Mushroom Potato Soup

It's another snowy day in Oklahoma.  And yes, it's the first day of spring. So it's a good day for soup.

I bought leeks last week for potato soup and I also had almost eight ounces of mushrooms in the fridge that I needed to use. But instead of making two soups, I put them together and came up with this one.

First, I took the outer leaves off the leeks and after removing the root end I cut them into super thin slices. I put the slices in a colander ran water over them while separating the rings to be sure and get all the dirt from between the layers. Leeks are part of the family of onions and, while similar to onions, they have a milder flavor. I like the flavor they give my soups and stews, and I was also happy to see them on this website as one of the World's Healthiest Foods.

When I was satisfied the leeks were clean, I put them in a three quart sauce pan over low heat. I added a splash of olive oil and stirred it into the leeks.  While the leeks started to saute, I washed and sliced the mushrooms, saved a few of the best for garnish and added the rest of the mushrooms to the pan.

When the leeks were soft and the mushrooms had given up their liquid I added some white wine, just to cover the veggies, and let it continue to cook while I peeled the potatoes. I cut the potatoes into medium chunks and put them in the pan with the leeks and mushrooms. I added water* to just barely cover the potatoes and turned up the heat.

*NOTE:  I usually use chicken broth instead of water, or at least water with chicken bullion, but my son is dating a vegetarian, and has agreed to try it for a month. He was coming over later in the day, so I made this vegetarian for him. I didn't mention the mushrooms though. He insists he doesn't like them. Shhhh...

It wasn't long before the potatoes were fork tender. I turned the heat down and used a potato masher to break it all into smaller pieces. Next I got out my immersion blender and used it to turn the potatoes and mushrooms into a thick puree. I seasoned the soup with salt and pepper and my own garlic rich Janz herb blend. It very thick so now I added milk. I poured in a little at a time and stirred it in until it was the soupy consistency I was looking for.

When I was ready to eat, I filled a bowl and garnished it with a small dollop of sour cream, several super thin slices of carrots (I used a potato peeler to get them paper thin), fresh mushroom slices and a sprinkle of green onions. I am a pepper fiend so I had to add fresh cracked pepper to the top.

When my son arrived, I garnished his soup with carrot slices and grated Jarlsberg cheese. Other possible garnishes include avocado slices, grated Parmesan, seasoned croutons, and crumbled bacon.

Here's the ingredient list with estimated quantities.

The Soup:

• 4 leeks, sliced very thin, separated, washed well
• 6–8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced
• Olive oil, a tablespoon or so
• About 1/2 C white wine
• 5–6 medium potatoes, peeled, large dice
• Water (or chicken broth) to cover potatoes
• Seasonings: salt, pepper, Janz Seasoning Blend
• Milk

Garnishes:

• Sour Cream
• Carrot slices, paper thin
• Mushroom slices, very fresh mushrooms
• Chives
• Grated cheese, whatever sounds good to you
• Avocado slices
• Seasoned croutons
• Crumbled bacon

Mmmmm.... Larrupin!

Pastrami, Salami, Balsamic Sandwich

This hearty filling sandwich was for my 18-year-old son so I loaded it with a huge pile of pastrami, salami, red pepper, red onion and seasoned it with Janz and a couple of vinegars—it was good to the last bite.

I start by turning on the heat under my handy dandy iron griddle. I cut a seasme seed hoagie in half and laid it flat on the grill to toast.




While the griddle and hoagie heat up, slice a chunk of red pepper into thin slivers and cut a few slices off a fat red onion and separate the rings onto the griddle with the red pepper. When the bread is slightly toasted remove it from the griddle and throw on the pepper and onion. Give it a splash of extra virgin olive oil and use tongs to toss it all together with a substantial dose of Janz Seasoning Blend and some red wine vinegar.




When the veggies are tender add the salami and pastrami to the pile and add more seasoning and red wine vinegar. When the meat is warm and browing splatter with Balsamic Vinegar and toss the meat and veggies again. Put the hoagie on top of the pile of meat to warm.





To prepare the sandwich, take the bread off the griddle and put slices of provolone cheese on the bread while it's still warm. Use the tongs to place the onion and peppers on top of the cheese then pile on the meat and top with more onions and pepper. Grate mozzarella cheese on top of the pile.







Turns out, this sandwich was gigantic and there was no way to smash it into a biteable layer. So I put it back on the griddle.
I did my best to poke all the insides between the layers of bread and then pressed it with an iron bacon press. I first spritzed the press with oil to keep it from sticking. A iron skillet would also work for this.

There was a stray red pepper, but when it was done, but after I flipped the sandwich to brown it on both sides, you could get your mouth around it.

Cut the sandwich into half and serve it with a small bowl of balsamic vinegar for dipping.

Pretty tasty!

Lucky 13 Lunch Salad

I came home for lunch yesterday and put together healthy green salad. I counted 13 ingredients, not counting the dressing, thus the name.

• Lettuces and Spinach
• Romaine & some stuff I don't know the name of from the "salad bowl" I bought at the Farmer's Market Saturday. (See below)
• Red Cabbage
• Strawberries
• Zucchini
• Yellow Squash
• Red Pepper
• Cilantro
• Grated Hard Cheeses
• Feta Cheese
• Croutons
• Cucumber
• Almonds
• Sunflower Seeds
• Janz Sweet Balsamic Vinaigrette

You can see I tore up the green stuff, sliced the zucchini and yellow squash really thin. I didn't peel the squash, (I scrubbed them thoroughly since I wasn't going to peel them)but I did peel the cucumber. I sliced very thin layers from my red cabbage, and thin slivers from a red pepper.
The strawberries were HUGE, so they were quartered and then sliced.
The nuts are in a plastic bag in the freezer, so I just grabbed a handful for the top. The croutons were fresh, in my toaster over, so those topped everything off.


The strawberry is a very surprising addition to a green salads. I saw it somewhere about a year ago and really like the pop of tartness you get in the midst of the other ingredients. Of course the strawberries have to be fresh—frozen would be mushy—so I do this when they're in season. I've also used blackberries and blueberries. As I ate it I wondered about adding banana slices. It would have to be a firm banana, but I'll try that while I can still get fresh strawberries and see how it goes.



About the "Salad Bowl"
A vendor at the Cleveland County Farmer's Market sells pots full of mixed lettuces. This one was $2.50 I think. I put it on my porch on Saturday and let it get too dry and Sunday it was droopy and completely limp. Thank goodness a good soaking brought it back to life. We had a thunderstorm on Sunday night and on Monday it was back to full crispness.

Bruschetta

Bruschetta - or Fresh Tomatoes on Toast
I went to the farmer's market yesterday morning and found some really nice tomatoes. They were from Texas, but that was as close as I could get to "home grown" this early in the season. I was in the mood for a late night snack last night and the tomatoes sounded good so I decided to make bruschetta to take advantage of the fresh flavor.
Generically speaking, bruschetta is simply toasted bread, seasoned with olive oil and herbs, topped with tomato and cheese. It can be prepared on the grill or in the oven. Here's how I made this batch in a toaster oven.

Ingredients:

• French Bread
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil*
• Herb Seasoning Blend*
• Fresh Tomato*
• Hard Cheese*
• Avocado (optional, but yummy!)
  
• Balsamic Vinegar*

Directions:

1. Slice French bread about 3/4 inch thick, and place on foil-lined toaster oven baking sheet. Coat both sides with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with herb seasoning.
   
2. Toast at about 300°-325° just until tops start to turn golden brown then turn & toast the other side. (In a toaster oven close to the heat source this will just take 5 minutes or so.)
3. When both sides are golden place slices of tomato on top of each slice of toast and sprinkle with more herbs. Top with grated hard cheese and return to the oven until cheese is melted.
4. Remove from toaster oven and top with slices of avocado.
   
5. Pour a thin layer of balsamic vinegar on serving plate and place bruschetta on the plate in the vinegar.
6. Dig in.
   

*How tos:

• To coat with extra virgin olive oil* pour the oil in a small condiment bowl and use a pastry brush to paint with oil. An easier way is to keep oil in a spritzer bottle and spray it on the bread slices. The spritz method also lets you use less oil if you're concerned about counting fat grams.
• Basil is the herb* most frequently found in bruschetta recipes. Top tomato slices with fresh basil leaves or sprinkle with dried basil if you don't have a favorite herb blend you want to use. I've created my own herb mix, Janz Seasoning Blend, that I use on practically everything. Basil is one of the prominent flavors in this blend.
  
• Some bruschetta recipes call for chopped tomatoes*. However I prefer slices so I don't lose any when I eat it. It much neater to eat if you don't have to worry about the tomatoes falling off when you take a bite.
  
• I have a cheese grater that I fill with chunks of Parmesan, Asiago and Romano* cheeses. When I fill the grater with different cheeses I automatically get a cheese blend when I use it. Another cheese option is to slice thin slivers of Feta on top of tomatoes.
  By the way, cheese is the reason I line the baking sheet with foil. Small bits of baked cheese can be hard to clean. A foil liner can be tossed. Rinse the baking sheet and you're done.
• In the past, I have "drizzled" balsamic vinegar* on the top of each piece prior to serving, but found it hard to "drizzle" and frequently ended up pouring vinegar over each piece. This obviously makes the toast soggy and the flavor can be overwhelming. Plan B has been to pour a bit of balsamic vinegar in a condiment bowl and serve it on the side for dipping. Last night it occurred to me to pour the vinegar on the serving plate before I pulled the toast from the oven. I placed the toast on the thin puddle on the plate and the bottom 1/8th inch of the toast soaked up the vinegar, just enough to provide flavor in every bite without making the toast soggy.
  

Unfortunately, I didn't think to take pictures before I ate this tasty snack. However, I still have a couple of fresh tomatoes and as soon as an avocado is ready, maybe tomorrow, I'll make it again and I'll add some pictures.

As I wrote this I looked up recipes for bruschetta and found some alternatives with white beans or prosciutto. I'll give those variations a try and share the results sometime soon.