I love the magic of soup. With such a few ingredients you can create richly flavored and complex bowls of delight. And those bowls can be elegant and sophisticated or hearty and homey. I make this soup while I’m doing other things in the kitchen – cut the vegetables and roast them while putting the dishes away, simmer them in the broth while making a grocery list, blitz it all … [Read more...] about Roasted Fennel Soup with Fennel Parmesan Toast
Soup
Smoky Spicy Black-Eyed Pea Stew
As the New Year starts, we turn again to our black-eyed peas for luck. I usually go for something traditionally Southern, but every once in a while, I like to ring the changes and spice things up. This hearty stew has all the cold-weather comfort of old-fashioned Southern black-eyed peas with a fantastic hit of smoke and spice. I’ll admit, I am mostly a … [Read more...] about Smoky Spicy Black-Eyed Pea Stew
Salmorejo (Chilled Spanish Tomato Soup) with Frozen Olive Oil
Salmorejo is gazpacho’s simpler cousin. It’s a fresh, chilled tomato soup without the added peppers, cucumbers and other business found in gazpacho. I’m not a huge fan of gazpacho, because it varies so wildly and people seem to put all kinds of crazy ingredients in it. You never know what you are going to get. But Salmorejo is right up my alley. I first … [Read more...] about Salmorejo (Chilled Spanish Tomato Soup) with Frozen Olive Oil
Butternut and Fennel Soup
I read recipes all the time – from magazines, online and books. I cut out the ones the interest me or pin them to a board or mark them with little sticky note flags. Then this happens to me. Something sticks in my mind and the next time I am at the grocery (which is several times a week) I think oh! I want to make that recipe I saw…but I don’t precisely remember what all it … [Read more...] about Butternut and Fennel Soup
Celery Popovers
Popovers are sort of kitchen secret weapon. They are so easy to make but produce such impressive results. Watching the simple batter transform into fluffy sculptures is one of the glories of cooking. My sister-in-law was given a popover pan years ago and I used to ask her to make them all the time because I thought she had some special secret. She eventually got tired of my … [Read more...] about Celery Popovers