Winter is for Soup

I love winter, its my favorite season. Winter means cold walks, warm sweaters, hot chocolate, skating, hockey, I can go on and on. One of my favourite things about winter is a good old blowing snowstorm, there is something about them that reminds me of being a little kid and staring out of windows during thunderstorms in the late summer.



With this in mind, when I woke up this morning I was very excited to see several inches of fresh snow. I decided to grab a camera and take the 30 or so minute walk over to my local grocery store, snap a few pictures and get a few odds and ends to make some soup. What could be better than a nice, hot bowl of soup after a cold walk.



Enter problem #1 - Ive never made a homemade soup (at least a real one).
Solution? - Using some simple ingredients, including some leftovers, cobble together
a basic soup and go from there. Oh, and read Christie's book about soup.
Yeah, that would help.

So, back on track to the soup. This time last year, I watched Christies brother Eric cook a beautiful pot of broth. This pot of broth simmered away for quite some time, and when it was ready to eat, everyone excitedly got together and ate a soup I had never seen before. The result was one of the simplest, and yet delicious soups that I have ever had. Here is my take on it



Tortellini Soup

6 cups of Chiken broth
Bouquet of fresh Thyme, Rosemary and Sage
2 Celery Stalks, chopped
2 Carrots, cut into 1/4 in slices
400gm (small package) of your favorite Tortellini
Parmesan
Salt & Pepper to taste

-In a large pot, add broth and herb bouquet,bring the broth to a near boil, and lower the heat so that the broth is at a gentle simmer, and allow to infuse for approx 1o minutes. Remove bouquet, and strain to remove bits of herbs if desired, though simply removing the big bits works for me.
-Add in veggies, and cook until the carrots are cooked through (a fark should easily pass through one), though still firm.
-In a seperate pot, bring some water with a pinch of salt to a boil, and add Tortellini. Once cooked, strain and add to the broth.
-Grate some fresh Parmesan and sprinkle over the soup.
-Serve with finely chopped flat leaf parsley or chives and a nice bread roll
-Enjoy!

Onion Soup Emilia-Romagna Style with Roast Bone Marrow- Guest Blog Day

Ok, so I have been super busy with exams (damned you physics, I would do just fine without gravity.... I think) so I begged my brother to guest blog today about his crazy culinary experiences. Seriously, they are sometimes really out there. Like this weekend he cooked a pig head. I have the pics but am kind of afraid to post them. This is one of his more toned down recipes adapted from Mario Batali (the famous redhead chef in shorts and crocs). It looks great and I can't wait to try some when I get back to Toronto next week. So without due, here is my brother, Eric.

Onion Soup Emilia-Romagna Style
Roast Bone Marrow
So, since discovering early last year that I in fact like cooking, I have been embarking on an understanding of many classic dishes to try and expand my culinary knowledge. I started with basics, like pasta sauce and chili, but due to unforeseen circumstances this summer, I didn’t have a job and thus sat around the house waiting for dinner time so I could cook. I started to branch out and learned a few interesting new dishes such as pad thai, but for the most part, my ingredients were pretty average. I never pushed myself out of my comfort zone, especially when it came to proteins. This all changed once I got my cooking club.

Yes, I started a cooking club once I got back to school. And even though our meals were basic enough, it made me more interested in trying new things. Around Christmas, this took another turn, when my partner in the cooking club and I decided our end-of-the-year feast would be a whole pig that I would butcher and we would cook. I wanted to learn to butcher something substantial and he wanted to smoke meats Southern-style. This seemed like a perfect marriage of the two ideas.

Since then, I have been buying a new piece of pig almost every week in the market to test out, not wanting to be doing anything for the first time when I eventually get this whole beast. However, it has opened me up to many other parts I never figured I would want to try my hand at. I cooked my first lamb shank a few weeks ago for instance, and it was delicious. I bought a whole, 7lb. pork shoulder, put it in the oven at 8:30a.m. one morning, took it out at 5p.m., shredded it and had friends over for a pulled pork sandwich feast. All because I was interested in pushing myself beyond my comfort zone.

This energy to step outside the comfort of the average meal, combined with a need to find recipes to cook all parts of the pig, led me to Fergus Henderson’s The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating. Henderson is the head chef of the St. John in London, England, the original nose-to-tail restaurant (Sorry Martin Picard fans, he ripped off a limey). The restaurant is revered by chefs worldwide because of the ability of Henderson to take the cuts people do not eat anymore and turn them into top-notch cuisine. Anthony Bourdain said his death row meal would be from the St. John. Batali said the recipes make him want to “Torch my own Babbo for pretending to be a restaurant and move to London to heed the master’s call”. I’m assuming the food is good.

The one recipe I wanted to cook immediately was the Onion soup and the Bone marrow on toast. I had wanted to try bone marrow for awhile, and the pairing seemed easy enough. So I was determined to making it for my reading week. In the end, I overdid the bone marrow, which caused half of it to turn to liquid, but the remaining marrow was delicious and meaty. I look forward to trying out more of the recipes in the coming months until my date with Destiny (the name I have given the pig I will be butchering) comes.

Onion Soup Emilia-Romagna Style
adapted from Mario Batali’s book “Molto Italiano”
Makes 3 servings.

2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp lard or fatback
6 red onions, halved and sliced into thin half-moons
2 tbsp flour
¼ cup dry white wine
4 cups beef stock
¼ cup grated parmesan
3 slices crusty bread
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1. Melt butter and lard in a large heavy-bottomed pot over low heat. Add the onions and cook slowly for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally and allowing them to develop a rich brown colour.
2. Add the flour and stir until smooth and lump-free. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Gradually add the wine and stock, stirring gently but constantly. Increase the heat slightly, cover, and cook for 30 minutes at a brisk simmer.
3. Preheat the broiler.
4. Bring the soup to a boil and remove from the heat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Grill the bread under the broiler. Drizzle with olive oil and place 1 toast in each warmed soup bowl. Sprinkle with parmesan.
6. Ladle the soup into the bowls, and serve.


Roast Bone Marrow
Adapted from Fergus Henderson’s book “The Whole Beast”

Put six 3-inch pieces of beef marrowbone in an ovenproof frying pan and place in a hot 450 oven. The roasting process should take 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the bone. The marrow should be loose and giving, but not melted away, which it will do if left too long.
Scrape the marrow from the bone onto the toast and season with coarse sea salt.

Beet and Celery Soup with Carrot Salad - In the Bag

Pretty eh! Today Ian and I decided to join in on a food challenge called In the Bag. The idea is to create a dish using the ingredients "in the bag". It just sounded like so much fun that we couldn’t miss out. The three ingredients this time around were inspired by a detox from Christmas junk food : carrots, beets, and celery.

It was so fun. We made two types of soup, the beet which was sweet, and the celery that was more savory and a little tart. When the two were eaten together they balanced each other out by adding a great depth of flavour. And yes, it was neat eating two toned soup. I felt special.

The carrot salad was simple, with bursts of sweetness from the raisins and a slight taste of cumin. We love this little side salad and used to buy it for something like 2 dollars per 100g, but now I know the recipe. Ha ha, overpriced suckers.

So thanks to Julia for hosting this challenge. Enjoy!

Beet and Celery Soup with Carrot Salad
soup adapted from Ricardo TV series

Beet Side
4 beets, cut in halves
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp cider vinegar
2 cups chicken broth
Salt and pepper

Celery Side
2 1/2 cups chopped celery
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/2 cup white wine
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups potatoes peeled, cut in cubes
1/2 tsp Herb de Provence
1/4 cup 10% cream
Salt and Pepper

Carrot Salad
2 cups carrots
1 tbsp white-wine vinegar
pinch of ground cumin
1/4 cup raisins
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup water
Salt and pepper


Beet Side
Preheat the oven to 375 °F. Put the beets in an aluminum foil and close.
Cook in the oven for about 1 hour and 30 minutes or until tender. Let cool.
In a saucepan, sauté the onion and garlic in oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Deglaze with the vinegar. Add the broth and the beets. Bring to a boil and continue to cook for 5 minutes over medium heat. Sprinkle salt and pepper.
Use a mixer to reduce all the ingredients to a smooth and homogenous purée. Put through strainer. Adjust the seasoning. Reserve in a hot area.

Celery Side
In a sauce pan, sauté the celery and garlic in oil over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Deglaze with the wine. Add the broth, potatoes and herbs. Bring to a boil and simmer over medium heat covered until all the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Use a mixer to reduce the soup to a smooth texture. Put through a strainer. Add the cream and adjust the seasoning.

Pour the two soups into bowls at the same time. Serve hot. To facilitate the task of pouring both into bowls at the same time, transfer to measuring cups.

Carrot Salad
Grate or julienne the carrots. In a large skillet over high heat, bring water, wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and cumin to a boil.
Add carrots and raisins. Reduce heat to medium; cook until liquid is gone, 8 to 10 minutes. Mix in the olive oil. Chill then serve.

Tortellini en Brodo

It seems that everyone is sick today, including Ian and my roommate, so what better dinner than tortellini en brodo.

Tortellini en brodo is a classic Italian dish, simple and delicious. My mom always made it for me when I was sick, so I have carried on the tradition here in Montreal.

The first time I made this for Ian he kept passing out on the couch from the flu. Regardless of his narcolepsy, he could not get over the fact that I just stuck a whole bird into a pot, added veggies, covered it with water, and an hour later he was eating home made chicken soup. I told him I was a magician.

Making your own broth is really easy and takes little to no effort. That’s not to say that I don’t use store bought stock for every other dish, but there is something so comforting about the smell and taste of home made chicken soup.

The key to good soup is to add a bunch of vegetables and herbs along with the secret ingredient, a turnip, then once it has simmered for a while, strain the soup through a piece of paper towel to get rid of the molten fat.

Let’s just go ahead and say that this soup was invented by the Italians, all those years ago, solely for those pesky sick days. Enjoy.

Tortellini en Brodo
adapted from Tyler Florence

1 whole chicken (about 2 pounds)
2 carrots, cut in large chunks
3 celery stalks, cut in large chunks
1 large white onions, quartered
1 head of garlic, halved
1 turnip, halved
¼ bunch fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
Salt to taste
1 package of tortellini

Place the chicken and vegetables in a large stockpot over medium heat. Pour in only enough cold water to cover (about 3 L); too much will make the broth taste weak. Toss in the thyme, bay leaves, and peppercorns, and allow it to slowly come to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-low and gently simmer for 1 to 1½ hours, partially covered, until the chicken is done. As it cooks, skim any impurities that rise to the surface; add a little more water if necessary to keep the chicken covered while simmering.
Carefully remove the chicken to a cutting board. When its cool enough to handle, discard the skin and bones; hand-shred the meat into a storage container.
Carefully strain the stock through a fine sieve lined with paper towel, into another pot to remove the vegetable solids and extra fat.
Bring salted water to a boil in a stock pot. Add tortellini and cook as suggested. Strain and add to soup. Add chicken and Parmesan cheese if you desire.

Creamy Sweet Pea Soup

Well hello there all you blog readers (or just the close relatives that we guilted into reading our blog). So, this is Ian's and my very first post ever, and just to set the tone, we are hoping to make this a food blog about our culinary adventures in Montreal. Now Ian is an amazing photographer, but of course for this very first set of pictures he forgot his camera so we will all have to suffice with my eight year old, five pound, 1 mega pixel camera that takes a memory card almost as big as a floppy disk, to shoot this great soup.

Why soup for the first blog post ever you ask? Well I'll tell you. I ate too much cheese, steak, lemon pie, and creme brulee yesterday night, therefore the scale is not agreeing with me. Today I bought the Cook's Illustrated Soup & Stew magazine and the Sweet Pea Soup just screamed "eat me" and so, I did. And it was oohhh so good. This one was a really easy recipe using frozen peas and some Boston lettuce to boost the colour, flavour and texture.

Cook's Illustrated says to get the freshest tasting soup one should use a food processor to coarsely chop the peas so that their delicious starchy centres release their flavours as fast as possible. Considering that these peas take only a couple of minutes in the simmering broth before they are done, and well, the burst of freshness each spoonful brings, I am going to have to go ahead and agree with them.

We also just went down the street and picked up a loaf of olive bread from Premiere Moisson. A good call, because now I am stuffed full of warm soup and delicious bread on this -17 degree night. Enjoy!

Creamy Split Pea Soup
adapted from Cook's Illustrated
Makes about 6 1/2 cups, serving 4-6
(I have added small alterations that cut down fat and add flavour, not that it was lacking any.)

2tbs unsalted butter
1 cup of shallots or one leek, minced
1 clove of garlic, minced
2tbs corn starch or flour
3 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
4 1/2 cups frozen peas, thawed at room temp. for 10 min.
12 Boston lettuce leaves
1/2 cup of 10% cream
Salt and pepper for seasoning, to taste.

-Heat butter in soup pot over low heat and add shallots and garlic, cook until softened, 8-10 min.
-Add corn starch and stir constantly, till combined
-Keep stirring constantly and gradually add the chicken stock.
-Increase heat and bring to a boil, then simmer 3-5 min.
-In food processor process partially thawed peas until coarsely chopped, about 20 sec.
-Add chopped peas and lettuce to simmering broth, increase heat to boiling point, then continue to simmer for 2 minutes longer.
-Puree the soup in a blender until smooth; strain back into the cleaned soup pot.
-Add cream and heat on low for 3 min. until hot.
-Season with salt and pepper to taste.
-Serve immediately, and don't forget the crusty bread!