I’m no meteorologist, but I would argue that the Twin Cities Metro is heading into Severe Minestrone Watch this weekend (via The Onion: Perfect Soup Weather Coming).
Waste not, want not! ATK Tasters welcomed the pungency in cilantro stems, whereas flat parsley stems’ bitterness was less palatable. You can certainly use either stems - just take into account the stems’ strong flavor and texture (*crunch*).
I like to throw them into soups and stock preparation. For example, I often go through periods of laziness/poorness and subsist on miso soup with glass noodles, egg, random veggies, and cilantro leaves/stems.
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Nan Zhou *Hand Drawn Noodle House, Philadelphia, PA
When you are soaked to the bone from the windy, rainy 40-degree conditions in a city that is not your home, this is the definition of comfort. This was also the best meal that I had in Philadelphia - just me and my $5.95 bowl of short rib noodle soup in a divey hole-in-the-wall in Chinatown.
*I know I’ve posted it before, but it’s worth referencing again: how hand drawn noodles are made. Pretty freakin’ rad.
Last month, I participated in a potluck night that brought together many loves - soup, community, and Thomas Keller. My contribution? Potato-leek soup, inspired by the abundance of leeks at the Farmer’s Market in the fall. The recipe? The Bouchon cookbook that doesn’t get enough love in this graduate student’s home.
Now, I love the way that potlucks bring people together around food, and I love to cook for people. But I also have to admit that my anxious-neurotic tendencies make it a somewhat stressful endeavor - so much so that I ended up making this potato-leek soup not once or twice, but three times! First time was a test run met with much success (pictured below). The second time was supposed to be for the main event, but then I left the soup unattended and scorched the cream in the soup. I just couldn’t deal with the brown tinged product (and let’s face it, I have a food blog…people are going to have expectations). So, I prepped a third batch (including a whole new batch the vegetable stock) that I cooked right before the event. Really, it’s not a difficult soup to make, but even with proper planning and prep, it is a multi-step process. Boy, did I learn from the experience.
When I visited San Fran last month, I made it my mission to eat good food that is hard to come by in Minnesota. I knew that I had to track down some xiao long bao (soup dumplings) before I left. We went to Shanghai Dumpling King in the Outer Richmond. It’s out-of-the-way location, tiny, divy interior, and no-frills service all made me very excited. This was going to be some legit Chinese food, yo.
In that first picture, do you see the glistening liquid inside the pouch? That’s soup! Inside a dumpling! Craziness, right? Here’s a little infographic on how to safely eat them. We all split a couple orders of the deliciously porky dumplings (mmm, sticks to your lips!) and a couple of things that weren’t on the menu - sauteeed pea shoots and some ground beef sauce over noodles. Good stuff all around.
Food To Do List: Soondubu Jjigae
Friends know that I have a mild obsession with Korean food. One late night in college, my friend Christine introduced me to Korean food, soondubu to be exact, and I was hooked. It became my go-to at every Korean restaurant I went to. I was ecstatic to see entire restaurants devoted to soondubu in California! Why the obsession over this tofu stew? In addition to my love of all things soup, this stew hits all the right spots. At once aggressive in its bubbling spiciness, yet comforting with the silky texture of the tofu and the creamy layer added by a raw egg. I love a good thick soondubu eaten with plump short grain rice. You’d think with my obsession, I would have tried to make this from scratch. But I have always found Korean home cooking to be intimidating, so I use a lot of cheats and instants. When I saw this recipe on Serious Eats for making soondubu jjigae from scratch, I had blog it to remind me to make this at some point in the cold, Minnesota days ahead.
Sick of Soup Remedy #2: Souped Up Oatmeal Muffins
After using up a mere 2 cups of the tired curried butternut squash and black bean soup in pancakes, I still had another 4 cups or so left. A couple of cups went into the freezer. The baking impulse was strong, and I tried to think of savory baked goods…hmm, muffins? I was a Magnolia cupcake fan in my brief stint as a New Yorker, and I go to their cookbook (a gift from a past roommate) quite a bit for basic cake recipes. It was my first time using their Oatmeal Muffin recipe, so I thought it was worth a shot.
The muffins turned out…interesting. Their texture was very wet, and they did not rise that much. I think my omissions might have screwed with the whole chemistry of baking. No matter. They were very flavorful and more than edible, albeit an interesting texture. This made more than the indicated 12 muffins, so I froze the rest. Not exactly a slam dunk, but it was an interesting experiment nonetheless. (After re-reading this, I noticed that I used the word “interesting” three times…needless to say, my enthusiasm for this particular batch is tempered. But I definitely encourage others to play with the basic idea).
Souped Up Oatmeal Muffins, modified from the “Oatmeal Muffins” recipe in the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook by Jennifer Appel and Allysa Torrey
In a medium size bowl, mix oats and soup/milk and set aside for 10 min. In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients, making a well in center. Stir in liquid ingredients and oatmeal until just combined, which may be lumpy.
Fill muffin cups three quarters full. Bake for 16-18 min (maybe longer) at 350 until lightly golden or a cake tester comes out w/ moist crumbs attached. The cookbook says, “Don’t overbake.” But I couldn’t figure out if the muffins were too wet, so they ended up a little overcooked.
Sick of Soup Remedy #1: Souped Up Pancakes
A couple of weeks ago, I threw together a curried butternut squash and black bean soup. I used leftover broth from some boiled dry black beans b/c I didn’t have enough chicken stock. As you can imagine, it was kind of strange (hence, no blog post about it). The color and texture resembled split pea soup (not appetizing when you know that it’s not split peas), and the taste was a little odd. I suffered through a couple of days of it and just couldn’t eat any more.
But I really hate to waste food, so I made it a Saturday adventure to come up with ways to use the soup in other ways that would make me forget about its original incarnation. Well what requires liquid and could tolerate a viscous texture? Hmm, I guess anything with milk is kind of like that. It was Saturday morning, and so pancakes it is! These pancakes actually turned out really well and had a sweet and savory flavor that didn’t even need any type of syrup or anything. I froze the rest for future lazy weekend mornings. You probably can’t get away with every type of soup in this kind of recipe, but I imagine it would be a good use of other roasted veggie types of soups. If you try this with other soups (or have other ideas on ways to use up that soup), let me know!
Souped Up Pancakes, modified from the “Basic Pancakes” in Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything
Makes 4-6 servings
Preheat griddle/skillet over med-low while making batter. Mix dry ingredients. Beat egg into soup/milk. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the melted butter. Gently stir in dry ingredients, only enough to moisten flour, which may be lumpy. If the batter is too thick, add some milk or water to thin it out.
Cook a ladle full (1/2 cup or so?) of batter with 1 tsp butter if your pan is not non-stick. Brown bottom of the pancake for 2 to 4 min without burning it. Flip. Cook the other side until lightly browned.
This is a shirt in the McSweeney’s Store. I would kind of like to have it.
The timing of this post is uncanny (no pun intended).
