Book of Yum

A while back Mountain View was hit by a cold front, with cold air that seemed to sink right into your bones and gray, gray skies that would occasionally open up to pour rain down on all the depressed Californians and my balcony. That is probably what inspired me, on a night when I wanted Chinese food, to pull out the soup pot and make a nice, warming hot and sour soup with extra veggies and seasonings. I made what is usually a small starter soup into a main course, serving it with hot, short grained rice sprinkled with black sesame seeds. DH is always happy when we have Chinese food, and we both enjoyed curling up at home, safe from all the unpleasant weather outside, with a nice, warm bowl of Chinese soup.

I have some great college memories of making egg drop soup with a friend of mine who had spent some of her high school years in Taiwan. It was fun to watch plain old egg turn into the strands that defined the dish, but I hadn’t made the recipe since. This hot and sour soup took the best parts of that recipe, and took it up a few notches to make it the satisfying center of our meal. The recipe turned out well, but I think it might be possible to make it even better with a little tweaking. Any suggestions? In the meantime, the next time you’re craving hot, soothing soup- why not take inspiration from a Chinese soup and make it your own? Winter just might seem a little farther away, with the right soup on the table.

Hot and Sour Ginger Chinese Soup Recipe with tofu and spinach Soup  Tofu  Chinese

Ingredients 1 tbsp. peanut oil One onion, diced One knob of ginger, grated 3/4 of a small, firm tofu package 4 cups vegetable broth (from scratch or from GF vegetable bullion) 1 handful dried shitake mushrooms 1 cup boiling water, to soak mushrooms 1 can bamboo shoots 1 cup or more fresh spinach, shredded 2 tbsp. GF soy sauce (San-J low sodium) 3-4 tbsp. rice vinegar 1 tsp. sugar (or sub 1 tbsp. mirin for one of the tbsp. of rice vinegar) salt, to taste, and white or black pepper 1 tsp. chili garlic sauce 1 egg, beaten 1/4 cup water 1 tbsp. corn starch 1 tsp. sesame oil 3 spring onions Directions Soak dried mushrooms in hot water for 30 minutes. Drain and chop, reserving liquid. Slice your tofu and press in a kitchen towel for 30 minutes. Cut your tofu into strips. Heat peanut oil in your favorite pan (Cast iron or nonstick), throw in your onion ad cook it it becomes slightly translucent and then move the onion over to another side of the pan, add a little more oil and saute the tofu until golden and crispy on each side, throwing in your grated ginger and eventually mixing the tofu with the cooked onion. Add your four cups of vegetable broth and simmer for fifteen minutes. Finally add bamboo shoots and spinach, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar/mirin, white pepper, chili garlic sauce and the leftover shitake soaking liquid, as well as sliced white part of the green onions. Heat the ingredients until almost boiling. Mix your water and corn starch in a small bowl and then slowly add to your warm broth, stirring and letting broth thicken slightly. Take your beaten raw egg and either pour it through a fork or whisk through the stock so you get strands of egg throughout the broth. Finally add any extra salt or other seasonings to taste, including sliced part of the green onions and dribble toasted sesame oil throughout the soup or in individual serving. Yummy! Notes It’s best to only add egg to the portion of the soup you will be consuming right away. If you want leftovers, or to freeze some for later, pour whatever you don’t want to eat right away into a bowl to cool and then just drizzle beaten egg in the pot with the soup you plan to eat.

Rating:  8 Original Source:  My own creation, inspired by various recipes. Please do not replicate anywhere without my permission. Recipe ID:  1192 Added:  January 31, 2008 Last Modified:  February 8, 2008

It seems to be the season for soups. First I made a peanut sweet potato soup, and then a mere week later I found myself inspired when thumbing through a supermarket sponsored cooking magazine. You never know when or WHERE you’ll find an intriguing recipe… I found not one but several recipes that I decided to incorporate into the menu this week. The soup was the star of the show. I had feared it would be plain and watery, but I reduced the amount of broth called for (converting it to be vegetarian, of course), omitted the suggested celery (icky), and added some fresh tomatoes (the last of the harvest, sniff) for added oomph. The polenta cubes were just plain genius, adding flavor, texture and interest to the soup, the chard gave it extra flavor AND nutritional value, and all in all it was a perfect soup for a cool fall night. Unfortunately the night I happened to make it was a warm fall night, but such is life in sunny northern California.

As an accompaniment, I made the intriguing recipe for Spaghetti Twirl Bites found on the same page. These clever little bites involve half a package of boiled spaghetti mixed with 1 cup grated parmesan cheese, sundried tomatoes, fresh basil, crushed red pepper flakes and two eggs. You mix them all up together, then spray two mini muffin tins with nonstick coking spray and twirl little spaghetti “muffins” into each tin. A little time intensive, but the results are tasty and interesting. It would be a good way to use up some leftover cooked spaghetti, and fun for parties.

Of course dinner wouldn’t be complete without dessert, and so I threw together one of Carol Fenster’s basic recipe for fruit pizza. To change it up a bit, I altered the toppings drastically, following a recipe for “Sweet Grape Focaccia” found in my Nob Hill magazine. I sprinkled the dough with brown sugar mixed with chai spices, and then topped it with fresh, halved grapes and pecans, sprinkled it with some more of my “chai sugar” and then baked it for 25 minutes at 350. It was very good, but needs some tweaking, so I am not ready to post the recipe just yet. If you’re wondering… something unfortunate happened to the toppings when I, um, dropped half of the pizza in the cat’s water dish (not good for desserts- who would have thought) so, um, these photos have some fresh grapes placed on the sad little spots where grape used to be. And yes, I’m a little bitter about the whole sordid affair. (I threw away the half that snuggled the water dish. Too bad cats don’t care for sweet chai pizza.)

Savory Chard and Polenta Soup Soup  Vegetables  Italian

Ingredients 5 cups vegetable stock (or no-chicken broth: I used Edward and Sons bullion) 1/4 cup polenta meal 2 tbsp parmigiano-teggiano cheese 1 tbsp olive oil 1 large onion, chopped 2 large garlic cloves, halved 1 large fennel bulb, sliced and chopped 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced 2 cups chopped assorted mushrooms 1 28 oz. can tomatoes 1 cup or so fresh chopped tomatoes 1 1/2 tsp of basil, 1 1/2 tsp marjoram 1 parmigiano-teggiano cheese rind OR thick slice of cheese Salt and Pepper to taste 3 cups chopped red chard balsamic vinegar, to taste Directions Lay wax or parchment paper on a baking sheet or square plate. Put 1 cup of stock into a pan and bring it to a boil, gradually stirring in polenta. Let it thicken and simmer until you have a good consistency. Remove from heat and stir in shredded cheese, mixing thoroughly. Then spread your polenta on the wax sheet evenly, creating a thin polenta “cake”. Reserve and let cool. Meanwhile, heat you oil in a large soup pot. Throw in the onion, fennel, and garlic and cook for 5 minutes or so. Then add your carrots, mushrooms and cook for another 5 to ten minutes. Stir as needed. When onion look translucent and lightly browned, add your broth, tomatoes, herbs and cheese rind or cheese slice. After bringing to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Don’t forget to season with salt and pepper! Next, cut your polenta into cubes and put them in the soup, being careful not to break them, and simmer for another 5 minutes or so. To serve, drip a little balsamic vinegar into each individual serving soup. Yummy! Notes DH, who hates chard, ate it with gusto and pronounced it “very good.” Whahahahah.

Rating:  9 Original Source:  adapted from Nob Hill Something Extra free magazine Recipe ID:  1149 Added:  October 24, 2007 Last Modified:  October 24, 2007