Cold Broccoli, Asparagus and Green Bean Soup

People don't normally think of soups when it's 100 degrees and sunny outside, as it is in Los Angeles this week. There are a variety of yummy soups that are great for warm weather such as gazpacho (tomato and cucumber) and vichyssoise (potato and leek) that are served cold. These soups are also fantastic accompaniments to salads and sandwiches.

I had a fantastic asparagus soup at a bridal shower over the weekend. Butter, cream, and asparagus, yummmm. I loved it so much I wanted to make it but with a bit of a variation, I wanted it cold. I also had a bunch of other green vegetables that needed to be eaten soon and I figured soup was a good way to use everything up.


Ingredients:
1 lb asparagus
1/2 lb broccoli
1/2 lb green beans
1 brown onion chopped
6 c low sodium chicken stock
1 c skim milk
1 1/2 T flour
2 T olive oil
1 t fresh thyme
1/4 lemon or 1 T vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat large pot or dutch oven over medium low heat with 1 T oil
Add chopped onion and cook for 5 minutes until onion starts to become translucent
Remove ends of asparagus and toss, remove tips and set aside 10 for garnish
Chop remaining asparagus into 1/2" pieces and add to pot
Cut green beans in 1/2" pieces and add to pot
Cut broccoli into small florets and add to pot, cook for 5 minutes
Add chicken broth and thyme and cook for 20 minutes
Remove from heat and blend soup in batches, transferring to another pot
Once soup is blended set aside
Heat a small sauce pan to medium low heat with remaining T of oil
Mix in flour, salt and pepper
Cook for 2 minutes but do not let it brown
Whisk in milk until dissolved and creamy, remove from heat
Heat vegetable puree back to medium and stir in milk mixture
Once the soup is slightly thickened remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice or vinegar
Allow to cool at room temperature for at least an hour then cool completely before serving
Garnish with asparagus tips

I wanted my soup right away, so I put a bowl in the freezer for 30 minutes, worked great. But if you are serving more than yourself, this is better made a day ahead. It also freezes well. Also, I had collard greens and spinach and I tossed those in the soup as well. It was pretty darn good.

Italian Sausage and Corn Chowder

I haven't been doing a lot of cooking in the past week. When my husband works, he's not home for dinner (actually he's not really home at all) so I don't really cook. Cooking is a big part of my life, but this week has been more about home improvement and eating easy salads.

Instead of cooking, I painted the front porch railing. It had been black and peeling so I did a nice aged bronze kind of finish.

And just so you guys know, painting is a huge part of my life as well. And not just painting canvases. My motto is "I can paint that." And I can and have. We painted every surface of our new house when we moved in. I even painted the kitchen counters and floors. It works pretty well if you have any type of unbearable laminate. So if anything isn't aesthetically pleasing to me, I paint it.

On to food...

I actually did finally prepare something from scratch last night and it was kind of accidental. I initially planned to make turkey burgers but to make them super scrumptious I was going to mix in some hot Italian sausage with the ground turkey. Instead of defrosting the sausage, I cooked it so I had to think of another use for it. I also bought frozen corn at the store without realizing I already had a full bag in the freezer so I found myself with these extra ingredients and thought a corn and sausage chowder would be delicious.

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 c frozen corn

2-4 links Italian sausage (depending on how sausagey you want your soup)

2 potatoes, peeled and chopped into small chunks

8 c chicken or vegetable stock

1 sm onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 red pepper, seeded and chopped (I had a frozen bag of chopped peppers from trader Joes, so I used that)

1 c skim milk

1/4 c flour

1 T olive oil

1 T fresh parsley

1T fresh rosemary

1/2 T fresh thyme

1/8 t salt
1/4t pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Heat a dutch oven or large pan with 7 c stock, potatoes and herbs to high heat, allow to boil then reduce heat to medium and cook, covered, for 30 minutes

Heat saute pan to medium high and add 1c stock, olive oil, and sausages, let boil then reduce to medium

Cook sausages until liquid evaporates and sausages are browned, about 10 minutes

Remove sausages, cool

In same pan add onion, garlic and pepper and saute for about 5 minutes, onions should be golden and they should have absorbed some flavor from the sausages

Remove from heat and add the flour to the onion mix and stir to coat

Add corn to stock and cook for 5 minutes

Add milk to stock and cook another 5 minutes

Add all additional ingredients and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes, until theickened

This soup was super yummy. I think it is more appropriate for the cooler seasons, but the vibrant pepper and sausage and sweet corn were a yummy combo. It was a nice accompaniment to the turkey burgers, so I think I may freeze some of this to have the same meal again.

Beef Stew...with Coffee

I decided to make a stew last night because I had some meat and veggies that needed to be used. I thought about adding some stout for a flavor kick, but didn't want to add the extra calories to the stew. My friend and chef, James Lockwood, recommended I try adding some coffee. We didn't discuss specific amounts so I used what I had left over from the morning, about 1/2 of a cup. It was brilliant. It gave a really nice brown flavor without the alcohol taste the stout would have produced. I imagine I will never make a beef stew sans coffee again.

INGREDIENTS:
1lb beef stew meat
1 onion chopped
4 cups cut vegetables (celery, carrots, green beans, peas, corn, parsnips, turnips, potatoes, etc.)
2 T olive oil
1/4 c flour
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 clove garlic, chopped

1 bay leaf
1 t dried thyme or rosemary
2 1/2 c beef broth
1/2 c brewed coffee

DIRECTIONS:

Heat olive oil in medium pot or dutch oven on medium heat
Put flour and spices except for bay leaf in a plastic zipper bag and add beef, shake to coat
Place beef in pot and brown on all sides
Reduce heat to low and add onion, cooking till golden
Add water, coffee and bay leaf
Cover and simmer for 2 hours
Remove bay leaf and add all vegetables
Cover and simmer 1 hour longer
Serve with any yummy bread