Quick and Good Soup

Quick and Good Soup

I just remembered this soup a couple of days ago. It's really easy, really fast, really good, and uses just a few ingredients that you can either keep on hand, or probably already have on hand. My mom found the recipe somewhere, I just make it using whatever quantities of ingredients seem right. We're probably having this tonight, unless I feel ambitious enough to make something else.

1 can Campbell's cream of potato soup
1 soup can milk

While this is heating, rinse and cut into small pieces:

1 small jar dried beef (the brand I've always been able to find is Hormel, and it comes in jars that end up as juice glasses.)

Add the cut-up beef to the soup. Also cut up into small cubes:

sharp cheddar cheese (here's where an actual amount would be handy. Just use whatever seems like the right amount.)

Add the cheese to the heating soup, and stir frequently until the cheese is melted.

Serve with some good bread.

The whole thing takes about 10 minutes, and is very filling. It's perfect for cold days.

Judith
(12/31/00)

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Clean out the Fridge Minestrone

Clean out the Fridge Minestrone
Servings: will feed a small army, but freezes well.

In honor of the New Year, and clean fridges, I offer the following. It is a true minestrone (which literally means "Big Soup" in Italian). The length of this recipe belies its simplicity:

1 lb Italian sausages, pref. hot ones
   (vegetarians can use veggie sausage or omit it entirely,
   and add a generous pinch of hot red pepper flakes)
4 - 5 good sized yellow onions, diced
a lot of garlic, you decide how much, peeled and chopped
half a head of celery, pref. with the leaves attached, chopped
a pound or so of carrots, diced
some parsnips, if you have them, peeled and diced (if not, its no big deal)
half a head of Savoy cabbage, cut into thin ribbons
   (I hate cabbage as a rule, but it is great in small doses in a minestrone)
1 pkg chopped frozen spinach
1 small can tomato paste
   (my grandmother would be appalled, as use of tomato paste was akin to harlotry in my family,
   but it adds a heartiness and I never use it in my tomato sauce)
1 small can diced tomatoes
chicken or vegetable stock -- about 2.5 quarts
   I use the ready made, low salt kind in the box, when I don't have time to make my own,
   which is often these days)
2 cups red wine, cheap but still drinkable
1 tbsp each chopped fresh or dried rosemary, thyme, and oregano
1 pound dried beans -- I like roman beans,
   or use three cans of whatever you like most, please drain and rinse them.

Soak dried beans overnight. Drain, rinse, cover with new water and cook with a sprig of rosemary until tender but not mushy (if you have a pressure cooker, this can be accomplished in about 6 minutes, otherwise its more like 90). If using dried beans, skip to next step. While the beans are cooking:

Remove sausage from casings and brown in some olive oil in a large soup pot. When browned remove to a plate. Pour off all but 2 tbsp of drippings, and add garlic, celery, carrots, onions, parsnips if using. Sauté for about 5 minutes, then cover and sweat the veggies on a med. heat for at least 25 minutes. Check occasionally to make sure nothing is burning. Add broth, tomatoes, tomato paste, 1 cup of the wine, stock and herbs.

Drink remaining cup of wine while soup simmers 1 hour. Midway through the simmering process, add cabbage and spinach. Just before serving, add beans and heat through. Correct for salt and pepper. For a really thick soup, puree half the beans in a processor prior to adding them to the soup. Sometimes I do this, sometimes not.

The hallmark of a good minestrone is when the soup ladle can stand up on its own in the pot.

Serve with ditalini, mini-penne, small shells. It is most elegant to swirl a bit of homemade or store bought pesto into each bowl before bringing them to the table. Pass parmesan or pecorino romano separately.

Please, for the love of God, do not use the processed cheese in the green can!!

Carolyn
(12/30/00)

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Black Eyed Pea Salad

Black Eyed Pea Salad

...here is the recipe as was given to me (no measurements).

• Black eyed peas
• Balsamic vinaigrette
• Green peppers
• Red peppers
• Red onions
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Garlic salt

That's it. Mix well.

Helen
(12/27/00)

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Potatoes Rizzoli

Potatoes Rizzoli

We always called them that growing up-- basically, just a roasted potato.

Get a bunch of red-skinned or Yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled, cut into eighths (quarters if they are small, halves if they are tiny new potatoes).

Toss in olive oil and a bit of coarse salt. Put them on a cookie sheet with some fresh garlic cloves (peeled, coarsely chopped), and some fresh rosemary and black pepper.

Bake about 40 minutes at 400° turning over once or twice until brown.

Very easy and really, really good.

Carolyn
 (25/25/00)

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Carolyn's Method of Cooking Yams

Carolyn's Method of Cooking Yams

I don't have a "recipe" for the yams, but here's what I do:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Boil the yams until tender but not mushy, about 20 minutes. Remove from the pot, and cut into lengthwise quarters. Butter a long baking dish.

In a bowl, mix equal parts molasses and honey, along with a tablespoon or two of orange juice concentrate. Put yams in the baking dish, brush with the molasses mixture, quite liberally. Bake, brushing the yams every five or ten minutes until they look done (about a half hour or so).

Carolyn
(12/24/00)

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Uncle Larry's Cheesecake and Carolyn's Ricotta Pie (cheesecake) Recipes

Two Cheesecake Recipes
Here are two cheesecake recipes, the first from my uncle (which is very good), the second, an Italian cheesecake that I prefer, from my Irish mother-in-law, who cooks like an Italian having been married to one for nearly 60 years.

My Uncle Laurie's Cheesecake, as given to me shortly before his death.  . its really more an outline.  When you see the ingredients, you understand why the man had heart trouble:

Uncle Larry's Cheesecake

Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 stick of butter, melted

Press into a buttered spring form pan (he doesn't specify what size, but I'd go with a 9").

Cheesecake:
6 eggs
a 16 oz container of sour cream
1 cup sugar*
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 (8 oz each) packages cream cheese

Mix above ingredients well with mixer or food processor.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake cheesecake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn oven off and open door one inch from top of oven. Allow cake to set for one hour. Remove from oven, cover with foil and put in refrigerator overnight. Uncle Larry suggested two days in the refrigerator before serving.

He claimed to have gotten this recipe from a famous NYC chef (can't remember who, he did tell me).

*The sugar was left out when the recipe was resubmitted. We do not know if it was a mistake.

---

Ricotta Pie


Here is my favorite cheesecake recipe, quite a bit different from the standard, but it is lighter and much easier to make. This is not the revolting Italian cheesecake with candied fruit (blech), this one is very simple, yet extremely delicious and creamy. I it is much more a nice simple vanilla custard pie, and the quality of your ricotta is paramount.  I like a very smoothly blended variety, and have been known to whiz a curdier ricotta around in the food processor before starting.  Do NOT try to make this pie low fat, with skim ricotta, etc.  It will be quite ordinary. Great for vanilla purists, if you use some really good vanilla extract.


Pie pastry for 1 pie crust (homemade is best, but store bought is okay in a pinch). I like to prebake the pie pastry in a 375°F oven for about 10 minutes first. Line the inside with foil, and use pie weights or dried beans to hold it down.


3/4 to 1 cup sugar*

1/2 tsp salt**


2 cups (1 lb) ricotta, preferably the whole milk variety, though you can use part skim if fat conscious, but the pie will not be quite as creamy

1 tbsp lemon juice***
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten (you can get away with 1 egg, and it will be very gooey, but also good)

1 cup milk or use half cream and half milk or Half & Half

a small amount, a shake, of nutmeg


Mix all of the above in mixer or processor, pour into pie shell. Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 30 minutes. Lower heat to 350°F, shake on a small amount of nutmeg (don't use a lot), and bake an additional 15 to 25 minutes, until done.  Will be a bit loose in the center, firmer on the outside.


Chill thoroughly before serving. This pie is delicious with a fruit compote on the side.


*The sugar amount was lower in the recipe when sent in again.

**The salt was changed down to a pinch when the recipe was sent in again.

*** or juice of 1/2 a lemon


Carolyn D.
(12/24/00)

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Forgotten Cookies

Forgotten Cookies

They are easy and melt in your mouth and you can change the ingredients to what you have on hand. They are actually meringues.

2 egg whites (room temp is best)

2/3 cup of sugar

1 cup chocolate bits

1 cup nuts, broken

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Beat egg whites until frothy. Add sugar spoonful by spoonful and beat until stiff.

Add chocolate bits and nuts.

Have oven heated to 350°F. Put cookies on foil lined cookie sheets, NOT GREASED.

Put cookies in oven and turn the oven off. Leave overnight or at least 5 hours during the day.

Variations:

• I use mini chocolate bits and less pecans. I also make them small (teaspoon size), because they are like candy.
• use coconut instead of nuts
• or rice crispies instead of nuts
• I want to try them with a bit of cocoa and crushed candy canes.
• how about butterscotch
• or peanut butter bits

Enjoy!
Viki
(12/16/00)

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Carolyn's Lamb Chili

I have been asked for my lamb chili recipe, which we had last weekend, at our loom loading party. I didn't use a "recipe" per se, but I will try to reconstruct it. This makes a lot of chili.

Carolyn's Lamb Chili

3.5 lbs ground lamb, or a mixture of ground lamb and beef
5 good sized yellow onions, peeled and chopped
a lot of garlic -- at least half a head, peeled and chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, minced and seeded
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 smaller can diced tomatoes and green chiles
1 glass of red wine (can you tell that I like to cook with wine?)
1 tbsp ground cumin
     (preferably, whole, toasted in a dry skillet and then ground in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle)
2 tsp oregano
pinch cinnamon
bay leaf
about half a small can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
     (look for this either in gourmet shops or, much more cheaply, in Hispanic grocery stores)
1 large (32 oz) can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
4 green bell peppers, diced
handful of chopped cilantro
red wine vinegar

Brown lamb in large heavy skillet. Drain most of the fat. Add onions, garlic, jalapenos, and dried spices. Saute for a while until the onions wilt and become golden. Add wine to the pan and scrape the browned bits up from the bottom.

Pour into slow cooker (or into large heavy stewpot). Add tomatoes and chipotles (whiz the chipotles around in a food processor, or chop them up finely first).

Cook in slow cooker on low for about 8 hours, or on very low flame covered, on the stove, for about 3-4 hours.

Add beans and bell peppers, continue to cook until bell peppers are soft (if using the slow cooker, turn it to high, and cook for another hour, if on the stove, just cook them until they are soft but not mushy).

Just before serving, add cilantro, and a glug of red wine vinegar.

I did the chili overnight in the slow cooker, then added the beans and peppers in the morning. Use fewer chipotles if you like it milder.

Carolyn
(12/6/00)

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