Sunday Soup Blogging

Some of the ingredients Ready for the pot Beautiful and delicious

What better than soup on a chilly, wet October day? This is a delicious amalgam of New England and Asian ingredients. (It was supposed to be fish soup, but turned out to be tofu soup since the fish had turned.) One thing I would do differently would be to add the tofu earlier, to give it a chance to soak up more flavor. The corn, tomato, and bok choy came from the farmers market. The tomato was 'Sunburst,' a variety I hadn't tried before. It turned out to be very meaty, with a very good flavor even though this was an end-of-season fruit. It also wasn't just large, it was honking huge; even after trimming out some bad spots, it yielded almost two cups. I used half of it for the soup, and saved half for another recipe. I also saved some seeds; I'll try it in the garden next year.

End of Summer Fish Tofu Soup

1 pint chicken stock, homemade
1 clove garlic, chopped fine
3 or 4 thin slices ginger
1 stalk lemongrass, trimmed and pounded
1 large tomato, chopped, skinned and deseeded if you prefer.
2 cups tender greens, sliced: use spinach, bok choy, chard, tender inner leaves of mustard or turnip
3 or 4 scallions, chopped in .5” pieces
kernals from 1 ear of corn
1 small hot chili, deseeded, cut into fine strips
.5 lb catfish nuggets
.25 .75 lb pound pressed tofu, in pieces about .25" x .25" x .75"
cilantro - generous handful, chopped
soy and/or fish sauce to taste

Bring chicken stock and 1 quart water to a low boil in a large soup pot. Add garlic, ginger, and lemongrass, season lightly with soy or fish sauce, and simmer just a few minutes. Add tomato, greens, scallions, corn, and chili, bring back to a low boil and simmer until veggies are just done. Add fish and tofu; simmer just until fish is done. Taste for seasoning and stir in cilantro.

Puttin' Up Time

Here, as promised, is a post about putting food by. I froze 4 pints of collards from my garden, and made a pot of beans-and-greens soup for now.








Collards, washed, trimmed, and cut up.











Put a big pot of water on to boil.















Have ready a big bowl of cold water with some ice in it, and an array of clean freezer containers.




















When the water is boiling, dump the greens into it, stir them around, and bring back to a boil. If you're doing more tender greens, like Swiss chard, heat just until they turn bright green. Then transfer the greens via a slotted spoon to the ice water.






Again via slotted spoon, pack the greens into the freezer containers.









Containers nicely labeled, ready to put into the freezer.










Beans-and-greens soup: Put a 4-6 ounce chunk of smoked turkey wing, 1 cup chopped onion or leek, and a couple of crushed garlic cloves into 2 quarts water (or half water, half chicken stock) and simmer for 30-45 minutes. Add 4 cups chopped collards, a medium carrot diced, and about the same amount of diced turnip, a bay leaf, 10 peppercorns, an allspice berry or two, and if you like, some thyme or sage. Simmer for another 30-45 minutes, until veggies are soft. Add one can drained and rinsed white beans, bring back to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes. I like to top a bowl of soup with a spoonful of yogurt and have a piece of toasted, buttered whole wheat or pumpernickel bread with it. Note: I didn't add salt to this because the smoked turkey and canned beans have enough salt for me.

Too much food from your CSA or garden?

This post at The World's Fair got me thinking.

Boom-and-bust is the nature of growing food in a temperate climate. I don't belong to a CSA but I garden and make use of farmer's markets. I enjoy processing my harvest to use over the winter - it gives me a feeling of accomplishment and a pronounced smugness that I'll be OK after civilization collapses. I'll be blogging some of my efforts over the next few weeks.

There are some simple ways to deal with excess produce. Share with neighbors and friends, especially those you know have limited food budgets. Maybe a friend can cook up some of your produce and share the result with you. Talk to your CSA about making some adjustments in the quantity they give you if you're really overwhelmed. Learn some simple preservation techniques.

Freezing is easy and you can re-use some of those ubiquitous plastic containers from purchased foods. A handy trick is to make a large batch of a dish and freeze it in meal-size portions for quick dinners down the road. Ratatouille is a favorite of mine - it uses up the bounty of tomatoes, peppers, and squash that happens every summer. Thaw some ratatouille, cook some pasta, sprinkle some cheese, and - viola! - dinner. It helps to have some frozen pesto (use ice cube trays), too, to brighten up the flavor.

Canning is more fuss but still not really difficult. Seek out cookbooks with recipes for small batches of canned food; once you've got the technique down, you can put up a few jars in not much time at all. A pantry shelf of pickles, salsa, and jam is beautiful and satisfying to look at. You can pickle almost any firm vegetable - green beans make tasty dilly beans; carrot sticks are delicious and crunchy; sweet-and-sour red cabbage is a Polish treasure. All make good additions to winter salads - use a firm lettuce like Romaine, toss with some thinly sliced red onion, other veggies, and pickle of your choice, dress with a simple vinaigrette, and top with croutons made from good bread. Croutons? Cube a slice of bread, spread the cubes on the toaster oven tray, and toast.

Yes, everyone's busy, but a few weekend afternoons spent putting up food can provide a winter's worth of food that will be better and cheaper than supermarket produce. Think of it as a life skill like being able to change a tire or mend a torn seam.

Critter Blogging, of a Sort

Food Porn of the 60s: look at the layer of fat on that bad boy. Although roast oranges garnished with watercress look like they'd make a great accompaniment to roast meat.

Veal in Red Sauce

Veal shoulder, canned tomatoes, and mustard greens on sale this week at the local groceteria inspired this comfort food:

1.5 lb. piece of veal shoulder
2 28 oz. cans of peeled crushed tomatoes
1 largish onion
1 - as many as you want garlic cloves
1 cup cheap dry red wine
1 lb. bunch of mustard or other greens
olive oil
generous grinding of pepper, salt to taste
Parmesan cheese
pasta

In a large pot, brown the veal in olive oil on both sides. While the veal is cooking, chop the onion and garlic. When the veal is brown, set it aside on a plate. Put the onions and garlic in the pot and saute, stirring a couple of times, until just starting to brown. Add a splash more oil if they look dry. Add the tomatoes, red wine, salt, and pepper; bring to a simmer and cook for about an hour. (If you were using beef shin or pork ribs, you would add the meat from the beginning, but veal is more tender.) Wash and chop the greens. Add the meat and greens to the pot, bring back to a simmer and cook until the meat is falling-apart tender, about an hour. Serve over pasta with a good grating of Parmesan.

Adding the greens to the sauce was an inspiration of the moment, to save a cooking pot, and the result is very good. The slight bitterness of the greens is a nice counterpoint to the richness of the meat and tomatoes, and they add a little textural contrast as well. Next time, I may try this with broccoli raab, adding the veggie later in the cooking time than for greens.

OK, I should have taken a picture. But then I would have had to clean off the table in order to set a nice scene, and everything just got too complicated from there.

Servings - the meat about 4, with some sauce left over. I put a couple of servings in the freezer for later; they will be welcome some evening when there's no time to cook but a comforting meal is needed.