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!