Week 19: Watercress Soup with Seared Scallops

So I took a little break from blogging for a few weeks, so that meant I felt the pressure to return with an AWESOME soup.
Done and done!

I'll be honest. I saw the recipe, but didn't know for sure it was going to be amazing. I've never tried watercress before, cooked or raw. Wikipedia called it "peppery." I'm not sure that came across in the soup but it was super yummy regardless.

This was a perfect starter for a yummy seafood diner. I was happy to make it for my mom and her friends for a birthday celebration. The guests loved it, and it was fun to cook for a new audience.

I wasn't surprised that this was one of the more pricey soups to make since scallops can add up quickly. However, with a little more time and advanced planning, I could have cut the cost a bit. I ended up purchasing the watercress & scallops at Whole Foods, and buying twice the amount of scallops just because it seemed like it would not be enough. The watercress was not available at my regular Real Produce spot, even though I've seen it there before. Had I known, I could have probably found it at an Asian market much cheaper. Also, I wasn't sure how much it would chop down to, so I ended up buying too much and could have gotten away with only 1 bunch. I also found out after the fact that Trader Joe's sells frozen scallops for $12.99 for about the same amount in cost and bulk that I purchased from Whole Foods at TWICE the price! I was thinking Whole Foods would have some awesome fresh scallops, but it turns out they are previously frozen anyway. They tasted great regardless, which leads me to believe that when I make this again --and I WILL-- that I will cut the cost and buy the bag at Trader Joe's. But still, it's not a full meal, so it's not a good budget course at all.

Another reason to L O V E this soup is that it was so quick and easy to make! I started by sauteing the leaks and potatoes till leeks were tender. I added the broth, brought to a simmer, and let simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. After potatoes were tender, I removed from the heat and added the watercress until it wiled, for about 5 minutes. Once again I got to get out my super cool immersion blender and puree. I whisked in the sour cream and added milk until the desired consistency then seasoned with salt and pepper. Delish!

For the scallops, I melted oil and butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. I cooked about 2 minutes on each side. This was the first time I've cooked scallops too, so it was hard to tell when they were done and I was afraid to overcook. But I guess I had a little streak of beginner's luck because they were perfect.

I took the picture as the recipe calls for with just one scallop, but since I had extra and they were delicious, I added an extra scallop to every one's bowl.



Ingredients

3 1/2 tablespoons butter / from home
3 cups chopped leeks /2 bunches @ $1.79 = $3.58 / Real Produce
2 medium russet potatoes (peeled & chopped into 1" cubes /$0.69/lb = $1.46 / Real Produce
4 1/2 cups chicken broth / $2.49 / Smart & Final
2 1/4 cups trimmed & coarsely chopped watercress / $2.99/bunch / Whole Foods
1/2 cup sour cream /$1.69 / Trader Joe's
3/4 cup whole milk / $1.29 / Trader Joe's
salt
pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil / from home
6 jumbo sea scallops, side muscles removed / $22.99/ lb = $21.61 / Whole Foods

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes
Servings: 6
Taste: 5 stars
Prep: easy
Cost: $35.11

Week 18: Carrot, Orange & Tarragon soup

I ventured outside of my cookbook again once I came across this recipe I had saved a while ago. Now that I have a true appreciation for tarragon, I can't pass up a tarragon soup recipe. Oh, and the best part, this recipe called for a bit of brandy. That pretty much sealed the deal.

This is going down as one of my favorite soups. It was super easy to make and I had most of the ingredients at home. And the taste was so yummy and super unique. The carrots and orange gave a subtle sweetness while the earthiness of the tarragon and brandy. I ate the soup with a yummy wheat bread, and it was the perfect lunch for a few days.

To make the soup, I sauteed onions with carrots until the onions were soft. I then added the broth and brought to a simmer. I let simmer for 15 minutes, or until carrots were tender. I pureed the soup with an immersion blender and added the orange juice, brandy, tarragon and salt and pepper. I let simmer for 10 more minutes so the flavors could blend. The soup was yummy, but I added a bit more brandy just because I thought the flavor wasn't bold enough and partially because it's fun putting liquor in soup!




Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Servings: 4
Taste: 5 stars
Prep: easy
Cost: $9.99


Ingredients

1 teaspoon butter / from home
3 cups chicken broth / $3.99 / Lucky's
1 medium onion / $0.50 / Farmer's market
1 1/2 pounds carrots / $4.00 / Farmer's Market
2 tablespoons chopped tarragon / $1.50 / Farmer's Market
1/2 cup orange juice / From home
2-3 tablespoons brandy / from home

Carrot, orange & tarragon soup
garnished with a sprig of fresh tarragon

Week 17: Risotto Soup

I've been curious about this soup since the first time I looked over the recipe. But I was a little afraid to make the risotto and it also called for a homemade broth, which takes time but is usually worth it. But since I made some extra broth last week, all that was left was learning how to make risotto...

For the broth, I used "short-cut chicken broth" that I had frozen from last week. I simmered 8 cups canned chicken broth with 1 1/2 cups onions, 2 celery stocks, 2-3 medium carrots, 2 sprigs of Italian parsley and 1/2 teaspoon thyme. After 20 minutes, strain and then it's ready to go, much tastier than the canned stuff.

The risotto was not so easy. Definitely a dish to make while drinking a glass (or 2) of wine! It's not hard so much as time consuming and requires a ton of attention and pretty much non-stop stirring. Simmer 3 1/2 cups broth in a separate pan. Saute shallots in butter until cooked and translucent. Add rice and cook until opaque (about 3-4 minutes). Add 1/2 cup broth to the rice, stirring constantly until all liquid is dissolved. Continue to add broth 1/2 cup at a time, each time ensuring the broth has been absorbed. Stir often so that rice does not stick. The rice was still a little under cooked for me by the time the last of the broth was used up. I used a bit of water to cook the rice longer until the desired texture. Lastly, I added parmesan cheese.

The final step was to bring the rest of the both to a simmer and add the veggies. I used asparagus, mushrooms and green onions. These cooked quickly in the broth.

I served each bowl with a scoop of risotto in the middle and ladled in the broth and veggies. Sooo yummy. The broth was definitely worth the extra time. The risotto kept a nice texture in the broth and the asparagus and mushrooms were awesome too. The original recipe actually called for snap peas cut thinly for this soup, but the snap peas didn't look very good at the store and asparagus was on sale, so i opted for that. Glad I did. This was a hearty meal in itself, but a smaller portion made for a great first course. My girlfriends and I ate it with chicken in a mushroom sauce and the whole meal was delish! Can't wait to make this again, even with the stirring. And making the risotto wasn't too bad, but glad I gad that glass of wine and my girlfriends to keep me company through all the stirring.


Prep time: 10 minutes (not including broth)
Cook time: 40 minutes (not including broth)
Servings: 5-6
Taste: 5 stars
Prep: takes some attention
Cost: $7.49 for broth, $8.58


Ingredients

Chicken Broth:
8 cups chicken broth / $2.49 / Smart & Final
2 onions / from home
2 celery stalks / $2.00 / Farmer's Market
2 medium carrots / 6 for $2.00 / Farmer's Market
2 Italian parsley sprigs $1.00 per bunch / Farmers' market
1/2 tsp Thyme / from home

Risotto Soup:
1/2 cup shallots / @2.99/lb = $1.76 / Whole Foods
1/2 pound asparagus / $3.99/lb = $0.84 / Whole Foods
1 bunch green onions / $0.99 / Whole Foods
4 oz crimini mushrooms /$4.99/lb = $2.30 Whole Foods
Grated parmesan cheese / from home
1 cup Aborio rice / 2.69 / Whole Foods


The girls eating Risotto Soup

Week 16: Penne & Aspargus in Parmesan Broth

Given my love for cheese, I've been looking forward to making this soup for weeks. The only thing stopping me was the fact that I'd have to make the broth and track down what I thought was going to be a hard-to-find ingredient. But all-in-all, this soup wasn't too hard to make and eating it was sooooo worth any trouble.

First off, this soup is all about the broth. Luckily, my awesome cookbook gave me an idea on how to doctor up a store bought broth, and it works amazingly. Basically just simmer regular store bought broth with onions, carrots, celery stalks and Italian parsley and thyme for 20 minutes. I even made and extra batch and froze it for future brothy soups.

This soup broth, though, calls for parmesan cheese rinds to add an incredibly interesting flavor to the broth. Not knowing that I could just purchase the rinds, I almost used the back up plan the cookbook offered and spooned in grated parmesan once the soup was ready to serve. I was worried I'd have to buy several full pieces of cheese with rinds in order to have enough to flavor the broth, and that would have cost a fortune. But I figured, I wanted the full effect, so I called up Whole Foods and they said they did sell Parmesan with the rinds (Nob Hill, Trader Joe's and Safeway did not). Once I got to Whole Foods, after walking around the cheese section looking confused but too stubborn to ask, I caught a glimpse of a huge parmesan display with just rinds for sale in a little container. Jackpot! And this helped keep the cost down too! The rinds simmered in the store-bought broth with the veggies and herbs for 20 minutes. I strained the broth and then it was ready to go! The smell was amazing and the broth was delicious enough to drink on its own. Not sure what the effect of just sprinkling in grated parmesan before serving would have been, but I can't imagine it would have been the same. This came out too good to skimp the next time I make it.

To complete the soup I cooked the pasta for 5 minutes less than the package directions. I then added the asparagus and green onions and cooked for a few minutes more. Finally, I added the peas and cooked for another few minutes. While this was happening, I sliced some prosciutto and crisped it in a fry pan until crispy. This can be added with grated parmesan for a garnish. And that's it. Soup's on! This soup is 5 stars all the way. Even my dad, Mr. Meat & Potatoes loved it. AND my dear friend who is less than experimental with his food was pretty impressed too... AND my foody girlfriend Cat came and took some in a tuperware to heat up for her lunch that day. I appreciate the shout out she gave to me on Facebook, but also kinda wish I had kept that last serving for myself. Hahaha.
I can't wait to make this again. Although the broth is intended to be the star of this dish, I did add more pasta and peas than the recipe called for to make more of a hearty meal. I would also increase the asparagus next time too. I will also try a different kind of pasta too because my penne was a little big and hard to eat with a spoon.

The soup was a little pricier per serving than the last few, but considering this was a meal in itself, $26 for 6 servings is a pretty economic meal. Also, I was out of parmesan and ended up not even needing it since the broth was flavorful enough without it, so that can be skipped to cut cost if you don't have it on hand. I served it with a yummy ciabatta bread too!

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Servings: 6
Taste: 5 stars
Prep: Easy
Cost: $25.84
Nutritionals: calories 242, fat 2 grams (per serving)


Ingredients
8 cups chicken broth / $2.49 / Smart & Final
2 onions / from home
2 celery stalks / $2.00 / Farmer's Market
2 medium carrots / 6 for $2.00 / Farmer's Market
2 Italian parsley sprigs $1.00 per bunch / Farmers' market
6-8 ounces parmesan cheese rinds /$3.96 / Whole Food's
2-3 cups uncoooked penne pasta / $0.99 / Trader Joe's
1 pound asparagus / $5 / Farmer's Market
1 bunch green onions / $1 / Farmer's Market
1-2 cups frozen peas (defrosted) / From home
5 ounces prosciutto (for garnish) / $3.99/ Trader Joe's
Grated parmesan cheese (for garnish) / $3.41.Trader Joe's



Feeding the troops soup!
A-bay loves his soup!

Week 15: Parsley Soup

So this is the first soup blog entry while working at my new job. While my last job afforded me tons of time to blog all day and leave early and make soup, part of the reason I left was to have a better job where I would want to concentrate on work. But I miss my soup blog. So now this challenge got a little more challenging, but I'm still making soup. And if ever there is an extra crazy, hectic week, I'll just figure it out as I go along. It is my blog, my rules, after all =)

Anyway, this week I made Parsley soup. Yup, you got that right. Soup with parsley as the main ingredient. I was actually very curious about this soup from the beginning. It just seemed so original. In the end, it was! I'm still trying to figure out the taste. The really exciting part was that the soup was very good cold! I almost felt like I put a tad too much lemon in it when I tasted it hot, but as a cold soup, it was perfect. The parsley was very fresh tasting and the lemon added some much needed acid. I do understand now what they mean in those cooking shows when they speak of a "palatte cleanser." A small serving would be perfect to introduce a new bold flavored course.

So in case you are wondering, here is how you make parsley soup. I first sauteed the leeks til soft and then added the potato, broth and yogurt and let simmer for 20 minutes. While that is simmering, clean the parsely so only leaves and tender stems remain. The actual recipe called for light cream rather than yogurt, but I thought I'd keep this light so I used plain, non-fat yogurt instead. If you like a richer soup, use the cream. Another distinction, the recipe called for flat-leaf, Italian parsley, not the curly-leaf parsley that is more common. I found this easily and cheaply at the farmer's market. Once the soup is cooked, add parsely leaves and cook for 2 minutes more, until leaves are wilted. Puree the soup in a blender or with an immersion blender and season with salt and pepper. Add lemon juice to taste. I think I ended up adding the juice from half a large lemon. (Remember this might have been too much when eaten hot). The end, another easy to make soup. The color in the picture doesn't actually do it justice, it was a very lovely fresh green color.

Ingredients

3 packed cups Italian parsley, leaves & tender stems /$1.00/bunch = $2.00 /Farmer's Market
Butter / from home
2 cups chopped leaks / $5 / Safeway
3 cups chicken stock / $2.49 / Smart & Final
1 1/2 cup plain, non-fat yogurt / from home
8 ounces potatoes, peeled & diced / from home
salt / from home
pepper / from home
lemon / from home

Prep time: 25 min (took forever to remove the parsley stems!)
Cook time: 30 min
Servings: 8 (small)
Taste: 4 stars
Prep: moderate (stupid parsley stems!)
Cost: $9.49
Nutritionals: Calories-88, Fat grams-2 (per 8 oz. serving)

(The cost could have been less but I forgot the leeks at the farmer's market and had to pay a fortune (comparitively) for them at my nearby grocery store. Also, although the calorie count is pretty low, I could have easily used less butter to saute the veggies)


Cold soup! What's next?

Week 14: Pea Soup

So this week, Pea soup is on the menu. Last week's asparagus soup was so yummy, I thought I'd stick with the veggies, plus I had some left over creme fraiche that I didn't want to go to waste. This was an easy, economic soup to make and the best part was that there were no onions to burn my eyes. Yay for a tear-free soup week! The leeks are always tricky to clean, but I have a little system now, so it want too bad.


The first step was to saute the leeks until soft and then add the peas, potato, and broth. This was brought to a simmer and left uncovered simmering for about 25 minutes, until all veggies were soft. Next step was to get out my immersion blender and puree the soup. This was a little tricky because the soup appeared to be completely pureed but I found a few little leeks that escaped the first blending, so take your time with the blender. I whisked in the creme fraiche and added the nutmeg and cayenne. The recipe called for either an eighth or a fourth teaspoon depending on how much spice you prefer. I went for the spice! The soup was still a tad bland at this point, so I added more salt and pepper. I let the soup sit over low heat for about 20 minutes to allow the spices to do their thing, but the soup could have also been served and eaten right away. Finally, I served the soup to the fam with chopped chives.

I used frozen peas for ease and cost. But if you are up to the challenge, you can also use fresh peas. Also, the original recipe called for regular sour cream, but since I had the creme fraiche left over I went with that. If you are keeping cost down, sour cream should be fine.

Maybe it's my memory of pea soup on the hot lunch menu once a week in elementary school, but this soup was not one of my favorites. It was very pea tasting, unlike the asparagus soup from last week that had some great flavors to it despite being 95% asparagus. Not sure I would make this again since there have been some much yummier soups over the last 14 weeks, but it was worth trying I'd say.

Ingredients:
2 cups chopped leeks (2-3 leeks, white and light green parts) / 2 for $2.49 / Real Produce
5 cups frozen peas, patted dry / $1.79 / some from home, some from Trader Joe's
1 cup peeled chopped potato / $0.99/lb = $0.67
2 tablespoons butter / from home
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg / from home
1/4 teaspoon cayenne / from home
1/2 cup creme fraiche / from home
5 cups chicken broth / $2.49 / Smart & Final
2 tablespoons chives (for garnish) / $1.79 / Trader Joe's

Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Servings: 6
Taste: 3 stars
Prep: easy
Cost: $9.23


What should I make next week?????

Week 13: Asparagus Soup with Tarragon Cream

I can't believe it's been 13 weeks already! And I can't believe I'm not tired of eating and making soup. Maybe I'm getting better, but each week seems to be easier and faster! This week I was finally able to enjoy the weather and make it to the Farmer's Market for my ingredients. My typical farmer's market routine is to do a lap to see what's there and do a second lap paying attention to prices and make my purchases in my final lap. This time around, the asparagus were calling to me to take them home. I got distracted by some amazing oranges and forgot to look for the tarragon, but I was able to pick up a few shallots too.

To make the soup, I cut the asparagus into 1/2" pieces, and sauteed the shallots. A note about the shallots: This is the first recipe that called for shallots rather than onions. I've never used a shallot so I figured I'd stick to the recipe since they were easy to find at the farmer's market and not real pricey (although in comparison to an onion they are a little pricey). I even thought I might get a break from burning, tearing eyes this week --no such luck. In the end, I couldn't taste the difference, so if you don't have shallots on hand, a plain old onion would probably be fine. If you are interested in learning more, my friends at Good Housekeeping have more to say on the subject.

Back to the steps...
So after sauteing the shallots in butter for a few minutes, I added the asparagus for a minute more. I then added broth, a sprinkle of cayenne, salt and rice. I covered and let simmer for 20 minutes, until the asparagus were very soft.

In the meantime, I whisked the creme fraiche with the chopped tarragon. A note about the tarragon/creme fraiche: This was another unfamiliar ingredient to me. But loving fresh herbs and being stubborn and never measuring, I may have overdone it a tad. I'm not entirely sure how much tarragon I used, but next time I would add a little at a time to taste before dumping it in. Also, the last time I used creme fraiche, I recall not being too impressed by the taste considering the high price and similarity to plain, cheap sour cream, but this time I found the creme fraiche at Trader Joe's much cheaper, so I used it. However, this is another ingredient that can be easily substituted and still come out with a great soup.

Once again, back to the steps...
After vegetables are soft, puree the soup and whisk in the creme fraiche/tarragon mixture. I returned the soup to the stove and kept on low heat until we were ready to eat. The licorice flavor of the fennel subdued a tad, I think. Or maybe I just got used to it.

Overall the soup was yummy! It was actually even quite good before adding the tarragon, so if you aren't a fan of the licorice/anise flavor, this can be skipped and enjoyed just as well. My friends loved the soup and went back for more! Even my fried who was stunned by the strong flavors of the tarragon ended up having a second helping later. The moral of the story, is don't rule out the tarragon right away. Give it a chance and you will LOVE this soup!

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds medium asparagus /2 bunches = $6 / farmer's market
2 tablespoons butter / from home
1/2 cup chopped shallots / $1.50/lb = $0.75 / farmer's market
4 cups chicken stock / from home
salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper / from home
1/3 cup long grain white rice, uncooked / from home
1/2 cup creme fraiche / $3.49 / Trader Joe's
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh tarragon / $1.99 / Whole Foods

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Servings: 4
Taste: 4 stars
Prep: easy
Cost: $12.23

Can't wait to see what's at the Farmer's Market next week!