parmesan on top before serving.

onions, garlic, and oil....oh my!

Just a few tips on some very common ingredients and how to easily manage them. I'm sure some of you are familiar with these ideas already, but I'd figured I'd share for those who do a little less cooking.

Onions

Onions can be a pain, especially when you need to chop or dice a large quantity. From watching my mom and Rob's mom I've picked up this quick method to easily dispatch onions and end up with perfectly sized pieces:

1. After peeling, cut the onion vertically from stem end to root end. You should be cutting through both ends so that each half still has its own root and stem. If you do this incorrectly, you'll end up with one half with an intact stem, and one half with an intact root.


2. Place the cut side flat down on the board and slice off the stem end. Being careful not to cut through the hairy root node, make parallel vertical slices while moving from one side of the onion to the other. The spacing between the slices partly determines the size of your dicing. If you need very small pieces, make a few parallel horizontal cuts moving from top to bottom (you should be looking at the broad, flat surface of your knife, not the top edge).


3. Starting with what used to be the stem end, make vertical slices that run perpendicular to the vertical slicings you made in step two.



By the way, if you're just simply slicing or quartering onion, Mara recommends submerging them in water while cutting in order to reduce the pungent chemical release. Sharp knives always help because you crush fewer odor producing plant cells.

Garlic

I love garlic. I'm pretty sure that you can never have enough garlic in recipes that call for this ingredient, so if you have less of a fondness than I do, you might want to consider using a smaller amount in the recipes that I post. But I really don't recommend reducing your garlic! A lot of people don't like prepping garlic though because as with onions, garlic is very pungent and in addition can be quite sticky. It can also be a royal pain to remove the outer skin. That's why you need one of these:


It's just a little rubber tube that you can use to remove the papery outer skin. Simply insert clove into tube, roll around vigorously, and dump out your freshly disrobed garlic. Cut off the knobby root end of the clove and you're good to go. How to remove the sticky garlic ooze from your fingers? I've heard that rubbing your fingers in sugar works, but I've never tried that myself. If you rinse off with hot water and soap before your fingers dry, that should work. Also, surprisingly, washing up with toothpaste removes most icky things, including shark oil, which I'm sure only a small number of you ever have a problem with....

Olive Oil

You probably won't catch me using cutesy oil terms like "evoo" on here. One, olive oil is pretty much the oldest condiment on the planet and cooing "evoo" seems disrespectful in some way. Second, it reminds me of "evo", the dry food that my cats get. Third, it's really up to you if you want to buy and use this sometimes ridiculously expensive food item. Is it necessary? No. Does it really add more flavor? Yes. If money wasn't an obstacle would you use it all the time? No.

In fact, there are many situations where you should use regular or lite olive oil. One of these times is when you're going to be frying food in olive oil. Olive oil has a low smoking point, which means that when it gets very hot it burns unpleasantly. This is why olive oil is not used in deep fryers. Virgin and extra virgin have even lower smoking points than regular olive oil. In general, if you want to add a deep olive-oily flavor to food, use virgin or extra virgin. If that's not a big deal to you, or if the oil is only being used to add texture or moisture to a dish and the other ingredients will hide the flavor anyway, go ahead and use regular. Regular and lite olive oils have such a mild flavor that you can easily use them in place of canola, vegetable, and peanut oil....unless of course you're deep frying! Some quick guidelines:

- Virgin or Extra as a dressing in salads, as a condiment, in cold foods, in sauces that aren't cooked for a long time and you want the fruity olive flavor
- Regular or lite for lightly frying, sauteing, baking into foods, and for sauces where the oil is merely a vessel for holding other flavors like pepper, garlic, wine, etc.

By the way, I buy regular olive oil by the gallon or more because I use a lot if it. I buy small bottles of higher quality oil because virgin and extra don't keep as long and fresh oil tastes much better (if your oil actually goes bad, you'll know, whew). Different kinds of olives and different companies produce very differently tasting oils. Try some to see what you like. If you're really picky you might discover that you only like certain brands of oil in particular dishes! Personally I like Central Market's extra virgin because it has a nice flavor and is a super value for what you get (compare the unit prices because oils come in a ridiculous variety of bottle shapes and sizes). Always store in a cool dark place! Sunlight is evil.

Pesto

Fresh pesto, though seemingly sophisticated, is one of the tastiest and easiest recipes that you could ever ask for. Unless of course you don't like basil. There are lots of fun, modern takes on pesto using other base ingredients...sort of analogous to "italian salsa" or "mexican spaghetti", but the traditional version involves mostly fresh basil and olive oil. As I'm sure you know, pesto is great on bread or crackers as an appetizer or over pasta in place of other sauces. Other creative uses of pesto include as a topping for chicken or other meat, especially grilled, or swirled into soup as a garnish. The cheese in this recipe is optional but I think it adds a nice tang. Also I love cheese.

Pesto
Time: 5-10 minutes

2.5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh basil (must be fresh, NOT dried; very full tablespoons)
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese (grated blends better)
1 small or 1/2 large clove of garlic, peeled, "knot" cut off

Place all of the ingredients in a mini food chopper/processor or a blender. Go. If you double or triple the recipe, use proportionately less oil (don't double or triple the amount).

It's really that easy if you have a little chopper (1-3 cup electric type, see pic). If you don't have one I highly recommend getting one. They're pretty cheap and make many kitchen tasks go more quickly and easily. Also most have dishwasher safe parts. If you still refuse to get one, you can make the pesto by hand by slicing up the basil and garlic as small as possible, making sure the cheese is finely grated, and then combining everything in a bowl. By the way, it's also fairly important to use extra virgin or another good quality olive oil because the flavor is an integral part of the pesto.



For a special touch, mix in whole pine nuts (pignolis) after chopping and mixing. By the way, pesto apparently freezes really well. Many food-sites suggest freezing little portions in ice-cubes trays and then transfering the blocks to freezer bags for long-term storage. This is a great idea if you grow your own basil and want to have large amounts of pesto around for the winter. Actually, in Texas you can probably grow the stuff almost year round!