A Study in (Soup) Contrasts

I have all sorts of exciting explanations that I cooked up (ba-dum bum!) for today's recipes -- Tortilla Soup in honor of Cinco de Mayo, a double-recipe post to make up for having been absent for a month, that sort of thing. Really and truly, though, I've been sitting on these two soup recipes for weeks and weeks, and I'm just now getting around to posting them. Because I am a slacker. Hopefully these will prove to be worth their wait (I am on FIRE!) in deliciousness. Also because I'm a slacker, this is yet another post without any pictures to entice you. Sorry.

Tortilla Soup

This recipe was actually a conversion of one that I found on the Food Network site. You will not BELIEVE how many chicken tortilla soup recipes are out there, and practically no non-chicken ones. It's obnoxious, really.

2 tbsp peanut oil
2 small onions, chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp chipotle powder
2 tsp salt
6 cups vegetable broth
1 cup frozen corn
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 c fresh cilantro
1/4 c fresh lime juice
a handful of tortilla strips

Heat oil in a medium cooking pot over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, chipotle powder, and salt, and cook until onion is translucent. Add broth, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add corn, and give it another 5 minutes or so (just until heated through). Remove from heat, and add the tomato, cilantro, and lime. Add a small pile of tortilla strips to the bottom of each bowl and ladle the soup over it. This ended up serving about 3. I actually did an experiment and made flour tortilla strips -- I don't recommend it. They get soggy and squishy. Corn tortilla strips will stay more crisp in the soup.

Creamy-Dilly Fish Chowda

I made this recipe up all by myself. I was inspired by a pot of fish chowder at the grocery store (in the hot food bar) that smelled so fantastic, I decided I needed to make some of my own...because I am morally opposed to buying that sort of thing pre-made. It's super-easy, but you have to pronounce it "Chowda!" If I catch anyone saying "chowder" I will take their soup away from them. It is that simple.

1/2 stick butter
3 tbsp flour
1 small onion, chopped
1 c frozen corn, thawed
1 large, or 2 medium, whitefish fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces
note: I used cod, but I think something a little more flavorful, like flounder, might be good next time. Any ole whitefish will do, though. Be a cheapskate! It's just soup!
1 c heavy cream
2 c milk
2 tbsp dried dill
salt and pepper, to taste

Melt your butter in your soup pot over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk until consistent, then whisk more slowly, but constantly, until the mixture stops forming bubbles. At this point, immediately add your onion, corn, and fish. Trade your whisk out for a rubber spatula and continue to stir constantly for a minute or two (just long enough to get your roux heated back up). Add the heavy cream, and stir until consistent. Add the milk gradually, continuing to stir until smooth (not the whole thing, obviously, but you want the cream-base-part to be consistent). Add the dill, salt and pepper, and simmer for another 10-15 minutes, until your fish is cooked through and the flavors are distributed. I recommend serving this with toast for dipping, or just throwing some croutons on top if you've got them. This is exceedingly simple and SO GOOD. But then, everything with heavy cream in it is going to be delicious.

Argentinean Red Shrimp

I was at Trader Joe's the other day, looking to restock the freezer with protein, and I came across a bag of "Argentinean Red Shrimp." They were the same price (give or take some pennies) as the regular boring raw shrimp, so I thought I'd give them a try. It was the best seafood decision I have ever made. These shrimp are the poor man's (or woman's) lobster. They have that perfect, rich, meaty, I think of it as a red flavor, that you find in lobster, but for a tiny fraction of that cost. The recipe I'm sharing with you today is really just a basic shrimp alfredo that I'm using to showcase this amazing shrimp, so you don't have the excuse of "well those sound good but what would I do with them?"

Shrimp Alfredo

2 tbsp butter
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tbsp flour
2c milk (or 1c milk, 1c cream)
1 lb Argentinean red shrimp
3/4 cup grated parm
3-4 artichoke hearts, rough chopped
salt & pepper
1 lb penne
2-3 medium-sized basil leaves, shredded

Heat large pan of water, when water boils add pasta.

Meanwhile, make a roux (heat butter and garlic, add flour until dissolved). Slowly add cream and/or milk, mixing constantly to prevent lumps. Once all the milk is added and the sauce is heated through, add shrimp (peeled and deveined). When the shrimp starts to shrink up and look curly at the edges, add the parmesan, gradually until melted through the sauce. Add artichokes (I get them out of a jar, but frozen is just as good), and salt and pepper to taste.

Dran pasta, and mix with sauce in large bowl. Garnish with fresh basil. I had some green beans as a side dish to this, just to make sure I got my serving of veggies :)

Sweet Ginger Shrimp

Like every food item I post on here, I must include the story behind the dinner. I was attempting to make an Asian noodle stir fry type thing, and I cooked the shrimp separately so I could have two different flavors and then stack them. Well, I made an important discovery: I do not have the ability to make Asian noodles successfully. Whenever I try, they end up in a clumpy, starchy noodle cake. Also, unfortunately, I didn't have a good selection of vegetables to put in it, so the overall result of the noodle-fry half of the meal was, while tasty enough not to be an utter failure, certainly nothing to write home about (or to write you all about, for that matter). The shrimp, on the other hand, were fan-freakin-tastic, so I will now share that very simple and utterly delicious recipe with you.

Sweet Ginger Shrimp

1/2 lb large (16-20 count) raw shrimp
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tbsp ginger
1 heaping tbsp brown sugar
salt & pepper

Peel and de-vein shrimp, if necessary, then put into a medium sized bowl. Add ginger, brown sugar, salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Heat a medium-sized skillet over medium heat with the butter and garlic. When the butter starts to bubble, add the shrimp. Cook until pink and opaque, then serve over rice (or a tasty Asian stir fry! :P). Enjoy -- and trust me, you will!

Biscuits and Gravy 2 Ways

Let me warn you, just because I said this was a pescy/veggie blog doesn't mean it's a health-food blog. I love old-fashioned country meals; my mother was an expert, and she made two things that became my favorite foods as I grew up. One was meatloaf which, I'm sorry to say, I still have not been able to recreate without it's main ingredient: meat. The second, though, was biscuits and gravy -- sausage gravy, to be specific. I am proud to say that I have designed not one, but two new ways to make that old favorite: one is vegetarian, the other vegan. As my favorite food, I thought it would be only fair to make it my first post.


Vegetarian Biscuits and Gravy

Mom's biscuits

Prep time: 20 minutes
Oven: 450 degrees F

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup milk

Mix dry ingredients together with french whip or fork. Stir in melted butter (or vegetable oil for lower-cholesterol biscuits) with a wooden spoon. Add milk gradually, stirring until soft dough is formed. Drop by tablespoons onto ungreased (nonstick!) baking sheet. Bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes. Allow biscuits to cool 5-10 minutes.


"Sausage" Gravy

Prep time: 10-15 minutes

1/2 lb Gimme Lean sausage (or other meatless ground sausage-flavored product)
1 small yellow onion
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
generous grinds of black pepper
medium pinch of kosher or sea salt

other suggested seasonings:
smoked paprika
toasted onion powder
garlic powder
Bacon Salt

For anyone accustomed to making gravies with a roux, my method will seem a little strange here. Traditionally, one would brown the sausage, scoop out the meat and use the pan drippings as the fat for the roux. There are two problems with using fake sausage: one is that it doesn't produce any drippings, and the other is that it does need to be browned in a pan before it can join the gravy (even though all it really needs is to heat up, if it doesn't brown first the texture is all funny). I also dislike doing dishes, so I refuse to cook the sausage in a separate pan and add it later. That being said:

Pour your milk into a measuring cup or other container, and set aside (this works much better if the milk is at room temperature).

Use a medium-sized skillet with high edges, on medium heat. Melt the butter, adding the "sausage" and onions after the butter is melted but before it's gotten too hot (brown butter is not delicious in this situation). Break up the "sausage" with a spatula into small-bite-sized pieces and season, stirring with the butter until the sausage is slightly browned and the onion is translucent. Spread the flour over the mixture, stirring until it looks like the "sausage" has gotten coated in a paste or dough (which is your roux).

SLOWLY (I cannot stress that enough) add milk to the mixture; a tablespoon at a time is really enough. Stir constantly, incorporating each portion of milk as you add it. If you add the milk too quickly, the gravy will never thicken and it will be very lumpy. Continue to add milk until you reach the desired consistency (you may need more or less than called for).

Sample the gravy at this point (the fun part!) and add additional seasonings as needed.


Vegan Biscuits and Gravy

"Mom's" Vegan Biscuits

Substitute 1/3 cup butter with vegetable oil, and 1 cup milk with plain soy yogurt. Follow recipe as above.

Also, for a really lovely subtle sweet flavor, try using vanilla soy yogurt. This is great if you'd like to eat the biscuits plain, or with preserves, and surprisingly they're also very good with gravy!

Vegan "Sausage" Gravy

Substitute butter with vegetable oil, and milk with vegetable broth. For a little extra creaminess, you could use a mixture of soy milk and vegetable broth, but I personally feel that the soy gives the gravy a weird flavor. Follow recipe above.

The most fun part!
Crumble a few biscuits into a bowl, cover with a generous portion of gravy, and enjoy!