Tomato Soup Comfort

Do you remember those Campbell's Soup commercials where the kid comes home from school and the mom puts out a warm bowl of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich?

It always looked so warm and tasty.

Unfortunately I have always hated tomato soup as it is no longer a fresh vibrant tomato, nor is it slow-cooked tomato sauce. It's something kind of sad in a middle stage.

However, on the afternoon after we got home from London there was little in the house, I'd only grabbed a few things from the store, and it was a cool and rainy night.

I decided to attempt some tomato-ish soup and grilled cheese.

I wanted that picture from the commercial!

I started with the usual suspects of diced onion/shallot and 2 cloves of garlic in a bit of olive oil. I then added 2 carrots that I had peeled and diced. Once those had started to soften I added a pint of sliced grape tomatoes, because that was what I had grabbed at the store, and a few cups of chicken stock.

Add a pinch of dried thyme, some salt, and a bay leaf.

Simmer.

After about 20 minutes I removed the bay leaf and puréed the soup with an immersion blender.

Popped the bay leaf back in and left the soup on low heat to give it more time to combine flavors.

I happen to love having muenster cheese in my deli drawer. It's great melted over corn chips for nachos and makes nice, gooey grilled cheese sandwiches seasoned with a pinch of garlic salt.

Tip: butter the bread instead of just melting it in the pan and everything will come out evenly.

Instead of adding cream to the whole batch of soup, I just put a dollop in each serving. That means that the leftovers will freeze nicely, as dairy doesn't always freeze well in soups (it tends to separate.)

If you wanted to get really decadent, use a spoonful of mascarpone cheese instead of cream.

Happily for my arteries, I was lacking in that much decadence at the moment.

Still it was a fairly tasty meal, and very satisfying.

And while I have not come close to perfecting my recipe for tomato soup, I'm guessing this tasted a damn sight better than anything out of a can!

Sun-Dried Elbows

Super simple summer pasta?

Done.

Fresh mozzarella, marinated/rehydrated sun-dried tomatoes, fresh basil, and pasta.

Oh, and salt to season.

That's all you really need.

Dice.

Cook pasta.

Red.

If you're feeling decadent, throw a knob of butter on the hot drained pasta along with the sun-dried tomatoes.

Combine all ingredients in the still-hot pot, making an homage to the Italian flag while the mozzarella begins to soften and stretch.

Serve.

Yum.

My First Manicotti

What do you do when you only have 2 sheets of fresh lasagna left?

Make manicotti!

This may highly resemble the lasagna from my last post.

That's because I made this just a day or two after the lasagna, as I had leftovers of just about everything.

But this time I made sure to use a healthy dose of prosciutto.

The hubs and I are not vegetarians.

Yay pork!

I start out, as ever, sautéing some shallot and garlic in olive oil, and once it was translucent and fragrant, I added some diced asparagus and cooked it for about 2-3 minutes.

Season with salt.

Next I added a splash of white wine, some prosciutto cubetti, sliced sun-dried tomatoes (marinated in garlic, herbs, and olive oil), and some fresh basil ribbons.

Cook another 3-4 minutes to combine and the white wine has cooked away.

I was using the Giovanni Rana fresh lasagna sheets, so I could just lay it out to fill without any pre-boiling messing about.  Spread some fresh ricotta in a line, top that with everything from the pan, and give it a roll.

Sauce in the bottom of the pan before placing rolled manicotti.

Top with a bit more tomato sauce (just marinara from the fridge) some sliced mozzarella, a sprinkle of grated cheese and basil, and it's ready to bake in a 350º oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the top is melted and the inside is bubbly and hot.

If your finished product doesn't look aesthetically pleasing enough, at the 20 minute mark turn on the broiler and cook another 2-4 minutes, or until the cheese is brown and bubbling.

Allow to set before serving or cutting into  the manicotti.

Who knew manicotti was just an answer to leftover lasagna ingredients?!

Not Floundering For A Meal

Ha ha. Yes.
Terrible pun.
Shoot me.
Apparently I have some of my punster grandfather in me other than just the legs*.

Dinner last night was flounder, as it was on sale and every once in a while I try to feed us something a bit lighter than average for dinner. Especially since it's a relatively warm weekend for October, so the light fare feels good.

Have you ever done a search online for recipes for flounder? They are all SOOOOO boring!!! And the other 80% of them are recipes for flounder stuffed with crabmeat (of which I am not the greatest fan).
So, I did a spin on a sauce I made for chicken, and I have to say it worked great on the flounder. (Or any other white fish.)

For the cooking of the flounder, I simply patted it dry, seasoned with salt, dredged through a little flour, and cooked it in a sauté pan for about 2-3 minutes per side. It's done when you try to remove it and the friggin' thing will not stay in one piece for a pretty plating shot.

Not shown: Grandpa fresh dill, wine, stock

The above is the basis of the sauce. About half a pint of grape tomatoes, halved, 1 shallot, 2 cloves of garlic, the zest and juice of half of a lemon, about 2 tablespoons of capers, white wine and a splash of chicken stock if  you want to mellow the wine flavor a bit.

In olive oil, sauté shallot until softened (about 3-4 minutes). Then add the tomatoes and allow them to cook for 2-3 minutes, or until they look like they are starting to soften. Next add the garlic (minced or grated) and cook off for about 30 seconds, stirring well.

For 2 fish filets, I probably used about 1/4 cup of white wine and 1/4 cup of chicken stock to make the sauce. After adding the liquids, squeeze the juice from the half lemon, toss in the zest & capers, and about 2 tablespoons of freshly chopped dill.

(Reserve a bit for garnish.)

Let the sauce reduce and thicken a bit, season with salt, finish it with a tablespoon (more or less) of butter for richness and gloss, and pour over the fish.

Very tasty, and the tomatoes made it slightly different from the average lemon-butter-dill sauce.

To round out the meal I used some leftover leek & white bean purée (which I really just love, and this time did not contain mascarpone) and tossed in some peas for good measure. I enjoyed the meal, and so did the hubs.

Don't like dill? 

Try substituting cilantro. It will give a bright kick to the sauce.

But this is a light meal packed with protein and veggies.

Enjoy!

*While my face clearly resembles my mother (tho she was much more of a knockout than I ever was) the rest of my body is kind of an odd amalgamation that does not directly reflect on either side of my family in any particular way. However, when I was still a teenager, possibly 18 or so, we were looking through some old black and white photos, and my mom found one of her father at the beach wearing swim trunks. She paused for a moment, pointed and exclaimed to me, "You have grandpa's legs!"

Rock.
Maybe not exactly what every teenage girl wants to hear, but at least it solved part of the puzzle that is me.

A Twist on Chicken Parm

It's finally cool enough to cook again! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!

And to take really hot showers again!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!

(I really have missed both of those things for the past 4 months or so...)

The hubs, who is once more training for the NYC Marathon, is allowing me to ride my new bicycle (first new bike since I was about 12 or so!!!) along side him while he runs, and this morning we did a 6.5 mile circuit, turning around within about 15 blocks of the George Washington Bridge. I felt quite virtuous for not only getting outside, but exercising to boot. (Usually me = sloth)

So, I am rewarding myself with curling up with a book while enjoying a fresh batch of asparagus soup. Bring on the fuzzy socks!

Tho I guess before the fuzzy socks, I should actually write about food... OK.

I have definitely shown you this version of cooking grape tomatoes before. Just to show how many ways you can use them, I decided to make chicken parm out of an extra package of tomatoes I bought.

In a pot with a good drizzle of olive oil, on medium high heat, add your tomatoes and place the lid on top. Cook until you hear the tomatoes bursting.

Once they have burst, I season with salt and add one to two cloves of garlic (depending on size and your taste), grated on a microplane. (Lower the heat to medium.) After the garlic has cooked a bit, I add a splash of white wine and then use a potato masher to crush the remaining bits of tomato.

I cook the sauce down another few minutes to make sure all the flavors combine and that the wine cooks out a bit.

While all of that is happening, I cooked up some chicken breasts in olive oil with minced shallot and seasoned with salt. For basics on how to cook chicken, read my Cooking Basics post, specifically scan down to the part on Meat.

When the chicken is about 2 minutes from completely cooked through, I placed slices of fresh mozzarella over the chicken, added a lid to the pan, and melted it down.

You could employ a broiler here instead, but I thought the lid would be faster.

I transfered the mozzarella-covered chicken breasts to plates, and shaved some fresh parmigiano reggiano over the top. Next I ladled some of the tomato sauce over the top.

Grate a little more parmigiano reggiano over that, and sprinkle with fresh basil.

A tasty & healthy spin on a classic.