Two Weeks of Canned Soup (plus the best stuffing ever)

Hello loyal readers,
I am sad to report that Button Soup is taking a hiatus until December 17th - this law student needs to stop playing in the kitchen and start studying for finals. But I will leave you with my dad's recipe for pecan onion stuffing. It may change your feelings about plain stuffing forever.

Ingredients:
8 oz pecans, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
6 slices white bread (you could get fancy and use baguette, but we just used the normal old wonder bread)
1 stick butter
kosher salt and black pepper

Directions:
1. Plan ahead - the bread needs to sit out overnight to get a little stale. I imagine you could replicate this at the last minute by drying it in the oven on a low temperature for a bit.
2. Break the stale bread up into bite sized pieces.
3. Mix the bread with the pecans and onion, and add some salt and pepper.
4. Stuff that birdie with this mixture.
5. Melt the butter in the microwave, and pour into the bird's cavity on top of the stuffing.
6. Roast the turkey.

That's it! You're all done.

***Variation: For those vegetarians out there, I think you could make this stuffing by baking the mixture for awhile in a baking dish, watching it carefully to make sure it doesn't burn, and adding vegetable stock in small amounts, to get the same effect as the turkey juices releasing as it cooks. If you try this, let me know how it goes!

Thanks for reading, and be sure to come back after the 17th when I will be cooking lots of exciting things over my winter vacation.

Bun chai - Vietnamese Noodle Salad

So I had half the ingredients from yesterday's Triple Sesame Salad (lettuce, spinach, cooked tofu, cucumber, scallions) and some dressing, but wanted something different tonight. Still working on my goal of finishing all my fresh vegetables and groceries before I go to my parents' house for Thanksgiving this week, I pulled out a bag of green beans and a couple of eggs, and a bundle of round udon noodles. I was feeling like a variation on a Vietnamese noodle salad. Normally this salad would be served with nuoc cham dipping sauce, but I didn't have any fish sauce, so I substituted soy, which turned out just fine. I also used some ginger, making it "nuoc cham gung."

Ingredients:
(makes 2 servings)

Sauce:
1/4 c. soy
2 tbsp water
1 lime
1/2 tsp sriracha
2 cloves garlic
a chunk of ginger (about an inch long, peeled)
3 tbsp brown sugar

Salad:
mixed greens - romaine, spinach, red lettuce, whatever you've got is good
2 scallions
1 cucumber
about a half lb of green beans
2 eggs
tofu, cooked (from yesterday's sesame salad)
noodles - I used round udon, you could use rice noodles though if you have them. You could also experiment with whole wheat.
peanut sauce (see previous post)

Directions:
1. Fill a pot with about 1/2 inch of water, and put in a steamer basket. Fill another pot with water for the noodle, and add the eggs to this pot. Turn both burners to high.

2. Cut the ends off the green beans and half them. Smash the garlic cloves with the flat side of a knife, and slip the peel off. Cut the ginger into two or three smaller pieces. Add the green beans, garlic and ginger to the basket, and cover the pot.

3. When the water with the eggs in it comes to a boil, add the noodles. Yes, with the eggs. Living dangerously, I know.

4. While you're waiting for the noodles to cook, peel the cucumber and cut it into 1/2 inch thick slices. Slice the scallions - cut the green parts into 1/2 inch pieces, and slice the white parts thinly.

5. When the noodles are done, remove them from the water with tongs and drain. Take the pot off the heat and cover, leaving the eggs in the water.

6. The green beans should be done by this point. Take them off the heat, and carefully remove the garlic and ginger from the pot.

7. Mince the garlic and ginger. Add to a small bowl with the soy, water, sugar and lime juice. Mix until the sugar dissolves. Taste and adjust proportions to your liking.

8. Run the eggs under cold water and peel.

9. Arrange everything on a plate - greens, green beans, hard boiled egg, tofu, noodles, and cucumber. Sprinkle scallions over the greens. Drizzle the sauce over everything. Serve with peanut sauce on the side for dipping.

Triple your pleasure, Triple your fun

I have this big binder of recipes. I started it in summer of 2007, right after graduation, when I suddenly had all this time to experiment in the kitchen. I went a little recipe-crazy, taking out tons of cookbooks from the library and photocopying the ones I wanted to try. Of course, quite a few of those original recipes still remain to be attempted.

Today I realized I had tons of salad greens, and will be going out of town for Thanksgiving this week, so I needed to find a use for them. I also had half a package of silken tofu, and other assorted vegetables that needed to be eaten before I leave. I decided to make one of the neglected recipes--Mark Bittman's Triple Sesame Salad--for lunch (in repentance for the junk I'm going to eat later at the football tailgate. Hook 'em horns!)

Here it is...

The Dressing:
1/4 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. rice wine vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp creamy peanut butter
1 tsp chopped fresh ginger
1/2 tsp chopped garlic
pinch of red pepper flakes

Combine all in blender or food processor and blend away. Easy peasy.

The salad:
1. Cook your protein. I used silken tofu, cut into planks, and pan fried them in a little canola oil. Beware - tofu has a high water content - there will be splashing oil. You should drain the tofu first on paper towels, but if you are using silken as I did, there's only so much you can do. Mark Bittman suggests scallops, and next time I will follow his lead.

This is my tofu-cooking method - cut the tofu into flat "steaks" -
that way you can actually develop some crust on both sides.

2. Arrange your veggies on a plate. Mixed greens + romaine = good. Cucumber = good. Scallions = good. Basil = good. Tomato and mushroom = pretty, but not so good with the dressing.

3. Top with tofu (or scallops) and drizzle with dressing.

In the immortal words of the waitress at Titaya's, my favorite Thai restaurant in Austin, "salad, yummy!"

Ribo-whata?

I saw Giada DeLaurentis make this recipe a couple of years ago and always meant to try it, but never got around to it. It's for Ribollita, an italian soup that she serves over toasted ciabatta bread. I skipped the bread and made some substantial changes to the ingredients (becuase I was missing about half of them) but it came out better than I could have hoped. You can see the original here.

My Ribollita
Ingredients:
3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp tomato paste
4 roma tomatoes, diced (tip: use a serrated knife to dice soft tomatoes without crushing them!)
3 cups chicken broth or stock (I used Imagine brand organic free range chicken broth - it was excellent)
whole package swiss chard (this was about 10 large leaves), rinsed, with the hard center stalk cut out, and torn into big pieces.
salt and pepper
italian herbs - whatever you've got. I used "italian herb mix".
a piece of parmesan rind if you've got it
15-oz can of cannellini beans

Instructions:
1. Sautee onions, carrots and garlic in olive oil over medium heat. Add a few hearty pinches of salt and a bunch of ground black pepper to the onions - eyeball this, but err on the side of caution with the salt - you can always add more later. If the onions start browning quickly, lower the heat.
2. When the onions are translucent and turning golden brown, add the tomato paste and stir to dissolve.
3. Add the tomatoes and a couple tablespoons of chicken broth, and stir. Cook until the tomatoes start to break down, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the chard, stir and cover. Let cook 5 minutes, or until the chard is nicely wilted, stirring halfway through. Yes, it looks like a lot when you put it in, but fear not - the chard will shrink a huge amount as it cooks, and you will get the perfect amount of leafy green goodness in your soup.
5. Add the rest of the broth, the parmesan rind, and the italian seasoning, and the white beans, and stir to combine. Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce heat to low to simmer.
6. Simmer 30 minutes. Serve topped with grated parmesan.

this is the part where it gets really hard to wait 30 minutes while it simmers

"The name's Sprout. Brussel Sprout."

Somehow, I made it adulthood without ever eating a brussel sprout. My parents never made them, and they certainly didn't have a reputation that made me inclined to try them on my own. But last Thanksgiving, the lovely Laura brought roasted parmesan brussel sprouts to my dinner, and I was surprised at the result. They were crunchy, nutty, salty, and had a certain je ne sais quoi about them. Plus, they look like cute little baby cabbages.

Fast forward one year. I remembered them being good, but never thought to make them myself. My friend Karen made balsamic brussel sprouts with bacon and put them on her blog, Does That Make Sense?, and they looked so delicious that I picked some up on my next grocery trip. I crossed her recipe with Mark Bittman's similar recipe from Bitten.

I served these babies with pecan crusted chicken and sweet-potato pear puree. I'll throw in the rough details of those too (after the Sprouts), for your dining pleasure.

Ingredients: - there are no definite amounts required, adjust the proportions to your heart's content.
Sliced brussel sprouts - I sliced each into 3-4 pieces
Bacon - chopped up. I used 3 strips.
Handful of dried figs, quartered
Balsamic Vinegar

Instructions:
Cook the bacon in a nonstick pan or pot over medium-high heat until cooked through. I used a big pot to avoid sprouts ending up everywhere. When the bacon is cooked, add in the sprouts and let them brown for about 5 minutes, stirring every minute or so. Add the figs, then add about a quarter cup of water and stir - this will evaporate quickly, but will soften the figs and help all the flavors mix. Then add about a quarter cup of balsamic vinegar and stir as it boils off. When the liquid of the vinegar has all disappeared, your sprouts are ready!

The final product.

Fixins:
Pecan Crusted Chicken Tenders - Dip chicken tenders (you can cut boneless chicken breasts into thirds) into a mixture of one beaten egg mixed with one tablespoon of olive oil. Then dip into a mixture of equal parts of whole wheat breadcrumbs and crushed pecans, seasoned with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Bake 15-20 minutes at 375 degrees.

Sweet-potato pear puree - Roast sweet potatoes at 400 degrees for 1 hour, or until done. Peel the potatoes and put the sweet potato in a food processor or blender with 1 pear, peeled and cubed, or add a can of pear baby food (make sure it doesn't have any other fruits mixed in). Add a little milk or cream and blend. If your blender won't integrate the ingredients, add some more milk.

A very button-soupey schoolday lunch

Today, I came home from school for lunch, only to realize I had very little in the way of ingredients. Not feeling like another peanut butter sandwich, I gathered a few ingredients and set to work improvising. I sauteed 1/4 onion(chopped) in olive oil until a little softened and starting to brown, added half a medium chopped tomato, and then added a couple handfuls of canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed, leftover from the ratatouille. I salted, peppered and garlic powder'd the mixture, and then let it cook away for about 5 minutes. When it was ready I grated some white cheddar over the mixture, and ate it spooned over pieces of a whole wheat tortilla. Mmm.

Next up: balsamic glazed brussel sprouts, thanks to a suggestion from my lovely friend and fellow blogger Karen over at Does That Make Sense. Stay tuned!

"Maybe next time just follow the recipe" Khao Soi Coconut Curry Noodle Soup

So I recently started subscribing to Food & Wine magazine, and last week read this article that made me really, really want a coconut curry noodle soup. I kept thinking about it, since I (thought) I had all the ingredients I needed, and finally I decided to take a break from homework and create this dish I'd been drooling over. I found a recipe for the dish on Recipezaar and set about making it, only to realize I didn't have the requisite red curry paste. Hmm, what's an amateur foodie to do? Naturally, I substituted extra curry powder for the curry paste, in the same quantity called for. As it turned out, this was a huge mistake. The soup was overpoweringly curry-y (yes, I just invented that word.) The delicate coconut, chicken and scallion flavors were completely overwhelmed by the massive shock of curry. So folks, do as I say and not as I do. Follow the recipe. It looks like a lot of ingredients but it's really quite simple and fast once you gather them all from the depths of your cabinets and refrigerator drawers.

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 tbsp red curry paste or panang curry paste
• 3/4 lb boneless chicken (I used tenders because it's what I keep in the freezer, but thighs would also be delicious if you prefer dark meat), cut into bite sized chunks
• 2 cups unsweetened coconut milk. I used the Organic Light coconut milk - eliminates the guilt factor of this soup.
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 tsp ground turmeric or curry powder
  
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• Salt to taste
• Assorted vegetables as desired. I used some sliced zucchini, yellow squash and red pepper from the freezer, left over from the ratatouille the week before.
  
• 2 tbsp fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1 lb noodles - I used round udon because they sold it at my local store. You could improvise as you'd like.
• 1/3 c. coarsely chopped shallot - I omitted this, didn't have any.
  
• 1/3 cup coarsely chopped cilantro (leave this out if you are like me and loathe cilantro)
• 1/3 cup thinly sliced scallions

Directions:

1. Put water on to boil for your noodles.
   
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, and then add the garlic. Toss well and add the red curry paste, mashing and stirring to soften it in the oil, about 1 minute. Add the chicken and cook 1 to 2 minutes, tossing now and then to brown it evenly and mix it with the curry paste.
3. Add the coconut milk, chicken broth, turmeric, soy sauce, sugar, salt and any additional vegetables you desire, and stir well. Bring to a gentle boil and adjust heat to maintain a lively simmer. Cook about 10 minutes until meat is cooked through. At this point, add the noodles to the boiling water. Make sure you set a timer to drain and rinse the noodles when their time in the bathtub is up.
   
4. Stir in lime juice, remove from heat, and stir in noodles.
5. Sprinkle each serving with shallots, scallions and cilantro if you're into that sort of thing.

The almost-finished soup, simmering away. Deceptively pretty.

***Update: I re-made the soup using green curry paste instead of red, and the correct amount of curry powder, with tofu instead of chicken. For vegetables, I used sliced baby bella mushrooms and a few handfuls of spinach. It was MUCH improved. Make sure you taste it for seasoning before you serve it - it may need salt.

Ratatouille, Madrileño-style

I've loved ratatouille ever since I studied abroad, when Esperanza, the woman I lived with in Madrid, introduced me to it. I recently came across this recipe on Smitten Kitchen that looked like fun, and decided to adapt it. I wanted to make this a full dinner, so after a little debate, I settled on chickpeas to add protein, feeling inspired by another dish Esperanza used to make, chickpeas cooked in a tomato sauce. And the best part is, as impressive as it looks when it's finished, it took me 30 minutes to get it completely prepped and into the oven.

Recipe: Ratatouille Madrileño-style
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen's "Ratatouille's Ratatouille"

1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced, then chopped
14-oz can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 small eggplant, if you like. I didn't have one, so I skipped the eggplant altogether.
1 small zucchini
1 small yellow squash
1 red bell pepper (look for one of the longer, thinner ones)
1 14-0z can garbanzo beans
Whatever herbs you have around -I was out of fresh and used "italian seasoning" herb mix - rosemary, thyme and oregano.
Salt and pepper

Start by preheating the oven to 375 degrees.

Pour the tomatoes into a baking dish (mine was about 9x13) and mash with a wooden spoon or potato masher, just to break the large pieces into smaller ones and release some pulp. Mix in the chopped onion, garlic and one tablespoon of olive oil.

Next, slice the squash, zucchini and red pepper. I used the slicer on a box grater to speed up the slicing of the squash and zucchini. Slice the pepper as thinly as possible.

Next, start building your dish. Begin in one corner of the baking dish and start stacking the vegetables, one of each kind, then repeating, overlapping them so that only a small amount of the previous vegetable shows.

Continue around the corner. I ended up cutting a bunch of my pepper slices in half to make it fit better. At the end, when you've gone all the way around, you may want to add in more pieces if you have leftover and there seems to be space.

Fill the center of the dish with chickpeas. Sprinkle the remaining olive oil over all the vegetables, and salt and pepper the whole dish. Add the herbs. If you are using dry herbs, as I did, crush the flakes in the palm of your hand before adding them; this releases the flavors.

Cover the whole dish with tinfoil and bake 50 minutes. The mixture will be bubbly and the vegetables should look cooked but not limp. Serve over rice, making sure to spoon the tomato sauce in the bottom of the dish over the ratatouille. Bon apetit!

Button Soup On the Town: Blanco Bowling Club Cafe

I'm interrupting my regularly scheduled recipes to tell you about the best pie I've had recently. Blanco Bowling Club Cafe, folks. If you find yourself in Hill Country looking for a place to eat, check this place out. Yes, it's actually in the back room of an old-school bowling club. It's on 4th street in Blanco, TX. The cheeseburgers were solid, but the real winner of the night was the pie. Sadly, they were out of chocolate and coconut cream, but we had blueberry and lemon meringue.

As you can see, we weren't too disappointed.

Just-like-at-the-sushi-restaurant Ginger Dressing

In my admittedly East-Coast-Centric opinion, there's a serious dearth of good (and casual) sushi bars in Austin. Don't get me wrong - sushi is everywhere - but it's a "water water everywhere and not a drop to drink" situation, if you get my drift.

One of the things I miss most about my frequent trips to Kiku and Mikado in Philly is the salads with the bright, tangy ginger dressing. I looked at a few recipes and adapted one to the ingredients I had, and it came out amazingly good. These quantities will make enough dressing for about 4 salads.

1/4 cup canola oil
1/6 cup apple cider vinegar (I eyeballed this with a 1/3 cup measure)
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon ketchup
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 small clove garlic, chopped
A one-to-two inch chunk of carrot, or a couple of baby carrots
An inch-long chunk of ginger, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup onion, chopped
Pinch of salt and pepper

Throw it all in the blender and puree until smooth. I used this dressing on a salad of crunchy romaine, diced carrots and cucumbers, carrot shavings, and avocado for a potluck. I think it was well received, but I'll leave the final judgment up to the other guests...

"So good you'll forget the leaves don't change color in Austin" Fall Squash Soup

After a string of cloudy, muggy days, the humidity broke, and a cold front brought rainy, chilly fall weather to Austin. Not that I'm complaining - my East Coast friends and family have been tolerating this weather for a month already. And let's be honest - I see most things as an opportunity to cook or eat, weather changes included. So I woke up to the gray drizzle this morning, and thought soup was in order. This soup is easy and tastes luxurious, in spite of actually being very healthful. The milk makes it velvety, rich and perfect for a cold afternoon.

Thanks for Rachel for inspiring this recipe. She told me she had made an easy sweet potato-zucchini soup, so I adapted her recipe to the ingredients I had in the refrigerator. Don't be afraid to get creative with ingredients or garnishes. Rachel added cannellini beans for protein to make a meal out of the soup; I like chopped jack cheese stirred into mine. Salty crumbled bacon would offset the sweetness of the squash nicely, or stir in al dente orzo to add texture and bulk.

Ingredients:
-Olive oil for sauteeing
-1 large yellow onion, chopped
-Butternut squash (about 2 lbs), peeled, seeded and cubed
-Any other squash you have lying around -I used a local sunburst squash - peeled, seeded and chopped
-1 orange bell pepper - quartered
-1 clove garlic, chopped
-1 cup chicken stock, or vegetable stock if you want a vegetarian soup
- 2/3 cup milk (I used skim with a splash of half and half - you could go richer or lighter depending on the milk you use, but if you use cream, you must add it after the blending step! It will curdle if you simmer it.)
- Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat olive oil in a large nonstick pot. Saute onion over medium-low heat until translucent. Try to avoid browning the onion at this point. **Tip: To sweat onions faster, add a sprinkle of salt - the salt draws moisture out of the onion!
2. Add the squash, zucchini, bell pepper, and garlic. Sautee on medium-low heat until soft, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and scraping browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
3. At this point, pull out the bell pepper quarters, and peel them. The peel should come away from the flesh easily. Return them to the pot.
3. Add the milk and stock. Stir, reduce heat to very low, and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Don't worry if the milk separates a little - when you blend the soup, it will all be integrated.
4. Pour the whole mixture into a blender, or use an immersion blender if you have one. Blend until completely pureed.
5. Garnish and serve!

"I didn't know I liked zucchini" Mac & Cheese

This is one of my staple summer recipes, for a quick meal when zucchini is available in abundance. While water is boiling for orzo, I shred (or chop) zucchini, and while the orzo cooks, saute the zucchini with lots of garlic and onion. By the time the pasta is ready, the veggies are too. Mix them together, add a generous pour of extra virgin olive oil and a few handfuls of shredded mozzarella, and serve. I've made a lot of variations on this - You can experiment with different pastas, mixing yellow summer squash with the zucchini, or adding leftover shredded chicken or crumbled bacon.

I originally got this recipe from Barbara Kingsolver's great book, Animal Vegetable Miracle, which I recommend to anyone interested in knowing more about where their food comes from and what to do with it. You can see the recipe on her site here.

Welcome to Button Soup!

Button Soup is a children's book based on the story of Stone Soup. Button Soup was one of my favorite childhood books, read to me by my grandmother. The story tells of a traveler who, by beginning to cook soup with just water and a button, convinces the townspeople to share a little of the food they have, finally ending with an amazing soup that everyone has contributed to. This blog will follow loosely in the Button Soup spirit, following my adventures in cooking, tasting, and trying to create something special from something seemingly ordinary. Happy reading!