Thing-a-day.com

I can’t believe TAD is almost over already! It’s gone by so quickly. As someone else said, it is so nice to be able to look back on your day and see that yes, you WERE productive! Even if you weren’t acutely aware of it at the time.

Today I was antsing to play with the beads I used yesterday, and the other order I placed arrived in the mail so I had that as well. I’m not totally done, but a work in progress is part of my thing today. I want to add a strand of strung beads above the chain.  I LOVE these beads, not sure why, but they have apparently found a way to firmly entrench themselves into my heart and I want more, more, more! You can’t see on the pics so well, but the clear beads (Czech fire polished, faceted) have a bright shiny bronze lining. They add a bit of sparkle to the more earthy colored squares and ovals.

The link is hard to see, the sun was shining so brightly (sorrry, Sarah!) so here’s a close up. Still a bit of glare/too much contrast.

My other thing is cooking. It is something new so I say it counts Butternut squash soup/bisque with a horseradish cream. Heavy cream, whipped, with some horseradish and a dash of curry. Recipes are from my ‘Soup Bible’.

A collaborative effort between myself and my husband tonight for dinner.  Since he was home, hubby put the chicken thighs in the oven to roast, let them cool and removed them from the bone.  Once I got home, I was responsible for the veggies, noodles and getting it to ’soup’.  It was delicious with some bread made on Sunday.  Made about 5 quarts - it will last us well through tomorrow with the predicted 5-9 inches of snow.

Tonight I made lemony lentil soup, adapted from the Blonde Lentil Soup recipe in The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas. This is pretty much my go-to dinner when I can’t think of anything else, it’s pretty quick, easy, and I usually have the ingredients in the kitchen.

Here’s my version: 1 onion, 3-5 cloves garlic, drizzle of oil, 1-2 lemons, 5 c vegetable broth, 1 c lentils (the yellowish-green kind), zest of 1 lemon, juice of 1-2 lemons, 3 carrots, parsley for garnish

Sauté onion in a little oil (olive, vegetable, butter, whatever) until almost translucent, add minced garlic and cook for a few more minutes. Add lemon zest and cook a minute or two more. (This time i used leeks, and though I really like leeks, I can’t say it made much of a difference.)

Add the vegetable broth and lentils, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Simmer about 30 minutes, until lentils are almost done. Add sliced carrot (I like to quarter each carrot slice, so they’re little wedges) and lemon juice to taste. Simmer 10-20 more minutes, until carrot is tender.

Serve with parsley on top, and warm pita bread if you like.

I also made some blue potato potato chips. I’ve had these potatoes for some time now, maybe 2 weeks, and I figured they had probably become too starchy to eat any other way.

I tossed them in olive oil with a little salt and pepper and baked at 500 degrees for 10 minutes. When I went to flip them, I realized some of them were already burned and lowered the heat to around 425. Many of them were burned but the unburned ones were pretty good. Next time I think I’ll try them at 425-450 degrees for the entire time.

Today I made Mushroom Soup! Awful picture! But it was goooood.  

Not leaving the house today because it’s -10 outside, so I am going to stay in and keep things toasty by making soup. Leek soup. And a haiku to go with it, so it’s less of a cop-out.

Leek Soup - w/ Chicken or Veggie variations:

Ingredients:

bunch of leeks (approx. 3 -4)

1 clove garlic, chopped (or more to taste)

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken, cubed (omit for vegetarian version)

64 oz. stock (chicken or vegetable, your choice)

approx 8-10 small redskin potatoes, washed/quartered.

2 ribs celery, sliced

2 medium carrots, sliced

olive oil, salt, pepper.

Clean leeks thoroughly by cutting in half lengthwise and rinsing in cold water to remove sand. Trim roots and tough green leaves. Chop cleaned leeks into 1″ pieces. Saute leeks and crushed garlic clove in olive oil until leeks are soft and white portions transparent. In separate pan, saute chicken until completely cooked. Add stock to cooked leeks, then chicken, and bring to a simmer. Add potatoes; cook until tender; add carrots and celery as soon as potatoes are done. Simmer for a few minutes more, then correct seasoning with salt and pepper as needed. Eat up, be warm!

Somehow I’ve internalized that “thing-a-day” is supposed to be completely new things. This is hard for me, and makes me feel too pressured to perform. I’m always doing variations on a theme. Hopefully these don’t fall short of the mark. I hope this one satisfies all y’all…

This is a perennial favourite of mine, black bean soup à la my hometown of New Orleans. It’s in honour of my high school’s 25th annual jazz festival, one in which I participated for 4 years. (Hats off to you, Jim Warrick! Good luck in your retirement!) I changed up the seasonings and ingredients today for a “new” creation.

Ingredients

• 2 cups black beans
• 1 smoked ham hock, as large & local as you can get
• 1-2 andouille sausages, or other locally available smoked sausage
• 3 stalks celery
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, pressed or finely chopped
• 1 can (local, organic) roma tomatoes
• 1 cup dry sherry
• 1 cup sour cream or balkan-style yoghurt
• 3-4 green onions, chopped
• Spices to taste. My unique blend for today:
  • 1 cup chopped cilantro
  • 3 sprigs dried epazote
  • 3 medium-large laurel leaves (bay leaves)
  • 1 tsp. dried rosemary
  • 2 tsp. dried oregano
  • ½ tsp. dried thyme
  • 16 grinds mixed peppercorns
  • ½ tsp. coarse grind black pepper
  • 1 tsp. sea salt
  • ½ tsp crushed coriander seed
  • 1 tsp. dry powdered mustard
  • ½ tsp. crushed red pepper
  • ½ tsp. powdered cayenne pepper
  • 1 whole red pepper (I used a thai sort)
  • ¼ tsp. dried basil
  • 5 cassia seeds (or whole cloves)
  • ½ tsp. ground savory
  • ½ tsp. dried lemon peel
  • 1 tsp. Wright’s all natural hickory seasoning (a.k.a. liquid smoke)

Directions

Soak black beans overnight in enough water to cover by 1cm. (If pressed for time, bring beans and same amount of water to a boil for 10 minutes, then let sit for 2 hours instead.) Transfer to a pot. Add enough water to cover by 3cm, bring to a boil, then simmer for 1½ hours.

Add sausage, ham hock, tomatoes, celery, onions, garlic, and spices, plus enough water to cover by 3cm again (if necessary). Return to a boil, then simmer for another 1½ hours.

Remove the ham hock and separate meat from bone. Chop meat and sausage into bite-sized chunks. If desired, also chop fat into chunks. Return meats (and fat) to the soup, adding the sherry. Simmer for another 30 minutes.

Remove from heat. Serve, or for an even better treat, cool, refrigerate, and serve the next day. Freezes very well — but you won’t have any left to freeze!

Presentation

Serve preferably in a large, shallow bowl. In the centre, place a dollop of sour cream and garnish with green onions. Serve with personal sourdough baguettes and a rich, Old world red wine. Enjoy while listening to jazz.

OK, after having missed a day I’m back with some more soup. This time, it’s Pookie Soup (so called for reasons I don’t care to disclose).

This soup isn’t very original or complicated, and I’m sure you could figure out how to make it on your own, but it’s special to me because it’s the staple soup of my household. Whenever there’s nothing around to eat, I always have the stuff on hand to make it. It’s a very free-form soup, but here’s the recipe.

• olive oil
• 1/2 medium-sized onion (I always use yellow onions sliced into half-moons)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, pressed or minced
• any combination of the following spices to taste: oregano, thyme, marjoram, or rosemary (I usually just use two at a time)
• two cups heated cooking liquid (I usually do a cup of salted and a cup of unsalted stock, but you could do all salted or all unsalted, or you could just use water)
• 1 28-oz. can of whole peeled tomatoes in juice, chunked with the juice reserved
• some starchy, grain-y, or legume-y type thing, whatever you have around. I use
  • 1 15-oz. can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed, or
  • 1 15-oz. can of white beans, drained and rinsed, or
  • 1/2 cup long-grain rice (I prefer brown basmati), or
  • 1/2 cup couscous, or
  • 1 medium potato, cut into quarter-inch dice

  I like using these things over something, like say, kidney beans, which might overpower the other flavors.

How you make the soup ultimately depends on which starchy grain-y or legume-y type thing you’re using.

1. Heat however much olive oil you think you’re going to need in the bottom of a medium-sized pot.
2. If you’re using a potato, you’re going to have to fry/sautée it in the oil at medium heat for a long time before beginning the rest of the soup, probably 15-20 minutes or more, until the potatoes are tender. Then go on to step three. The advantage here is that you can chop and prepare everything else before hand.
3. If you’re not using the potato, sautée the onions until they’re soft, maybe 7-10 minutes.
4. Add the garlic and the spices and sautée for a couple more minutes.
5. Add the heated cooking liquid and the juice from the can of tomatoes. Bring to a boil and then turn down until it’s just simmering.
6. Add the chickpeas, beans, couscous, or rice. If you’re using the chickpeas or beans, just cook until they’re heated through, which should just take a couple of minutes. If you’re using couscous or rice, add another cup of water and then simmer. The couscous will only take 8-10 minutes to cook, while you’ll need to simmer the rice for 30 minutes or longer.
7. If using potato, add the tomatoes when the soup is simmering. If using chickpeas or beans, add the tomatoes with them. If using couscous or rice, add the tomatoes a few minutes before they’re done.
8. Serve hot. This makes about 5-6 bowls and tastes better the next day (what soup doesn’t?) If you used couscous, add another cup of water before storing. It really soaks up the liquid and no matter what you’ll probably have a gelatinous mass of couscous stew on your hands the next day. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

x-posted