Roasted Potato and Garlic Soup

This week it finally got cold and rainy here.  I caught a little bit of a cold but it was nothing that soup couldn't fix.  This soup is very hearty and the head of garlic detoxifies.    I had purple potatoes in the house so that is what I used here.  Feel free to use any potato available to you.   If you use red potatoes or yukon gold, you will need to boil them a little longer. 

Roasted Potato and Garlic Soup:

2 T Olive oil
2 Pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 Yellow onion, peeled and quartered
1 Leek, sliced white part only
1 Head of garlic
1 T Butter
1 T Water
6 C Vegetable stock
2 T Fresh Thyme
1/2 C Milk or cream
Salt to taste

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 400 F.   Put potatoes, onions and leek in a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil and salt.

2.   Slice top of garlic off and place in aluminum foil.  Add 1/2 T butter, drizzle with 1T water and fold up the aluminum on the sides creating a packet around the garlic*.  Place garlic in roasting dish next to potato mixture.

3.  Roast for 45 minutes; remove the garlic and continue cooking for another 15 minutes.

4.  In the meantime, make your vegetable stock in a large stock pot and have it on low heat.

5.  Once the vegetables are done, add the roasted vegetables and thyme to the vegetable stock.  Simmer for 15-20 more minutes.

6.  Puree about 1/3 of the soup with the garlic; squeezing the garlic into the food processor and through the left over skins away.  Make sure not to over puree as the potatoes will get starchy.

7.  Add the soup back into the stock pot with the remaining vegetables on medium heat.  Bring back to a boil. 

7.  Turn off heat and add milk.  Salt to taste.

Serves 6

Tip: *  It should look something like this when you are finished.  The top 1/3 is cut off to allow the water and butter to absorb and roast the garlic.

Fresh Pea and Mint Soup

I was at the Farmer's Market this weekend and found some amazing pea's in the shell.   I actually used the whole pea in the soup, pureed the soup and ran it through a chinois (china cap). 

Fresh Pea and Mint Soup

2 T Butter
2 T Olive Oil
1 Onion, chopped
2 Shallots, chopped
10 C Fresh Peas in the shell, cleaned and strings detached
8 C Chicken Stock
1/2 C Fresh Mint
2 T Creme Fraiche
Salt to taste

Directions:
1.  Combine olive oil and butter in stock pot.  Add chopped onions, shallots and salt.  Saute 5-8 minutes; until translucent.

2.  Add shelled peas and saute 5 minutes more.

3.  Add stock and bring to a boil; turn down to simmer 15 minutes. 

4.  Add mint and salt.

5.  Puree in a food processor.

6.  Push through a chinois*; until silky smooth.

7. Put back in the stock pot on low heat; add creme fraiche.

Serves 4-5

Tip: * When you are running the soup back through the chinois; you can use the back of the soup ladle to help you push the thicker parts of the soup through.  This gives the soup a real smooth texture.

My Bouillabaisse

Bouillabaisse is a fish soup containing different kinds of cooked fish, shellfish and vegetables.  It is flavored with a variety of herbs and spices such as saffron, bay leaf, garlic and red pepper.  I make my Bouillabaisse with mussels, shrimp, whitefish* and scallops but you can use whatever kind of seafood you have available to you.  

My Bouillabaisse  

1 Pound Mussels, cleaned
½ Pound Shrimp, shelled and deveined (keep shells)
½ Pound Bay Scallops
2 Pounds Halibut*, bone in and cut in 2 inch chunks
¼ C Vegetable oil
2 Cloves Garlic
1 Small Onion, chopped
1 Shallot, chopped
2 Small Fennel Bulbs, sliced thinly
1/2 t Red Pepper Flakes
3 Tomatoes, peeled and sliced
2 T Tomato Paste
Pinch of Saffron**
8 C Water
1/2 C White wine
1/2 C Clam Juice
1 Bay Leaf
Juice of one lemon
Salt to taste


Directions:

1.  Heat up water in a large stock pot.  Add the bones from the fish and the shrimp shells.  Bring to a boil and turn down to simmer for 45 minutes. 

2.  Strain all the bones and shells out and reserve liquid. 

3.  Soak the saffron** in about 2 T of hot water. 

4.  Heat the oil in a stock pot.  Add the fennel, onions, shallots and a little salt and cook about 5-8 minutes; until translucent. 

5.  Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and sauté for 1 additional minute. 

6.  Add the white wine and burn off for about 2 minutes.

7.  Then add the fish stock, clam juice, tomatoes, tomato paste, saffron with liquid and bay leaf.  Cover and simmer for 30 more minutes. 

8.  Add the mussels, fish, shrimp and scallops to the soup and simmer about another 5-8 minutes; until mussels open and fish is cooked.  

9.  Squeeze one lemon in the broth and serve.

Serves 8-10

Tips:  *You should choose a fish that will not flake apart in the hot water.  Red Snapper, halibut, monk fish, or whitefish are good choices. 

**Saffron is the red and orange stigmas of the crocus plant.  It has to be picked by hand and is very expensive.