tom kha gai soup

I am really a bit nervous to write about tom kha gai soup. It is my all-time most favorite soup in the world. I would probably say that it is my all-time favorite meal in the world too, but I want to reserve the right to revise that statement. I doubt it will ever happen, but I may want to pick a different favorite later.

For now, I'm a bit worried that I am going to tell you how amazing and wonderful and perfect it is, and then you aren't going to like it. Which would hurt the soup's feelings. It might also mean that we can't be friends anymore.

Tom kha gai soup is a Thai soup, made with coconut milk, mushrooms, and chicken. It is flavored with galanga root, lime leaves and lemongrass.

Because of all these different flavors, it is testing my ability to come up with just the right adjectives. I feel like I sound like a fourth-grade girl who just discovered the thesaurus.

It is citrusy and creamy and spicy and sweet. It has a bit of saltiness to it, a bit of umami (a word I hate, but what can you do when you need it?), a whole lot of delicious.

I think that if I were Thai, this would be the taste of childhood. It is comfort food at its best, something that makes you happy and warm and satisfied, but also something that can clear your sinuses and cure your cold. The flavor is complex, if I may say that without sounding like a tool. But at the same time it is simple and soothing.

I'm not sounding hyperbolic, am I? I actually don't think I'm doing the soup justice yet.

I must say that it does require some ingredients that you probably don't have on hand. You will have to go to an Asian Market to purchase them (I imagine there are plenty of ways to order them online... but going to an Asian market is like a field trip. It's awesome). If you don't see yourself going to a special market to buy the things you need for this dish, just promise me that you will order it next time you are at a Thai restaurant.

Actually, I went to three different Asian markets in my town, and although I am so lucky as to have three Asian markets within a couple of miles of me, I am not so lucky as to have any that sell Thai ingredients. In other words, it took leaving my town and heading 15 miles out to the grandmother of all Asian markets to get everything I needed. Once you find a market that actually carries Thai ingredients, though, there is no chance they won't have what you need to make tom kha gai.

Kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, galangal root, coconut milk and fish sauce will all be in a Thai market, because they are very very common in Thai foods. One-stop shopping, ma'am.

I ended up at 99 Ranch Market, which is apparently a major chain of Asian Markets. Like I said, it was like going on a field trip. That place has everything you could need to make Asian dishes...

Like a whole aisle of soy sauces...

 And a whole aisle of rice...

And for those who like to spend a bit less 

time in the kitchen, an entire aisle of ramen!

But I wasn't there for any of those things. I was there for:

Kaffir lime leaves, which are just what they sound like... the leaves of the kaffir lime tree. Before you put them in the soup, be sure to rub them in your fingers and inhale deeply. The lime scent is amazing. Although these can be chopped up real small and eaten, we are going to leave them whole to season the soup, before discarding them.

Galangal Root is the heart of the soup. Some recipes say that you can use ginger as a substitute, but don't believe them. Galangal is much more subtle than ginger. It is more earthy and sweet and doesn't have the bite that ginger has. Actually, the "Kha" in Tom Kha Gai means galangal. So really, leaving it out makes you a liar. This, too, can be copped finely and consumed, but for this soup, just saw away until you have 5 thin disks, use them to season the soup, and then toss 'em. It freezes well, so if you do go buy some, don't hesitate to buy a big piece.

Lemongrass is another one that can be eaten if it is prepared correctly, but once again we are going to let it flavor our soup and then we are going to toss it. My lemongrass came out of my Abundant Harvest Box, but you can get it an a Thai shop as well. 

Only use the bottom, white parts of the lemon grass. You can throw away the dry woody parts. Cut the thick white parts into 2-inch pieces, remove the outer leaves, and then bruise it with the back of your knife.  This helps release the flavor. Be sure to take a big whiff of this one too, before throwing it in the pot. Lemony paradise.

Finally, I got my fish sauce and coconut milk at the asian market as well. I know fish sauce doesn't sound appetizing. Especially if you have gotten a fishvorce. Whatever you do, don't take a sniff in the direction of the fish sauce. But do use it. It adds most of the soup's saltiness, most of the umami (there's that word again), and it balances the sweet and citrusy perfectly. Just don't try tasting it alone. Believe me, I. do. not. eat. things from the sea. I don't like the taste, the smell, the texture. I don't even like it when you eat a tuna fish sandwich. But I do include the fish sauce, and I have never regretted it.

So, okay. I feel exhausted after gathering our supplies for this soup, but really making it is quiet simple.

And here it is:

two cans (14 ounces each) coconut milk
4 cups chicken broth
5 slices (1/4 inch thick) galangal root
3 stalks lemongrass (lower, white parts only cut into 2-3 inch segments and bruised)
5 kaffir lime leaves
fish sauce, to taste (probably about 2-3 tablespoons)
8 ounces mushrooms (I use regular white mushrooms, sliced, but I believe straw mushrooms are more traditional, if you can find them.)
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces
juice from 2 limes
cilantro
bird's eye chiles are almost always included, but I am a spice whimp, so I leave them out

First, you need to make the most delicious broth ever. Combine the coconut milk, chicken stock, galangal, lime leaves, and lemongrass. Bring it just to a boil and then turn it down to simmer. The longer you can let it simmer the better, but aim for at least half an hour.

Add the fish sauce and let it simmer another 15 minutes or so. This will really give it some salty meaty flavor. If you taste it at this point, you might be wondering what all the fuss is about. It isn't great yet. But it will be!

Add the mushrooms and the chicken, and continue to simmer just until the chicken is cooked through. Don't let it get tough. You don't want to be distracted from the deliciousness of it all by having to chew the meat.

Once the chicken is cooked, add the lime juice. Garnish with the cilantro and the chile peppers, if you are using them.

Enjoy every last drop!

Martha Stewart's creamy cauliflower soup with greens

My recipe yesterday was a little bit labor intensive, no? Let's switch things up today, and talk about a soup that is far more rich in the veggies, while taking a fraction of the amount of time.


But first, let's talk about the little miracle in my life.


I work at a preschool, where my duties include... well, everything. I never really know what I am going to be responsible for until I arrive in the morning. I often supervise the playground, shop for the groceries that become the kids'  afternoon snack, or keep the toy storage room clean and organized. I stuff envelopes, accompany kids to the bathroom, and file paperwork. 


And, as it turns out, I do laundry. Due to a series of events that won't interest you in the least, our regular system of getting the school laundry (mainly the cloth covers for the little mats where the kids take their naps) broke down last week. When I arrived in the morning, I was greeted by some teachers in a slight panic, because they were going to have nowhere for the cherubs to lay down at nap time. If you have ever faced 40 kids who need a nap at the same time, you would panic too.


And so I gathered up the dirty items, a stack of magazines from the staff room, and some detergent, and I headed out to the laundromat. There is probably a whole blog post about the people one encounters in a laundromat, but for today, let's talk about my miracle, okay?


After I got the laundry agitating, I sat down with the magazines. I mentally pleaded Come on, magazines. I know that one of you is going to have a recipe that calls for lots of the veggies I have right now... While we're at it, is there any chance it can please be the cauliflower and collard greens? Oh yeah, one more thing. Please don't require a stop at the supermarket, kay?


And guess what!? Martha Stewart Living had a recipe that onehundredpercent answered my little prayer to the magazine gods. 


I introduce you to Creamy Cauliflower Soup. It, of course, uses cauliflower and collard greens. It also uses onion, fresh dill, and copious amounts of garlic, all of which I have on hand, all out of the Abundant Harvest Organics box. Other than that, all it required was olive oil, salt, pepper, and water. Hooray!

As if that weren't enough excitement among the industrial washers, the soup is really quick to put together. Saute the onions and garlic, simmer the cauliflower and collard greens, and puree it all. 


It is creamy (thanks to the cauliflower) without using cream. It is bright and fresh and filling, and the drizzle of olive oil and fresh pepper on top give it just enough heartiness to let it stand as a main course.

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
4 cloves garlic, chopped
Sea salt
1 medium head cauliflower (about 3 pounds), florets and stems cut into 1-inch pieces (8 to 9 cups)
4 1/2 cups filtered water
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill, plus more for garnish
5 large kale or collard leaves, or a combination, tough ends removed and leaves roughly chopped
Freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat; cook onion, covered, until soft, 4 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and a pinch of salt, and cook for 3 minutes more. Add cauliflower and pour in filtered water until it reaches just below the top of the cauliflower.

Bring to a boil over high heat. Add 2 tablespoons dill. Reduce heat to low, and simmer until cauliflower is just tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in greens, and simmer for 3 minutes.

Let sit for 5 minutes to cool slightly. Stir in remaining 2 tablespoons dill. Puree soup in batches in a blender until very smooth, adding more water (about 1/2 cup) if it's too thick. Return to pot and reheat. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with dill, black pepper, a drizzle of oil and a pinch of sea salt.

simple chicken stock (or vegetable stock) made with vegetable scraps

Remember the book The Giving Tree?

If you don't, it's about a tree that gives a boy her shade, her apples, her branches, her wood, and finally, when it seems like she has nothing left but a little stump in the ground, she surprises you by offering her stump for him to sit on.

The moral of the story is something about how wonderful it makes you feel to have a best friend for whom you would do anything, and that no matter what, a true friend will always be there for you. The flip side of the story, the message we're not really supposed to take from it, is that no matter how much you have taken from and used something, there is a chance that you can probably take even more. There is no need to quit asking and taking! Just get creative, and surely you will find that there is something more you can force out of it.

I think that a chicken is much like that tree. I don't think that Shel Silverstein would have sold quite as many copies if he had written "The Giving Chicken." I just don't think that illustrations of a chicken carcass being roasted, sliced, diced, shredded and finally boiled would have the same effect. But the story is the same. The almighty chicken, staple of dinners all across America, can give us so much more than we usually demand of it.

Let's pretend we are that little boy, and we'll take a chicken for all she is worth. It's fun. Because just when you think that your little Henny Penny can't give you anything more, you get to take her lifeless pile of bones and use them up too. It's rather uplifting, no?

By cooking a whole chicken, I find I can usually make three to four meals of out it. We will have chicken for dinner one night (with some vegetable sides), a chicken-heavy meal the next night (say chicken enchiladas or chicken casserole), and then a night or two of lightly-chicken-based meals (chicken on barbecue pizza, or chicken in an Asian salad).

By this point, I have grown quite attached to Henny Penny and all that she has done for us. Likewise, by this time my family is ready to evict her (and perhaps me too). However, I don't have to give up yet. Henny Penny is just a pile of bones, now. Okay then, I'll use her bones.  At this point, I can make a stock. 

I usually get pretty squeamish picking every little bit of meat off the bones. Since I will be soaking every living bit of flavor out of them, though, I can leave them not-quite-clean and still not feel guilty. In other words, be lazy! It's okay to skip digging cold chicken out of the little nooks and crannies in your chicken's nether regions.

Making your own stock couldn't be easier. It is virtually free (if you save all of your scraps from vegetables and bones from chicken). And it is SO much better for you than the stuff you buy in a can or a carton (especially if you have organic veggies and chicken, but even if you don't.)

If you can't already think of a bunch of recipes that use chicken or vegetable stock, here are some suggestions for how you can use it:
in soup
to cook rice or quinoa (they turn out so delicious cooked in stock instead of water)
to make pasta sauces
in casseroles

The basic premise of stock is that you take a bunch of water, and simmer it with vegetables and bones. The idea is to get every last bit of flavor out of the veggies and the meat, and into the water. When you have done that, you throw away the veggies and the bones, and you save the flavored water.

I use almost all the scraps from the vegetables I chop. This can include at any give time:
Tops and tails from: zucchini, carrots, parsnips, asparagus, bell peppers, green beans, leeks
Peels from: sweet potatoes, potatoes, onions
Stems from: broccoli, cabbage, bok choy, cauliflower, fennel, spinach
Leaves from: celery, carrots, broccoli

All of those bits you cut off here and there have lots of flavor and lots of nutrients. It is a shame to throw them away, but they aren't very appealing to eat. As you cut off these scraps, throw them in a plastic bag in the freezer. When you have a bag full, or some bones, you are ready to make stock.

I usually make stock after I have roasted a chicken.

Around here, we eat more vegetables than we do chickens. If my bag of veggie scraps gets full before I have chicken bones, I just make veggie stock. Either way, it is a great way to get one last hurrah out of your food before you give it up for dead.

The method is basically the same for either veggie or chicken stock. If you are doing chicken stock, you will want to let it simmer for much longer, though. You need time to get all that flavor out from the marrow and the bones. If you are doing veggie stock, cut the vegetable pieces up smaller (almost diced), so they can release their flavor much more quickly. If you are doing chicken stock, keep them larger, so they don't totally disintegrate while the chicken bones slowly release their flavor. In the end, you are going to strain out the vegetables and bones, so you don't want the pieces to turn all to mush.

Here is how you do it:
Put your chicken and vegetables in a large stockpot. Cover them with about 4 quarts of water. You can add some herbs if you want (like maybe some parsley, or some thyme). You don't really need to, though, especially if you have a good variety of vegetables. (I often have some little bits of garlic and parsley stems or cilantro stems in my bag of frozen vegetable pieces). You can always add seasoning to the dishes you make later, when you use this stock.

Here are my veggies just starting to simmer. Bright green veggie pieces in clear water.

Now, just put it on the stove! Let it simmer (not boil) for a good long time. Vegetable stock will be done in about a half an hour, but chicken stock should simmer for a good 2-2 1/2 hours.

Stock after a couple of hours... the color has all gone into the water!

Once you think the veggies and bones are worthless, you can take it off the stove.

The thing on the left used to be the bright green stem of some
yu choy sum, the thing on the right used to be the very bottom piece
of a head of broccoli, and the white thing in the middle used to
be part of a cabbage core. See how dull and lifeless they are? They
gave everything they had to make us some delicious stock. Thanks
guys. We'll always remember you.

Strain it through a fine mesh sieve (or some cheese cloth) to remove all the bits and pieces of flora and fauna. Throw those away, and hold on to the hot stock.

Let it cool as much as possible before refrigerating. (In the winter, I just put it in the garage -- covered, of course, -- instead of ever putting it in the fridge). You just don't want to put a huge pot of hot liquid in your refrigerator. Your fridge will thank you, your electric bill will thank you, and all the food that would have been adjacent to the big hot pot will thank you. Once it is pretty cool (you can put it outside, in a few smaller pans, or in a bath of ice water if you want to speed things up), put it the refrigerator overnight. This will let it all settle and let the fat separate, and rise conveniently to the top of the stock. If it is veggie stock, there will be no fat to speak of, so you can consider it done at this point.

Here is the hot, fresh stock. You can see the fat already gathering around the edges.

If it is chicken stock, I like to take the fat out of it. You don't have to, but I think the fat looks yucky and really isn't that great for you. Do this with a fat separator, or by skimming the fat off the top, with a spoon. This one is great because it has measurements on the side, so I can pour it into the bags in set amounts (then I know how much to defrost later for using in recipes).

Now, your stock is done! You can use it right away or freeze it for later. I like to freeze it in 2-cup amounts in ziploc bags. I know using a disposable bag isn't the best thing to do. If you have enough food storage containers in the right sizes that you can spare a few to hang out in the freezer, go ahead and do it that way. Otherwise, the plastic bags work great and don't take up much space. Use a cup or a jar to hold your bag upright for you while you fill it.

Let them lie flat while they are freezing.

Once they are frozen, you can stand them up, lay them down, build card houses out of them.... it's your freezer to organize as you like!

If you try this, let me know! I would also love to hear how you use your stock!

Crock Pot Chicken Taco Soup

If you don't live in Southern California, you may want to just skip down to the next paragraph. It feels so wrong to say it, but I am getting so weary of warm sunny days! I am not in the mood for Halloween (which may explain the lack of work on the costumes that need to be done in time for a party in 10 days). I put out some decorations, but only because the kids asked me to. I wasn't feeling it. My friends and acquaintances are full of stories of apple and pumpkin and baking and roasting, and I am just not feeling it. I need to at least put on a sweater before I feel like having pumpkin pie. I know this is a silly complaint. I know I would be lamenting the rain or the wind or the snow if I lived anywhere else. But I don't. I live in Los Angeles and I am tired of sunshine. I want fall to feel like fall so I can feel like doing fall things.

One day last week it actually did rain. For one day it felt a little more like we were getting to a new season... time for roasting squash and baking apple pie. However, the vegetables are still coming off of summer. Which makes sense, because right after that rainy day we shot back up to sunny days in the 80s and 90s. I'm no farmer, but I imagine we have to have a few cool days in a row before the fall and winter veggies can ripen.

For one day, though, it was cool. For one day, I felt a desire to make a crock-pot dinner. It seemed like a good day for some comfort food, and we had a busy schedule, so coming home to a ready meal worked out great.  Instead of a stew with carrots and potatoes, though, it was going to have to straddle seasons... a slow-cooked, warm, comforting meal made all out of summer veggies like tomatoes and corn.

I have to stop and wonder, though... why does "Crock Pot" cooking need to be "Canned Food" cooking? Just because I want something to be cooked slowly and to be conveniently ready for me when I get home, doesn't mean I want to just open a few cans of food and stir them together.

All of the recipes I found for taco soup asked for canned corn, canned tomatoes, canned beans, and a packet of taco seasoning. Instead, I went for the fresh(er) equivalents of those ingredients. It worked out great, and I am sure we saved at least a heart attack's worth of sodium by not getting all that stuff out of a can! (I did, however, include the bottle of beer that was in most recipes. I'm glad I did! It gave the soup a sort of yeasty, malty flavor.) I'm almost embarrassed to still call it Taco Soup. Somehow I feel this revamped, fresh-ingredient meal deserves a loftier name than "soup that is named after quasi-Mexican, Americanized food."

At any rate, here is Taco Soup that doesn't require a can opener whatsoever. Unless you buy canned beans. I am lucky that my husband likes to cook beans and freeze them, so that is what I use. If it were up to me, I would open a can of beans. So I am certainly not going to judge you canned-bean eaters.

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 onion, chopped finely
1-2 cups (or 1 can) beans of your choice (I used pinto beans, but black or kidney would be good too)
4 cobs of corn, kernels removed from the cob
6 tomatoes, diced (and try to retain as much juice as you can)
1 bottle or can of pale beer
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons dried cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 chicken breasts
shredded cheddar cheese


In your Crock Pot, combine the onion, beans, corn, tomatoes (and as much of the juice as you can keep), and beer. Add the garlic, chili powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Place the chicken breasts on top of it all, and push them down until they are just covered in liquid. Cook on low for five hours. Take the chicken breasts out, shred them with a couple of forks, and stir the shredded chicken back in. Let it cook for a couple more hours.

Top each serving with a bit of cheddar cheese. Serve it with a big green salad and some quesadilla wedges.

End of Summer Chili Pot

I had one of those days last week, where I just didn't know what to make for dinner. I needed something to put on the table, but for the life of me, I couldn't think of anything that sounded appealing. It was Monday, so I was looking for something meatless. Unfortunately, Meatless Monday has sort of become "Pasta Monday" around here, due largely to my lack of planning and creativity. However, I am trying to watch my carbs, so I wanted to do something different.  But what?

I was on the verge of cooking a baked potato for each member of the family and handing it to them plain, but I am not so sure that would do much for my carb concerns!

Luckily, I ran into my friend Kirsten who also happens to get the Abundant Harvest Organics produce box every week, and she suggested that I look up their recipe for End Of Summer Chili Pot. She assured me it would be yummy, and that it would use many of the items in my current box.

I am not usually a huge chili fan, but my husband is. I figured it would be good enough for me, great for him, healthy, chock full of veggies, and far better than a plain potato. As a matter of fact, we went ahead and ate the chili on baked potatoes, but it is certainly good -- and hearty -- enough to stand on its own.

The recipe calls for ground beef or turkey, but I left that out since it was meatless Monday. I added in some beans instead, since I can't quite reconcile the name "chili" with anything that doesn't contain beans. I happened to have some pinto beans in the freezer, but red beans, kidney beans, white beans or black beans would probably do nicely. Use whatever you like... or whatever you have on hand.

I wasn't thrilled about cooking this dish... it just seemed like a good enough dinner idea when I started. I have to say, though, that I ended up loving it!! As a matter of fact, I think I know what we might have for dinner again tonight!

Here is the chili the way I made it:
(Here is the way Abundant Harvest makes it)


1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 zucchini, chopped
1 bell pepper (red or green), chopped
2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped
salt and pepper
kernels cut from 3 ears of corn
2 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. paprika
12 ounces vegetable stock
3 cups diced tomatoes
2 tbsp. shopped fresh thyme
2 cups beans

Heat a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Add oil. When the oil is hot, add the onion, garlic, zucchini, bell pepper and jalapenos. Season with salt and pepper and cook until the vegetables start to soften (about 6-7 minutes). Add the corn, chili powder, and paprika, and cook for another minute or two. Stir in the stock, tomatoes, and thyme, and cook until slightly decreased, about 10 minutes.  Stir in the beans, cook for another couple of minutes, until the beans are heated through.

Serve over a potato or in a bowl. Top with shredded cheese or sour cream if desired.

tomato soup

One of my favorite combinations is grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. I've liked it since I was a wee little thing.  Once in a while, so I remember, we got away with it on a Friday in lent, instead of having to eat dreaded tartar sauce with a little bit of even more dreaded fish underneath it. Those were the days.

Here is the thing about tomato soup from a can, though. It's really really good, but it doesn't exactly taste like... tomatoes. Nor does it really look like tomatoes. It has it's own color. Once, a friend asked me to help her make some curtains. "They need to go with our new couch," she said. "It's tomato-soup colored." And it was, exactly. It was that odd, almost-red color of tomato soup straight out of the Cambell's soup can. Not tomato-colored, tomato soup-colored.

Anyway, this recipe will definitely fill any nostalgic need you might have for the tomato soup of your youth. It is creamy and sweet, goes great with grilled cheese sandwiches, and just feels like going home. But here's the kick. It also manages to taste like tomatoes! Bonus!

Tomato Soup
This recipe makes enough for 10-12 servings. Plan to freeze some for a future night of easy dinner prep, or make only half.

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, finely chopped
8 cups tomatoes, chopped (including juice, skins and seeds)
1 quart vegetable stock (or chicken stock)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste


In a large stockpot, saute garlic in olive oil. Add onion and saute until translucent and soft, (about 8 minutes). Add the tomatoes and bring it to a boil. When it comes to a boil, add vegetable stock. Simmer for about 20 minutes.

Let it cool. When it is relatively cool, add basil. Puree in a blender, a couple cups at a time, until it is an even smooth consistency. Set aside.

Make a roux in the now-empty pot, by melting butter and then stirring in flour until it is a medium brown color. Add the pureed tomato mixture back into the pot. Mix together, and then add in the salt, pepper, vinegar, and cream.

Let it all simmer about 20 minutes more. Serve warm... perhaps with a grilled cheese sandwich?

Peas Porridge Hot

Peas!

I love peas! I have been thrilled to get peas in the box the past two weeks. They are so green and sweet and fresh and summery! 

Plus, the kids think that shucking peas is great fun. 

And if the kids are busy shucking peas, you know what that means... they aren't busy spreading every blessed Lego ever created onto the bedroom floor. Or dripping glue and stray crayon marks over the dining table. Or changing clothing. for. the. fourth. time. today.

So this week, we had an unexpectedly cold, rainy day. While everyone around me here in Southern California grumbled about how it just isn't fair to have rain in May, and they just don't know what to wear when they wake up in the morning, I went home, poured my fourth cup of coffee, and got started on some nice, comforting chowder. Green Pea and Potato Chowder, to be specific.

The kids thought the chowder was great... enough to ask for seconds. I am not sure if they were really hungry, or were just having fun talking about Pee Pea Chowder. Either way, I'll take it.

It takes a while to cook it all, but if you have the time and a blustery day, you won't mind standing next to a warm stove, inhaling bacon scent. What could be better than that? It is creamy, hot, and very filling. The perfect antidote to standing in the rain waiting for school to be let out.

2 Tbsp butter

1 onion, diced

1 pound bacon, diced

6 potatoes, peeled and diced

4 tablespoons flour

1 quart chicken stock

1 quart milk

salt and pepper to taste

2 cups fresh peas

cheddar cheese, shredded

chives, to garnish

Melt the butter in a large stock pot. Add onion and bacon, and cook until golden brown. Add the potatoes, and cook for 10 minutes more. Stir in the flour and cook for another couple of minutes. Gradually pour in the chicken stock and milk. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring it to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 25 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Add peas, and continue to simmer another 15-20 minutes, until the peas are cooked.

Serve with a sprinkling of cheese and chopped chives as a garnish.

Italian Potato Soup

Although it has been warm and sunny, here in southern California we have been forewarned that it may rain later this week. In preparation, let's take this pile of fresh-from-the-farm, good-for-you, chock-full-of-vitamins vegetables and make a soup that no one can resist.

Look at all that nutrition on our cutting boards. Don't you just feel so healthy already? 

Shall we begin? (this recipe is modified from the Italian Potato Soup recipe from Abundant Harvest Organics).  Once we're done cooking, we can refrigerate it for a couple of days before serving, if we wish. Soup often tastes better after a day or two, I believe. Of course, there is no need to wait, either. Enjoy it straight from the stove if you prefer!

First, dice an onion and saute it with a 3-4 cloves of diced garlic in a big soup pot, until it is soft.

Take it out of the pot, and set it aside for now. Next, break up a pound of Italian sausage into little pieces, and cook it in the soup pot until it is browned. Drain the fat from the sausage.

Cut 5-6 potatoes up into small pieces, and add them to the sausage.

Cook the potatoes and sausage together for another 5 minutes. 

Add the onions and garlic back in, along with a quart of chicken stock, and 2 1/2 cups of water. (If you have saved any water from steaming or blanching or boiling veggies, now is the time to use it. If not, plain water will do.) It's now time to give our potatoes and sausage some flavor. Chop a bunch of parsley and a bulb of fennel, and add them also.

Let this all come to a simmer, for about 10 minutes. Now that it is looking like bona fide soup, let's make it even more nutritious. Add in a bunch of spinach, loosely torn.  Since spinach is so darn sandy, it works well to rinse each leaf, tear it, and throw it in the pot still dripping wet. There is no need to pat dry or relegate it to a salad spinner.

Let the soup simmer with the spinach added for another 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Drizzle a couple of teaspoons of half and half into each bowl of soup before serving, and top with shredded parmesan cheese.

Mangiamo!

Italian Potato Soup:

olive oil for sautéing
1 large onion, diced
3-4 garlic cloves, diced
5-6 potatoes, scrubbed and diced
1 lb. Italian sausage, broken into bite-sized pieces
1 quart chicken stock
2 1/2 cups water
1 fennel bulb, diced
1 bunch parsley, chopped finely
1 bunch spinach
salt and pepper to taste
half and half
parmesan cheese for garnish

Saute onion and garlic in soup pot until soft. Remove and set aside. Brown sausage in soup pot, drain fat. Add potatoes and saute for 5 minutes. Add onions and garlic back into soup pot. Add chicken stock and water, parsley and fennel. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add rinsed spinach and simmer another 10 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls, drizzle a teaspoon or two of half and half, and garnish with parmesan.