Soup's On!

I'm working on my ideas for fall classes, and soup comes to mind first.  It's one of my most popular classes.  Tonight I used two of my favorite birthday gifts, my new ceramic knives and my Vitamix, to create a delicious smoky corn bisque.  If you're not familiar, a Vitamix is essentially a blender on steroids.  It can cut through anything, make frozen desserts and drinks, hot soup, even pizza dough (trying that soon!).  As for ceramic knives....all I have to say is go out an get one!!  They are so sharp and so lovely that I'm looking for any excuse to cut stuff since I received these on Monday.

I start most soups with a mirepoix, a classic French combination of two parts onion to one part carrot and one part celery.  This is a classic base for many sauces, soups and stocks.

As soon as those flavors start blending and heating up, I am immediately taken back to my grandmere's kitchen.  This was the foundation for so much of her cooking.  It's the smell of home and it warms my heart instantly.  I cooked the onion, celery and carrot for about 8 minutes until softened.  Then I added a tablespoon of chopped garlic and one chopped and seeded jalapeno pepper.  If you're going to puree your soup, don't worry too much about your knife skills, but try to keep the pieces about the same size so that they will cook evenly.

Next I added fresh corn from four ears.  Cut the kernels off the cob and then use the back of your knife to scrape the cob and get all that sweet milk into the pot.  Next add vegetable stock, six cups in this case.  Six cups of stock turns into eight cups of soup once cooked and blended.  I also added a cup of chopped cauliflower, which is a brilliant way to make a soup creamy without adding any cream.  I added a couple pinches of salt, brought it up to a boil and then reduced the heat and let it simmer for about 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, I added a teaspoon of chopped fresh thyme from my garden and a teaspoon of smoked paprika. I let that hang out for another 5 minutes to infuse the soup with that smoky herb flavor.

Then into my new best friend, my Vitamix.  Whether you have one or a blender or food processor, doesn't matter.... just puree the soup in batches until smooth.  Put it back in your pot and add 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.  This one is going on the books for October's classes....so creamy, smoky and smooth.

Smoky Corn Bisque
Serves 8

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4 cups fresh corn kernels (use frozen when corn isn't in season)
6 cups vegetable broth
1 cup chopped cauliflower
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

• Heat olive oil in a stock pot over medium high heat.
• Add onion, celery and carrot and saute, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes until softened slightly.
• Add jalapeno, garlic and salt and saute an additional 2 minutes.
• Add corn and stir to combine.
• Add broth and cauliflower.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 15 minutes.
• Add smoked paprika and thyme and continue cooking for 5 minutes.
• Working in batches, puree soup until smooth in a blender or food processor.
• Return to pot and add white wine vinegar, salt and pepper.
• Garnish with thyme sprigs.

What's your favorite soup????

Simplicity....and the help of some friends

Yesterday was my birthday.  Since that was a Monday, in my circle of friends and family that means a weekend of dining out, drinks and celebrating in all ways possible. 

This was Sunday at one of my favorite places on the planet, Domaine Carneros, with some of my favorite ladies on the planet.

On my birthday night my friend Tom took me to NOPA in San Francisco for one of the best meals I've had in a long time (but anytime someone else cooks for me and does the dishes, I'm a happy girl!)....I wish I had taken pictures of our food, but it was so dang good that I forgot!  But here's a look from our birds-eye view... best table in the place because it overlooked the kitchen, so we got to watch all the action.

We started with a grilled flatbread with bacon, mission figs, bell peppers, crescenza (an Italian cheese), and arugula.  Sooo good.  Tom got the rabbit over the creamiest polenta I've ever tasted  and haricots vert. I was torn between the rotisserie chicken with grilled bread, avocado, blue cheese, walnuts & sherry onions (come on!) or the Moroccan Vegetable Tagine with toasted almonds and lemon yogurt.  Tom said, "You know what the chicken's gonna taste like, right?" Well yeah, chicken.  "But do you know what the tagine will taste like?"  To some people that might make them order the chicken, because it's kind of a sure thing, but I realize an adventure when I see one.  And a culinary adventure is my favorite kind.  Good chioce (good advice, Thomas)....spicy, creamy, perfectly blended flavors and textures.  I was full.  But then came the "birthday dessert," house made peach ice cream with a cinnamon-sugar shortbread cookie.  Now, I'm really done!

I woke up this morning still full.  My friend Dana made me a fantastic minestrone soup for lunch that was the perfect little amount of food.  Then came dinner time, still not really hungry.  I was supposed to be testing my sweet corn bisque and panzanella salad, so I can scale them for my Farm to Table dinner on the 22nd.  I bought all the ingredients, but when I came home and discovered that the lovely Chris had left a basket of fresh tomatoes (among other veggies fresh from the garden) on my front porch, I decided on a decidedly simpler evening bite.

Tom surprised me with the gift of two ceramic knives last night, and there'so better way to check out the sharpness (is that a word?) of your knife than seeing how it cuts through a tomato.  These cut through them like a hot knife through butter!  (I highly recommend these Kyocera knives).  I took a bit of my baguette (reserved for my panzanella salad test.....ooops) drizzled it with a little olive oil, topped it with chopped tomatoes (red and yellow sprinkled with sea salt),  freshly picked basil leaves from my garden, and smoked mozzarella.  Bake it at 350 for about 10 minutes until bread is crispy and mozz melts, then drizzle with balsamic.  I thought after days of not cooking that I would go bigger than this, but this was perfect.  Sometimes simple is all you need.  Sometimes simple is perfect.... especially when you're using fresh, in-season ingredients.  Don't stress; think simple.

Yum it up!