entree Archive

Weeknight dinner: BLB’s (Bacon, Lettuce, and Beets).

I am a recent convert to the wonderful world of beets. For whatever reason, I never cared for them. I think my dislike was mostly a texture issue, mixed with a wariness about the neon pink/red color. However, much to my surprise, this summer I discovered that I really like beets. I credit this discovery entirely to the fine folks at Foster Burger, as their Kiwi Burger (ground lamb patty topped with aged cheddar, a fried egg, and roasted beets) really opened my eyes to the amazing flavor of beets. The Kiwi burger is so incredibly complex and delicious, and it’s the beets that really make the burger memorable.

So, I know I’m a little late to the beet party, but now that I know how great they are – I can’t get enough. I started roasting my own beets at home, and have been topping burgers and sandwiches with them all summer. I haven’t made any fun beet salads yet (I’m still a newbie!), but that is next on the list.

All that to say, I don’t really have a recipe to share. It’s more of a fun weeknight dinner idea: The BLB (Bacon Lettuce and Beet) Sandwich. There is no recipe to post, as BLB’s are relatively self explanatory. All you need is bread, bacon, lettuce, and beets! And, of course, whatever other condiments or add-ons you want to use to jazz up your sandwich. When I made these the other night, my sandwich creation ended up being a BLTB (Bacon+Lettuce+Beet+Tomato) sandwich on toasted sourdough with wholegrain mustard. It was near perfect. Such and easy and simple dinner, and yet so good.

However, for those who may be new to beets (as I am) or for those who tend to buy them already prepared, I will share this simple recipe for roasted beets. Once roasted, you can use them any way you please – on burgers, sandwiches, salads, or on their own.

Roasted Beets

Ingredients:
3-4 Red beets

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Wash and trim your beets, leaving a 1/2 inch of the stems on top of the beet (Note: beet greens are delicious! Don’t throw em out!).

Pat the beets dry and then wrap each beet individually in tin foil.

Place beets directly on the rack, and raost for an hour (or until soft & tender when poked with a knife).

Let the beets cool. Once cool, use a paper towel to rub the beet skin off. (You can use your fingers or a knife, but this process is quite messy! I recommend using a paper towel so you dont have pink fingers.) Slice and enjoy!

vegetable panang curry

Let me tell you a little story about my favorite Asian grocery store, a failed attempt at green curry, and a successful “backup plan” curry.

It all started with Nich and I making a trip to Fubonn. Fubonn is a giant Asian grocery store, with items from Thailand, Korea, Japan, China, India, etc. We love to go and wander the aisles, while searching for new & crazy ingredients and stocking up our pantry with various Asian staples.

The reason for this past trip to Fubonn was simple: I had seen a recipe for Thai green curry paste that I wanted to make. I knew that I could get most (if not all) the ingredients for the curry paste at Fubonn; even some of the more obscure ones like fish sauce or Thai basil. Before we embarked on our journey, we had decided that we would use the green curry paste to make some sort of vegetable curry for dinner, and we wanted to make Vietnamese summer rolls to go along with it. (Thanks to my new blog friend, Sarah at Simply Cooked for the idea. I saw them on her blog, and knew I needed to make them!). It was decided that Nich would be on roll duty, and I would make the curry. Our plan was to whip up a delicious Asian dinner and enjoy it while watching Top Chef. It was going to be a great night.

Things didn’t exactly go according to plan. When we got home we realized that the salad roll wrappers I insisted on buying weren’t the right wrappers. Thankfully, Nich ran down to Fred Meyer, and they had the right kind of rice paper wrappers. Crisis averted. I left him to make the salad rolls and continued on with my green curry paste. I followed the instructions exactly. Well, maybe not exactly…there was a small matter of shrimp paste. When I saw shrimp paste in the list of ingredients I would need, I assumed that it would be along the same lines as fish sauce (which I use in Thai cooking often). However, when I opened the can of shrimp paste, Nich and I were horrified at the smell that immediately wafted from the tiny can. It was unspeakably bad. There was no way that shrimp paste was going anywhere near my curry. In any case, even without the addition of shrimp paste, the green curry was inedible. It looked like a sad, gloppy cold green soup (and that’s putting it nicely) and tasted foul. We had no choice but to toss it.

So, I went back to the drawing board. I had a can of Panang curry paste, a can of coconut milk, and a bunch of shiitake mushrooms. I was going to make curry, even if it killed me. So, I ran with the ingredients I had and whipped up a “backup plan” curry. Dinner didn’t exactly turn out as I envisioned it, but nevertheless the end result was fantastic. The curry was rich, hearty, flavorful, and oh-so-very spicy. I washed it down with some coconut lemongrass sake (!!!) and part one of the Top Chef season finale. The episode was strangely appropriate as the finale takes place in Singapore, and all the contestants were struggling with the strange flavors and ingredients that are so prevalent in Asian cuisine. (Especially Kelly. Poor Kelly, I know exactly how she felt!)

So, if you would like to make a delicious and Asian-inspired meal, I will save you the trouble of making an inedible green curry paste, and I will instead include the recipe for vegetable panang curry. Also, if you’d like to make Vietnamese spring rolls, I recommend you use Sarah from Simply Cooked’s recipe. The ones we made were a slight variation (vegetarian) of hers with baked tofu (marinated in ponzu and red chilies), spinach, Thai basil, cilantro, green onions, and carrots. I also make a yummy spicy peanut dipping sauce for them (my old standby peanut sauce. click here for the recipe!)

And, without further delay – here is the recipe for the curry that I made up on the spot.

Vegetable Panang Curry (aka Backup Plan Curry)
*Serve over white or brown rice

1 package shiitake mushrooms (approx 1 to 1.5 cups – washed & cut in halves or quarters)
1/4 to 1/2 can Panang Curry paste (*I highly recommend Maesri brand panang curry paste, available in most Asian grocery stores. Please note, this is a SPICY curry paste. Nich and I used 1/2 of a can and it was really spicy.)
1 can coconut milk
Soy Sauce, to taste (1 to 2 Tablespoons)
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 T freshly grated ginger
1 small carrot, sliced thin
1 Thai chili, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup fresh green beans (or frozen & thawed)
Chopped cilantro, for garnish

Add a small amount of oil to a wok or skillet. Turn the heat to medium high. Sautee onion in the oil until translucent (a couple minutes). Add in Thai chili, garlic, and ginger. Continue to stir fry over medium high (be careful not to burn. turn down to medium if need be) for another minute. Add in mushrooms and sear for a minute. Add in curry paste, and stir to coat the vegetables. Add more oil if necessary.

Turn the heat down to medium low and add in the coconut milk, green beans, and soy sauce. Go light on the soy sauce (as you can always add more later). Simmer in the wok/skillet for 30 minutes to an hour (whenever you think it tastes good!. Serve over rice, and garnish with fresh chopped cilantro .

tomato pie.

Tuesday it was a whopping 92 degrees in Portland.
And ok…I’ll admit it. 92 degrees isn’t that hot. But, for Portland, that’s pretty warm. I’m not complaining about it, though. This summer has been ugly and cloudy and manic, and I’m welcoming the hot temperatures. At least the sun is shining!

I’ve been craving Tomato Pie all summer long. But, thanks to the crummy weather this year, the tomatoes haven’t been ripe until recently. Instead of eating and/or making this glorious tomato pie all summer, I’ve been reminiscing about past summers (when I could make this pie in July!).

This pie is a classic southern recipe and isn’t particularly healthy – you take a wonderful healthy ingredient like fresh tomatoes and pair them with pie crust (i.e. butter), cheese, and sour cream and/or mayo. But who’s counting calories anyways? I’m certainly not. The pie tastes absolutely delicious and its a great way to use up some of your tomatoes (because, lets face it…we have tomatoes coming out our ears!).

I took the cheater route and bought pre-made pie crusts from Trader Joe’s. I must say, I really love their pies crusts (and I’m not ashamed to admit it!). They taste great, they’re cheap, and are great when you’re in a hurry. I had to whip up this pie in the small window of time I had between work and girl’s night – so crust from scratch was not ideal. However, due to the heat yesterday, my TJ’s pie crusts thawed realllllly quickly and ended up being a pain to work with (I can’t imagine that making a pie crust from scratch in this heat would be any easier). I should have put the crusts in the pie tins and then chilled them for a bit – but I didn’t think about that before I put them in the oven to par bake for 10 minutes. Instead of nicely arranged (with pinched edges), my crusts sunk down into the bottom of the pie tins. I had a bottom crust and that was it. Needless to say, I was annoyed. But, what can you do? I was going to have thick crust on the bottom and none on the sides. And that was that. So, my beautiful tomato pie quickly turned into an ugly tomato tart. I sucked it up, piled the tomatoes, onions, basil and bacon on top of the crust and topped it with cheddar and sour cream.

And you know what? It tasted just fine. In fact, the 7 girls at my weekly girls night managed to devour both tomato pies (and here I thought I’d have leftovers to bring to my sister in the hospital. Guess not?). The crust was a little gummy (because it was so thick) but the flavors of the ‘pie filling’ were fantastic. The juices of the tomatoes always make this pie a little runny anyway, so it’s never very pretty. But I don’t mind, because it tastes so darn good.

Tomato Pie
Adapted from several blogs, online recipes, and my own brain.
*Makes 2 small pies
2 pie crusts (pre-made or your favorite recipe. I usually use Mark Bittman’s recipe.)
5 – 8 fresh ripe tomatoes (I used a variety of sizes and colors of heirloom tomatoes.)
1.5 cups of grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup of sour cream (or mayo. most recipes call for mayo, but I prefer using sour cream)
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
1 sweet white onion, sliced thin
6 strips of bacon, cut into lardons (*optional, you can skip if you’d like this pie to be vegetarian)
salt & pepper to taste

Cut the tomatoes into thin slices & de-seed the slices (if possible. The seeds made the pie more runny, so less seeds is better. You don’t have to be TOO thorough.) Place the tomato slices into a colander and lightly salt. Let drain for 30+ minutes.

While the tomatoes drain, prepare your pie crust. Place into 2 small pie tins, and prick the bottom of the crust with a fork several times. Par bake the crust at 375 for 10 minutes.

While the pie crust bakes, crisp your bacon (if using). Cook the bacon pieces over medium heat until cooked all the way through (to your liking). If you so desire, you can sauté/caramelize the onions as well. (Last summer, I didn’t pre-cook the onions before baking them in the pie. This summer I decided to slightly caramelize them before baking. I don’t honestly think it makes a huge difference.)

After 10 minutes, remove the crust from the oven. Let cool slightly. Add a layer of fresh tomato slices on top of the crust. Dot with fresh basil leaves, and season with salt and pepper. Add a small layer of onions and bacon on top of the tomato slices. Repeat (tomato slices, basil, s&p, bacon, and onions) until the pie crust is full. You can usually only fit 2 or 3 layers.

Stir together the sour cream and grated cheddar. Season with pepper (I also added a little smoked paprika). Using your hands (yes, hands! they work best for this.) place small dollops of the cheese mixture on top of the pie. Spread as evenly as possible, until the mixture covers (more or less) the top of the pie. If it doesn’t look perfect, that is ok – the cheese will melt together when baking.

Bake for 30 minutes (or until the top is browned) at 375. Remove from the oven, and cool slightly before serving.

slow cooker carnitas

It is officially summer in Portland.

I always have a bit of a conundrum on my hands when it comes to cooking in the summer. You see, it doesn’t often get hot in Portland – but when it does, the whole city loses its mind. No one has AC, the stores all sell out of fans and cooling devices, and people generally revert into a state of animalistic panic. Its cute, really.

However, I have recently found myself buying into the madness. I simply melt into the couch and have no will to live. Or, at the very least, I have no will to cook. Because – lets face it – who wants to turn on the oven when its hot as blazes in the kitchen?

Well, my friends, the good news is: slow cookers (otherwise known as crock pots). A slow cooker generates little heat, does all the work for you, and produces delicious meals while you laze on the couch! It is the perfect solution for the summertime cooking blues (Much thanks to The Kitchn for reminding me of this fact. I had nearly forgotten how awesome a slow cooker is in the summer!).

So I was excited about the prospect of using my slow cooker and my friend Beyth was having a little birthday fiesta (tacos & margaritas!), and so I had a good reason to cook up a crock pot full o’ meat. Specifically, pork. And, more specifically…carnitas. I poked around online and found a few promising recipes – but nothing that really stuck out to me. So I ended up taking elements from a lot of recipes, and just combined ingredients and made it my own. Actually, Nich worked alongside me on the carnitas so I should say that we really made it our own.

To be completely honest, I don’t exactly recall what all we put in with the pork. I do know that we included onions, garlic, chipotles (in adobo sauce), cinnamon sticks, a dried red chili, and beer. Yes, beer. We also braised the meat longer than most recipes call for – a lot of recipes said to cook the pork on high for 6 hours. We went the low & slow route – which I firmly believe gives you a juicier and more tender meat. We started cooking our pork at 11pm on a Monday evening and didn’t shred the meat until noon the next day.

Slow-Cooker Carnitas

1 large pork shoulder (4-6 pounds), trimmed and cut into 2 or 3 large pieces.
2 – 3 chipotle peppers, in adobo sauce
1 dried red Mexican chili
1 – 2 cinnamon sticks
1 yellow or white onion, diced
2 – 3 cloves of garlic, smashed
1/4 (up to 1/2) cup of fresh squeezed orange juice
1 can/bottle of light colored beer (We used Miller High Life)
1 tsp cumin
Dash of cayenne pepper
salt & pepper to taste
*original recipe called for 1 cup of beef broth/stock, but I didn’t have any so I just used water and a little bit more orange juice and seasonings.

Season the cubed pork with salt, pepper, cumin and cayenne. Combine the onion, garlic, chipotles, dried chili, and seasonings in a crockpot. Stir well.
Add the pork and toss with the vegetables and spices. Pour in the liquids – the liquid should just cover all the ingredients. (start with the beer & orange juice and add water or stock until meat and veggies are covered). Season the entire mixture with salt and pepper. (Don’t over-season – you can always add salt & pepper once its done!)
Cover and cook on low for at least 8 hours. (Ours cooked for 10 – 12 hours)
Remove roast from slow cooker and let cool on a rack or cutting board. Shred pork, using two forks to pull meat apart.
Return the shredded pork to slow cooker and stir to combine with veggies and juices. You can keep the pork on warm or low until it is ready to eat (just keep an eye out to make sure it still has plenty of juices. You don’t want dry carnitas). To serve, use a slotted spoon (and make sure to remove chilies, peppers, cinnamon sticks, etc).

creamy pesto pasta salad

For as long as I can remember, pasta salad has been one of my favorite summertime meals. First, there isn’t much actual cooking that happens with a pasta salad. This is key. When it is 90 degrees outside, I simply cannot stomach the thought of turning on my oven.

Secondly, there is so much creative liscence one can take with a cold pasta salad. The possibilities are endless! You can use any type of noodle for the base and then go nuts adding add in cheese(s), veggies, fruits, oils, vinegars, proteins, nuts, etc. I usually use pasta salad as an excuse to use up whatever random veggies I have in the fridge.

This particular pasta salad is one I’ve been dreaming up for awhile. I do read a lot of other food blogs (because I am a nerd), and have noticed a lot of pea & pesto combinations recently. I suppose it is the season for basil and peas, so the influx of pea/pesto recipes is not surprising. That being said, I just like the look of little green peas in a pasta salad. Especially when coupled with the rich green of a fresh basil pesto, there is just something so nice looking about a pesto and pea pasta. The other day I realized that I had a bunch of pine nuts on hand, fresh basil (growing in my kitchen window), and had a bag of frozen peas. It was time to make a delicious pea & pesto inspired pasta salad.

Nich & I trotted over to Pasta Works, to pick up some fresh pasta and pecorino romano cheese. I threw together the pesto, using the organic purple garlic I had on hand and noticed right away that this pesto was SPICY. I only used two cloves (and a dash of red chili flakes) of the purple garlic, but they really packed a punch. Granted, I love the flavor of garlic, but I didn’t want the basil to be overpowered So, I added in some extra basil, a few mint sprigs, fresh lemon juice and some greek yogurt to mellow it out. The yogurt really elevated the pesto to a whole new level. To be clear – this is not a traditional pesto. The addition of the yogurt makes it more of a ‘creamy pesto sauce’. Whatever you want to call it – it was awesome. And really great for pasta salad. (Plus, Nich says its the best pesto he’s ever had. I think he really meant it, as he ate on this pasta salad for 3 days, with no complaints.)

I based the pesto on Mark Bittman’s recipe (from How to Cook Everything), but did a lot of tweaking/additions.

Creamy Pesto Pasta Salad (with Peas!)

1 lb bag of pasta (bowtie, penne, fusili, etc)
2 cups of basil leaves, big stems discarded, rinsed and dried
Salt to taste
½ to 2 cloves garlic, crushed (I used organic purple garlic. spicy & delicious!)
2 tablespoons pine nuts, lightly toasted in a dry skillet
½ cup extra virgin olive oil, or more
½ cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano, Parmesean or other hard cheese
1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
The leaves from 2-3 sprigs of fresh mint
The juice of 1/2 of a lemon
A dash of red chili flakes
1 bag of frozen green peas (thawed, rinsed, & patted dry)

Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Cook pasta until al dente. Drain, rinse with cold water, and set aside for later.

Combine the basil, mint, salt, garlic, chili flakes, pine nuts, lemon juice and about half the oil in a food processor or blender.

Process, stopping to scrape down the sides of the container occasionally, and adding the rest of the oil gradually. Add additional oil if you prefer a thinner mixture. Stir in the parmesan & greek yogurt by hand just before serving.

Toss the (thawed) peas, cooked pasta, and creamy pesto mixture together. Chill before serving, and garnish with pine nuts or finely chopped basil/mint (if you so desire).

As a warning, this makes a lot of pasta salad…Nich & I ate on this for 3 days!

Baked Lemon Cream Pasta with Fresh Herbs

I’ve had this little doozy of a recipe sitting in my “to cook” pile for awhile. (Most people make “to do” lists. I make “to cook” lists.). The original blog I got this recipe from did a great job of selling me on this simple, elegant pasta. Her photos are fantastic, her instructions are great, and so I was inspired to make this dish.

However, like most recipes in my “to cook” pile, I was just waiting for the right excuse to make it.

I’ve been having bi-weekly girl dates with my friend Nicole for a little while now, and I always look forward to our time together. Nicole is married to Blake, who happens to be good friends with Nich. They have a beautiful little girl named Lillian, who I adore with my whole heart. (I blame Lillian for tugging at my heartstrings and reminding me that I do have maternal instincts hidden in me somewhere.)

Nicole and I usually go out for our bi-weekly girl dates and leave the boys (and baby) behind. But, since our husbands happen to be friends and like to hang out with each other – we decided that girl date this week would include husbands and baby. I was in charge of the main course, and Blake and Nicole provided sides and wine (Blake works for a wine distributor and always has access to fabulous wines). Since I was bringing food over to their place, I wanted something simple and relatively portable. This is the perfect recipe for such a situation.

I made the pasta and lemon cream sauce ahead of time, and tossed it together into a baking dish. The pasta bakes rather quickly (20 minutes or so), so I just brought the pre-baked pasta (and garnishes for post-baking) over to Blake and Nicole’s place, and finished it in their oven. It was quick, easy, and remarkably delicious. While it may not be the fanciest of dishes (it is, after all, baked in a casserole dish. and that just feels un-fancy.), it tastes quite elegant. To be quite honest…the more I cook, the more I realize that simplicity is best. It doesn’t need to look pretty, it just needs to taste good. And, I’m learning more and more that simple, fresh, and quality ingredients are the keys to great food. When using quality ingredients, the ingredients speak for themselves.

Baked Lemon Cream Pasta with Fresh Herbs
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman
*note the original recipe did not use greek yogurt, basil, pine nuts, or nutmeg. I added those because I felt like it. I will say that in my opinion, the basil is necessary to the recipe. it is so good! the nutmeg, pine nuts, and greek yogurt are optional.

Ingredients:
1 package of spaghetti or angel hair pasta (I used 1.5 packages: 1 package of whole wheat angel hair, and 1/2 a package of regular spaghetti. Its what I had on hand).
1 cup of sour cream (the original recipe called for 2 cups of sour cream, but I like greek yogurt better. hence my substitution)
1 cup of greek yogurt (I used non-fat. its what I had on hand.)
3-4 tablespoons of butter
2 tablesspoons of olive oil
2 lemons (the zest from one lemon, the juice from 2)
1/2 cup of finely grated parmesean cheese
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
1/3 cup Italian flat leafed parsley, finely chopped
1/3 cup of pine nuts (*optional)
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
salt & pepper, to taste

1. In a large pot, bring some salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta until al dente. Strain, and set aside.
2. While the pasta is cooking, you can make your sauce. In a large saucepan, over low heat, melt the butter. Add in the olive oil, and stir until combined. Add in minced garlic, and let cook for 1 minute. Squeeze the juice of one lemon into the butter and oil mixture (be careful not to get seeds in it!). Turn off the heat and gently stir in the sour cream, greek yogurt, the zest of 1 lemon, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
3. In a large bowl (or the pot you used to cook the pasta), combine the sauce with the pasta noodles, until everything is coated evenly. Feel free to add a bit more olive oil or sour cream if the mixture looks dry at all.
4. Place pasta mixture into a baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
5. While the pasta is baking, toast the pine nuts in a small pan over medium heat until they are slightly browned (no oil is needed. use a dry pan). This should only take a couple of minutes. After the pasta has baked for 10-12 minutes, remove foil, and sprinkle the pasta with 1/2 of the parmesean cheese (set aside the rest for later) and pine nuts. Squeeze the juice of 1/2 of a lemon over the top. Place back in the oven and bake until the cheese has melted and the top of the pasta looks slightly golden (8-10 minutes).
6. Remove pasta from the oven. Right before serving, sprinkle with the rest of the parmesean cheese over the top along with the chopped basil and parsley. Squeeze a bit more lemon juice over the top. Eat and enjoy. :)

april: a foodie month (and, a recipe for cauliflower gorgonzola soup)

The last couples of weeks have been somewhat of a ‘foodie whirlwind’ for me.

First, there was my trip to Chicago. I ate like a Queen! I had a list of twenty places I wanted to eat, and only four nights (and rather non-existent lunch breaks)in which to try to fit in all the culinary wonders Chicago has to offer.

For those of you who care about such things, this is where I ended up (and what I ate):
Paul Kahan’s Publican – Striped Sea Bass with Pork Belly, Shaved Fennell and Hazelnuts
The Green Zebra (high-end vegetarian) – Roasted Beet Terrine with goat cheese, Cauliflower Pot De Creme with Brioche Toast, Creamed Asparagus Soup, and Sunchoke Ravioli with baby greens and medjool dates.
Rick Bayless’ Frontera Grill – Tamarind Margarita and the special seasonal mole with (local/sustainable) Pork Tenderloin, local fruits and cornbread. (For those of you not familiar with Rick Bayless, he won Top Chef Masters on Bravo last year, and he is a wonderful man with a knack for authentic Mexican cuisine and who is dedicated to championing the rights of the migrant worker, and championing the use of local and sustainable ingredients.)

So, there was all that deliciousness. And then I got home and felt like I hadn’t cooked a meal for myself (or others) in ages! I missed being in the kitchen. So, I promptly started cooking. I invited my friend Kari over for gourmet pizzas (with truffle oil, aged balsalmic and fresh mozzarella. I’ll admit, they didn’t turn out as well as I hoped, so I’m not posting them here). I had my friend Laura over two nights later and made Cauliflower and Gorgonzola soup with a Pear Relish (recipe to follow in this post). I made a cold thai peanut noodle salad for my weekly girls night (for the recipe, click HERE). Taylor and Brittany asked if Nich and I were up for another food challenge (of course we were!) and so we spent a night slaving in the kitchen over four new mystery ingredients.

That being said, after the cooking craziness of the past few weeks, I think I may lay low tonight. Its been a good run these past couple of weeks, but I think I need a night where I don’t end up with a sink full of dishes (and a really full stomach). So, tonight I shall fry up a veggie burger (Trader Joes Potato Masala burger…mmmm…) and it will be easy and tasty. And while I take the night off, maybe some of you are in the mood for culinary adventures. And if you are, this cauliflower soup is quite the palette-pleaser. It is delightfully rich and creamy, without being over-bearing. The pear relish adds a gentle sweetness that really balances the strong flavor of the gorgonzola in the soup.

Cauliflower Soup with Gorgonzola and Pickled Pear Relish
Adapted from Conscious Crumbs who adapted it from from Skye Gyngell’s A Year in My Kitchen.

Ingredients:
1 medium cauliflower, broken into small florets
1-2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
2 bay leaves
4 sprigs thyme, plus extra to garnish
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 Liter of vegetable stock (homemade is best, but alas I was all out so I used Trader Joes brand)
1/2 lb Gorgonzola crumbles
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
chopped parsely or fresh thyme leaves for garnish

Pear Relish
1 Tbl unsalted butter
3 Tbl dried cranberries, soaked for 10 minutes in water to soften
3 ripe pears peeled and chopped into a 1/2 inch dice
1/4 cup of cider vinegar
2 T granulated sugar
1 cinnamon stick
3 sprigs thyme

Melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add the onions and sweat for 5 minutes, until translucent. Add cauliflower, thyme, bay leaves, and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring now and then, for 2 minutes. Add the stock, cover, and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the cauliflower is soft.

Meanwhile, make the relish. Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add the pears and cook for 3-5 minutes until they soften. Add the other ingredients and cook, uncovered, stirring often, for 15-20 minutes, until thick and glossy. Remove the thyme. Season with sea salt and black pepper.

Fish out the thyme and bay leaves from the pot. Stir in the gorgonzola and cream. Pour into a blender and whiz until smooth. (Or use an immersion blender, which is what I use. The immersion blender is my favorite kitchen tool!) Season with salt and pepper.

Ladle soup into shallow bowls. Spoon a generous tablespoon of relish into the center and sprinkle with thyme or parsely.