Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Beautiful and vibrant, this soup is one of my go-to's to start a good healthy meal. Loaded with antioxidants, it's just filling enough with a big green kale salad topped with your favorite fixings. Depending on the season, I serve it warm or chilled. It's great both ways!

Ingredients

1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked 1-2 hours

2 red bell peppers, halved and seeded

1/2 cup water

1/2 tsp sea salt

black pepper

juice from half a lemon

1/2 tsp agave

pinch cayenne pepper

pinch red pepper flakes

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 basil leaf, sliced (for garnish)

Roast the bell pepper halves by brushing with olive oil and placing under the broiler for about 8-10 minutes, or until the skin is slightly blackened.  Remove the skin immediately with a sharp knife.

Blend all of the ingredients in a blender until smooth. Heat the mixture in a saucepan on low heat until the temperature of your liking. Pour into bowls and garnish with chopped basil. Voila! Serve and enjoy.

Spring Fling

My husband and I both woke up (sick) on the wrong side of the bed yesterday. There was something in the air and it was only making my throat itch. We sadly canceled fun dinner plans with friends for a movie-night in on the couch. To make some sort of fun out of being sick, I decided to make a cozy dish of homemade springtime soup. I came across another fab recipe from Heidi Swanson at 101 Cookbooks and decided to take a go at it. I added chickpeas to my version and shredded some left-over roasted chicken on top of his serving. Served with a butter lettuce and watercress salad with creamy avocado chunks and toasted pine nuts and a few slices of toasted bread, mmmm good soup for the soul.

Spring Fling (Feel Good) Soup

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 cup brown basmati rice, rinsed
6 cups vegetable stock
1 cup sugar snap peas, trimmed and cut in half diagonally
8 spears of asparagus, trimmed and diagonally sliced into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup green peas, fresh or frozen
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Fine-grain sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat, then add the shallots and garlic and saute for a few minutes until soft. Add the rice and stir for about a minute, then add the stock and bring to a boil. Cover, lower the heat and simmer until the rice is just tender, about 35 minutes.

In the meantime, saute the chickpeas in a separate pan with a pinch of salt and a dash of olive oil until slightly browned.

Add the sugar snap peas, asparagus, green peas and chickpeas and season with a few healthy pinches of salt and fresh ground pepper. Simmer for another 2 or 3 minutes and serve immediately so the vegetables remain crisp and bright. If desired, top with shredded chicken and thinly sliced parmessan.

Serves 4.

(James' version with shredded chicken)

A warm welcome back to reality...

Just back from tying the knot and honeymoon-ing in Italy...it was an incredible whirlwind of a dream and now the only thing that I wanted to do all weekend long was eat comforting, home-cooked foods and settle back into reality. The jet-lag was taking longer than expected to recover from, even after trying to strategically plan our sleeping patterns by drinking copious amount of espresso (my Italian jones) on the long flight home. Two of my friends wanted to do a Sunday night dinner so I (obviously) convinced them to come over so I can cook for them instead. We opened a bottle of Chianti and sat around nibbling on fresh fig, prosciutto and clover honey. After some gossip, I started to make the Cioppino, a San Francisco fisherman's stew with fresh lump crab meat, large prawns, halibut and clams. It's good to be home...

Cioppino
(Recipe adapted from Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Slow Cooking)
Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
2 yellow onions, chopped
2 red bell peppers, seeded and chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 bay leaves, broken in half
2 cans (14 1/2 oz each) diced tomatoes
3/4 cups Chianti wine
1/2 cup sauvignon blanc wine
2 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano
2 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme
3/4 lb firm white fish, like halibut, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 lb littleneck clams, scrubbed
1 lb Dungenuss crab claws, or lump crabmeat, picked over for shells
20 large shrimp (prawns), peeled and deveined
1/2 tsp Tabasco
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions
In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the onions and bell peppers and saute until just tender, about 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add the bay leaves, tomatoes, and red and white wines and bring to a simmer. Partially cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes.Remove and discard the bay leaves. Add the oregano, thyme, fish and clams. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Add the crab and shrimp, cover and cook until the shrimp and fish are opaque and the clams have opened, 3-4 minutes. Discard any clams that failed to open. Stir in the Tabasco sauce and season with salt and pepper.

Divide among the bowls and serve at once.
A warm piece of baguette is always good to soak up the juices at the end. Please do stay tuned for a future post on our wedding and Italian travels...Ciao for now!

This week in the kitch...

Mexican Chicken Soup with Homemade Tortilla Chips!
This has become my new fav for weeknight dinners. I'll make it on a Sunday and have plenty of left-overs to get you through your work week! For quicker preparation you can use a ready-made roasted chicken from your local grocery store.

Mexican Chicken Soup
Ingredients:
4 split (2 whole) chicken breasts, bone in, skin on
Olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chopped onions (2 onions)
1 cup chopped celery (2 stalks)
2 cups chopped carrots (4 carrots)
4 large cloves garlic, chopped
2½ quarts chicken stock, preferably homemade or low sodium store-bought
1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes in puree, crushed
2 to 4 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
¼ to ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves, optional
6 (6-inch) fresh white corn tortillas

For serving: sliced avocado, sour cream, grated Cheddar cheese, and tortilla chips (homemade preferably).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chicken breasts skin side up on a sheet pan. Rub with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until done. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, discard the skin and bones, and shred the meat. Cover and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the onions, celery, and carrots and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, or until the onions start to brown. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the chicken stock, tomatoes with their puree, jalapenos, cumin, coriander, 1 tablespoon salt (depending on the saltiness of the chicken stock), 1 teaspoon pepper, and the cilantro, if using. Cut the tortillas in ½, then cut them crosswise into ½-inch strips and add to the soup. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes. Add the shredded chicken and season to taste. Serve the soup hot topped with sliced avocado, a dollop of sour cream, grated Cheddar cheese, and broken tortilla chips (preferably homemade-see recipe under Sides and Bites).

Yields: 6-8 servings. Time to make: 50 min
Texas Tortilla Chips
This week I wanted the fried "good stuff", but you can also bake the tortillas for a healthier option. 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

Ingredients:
Vegetable oil for frying
Twelve 6-inch white corn tortillas
Course sea salt

Pour the oil into a large heavy-bottomed pot to a depth of about 2 inches. Heat the oil over medium heat to a rolling boil.

Meanwhile, stack the tortillas, and cut the pile into sixths to make chips.

Raise the heat to high. Working in batches, fry the chips, turning them with a skimmer or slotted spoon, until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chips to a paper towel-lined pan to drain. Season with salt immediately. Cool and serve.

Yields: 4 -6 servings. Time to make: 30 min

Luck O' the Japanese?

My unfortunate St. Patty's Day...

After a long incredible wedding weekend with friends and family, I returned to the city late last night only to enter into a bustling Monday back to reality. I found myself wrestling the Saint Patrick's Day parade leaving work uptown, rather than joining in the festivities. With no time for meal preparations for the holiday and a cold that I brought back with me from the weekend, the only green drink I was craving tonight was green tea.  Hey, the Japanese celebrate the Irish! Heck, isn't everyone Irish on March 17th? So I picked up some green seaweed salad from Lobster Place on my way home that perfectly complimented my warm cup of miso soup. I do have to say that it was quite satisfying. And healthful! Perhaps it wasn't so unlucky after all.

Miso Soup

4 ounces vegetable stock

4 ounces yellow miso

2 ounces low-fat firm tofu, diced

2 scallions, sliced

Bring the vegetable stock to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer.  Add miso and stir until heated. Pour into a bowl and add desired amount of tofu and sliced scallions. Serve immediately.