Fennel and Greens Soup

Sometimes you just can't have enough soup. That time is all the time.

Ingredients

• olive oil
• salt and pepper
  
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 fennel bulb, trimmed and chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 lb mixed leafy greens (kale, swiss chard, mustard greens, collards, whatever)
• 6 cups stock
• oz spinach
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• garnish of dill or fennel

Heat oil and butter and add salt, fennel, onion, and pepper. Cook until the vegetables are slightly browned, 7-8 minutes. Everything should be soft.
Add leafy greens (no spinach yet) and stock to the pot and simmer, uncovered, until greens are tender, about 30 minutes. Stir in the spinach and cook until just wilted (maybe 1 minute).
Puree the soup in your blender or by using a stick blender. Return to heat and add the heavy cream and lemon juice. Heat on low until desired temperature.
Also good with Parmesan cheese.

Thoughts: Delicious, but I can't get enough vegetable soup. This is my favorite style of soup -- cook everything, blend it, return to heat and add dairy. It's a pretty simply formula, and one that yields awesome soup every time. I don't think Dan is nearly as crazy about soup as I am, so he probably wouldn't give this a 1, but it was pretty much a 1. I'll give it a 2 just to prevent arguments.

Disaster Index: 2/10

Cream of Broccoli and Kale Soup

Ingredients

• 2 medium bunches of broccoli, florets removed and cut into smallish pieces
• 2-3c Kale, roughly chopped
• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp neutral oil
• salt
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped or minced or smashed
• 1tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/4c dry white wine
• 1 bay leaf
• 1c chicken stock
• 2c vegetable stock
• 1/2c whole milk

Combine broccoli, kale, and onion with oil and some salt in a soup pot and saute over medium heat for about 8-10 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds.  Then add in the flour and toss around evenly, cooking for about a minute.  Add the wine and bay leaf and cook until the wine is absorbed - about a minute - then add the stock.  Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove the bay leaf and blend everything together in a blender.  Return to the pot and add the whole milk.  Correct seasoning.  Le voila.

Thoughts: Good flavor, but we agreed that we could have used the soup to be pureed a little smoother.  I dunno - it was pretty standard, really.  We weren't blown away by this recipe.  How should we add more flavor in the future?  Anyway, unobjectionable.  Just nothing to write home about.

Disaster Index: 2/10

Pasta with Brussels Sprouts and Kale

I made this recipe up.

Ingredients

• 1 pint of brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved. That is how I would describe the quantity. I would guess I had 20 sprouts, but it may depend on the size.
  
• small bunch of kale - 6-8 leaves, stems removed, torn to bite-size
  
• 2 cloves garlic
  
• 1 small onion, chopped
  
• olive oil
  
• balsamic vinegar
  
• 2tsp brown sugar
  
• 1/2c chicken stock (or veg)
  
• parmesan, salt and pepper to taste
  
• 1lb pasta of your choice - I used rotini.
  

Set some water boiling for pasta. In a pot, add the onion and sprouts, and give a generous amount of olive oil. Saute on low for 5 minutes or so, until the onions are soft, and then add the chicken stock, the garlic, and the kale and cover. Simmer on medium heat, adding extra water as necessary, until the brussels sprouts are tender. Took mine about 10 minutes. When this is complete, add the brown sugar and balsamic vinegar. I added probably 2 tbsp balsamic, but possibly as much as 4 tbsp. You have to add it, stir the veg, and taste it. When the pasta is done, spoon the pasta in with the vegetables and add the parmesan. I actually also added just a LITTLE cream cheese, though a small amount of actual cream would also be good here (neither is necessary, though). Over very low heat, stir the pasta and veg together to combine and melt the cheese somewhat in the process, then adjust the balsamic / salt to taste.

Thoughts: this was really good, even though it might sound a little strange. I think this recipe would be great with pine nuts, following in the vein of Claire's suggestion. I would definitely make this again. I don't have too much more to say about it. The brussels sprouts are just the right size for bite-sized pasta like rotini, and the balsamic and chicken stock really gives it a bright and savory flavor.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Bao Redux

This deserved its own post. We re-made the Bao recipe but with some modifications, and it turned out just... great.

Ingredients

• Bread dough
  
  
  
  • 3 tsp yeast
    
  • 3 tsp sugar
    
  • 1tsp salt
    
  • 1 cup milk, scalded and cooled
    
  • about 2.5 cups regular flour
    
  
  
  
• Filling
  
  
  
  • .25lb ground pork
    
  • 1/2 small yellow onion chopped
    
  • 1 tbsp garlic, crushed
    
  • 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped fine
    
  • 2c kale, chopped fine
    
  • to taste (our amounts in parentheses): ginger (.5tsp), soy sauce (2tbsp), black vinegar (1tbsp), oyster sauce (1tbsp), thai chili sauce (.75tsp), chicken stock (1/2tsp), corn starch (.5tsp mixed with some cold water), black pepper (.25tsp)
    
  
  

To make the dough:
Throw the milk in the microwave on high for 1.5-2 minutes, until it's about to boil. Set it aside to cool. In the mean while, add the flour, sugar, and salt and whisk together. Add the yeast to the dry mixture and give another stir. When the milk is cool enough that you can just put your finger in for about 2-3 seconds comfortably (but not much more), mix the milk in with the dough. Stir together, and then turn dough out onto a well floured surface and knead until smooth. Put the dough back into the metal bowl and place in a humid place to rise. (Try microwaving a cup of water for 2.5 minutes until it boils and then move the cup aside and stick the bowl of dough in the microwave to create a humid warm chamber).

To make the filling:
While the dough is rising, prepare the filling.
Place all the vegetables in a heavy-bottomed saute pan. Add some neutral oil (peanut oil?) and set to medium-high heat. Add about 1/8-1/4c water and cover. Once the water is mostly evaporated, turn to medium-low heat. Add the ground pork and cook. Our ground pork was frozen, so I covered it and let it thaw at a low temperature, then broke it apart with my spoon and set over high heat until it was completely cooked through.

Now add all of the sauces / flavors you want. Finally add the cornstarch (mixed with a little water) and set to high heat again until the sauce (if there is any to speak of) thickens. In ours, even with all the sauces we added there wasn't much liquid in the final mixture, so the corn starch was probably overkill. Anyway, be sure to taste and make sure you like what you taste. We added a little bit extra vinegar because we wanted a little more acid, but I could see adding more thai chili sauce, which is a little sweet.

To put them together:
Once the dough has risen for 40 minutes or so, dimple it into a sheet with your fingers and fold in 3 first one way then the other. Put back in the bowl and cover to let rise another 20 minutes. Pinch off a piece of dough about half the size of your fist. Press into 4-5" rounds. Put an appropriate amount of filling in the center of the round of dough - about 2tsp. With your fingers, gather the edges of the dough and pinch them together in the middle as best you can. Pinch the dough so it will hold MORE OR LESS together - doesn't have to be perfect because this side is facing up. Place the filled bun pinched side up on a square piece of parchment paper. Put in a bamboo steamer. Place buns a few inches apart, because they will expand during the steaming. If they stick together, it's no big deal. When steamer basket is full, cover the steamer with a lid and cook. Steam the buns for about 6 minutes.

Thoughts: Second time's a charm. We followed all of the minor changes in the previous edition but used different filling - this time with pork instead of beef. The flavor was much stronger and had a fairly authentic taste even with the carrots and kale (which we were just trying to use up). Next time I can see using mushrooms, finely chopped, and more pork-to-vegetable ratio. But the flavor was just fantastic. Secondly, the dough was much softer and lighter. The high amount of leavening probably gave it substantial rise in the relatively short time. Using only milk instead of milk and water gave the dough a very velvety texture that made it easy to work with. We TRIED baking one bao instead of steaming. It ALMOST worked - if we were really motivated, we'd do all the bao but place them pinched side DOWN on the parchment and then brush the other side with an egg wash. But it was a little bit too much work. Steaming was actually much easier. Somehow this was just much less work than last time. And better tasting.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Kale with bacon and honey mustard

Ingredients

• 10-15 large stalks of kale (maybe 1.5 lbs?)
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 tbsp honey mustard
• 6 slices of bacon, cut in half
• 3 cloves garlic
• salt and pepper, to taste

Add the bacon and garlic to a large (preferably thick-bottomed) pot and turn to high heat. Let cook until bacon is crispy.
In the meantime, de-vein the kale and chop it finely. Wash it thoroughly. Set aside to drain.
Once the bacon is crisp, remove it from the pot and set it on some paper towels to dry. Make sure you keep most of the bacon fat and garlic in the bottom of the pan.
Add the kale to the pot, turn to medium heat, and cover. Once kale has been reduced in volume by about half, add half of the chicken stock (1/2 cup). Cover again. Once kale has been reduced even further in volume, add the other 1/2 cup of stock. Make sure to stir well in order to get as much bacon grease as possible on the leaves.
When the kale is just about done, add the honey mustard and stir well.
When you are satisfied that the kale has been thoroughly coated, remove it and put it in a serving bowl. There should still be a reasonable amount of honey mustard/chicken stock mixture in the bottom of the pot. Thicken it in the way you see fit -- cook it down forever, or add some cornstarch mixed with water. When it's thick, drizzle it over the top of the kale. Eat.

Thoughts: The idea to add honey mustard was my father's, and I think it worked really well. The original idea was actually to add dijon mustard + a little bit of brown sugar, but we only had honey mustard, so we used that instead. My dad thought it came out a little too sweet; in the future we would try to actually have some dijon on hand. I thought it was pretty delicious. This recipe makes kale the best vegetable in the world. Dan also liked it a lot. I give it two thumbs up.

Disaster Index:1/10 awesome

Pasta with Sausage and Mushrooms in Cheese Sauce

Ingredients

• ~1lb smallish pasta, like rigatoni or radiatori
  
• 2 hot Italian sausage links, chopped into 1/2" slices
  
• 2-3c cremini mushrooms, quartered
  
• olive oil, cooking wine, salt, pepper
  
• about 1c half-and-half
  
• 2oz chevre cheese
  
• 10-20 kale leaves, steamed, or a roasted red pepper, seeded and chopped
  

Set the pasta cooking. In a separate pot, cook the sausage in some olive oil until it gets some caramelization. Add the mushrooms and continue to cook, stirring occasionally. Once they are fairly well cooked, add a splash of cooking wine and scrape the bottom of the pot to get the well-caramelized bits of sausage up. Set aside.

In the mean time, blend together the cooked kale or pepper, the half-and-half, and the chevre. Don't add all the half-and-half at once - slowly add it until the thickness looks right (and it blends). In the case of the kale, we had to return the mixture to the stove, cook for a while, and then return to the blender. Kale can be kind of tough.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain it (thought not necessarily all the way - the starchy pasta water helps the sauce stick). Combine all the parts of the recipe together and stir to coat. Season as needed.

Thoughts: This was great, both times we did it. It would be really easy to modify the recipe by using frozen spinach, which is easier to come by, or you could just use tomato. It was really easy to make (especially with both of us working on it). I would continue to talk about the virtues and flexibility of this recipe, but I can't think of anything else, and I'm watching the Oscars right now. It's kinda tough to concentrate.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup with Kale

This is an adaptation of the soup of a similar name at Epicurious. But we changed the proportions a little and used an uncooked (I think) Chorizo sausage.

Ingredients:

• 1 7-8oz Chorizo sausage
  
• 1 medium onion, chopped
  
• 1 clove garlic (or more), minced or crushed
  
• 2 large sweet potatoes, quartered lengthwise and chopped ~1/3" or 1/4" thick.
  
• 3 c chicken broth
  
• a bunch of kale (I have no idea how much. Until it looks right), chopped or however you like.
  

Heat the sausage in oil over medium-high heat for about 8 minutes. If it's anything like ours, it will just fall apart, so there's no point in chopping it up beforehand. Otherwise, 1/4" slices are recommended.

After it cooks, remove the sausage with a slotted spoon and set in a bowl with a bunch of paper towels to drain. Add the onion into the pot along with the garlic. When the onion is translucent, add the sweet potatoes and cook over medium-low heat for about twelve minutes, stirring often. Add the stock and cook for another 20 minutes. Mash some of the sweet potatoes in the pot, and then re-add the sausage along with the kale. Simmer until the kale is the right texture.

Thoughts:
The kale could have been added sooner, about ten minutes after we added the stock. Also, next time maybe we can get sausage that won't fall apart completely while it's cooking. This particular sausage added a really smoky flavor that was pretty good, but pretty intense, and since it fell apart it really overpowered the other flavors. Getting something that coheres would be much better. The soup itself was pretty good, but really quite heavy. Next time I don't know if I'd mash the potatoes at all. It was something of a stew rather than a soup.

Disaster Index: 3/10 - not really a disaster at all, but there were a few things that could be changed. Still, quite delicious in small quantities.