Tomato Basil Soup

I've made this soup more than half a dozen times but I never get sick of it, and neither does my man♥. The sweetness of the honey pairs so well with the sourness of the balsamic vinegar, and let's not forget the numerous spices - cumin, fennel seed, and paprika - that make this soup much more than your average tomato basil soup. Very important is the fresh basil (so much better than dried basil), but if you can't find fresh basil, I highly recommend the dried basil made by Morton & Bassett. It's a San Francisco-based company that makes very high quality herbs that are all-natural, non-irradiated and contain no preservatives or additives.

For a tasty non-vegetarian version, add meatballs (pictured below), although I love the vegetarian version just as much! For the version with meatballs, simply season about 3 pounds of ground beef with 2 teaspoons of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper, then form 1½-inch meatballs, and sauté them in butter or extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat until browned. Add the meatballs along with honey and balsamic vinegar.



Also, without the chicken stock, this makes a wonderful pasta sauce, especially with grated parmesan cheese.



Btw, cooked tomatoes contain more lycopene (the antioxidant that gives tomatoes its red hue and has twice as much antioxidant power than vitamin E) than raw tomatoes. There is also evidence that cooking tomatoes in extra-virgin olive oil seems to increase the body's ability to absorb lycopene.

Tomato Basil Soup Adapted from Gourmet Nutrition Ingredients: • 5 cloves garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil • 1 tablespoon salt • 1½ teaspoon black pepper • 8-9 medium tomatoes, diced • ½ cup fresh basil • 1 yellow onion • 2 teaspoons ground cumin • 2 teaspoons ground fennel seed • 2 teaspoons paprika • 4 cups vegetable broth or chicken stock • 4 tablespoons honey • 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar Directions: 1. Preheat a large pot on medium-high heat. Add oil and onions, and sauté until lightly browned, stirring frequently. Add garlic, cumin, fennel, paprika, 4 tablespoons of broth, and sauté for 1 minute more, stirring constantly. Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. 2. Now add the remaining broth, balsamic vinegar, honey, and simmer for 30 minutes, continue stirring occasionally. Add the salt, pepper, and basil and remove from heat.

Wild Mussels in Heirloom Tomato Basil Sauce

Hello hello! So if you've been following along in my blog, I'm sure you've noticed that many of my most recent entries are of seafood - however, surprisingly, I still haven't done an entry on any type of small shellfish, such as clams, mussels, shrimp, and oysters. Nothing beats the taste of fresh shellfish, so it's about time for this simple but yummy recipe for wild mussels! You do have to be careful in the summer months to make sure these sea creatures remain as fresh as possible though. When I buy them at the local farmer's market, I always remember to ask them to give me a bag of ice, just to make absolute sure that the seafood stays fresh on my way home. And they really have to be eaten within 2 days max; the sooner you eat them, the better. I had bad mussels once (past 2 days of purchase) and my stomach complained about it for hours afterwards; that was NOT fun. Oh and one other thing, mussels are always sold live and they need to breathe. So when you get home, whatever you do, don't put them in an airtight container or the vegetable drawer or they will all suffocate, and a dead mussel is not a mussel you want to eat.

The sauce is a riff of the simple tomato sauce I'd posted earlier except this time, I stirred in some fresh basil a couple minutes before I turned off the heat. I also used the most delicious heirloom tomatoes from the Union Square farmer's market - look at all the variety (there's even purple tomatoes)!



Anyhow, as my 5th grade teacher used to say before lunch (funny how I still remember this but I'll forget stuff that happened yesterday)... Bon appetit, time to eat! :)

Wild Mussels in Heirloom Tomato Basil Sauce Ingredients: • 4 pounds mussels, scrubbed and debearded Simple Tomato Sauce • 2 pounds sweet, ripe greenhouse tomatoes, washed, chopped, and seeded • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil • 3 garlic cloves, peeled and pressed through a garlic press • 1 large red onion, diced • 1 teaspoon salt • Fresh basil • Fresh parsley (optional) Directions: 1. Tomato sauce: Warm the olive oil in a sauce pan over medium heat. Cook the onion, stirring occasionally, until softened and slightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and let it sizzle for half a minute. Stir in the chopped tomatoes and salt. 4. Bring the sauce to a boil. Then turn down the heat to low and cook for 30 to 45 minutes at steady simmer, or until the fat floats free from the tomato and the sauce thickens, stirring occasionally. 5. Taste the sauce and add more salt, if necessary. Stir in the fresh basil and turn off the heat after a couple minutes. 6. Hold each mussel under cold running water. Use a brush with stiff bristles to thoroughly scrub the mussel and remove grit, sand, and mud from the shell's exterior. Wild mussels usually have a dark, shaggy beard extending from each shell. After scrubbing each mussel, pull the beard away from the shell until taut, and then pull the beard down sharply toward the dark hinge. It should snap away easily. Removing its beard will kill the mussel, so perform this step just before cooking them. 7. Add the mussels, cover, and stream until they are open, about 5-7 minutes. Shake the pot, holding down the lid with a kitchen towel, to redistribute the mussels. Discard any mussels that do not open because this indicates that they have died. Place the mussels in a plate, then pour the warm tomato basil sauce over them. Garnish with fresh parsley, if you wish.

Daring Cook's Monthly Challenge: Brunswick Stew

I recently joined the Daring Cooks, a group of cooks/food bloggers that cook a certain recipe chosen by the host of the month. The 2010 April Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Wolf of Wolf’s Den. She chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make Brunswick Stew. Wolf chose recipes for her challenge from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook by Matt Lee and Ted Lee, and from the Callaway, Virginia Ruritan Club.

Since the recipe calls for rabbit, I knew I would need to head down to the local farmer's market at Union Square, where you can find all sorts of uncommon foods not normally found in grocery stores. Unfortunately, I didn't find rabbit and was told at the manager's station that "the rabbit guy" comes in the early summer. So instead, I bought turkey thighs, which I was told had a similar flavor and texture as rabbit once it's cooked in a stew. I also substituted smoked turkey bacon for bacon and frozen corn for fresh corn. It took quite a bit of work to make this stew, but it was worth it - delicious served over brown rice with a side of cornbread!

Brunswick Stew From Matt Lee and Ted Lee's The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook: Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-Be Southerners Ingredients: • ¼ pound or 4 ounces slab bacon, rough diced (I used turkey bacon) • 2 Serrano, Thai or other dried red chiles, stems trimmed, sliced, seeded, flattened (I used Jalapeño chiles) • 1 pound rabbit, quartered, skinned (I used turkey thighs, as I could not find rabbit) • 1 4-5 pound chicken, quartered, skinned, and most of the fat removed • 1 tablespoon sea salt for seasoning, plus extra to taste • 2-3 quarts or 8-12 cups Sunday Chicken Broth (I substituted canned chicken broth) • 2 bay leaves • 2 large celery stalks • 2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, or other waxy type potatoes, peeled, rough diced • 1½ cups or about 5 small carrots, chopped • 3½ cups or about 4 medium onions, chopped • 2 cups or about 4 ears fresh corn kernels, cut from the cob • 3 cups butterbeans, preferably fresh (1¼ pounds) or defrosted frozen • 1 35-ounce can or 4 cups whole, peeled tomatoes, drained • ¼ cup red wine vinegar • Juice of 2 lemons • Tabasco sauce to taste Directions: 1. In the largest stockpot you have, preferably a 10-12 quart or even a Dutch Oven if you’re lucky enough to have one, fry the bacon over medium high heat until it just starts to crisp. Transfer to a large bowl, and set aside. Reserve most of the bacon fat in your pan, and with the pan on the burner, add in the chiles. Toast the chiles until they just start to smell good, or make your nose tingle, about a minute tops. Remove to bowl with the bacon. 2. Season liberally both sides of the rabbit and chicken pieces with sea salt and pepper. Place the rabbit pieces in the pot and sear off all sides possible. You just want to brown them, not cook them completely. Remove to bowl with bacon and chiles, add more bacon fat if needed, or olive oil, or other oil of your choice, then add in chicken pieces, again, browning all sides nicely. Remember not to crowd your pieces, especially if you have a narrow bottomed pot. Put the chicken in the bowl with the bacon, chiles and rabbit. Set it aside. 3. Add 2 cups of your chicken broth or stock, if you prefer, to the pan and basically deglaze the pan, making sure to get all the goodness cooked onto the bottom. The stock will become a nice rich dark color and start smelling good. Bring it up to a boil and let it boil away until reduced by at least half. Add your remaining stock, the bay leaves, celery, potatoes, chicken, rabbit, bacon, chiles and any liquid that may have gathered at the bottom of the bowl they were resting in. Bring the pot back up to a low boil/high simmer, over medium/high heat. Reduce heat to low and cover, remember to stir every 15 minutes, give or take, to thoroughly meld the flavors. Simmer, on low, for approximately 1½ hours. Supposedly, the stock may become a yellow tinge with pieces of chicken or rabbit floating up, the celery will be very limp, as will the chiles. Taste the stock, according to the recipe, it “should taste like the best chicken soup you’ve ever had”. 4. With a pair of tongs, remove the chicken and rabbit pieces to a colander over the bowl you used earlier. Be careful, as by this time, the meats will be very tender and may start falling apart. Remove the bay leaf, celery, chiles, bacon and discard. (I didn't remove the bacon, as I thought it was a waste of bacon.) After you’ve allowed the meat to cool enough to handle, carefully remove all the meat from the bones, shredding it as you go. Return the meat to the pot, throwing away the bones. Add in your carrots, and stir gently, allowing it to come back to a slow simmer. Simmer gently, uncovered, for at least 25 minutes, or until the carrots have started to soften. 5. Add in your onion, butterbeans, corn and tomatoes. As you add the tomatoes, crush them up. Simmer for another 30 minutes, stirring every so often until the stew has reduced slightly, and onions, corn and butterbeans are tender. Remove from heat and add in vinegar, lemon juice, stir to blend in well. Season to taste with sea salt, pepper, and Tabasco sauce if desired. 6. You can either serve immediately or refrigerate for 24 hours, which makes the flavors meld more and makes the overall stew even better. Serve hot, either on its own, or with a side of corn bread, over steamed rice, with any braised greens as a side.

Butternut Squash, White Bean, and Kale Chicken Soup

As promised, here's another great way to prepare a winter squash. This soup recipe is so simple, yet flavorful, hearty, and satisfying, it's the perfect comfort food for a cold winter day in New York City! And it is definitely still winter time over here. I seriously can't believe spring officially starts in 9 days. Just last week (on Wednesday, February 10th), all NYC public schools and Catholic elementary and middle schools were closed due to the snow. By the way, maybe only New Yorkers will know what I'm talking about, but you know those patches of snow that look deceivingly stable, yet when you step on them, your feet are instantly plunged into this freezing, nasty, dirty, black water that the snow was just floating on top of? Yeaaa, I stepped on a couple of those. $%$%@#$$#@$! Oh well, nothing a hot shower and a bowl of chicken soup can't cure...

Butternut Squash, White Bean, and Kale Chicken Soup Ingredients: • 1 cup dried cannellini beans or 2 15-ounce cans of cannellini beans (possible substitutions: navy beans or Great Northern Beans) • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil • 2½ pounds chicken breast or thighs (bone-in chicken has more flavor, just remove the bones later, but boneless chicken is obviously more convenient to use; or alternatively, you could use some other type of meat - spicy Italian sausage would work well) • 2 yellow onions, diced • 6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press • 5 cups chicken broth, preferably homemade chicken stock • 6 ounces white wine (optional) • 2 inch piece kombu seaweed (I used canned cannellini beans that already contained kombu seaweed) • 1 teaspoon salt • ½ teaspoon pepper • 4 sage leaves • 2 sprigs thyme or rosemary • 2 bay leaves • 1 large butternut squash, about 4½ pounds, peeled and chopped into ½-inch cubes (Helpful tip: butternut squash can be peeled using a normal swivel-headed vegetable peeler) • ½ cup garlicky kale, or ¾ pound lacinato kale before cooked • slices of country-style bread with garlic and olive oil spread (optional) Instructions: 1. If you are using dry cannellini beans, soak the 2 cups of cannellini beans overnight in water, or alternatively, quick-soak the cannellini beans using the following method: First pick through the beans to remove small stones and other foreign materials. Place them in a large stock pot and add water (6 - 8 cups of water per pound of beans.) Boil vigorously for 3 minutes. Then turn off the heat, cover the pot and let it sit for at least an hour, which will usually be enough time to soften the beans sufficiently. Soaking the beans allows shorter cooking times, which preserves the most nutrients, and also allows for the beans to cook more evenly and completely. 2. After the beans are soaked, drain them and put them in a large stock pot along with the chicken stock. (Never cook with the same water that you soaked the beans in because this soaking liquid is dirty.) Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer until the beans are tender. Start checking after 45 minutes. Taste, and if necessary, adjust the seasonings. 3. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan. Add chicken and brown about 15 to 20 minutes. 4. Remove the chicken to the stock pot and add the onion, sage leaves, rosemary/thyme sprigs, and bay leaves to the sauté pan. Sauté on medium heat about 10 minutes. Add butternut squash and garlic, and sauté for another 5 minutes. 5. Remove the vegetables and herbs to the stock pot, and add wine, kombu seaweed, salt, pepper, and bring to a boil; simmer about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the squash gets very soft. 6. (optional) Stir in garlicky kale. Serve hot soup over thickly sliced country-style bread that has been brushed with minced garlic and extra virgin olive oil and toasted in the oven until crisp and golden brown.

Moroccan Lamb Tagine with Dried Apricots

I don't know about you, but I didn't crawl my way up the evolutionary ladder so I could eat nothing but brussel sprouts and artichokes - hell no! I really don't know how I could go through life without eating meat. I do love vegetables, but I like them best paired with juicy, succulent, and tender meat - like in this lamb stew. Here I've braised lamb shoulder in a traditional Moroccan stew called a tagine (or tajine), which are slow-cooked stews braised at low temperatures that result in tender meat with aromatic vegetables and sauce. The meats are usually either lamb or chicken, and these meats are often combined with a medley of ingredients or seasonings, such as: olives, quinces, apples, pears, apricots, raisins, prunes, dates, nuts, fresh or preserved lemons, honey, and/or various spices like ground cinnamon, saffron, ginger, turmeric, cumin, paprika, pepper, and Ras el hanout (a blend of spices). Some famous tagine dishes are mqualli or mshermel (both are pairings of chicken, olives and citrus fruits, though preparation methods differ), kefta (meatballs in an egg and tomato sauce), and mrouzia (lamb, raisins and almonds).

The name tagine actually comes from the special pot in which it is cooked, which is a pretty neat piece of kitchen equipment, if you ask me. The traditional tagine pot has a large cone or dome-shaped cover that rests inside the base during cooking and is designed so that all the steam that condenses on the lid returns to the bottom of the pot. It also has a knob-like handle at its top so that the cover can be lifted off without using a mitten, which allows the cook to test the lamb for tenderness, add vegetables, mix the contents, or add additional braising liquid. With the cover removed, the base can be taken to the table for serving. Cool, huh? Too bad they're hard to find in Western parts of the world, so if you don't have a tagine pot (I don't), you can use a Dutch oven, the All-Clad Stainless Braiser Pan, or a heavy stockpot with a good lid (I used my trusty stainless steel All-Clad Saute Pan with a lid).

In this version of tagine, I hope you'll love the complex flavors and melt-in-your-mouth tenderness of the rich lamb shoulder meat (grass-fed lamb is recommended), intoxicating, fragrant aroma of the exotic spices (cinnamon, cumin, coriander, and ginger), and the sweet flavor of the dried Turkish apricots (which tempers the gameyness of the lamb) as much as I do. Yes, lamb shoulder is a little fatty, so this is probably not an everyday meal. The stew is wonderful garnished with toasted sliced almonds and served with steamed couscous. (I mixed steamed quinoa into the stew afterwards, though that isn't exactly traditional.)

By the way, my friend and I had a debate about how the word apricot is pronounced. I pronounce it as "ape-ricot" while he pronounces it as "app-ricot" - maybe it has to do with where you're from (I'm originally from California, he's from NY)?

Moroccan Lamb Tagine with Dried Apricots Ingredients: • ½ pound dried Turkish apricots • 2½ pounds lamb shoulder, trimmed and cut into 2-inch cubes • 2 cups beef stock or water • salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste • 2-3 tablespoons olive oil • 2 large yellow onions, peeled, trimmed, and chopped • 2 large tomatoes, chopped • 6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press • 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely grated • 1 teaspoon coriander, preferably freshly ground • 1 teaspoon cumin • ½ teaspoon cinnamon • ¼ teaspoon saffron • 1 teaspoon rose water (optional) • toasted sliced almonds, as a garnish (optional) • steamed couscous, for serving (optional) Directions: 1. Soak the apricots in warm water for an hour or so while you prepare the rest of the stew. Season the lamb well with salt and pepper. 2. Heat olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan over medium high heat - enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Add the lamb and brown it on all sides, working in batches if necessary and taking care not to crowd the meat. 3. Remove the meat to a plate and discard most of the fat/oil in the pan, leaving just a thin veil of oil. 4. Add the onions and tomatoes and cook them until soft over medium high heat, about 7 minutes. Add the seared lamb cubes back in, stir in the spices and mix well, and cook for another 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute, stirring frequently so the garlic doesn't burn and turn bitter. 5. Add just enough beef stock to come to the top of the meat and bring to a boil, skimming any foam that rises to the top. Turn the heat down to a simmer, cover and cook for half an hour. 6. Meanwhile, drain the apricots, reserving the liquid. Chop the apricots coarsely and add them to the lamb. Now keep the pan partially covered and continue to simmer for about another hour or until the lamb is fork-tender. Stir occasionally, and if the liquid gets too low, add some of the reserved apricot liquid. 7. When the lamb is tender, skim any fat off the top, taste for salt and adjust the seasonings as needed. Add rose water and sliced almonds and serve with a side of steamed couscous, if desired.

Homemade Chicken Stock

Homemade chicken stock is far more flavorful than the canned chicken stock you buy at the grocery store, and chefs say that the key to a great soup is homemade stock. It's also a great way to use up the leftover parts of a chicken, instead of throwing them away. You can store homemade chicken stock in fridge for 3-4 days (possibly 5-7 days if you store it in an airtight container and bring it to a boil prior to using/consuming) and in the freezer for up to 3 months, and it can be used in a variety of ways: to braise meats, to create stews, to sauté vegetables, or reduced to create glazes or sauces.

If, however, you're in a pinch and don't have the time to make homemade chicken stock (this version will take you about 4 hours), I recommend Imagine's Organic Free-range Chicken Broth. It's one of the best store-bought organic free-range chicken broths that I've tried and a far cry from most store-bought chicken broths, which tend to be nothing more than salty water.

Homemade Chicken Stock Adapted from Alice Waters' Chez Panisse Café Cookbook Ingredients: • 5 pounds of chicken parts, preferably with some meat left on them • 3½ quarts cold water • 1 large carrot, peeled and quartered • 1 large onion, peeled and quartered • 2 celery stalks, washed and quartered • 2 parsley sprigs • 1 thyme sprig • 1 bay leaf • ½ teaspoon black peppercorns • ½ teaspoon salt • 1 tomato, washed and halved (optional) Directions: 1. (optional) Roast the chicken parts in a 450°F oven until nicely caramelized, about 30 minutes. 2. Put the chicken parts in a large stainless steel stockpot and cover it with 3½ quarts cold water. Bring it to a boil over high heat, and once the stock comes to a full boil, reduce the heat to a low simmer. 3. Add the carrot, onion, celery stalks, salt, black peppercorns, and tomato. Add the parsley and thyme sprigs and a bay leaf, in a sachet if possible (you can create a sachet by bundling the herbs inside a cheesecloth and tying the bundle up with kitchen string). Simmer gently for about 3 hours. 4. Skim off any grease that floats to the top. Strain the broth through a colander lined with cheesecloth or a fine-mesh sieve. If you are not using the broth immediately, allow it to cool completely, then promptly refrigerate or freeze. (Storing it while it is still warm will cause it to ferment.) After a few hours in the refrigerator or the next day, skim off any of the fat that has solidified on top of the broth.