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Sweet Pea and Leek Soup

It’s been a busy Spring at our house and although I have been rather out of touch, there HAVE been delicious things going on in my little kitchen. This was our soup for our Easter meal and since it is lovely and simple and seasonal, I knew I would eventually get to sharing it with you! It is almost like a bisque, because the texture is that creamy, but there is no cream or milk!

This was a delightful starter for our Spring meal!

Enjoy, and happy Spring!

Sweet Pea and Leek Soup

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbs butter

2 Cups leeks cleaned and sliced, white part only

1 Tbs fresh thyme

1 Cup frozen peas plus ¼ Cup set aside

1 quart good vegetable stock

¼ tsp nutmeg

1 tsp salt

½ tsp black or white pepper, fresh cracked

In a soup pot heat the oil and butter at medium high. When the foaming subsides, add leeks, stir to coat and lower heat to medium. Cook the leeks, stirring occasionally, until very soft, adding the thyme after about 5 minutes.

Add the peas (setting aside that extra ¼ Cup) stock and nutmeg, Bring to a steady simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes, until the peas are very soft.

Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Add the remaining peas, salt and pepper and serve with croutons, if desired, or a dollop of plain yogurt.

Tags: cooking, food, leeks, peas, recipes, soup, spring

Comments 1 Comment
Categories Food, Holidays, Recipes, soup

Roasted Cauliflower and Leek Soup

1 Mar

(Reminder to vote for my piece on Watermelon Mojitos for an #EDDYS2015 Award by clicking here! Vote daily until March 15!)

Here on Long Island we are having one of the coldest winters on record. Since you can’t reasonably spend the entire winter drinking hot toddies all day — as much as the idea appeals –, the second best, more sensible and certainly more sustainable response is soup.

Light winter lunch

Here is an easy-peasy soup recipe that is warming and light, inspired by my dear friend Deborah Rivera Pittorino’s matchless soups at her restaurant La Cuvee Seafood & Grille in the heart of Long Island’s North Fork wine country. She shares some her recipes on her blog, The Seasoned Fork, by the way.

This recipe adds a little nuttiness (nutty flavor, not crazy person nuttiness) by dry roasting the cauliflower for 10 minutes. This amount makes four appetizer servings or two meal-size bowls and reheats really well in the office microwave for lunch!

Office lunch

Roasted Cauliflower and Leek Soup

3 Cups cauliflower (stems and florets, trimmed)

1 Tbs olive oil

1 Tbs butter (salted or unsalted)

3 Cups leeks, white and pale green part, carefully cleaned and sliced into ¼ inch rounds

1 Qt veggie stock (if using store-bought, choose low sodium and season accordingly)

¼-1/2 Cup milk (optional)

1 tsp mild curry powder

salt & pepper to taste

On a baking sheet or in a baking pan roast cauliflower at 400˚F for about 10 minutes (I do it in my fancy, full-service Breville toaster oven) until getting browned at the edges.

In the meantime, heat the olive oil and butter in a heavy-bottomed soup pot at medium. When the foaming subsides, add the leeks. Stirring occasionally, allow the leeks to get very soft (5-10 minutes). Add the cauliflower, stir and cook a minute or two. Add the stock, bring to a boil, then add curry, lower heat, add milk and simmer for at least 30 minutes, until cauliflower is falling apart. Using an immersion blender or (in batches) a blender or food processor, blend until you reach the desired smoothness. Season to taste and serve, topped with a dollop of plain yogurt or croutons if you like.

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Tags: cauliflower, cooking, food, La Cuvee, leeks, recipes, soup

Comments 9 Comments
Categories lunch, Recipes, soup, Vegetarian

Leek and Asparagus: A Delightful Accessory for Scrambled Eggs

9 Jan

Today we have a guest post – my friend Ashley who is my accomplice in many of the recipes you see on this blog (most of the beverage recipes, funnily enough).

Served separately from the eggs

Ashley is from Maryland, which from my perspective is the South, although I suppose you can argue Middle Atlantic (for those of you who are curious where Long Island falls in the regionality game, we are kinda Middle Atlantic and kinda New England, which makes it very challenging to decide which Growing Zone to follow when planting in my garden! I welcome input on that. But let me meander back to Ashley and the South).

Prosecco mimosas are the appropriate accompaniment

Ashley, like so many good Southerners has a terrific fondness for ramps (wild leeks) and anything that resembles them. So when making a breakfast recently, she decided to use the leeks in my fridge to accessorize the scrambled eggs I had on tap. Ashley has an aversion to butter (yeah, crazy, right?) so she used about a tablespoon of olive oil. You could certainly substitute, but I liked them just like this.

Mixed up with the eggs

From Ashley:

Here is a very rough write-up of the leek eggs that we ate (and we used to call wild leeks ramps, so there might be other recipes out there that call for ramps instead of leeks…):

Take 1/2 pound leeks (approx. 2 medium) and scrub them to death. Remove the end green parts. Because they are so incredibly difficult to clean, you may have to clean them, start to cut them, stop and clean them again. But in the end the effort is well worth it.

Trim the ends and cut into small pieces. Saute until leeks are tender. While it apparently tastes better with butter, you know my aversion to butter, so this is where I use olive oil.

Open your friend’s refrigerator and pilfer her leftover roasted asparagus. How can you let perfectly good asparagus go to waste!? Cut the asparagus into 1/2 inch pieces. As the leeks are almost finished cooking, add the asparagus until it heats up.

Scramble 2 eggs (per person). Add the warmed leeks and asparagus.

We didn’t do this, but when I’ve made it before, I’ve added a little parmesan/grana padano cheese and that makes it irresistible! Thyme is also a nice spice to add to this. And of course, there’s always sriracha for the bonus kick.

Party Snacks: Spanish-Style Tortilla (omelette) with leeks, potatoes, and peas

18 Sep

You say party, I say tortilla. I have loved Spanish tortillas since I tried them on my first trip to Spain a million years ago and have been making them just about as long.

Let us be clear. I am not talking about the bread-like Mexican tortillas that are used for wrapping burritos and quesadillas. I am now talking about Spain, where tortilla means a stove top egg cake, a thick omelette, a frittata. Many are vegetarian (and many are not). All of them allow you to play with ingredients!

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Tags: cooking, food, leeks, potatoes, recipes, small dishes of Spain, Spain, tortilla

Comments 11 Comments
Categories CSA, eggs, Food, lunch, Party Snacks, Recipes, Spanish, Tapas, Vegan, Vegetarian

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