Lobster Bisque

     Lobster is one of those food items that make you think of  high-society, sea-worn men, and love.
Valentines of 2016, a beautiful man made me the most succulent lobster dinner.  He sealed his fate in my life when he sent a lobster tail home with me (the next day) to use at my discretion.  I approached that lobster with buttery sleeves pushed up, Pink screaming in my ear, and Spotted Cow in my glass. There was a moment of silent contemplation ... then suddenly knife fury, celery praying for release, and garlic on it's knees begging for forgiveness! I completed this saga with a very fine pot of lobster bisque. By now, this beautiful man was on his next business trip and I was on to the most decadent of fine evenings with linen napkin in lap and lobster bisque before me - telling me tales of other-worlds and making me weep to the strains of Miles Davis.  Enjoy!


Ingredients:

1 lb lobster cut into chunks
2 cloves fresh garlic, crushed
4 Tbsp green onion, chopped
4 Tbsp shallots, minced
4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup white wine
3 sprigs fresh Thyme
2 fresh bay leaves
3 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
salt to taste
2 Tbsp tomato paste
3 cups chicken or fish stock
1 cup heavy cream


Preparation:

Boil lobster for 8 minutes.  Coarsely chop, cover and chill
Heat olive oil and butter; add the vegetables and herbs; saute 10 minutes
Add tomato paste and cook for 4 min.
Add Worcestershire
Add wine and boil until almost all is evaporated
Add stock and bay leaves; heat through
Whisk in heavy cream
Add lobster
Cover and simmer 30 minutes
If you prefer it thicker, stir in 1 Tbsp. cornstarch mixed in 1 Tbsp cold water.


Serve with a simple salad and hot buttered crusty bread. Champagne goes especially well with cream- based soups. 

                                                                                                                     Mel

Steak Soup

To help calm me while I was driving home on icy roads, I created a recipe in my mind - with ingredients I knew I had on hand, and Darn, I can hardly stand myself it was so good!

                                                                                                                 


Ingredients:

• 1.5 lb. steak, cooked, cut up into bite sized pieces (I used pork shoulder blade steak)
• 2 - 14.5 oz. cans stewed tomatoes, with peppers, celery, and cumin
• 1 - 6.5 oz. can mushrooms
• 1 - 11 oz. can Mexican corn
• 4 cups beef broth
• 4 cups water
• 1- 16 oz. can Baby Butter Beans 
• 1 pkg  Gnocchi   
• 1 Tbs each of, Cumin, Oregano, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder
• Salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients except Gnocchi in pot on a low boil for 1/2 hr.  Place Gnocchi in pot and allow to boil for 3 minutes until they rise to the top.  Serve with Parmesan Cheese on top and crusty hot- buttered bread on the side.




Pair with a lovely Merlot or Syrah ~


                                                         

                                                                                        Mel

The Healing Soup

drum roll please ...

Lori Prosser -  With her life sustaining soup!

                                                                       Lori

This recipe calls for gnocchi.  A wonderful little Italian gem of a dumpling.  I have a gnocchi class coming up in a few days that I am terribly excited about.  There is quite an art to the making of good gnocchi, so if you're buying them, buy the best and freshest you can find!  Lori stated, "The best gnocchi I've ever had was served as an appetizer in Milan.  The waiter sauteed it in a skillet at the table.  Served a bit crispy on the outside and melted in your mouth.  I've never had it the same way since."

I was anxious to try this soup, as I had been feeling under the weather.  Five ingredients and fifteen minutes later I was into a bowl pulsating with the heart of heaven!  Sooo easy, sooo good. The  first time Lori made it she didn't want her husband to know how easy it was.  Of course, she wanted him to think it involved hours of slaving and simmering!  It tastes like it does.

The recipe calls for hot turkey Italian sausage.  "Really, it doesn't matter the sausage, it always turns out delicious," Lori says.  I had plain ground turkey on hand and threw in two teaspoons of Cajun seasoning to give it a kick and one tablespoon Italian seasoning and it worked quite well!  I would think even Kielbasa would go nicely, for the men.

Lori also changed the five ingredients to seven (as did I), by adding sliced mushrooms and chopped fresh spinach - just because they were on hand.  I always double my recipes as well, something I've learned from my mother - cooking for a family of eight.  For me, it provides leftovers for healthy work lunches and food to share with friends!

                           Not much time to leaf through a magazine, "Soup simmers in minutes."

                                                                                                                                       
Ingredients:

• 1 (4.5-ounce) link hot turkey Italian sausage
• 2 cups water
• 1 (16-ounce) package vacuum-packed gnocchi (along-side the dried pasta)
• 1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, beef broth
• 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can Italian-style stewed      tomatoes, undrained and chopped
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese 

Preparation:

lori prosser

1. 1.) Remove casings from sausage. Cook sausage in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat  until sausage is browned, stirring to crumble.  Pepper to taste.
2. 
   
3. 2.) Add 2 cups water and next 3 ingredients to pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until gnocchi float to the top of pan. Ladle soup into bowls; sprinkle each serving with cheese.
4. 
   

Make it your own:  Tear up a handful of fresh spinach, slice up some fresh mushrooms - toss in with other ingredients.  Fresh garlic would go nicely as well.  

Wine Pairing:  Chateau Julien 2009 Barrel Select Merlot ($15)

                                                     Sangiovese

1.                                          

                                             Bert, 90                                                             - Photo by Lawrence Syverud       

1. 
   
2.                                                               
3. I texted my children one evening, recently, to tell them to look at the moon.  It was glorious in it's crisp white shirt and as full as a baby's tummy after nursing.  Huge on the horizon - I wanted to drive straight to it.  The moon reminds me of soup.  I'm not sure why ... the moon is the one thing that my children and I can look at, at the same time and be together, no matter where we all are in the world.  That's comforting, like soup.
4. Soup brings me back to the basics.  After an active day - while chopping vegetables for soup, I pretend I'm my grandmother.  Hair up, apron tied. Grandma whistled.  I sing.  When Ill, we instinctively go back to the basics, the beginning; humidifier, Vicks, soup.  It sooths and comforts.  We know It heals more than the sickness.  
5. What newer generations have not learned yet is that soup should always be eaten, not just when we have runny noses.  The elderly know this, but they don't tell us.  It's for us to discover on our own. The elderly aren't eating soup because the vegetables are soft with the liquid and goes down easy, they eat it frequently because of it's healing properties.  It offers longevity.  It sustains, helps one grow to 90.  
6. Tonight while preparing the soup, shaking the delicate rain of cayenne and basil into the broth of it, my daughter, Hannah, called and told me to look at the moon.  I strained over the balcony of my third floor apartment in every direction except the one allowing me to view the splendor.  She said it was blazing and glorious, but I could not see it.  I returned to stirring my soup, and raised the wooden spoon to my lips and tasted the moon.
7. Unsettled, I quickly slipped on my Uggs and raced down the flights of stairs that brought me to the back door and into the crisp air, and there is was!  And we gazed at it, together.  After two days of eating nothing but Lori's Healing Soup, I am on the mend.  I feel strength returning, an uplifting of my soul.  I am learning what Bert knew.  I think I'll have soup tomorrow.

As the winner of this month's recipe contest, Lori will receive something homemade from my kitchen, just as soon as the bird takes flight to England.  : )

1.   mel                                                                                                                             

         

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Sweet Potato Corn Chowder

I have a passion for all things Cumin.  This Mediterranean sweat heart is the second most popular spice in the world after black pepper.  I find Cumin adds an earthiness to my soups and chili's. It's essential oil content lends a warm aroma to cooking, so I especially like to use it in the cold winter months.  Wonderful for digestive disorders, relieves symptoms of the common cold, treats asthma, arthritis and boosts the immune system! Hurray for Cumin!  




Speaking of ... I like it in my SP Corn Chowder too!  This soup packs a powerful punch to the senses, as well as to your nutritional content for the day. With a hunk of corn bread in one hand and a soup spoon in the other, you really won't want to be disturbed.   Dab some behind your ear though, and I'll follow you around all day.  :)

                                                                                                                           


Ingredients:

6 oz kielbasa, cut lengthwise then slice
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Lg onion, chopped
1 1/2 tsp Cumin
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp black pepper
3 Tbsp Arrowroot, or corn starch
1 tsp Cajun seasoning
16 oz pkg frozen corn kernels
8 cups chicken broth
2 medium sized sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed 1/2 inch.
1 cup whipping cream
16 oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 3/4 inch pieces, cooked.


Directions:

1. In large dutch oven, brown sausage for 5 minutes.  Add onion and garlic.  Cook 5 more minutes.  
2. Stir in Cumin, Chili Powder, and Cajun seasoning.  Cook 2 minutes.
3. Stir in chicken broth, bring to boil.
4. Add corn, sweet potatoes, cooked chicken pieces.  Return to boiling, reduce heat.
5. Simmer covered 20 minutes or until sweet potatoes are tender.  Stir in whipping cream and pepper.
6. Heat to hot, but not boiling.  Stir in cornstarch mixed with a small amount of water - stir for a few minutes until thickened.

                                                    induction of spices

                                                                     melding the flavors

                                                            all is right in my world  :)

Side kicks:

Corn bread

Garden salad

Pairing:

Pinot Gris

Gruner Vetliner - Full-bodied, dry wine, able to pair with difficult foods.

Riesling - a very dry variety.

Chardonnay

As always ... enjoy   

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