Soup Season

It's cold. And we're the kind of people the hold out as long as possible to turn the heat on; not because we're of sturdy Norse stock or because of some perverse pride, but for the oh-so-humble reason of: we're cheap.

So what does one do when sticking to a budget but trying to stay warm? Soup! We've been on a soup kick for about a month now. It started on our vacation to Cape Cod back in October. We love the Cape in the fall. The scenery is beautiful, and there's hardly anybody around to spoil it. Even though we were on a vacation, we were still watching our wallets and trying to balance going out to eat with cooking at home. Enter this Garlic Soup recipe from Tasty Kitchen.

In the end, it tasted more like a slightly-garlicky, blended version of French Onion soup. It was tasty, but next time we'll be doubling the garlic. Colin and I are lucky to have each other, because it's important in a relationship to have equal levels of garlic tolerance. And ours are high :).

Garlic Soup

Ingredients
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 cup Onions, Thinly Sliced
12 cloves Peeled Garlic, Smashed
1 cup Dry White Wine
1 quart Chicken Stock
1 leaf Bay
2 cups French Bread, Torn Into Pieces*
¾ cups Heavy Cream
½ cups Shredded Gruyere (or sharp white cheddar, if you're on a budget like us)
    *note - the color of your bread will determine the color of your soup. French bread is not required. I used some homemade Sally Lunn bread so my soup came out medium brown rather than a lighter tan.
 
Yields
4 servings

Directions
1. Heat the oil in a large pot. Add onion and garlic. Cook over medium heat for 10 -12 minutes; the onion and garlic will begin to caramelize. 
2. Add the wine, cover, reduce heat, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the stock and bay leaf.
3. Bring to a boil; reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the bread and allow the soup to sit without heat for 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaf.
4. In batches, pour the soup into the blender and puree until smooth. Add the cream and salt and pepper to taste. As each batch is pureed, pour into another pot. (Or, if you're lucky, use your immersion blender). Keep warm over low heat. Garnish with the cheese (if desired).

Serving alternative: Colin Version
Colin like chunky soups. So, I didn't blend the entire batch. He go half blended, half un-blended, topped with extra bread.

Apple Sage Pork Chops

I never knew I was a pork girl until I looked at my bookmarked recipes and saw that I had more pork tags than beef or chicken! This was pretty easy to make, though it does require a little pan shuffle. 

 

adapted from McCormick

Ingredients 

1 1/2 teaspoon ground sage

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon thyme 

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 pork chops, about 1-inch thick (about 1 1/4 pounds)
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 red apple, thinly sliced
1 cup apple juice
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Directions
1. In a shallow bowl, mix together the flour, salt and the McCormick spices. Set aside 1 tablespoon of the flour-spice mixture in a separate bowl - you'll use this in the sauce later. Pat each pork chop in the flour mixture on both sides. Discard the rest of the flour-spice mixture.

2. Heat a larget skillet over high heat with just 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. When hot, add the pork chops and cook until browned on both sides. Remove the pork chops (they'll come back into the pan later for additional cooking). Wipe the skillet clean with a paper towel.

3. Heat the same skillet over medium heat with the remaining 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. When hot, cook the onions for 3 minutes. Add the apples and cook an additional 2 minutes. Push the apple/onions towards the outside of the pan, leaving an empty space in middle of pan. In the middle of pan, add apple juice, brown sugar and reserved flour-spice mixture. Whisk or stir until flour has disappeared.

4. Return the pork chops back into the pan, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 5 minutes or until pork chops just cooked through. 

Printable version of this recipe

Watermelon Salad

Aha! An actual new blog post about an actual recipe I actually made!

I've made this watermelon salad at least half-a-dozen times this summer. I've been obsessed with watermelon, and this dish will only work if you've got a nice ripe one.

Ingredients
Half of a large watermelon (seedless if you can)
1 vidalia onion
1 bunch of mint
Balsamic vinegar
Olive Oil
Lemon or lime juice
Salt & pepper

Yields
5+ servings

Directions
1. Cut the watermelon into bite-size pieces. I've found the best way to do this is to do the same way you do an avocado: slice a grid then scoop out with a spoon.

(photo from Simply Recipes)

2. Slice the onion. I like mine sliced very thinly, almost translucent. You can do a rouch chop (guacamole style) if you'd like or if you don't have the patience.
3. Chop the mint. I like to roll mine up and then cut it with kitchen scissors, chiffonade-style, but you can chop it how you like.

(photo from Wikipedia)

 4. Dump the watermelon, onion, and mint in a serving bowl. Toss with a dash of balsamic, a splash of olive oil, two or three squirts of lemon juice, and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Tastes good cold from the fridge, or room temp. Would also be good with basil instead of mint, or adding cucumbers or tomatoes.

Printable recipe

Culinary Aspirations

I subscribe to many, many food blogs. Twenty-three, to be exact. This leads to a LOT of bookmarked recipes, all of which I swear I'll make one day. Here's a round-up of some of my recent favorites (that I've still yet to try):

Easy Sausage and Peppers from The Kitchn

Scrambled Eggs in Puff Pastry from Serious Eats

Potato Leek Soup with Bacon from Migs, via It's All About the Bacon 

Hot Caramelized Onion Dip from Closet Cooking

 

White Chicken Chili from Closet Cooking

 

Pear and Gorgonazola Omelette from Closet Cooking

Beer-Braised Beef and Onions from Gourmet Magazine, via Epicurious

 

Pretty much Marlboro Man's entire Birthday Dinner from Pioneer Woman