Nurturing my inner... scoop on soup

The weather has been up and down like a roller coaster for the past few weeks.  Bizzare!  Cold to hot to windy to humid.  This weekend, it was back to being a bit cooler, so I was in the mood for soup.  Glad I had some frozen and ready to go.  But this is how it all went down when I first made it last month.

Yellow Split Pea Soup

2 cups dried split peas
1/2 onion, chopped
6 carrots, chopped
3 cloves garlic, diced
4 cups chicken stock, low sodium
1 cup water
2 smoked ham hocks
4 fresh thyme sprigs
1 dried bay leaf
Salt to taste
1 1/2 - 2 lbs potatoes, diced

I've learned a lot lately about dried peas and beans.  Where I may have been concerned about the time it takes to prepare them in the past, I have learned slow cooker methods that take the place of presoaking.  (Because I never think to presoak.  I'd need to put it in Outlook to remind me.)

Ready to go!

Into my lovely Dutch oven, that is actually French, I added some olive oil, onions, carrots and garlic.  I sauteed until slightly soft.

Veggie base.

Into this one pot wonder, went everything.  Which continued with broth next.  Low sodium.  I like to control the salt myself.  That's a good cooking tip.

Could use vegetable broth if you'd like.

Also the water, thyme, bayleaf and dried peas.

The base is done.

Gird yourself up for this next part.  It's not for the faint of pork.  Meet, the smoked hamhock.  A strange and little lesser known food item for some.  A staple used in many dishes in southern cooking for others.  You can get them at the butcher or at the grocery store.  You may need to ask where they are, as I had to. 

They came three in a pack.

After I got over the initial disgust that this is a pig's leg part, which I don't know why I didn't think about that before my purchase, I remembered how much flavor this was going to add to the soup and focused on that.  Another option is to cube up a ham steak and throw that in.  (Likely my future choice.  I'm not so hearty of heart for meat in such natural form.  Ick!)

Yuck, still creepy!!

One last, yet important, ingredient: the potatoes.

Will make soup nice and creamy.

Into the oven, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours on 350.  Take out and stir occasionally.  Make sure potatoes and peas are tender and it's done.  No one likes crunchy pea soup.  If it ends up thicker than you like, just add a little hot water to thin it down before you serve.  (I kept it thick and then when I brought leftovers to work, I added a little hot tea water from the spicket when I heated it up.  Some days you like thicker soup, some days thinner hits the spot.  It's good to have options.)

Now that's ready.

The ham hocks add a delicious smoky flavor, but they also have a little bit of ham on them.  I removed the ham and set that aside, then discarded the rest.

Hammy bits and pieces.

When you're ready to eat, ladle into a bowl and garnish with the ham shreds.

Add a side of warm, multi-grain bread with
butter and you'll be set!

I have always like peas, so it's funny how I never liked pea soup while growing up.  It was the color of moss and may have well matched that in taste.  My yellow pea soup was much more like I would have imagined it should have been.  The ham hocks meaty infusion well complimented the peas, and the thyme and bayleaf added an interesting herbaceous base.  What can I say about potatoes - they always make everything better.

Not that I'm not ready for some warmer temps, but seeing as I know they are on their way and will be here full force for several months, I may as well relish in the final crisp days that are upon us with a hearty bowl of pea soup.  The weeks of gaspacho and vichyssoise are on the near horizon!

Nurturing my inner... dinner and a movie

Friends.  You just never know where you may find them.  In fact, sometimes they are hiding, lurking even, in the darndest of all places.  Like running class.  What can go from 25 complete strangers can dwindle down in two months to the dedicated (or codependent) 10.  Much like war buddies, we have been deeply bonded by hard times.  Running eight miles in the heat trying not to throw up, getting lost on the Glade Loop when our coach calls every run (no matter which direction we go in) "The Glade Loop," spitting in public which is not exactly becoming for any girl.  Oh yes, the dark side of the sport is now exposed.  So to show some love to my buddies, both male and female, who keep me from seeming like an awkward social outcast (as best they can), I asked them to come over for some grub and a film.  (A running film.  Note the theme.)  We had met early on our day off this morning (now that is dedication... or foolishness - who can say) to run a few in the 25 degree morning chill, so they earned this meal.

(Special note: I'd also like to take a moment to say never undervalue the gift of friends who are available.  It is a great display of care and importance to give your time to someone.)

But what to make?  As to not let you think we're super human health nuts, you'll recall the burger place we went to yesterday, this was my attempt at doing something a little on the lighter side.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 regular-sized rotisserie chicken, picked
1 onion, diced
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 can tomato paste
1 can corn, drained
1 can cannellini beans, rinsed & drained
1 can tiny white beans, rinsed & drained
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 tbsp chili seasoning
2 carrots, diced
2 small zucchini, diced
2 dried bay leaves
1/4 tsp salt
6 cups chicken broth
6 corn tortillas, cut into 1 inch pieces

Toppings

Shredded Mexican cheese blend
Sour cream (I used light)
Avocado, chopped
Fresh cilantro, chopped
Fresh lime, wedged

Don't be frightened by that list of ingredients.  You'll throw it all in the pot together and leave it for four and a half hours.  Or more.

Start by pulling out that trusty slow cooker or a dutch oven.  Throw in the zucchini, carrots, onion, diced tomatoes, beans, corn, garlic, cumin, chili powder, salt and bay leaves.  Pour the broth on top of it all.

Gotta love just tossing everything in one
pot at the same time! Looks like
food confetti!

Next add the rotisserie chicken.  (I get every bit.  Put in the time when removing the meat and you'll find you get a lot of chicken from one little bird.)

Perfectly picked. Dark and light. Good flavor.

I decided to add in a some tomato paste to make the flavor richer.

Just keep adding what you like. Other veggies.
Different kinds of beans.

And lastly, five corn tortillas cut into 1 inch squares.  Mix it all up and turn on your slow cooker for 4 - 6 hours.  Stir every 30 minutes or so.  Just to make sure nothing is stuck or burning on the bottom.

Make sure they are corn tortillas. Flour
ones no good in here.

It smelled SO good.  But I had to wait until 5:45 pm when everyone arrived.  Good thing my friends show up on time.  (My stomach is an impatient dinner hostess.)  I let each ladel out some generous bowls and sprinkle on whatever toppings they wanted.  Make sure you have large spoons as your tools of choice.  No room for dainty utensils at this party.  Get comfy on the sofa and press play on Netflix streaming video.

We watched "The Spirit of the Marathon," remained in awe of the one girl in the group who has actually run that daunting 26.2 miles, and dreamed of being one of the people to cross that finish line in victory!  Yes, dreamed.  A dream never meant to be actualized by me.  As there is NO blooming way on earth I'm running that far, ever, without someone blackmailing me or chasing me with a taser.

So perfect on a cold, cold, mighty cold day.

The movie was inspiring (with witty commentary courtesy of my buddies) and the soup was substantial and oh so good for us.  Nice combo.  What moved me the most was that some of the people featured in the documentary were just regular folks like us.  Trying, failing, trying again.  Some were also world class athletes.  Trying, failing, trying again.  Perhaps the elite athletes were in a different class than Joe Average, but in the end, they all were not so different in some ways.  And while most of us may never run a full marathon, some people in my class have run half marathons, 10 milers, trail runs, crazy mud obstacle courses and other long distance variations.  Every mile counts - that's my motto!  So cheers to my pals!  For their dedication in logging all those miles on ordinary, subzero, windy Saturdays and making me do it with them... even though I whine every time I have to get out of bed before 8:00 am on my day off.  Hope you enjoyed some comfort food and watching other people run for a change.

Nurturing my inner... get back up again

Since it's "fall," it appears I had a literal interpretation of the season this year and did just that.  My first crashing tumble while running.  Let me give you some details.  (Like you could possibly stop me.)

As I have done every Saturday for the past four months, I went to my long distance running class, even though I was super tired from particularly late work hours this past week.  That's what you have to do with running - make a commitment.  No excuses.  My run was going okay: not terrible, but not stellar.  Somewhere in between.  I was glad I had a friend by my side going the same pace, so it made for a relaxed, comfortable time and kept me going during the moments I was feeling slightly apathetic about forward motion.  We were on the trails, which are paved, but there was a ton of debris on them from the recent storm.  (Which included a tornado with ghastly 45 degree angle downpours of hard rain.)  Branches, nuts, leaves, rocks, mud and water were left everywhere, so we were very careful to slow our pace, take the down hills particularly gingerly and step onto clear spaces whenever possible.  It wasn't a day to rush.  (Which was good, because we didn't miss the family of six deer that were within feet of us at one point.)  There was a time when my running buddy had stepped onto an acorn or something and almost twisted her foot.  A bit later, I think I hit a rock and did the same slight tripping move.  We were both fine though.  Nothing major.  That is to say, until...

Yeah, well, so much for my being "careful."  It all happened quite quickly.  In an instant, really.  There was a moment when I was trying so hard to catch my balance and then WHAM, onto the asphalt.  The full force of my weight landing hard on my knees and me catching my upper body with my palms as I skidded forward like a kicked empty soda can.  After the initial realization that I had a fight with gravity and lost, I looked back and saw there was about a 2.5 in diameter short piece of stick that had been hidden under some leaves.  I never could have seen it.  I think I stunned my buddy who wasn't quite sure what happened to me because in the blink of an eye I had gone from upright to horizontal.  Looking back she said I actually appeared to hover there in the air for a moment. Probably for that split second when I was working overtime to try and right my very wronged angle as I was saying to myself, "Oh my, the ground is coming up awfully quickly!!"

Wow, no fun.  Certainly one of the most embarrassing three seconds of my life.  Yet, I got up and dusted myself off, glad I had on running capris instead of shorts so at least that helped to minorly protect my knees that were now quite banged up.  A quick wipe of my bleeding hands and we began walking again.  Unfortunately, we were about halfway out and still had a couple miles back yet to run.  This is how you know you're really a runner: after a short walk to the next intersection, I said, "Let's go."  Maybe it was the Adrenalin from my super speedy plunge to earth, but the second half of my run was actually better than my first - sans the painful right knee and throbbing, bleeding left hand.  As another friend said later - take pride, these are your battle scars!  (We runners are messed up!)

Some soap and water to clean up my boo boos back at the store and a couple coffees later, I needed to head home to ice my poor knee.  (That was likely going to divorce itself from my body even after I apologized for falling on it with all one hundred and *muffled sound* pounds of me at high velocity.)

Needless to say, that night I wasn't in the mood to stand and cook.  But I was craving some comfort food.  Thank goodness my fridge held some I had made recently that was ready to go.

Potato Leek Soup

2 lbs peeled, diced potatoes
1 large leek sliced in half and then into 1/4 inch strips
4 cups chicken stock
4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 tbsps unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt (to taste)
Splash of heavy cream
Dollop of mascarpone cheese

This is how I made it.  All started with a couple pounds of potatoes.  I got some slightly waxy ones.  Thought they would be extra creamy.

Different sizes are fine. They will be diced.

To prep things, I peeled and diced the potatoes and put them in water so they wouldn't brown.

Make them about the same size chunk.

Into the pan I was going to make the soup, my Le Creuset 5 1/2 quart French Oven, I added the butter and turned it on medium.  As it melted, I threw in the leeks and sauteed until translucent.

Gotta love a one pot meal.

If you have the time to make chicken broth, then sure, do that.  I used the box, which I think isn't a bad substitute.

Do I get points for it being organic at least?

Add the stock and fresh thyme and bring to a boil.  Then add the potatoes.  Bring back up to a boil, then turn down to a simmer and cover.  Cook for about 15 - 20 minutes or until a knife can go through the potatoes easily.

A simple combination that will bring complex
flavor later.

I don't own an immersion blender, so I did an easy two step process.  (After I removed the thyme twigs.  Don't forget that part.)  First came out the potato masher.

Such a handy tool.

Into the pot went the masher and I, well, mashed stuff.  Just a little bit.  To scale down the large pieces.

Easy with soft potatoes.

I wanted a slightly creamier consistency than I was getting with just the masher though, so for the second part of the process, I took half of the soup and put it into a regular blender.  (Warning: Do this carefully because it's hot and when you stop the blender and take the lid off, the bubble will burst when it settles and you could get hot soup on you.  You may want to do it in two small batches and wait a minute.)  Pour the blended portions back into the pot and stir all together.

Now that's perfect!  Creamy, but also with
some texture left.

I don't like to freeze things with milk or cream in them if possible, so I put some soup into one cup containers that I popped into the deep freeze for another day and left some in the fridge.  Into my bowl that night, after I heated it up, I added a little heavy cream and stirred it all up well.  Then I added a dollop of mascarpone cheese because I happened to have some around.  Once it started to melt, I was able to stir that in as well.  The soup was so creamy and comforting.  Made boo boos all better.

Mini mascarpone floating island.

The other great idea I got was that I remembered I had some cooked turkey bacon in the fridge from breakfast the day before, so I crumbled that on top as well.  I mean, potatoes and bacon together.  If that doesn't inspire wellness, I'm not sure what would.

It's funny, but you'd be surprised how many runners take a spill now and then.  That was news to me!  I had friends who have done the same thing (as recently as last week) post their stories to my social networking page, telling me all about their nose dives to the ground.  Seems like we're all in good company.  (One girl even said she takes a spill every few months.  Now that is something!)  One thing I know is true about all of us; though we may fall, we get back up again.  And we keep running.  (Which really is a great model for life in general.)  Of course, that doesn't preclude us from sitting on the sofa that evening with a cold ice pack to comfort bruised body parts and a warm bowl of soup to comfort bruised egos.  There has to be healing time.  For the inner and outer us.

Lesson learned: Sooner or later, we're all going to fall down.  Every one of us.  So get back up again.  You've got much more left to do.

Nurturing my inner... hearty fall soup

I'm going to try and write this out fast.  In part because 1.) I'm cooking a lot and that ironically leaves little time to write about cooking.  2.) I've been going to bed WAY too late.  Night owl + me = *yawn*  Why is it creative people always seem to feel motivated to do things starting at like 11:00 pm?

I have never made anything with kale in my entire life.  The most interaction I've ever had with the leafy green is that I used to work with a guy named Kale and always wondered why he was named after a vegetable.  (Perhaps he had a sister named Swiss Chard.)

The sign at the Farmers' Market said, "First pick of the season."  And the sign on me often says, "Sucker for good advertising," so, of course I bought a huge bunch.  Then I thought, okay, so, now what?  Well, how about a warm, hearty, winter-is-getting-closer-with-each-passing-day-so-like-it-or-not-you'd-better-get-ready-for-it soup?

Sausage, Kale, Potato & Bean Soup

1/2 lb sweet Italian sausage
1 lb kale, rough chopped
2 russet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 can of navy beans, drained
3 cups chicken broth (Or Trader Joe's packets added to water)
6 sprigs of fresh thyme
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt

I'm glad I remembered the idea of this soup that I had at a friend's house probably 18 years ago.  (Yes, I have amazing food memory, but don't ask me something historical like when the war of 1812 was, because I'm just not sure.)  As for the soup, I recall it had kale and potatoes in it and was somewhat brothy.  I figured, surely I can whip something up that is similar.  Or, dare I dream, even better...

Introducing: My five and a half quart dutch oven from Le Creuset, in "Dune."  Ta da!  (clapping)  Big purchase, oh yes.  Outlet, coupons, saving up, blah, blah, blah, you know how I roll.  I contemplated buying the oval one, but decided the round just might be a bit more versatile.  I had hopes of making Ina Garten's boeuf bourguignon that I've thought about for approximately four years now, but just haven't gotten to that quite yet.  So before I do inside stove cooking, I needed to do on top of stove cooking in this beauty of a pot.

I need a special spotlight for my prized
possession. Isn't it gorgeous!

Kale is a pretty leafy green.  Has purplish stems.  Very fashionable.  Yet, it needs a slight bit of prep.



It was a BIG bunch, that's for sure.

One thing you have to do, sadly, is remove those pretty stems because you just want the greenage.  That's where all the nutrition is and not all that fibrous stuff that you would just end up chewing and chewing until the cows came home.  (The cows of course don't mind the chewing and chewing, but you do.)



Fan them out flat.


It's super easy.  Honestly, you're not trying to wrestle an alligator today.  We'll save that for another day.  After you've given them a good rinse, just grab the stem and pull up toward the leaf.  As soon as you can say, "Bob's your uncle," (though my uncles had names more like Sal, Joe and Tony) you're done.


So like, that's it? Yep, that's, like it.

Go ahead and give them a rough chop, put them in a bowl and set them aside. Because you've got other things to do.



I thought I was the star of this dish?

I went for a combined shot here.  Not that photographing potatoes isn't exciting (second *yawn*), but I'm an artist and my muse said "group photo!"  (You gonna argue with your muse?  I didn't think so.)



Attention taller ingredients, please line up
in the back. Everybody smile.

Not these two again?  Oh yeah.  They come to almost every party.  Very A list.


Additional flavors need to be added to
jazz up the potatoes and kale.

Normally I like to slice garlic, but this is soup.  So I needed a finer dice.  I'm fairly certain not many people want to bite into a big hunk of garlic when they are having soup.  But if you do, hey, I don't judge you and your odd food habits.  (Weirdo.)



That seems like a lot for some reason.
Maybe the dish is just really small.

The onion doesn't have to be as finely chopped as the garlic, but again you don't want pieces that will really take over any one bite.  Soup is very much a harmonious type of food.  All the parts of it blending together so that no one ingredient steals the show.  Soup is one of the most humblest of meals.


"White on white." Which was actually the name of
a painting in one of my Art History classes. I took
issue with my professor on it. (I'm now infamous
because of the moment I stumped her.)

Olive oil, garlic and onions in on medium heat.  I LOVE how these enamel covered cast iron pans cook.  The heat moves slowly and evenly, so things do not burn.  I really want everyone to go out and buy one.  And I don't even work for Le Creuset.  Get that piggy bank filled up.



Less chance of cooking too fast and burning
 than a traditional pan. Amazing!


I chose russet potatoes for this dish.  Many recipes I perused seemed to prefer those in soup.  I think they end up with a great texture that suits liquids.  I figured I didn't know any better, so I'd follow their advice like a sheep.

Sort of made me crave steak fries. Shake it off,
back to soup. Save fries for another day.

So I halved them, then cut them into strips and then into cubes that were about 1/2 inch square-ish. (I mean, hello, potatoes are oval, so you get odd-shaped pieces.)

Carbs.  Yea!

After your onions and garlic have cooked down a little and have become translucent and pliable, it's time to brown the sausage.  Yep, in the same pan.  Try to break it up some and toss it in there.  Stirring from time to time.

See, no burn on the onions.

Of course you can use homemade or canned broth, but you know I delight in the broth packets from Trader Joe's that make life a walk in the park.

This is a two cup measurer with two packets,
then I filled up half way and added one after.

Camera pans back over to the pan to see how it's all doing.  Looks done to me.  All cooked, slightly seared on each individual piece.  Good to go!

Three ingredients in, just a few more to go.

Pour in all the broth, salt and then add the potatoes. 

Yes, that bowl was heavy to hold with one
hand. I need a tripod or an assistant. Or
an assistant with a tripod.

Fresh herbs add such nice flavor and if you use them whole, you can get their woodsy, herbaceous essence without all the little bits.  So I threw in the thyme sprigs and then will take them out later. 

For some reason, I feel so French country cool
when I add in fresh herbs instead of dried ones.
I should put on an Edith Piaf CD.

I thought about this a lot before I made this decision.  I did NOT add the last two ingredients at this time.  So I'll say that I'm not sure what it would be like if you did it any other way.  I found this method gave me the results I wanted and that was good enough for me. Why did I do it this way?  Because I didn't want them to fall apart into unrecognizable nothingness.

I brought the pan up to a boil, turned it down to a simmer and covered it.  I left it that way for 15 minutes or until the potatoes were soft.  I'm sure the soup would have been just fine at this point by only adding the kale, but I just had a fierce, internally driven passion to add... beans.  Chef's intuition?  Probably not.  Because I'm not a chef.  I work on a laptop for nine hours of the day and then go home and work on a laptop some more.  I'll choose to go with, "I just felt like it, so there."

Drained and rinsed. Like how I feel when I
take a shower after a run on a hot day.

It's become a game to me to try and take good "action" shots.  This moment is no exception.  Okay, jump in beans!

In you go little legumes.

Kale is the last to go in.  The moment has arrived.

Seems like that big bowl of kale won't fit...

... but it does.

Cover again and cook for another five minutes, giving it an occasional stir. Kale wilts quickly.  After you lift off the lid, take out the sprigs of thyme, and wow, this is what you have!  A cookbook quality bowl of steamy, fall-inspired soup.  Mmm, mmm and more mmm.


You will need a big spoon. So you can get a little
bit of everything in each and every bite.

My avocado colored bowls were a perfect match.  They sit up on a slight pedestal bottom and seemed very European.  This is no time for wimpy, small bowls that only hold like three spoonfuls of this delicious, comforting soup.  I really enjoy the creamyness of the potatoes and beans, matched with the flavor of the sausage and the delicate greens.  It really is some kind of beautiful harmony going on here.


Symphony in a bowl.

(Said with a Brooklyn accent.)  As for freezin' anythin' wit potatahs, yeah Mikey, I've heard tings.  Youse guys heard tings?

This is a test, this is only a test.  I've heard not to expect great things when you freeze cooked potatoes that are in soup.  Like, they just can't hold up their shape at all and they fall apart when you reheat.  Well, I am always willing to take the chance and find out for myself, so I froze some.

Left over Chinese take out containers work
super well for left over soup.

I have not unfrozen it yet to see what actually happens, but I'll say this: If the potatoes fall apart and get lost in the soup, I'll just change the name to Creamy Kale, Sausage & Bean Soup. See, no problem. It's worth a shot. Winter is a comin'...

(Side note: Yeah, it's after midnight.  Dangit!)