Cauliflower Soup

The other day the vegetable market near me had a special on cauliflower. I happen to love cauliflower, so a bought a few heads. My freezer was running low on prepared soups (great for lunches and unexpected guests!), so I decided to have an evening of soup-making. Or rather, about 30 minutes of soup making--this recipe is so easy. I also made a batch of cheese sauce for the freezer using a thicker and cheesier version of the same recipe (see end of recipe for how I did this). It's adapted from Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen.

Cauliflower-Cheese Soup
Serves about 6

1 large cauliflower, cut up
1 carrot, chopped
2 small onions, chopped
3-5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp salt
4 cups water
about 3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 to 2 cups cups extra old cheddar cheese, grated
1 tsp dill
1 tsp caraway seeds, crushed

Boil the cauliflower, carrot, onions, and garlic in 4 cups of salted water until soft. Puree everything in a food processor or blender. Add milk to adjust thickness. Transfer puree back into saucepan. Add cheese, dill and caraway seed. Heat and serve. (Garnish with a bit of fresh dill or caraway and grated cheese.)

Tips: Use the milk to adjust the thickness of the soup. If you have a really big cauliflower head, you may also need more water. This recipe also works well as a straight cauliflower soup without the cheese, however because of the carrot the soup will be a pale orange. To make a cheese sauce instead of soup, use less water or milk and more cheese.

When I made both the other night, I tripled the recipe without the cheese and made a lot of thick puree of the cauliflower 'soup'. Then I added about a cup of extra old cheese (grated) to about two cups of the puree. That give me a jar of cheese sauce for the freezer. I diluted the remainder of the puree with milk. That gave me the cauliflower soup, about half of which I froze like that. To the other half I added extra old cheddar to get a cauliflower-cheese soup.

Corn Pudding

Every now and again I rediscover this recipe. A couple of weeks ago I was looking for a simple yet somewhat exotic recipe to bring to a potluck, and even though I probably haven't made this dish in years for some reason it sprung to mind. It was a definite success. For a vegan recipe, this dish can be made without the eggs and using soy milk and a vegan cheese.

2 1/2 cups of frozen corn (about 2/3 of a 750 g bag)
4 spring onions
3-4 medium green chilies, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
300 g Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup of yellow cornmeal (#250)
1/2 tsp baking powder, low-sodium
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 eggs (optional)
2 Tbs of butter, unsalted
2 1/4 cups of lowfat milk
2 Tbs lemon juice

Put a large baking dish in cold oven and set oven temperature to 425 F. Combine milk and lemon juice together in a medium bowl. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

While oven is heating, dice the red peppers and chilies, and chop the spring onions. Dice enough cheese to measure 1 cup and grate the remainder of the cheese. Break the eggs into a small bowl and quickly whisk them lightly.

By now, the milk and lemon juice should have started to curdle. Add the eggs, vegetables and cheese. Stir to combine.

Remove the casserole dish from the oven. Add butter to the hot dish and swirl it around until the butter is melted and the sides of the dish coated. Set it down on the stove top.

Quickly add the milk/vegetable mixture to the cornmeal mixture in the big bowl. Stir until just combined. (Do not overstir.) Pour the corn mixture into the hot casserole dish. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the bowl. Top with grated cheese.

Bake in upper third of the over for about 25 minutes at 425F, or until golden and firm but slightly soft in the centre. Remove from oven. Let pudding sit fr 5 minutes and then serve.

Serves 4 as a complete meal or about 8 as a side dish.

For 1/8 of recipe: 335 calories, 17g protein, 19 g fat, 27g carbohydrate, 41% RDA calcium, 6% RDA iron.

This recipe was adapted from International Great Meals in Minutes published by Time Life Books.

Quiche Glorious Quiche

So here’s my quiche story:

I was working as a prep cook and server in a very busy and quite fancy corporate cafeteria. It was an aggressive sales oriented company with a young, sometimes "over-exuberant" staff (ahem-hem). I had a reputation as being friendly and accommodating but not one to suffer fools.

One day, a huge group of corporate trainees were in the cafeteria creating chaos when over the din, one Irish bloke asked what was being served up. I gave him his choices which included a quiche Lorraine. Thinking he was being funny (and maybe not knowing what quiche was) he trotted out the old joke that ‘real men don’t eat quiche.’ “Fine,” I told him. “How about I do you a ham and cheese omelet?” He thought that would be good so I handed him a quiche plate and said” Here you go; I put it in a pie shell for you. Now &*^# @&&, ya pouf!” After the laughter died, I never had a problem with that group of trainees again. That guy and I are still friendly today!

I have made an awful lot of quiches over the years. They are great for a catering event whether as part of a buffet or as hors d’oeuvres. They can be served hot or cold and so do well for dinner, lunches, brunches, and pic-nics.

I am including here two very basic but nice quiches. Go ahead and make both at once for a dinner party and offer your guests a bit of each. I have also included instructions to turn them into quick and freezable hors d’oeuvres.

Mushroom Quiche

1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 Tbsp butter
1 cup homo milk or light cream*
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
3/4 tsp dried basil
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup grated Swiss or Emmental cheese

Line a 9 inch pie plate with dough.

In a frying pan, melt the butter over a medium-high heat and sauté the mushrooms for about 30 seconds or until they are somewhat browned on both sides. Spread mushrooms and butter evenly in the bottom of the pie shell.

Beat milk or cream, eggs, salt, pepper, basil and cheese together -just to mix- then pour into the pie shell. Bake at 375° F for 40-45 minutes. Do not over bake. Allow the quiche to cool and settle for about 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

Alternatively, you can make 12 -3 inch minis for hors d’oeuvres. I recommend buying the frozen mini pie shells available at any grocery store. Dice the mushrooms finely rather than slice them. Do not mix the cheese into the egg mixture. Place an equal measure of sautéed mushrooms in each of the shells topped by an equal measure of the grated cheese. Mix the eggs, cream and spices in a container with a pouring spout and fill up each shell. Bake at 375° F for 30 minutes. These minis freeze well and can be reheated from frozen at 350° F for about 15 minutes.

Spinach Quiche

1 small onion, minced
2 Tbsp butter
1 cup of cooked spinach, well drained or one package of frozen spinach, thawed
2 eggs + 1 egg yolk
1 cup homo milk or light cream*
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
pinch nutmeg
1/4 tsp oregano
1 cup grated Swiss or Emmental cheese

Line a 9 inch pie plate with dough.

In a medium to large frying pan, sauté the onion in the butter until soft. Add spinach and cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Beat eggs, milk and spices together. Add spinach and onion and mix well. Pour into the pie shell and bake at 375° F for 40 minutes. Check after 35 minutes as the cooking time for this quiche can vary depending on the size of your eggs.

As with the previous recipe, you can make 12 -3 inch minis for hors d’oeuvres. Do not mix the cheese or spinach into the egg mixture. Place an equal measure of spinach and cheese in each of the shells. Mix the eggs, cream and spices in a container with a pouring spout and fill up each shell. Bake at 375° F for 25-30 minutes. These minis freeze well and can be reheated from frozen at 350° F for 15 minutes.

* The more fat in your cream or milk, the better the taste and texture of your quiche. I worked in a restaurant where quiches were made regularly with heavy whipping cream! (Eeeeep! Disgustingly rich, I don’t recommend trying it.) If you are fat conscious you can make quiche with lower fat milk although skim does not produce a nice pie at all. Before using anything below homogenized milk though, you should question whether you really want to eat what is basically a cheese heavy omelet in a pie shell anyway.

St. David's Day Fare

St. David's Day is the Welsh equivalent of the better-known St. Patrick's day, which occurs later on this month. It's celebrated by Welsh around the world on March 1st. Having a spattering of Welsh in my blood as well, I often take the day, or the weekend nearest to it, to connect with some of my heritage and cook a bit of Welsh fare. It's always a pleasure since two of my favourite foods, leeks and cheese, feature prominently in many traditional Welsh recipes. This one is no exception.

Anglesey Eggs is a traditional supper dish of mashed potatoes and leeks topped with hard boiled eggs and cheese sauce. Probably not entirely healthy, but definitely tasty. In some ways it could be the Welsh equivalent to Quebecois poutine. While usually served for supper with peas, I think this makes a great brunch or hearty breakfast dish as well.

Anglesey Eggs (Wyau Ynys Môn)
Serves 4

2 oz butter, divided
1 Tbs flour
1 cup hot milk
4 oz cheddar cheese, grated
8 hard boiled eggs, just hard, halved
4 leeks, chopped and cooked
2 cups hot mashed potatoes
2 Tbs fresh breadcrumbs
Grated nutmeg
Salt and black pepper

Heat over to 350F and butter/oil an oven dish.

Make a cheese sauce by melting half the butter in a saucepan and then adding the flour, stirring it for about a minute over low heat before adding the hot milk with a whisk. Then add the cheese and stir some more, simmering until the sauce thickens.

As the sauce thickens, in a bowl, mix together the leeks, mashed potatoes, half the butter, and some salt and pepper. Put the mixture into the buttered dish. Arrange the hard boiled egg halves on top, and then pour most of the cheese mixture on top of that. Keep some of the cheese sauce back and mix it with the breadcrumbs and nutmeg. Sprinkle this crumb mixture on top of the whole thing.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the top is browned. Don't leave it too long, otherwise the eggs go rubbery.

Variations:
While leeks may be one of the national plants of Wales (the other being daffodils), they are not always available. If you can't find them, you can use onions instead. It's definitely not the same, but passable.

I sometimes add cooked chard, kale or spinach to the mashed potato mixture. I think once I even layered kale on the bottom, beneath the mashed potatoes.

Cheese Soufflé

If you invite someone over for lunch -or say, a romantic Valentines dinner- and inform them that you are preparing a cheese soufflé, chances are their eyes will light up with respect (and possibly lust) at your apparent culinary genius.

Let’s leave them to believe that, shall we?

I was making this before I hit puberty. Since it was a family favourite it was one of the first things my mother taught me to cook. It’s quick, easy and delicious.

Easy Cheese Soufflé

1 1/2 cups soft white commercial bread shreds- about 1/2 to 1 inch in size.
1 1/2 cups shredded medium-sharp cheddar *
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp curry powder- yep: the crap commercial kind
1 cup hot milk
3 eggs, separated

Butter a 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the bread shreds, cheese and seasonings.
Beat the egg whites until the form stiff peaks and the yolks until blended.
Pour milk on top of bread mixture and mix.
Add egg yolks and mix.
Very gently fold in the egg whites with a spatula. Don’t overdo it; globs of egg white are ok- just try to have an overall yellowish cast to the mess.

Pour into the buttered dish and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes (and not one minute longer!) until puffed and golden. Soufflés will deflate fairly quickly- you have less than five minutes for optimal appearance. I suggest starting your meal with a nice soup while the soufflé is baking. Serve immediately when done with assorted salads, sliced baguette, pickles etc..

* I’m not a big fan of food additives, even ones like colours but in this case, the orange cheddar makes this soufflé much more appetizing.