The simple way of making tomato soup

The summer with its abundance of fresh vegetables and a relaxed pace makes me want to simplify cooking. So, here is a really simple, one-pot way of making a light fresh tomato soup with plenty of vegetables and some small pasta. Tasty!

1 small can fire-roasted tomatoes

1/2 cup of water

handful of fresh or frozen corn

1/2 zucchini, cubed

asparagus

carrots

cauliflower
handful fresh spinach

4-5 green olives, sliced

1/2 ts Rapunzel vegetable broth in a jar

1 garlic clove, minced

1 ts agave nectar

1/2 TB creme fraiche

fresh oregano, thyme and basil, chopped

1-2 oz small-shaped pasta

In a soup pot, pour in the tomatoes. Add all the other ingredients, stir, bring to a boil and then simmer on low-medium heat for 8 min until pasta is al dente.

Spicy Moroccan Vegetarian Panini

Summer reminds me of grilled cheese sandwiches in Italy. Fortunately, good panini gadgets are abundant these days, and it is easy to make them at home. Here is today's variation:

2 slices of bread (I used homemade sourdough bread with rosemary), thinly sliced

1 TB olive oil

1 Tomato mozzarella veggie burger (like Boca burger)

1 roma tomato, sliced

1/2 TB harissa (spicy Moroccan condiment)

1-2 TB of crumbled feta cheese

1 few leaves of arugula

Preheat the panini maker, and grill the veggie burger. Meanwhile, brush the outer sides of the bread slices with olive oil (it helps to brown them nicely). Distribute the harissa on the slice of bread that is the bottom of the panini. Add the grilled veggie burger and the tomato slices. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and add the feta cheese. Top with arugula salad, and place the top bread on the panini. Transfer to hot panini maker and grill about 5 min.

Orono Farmers' Market tomorrow!

Announced, all new social media, via facebook. How can you resist the preview?

Spaghetti, Vegetables and Catfish

A perfect dish for a warm summer day: grilled catfish, new vegetables sauteed in olive oil and fresh herbs, and spaghetti.

2 oz FiberGourmet spaghetti (or other brand)

4oz catfish fillet

some olive oil

1/2 small onion, finely diced

4 small tomatoes

1/2 zucchini, thinly sliced

fresh basil and rosemary

lemon juice of 1/2 lemon

salt, pepper

Cook spaghetti according to instructions. In a non-stick skillet, heat the oil and on one side of the pan saute the onion until translucent. On the other side, grill the catfish with some salt and pepper. Quarter the tomatoes, and add to the onion. Add zucchini and lemon juice as well as the herbs to the onion mix. The fish and the vegetables will be done around the same time with the spaghetti (ca 10 min). Serve the fish on a plate. Add the spaghetti to the vegetable mix, and mix with some of the pasta water to make a sauce. Serve!

Spaghetti marinara with fresh basil

Out of nowhere, summer arrived. The basil is bursting with the current temperatures and sunshine, and spaghetti marinara have never been so good.

Rhubarb Smoothie with Banana and Strawberries

Rhubarb is back! I kept it raw and made a new smoothie.

1 cup Greek yogurt

1 stalk rhubarb

2-3 strawberries (optionally)

1/2 banana

1/4 cup water

1 TB agave nectar (optionally)

Place all ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth.

Spaghetti with Collard Green Pesto

My dreams came true --- after 1 1/2  years of penne, rotini and fettucini Fiber Gourmet finally offers spaghetti. Who can resist the  fabulous texture and eating acrobatics of spaghetti with a marinara sauce? 

My first shipment of fiber gourmet spaghetti coincided with a package of collard greens sitting in my fridge. I wasn't quite sure what to do with the collard greens, so it took an inspiration from Sunny Anderson to convert it into a pesto. It came out great!

Collard Green Pesto:

One package frozen collard greens

1/2 tablespoon butter

2 garlic cloves, minced

salt and pepper to taste

3 garlic cloves, peeled

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Handful pinenuts

Quarter of a cup of water

2oz FB spaghetti

In a skillet heat the butter and brown it. Add the garlic cloves, and slightly fry. Add the collard greens and heat through. Just sautée for 2-3  minutes. Pour the collard green mixture into a blender or food processor, and add the remaining ingredients. Pulse until the pesto texture develops.  This makes about eight servings. Take about one serving, and add 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese. Mix well.

Cook the spaghetti according to instructions (differing from the instructions on the package, the spaghetti were al dente in about 14 minutes, not 6-10 min). Mix the cooked spaghetti with the one serving of pesto, and serve.

Amy's Roasted Vegetable Pizza

Two weeks down of restricted cooking mode...... I am still resorting to frozen foods, eating out and the occasional pasta dish. This is a slice of Amy's Roasted Vegetable Pizza with no cheese. It has a  wheat flour crust with a wonderful texture and unique taste. The roasted vegetables perfectly make up for the lack of cheese. I piled some sautéed baby spinach on top of the pizza and added some pinenuts. Fabulous!

First rhubarb cake of the season

K.'s garden is blessed with a bounty of rhubarb each year, and not only did I receive a wonderful rhubarb cake but also some fresh one. I am sure it will be paired with strawberries, rolled oats and brown sugar soon.

Salmon Terrine

Despite still not being able to cook much, it does not mean I don't eat well due to the wonderful local elfs dropping off food. This time, a fabulous home-made tender salmon terrine made by M. and S. ! Must learn how to make this.....

Adventures of a one armed chef

"Life is what happens when you are busy making other plan.". Plans were to finish the semester and welcome summer, life that happened was an unexpected spin on a step and a broken shoulder. Besides coping with the excruciating pain and immobilized arm, life is now slow motion and the freezer is stocked with pizza. 

Slowly, I ventured out to cook again, and new challenges arise.  How to chop an onion with one hand? How to chop romaine without making it look like butchered?

Luckily, I have a few elfs who help me out with these new hurdles and also occasionally drop off a mean barley soup.

So, here it is -- elf salad.

Spring lunch

Life has been so busy lately that I've been living off things in my freezer and the veggies in my fridge, somehow creatively thrown together.  This is a nice one -- arugula, fennel, cabbage with grilled asparagus and grilled Trader Joe's meatless meatballs.

Salad:
1 fennel bulb, halved
1/4 head of a small head of cabbage
handful arugula salad
salt, pepper,
Galeo's dressing (Miso Ginger)
green asparagus
4 meatless meatballs (Trader Joe's or others).

I sliced the fennel and cabbage thinly into a plastic bowl using a mandoline, added the salt and pepper, and mixed it well. In a serving bowl, I mixed the arugula salad and about 1/4th of the fennel/cabbage salad, and added the dressing. Heated the broiler, and grilled the asparagus and meatballs for about 10-12 mins. It helps to brush the asparagus with some olive oil and add some salt. With the broiling, the meatballs get a nice crunchy crust. Serve asparagus and meatballs with the salad. 

Arrows Restaurant, Ogunquit, ME

Great article about the Arrows Restaurant in Ogunqit, ME in the Maine Magazine. The restaurants is about to open again for the summer 2010.

Arrows
(207) 361-1100
Bridgton
41 Berwick Rd
Ogunquit, ME 03907

Update: on May 3 2010  Clark Frasier and Mark Gaier: Arrows, Ogunquit, ME won Best Chef: Northeast, James Beard Foundation. 

Greek Yogurt Chive Dip

The garden starts to turn its colors from gray and brown to green, pink and yellow. Chives and mint are the first herbs each year that announce spring time and a new growing season.. "Hellooooo!" the chives chimes, eat me eat me! So, here we go, a chive greek yogurt dip. 

bunch of fresh chives
1 small container greek yogurt
salt, pepper to taste
1-2 TB water
Optionally: 1 TB sour cream.

Mix the greek yogurt with the salt and pepper until creamy and well-flavored to taste. With a kitchen scissors, cut the chives in 1/4 inch pieces directly into the greek yogurt mixture. Stir. The mixture will get thicker depending on how many chives you add; to make it creamier again, add some water.   Serve with pretzels, crackers or on a slice of rye bread. Enjoy!

Triple Chocolate Cookies

They looked like worth trying out. And having tried them out, they can only describe with one word: outrageous!

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) salted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup firmly packed dark or light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips
1 cup slivered almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of an stand electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the room temperature soft butter and the 2 types of sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and mix together. 

Add the flour mixture and continue mixing until just combined. Now, add the chocolates and almonds and mix until combined (I left out the almonds, because I had no slivered ones). Using a small ice cream scoop, drop the dough two inches apart on sheet pans lined with parchment (makes about 6 cookies per regular sized cookie sheet, and 3 cookie sheets overall plus 3 small cookies). Bake for 15 minutes.

Cool the cookies on the cookie sheets (! don't move them, they will fall apart!). The cookies should be very soft when they are removed from the oven. They will firm up as they cool (10 min).

ps. for those, who care: 1 cookie = 300kcal.