Oui, Chef

Fare for the family table

Soups + Stews

Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Corn and Cilantro

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This dish came together one afternoon just before the kids went back to school, and was designed with a few different thoughts in mind.  First, it is a vegetarian option (well, not quite, it does have chicken stock) that will pass Peyton’s “pescatarian” hurdle, it used some beautiful heirloom tomatoes, cilantro and thyme from our garden, and it qualified as an entry in Food52’s weekly competition for “Red Pepper” recipes.

For those of you new to “Oui, Chef”, Food52 is a fabulous website that I have contributed to over the past year or so.  It was founded by Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, and acts as a food lover’s portal that brings together terrific and passionate home-cooks to share recipes, and compete in weekly contests where the winners get their recipes published in the Food52 cookbook.  I was lucky enough to win one of their first round of competitions, and will get to see one of my recipes published in their 1st cookbook that will come out later this year (click HERE for a look at the winning recipe).

I am THRILLED to tell you all that this recipe for roasted red pepper soup has been chosen as a FINALIST in this week’s competition. The gang is now working on their second book, and with your help, I just may be able to pull-out another win and earn the honor of inclusion in the second annual Food52 cookbook. Please visit the site by clicking this link: Food52, and if you’re not already a member (you really should be), join the fun community and VOTE for my “Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Corn and Cilantro”.  Voting closes at 12 AM ET on 9/15/10, so don’t delay and please go NOW to vote. Thanks all….you’re the BEST! 10/4/10  UPDATE:  Thanks to all of your support, this recipe won the “Red Pepper” competition and will be featured in the 2011 Food52 Cookbook!  Below you can see a video of Amanda and Merrill making the soup.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Corn and Cilantro from Food52 on Vimeo.

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Braised Lamb with Peas, Dill and Sour Cream

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I feel a bit silly writing about another braised dish given the onset of spring, but this dish is so good, I couldn’t let it wait till autumn.  I have also been re-thinking braises, and how they fit into my annual cooking calendar as of late.  I don’t know about you, but I have always viewed braises as cool weather dishes, and generally never cooked them between May and October.  Of course, there has never been a written rule as to when it’s OK to serve a stew or braise, but like wearing white shoes or pants before Memorial Day, it just wasn’t done without having to endure the derision of the food elite.

I have found that these days, many chefs (myself included) are tossing out certain cooking rules and instituting some new ones.  I recently read where Suzanne Goin, the fabulously talented chef / owner of “Lucques” in Los Angeles decided to “break the rules” and keep her braised short rib dish on her menu year round because it was in such high demand from her customers.  So I’m thinkin’ if it’s OK for famous chefs in posh eateries to braise in warm weather, then it’s OK for us too.

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Spring Asparagus Soup

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Imagine my surprise when my lovely wife returned home from an appointment last week with a bag full of the most beautiful asparagus I’d ever seen.  Upon further inspection, I noticed that the stalks were enormous, nice and thick and long enough to stretch from the crook of my elbow to the tip of my fingers. Interestingly, the cut ends were wrapped in wet paper towels….these were no ordinary spears bought from a store, but rather cut fresh from a friend’s private stash that very morning (insert hallelujah chorus here).

That night, I roasted then briefly and served them with an orange hollandaise sauce, they were sublime.

 

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Black Bean Soup with Lime-Cilantro Cream

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Inspired by my friend Devaki at “Weave a Thousand Flavors” who recently posted about Mark Miller’s Black Bean Soup, I decided to dust off this old favorite of mine to cook a few weekends ago. Active time in cooking this dish is quite low, but you must plan in advance because the black beans require soaking overnight before cooking, and about 2 hours to cook once in the pot.  I like using chorizo or andouille sausages in this soup as I feel they are more in keeping with the southwest flavors here, but it would also be delicious with hot italians, some merguez (spicy lamb), or even a more delicate duck sausage if you have access to any.

I like this soup a little on the “creamy” side, so just before service, I give it a quick blast with a stick blender to break up some of the beans, if you prefer a “cleaner” soup, you can certainly skip this step.  Whatever you do, don’t skip the dollop of the lime-cilantro sour cream on top, it makes all the difference.  If you are counting fat grams and calories, substitute some greek style yogurt for the sour cream, but don’t eliminate the garnish entirely, the brightness of the cilantro and citrus really elevates the dish.

 

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Beef Bourguignon

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This is a dish that I’ve been making for years, in fact, it is one of the first recipes I learned when I started to get into cooking, and certainly played a part in drawing me to want to study French cuisine more seriously.  It has become a staple of our winter recipe rotation, and each year when we make it we always make a double batch (sometimes a triple) so that we have plenty to freeze, and I would encourage you to do the same.

Few things in life give me greater joy than to see the bottom pull-out drawer of our freezer packed with nice, flat vacuum-sealed bags of this bourguignon, some chili, a bolognese, and a variety of soups.  I love knowing that a delicious meal is ours for the making with nothing more than reheating required, or can be tossed into a cooler and brought north to feed us after a long day on the slopes. All this joy can be yours too with hardly any additional work on your part.  If you have the freezer space, you’d be crazy not to double this recipe and put aside some for a rainy (or snowy) day.

 

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A Frenchman’s Chili?

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By the time they finish reading this post, I expect that a few of my old friends from Houston will be packing a box of shells, securing rifles in their gun-racks, and starting the long journey north to have a word with me.  They will undoubtedly think that I have lost all my marbles, and am in desperate need of a little “Come to Jesus” parley (that’s more or less an intervention for those of us that speak plain English).  Having just read the words “Frenchman” and “Chili” in the same phrase will have left them just this side of insanity, and I suspect that once they’ve recovered from their apoplexia, they’ll be feelin’ the need to set me straight.  If you never hear from me again, then you’ll know they found me.

Why, you must be asking, am I willing to take such a risk by sharing this recipe?  Because the Frenchman I am referring to is Chef Daniel Boulud, and his chili is the best I’ve ever had!

I know…I know, I am as surprised as the rest of you (well, maybe not you Texans), but the texture, depth of flavor, and spice of this chili will make a believer out of you in short order.  Yes, this king of French cuisine does know a thing or two about chili, and I’d wager that this thoughtful and simple recipe will have you singing “La Marseillaise” every time you have a bowl.

Our kids love this dish as well, and there is plenty of chopping, mixing and measuring to keep yours busy in the kitchen with you while you’re making it.  If any of you are sensitive to spice you’ll want to scale back on the chili powder a bit.  This is not a hell-fire hot chili, but it does pack a punch, as any good chili should.

Smoky Beef Chili:

by: adapted from: Braise: A Journey Through International Cuisine by Daniel Boulud and Melissa Clark
notes: The recipe is best when using Boulud's homemade chili powder (recipe below), but it also delicious if you use freshly bought pre-made powder. I recently made it with store bought powder (1/2 ancho chili powder, 1/2 plain chili powder) and it was terrific!
yield:
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Ingredients

  • 2 limes
  • 2 tablespoons masa harina (fine corn meal)
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 4 pounds beef chuck roast: 2½ pounds cut into ½-inch cubes; 1½ pounds ground (ask your butcher to do this) finely chopped
  • ¼ pound slab bacon, cut into large chunks
  • 1 large onion, peeled and cut into large cubes
  • 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1 tablespoon dried regular oregano or Mexican oregano
  • 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt or kosher salt
  • ¼ cup homemade chili powder *
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 5 large tomatoes, roughly chopped (or 1- 28 oz. can San Marzano tomatoes, roughly chopped with juices)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Homemade Chili Powder:

  • 4 dried ancho chili peppers
  • 4 dried pasilla chili peppers
  • 4 dried guajillo chili peppers
  • 2 dried chilies de árbol
  • 2 dried pequin chili peppers
  • 1 small dried habanero chili pepper

Instructions

  • Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F.
  • Grate the zest of the limes, then juice both limes. In a large bowl, combine 3 cups water, the masa harina, and the lime zest and juice.
  • Heat the olive oil in a medium cast-iron pot over high heat. Add the beef cubes and ground beef and sear until golden brown on all sides, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the beef to a plate and wipe the inside of the pot clean with paper towels.
  • Lower the temperature to medium-high. Add the bacon to the pot and cook until it renders its fat, about 5 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, cumin, oregano, and salt and cook until the onions are softened, 10 to 12 minutes. Add the chili powder, stir to combine, and cook for 1 to 2 more minutes. Stir in the vinegar and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a simmer, scraping up any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Return the beef cubes and ground meat to the pot and add the tomatoes, bay leaf, and masa harina mixture. Bring to a simmer.
  • Cover the pot and transfer it to the oven to braise for 2 hours, stirring once or twice. Sprinkle with the cilantro leaves right before serving.

Homemade chilli powder:

  • In a dry skillet over medium heat peppers on all sides for 5 to 7 minutes, making sure that they are lightly toasted, but not burned. Transfer them to a plate to cool. Remove and discard the seeds from the peppers. Blend the peppers in a spice grinder to a fine powder.

 

Habanero Chili on FoodistaHabanero Chili

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Cream of Mushroom Soup

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I love the holidays!  Starting with Thanksgiving, which is my all-time favorite, right through to New Year’s Eve, I love the rolling feast of it all.  With the advent of on-line shopping, I have finally been able to eliminate the one aspect of the holidays that used to make me dread them like the plague, and now that “retail” Christmas shopping is out of my life, the holidays are nothing but cheer for me!  They are a time to reconnect with friends and family, and to celebrate our health, peace and good fortune.  They provide ample opportunities for opening a few special bottles from the wine cellar, and most happily for me, offer a temporary pass to indulge in all sorts of delicious if not altogether healthy foods.

That’s not to say that I spend every day of December in a race to ingest as many fat and sugar calories as I can, but I certainly don’t watch myself as I do during the balance of the year.   I send my internal food police on a brief vacation so that I don’t feel like they are about to haul me away in handcuffs at every turn.

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Butternut Squash Soup with Apple Cider Cream

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This is a favorite recipe from Epicurious.com that I have cooked for years.  Each Fall when butternut squash are abundant, I make a huge batch of this soup and freeze about a half-dozen gallon sized ziploks of the stuff to get us through the Winter.  The recipe calls for a little cream which can certainly be eliminated if you are trying to watch such things.  When I make this, I do not add the cream prior to freezing, but will swirl a bit into the soup after it has thawed and been reheated.  This allows me to serve some without if someone requests it that way.  The drizzle of cider cream on top at service is a delicious touch, one I recommend you NOT skip unless you really must.

This year I got my squash from my guitar teacher, who, much to his surprise, found a bevy of the beauties growing out of his compost pile behind his garage!  How cool is that?

 

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Soup au Pistou

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This is a dish that may not be a home-run with very young kids because its absolutely packed with veggies (YUK, what are you trying to do, poison me?), but its easy, flavorful, and can provide plenty of room for creativity for your budding teenage cooks.  Soup au Pistou is a traditional Provencal dish that is made in as many different ways as there are cooks who make it.  Loosely speaking, it is a summer vegetable soup served with a blast of fresh pesto, and many serve it, as I do, with a pesto topped crouton floating on top as well.

This is a great soup to make on your local Farmer’s Market day.  If you can, bring the kids with you to meet the farmers who grow your local veggies, and let them choose some of the bounty that will find its way into the soup.  There are no hard and fast rules as to what to include, and in fact, every time I make it, I end up with a distinctly different soup in the end.  As long as you buy the freshest veggies you can get your hands on, and work to include a variety of color and texture in your choices, you’ll have a beautiful, fresh and satisfying soup in the end.  If you use a store bought chicken stock, make sure it is a low sodium brand, and if you have the time, allow an hour at the start to infuse it with some aromatics to add a little more interest and depth to your soup.

Peyton missed the trip to the Farmer’s market this time around, but was fully up to the task of practicing her knife skills (which are really coming along) by prepping our mise of chopped, sliced, and diced veggies.  While she was busy doing her ginsu thing, I crafted a little sachet that included, white peppercorns, anise seed, fresh thyme, and fresh rosemary, and set it steeping in our barely simmering store bought stock.  The finished soup is delicious hot or cold, with a crusty bread as accompaniment.

Soup au Pistou

by: Steve Dunn
yield:
Cooking ModePrint Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 16 ounce can of cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 medium onion, finely diced
  • 1 large carrot, cut into 1/4 inch dice
  • 1 small zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch dice
  • 1/4 pound green beans, cut into 1 inch lengths
  • 10 leaves of swiss chard or kale, sliced into 1/2" thick ribbons
  • 1/2 cup of shelled peas
  • 2 cups of tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
  • 2 ears of corn, kernels cut from the cob
  • 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced into rounds (on a Kyocera Adjustable Mandoline Slicer, Red , if you have one)
  • 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
  • 2 cups water
  • EVOO
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Basil Pesto
  • aromatics - 1 stem fresh rosemary, 3 stems fresh thyme, 1 teaspoon peppercorns, 1 teaspoon anise seeds

Instructions

  • Place chicken stock and water in a sauce pan over low-medium heat. Add the aromatics tied in a cheese cloth bundle, and simmer for 1 hour. Remove the bundle and reserve the stock.
  • Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy bottomed soup pot over low-medium heat. Add the onion and carrot and saute 15 minutes to soften. Raise the heat to medium, and add the green beans, zucchini, cannelini beans, tomatoes, and chicken stock to the pan, and cook 10-15 minutes. You want the soup at a simmer, not a rolling boil. Add the corn, peas, and swiss chard and cook for another 5 minutes. Check seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into warm bowls and top with a spoonful of fresh pesto. You can also make a crouton by taking a slice of baguette, topping it with some gruyere cheese, and toasting it under the broiler. Spoon some pesto onto the crouton and float it on top of your soup. Oh, la, la.
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