Roasted Pepper and Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons

It is the end of autumn in Minnesota, which means... it's soup weather. There is nothing on a cold, blustery day to warm you from the inside out like a bowl of hot, homemade soup or stew. This soup is a grown-up version of tomato soup and grilled cheese. It's sweet and salty and the roastiness from the peppers makes it a lot more interesting than tomato soup from a can.

Soup Ingredients:

2 TBS olive oil

1 medium to large onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 small jars of roasted red peppers

2 15 oz cans of plain tomato sauce (I really like Hunts or Trader Joe's brand)

2 TBS sugar

several grinds of black pepper

1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)

"Crouton" Ingredients:

sliced white bread

butter

cheese of choice

grated or finely shredded parmesan cheese

In large pot, brown onions in the olive oil until they start to caramelize a little. Add garlic and stir just until the garlic begins to get a little toasty colored. Add tomato sauce and roasted red peppers (include the juice from the peppers; this adds flavor and also helps thin the soup out a bit). Stir well. Bring to simmer and let gently boil for about 5-10 minutes. Blend soup in blender or food processor (I use a stick/immersion blender... well worth the money) until pureed. Add sugar and black pepper to taste. Soup probably won't need extra salt unless your tomato sauce isn't very salty, but you may need to add a little depending on your ingredients. If desired, you can finish off the soup with 1/2 cup cream or half and half. It doesn't need it, but it does add a nice silky finish to the soup. I usually don't use it.

For croutons, basically assemble one to two grilled cheese sandwiches (one sandwich will make croutons for two people). Butter the outsides liberally. Dip sandwiches in grated parmesan, and grill over medium heat in a frying pan as you would any grilled cheese. When done, cut into cubes with a knife and sprinkle over the top of the soup.

Chicken Cheddar Apple Salad

This may be the shortest recipe I ever post on this blog. I whipped this up for dinner in literally 10 minutes. It's healthy, tasty, and way more interesting (not to mention cheaper) than takeout. It's made completely of convenience items from the grocery store, but isn't full of junk like most "grab and go" dinners. Ingredients can definitely be substituted or omitted depending on taste, but it's a great combo of textures and tastes.


Ingredients:

• 1 box of mixed salad greens (Earthbound Farms, etc.)
• breast meat from 1 rotisserie chicken, shredded
• 4 oz of white cheddar, cut into matchstick-sized pieces
• 1 green apple, cut into matchstick-sized pieces
• 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts
• Newman's Own Light Mustard Vinegrette

Mix greens, cheddar, walnuts, and apple. Add chicken to top of salad, and drizzle with dressing (or let everyone dress their own).

New York Strip with Gorgonzola Butter

Save yourself about $40 and give yourself a steakhouse-quality dinner at home...

Ingredients

2 NY Strip Steaks (or any cut you prefer)

freshly ground black pepper

salt

1 TBS butter, room temperature

2 ounces gorgonzola cheese, room temperature

3 grinds freshly ground black pepper

For the gorgonzola butter -- mash cheese, pepper and butter together until well blended. Cover and refrigerate.

Generously coat both sides of steaks with liberal amounts of black pepper and salt. Grill or pan-fry (I sauteed mine in olive oil and butter, since there was a blizzard outside... ) steaks to preferred doneness. Place a heaping tablespoon or so of gorgonzola butter on the top of each steak. I served mine with a crisp green salad and homemade bread. The sharpness of the cheese and pepper marry so beautifully with the richness of the butter and the meat itself.

Homebrew Review: Patersbier

Right now I have two brews that are ready to go and drinkable. This Patersbier, and my English Pale Ale (review to follow at some point). When I told people I was brewing a Patersbier, most of them (even seasoned brewers) said "a WHATersbier?". This is a little-known brew, but basically is a traditional Belgian beer similar to a dubbel or tripel -- with the exception that it's a much lower gravity beer. In other words, it's a Belgian session beer.

Appearance: Beer pours a nice deep straw yellow color. Fairly clear, just a touch of haze. Nice creamy white/cream-colored head, decent retention (thanks to my Munton's carb tabs!).

Aroma: Complex combination of malt and the spicy, fruity esters which are a result of the abbey-style yeast used in this beer. No real hop aroma.

Taste: This is a classic Belgian brew, complete with phenolic and spicy character. No alcohol warming, however, as you'd find in higher-ABV beers. The sweetness of the malt mingles well with the undeniable belgian yeast. There is a bit more of a hop bite to this beer than I've found in a lot of other Belgians, but it actually is really nice here... because the body and alcohol are lighter in this than in, say, a dubbel -- the hops gives a little more structure to this beer. Finishes a bit sweet but the hops help round that out, and I find that in this beer there is not as much sour tang lasting in the aftertaste as I find with some Belgians.

Mouthfeel: Moderately light body. High carbonation, which is a nice cut to the complex yeast flavors.

Drinkability: High! Usually Belgians are sipping beers for me -- one, then done. I can easily drink a couple of pints of this. I attribute that to less alcohol and no cloying sweetness in aftertaste.

All in all, I'm thrilled with this beer. I can't wait to see how it fares at our upcoming homebrew competition; I have low expectations simply because one of our homebrew members is an expert at Belgians and his brews are phenomenal. I'm sure I'll learn a lot from the judge's notes, however, and one never knows how the competition will play out.

Brown Butter Quinoa With Pine Nuts

Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-WAH) is an amazing grain that is versatile, delicious, and really healthful. It is very high in protein (for a grain, anyway), and is therefore the perfect addition to the vegetarian diet.


An important thing to note about quinoa: it needs to be rinsed extremely well under running water before cooking it. The grain is covered in a soapy/bitter-tasting substance called a "saponin". It tastes HORRIBLE. I once forgot the rinsing step and the quinoa was inedible. I just rinse mine in a fine-meshed colander under a steady spray of water for about a minute, and that does the trick.


Quinoa is very flexible; one of my favorite ways to eat it is just with a little butter and parmesan, with fried egg on top. You can also eat it sweet, almost like oatmeal, with a little brown sugar and milk. You can substitute cooked quinoa for cous cous for a punch of nutrition and flavor.


I normally use this flavor combo for pasta, and it is amazing. I wanted, however, to make the dish a little more nutritious so I decided to substitute cooked quinoa for the cooked pasta... and was thrilled with the results. This could suffice as a main dish for a veg-head (especially if you tossed in some steamed or roasted vegetables), but would be equally at home alongside a roasted chicken or piece of fish.


*ingredient note: please use real parmesan. A block of imported parmesano reggiano is best (should have "parmesano reggiano" printed in dots on the rind), but you can use the american "parmesan" as long as it's not the sawdust-in-a-green can stuff. Asiago also is a good stand-in cheese.


Ingredients

• 1 cup of quinoa (dry), rinsed and cooked according to package directions (2 parts water to 1 part quinoa, usually)


• 2 TBS butter


• 1/4 cup pine nuts


• pinch of salt


• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese*, plus a little extra for garnish
  

Cook quinoa. I actually do this in a steamer, but on the stovetop is fine. Just read the package. It should take about half an hour. You can do that step way ahead if you need/want to. In a saucepan, heat butter and pine nuts over medium heat until the butter starts to foam and brown a little. You need to stir/toss the nuts often so they don't burn on one side. As the butter browns, the pine nuts will toast nicely in the sauce. Be really careful not to let the butter burn, or it will ruin the entire dish. Just past the foamy stage is about right -- you will notice a toffee/nutty scent to the butter as it starts to turn a golden brown color. Remove from heat. Toss in the cooked quinoa, a pinch of salt, and the grated parmesan. Stir to mix. Season with more salt if needed. Sprinkle a little extra grated parmesan on top.

This will make 2 main dish servings or 4 side dish servings. Can easily be doubled.

Indian Wedding Soup

This post is more one of cooking philosophy than an actual recipe... the reason there's no recipe is because this dish took so much tweaking that I couldn't keep track of all of the amounts of everything. Indian food (when it's done right) is such a balance of sweet, savory, sour and salty. There are times when I think a pot of curry is absolutely ruined, but then I add a pinch of sugar and an extra squeeze of lemon and the entire dish is saved.

This soup was an exercise in re-interpretation of the original version of a dish. Italian wedding soup, for those of you who've never had it, is a chicken broth based soup with small meatballs, spinach, and acini de pepe pasta. Instead of italian meatballs, I used the lamb-burger recipe ( http://belliesbeerbaking.blogspot.com/2008/12/greek-lamb-burgers-with-feta-sauce.html ) that I posted in December to make little tiny meatballs. I broiled them to avoid having to turn little tiny meatballs with little tiny tongs. I browned some onion, then added chicken stock and Indian spices. Rounded it out with some lemon, cilantro, and a little honey. I then added the meatballs to the soup, and threw in a large handful of Israeli cous cous. Simmered for about 15 more minutes, then served it with some crisply baked naan (thanks, Trader Joe's).

This is a great example of how you can take a traditional dish and keep the spirit of the original while completely experimenting with the flavors. I challenge you to take one of your favorite meals and try to re-interpret it... you might just find that you have a new favorite.

Cider-Roasted Pork Loin

This is basically an adaptation of the beef roast recipe I posted a few weeks ago. Instead of using a beef roast, it uses pork loin. Hard cider stands in for the beer. It would be great alongside some sauteed cabbage or roasted potatoes.

Ingredients:

2 pork loins (you could use just one if you don't want leftovers)

2 TBS olive oil

1 TBS butter

1 medium onion, sliced

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground preferred

1 bay leaf

1 12 oz. bottle of hard cider - the dryer (less sweet) the better

zest from one orange

In oven-proof sautee pan or dutch oven, brown pork loin(s) in the olive oil over med-high heat until nicely browned. Remove from pan. Add onions and butter, sautee until onions start to brown. Add bay leaf, salt, pepper, and cider. Stir to deglaze pan. Add pork, cover, and bake in a 325 degree oven for about 2.5 hrs or until pork is tender. Remove pork to serving platter, cover with foil to keep warm. Strain cooking liquid, add orange zest, and reduce over med-high heat by about half. Pour over pork. Serve.

I plan on tossing the leftovers with some barbecue sauce for pulled pork sandwiches. Oh, and regular apple cider could of course be used as a replacement for the hard cider.