CM # 63 The Food You Crave

First things first, there is no place like home. 

I don’t usually miss not having TV anymore, but I do miss Food Network. Bobby, Tyler, Ina and Jamie were all like family to me. Though I hear a rumor that if I bothered to figure out how TV works without cable, I could catch Jamie’s fabulous show “Food Revolution” on network TV. Kind of sounds like a lot of work though.

One of the less recognized geniuses of Food Network is Ellie Krieger. Her recipes are usually inventive and tasty. Registered dieticians are pretty impressive in general.

Ellie’s cookbook is full of those sticky flags I seem to love throwing around. Marked for the future are recipes for Hummus and Grilled Vegetable Wraps, Chickpea and Spinach Salad, Noodles with Lime-Peanut Sauce, Mushroom Barley Risotto and Poached Salmon with Lemon-Mint Tzatziki.

I am however always an advocate of “Simple but Good.” Grab the best produce and let the flavors speak for themselves. I found some beautiful vine tomatoes at the store--I could sit and smell them for hours. Yes, they smell like a garden vine, but that’s what’s so perfect about them. Tomato sandwiches made with toasted bread, sea salt, pepper and olive oil is quite possibly the most perfect sandwich in the world

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Ellie had a recipe for tomatoes topped with a bit of Green Goddess dressing so I gave it a shot.. It’s creamy from the avocado, but the tomato is still the star. Pure genius.

All recipes however are not perfect. Or rather, all not cooks are not perfect. I made an attempt at her Energy Bar recipe. I mean it starts out on the right track….

It even looks pretty good going into the pan…

And it even looks not so bad out of the pan. But looks can be deceiving. Amidst the nuts and fruit peeking out hides a layer of industrial grade cardboard. I kind of feel bad because I love Ellie and am sure she can do no wrong. I just can’t figure out what I missed in mine. Just a lesson learned that cooking and trying new recipes will always be an an experiment and an adventure.

Green Goddess Dressing

Adapted from The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger

½ ripe avocado, flesh scooped out
½ cup lowfat buttermilk

3 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tbsp fresh tarragon

1 green onion, sliced

3/4 tsp salt

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Blend all ingredients until smooth and serve over salad. Dressing will keep 2-3 days in refrigerator

Cheddar Ale Soup

All the kind comments on my last post were greatly appreciated.  I felt a bit dramatic in apparently self-nominating myself for the Laura Ingalls Wilder Pioneer of the Year award.  I should clarify that I do always have the nation's fastest 3g network at my fingertips so am not really living the minimalistic life.  I think blogger even makes a mobile blogging application.   But alas, the nation's fastest 3g network does not necessarily translate to the nation's most reliable network and I would rather poke my eyeballs out King Lear style than type mass amounts of text using a  touchpad. I'm a  full qwerty keyboard kind of girl--just little old school.  Okay, I'm not going to lie to you.  In high school typing, we had typwriters.  I'm way old school.

The lack of blogging has left me with an abundance of useless photos.  You would think that no blogging = no photos of food.  I can't seem to put down my camera when there's food or a little Peanut involved.  And truly, Guinness in soup deserves a post.  I followed this recipe pretty closely with just a substitution of leeks for onions. And of course the Guinness.  The recipe calls for ale but one must use Guinness since it's arguably the only drinkable beer type substance out there.   My only other input would be to use caution when adding the cheese.  Do it slowly and then turn the heat off if immediately if you don't want congealed cheese gunge.  The pan and the soup will thank you.

 Cheddar Ale Soup
Adapted from Williams Sonoma

2 tbs. unsalted butter
2 leeks , sliced thin
2 celery stalks, finely diced
2 carrots, peeled and finely diced
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups chicken stock
1 bottle (12 fl. oz.) ale
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 1/4 lb. sharp cheddar cheese, grated
Salt, to taste
Cayenne pepper, to taste

Directions:
In a stockpot over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Add the onion, celery and carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, until very soft, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high and whisk in the milk and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring often, until thickened, about 10 minutes.

Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth.
Return the mixture to the pot and set over medium heat. Add the ale, Worcestershire and mustard and simmer for 5 minutes. Whisk in the cheese 1/2 cup at a time, letting each addition melt before adding more; do not allow the soup to boil. Season with salt and cayenne.
Ladle the soup into warmed bowls and serve immediately. Serves 4 to 6.