Tomato Soup + Goat Cheese Biscuits

   I've been desperately wanting to make a decent pot of soup lately, but, for the last few weeks have had zero success. This one, though, is wonderful. My Guatemalan-living, food-loving friend, Rachel, came over the other day to have lunch and watch the The Sound of Music cast reunion on Oprah (i recorded it. such nostalgia. we had a few sniffles over the reality that the movie isn't real life and that Gretel isn't nearly so cute now...but no need to dwell on such things. Julie Andrews is such a classic. i so want to be her.).

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/media/blogs/popculture/2009/04/how_do_you_solve_a_problem_lik.html

   For this such occasion I decided I would make this tomato soup recipe I've had on my list to try for a while. I made a nice big batch of it which I've been enjoying over the last several days (it's even better after the first few). I've decided I'm a chunky soup person. Most of the soups I enjoy fall into this category. I love chili, black bean, french onion, gumbo, tortilla, to name a few...all with a good bit of texture. So, naturally, my tomato soup should follow suit. It was suggested that this one be blended in a food processor before eating, but I held off and am so glad I did. The texture is just right--not too thick, not too runny. It's a fairly light soup (especially if you omit the milk/cream), but the tomato chunks make it seem a bit heartier. It's delicious in every way. Rachel and I loved it. I think you will, too. 
      I also knew I'd need some bread-ish side to accompany the soup (ya gotta have something to dip in it!), so I decided to make the same biscuits Joy the Baker baked with hers (i borrowed both her recipes this time. www.joythebaker.com, that is. she's hilarious and so raw. i love her.). Goat Cheese Biscuits. Yum-my. They were fabulous. I had a healthy portion. I couldn't taste the cheese in them as much as I would have liked, but they were delicious, nonetheless. And, really easy! I actually had never made biscuits before and was delighted at how simple and painless the process was. Delightful, all of it.

 Chunky Tomato Soup

serves at least 10, i'd say

adapted slightly from Joy the Baker

ingredients:

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter 

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium carrot, finely diced (optional, really. didn't make a huge difference to me.)

1-2 cloves minced garlic

course sea salt and fresh black pepper, to taste

splash of red wine vinegar (around 1 Tablespoon)

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

5 Tablespoons tomato paste

1 dried bay leaf

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon dried basil

30 ounces low sodium chicken broth

2 cans (28-ounces each) peeled, crushed/diced tomatoes in juice (with basil, if available...i used 1 can of crushed and 1 diced, though i'm honestly not sure there's a huge difference. the crushed had bigger chunks, i think)  

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2- 3/4 cup whole milk or cream, optional

6 ounces fresh spinach, optional (Julie gave me the idea to do this. I love it, Julie!)

directions:

1. In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.  Add oil, carrot, onion, and garlic, and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the onion is translucent and the carrots become softer, a little over 5 minutes.   

2. Add the vinegar and stir everything up for another minute or so.  

3. Reduce heat to low and stir in flour. Add tomato paste and stir for another minute until well-combined and thickened. Add chicken broth and bay leaf, and stir.

4. Add the tomatoes (juice and all) to the pot, breaking up the bigger tomato chunks with your fingers as desired. Bring to a boil.

5. Stir in Italian seasoning, basil, and sugar, then let simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  

5. Stir in milk or cream, and spinach. Let simmer for another 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.  

Goat Cheese Biscuits

makes about 9 biscuits

borrowed from Joy the Baker

ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

4 tablespoons (2 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, for the pan

2 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted, to top the biscuits

4 tablespoons (2 ounces) goat cheese, crumbled (i used one of the herbed logs sold in stores--yummy.)

1 cup buttermilk

directions:

1. Move an oven rack to the upper third of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees F. Place a 10-inch cast iron skillet in the oven to preheat as well.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Using your fingers, incorporate the butter and goat cheese until the flour gets a bit crumbly (Joy says it should get pebbly. Mine didn't really, but turned out fine.). 

3. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the buttermilk. With a fork, mix together the buttermilk and flour until all of the dry flour is incorporated.

4. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the microwave and set aside.

5. Remove the cast iron from the oven and place one tablespoon of butter in it, spreading it around to grease the entire pan, including the sides.

6. Spoon the batter, by the 1/4-cup into the hot skillet. It's okay for the biscuits to touch. They're supposed to. :) Brush them with the melted butter.

7. Bake for 14-16 minutes, until slightly golden in color, and remove from the oven.  Let sit for a couple minutes before serving warm. 

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

 I'm so tired of seeing that shrimp and grits post. An update is long overdue. I have actually been cooking in the last month, and haven't been avoiding posting either; rather, the true story I am sad to report is that I have suffered a series of unfortunately and miserably failed recipes. Just awful: Butternut Squash + Apple Soup, the first attempt with my new food mill...baby food; Basic vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting...flavorless and dry as a bone; Berry Streusel Muffins intended to be eaten in celebration of a coworker's engagement...streusel that ended up more like burnt caramel stuck to the pan. Depressing. A friend of mine mentioned the other day that it bothers her when cooking blogs speak only of successes, so I figured I would lay out my recent failures before you. So, there you have them...The ugly mess-ups. Cooking certainly does a job at trying one's patience. Not everything turns out as you intend, as in life (something i'm slowly and not painlessly coming to terms with). It's just the reality. But, i digress...onto these cookies (which are a success).
   I don't usually love, love Oatmeal cookies (likely because they don't typically contain chocolate), but have tweaked these a bit and think they're lovely. I'm visiting my sweet friend, Karla, tonight, and decided I'd take a treat for her and her family. I made these in two batches: One with chocolate chips (for her kids) and one with craisins and walnuts (for the adults). Both are great. Another option is to stir in a couple tablespoons of peanut butter (smooth or crunchy) to the batter before adding the oats...They make a great batch of Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies. So, take your pick!

Oatmeal Cookies

yields about 2 dozen large cookies

adapted from Quaker

ingredients:

1/2 lb. butter (2 sticks), softened

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon kosher salt

3 cups old fashioned oats

1-1/2 cup add-ins: any combo of raisins, 

        craisins, walnuts, chocolate chips...

directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars until creamy.

3. Add in eggs and vanilla. Beat well. 

4. In smaller bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt...Add to butter mix and mix well. 

5. Stir in oats and add-ins, mixing well. 

6. Drop by very heaping tablespoons (or using a cookie scoop--my preference) onto ungreased (or parchment paper-lined) sheet and press cookies down with your hand.

7. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges are a golden brown. Let cool for a minute, then enjoy with a glass of cold milk (required). 

Shrimp + Grits

    You know, I don't think I had even had shrimp and grits together until I made it a couple weeks ago. I had a bag of frozen shrimp from a few weeks back that I needed to use up. And I recently fell madly in love with the most unbelievable cheese grits on the breakfast hot bar at Mitchell's Deli down the street from my house (please visit. a great, yummy place.). I never knew what I was missing. For years, the only grits I'd had were the watery, bland ones slopped into a plastic bowl at Waffle House, or the like. Not so appealing. They are shamefully misrepresented. Please let me introduce you to a better version. And, as far as the shrimp goes...well, sauteed in olive oil and butter with onions, garlic, white wine, and lemon juice, and placed lovingly atop a steamy bowl of said cheese grits...it just don't get much better. And for those of you shrimp and grits skeptics out there, well, all I can say is that you're missin' out on some good eats here. (*ps--it's been a while since I whipped these up, so pardon me if I totally botch up the sequence of steps in prepping this...let's hope it works out for ya.)

Shrimp + Cheesy Grits

yields six appetizer servings


ingredients:
the shrimp part:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup white wine
1 bay leaf
nearly 1 pound bay shrimp, shelled (the small, pink kind)
a pinch cayenne pepper
juice of 1/2 lemon
kosher salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon chopped parsley

the grits part:
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk (i used skim)
1 cup water
1 cup quick grits
1/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/4 cup parmesan/pecorino romano cheese, grated

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 teaspoon lemon zest

kosher salt and pepper, to taste

1 tablespoon butter

directions:

[Prep all your ingredients beforehand. Start with the grits and work on them in the background (stirring and adding stuff here and there) while cooking the shrimp. Both cook pretty quickly. We begin...]

1. For the grits, heat the cream, milk, and water in large pot over medium heat, stirring fairly frequently. Once bubbling, add the grits, stir, and cover. Let cook for about 5 minutes, stirring here and there. 

2. When the grits get thick and creamy, add the butter, cheeses, lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt and pepper, to taste. Cover your pot back up and turn heat to simmer, just to keep it warm 'til the shrimp is done.

3. For the shrimp, heat butter and olive oil in heavy sauce pan over medium heat. Add onion and saute until translucent, about 2 minutes or so. Then add the garlic, sauteing for another minute or so. 

4. Add bay leaf. Pour the white wine over the onion/garlic mix and stir until liquid is reduced (a couple minutes).

5. Add your shrimp, making sure not to crowd them (they like their space). Let cook on one side for no more than a couple minutes, meanwhile adding a few dashes of salt and pepper(s), and a squeeze of lemon. Turn the shrimp over and let the other side cook for another minute. 

6. When the shrimp are pink and firm, remove them from heat. They don't take long! Add a bit more salt, pepper, and lemon, to your taste, toss in the parsley, stir it all around, and your job here is done! 

7. Serve the shrimp over the cheesy grits. I squeezed a bit more lemon juice and grated a bit more parmesan on top at the end, just for kicks. ENJOY.

Pumpkin Spice Bread

Somehow in between 4 nights of work this week and painful attempts to sleep during the now gloriously cool and clear fall days (yes, they've arrived), I found time enough to mix up a couple loaves of pumpkin bread and an out-of-control yummy dish of shrimp and grits, not be be eaten together, mind you (though I suppose there's nothing wrong with that). First, I'll share the bread...


   Pumpkin just plain gets the shaft most of the year. The canned form isn't even stocked in Kroger until late September. What a shame. But, truth be told, I don't know many people who really do much with it 'til cooler weather comes around anyway. Once it does, though, pumpkin takes front and center. I think I've heard 20 people in the last 2 days talk about how much they're loving their Pumpkin Spice Lattes (myself included). This is pumpkin's time to shine, so I must give it the attention it's due. Pumpkin bread. Classic. And so good. This is a recipe I found online a year or so ago and have altered a bit. I think it's great. I plan to amend it a bit the next go-around to see what happens changing the proportions of sugar and oil and eggs. But, as it is, this is a fabulous bread. I took it to work and it was ravaged by some pumpkin-loving nurses in no time. Slap a little cream cheese on top, and you're set. Enjoy. And happy fall!

Pumpkin Spice Bread

yields 2 loaves

adapted from an old Recipezaar recipe

ingredients:

2 cups canned pumpkin (about 1-1/2 small cans)

1-1/2 cups white sugar plus 2-3T to sprinkle on top

1-1/2 cups brown sugar

1 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup sour cream (low-fat is fine)

4 eggs, room temperature

3-1/3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 teaspoon ground cloves 

(or ~3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice in place of the cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves here)

3 cups chocolate chips or toasted (toasting enhances their flavor), chopped nuts, optional*

* to toast the nuts just stick them in your preheated oven on a baking sheet for about 3-5 minutes, shaking them around a bit half way through. just keep an eye on them so they don't burn. then chop them up after.

directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Grease and flour two 9x5 inch loaf pans.

3. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, sugars, water, oil, sour cream, and eggs. Beat (i just use a whisk) until well mixed. 

4. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients (including the chocolate/nuts. coating them with the dry mix keeps them from sinking to the bottom of the loaf.) and stir until combined.

5. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mix, beating until smooth.

6. Evenly divide the batter into the two pans (about 3/4 full).

7. Sprinkle 2-3 tablespoons of sugar on top of loaves, then drop a few nuts/chocolate chips on top, for looks.

8. Bake for 60-70 minutes (65 minutes in my slightly hotter-than-average oven) or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

9. Cool for 15 minutes, then invert the loaves onto a rack and slice it up! Serve with cream cheese (mmmmm). 

coming soon...

[Shrimp and Cheesy Grits]