Beef & Bulgur Soup

A perfect fall or winter soup (not quite stew) made with a blend of curry spices.

Beef & Bulgur Soup
Makes 3 quarts

2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons garam masala
1-1/2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger (or 1 tsp dry)
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne (or to taste)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1-1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds, whole
2 pounds stew meat, cut into 1” cubes
3 medium onions, chopped (about 3 cups)
5-1/4 cups beef broth
1 can stewed tomatoes (14.5 ounces), undrained
1 can garbanzos (15 ounces), rinsed and drained
1 cup bulgur, cracked wheat, or quick-cooking barley
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced

1. Combine fi rst six ingredients (spices) in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in large (5–6 quart) pot.
   
3. Add cumin seeds to hot oil. Cook and stir for 5–10 seconds (DO NOT BURN). Add spice mix; cook and stir another 10–15 seconds.
4. Add half of the meat and half of the onion to spice mixture in pot; cook and stir until brown. Remove meat (onion and spices can remain). Add remaining meat and onion. Cook and stir until meat is brown. Return all meat and onions to pot.
5. Stir in broth and undrained tomatoes. Bring to boiling; reduce heat, cover, and simmer 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Stir in garbanzos, bulgur, and carrots. Return to boiling; reduce heat, cover, and simmer 20–25 minutes more, or until meat, vegetables, and bulgur are tender, stirring occasionally.

This is the kind of soup that can simmer away (covered) on the stove all day. I haven't tried it in a crock pot, but it would be tough to get the spices toasted and the beef browned that way (steps I don't recommend skipping).

Because you're adding the amount of cayenne pepper yourself, this curry blend will only be as spicy as you like. There's no harm in adding half the recommended amount, trying the final product, and adding more.

Bleu Cheese Dressing

This week's recipe: Bleu Cheese Dressing

(Yes, bleu not blue, 'cos I'm fancy like that.)

I'm visiting my mom in eastern Washington, so I brought the ingredients along and informed her that we'd be trying my dressing on the guinea pigs of our family. Sounded fine to her.

America's Test Kitchen shows up regularly in my email inbox and on January 30 (this year) it had this recipe in it. Sounded good. Sounded easy.

So here it is:

Bleu Cheese Dressing
Makes about 1½ cups

3/4 cup (3 ounces) Stilton cheese, crumbled
3/4 cup mayonnaise
6 tablespoons sour cream
1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1. Combine all ingredients in food processor and process until smooth, scraping down sides as necessary.
2. Serve.
   

Dressing can be refrigerated in an airtight container for 1 week.

Well, I substituted bleu cheese for the stilton (not by choice, they only carry flavored stilton at Trader Joe's—who knew?). And something inside me really wanted to sub yogurt for the sour cream. But they didn't have any in a smaller-than-quart sized container, so I got the sour cream.

Next observation: if I put all of the ingredients and whiz them up until smooth, how do I end up with chunks of bleu cheese in there? Answer: I only whiz ½ cup of bleu cheese in with the rest of the ingredients and stir the rest in at the end—OR—I do as the directions state and stir in an additional 1/4 cup (one ounce) of crumbled bleu cheese at the end.

So, I did the latter: a full 3 ounces in the recipe as called for, plus an extra ounce crumbled stirred in. Which actually turned out to be 2 extra ounces crumbled in. And the bleu cheese I used was too creamy, I need a drier bleu (perhaps stilton is dryer? maybe use gorgonzola?).

(Nevermind that the original recipe—here—was for CREAMY Bleu Cheese Dressing.)

Further, this strikes me as something that would taste best the day after it's made. Don't you think? So, in the best world, I did step one, refrigerated it overnight, and used it (step two) the next day. In reality, I did the dressing in the afternoon and used it that evening.

How was it?

Good. Not great. Nothing spectacular. No one was standing on their chair at the dinner table brandishing their fork and proclaiming this concoction the savior of mankind. Or anything really like that.

Grandpa thought it was "pretty dang good," aunt thought it was "really good." I just thought it was unremarkable bleu cheese dressing.

I thought it lacked the punch-you-in-the-face component that I like about bleu cheese.

Yes, it was creamy. Yes—because I added the extra cheese at the end—it had chunks of bleu cheese in it. Yes, we could all tell that it was what it was supposed to be—bleu cheese dressing, not ranch.

And it was thick. Some may like that, but I wanted it a little thinner. Perhaps adding a little buttermilk (as omitted by the folks at cookscountry.com) would thin it perfectly.

Perhaps letting it sit will bring out the bite of bleu cheese.

But I'm not throwing out the recipe. Next time 'round: more bleu cheese (somewhere in the neighborhood of 6–8 ounces total), a little less mayonnaise, sub some (or all) of the sour cream for yogurt, and add a little buttermilk (tang + liquid).

Yes, that's the plan.

Cauliflower-Garlic Soup

One of my go-to recipes.

I clipped it out of Sunset magazine (December 2004), pasted it into a spiral notebook I was keeping for "those recipes I wanted to make," forgot about it for a stint, and finally made it.

It was fantastic. Creamy, subtle, the tiniest bit sweet and salty, not too cauliflowery, not too garlicky (why is there a "k" in garlicky? I digress...), and oh so easy.

Cauliflower-Garlic Soup
Makes 3 quarts

1 head garlic, unpeeled
1 tablespoon butter
3 heads caulifl ower (4.5 pounds total)
2 quarts chicken broth
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons chives, snipped

1. Heat oven to 400°.
2. Cut top 1/2-inch off of garlic head. Set garlic on a sheet of foil and top with butter. Draw sides of foil up around garlic and pinch together to enclose in a loose, sealed pouch.
3. Bake 45–50 minutes, until garlic is soft when pressed. Unwrap and let stand until cool enough to handle.
4. Meanwhile, cut caulifl ower heads into 1-inch fl orets, discarding leaves and stems. In a 4-quart pot, combine caulifl ower and broth. Cover, bring to a simmer over high heat, then reduce heat and simmer until caulifl ower is very tender when pierced, 12–15 minutes.
5. Squeeze garlic cloves from papery skins into pan with caulifl ower and broth; pour in cream. Working in batches, transfer to a blender and whirl until smooth (or use an immersion blender). Return soup to pan and add nutmeg. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Heat through over medium-low heat while stirring occasionally.
7. Serve with chives.

I make it just as written, save for the following:

• Cauliflower: discard the leaves and the core, but just roughly chop the rest—it's all going to be blended later anyhow
• Blending: I always use an immersion blender
• Serving: I wait to add the nutmeg until serving, grating it directly onto the soup; thyme leaves are a fantastic substitution for the chives (equally as pretty, if not more)

It's quick (save for the roasting of the garlic). You can eat it out of a bowl with a spoon or serve it in mugs and sip away.

I store the leftovers (and, because you're making 3 quarts, there will be leftovers) in a lidded pitcher in the refrigerator. This makes pouring into a bowl or mug the next day easy and you don't have to dirty another ladle.

This is an excellent soup to make when you're not feeling well, too.

Link to online recipe from Sunset here.

Chocolate Cappuccino Cheesecake

From allrecipes.com I tried their Chocolate Cappuccino Cheesecake. All the reviews were positive (and there were 152 of them), and it seemed the only reported problem was the chocolate seizing upon being melted. We can handle that.

Let me give you the recipe, then we can discuss how it went.

Chocolate Cappuccino Cheesecake
Serves 12

1 cup chocolate cookie crumbs
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs
8 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate
2 tablespoons whipping cream
1 cup sour cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons instant coffee granules dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water
1/4 cup coffee flavored liqueur
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons coffee-flavored liqueur
1 (1 ounce) square semisweet chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter one 9 or 10 inch springform pan.
2. Combine the chocolate wafer crumbs, softened butter, 2 tablespoons white sugar, and the cinnamon. Mix well and press mixture into the buttered springform pan, set aside.
3. In a medium sized bowl beat the softened cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add 1 cup white sugar mixing until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat at low speed until very smooth.
4. Melt the 8 ounces semisweet chocolate with 2 tablespoons whipping cream in a pan or bowl set over boiling water, stir until smooth.
5. Add chocolate mixture to cream cheese mixture and blend well. Stir in sour cream, salt, coffee, 1/4 cup coffee liqueur, and vanilla; beat until smooth. Pour mixture into prepared pan.
6. Bake in the center of oven at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes. Center will be soft but will firm up when chilled. Do not over bake. Leave cake in oven with the heat turned off and the door ajar for 45 minutes. Remove cake from oven and chill for 12 hours. Just before serving top cake with mounds of flavored whipped cream and garnish with chocolate leaves. Yields 16 servings.
7. To Make Flavored Whipped Cream: Beat whipping cream until soft peaks form, then beat in confectioner's sugar and 2 tablespoons coffee liqueur.
8. To Make Chocolate Leaves: Melt 1 ounce semisweet chocolate in a pan or bowl set over boiling water, stir until smooth. Brush real non-toxic plant leaves (such as orange leaves) on one side with melted chocolate. Freeze until firm and then peel off leaves. Freeze chocolate leaves until needed.

I failed.
Miserably.
Everything went wrong except the flavor.

• I ground the chocolate wafers too finely for the crust
• The chocolate seized (nothing new there)
• The filling filled a 9" spring form pan to the rim (should have been a major indicator that this was doomed)
• While baking, the filling rose over an inch above the rim of the pan
• Then started falling off

So then I took it out after 45 minutes (and after a lengthy chat with a chef friend about wtf just happened) and, doing as he instructed, set it down and walked away. I was to check on it the next morning because, sure, it could have deflated by then, right?

Not really.

I removed the ring to which the filling clinged most tenaciously.

I attempted to cut a slice, but wound up with chunks (some on my plate, most on the floor).

And it tasted great.

At that time, I added cheesecake to the "things I'm not going to be in charge of making" list. There are plenty of fine people able to make cheesecake that I refuse to burden myself with the stress of repeating this.

But, really, I think it was just me. Apparently everyone else can make this just fine. Okay by me!

Oy.

Zuppa Toscana

I got my car back, so now I can make soup.

I pulled this recipe off of allrecipes.com because I was feeling like eating the soup from, forgive me, Olive Garden. I haven't been there in years. I haven't had the soup in forever. (Can we call it a PMS moment?)

Anyhow, after reviewing a few recipes, I settled on this one. The recipe below is an adaptation. Followed by notes and more adaptations. Because I'm like that.

Zuppa Toscana
Makes 2 quarts (about 6 servings)

1 pound hot bulk sausage
6 slices bacon
3/4 cup onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons chicken soup base
6 cups water
1 pound potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch slices
3-6 cups kale - washed, de-stemmed, and chopped
1/3 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup hard cheese

1. Heat oven to 400°. Place bacon in a single layer on a half-sheet pan and bake 10-20 minutes, turning pan around half way through baking.
   
2. Crumble bulk sausage into a large pot and cook until done. Drain and set aside.
3. In the same pot, cook onions until translucent (3-4 minutes); add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
4. Add chicken soup base, water, and potatoes, simmer, covered, 20 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Meanwhile, crumble bacon and blot excess oil from sausage.
   
5. Add crumbled bacon, sausage, kale, and cream. Simmer 5-10 minutes (until greens are wilted) and serve with grated hard cheese on top.

Sausage note:
Using the "hot" sausage didn't make the soup overwhelmingly hot, but I think I would have missed the heat had I gone with "regular" sausage. You can effectively use "regular" sausage with 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper if "hot" sausage is not available.

Bacon note:
I originally thought that bacon would be mandatory in this recipe. I wasn't sure I'd miss it if it weren't there. Well, I missed it. Use the bacon.

Salt note:
The first time I made this, the recipe called for 4 cups of water and 2 tablespoons chicken soup base. That's a salt lick there, especially with the sausage AND the bacon contributing more than their share. I'll give you that neither my potatoes nor kale were seasoned, but it still came out too salty. And because it came out thicker than I thought it should have, I recommend 6 cups water. If your soup base is salty (Knorr is very salty, Better than Bullion less so), reduce the amount of soup base to 1 tablespoon; you can always add it in at the end.

Potato note:
I used russets and left the skin on. Do what you like.

Kale note:
I used 3 cups of washed and chopped fresh kale (the original recipe called for 2 cups), but wish I would have thrown in the rest of the bunch (about 6 cups total). Greens are good for you dammit. Eat them. And, boy howdy, is this a fine way to eat them.

Cream note:
Whipping cream is nice, but I thought I could have gotten away with half & half. Well, after making it the second time, use the whipping cream.

Cheese note:
I used some hard cheese that I had in my refrigerator (Shannon cow aged 3 years something). Use romano, parmesan, or whatever you like. I'm not picky, and I don't think you should be either.

Cost:
$1.66 Bulk Sausage (on sale)
$2.00 Bacon (for 1/2 pound)
$1.00 Onion
$0.30 Garlic
$0.75 Chicken soup base (how do you divide this cost, really?)
$0.38 Potatoes (on sale)
$2.99 Kale (I must say, I was surprised to see this was so expensive)
$0.50 Whipping cream
$1.00 Hard cheese (2 ounces)

Total: $10.58 (or 6 servings at $1.76 each)

Swedish Meatballs

Okay, so I'm cheating already. I've decided that "one new recipe a week" means "one new recipe I haven't made in my own kitchen or by my own hands." So I've decided family recipes, that I haven’t made, totally count as “new” recipes. I’ll try not to cheat like this too often, because I pretty much know how these family recipes will turn out. And that’s not quite the goal of the New Year’s Aim. But, then again, maybe it is.

On with it already…

So, by Swedish Meatballs I mean I didn’t make the meatballs, the recipe comes off of the back of the frozen meatball package, there are only 5 ingredients in the recipe (6 if you count water), and I’m Scandinavian. The recipe could just as easily be called Meatball Stroganoff. And it’s a total hack. And I love it. This is what my uncle Craig makes for Christmas appetizers (some of us eat more of these than the ham, though). And if I’m in attendance, he’ll make them for Thanksgiving, too.

Due to the outrageous fat and salt content of these puppies, I can see why they must be stuffed into the corners of our holidays and only dusted off once a year. I do little to increase the health value of this dish, but I do steam broccoli to have with it and, for starch, I aim for the gluten-free variety (‘cause I’m a nut like that). Potatoes, rice, and rice-based pasta are all fair game. And, for those of you pooh-poohing stuff like “rice-based pasta,” I assure you, with the cream sauce all over it, you won’t be able to tell the difference. I’m going to have to throw sautéed mushrooms into this one of these days; it just seems like that kind of recipe.

Can we have the recipe now, please?

Fine, here it is.

Swedish Meatballs

1 package frozen meatballs (24 ounces), Simek’s brand preferred
2 packages Knorr Brown Gravy mix (1.2 ounces each)
1 pint sour cream
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
¼ teaspoon allspice

1. Place frozen meatballs in crock pot.
2. Prepare gravy as directed on package in a medium (not small) saucepan. Whisk gravy into sour cream in the pan. Stir in pepper and allspice. Pour over meatballs.
3. Cover and cook on low 4–8 hours.
4. Serve over rice or buttered noodles if desired.

As made by Craig Halvorsen

Note from me:
For the love of all that’s good and holy, please, please add something green to your plate when you eat these! Broccoli, peas, kale, spinach, I don’t care! If you don’t, your eyes will notice and tell your brain which will initiate an immediate shut down due to impending health failure. You’ve been warned.

Kielbasa & Bean Stew

This week I decided to get right to the making of the new recipe. The original recipe (online here) was for Slow Cooker Lentils and Sausage.

I tweaked the original recipe based on the comments/reviews on the website and what made sense to me.

Draining the can of tomatoes does not make sense to me. I happen to think that tomato juice in a stew is just great thankyouverymuch. So we kept that. And I thought that two cans of beef broth would be too salty (and I didn't have broth on hand) so I used only half as much bullion, but kept the water around 7 cups (the original recipe uses 6.5 cups).

I also doubled the carrots and celery (12 servings and only one carrot and one celery stick in the original recipe? That's chintzy). I added an onion, potato, and a little garlic. Because stews like that sort of thing. Oh, and did I mention I had no lentils on hand, but I happen to have six pounds of mixed beans? Well, it turned into a mixed bean soup/stew. There were lentils in there... somewhere.

Seeing as though I wasn't paying attention to the number of servings, nor did I effectively tally the amount of stuff going into my slow cooker, I didn't realize until I was dumping away that this was not all going to fit. I cooked it on high for a few hours (without the last pound of kielbasa because with everything else we were already up to the rim), then transfered it over to a 6-quart soup pot when the slow cooker started to boil over. (I thought that would be a good time.)

I'm really glad I left out the second bit of beef broth, the stew was plenty salty. The kielbasa was only a little spicy, so folks might want to grind some pepper in there at some point. Leaving in the tomato juice (from the can of diced tomatoes) and adding the potato gave the stew's liquid a hearty body. I might add more carrots and celery next time because I like that sort of thing, but I didn't feel like there was a gaping hole where veggies should be.

And now the recipe, as I made it.

Kielbasa & Bean Stew

2 pounds kielbasa, cut into 1/2" slices
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice (14 ounces)
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, cut into 1/2" slices
2 celery stalks, cut into 1/2" slices
1 potato, cut into 1" cubes
1 pound beans, lentils, or any combination thereof
7 cups water
1 teaspoon beef bullion
1 teaspoon minced garlic

Dump everything into a 6-quart slow cooker or soup pot. Cook on low 8-12 hours.

Makes 1 gallon (12 servings).

Enjoy!