Creamy Tomato Goodness

My motivation to make this soup came from an impassioned posting by the Homesick Texan. I wasn't sick with a cold or the flu, but I figured tomato soup's restorative powers could be beneficial anyway. This was a great soup; I used a piece of parmesan rind and it added a great depth to the flavors of the soup. The fresh chives (from the garden - yay!) added a great fresh top note to the final dish.

Tomato Bisque

• olive oil
  
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, chopped
• 3 celery ribs, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, minced or put through a garlic press
• 2 28 oz. cans crushed tomatoes (I used Progresso)
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2"x3" piece of parmesan rind (or 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese)
  
• 1/2 cup cream or half and half
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat a little olive oil in a soup pot. Sweat the onion, carrot, celery and garlic until softened and a little browned. Add the tomatoes, chicken broth and parmesan rind (don't add the grated cheese now if you're using it instead of the rind). Simmer the soup for about 20-30 minutes until everything is soft. Remove from heat.

Remove the parmesan rind, if using, and puree the soup in batches in a blender. Add the cream to the blender as you go. If you are using the grated cheese, blend it into the soup now. Correct seasoning with salt and pepper.

At serving time, sprinkle chopped herbs (chives, parsley, chervil, oregano, etc.) over the soup.

Yield: 4-6 servings

Week of April 29

This week's menus are inspired by the food blogs I have been reading. It's so nice to have all these great resources out there for when you're feeling super-creative.

All items made on Sunday are noted with an *, anything pulled from cold storage has an (f).

Sunday
Dinner
Nancy Silverton's pappardelle with bagna cauda & olive oil fried egg (via The Wednesday Chef) *
Green salad *
Chocolate sorbet *

Monday
Lunch
Leftovers from dinner at Eastern Standard - baked rigatoni with lamb sausage. Dee-lish!

Dinner
Tomato bisque (inspired by Homesick Texan) *
Salad *
Bread and goat cheese

Tuesday
Lunch
Sunday leftovers (but with a hard-boiled egg instead of a fried one)

Dinner
Spicy roasted chicken thighs (also from The Wednesday Chef)
Oven roasted zucchini
Basmati rice

Wednesday
Lunch
Monday leftovers

Dinner
Quinoa salad with chickpeas, mushrooms and yellow bell peppers, charmoula dressing (inspired by 101 Cookbooks)

Thursday
Lunch
Tuesday leftovers

Dinner
Macaroni and cheese (f)

Friday
Lunch
Wednesday leftovers

Dinner
Pizza from Nick's of Newburyport

Red Curry in a Hurry

I thought it might be helpful to outline how this dinner came together. So, here's a minute by minute plan for how to prepare a Thai-style curry with rice and a some sliced cucumber on the side.

I will assume veggies are washed, and the shrimp are thawed and peeled.

Thai-Style Red Curry with Shrimp

Start the clocks!

0:00 Rinse 1 cup of jasmine rice in a strainer. Put rice into rice cooker with 1 1/2 cups water. Start rice cooker. (You can also make your rice in a saucepan - but I will assume you know how to do that.)

0:05 Pour yourself a glass of wine, change out of your work clothes, and c'mon back to the kitchen.

0:15 Put 1 Tablespoon red or green curry paste into a saucepan over medium-high heat and add 1 can coconut milk, a few dashes of fish sauce (to taste) and 1 cup of chicken broth. Bring to a simmer. Let simmer for five minutes.

While the broth is simmering - take half an English cucumber and slice it into rounds. Sprinkle the cucumber with salt and a little rice vinegar. Salad's done.

0:22 Turn the heat down to medium low and add about 1/2 pound peeled, thawed shrimp, a few tablespoons each of chopped mint and cilantro, and a squeeze of lime.

0:25 The shrimp should be cooked through about now. Depending on the size of the shrimp, they may take a little longer.

0:27 Put the cooked rice into a bowl, ladle shrimp and coconut milk broth over rice. Sprinkle additional cilantro and mint over the top. Add sliced chilies, more lime juice or fish sauce to taste.

Stop the clocks! It's time for dinner. This recipe serves two-ish.

Gnocchi-licious

Ok, so now I see what all the fuss is about. This is a great thing to do with fresh gnocchi. I'm not going to give a recipe for the salad, since 101 Cookbooks and Smitten Kitchen have done that so well. Do try the gnocchi recipe in the Smitten Kitchen posting, I used the grater method and it worked great.

I made my salad with green beans, sliced fennel, sliced shallots and farmer's cheese. Then I tossed it lightly with a sherry vinaigrette and some fennel fronds. Very very nice.

I don't know how this will work with frozen gnocchi (Thaw and sear? Cook it frozen and but slower?). I did freeze some of the batch I made and will keep you posted.

I also don't know how this will work with "store bought" gnocchi (like those shelf stable packs you get at the supermarket). I will give it a try and report back.

If you've tried pan searing gnocchi before (store-bought or otherwise), leave a comment below as I would love to hear how it went and what you did.

Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream

Holy crap. Wow. This is good ice cream. I am serious. Do yourself a favor and make a batch, like now. I mean it.

Find the recipe here on David Lebovitz's blog.

We absolutely inhaled our bowls of this ice cream. It's sweet, but not too sweet; salty, but not too salty. The depth of the flavor is incredible - due to the caramelized sugar, there's a richness in the flavor that you just can't get any other way. The praline mix-in is super easy and a very nice addition to the ice cream.

In the picture, the ice cream looks sort of melty. I do think the batch needed another few hours in the freezer to freeze up and ripen, but we couldn't wait. Chef David points out that due to the high-hat, high-sugar levels in this recipe, it will alway stay sort of soft and gelato-y. I don't see how that is a problem ... at all.

Happy Spring!