Archives for March 2011

roasted tomato soup

03/06/2011 By bridget

When I was a kid, my friend Katie and I played a game in which we had a restaurant. We wrote up a menu and would let our parents order food from it, and then we’d bring them what they ordered. In other words, our parents paid for their food twice – once at the grocery store, and then a second time to Katie and I after we heated it up in the microwave for them.

Among other delicacies, our menu included nachos (Cheez Whiz and chips) and tomato soup. Tomato soup was probably our specialty. At Katie’s house, the Campbell’s concentrate was mixed with milk, but at my house, we added water. Katie and I were nothing if not accommodating to our customers’ preferences.

This tomato soup is not that tomato soup. It’s brighter, fresher, but still deeply flavored from the roasted tomatoes. The shallots make it just a little sweet, and a pinch of allspice adds warmth. This soup, topped with whole wheat macaroni noodles and served alongside cheese toast, is my favorite meal. It’s even worth ordering in a real restaurant.

One year ago: Masa Pancakes with Chipotle Salsa and Poached Eggs (I’m about halfway through that same bag of masa harina.)
Two years ago: Spinach Bread
Three years ago: Raspberry Bars

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Roasted Tomato Soup (adapted from Cooks Illustrated)

6 servings

This recipe is messier without an immersion blender, but I made it that way for years. Use a large slotted spoon to transfer the solids to the blender with a cup or two of liquid and blend to puree. Pour the pureed mixture back into the liquid; stir in the brandy. You can blend everything instead of just the solids, but the soup will turn orange instead of red.

Feel free to add in a few tablespoons of cream (or pureed cottage cheese for a healthier alternative) at the end if you’re like Katie’s family and prefer your tomato soup creamy.

2 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes in juice
1½ tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
4 shallots, chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
⅛ teaspoon allspice
1¾ cup low-sodium chicken broth
¼ cup brandy

1. Adjust an oven rack to the upper middle position and heat the oven to 450 degrees. Line the bottom and sides of two 8- or 9-inch round pans with aluminum foil. Use a slotted spoon to remove the tomatoes, one by one, from their juice. Open the tomato on the side opposite the stem. Holding the tomato loosely in a fist, gently squeeze the tomato to remove most of its juice. Place the tomato stem-side up on one of the prepared pans. Repeat with the remaining tomatoes. Sprinkle the tomatoes with the brown sugar. Roast the tomatoes until they are dry and lightly browned, about 45 minutes. Reserve the tomato juice.

2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the shallots, tomato paste, and allspice to the pot; stir, then cover the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the chicken broth, reserved tomato juice, and roasted tomatoes. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer 15 minutes. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup. Stir in the brandy and serve.

This recipe is in one of my earliest blog entries, but I have simplified and healthified (but not de-tastified) the soup since then, so I thought it was worth posting an updated version.

Filed Under: alcohol, favorites, freezer friendly, gluten free, healthy, soup, vegetables, vegetarian

cream cheese pound cake

03/04/2011 By bridget

I don’t need a new pound cake recipe, but my other pound cake recipe doesn’t have cream cheese in it. Besides, my coworkers are apparently nuts about pound cake. They look so unassuming (pound cakes, not my coworkers) – no frosting, no decorations, often not even a glaze – that I wouldn’t expect it, but both times I’ve brought one to work, it’s disappeared in minutes. (Unlike the delicious bran muffins that I brought in the first week of January, thinking they were the perfect compromise between the post-holiday temperance and a treat, that sat around unloved all day.)

This pound cake isn’t dramatically different from the other pound cakes I’ve made, particularly in flavor and, most importantly, in how crazy good the batter is. It is denser than my favorite recipe. That’s fine for a Bundt pan, but I think for a cake baked in a loaf pan, you’d want a higher dome.

Either way, pound cake! And more importantly, pound cake batter! I also stirred some white chocolate into the batter. It was hardly noticeable in the cake, but I did get to write “White Chocolate Cream Cheese Pound Cake” on the post-it next to the cake at work. Everyone knows that more adjectives means more enticing, so maybe that’s why it got grabbed up so quickly. Or maybe it’s just because pound cake, despite its plain looks, is soft and sweet and buttery and rich.

One year ago: How to adapt any bread recipe to be whole wheat
Two years ago: Orange Berry Muffins (and an experiment on spraying muffin tins)
Three years ago: Challah (although now I like this recipe better)

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Cream Cheese Pound Cake (tweaked a bit from Smitten Kitchen, who adapted it from Staff Meals from Chanterelle)

I was tempted to substitute cake flour for the all-purpose flour, because I’ve found that it makes pound cakes lighter, but in the end, I stuck to the recipe.

Serves (at least) 10

24 tablespoons (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups (21 ounces) granulated sugar
6 large eggs
1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
3 cups (14.4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped white chocolate (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter and flour a 10-inch tube pan or 12-cup Bundt pan.

2. Place the butter, cream cheese, and salt in a large bowl and beat with a mixer on medium speed until smooth. With the mixer running, gradually add the sugar, increase the speed to high, and beat until light and airy, at least 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the extracts, then the flour all at once. Beat on low speed just until incorporated. Stir in the chocolate, if using.

3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it evenly. Bake until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 60-75 minutes.

4. Place the pan on a wire rack and cool for 20 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and let it cool completely. Serve at room temperature.

Filed Under: cake, cheese, dessert

shrimp canapes a la suede

03/02/2011 By bridget

I don’t live the kind of lifestyle that includes a lot of canapés. Maybe that’s because canapés went out of style fifty years ago. Or maybe I need to start labeling any “toasts topped with stuff” as canapés, because I’ve eaten plenty of those. More precisely, canapés are “toasts fussily topped with stuff”. And since when do I not appreciate fussy?

These particular canapés include the unbeatable combination of bread, salted butter, shrimp, dill, mayonnaise and lemon. While there’s no cooking (assuming you buy pre-cooked shrimp), the assembly may take a while, because remember, fussiness is an essential aspect of making canapés.

Since I apparently don’t go to enough events where canapés are served, I will make them for a virtual event – a bridal shower for my fellow desert blogger (although her Sonoran desert trumps my Chihuahuan desert), Kelsey, who’s getting married next week. Kelsey is one of the most kind and beautiful women I know, and I wish every happiness upon her. I would love to shower her with well wishes in real life, but this virtual bridal shower will have to do. The advantage of a virtual party, of course, is that I got to eat all the canapés myself. The disadvantage is that I didn’t get to eat everyone else’s contributions.

One year ago: Roll-out Sugar comparison
Two years ago: Roasted Kale
Three years ago: Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

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Shrimp Canapés à la Suede (tweaked from Amanda Hesser’s The Essential New York Times Cookbook)

The slivers of lemon tucked under each canapé are very cute, but not entirely practical. The brightness of lemon was important part of this flavor combination, however, so it might make more sense to forget the wedges and simply squeeze some lemon over the shrimp before adding the mayonnaise and dill.

Makes 12 appetizers

12 (2-inch) rounds of bread, sliced ¼-inch thick
Salted butter, softened
12 medium shrimp, cooked and sliced lengthwise (to make two symmetrical spirals)
Mayonnaise
12 small dill sprigs
Freshly ground black pepper
12 small lemon wedges

Toast the bread until lightly browned; let cool. Butter the toast rounds and top each with two shrimp halves. Garnish the canapés with mayonnaise stars pressed from a pastry bag (or just dollop a scant ½ teaspoon on each). Top with the dill springs and season with pepper. Serve with lemon wedges.

Filed Under: appetizers, bread, citrus, sandwiches, seafood

chocolate pots de creme

03/01/2011 By bridget

I optimistically bought a container of fancy full-fat yogurt to replace dessert this week, thinking that a few days without cookies and cake would do me good. I didn’t plan for the extra couple of chocolate pots de crème that would need to get eaten, and I forgot that I wanted to bake cookies to bring to work one day this week. I have good intentions of skipping dessert, but my love of baking is always my undoing.

Inasmuch as a tiny espresso mug of chocolate pot de crème can be anyone’s undoing. This simple mixture of chocolate, milk, cream, and egg yolks is rich and certainly best served in tiny servings if you want to retain any bit of those good intentions. But where’s the fun in that?

Christine chose this for Tuesdays with Dorie, and she has the recipe posted. I love how rich and creamy it is but wish the chocolate flavor was more intense.

One year ago: Toasted-Coconut Custard Tart
Two years ago: Chocolate Whiskey Cake.