This is a recipe I created in my attempt to duplicate the soup that is served at the Nouvelle Cafe (aka "that place with the tomato soup") in Wichita. Everyone who has tried it says it tastes like the real thing! It is rich and velvety and very satisfying. Keep in mind that I just guessed at everything, so most of the ingredients listed are approximate.
Start with a small amount of finely minced fresh onion (about 1/8 to 1/4 cup) which you saute in a tablespoonful of butter or olive oil. When the onion is tender it will look clear. Now you can add a dash of garlic powder, a half-teaspoon of sugar, a small can of tomato paste (paste, not sauce), and about 2 cups of water. Stir the water slowly into the paste, using a wire whisk, until it is smooth. Bring this to a simmer and add at least a teaspoon of dried basil which you crush in your palm before throwing into the soup. Once you have made the soup, you will probably make adjustments to your own taste. You may also want to add a small amount of oregano as well, but I like the basil, and lots of it! When the mixture has been simmering for several minutes, add a cup of whipping cream (hey, I said this was rich!) and whisk carefully until blended. Heat gently, stirring occasionally, and add salt and pepper to taste (don't allow it to boil or the cream may curdle). It will taste quite bland until you put enough salt into it, but I can't really say how much you should use. Now... pour into a pretty bowl and indulge!
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Red Wine Mushrooms
This is probably the standard way to cook mushrooms - at least, it always has been at my house - but here's the recipe anyway:
Sauté sliced mushrooms in bit of olive oil until the look done, then add a splash of red wine. Salt to taste, and there you go. Apparently this recipe is about as French as it sounds, because it seemed to amuse/impress the heck out of my French friend when I told him I prepared them this way.
Sauté sliced mushrooms in bit of olive oil until the look done, then add a splash of red wine. Salt to taste, and there you go. Apparently this recipe is about as French as it sounds, because it seemed to amuse/impress the heck out of my French friend when I told him I prepared them this way.
Quick Lime Sauce
I made this one up on-the-fly yesterday when Megan and I needed a sauce for our chicken quesadillas. I combined mayonnaise (roughly 1 1/2 tablespoons), sugar (roughly 1 teaspoon), vinegar (a splash), garlic powder, citrus pepper, and the juice from half a lime and it was awesome. It went very well with the chicken, although it didn't make as much as we needed. And if you've got yogurt, adding that in equal parts with the mayo and doubling the other ingredients would probably be good, and considerably more healthy.
Artisan Pizza
This is the ultimate pizza dough. It sounds like a lot of work but it's really just a few minutes, plus lots of down time in the fridge. It's also fairly fail-proof, provided that your yeast isn't dead - overcooked, undercooked, dough too wet, dough too dry - it's very forgiving.
Ingredients:
During those ten minutes, mix together your flour and salt in a smallish mixing bowl. Add the proofed yeast and stir until just combined. This is a very wet, sticky dough, so don't freak out.
Pour the olive oil into something like a 2-cup measure, and swirl to coat the sides. Drop/scrape/scoot your dough in there and turn it so that it gets completely covered with olive oil.
Then cover the whole thing with plastic wrap and let it sit out for 30 minutes. Then stick it in the fridge.
You'll want to do all that in the morning, because it needs to sit there in the fridge for at least 6 hours. If you don't have six hours, you can do it one hour by setting it somewhere warm. If you have more than six hours, don't worry about it. You can even leave the thing in there overnight, no worries.
An hour before you want to bake, preheat your oven to 475, and sit a baking stone in there if you're fancy. Take your bowl of dough out of the fridge, pour some of the olive oil onto your hands so you're nicely greased up, then take the dough out, hold it in one hand, and pour the rest of the olive oil out onto your pizza pan or cookie sheet. Spread it around, then plop your dough on it. Pat it into a ball, press it down gently, then ignore it for 15 minutes. Go work on your pizza toppings, this is a great recipe for multi-tasking.
After it's set for 15 minutes, shape it into whatever pizza shape you want, then cover it with plastic wrap and leave it alone again, this time for 30-60 minutes.
Now it's time to bake it. You can do something fancy with your baking stone if you want, like setting the pizza pan on it for five minutes, then adding your toppings, then sliding the pizza directly onto the stone for a couple minutes. But if you don't have a pizza stone, then just bake the dough 5 minutes on its pan/sheet, add your toppings (your extremely delicious, high-quality toppings), and then slide directly onto the rack to finish baking.
Perfection.
You can put anything on this pizza, but I've found I prefer it without sauce, or with something extremely minimal. My favorite thing to do is to brush the hot crust with a halved clove of garlic, then add caramelized onions and red bell peppers, grilled chicken, and sliced Munster cheese.
My other favorite thing is to use a base of garlic-herb cream cheese, topped with caramelized onions (it's my thing, okay?),wilted spinach, and roasted grape tomatoes.
Makes great dessert pizza, too.
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon dry active yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup warm water
- 4 teaspoons olive oil
During those ten minutes, mix together your flour and salt in a smallish mixing bowl. Add the proofed yeast and stir until just combined. This is a very wet, sticky dough, so don't freak out.
Pour the olive oil into something like a 2-cup measure, and swirl to coat the sides. Drop/scrape/scoot your dough in there and turn it so that it gets completely covered with olive oil.
Then cover the whole thing with plastic wrap and let it sit out for 30 minutes. Then stick it in the fridge.
You'll want to do all that in the morning, because it needs to sit there in the fridge for at least 6 hours. If you don't have six hours, you can do it one hour by setting it somewhere warm. If you have more than six hours, don't worry about it. You can even leave the thing in there overnight, no worries.
An hour before you want to bake, preheat your oven to 475, and sit a baking stone in there if you're fancy. Take your bowl of dough out of the fridge, pour some of the olive oil onto your hands so you're nicely greased up, then take the dough out, hold it in one hand, and pour the rest of the olive oil out onto your pizza pan or cookie sheet. Spread it around, then plop your dough on it. Pat it into a ball, press it down gently, then ignore it for 15 minutes. Go work on your pizza toppings, this is a great recipe for multi-tasking.
After it's set for 15 minutes, shape it into whatever pizza shape you want, then cover it with plastic wrap and leave it alone again, this time for 30-60 minutes.
Now it's time to bake it. You can do something fancy with your baking stone if you want, like setting the pizza pan on it for five minutes, then adding your toppings, then sliding the pizza directly onto the stone for a couple minutes. But if you don't have a pizza stone, then just bake the dough 5 minutes on its pan/sheet, add your toppings (your extremely delicious, high-quality toppings), and then slide directly onto the rack to finish baking.
Perfection.
You can put anything on this pizza, but I've found I prefer it without sauce, or with something extremely minimal. My favorite thing to do is to brush the hot crust with a halved clove of garlic, then add caramelized onions and red bell peppers, grilled chicken, and sliced Munster cheese.
My other favorite thing is to use a base of garlic-herb cream cheese, topped with caramelized onions (it's my thing, okay?),wilted spinach, and roasted grape tomatoes.
Makes great dessert pizza, too.
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