Dinner tonight - or last night.

Thank you, doggy woman

I see you've been at it again in the kitchen!

Yum!

Does this mean I get to add to my (fast getting boring) soup repertoire?
Courtesy of Swimpy Kitchen Creations?
Oh, good!!!!!

Tonight I suspect I might roast something - like the turkey leg I have in my freezer, along with some sweet potatoes & other goodies. Maybe a garden salad, too? I have a grand-spanking, shiny new baking dish, you see. Time to use it! And because I'll most likely be on the computer all day, something easy will be about all I can manage. No fun for msolga this weekend! <sigh>

Last night I dined on boneless pork ribs and corn. Very tasty indeed. Tonight is still a mystery as I am dining out.

we treated ouselves to lunch out today - we are not really dinner people .
we went to the local "rivermill restaurant" . it is located in a former woolen mill and offers a fine view of the cataraqui river from the dining-room .
we shared a caesar salad , mrs h a calves' liver with some nice trimmings and i feasted on loacal trout .
we had dessert at home a couple of hours later - a piece of marzipan/plum torte and tea .
we decided to make a repeat appearances at the rivermill soon :wink: .
hbg

inside view of the restaurant



view of the cataraqui river (the river is the connecting waterway between kingston/lake ontario and ottawa , canada's capital - about a 100 miles upstream )

hamburger, that's lovely!

Olga, I'm planning potato and leek soup for tomorrow's supper. Do you have a good recipe?

lovely, hbg...


I cooked a pound of tilapia with my usual onion smothering that I'm addicted to and followers of this thread have heard of possibly too much.

I do the onions separately and add them to the baking tilapia w/ olive oil at the last five minutes or so.

(couple of big spanish onions sauteed in olive oil til translucent and desired level of crunchiness or uncrunchiness - for me about 30 minutes) and stone ground mustard and then lemon juice, with lots of pepper.) As I've said before, this onion thing is better with salmon, but hey. Also, this is the combo I've later used with mayo to make a sandwich that beats any tuna sandwich, or almost any tuna sandwich, I've ever had.

Shared adjectives, Swimpy.

Let me look up in Grigson, I tend to like her recipes.. I still love her sorrel soup. Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book came out in 1978, so some things have changed re health opinions on fats. You're looking at an olive oil person here, but lard isn't now considered quite as evil as some other fats as it was a while ago, re what happens re cholesterol levels.

She has scads of things to do with leeks...
but on leek and potato soup says "make up the potato soup on p. 396 and 10 ounces of chopped white leak to the onion, using butter and water rather than lard and stock. Chill and dilute the soup with cream for vichyssoise glacee, finishing it with chopped chives rather than parsley.

So, moving along to p. 396 and potato soup...

Ok, it's short, so I'll type the whole thing...

potato soup

I should think that potatoes are more used than any other vegetable in northern Europe for soups. Apart from their availability, they are so easily varied as a soup flavouring by adding leeks and onions and so on, or by cheese, spices and herbs. In this recipe the additions are lard and garlic, which both blend wonderfully with potato. Instead of the croutons, or even with them, you could provide a small bowl of bacon pieces.

12 ounces peeled, diced potato
3 - 4 oz chopped onion
2 -3 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 big tablespoons lard or pork fat
1 3/4 pint of light beef or veal stock, or water
salt, pepper
chopped parsley
cubes of bread fried in lard, with garlic

Cook the potatoes, onion and garlic in the lard over a gentle heart for about ten minutes, turning them over occasionally. This process should not be hurried, or the vegetables will brown and the special flavour of the garlic and lard will be spoiled. Add the stock or water and simmer until the potato is tender. Sieve or puree in the blender. Reheat and check the seasoning. Stir in the parsley, and serve with the bread in a separate bowl.

velveeta on ritz crackers.

Yes, fantastic place (& food, too!) hamburger! You & Mrs hamburger certainly know how to live!



Hi there, Swimpy!

Not much you can do wrong with good ol' potato & leek soup, is there?

Here's the basic recipe I use:

Potato, leek & onion soup:

* Put all these into a large pot, cover with stock & simmer till tender:

- 3 large potatoes, peeled & chopped
- 4 large onions, peeled & chopped
- 4 medium leeks, well washed & chopped
- chicken or vegetable stock (bought or homemade)
- freshly ground salt & pepper

* then add a good slurp of cream (or yoghurt if you're feeling tartish!)

*Blend & check seasoning.

To turn this soup into Vichyssoise::

- When blending, add extra cream & seasoning & chill at least overnight.

* To make it into Pumpkin soup:

- Microwave a whole pumpkin on high for 15 minutes or until the skin peels off easily. Remove the seeds & chop coarsely.

- then add pumpkin to the soup with extra cream & a large knob of butter, then blend.
- garnish with snipped chives.

To make it into Lettuce soup with minted sour cream:

- bring the soup to the boil

- Slice a large iceberg lettuce & add. The minute the soup comes back to the boil, remove from heat & blend.

- season with salt & pepper

- combine half a cup of sour cream & 2 tablespoons of fresh, chopped mint. Combine with the soup & serve with a dollop on top.

~

And another, from the Victory Garden Cook Book

4 oz butter
5 cups of chopped leeks (they talk about cutting the top greens off at the point they begin to pale...)
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
3 to 4 cups roughly chopped potatoes
2 quarts of chicken stock or water
1 -2 cups of heavy cream
salt and freshly ground pepper

Me, I hardly ever get around to adding cream, so that's another variation - not adding it, and also, not pureeing.

Copying the recipe -

melt the better in a saucepan, add the leeks, celery, and onion, and stew slowly unil golden and soft, about ten minutes. Don't let the mixture brown. Add potatoes and chicken stock or water, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until potatoes are cooked through - anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the potatoes' age and how finely they're chopped. Mash vegetables or roughly puree in a food processor or food mill. (If I were going to do this, I'd just use my blender). Heat the cream and add to the soup, along with the salt and pepper to taste.

Their notes -

- The soup, minues cream, keeps very well in the refrigerator and freezes beautifully. Reheat and add cream at serving time.
- if you're using canned chicken stock, a squeeze of lemon juice will give it a fresher taste.
- Have too few leeks? Add an onion.
- Add leftover vegetables after potatoes have cooked.
- Add rough chopped fresh vegetables to first butter simmer.

Oh, nice!

Hey, Swimpy, you asked & you got!

Lots!

Hello, osso!

Buncha typos there in my post.

I have a friend that makes a lot of veggie soups using the bouillion cubes from Mexico (chicken in her case) because they're cheaper, and a veggie like fresh cauliflower, and boiling (red) potatoes, then pureeing the result, and adding various spices and herbs. I'll post Grigson's sorrel soup later, as it is weirdly wildly delicious, and I bet it's modify-able re other greens.

Hello, dear Olga.

I wouldn't mind hearing that Asian noodle short order soup recipe either...

An el quicko Asion soup?

Coming up soon, my dear!

Wow, I step away for a couple of minutes and my wish is granted. Thanks osso and Olga.

OK!

The quickest & easiest "Asian" soup I know of. Doesn't taste half bad, either!:

Asian chicken noodle soup:

150g (5 oz) dried thin egg noodles

6 cups (2 pints 8 fl oz) chicken stock (bought or homemade. I used good quality (Italian) cubes last time & that worked out fine.

2 cups (16 fl oz) water

2 star anise

1/4 cup (2 fl oz) soy sauce

1 cinnamon stick

3 slices of ginger

2 skinned chicken breast fillets

4 spring onions (scallions) shredded

- Stand the noodles in boiling water for 5 minutes, then drain & set aside

- Place stock, water, star anise, soy, cinnamon & ginger into a saucepan & cover. Simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes.

- Add the chicken fillets & cook for 5-7 minutes.

- Remove & shred the chicken.

- Return the chicken to the saucepan with the noodles & spring onions. Cook for 3 minutes until the noodles are heated through.

- serve in deep bowls with spoons & chopsticks

~

How easy is that?

Another thing I do (because I love that Vietnamese thing of adding chopped greens/herbs into soups to wilt just before serving) is chop up some Vietnamese mint, with maybe a bit of coriander, parsley, some chives (whatever's growing in the garden) & throw a generous handful in each bowl just before eating. Yum!

msolga, do you have a tin roof on your house?

Why do you ask, Gus?