M-M-M-Minestrone!

16 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by Zoli in comfort food, healthy, italian, kids, pasta, Sauces, soup, Vegetarian

Tags

Italian, minestrone, parmegiano, parmesan, pesto, seasonal soup, vegetarian soup

Pity the poor American like me growing up with that disgusting canned minestrone soup in the 80’s. Hey, I loved it at the time, I really did, especially loaded with crumbled saltines, sometimes so many saltines that I could have eaten my soup with a fork.
Real minestrone–of which there are countless variations–is nothing like canned soup. Well, no homemade soup is like canned soup. These days it is so easy to get ‘better’ soup from a box or even fresh from a refrigerated section of some fancy store like Wegmans or Wholefoods. But I’m not sure it’s worth it unless you’re pressed for time. Homemade soup is not hard. Homemade soup is nutritious. There are plenty of soups (such as a basic vegetable soup) that can be ready in 20 minutes. Kids love soup.
For today’s version, I am heavily inspired by the amazing Giorgio Locatelli who owns Locanda Locatelli in London and writes (or at least used to write) a column in the Sunday Newspaper (can’t remember if it was the Observer or the Guardian though). Here are some of his ideas:
– Make minestrone any time of year, and use what’s in season.
– Good minestrone means a good balance between vegetables and starch, be it potatoes, rice, pasta, etc.
– Add in the vegetables according to cooking time, for example, potatoes go in last so they don’t fall apart in the soup.
– Serve with olive oil or pesto or just plain.
My tips:
– Use dried beans that you have soaked and cooked till tender.
– Don’t overcook pasta if you are using.
– Save your parmesan rinds for soup!
– Use a vegetable stock you know and trust. I don’t like the sweet ones. Bleck.

Ingredients for Autumn Minestrone
4-6 servings depending on how hungry
1 onion, chopped finely
2-3 spring onions chopped
1 garlic clove, sliced finely (2 cloves for the garlic lovers)
1 carrot, chopped
1 large celery, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 1/2 to 2 cups cooked cannellini (or borlotti) beans
3-4 large leaves of Kale (tuscan or lavender), chopped
or 3-4 large leaves of Spinach
1 potato, cubed
3 cups vegetable stock (or 3 cups water and one vegetable bouillon)
1 parmesan rind
olive oil
About 8 oz of pasta, such as penne, ditalini or cavatelli
salt and pepper to taste
To serve:
extra virgin olive oil
pesto (optional)

1. Start with the soffritto. Heat up olive oil (don’t be shy with the olive oil) and gently fry the onion, carrot, celery and garlic till soft. Don’t burn.
2. Add in the stock, beans, kale (or spinach), tomato and parmesan rind.
3. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.
4. When soup is looking nearly done (kale is softening, tomato is breaking down), add in the potato.

Already looking like a bowl of Christmas

5. Meanwhile heat up salted water and cook pasta until al dente. Strain and set aside. Do not rinse.
6. Check the soup and when the potato is tender, it is done.
7. Portion out the pasta into bowls and top with the soup, salt and pepper, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and pesto if desired.

Arugula (rocket) and almond pesto
2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
1/4 cup almonds, chopped
about 12 basil leaves
3/4 bag baby arugula salad or 3 cups packed arugula
about 1 – 1 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil or so
1/4 to 1/3 cup grated parmegianno reggiano
Plenty of freshly ground salt and pepper.

My favorite is plain old basil and pine nut pesto. NOTHING tops it. But use what you have, and this is pretty good too.
1. If you have a food processor, throw everything in but the extra virgin olive oil. Pulse a few times and then hit blend while slowly drizzling the extra virgin olive oil through the top. If you need more than 1/2 cup, that is fine. Make it the consistency you like. Add as much salt and pepper as you like.
2. If using a blender, add everything in (even the extra virgin olive oil). Alternate pulsing with using a spatula or spoon to push everything down. Keep trudging until everything is incorporated to a smooth pesto.

This soup is just fine and dandy on it’s own. It doesn’t need the pesto. But it is delicious with it and you are getting the extra bonus of flavor from the raw garlic and arugula. Before you eat, stir the pesto in. Otherwise it will overpower the soup.

Buon appetito!

Spanish tortilla

09 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by Zoli in breakfast, comfort food, drinks, eggs, gluten free, omelettes, party bites, Sauces, snacks, spanish, tapas, Vegetarian

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

potato omelette, romesco, spanish recipes, Spanish tortilla, tapas, tortilla, tortilla de patatas, tortilla espanola

The first time I went to Spain, I noticed these potato omelettes everywhere–on every menu, in every cafe and bar, stuffed inside of bread flutes and sold as sandwiches and sometimes cut into wedges and served to us free with a drink. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that what I thought would be a cold, dry, brick of potato and egg turned out to be soft, moist and delicious. The humble tortilla is not your run-of-the-mill omelette. For one thing it is delicious cold. For another it is delicious warm, hot, on its own, stuffed in bread, or served with homemade romesco and a green salad. It doesn’t feel like a heavy meal either–unless you eat the whole thing yourself.
I recently had the good fortune to visit my sister-in-law who lives just outside of Madrid. She was a wonderful hostess and tour guide and joy of joys, we stopped several times to sit in the shade with a cerveza or tinto de verano and pan and tortilla. It’s been so long since I’ve had really good tortilla that I had forgotten that Tortilla Espanola should be so soft and moist that you can barely tell the potato from the egg. Time to update this recipe!
Oh and, as a bonus, if you can find a last warm sunny day (such as today) before Autumn sets in, tinto de verano on your deck or patio will make it even more special.

Tortilla ingredients
will make about 6 mid-size wedges
3 large potatoes or 4-5 small potatoes, peeled
1 onion, sliced thinly
5-6 eggs, beaten and seasoned
sea salt and fresh ground pepper
about 2 cups Spanish olive oil
9-inch frying pan with curving edges
plates for flipping

1. Cut the potatoes into small pieces, almost like flakes, by holding each potato in one hand and using a pairing knife to cut off little pieces. They do not have to be uniform, just thinnish bits of potato, roughly the same size.
2. Do the same with an onion–small, thin pieces.
3. Mix the potato and onion in a large bowl with salt.
4. Heat up a generous amount of olive oil in the frying pan—enough oil to almost cover the potatoes. This might make some people uncomfortable, but the magic to this dish is that the potatoes and onions are simmered in the olive oil and become super moist and flavorful. Simmer on a low or medium-low heat until tender and easily breakable with a wooden spoon. Stir the mixture to cook evenly.
5. When the potatoes are soft and tender, pour into a strainer over a bowl to catch the excess oil.
4. Break the eggs into a large bowl and beat. Add a little salt. Then add the cooked potato onion mixture.
6. Heat up a little oil in the frying pan on medium heat and then add in the egg/potato/onion mixture. Hold the handle of the frying pan and shake it so that the egg doesn’t stick to the bottom. Use a spatula to run around the sides and make sure nothing sticks.
7. Let the omelette cook until the bottom is browned.
8. Take a large plate and fit it over the omelette in the frying pan. In one swift motion, flip the frying pan over so that the omelette falls smoothly onto the plate.
9. Add a little bit more oil to the frying pan.
10. Hold the plate with the omelette over the frying pan and scoot the tortilla carefully off the plate so that it gently eases into the frying pan (runny egg side down, cooked side up). Cook on medium for another few minutes–about 3-5 minutes on medium heat. Loosen the sides with a spatula to make sure it doesn’t stick.
11. Turn off the heat and cover the omelette with a lid for a couple minutes to gently steam cook. Then hold a plate over the frying pan and flip again to serve the finished tortilla.

This may take some practice and experience to judge when the tortilla is ready. Some people may prefer the egg more undercooked than others. You can’t really go wrong with potatoes, eggs and salt though!

Tinto de verano
For this lovely summery low alcohol cocktail:
1/4 to 1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup lemon soda such as Fanta or Trader Joes Lemon soda
squeeze of lemon, plus lemon slice
plenty of ice

1. Mix all together. I prefer mine on the light side—too much red wine isn’t as nice to me.
It seems so simple, but is quite delicious.