A Light Leek Soup

First, lets start with a pretty picture of ingredients so that no one loses faith in me as a cook:

Rosemary, thyme and garlic

I'm not going to lie. Soup night was BIT of an adventure last night.

Mary is in Guatemala this week with some college friends (jealous!) so I decided to meet up with my partner from Amigos in 2000 (that's right, a DECADE ago) for a drink before soup night. But I also had some dried chickpeas and homemade chicken broth, so first a ran home and threw them into the dutch oven on low so they would be ready when I got home.

When I got back, I was greeted with this:

my apartment

Oh yeah, that's a smoke filled apartment.... and some really burned chickpeas.

The mystery is that I really DID leave the stove on very low. Dutch ovens don't need much heat, that's the whole beauty of them! So I'm blaming the cat. Although I probably shouldn't have left the apartment with the stove on. Safety first!

LUCKILY, I was still able to make a delicious soup.... just not as chickpea-y as I expected. And yes, I am that girl who rescued as many chickpeas as she good and likes the taste of lightly burned (or, in my mind, toasted!) things. You may want to stick to canned though.

separating the weak from strong

And yes, my apartment DOES still smell like burned chickpeas. So does my hair. And my hands. I had to scrub my dutch oven for about 45 minutes to get all the burnt parts off after soaking it overnight. Don't drink and dutch kids. Or don't dutch and then just step out for one drink because you might end up smelling like a Mediterranean market and not in a good way.

On the plus side, my mom always told me eating burned things would make my hair curly.... cheap perm, here I come!

Without further ado....

A Light Leek Soup

• saute 6-8 roughly chopped cloves of garlic in olive oil with a few sprigs of fresh rosemary and thyme

• add the roughly chopped white and light green parts of 3-4 leeks and cook until they're getting a little floppy

• add one bunch of broccoli (include the thin parts of the stem too, and if you want to blend, the whole stalk)chopped into small pieces/florets

• add one large zucchini, sliced and quartered, and about 3 tablespoons of butter, sliced around the pot and stirred in

• cook, stirring occasionally, until broccoli is bright green and zucchini is mostly soft

• add chicken (or veggie) broth, barely covering veggies and about 1.5 cups of cooked "toasted" chickpeas.... or just an unburned can of chickpeas

  • note: I used a broth that I'd already infused with lemon, which was GREAT, but you can also just squeeze the juice of 1-2 lemons in at this point

• simmer a little while until veggies are done all the way through and serve!

  
  

  
  

Artichoke My Heart

"You have a bright future ahead of you.

Go into the world.

And use everything we have taught you."

-Tyson Bedford, "Make Me A Supermodel"

Kate has a magic bullet. Alayna has artichoke hearts. You've heard this story before...

Nooo, you haven't.

I was doing who knows what in Jersey so I could not partake on this adventure but Monday Soup fan, Lauren, filled in. Everything was moving along great.

Onions were sauteing...

Alayna was chopping hearts...

Stuff was going in the pot...

The cat was in the bag...

And then... it's time to puree.

"Oh Lauren, it's time to blend," Alayna said, innocently. Having no idea what was about to happen next.

"Yes!" said Lauren, excited to watch Monday Soup in real time and not just recaptured on this blog.

"Lets go to the blender," Alayna says. Bowl in hand. There they go. Five feet from the kitchen. To the corner of the apartment. By the bookshelf.

No one had any idea what was about to happen.

It was the age of innocence.

THE BLENDER IS BROKEN!

Can't you see the crack in the blender?

And that's when Kate's magic bullet comes in. And the story reaches our Monday's happy ending.

Unfortunately, that magic bullet is a wee little thing. And Alayna and soup crew dirtied every dish in the apartment. But worse has happened. And I wasn't there to have to do the dishes.

Now, for the soup:

Ingredients

The hearts from 6 large artichokes
butter
2 leeks
6 garlic cloves, chopped
3 chopped shallots
2 handfulls of baby red potatoes
Veg/Chicken Stock
1/2 bay leaf
Thyme
Handful of chopped parsley
half and half or heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

Method

1 Cut the artichokes lengthwise into quarters. With a small knife, remove the thistley choke part and discard. Cut away the leaves from the artichoke heart and reserve for steaming and eating later. This will probably take longer than you think. Cut or peel away the tough outside skin of the stems and discard. Chop hearts to 1/4 inch thickness

2 In a large pot, melt half a stick of butter and cook the artichoke hearts, leek, garlic, and shallots on medium heat covered until tender (can stick a fork through hearts). Add diced potatoes and broth, about 2-4 bay leave, a handful of parsley and some thyme. Bring soup to a simmer and let cook covered until everything is tender (about 45 min).

3 Remove and discard the bay leaves. Purée the soup with your magic bullet if you somehow accidentally broke your blender body (oops!) and add cream to taste once all blended. Add salt/pepper as desired.

Lauren, with all of our dishes, dirty.

Oyster Stew

This how family helps you make soup

Alayna's email to her sister:

Do you know mom's oyster stew recipe? I want to make it tonight.

Sister's email to Alayna:

Mmm... no. I asked mom once and she was like, you know, just throw in potatoes, onion, butter, celery, cream, oyster and call it a day. I'd ask her for a more specific recommendation.

That sounds delish, though!!

Alayna's email to her mother:

Hey Mom,

Can you send me the oyster stew recipe? I know it's easy!

Mother's email to Alayna:

Ok, no recipe. Use a can of oysters- add it to: onion/celery/potatoes that have been sauted and cooked and then add milk/butter and pepper to taste.

Today's soup?

I'm sorry I wasn't so talkative last night... last 10 minutes of new Law & Order....

Love,

Mom

Alayna's email to her mother:

Haha! Definitely understandable. There was some good Law and Ordering happening last night.

Do you think the stew will be bad if I add some stuff to it? Like maybe spinach for iron? I guess that's it.

Love you!

Mother to Alayna:

I think it would be delicious!!! Love, mom

Thanks for understanding.

Alayna's Mom's Oyster Stew

Set 2 handfuls of red potatoes chopped into bite sized pieces to boil in a separate pot

Saute 1 medium sized yellow onion chopped in olive oil (in soup bowl)

and 1/2 a stick of butter

Add 2 or 3 leeks cut into bite sized pieces (just the white parts)

Chop 5 celery stalks, with the stringy ends cut off, into bite sized pieces and add to saute

Add 1 box of baby portabella mushrooms

While that's cooking add another 1/2 of butter

Wait until the veggies aren't all the way soft, but still sort of crunchy (same with potatoes) Drain the potatoes and add to the soup.

Pour in 2 cans of oysters with their juices

And top it off with whole milk just so you cover all the stuff you put in

Add salt and pepper to taste

Add an additional 1/2 stick of butter (optional but Alayna really likes butter)

Presto!

We also made roasted eggplant, asparagus and brie sandwiches on whole wheat pitas.

Follow up:

(Tuesday, lunchtime of leftovers, at work)

Alayna: Mary! I just found a wee pearl in my oyster stew

Mary Lorraine: ??

Alayna: By biting it

Mary Lorraine: liar!

Alayna: no! true. i will photograph for evidence with camera phone

Mary Lorraine: holy heck!

Alayna: I took a picture of it next to my pearl earring

Mary Lorraine: We will figure out how to transfer camera phone picture to blog.

Turns out, we could not figure this out.

We just make soup.