Potato and Leek Soup with Buttermilk and Lemon Oil

Potato Soup

I know it’s been a while, but it’s hard to cook without a kitchen….and when you’re living out of three homes. Last weekend, we finally made the move into our house! Prior to this, we were living partly out of my parents home, partly out of the home we just bought, and partly out of our townhome (an hour and a half away). Since I haven’t really been able to cook in the new kitchen yet due to appliance issues that have made my kitchen nonfunctional (will be  resolved asap), this recipe is one I made while living part-time at my parents house.

My dad gets the Wall Street Journal every morning. While I’m not very business savvy, I always enjoy the Personal Journal section. Part of the reason is that they always have intriguing health and cooking articles (my two passions). This recipe came from the Personal Journal section of the Wall Street Journal and was a request by my dad. It was  a bit of a shame that I could not find green garlic in the grocery store, but I think the recipe worked out just as well with leeks (and I love the smell of leeks cooking). It was definitely a great comfort food recipe, one that doesn’t take very much time at all and one that I will be returning to many times when the weather gets cold again.

Potato and Leek (originally Green Garlic)  Soup with Buttermilk and Lemon Oil

Ingredients
4 Tbsp butter
2 cups thinly sliced green garlic (one pound) or 3 cups thinlly sliced leeks
1 cup diced yellow onion
1 tsp salt
4 large waxy potatoes, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
4 cups water
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup chopped parsley
2 Tbsp creme fraiche
T Tbsp lemon olive oil or extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
Set a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add butter, green garlic or leeks and onions and season with salt. Cover and cook until soft, about 8 minutes.
Stir in the potatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes to warm.
Add water and buttermilk. Bring to a boil and simmir until potatoes are completely soft, about 25-30 minutes.
Mash soup with potato masher or a strong wire whisk until chunky.
Thin soup with additional awter or buttermilk if needed. Adjust seasoning with salt, pepper and garlic salt.
Stir in parsley.
Serve soup with dollop of creme fraiche if available and drizzle of oil.

Source: Chef Naomi Pomeroy of Beast in Portland restaurant via the Wall Street Journal

Chicken Ghiveci

 

Chicken Ghivich

People often ask me what “Moldovian food” is. This is a pretty difficult question to answer since I’ve figured out that it is truly a mishmash of Romanian, Ukranian and Russian food. Growing up, my family would often get together for meals and I always assumed that what we were eating was just “Moldovian food”. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve figured out that so much of what I eat is actually Romanian or  Ukranian. I usually make a list for people that includes “chicken jello” (trust me, you don’t want to know…its actual name is Halodets), “Olivier salad” (the Eastern European version of potato salad), and “pirozhki” (post on these will happen very soon as they are one of my favorite foods in the world).

Ghiveci is usually on this list as well. This ‘chicken ghiveci’ is a Romanian dish that I absolutely love. It can be made vegetarian just by excluding the chicken (and still tastes great). It’s a very good dish for cleaning out your refrigerator as you can throw pretty much any vegetable into it. Warm and very similar to a vegetable/chicken stew, for me, this is truly comfort food.

Chicken Ghiveci

Ingredients
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 mild onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 red bell peppers, seeded and sliced
1 1/2 lbs chicken breast
6 Tbsp tomato paste
3 potatoes, diced
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1/2 tsp dried thyme
3 carrots, cut into chunks
1/2 small celeriac, cut into chunks
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 zucchini sliced
salt and black pepper

Directions

Heath the oil in a large flameproof casserole. Add the onion and garlic andcook for 1-2 minutes, until soft.
Add the chopped red peppers
Cut the chicken into 1-2 inch cube, place in the casserole and brown on all sides.
after 15 minutes, add the tomato paste, potatoes, herbs, carrots, celeriac and white wine and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Cook over low heat, covered for another 40-50 min.
Add zucchini slices 5 min before end of cooking. Adjust the seasoning to taste.
Serve with dark rye bred.

Source: Adapted from: Russian, German & Polish Food & Cooking

Zuppa Toscana (Vegetarian)

 

Zuppa Toscana

There’s nothing better on a cold snowy January day than to have a warm bowl of delicious soup, especially when that bowl of soup can help a charity. Branny at Branny Boils Over is hosting a Charity Souper Bowl to raise money for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)…you know, those commercials that have you sobbing with those adorable animals that just need some love? Yeah, that ASPCA . She is being extremely thoughtful and generous and is donating $1 to ASPCA for every soup entry for her event. If you’re a blogger, all you have to do is blog a soup recipe (like this one) and mention her event in the entry as well as dedicate your entry to a special furry friend. Unfortunately, I don’t have pets due to my townhome not allowing them, so I would like to dedicate this post to all those adorable animals you see on the ASPCA commercials.

I saw this soup on the menu at Olive Garden a few months ago when Francis and I went and was so disappointed that it had bacon and sausage in it. Now, I know most people would drool at the word ‘bacon’ but I don’t eat bacon or sausage, so that posed a problem for me. I knew the soup would be good..but I just couldn’t order it!

Ever since then, I had been scouring the internet, trying to find a good ‘copycat’ recipe for this soup. While I haven’t tasted the original to know if this is an exact copycat, I think this recipe is absolutely delicious (and it met the husband taste-test as well, which is surprising given that it has a green vegetable in it). Even though it doesn’t have meat, the soup truly doesn’t feel like it’s lacking anything. Also, the fact that it’s fairly simple to make is a big bonus for me.

(Vegetarian) Zuppa Toscana

Ingredients

2 large russet baking potatoes, sliced in half, then 1/4 inch slices
1 large onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 cups kale
3 cups vegetable broth
3 cups water
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a large soup pot on the stove, heat extra virgin olive oil over medium heat.
Add the garlic, onion and red pepper flakes and allow to cook for 1-2 minutes.
Add the potatoes, vegetable broth and water in the pot. Increase the heat to medium/high to bring to a simmer.
Cover and reduce heat to medium/low heat. Continue to heat until the potatoes are completely done (easily prickable with a fork).
Salt and pepper to taste.
Turn to low heat.
Add Parmesan Cheese
Heat through and serve.
Enjoy!
Add kale and cream.

Source: Adapted from Food.com